#just a girl trying to get through a family reunion dinner so she can go home and watch movies with her sisters <3

[idrille]

my OC, Sofia <3

as drawn by the lovely @toruq !! thank you so much for this gorgeous rendition I’m literally obsessed

[hunnylagoon]

hey! I want to request a fluffy one shot about ellie being a parent with the reader. The rest is in your hands, write what comes to ur mind!

Small Hands

Summary: People say that the magic disappears when you have children, that never applied to you and Ellie, you are just as hopelessly in love as the day you were married. You celebrate Christmas with your friends and family despite a few bumps in the road.

A/N: I usually don’t fuck with kids but this concept actually seemed really cute to me. This chapter is a bit shorter, sorry if it’s rushed, I wrote this while studying for my exams. Thank you for requesting! If anyone else has requests, feel free to leave them and I will get around to them! There is the smallest teensiest weensiest smidgen of a angst in the middle but it comes from a third party. Warning for mentions of postpartum depression

-

The air was infused with the spicy aroma of gingerbread and the warm glow of twinkling lights as a group of friends gathered for their annual Christmas party. The cozy living room, adorned with tinsel and stockings, echoed with laughter and the jingling of bells. The adults, each holding a mug of steaming cocoa (with a splash of Bailey's), exchanged stories of the year gone by while the children, eyes wide with wonder, eagerly awaited the arrival of Santa Claus.

The living room sparkled with the joy of reunion, as friends who had become family over the years shared in the holiday spirit. You being the hostess of the party, had a flair for festive decorations, you had turned your home into a winter wonderland, complete with a towering Christmas tree and a crackling fireplace. "Levi, get away from there!" Your eyes went wide and you slammed your mug onto the coffee table before you ran to retrieve your son who was wearing an elf onesie and had been attempting to pull out bottles from the wine rack. Your friends and family laughed at the scene "Geez," You grabbed him from beneath his arms and scooped him up, quickly bringing him close to your chest. He had just turned four and was rapidly getting too big for you to carry him. You put him on the ground and ushered him toward the game room telling him to go play with his sister while all of the children were playing some kind of board game or watching the Polar Express. "Where is your mother?" You mutter under your breath, gaze suddenly focusing on the sink full of dishes, you sigh and walk towards them, figuring it easier to get them done now as opposed to when the part has ended and you're too exhausted to do so.

In the tranquil kitchen, the rhythmic cadence of water splashing and the clink of porcelain against stainless steel create a melodic backdrop as you diligently tend to the post-dinner ritual of washing dishes, humming along to the song 'Last Christmas' which you could hear ever so faintly rise above the busy chatter of the living room. your hands, adorned with soap bubbles, move with a graceful choreography, navigating each plate, glass, and utensil with practiced efficiency. The moonlight streaming through the window illuminates the dance of water droplets, casting a prism of reflections on the gleaming surfaces. The scent of citrus-scented dish soap permeates the air, as you, lost in thought, scrub away at remnants of roast chicken and mashed potatoes.

"There's my girl," You feel a pair of arms snake around your waist, you didn't need to turn around to tell who it was; it had of course been your wife, you looked down at where her hands rested on your midriff, her silver wedding ring glistened beneath the warm overhead lighting in the kitchen.

"Are you aware your son is trying to get into the wine rack again?" You turn around to face her, her hands changed from their spot on your waist to the edge of the kitchen sink, leaving you stuck between her and the counter, faces inches apart.

"What can I say? He's got drinking problems," She teased, gaze flickering to your lips for a minute.

"That's all you," You said, your faces were so close that you could've sworn that you could count every single freckle on her face. Without warning, Ellie puts her hands back onto your waist to pull you close, she plants little kisses on your neck, earning a giggle from you "Really?" You laugh "Is me washing dishes really that attractive?"

"Oh, absolutely," She thought you were so incredibly stunning, even in something as simple as a red cable-knit sweater with faded mom jeans and hair tied up sloppy in a claw clip. You had only bought the claw clip in the first place because your daughter told you they were trendy.

"Okay, seriously, there are kids here," You laugh, gently pushing Ellie away from you "We can save that for later."

"You just look so beautiful," Ellie wears a goofy smile on her face.

"In mom jeans?"

She shrugs "As beautiful as the day I met you, if not more."

You can't help the huge smile that consumes your face. You and Ellie had met in college, she was a bartender and you went to her bar every single Friday just to see her, all of your friends sat in a booth but you would always push for them to sit at the bar when they refused, you sat alone just to talk to the pretty girl behind the bar. "Do you remember how we were spending Christmas in College?"

"One bottle of peppermint schnapps and a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels."

"You're forgetting a game of strip poker," You add.

"That's probably because I was hammered off my ass," She says bluntly and it makes you laugh. Back in college, the pair of you made plans to fly home to see your families but a snowstorm had other plans, with arrangements cancelled you went back to each other, cozying up on Ellie's beat-up couch and dumping schnapps into eggnog, god it tasted awful but the sound of Ellie laughing, her cheeks and nose pink from cold air almost made it taste better.

"You know..." You say, drawing Ellie's attention "I think it might be time to start the gingerbread house contest."

Ellie is way ahead of you, she leaves the kitchen and enters the game room, you can tell the exact moment she announced it by the kid's reactions all you heard was cheering before a dozen kids stormed out of the game room and gathered around the dining table where you had meticulously placed a gingerbread house decorating kit at each chair as well as little bowls full of several colours of frosting and miscellaneous candies lined down the center.

Parents sat next to their children or stood behind them, either rooting for them or guiding their small hands along the gingerbread, aiding the decorating process. Ellie sat between both of your children "Levi, you can eat it after you build it," She chuckled, gingerly moving the plastic butter knife of icing to the edge of a wall for the gingerbread house, "See? You put icing along the edges and then you stick it together and then when it dries, you have a house!" She explained in simple terms to your youngest, turning her head to look at your daughter who was too busy conversing with her friend to decorate "You should be listening to this too, Kenna, useful tips," She teased. Kenna rolled her eyes, she was ten years old and at that stage where she was starting to get embarrassed by her parents. Ellie laughed at your daughter's reaction, locking eyes with you from your spot by the doorway where the two of you share a look of understanding.

"Uh oh, looks like Papa's intervening," Dina said, she stood next to Jesse, cradling her baby, JJ, in her arms, watching the scene unfold.

"Alright, kiddo, here's what we're gonna do." Joel shooed Kenna's friend away, replacing her. Under hushed whispers he explained a plan to Kenna, the two were discussing a layout to win the gingerbread contest.

"Oh, it's getting heated now," Ellie said, now moving her focus onto Levi's sloppy gingerbread house.

Everyone was in the festive dining room, laughing and talking, truly in the Christmas spirit, all except for one; you heard what sounded like faint sobs coming from the kitchen. With furrowed eyebrows, you followed the sound and found none other than your friend, Catherine crying into her hands.

"What happened?" You break the silence, catching her attention.

Catherine begins to wipe away tears, shaking her head "It's nothing, it's so stupid-

"Well, it's not nothing if you're crying." You cross your arms. Catherine can't seem to get the words out, she just shakes her head and squeezes her eyes shut in her best attempt to push back tears, her blue eyes red and puffy "Whatever it is, I'm not going to judge you."

"It's just-" She takes a deep, shaky breath" Sometimes I wish I wasn't a mom, I just wish I could pack up my bags and leave in the middle of the night and never come back." Catherine was an English teacher at a middle school, you had met her not long after you met Ellie. She was also a new mother, she had only had her baby girl, Clementine for six months; you saw how tired she was, she always for dark bags under her eyes, she used to intricately braid her dirty blond hair every day but now she only had the energy in her to tie it up into a loose bun. "I'm sorry," She laughed "I don't know why I'm crying."

"Because it hurts." You answer, eyebrows furrowing with concern.

Your daughter ran into the kitchen with a huge smile on her little face "Mom, you need to see my house, Papa Joel is helping me and it looks really cool so far-" Her smile faded in the slightest when she saw you with Catherine, "Is Cathy okay?"

"She's fine, sweetheart," You kneel to eye level with Kenna "Her tummy just hurts from too much hot chocolate so I'm gonna take care of her for a bit." You brush one of Kenna's lose hair behind her ear and plant a kiss onto her freckled forehead "Just go back to making your house, I'm sure it looks awesome, I promise I'll come see it when it's done but I think your auntie Sarah would love to see it." Kenna nods casting one last look at Catherine who turned around to hide her tear-stained face from your daughter and hurried out of the kitchen. "Cath, let's talk outside." You move towards the sliding door on the other side of the kitchen, you hold it open for Catherine who follows you outside, immediately hugging herself in an attempt to fight off the cold. "So, where is this coming from?"

Catherine looks around the snow-covered yard, she sees the snowman that your children made with Ellie the day before and it only adds to the unbearable weight on her shoulders "I'm not good at this, I'm a bad mom-

"No, you're not-

She lets out another sob "Like just now, you are so patient with Kenna and Levi, you and Ellie have this incredible house and an amazing family, you guys never fight and I just feel like I'm falling behind."

"You're crazy if you think Ellie and I don't fight, we argue all the time about the stupidest things, like earlier we fought about who would pop that champagne cork. We fight, but that doesn't mean that we don't love each other, I'm sure you feel the same way about Emmet."

"I love Emmet," She says "I really do and I love Clementine so so much I just wish I had a minute to breathe." Catherine can hardly look you in the eyes "I work with kids all day and take care of them and then I get home and it's just more of the same but there's cooking and cleaning and it's endless."

The silence stretches between you two. Catherine's face is scrunched up, her pale turning red from the cold. With each unsteady breath, she heaves, a cloud of carbon dioxide emerges. The sleet covering every inch of ground acts as soundproofing over the neighbourhood, the only thing you can hear are birds flapping their wings and Catherine's heavy cries.

"Do you remember when I wanted to be a writer?" She asks "When I used to have dreams, I would hole myself up in that one corner booth of that coffee shop every Sunday and I would write for hours on end."

"And every time someone mentioned a book or movie that they like, you would ask what they liked about it so you could use bits of it in your writing." You say, your lips stretching into a thin melancholic smile at the memory.

"Well, it's all gone out the window." She was shaking by that point, not from the frigid air or her now wet socks but from misery "Two years ago I was hosting wine-tasting parties and Emmet was taking me out to these beautiful high-end restaurants. I could fit into sleek back dresses and wear high heels for hours without getting blisters, now all I eat is Kraft dinner and takeout. Every nice blouse I own has gotten baby vomit on it."

The way Catherine is speaking, she sounds bitter with despair hanging in her tone. You at a loss for words, postpartum depression was common but you hadn't realized just how much Catherine was suffering. She had spent six months feeling this way with no one to talk to. When you first adopted Kenna you were terrified, you thought that you wouldn't have a mother's instinct and that you were going to screw her up in some way or that she would resent you because you aren't her biological mother.

"I haven't got a full night of sleep in six months, all I hear is that fucking screeching cry. That's all she does is scream, she screams when she's happy, when she's sad, when she's upset and angry, it's all I hear and I'm so fucking sick of it." She buried her face into her hands "Emmet just loves her so much, he does everything with her without complaint and I can't help but hold the slightest bit of resent for her, I probably sound evil right now."

"You don't," You pulled Catherine in for a hug. Embracing her and all of her sadness, if it belonged to her then it belonged to you as well. "I'll tell you this right now, it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better." Her head was tucked into the crook of your neck.

"That isn't helping-

You pushed her away, holding onto her shoulders, forcing her to face you. "Remember when you adopted that dog?"

"Toothless," She smiled at the thought of her old Labrador.

"He was a puppy when you adopted him, he had way too much energy, barked at every sound, and pissed and shat on the floor of your apartment a lot," You say, face dead serious despite the subject matter "That night before exams when you were exhausted and all you wanted was to sleep, you tucked yourself into bed and Toothless was right beside you and then he pissed all over your white duvet. You called me and you just cried and cried because you were so stressed and that was the tipping point. How about that time he dragged your period-stained underwear out of your laundry basket when you had a date over-

"Okay, I get it," Catherine laughed.

"My point is, when that puppy stage passed, you were in love with that dog, you blew off plans just to take him on walks downtown. If you had a bad day, you would curl up on the couch with him. Not that I'm comparing your child to a dog but when this postpartum leaves, that child is going to be the light of your life. Fridays at the bar won't sound appealing when you can make popcorn and watch Disney with your daughter, nothing else is going to matter as much as that girl. When Clementine gets older you'll find that every eye-roll means you're doing something right."

"Is that true?" She asks "About the eyerolls?"

"No," You laugh "It's just something I say to make Ellie feel better."

Catherine chuckles, wiping away what remains of her tears. "Thank you."

"I know it feels like it's the end of the road but it's not. It gets easier every single day but that's the hard part, you need to get up and face it every single day." Your words calm Catherine down. Her tears dissipate and with a deep breath she is no longer shaking "We should go back inside now, I wanna see who won the gingerbread building contest." You sling an arm around her and guide her back inside through the sliding door.

"But my socks are wet." She says, hesitant to step back inside.

"I'm sorry for making you stand in the snow but that conversation needed to happen," You urge her inside anyway, not caring if your freshly cleaned kitchen floors get wet "I'll lend you a pair of slippers."

You and Catherine return to the dining room where the contest is just wrapping up, both in fuzzy slippers; the pair Catherine wore had little black spotted cows on them while yours were teal and made to look like Perry the Platypus, a gift you received from Ellie out of the blue because she thought they were hilarious and wanted both of you to have a matching pair. "Just in time," Dina says, she's wearing a white turtle neck and blue skinny jeans, leaning against the wall, watching her husband with a smile "They're about to announce the winner."

Ellie is speaking in a hushed voice with Jesse who is holding JJ in one arm, she's acting as serious as ever and even pretending to ask JJ for his opinion, the baby just babbles in return "Interesting, thank you, JJ," She says. Ellie turns to the crowd, everyone goes silent waiting for her words "The consensus is... You are all winners!"

Many of the older kids groaned in annoyance, all of the adults knew this was coming that didn't stop Tommy from saying that it was outrageous.

As the night unfolded, the kids, bundled up in cozy sweaters, gathered around a table filled with art supplies to craft their ornaments. Laughter filled the room as little hands carefully adorned paper snowflakes and painted wooden stars. The parents, caught in the infectious energy of the children, joined in the crafting, reminiscing about their childhood holiday traditions.

With bellies full and hearts warmer than ever, the group of friends settled into a circle around the fireplace. The children, tucked in cozy blankets, many of the kids fell asleep in the game room while 'Home Alone' played on the TV.

As the night drew to a close, the guests exchanged hugs and well wishes. The flickering lights of the Christmas tree cast a soft glow on the scene as the friends, with their children in tow, bid farewell, knowing that the memories forged on this magical night would linger in their hearts long after the last snowflake had fallen. Parent hauled their sleeping children away into their cars, putting a close on the night.

Ellie took Kenna, hand in hand, to the bathroom, making sure that she thoroughly brushed her teeth. She tucked her daughter in, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Kenna tried to argue that she wasn't tired but the second her head hit the pillow her eyes shuttered closed and any chatter she had in her was replaced by soft breaths emerging from the sleeping girl.

You had taken Levi straight to bed, he was already passed out when you found him curled in a ball on a blanket in the game room. He gently put him down on his bed and pulled a Spider-Man blanket over the top of him to keep his little body warm. You made sure that his night light was plugged in before stepping away and closing the door, but not all the way, you left it open a crack, just the way he liked it.

And so, the echoes of laughter, the warmth of shared moments, and the spirit of togetherness lingered in the air, a reminder that the company of cherished friends and family had just left, leaving you and your little family to sit in the static quiet of the fireplace crackling.

The air is still tinged with the scent of cinnamon and pine, and a soft glow emanates from the myriad of twinkling lights that adorn every corner. The Christmas tree, a majestic centrepiece, stands tall and proud, its branches adorned with an array of ornaments that glisten in hues of red, gold, and silver. A cozy fireplace crackles merrily, casting a warm embrace upon the room. Festive stockings, embroidered with care, hang in anticipation of surprises. Plush blankets drape over sofas, inviting you to sink into their warmth. Every surface seems to gleam with the holiday spirit, from the gleaming silverware on the dining table to the festive wreaths that adorn doorways. The ambiance is a symphony of holiday joy, where every decoration tells a story of cherished traditions and the magic of Christmas despite the displaced blankets and dishes, as well as random craft supplies that were somehow everywhere.

"We should probably clean this up before bed," You say, bending down to grab a throw blanket off the floor.

Ellie grabs your wrist to stop you "That's what tomorrow is for," You turn to face her "Right now I just want to be with my wife."

You grin "I don't think I'll ever get sick of you saying that."

"I don't think I'll ever get sick of saying it."

You kiss Ellie, she has one hand pulling you in from the small of your back. "I think I have a crush on you." You giggle.

"A crush on your wife?" Ellie raises an eyebrow "Who could imagine that."

"No I mean, I obviously love you but there's a difference between being in love and having a crush, we've been married for fourteen years and I still get excited when you call me pretty. I can't help but stare at you in a room full of people and when you look back I get butterflies because I just can't help but be thankful that I got lucky enough to have you." Your lips curve up into a smile "I don't think that was corny enough," You say sarcastically.

Ellie kisses you again, it is simple and sweet, like the taste of sugar resting on the tip of your tongue "I guess I have a crush on you too," She looked so pretty in her jeans and red flannel, sporting the haircut you gave her with pride; whenever someone mentioned her haircut she would get all giddy and say 'My wife did it!'. An idea snaps into your mind, and you swiftly break away from Ellie and kick off your Perry the Platypus slippers, jetting to the kitchen to the sliding door and running outside. Ellie calls after you, with no response, she follows your trail of teal slippers. She pokes her head outside "Honey?" She calls into the night, and instead of your voice answering her she is decked in the face by a snowball. "Ow!"

With rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes, your breath forming clouds in the cold, launched the first snowball, its trajectory guided by both precision and mischief. Ellie, undeterred, retaliated with a well-aimed throw which truthfully fucking hurt when it crashed into you as she used to play softball and didn't know how to gently throw anything. The world around you transformed into a playground, each snowball being thrown with more power.

As the not-so-friendly competition unfolded, your movements became a dance—a graceful ballet of dodges and throws. The landscape bore witness to their camaraderie, marked by the hushed giggles (trying your best to stay quiet enough that you didn't wake the kids) and the occasional shrieks of delight. Frost-kissed eyelashes framed your beaming faces, capturing the essence of a moment suspended in the magic of winter.

The cold air filled with the warmth of your connection. You both paused, momentarily breathless, her laughter echoing in the serene stillness of the snow-covered landscape. Amidst the snow-laden trees and glistening ground, you and Ellie shared a quiet gaze—a fleeting, unspoken acknowledgment of the bond that stayed unbroken with each tossed snowball.

Your cheeks flushed with both the chill of the air and the thrill of the game, finally forfeited, coming out from your shielding spot behind the shed, you laughed as you approached Ellie, moving your delicate hands to shake snow out of her hair. The memory of the evening lingered, a cherished chapter in the story of your enduring love.

