#it’s not even bad i’m just so bored. can you guys play football or something

[livvyofthelake]

i’m sorry. this is the most boring movie i’ve ever seen in my life i cannot finish it tonight…

[digitaldiarystuff]

Fatal Attraction

i’m actually not sure what to say as an excuse rn but i’m sorry to keep you waiting hope you like this one and please leave comments they really help me🥹

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pairing: Pedri Gonzalez x Y/N

genre: no idea at all

summary: you were childhood best friends with Fermin which resulted in meeting Pedri since they got close, you couldn’t deny he was dreamy but he had a bad reputation so you try your best to steer clear of him but can you succeed?

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You left uni after your horrible professor finally decided 4 hours were enough for boring you to death. It was nearing 8 pm when you could finally escape. You wondered how you managed to sit for 8 hours straight in high school when you couldn’t even handle a 2 hour class of historical design now. But then again, Fermin was with you for all those times. He was your best friend practically all your life because your families were friends long before you were born so it was natural. Even when he went away to La Masia you never grew apart and you even came to Barcelona to study just so you could be close again. He was you ride or die, literally and you two were the perfect example of a guy and a girl being strictly platonic besties. You viewed him more as a brother than a friend and so when you moved to a new city he made sure you never felt alone. He always invited you to games and hangouts, introduced you to practically everyone around him and even sent you on a few dates over the course of last year but you always struggled to keep a genuine connection with a guy like that. They always seemed too superficial or wanted to use you to get closer to Fermin now that he was in the starting 11. Most of them just wanted sex and that wouldn’t be a problem for you if they just tried a little but no, they always expected it for buying you a 20 euro meal or a drink at the club and it was exhausting you. You also weren’t looking to get married in three months but sometimes, especially when Fermin and his shiny world wasn’t around, you wished there was someone to turn to. You just wanted affection, can’t a girl get affection these days?

Your inner monologue was cut short by the ringing of your phone.

“Hey” you chirped answering it.

“Y/N hi.” as soon as you heard the voice behind the phone you stopped all your movements, you were expecting your best friend to annoy you but it was actually Pedri.

“Um, hi” you answered not understanding why Pedri would be calling you from Fermin’s phone.

“I’m gonna tell you something but promise you won’t get mad” Just that sentence alone made sure you’d get mad.

“Just out with it Pedro.”

“Soo… Fermin’s drunk.” he finally confessed and your eyes went wide, you even checked the time again to see if you lost track of time.

“It’s only 7.45. How?” you were baffled with Fermin’s choices but still had a question needed answering.

“Yeah so it’s actually a funny story-

“Pedro why did you call me? Did something happen to him?”

The thought made your blood run cold.

“No no don’t worry we’re fine. It’s just, we don’t have a ride back.”

“Back from where?”

“Um, sorry yeah just, what’s the address?” he asked clearly talking to someone next to him and as soon as you heard a high pitched female voice you got the gist of the situation.

They went to some girls’ place and now that their business’ was over needed someone to rescue him before the public sees them.

“Just text me the address.” you huffed annoyed, didn’t even let him answer and hung up.

It’s not like you didn’t know the boys were doing this stuff, they were young famous and rich. Of course they had every right to enjoy their life, it’s just…

It’s just whenever Fermin was in a situation like this, it was always with Pedri and it annoyed you. Pedri as a whole annoyed you yes but the fact that he was with a different girl sometimes more times than he actually plays football was unsettling and unnecessary even.

He reminded you of those people on Too Hot To Handle like come on one week without sex couldn’t be that bad. You went without it for… a really long time. And he wasn’t even that good looking to begin with so you could never understand why those girls were throwing themselves at him. Yes his eyes were shining bright whenever he was in a good mood, his jawline was damn near perfect and his smile was contagious but that’s about it. Pedri was not that great, or so Fermin said.

“Who’s that? Is that the infamous Pedri Gonzalez?” you asked Fermin when your eyes caught his at the party currently being thrown at Balde’s house. Fermin brought you because according to him, you really needed to let loose and get some vitamin d (his words not yours).

As soon as his eyes followed yours he immediately pulled you away shaking his head relentlessly.

“Oh no no no no no. No.”

“What?” you asked after looking at Pedri one more time and noticed he was still watching you.

“No, Y/N. Not him, anyone but him. Well, not anyone. I don’t really feel great about Ferran and Gavi would be a little complicated but even they’re okay but not Pedri.”

You tore your eyes from the gorgeous boy in the other corner of the room and looked at Fermin like he had grown another head.

“I just asked who he is” you defended yourself but Fermin was quick to cut you off.

“It always starts like that, then he’ll come over and charm you into the bed or worse, the restroom and bam! You’re left behind.” the way he described it made you sober up immediately.

“Gross”

“Exactly. So repeat after me. I”

“I”

“Will not”

“Will not”

“Sleep with Pedri”

“Sleep with Pedri” you repeated but was shocked to see Pablo passing by you and say it at the same time as you. Fermin was quick to hit his head and murmured a ‘cabron’ and you chuckled at their fight.

Fermin also lost his serious manner for a second and laughed but pulled himself together soon.

“Look Y/N I’m just trying to look out for you.”

“It’s okay Fermin, it’s not like I wanted to do it anyway. I’ll just steer clear of him.”

You really meant it and tried your best to avoid Pedri at all cost since the first time you’ve met and just kept it pleasant with small hi’s and bye’s but he really had a charming personality and his eyes were like magnets and no matter how hard you tried you’d still find yourself drawn to his eyes whenever you crossed paths.

Fermin saw it too and tried to warn you a few more times but you told him to knock it off because there was no way you’d ever stoop so low, right?

You really did find his behavior with women disgusting, even though he claimed he never indicated anything about a relationship or even a date you obviously knew all those girls were looking for it and were left heartbroken when Pedri shut them off completely after spending the night together. But he was the sweetest talker and it was so easy to fall into his trap, it was so lucky that you didn’t.

You finally arrived at the address Pedri texted you from Fermin’s phone about 20 minutes later and saw them waiting in the lobby of an apartment complex. They both had hoodies with sunglasses, if they were hoping to lay low this was really not it.

Pedri carefully laid Fermin in the backseat and got in the passenger side of your car. You didn’t even answer his hey and turned back to take a look at Fermin.

“Why would you drink this much?”

“Uh, I don’t think he can understand you at the moment” Pedri chimed in.

“And you! Why would you let him do this to himself?” you now pointed a finger at him.

“I wasn’t exactly with him while it happened.” he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

“Where were you? Oh” you said immediately knowing the answer.

“Did they at least sign NDA’s?” you asked slightly bitter. Although you tried your best to mask it with annoyance for Fermin’s state.

“Yeah yeah, Fernando’s handling it.”

It was the way he was so nonchalant that made your stomach turn. You turned the car on and started driving to Fermin’s place.

“Do you mind me putting on a song?” he asked after an uncomfortable silence and slightly nodded your head. He immediately connected to AUX and put on Bad Bunny.

After a minute Pedri started to silently sing along and you turned your head to his direction.

“You shaved.”

He was shocked you talked to him given the fact that you never did it if you weren’t forced to but quickly turned to look at you and scratched his chin.

“Yeah, it was getting hot.”

You turned your attention back to the road and answered, more to yourself.

“Well I liked it.”

“You did?” he asked with another shocked expression. Pedri sometimes assumed you didn’t even remember his name.

“Yeah well, it looked more mature but given your current state I think the childish look suits you better.” you chuckled and he joined you.

You didn’t even know why you told him you liked his bearded look, I mean you really really did but this was forbidden territory.

“I’m sorry you had to come to get us.” he said after another moment of silence.

“It’s alright. I didn’t have anything else to do and I couldn’t leave Fermin stranded.” you looked back at your best friend sleeping peacefully in the backseat.

“You really care about him.” he also looked back at the blond boy smiling.

“I do. He’s my best friend.”

The ride continued without another word from either of you and you finally pulled up to Fermin’s driveway.

You opened the back door and tried waking Fermin up but Pedri was quicker and got him up putting all his weight on himself and basically carried him in. You opened the door and let them in helping with Fermin’s bag while Pedri carried him upstairs to his room and came back a minute later. You were tidying up Fermin’s living room as he approached you.

“I think he’ll be fine.” he smiled.

“Thank you.” you said without glancing back at him expecting him to go crash in one of the guest rooms but he stayed still, making you realize for the first time in a year you were alone with none other than Pedri. Your body stiffened up and he noticed.

“Are you cold?”

“What?” you turned to him raising a brow.

“You’re shivering.” he motioned his head forward and had a sly smile on his face and your cheeks immediately burned with embarrassment. How could you possibly tell him it was because this was the first time they were alone (if you don’t count passed out Fermin upstairs) You were not cold in the slightest, actually your body was pretty hot.

“Uh yeah it’s chilly.” You tried your best to not look at him without being disrespectful, you didn’t want him to think you were a bitch just that you were his friend’s friend and that’s it.

“Do you need help with anything?” he asked bending down and picking an empty pizza box from the floor.

“No it’s okay, you can just go upstairs and rest.”

“I’m actually just gonna call an uber.”

“Uber?” you asked “You don’t have to do that you can stay here, Fermin wouldn’t mind.” you blabbered on but just as you shut up a voice in your head said maybe that’s not why he’s leaving. It’s still early, he’s not passed out drunk and he probably has many girls lined up waiting for a call.

“Or if you have somewhere to be, it totally cool.” you tried shrugging nonchalantly as if you didn’t care at all but probably failed. This conversation was becoming more and more difficult by the second.

“I have nowhere to be.” Pedri chuckled at your nervousness.

“Then you’re welcome to stay.” you once again turned to him for a second but that turned out to be a mistake on your part because Pedri was intensely watching your every move. Sometimes you wondered how many more people weren’t falling in love with him everyday, he could easily hold a meaningful eye contact every time your eyes met.

“What if we watched something?” he asked. “You love reality tv, right?”

You didn’t know what you were supposed to be more shocked about, the fact that he offered to watch something with you or that he knew your tv watching habits and stood still until you found the courage to speak up.

“Sure, why not?”

That’s how you ended up in this position with him, takeout boxes on the coffee table and sitting closely in the middle of Fermin’s l shaped sofa. Pedri could easily lay on the longer part as he already had his feet on that part but he opted to sit just next to you. Your thighs were centimeters apart and whenever he turned to you to laugh at something a cast member had said you’d feel his hot breath on your face. The setting felt too intimate for two people that were barely considered as friends yet alone one person with a pathetic little crush. You tried to ignore the feeling rising within you and tried your best to focus on the show but it was nearly impossible as Pedri once again made a comment about the sex drive the cast had and held your thigh in the process.

“I mean they have to be faking, this is too much even for me.” he laughed while your eyes were focused on his hand on your leg, you couldn’t even comprehend his comment for a second.

“Oh come on, you couldn’t even last a day there.” you teased having no control of your tongue. The comment was a surprise to both of you.

“You don’t think I can last a week without sex?” he raised an eyebrow smirking at you and you felt the tension in the air shift slightly.

“I don’t think you could last a day.”

“Now you’re being unfair.”

It was your turn to raise a brow being like ‘really?’

“I’m not that bad” he continued to defend himself but you weren’t convinced.

“Come on Pedri, I’ve heard the stories.”

“I’m perfectly capable of not doing anything with any girl for however long I want.” he looked around.

“Just look at us.” he motioned between you two and your eyes immediately turned to his hand still resting on your thigh. He retreated it slowly while awkwardly chucking. Even though you enjoyed the banter, the mention of you two brought back the awkward and painful feeling you had. Maybe he thought you were not hot enough to hit on.

Before you could answer you heard some noises from upstairs and went to check on Fermin. He was now up and in his en-suite crouched on the toilet ready to throw up.

“Y/N” he mumbled quietly and you bent down next to him.

“What did you even drink, my god Fermin you’re unbelievable.” you scolded the boy but this was you trying to be soft. He really shouldn’t put himself in these situations.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked trying to get out of your interrogation but you hesitated to answer.

“I- we were watching tv and had takeout.” you stammered and Fermin looked up at you with confusion.

“Who’s we?”

“Me and Pedri” you bit your lip because you knew what was coming.

“Y/N we’ve talked about this, you need to stay away from him.” Fermin said sounding exhausted both from his state and how many times he had to talk to you about Pedri.

“We’re just friends Fermin, he’s your friend too.” you said trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

“Yeah well I don’t wanna have sex with him.” you shushed him as fast as you could afraid that Pedri would hear it.

“Are you okay now?” you asked as Fermin stood up and washed his face.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Just gonna sleep it off.” he said as you were walking out to give him privacy. Just as you shut the door behind you you were faced with Pedri with a slight smirk on his face.

“Do you wanna have sex with me?”

You were stunned to say the least and couldn’t even muster a word just let out a nervous laugh.

“What?”

“I heard Fermin”

“Look Pedri I don’t know how much you heard but he’s out of his mind and was saying some extremely dumb stuff.” you tried to move past him but he placed a hand gently on your waist to prevent you from running away from this highly embarrassing situation and slowly leaned into your ear to whisper.

“You know Y/N, all you have to do is ask.” you could basically hear the smile he had on as he spoke and hated yourself for not being more calm and being as wet as you are

————

ooh not sure about this one really but hope you enjoy loves💖

[slutforstabbings-archive]

now i’m super curious, what’s ur hcs for alt!corey?

Alt!Corey Cunningham HC's

prompted by the conversation started here. Sorry this took so long!

tagging @rebel-blue @nachtmahr666 @vanellygal I never know who all to tag so if you want me to tag you specifically every time, please lmk!

Music:

Corey grew up listening to the radio and whatever music Joan put on. His mom is probably in her early 50’s in the movie, and she seems like one of those people who is terrible but likes and uses sweet nice wholesome things to hide behind, so she probably only listened to squeaky clean and boring pop music, and I think that would start Corey on a path towards heavy music, distorted music, music with dark themes, anything other than what Joan liked. He finds a lot of pop music to be insincere and he hates that.

WURG seems like an oddball station from what we hear of it in the movie and what it’s mentioned as playing in the book, so Corey definitely likes some punk and metal and garage just from the radio. But he doesn’t really know that’s what it is, genres and subcultures are kind of lost on him. And he doesn’t really realize he only knows music that’s 35-60 years old.

Personally as someone who grew up listening to a lot of oldies radio specifically, I know they’re really bad about identifying old songs cause they think you know the artist and title already. So I’m gonna go ahead and say for a lot of his life Corey doesn’t know the name or artist of most of the songs he likes, and he probably doesn’t realize he likes multiple songs from the same artist, so he doesn't have a favorite band. He has to learn to dig into a catalog and listen to full albums as an adult because that was never something he was introduced to as a child.

His mom obviously put heavy parental controls on his computer time, looked through his browser history, etc so I don’t think he was really able to explore his music taste probably until he got a smart phone and more privacy in his internet usage, which wouldn’t have been until he was an adult. I think Joan would have wanted him to have a phone so she could call him but would’ve kept him with a non-smart phone with no data until it basically wasn’t an option anymore, so he got his first smart phone when he was probably like 17-19, and that’s when his music exploration could really begin.

Even pre-accident Corey is sad and lonely and angry so he’s drawn to those lyrical themes. He has very angsty taste. But he also likes interesting time signatures and weird textures. He's a math and science guy and he thinks it's really cool when musicians approach their craft in a mathematical or experimental way. Post- Michael I think Corey recedes into the heaviest and most anguished parts of his music taste. Songs that used to make him cry, songs that pump him up, songs that he used to imagine were written for people much more badass than him, whatever that might be. Devastating vocal delivery, heart wrenching lyrics, chugging guitars, all three if he can get them.

BAND LIST (trying to go with the most popular examples so you can get the gist of the aesthetic I’m picturing lol):

From the Radio - Rolling Stones, Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Clash, Talking Heads, all the obvious legacy early metal and punk bands. 

Pre-Accident - American Football, Sunny Day Real Estate, Hum, Modest Mouse, Smashing Pumpkins, Descendents, Brand New, New Order, Mazzy Star, The Smiths, Hella

Post-Accident, Pre-Michael - Grunge big 4, but his favorite is Pearl Jam, Pixies, Melvins, Tool, Joy Division, Deftones, Sonic Youth, I Hate Sex, Garbage, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails

Post- Michael - Electric Wizard, Windhand, clipping., Lingua Ignota, Full of Hell

Fashion:

I see a lot of different ages thrown around for how long Corey's mom dressed him, but novelization canon is he started dressing himself at 13. I think it's definitely still the case that his mom buys and picks out most of his clothes for a long time, but I think he slowly wears her down on letting him pick things until his wardrobe is mostly his choices filtered through her. But because of that filter it's still never quite him.

When the other kids started getting into subcultures, Corey watched with envy. He didn't have a particular favorite style, and he wouldn't have known what to call it if he did, he just liked the idea that you could say something to the world with your clothes, and draw people who agreed with you to you and push people who didn't away. The idea that you could form a community around how you dress. All he wants is community.

Corey's never really considered tattoos or piercings because he knows his mother would absolutely lose her mind if he "damaged" himself that way. The only thing he's thought of is that his dad had a tattoo of a duck, so maybe he could get a tattoo of a duck in the same place. I think that if Corey was more interested in tattoos than that , pre-accident he would be a black linework only kind of guy, he wants to be an engineer, he likes the kind of sparse, design-y, almost technical drawing aspect of plain linework tattoos. Post-accident, pre-Michael, he' definitely an American Traditional/Neo-Trad guy. It's straight forward, it's classic, it's low-key. Post-Michael Corey is the kind of guy who gets big blackout stripes or brush strokes for the experience. Because blackouts hurt and because they make people, even other tattooed people, say why the fuck would you get that? Post-Michael Corey would also so get a prince albert sorry.

I can't see him wearing make up, even just eyeliner. Seems too pretty for him I guess, like he's an aesthetically simple guy in a lot of ways, and presents in such a casual masculine way, it just doesn't seem like him. But I can see him painting his nails black every once in a while. Not any other colors but black for sure.

[engie-ivy]

Remus is the uptight, swotty Prefect who's always getting the popular and beloved troublemakers Black and Potter in detention. Remus doesn't care what people say of him, and he absolutely doesn't care about Black's blinding smile.

A Book By Its Cover

Remus pulls his jumper closer around himself against the draught in the large, empty halls. The corridor is dimly lit and he hears nothing but the sound of his own footsteps. Everything is quiet. Too quite.

A loud clang suddenly sounds from behind one of the tapestries. Remus almost smiles to himself. Bingo. In a swift motion, he pulls away the tapestry.

Startled, Black whirls around. He’s surrounded by what appear to be paint cans and rope. His shock only last a moment, though.

“Lupin!” He exclaims, a beaming smile appearing on his face. “What a pleasant surprise!”

Remus crosses his arms over his chest. He makes an effort to keep a firm expression on his face, to show he’s not affected by Black’s notorious, blinding smile, like everyone else is. “Only pleasant if you like detention. And as for a surprise, I am a Prefect. I am supposed to be here making my rounds. So what are you doing here?”

“Preparing a prank,” Black says simply.

Remus doesn’t know whether he should be insulted Black doesn’t seem to take his authority very seriously, or glad that he doesn’t insult his intelligence by coming up with an excuse.

“Right,” Remus says, before taking out his notebook and pen. “Out of bed after curfew and engaging in illegal activity,” he scribbles down. “And where’s Potter?”

“Aw, am I not enough for you, Lupin?” Black pouts.

“I figured you could use some company in detention,” Remus replies smoothly.

Black clicks his tongue. “So thoughtful.”

“If you’re here setting up some prank, then it’s a given Potter is setting up that prank somewhere else in the school as well. So, where is he?”

Black shakes his head. “For you’re own good, Lupin, you don’t wanna put James in detention right now. People won’t be too pleased with you if the school’s football star misses the upcoming match against Slytherin thanks to you.”

“So thoughtful,” Remus repeats Black’s words, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “But please, don’t concern yourself over me. I’ve never cared what others think of me, and I don’t plan on starting now. And you basically just admitted Potter is currently doing something that would warrant me giving him detention, so you might as well tell me where he is.”

Black sighs. “This is why people call you uptight.”

Remus’ expression hardens. “If people care so much, they should be mad at Potter for risking the football match in the first place by playing some stupid prank.”

Black gasps dramatically and clutches his chest. “Stupid? Our pranks are not stupid! They’re works of art! Jumping out of a cake on miss McGonagall’s birthday? Hilarious! Making a zip line to go from one floor to the other? Brilliant! Filling the gym with stray cats, many of whom were eventually adopted? Genius! People love our pranks. They make people laugh and bring some excitement in their lives. Much needed excitement, because let’s face it, school is boring. Sitting there, listening to old people tell you things you already know.”

“For you maybe,” Remus mutters.

Black scoffs. “Don’t pretend you’re not one of the smartest people in our class, Lupin.”

Remus just glares harder at Black, to show that no, he doesn’t care that Sirius Black, whom people are always falling over themselves for to get even a bit of his attention, has apparently noticed Remus’ academic achievements. No, he doesn’t care at all.

“Even the teachers love our pranks,” Black continues. “They put some life into this place!”

“We’ll see what miss McGonagall has to say about it when I report you tomorrow,” Remus says calmly. “I’ll go finish my rounds, and when I get back, you better have cleaned up this mess.”

As he turns around to leave, Black suddenly grabs his wrist. “Join us!”

“Wha...” Remus turns back, and his traitorous stomach flutters at how close Black is suddenly standing.

“Join us for one prank,” Black says.

Remus blinks at him. “Why in earth would I do that?”

“Because it’s fun! And honestly, Lupin, to me you always look like you can use a bit of fun.”

That catches Remus off guard. It’s true. Between struggling to get top marks, doing everything he can for extra credit, making sure he has a spotless record, excelling at his Prefect duties, and worrying about his sick mother, lately he often feels like just throwing his hands in the air and say ‘screw it all!’, and just do something crazy, something dumb or irresponsible. But he definitely never wanted for Black to notice that.

“Come on, Lupin,” Black says, as Remus stays silent. “Be part of the fun for once, instead of putting a damper on it.”

“Your childish pranks aren’t my idea of fun,” Remus bites back, feeling himself getting defensive.

Black just grins. “You won’t know that unless you join us for just one prank!”

“Why would you even want me to join you?” Many people would be lining up to be a part of one of Black and Potter’s infamous pranks. It’s beyond Remus why Black would ask that one stuffy guy who puts them in detention almost every week.

“Because I like you,” Black shrugs. “I like how hard you work for everything and how you don’t care what anyone thinks of you. And I think you secretly have a talent for it,” he adds with a wink, that absolutely does not make Remus’ knees go weak. “I bet you have a wicked side to you underneath all that swotty stuff.”

“But I’m a Prefect!” Remus argues. “I’m supposed to discipline rule-breakers, not break them myself!”

Black rolls his eyes. “You shouldn’t take that job so serious.”

This rubs Remus the wrong way. “Not everyone can afford to treat everything in life as a joke,” he says coolly.

Black folds his arms over his chest and stares. “A fancy title and a badge and suddenly you’re better than us?”

“It’s nothing like that!”

Black huffs. “Then why is that bogus job so important to you?”

“Because some of us can’t afford to have even one note on their record if they ever want to get anywhere in life!” Remus snaps. “Because some of us need perfect scores and every bit of extra credit they can get if they want universities not to immediately bin their applications! Because some of us don’t have a last name they can flaunt, a daddy who can make a phone call, a mommy who can throw some money around, and suddenly you’re top of the list! Because some of us can’t just look at their rich parents and rely on them to always give them everything they want!”

The change in Black is instant. He takes a step back, and instead of his usual easy smile and bright eyes sparkling with mischief, his face becomes an ice-cold mask. “Fuck you, Lupin,” he hisses. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

He pushes past Remus as he storms off, leaving him behind feeling very confused. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that. Yes, the system is unfair and Black is privileged, but Remus supposes that isn’t really Black’s fault. He knows Black isn’t actually a bad person. His heart is in the right place, and he’s usually kind, only ever mean to people who, quite frankly, deserve it.

Remus just wishes Black would stop with those bloody pranks.

Remus just wishes Black would continue with those bloody pranks.

Or do anything really that makes him seem more like his old self. Remus never thought he’d miss that loud, barking laugh, that infuriating smirk, those lame puns so much.

Ever since everyone returned from Christmas break, Black has completely withdrawn. He hardly talks to anyone, he just sits silently, his eyes staring off in the distance and his expression blank. Potter is always by his side, softly talking to him or just throwing him worried glances.

Since then, it has been the talk of the school, and even in the papers and on the news: Sirius Black has been removed from his parents’ custody. It was a messy affair, the police has even been involved. Black’s father was arrested on grounds of child abuse. Apparently, Orion Black, the noble and well-respected patriarch of the prestigious Black family, has a habit of beating his son. It must’ve been going on for a while, but over the break it escalated. People just can’t get over how Sirius Black’s life wasn’t as perfect as it always seemed to be.

Remus feels bad for Black, and especially feels like an idiot, having said the things he said. He knows he owes Black an apology. It has been a couple of weeks since the break ended, and the apology is beginning to be long overdue. Though he also knows that Black has probably not been waiting for an apology from the uptight twat that always gets him detention.

Maybe it’s more to ease his own consciousness that he hesitantly approaches the table where Black is sitting. Potter glares at him the moment he sees him, and half gets out of his seat, probably to tell him to piss off, and rightfully so. However, after a quick glance at Black’s face, who’s looking up at Remus, he sits back down, as if he sees something on his friend’s face that makes him chance his mind.

“Bla- Sirius,” Remus says, realising a tad late that Sirius might nor want to be reminded of his family name right now. “I’m sorry,” he blurts out. “I said some shitty things to you, and I shouldn’t have. You were right, I didn’t know anything about you.”

“It’s okay,” Sirius says softly. “You had good reason to be angry, it’s a rather fucked up system. And you didn’t know. Didn’t know that I would’ve gladly given up all that privilege to just have parents who... who love me...”

Sirius’ voice falters and he trails off. Potter is staring at him wide-eyed, and also Remus is surprised. He knows Sirius hasn’t talked about it to anyone, and he feels almost guilty he’s saying it to him of all people. He’s also surprised at the overwhelming urge he has to pull Sirius into a hug, hold him and tell him they never deserved him anyway. He has to leave before he does anything stupid.

“I should go,” Remus says quickly. “If there’s ever anything I can do...”

As he turns around to leave, Black suddenly grabs his wrist. “Join us!”

Remus turns back to look at him.

“Join us for one prank.”

“Why would you want me to join you?” Remus asks, much like the first time.

“Because I like you,” Sirius replies, much like the first time, only where he had then sounded nonchalant and slightly amused, he now sounds pleading and vulnerable.

“Yeah,” Remus says hoarsely, because his Prefect duties suddenly don’t seem so important compared to helping Sirius come back to his old self. “Yeah, I’ll join you for one prank.”

And then the most amazing thing happens: for the first time in weeks, Sirius Black smiles. It’s only a small smile, but the room already seems a bit brighter. In a moment of vivid clarity, Remus knows that there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make that boy smile.

[sleepysnk]

i decided to make a sequel to Ditched! this part is actually based of an event that happened to me in real life! i tried my best to put my personal experience into words, i hope you all enjoy the sequel! :)

I Waited For You

Pairings: Eren Jaeger x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Slight angst

Ditched

Ever since Eren and (Y/N) met each other that night they have been inseparable.

The two talked every night ever since that day, they spent hours on facetime talking or laughing about their days, or meeting up for some coffee or just going for a nice drive. They always found time to speak to one another.

Eren helped (Y/N) with her ex, he listened to the stories she had about how badly he treated her and gave her ways to distract herself from the bad thoughts. He understood how badly she took the breakup, especially since she got cheated on. He also helped her get through to her friends, something she couldn't necessarily do before. She ended up dropping those so called "friends" and found a better crowd. All thanks to Eren.

(Y/N) listened to Eren as well, she spent many nights listening to his stories about the girls he spoke to, or the famous on and off girlfriend he had for awhile. She helped him bring out a better side of himself, she assured him that people come and go, but to never loose hope.

Here they were, two weeks into talking. Eren liked her, he knew it wasn't a good idea to like her so quickly, but he couldn't resist. (Y/N) was beautiful, smart, kind, sweet, adventurous. It was everything he wanted in a girl. Not to mention how they clicked so fast on a lot of things.

(Y/N) on the other hand, wasn't sure if she even wanted to date Eren.

She wasn't exactly healed from all of it, she still had some nights where she would cry into her pillow thinking about how much her ex hurt her. She still was dealing with it emotionally, and that was the hardest part of it all. (Y/N) liked Eren, but she wasn't sure if her own feelings were 100%. She didn't want to start a new relationship if she wasn't totally healed from her past, she knew it wouldn't work well.

She wanted to communicate it with him as well as she could, because she didn't want it to seem like she was leading him on or playing with his feelings. That's the opposite of what she wanted.

Here she was in a coffee shop, it was their favorite. Eren actually took her there the second time they hung out, and she enjoyed it a lot.

(Y/N) planned to tell him what was going on. She had support from her friend Historia, she told (Y/N) that it was the best option. If she were to lie it wouldn't end well for her nor Eren, she assured her that he should understand where she was coming from.

(Y/N)'s hands were around the warm cup of coffee. She shook her leg nervously.

Her eyes looked up to see Eren entering the coffee shop, he smiled as he made his way over. She couldn't help but admire the way he looked, his hair was tied into a bun, he wore a black sweater with some black sweats. He looked bummy but so good.

"Hey! It's good to see you," Eren said, taking the seat in front of her.

(Y/N) smiled, looking down her hands. "It's good to see you too," she replied. "How are you?" she asked, nodding her head.

Eren sighed. "Eh.. I'm doing good, I had some really hard exams last week but that's about it. How about you?" he replied, looking at her.

She shrugged her shoulders, looking at his green eyes. "I'm okay I guess," she said, running her nail down her coffee cup.

"You told me you wanted to talk about something? I actually wanted to talk about something as well," he said, smiling a bit.

Her heart skipped a beat seeing his smile. "Um yeah! I wanted to talk to you about something important, if you don't mind." she said, shifting around in her seat.

Eren shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweater. "I'm all ears," he said, leaning back in the chair.

A nervous sigh came out of her as she looked up at Eren, her expression serious. "Look Eren.. these past two weeks have been great! You've helped me a ton with my issues and I'm really glad to have met you," she said, smiling a bit.

"Yeah I agree too! I'm glad we met," Eren replied, nodding his head.

"But... Eren the thing is, I don't think we should become serious right now. I care about you a ton but I'm not ready for anything at the moment, I'm still healing from my ex and I don't want to hop into anything without being 100%" she explained, looking down.

It was silent between them.

Eren sat up, a sigh came from his throat. "Um.. yeah, I understand. Thanks for being honest.." he said, standing up.

She furrowed her brows. "Where are you going?" she asked.

He looked down at her, she could see the disappointment in his eyes. "I gotta go. I'm meeting with Armin, but um.. it was nice talking to you," he said, giving a small smile. "I hope you can get better and fix yourself," he added, patting her shoulder.

(Y/N) nodded as she watched him walk out of the coffee shop. She could tell that he was upset, but he took it better than she expected. She felt the sting of her heart when she saw his eyes and how disappointed he seemed, but there wasn't much she could do. She needed to work on herself before anything.

She watched Eren drive off for the final time.

-

Almost a month had went by since (Y/N) last talked to Eren that day at the coffee shop. She hadn't really spoken to him much since whenever they did talk, it would be short and not much conversation would even happen between the two.

Things weren't good on both sides.

(Y/N) was feeling a bit better about her ex, she did a lot of self care to fix herself and even vented to Historia and her girlfriend Ymir about the whole situation. It helped a ton and they gave her some advice on how to fully let go of the situation. They told her being on her own and surrounded by people who care was the best way to find peace.

She also explained her situation with Eren, of course they agreed that she did the right thing. Dating Eren while still processing a bad breakup would have been hell and it wouldn't be healthy. Historia told her that she should get out there when she felt ready.

She felt like she was in a better spot than she was a month ago, but she couldn't shake the thoughts about Eren.

Truth is, she missed him so much.

She missed everything about the boy. From his random facetime calls, to his jokes, the way he smelled, everything. She missed Eren a lot, but she couldn't ever find herself just hitting him up out of the blue. She didn't want to come off as the girl who comes back when she's finally okay, she felt like Eren wouldn't like that. Plus what if he moved on? What if he found somebody else?

Eren on the other hand wasn't doing well. He missed (Y/N) even more than she missed him. He'd occasionally check his phone seeing if she messaged him or he'd contemplate picking up the phone and calling her. He'd never actually end up doing it.

His feelings for her didn't change. He liked her still and even if he tried to find someone else, they wouldn't be the same.

The day he left the coffee shop was hard. He ended up sulking in his room all day, a few tears escaped his cheeks feeling the frustration from it all. He wished that her ex didn't fuck her up. She deserved so much better than that.

Eren wondered sometimes how she was doing, was she doing better? Did her ex come back? So many questions yet very little answers. He cut some contact because he didn't want his hopes to get too high, he didn't want to go through it again just for it to fail.

In a way, he felt like he was waiting for her. Waiting for that text message or phone call, he just wanted to hear her voice again, see her smile, anything.

-

"(Y/N)! Where are you!?" Historia yelled, opening the door to her apartment.

(Y/N) opened her bedroom door, seeing her friend standing there in her kitchen. "Historia? What are you doing here? It's kind of late," she asked, walking towards the blonde girl.

She nodded. "You didn't get my text? Ugh stupid phone. Anyway, do you want to come to a party? Ymir thought I should ask you," she said, looking down at her phone.

A party? Last time she went to a party was when she met.. nevermind.

"I don't know Hisu.. I feel like I'm too boring for that," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Historia looked up surprised. "Huh? (Y/N) you're not boring! You're a lot of fun. Come on! You're always at home, you need some fun." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Let loose! Get some drinks in your system," she added.

(Y/N) leaned against the counter. "I don't even have much time anyway. It probably starts in an hour," she said.

"It starts at nine! Come on, I bet we can find something for you to wear. I won't ditch you either like those asshole friends you had before," she said, taking her hand and guiding her towards her room.

(Y/N) plopped down on her bed as she watched Historia open her closet. "Cute skirt! We just need a top," she said, tossing the white skirt onto her bed.

"I just wanna watch All American tonight," she groaned, laying down on her bed.

Historia looked back at her. "Why watch football guys when you can find one for yourself?" she asked, giggling a bit. "Here! This is a cute top," she added, showing her the light blue body suit.

(Y/N) sat up, scratching the back of her head. "Ugh, fine." she said, coming to grab the outfit. "I hope this party is actually fun," she mumbled, heading towards the bathroom.

She threw on the outfit, eyeing herself in the mirror. It had been a long time since she's gone out, she hoped it would be a decent night.

She opened the bathroom door. "What do you think?" (Y/N) asked, looking at Historia who was sitting on her bed.

"I love it! You look so good! Let's get going!" she yelled excitedly.

She put on her shoes and exited her apartment with Historia. Nervousness bubbled in her stomach as she got into the car, she hoped the party would be fine.

-

Arriving to the party, (Y/N) felt her nerves rising. She didn't know who the person was hosting the party, Historia said it was come guy named Jean who was hosting it. She didn't know a Jean, so she assumed it was one of Historia's friends from college.

Stepping inside the house she was smacked in the face with the smell of alcohol and marijuana, her nose scrunched as the odor filled her nose. People danced to the loud music or sat on the couches sipping drinks or kissed with each other.

"Come on!" Historia yelled, guiding (Y/N) through the crowds of people.

She looked around the kitchen as Historia ran towards Ymir. "You guys finally made it," Ymir said, hugging Historia tightly.

"Yeah.. sorry! I had to get (Y/N) ready," Historia said, looking over at her.

She stood awkwardly as she didn't know anybody at the party. "Here, I got you this. You seem a little nervous," Ymir said, handing her a red solo cup with red liquid in it.

(Y/N) looked down at the cup. "Are you sure?" she asked, looking at her friend with concern.

She scoffed. "(Y/N) just let loose, me and Historia are here if you get shit faced. Have some fun," she said, patting her shoulder.

She nodded, taking a sip of the drink. Her face twisted as the alcohol filled her mouth, burning as it went down her throat. It was strong, it tasted fruity. Jungle juice wasn't her favorite, but it'll do than having shitty shots and having a bad hangover.

(Y/N) leaned against the counter as a few people came over to talk to Historia and Ymir, her mind was too clouded with thoughts of boredom to even pay attention to what they were saying.

"(Y/N)!" her thoughts were broken by Ymir snapping her fingers in her face.

She shook her head. "Sorry! I zoned out.. what's up?" she asked, blinking a bit.

Ymir chuckled a bit. "I gotta go with Historia to the bathroom. You can come with if you'd like," she said.

She nodded. "I'm fine, I'll just wait here." she replied, swirling her drink around.

"Alright! We'll be back," Historia said, waving a bit as she walked away with Ymir.

(Y/N) sat on the counter staring into space, her mind kept wandering to that night she got ditched and met Eren. She would do anything to relive that night again, the way he looked, to the way his hair blew around his face when the windows were rolled down. She wanted to see him again.

Her eyes averted upwards, looking around at the different people who were dancing or messing around.

That's when her eyes landed on the figure leaning against the wall.

Brown hair in a manbun, sweats, a hoodie, and a drink in his hand.

It was Eren.

It was almost like her breath got caught in her throat, she felt her heart beginning to race and her palms began to get sweaty. What was the coincidence he was here at the same party as her? Should she approach him? What if he doesn't want to see her?

That's when his eyes landed on her. His brows raised, he leaned up off the wall.

"(Y/N)! We're back! Do you wanna go play some beer pong?" Ymir asked, nodding at her.

She looked towards Ymir and blinked. "Um.. sure! I'll just watch," she replied, hopping off the counter.

She couldn't help but feel Eren's eyes boring into her head. She wanted to talk to him, hear his voice, but something in her made her nervous. She made her way down the stairs as there was a table set with beer pong, a boy with a shaved head was playing with another boy with blonde hair.

"Haha! Get that Reiner! I win!" the shaved head boy yelled, laughing at his friend.

"Oh shut it Connie," the blonde replied, crossing his arms and walking away towards the couch.

(Y/N) felt a lump her throat as she leaned against the wall, Eren was here. He was here and she knew he might try to find her, the room felt stuffy and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Why was she so nervous? Was it the fact that her and Eren ended off awkward terms and seeing him for the first time made her nervous?

"Hey um.. I'm gonna go outside," (Y/N) said, standing up.

Ymir and Historia looked over at her. "Okay! Be careful," Historia replied, smiling at her. "Text me when you wanna come back," she added.

(Y/N) smiled and went up the stairs. She opened the front door and walked outside, she breathed in the cool night air. It felt better than being in the stuffy room. Her nerves were high as the memory of Eren played in her head, what was she going to do? She couldn't exactly avoid him! That would seem wrong considering she didn't want to cut him off.

"Ugh.. what am I going to do?" she asked, staring down at the floor.

"So you came out here too huh?"

Her body froze as she knew who's voice that was. She turned around to see Eren standing against the wall, he held the red solo cup in his hand.

"Eren.." she said, feeling her heart racing.

He smiled a bit. "I never thought I'd ever see you again," he said, stepping a bit closer towards her. "How have you been?" he asked.

(Y/N) fidgeted her fingers a bit. "Um.. I've been okay, what about you?" she replied.

He sighed. "I could be better, dealing with classes has been difficult. I was surprised to see you here, do you know Jean?" he asked, nodding his head.

She laughed a bit. "No I came here with a friend," she replied, looking up at his green eyes.

Eren shook his head, sitting up on the railing in front of the porch. "How has everything been going? It's been awhile since we last talked," he said, swinging his legs a bit.

The way he looked made her cheeks feel hot, she forgot about how cute he was close up.

"Um I've been actually doing better! Historia and Ymir helped me a lot. The process was hard, but I feel better now," she replied, smiling at him.

Eren's heart swelled seeing her smile. "That's great.. I'm happy for you really. You deserve the happiness," he said, putting his solo cup on the railing. "I just want to apologize for not reaching out or speaking to you. Believe me I wanted to, but I wasn't sure if it was fine with you." he added, rubbing the back of his neck.

(Y/N) looked up at him. "Don't apologize, considering the way things ended I kind of expected you to drift a bit." she said, leaning against the wall.

He nodded. "What do you mean? (Y/N) I wasn't mad at you, I just put distance between us because- nevermind. Just know that I don't hate you," he said, smiling a bit. "Your situation was understandable, what was going on was difficult. I see why you did it," he added.

She swallowed thickly as the tension between them began to get thick.

"Oh shit.. did I make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry I didn't mean to," Eren said, standing up and walking over to her.

She looked up at him. "What? No, Eren don't worry you're fine. It's just... I have something to tell you and I don't know how to say it," she said.

His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "What is it? You can tell me anything," he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

(Y/N) let out a shaky breath. "Eren.. I still like you." she said. "I always have and I've missed you so so much," she added, looking down at the ground.

Eren's eyes went wide hearing her words. "You do?" he asked, nodding. "(Y/N)... I missed you too and I still like you. I never got over you," he added, smiling.

Her head shot up hearing his words. "What? Wait.. Eren you don't have to lie or say it out of pity," she said, shaking her head a bit.

He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "(Y/N) I'm not lying to you. I would never lie to someone like you ever, fuck I was so messed up not talking to you everyday. I want to make you my girlfriend and make you forget all that bad shit your ex did to you," he said, cupping her cheek.

She smiled, feeling heat rush onto her cheeks. "That sounds perfect.." she said, staring into his eyes.

They stared at each other for a moment, before Eren pressed his lips onto hers. He put his arms around her, pulling her close. (Y/N) put her arms around his neck, feeling his soft lips on hers.

He pulled away smiling as he kissed her cheek. "I've waited so long to finally kiss you. I waited to finally have this moment," he said, cupping her cheek.

She felt her heart flutter at his words. "You waited all this time for me?" she asked, feeling heat on her cheeks.

He smiled. "I did.. I never gave up," he replied, kissing her cheek again. "What do you say we get out of here and catch up? I missed having you in my car," he asked, nodding.

She giggled. "That sounds great! Let me just text my friends," she said, taking her phone out to message Historia.

Eren fished in his pockets for his keys. She sent the message and took his hand as he lead her to his car, she smiled as she got in, feeling the memories replaying in her head as she adjusted herself in her seat.

"McDonald's?" Eren asked, smirking a bit.

She giggled. "Sounds great," she replied, taking his hand into hers.

[nightowlfandom]

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher x Reader- 27 (Part 2)

Hey beautiful people! SOOOO I got a comment on my last Scream imagine and they said...

ok but like a part 2 where we go picking them all off one by one and tell them what happened to (y/n) before we end them? and the revenge on the parents for it too? make them feel sorry for what they did and expose them to everyone. I mean not forcing but lightly tapping an idea

and....I AM IN LOVE...SO I GOT YOU BRAH 

READ PART 1?

CHECK OUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!

Okay so you know the drill, I will let you know when to proceed with caution.

LEGGO!

... (Picking up directly after the events of part 1)

“...My parents weren’t the most loving people around.” you stared down at your fingertips. “They were overbearing...very controlling...loved to gaslight me from time to time.” you felt a lump form in your throat. “After the Hanna thing, they tried to sent me to boarding school.”

You three sat in Stu’s basement. You sat cross-legged on the floor and Stu and Billy cleaned up the dead body. Stu had given you a rag to wipe the blood off your face and hands. 

“A while back before we all met...my parents weren’t too bad. Then Hanna came along and decided to ruin that for me too. She and her friends dragged me into the woods and beat me up...I was bleeding out everywhere...she told my parents I attacked her...she told them that I-..That I tried to kill her.” you shook your head. “My parents never looked at me the same...like they disowned me without saying they did.” you sniffed.

“What about the others?” Billy ceased his activities to stare at you. He was impressed how well you seemed to be taking everything. 

“ Dylan leaked my friend’s nudes, Jennifer is Hanna’s slave...she was Hanna Number 2 when she couldn’t torture anyone else. Rachel....I just hate Rachel, and Cameron...is my ex.” you explained. “There are others...many others.” you seethed. 

“And we’ll get to all of them.” Stu finished his job of tying Hanna’s legs together. “But first...how do you feel?”