[eoharu]

my scenario for post-moving:

Kim family warmed up for around a week??? to catch up, erase the awkward tension, and could finally sit in the table to have dinner together without mihyun excuse herself and breaking into tears and left bongseok & dooshik awkwardly stare into each other.

bongseok finally get to known full back story, even about the min youngjun that apparently his dad killed before meeting them. from what bongseok understand, he is the source of the problem and now hes gone he should be safe and could stop hiding, right? His dad back, the one who's been chasing them gone, and turns out it's the NK agents who freed his dad. No one left to hunt them now, right?

So in that one dinner when Mihyun could finally back to her composed self, Bongseok brought it upㅡ "can i meet Heesoo now?"

Mihyun becomes silent as Doosik is super curious who is Heesoo. Mihyun knows Bongseok voluntarily avoid to meet the girl he likes for extra caution, even didn't complain at all when she forbid him to go to graduation ceremony. She knows he must be miss her so much. But not gonna lie there is still an uneasiness, like what if dooshik comeback is just a great thing to delude herself and she will lost both later??

But looking at Bongseok hopeful face, Mihyun finally said okay although with uncertain voice. Bongseok face beamed instantly, and when he meet his dad curious eyes, he suddenly becomes shy. "Oh, she's a friend." Then later added with tiny shy voice, the girl that i like.

Seeing how Bongseok blushing, Dooshik smiling to himself. A regret and happiness filled him, like he regret to miss Bongseok's growth but also happy and relieved when he finds their similarity. He is indeed his son.

Next day a very excited Bongseok finally flies to meet Heesoo, and Dooshik secretly follows him for safety reason (Mihyun about to forbid Bongseok again later at night because she keeps afraid and overthinking it, and Dooshik reassured her he will watch him for a far and he'll be fine). From far away he looks how his son knocked the girl's window, and he chuckles because that exactly what he did with Mihyun. But then a giant figure stole his attention right below the window where Bongseok just slides in, he's shocked that it was a familiar face.

He quickly fly to get to the giant only to stopped abruptly when he saw even more familiar face behind him: Juwon.

"Dooshik?" Juwon shouted in awe, even more shocked than anyone else. Dooshik quickly get back to his sense to strangle the giant.

Need several seconds for Juwon to understand the situation and explain in panic that he is his worker now. Dooshik still doesnt let go.

Bongseok and Heesoo that is having their sweet reunion and about to kiss is abruptly stopped by Juwon's screaming of Dooshik name. They comes from upstairs in rush to know what's happen, which make Juwon more shocked than before; "why are you here and what are you doing with my daughter??!?!?"

It's a pure chaos, Dooshik still demand explanation why this NK agent is here frying chickens, is he a spy??? Bongseok apologizing for entering through Heesoo's bedroom window, missing her so much make him not in the right mind while having second embarrassment that his dad is following him, Heesoo trying to explain the situation then yelling at Dooshik to let go of his uncle, Juwon trying to make both Dooshik and Heesoo stop, Bongseok taking Juwon side because he wants a plus point from his future father-in-law, Dooshik looks betrayed, Heesoo stunned when she finally learns he is his dad senior who is also Bongseok's long lost dad. How is he here and why is he look like that (handsome and tall and cold and intimidating) ????????? Totally different from warm cute chubby Bongseok she knows (and she likes). Dooshik is also equally shocked to learn that Bongseok's crush is Juwon's daughter. Does that mean they will become in-laws??????

Everyone froze, the chicken is almost burnt. Yongdeuk, who is still in Dooshik chokehold, grinning ear to ear. What a cute, wholesome family.

(They finally have lunch together to catch up and explaining everything, and Juwon, who couldn't help but notice that the kids wants their own time, finally let them go to have their own silly little date)

[svechnikovvv]

can’t take my eyes off you (part 5)

gif by: @his-name-is-ed

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

warnings: the usual

word count: 2,531

summary: steve fake dates y/n for a week for a family reunion, but little does y/n know, he’s had the biggest crush on her for a while.

a/n: it absolutely warms my heart that you all love this series as much as i do. this part's also relatively short. mainly just because it's a filler chapter and i want to get something published for the lot of you. i also have the last few parts sitting in my drafts (;

thursday. three days left to go. with the events from yesterday’s dinner, they were more than likely going to be the longest three days ever. you decided today would be a lazy day. you didn’t really feel up for leaving the room either.

you look over to your left and steve is gone. you sigh and sit up. grabbing the remote, you turn on the tv. something you’ve been doing a lot lately. you obviously put scooby-doo on and watch it until a knock on the door sounds through the room. you get up, trudging to the door. you open it and see diane standing there.

“hey dear, can i come in?” you nod and move out the way so she can step through the threshold. she sits on the edge of the bed and you sit beside her.

“i just wanted to say that everything you said last night… made me love you even more” your brows raise in shock. you were sure she may be disappointed and want you to stop seeing her son. you thought she’d think you acted way out of line. apparently you were wrong.

“i’m not following” she softly laughs

“you see, jack has never seen things eye-to-eye with steve. never. they’ve always clashed. whether it be something as simple as what to watch or something major like what happened last night, they’ve never gotten along. and steve has never had anyone to confide in or believe him, other than me, and what you did for him last night… i just can’t help but admire your bravery.

“you’re good for my boy, y/n. you two have something amazing. and i also want you to know that james and his dad left. so it’s just his mom and sister, but they’re the sweetest people alive, so you don’t have to worry about them.” you nod, taking in everything she just said.

“cynthia and them aren’t mad at me, are they?”

“oh sweetheart no. they’re glad someone finally spoke up. james and jack can act entitled a lot and they absolutely dislike it. i’m sure they love you just the same, if not, more.” you nod again and she stands up, you doing the same. she pulls you into a hug and rubs your back.

“you’re a sweet girl, y/n. always remember that” you nod and she walks out the door. once she’s gone, you sit down on the edge and think for a bit. you’re so lost in thought, you don’t even notice steve walk in with a plate of margaret’s pancakes for you. you don’t notice him until the bed dips down beside you.

“i brought you some pancakes and bacon” he says and you perk up instantly. he laughs

“there she is” you grab the plate out his hand and head back to your spot at the head of the bed. you see that steve already doused your pancakes in syrup for you. you grin happily at the food and cut into the pancakes, bringing it into your mouth. you let out a satisfied hum at the taste.

“so, uh, my dad left with james and his dad” your eyes slightly widen at this and you put the plate down and head over to sit beside steve.

“steve, i- i didn’t intend for this to happen. i’m sorry” he takes your hands in his and looks you in the eyes.

“don’t be sorry for something that i want” you tilt your head to the side in confusion.

“you wanted him to leave?” steve nods

“he kept breathing down my neck about ‘going to college’ and i kept telling him that i’m content with where i am at the time being and he kept saying how you were ‘weighing me down’ which is complete bullshit by the way. he can never just agree with me on anything. he doesn’t even try to. it’s always about him. him him him.” he lets out a frustrated sigh and you crouch down in front of him. you cup his face in your hands and his eyes meet yours.

"hey, don't let him get to you, okay? only you know what you want to do with your life. he has no right to dictate that whatsoever. nobody does" he nods and you stand back up. you mess up his hair and head back to your spot at the head of the bed to finish your pancakes. you turn your attention back to the tv and steve sits beside you.

"any plans for today?"

"we can have that lazy day you wanted to have yesterday" he nods

"i think we could both use that" a knock at the door pulls your attention away from the tv. you go to stand up, but steve stops you.

"i got it," you nod and he heads to open the door

"dawn? what- what are you doing here?"

"can i come in?"

"yeah. sure" a tall, brunette girl around your age walks into the room and she looks at you.

"uh, dawn, this is my girlfriend y/n"

"right. uh, i wanted to come apologize" your brows furrow. you hadn't met this girl before and here she was apologizing to you.

"for what? i don't understand. i just met you-"

"for my brother" your brows are still furrowed and she further explains

"james," your mouth is in an 'o' shape and you nod.

"right. well, i had no clue he said anything like that towards you. from what i can tell, you seem like a nice person who obviously cares deeply about the people she loves. and what james did was completely unacceptable and he's a complete dick and-" you cut her off

"dawn, correct?" she nods. "listen dawn, i don't want you to feel like you're the one responsible here. okay? what happened was between your brother and i and you had no idea what was happening. you were just as lost as everyone else. if you think that the way your brother presented himself and acted is going to make me think you're the same way, then you're wrong. you've given me absolutely no reason to not like you. hell, i just met you" you both laugh and she nods

"i get it. you just want to play peacemaker. but you shouldn't be the one apologizing here. your brother should be"

"hearing you say that makes me feel so stupid" she chuckles and you shake your head

"nonsense. you were just being kind" she gives you a small smile and nods

"well it was nice to finally meet you, y/n" she then looks at steve, pointing a finger at him. "you ever break this girl's heart, i'll beat your ass. do i make myself clear?" steve holds his hands up in surrender

"crystal" she nods and turns back to you

"i gotta get going. again, nice to meet you"

"likewise dawn" she gives you a smile and heads out the door

"remember what i said, steve"

"dawn, i'd rather get punched repeatedly than to ever hurt y/n" you softly chuckle to yourself. you hear the door shut and steve makes his way back to bed

"do i get to do the punching?"

"you're sadistic" you shrug

"we all have our flaws"

"sweetheart, i wouldn't call that a flaw" you turn in your spot to look at him

"oh yeah? then what would you call it" he looks you dead in the eyes

"the word i think you're looking for is kink" he smirks at you and then goes back to watching the tv. you roll your eyes and finish your breakfast.

"margaret has done it again with her cooking. she never fails" steve chuckles

"maybe i can get the recipe for you before we leave"

"no no. giving away a recipe is the equivalence to a magician revealing their secrets. it's just immoral" his face scrunches up and he looks at you.

"immoral? maybe try a different synonym"

"synonym. that's a big word. even for you, steve"

"ha ha, very funny" he says, rolling his eyes

"i know. i'm quite hilarious"

"i never said that"

"but you alluded at it"

"whatever helps you sleep at night, y/n"

the two of you continue to watch tv and sit in silence. you stay true to your words. you stayed in the room all day. it was currently 4pm and you and steve had built a make-shift pillow fort as you got ready to watch a movie.

"got everything?" you ask, lying on your stomach, looking at steve

"popcorn, m&m's, blankets, pillows and myself. yep. got everything" you smile and grab your bowl of popcorn from steve. back to the future starts to play on the tv and you and steve find yourselves subconsciously scooting closer to each other.

"remember when you and robin got all doped up by those russians and this was the movie playing at the time?" you ask quietly, attention still on the movie. steve however, he looks at you, taking in all of you. from the way the fluorescent lighting lit up your face, to how the stray hairs falling out of your ponytail framed your face perfectly. he was tempted to reach out and tuck them back, but he refrained himself.

"yeah, i do remember it. kinda hard to forget getting drugged by secret russians," he bumps his shoulder gently into yours and you let out a quiet chuckle.

"hey, do you remember what you told me in the elevator that night?" he shakes his head no. a million thoughts are racing through his mind at what he possibly could've said and he instantly started to worry. everybody else around him could see how smitten he was for you... except you.

***

you, dustin and erica watched a very drugged up robin and steve giggle away as if they had no care in the world.

"y/n. did you know that you're my bestest friend ever in the whole world?" you softly chuckled at his dopey state

"i thought i was" dustin asks

"no, dipshit. y/n is. y/n, did you also know that you're like, the prettiest girl ever?" your face heats up and erica and dustin look at you. robin is laughing her ass off.

"i think steve has a crushhhhhh. y/n and steve, sitting in a tree. k-i-s-s-i-n-g. first comes," steve keeps trying to make her be quiet, but she continues to sing. "love. then comes marriage, then comes two harringtons in a baby carriage!"

"this is why you'd make a shitty russian spy" steve grumbles

"i cracked the code" steve poorly holds up his middle finger at her and then they both start to laugh. you, however, can't focus on that. steve liked you? no. he couldn't possibly like you like that. he was all drugged up. yep. that's why he said that.

***

"you, god, it was a sight for sure. you told me how i was your bestest friend ever in the whole world and henderson got offended at it," you both laugh and steve's chest filled with relief. he was still facing you and he could see there was something you weren't telling him. you quickly snapped out of it and turned to look at him.

"i bet you it took me thirty minutes to an hour and fifteen bloody tissues later before i had your face all cleaned up. god damn commie assholes" steve laughs and you join him, shaking your head

"you always manage to get one of your damn eyes punched too. i don't understand how you do it, steve" he shrugs

"guess we'll never know" you two go back to watching the movie before you speak up again.

"i never did tell you this"

"tell me what?"

"one of the reasons i stood up for you last night, it was because all those years you'd always stand up for me. and in a way, i felt like i was repaying the favor. it's definitely no fist fight, but it'll suffice. right?" you chuckle towards the end

"are you kidding? it's better than a fist fight" you both laugh

"what can i say? i love playing hero"

"let me play hero for once" you sit up and look at steve as if he's grown another head

"steve whatever your middle name is harrington. do you hear yourself? you always play the hero for everyone. let someone take care of you for once. be selfish. you need a break" he sits up the best he can in the little fort you made.

"i do not play hero all the time"

"you so totally do. you socked a kid in the face for me in middle school because he took the last slice of pepperoni pizza before i could get it"

"to be fair, he was an asshole. so he had it coming for him"

"what about the time you got into a fight with your good pal tommy because he asked me to the dance?"

"tommy is a womanizer. i couldn't let you get your heart broken over that prick" you shake your head

"you're not getting the point, steve. point is, you're always there to save me from anything. you're always there for the kids. you play hero all the time. you almost got killed by a fucking demogorgon for me. end of conclusion, let. me. take. care. of. you. for. once" he sighs

"fine" you get excited at his caving in. you two didn't even notice the movie end and change to ET.

"my favorite part of this movie is when he says 'ET phone home'" steve laughs

"really? the whole movie and that's your favorite part?" you nod

"hell yeah it is. he just talks so cave-like and it cracks me up"

"well, he is an extraterrestrial so i wouldn't hold it to him to have spectacular grammar"

"don't get technical. that's my thing"

"tomato tomato" eventually, your favorite line came on. you laughed your ass off when he said it, too. you two continued to watch whatever came on tv. soon it was dinner time and tonight you were having a baked potato and another steak. you and steve were absolutely full after eating it, too.

"god, i think this is the best i'll eat for the next five years" steve laughs and you climb into bed beside him.

"up for some scooby-doo?"

"duh" you change the channel to scooby-doo and you and steve make yourselves comfortable, watching the cartoon displayed on the screen.

"steve, i swear to god if i wake up in the middle of the night again with your knee in my back, i'm shoving you off the damn bed"

"jesus christ. okay" you turn on your side and end up falling asleep not long after. you did end up waking up throughout the night with his knee in your back. as promised, you shoved him off the bed.

"ow! what the hell y/n?"

"you had your god damn knee in my back" you pulled the covers back on you and went back to sleep. steve eventually got back into bed and you slept soundly through the rest of the night, no knee in your back.

tags: @btsinurmom @lovelyela @fezcomybeloved @manuosorioh @preciousbabypeter @in-this-minute @k-k0129 @prettysbliss @hcloangcls @simonsbluee @joekeeryswife @scoobiessnacks @frostandflamesfanfic

join my tag list: tag list

masterlist: masterlist

a/n: sorry that this one is short. the fluff makes up for it

[writethelifeyouwant]

Stuffed

Summary: Y/N goes to visit Auggie during Thanksgiving break because he and Stella have been fighting pretty badly. Her hope is that if she helps him reconcile with his sister, he could have a reason to show Y/N just how thankful he is... but when Y/N arrives at Walker Ranch on Thanksgiving she doesn’t wind up kissing the Walker she had hoped to be kissing, and it turns out nobody is allowed to spend Thanksgiving at the Walker’s without leaving absolutely stuffed. 

Pairing: Cordell x Reader x Trey Rating: 18+ Tags: Crush on August, August’s Girl Troubles, Coitus Interruptus, Taboo Pairing, Inappropriate Relationship, Best Friend’s Dad, Threesome, ​​Manipulation, Age Difference, Sex Tape, Light Blackmail, Degradation, Dirty Talk, Loss of Virginity, Choking, Slapping, Hair Pulling, Rough sex, Implied Double Penetration Word Count: 3,963 Bingo Squares:@anyfandomgoesbingo - Voyeurism | @j3bingo - Falling Out of Love

A/N: Written as a birthday request for one of my wonderful subscribers! If you'd like a birthday fic too, check out my website for more info on how to subscribe 😊

Y/N might have been in the same grade as Stella, but August was the Walker that she’d grown the closest to since the pair transferred to Sacred Hearts High School. August and she had gotten to be good friends thanks to the music electives they shared and the after-school jazz club, but secretly she’d always hoped that one day they might be more. The trouble was that August was still going to Sacred Hearts while she went off to a local college, so Y/N wasn’t seeing the boy nearly as often as she used to. She’d been at his party at the Side Step and they’d had a nice catch-up over an awful-tasting beer, but then he’d had to play host and try to stop things from getting too rowdy. He hadn’t been very successful and Y/N had had the good sense to abandon ship before things got too crazy and the cops showed up. 

The party hadn’t been the reunion she had been hoping it would be, which is why she came up with this plan instead.

Straightening her hair one more time, Y/N knocked on the door to Walker Ranch, the cobbler she had brought with her clutched nervously in her other hand. She was momentarily confused when it wasn’t actually any of the Walker family who came to answer the door. 

“Coach Barnett?” Y/N asked in surprise when her old school counselor and soccer coach swung the door open, its harvest wreath banging against the wood with the force of his pull. 

“Y/N, hey,” he greeted, also a little confused from the expression on his face as he glanced between her and the tin-foiled casserole dish she held. “C’mon in,” he beckoned her inside and stepped back so she could enter, closing the door behind her. “I didn’t realize the kids had invited anybody for dinner. Stella’s still grounded,” he added with a grimace.

“Oh, uh, they don’t know I’m here,” Y/N shuffled awkwardly in place. “I kind of wanted to surprise August.” She could feel herself flushing under Coach Barnett’s gaze as a knowing smile spread across his full lips. 

“Oookay, I see how it is,” he smirked. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be more than welcome. It’s always the more the merrier at the Walkers’,” he laughed, reaching out and taking the cobbler from her. “Come on through to the kitchen and we’ll see where Auggie’s hiding himself.” 

“Thanks, Coach,” Y/N smiled nervously as she followed him further inside the impeccably decorated house. 

“I’m not a coach anymore kiddo, you can call me Trey,” he smiled over his shoulder and Y/N nodded. “Hey, we’ve got a new addition!” Trey announced as they reached the kitchen, and Y/N saw August and Stella’s dad turn around from his position in front of the stove, and their grandmother looked up from where she was chopping potatoes on the island counter. 

“Oh, hey there,” Mr. Walker smiled brightly. “You’re uh, Y/N, right? Auggie’s friend from band last year?” 

“Yeah, that’s me,” Y/N took the hand Mr. Walker offered her and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Walker.” 

“Psh, It’s Cordell,” he waved away the title. “My daddy is still Mr. Walker around here. And this is Auggie’s Mawline, she’s Mrs. Walker,” Cordell gestured to his mother and she gave Y/N a cheery wave. 