“Like I just killed someone.” you half-joked, bringing your knees to your chest. “Why didn’t you guys tell me?”

“We didn’t want to scare you.” Billy reminded you. “We know how you are Y/N.”

“Still.” you pouted. “It would have been nice to know that you two were behind all this.” you stared at the floor. “Why didn’t you guys...y’know-”

“We wanted to...” Billy dusted himself off. “We tried...then you just had to charm us with that smile of yours.” he bit his lip as he smiled at the thought. “You just had to go and be adorable.”

There he was, standing with Stu hunched over a notebook of possible victims. They had agreed you’d be next, they really did. They had introduced themselves to you and gained your trust, but along the way, your kindness, your willingness to be so vulnerable around then...accepting them (especially Billy) for their flaws, they couldn’t...they wouldn’t.

“Can I help with anything?” you asked, standing to your feet. 

“Not unless you know a place to dump this body.” Billy replied. 

“There’s a lake behind Hanna’s house...” you recalled. “I saw it when my parents used to go over there for dinner.”

“Great!” Stu skipped over and took you in a hug. “So who do you wanna get first?”

“Me? You’re letting me choose?” you stared up at Stu who swore up and down you looked the most adorable you ever have, if that was even possible. 

“This is your list, isn’t it?” Billy casually strode over. He tilted your chin up at him. “Just let us take care of it.”

“...Dylan first.” you concluded. “It’s for my friend...he has to go.” you asserted. 

“As you wish princess.” 

...(The Next Day)

   You trudged away from your parent’s car, doing your usual habits of ignoring them as they saw you off. You saw Billy and Stu waiting for you on some benches. They glared behind you, obviously getting a good look of your parents. 

“Hey cutie.” Stu threw himself at you, hugging you super tight. “How’d you sleep?”

“Shitty...” you mumbled. “Guess who just caught word of Hannas’s...untimely demise.”

“Serves the bitch right.” Billy flicked his middle finger at your parents as they drove off. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Dylan throwing around a football with his friends. His gaze darted in your direction. He looked surprised to see you and Stu so close, so much so that he hesitated to throw the ball back to his friends. “Hey asshole, you got your turn. Hand her over.” Billy flicked Stu on the head as he pulled your out of Stu’s embrace.

“Oh you’re no fun.” Stu laughed, waving him off. Billy wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you to his chest and gingerly trailing his fingers down your back. 

“Hey Y/N...” 

You paused your momentary happy moment when Dylan came jogging up. You pulled away from Billy and faced your friend’s ex-boyfriend. “What?”

“Um...Hey.” he did that douche-bag hair flip. “What’s up?”

“I’m just spectacular.” you grimaced. He was really talking to you like he wasn’t the reason your only other friend switched schools. “Need something?”

“Yeah. I wanted to invite you to my party tonight.”

‘I’d rather-” you began, only to realize the mega opportunity you’d receive. 

“Are your other friends coming?” you shifted all your weight to one side and pretended to absentmindedly twirl your hair. 

“Um...Y-yeah.” he nodded.

“Can my friends come?” you acted oblivious and dumb, the only language he and his friends seemed to understand when it came to women.

“Sure. They can come join the fun.” he winked. “Tonight, 8:00 o’clock.”

“Splendid, you winked. I’ll be there.” 

As Dylan returned to his friends, all of them laughing about the joke they thought you didn’t understand, Billy and Stu stood at your sides.

“You’re killer is showing, love.” Stu kissed the side of your head. “Easy now.” he laughed, even though he knew he was talking complete bullshit.

“I’m gonna have so much fun slitting that one’s throat.” Billy pointed to Rachel. “This is gonna be awesome.”

...(That Night)

You had managed to make it a few hours. Without completely losing your mind. Billy had taken it upon himself to put up him brooding angst-filled sadboi attitude and Stu showed up in his honorary pimp robe. 

Now you all were sitting in a circle, playing stupid games.

“Y/N...truth or dare?” Jennifer called on you next, noticing how quiet you had been.

“Kiss, Fuck, Or Kill. Stu Macher, Cameron Kent, and Dylan Bayle.”

With a bored grin, you looked her right in the eye. She dared you to say you would fuck her boyfriend, little does she know...

“I guess I’d have to kiss Cameron...” you began warmly, recalling how you two used to date. Gross... “And as much as I love pissing you off...I wouldn’t touch Dylan with a ten foot pole...so I’d have sex with Stu.”

A few wolf whistles from the guy chorused around the circle as a few guys pat Stu on the back. Your eyes looked over at Stu whose cheeks were tinted pink. He shot you a smile and a quick wink.

“And you know what that leaves?...I’d kill Dylan.” you smirked, only to put on a front again. Before anyone could say anything else, you all heard a phone ring. Coincidentally, the phone was right next to you. 

“Y/N, get that will you. Put it on speaker.”

“I got you.” you grabbed the phone. “Hello?”

“What number is this?”

“What number are you trying to reach?” you replied.

“I dunno...”

“Sure buddy.” you rolled your eyes as you hung up.

“Okay! Dylan!” Rachel drunkenly asked. “Truth or Dare!”

“Dare baby!” Dylan laughed.

“I dare you to go into the bedroom with Y/N and do something with her!” she laughed. “You can’t leave until you do something!”

“Did anyone ask my opinion on this?” you felt disgusted as the words left your mouth. How much longer were you gonna have to put up with this? “Stu, help me out!” 

“A dare’s a dare, babe.” he laughed as he took another swig of whatever. 

“Ugh!!” you grimaced as you stood up and followed Dylan. You made sure to lightly bump your shoulder against Stu’s as you walked. You two looked eyes momentarily, sharing a discrete smirk between eachother.

The door closed behind you. (PROCEED WITH CAUTION! READ MORE BELOW THE LINE BREAK)

...

You stood there, playing with your fingers as Dylan came up to you.

“You know Y/N...I’ve always liked you.”

“Oh really?” you asked shyly. “W-well why didn’t you tell me?” you half giggled half gagged.

“I couldn’t find the right words.” he reached out to touch your cheek.

Meanwhile downstairs, everyone laughed at the hidden camera footage they were watching. They couldn’t wait to post this to the school’s website. 

“Oh my god!” you screamed at you pointed behind Dylan. Everyone watched as a dark hooded figure creeped up behind Dylan and grabbed him buy the back of his head, digging a knife into his shoulder. Then he charged for you, stabbing you in the stomach...slowly but surely he creeped up to the camera, looking directly at it. “Nuh uh uh~” he sang before he punched the camera, causing the signal to break.

This caused everyone to scream bloody murder and attempted to scream.

Back in the bedroom, you had managed to hear the screaming. “Can I get up now?” you rolled over. “Pretending to die is so weird.”

“Allow me.” Billy walked over and helped you to your feet, ridding himself of his Ghostface mask. “You look good covered in fake blood.”

“Do I?” you fake pouted. Billy didn’t answer and instead kissed you. He held your face in his hands, gently moving his soft lips against yours. He would have went crazy is Dylan managed to get that far. He was glad that he could finally show how he felt about you in a personal way. 

“You do.” he bit his lip as he pulled away.

“W-what the fuck?!” Dylan, who was very much alive looked between you two. “You’re in on this.”

“Oh shut up!” you grabbed Billy’s knife and walked up to him. “Kyla Grayson, who is she?”

“Kyla Grayson?”

“ARE YOU AN ECHO?” you snapped. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know! I swear!” he tried to cower away from you.

“You don’t remember showing private pictures of a young impressionable freshman to your fucking friends?” you glared. “She trusted you...she liked you a lot...and because of you she had to move to a different county.” you raised the knife over your head. “Any last words?”

“SURPRISE!” Stu burst through the door, also dawning a Ghostface getup, only without the voice changer. He was dragging Jennifer and Rachel by the hair.

“You’re just in time for the show.” you said, not looking up from Dylan. 

“Y/N...y-you’re-”

“Don’t talk.” you kept your eyes on Dylan. “I’ll get to you soon.”

(Part 3 will be revenge against your parents)

[oldjane]

👻🎃TRICK OR TREAT 🎃👻

“Oh, Joe,” Booker says, sounding way too casually to actually be casual. “You coming to the bar tonight?”

Joe hadn’t planned on it. Nicky was supposed to have a rare Friday evening off, and Joe had really been looking forward to spending the night in with his boyfriend, but Nicky had just sent him a message.

Amore, Nile is throwing a surprise party for Quynh before she leaves on her trip. She didn’t invite me sooner because she assumed I’d have to work, but it would be nice to get to say goodbye. Would you mind terribly?

Joe sighs. He hasn’t had a chance to meet Nicky’s friends yet, but he knows Quynh is going on a trip around the world or something, planning to stay away for a year at least. And Joe can empathise with saying good-bye, since his co-worker Andy has just left the firm for a similar trip. So he cannot deny Nicky this opportunity, can he?

“Sure,” he says to Booker, not paying attention as he texts Nicky back.

Of course not, hayati. I’ll go have a drink with Booker, then. Be safe and see you tonight.

He follows Booker out, and they walk to their usual pub. Joe’s trying to look forward to an evening of handing out with Booker, talking about football and ribbing each other about the other guy’s team’s losses. Nicky doesn’t really care for football – except when Italy plays. He’ll mope for days if they lose, but Joe handles it stoically, because when they win, Nicky likes to celebrate with some truly inspired, mind-blowing sex.

“Hey!” Booker punches his side. “Are you even listening to me? I’m saying Feyenoord should never have even gotten into the UEFA League, they’re clearly the weakest team in there.”

“Oh, right,” Joe says sarcastically, putting thoughts of Nicky aside. “I’ll bet you 50 euro they make it to the next round unbeaten.”

“You’re so on, bro,” Booker says, ordering another round.

“Thanks,” Joe says as he tips the bottle against Booker’s.

“Oh, I can afford it,” Booker replies loftily. “I got a nice, crisp 50-euro bill coming.”

To be honest, he’s probably right. Nicky would tut at Joe for betting against the house, but, truth be told, Nicky loved a good wager just as much as Joe did. Only, between them, they didn’t bet money. Sometimes, they bet household chores, but more often there were other prizes to be won.

“I might as well not be here,” Booker sighs dramatically. “Christ, Joe, am I really that boring?”

“Of course not,” Joe hastily says, mentally shaking himself. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I asked if it’s okay if my girlfriend stops by,” Booker says, as if it’s no big deal, but the way he ducks his head tells another story. He blushes faintly.

“Bro!” Joe claps him on the shoulder. “Of course that’s okay! Why is this the first I hear of a girlfriend? I’m so happy for you!”

It’s the truth. Booker has not had it easy, after a nasty divorce in which his ex spread vicious lies about Booker to get not only all his assets, but also keep Booker’s sons away from him. In the end, Booker had won the trial, but it had made him wary about love, and way too cynical for his own good. In all honesty, that’s really the only reason Joe hasn’t brought up Nicky yet. He didn’t want to make Booker feel bad. But if he’s serious about this new woman… Joe feels his heart lighten at the thought. Maybe they can all go out together one day.

“Well, it’s – new,” Booker says bashfully. “We’ve been on a couple of dates, but it’s going really well, Joe. She’s so vibrant and lively and I don’t even know what she sees in me, but…” He shrugs self-deprecatingly. “Anyway, she said she’d come meet you.”

“That’s amazing!” Joe smiles widely. “What’s her name?”

“Nile,” Booker says dreamily.

Joe smiles at his confident friend being so clearly in love. It’s a funny name, though, Nile. Coincidentally, Nicky’s friend is also called –

“There she is,” Booker says excitedly, waving at a pretty woman with a mass of dark braids. She’s waving back elegantly, rather more dignified than Booker, but her eyes light up when she spots him. Good. Joe would have hated for Booker’s crush to be one-sided.

And then Nile steps closer, and she’s gesturing at somebody to follow, and –

Suddenly Nicky is standing at their table. He’s looking good, too, and Joe is reminded he hasn’t seen his boyfriend since very early this morning.

“Hi,” Nile says brightly, holding out her hand to Joe. “I’m Nile. You must be Joe. This is my friend Nicky.”

Joe stares at Nicky.

“Uh, hello,” Nicky says, cautiously.

“Joe is a graphic designer,” Booker says with gusto. “But really he’s an artist. Are you interested in art at all, Nicky?”

“Oh, uh, I –”

“Oh, he is!” Nile replies in Nicky’s place. “It’ll be a nice change from what he usually gets, though, right, Nicky? Nicky is a paediatric nurse,” she adds, presumably for Joe’s benefit. “And a damned good one, if I say so. The kids always love you, don’t they, Nicky?”

Joe’s eyes flit from Nicky, to Nile, to Booker, and back.

“Anyway!” Nile says a bit too loud when nobody reacts to her words. “Booker, can you come to the bar with me? I won’t be able to carry all the drinks.”

Joe and Nicky stare at their friends’ retreating backs bewildered.

“I thought you were going to a farewell party for Quynh?” Joe says stupidly when Nicky turns towards him again.

“I thought so too – I mean, we did meet with Quynh, but not for long – what’s going on here?”

“Apparently your friend Nile is Booker’s new girlfriend,” Joe shrugs. “That’s all I knew.”

“She was really insistent I come along...”

They look at each other, and then –

“Are we being set up?” they both chime in unison, incredulously.

“Oh, damn,” Joe says, and Nicky shakes his head.

“See, this is why I don’t talk about my private life to Nile.”

“Imagine if you had, though. Who knows who Booker would have tried to set me up if you hadn’t been an option.”

Nicky stares at him, clearly unimpressed. Joe stares back, a challenge on his face. And then they burst out in laughter.

“Santa Maria Madre di Dio,” Nicky hiccups. “I’m being set up with my own boyfriend.”

Joe wheezes. “Wanna swap me for your newest set up, babe?”

“Well,” Nicky manages between pelts of laughter. “I guess we might as well give them what they want. Or at least, I might take what I want.”

He leans over and kisses Joe soundly. Joe doesn’t hesitate a moment, and before long, it’s probably a bit too deep and passionate for a public space.

But it’s all worth it when they hear the shocked gasps of their friends as they come back with drinks.

Nicky tears himself away from Joe with some difficulty.

“Booker,” Joe smirks. “Meet my boyfriend, Nicky. He’s interested in art, did you hear? Especially when I draw him in the nu-”

Booker holds up his hands, and Nile actually shrieks.

“Oh, god,” Booker says when everybody is past the first shock, and they’re all seated in the booth, with their right partners by their sides. “I gotta hand it to you, Joe. You should have bet on this, could have made you a pretty penny.”

“That’s fine,” Joe says. “I accept bad luck in the game. I already hit the jackpot in love.”

Nicky rewards him with a long kiss, and Booker pretends to be grossed out by the sappiness, but judging by the way he looks at Nile, he might stop betting soon, too.

[pokelemony]

Today is a good day

word count - 1083 words

-

Today is a good day.

And for once he wasn’t being sarcastic about it, it really was a great day! None of the ghosts were causing any trouble (well, except for minor ghosts like Ectopuses but those were no sweat), he did all his chores, finished all his homework, and he finally has the time to hang out with Sam and Tucker later!

He hummed a tune as he relaxed, floating in mid-air. Looking up at the sky, it was light blue in colour and free of clouds. The breeze brushed through his hair, giving a pleasant and comfortable feeling. If it weren’t for the wind it’d be sweltering hot today.

Danny stretched and popped his joints, yawning all the while. “Alright, that’s enough slacking off. Gotta get these Ectopuses right back to the ghost zone”

But just before he could fly off, the faint shouts of children could be heard. Are they calling him? "Oh no," he muttered to himself, preparing for any trouble as he dashed off to the source of the sound.

He was mentally prepared for anything. Skulker? Technus? Bring it on! It was becoming a bit too boring around here anyways.

What he didn’t expect was for a group of kids to be there, still yelling his name. Scratch that, he did expect civilians, who else would’ve shouted for his help? He just didn’t expect them to be, well, uninjured.

He checked each and every one of them to make sure they were all okay, then checked the surroundings for any signs of an attack or the remains of one. They all seem fine; some people were even walking their dog around the park and some were jogging. That’s weird, he could’ve sworn they were in danger.

He floated down slowly to the area where those kids were huddled around. Concerned, he wracked his brain for an explanation. Are they overshadowed? No, their eyes aren’t glowing red. Are they injured? No, he already checked them beforehand. Is one of their friends in danger? Oh Ancients, he hopes not. But then again, they don’t look worried too worried so maybe not.

Sighing, he shook his head. He was getting nowhere with this; he’ll just have to ask those kids himself.

Clearing his throat he landed soundlessly on the ground. The kids cheered, running closer to him. Rubbing the back of his neck and throwing a sheepish grin he looked down at the mass of grinning children, “Uh, hi there! What seems to be the problem?”

A few kids squealed and one of them walked up to him and gave him the biggest smile he’s ever seen. “There’s no problem at all Mister Phantom, we just wanted to see you up close!”

Danny blinked owlishly at them, before doubling over in laughter. So that’s what got him all worried? Maybe Jazz was right, he was paranoid. He should’ve known better; he trusts the people of Amity to not deliberately put themselves in more danger than necessary. Maybe.

His chuckles faded away, but his grin was still bright on his face. “Well, I’m here now! Is there anything you all wanted to do in particular?”

His smile widened at the excited gasps they let out before simultaneously erupting into what could be called a shouting competition. Yelling out their suggestions louder than the others as if that’ll convince the rest that their idea is obviously the superior one.

“Can we play hide and seek?”

“No, that’s lame! He should show us all his powers!”

“But I wanna play games with him!”

“I want him to carry me in the air!”

“He can’t carry all of us!”

“Well, he’ll just carry me then!”

He chuckled before mediating the situation, “Alright, settle down you guys. We can decide on something we all like, okay?” It was amusing seeing all the kids quiet down and listen to him so eagerly.

He hummed and got thinking, “Hmm, well what were you guys playing before I got here?”

The kids brightened as one of them enthusiastically shouted “Football!” right as 2 of them immediately ran off presumably to get the balls.

A few of the kids looked a bit annoyed, one crossed his arms and huffed. “How many times do we have to tell you this? It’s called soccer, not football!”

Danny raised an amused eyebrow at that, sounds like a reoccurring argument. He let out a hearty laugh, they’re just like Sam and Tucker.

The kid that yelled out beforehand crossed their arm as well. “Is not! It’s called football for a reason!”

“Well-!”

“Guys, we’re back with the balls!” indeed they were, effectively shutting up the kids. They all ran towards the field, argument far forgotten.

He smiled, walking after them. Grin widening as he got close enough to hear them get into another argument, this time about himself. Man, these kids are full of energy.

“Phantom should join us! We’re the better team!”

“No way! You already have Nicolas and he’s the best player, let us have Phantom!”

“Phantom deserves to be on the winning team!”

“No! We already have a handicap”

Danny awkwardly chuckled, rubbing his neck. He’s not too good at diffusing arguments, his tries with Sam and Tucker never ended well. He thought about a role that would be fair for both teams.

He cut them off in the middle of their argument, hesitantly putting his two cents. “I could be the referee?”

“NO!”

Well, they could all agree on that one.

In the end, it was decided that Danny would take a turn on each team so that everyone got a chance to play with him. They played well into the sunset, and they all were getting noticeably tired.

They decided to call it a day, despite the multiple protests of “I can keep playing!” and “I’m not tired at all!”. Congratulating everyone on their skills and high-fiving each other.

Danny’s team won every match of course.

He promised them that they could all play again sometime, and by the time everyone’s parents picked them up and said their goodbyes it was almost time for his hangout with Sam and Tucker.

He rushed over to Sam’s house where they’re going to have a movie marathon, feeling giddy from today’s events. He couldn’t wait to spend time with them.

And as he snuggled into his space-themed blanket, Sam and Tucker at his side bickering on which movie to watch, he can’t help but smile contently.

Yeah, today’s a good day.

-

Another work on "Danny deserves love" or "Danny being appreciated" >:] while the concept of him being bad with kids is funny i will take danny being good with kids to the grave with me

[fatiguing-thoughts]

“Natural” - Chapter Two - Embry Call x Reader

Day of Normalcy

I went home a little more awake then when I left. I helped my dad unpack some more stuff while I had some energy. We talked about my day with the guys as we set up the house. 

“I’m glad that you’re so happy again. It’s like the real (Y/N) is back.” He smiled at me.

“It feels like it, too. I’m so happy to be back. It almost feels like we never left.” I smile back at him. 

“It looks to be that way.”

I look over at the clock, it’s a little past three in the morning. 

“I think we should call it quits for tonight. It’s pretty much done, because the movers doing a lot of the work.” I yawn. 

“Of course. Goodnight, hun.” 

We both retreated to our rooms. 

I plopped down on my bed, looking at the ceiling, wondering about tomorrow.

What’s it going to be like to see Embry for the first time in person in years? 

My mind races for a few minutes, thinking of every possibility. I look at my phone, I got a message from Embry a few hours ago. 

I open the message, it was a link to a new song he wanted me to listen to. I smiled to myself, pressing play. As the song played, I fell into a deep slumber. 

I woke up to the smell of pancakes coming from downstairs. I followed the aroma into the kitchen. 

“Thanks, dad.” I grab a plate and sit down at the table next to him. “You got it, kid.” He looks up from the newspaper. 

“What’s your plan for the day?” I ask. 

“Well, I’m going to see Billy and Harry today. I think we might go fishing.” 

“Oh, nice. That’s fun.” 

“What about you?” He sips his coffee. 

“I’m going to surprise Embry. Probably hang out with all the guys.” 

“Oh, Embry, huh?” He looks at me with a knowing face.

“Dad, please.” I beg. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll stop teasing you about your crush.” He says, putting his hands up in the air, false surrendering.

“Dad!” I exclaim, blushing like a maniac. 

He smiles before putting his dishes in the dishwasher, walking upstairs to go get ready for his guys day. 

I followed suit, I had to get ready to see everyone. 

I walked upstairs to find a missed call from Jake. I called him back as I started looking for something to wear. 

“Hey, (Y/N). You should come to my house at 11:30. We’re gonna be playing video games. Just walk into the house.” He says over the phone. 

“Alright, sounds like a plan.” I hang up the phone. 

It was daunting to figure out what to wear, I worried about seeing Embry. I dug through all my clothes. 

By the end of it, I decided on some jeans, a pair of vans, and a moderately flattering black t-shirt. 