“I brought a peach cobbler,” Y/N pointed to the dish that Trey had set down on the counter. “I’m sorry for showing up unannounced, I sort of wanted to surprise Auggie, if that’s okay.” She looked down at the hem of her sleeve and picked at the loose thread there in a bit of embarrassment as all the adults in the room shared knowing smiles with each other over her head. 

“That’s very sweet of you,” Mawline said graciously. “Peach is Auggie’s favorite.” 

“The kids are out in the farmhouse, if you wanted to go hang out with them until dinner is ready,” Cordell spoke up, pointing in the direction of the second house on the property. “I would tread lightly though,” he cringed, “Stels and August aren’t on the best terms right now.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Y/N nodded. “That’s why I wanted to come talk to him, I’m hoping I might be able to help them sort things out,” she shrugged again, hugging her arms around her middle. 

“Well that would certainly be a Thanksgiving miracle,” Trey laughed brightly. 

“You go on out there, and someone will come down and get you guys when the food is ready,” Cordell smiled, giving Y/N a bracing pat on the shoulder before returning to the stove, which had several pots that were on the verge of bubbling over. 

“Thanks,” Y/N nodded to everyone as she exited the kitchen and made her way across the yard.

“August?” Y/N called out. She had knocked a few times and no one had answered but the door was unlocked so she let herself in. Once again, there was no answer, but she could faintly hear some music coming from upstairs, so she followed the sound. 

“Stella? August?” she tried asking again when she reached the upstairs hall. She passed an open door and saw what must be Stella’s room, worryingly empty considering Trey had said that she was grounded. There was movement and shuffling sounds coming from slightly further down, so Y/N kept walking, but before she made it to the next door it swung open and a flustered looking August stuck his head into the hall around the edge of his door. 

“Y/N!?” He straightened up in surprise and stepped further into the hall, awkwardly stepping forward and accepting the hug she offered in greeting. “Wh-what uh, what’re you doing here?”

“I felt like we didn’t really get to talk very much the other night, so I thought I’d come surprise you for Thanksgiving,” Y/N shrugged hopefully, immediately regretting her plan. This was stupid. What made her think August would want her to stop by for the holidays. 

“Oh, uh, sure,” August stuttered, glancing nervously over his shoulder towards his bedroom door, which he had carefully pulled shut behind himself when he’d stepped into the hallway. “Um, thing is, Y/N, I-,” he glanced behind him towards his bedroom again, looking guilty, and it dawned on Y/N why he was acting so fidgety. 

“Oh my god, you have someone over,” Y/N gasped in embarrassment, feeling her cheeks flame up in humiliation and hurt. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have come.” She turned on her heel and started back down the hallway.

“Y/N, wait!” August called after her, but she was already running down the stairs and out the front door, trying–unsuccessfuly–to fight back the tears in threatening to spill from her eyes. 

Y/N raced back across the yard, towards the Ranch house, intent on skirting around the edge and making a beeline for her car. She would sacrifice her mother’s casserole dish as another casualty of this whole failed enterprise. She made it as far as the back porch unimpeded before someone shouting her name caught her attention and she turned on instinct. 

“Y/N? Y/N!” Cordell called after her as she tried to keep running past him, but the obscenely long-legged man caught up with her in barely three strides, catching her by the shoulder and holding her back. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, crouching down to her level and trying to make her look at him. 

“It’s stupid, I’m so stupid,” Y/N shook her head, trying to pull out of Cordell’s grasp, but he wasn’t planning on letting her go and after a moment she found herself collapsing into the man’s broad chest, being rocked in a big hug. 

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re not stupid, I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Cordell murmured, letting her cry against him and petting her hair soothingly as she buried her hands in the thick flannel he was wearing. “What’s going on? Maybe I can help,” he asked gently, pulling away slightly to look down at her, but Y/N shook her head dejectedly. 

“I’m sorry, my problems aren’t your problems, and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Y/N sniffled and wriggled out of Cordell’s arms, but he wrapped his big hands around her shoulders and locked her in place.

“Woah, there, now you’ve got me curious. Who’s gettin’ in trouble darlin’?” Y/N looked guiltily over her shoulder towards the farmhouse. “What are they doing in there?” Cordell sighed wearily, the weight of a father settling firmly on his shoulders. 

“Well, uh, Auggie, he had, umm, company,” Y/N cringed as she ratted out her friend. She didn’t mention that Stella had been nowhere in sight, she didn’t want them both getting in trouble. 

“Oh,” Cordell blinked, his face scrunching up in sympathy. “Oh, darlin’, I’m sorry,” he ducked back down to her level and squeezed her shoulders in an effort to be comforting. 

“It’s okay,” Y/N shrugged, even though it didn’t feel okay. “Like I said, I’m just being stupid.” 

“That’s not what I’d call it,” Cordell smiled gently. “From the sounds of it, my son is the one who’s being stupid here. You’re a beautiful girl, Y/N. If he’s missing out on that, that’s his problem, not yours.”

“Thanks,” Y/N tried to smile weakly, feeling a little dazzled by August’s incredibly handsome father calling her beautiful, but she knew he was just trying to be nice. “I’ll get going now, I don’t think staying for dinner is a good idea anymore,” she tried to make her exit as Cordell straightened up, but he spun her around and marched her back towards the Ranch house. 

“Nonsense,” he shook his head. “Come inside and hang out for a bit. Mawline went out with Mr. Walker to bring some food to a friend of theirs across town. Me and Trey could use the supervision to make sure we don’t burn down the kitchen.” 

Y/N had no idea why Cordell would want her to stick around but she let herself be led back inside all the same. She was even more confused when Trey and Cordell shared a look over her head as she slid into a chair by the island counter, and Trey then went to the fridge and got out a fresh bottle of beer, knocking the cap off of it on the edge of the countertop and then passing it over to her. She looked between the men with suspicion. They were both Texas Rangers, were they trying to trick her into breaking the law or something?

“It’s fine, Y/N, really,” Cordell chuckled deeply, the warmth of his smile setting a small blaze alight in the base of her stomach. “I know what kids get up to in college, hell in high school,” he scoffed and shared a knowing look with Trey who nodded seriously. “Trouble in love calls for a beer and some distraction, that’s all.” 

Hesitantly, Y/N took a sip of her drink, maintaining eye contact with Cordell the whole time, and he nodded encouragingly at her when she swallowed. 

“Good girl,” he praised, reaching out and patting the side of her head lightly, carding his fingers through her hair a bit under the pretense of tucking it behind her ear. Y/N couldn’t help the shiver that ran through her as the man’s fingers skimmed down the column of her throat while he walked by, heading back to the stove to inspect the pots still cooking there. 

“So, trouble in love?” Trey asked, his full lips pouting in sympathy, and Y/N nodded in dejection. 

“You know darlin’,” Cordell spoke up, turning off the burners on the stove and covering up all the pots. “My son’s an idiot.” Trey snickered into his own beer and Y/N looked at Cordell in astonishment. “I’m serious,” he continued, coming back to Y/N’s side and putting a hand on her shoulder. “He’s got a beautiful older girl like you interested in him and he’s not trying to sneak you into his room right now? He’s an idiot,” Cordell repeated earnestly, and Y/N flushed heavily, feeling her breathing ratchet up as a foreign tension began to thicken the air in the kitchen.

“If you want my opinion,” Trey cut in, coming around to Y/N’s other side and leaning casually against the countertop on his elbow, bringing his face closer to hers. “You shouldn’t be wasting your time with high school boys who don’t have a clue what they’re doing. You deserve a man who can treat you right.” 

Y/N felt like she was about to choke on her own tongue. She looked between Trey and Cordell in astonishment, eyes flitting back and forth and waiting for one of them to break into laughter and tell her they were teasing her. Cordell’s hand dropped from her shoulder to the base of her spine, pressing hot into the dip of her back. 

“There’s so much more we could show you, darlin’,” he whispered hoarsely, his voice deep and gravelly in a way she had never heard from anyone before. “Things Auggie’s never even dreamt of,” he smirked, leaning down and brushing his lips over the shell of her ear, making her shiver. 

“N-no, we can’t,” Y/N whimpered as Cordell pressed a soft kiss against the side of her neck, sweeping her hair aside. “Auggie and Stella would be mortified, they’d never forgive me. It’s– you’re old enough to be my father, it’s wrong–” her rambling was cut off as Y/N gasped when the man’s tongue slipped against her skin on his next slow kiss. This was all so wrong but something about that made it even more tempting. God, she’d never be able to set foot in church with her family ever again. 

“Trey’s not quite old enough to be your dad, would you rather it be him?” Cordell asked wryly, turning her face towards the other man who didn’t wait for an answer before leaning down and teasing his lips over her, the smallest bit of distance between them. “And forget about Auggie, he’ll get over it. I want you to think of yourself for once,” he kept whispering in her ear while Trey simply hovered in front of her, waiting for the okay to close the barely existent gap. 

“We wanna show you what it’s like to fuck a real man,” Trey rasped, his lips skimming against hers as he spoke, his tongue brushing ever so gently against the pout of her bottom lip, and Y/N was lost. She leaned into Trey’s kiss and let his mouth envelop hers. A hand at the back of her head pushed her more urgently against him, and she felt Trey’s arms wrap around her waist as he groaned and opened her lips with his tongue. Y/N had never felt so overwhelmed or so turned on in her life as when she heard Auggie’s dad growl ‘good girl’ against her ear.

The first time Cordell slapped her Y/N reeled back in shock, not quite comprehending what had happened.

“What do you think you’re doing, you little slut?” the Ranger grunted, slapping her other cheek and pulling her by the hair back towards his cock. He slapped her again when she didn’t immediately open her mouth to take him in again, and when she gasped from the sting of his blow Cordell slipped himself back into the warmth of her mouth eagerly. “I didn’t tell you to stop sucking, c’mon darlin’,” he spat angrily, burying his hands in her hair and holding her face smashed into the skin of his hips, choking as his dick forced itself down her throat. The burn of being unable to breathe was terrifying but somehow exhilarating at the same time, and Y/N found herself moaning from the feelings of arousal that were surging between her legs. 

Trey laughed from somewhere off to the side, and Y/N knew he was still pointing his phone camera at her, recording their every move. It was an insurance policy, they said. No one could accuse anybody of anything if there was video evidence that everyone was a consenting adult. No one could blab to anybody, because the video would incriminate all of them–not that they were doing anything technically illegal, but it was certainly immoral, and taboo as hell. 

“Look at the little whore, she loves it,” Trey called from his spot behind the camera. “Auggie never would have been able to give you this, would he, baby girl?” 

Y/N moaned again in answer, not doubting for a second that August never would have been this rough with her. She never would have thought to ask. 

“Told ya we’d teach you about things he’s never even dreamed,” Cordell groaned, now flexing his hips to fuck her throat steadily as he held her in place, his grip on her hair making it impossible to move. “Fuck, you look so pretty on your knees for me, Y/N. Like you were made to take my cock like this.” 

“I bet there’s some other parts of her made for cock, too,” Trey piped up and Cordell threw his head back in laughter, groaning as he pulled out and let Y/N get a proper breath in. She doubled over on her hands and knees, coughing and gasping around the air that was rushing into her deprived lungs. The renewed oxygen racing around her blood stream was making her feel high, and it felt fucking incredible. 

“Yeah, I get the hint,” Cordell chuckled deeply, motioning for Trey to hand over the phone to him. “Get her up on the bed and show her what those holes are for.” 

Y/N felt herself being lifted into the air as Trey picked up on and tossed her onto the bed carelessly, crawling after her onto the mattress. He positioned himself at the head of the bed, lying back against the pillows and headboard, legs spread obscenely to show off his body. His cock was thick, hard, and standing to attention, dark and glistening. His balls looked full and heavy as he slid a palm beneath himself and gave them a squeeze, arranging himself comfortably before he grabbed onto the base of his cock and stood it up straight. Y/N could feel her pussy clenching wantonly in anticipation of having that inside of her. 

“Well, what’re you waiting for, hop on cowgirl,” Trey grinned, stroking himself lazily and beckoning Y/N forward. “Walker, get up here, I want a close up of me taking this baby slut’s virginity. Gonna make her squirt on my dick.” 

“Oh fuck,” Y/N whined, their objectifying talk making her weak with pleasure. Sitting up on her knee and straddling Trey’s lap, she let him guide the tip of his cock through her folds, slicking up the tip before he began to push himself inside. “Oh god, oh my god,” she gasped. This felt so much better than she’d ever imagined. It was nothing like her own bony fingers; Trey was thick and hot and somehow simultaneously hard and soft at the same time. She could feel the give and resistance of his flesh inside of her, carving her apart to fit around him like a mold. 

“Holy shit I’m gonna jerk off to this video so much,” Cordell moaned from behind them, and Y/N whimpered in embarrassment at the idea that she was losing her virginity in a threesome on tape. August and Stella’s dad had had his cock down her throat hardly a minute ago, and now he was watching her sit on his fellow Ranger’s cock and filming it for his own personal spank bank. From the sounds of his breathy groans he was really enjoying the view. If it looked as good as she felt, Y/N wasn’t surprised. 

“Oh, you did so good, baby girl,” Trey brushed his hands down her hair as Y/N collapsed forward against his chest, finally seated all the way in the Ranger’s lap, their hips grinding together instinctually as she rocked against him and tried to recover her breath. “Taking me so good all on your first try, knew you were made to be a little slut,” he growled, his hips bucking up against her slightly. 

Without warning, a hand was wrapping around Y/N’s throat and she gasped heavily, sitting up fast and making Trey groan as she fucked herself back onto his cock inadvertently. Cordell’s fingers were long enough to wrap around to each side of her neck easily, and he was squeezing against her veins tightly, beginning to cut off the blood supply. 

“Fuck him,” Cordell demanded, smacking her on the ass to sput her into moving. “C’mon darlin’, you came over to get some dick today, we're giving it to you. But you still gotta work for it.” He tightened his grip in tiny pulses, letting the air and blood make it to Y/N’s brain in small bursts as she began to bounce on Trey’s cock. The younger man’s hands crept around her body and dug bruisingly deep into the flesh of her ass, holding her apart so Cordell could watch her pussy swallowing Trey’s cock. Idly, Y/N wondered what he’d done with the phone, because one of Cordell’s hands stayed locked around her throat while the other one slid down her stomach to her clit to toy with it idly while she fucked herself. 

“You gonna cum for me, baby girl?” Trey grunted, beginning to fuck into Y/N’s thrusts when her pace started to falter. “Can feel you twitching around me. You wanna cum on my cock? Gon’ squirt real good for me and Cordi? Fuck, choke her harder man, she clenches up so tight when she can’t breathe. Fuck yeah, that’s it, shit. So good, darlin’. C’mon now. Cream yourself for us, show us what a good fucking whore you can be, yeah? Yeah, there you go sweetheart!” Trey grunted triumphantly, thrusting up harshly, the sound of wet slapping echoing lewdly amongst the three of them. “Fuck you feel so good cumming on me like that. You gotta feel it, Cordi.”

Y/N collapsed to her side onto the mattress as she regained some of her sanity. It felt like she had blacked out a little when she came, and her body was still shaking as she lay, spent and used on the covers. Trying to focus her gaze, she saw Trey and Cordell looking at her hungrily, both stroking their cocks while Trey pointed his phone towards her, scanning up and down her body to take in just how ruined she was. Y/N bet it made quite the sight.

“You– you didn’t finish,” Y/N mumbled breathlessly, looking at Trey’s still very much erect cock. 

“Oh, darlin’,” Cordell laughed darkly, reaching down and pulling her up towards him. “We’re not boys, and we’re nowhere near done with you yet.” He brought her face to his and kissed her deeply, sucking her tongue into his mouth and apparently trying to suck all the air straight out of her lungs. They both gasped brokenly when he finally let her go, his chest and shoulders heaving as he held her against him, looking down at her with hunger. “And we’re not gonna be finished until we’re both inside that cunt and filling you up with all that cum you’re desperate for. No one is allowed to leave the Walkers on Thanksgiving without being stuffed full.”

Want to read new releases 4 weeks earlier? Wordpress subscribers get early access to all Tumblr-releases as well as member-exclusive fics that are only available on my website! Sign up here!

We’re All Mads Here: @vulgar-library @negans-lucille-tblr @fandomfic-galore @petitgateau911 @schaefchenherde @kickingitwithkirk @little-diable @laxe-chester67 @kassyscarlett @austin-winchester67 @flamencodiva @katbratsupernaturalwhore @letsbys-library @fictional-affairs @leigh70

All Walker: @lovealways-j @delightfullykrispypeach @stoneyggirl @walkersbabygirl 

[afro-hispwriter]

I Loved him first(Will Poulter)

Summary- your sister has stolen everything from you but she wont have him for long

warnings- angst with a happy ending, cheating(i guess)

request by anonymous

wc- 1.5k(THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SHORT THING)

-

You liked him first. Loved him first. His bestfriend. 

Your sister knew that but as always she took everything. She took the man you love, asked him out right in front of you and he said yes. Now for the past 3 years you've seen them act so in love. Kissing and cuddling at all the family reunions or just when they visited.

It broke your heart so much, it hurt so bad that you couldn't eat, sleep. It went as far as you going to therapy. So when Will told the families he planned to propose you fell into an even harder depression. The though of harming yourself came into mind, but it didn't no matter how bad it got, you fought it. You cut contact with him and your sister after his announcement, the only person who got you to come was your mother. Saying that ‘you needed to be there to support your sister.’

You cried hard when he got down on one knee and told her how much he loved her. You even found yourself dreaming that you were in your sisters place. 

Little did you know that Will was dreading the relationship. He was such a fucking idiot for agreeing to a date that day. Now look at him. Proposing to the sister of the girl he really loved. When he probably and should have been proposing to you 

He remembered how hard it was coming up with what he was going to say when the time came. Trying to figure out good things to say but there was nothing.

She was snobby, rude, petty, complained over everything, and he had nothing in common with her. So what he said was a lie. 

-

It was a week before the wedding and your parents invited you, your little brother, and… the future newlyweds. You were dreading it while Will was quite happy that be was finally going to see you. Ever since he has been with your sister you drew away and it pained him. Everytime he tried to talk to you like old times you were so quite, uninterested really. It was all the way until he found out you had blocked him and your sister. And since then he’s never gotten a chance to talk to you, your sister always has something for him to do. 

“So Y/n how’s school?” Your sister asked and you caught her eyes and saw she was glaring at you.

“Its fine.” You looked back down at your plate. Will kept trying to get your attention, trying catch your eyes or soft taps of his shoes under the table against yours. But you ignored them all. After the dinner and everyone hung around Will approached you.

“Hi.” He said and say next you. 

“Hi.” 

“We haven’t talked in a awhile.” He said and leaned back against the couch still looking at you. 

“Been busy.” 

“Oh okay.” Will furrowed his eyebrows. “But I have to ask, was it something I did? That you off connection with me?” You shot your eyes towards him and shook your head.

“No Will it wasn’t you, its just I’ve been going through some things.” 

“What things? Y/n you know you can talk to me.” 