Yeah, I knew this would happen. Searching through clothes to only pick out the most casual and boring outfit ever. I grab a hoodie, just in case I stay out later with them and it gets cold. 

I look at the clock, it’s only 11. I had a few more minutes to kill before the twenty minute drive so I decided to stop at a little convenience store and grab some of our favorite snacks. 

I pull into the lot and walk into the little store. I grab a few bags of chips, including two bags of blue doritos as they reign supreme, and regular potato chips for Quil-- because he’s weird. 

I put the bags into my passenger seat and begin the exciting, yet agonizing drive. I decided to listen to Embry and I’s shared playlist, hoping it would calm my nerves. 

I pull in front of Jake’s house once again, nerves returning into my stomach. I approach the front door and hear a few screaming boys. I easily recognized Embry’s from the last time we spoke on the phone, and it was even better in person. 

I push the door open, walking in casually and putting the bags of chips on the table. 

Only Jacob tore his eyes from the screen, smiling at me. 

“Wow, you guys are pretty distracted, huh?” I joke. 

Quil and Embry’s heads snap up in my direction. Quil was smiling at me, looking back to Embry to see a reaction. 

Embry’s face flashed through so many emotions. Confusion, surprise, happiness, and then what I could only describe as a state of shock. His mouth slightly agape, eyebrows slightly raised. Our eyes refused to break away from each other. He dropped the controller in his hands. I felt a force pushing all around me, almost suffocating me. Though, I felt no pain. I felt serene, this was a positive feeling. I dropped the bags of chips that were once in my arms. 

“We called it.” Quil says aloud, snapping me out of it. 

“Hey.” I smile to Embry.

“(Y/N). Hi.” Embry says, getting up from his spot to hug me. 

He hugs me, and it felt so different than any other hug I’ve ever received. While it felt to reunite and hug Jake and Quil, it didn’t compare to how hugging Embry felt. Though, he too felt like he was burning hot. 

I guess my feelings weren’t gone, nor were they planning to leave any time soon. I was overwhelmed with my feelings towards Embry, I could only hope he had felt at least a fraction of what I felt. 

After what felt like forever, he let me go after hearing Quil and Jake mumbling about something back on the couch. 

“What?” I ask them, looking behind Embry.

“Nothing.” Jake winks at me, the blushing returned to my cheeks. 

“How are you?” Embry asks me.

“I’m really happy to be back. How are you?” I ask him, looking into his deep, chocolate brown eyes. 

“I’m great. I’m so happy you’re back. You’re back for good, right?” He asks, eyes pleading with mine.

“Yes, I’m back for good.” I smile at him. 

“You got really tall, too. What the hell did I miss?” I ask, wondering how everyone I knew suddenly turned into giants. 

“I did get tall. It seems like you’re the only one who missed the memo, bean.” Embry lightly laughs at me. 

I blushed at the nickname. The one he gave me years ago, when he hit his first growth spurt at 15, making fun of me who didn’t grow past 5’2”, when he hit 5’10. 

Now the kid’s gotta be 6’4”. Quil was a few inches shorter than Embry, but Jacob still had some  inches on Embry. Embry looked way more muscular than the last time I had seen him, but still more of a lean build than Jake and Quil. It would take some time to swallow how different they all look, now. They weren’t the scrawny kids I remember. 

“So, can I have some of those chips?” Quil asks, breaking the tension in the air. 

“Oh shit, sorry. Yeah.” I bend down, picking up the bags of chips off the floor. 

Embry looked at Quil, eyes narrowing at him. Quil smiles back at him, like a kid who stole candy from a baby. 

I walk his plain old potato chips over to him, earning a thank you and appreciative fist bump. 

“You wanna get destroyed in smash bros?” Jacob offers me a controller. 

“I’d love to destroy you all in smash bros, yes.” I smirk, taking the controller from his hands. Embry puts the bags of blue doritos on the table, taking one for himself. 

Jake and I start playing, I glance over at the bag of doritos, before turning my attention back to the screen-- determined to beat Jacob. 

“You want a chip?” Embry offers.

“Yes please.” I smile. 

“Okay, open.” He puts the chip into my mouth, causing me to blush from shyness. 

I see him smirking at my blushing out of the corner of my eye. 

I focus my attention on the game once more, killing Jacob’s character for the third time-- winning the game.

“Hah!” I exclaim, jumping out of my seat in excitement. 

“Cheater.” He grumbles. 

“You wish, Jake.” I laugh. 

Jake’s phone begins to ring on the table. Bella’s name flashing on the screen. 

I begin to wonder if he still had his crush on her, or if they were together now. Though, I think that he would have mentioned it. 

“Oh shit. What time is it?” He asks, getting ready to pick up his phone. 

“Only like noon.” I tell him.

“Hello? Yeah I’m still good for one. That works. I’ll see you soon.” He hangs up the phone.

“Gonna torture yourself some more, bud?” Quil teases. 

Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.

“Shut up, Quil.” Jacob snaps. 

“What’s going on with her? You still have a crush on her, right?” I ask him with comforting eyes. 

“You could also call it, hopelessly head over heels in love with Bella, actually.” Quil snarkily remarks. 

“Shut it.” Jacob snaps. 

I look at Jake, hoping for him to talk to me. 

“Uh yeah, things are complicated.” His voice lingering with sorrow and disappointment, his eyes moving from mine to his feet.

I looked over to Embry, who wore the same sad, empathetic face as me. Our eyes connected in grief for our friend suffering with the girl he loves. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Jake. You always do. What’s going on?” I ask, placing my hand on his shoulder. 

“She’s dating Edward Cullen. That’s the issue here. He’s got his cold hands wrapped so tight around her.” He says angrily. 

“I don’t know who that is, but I am sure he’s not like you. Maybe she’ll come around one day, if he’s so bad she’ll probably see that eventually.” I try supporting him. 

“No, believe me. If she hasn’t left yet, she never will. There’s a lot going on there.” Quil says. 

Jacob’s face growing more upset by the minute made me sick. I hated to see someone I considered my best friend to be so upset. A pit in my stomach began to form. 

“Well, then there’s someone better for you out there. Don’t hold out on someone who doesn’t appreciate your true value.” I rub his back a bit, trying to ease him. 

I see Embry grow a bit uncomfortable for a second, until I look at him and he smiles at me. 

“I know, it’s just easier said than done.” He says, still not looking up from the ground. 

“I know, I understand. You deserve more than this. You’re so young, you have so much time to find someone. You’re sweet, handsome, caring, tall, and one of the funniest guys I know. Anyone would be lucky to have you, Jake. Don’t let one girl kill your self-esteem.” I wrap my arm around his shoulder now, as I watch a single tear fall from his face. 

“It just hurts.” He says, leaning into me. His large head almost feels like it’s bruising my shoulder, but if it helps him, it helps. 

“I know, bud. I know.” I tell him. 

He rubs his face with his hands, standing up and walking to the door.

“Wanna go throw the football?” He invites us all.

“Yeah.” We all respond in unison. 

I get up, Embry following close behind me; seemingly watching my every move. 

I could get used to this.

Quil comes out last, shutting the door. Jacob grabs the football and throws it to Embry, very hard. I make a mental note to not let Jacob throw me the ball. 

Embry turns to me, throwing it swiftly, seemingly softer than Jacob’s throw but still enough to make me wince. 

A look of guilt and apologeticness flooded his facial features. 

“Sorry!” He yells, running over to me.

“It’s ok, I’m fine.” I throw the ball to Quil as hard as I can, not even getting a fraction of the force the boys had with their throws. How did they throw like that? 

“Are you sure? Are you okay, bean?” He asks me, almost frantic. 

I blushed at the nickname once again, as it brought chills to my spine. 

“Yeah, Em. I’ll be okay.” I smile at him. 

“Bean, you’re already bruising.” He said, looking sadly at the new spot forming on your arm, holding it delicately in his hands. 

“Em, I have always bruised like a peach. I’m sure it could have happened from anything.” I look up into his pleading eyes, watching his worries melt away. 

What was going on? Does he feel the same way? I wonder. 

“Okay sap fest, we were trying to throw around the football to have fun. Not to make me sick!” Quil interrupts, making fake puking noises. 

Jacob smiles slightly, almost laughing. It made me happy to see him feeling a little better after how he was in the house not too long ago. 

They continued to throw the ball around, throwing it way more intense than I thought possible. I decided to sit out after noticing how rough they all were, more how they don’t seem to notice how rough they got with each other-- how it doesn’t seem to even hurt them at all. 

We all talked about stupid nonsense, like debating on which cartoon characters would win in a fight, cars, and other time eating subjects. 

Soon after, I heard an old truck pulling up to Jacob’s house. Bella Swan got out of the driver’s seat, walking over to us. 

“Hey everyone.” She says shyly, hands in her pockets. 

All the guys gave her a hello in unison.

“Hey Bella, how’ve you been?” I ask her. 

“Oh wow, (Y/N). You’re back? No way. I’m good, how are you?” She asks, walking over to give me a hug. 

I hug her back for a few seconds before pulling away. 

“I’m doing great, I’m happy to be back. It’s nice to see you again, it’s been like what, almost ten years?” I ask, trying to make polite conversation as the guys would not do that simple notion out of awkward feelings. 

“Yeah, that’s nuts. I can’t believe that.” She says shaking her head in disbelief. 

“Are you ready to go?” Jake asks her, smiling at the both of us. 

“Yeah, sure.” She looked over at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. 

“Great. I’ll see you guys soon.” He waves back at us. 

“Bye everyone. It was good to see you, (Y/N).” She smiles softly at me. 

“You too.” I smile before turning and walking back over to Quil and Embry. 

“So what now?” I ask them, ready for almost anything. 

“Well, we could go cliff diving.” Quil suggests. 

“No we can’t.” Embry said quickly. 

“Why not?” Quil exclaims. 

“She can’t do that. She’ll get hurt. Or drown. And she’s afraid of heights, remember?” Embry looked at Quil like he had five heads. 

“Oh shit, yeah. Almost forgot.” Quil had a look of realization on his face. 

He remembers I’m afraid of heights. 

“Where do you guys go cliff diving?” I ask.

“We can show you, but we’re not doing it.” Embry tells me. 

“Well, that works I guess. We can include that in our day.” I shrug.

“Oh, that reminds me. I should go help Sam.” Quil says. 

“You guys still didn’t fix that pipe?” I ask him. 

“Pipe?” Embry asks. 

“Yeah, Embry. The pipe that was leaking yesterday. You and Paul tried to fix it, but couldn’t. Then Jacob and I went and fixed it after last night.” He looks at him with stern eyes. 

“Oh yeah. That pipe. It’s been a long week for me.” Embry laughs. 

I look between the both of them, wondering what was wrong with them. 

“Yeah. So Paul came and got you. Did you guys fix it or is it still leaking?” I ask again. 

“No we fixed it. I just told him I would help him clean and fix everything else up from the leak.” Quil said. 

“Ah I see.” I raise my eyebrows at him. 

“You saw Paul last night?” Embry questions. 

“Yeah after you guys left Sam’s.” I tell him. 

He nods his head, seemingly like the gears are starting to turn in his head. 

“Okay, well when you guys are done lying to me about all of this, let me know what’s actually going on.” I snicker. 

“I gotta go.” Quil runs away into the treeline of the woods, assumingly off to Sam’s house. 

I watch him go, before turning my attention to Embry, who is seemingly looking at anything except for me. He keeps looking around between the trees, the ground, and the clouds. 

“Em?” I ask.

“Yeah?” 

“What’s going on?” 

“Please, not yet.” 

“Not yet?” 

“Just, please. Trust that I will tell you soon. When the time is right. You just got back and I don’t wanna lose you.” 

“Em, why would you lose me? You could never lose me.” I say, walking closer to him. 

“I don’t know, it’s… it’s a lot. I’m really happy to have you back. Let’s just hang out, spend some time together. Maybe later, please?” 

His eyes were begging me to just agree, and I couldn’t say no. 

“Okay, yeah. That’s fine. Just please, don’t leave me in the dark too long. I already feel like I was for two years. Now that I’m back I want it all to be transparent with everyone again. I don’t wanna feel like I’m left in the dark again, Em.” I look up to his chocolate brown eyes, feeling like I could see his soul. 

“I won’t, I promise. I just… I want to see you, bean. I want the way you see me now to stay, I don’t want to see you lose the light in your eyes when you look at me.

“Embry, I don’t think that’s even possible. You have such a special place in my heart, you have a soul like no other.” I smile up at him. 

He pulled me into another rib-crushing hug, as comforting as it was painful. 

“Em, you’re kinda hurting me.” I whimper out. 

“Shit, sorry. I’ll be better with that.” He looks at me apologetically. 

“It’s okay. But we should probably leave Jake’s backyard and find something to do, or somewhere else to go.” I suggest, realizing how we’re just standing in the yard alone. 

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go to the cliff. And then I wanna bring you somewhere else, but that’s a surprise.” His smile gleamed vibrantly. 

“Okay, sounds like a plan.” I blush at the thought of a surprise. 

We begin walking to my car before he speaks up again. 

“It almost feels like we were never apart. I know we talked a lot on the phone, but it feels like you never left. Ya know, being with you feels just as comfortable; just the same.” He smiles at me, as he opens my car door for me. 

“I know, it’s a nice feeling. It feels… right.” I look at his beautiful face, beaming with happiness. 

He directed me to the cliff where they would jump from. As we walked out onto it, my jaw almost hit the floor. 

“Embry, you jump from up here?” I ask, almost dying of shock. 

“Yeah. Most others jump from the lower level. We dive from up here, though.” He looks at me, smiling awkwardly. 

“How do you not… die? I see what you meant now. I probably would die.” I say, cautiously peeking over the edge of the cliff. 

Embry grabs ahold of my waist gently, steadying both my balance and my nerves. 

“It’ll all make sense soon. You wouldn’t die going down with one of us though. If we went down together, you’d be fine, bean.” He smiled sweetly at me.

“How? I’m going to need an explanation sooner rather than later because nothing makes sense anymore.” I chuckled, looking down at my feet. 

“Well, I’d be able to swim against the rough water, I can get us back up to the surface quickly, and most of all-- I’m just that great.” He said with his cheeky grin. 

“Oh I keep forgetting about how great you are.” I mock lightly. 

“(Y/N), I promise I’ll explain to you tonight. I just want a day of normalcy with you. Then I’ll answer any question you have.” His eyes looked deep into mine, digging into my soul.

“Okay, Em. Let’s have some fun. Let’s go to your surprise place.” I smiled at him. 

“Okay.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me to the car. The way his massive hands held mine, felt like two pieces of a puzzle finally coming together. I never wanted him to let go, Embry’s touch was intoxicating. 

 __________________________________

Word Count: 3459

I hope you guys enjoy this series I’m doing. It happened after I spun off of something else I was writing. I hope you enjoy, please give some feedback!

 I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII  VIIII  X  XIR XIE  XII  XIII  XIV  XV XVI  XVII  XVIII  XIIII

[irishseeeker]

                                        the story of us

summary:  Five times Kate Sheffield and Anthony Bridgeton were just friends and one time they were more.

find chapter 1 here or here

find chapter 2 here or here

find chapter 3 here or here

find chapter 4 here or here

find chapter 5 part 1  here or here

----

chapter 5 part 2: all along there was some invisible string tying you to me

Anthony Bridgerton was an idiot.

He wasn’t just an idiot. You see, usually idiots are not aware of their idiocy. They live carefree and blissfully unaware of their idiocy.

Anthony knew he was being an idiot.

It was eating him alive.

He didn’t stop it, though. He didn’t know what else to do. He kept his distance from Kate as much as he could. It was the only thing he could think to do.

It was just so difficult.

He would screw it up. He would break them. It’s what he did. He screwed things up. He had nearly screwed things up with Daphne and Simon, he had screwed things up with Siena and he would screw things up with Kate.

Kate had been a constant in his life since he was nineteen years old.

Kate was his lifeline.

Anthony knew he shouldn’t put that all on her but he didn’t have a choice. There was nothing he could control when it came to Kate Sheffield. He had been completely hers since the moment they sat down in that lecture hall and she announced that he was wrong to their entire lecture.

Then proceeded to argue with him for the next thirty minutes.

He never stood a chance.

Kate deserved everything. She didn’t need someone who had an irrational fear of dropping dead from a bee sting and couldn’t manage a healthy relationship.

It’s not like he tried.

What was the point? They weren’t Kate.

Anthony needed time.

He needed time to figure it out. He could manage it. He had to get his head straight and learn to just erase his feelings and the constant pain. He had to learn to adapt and inevitably watch her be happy with someone else.

If they got too close, they would implode. The fine line between them had grown thinner and thinner and they were in the danger zone. They had been since their kiss.

It couldn’t happen again.

The thing about Kate was she still had that magic.

Kate believed in love. Kate wanted that struck by lightning, unconditional and inconceivable type of love. She deserved that type of love.

Kate deserved to feel the way Anthony felt every time he looked at her.

Anthony wasn’t a complete pessimist, he knew love existed. He had grown up watching his parents madly in love until his dad died. His mother had barely recovered from it. Anthony still hadn’t recovered from it. Violet Bridgerton still had bad days, days where she forgot to pick up Hyacinth or Gregory from school or lay in bed all day, barely moving. How could he do that to Kate? How could he let himself go through that?

That type of love wasn’t something he could give her.

That’s why he couldn't try with Kate. If there was a chance something could happen between them, he wouldn’t take it.

He wouldn't ruin that kind of love for her.

He would always love her, he would just have to let someone else do it.

He just had to figure out how to.

His only plan so far was avoiding her.

That plan was pretty flawed so far.

Anthony didn’t want to hurt Kate. He knew he was hurting her anyway, he didn’t miss her hurt expressions or uncharacteristic silences when he made an excuse that he had to go out for a while or that he would be late coming home. He was trying to fix things before something bad happened.

It’s just incredibly difficult to avoid the one person you spend all your time with and you happen to live with.

He wasn’t necessarily avoiding her, he was just distancing himself temporarily from her while he sorted things out. which is something he liked to convince himself of to try not feel like a complete and utter asshole.

He had even booked hotel rooms to try to get some sleep. How could he sleep when Kate was a few metres away from him? How could he concentrate on anything but Kate when she was close to him?

He needed to protect them.

He needed boundaries.

He also needed Kate.

“Anthony!” Hyacinth shouted cheerfully, grinning widely at her brother as she ran towards him from the school’s front door. Anthony had been leaning against the railing of the gate, waiting for Hyacinth and Gregory to finish school.

His afternoon meetings had been cancelled so he called their nanny, Pippa and told her to take the rest of the day off. His mother had been down at Aubrey Hall for the week with builders planning some reconstruction and she was due back this evening. She hadn’t said anything yet but he suspected it had something to do with preparations for Daphne’s wedding. Anthony wanted to see his siblings and he needed a distraction from the million thoughts running through his head.

“Hi titch,” Anthony said, grinning back at her as he leaned down and picked her up, resting her on his hip. She was too old at seven to be carried around, but he didn’t really care. He needed Hyacinth to stay little for as long as possible. “How was school? Have you seen Greg?”

“It was fun,” She murmured, resting her cheek on his shoulder and letting out a small yawn. “We had to draw our favourite animal, so I obviously drew Newton.”

Anthony couldn’t stop the smirk breaking out on his face. “Obviously. Can I see?”

Hyacinth nodded slowly, wiggling out of his arms so she could open up her Jurassic Park backpack. She pulled out a piece of paper with her drawing, which had a crayon version of what Anthony guessed was Hyacinth, Gregory, Kate, Anthony and the ginger blob in the middle that was Newton.

Something inside of Anthony’s chest clenched.

“Be careful,” Hyacinth scolded, prying the paper out of Anthony’s hands. “I’m going to give it to Kate.”

Anthony bent down to Hyacinth’s eye level, smiling at her as he held open her back and put the picture back inside. “Kate will love it.”

Kate would love it. She was so incredible with Hyacinth and Gregory and they adored her. Kate kept everything they had given her over the years, it had been pinned up on Anthony’s fridge along with the drawings and pictures he’d received from them since Kate had moved in.

They also adored her demon corgi, who had taken over Anthony’s flat for weeks. The little shit climbed into his bed every single night and he knew Anthony wouldn’t kick him out. He had given up a long time ago.

He also started walking him whenever Kate couldn’t, she usually brought him in the evenings and Anthony in the morning when he went for his daily jog.

It made Kate insanely happy when he did it, so obviously Anthony was going to do it.

He had quickly snapped a sly picture when Hyacinth wasn’t looking, he had to send it to Kate. There was no harm in it. Right?

It was just a picture.

Anthony: [sent an image]

Anthony: Your demon inspired Hyacinth’s picture for animal day. She’s excited to show you this later.

Kate: omg. I want to cry that is so bloody cute. Can’t wait to pin it up on the fridge. You look like you’ve put on a few pounds though x

Kate: please do not talk about your godson like that

Anthony: Please, I’m still the best looking guy you’ll ever know.

Kate: sorry, it’s spelled p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c*

Anthony: Sorry, it’s spelled I-am-letting-you-live-in-my-flat*

Kate: My presence is a gift.

Anthony: Also-We’re not getting into this again. I have no familial relation to Newton.

Kate: He has your middle name!

Anthony: Dogs don’t have middle names!

Kate: Do you want to see his birth certificate?

Anthony: Do you mean the certificate you made yourself and framed on your wall? Unfortunately, I’ve seen it more than once. That’s enough for a lifetime.

Kate: [sent an image]

Anthony: Your middle finger is a bit wonky.

Kate: [sent an image]

Anthony: I hope your boss saw you take that.

Anthony chuckled under his breath as he looked up from his phone, spotting Gregory talking to a few of his friends across the playground before waving at Anthony, jogging towards them. He glanced back at the text chain, internally cursing at himself. Why did he always have to flirt with her? He couldn’t help it.

“Hey mate!” Anthony grinned as Gregory reached them, wearing his football kit. They were heading straight to Gregory’s football training in a nearby park, where Anthony and Hyacinth would go for a walk and wait for training to finish. Anthony ruffled his hair, taking his bag and sports bag. “Good day?”

“Hey!” Gregory said, grunting at Hyacinth before beaming up at Anthony. Anthony knew it wouldn’t last forever but he’d pay every cent he had to keep Greg looking at him like he was his hero. “Are you coming to watch me play football?”