“I’ve got it under control Will.” You felt tears well up in your eyes. Will sat up and set his drink down on the coffee table. 

“Hey, hey whats wrong, look at me.” He says and places two thumbs under your chin. 

“Im sorry.” You croak out and tears start going down your face. You at Wills face and took im his features. He looked so beautiful. The next thing you did was something you didn’t expect to do. You pushed your lips onto his, it was gentle at first but you then felt Will kiss you back. You’ve dreamed of kissing him and now it was finally happening. Every feeling of sadness left your body, but it was short lived.

You were ripped away harshly and then slammed onto the floor.

“YOU BITCH!” You look up to see your sister holding a fist up that immediately came down on your face. Everyone gasped and you saw Will come up behind your sister and pull her off roughly. 

“I-Im sorry it was an accident.” You say and your mother grabs your arms and hoists you up and checks you over. 

“An accident! It a fucking accident that you kiss the guy you so very much love.” Your heart froze at her words. Everyone stared at you, waiting for a reaction but you couldn’t give one. You caught Wills eyes and he look shocked, he met go of your sister and took a step forward but you shook your head furiously. “I-Im sorry.” You ran out of the house to your car where you screamed in it loudly. You looked at the entrance to the house and saw Will stepping out and holding his hand out.

“Y/n wait!” You didn’t, you turned the car on and sped off. 

-

It was the day of the wedding and Will was still thinking about that night. He was shocked your sister didn’t leave him for kidding you when he clearly kissed back. He was also thinking about how happy he was that you returned his feelings but sad at the same time he never realized. This could have been your wedding day, where he was waiting at the alter to watch you walk down the aisle, so he can tell everyone there how much he loves you. 

Now your sister did un invite you from the wedding and told everyone what happened. So you did receive some messages from friends and family. 

Will still hasn’t gotten dressed and the ceremony starts in 20 minutes. Wills best friend Connor walking in to see his friend sulking, taking a drink.

“Mate, come on you need to get dressed.” He said and grabbed the tux.

“Im not marrying her.” Said Will and grabbed a bottle of booze and a glass. “Shes not the one I should be marrying.” Will took a sip and Connor set the suit down.

“You know I never liked s/n anyways.” Will looked up at Connor and laughed. “Go get her.” 

“What about-.” 

“Ill handle everything.” Will smiled at him and stood up.

“Thanks man, I owe you.” Will took one last sip of his drink and raced out the door. He called an uber and when it arrived he hopped in and gave the uber driver your address. 5 minutes passed by and he was already getting calls and texts from s/n. 

What the fuck Will?

What happened?

Is this because of y/n?

Are you seriously in love with her? 

CALL ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW ASSHOLE

Will rolled his eyes and typed a message.

We’re done

Will silenced his phone and wiped his hands on his sweatpants. When the Uber driver arrived at the apartment where you lived, Will shot out. He found your apartment and knocked on the door.

You wiped your eyes and blew your nose. The sound of the door knocking made you sit up. You walked up to it with a sniffle and looked through the hole to see Will. You opened the door with puffy eyes.

“What are you doing here?” 

“I cant marry her.” He said and you couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. “I can’t marry her knowing that I love you.” 

“What?”

“Y/n L/n I love you more than life itself. I’ve loved you since I met you. I love how passionate you are about things, how kind you are and defend people when they need it, I love how you sit and watch an arsenal game with me, even though you know nothing of it.” You laughed and stepped out of the way and gestured for Will to come in. He took your hands in his and held them up to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on them. “Love, im so sorry for accepting that date, if I wouldn’t maybe you and I would have been together.” 

“Will there’s no need to apologize.”

“But I feel like I do. When you told me you were going through stuff I can’t help but think it’s because of me.” You stayed quite, confirming what he thought. “So yes I need to apologize, I should have paid attention to you and helped you.” 

“Will you were with my sister all the time shes your girlfriend, your fiancé, if you even still are.”

“Hell no love.” You stood there in silence before you broke the silence. 

“Can I hug you, I really miss your hugs.” Will didn’t even answer before he pulled you into his arms. You dug your face into his chest and sighed. “I love you too.”

“Can I kiss you?” You looked up at him, resting your chin slightly on his chest. 

“Yes.” Will bent his neck down farther and captured your lips. The kiss got more heated so Will hoisted you up and held you up by your ass. You pulled back and rested your head against his. “Take me to bed.” 

“Anything for you.”

-

A/n- this was not my best work honestly but anyways im starting a taglist for Will so if anybody wants to be added let me know

[capricornwriter5]

You are the one - Chapter 23

Pairing: Bang Chan x female OC; Lee Know x female OC

Genre: au (high shool, college), love triangle, fluff, angst, smut, from friends to lovers. ⚠️Warning: soft drugs

Words: 6k

Summary: Bang Chan and Jasmine have been best friends for as long as they can remember. With little time to finish high school, they both begin to develop romantic feelings. However, family situations and communication issues force them to move away. Once in college, they decide to try to regain the friendship they had. As Bang Chan sees the opportunity to finally be with the girl he has always loved, his friend Lee Know, who had been studying in England, returns home and the connection he develops with Jasmine is undeniable. Can the chemistry and attraction with Lee Know outweigh a tender first love and memories of years of friendship between Bang Chan and Jasmine?

Disclaimer: I named the character Jasmine (Minnie for Chan 🥰) because I love that name. Besides, it’s easier if we want to see Chan saying cute names (it’s better than just Y/N, I think) but you can totally picture yourselves in the story, that’s the idea. &lt;3

Chapter 23 - Looking for each other

Being back at his school brought back countless memories for Chan, like all the breaks he spent with Han and Changbin laughing at the absurd comments and ideas of the three of them. Also, all the hours he spent training in the pool or studying in the library. However, the memories that surfaced the most had to do with his best friend. Despite not having taken the same classes together because they were in different groups, they still spent hours together. In addition, they enrolled in all the extracurricular courses together. 

Chan even remembered when he beat up Mark for talking nasty about Jasmine. That was definitely something he did not regret; in fact, he would gladly do it again.

He had a good relationship with his ex-classmates, he had even gone out with some of them a few times, but it wasn't like he was dying of excitement to be there. However, those had been his best years and he thought they were at least worth a little of his time, so he had decided to go to that reunion before going home.

However... he couldn't help but wonder, had it really been because of that, or because he harbored the slightest hope of running into Jaz there? Chan could have gone straight home and been early for dinner with his father, but no, there he was, hoping to see her. Anyway... the chances of the girl going were almost nonexistent. After all, ever since the Mark thing happened, she had drifted away from the group of girls who claimed to be her friends. Also, Chan knew that Jasmine shunned anything that involved being even remotely close to her old house.

Sighing, Chan resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't see her and walked over to a group of old friends. There he was talking for a while, even Chloe was there and the girl wasted no time approaching. It was precisely then when Chan decided to go out for a break, besides he wanted to see if everything was still the same. And so it was, the classes, the gym, the pool, the cafeteria, the infirmary, even the music class where he had helped Han and Changbin several times, everything was the same and he walked through each corridor recalling bittersweet moments.

The only place remaining, and the one he wanted to visit the most, was the library. Nostalgia welcomed him once he opened the doors. He had spent innumerable hours studying, reading, waiting for Jaz to get out of some class so they could leave together. The truth of the matter was that the library was for a long time the place where he could be calm next to his best friend. Now, sitting in the seat where he had spent the entire last year trying to win back his points with Jaz, it was incredible to Chan how quickly time had passed and how much he himself had changed.

Soon, curiosity invaded him, Chan wished to know if he would feel as calm reading there as before. The boy longed to get rid of all his emotional baggage for at least a while and be able to take off the mask that he showed, aiming to pretend that everything was fine. Chan yearned to feel like the happy, even naive, boy at school again, and taking a book from a shelf, he sat down to try to read.

Bang Chan was not the only one who had gone to the library to meet his past self, that happy, in love and excited schoolboy, Jasmine had done the same. Having no idea how she muted her reason and listened to her emotions, Jaz agreed to go to the reunion. Lee Know hadn't taken the news very well, his displeasure was more than evident when Jaz told him she was coming. Still, the girl traveled to her old city, to her old school, and the first thing she did upon arrival was walked directly to the library. She hadn't even stopped by first to see who had come to the activity. Not even in her wildest dreams would Jaz have imagined her past and present to slap her with such aggressiveness, because there he was, there she found Bang Chan again, in their usual place.

Jasmine had to bite her lip first not to cry at how moved she was to see Chan there, and second to make sure it wasn't a dream. She had also thought that Chan wouldn't go, she figured he would have something better to do. But she had been wrong, and just as he went there looking for her, Jaz had done the same. They missed each other to the point that they looked for each other without even realizing it.

"Chris?" The girl called softly, as if fearing that if she made it louder, her dream would end.

For his part, Chan thought he had misheard, Jasmine couldn't be there calling him. It had to be his imagination, so he tried to read again, but he heard his name a second time. Seeing his ex-girlfriend there shook Chan so hard inside that he couldn't say anything, he could only watch her get closer until she took a seat in the same place as always, next to him.

"Minnie, how come... ?"

"I didn't expect to find you here either." She answered completing what he was about to say.

"I've worked a lot, despite being on vacation, I did nothing but draw, I decided that I could do something different. Although coming to school was definitely not on my list of options." She confessed shrugging her shoulders. "And what are you doing here? Is it because of the restraining order that Mark put on you years ago?"

That question made Chan laugh, and Jaz was right, he was forbidden to get close to the boy after the beating he had given him. "I was bored, they were talking about silly things, also, I wanted to know if everything remains the same. Apparently yes, look."

Chan pointed out some small scissor marks on the wood of the desk where they sat, making Jasmine laugh out loud. She had made them once that Bang Chan complained for days saying that she had hurt him with scissors that, according to Jasmine, were not sharp, and to prove it, she had passed them over the edge of the desk, where it was evident that Chan he had been right.

"Sorry, it seems that the scissors were very sharp indeed."

"Nearly five years later, I get the apology I always deserved." Chan joked.

Seeing him smile, Jasmine did too, but not quite sure how long they were going to spend alone, she tried to get up. "I really don't know what I was thinking when I came here. It doesn't thrill me much to see the others."

Chan looked at her and listened in silence, he had the same doubts as her, if they had agreed to walk away, wouldn't it be better for Jaz to let her go? To hell with that... they had too much not to talk, they had the right to do it for a while longer.

"If you don't want to go in yet, we can stay here. I mean, I wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon."

The girl felt safer seeing that Chan didn't look uncomfortable with her hanging around and ended up accepting. That was how they talked about everyday things like how hard it was snowing lately and how long it had taken to arrive. They both tried to keep the conversation as shallow as possible, but being in a place so full of memories made them talk about several of them.

"Do you remember what happened the first day you wore those new braces?"

"I hoped with all my heart that you wouldn't remember that." He hid his face in his hands at the same time that Jaz's laughter filled the library. 

"I'll always remember it! How to forget how scared you were because you thought you were going to choke?"

Jasmine could picture the two of them in their first year of school, they were having lunch together in one of the gardens and Chan brought out some noodles. The boy was struggling to eat despite how annoying the new braces felt. He was definitely still out of practice, for suddenly Jaz saw him jump at the same time he coughed. The noodles had become entangled in the device and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't untangle it. For her part, Jasmine cried with laughter trying to help him, but her friend kept saying no and pushed her away. In the end, Jaz practically had to knock him to the ground and help him before he either chocked or died of embarrassment.

Years later, the girl was still laughing exactly the same and he just buried his head in the desk. "Chris, it was no big deal!" Jaz commented trying to help him to relax; however, Chan's red ears were screaming how embarrassed he felt. 

"You literally put your hand in my mouth, Jasmine!" 

"I didn't have much of a choice, you kept telling me you were dying. And honestly, I didn't care."

"You're so weird, how didn't you feel disgusted by doing that?"

"You mean, if it had been me the one dying, you would have let me die because it disgusts you?"

"Oh please, Minnie! Are you really asking this to the person who took you to the ER because you kept throwing up? If I remember correctly, you even threw up on my shirt."

In a matter of seconds, Jasmine's laughter was completely extinguished and in her place, only a blow on Bang Chan's shoulder was heard. 

"Shut up! You were also intoxicated, you also vomited!"

"I threw up in the BATHROOM as it should be, not on you."

"I was a baby, that could happen to any person." She defended; yet, Chan's laugh made her smile again.

"Minnie, it was our junior year."

"Well, that was your fault for your stupid idea that that international food Tuesday was in that Polish restaurant that we didn't even know well."

"That wasn't my idea, I remember perfectly that I wanted to go to the Spanish restaurant."

"Well, it wasn't my idea either... wait, you're right! Now that I remember, that was all dad's fault, he told us to go there!"

"At least he was with us the whole night we spent in the hospital with an intravenous drip."

Jasmine smiled just remembering that image of her and Bang Chan together in the emergency room while her mom checked they were hydrated and her father made sure they were fine, or at least as much as possible, since both were there spent the whole night sick.

"Definitely not our best night," Jaz said still laughing.

"It was also not our best night when we were locked up here. Your mom was so mad about not hearing from us all day, she wouldn't let me come to your house for a whole week."

"She never understood what happened."

"Well, to be very honest with you, neither do I, I mean, how silly we could be to get stuck here?"

"Chris, are you serious? We were super exhausted! We had exams and we had studied a lot, we BOTH had the great idea to rest a little and when we realized, there was no one here and the concierge had closed everything. None of us had a cell phone and we had to go out through a window after activating absolutely all the alarms."

"And yet we were on the honor roll," Chan said grinning. 

"Remember when you talked me into doing our science fair about bats? We spent the night in that zoo, freezing our asses to death and doing absolutely nothing because we finished the anime you were watching."

"Was that the same year you electrocuted me in class?"

"The same." She responded by wiping away the tears that had fallen from her eyes remembering Chan's electrocuted locks.

Both continued to remember funny moments and for them to hear their best friend's laughter again was like a balm for all the bad times they had been carrying without wanting to accept it. They remembered classes, projects, school trips, everything. The two of them could presume that they had absolutely all their lives together.

"I don't get how we got this far in life. If you think about it, we have had very bad luck, too many accidents and things have happened to us. I think the others were right and we're a pair of losers."

Although Jasmine laughed, the truth is that she kept thinking about what Chan had said. Leaving aside their funny stories, they had also faced innumerable experiences, situations that not even an adult would face as they did. Family problems, personal issues, insecurities, fears, things that would have defeated anyone. However, it was not the case with them, Chan and Jaz had overcome too many obstacles since they were young, something that they seemed to no longer be able to do successfully.

So many memories, so little time. Not a lifetime would be enough for them to talk about everything they had lived together. 

"Oh! Look at the hour, the activity must be ending." Chan said. "Do you want to see the closure?"

"Won't it be weird? I didn't go in for a single minute."

"Weird? Please, we're far beyond of caring about that, let's go" 

**********

The room where their ex-classmates were all gathered had the lights off because a projection was about to start. Chan and Jaz stayed behind so as not to disturb anyone trying to find free spaces. Suddenly, they heard some music start and little by little the wall was filled with photographs of all the students of their generation. They were pictures and video excerpts of everyone from their first year. Naturally, being the best students of their generation, Chan and Jaz remarkably stood out on the projection. In fact, Jasmine chuckled when she saw her friend embarrassed by so many pictures of him from swimming championships. Chan looked too different, even though he had always had a fit body, now his measurements were practically double, plus he had finally tamed his curly hair and wore it much shorter. For her part, Jaz didn't look that different, at least not in the eyes of Chan, who still considered her the most beautiful girl.

Soon, the prom pictures appeared and there was one in particular that drove them both to stop breathing for a moment. It was the two of them dancing together, one where Jasmine had laid her head on her best friend's chest while he hugged her protecting her from everything that had happened that night. None of them knew about that picture, but they perfectly remembered how they felt at that moment, for it was the night that Jaz was convinced that the only thing she could blindly trust would be Chan's heart, how strong it beat when she was close. It was also the night that Chan swore to himself that no matter the situation, he would be there for her, offering his heart and his arms when Jaz needed them.

Before everyone else left, Chan and Jaz had already done so, they really weren't in the mood to socialize with their former classmates, they were already doing their best to ignore that photograph to ask for more of themselves.

"Well... seeing your old pictures and remembering the noodle story made it worth coming today." 

"You're mean, Minnie, you just smile like that when you're laughing at me." 

"You know that's not true." She replied without even being able to stop smiling, just as him. "Well, I think it's time to go."

"Say hello to your mom"

"Sure, next time she calls me, I'll do it." 

Chan stopped buttoning his coat when he heard that, he had assumed that Jaz would spend the night at her house. The snowfall that particular week had been some of the heaviest in years, and possibly some streets were already closed, it was not safe to travel.

"See you, Chris" The girl said after an awkward silence.

Chan reacted faster than ever before. The next thing Jaz saw was his hand gripping the handle of her umbrella. He hadn't even let her take a step. "Minnie, you're kidding, right?"

"What?"

"Can't you see the snow? You can't walk, much less take the subway, the station is far away. Go home, at least wait until tomorrow."

"I didn't bring the keys, plus mom isn't there."

"I have a copy, I can give it to you." The way she avoided Chan's gaze allowed him to quickly comprehend she didn't want to go home and for a moment he felt like an idiot for even suggesting it. "Then sleep at Felix's, or Hyunjin's, either of them would be happy to welcome you."

"Chris, did you lose your mind?" She asked laughing. "I'm not going to crash just like that. There's nothing wrong with walking a little."

"There's not even a sidewalk where you can walk, everything is covered in snow. Besides, you're sick, you'll be a step from having pneumonia if you walk under the snow."

"How do you know I'm sick?"

"Well, you know when I choke on noodles and I'm about to die, and I know when your lungs are going to collapse, you make a funny sound when you breathe." Both chuckled with that comment, only he could joke with something like that and not sound rude, in fact, it sounded so cute that Jaz even sighed trying to look in another direction than him.

"And what am I supposed to do, go back to sleep in the library?"

Chan knew perfectly well that his father was waiting for him at home, he knew it was an important dinner. He could imagine the argument they would have if he canceled at the last minute, but he didn't have to think twice. "I'll take you home."

"Chris, no. I'm sure you had other plans after this and..."

"Minnie, do you really want to have this discussion out here? We're freezing."

On their way to the car, the first thing Jaz did was write to Lee Know, she didn't want him to think she was hiding something from him. However, her boyfriend's cold and sharp response when he read that she and Chan were going back together, made crystal clear how upset he was.

While Jaz thought about what to answer, Chan was writing to his father apologizing and trying to explain that an emergency had come up. Had it not been for his mother interceding and assuring his father that something really important had to have happened, Chan would have had a tremendous problem.

As best he could, the boy talked to his father through texts, he didn't want to argue with Jaz there, if the girl found out that he had canceled a dinner with her father, she would possibly take him to the activity herself.

Already inside the car, Jasmine detected certain signs on Chan's face that worried her. He looked pale, with bags under his eyes, with much more dark circles than before, not to mention that he was thinner. Changbin was right, Jaz would have quickly detected the slightest warning in Chan that something was wrong with him and she would have done something right then and there. The first thing she did was try to talk to him. 