“Of course I am,” Anthony said, nudging at Hyacinth to start walking towards the car. “I can’t wait. Are you excited? Come on, we better get going.”

“Anthony! Hello!” A blonde woman Anthony had definitely seen before was standing around a group of women, with their kids running around them and screaming. She practically pushed another woman out of the way to get to him. “How are you?”

He couldn’t for the life of him remember who she was. “Hello,” He said lamely, glancing at Gregory and Hyacinth who looked bored and were absolutely no help. “I’m great, thank you. How are you? Nice to see you again. I’m sorry, we’re just in a bit of a rush.”

It was slightly rude of him but once one of these parents cornered you, you’d be stuck there for hours. He wasn’t going to get stuck talking about a bake sale for the next half an hour.

“I’m lovely thank you-Oh! Yes, of course. You’re such a good brother. Have a good day!” The blonde woman called after Anthony as he hastily nudged Hyacinth and Gregory along. “If you need any help or are interested in the bake sale next week, I can give you my number-”

“Get in,” Anthony practically hissed urgently, waving his hand in the direction of the women but quickly flicking open his boot and car.

“One of them is Sasha’s mum,” Hyacinth grumbled, glancing back at the herd of women whose eyes had followed them towards Anthony’s car. “They think you’re good looking.”

Anthony threw their bags in the boot and opened the back door, winking at Hyacinth as she climbed into the car. “Well, they’re not wrong.”

Anthony laughed as Hyacinth and Gregory both made disgusted faces.

Gregory frowned at his passenger side. “I’m too old for a car seat.”

Anthony rolled his eyes. “The law would argue otherwise. In.”

Gregory took one look at his brother’s face and didn’t argue, grumbling as he moved into the car seat. Anthony checked their seatbelts and once everything was set, he climbed in himself and drove off to the park.

“When are you and Kate getting married?”

“What?” Anthony’s eyes snapped towards the rearview mirror, widening as he looked at Hyacinth.

Hyacinth didn’t seem phased whatsoever by her question. “When are you and Kate getting married?”

“We’re not,” Anthony said with a steady voice, glancing towards Greg who was too consumed with his Nintendo to care about the conversation. Is that what they both taught? “Why would you ask that?”

Hyacinth shrugged. “Daph and Simon are getting married.”

“That’s because they’re engaged.”

“Oh,” Hyacinth said slowly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she processed the conversation. “Why aren’t you and Kate engaged?”

“Kate and I are friends,” Anthony explained, feeling the dampness of his palms against the steering wheel. “We’re not like Daphne and Simon.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Anthony said, a slight edge of irritation in his voice as he focused back on the road. He didn’t need to be mean, Hyacinth didn’t understand what she was talking about. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

“Well, people in love get married right?”

“Yes.”

“Daphne and Simon love each other?”

“They do.”

“Did Mum and Dad love each other?”

Anthony felt himself soften. “Very much.”

“Don’t you love Kate?”

“I do,” Anthony said hesitantly because he did in the exact way Hyacinth was asking but he didn’t really feel like getting into that. “People can love each other and not get married. It’s different for Kate and I-”

“No it’s not,” Hyacinth interrupted, a finality to the tone of her voice. It was the tone she used before she had a complete fit or meltdown. “I better be a flower girl.”

Anthony knew he was fighting a losing battle, and the irony of that statement wasn’t lost on him in relation to his current predicament. “At our non-existent wedding? Of course you can.”

Hyacinth stuck his tongue out at her and it reminded him so much of Kate, he nearly laughed out of relief and pain.

There it was again.

Kate.

Kate was constantly on his mind.

This was the problem. It was hit fault. This wasn’t the first time a family member, well, not just his family-anyone-had suggested there was something going on between him and Kate. They weren’t just friends. Kate was his best friend, she was everything but she had always been something a little bit more.

He had found her eight years ago and he didn’t know what to do.

Now, it felt like it was too late.

What the hell was he going to do?

Anthony couldn’t get Kate’s hurt look out of his head as he charged out of the house. It even momentarily distracted him from the blind fury he was feeling while he drove to the police station.

Benedict and Simon were right behind him, Benedict climbing into the front and Simon into the back. Anthony put the car in gear, speeding out of the driveway. The police station Colin was detained in wasn’t far and Anthony had already sorted out everything.

“Why did you do that?” Benedict asked, breaking the silent and tense atmosphere in the car as Anthony danced along the speeding limit, his foot pressing onto the accelerator to get to Colin.

He was relieved his brother was okay because Anthony was going to kill him himself.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you let Kate come? Over Simon?” Benedict asked, staring flatly at Anthony. “No offence Simon.”

Simon shook his head, pursing his lips. “None taken. I’m happy-well, not happy-happy to help.”

“I didn’t let Kate do anything.” Anthony said, in complete disbelief Benedict was bringing this up. There was a reason he didn’t let Kate come, he was trying to distance her from all of his shit. She didn’t need to be involved in this.

“Oh right,” Benedict said, sarcasm dripping in his tone which pissed off Anthony even further. “That makes sense. As if Kate isn’t involved in everything to do with you and our family. Kate is a part of our family. Why haven’t you done something about it?”

“She doesn’t need to be involved in this.” What the hell was Benedict doing? Why did it feel like everyone was against him? Anthony was trying, he was bloody trying and everything still went to complete shit.

Benedict didn’t buy a word of it. “Are you ever going to tell her?”

“Don’t start this shit tonight Ben,” Anthony said, his tense voice a warning, not a request. “Our brother is in jail.”

“I’m just saying-”

“I didn’t ask,” Anthony interrupted swiftly, his grip on the wheel tightening significantly. He could practically feel the vein in his forehead bulging. “Drop it.”

Anthony could see Benedict glance back at Simon, making some sort of gesture but Simon just shrugged, shaking his head.

Smart move, Hastings.

“Let’s go,” Anthony said once they arrived at the station, getting out of the car and walking into the empty police station. He paid Colin’s bail, filling out a form as he waited for an officer to bring Colin out.

Colin eventually appeared, looking worse for wear. He didn’t look in any way hurt, which made Anthony relax slightly. The blue shirt he was wearing was rumpled and the mop of brown hair on the top of his head was sticking up in various directions, but he was okay.

“Anthony-”

“Not a fucking word,” Anthony snapped, his voice deadly low as he looked at Colin who shut his mouth quickly. “Follow Ben to the car. Now.”

Benedict lightly squeezed Colin on the shoulder as Colin walked towards him, opening and closing his mouth before deciding to do what Anthony said.

Anthony had to take a few deep breaths before he walked out towards the car. He needed to keep his cool. Whatever happened, Colin was his brother and it didn’t need to result in a huge argument. As long as Colin took responsibility for his actions, it would be relatively okay.

Colin was twenty-two years old and still acting like a complete child. He traveled whenever he wasn’t at university and didn’t show any responsibility when it came to their family and his own life. Anthony was trying to not get too involved, getting Colin to even go to university had taken ten years off his life but sometimes Colin really tested his patience.

Anthony’s cool temperament lasted about twenty seconds once he got into the car.

“It wasn’t my fault.”

Anthony snorted while Benedict sighed deeply. “It never is, is it Colin?” “I was drunk,” Colin said, slumping in his seat like Gregory did when he was annoyed about something. “Marina dumped me. I met up with my mates and got drunk. It was a mistake. How was I supposed to know you’re not meant to piss on statues?”

Anthony hesitated for a moment, glancing back at his brother’s face. Colin was in pain. He had really liked Marina, the whirlwind he had met while skiing in France over Christmas. Anthony had never seen his brother fall so hard. “I’m sorry about Marina, Colin. I am. That’s not an excuse to act like a complete and utter idiot and break the law.”

“It was an accident!” Colin snapped back, his voice rising in line with Anthony's. “What do you want me to do, Ant?”

“I just bailed you out of jail,” Anthony snapped, the anger he had been holding in finally coming out. He was racing home within the speed limit, the confinement of the car making him claustrophobic. “I made sure that that stayed off your permanent record so you didn’t get thrown out of university or asked about in job interviews. Instead of acting like a spoiled little brat you could be a little more grateful and shut up.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re right,” Anthony snapped, really focusing on not losing his head. “Yet I did it anyway.”

“I’m so fucking sorry I’m not perfect like you, Anthony,” Colin said, his voice full of venom as Anthony pulled up into the driveway. “That I’m not perfect like Ben, Daph, El, Franny or fuck it, Dad! I’m so sorry I don’t live up to your perfect expectations.”

“Oh shut up Colin,” Anthony snapped, his voice just as angry as Colin's. “You fucked up. I’m not interested in listening to your sob story to make yourself into a victim. Take some responsibility for once in your life.”

Anthony felt the guilt flood his body as he spoke to his brother. He knew he would be ashamed of himself later, he already was as the words sunk in. He was just so angry. Colin never took responsibility for anything and this was just another time he had gone too far and expected no consequences and Anthony to pick up the pieces.

“Fine,” Colin said, shaking his head as he flung the door open. “Here’s some responsibility for you. I’m dropping out of university.”

Then he slammed Anthony’s car door shut and all hell broke loose.

Anthony didn’t have anything left to say.

His fight with Colin, every insult and dagger he had thrown at him, circled around in his head and rang in his ears. He couldn’t find the words to speak as Kate drove them home. He wanted to say something, to put Kate at ease as she anxiously glanced at him the entire way home.

He just didn’t have anything left in him.

Colin’s words were on repeat in his head like a broken record.

“I don’t need to try to be a carbon copy of Dad to figure out my life. I’m not you, Anthony. Desperately trying to be someone he’ll never be.”

Colin was right.

Anthony sat down on the couch in his flat, his limbs heavy and deflated as the reality of his brother’s words hit him like a tonne of bricks.

He then did something that he hadn’t done since the day his father died, in his mother’s bedroom, away from his family.

He cried.

The sobs hit him like a wave and moved throughout his body, flooding out of him and everything he had been holding in for years. He cried for his dad, who he missed so much it killed him a little bit inside every single day. He cried for the man he desperately was trying to be but knew he never would. He cried for his family who had a gaping hole in it he could never fill. He cried for his family, who he tried so hard for but somehow always managed to fuck it up.

Anthony cried for everything that he had lost, everything that he was selfish enough to be angry about. Everyone he didn’t go, everything he didn’t do and everyone he didn’t meet because he had to step up.

He cried for Kate, the person who made him feel like he was worth something and that he was doing something right sometimes. He could never allow himself to let her know how he felt. He couldn’t do that to her.

Kate held him against her chest, her head resting on top of his as she moved her hand up and down his back, murmuring soothing words as he cried until nothing else could come out.

Anthony was surprised when Colin showed up at his flat the next morning. Kate had made him a cup of tea before putting Newton on his lead, throwing one final glare at Colin and a reassuring smile at Anthony before leaving their flat.

His flat.

His flat.

It was incredibly awkward, as both the Bridgerton men sat on Anthony’s couch in complete silence. Colin was tapping his foot against the ground, looking up at Anthony and back at the floor as his mouth opened and closed as he decided what to say.

“I’ve always liked Kate.”

That took Anthony by surprise. “Who wouldn’t?”

“For a second there,” Colin said, a half chuckle coming out of his mouth that was muffled by his pained expression. “I didn’t think she’d let me in.”

“As someone who has been on the wrong side of Kate many times,” Anthony said, smiling slightly as leaned back into the couch. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“She’s terrifying.”

“Absolutely petrifying,” Anthony said, nodding in agreement. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

“Do you hate me?”

Anthony’s head snapped up, the strange lightness of their conversation fading completely. “Of course I don’t hate you.”

“I’d hate me.”

Despite everything that had happened, Anthony was reminded of who was sitting right in front of him. Colin was so like their dad it hurt Anthony sometimes. He was fun, happy, irrational, spontaneous and he cared so passionately about the people in his life. He was also young and still trying to figure things out. He made mistakes. He had his heartbroken. He was just trying.

They were all just trying.

“I love you, Colin,” Anthony said firmly, because it was true and there wasn’t anything his brother could say to ever make Anthony think or feel otherwise. “There’s nothing that could ever happen to make me not love you. Okay? I only want what is best for you. I know how unreasonable I can be sometimes. Maybe I was wrong for thinking what was best for me is what is best for you. I just want you to be okay if something ever happened to me.”

Colin visibly gulped. “Nothing is going to happen to you, Ant. I’ll never be more sorry for what I said about Dad. I didn’t mean it. I am a horrible person for saying that to you. I’ll never forgive myself for it. I do mean this, though. You’re not Dad, Ant. You’re you. You don’t need to be Dad. You don’t need to be anyone else but you. Everyone needs you to be you. We all have gotten this far because you’re you, Ant. Not Dad. Not anyone. You.”

Anthony was absolutely speechless as he listened to Colin. Colin and him had clashed over the years but they were so alike in so many ways.

“I know I haven’t always made things easy on you. I think about him a lot. If he would be proud of me. I don’t think he would.”

“Of course he would,” Anthony said firmly, finally finding his voice. “There’s so much to be proud of. You’re a fantastic person, Colin. You annoy the shit out of me sometimes but you’re an incredible person.”

“I want you to be proud of me.” Colin’s voice was shaky as he spoke, the emotion of the situation finally coming to the surface.

“Colin,” Anthony said seriously, looking at his brother. “There’s no world where I’m not proud of you. You shouldn’t worry about what I think-”

“Anthony,” Colin said seriously, looking his brother in the eye for the first time that morning. “All I think about is what you think. You’re the voice inside of my head. Even if you sometimes annoy the shit out of me, I need you there. I know we all wouldn’t be okay if it wasn’t for you. I’m so sorry I haven’t shown you how much I appreciate that. I’m so sorry. I’ll never be more sorry for that.”

The large lump in Anthony’s throat was becoming extremely painful. “You don’t need to apologize-”

“I do and I am,” Colin said, standing up and moving towards Anthony. “I love you. You’re the type of person all of us can only hope we can be. You’re my big brother. I’m going to hug you now. It’s going to be awkward but I feel like it’s necessary.”

They wrapped their arms around each other, slapping each other’s backs and holding onto each other tightly.

They eventually pulled back, both turning their heads slightly to compose themselves and wipe their eyes with the back of their sleeves.

“That’s enough emotion for a lifetime,” Colin murmured, moving back to his original seat and letting out a sigh. “Beer?”

“Beer.”

Of all the places Anthony Bridgerton imagined himself to be at this point in his life, it wasn’t at his sisters and best friend’s engagement party.

Simon had surprised Anthony by showing up to his flat after him and Colin had sorted things out. Simon had kept a respectful distance since Anthony had found out about Daphne and him, not pushing Anthony into anything and forcing their friendship back to the place it was.

Instead, something else had happened. They were in a new place. They were starting off a clean slate. They were back to hanging out, playing golf, grabbing dinner and drinks. Anthony was his best man. He didn’t want to hold grudges anymore. He wanted his best friend back.

The past week had surprisingly been great. He had decided to put everything on hold with Kate and he had spent an unbelievable amount of time with her this week, going against every part of his initial plan. The only bad part of his week was moving Kate into her new flat. The flat felt so empty and lifeless without her.

He even missed Newton, which is something he’d keep to himself until his deathbed.

Simon joined him at the bar, smacking his back. “Good speech, mate.”

“Mm,” Anthony said, giving him a sarcastic grin as he finished off his whiskey. “I’m happy you enjoyed it.”

“It really came from the heart.”

“Let’s not get soppy,” Anthony said, nodding in thanks to the bartender as he topped up his whiskey glass. “I have just decided I can tolerate you again.”

“Please, I was your favourite person until Miss Kate Sheffield came along,” Simon teased, grinning at Anthony’s side-eye. “Not that I blame you. She’s really something.”

“Back to that speech though,” Simon said, his back to the bar as he surveyed the buzzing dance floor. “I don’t think it was us you were entirely talking about.”

Kate.

Anthony’s heart stopped in his chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t,” Simon said, downing the rest of the contents of his glass with a gleeful smirk. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go dance with my fiance.”

Bastard.

His family really needed to learn to mind their own bloody business.

“Anthony.”

Anthony’s vision was fuzzy. He could hear a light buzzing in his ear. Kate’s words were still playing in his ears.

“Forget me. I don’t want to speak to you ever again.”

He couldn’t let this happen. He wouldn’t let this happen. He had tried so hard to protect them and it only ended with him fucking everything up so royally.

He felt like he wasn’t in control of his body, his eyes were stinging and his limbs were moving out of his own accord. He was bustling through the crowd, trying to find Kate who had disappeared into it.

“Anthony!”

Anthony barely heard his own name until someone grabbed his arm. Francesca.

“Did you know Michael was here?”

Anthony was still moving across the room, Francesca still beside him. “What?”

“Can you believe it?” Francesca said, her bottom lip sticking out as she shook her head in disbelief. More emotions were running across Francesca’s face than Anthony had ever seen in his life. “Ben invited him. John didn’t even know! Apparently he’s Ben's new protégé.”

“Fran, can you hold on a second?” Anthony said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair, pulling at it. “I’m sorry. I-I need to find Kate. I have to find Kate.”

“Anthony,” Francesca said, her face flooding with concern as she steadied Anthony’s balance with her two hands on his arms. “What is going on? What happened?”

“Anthony.” Benedict had arrived, with Sophie beside him, an anxious look across his face.

“Piss off Ben,” Francesca snapped, her anger at her brother not fading in the slightest as she turned back to Anthony. “Anthony? What happened?”

“He’s asked to intern with me this summer! What was I meant to say Fran? I didn’t realize there was something going on between you-“

“There is nothing going on between us! I’m with John!” Francesca hissed, her anger momentarily shocking the two Bridgertons and Sophie. Francesca had always been calm, cool and collected. That wasn’t what was happening tonight. “I don’t need any relationship advice from someone who snuck around for over a year. Get off your pedestal.”

“It seems like Benedict can’t keep his nose out of anything.” Anthony spat out his brother’s name and didn’t care for Ben’s slight flinch. He needed someone else to blame.

He needed to find Kate.

“Someone had to do something!” Sophie snapped, her eyes completely on Anthony. “We’ve all watched this go on for years and it’s exhausting. Where’s Kate, Anthony?”

“What happened with Kate?” Francesca asked again, her eyes solely on Anthony.

“I was going to find her-“ Anthony said helplessly, his chest tightening which was making it hard to breathe. He had messed it up phenomenally. She was never going to forgive him. “It’s bad. We had a fight. A bad one.”

The meaning of his words seemed to translate as Sophie’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping open slightly as she hastily turned to look around the room.

“I think you’ve done enough.” Sophie snapped, Anthony, Francesca and Benedict’s eyes were wide as they watched Sophie storm away in search of Kate.

“Ant-“

“It’s fine, Ben. I’m sorry I ruined your night. I have to go,” Anthony said, “This is my mess. I’ll fix it.”

“You don’t have to fix it alone.”

“I have to fix it with Kate.” Anthony said, charging through the rest of the crowd and searching everywhere for Kate. Benedict, Colin and Francesca were on his tail, trying to convince him to come inside and sit down and talk to them. He couldn’t. He tried her phone a million times that night but she didn’t pick up. He had to fix this.

Eventually, it was confirmed by Sophie that Kate had left the gallery. She had refused to let Sophie into her flat and that was as much as Anthony was told.

Kate was gone.

Anthony woke up with an excruciating headache and aching limbs. He grumbled as he sat up, feeling a hard exterior under him. He was sleeping in his old childhood bed.

The last time he had slept in this bed was the day before he had left university. The day before he met Kate and his life changed forever. He hated saying it, but it was true. His life had completely changed the minute he met and argued with Kate Sheffield and now-

Now he could have lost her forever.

“You’re up.”

Anthony jumped slightly as he saw Benedict and Colin standing at the foot of his bed, “Were you two watching me sleep? That’s creepy.”

“We were making sure you didn’t choke on your own vomit,” Benedict said carefully, a stern expression on his face but he cowered slightly as Anthony looked at him. Benedict had certainly meddled last night. “You drank a lot after Kate left.” “I’d be impressed with how much you drank if it wasn’t because of such tragic circumstances,” Colin joked, failing to lighten the mood with a joke. “I made you some coffee.”

“Thanks.” Anthony said sourly, nodding at Colin but not appreciating the reminder of what a terrible person Anthony was. Kate had gone and he couldn’t cope, so he drank until he passed out.

Why did he open his stupid mouth and tell her about the kiss? Why didn’t he tell her he loved her back? Why did he try to explain to her why they would never work? It was the everything he had been telling himself again and again and when he had said the words out last night, they were meaningless and stupid. The only thing they had achieved was destroying them both.

What was wrong with him?

He couldn’t get the look of anguish on her face out of his head.

He had done the one thing he had sworn he would never do.

He had hurt her.

“I’m sorry about the gallery, Ben.” Anthony said, shaking his head in shame.

“I’m not,” Benedict said, shrugging as he leaned against the wall. “We sold all of my pieces. I knew what I was doing when I put that piece up there. I’m sorry, Anthony. I really am. I never wanted it to cause all this.”

“You didn’t cause any of this,” Anthony said, shaking his head and letting out a deep sigh. “I did.”

“No, he definitely caused this,” Colin said, completely ignoring Benedict’s glare. “That was a dick move. Ant and Kate were always going to come to blows and have it out but you just threw the toaster into the bathtub with that stunt.”

“Anthony got involved with my love life!” Benedict exclaimed, turning around to glare at his younger brother. “I wanted to help-”

“That’s because Ant is relatively okay at sorting out everyone else’s love life and is absolutely shocking at sorting out his own,” Colin said, shooting Anthony a cheeky grin who just glared back. “Tell us what happened.”

“I was furious about the picture.” Anthony said slowly, not wanting to relive the events of last night ever again. He would have to, everytime he told this story and when he saw Kate again. If he saw her again. She had never responded to any of his calls or messages last night and he hadn’t tried again this morning.

He didn’t want to hurt her further by harassing her.

Anthony needed to see her and speak to her.

“I was acting really unfairly. We started arguing. I said some things. Kate said some things. I said something really stupid,” Anthony said, letting out a deep breath before he continued. “Kate told me she was in love with me. I didn’t say it back. I told her I remembered that kiss I had pretended to forget on my birthday last year. She told me she never wanted to speak to me again.”