"Chris, are you sleeping well?"

"Yes, I mean, the best I can, I live with Han and Changbin, it's not that easy to find peace" He tried to joke and as soon as he noticed the concern in Jaz's gaze, he changed the topic. "It's too cold out there, even the heating isn't enough, right?" Jaz nodded, the truth was that she hadn't felt the cold due to the worry of seeing her friend like that. "We should go to a pharmacy, I don't know if the medicines you left here still work."

"Do you still have them?" She asked watching as Chan reached out his arm to open a compartment where Jaz used to keep his things.

"Look how lucky, it seems that they haven't expired" He commented with a smile. "You better use them before it's too late, we'll soon be in the middle of nowhere and the last thing we want is for you to have an asthma attack."

Out of the corner of his eye, Chan could see Jasmine checking her cell phone. "Is Lee Know upset because you're going with me?" He asked looking out the window to hide that he had seen the screen of her cell phone.

Jaz immediately denied it and soon she was talking about something else. In fact, she did the same as Chan and put away her cell phone.

The first hour on the way home they comfortably talked among themselves, although each one on their side looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes to make sure they were going well. Chan was checking Jaz's breathing and how many times she coughed, while Jaz discreetly moved the air vents so that the heat hit Chan and she had already made him eat all the candies she had in her bag.

"Looks like you went for a walk with Felix, why do you have so many sweets?" He asked eating the fifth candy Jaz gave him.

"I'm having a hard time staying awake, I think Romy's selling me decaffeinated coffee without me realizing it..."

"So you succumbed to the sweet."

She nodded opening a new candy and making him laugh. However, a strong coughing fit forced Jasmine to put away the sweet. When Chan heard her like that, he stopped the car and opened his door. Of course, that almost caused Jaz a heart attack, the snowstorm was getting worse, and she didn't want Chan to face that cold, but the boy did it anyway.

"Chris, come here!" She called at the same time she tried to stop coughing. Among so much snow she could only see him looking for something in the trunk of the car. Whatever he was looking for, he found it quickly and was able to get back inside. "Are you nuts!? You can't go out like that!"

Chan ignored the girl's claims, he was very busy opening a bag that he now had on her lap. "Here it is!"

Seconds later, a yellow blanket covered Jaz's back, chest, arms, shoulders, and even her chin. The girl couldn't move freely because of the way Chan wrapped her in the blanket; to tell the truth, she looked extremely funny. "This will keep you warm."

It was the blanket they used when they went to see stars together, Chan had bought it because more than once Jaz's asthma had given them a hard time. 

"How come you still have this...?" Jaz's question came after a few seconds of silence in which she couldn't believe that Chan kept all those things from her, they hadn't talked for months, and that's not counting all the time they had not done anything together, since before dating Lee Know things were not the same between them.

"You have my hoodies, and sometimes I get cold too." He replied with a rather sad smile. "Do you feel better?" Jasmine nodded at the same time that she was convinced that there would be no one in the world sweeter than Chan, no one with a kinder heart than him. "We're a long way from finding a place where we can stop, but I promise you, as soon as I see something, I'll stop and buy something hot to drink."

Jaz didn't let him start the car when she saw something red on the pale face of his ex-boyfriend. "Chris, what's on your nose? My God, that's blood!" Pulling a tissue from her bag, Jaz placed it under Chan's nose and helped him tilt the seat. "When did the bleeding come back? The doctor told you that you had to visit him if this happened again." 

"They didn't come back, it must be the cold. It hadn't happened again."

"I don't like when you lie to me, you know it very well, Christopher. How many times has this happened?"

"Not many, I swear."

"It's a lot of blood, you've never bled like this before."

Something similar had happened to him some years ago and Jaz and her father had taken him to the hospital. Despite the fact that the doctor explained that it was due to a stress crisis, he had been clear that in someone so young those things should not happen, and if it happened again, they should check him out. 

"How do you feel? No, don't answer me, let's change places, sit here and I'll drive, we have to get home and you have to rest."

Chan tried to stop her, but if he moved, more blood would come out. "Jasmine, I'm telling you no!" He said trying to sit her down, even putting her seat belt back on but Jaz kept his hands away. "I'm fine, it's just a little blood. Minnie if you get out of the car, I swear to the holiest thing I'll be mad at you!"

Though he grabbed her wrist hard, he did so without hurting her, but his grip was firm enough for Jaz to give up.

"Give me the keys, I don't want you to drive. Chris, don't hide them! Do you really think that's going to stop me? Please, you should know me better." She couldn't help but laugh, his friend had quickly put the keys under his pants thinking that Jaz would stop looking for them.

"And I'm supposed to be the pervert of the group? You're going to take advantage of the fact that I can't move because I'm bleeding to assault me. Also, don't worry, even if I wanted to, I can't drive anymore. We are trapped, I've never seen snowfall like this. Actually, I can't even see the street."

Being in that position did not allow Chan to notice when Jaz put her hand behind his neck, but when he felt it, he even shuddered to feel a caress from her again. 

"Let me check you." She asked, delicately moving his friend's neck, but she did nothing more than try to make Chan move a little, when his blood shot out and it wasn't a little, it had already stained a large part of the handkerchief.

"Don't look at me like that, Minnie, it's nothing serious," Chan asked seeing Jaz's eyebrows arch in an expression of anguish.

"You're skinnier, Chris. And your gaze... your gaze looks different. Is something going on?"

Jaz could only sigh as Chan avoided looking at her. How did she expect him to open up to her again when they had parted away? She couldn't demand any kind of answers from him, she didn't even have the right to ask him anything, but she couldn't help it, Chan's well-being would always be her priority.

"Just trust me, it's nothing to worry about." It was the only thing that he answered.

"When you stop bleeding, please go to the back seat, you need to lay down, I didn't realize it was so late. You can't spend the night driving and we still have a long way to go." She asked taking off the blanket and wrapping him up.

After a while, Chan had agreed to give her the car keys, and as soon as she had them, she turned off the car. 

"We can't use the heating, there's little gas, we have to turn it off." She explained when she saw his face.

For a while, nothing was heard but their breathing. Jasmine kept checking on her friend every now and then until she was sure he had stopped bleeding. Calmer now, she removed the handkerchief and helped him straighten up little by little so that he wouldn't get dizzy. She even convinced him to move to the back seat where he would be more comfortable. But as expected, Chan did not lay down; instead, he sat up and touched the girl's shoulder.

"Minnie, come here, you have to get some sleep too. There's room for both here."

The back seat was definitely much more comfortable, they both knew it from the times they had gone to the drive-in together, but that night it was even more comfortable than their beds, they were both exhausted, they hadn't rested well for too long, and neither of them felt physically well.

As soon as Jaz sat next to him, Chan covered her with the blanket, and anticipating what she would ask of him, the boy assured her that he would cover him up too. Fortunately, the blanket was quite large and both could use it at the same time, that night they both needed it equally. Chan was about to fall asleep, and would have done so in seconds if it wasn't for Jasmine still trying to get comfortable, moving from side to side, leaning her head against the window, tilting it back, stretching her legs, picking them up again, but she couldn't find a way to lie down. Chan, far from getting angry, laughed softly, his girl hadn't changed, she still couldn't sleep unless she had a place to rest her head. Normally she would have done it on the chest of her best friend, but she was far from doing something like that.

"I'm sorry..." She said noticing that Chan turned around and approached her.

"Let me help you." He asked her with a kind smile.

While Chan was trying to do something with the blanket, the window, and the seat, Jaz could only think about how tight they were. How warm her whole body felt just having Chan so close, how good it felt to feel him there with her. Realizing what she was thinking, she tried to think of something else, she had a boyfriend, she didn't have to be thinking that way.

"I think this will be enough, try lying down," he asked showing her the makeshift pillow he had made.

Chan's face lit up as he saw Jasmine snuggle up on the pillow as she smiled and closed her eyes, he felt even happier hearing the girl's thanks. 

Due to where Chan had set the pillow, they were now facing each other, and almost immediately their faces lit up with tender smiles.

"Don't you need a light? You can't sleep in total darkness. Maybe we can use my cellphone."

"I'm okay."

"You're not. You can't sleep, even though you're tired, you can't sleep like this."

Chan admitted it with a faint laugh. "We can talk until you fall asleep."

"Just as in the school camps?"

"Just like that." She answered covering him a little bit more with the blanket. 

Those kinds of details were what Chan adored about Jaz. The girl always accompanied him, she always had. Even when they were just kids Jaz knew how to make him feel well, like during those camps, when they whispered after everyone else had fallen asleep. Chan knew that Jasmine was more sleepy than he was, but as long as her friend could sleep, she would spend hours talking about anything.

"I think Romy's about to admit she likes Changbin."

"No way, really? Well, we knew that would happen sooner or later. I'm sure they'll be an amazing couple."

"And, do you remember my neighbor? Remember all the times you told me she didn't answer us back when we said hello to her because she couldn't hear us and I told you she was just rude? Well, apparently she only speaks French, that's why she never talked to us." 

Chan listened to Jaz for a while, his smile never left his face, and to tell the truth, he could have listened to her for hours, but looking for the best for her, and preventing her from having a coughing fit again, the boy pretended that he had fallen asleep. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes again and found that Jaz had fallen asleep. That was how Chan stayed awake for a long time, making sure that the girl's breathing was normalizing and that the medications had worked. There was no way he could rest until he was sure she was okay.

Almost two hours passed before Jasmine opened her eyes again. For a moment, she didn't know where she was, but noticing Chan driving, she breathed easier. Or at least for a few seconds, since she opened her eyes wide when she realized that Chan took advantage of her falling asleep to give her the whole blanket and continue driving. No wonder she had slept so comfortably... Chan had made sure of it. Only he could drive so carefully in a storm that Jasmine didn't even feel the car move. Only he could take care of her that way and ask absolutely nothing in return for her.

"Did you rest?" He asked looking at her in the mirror and seeing how Jaz nodded.

"This wasn't the deal, you were going to sleep too."

"I did, but then I realized that the storm was passing, we couldn't stay there, we need you to drink something warm. I think we're close to a town, I hope we can find something that works for you."

"How come he's still so adorable after I've hurt him so much?"

"How are you feeling, did you bleed again?"

"Not a drop. Look! There's a gas station!"

As much as Chan didn't want to, Jasmine ended up getting off next to him. However, the girl bought everything so quickly that he really had no idea what she got from there. For his part, he did need more time, he looked at the drinks they had, he chose the best one for Jaz, he also looked for her best friend's favorite snacks. He wouldn't pick just any cookie, or any candy, he would find precisely what Jaz liked.

That was how he got into the car with a bag so big that it seemed that he had bought snacks for the whole week.

"Minnie, drink this..." Before he even closed the door, Jaz placed a scarf around his neck, and taking his hands, she also put on some gloves.

"If you don't want us to share a blanket, then at least use this."

"But how did you get that?" He asked in total shock, even though he walked through all the shop, he hadn't found anything like that. 

"You just need to know where to look" she answered winking at him. "You can't keep driving on an empty stomach, you need to eat something healthy" 

Jaz was looking for something in a bag almost as big as the one Chan was holding in his hands.

They both laughed among themselves when they realized that both had done the same, they had bought a large bag, but nothing for themselves, everything was to give to the other. That was Jasmine and Bang Chan, that was the kind of relationship that both of them had and that no matter what happened, it would always be like that. Being together taught them how much they both could give in a relationship. Jaz and Chan were not cut out for half measures, they were both used to giving their all for the people they loved.

For this reason, after feeling all those emotions again for at least a few hours, when the time came to say goodbye and return to reality, none of them knew how to do it. However, there was something different in that farewell, they had had a wonderful night, one exactly the same as before when they were best friends and only cared about having a good time and taking care of each other. Saying goodbye that night didn't mean going back to their apartments thinking about what they could have said or done differently, this time, once Jaz got out of the car, they would have to say goodbye to her best friend again and face that all that connection they had, they had both decided to let it go.

"Thanks for bringing me home, Chris. And thank you so much for everything you did for me today." Jaz said when Chan had stopped the car in front of her apartment.

"Thank you too, Minnie." He responded by looking into her eyes. "I... I really had a great time today, I'm glad you decided to go." At that point Chan didn't know if he should say it or not, but he had sworn to himself that he would strive to live without regrets, and he knew that if he didn't let Jaz know how she had made him feel, he would later regret it. After all, who knew when they would be alone again, or if something like that would ever happen again.

Just when Chan felt the weight of what it meant to never be alone with her again and never hear her laugh next to his, something similar happened to Jasmine. Once Chan started the car, she would lose him again, Chan would continue his life without her. Imagining Chan covering someone else, running into a gas station to buy someone else's favorite snacks, or even picturing falling asleep by hearing someone else made her reconsider if she really missed not only her best friend, but her ex-boyfriend as well. 

In a split second Jaz had to face a myriad of emotions and thoughts that rocked her entire world. She began to understand that she not only missed her best friend, she missed her ex-boyfriend, she missed kissing him, sleeping with him, taking care of him, she missed showing Chan that she loved him, and she missed even more that he showed it to her.

What Jasmine felt as the worst blow of her life, Chan had been feeling since the moment they had kissed for the last time in the park.

"Minnie?" He asked noticing that she had kept silent. "Something happens?" 

Chan's voice was lost among so many thoughts, and emotions. Soon, it was fault what was eating her alive, she had a relationship with Lee Know, what the hell was she doing thinking all of that? Besides, Chan was fine without her, how could she just reappear and drag him back to the hole where she had seen him? She had to be mistaken, everything she was feeling was the fruit of having been in her old school and having spent some time alone with Chan again. Besides, she hadn't been fine, her loneliness was haunting her more dangerously than ever. Yes, that must be it.

"Minnie," he called out again. "What's going on?"

"Sorry, I think I need to rest." She said taking the things from her, but before getting down she turned one last time. "Please eat well and try to rest yourself too. If you bleed again, tell the guys to come with you to the hospital, it can be dangerous."

Tell the boys to go with him? That would never happen.

To be continued... 🐺

✮Prev. chapter

✮ Next chapter

[mumms-the-word]

Reunited, Part 1

Day 14 of the BG3 Fic February Challenge

I've been wanting to write the scene for a while. There's so much more I could have put into this, but I was trying to avoid it getting too long. Dani cares deeply about her family and her friends, but she's also not one to stay pinned down for long. Reuniting with her mother is both kind of a common occurrence because she leaves and comes back to often on her travels with her fellow bards (aptly called the Rovers), and a special occasion in this instance because, well...her adventures through the game have certainly been a lot more exciting, and a lot more dangerous, than traveling through the districts of the Outer City every few weeks.

Today’s pic is how I picture Dani’s mom (if I had to make her in the game)

Part 2 will be part of Day 15's prompt!

Check out my masterlist of BG3 fics!

---

14. Family reunion (found family or otherwise)

---

“Are you all sure you want to meet my mum?” Dani asked as she lead the way down Outer City streets, headed for the Stonyeyes district. She had suggested it offhand when they had made it through Wyrm’s Crossing, saying that her mother’s house was on the way to Basilisk Gate, the gate that separated the Outer and Lower City. Some of her companions had responded with enthusiasm, saying that she should absolutely go and see her mum, and that they even wanted to come with her.

“You don’t all have to come with me,” she added. “My mum’s house isn’t exactly large. It would be a tight fit with ten people inside.”

“Is this your way of saying you don’t want us with you when you see your mum, Dan?” Karlach asked. She was carrying a big basket of food, items that Dani has bought on her way over, hoping to supply her mother with food enough to last several days, just to help out. “You can tell us to bugger off if you want.”

“No! No, it’s just…” She trailed off, glancing at Gale. He too carried a basket of food, but smaller, with little jars of food and containers of spices. The plan, when Dani first thought it up, was that they would all gather at her mum’s place for dinner. Which Gale would cook, of course, because there was no better cook between the ten of them.

Gale gave her a little smile. Despite that he was about to meet her mother—gods, her lover meeting her mother—he didn’t look remotely nervous. If anything, there seemed to be a slight bounce in his step, like he was excited. He almost looked like an eager puppy on his way to the park for a playdate. 

Of all the things that did vaguely concern her about walking up to her mum’s house with eight companions in tow, Gale was not one of them. In fact, Gale was at the top of the list of things and people she wanted to show off to her mum. Imagine. Her, a poor Outer City girl, having landed a posh, smart wizard as her lover!

Dani chewed her lip a moment and then shook her head. “It’s nothing. I do want you all to meet her. I just don’t want anyone to think it’s a waste of time.”

Her mother wasn’t exactly nobility. She was a seamstress and laundress. She mended clothes for a living and occasionally made dresses. And she was…well…

“I think it would be an honor to meet your mother,” Wyll said. 

“And we don’t have to stay the whole evening,” Shadowheart offered. “It isn’t as though we’re planning on spending the night, are we?”

“Hells, no,” Dani said. “There definitely isn’t enough room for that.” 

She glanced over at Lae’zel, who seemed as disinterested as ever (she looked disinterested about most things, to her credit), and Astarion, who wasn’t even paying attention, his eyes roving the streets hungrily. Though not, she realized, hungry for blood, but instead like…he’d never seen the streets before. No, she realized a beat late. Like he’d never seen them in sunlight before.

Behind them, Halsin and Jahiera were chatting amiably among themselves, content to follow wherever the rest of the group led. She supposed not all of them had to be there when she reunited with her mother after months of adventure, but at the same time, she wanted her mother to meet the people she considered just as much her family as the Rovers.

Right. That settled it then.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ll want to beat the evening rush when everyone goes home at the end of the day.”

She lead the way, taking the turns almost by habit, she knew them so well. Despite the armies of the Absolute bearing down on Baldur’s Gate and the threat of the elder brain sleeping somewhere beneath the city, nothing had really changed in the Outer City. Every home and business looked as ramshackle and well-worn as usual, the roads still had all the usual holes where cobblestones were missing, and there was still the same muck on the streets. Even the smells themselves were familiar, if pungent.

Home, she thought wistfully. In all its ripe, worn down, charming glory.

She reached the small house that sat squished between two other tenements, thin alleys on either side and what could possibly be called small shared yard in the back. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and trying her best to ignore the others, whether they were looking judgmentally at her childhood home or not. She didn’t want to know what they thought.

Silence. 

She frowned a moment before turning back to her companions. “Wait here. I’ll go inside.” She paused for a moment before looking at Gale. “You can come with me, if you want.”

He looked a little surprised but nodded, handing off his basket to Wyll. Dani turned back to the door and opened it, stepping inside.

Gods, nothing had changed, had it? The first room of the house looked exactly as she’d left it months and months ago, when she’d last visited with the Rovers. The same old cookstove, the same patchy armchair by the fireplace, the same rickety shelves that held all their dishes, cookware, books, and knickknacks, the same table in one corner that was everything they ever needed it to be. Dining room table, sewing table, mending table, storage table. Right now it seemed to be holding some mending, a few clothes folded neatly at one corner, the rest in a pile next to her mother’s sewing box.

“Mum?” she asked. She walked a little farther in, letting Gale follow after her and shut the door behind them. She peered through the curtain that led to her mother’s room, little more than a bed against a wall and a chest that held her clothes, but that room was as empty as the first. The only other room in the house was the upstairs loft, where Dani had slept for a while, but she knew her mother wouldn’t be up there. She’d never make it up the ladder.

“Perhaps we should return at another time?” Gale offered gently, smoothing a comforting hand against her back. Ever since leaving Moonrise, he’d been touchier than usual. Not that it was a bad thing. If anything, Dani loved it.  

She shook her head. “No. She almost never leaves the house. We should—“

She cut herself off as she heard the latch on the back door lifting. She turned just as the door swung open and her mother stepped inside, a bundle of clothing tucked under one arm and her cane in her other hand. She stopped short at the sight of Dani and Gale, dropping the bundle of clothing with a gasp, her hand flying to her chest. 

“Who—“

“Mum!” Seeing her all of sudden, Dani felt all the longing and heartache—all the months she had missed her mum, all the times she’d wished she could see her again and ask her questions and have her stroke her hair—felt all of it come flooding back at once. She crossed the room in only a few steps, grabbing her mother up in a hug and holding on tightly, burying her face in her shoulder. 

“Mum, I’m—I’m home,” she said, tears choking her words. Gods, how she’d missed this scent. Her mother’s scent, lye and lavender, the scent of a washerwoman, the scent that was Maeva Zavrai, her mother. She used to hate lye, so much. Now she couldn’t breathe deep enough that stupid, acrid scent.

“By the gods,” her mother whispered. “I—where—Meridan?”

She felt her mother’s arms move weakly, slowly, her entire body stiff with shock, until at last she relaxed and gathered Dani close in an embrace. Dani distantly heard the sound of her mother’s cane hitting the floorboards. They both ignored it, holding onto one another tightly.

“Oh, my sweet girl,” her mother gasped. Dani felt the sobs shudder in her mother’s thin frame as her mother attempted to suppress them, felt her mother’s hands petting her hair, as if confirming by touch that she was actually real. “Oh, thank the gods. Thank the gods.”

They were both useless with tears, Maeva more so than Dani, who kept wiping her cheeks on her mother’s shoulder. After a moment, Dani couldn’t help but laugh at her good fortune, to find her mother again among all this chaos, and laugh at the idea that after months of fighting everything from goblins to a literal god of death, she felt like a little girl again once she was in her mothers arms, crying and clutching her apron strings.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, giving her mother another tight squeeze, though they hadn’t once let go of each other. “So much. So, so much.”

“Oh, sweet girl, I’ve missed you too.” Maeva struggled to pull away from Dani’s embrace, using Dani’s arms as support as she gazed worriedly into Dani’s face. She caressed Dani’s cheek, wiping away a few stray tears, though her own cheeks were just as damp. “But I don’t understand. Brann said you’d gone missing. That you’d been…taken by something. What happened to you?”

“It’s a long, long story, Mum,” Dani said, wiping at her own cheeks. She bent and retrieved her mother’s cane, handing it to her. “I’ll tell as much as I can, I promise. But later, okay? There’s, um…some people I’d like to introduce to you first.”

She turned, seeking out Gale in the room. He stood close by the door, hands behind his back, studying a faded tapestry on the wall as if it were the finest artwork he’d ever seen. Perhaps she was imagining it, but his eyes seemed a little red themselves. But when he turned to look at her, she couldn’t see it anymore, his smile bringing out the little lines at the corner of his eyes.

He looked so out of place in her old home it was almost comical, but gods he was beautiful. Now that she was seconds from introducing him to her mother, Dani felt suddenly a little sheepish. How in the hells had a poor, Outer City girl like her caught the eye and held the love of an extremely talented, intelligent, charming man like Gale of Waterdeep? She suddenly felt a sudden fear that they weren’t well-matched. He could do better, after all.

She suppressed those thoughts, coming over to stand at his side. “Mum, I’d like you to meet Gale,” she said, taking his hand. “Gale, this is my mother.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Gale said, bowing slightly. He stepped forward, offering his other hand to her mother, as charming as ever, without a hint of embarrassment that he’d been witness to their tearful, dramatic reunion. “Gale Dekarios. Dani has told us much about you.”

“Oh?” Her mother took two awkward steps forward, leaning heavily on her cane, and took Gale’s hand. “Maeva Zavrai. I take it you are…?” She glanced questioningly at Dani.

“Oh! He’s, um…we’re…” She looked at Gale, suddenly at a loss for words, especially given her earlier thoughts. What were they? Or rather, how was she going to introduce what they were to her mother? They were lovers, surely, but was that what she should say? It seemed embarrassing all of a sudden. Plus, they were more than lovers, right? She cast her mind about for other words. Partners felt too distant, soulmates a little too trite. Beloveds? Is that something people said? She struggled to find the right word, something that didn’t seem embarrassing but wasn’t a lie either. It felt important. If not to her mother, then to Gale.

Gale blinked at her and then seemed to register her silent plea. “Ah. We are…together,” he said. He wrapped his arm around Dani and tucked her into his side, smiling down at her with a smile that was nothing but warmth and love and adoration. “Together in love. We haven’t quite ironed out the term for it yet, but that doesn’t mean our bond is any less strong.”

She relaxed. In one fell swoop, Gale had sensed her thoughts, calmed her fears, and provided an answer that was just right. She couldn’t help but smile and wrap her arms around his middle, briefly hiding her face in his chest as she squeezed him tightly, a silent thank you.

When she emerged again, Maeva was glancing between them before smiling warmly. “Yes, I understand. How lovely to meet you, Gale. Welcome to my home.” 

She folded her hands on the top of her cane, still smiling. “I would say I hope you are keeping my Meri girl out of trouble, but…” She cast a knowing look in Dani’s direction.

Gale laughed. “It seems you already know the answer to that question, madam. What more can I say?”

“Oh, please, just Maeva. I’m no madam.”

“As you wish. As to your question, I think it more accurate to say that Dani gets us both in and out of trouble. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He gave Dani another squeeze to punctuate his point.

Dani breathed a small sigh of relief, watching Gale and her mother banter. She didn’t know why she’d been so nervous about the two of them meeting, but it seemed now that she had no reason to be. Her mother’s subtle charm matched well with Gale’s wit. They seemed to like each other, at least for now.

“Mum,” she said, stepping out from under Gale’s arm to take one of her mother’s hands. “We have a little surprise for you. If you don’t mind. I may have brought more than just Gale over to meet you.”

Maeva raised her eyebrows, looking a touch wary. “What do you mean?” 

“I have…well, a few other friends waiting outside who also want to meet you.”

Dani’s mother looked both pleasantly surprised and a little anxious at that. “Well…Meridan, that’s lovely, but I don’t think I have, um…”

“Don’t worry about dinner,” Dani said hurriedly. “Gale here is a fantastic cook, so we have dinner covered. And I’ve brought more food besides, to keep you for a few days. And I have gold—so much gold—so you can…you can…” She found herself getting choked up again. She struggled for a moment before shaking her head and smiling. “I’m going to take care of you, Mum. I promise.”

Her mother softened. “Meridan…”

“But we’ll talk about that later,” Dani said hurriedly. “My friends are just outside. Can they come in? Can we spend the evening with you? Please?”

She felt thirteen again, asking her mother if the Rovers could stay for dinner, before she had officially joined them. Her mother gave a soft sigh and a gentle smile.

“Of course. Bring them inside. I’d love to meet them.”

———

Dinner was everything Gale had promised it would be, if Gale said so himself. Really, there was nothing quite as satisfying as making a feast out of a few simple ingredients (and a handful of fresh herbs and spices) and watching everyone enjoy it. He was particularly pleased that Maeva seemed to like his cooking, though he did noticed she had been somewhat anxiously watching as he took charge of her cookstove, fireplace, and side table for all the preparations and cooking. Dani had to assure her several times that Gale could more than manage the finicky eye on the cookstove and that he had his own blades with which to peel and chop ingredients.

Now, with all the companions cramped into the room, sitting on chairs, a footstool, the floor, chatting comfortably with one another as Gale served them their dinner in their usual bowls and plates, it seemed all worries were assuaged. Maeva had relaxed and began conversations with nearly everyone, taking in stride (far better than most they’d met on their long journey since the nautiloid) the wide range of personalities and appearances of all of them. She had, however, started a little when Jaheira introduced herself, recognition and awe warring on her expression.

“I know,” Dani whispered gleefully, hugging her mother’s arm “The Jaheira! From the stories!”

Jaheira had waved this away with her usual humble impatience, turning the subject toward something else as soon as she could.

It was a little fascinating, seeing the similarities between Dani and her mother. Maeva was a slim woman, her skin a slightly darker and richer blue than Dani’s pale silver-blue tones. She and Dani shared the shape of their eyes and their nose, though Maeva’s eyes were turquoise with a ring of gold at the center surrounded by the black sclera common with tieflings. Her dark hair was shot through with several strands and locks of white and was styled in a practical braid coiled into a bun at the nape of her neck. Perhaps the most noticeable difference between them were their horns. While Dani’s were short and curved in adorable little arcs, Maeva’s were much longer, curling more like ram’s horns down around the sides of her head.

If Gale hadn’t known better, hadn’t heard Dani talk about her father before, he might have guessed that Dani was half-human. But then both Dani and Maeva would smile, flashing their sharpened teeth, and he would brush aside his silly conjectures. Their laughter was also very similar, their voices nearly identical, though Maeva’s was aged a little, a hint deeper in tone, a touch raspier than Dani’s.

Maeva was a beautiful woman, all told, and for one, tiny moment Gale felt as though he was glimpsing into his future, to a picture of Dani with similar lines around her eyes, a similar glint in her eye, a similar quiet amusement in the way she watched the proceedings around her. It was almost tragic, then, that her mother seemed to have such difficulty getting around. She had the makings of a wealthy matron in her demeanor and poise, but by virtue of her disability, it seemed as though she was destined to remain in the Outer City.

Halsin had offered to examine her legs soon after they had settled in, while Gale was cooking. He’d broached the subject carefully and respectfully in a way only Halsin could, but Maeva had only smiled and shaken her head.

“It’s the result of a long illness I had years ago,” she had explained. “We left it unattended a little too long, I’m afraid, and the consequences were…well. What you see now. All the healers I’ve been able to see tell me that my condition isn’t really curable. They can heal and reverse the weakness in my legs for a short time, but it will always come back. Thankfully I’ve reached the point where I only have to visit a healer once a month for such treatment.”

Gale hadn’t missed the way Dani clung to her mother’s hand as she explained all this to Halsin. Though Maeva had smiled and waved away the questions about the weakness in her legs, Dani had looked grave and sad. She laid her head briefly on her mother’s shoulder as she spoke, lost in thought. Perhaps lost in memory. But then the subject had passed, with Halsin respecting Maeva’s insistence that she didn’t require any more healing aid than she already got, and no more was said of about Maeva’s condition.

Instead, as Gale joined Dani and Maeva at the table, the mending and sewing work having been moved to her bed some time earlier, the subject had turned to Dani herself and all that she had been up to. Gale settled into the chair next to Dani, content to eat and listen.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Dani said. “It’s been months, mum.”

“I know, my darling. Brann’s been out searching for you ever since you disappeared.”

“Do you know where he is?” she asked, leaning over the table to get a better look at her mother’s face. “I thought we might run into them on the way over. I’ve been checking all the notices on all the taverns but none of them are featuring the Rovers.”

“I can’t say for sure,” Maeva said, smiling a little sadly. “You know how he is. Always moving from one place to the next. He, Liara, and Kellen have been searching all of Outer City for you and Paraxxel. But they do occasionally make their way back here. They haven’t taken as many gigs as usual, so money is a little tight. I try to help out by letting them sleep here.”

She lapsed into silence, her eyes trailing toward the door, and then the window. Gale got the sense she did this frequently. For Dani? Or for Brann?

“I have to find them,” Dani said. “I have to let them know I’m all right. And then I have to find Axxel. If he’s not with them, then…” She trailed off, unwilling to finish that thought. Beneath the table, Gale reached for her hand and gave it a small squeeze.

I’m here, he wanted to say, but he knew that it wasn’t quite enough. Paraxxel had also been taken by the mind flayers, though in a different nautiloid. Dani hadn’t found him anywhere. Not in the nautiloid crash site, not in Moonrise, and not in the mind flayer colony below Moonrise. Their best lead was that he might be in the city. Correspondence between the Chosen of the Dead Three suggested that part of their master plan was to tadpole and release citizens of Baldur’s Gate so that when the time was right, they could order everyone to become mind flayers all at once…and unleash untold chaos.

Paraxxel might very well be one of those who had been released.

Dani gave him a brief, grateful look before turning back to Maeva. “Do you know when they’ll next be back?”

“I can’t say, I’m sorry. Brann usually let’s me know via a sending spell but not always.” 

Dani nodded, understanding, and then paused. “Wait. Since when does Brann know how to cast sending?”

“Oh, darling.” Maeva sighed and patted Dani’s hand where it sat on the table, fork largely forgotten in her grip. “He’s done that for years. It’s one of those whistles he does, I don’t know how it works.”

“Years? Whistles? I don’t—“ And then she seemed to have a realization, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open. Maeva chose that moment to take a slow, poised sip of water from her cup, pointedly ignoring Dani’s stare. Gale had to hide a smile behind his hand, hurrying to take another bite of his food.

“I have so many questions for the both of you,” Dani said to her mother. “The first being why Brann never taught me sending.” She whirled on Gale. “You can teach me sending, right?”

“Of course,” Gale said, hastening to swallow his food. “Anything you desire, my love. Always.”

Maeva laughed. “You may regret that, Gale. Even with a limit of twenty-five words, my Meri girl can find a thousand ways to make mischievous use of such a spell.”

“Oh, I’m rather counting on it, in fact,” Gale said, grinning. He could think of a few dozen messages he’d like to send to Dani himself, for her ears only, just right now. Thankfully they had the tadpole for that. But once the tadpole was gone…something to keep in mind.

Dani tapped her fingers against her mug, only half aware of his teasing comment. “What I don’t understand is if Brann knows how to cast sending, then…why didn’t he use it to try and communicate with me?”

Maeva’s smile faded. “He did. Several times. He never got a response. It was one of the reasons we both…feared the worst had happened.”

“What? I never…” Dani trailed off. She seemed to have the same thought as Gale, glancing up at him.

“The tadpole,” he said softly. “It may be blocking out messages like the sending spell.”

Dani’s expression grew hard. She reached for her mug, mumbling to herself, “Gods damned tadpoles…” 

Maeva reached out and patted Dani’s hand again. “Whatever the reason, he never gave up hope. Neither of us did. We both had to believe you were out there, alive. And…well…” She smiled, her eyes getting a little misty once more. “We were right. Look at you. You don’t look any worse for wear. You’ve made all these friends. You’ve fallen in love…” She laughed slightly. “Took you long enough.”

“Mum, please,” Dani said, looking a touch embarrassed. But when she turned to look up at Gale, there wasn’t a hint of embarrassment in the way she gazed up at him, her smile soft and sweet. Just for him. He wanted to say he loved her, lean down for a small kiss, but she was already looking away, back to her mother.

“Can we…stay the night?” she asked. “Just Gale and I? I’ll send the others on ahead to try and get us a place to stay in the Lower City. I just…I don’t want to leave too soon. There’s so much we haven’t talked about yet.”

Maeva smiled. “I would love that. You’re both welcome to stay in the loft. Anytime you need it.”

“Thank you,” Gale said. “And thank you for letting us use your home for a brief bit of rest this evening as well.”

“Oh, it was no bother at all. It was rather fun, meeting everyone. Legends and strangers alike,” she added, her eyes trailing back to Jaheira. 

The plan was made, then. As Gale gathered up all the dishes, casting prestidigitation to clean them in a snap before handing them back to their respective owners to be packed away, Dani instructed everyone to head toward the Basilisk Gate, led by Wyll and Karlach who of course knew the way (or could figure it out, together), and find a camp for the night.

“We’ll catch up with you tomorrow,” she said. 

And then they were gone. Dani led Gale up to the loft that made up the second floor of the home, showing him around the room that she had grown up in as a child. It was about half the size of the room below, the space made even more cramped by the slope of the ceiling. The furniture itself was sparse; a low bed was tucked beneath the eaves of the roof, a chest of two drawers on the opposite wall, a couple of old instruments tucked in a corner, a stack of blankets folded at the foot of the bed. 

Gale had to swallow his initial reaction of dismay. Not at the thought of sleeping up here—anything was better than a bedroll outside—but at the thought of Dani growing up in this room. It seemed unfit for any child, and yet he knew that other children had to deal with far worse. At least she had her own bed. Her own room.

“I used to hate it up here,” she said quietly, running her hand over the top of the chest of drawers. It came away a little grayer with dust. She brushed it off onto her trousers. “It could get really cold at nights. And if it rained, I had to push my bed to the other side because there’s a hole in the roof that never gets fixed, no matter how many times we try. I only ever liked sleeping up here with Liara was with us. Then it was fun. Cozy. But once I left home…” She shook her head. “I started to miss it. What I wouldn’t have given some nights to have my own bed again, and not some cheap straw-stuffed mattress in a pub where the midges come and bite.”

“What about now?” Gale asked. He gathered her close from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder. “Traveling with us?” 

He was still trying to calibrate his thoughts about the room, processing her words. Cold, cozy, fun, rainy. This place held years of memories and experiences.

She was quite a moment, thinking, her hands resting lightly on his arms where they were wrapped around her middle. “I guess I don’t miss it as much,” she said softly. “I mean…it’s preferable to a bedroll, don’t get me wrong. But the sleeping alone part has always sucked, here or otherwise.” She turned her head to look up at him with a little smile. “I think I prefer sleeping with you to sleeping alone in my old bed, you know?”

He chuckled and kissed her. “I think I understand the sentiment,” he said. He indicated the bed with his eyes. “So. To bed, or shall we stay up a while longer?”

“I’ll join you in a bit,” Dani said, slipping out of his embrace. “I want to talk to my mum some more. If that’s okay with you?”

“Of course.”

She looked unconvinced. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like I’m…I don’t know. Neglecting you.”

“Dani.” He took her arms in his hands, waiting until she was looking him in the face so that she could see his sincerity. “I understand. It’s your mother. You haven’t seen her in months. Trust me…I understand completely.”

What he wouldn’t give to be able to see his own mother, truly. To tear open a hole in the realms and step through it, manipulating it into a portal that dumped him directly onto Morena Dekarios’ lush carpets in Waterdeep. But seeing Tara in Rivington had reminded him exactly why he couldn’t do that. His mother still didn’t know everything about the orb in his chest, much less the command Mystra had given him. And until that matter was resolved…no. He couldn’t send any word to his mother, much less see her.

“Go and join her,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll wait up here for you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I…thank you. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Dani.”

She climbed back down the ladder, leaving Gale several feet above, only the floorboards of the loft between him and the two of them below. Gale readied himself for bed and stretched out on the mattress, a book in his hand, though he barely read any of it. His mind was turning over various moments of the night. Seeing Dani and her mother tearfully reunite. Watching their companions fold themselves into the room and make themselves at home, cheerful and kind to Maeva. Hearing about Maeva’s condition, or the Merry Rovers out searching for Dani. It was a lot. And they hadn’t even scratched the surface of what had happened to Dani herself.