“That,” Colin was the first one to speak, “That is a lot worse than I imagined.”

“Helpful Colin,” Benedict said dryly, sitting down on the bed beside Anthony and patting his shoulder. “You messed up. Yes. Kate is hurt. She’ll forgive you. You’re Kate and Anthony. You can fix this.”

“I don’t know, Ben. I’ve never seen that look on her face before. She won’t speak to me,” Anthony said, falling back onto the bed and feeling utterly hopeless. “She’s never going to forgive me. I don’t know what to say.”

Benedict bit his lip, nodding his head. “Ant, you’ve never been able to talk to us the way you’ve been able to talk to Kate.”

“The one person you can talk to won’t talk to you.” Colin said slowly, as if he was putting something together in his head.

Anthony and Benedict both turned towards Colin and raised an eyebrow.

Colin’s face lit up, as if he had just won the lottery. He grinned widely at his two brothers, who looked at him suspiciously. “I have an idea.”

Colin’s brilliant idea was therapy.

Apparently, Colin had a heart to heart with Penelope Fetherington the morning after their argument. Penelope and Eloise were studying together for the day at their house and Eloise had left Penelope in the kitchen with Colin whilst she went off for a shower.

Eloise had not been talking to Colin after the argument, which led to his and Penelope’s strange but heartfelt conversation.

Penelope recommended Colin go to therapy.

That’s how Anthony ended up taking Colin’s therapy appointment at 10am that Saturday morning.

“Why are you here today, Anthony?”

Anthony hadn’t been to therapy since university. It wasn’t for this reason. He had been stressed, having bad panic attacks and feeling overwhelmed by everything. He was back again, for similar but different reasons.

“My brothers thought it would be good if I spoke to someone.” Anthony answered honestly, not feeling entirely comfortable to open up to a complete stranger whose office he had walked into two minutes ago.

“Do you think you need to be here?” His therapist asked, scribbling something down in her notebook.

“I suppose so. No. Yes, I do. I do think so,” Anthony said, scrambling over his words before he sat up straighter in his seat. “I do. It’s what Kate would tell me to do.”

“Who is Kate?”

“Kate is my best friend,” Anthony said instinctively, the meaning of the words hitting him a few seconds later. “Well.”

“Well?”

“It’s complicated.”

His therapist looked straight at him, giving him a friendly but stern smile. “I’m trained in complicated.”

“We’re not currently speaking,” Anthony said slowly, deciding to just let it all out. This is what therapy was for, right? He could be honest for once in my life. “It’s all my fault.”

“How long has it been?” His therapist asked, glancing at the round clock on her wall.

“About 12 hours?”

“Okay.”

“That’s really strange for us,” Anthony hastily explained, quickly feeling embarrassed about the situation and if he was appearing overdramatic. “We talk all the time. We lived together up until last week.

His therapist continued to write down a few sentences, the scraping of the pen against her paper making Anthony’s skin itch. “Tell me what happened.”

“It was a bad argument,” Anthony began, the memories of last night filling him with a heavy dread. “My brother had put a picture of us, multiple pictures of us, on display in a gallery. I panicked and I reacted badly. We both said hurtful things. The worst we’ve ever had. She told me she was in love with me. I told her I remembered our kiss I pretended to forget over a year ago. It ended with her telling me she never wanted to see me again.”

“Do you love her back?”

The question caught Anthony completely off guard. This was the most honest he had been in a very long time and his therapist was brushing over a lot of details, focusing on particular ones. “No, I do.”

“But you didn’t tell her that?”

“No.”

“Hmm,” His therapist said, nodding her head as she continued to scribble down a few sentences. “That is complicated. Could you tell me about your parents?”

Anthony’s breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t face that today. When he had gone to therapy previously, they had sometimes spoken about his parents, mainly his father. Anthony didn’t have the strength. “I don’t want to talk about my father. I need to know what to say to Kate.”

“That’s okay,” She said, nodding her head slowly. “You have every right to not answer this question and I will drop it. Why do you not want to talk about your father?”

“He died when I was eighteen.” Anthony explained, figuring it would come out sooner or later.

“That must have been difficult.”

“It was.” Anthony’s words were caught between his teeth.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I have seven,” Anthony answered, cracking his knuckles in his lap. “I’m the eldest.”

“I can imagine that’s a lot of responsibility at the age of eighteen,” She said slowly, as if she was trying to figure something out. “Especially when suffering from such a loss.”

“It is,” Anthony said, avoiding her eyes completely as he looked around the room. He didn’t want to talk about his family. That’s not why he came. “It’s my family. I’d do anything for them.”

“Why do you think you don’t deserve love?”

Anthony gaped at her. “I don’t think that.”

“If you were willing to step up and take responsibility for your family and ensure their happiness,” She said, leaning forward in her chair. “Why can’t you do the same for yourself?”

“I don’t want to lose her,” Anthony said, his voice coming out a lot shakier and lower than it had in a long time. “She’s everything to me. Everything. I screw things up. I’ve never been good with relationships. I desperately tried to not screw things up and I did it anyway. I really tried to stop feeling like this. I even went to America to stop feeling like this and try to find someone new. It just always comes back to this and now-now it’s too late.”

“This is terribly cliche, but it’s the truth. It’s never too late and you will never know until you try. Why are you so sure you and Kate will fail? I say you and Kate as there are two of you in this. It seems like you put a lot of pressure on yourself. When it comes to your family and your relationships.” Her words were hitting Anthony forcefully, completely overwhelming him. “You should try giving yourself a chance.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You are standing in your own way. Why is that?”

He was getting really sick of all these questions.

“Kate deserves better.”

His therapist raised her eyebrow slightly, “Isn’t that for Kate to decide?”

Anthony had no response to that.

“Anthony, we have absolutely no control over what could happen in the future. Our fears will still exist in the past, present and future. What we can try to control is now. Good and bad things happen everyday. Nothing also happens everyday. Nothing sounds quite exhausting, don’t you think?”

“Sometimes it is easier to do nothing. Sometimes, we have to take a chance on the good or bad things happening,” She told him, smiling softly at him. “Sometimes, we just need to take that chance.”

Something just clicked.

He had to take that chance.

“I have to go,” Anthony jumped up, running a hand through his hair and slightly waving the other one around. “I have to talk to Kate. If she’ll talk to me, I’ll take that chance. Right? Right. Yes. Wow. Okay. Thank you, doctor. Thank you-”

“I’ll have my assistant book you in for an appointment next week,” His therapist responded, a slight smile on her face as she stood up to open the door for him. “Good luck, Anthony.”

Colin and Benedict stood up as Anthony walked into the waiting room, curious expressions on their faces.

“I have to tell Kate I’m in love with her.”

Anthony glanced down at his phone, which began buzzing his hand. Edwina’s name flashed on his screen.

Anthony answered the call, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Maybe it was Kate. Maybe she had lost her phone and that’s why she hadn’t been in contact with him last night. “Edwina?”

“Anthony,” Edwina’s shaky voice spoke through the phone, sending cold shivers down Anthony’s spine. “It’s Kate.”

Anthony had burst through the hospital doors, running up stairs and through doors until he found the room Kate was in after multiple directions from nurses, Colin and Benedict hot on his heels.

Edwina had reassured him that Kate was fine. Her brain scans and other injuries had come back completely clear, the worst thing that had happened was her leg had been broken.

He had to see her. He had to see her alive and breathing. He had to make sure she was okay.

“Kate.”

Anthony had never felt so nauseous and anxious in his entire life.

“Are you okay?”

Kate was there, sitting up in her hospital bed with her casted leg elevated in the air. She didn’t appear to have any other injuries, her dark hair was in a bun on the top of her head and she did have some scrapes and bruises along her arms, and a tiny scratch on her cheek.

“That's none of your business.”

That was the response he expected and it hurt just as he expected. He did deserve it.

“Kate was skating in Hyde Park when a cyclist ran into her, and she landed on her leg," Edwina explained carefully, anxiously glancing between Anthony and Kate. Benedict and Colin were behind Anthony, smiling awkwardly at everyone in the room and shooting a relieved expression at Kate. She smiled back at them, at least she wasn't icing them out.

Kate just refused to look at Anthony. “Get out.”

“We’re going to get some coffee in the canteen.” said Mary, beginning to drag an anxious looking Edwina out of the hospital room.

“Don’t you dare,” Kate snapped, raising her voice at her mother and sister. She pointed at the chairs they just vacated. “Anthony is the only one who will be leaving this hospital room.”

What did he expect? She had every right to be furious with him. It wasn't going to be easy and he would do whatever it took to fix this. To fix them. “I’ll wait in the waiting room until you want to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

He nodded, making his way towards the doorway he had only come through. He knew Kate and pushing her wasn’t going to achieve anything. He had fucked up and he had to fix it in the way she wanted him to. “I’ll just be waiting then.”

And waited, he did.

He waited for two weeks until Kate was released from the hospital.

He tried everything. He had taken the time off work to be there during visiting hours, waiting for her to finally let him speak to her. He had drafted about fifty different speeches before she was released, thinking about everything he had spoken about with his therapist. He went to two more sessions during Kate’s stay and he felt something was really changing.

Except for Kate’s willingness to speak to him.

When he knocked on her door, she told him to get lost. When he brought her flowers, she threw them at him. When he brought her food, she wouldn’t touch it. She ignored his texts and calls.

She had every right to make him suffer and she was doing a superb job at it.

He spent his time on business calls or chatting with whoever was visiting Kate. Every Bridgerton but Anthony had been allowed in. He got to know her nurses and doctors, getting updates on Kate’s progress and asking them questions about her leg and the healing process.

Mary sat beside Anthony in the waiting room one afternoon, handing him a cup of coffee. “Thank you.”

“I started worrying less, you know.”

Anthony turns to look at Mary, frowning in confusion.

“Kate is a very good person. She takes care of people. She took care of Edwina and I more than she should have, especially after my husband died.” A sad expression appeared on her face. “My husband always said Kate tried to take care of him when her mother passed away. She was four years old.”

He smiled sadly, taking a small sip of his coffee. “That sounds like Kate.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Mary nodded her head, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup. “I always wanted that for her. Someone who would take care of her and she would let them. I wasn’t so sure it would ever happen until she brought you home.”

Anthony blinked at Mary, completely taken aback. He had known Mary for eight years now and they had spent a good bit of time together, but he couldn’t remember ever speaking to her alone. Especially like this.

“I knew she finally had someone to take care of her. You’ve been so good to her.”

“I don’t know if she’ll forgive me this time Mary,” Anthony said, his voice croaky as he hung his head low. “I don’t know if I deserve to be forgiven.”

“Kate didn’t talk to her father and I for two weeks because we didn’t let her go to an Eminem concert when she was twelve years old,” Mary said, chuckling softly at the fond memory. “She will come around.”

“We all make mistakes, Anthony. I don’t know what happened between you two,” Mary said softly, reaching over to squeeze his hands. “I do know you’ll be able to fix yours.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Kate,” Edwina said, exhaustion flooding her voice as she pushed Kate’s wheelchair to a stop in front of the exit of the hospital. “Anthony’s car is the only car big enough to bring you home! You’re meant to lie across the back seat.”

Kate was glaring at Anthony with such an intensity, he was genuinely terrified. She was absolutely furious at the prospect of Anthony driving her home. “I’d rather walk.”

“I suppose you should have thought about that before you went skating on those death traps,” Anthony said, deciding that if she wouldn’t talk to him, he might be able to at least get an insult if he winded her up. Then, she would technically have spoken to him. “Hop on in.”

Kate’s mouth dropped open as she watched Anthony open up his back door, which had been filled with blankets and pillows to help Kate get comfortable. She knew she had no choice. The two nurses helped Kate into the backseat, buckling her in as Edwina got into Anthony’s car. Mary was following them home.

Kate, furious about recent events, was sulking in the back seat.

Edwina and Sophie hadn’t been overly kind to Anthony the first week after Kate’s accident. He didn’t blame them, he deserved every single bit of slack he got for what he’d done. They had eased up on him the last week, probably out of pure pity as he desperately tried to fix things with Kate who so far wanted nothing to do with him.

They finished their awkward car ride once Anthony parked in Kate’s flat’s underground car park. Now the fun really began. He would make himself useful in any way he could to help Kate, so Edwina and Mary had asked him to drive her home once he had offered.

“Kate,” Edwina said slowly, clearly nervous about what she was about to say as she opened her sister’s door. “Mum and I aren’t strong enough to get you out of the car.”

“Whose side are you on?” Kate snapped, realizing exactly what was going on. “There’s not a chance in hell-”

“I am on your leg’s side!” Edwina snapped, everyone’s eyes widening as Edwina’s temper flared. It was a rare sight. “I am losing the will to live here, Kate. Just let Anthony carry you upstairs and you can do whatever you want. Throw anything you want at him for all I care. Just get upstairs.”

Anthony leaned into the back seat, carefully moving Kate and her leg towards the edge of the seat. They were so close, his arms wrapped around her. If he looked at her, he could count the freckles sprawled across her nose and cheek and how many eyelashes she had. He had done it a million times before.

Except he couldn’t.

Kate refused to look at him.

He got her out of the car until she could support herself on her crutches, making her way towards the lifts. Anthony, Edwina and Mary brought all of her bags upstairs to her flat. Anthony had stocked her fridge and cupboards with all her favourite things and had gotten it professionally cleaned yesterday. He also had about five bouquets of tulips in each room.

“Simon dropped in some food from his restaurant,” Edwina said, smiling softly as she began to unpack the bag. “Thank god. I’m starving. Anthony?”

“I’ll go.” Anthony said, shaking his head as he headed towards the door after dropping the last bag on the floor. The hope he had of fixing things with Kate was really starting to diminish. She really despised him.

She wouldn’t even look at him.

Kate waved a crutch in his direction. It was the first time she had spoken to only him directly in over two weeks. “Stop getting me tulips!”

Anthony turned around to look at her, shaking his head simply. “No.”

“We are going to go out for a walk,” Mary suggested loudly, tugging at Edwina who gaped at her mother in disbelief and then glanced back down at the food. The two Sheffields practically ran out of Kate’s flat, bag of food in their hand, and surprisingly weren’t stopped by Kate.

This was his chance.

“How are you?”

Kate’s hard glare hadn’t faded. “Why do you care?”

He visibly softened. “Of course I care.”

“I don’t think you do, actually,” Kate snapped, aggressively fluffing the pillows behind her back where she sat on her grey couch. “I thought you cared until I realized what you had done. I thought you cared until I stood there telling you I loved you and all you did was tell me that you had lied to me and how we would never work. I never expected you to love me back, what did I expect was some-”

“Are you on drugs?”

“Excuse me?” Kate’s voice was almost a shriek.

Anthony had to really stop himself from rolling his eyes. “I can’t say this if you’re in any way inebriated.”

“No,” Kate muttered, crossing her arms across her chest, “I still despise you, so I’m of sound mind.”

“I should have kissed you. That night. When we were at Aubrey Hall. Seven years ago. I should have kissed you in the lake. I should have kissed you at the Law Ball in college. I should have kissed you when we were in Spain. When we were in my dorm. Your dorm. In the morning. In the afternoon. In the evening. There were so many times where I should have kissed you, Kate.”

“You did kiss me,” Kate spat out, tears flooding her eyes that made Anthony’s chest clench. “You kissed me and you pretended that you didn’t remember.”

“I’m an idiot. I’m a fool. There’s no rational explanation for why I did it. I was so scared of losing you, Kate. But I lost you anyway. I’ll never be more sorry for that, Kate.” Anthony took a few tentative steps towards her, crouching down so he was at her eye level. “I’m so sorry for hurting you. Please, just listen to me. I’ll leave you alone afterwards if that’s what you want.”

“I was on my way to yours when Edwina rang me,” Anthony said, trying to remember everything he had wanted to say and had written down so many times. “I was on my way to tell you I was in love with you. I was an asshole, the night of the gallery. A complete asshole. I panicked. I saw everything on that bloody picture that I have wanted and dreamed of for years, and I panicked. I was so scared of losing what we had that I was too scared to take the chance on having something more.”

Kate stared at him with her wide brown eyes, the ones he had missed so bloody much. He had missed everything about her and now he was here and he was trying. He was desperately trying and he had no idea if it would be enough. “What are you trying to say, Anthony?”

“I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you since I was nineteen years old. I’ve denied it and denied it, because I’m screwed up, and I know you deserve better than me, but it's always been you Kate. It will always be you. I was terrified of screwing things up and losing you because I can’t live without you Kate. I don’t ever want to. You’re my best friend. You’re my person.”

“When I heard you were hurt and there was a chance that I could lose you-I can’t fathom life without you, Kate.” Anthony’s voice broke off as he spoke, his voice choking on air. “I can’t. I don’t want to. All I want is you, Kate. I’ll do anything to prove that to you. I’m all in. If you’ll have me.”

“Why do you get to decide?”

Anthony blinked at her through his watery eyes, hastily wiping them. He had finally said everything he wanted to say and the biggest weight had been taken off his chest. The anxiety of waiting on Kate’s response still clawed at him. “What?”

“Why do you get to decide that I deserve better than you?” Kate asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked at him.

“I don’t know,” He answered honestly, shaking his head as he leaned against the couch. “It wasn’t that I decided. It was just so obvious to me. You deserve everything, Kate. Everything. That isn’t me. All I can do is try-”

“No.”

His heart stopped in his chest, a rigid stance completely taken over. Was this it? Was Kate ending things forever? Has he lost for her good?

“You should have asked me.”

Anthony couldn’t help the sigh of relief that came out of him. “I know.”

“I’ve always been smarter than you.”

He smiled softly, nodding his head. “That’s debatable.”

“Do you always have to have an answer for everything?” She asked, completely exasperated, but there wasn’t any annoyance detected in her tone. It was almost teasing.

“I suppose,” He said slowly, his eyes never moving off hers. “Some things never changed.”

“No,” She said softly, her eyes moving around his face. “They really don’t.”

“I should have asked you too,” Kate added a few seconds later, visibly gulping as she pushed some of the loose strands of hair in front of her face behind her ears.

“I’m still so mad at you,” She murmured, blinking away a few tears that rolled down her red cheeks. “I’m so mad. I’m not going to suddenly stop being mad because you’re in love with me and I’m in love with you. We’re going to have to work at this. It isn’t going to be easy.”

“I deserve it.” He nodded in agreement, not being able to stop the small smile breaking out on his face as she said she loved him. “I know. I’ll do anything, Kate. Anything.”

She loved him.

She loved him.

Kate was in love with him.

“Hold my hand.” She murmured, extending her fingers towards him. Their fingers interlock smoothly, her soft, petite palm and his large, rougher hand against each other.

“If you had asked me,” Kate said, her voice coming out wobbly as she spoke. “I would have told you that you’re it for me. It’s always been you. From the moment I met you, it was always going to be you. I didn’t stand a chance. It’s not about deserving, Anthony. It’s about being there for someone no matter what. You’ve always been there for me. And I always want you to be.”

Their faces were extremely close now. He could smell her again, that soft scene of lilies and soap that he had missed so much. He could count the freckles on her cheek and her long, delicate eyelashes. His lips are “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“Us,” Kate corrected him, her breathing small and shallow. “It only took us eight years.”

“This isn’t how I imagined it.”

“I’m so tired of imagining, aren’t you?”

He kisses her.

It’s better than he’s ever imagined it.

Why?

Because it’s real.

[myrwritesfootie]

Like The Old Days - Chapter Two - Mason Mount

Who: Mason Mount x Original Female Character Words: 1629 Disclaimer: I do not know Mason Mount or anyone else mentioned in these writings. Note: So the first chapter was just mainly an introduction, this chapter is nearly double of the previous chapter and I hope you all like it.

July 31st, 2017. Arnhem, Netherlands

The weather was quite chilly for a day in the middle of the summer. Not that it was a strange occurance in the Netherlands. It was one of the things I disliked the most about living in this country. I am someone who preferred the sun and the warmth. Unfortunately that was not going to happen anytime soon.

Despite the dreary weather, I knew that I would have to enjoy the summer as much as possible before it was over and before I would start on my last year of education. Just one more year and then it was time to find work. Something I just didn’t want to think about just yet. I actually liked my school years until now.

The voice of my friend next to me pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Iris? This is like the third time you blanked on me, what’s going on in that head of yours?” Marie asked and I quickly blinked, a guilty expression on my face. “I’m sorry Mar. What were you saying again?”

The blonde sighed - clearly exaggarating, the smile on her lips giving that away as well as she looked at me  over the edge of her sunglasses, bright blue eyes looking into my own hazel ones. “I was asking if you were up for going out for a drink this afternoon, after I finished work. It shouldn’t be a long day and they say that the weather will only get better by the end of the day. Pretty please?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was an ever returning question from Marie whenever the weather was nice in the city. “Fine, we are going out for a drink, but we are going to bring our own drinks and we are going to the park,” I encountered. Marie squinted her eyes for a moment, but then nodded. “Deal. I’ll ask Frances, Yvette and Sanne as well to see if they want to come.”

Even now I could already tell that the park was going to be packed. The park in the middle of the city was one of the most beautiful places in Arnhem, at least in my opinion. Whenever the sun was shining, it was busy. The slight slope in the grass made it a perfect place for sunbathing but also to have some barbecues in the summer. It was as if a big part of the city made its way into the park and my friends and I were definitely no exception.

The morning at our secondary school was one that finished pretty quickly. Marie and I were busy with our second year, with two more years to follow after this. After that university would probably follow if we were to choose for that, but so far I have not been interested in that. It meant more years at school while I knew what I wanted the most; I wanted to do something physical. I wanted to mean something for people, I wanted to travel. I did not want to get back in the school benches once more when I was done with this level of education.

So while Marie left to get to her job, I went back home. A home where a young brother had been bouncing around the house for some time now because our local football team Vitesse had been having a good pre-season so far and new names had been signed. With the Johan Cruijff Shield coming up at the start of the season, the football vibe was big in our house, with my brother bouncing off the walls. I liked football too but I had to admit that I didn’t like our own competition much. That’s what you get when you get hooked on the Premier League. The pace and level of that league was so much higher than our Eredivisie so who can really blame me, right? So where Sam - my younger brother - had a yellow and black obsession, I had a red one. A Liverpool shaped one.

The moment I walked into the house, it was clear that my mum was pissed off. “Sam de Jong, how many times do I have to tell you that you don’t get to kick that ball around inside.” The sight of shattered pieces on the floor that had previously been a longdrink glass came into my view as I walked into the living room.

“I’m sorry mum! I was trying to score the winning goal.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the words of my ten year old brother. As soon as I saw the look on my mother’s face, I bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing.

“I just came by to let you know I’ll be at the park for the afternoon and also probably for dinner,” I quickly said, before leaving the room again so I could get upstairs, not wanting to witness the disaster that Sam was about to face.

It was only a short visit at home. While I freshened up after school - and listened to my mother yell at Sam while making him clean up the mess that he had made, I quickly looked through some messages on my phone where the other girls already showed that they had bought drinks and food already for the park.

Once I got the message from Marie that she was on her way to the park, I left the house as well. The park was only a short walk from my house but because I was known as the lazy one of my friends (and it was probably true as well), I picked the bike as my form of transport to the sunny greenery in the centre of the city. It didn't take long for me to find my friends, who had perched themselves on a large blanket in the grass. Many people had thought the same thing as we did. Other little groups had formed on the grass, some guys were kicking a football around while yelling at each other. In English. Which wasn't that rare here in Arnhem.

As I reached my friends, I just heard the last bit of a sentence Francis had said. "- is pretty cute." I rolled my eyes at the words, Francis was probably one of the biggest guy crazy people I had met but I loved her for it. I followed her gaze and found the footballing guys on the end of it. Oh, and Francis had a preference for athletes.

"Of course you have found the cutest guy in the entire park already," Marie said as she waved at me, holding out a glass with some fizzy drink in it. I looked over my shoulder and had to agree with Francis, however. The brown haired young man standing closest to us was not bad on the eyes. They were probably around the same age as us.

It was always good to spend free afternoons in the sun with my friends. For a moment there was not a worry in the world - although my mother would counter that at my age I did not have any worries. Laughing seemed to be the best remedy against long boring school days. I tried my best to zoom back into the story that Marie was telling. "So my brothers were in the backyard, mum kept yelling at them to grey inside for dinner, that they had to stop fooling around. They didn't listen at all, continued playing rugby and next moment, the ball went through the window. Mum was livid." I shook my head, a laugh escaping me as I thought back at the scene between my own brother and mother. 

"Your brothers aren't the only ones good at breaking glass. Sam wanted to score the winning goal for the Johan Cruijff Shield and thought it was a good idea to do that inside. I walked in on -"

Before I could finish my sentence, this time I was interrupted by a sudden football hitting in the middle of our picnic cloth and knocking glasses over, the ball ending in my lap. I was too surprised to jump up like some of the other girls were doing. 

"I'm so sorry ladies, my friend over there did a terrible job controlling the ball." A male voice spoke up in a British accent. It had to be one of the guys who had been kicking the ball around just a few meters away from us. A look up confirmed that it was the cute brown haired one who had come over to collect the ball in my lap. From up close he was even closer. Dark eyes matched his hair and a smile was on his lips, a shy one at that. He was our age, maybe just a bit older but when he smiled he had crinkles next to his eyes. It was Marie who found her voice back as the first one, of course she was. 

"You can definitely say that. He should learn how to play football." The guy standing with us left out a chuckle, even though I did not understand why it was so funny what Marie had said. 

"I'll let my friend Mitchell know." His gaze moved in my direction, since I had the ball. "I really am sorry…" he trailed off, not knowing which name to add to the end of the sentence. A very smooth way to ask for my name although I didn't even realise it. I scrambled onto my feet finally with the ball in my hands. "It's Iris. Here's your ball back." I held out the ball to him, his fingertips brushing mine for just a second as he took it from me. 

"Thank you Iris. I'm Mason."

[spaceorphan18]

The Smut Challenge (33)

A/N: In celebration of my birthday, I’m giving you guys a longer smut piece today! Not sure if y’all will like it or not (and my apologies for it being unbeta’d) but I figure if you guys like it, I’ll slip one of these longer ones in every once in a while, and if not, I’ll keep to my 500 words or less.  Either way, happy reading <3 

***

July 18th (Day 33) 

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” 

“Yes, Blaine.” 

“Okay, I just want to make sure.” 

“We have a plan, and a safe word, so I’m really, really okay.”  

Blaine takes a second to suppress his eagerness.  Rarely have they roleplayed, so this is a bit of a new thing for them.  But this whole scenario is just as much Kurt’s idea as his own, and after having a lengthy conversation as to how to proceed, they picked a day where they had all the time in the world to act it out.  

Blaine takes a moment to look himself over in the bathroom mirror.  His hair is mostly ungelled, the loose curls doing as they wish.  He’s wearing Kurt’s old football jersey, while over a decade old, is a bit big on him.  And he’s got on a pair of spandex shorts that hide nothing to the imagination.  He thinks he looks a little bit laughable like this, but it’s what Kurt wants, and it’s not like Kurt isn’t giving him what he wants.  With a deep breath he leaves the bathroom.  

Kurt comes out of the bedroom at the same time, and Blaine can barely keep it together.  Kurt’s dressed in his old cheerleading costume that does not fit in all the best ways.  His chest is broader, arms more defined than when he had been in high school.  His ass fills out the pants nicely.  His hair is without product, and softly down, making him look much younger than he really is.  It’s a bit surreal, but Blaine holds back his instincts.  

He remembers his role and the game, and spouts a churlish attitude when he sees Kurt.  “Dude, why are you always lingering around here after the games?” Blaine flops himself down on the couch.  It doesn’t quite double for a locker room bench, but felt much safer trying to do this in their own home as opposed to a more public area.  He lets his legs flop open, and relaxes his posture, doing his best to resemble some straight jock of his imagination.  

Kurt’s lips slide into a wiley grin as turns into a character Blaine’s never quite seen before.  “I just thought I’d come congratulate you,” Kurt’s voice is higher than Blaine expects it to be.  He comes behind the couch, and begins to massage Blaine’s shoulders.  “You did win the game after all.”  

Blaine relaxes into Kurt’s touch, it feels so good, but Blaine down plays it, trying to act as if he’s bored and unaffected by the massage.  Kurt’s warm hands slip under the jersey, rubbing his shoulders hard before they travel lower, pinching his nipples. 

“Jesus fucking christ, what are you doing?” Blaine lets a little anger slip into his words.  He worries it might be too much, but Kurt’s doesn’t seem off put one bit.  

“Just giving you something I think you need,” Kurt says.  “The game’s over and you’re still so tense.”  Kurt goes back to rubbing his shoulders.  

“Well, how am I supposed to relax when a dude’s hands are all over me?” 

“Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never had this fantasy?” Kurt’s grin is wicked now as he backs away to come around the couch.  Kurt goes to his knees, settling in between Blaine’s legs, running his hands up Blaine’s thighs. “I’ve seen you, you know.  The way you try not to look at my ass during a game.  The way you touch yourself after you’ve seen me come out of the shower after practice.  I think you want this more than you know.”  

Blaine gives an unimpressed hand wave.  “Whatever, dude.  You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Do I?” Kurt’s eyebrow is arched high as he leans in towards Blaine’s crotch.  He doesn’t hesitate to suck a kiss to Blaine’s spandex covered cock.  He lets out an erotic moan as he does it again, and again; and Blaine doesn’t think he’s ever gotten so hard so quickly as he watches Kurt to continue to suck at his cock through the fabric.  He takes a second to run his fingers through Kurt’s hair, encouraging him to do more, even if he’s supposed to be pretending not to be into it.  “Are you sure you don’t want to know what it’s like to be sucked by someone who knows what they’re doing?  Are you sure you don’t want to fuck my mouth even a little?” Kurt looks up at him, his eyes dark and wide, daring him to suggest otherwise.  

His body is already betraying him, but Blaine keeps on character.  “Man, if you wanna - I’m not going to turn down a free blowjob.”  

Kurt licks his lips as he pulls down the spandex shorts, freeing Blaine’s cock.  “I always knew you’d be thick,” Kurt says, dragging his tongue up his shaft.  

Blaine shudders, Kurt always has known how to work his mouth.  Kurt sucks on the tip a little before sinking all the way down, his head beginning to bob up and down as he sucks Blaine off.  Blaine sits back and enjoys the pleasure of it, closing his eyes as he let’s Kurt work him.  God, he’s so good at this.  

Kurt then pulls off with a wet pop, replacing his mouth with his hand as brings the fabric lower to get at Blaine’s balls.  He sucks one in and then the other, making sure to give them proper attention as he continues to stroke Blaine’s cock.  

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Blaine utters, not being able to help himself.  

“Fuck?” Kurt says, his voice a husky whisper.  “I said you could fuck my mouth if you wanted to.”  

“C’mere,” Blaine says.  He grabs onto Kurt’s hair, a little rougher than he would normally, and guides his cock back to Kurt’s mouth.  Kurt grabs onto it, running the tip over his lips before allowing Blaine in again.  Then Kurt lets him take over, lets him fuck his mouth, lets him enjoy the warm, velvety heat.  It’s almost too much.  And just as Blaine gets close, Kurt pulls off.  

“Wha-the fuck you doing?” 

“Hold on, I’d like to readjust.”  Kurt leans back a little, pulling his own pants down, and setting them snug under his balls.  Kurt’s cock is long and hard and already leaking pre-come at the tip.  

Blaine wants to touch - wants to make him come in an instant, but refrains.  “Oh, you want to be a little tease now?  Well maybe you should play with yourself a bit.  I wanna see a show.”  

Kurt smirks, spitting on his hand before he brings it to his cock.  He begins to work his cock, pulling at it as he closes his eyes.  “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting you to see me like this,” he says as he fucks into his own fist.  His free hand begins to roam, hiking up his shirt to tweak at his nipple.  “How after seeing you during practice… a game, I’d get so turned on.  And then I’d touch myself afterwards.  I always hoped you’d see and just kiss me.  You’d kiss me hard and unafraid.  And after we’d make out, you’d just spin me around and fuck me against the lockers because you wanted me so bad.  Anyone could come in, but you just wouldn’t care because you wanted me so badly.” 

Kurt is the utter picture of sex as he arches into his hand.  It’s erotic and beautiful, and Blaine slowly pulls at his own cock because he can’t help himself.  “If you want to be fucked so badly, come and sit on my cock.  Use it to get yourself off.” 

It’s a bit of a demand, but Kurt complies willingly, getting himself quickly out of his pants and climbing onto Blaine’s lap.  Blaine pulls Kurt’s arms around his neck as they come together for a searing kiss.  It’s hot and messy and too dizzyingly amazing for Blaine to quite keep up the scenario, but all he wants to do is taste Kurt, feel him everywhere.  

“Jesus, fuck, Kurt,” Blaine says as Kurt begins to grind their hips together as they kiss, their cocks brushing up against one another.  “Are you gonna ride me or what.”  

Blaine slides his hands down to Kurt’s ass, squeezing Kurt’s asscheeks as he pulls them apart.  Kurt uses a little of his saliva on Blaine’s cock before slowly coming down on it.  It’s torturously slow as Kurt works his way to bottoming out. 

“Like this?” Kurt says, a bit cheekily as he begins to rise and fall.  Blaine steadies Kurt, holding him gently before Kurt begins to pick up speed.  It’s not long before Kurt’s bouncing on Blaine’s cock, letting out little obscenities as he loses himself in the pleasure of it all.  “Fuck you feel so good.  So deep inside me, Blaine, fuck, fuuuck, so good.”  

Blaine can only hold on as Kurt fucks himself on Blaine’s cock.  He can’t even concentrate on the scene anymore.  There’s nothing, just Kurt, and the cresting edge of his orgasm.  And it’s not long before he’s arching his own hips, pushing himself deep into Kurt as he comes.  Kurt’s close as well, and he uses his own hand to finish himself off, letting out an ecstatic cry as he comes over the both of them.  

“Was that okay?” Kurt asks, breathing heavily as they both come down.  He brings their foreheads together.  Gone is the teasing, young cheerleader, and present is his wonderful husband.  

“That was amazing,” Blaine says, drawing Kurt in for a kiss.  “I wasn’t too much was I? I know I got a little rough.” 

“No, not at all,” Kurt reassures him.  “You were perfect.”  

“I love you so much, Kurt.”  

“I love you, too.”

[robinrequiems]

Now that you mentioned it, can I have some track star player! Damian and basketball captain! Jon 👀

👀

• Baskebtall November-march, & outdoor track & soccer is March-June. pspspspspsps! I know Jack shit about sports (:

• in freshmen year, damian found himself bored, he had so much built up on energy that he needed to release. damians not a.. team player, so he joined a sport that didn’t really require you to be a team player. track.

• damian could run okay? he could run fast. so it was perfect, so now, as a junior, he was known for winning the school track trophies but Damian wasn’t as well known as jon. captain of the basketball team, a boy cherished by the school for bringing home a trophy for the first time in years. their basketball team was bad, but then, little freshmen jonny joined

• he just joined for fun, he didn’t expect to get in, he also liked played basketball with his brother, so he just tried out. ( that’s what he said at least ) sure, at the start he wasn’t the best player, but then, during their first game? he was playing amazingly. apparently the boys great under pressure

• he slowly rose up in the team and became well known, there was always a girl or two chasing after him in the halls ( jon didn’t really care for them.. he was more interested in the track star )

• jon fell in love with damian. no.. well.. jon had a crush on him since freshmen year. why, you may ask? ..he likes his personality, jon remembers getting lost in the falls as a freshmen and then sophomore Damian going to help him. was he laughing at him? definitely.

• people said damian was rude, jon said otherwise. he may not know damain that well, but he could see kindness in him

• his team members called him a simp. he.. no.. he wasn’t a simp? all he did was defend damian

• people said jon didn’t even know damian, but jon feels like he’s known him for years.. like they were partners or something ( am i hinting at reincarnation and a potential reincarnation arc in this au 👁 or am I hinting at doing a reincarnation au? the world will never know)

• jon believes there’s more to Damian than people think

• Maya is the captain of the girls soccer team, Tai is apart of the basketball team, Kathy is a cheerleader, and billy is a football player

• damian is friends with maya and sorta friends with tai due to club activities ( art ), & an acquaintance of Kathy because Maya is dating kathy ( today is a date I ship kathymaya )

• jon is friends with tai, Kathy ( childhood friends ), Maya ( Kathy’s gf so he knows Kathy’s gf ), & billy

• damian often saw jon in the halls, jon tried to smile at Damian, but damain just ignored them. he didn’t know Jon. stranger danger

• jons last game was coming yo, the championship, damians track season was about to start soon, the school was amped up

• it was the final game and jon was so hyped

Jon: Hey! Damian!

Damian:

Damian: what.

Jon: the um.. my last game.. it’s.. it’s friday.. and I was wondering if.. if you’d go?

Damian: I was already going.

Jon: really!

Damian: yes, tai invited me.

• a slight lie on damians part

• but he briefly heard tai ask Maya if she would come, and Maya normally brought Damian along ( much to his dismay.. )

• jon eyes lit up when he heard the name tai. Damian knows tai. TAI KNOWS DAMIAN

Jon: TAI

Tai: Jesus Christ, jon-

Jon: you know Dam— d a - frick - Damian

Tai: yeah?

Jon: set us up! match make! okay cupid!

Tai: are you sure english is your first language, ‘cause..

Jon; tai!

Tai: why do you even want to go out with him???

Jon: he’s pretty…

Tai: he’s mean

Jon: he is not!

• tai did not know what world jon wad living in

• but. tai was one of jons best friends so, he of course, tried to help:)

Tai: hey, shithead

Damian: oh my god, don’t talk to me

Tai: I need a favor

Damian: no.

Tai: you owe me.

• damian did owe him, tai took him to the er one time when he he fucked his ankle up after doing something stupid

Damian: what.

Tai: I need you to wear the number 3 to the game

Damian: 3– that’s - the boys- jons. why?

Tai: don’t ask.

• so that’s how Damian ended up wearing a shirt with the number 3 on it, Maya laughed at him

• oops. but Damian didn’t really care that much. but him wearing jons stupid number started rumors

• damian didn’t really label his sexuality, jon was openly bi, do that wasn’t the problem. the problem was that they thought they were dating

• damian didn’t like that and found it annoying. you see, damian didn’t really know of jons crush, he didn’t pay enough attention to the boy, it wasn’t like he was in any of his classes anyways.

• ( tai and Damian are sorta actually good friends, they have that insulty friendship and share a lot of classes, Maya is senior, along with Billy, Kathy’s a junior w/ tai n billy )

• damian really didn’t care for jon. at all.. until he actually saw him. the last time he saw jon. he was.. noodle like.

• now? he was not. he didn’t really fully pay attention to jon before. sure he’s saw his smile and face, but oh my god.

Damian: hes hot

Maya: what?

Damian: n.. nothing. Sorry.

• he did not mean to narrate his thoughts there. Damian didn’t care for team sports, but looking at jon play? wow.

• the way jon ran around, he was so. Elegant.

• damian was seriously ogling jon. Damian has never felt more embarrassed. he hates when people focused on his looks and here he was. doing the same. he wanted to commit mass murder. on himself. right now.

• meanwhile, Maya was just trying to watch her girlfriend who was sitting on the bench while Damian was having a mini breakdown on how shallow he was being

• ( told you guys, Damian will always be dramatic in any universe )

Maya: you good there-?

Damian: no.

Maya: great, it’s half time, I’m gonna go say hi to kathy

• he couldn’t believe Maya was leaving him in his misery

• meanwhile, jon was fsngirling. Damian was here. Damian. Wearing his number. Oh shit.

Jon: tai tai tai tai!!!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!

Tai: yeah yeah, you owe me

• jon played so well that day too, they ended up winning the game. no one knew where jon got that sudden burst of energy when he was beginning to get tired, but he did

• and he got the winning shot

Kathy: geez, jon! good job!

Jon: thank you!

Maya: thought you guys were gonna lose

Tai: thanks Maya

Maya: anytime <3

Jon: I’m gonna say hi to damian, wish me luck!

Maya: luck wished

Tai: don’t combust when he looks at you!

• tai is the best wing man <3

• but anyways damians still in the bleachers, trying to hide from the world

Jon: Damian!

Damian: yes?

Jon: thanks for coming! I think you were my good luck charm

• jon should have not said that out loud, but he did.

• and Damian chose to just: not comment on it.

• a week or something later and it’s damians track meet

• he has started looking forward to jons smiles in the halls, but he still pretends that he never sees it. he learned a few things about jon, how he’s truly a sweetheart, probably the nicest person in the planet— as long as you don’t mess with his friends, and failing English class

• but damian doesn’t have the time to pine, he spends his hours now running, jumping hurdles, jumping, and yadayada.

• he was excited. he was. he was just: wow. he was hyped up, energy was building up in him as anticipation built up for the first meet. It was currently Monday, the first meet will be Wednesday. Three days.

• and in those three days, he was his own enemy. sleep- sleep did not come easily. Not at all. His thoughts kept him up and awake, thinking about the possibilities, it was absolute garbage.

Maya: geez, you look like a zombie

Damian: feel like one

Tai: hey dude did you bring th— ooh yikesss

Damian: shut up.

• damian was 100%my grumpy that day and glared at all passing bystanders

• but jon had began sitting at Damian’s table, along with Tai ( 😡 )

• damians table consisted of Maya, sometimes Kathy, Maps, && Colin. Colin was also apart of the track team

Jon: uh, D- are you okay?

Damian: mmhhhshshshjsnm

• jon and Damian started calling each other by D and J, they don’t know why, it just happened

• jon wanted to go to damians meet, but he didn’t exactly know if Damian would like that? it was.. complicated

• he didn’t even know if him and damian were friends, they barely even saw each other minus the small times in the hallway and lunch

• but he did go to damians track meet, damian would never admit that he liked that Jon was there

[rainbowsinthestorm]

Update

Hi everyone! Apologies that I’ve been absent lately and haven’t updated At The Beginning in a while. Lately, I’ve been struggling. 

I know it’s been a while since I updated my series but if I’m being totally honest, my mental health has been really bad lately and I just haven’t been in the right head space to even think about writing. I’d usually write on Sundays when my husband goes out to American Football training but I’ve been getting no time to myself and I just can’t find the motivation.

It feels like I’m letting everyone down waiting for the next chapter but then when I’m writing it, I’ll constantly be thinking ‘what if no one reads it or they read it and they don’t like it?’. I then stress myself out and lose all motivation but then I’ll be in a never ending loop of feeling like my work isn’t good and that I’m letting people down by not posting anything, alternating between the two constantly. I’m just so exhausted from pretending I’m ok and everything’s alright.

Hubby and I are still both working from home, in the same room, for ten hours a day which is taking its toll on me, not having any ‘me time’ away from him. It sounds awful, I know, but I’m ready for him to go back to the office, just so we aren’t together 24/7 which isn’t healthy.

I’ve also had some issues in my personal life lately and I ended up in a really bad place. The issues are not something I’m proud of at all but I’m slowly working through them to get better.

For a long time, I didn’t talk to anybody about how I was feeling and the thoughts I had spiralled out of control and my thoughts got so low and I felt so unhappy that I couldn’t see a way out, thinking it would be so easy to just do something to not be here. I just feel like I’m letting everyone down. My hubby mainly, for various reasons.

But also you guys as well because I’ve not been updating my fics on a regular basis but that’s something else I’ve been struggling with. I don’t have high self esteem at all and have thoughts that my fics are not very good and I worry that people will then lose interest if I’m not updating regularly.

I also haven’t been playing choices as much as the books just aren’t holding my interest and at one point I was just playing them to get the diamonds. I signed up for VIP for a few months to play ‘My Two First Loves’ but other than that I haven’t really played a book since I finished that one. Maybe I’ll go back and replay some of the older books to see if I can get back the love for the game.

I’m not loads better, but I’m slowly getting there. I’ve started going to the gym every day, just to get out of the house and I’ve been reading my books a lot lately (I currently have over 500 to read but can’t help buying more 😂) which has helped.

I’m hoping to be able to get back into writing shortly, maybe doing some one shots until I can get my head into the right space in order to continue my series. Anyway, sorry for rambling on. I’ve probably bored you all to tears 😂.