It wasn’t until a while later that Gale had noticed how quiet it had gotten downstairs. Curious, he quietly descended the ladder, expecting to find Dani and Maeva at the table. Instead, he met an empty room, the sounds of deep, even breathing one tiny room over.

The curtain that separated the rooms was half opened. Peering inside, Gale saw two forms lying on the bed, arms wrapped around each other. Maeva and Dani, with Dani’s head on her mother’s shoulder. She looked like a child in her mother’s arms again, still fully clothed, save for her boots. She must have dozed off a while ago, likely before her mother had drifted to sleep.

Gale watched them for a moment, a strange ache in his chest. Not of jealousy, but of something else. Something he thought it wise not to name. Eventually he pulled the curtain fully closed and returned to the loft.

After months of being apart, Dani likely needed a night where she could be nothing more than her mother’s daughter again. No responsibilities, no threats, none of the weight of the world on her shoulders. Just a girl in her mother’s arms. Gale could handle one night without her curled up next to him, if it meant he could give her that.

[taizi]

Could you write something about natsume getting a hug?? Just, from whoever n for whatever reason. I keep thinking about how no one ever really hugs him n it makes me sad

x

The absolute last person Joji expected to see today was Natsume Takashi.

Joji slows to a stop on the corner of the street, a block away from the train station, and stares shamelessly.

It's been a decade since the last time he saw Natsume, but he recognizes him immediately. Of course he does. His light hair and eyes aside, Joji has thought about him on-and-off since junior high.

Joji remembers that rainy day when he was thirteen, an empty desk in the middle of his eighth grade classroom, Ito leaning over in his chair to whisper, "Did you hear? Natsume was in the ER. He almost died. The police are looking at his foster parents."

It was as if he'd been plunged into a pool of ice water. He sat there, frozen, while their teacher called them to attention for homeroom and announced that Natsume wouldn't be in their class going forward.

What was the last thing Joji had said to him? "It's no wonder your parents didn't want you." Why the hell had he said that? A book, if he remembers right. He'd lent it to Natsume and Natsume gave it back all water-damaged, like he'd gone for a swim with his backpack on. Natsume's eyes were on his hands, on the ruined book, and he'd tried to apologize, said he'd pay for it, but Joji just snatched it away, ticked off.

"This is what I get for trying to help you, I guess. It's no wonder your parents didn't want you."

Joji is almost twenty-four now. He's going into pediatrics. His fiance, Sakura, is a foster parent. She is currently the proud and fiercely protective mother of two beautiful twin girls.

Sora and Miu are terrified of adults and they go everywhere together and sometimes they make up stories. Sometimes they lie, about why their uniforms are torn, why they're home late, why their lunchboxes are covered in dirt. They have this look in their eyes sometimes like they're just waiting to get hurt again.

Sakura has the patience of a saint. She never raises her voice. She stitches their torn uniforms, replaces their lunchboxes, and, on more than one occasion, has marched into their junior high school and threatened the staff with physical violence if her babies come home with bruises one more time.

Needless to say, Sora and Miu adore her. It took them longer to warm up to Joji, but they're there now; no longer flinching when he moves in their direction, greeting him happily when he comes over for breakfast, smiling shyly when he staggers into the apartment underneath the weight of two giant stuffed rabbits that cost nearly half his paycheck, because it's their birthday, Sakura, they need them.

Joji tries to imagine someone telling them "this is why your parents didn't want you" and goes absolutely breathless with rage.

Natsume glances up from his phone to look right at Joji, as if someone had pointed him out. Caught staring, Joji shuffles in place for a moment, and then squares his shoulders and heads over.

He's expecting the Natsume of his memory; he's expecting him to curl his shoulders and duck his head, the way Joji's girls still sometimes do when a stern auntie wants to talk to them.

He's not expecting Natsume to level him with a clear, politely confused gaze. He pockets his phone, and shoves his hands into the front pockets of the cardigan he's wearing; a size too big, like something he borrowed out of someone else's closet, but it's a charming look on him. He's dressed well, in dark-washed jeans and white high-top sneakers, and his silvery hair is long, probably long enough to fall past his shoulders if he didn't have it piled up in a bun. There's a squat calico cat at his feet, glaring up at Joji with judgmental green eyes.

"Can I help you?" Natsume asks kindly. His voice is a shock to the system; Joji remembers him like it was yesterday.

"Oh," Joji says, stymied. It never occurred to him that Natsume might not recognize him in turn. "Um, I'm Watanabe Joji. We were classmates in eighth grade."

"That's right," Natsume says with gratifying quickness. He looks a little embarrassed now and returns Joji's short bow. "Sorry, it's been a long time."

And we weren't exactly friends, he doesn't say, but that common knowledge sits neatly between them.

"Ten years!" Joji replies with some forced enthusiasm. "Is that why you're here?"

"Sorry?"

"The, ah, reunion this weekend? Ito, from our homeroom back then, put together a whole thing. Our whole class is getting together for dinner and drinks."

It occurs to him that Natsume might not have been invited. Joji thinks that's less because he isn't welcome and more because Ito almost certainly didn't have his contact information. The few times his name has come up, Joji's friends have gone quiet and melancholy. A few of them are parents now, or aunts and uncles at least. All of them know better than they did when they were mean, shitty little teenagers.

Joji opens his mouth to assure Natsume that they'd love to have him, but Natsume cuts him off with a laugh.

It's not a mean laugh. It's not unfriendly in the slightest. But it stings anyway, because Natsume is laughing out of pure disbelief.

"No, no," he says, waving a hand, "god, no. Could you imagine?" he adds, glancing down at the cat. The cat huffs, settling a little more solidly against Natsume's ankle. "We're just passing through, actually."

"We?" Joji asks dumbly. Did he mean himself and the cat?

It's Natsume's turn to get cut-off, this time by a long, drawn-out shout of "Takashiiii!"

A short, russet-haired young man around Joji's age comes barreling down the sidewalk toward them at a flat-out run. Joji's first inclination is one of alarm, but Natsume steps forward with his arms outstretched, and the stranger collides with him in an embrace that looks like it hurts.

Natsume is laughing again, but it's softer this time. It's the warmest sound Joji has ever heard him make.

"What's this for?" Natsume is saying, patting him on the back.

"Just missed you," his friend replies.

"You saw him twenty minutes ago, Satoru," comes the exasperated call from further down the road, and Joji glances over to find a small group headed their way, laden with shopping bags.

"Yeah, exactly," Satoru says, leaning back without letting go, just enough to gaze up at Natsume with a cheeky grin. "I'm all Takashi-deficient. It's pretty serious."

"Sounds serious," Natsume replies, and agreeably keeps an arm wrapped around his shoulders as the rest of their group catches up.

A tall, dark-haired man stoops to pick up Natsume's cat, and it settles agreeably in the crook of his arm. The brown-eyed woman beside him lets out a coo, shifting all her bags to one hand so she has one free to scratch it behind the ears.

"We're being rude," the dark-haired man says in a soft, pleasant tone. "Who's this, Takashi?"

Natsume introduces Joji as an old classmate, giving absolutely none of their history away in tone or expression, but somehow all of his friends seem to clue in to something anyway. Their collective demeanor shifts, in an unidentifiable way, even if their polite smiles don't slip an inch as Takashi introduces each of them in turn.

All but Nishimura Satoru, still tucked up against Natsume's side, who gives Joji a positively poisonous look.

"Okay, Satchan, you're going to lose privileges if you can't be nice," Kitamoto says dryly, and extracts him from Natsume's person with a deftness that speaks of years of practice.

"Nooo," Nishimura says, but it's curbed quickly by Shibata shoving a bag at him and snapping, "Carry this! It's that stupid lucky cat statue you just had to have, and it's heavy!"

"It looks just like sensei! Tooru loves it, too!"

"I do," Taki admits.

It's a warm afternoon, right at the end of August, the sky turning golden with the beginnings of dusk. Joji still manages to feel cold.

He grew up, but Natsume did, too. He always regretted what he did, he always wondered if Natsume was okay, wherever he went, but Natsume hasn't seemed to spare him a second thought. He's got his own friends now; bright, kind people who look like they'd raise hell for him. Who run to meet him.

Joji missed the chance to have a place in Natsume's life. He's a footnote, now, and not a very good one.

"Jojojojo!"

The bright voices have him spinning around, forgetting everything else, and he lights up when he spots Sora and Miu waving at him from the other side of the street. Sakura has a firm hold on their jackets so they can't go spilling out into the street until the pedestrian crossing sign lights up, and then she releases them like a couple of eager hunting dogs.

Natsume's friends shuffle to one side politely, and Joji steps forward to catch his girls when they reach him. They're so beautiful and he missed them so much, this weekend they were away to visit Sakura's parents. He kisses them each on the head, and then kisses Sakura on the head in the name of fairness, and it makes all three of them laugh.

Taki coos just like she did with the cat, hands clasped together under her chin.

"What sweet girls!" she says. "Are they yours, Watanabe?"

"Yes," Joji says proudly, putting one arm around each of their shoulders. They've come so far, not hiding behind him from the group of strangers, even if they press into his sides shyly. "This is Miu, and this is Sora. We're adopting them."

Sakura shifts her weight imperceptibly, a barely-there tell. Waiting, he knows, for the surprise, or outright condemnation. She's dealt with a lot of bullshit for taking these kids in, from family and ex-friends and even total strangers. It rolls right off her, and she usually gives as good as she gets, but she hates when Sora and Miu have to hear it. They don't deserve to hear it.

Joji will have to explain it to her, later, why he brought it up. Why he knew it would be safe to bring it up in front of these strangers.

Sure enough, all their faces soften immediately, a gentle transformation. Natsume crouches, gazing at the twins with an expression that Joji remembers from his childhood. The delicate resilience, the willingness to reach out even if he got hurt.

The look on his face ten years ago when he handed back that ruined book, owning up to his mistake and trying to fix it, buying Joji a replacement even after Joji said something unthinking and cruel.

"I was adopted, too," he says.

"Really?" Sora asks quietly.

"Really," Natsume tells her. "My parents died when I was little. I wasn't an easy child to care for, even though it wasn't my fault, so I got passed around a lot. It took me a long time to find my place, but I found it. Did you find yours?"

"I think so," Sora says, glancing around Joji at her sister.

"Me, too," Miu adds.

Sakura clutches Joji's hand hard enough to bruise. She won't cry here and now, but he already knows it's going to be an ice-cream-for-dinner kind of night.

Natsume looks up to meet Joji's eyes when he says, "That's good. I'm glad to hear it."

It's forgiveness. Joji hears it plain as day. He didn't get a chance to ask for it-- isn't sure he deserves it-- but there it is, freely given. And it's reassurance, too.

When Joji's daughters used to curl their shoulders and duck their heads, it would always tug at the memory of a boy he used to know, who was as kind as he was desperate for kindness.

Now, he thinks, when his girls are making a mess of the kitchen trying to follow a pancake recipe with their friends, or dragging a stray cat inside with big, hopeful eyes, it'll remind him of this afternoon. Natsume's clear, bright eyes, and the protective cluster of friends surrounding him.

The world wasn't fair to him; it left a mountain in his life that he had to climb, complete with all its pitfalls and crumbling paths and bad weather.

And here he is on the other side, goodness intact. Smiling. Loved.

He found his place. Sora and Miu found theirs.

And god, if that doesn't give Joji hope for everyone else.

"It was nice to see you," he says thickly, hoping Natsume hears his honesty. "Don't come to the reunion, that was-- a stupid thing to say, but-- would you-- dinner?"

Natsume hears it. He tilts his head, considering, and then says, "We missed our train, anyway."

"And I'm starving," Tanuma says agreeably. Clearly, he says it more to agree with Natsume than anything.

Nishimura is the hardest sell, watching Joji with hard eyes. But then his gaze dips to Sora and Miu, and all his sharp edges go soft, like butter melting in the sun. After a handful of tense seconds, he visibly gives up on his anger with a huff. His friends, watching patiently, all give absurd little cheers when it's clear he's on board.

"Fine, but if you live farther than three feet away, we're getting an Uber," Shibata threatens, rustling the shopping bags in his hands with annoyed fervor.

They drift in the direction of Joji's home, and Kitamoto talks Shibata down from the Uber with the promise of ducking into a 7-Eleven for ice creams instead, and Taki and Sakura are fast friends, rolling their sleeves up to compare tattoos-- Taki's is a strange, occult-looking circle that Joji makes a mental note to ask about-- and Tanuma lets Sora carry the fat cat, while Miu pets it with reverent fingers.

Natsume walks beside Joji, calm and unhurried, with Nishimura on his other side. He grew up with so much grace.

"Can I add you to the class groupchat?" he asks without thinking.

"Good luck with that," Nishimura butts in, not unkindly. "He's the most unreliable texter you've ever met. He left me on read for like two days once, and we live together."

"You'd have better luck with an email," Natsume says apologetically.

It's more than Joji thought he'd get; they exchange contact information, in the middle of this chaotic, noisy group making its way down the street toward the well-lit combini on the corner and then, beyond that, home.

Natsume doesn't seem to have any interest in reconnecting with his old classmates, and Joji doesn't blame him for that. Even though it will certainly piss Ito off to be kept in the dark, even just for a few days, Joji decides it's for the best.

Nishimura's goodwill can't be stretched that far.

[lottiebagley]

Family Reunions- George Weasley

Three years imagining a life together Love your family more than we loved each other I said I’d keep in touch and I did But the more we keep in touch, the more I miss him

The second she enters her small flat she can feel her entire world shatter around her. Leaning her back against the door as she sinks to the ground, head dropping into her hands as she wipes furiously at her eyes, trying to push the tears back in.

Once a week she had attended dinner at the burrow, it was nice, good to see Molly and Arthur and whichever kids were around, of course George was never there, the date marked in his calendar in a red pen reminder to not go home that day. To sleep and eat at the flat.

The family had been heartbroken to hear that he had broken up with his girlfriend, after the war he had committed all his time to helping Fred. His twin needed every last bit of his attention, helping with his physical therapy and his dwindling mental state and so George's relationship had taken a back seat. She hadn't minded, in fact she had understood, she even committed herself to helping too.

But a year after George decided to call things off, Fred was better, he was walking and he was happier and he was working again. It was the perfect time for him to focus on his relationship, after all the girl had proven herself time and time again. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe it was that he felt like he needed a minute alone.

Maybe it was the feeling that she was so much better than him. Maybe it was his mother's constant talks of rings and weddings. He wasn't quite sure but all of a sudden he felt like he was suffocating.

He sat her down in his bedroom in the flat. Explained that she wasn't the one and it didn't feel right anymore. He had watched as she cried and had attempted to comfort her only for her to push him away, fleeing his flat leaving a baffled Fred on the living room sofa, television on in front of him, wondering why the girl who may as well be a sister just left the flat in floods of tears.

George still visions his mother's face when he closes his eyes, the look on her face when he told her he ended his relationship. He remembers her disappointment. He remembers his brothers shock. He remembers his dad's sad sigh. He remembers his sister's passionate rant about how he never deserved her anyway.

As the girl cries on her hallway floor she vows that she will stop. Stop seeing the Weasley's. Not because she doesn't love them with every fibre of her being but because she couldn't handle the heart break. Couldn't keep sitting at their dinner table without his hand on her knee. Couldn't keep sitting on the swing set without him laughing and pushing her. Couldn't keep helping Molly clean plates without him sat on the counter teasing her.

Tell your sister if she hears from her ex I can’t be the one that she calls And as much as I love talks with your dad I need him to leave me alone Cause I can’t find the words to express The way that I wish I was the one But friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

Her resolve to stop seeing the Weasley's was gone by the next morning.

She woke up to a missed call from Charlie and called back, chattering away about his upcoming trip home as she got ready.

She arrived at her job at the ministry and met up with Hermione for coffee, deciding that when she eventually cut her ties she would keep Hermione. The girl was like a younger sister, although so was Ginny, but she figured one last tie to the family, someone to hear their news from would do no harm.

Arthur knocked on her office door in his lunch break, bringing with him sandwiches made by Molly and asking her to eat with him and she didn't have the heart to say no, so instead they ate in her office and talked merrily about the infestation of singing sunglasses he was dealing with today.

As she left her office she received a phone call from Ginny, who ranted about how annoying Harry was being and how now she had graduated and was training she felt like she had no time to focus on her relationship.

It was after she assured the girl that her and Harry were meant to be as she walked through the Leaky Cauldron she knew what she had to do.

She got a flat above a bookshop on Diagon Alley simply to be near George and now everyday, walking past his store, felt like torture. She hadn't been in the store, she'd avoided it like the plague even when Fred asked her to come and hang out with him and George wasn't working. So as she walked into the atmospheric shop her heart felt like it was sinking in her chest.

"Hey sweetheart, you all okay?" Fred asks with a bright grin, he's leaning on his cane for support and eyeing the door.

She could cry looking at him. Not just because he looks identical to the man who fell out of love with her and she still pined desperately for. No. Today the tears she blinks back are practically grief, she knew that, realistically, she would see Fred around, but she wouldn't be able to call him a friend anymore.

"I uh- could I speak to George?" she questions, Fred smiles gently, noticing her pained tone.

"Yeah, of course, you can go on up," he assures. She nods shooting him a small smile, but pauses on the stairs.

"Hey Freddie,"

"Yeah,"

"I want you to know that I am really proud of you, of the shop and of how much better you are and I mean when I first met you who'd have thought you'd end up here. I just-well I love you and I am really proud," She blinks back tears as she speaks, almost wishing she would get a chance to say a goodbye to all the Weasley's.

Fred smiles gently, somewhere in him he can tell, tell that this is goodbye and he's about to loose a friend.

"I love you too sweetheart, just remember no matter what that I am always going to be here for you,"

They share eye contact for a moment, both knowing and not saying it. Fred understood, he can only imagine how hard it must be to still be a part of his family's lives after George. He knew the girl in front of him loved his twin brother more than anything, he knew that deep down George loved her just as much, and yet here Fred stands, a silent goodbye hanging in the air.

Phone calls Sweet notes All the little things I used to love Now they just remind me that I was never enough We said we’d keep in touch and I tried But the more we keep in touch, the less I move on in life

"Hey George," she speaks quietly, standing in the hallway of his flat as he stands staring at her shock.

It's been a month since he saw her and his heart leaps at the sight of her, at her standing there with a small smile and teary eyes and a pencil skirt and blazer and messy hair and she's just her. She is her and it's everything he's been missing. He wonders as he stares at her how he ever thought that she wasn't the one. That she wasn't perfect. That she wasn't made for him.

Her own eyes are wide, seeing him sparking something in her that she didn't even know existed. He's shirtless, a white towel wrapped around his hips and his hair damp from the shower he just clearly had. Her eyes scan his toned chest, his broad shoulders, the light sprinkles of freckles. His scent, his cinnamon body wash, is so strong that it practically invades her body and she could scream and cry and all she wants is to kiss him.

"Oh-shit-hi. Is everything alright?" He's worried to see her, had someone died? Was she okay? Merlin, he wanted her to be happy more than anything in the world.