As it’s been so long, I’m updating my tag lists. If anyone wants to be removed, because I‘ve not been posting a lot, just let me know. I’m also thinking about posting on AO3 as well as I don’t know how active the fandom is on here anymore. If anyone wants to follow me on there, my username is rainbowsinthestorm 

@sawyeroakleyscowboyhat @larryssunflower @silviasutton1989 @leelee10898 @agent-bossypants @mrsdrakewalkerblog @andy-loves-corgis @katurrade @drakewalkerisreal @whenyourheartskipsabeat @furiousherringoperatortoad @ladyangel70 @mfackenthal ​@xxrainbow-princessxx @kingliam2019 @kinkykingliam

Permanent tag list: @blubutterflyy @texaskitten30 @indiacater @liamxs-world

[storiesforallfandoms]

cliche ~ yungblud

word count: 2440

request?: yes!

chieftreepandagarden “Can I please get a yungblud x female reader. The reader is Dom child best friend who is a YouTuber and revealing on her channel that she is dating dom”

description: while doing a q&a on her channel, she decides to tell the cliched story of her and her childhood best friend falling in love

pairing: yungblud x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist

“Next question is one that I get a lot,” I read from my phone. “How did you meet Dom?”

I smiled to myself as I remembered the very first day I had met my best friend.

My mum had dragged me to the new neighbours house to wecolme them to the neighbourhood. She said we should be neighbourly, that everyone else had gone to welcome them. I didn’t understand why what everyone else did had to affect what I had to do, but I was only 6. It wasn’t like I could just stay home.

A woman around mum’s age answered the door after mum knocked. She smiled at the two of us, but gave me a wider smile that I always got because I was a “cute child”.

“Hello there,” she said, directing a high pitched voice that people usually use when talking to young children in my direction.

“Hi,” I said. My mum nudged me due to my bored tone.

“I’m (Y/M/N), and this is my daughter, (Y/N),” she said. “We wanted to come welcome you to the neighbourhood.”

“Well, aren’t you the sweetest?” the still unnamed woman said, kneeling down to smile at me. “I have a little boy that’s about your age. If you and your mummy would like to come in you could play with him for a bit.”

The mention of another kid my age excited me more, and I turned to look at my mum, hopefully. She smiled and nodded, “Of course, we’d love to come in.”

I excitedly followed our new neighbour to her backyard, where a boy roughly my age was sat in the grass playing with some toys. I bounded out of the door and sat next to him, way too excited to play with a kid I didn’t even know yet.

“Who are you?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows together.

“I’m (Y/N), I’m your new neighbour. Your mum said I could come play with you!”

This was a good enough explanation, as he smiled back and said, “Okay! I’m Dom!”

And with that, we began playing with his toys.

“Kids are way too trusting,” I said as I finished the story. “I was really okay with running into this stranger’s house at the age of 6 because I was told that there was another kid there, and Dom was just okay with a random 6 year old girl sitting next to him and playing with his toys! I tell you, if we had more common sense we never would’ve met. It’s probably a good thing that neither of us have ever had common sense, or else we wouldn’t have stayed such good friends.”

I looked back down at my phone before looking up at the camera again. “You know, there are so many questions about Dom and our friendship, so why don’t I just tell the story of the second most asked question: have we ever had a crush on one another? The simple answer: yes! Of course we have! We’ve been best friends for almost 20 years now, that included going through that awkward adolescent phase where all you wanna do is kiss or fuck anything that walks. Doesn’t help that our best friends kept trying to force us together in high school, of course.”

“There is no way you feel absolutely nothing for, Dom, or you never have felt anything,” Krista said as I closed my locker door.

“He’s basically my brother, Kris, that’s gross!” I responded, hoping neither of the girls noticed the blush on my face.

“You keep saying that, but brothers and sisters don’t act the way you two do,” Genevieve told me. “You’re always being all touchy feely with one another, and you always tease one another in a flirty way.”

“I tease him because he’s an idiot,” I retorted. “I don’t know why you two want us together so bad. He’s my best friend, nothing more and nothing less.”

“Just think of how cute you guys would be together!” Krista said. “You’d be the power couple of the group!”

I rolled my eyes at her and promptly elbowed both of them upon seeing Dom and his friends approaching us. Genevieve and Krista giggled as the three boys met us halfway.

“Hey,” Dom said, smiling his bright smile directly towards me. I felt my heart race with excitement, but I tried my best not to let it show.

“Hey,” I responded, smiling back at him. Krista nudged me slightly, but I shot her a quick glare as she did.

“We’ve finally convinced Dom to come to watch the football game with us tonight,” his friend, Harry said. “Will you ladies be joining us?”

I looked between Genevieve and Krista, but they were already looking back at me expectantly. I shrugged. “I guess...maybe. I do have a lot of homework to do.”

“The game will be over by, like, 8 at the latest, you can pull an all nighter,” Harry insisted.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go. Homework was the last thing I wanted to be doing with my night, especially when my grades were doing well alright, and our teachers liked me too much to ever fail me. If my homework was late they’d probably just give me some sort of late penalty.

“Alright,” I said with a shrug. “I’m down. What about you guys?”

Genevieve and Krista were already nodding before my words were completely out.

“Sweet,” Dom’s other friend, Josh, said. “The game starts around 6, so meet at the bleachers around 5 so we can get a good seat?”

We all agreed and went our own ways as the warning bell rang.

~~~~~~

I was the first to show up to the game at 5 on the dot. I was known for my punctuality in the group.

I was wearing a hoodie with a coat over it, and had my matching beanie and gloves on. It was only late September, but the winter cold was already creeping in. I was so cold that I was starting to regret choosing sitting outside and watching a football game over the warmth of my room, even if it meant I had to do homework for that warmth.

I kept checking my phone, waiting for a text from one of the girls, or even from Dom, to say they were almost here. As time ticked away, I thought about just ditching the whole thing. It was way too cold to just be standing around outside.

Finally, I saw Dom’s familiar lanky stature approach. I smiled when I saw him, and his smile mirrored mine when his eyes rested on me.

“Hey,” he said. “Are the girls here yet?”

I shook my head. “No, I haven’t heard from them yet either. You hear from the guys.”

“Josh said his mom is making him babysit his little sister, and Harry says he was grounded for bad grades,” Dom responded. “So...just us I guess?”

I nodded. “Yeah...just us.”

I didn’t know why I was having trouble trying to talk to Dom. We had been best friends since we were six years old, we talked all the time. But, in recent years, it had always been through text - where it’s easier to say just about anything - or our friends were with us. I hadn’t talked to Dom one-on-one, face to face, in at least a year.

“Well...we should go find a place to sit I guess,” Dom said. Unable to find my voice, I just lamely nodded.

The first half of the game was spent in silence, besides cheering every time our school managed to get a goal. I couldn’t help but check my phone a few times, hoping one of the girls was going to text me to say they were running late. Of course, that didn’t happen.

“I feel like we haven’t hung out just the two of us in a while,” Dom finally spoke after what felt like an eternity of silence. “And I feel bad about that. I hope you don’t think I’m replacing you with the boys or anything.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at this. “No, of course I know that’s not your intent. You could never replace me anyways, I’m one of a kind after all.”

The two of us laughed together, and it felt like the awkward weight on my shoulders was lifted.

“We just ended up in a friend group instead of just a duo,” I continued. “Which I think is fine. I’m glad you have Harry and Josh, and I’m glad they get along with Kris and Gen so well. It just resulted in us hanging out as a group more than just as the two of us. It was bound to happen.”

“I still feel bad about it,” Dom said. “And, as shitty as it is to say, I’m glad it ended up just being the two of us tonight. I feel like this was long overdue.”

I smiled, grateful for this alone time with Dom, too.

I shivered as another gust of cold air passed over us. Dom looked at me, concerned. “You cold?”

I nodded. “Are you not?”

“Well...yeah, I am. Not as cold, apparently.” He opened his arms to me and gestured for me to lean into him. “Come on, bring it in.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I leaned into his embrace. I took in the familiar scent of his cologne, something I had loved to smell for years. Being in his arms was so warm, but still I found myself shivering, this time mainly from nerves.

I spent the rest of the game in Dom’s arms, only once leaving when one of our football players kicked the ball into the opposite team’s neck and got us our winning goal. When the game ended, Dom and I walked together to my car, taking our time as we did so.

“I’m glad you came out tonight,” Dom said. “Mainly so I wasn’t stood up like a complete loser.”

I giggled. “I’m glad I came out, too. Now, it’s back to homework hell for me.”

Dom groaned. “Yeah, I get that. I gotta go finish a paper for English, too.”

“Oh, I finished mine last night! Text me if you need any help, I can do my best to give you the answers without flat out telling you what to write.”

Dom smiled. “I’d love that, thanks (Y/N).”

There was another silence between us a we arrived to my car. Dom was standing so close to me that I could feel his warmth still. I turned to face him and came to find he was mere inches away from me. If I wanted to (and boy, did I ever want to), I could’ve leaned forward and kissed him. I could’ve figured out right there in that moment if the feelings I had for Dom were reciprocated.

But of course, I didn’t. I stepped away from him before I did something I regretted, although my heart was thudding so hard against my chest that it was making my vision blurry. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, (Y/N).”

I watched him walk away to his car, mentally kicking myself for not making the move in that moment.

“You’d be right to call me an idiot because of that,” I told the camera. “To this day, my biggest regret was not telling Dom in that moment how I felt about him. A few years after that is when Dom went off and started making music and became Yungblud. We kept in touch, but he was always touring and travelling, so it wasn’t the same. Then, he started dating Halsey, and you can imagine how I felt about that. Luckily, this past year we got back in touch, as you all know because he’s been heavily present in my videos lately.

“How does this story end, I can hear you asking. Did you ever tell Dom? Yeah, I did, right after he kissed me and told me he had liked me ever since we were kids. He really has be beat there since I thought he was gross and had cooties when we were kids. And this is where the story becomes terribly cliched, because now I’m dating my childhood best friend. Have been for...almost a year now, actually. I’m quite proud of myself for being able to keep it a secret that long. It wasn’t easy, but I did it.”

I continued filming my Q&A video as if I hadn’t just dropped the biggest bomb on my viewers, knowing how they’d react once the video went live.

I finished filming and sat back on the couch, turned on my favourite show on Netflix, and began editing the video. I was hoping to have it up by the next day, then I’d take the weekend off to watch the reactions roll in.

As I sat back to edit, the door to my apartment opened and Dom walked in. He smiled at me and held up a bag of take out he had picked up. “I hope you haven’t eaten yet.”

“I’ve been filming for a solid two hours, of course I haven’t eaten,” I laughed, extending my hand to the take out bag. “Give.”

“Learn some manners!” he said as he approached me. I playfully rolled my eyes as he leaned his head down towards mine and gave him a quick kiss before pulling the bag from his hands. “Hey!”

I giggled as he tried to get it back from me, but I had already opened the bag and stuffed a handful of fries into my mouth.

“At least let me get us some plates,” he said, kissing my forehead before going to my kitchen.

“I filmed that video today,” I called after him, after swallowing the mouthful of food. “The Q&A one where I revealed we’re together. I’m hoping to have it up by tomorrow.”

“The internet is going to implode.”

“I know, but I’d like for them to know now.” He joined me on the couch again, passing me my plate. “I like you too much to keep you a secret any longer.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he said, kissing my cheek again. “Show me the video when it’s done editing, I want to be the first person who knows we’re dating.”

I laughed as I playfully pushed him. I rested my head on his shoulder, leaning into him the way I had those years before at the football game, as I continued to edit the video.

[spaceskam]

8 for Malex? Thanks!

*hiding because this took an embarrassing amount of time I'm sorry*

tags: high school au, slight mental health stuff goin’ on, bed sharing

8. bedtime stories [ao3]

Alex never claimed to be subtle.

He watched Michael openly, his thumb between his teeth as he eyed the way he pulled his shirt over his head. He knew this was probably inappropriate. However, Michael was hot and had yet to tell him to stop staring. Sometimes it seemed like he deliberately did things to make Alex stare. So Alex kept on and hoped that, if he was only doing this to make fun of Alex, at least he got something nice to look at.

“Hey, Alex,” Michael called, tossing his sweaty shirt into his bag and grabbing a dry one, “Do you think your brother would mind if I stayed over tonight? I don’t feel like going home.”

Alex swallowed and sat up straight. He looked around at the other guys in the locker room. He was sure one of them would say something. Magically, they didn’t. 

“Clay won’t care,” Alex said, trying to seem nonchalant. Michael closed his locker and looked at him with a massive grin as he pulled his shirt down. His hair was still damp with sweat and it stuck to his forehead. Both of those things together were too much for Alex’s sanity.

“Cool. Meet you after school at my truck?”

“Okay. Yeah.”

Michael leaned close into Alex’s face and gave a mocking, “Okay, yeah,” before he laughed and walked around Alex. He twisted on the bench and followed him with his eyes as he went to the other side of the locker room where his other friends were. They instantly started talking about the game next Friday and how they were playing Carlsbad and how their team’s cheerleaders were hot. Michael didn’t deny it and Alex tried not to feel weird about it.

Instead, he grabbed his back and quickly headed out of the locker room. He hated gym and had put it off until his senior year, but now he was stuck doing it with basically no one to talk to except sophomore loners who seemed content to fail the class. He felt that.

The only highlight of it was Michael Guerin who he got to watch work up a sweat for 45 minutes every single day of the week. He got to watch him play dodgeball with too much enthusiasm and run the mile at the fastest in the class and play put-out with his friends. Alex had, somehow, befriended him when they were freshmen and both the youngest in their math class, so they stuck together. Then sophomore year they had Spanish together, junior year they had chemistry, this year they had gym. It wasn’t much but it was enough to spark an unlikely class-only friendship that turned into a school-only friendship that turned into an actual one.

He was Alex’s favorite person in the world.

The next two classes passed by relatively quickly, solely relying on the fact that Alex wasn’t paying attention and instead doodling aimlessly in his notes. Science was boring, math was easy.

Alex let himself into Michael’s truck because he was a dumbass who never locked it and sat in the passenger seat. His notebook stayed in his lap and he kept shading in the boat he was working on as the parking lot filled with other people going to their cars and people going to their buses. Michael always talked to his fellow football players before he left considering they couldn’t leave until the buses did anyway, so Alex wasn’t in a rush.

When Michael did climb in, he raised his head to get a good look at him. Because he always wanted to get a good look at him. Today, just like most days, he looked gorgeous and lit up from the inside and he was already staring at Alex.

“What’cha drawing?” he asked, scooting to the middle to look at Alex’s book. He pressed up against his side and eyed it, nodding his head. “Nice. I’m gonna get one of those tattooed on me one day.”

“What? A boat?”

“No, one of your pieces,” Michael laughed, shaking his head as he moved back to the driver’s seat. He turned the ignition and Alex stared at the side of his face. “Whichever one you think I should. Think about it.”

And Alex would think about it. It wasn’t even the first time he thought about it. Michael had spoken of getting one of his drawings on him before and the thought was quite possibly the most erotic thing Alex could think of which was ridiculous. There was nothing sexy about that in reality. But… Michael shirtless and having something Alex created permanently on his skin was just so good.

He went back to the drawing before he could entertain putting his tongue on it.

Michael turned up the radio before backing out of his spot and then they were on their way to Alex’s house. He put his drawing down in favor of watching out the window as Michael badly sang along to Nirvana and Beck.

Junior year was the first time Michael had come over to his house and it had felt weird to acknowledge that the person he’d spoken to nearly every day for over two years knew approximately nothing about his home life. Alex had half-assed an explanation about how his mother left and his dad was in jail, so Alex only lived with his brothers. Michael hadn’t judged him, only loudly made it clear he thought Clay was badass for stepping up when he was freshly 18 to make sure the rest of them didn’t get too screwed.

It was a few more after school hangouts after that that Michael confided that he’d been in the foster care system since he was a baby and had been in a group home for the last few years. Teenage boys were a hard sell to foster parents, apparently.

Clay had no problem giving his number to the group home to call for check-ins whenever Michael started staying over. 

“Please tell me he got spicy Doritos because I‒hell yeah,” Michael said, letting himself roam freely around the kitchen. He pulled the bag of spicy nacho Doritos labeled Michael out of the pantry and ripped them open, a grin on his face. Alex could watch it all day.

“Can I steal the bar mix that you haven’t touched in, like, a month?” Flint asked, his gaze stuck on his computer where he was doing homework. His eyebrows were pulled into an angry glare at it.

“Yeah, sure, if it’s still good,” Michael answered, falling onto the couch right beside Alex and holding out the bag to him. Alex shook his head. Michael often got food obsessions and would go a month where that was all he wanted, but during bad days it was the only thing he could eat that didn’t make him lose his appetite. 

Despite the fact that he was all smiles, Alex had memorized the warning signs and knew he wouldn’t be eating dinner.

“Sweet,” Flint said, sliding to the pantry to grab the remnants of Michael’s last food obsession.

One of the warning signs that Michael wasn’t doing great, despite the fact that he’d asked to come over at all and hadn’t just invited himself, was the fact that he had taken any excuse all day to be tactile Alex. He’d spent all lunch and gym with him instead of with his football buddies, he’d wanted to sit closer in the truck, he immediately sat practically on top of him on the couch.

Later that night, he sat beside him at dinner and picked at it, only eating the crunchy asparagus and the edges of the tortilla part of his quesadilla. Alex ate what he didn’t.

Michael took a shower and wore Alex’s clothes and made himself at home in Alex’s bed, all cozy and on his phone with his thumb in his mouth when Alex got out of the shower. When they’d first started spending the night together, Michael slept on the couch or on the floor. One night they’d fallen asleep in Alex’s bed during a movie and now that’s where he went each night.

Alex didn’t mind.

He shut off the lights and jumped into bed, putting on Netflix on the TV and starting up where they’d left off in their third watch-through of The Good Place. Michael scooted closer until they were touching in some way, his eyes still partially on his phone and partially on the TV.

It should’ve bothered Alex. It should’ve felt like taunting. Occasionally he did feel the need to shake him and ask him if he really wasn’t seeing how much Alex was into him. Was the staring not enough? Was the way he got a bit dizzy whenever he realized Michael was beginning to smell like Alex’s shampoo not enough? Was Alex’s eyes tracing every bead of sweat that rolled across his face like he hadn’t had water in weeks not enough? Was every single one of Michael’s other friends mentioning that they acted “kinda gay” not enough?

But mostly Alex was fine with it. Michael was safe here and comfortable and Alex wasn’t going to ruin that by wanting something more. So he would keep his hands to himself. He wouldn’t be subtle, but he wouldn’t be overbearing. He would just be Alex and hope that was alright.

“Alex,” Michael whispered, moving until his head was on Alex’s shoulder. Alex hummed in response. “Can you tell me a bedtime story about your boat?”

Alex smiled and shifted, his fingers slipping into Michael’s hair. Michael tilted his head up until they locked eyes. They were so close, just like every time Michael requested a bedtime story, as if that was the only acceptable time to be less than an inch away from each other’s face. Alex very quietly thought that their entire friendship felt like one.

“Once upon a time, there was a very loud pirate captain,” Alex started, watching as Michael’s thumb slowly started gravitating towards his mouth again, “He was old and held very strict beliefs. If you disagreed, he’d throw you overboard.”

“What a dick.”

“Mm, yeah, very. Anyway, he was always angry and his crew were like ‘shit, what if he’s lonely’ and decided they needed to get him a friend.”

“Oh no, poor lonely pirate man,” Michael said around his thumb.

“Poor lonely pirate man indeed,” Alex agreed, nodding solemnly, “So they searched high and low for anyone to be his companion. Not someone on the crew, but someone who would be his equal and separate from his employees. It was a very complicated task. They would find people who seemed good, but then the pirate captain wouldn’t like them and kick them out. It happened so many times they almost gave up. But eventually, they found an astronaut who seemed like a good fit because he was very smart and very happy.”

Michael pulled his thumb from his mouth with a loud pop, “So they really searched high, huh?”

Alex huffed a laugh and nodded, combing back his hair. His heart thudded in his chest as he stared at him, at his interested and tired eyes. God, he was so into him. Every single bit of him. Even when he needed moments like these.

“Yeah, really high. And they brought him back to the boat to meet the captain and they really, really thought he would hate him. But you know what? He didn’t. They actually got on quite well. And the captain started becoming a lot less angry,” Alex said. Michael shifted, pressing closer.

“And did the astronaut change?”

“Mhm. He got to relax too. He didn’t feel like he had to be super smart and happy to make everyone else happy anymore, he could just be himself. He could even be sad sometimes and that was okay because he had someone who liked him no matter what,” Alex explained, “He even would stop at islands to get his favorite foods.”

“Were they just best friends or were they in love?” Michael asked. Alex swallowed carefully and scanned his eyes over his face, trying to gauge what would be a better answer.

“They started as just best friends,” Alex decided, “But they fell in love. They were both. Somewhere in between.”

“Somewhere in between?”

“Yeah, like, not quite just best friends and not quite together romantically. Something different. Something special,” Alex tried. Michael watched him closely. In the background, Eleanor watched herself fall in love with Chidi for one of the hundreds of times they fell in love and Alex tried not to be too poetic about it.

“Alex,” Michael said, his hand dropping between them, “Are we somewhere in between? It feels like we are”

The question was honestly innocent but Alex stopped breathing, not knowing how to answer. He had a football player cuddling up to him in his bed. He should say no. He should save his own ass. He should keep it to himself.

But Michael was comfortable enough to cuddle him, to be babied when he needed it, to be raw and open.

So why couldn’t Alex?

“Do you wanna be?” Alex asked. Michael blinked. “Or… like… do you wanna be somewhere… not in between?”

“Like, on the other side? The romantic side?” Michael clarified. Alex nodded slowly, unsure. “Does it mean I get goodnight kisses?”

Alex let out a slow breath and laughed cautiously, “If you want them.”

“I want them,” Michael said assuredly. Alex couldn’t fucking think straight and he was just smiling stupidly at him. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Goodnight kisses, right here,” Michael said, tapping his lips delicately.

“Right. Okay.”

Alex moved his head just a little to give him a soft kiss, barely lasting a few seconds. He didn’t want to be too presumptuous. And, still, it was probably the best kiss he’d ever had in his life. His heart was trying to escape his chest.

He was really doing this. This was really happening.

“Did they live happily ever after, Alex?” Michael asked against his lips. Alex breathed and nodded.

“Yeah. They did.”