"Hey," she speaks quietly, backing a way a little when he tries to move closer, not wanting to be close enough that she could reach out and touch him.

"You said that already," he teases gently, testing the waters.

"I'm sorry- I-" she cuts herself off, not sure how to say anything that she wants to

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay," he comforts her gently "Why don't you go sit down, I'll get dressed and come, just give me a minute," he offers, she nods her head slowly.

When he enters the living room it feels natural. Seeing her sat on his sofa waiting for him feels right. He thinks for a second about how it could all be different. How he could be in pyjamas and she could be in one of his shirts, how he would jump on her and laugh when she tells him he is squashing her, how he'd have held her as they watch a film and make-out and he'd cook for her and they'd drink wine and enjoy a blissful Friday evening, wrapped up in each other.  

"You're all dressed up. Going anywhere nice?" she questions, eyes scanning his white dress shirt and jeans.

"The Italian, the one in Camden town,"

"With the little dog and the red wine?" she questions, George lets out a laugh at the memory of the time he took her there, it was a month after the war, thinking back it was probably the last time he took her out. He got so busy with Fred and the shop and she'd not been a priority when he knew she should have been, she never seemed to mind though.

"That's the one,"

"So, it's a date," she smiles gently, heart splintering in her chest

"Uh, yeah. Yeah it is," he confirms, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly

"That's great, do I know her?"

"Angelina," He admits quietly. She nods, forcing a smile.

"That's great George, I'm really happy for you. I'm sorry to disturb you-"

"No!" he cuts her off a little too eagerly, a little too happy to see her. "No, you are fine being here. I want to help with whatever is happening," he assures her

"Right, well I won't keep you long," she nods awkwardly

"Hush, none of that nonsense, take all the time you need," he reassures her, sitting down next to her on the sofa but keeping a respectful distance apart.

"So-well- I know that this is-" she cuts herself off with a sigh "Sorry, this is just...awkward,"

"Hey, it's just me. You can say anything," He moves his hand to place it gently on her knee, his heart stops at the way she gently pulls her leg away.

"I need you to tell your family to stop talking to me,"

"What?" he snaps, suddenly quite offended. "My family have been nothing but kind to you and-"

"Christ! it's not like that!" she gasps, he sighs

"Then what?"

"I can't be a part of their lives anymore. I know it sounds so selfish and I wish it was different but- George- I love your family. I really do. I just- being around them hurts. It kills me. It makes me want to just drop dead because every time I talk to them I think of you. Being in your house I can feel you and- I- it hurts. It hurts too much," She admits it in a tired whisper, George feels his heart break at the thought of her heartbroken because of him.

"Okay. I'll talk to them," he speaks quietly, she nods and stands.

"Goodbye George,"

"I'll see you around?" he asks quietly, the thought of this being it makes his heart hurt. When his family were stealing seeing him all the time it wasn't as bad, he always knew what was happening in her life. This, this was final.

"Yeah. Yeah maybe,"

Tell your sister if she hears from her ex I can’t be the one that she calls And as much as I’ll miss talks with your dad I need him to leave me alone Cause I can’t find the words to express The way you don’t think I am the one And friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

For the next six months George hears nothing. Without his family seeing her he has no idea how she is, if she's okay, if she's happier now. He lays up at night thinking about her and wishing he could turn back time.

She hears scraps, staying in touch with Hermione, she knows about Ron in depth, hears bits and pieces about the rest of the family. Too awkward to ask if George is okay, if he's happier without her, if he's with Angelina now.

Bill receives a card when his little girl is born but she doesn't pick up the phone when he calls her. Fred gets a text message when he finishes his physical therapy but when he replies it's left on delivered. Ginny swears up and down that she saw her in the stands of her first professional quidditch game but can't prove it.

So, with dread filling her body and curses at her nephew flying in her mind she enters Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She's hoping to go unseen by the twins, they had staff now and maybe they would never have to find out her annoyingly loveable nephew wanted a reusable swamp for his 12th birthday and absolutely nothing else would do.

"Hello, welcome to Weasley's Wizard- oh, hi," George's voice sounds anxious when he snaps his head up to see her standing like a deer in the headlights in the almost empty shop.

"Hey,"

"Is everything alright?" George wonders if the way his mind automatically jumps to something awful having happened because of the war or because he can't think of any other reason after everything he put her through that she would want to be anywhere near him.

"It's Max's birthday next week," she announces

"Yeah. 12, right?" George questions with a lopsided grin. He adored her nephew, the kid as giggly and energetic and just like him and Fred were as kids. He also loved the way she was around kids.

"Yeah," she confirms, surprised he remembers. "He, uh, started school,"

"Made Gryffindor I'm sure," George smiles, it's the first genuine smile he's let out in weeks

"Yeah. The first thing he said when he saw me at Christmas was that I just had to tell uncle George, didn't shut up about you once. I didn't have the heart to tell him we broke up so..." she trails off.

"He's a good kid,"

"He is. Professor McGonogall isn't quite so set on him,"

"Nah, she always loves the trouble makers," George smirks

"That's true," She smiles gently "Anyway, so he wants a portable swamp and nothing else instead for his birthday, so," she trails off once more, gesturing to herself.

"Well of course," George grins, pushing himself off the front desk that he had been resting on and striding across the shop floor to grab one. He grabs a basket, walking around the floor and plucking any product he thinks the kid might like, even a few unreleased things from the back room before returning to where she is standing at the front till with a small smile on her face.

"George-" she starts, he shushes her immediately.

"I'll gift wrap them for you," he announces, placing the full basket on the till

"You don't have to that," she protests but he laughs

"Actually, I kinda do. You are the worst at wrapping gifts," he teases making her smile.

"You got me there," she admits

"Yeah. So, how've you been," He begins scanning products through the till and wrapping them with ease

"Uh good. I got a promotion-"

"Wow! that's fantastic, and so well deserved,"

"How would you know?" She blushes as she speaks, not looking at the boy

"I do read the paper y'know? What is it now 100 war criminals you have single handedly found," he bolsters, she'd always wanted to be an auror but becoming so high up that she reported directly to the minister and had a big fancy office was only in her wildest dreams until now.

"What about you? How's things?" she questions

"They're good. Shop's going great and Fred's only getting better by the day. Little Victorie is so perfect and yeah life is, well, it's good," He can't bring himself to say that as much as everything is perfect he can't find it in him to be happy without her by his side.

"And Angelina?"

"We decided we were way better as friends. You dating?"

"I'm married to the job," she shrugs, not wanting to say she doubted she would ever fall in love again without him.

"I get that," he nods, placing the pile of wrapped up parcels into bags. He physically laughs when she grabs her purse and begins to gather money

"Sweetheart, you're not paying for any of this. I only rang it through the till because we have to stock management,"

"George, that is so kind but I can-"

"Yes you can, if it makes you feel better stick my name on a couple of the tags alright?"

"I will, I promise that I will," she nods, taking the bags from his hand "Thank you,"

"No bother. Give Max my best, yeah?" He smiles, she nods and he watches as she leaves the store, his heart that he hadn't even realised was practically beaming dulls back down when she goes.

Tell your mom to stop sending me recipes she finds on the internet And when your brother wins homecoming king

I won’t be there to witness it And when you find the words to express the way you don’t think I am the one And friends don’t bring friends to family reunions If we’re just friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

"You busy?" Hermione leans in the doorway of her office

"I can make a couple minutes, what's up? We had coffee three days ago," she reminds as the brunette steps into the office, closing the door behind her and settling in the seat across the desk.

"I know and I wanted to ask then but I couldn't bring myself to it because I feel so bad asking," Hermione explains, twisting the diamond ring on her finger anxiously.

"'Mione, you can ask me anything. You know that if it's physically possible I'll do it," she assures, putting the papers she had been reading down to give her friend undivided attention.

"You're one of my best friends," Hermione states

"And you're one of mine," The girl nods, eyebrows furrowed in concern

"And when somebody does something big in their life they want their best friends there,"

"Hermione what ever you need I'm there. 100%"

"Big things like getting married. I'm getting married, you know that, I mean to say Ron and I have picked a date and it's four months away and we are getting married at the burrow in a marquee by the lake. I know it's a lot to ask of you. I mean it's not just some ex, it's George, and I know how hard it's been for you without him and I hate myself for asking. And it's not just seeing him it's being there, I mean you fell in love with him there and it's not just him it's all of them and I understand if you say no, but, I want you there," Hermione rambles

"Of course," She speaks without thinking, never would she not attend her friends wedding "Hermione, I would love nothing more than to be there,"

"Really?" Hermione beams

"Merlin, 'Mione did you think for a second I wouldn't come, it's your wedding,"

Love them like they are my own But I don’t think I’ll ever move on If you don’t , If  you don't

It had been the most obvious thing in the world to say yes when Hermione asked, but now, standing in a stupid, but undeniably beautiful, pale blue bridesmaid dress she felt nervous. Hermione had insisted she had no obligation to see the Weasley's until the wedding day, she knew how her friends heart ached for not just George but the whole family, and wanted to make the whole thing as painless as possible.

But now, standing in the empty kitchen the morning of the wedding, the girl wondered how to breathe. She arrived by floo powder, already changed and ready like Hermione had instructed as she was getting ready with her muggle family.

She wasn't sure what she expected but it wasn't the empty, quiet room she was standing in.

She lets out a sigh, blinking back tears, the scent feeling like coming home.

"Sweetie, how are you?" She hadn't even realised Molly had entered the room from the back door until the familiar woman is pulling her into a hug.

"I'm okay, how are you?" she questions as Molly pulls away. If it were anyone else Molly would have rushed away, much too busy with preparations, but it wasn't. Molly loved the kids her children brought home in her life like her own, she missed the girl but understood that she needed space. One look at the tears in her eyes tells Molly that right now she needs to be here.

"I'm good. We are all good," Molly assures, gently guiding the girl to sit. "Now, tell me honestly, how are you?

"I'm just sorry," She admits, voice cracking and tears spilling onto her cheeks. "You must all hate me,"

"Sweetie, no one here hates you, not even for a second. We adore you," she assures, rubbing the girl's shoulder comfortingly

"All of you were always so welcoming and kind and then I just stop speaking to you all. I was so rude and I'm so sorry. Merlin, I didn't even tell you myself I made George do it,"

"None of that. You don't have to be sorry. We are the sorry ones. My son broke your heart and we were all wrapped up in loving you and wanting to be part of your life that we didn't stop to think how hard it would be for you. To be here and to talk to us. You needed to heal, no one is mad at you. We just miss you, and when or if you ever want to come back you will be welcomed with open arms," Molly assures her, grabbing a tissue to dab the girls cheeks dry.

"I missed you so much Molly," she sighs

"I missed you too dear, and I know George misses you,"

"I miss him. Every day I miss him,"

The moment is cut short when Charlie strides in through the front door "Thought I smelt trouble," He beams, wrapping his arms around the girl "Come help me with the daises, Hermione wants like a thousand and Perce is useless,"  He informs, an arm wrapped around her shoulder. She looks almost anxious and he rubs her shoulder gently "He's upstairs with Ron," he whispers gently

"You're welcome to go and speak to him if you'd rather," Molly informs, she wanted her son to be back with the girl more than anything.

"It's okay I'm happy to help,"

"Thank Merlin, I'd strangle Percy if you aren't there to stop me,"

Tell your sister if she hears from her ex I can’t be the one that she calls And as much as I’ll miss talks with your dad I need him to leave me alone Cause I can’t find words to express The way that I wish I was the one But friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

"I saw mum put you to work earlier," George's voice calls through the dark night air. She's sat in the tree house in the garden, the wedding a small distance away.

"I never mind," she shrugs as she watched him climb the ladder, he sits down next to her, legs dangling over the edge next to hers.

"Thought I'd find you here," He comments, he had built the tree house one summer when they couldn't get a minute alone. It was the first summer she spent there, between 4th and 5th year, she fell in love with him in that tree house.

"Just needed a minute," she sighs

"Yeah. It's beautiful but it's kind of a lot,"

"Weddings when you're depressingly single are often a lot," she shrugs, he chuckles at that.

"I have no clue how you are single," He comments, eyes trained on the starry sky above them

"Well, you dumped me so," she teases, a light laugh in her voice. He rolls his eyes, bumping his body to hers, for the first time since the breakup she doesn't move away from his touch. Not wanting to waste the opportunity but also not wanting to push her he settles for pressing his leg next to hers, her foot wraps around his leg holding him close to her without her even noticing, it's second nature, instinctive.

"I'm serious. You're so incredibly kind, and funny, and smart and good in bed," he adds the last one as a joke, laughing when she playfully swats his arm "and I mean, look at you right now, you're like a fucking goddess. You always are. How had no one swept you up?" He questions, and he means every word of it.

"Honestly?" she questions

"Always,"

"They've tried. I mean boys ask me out or try and get with me, but- I- well I never say yes, it's not fair to go on a date with someone when you're in love with someone else,"  She admits, she is staring straight ahead, not looking at him, so she misses the grin that brightens his face.

"That's why Angelina and I decided on friends," he admits, she hums in response not sure what to say. A comfortable silence falls over them, the sound of music from the party the only thing filling the air.

"You wanna dance?"he asks suddenly

"Sure," she agrees, he jumps down from the tree house, it's a little stupid but not unsafe and they've done it a thousand times before. She follows suit and his hands grab her waist to steady her when she stumbles a little in her heels.

He keeps his hands there, pulling her closer to him as hers wrap around his neck.

"Always thought you looked so good in blue," he admits as his thumb strokes her waist, the silky material soft under his grip. "Like a princess," he adds

"Always thought you looked so good in a suit," she grins, blushing a little as he twirls her around

"I miss you," he hums out, pulling her back closer this time, her head resting on his chest.

"I miss you," she returns.

"Y'know I never stopped loving you. Not even for a second. I regret it. More than anything," he's practically whispering and his heart stops when she stills in his arms.

"I can't do this," She whispers, tugging herself from his arms

"Darling-"

"No. George, I love you, more than anything. So I can't. It's your little brother's wedding and you are lonely and you are all mixed up and we haven't seen each other in so long and weddings, merlin weddings, they confuse everything and I can't. I can't do this one last night thing. I'm sorry,"

Before George can reply, can tell her that she's so far from right she's turned around and is speeding back towards the party.

Tell your mom to stop sending me recipes she finds on the internet And when your brother wins homecoming king I won’t be there to witness it And when you find the words to express That you don’t think I am the one And friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

She pulls her apartment door open a week after the wedding, surprised to see George Weasley a determined look in his eyes and soaking wet from the rain.

"George,"

"Hi. I need to talk to you," he doesn't seem nervous, he seems like there's a fire in his belly, a determination, a purpose, a need.

"Oh, sure. Come in," She moves aside, letting him in. "The living area is at the end of the hall. I'll go grab a towel," she directs.

He looks around the living area, it's open plan to the kitchen and it's cosy. Full of pictures and little trinkets, it is fundamentally her and his he feels more at home there despite having never been before than he does in his own flat.

She re-enters, throwing a fluffy baby pink towel at George before heading into the kitchen, grabbing an extra mug having been in the process of making tea when he arrived, and fixing them both a tea how they like it.

"So, you wanted to talk?" she prompts, sitting crosslegged on the couch, her fuzzy pjs and messy hair so domestic and beautiful he would marry her on the spot to get to see her like that every day.

"You said that you didn't want to do one last night, well, I don't either. It wasn't wedding goggles making me look at you different. I am in love with you. So, in love with you that being without you makes it hard to breathe and I want you back, not just for a night but for the rest of my life," He thinks he should be nervous but he's not. It's her. He could never be nervous with her.

"George, that makes no sense why would you-"

"Listen, I have never felt good enough for you. The whole time I've known you it was like you were so above me and I could never be on your level, no matter what happened you were always perfect. You were, and are, too good for me,"

"George, I have never been-" she starts but he cuts her off

"I had to help Fred. He is my twin brother, my best friend. He nearly died and I was terrified. He was nearly crushed to death and I realised I could loose him, I could loose anyone I loved. That included you, obviously, and that's how it started. I was scared to be with you because if I lost you I couldn't cope. I couldn't survive. So I started pushing you away. But you. Merlin, you're so good that it didn't matter. I pushed you away and I was wrong to do that but you didn't waver for a second. It was my responsibility to help Fred. To go to physical therapy with him. To hold him when he cried. To be there no matter. I would have done it no matter what. But you. You didn't have to do that. But you did. You didn't complain. You didn't walk away. You helped fix Fred even when I was being crappy to you," He rants

"George, I loved you and I still do. I would have done anything you asked me to, I still would. But I didn't help Fred because of you. I didn't do it for you. Not cause I was too good. I helped Fred because he's been my friend since I was 11. I helped Fred for Fred. Not for you," She explains, George sighs.

"I know. I just was in this state right? I was scared to loose you and you've always been too good for me and I just didn't know what to do. Then, Fred was getting better, and I felt empty. I wanted Fred happy and healthy of course but I'd become so used to spending all my time trying to fix things, trying to keep everyone afloat. It felt like everything stopped. Like no one needed me. I became obsessed with things I could. I couldn't fix you, I couldn't fix us, because nothing needed fixing. You were so perfect for me that I didn't need to fix it. That scared me. The more I thought about it the more I realised if I lost you, no one could fix me, I couldn't loose you but I wasn't good enough for you. It had to be me. My terms. My breakup. It was stupid, but that was I hadn't lost you I'd given you up and that was better," he explains, tears flooding her cheeks as she suddenly understands everything that's been happening for the past months.

"Georgie, you never needed to be scared. I'm not going anywhere, I promise,"

"I know. I'm sorry that I hurt you,"

"George, I love you,"

"I love you darling, more than anything," he smiles

"So another go?" she questions timidly

"If you'll have me," he nods, she grins. Hands shoving his shoulder's back to lay against the sofa, knees on either side of his waist. Her lips touch his for the first time in months and it's like they can breathe again.

They lay side by side in her bed that night, bare skin pressed to each other, holding each other as tightly as humanly possible.

"Can we stay here all day tomorrow? I just wanna lay with you," she speaks tiredly, her head on his chest

"Ron and Hermione get home from the honeymoon tomorrow," George informs, she moves her head to look at him "We have a dinner thing, looking at the wedding pictures too,"he continues

"That'll be nice. You aren't leaving my bed till the very last minute though," she decides

"You should come," he prompts, giving her a squeeze

"You really think your family won't mind?"

"Please, they love you. They'll just be glad to see we are back together,"

"We could be going as friends," She teases, he rolls his eyes

"Not to a family reunion we couldn't. Besides, I have every intention to hold your hand and kiss you the whole night so they'll probably catch on. Aside from Percy, bless him, he's socially inept,"

If we’re just friends don’t bring friends to family reunions If we’re just friends don’t bring friends to family reunions

**

Masterlist

[professorthaddeus]

Mother, Father. This will be my final letter.

You know, I used to find the two of you everywhere. I would see the love I betrayed in the faces of families who are whole. I would hear your terrified screams in laughter. I would see your bodies twisted in agony in the flickering of a campfire. I would feel your blood on my hands every time I cast a spell.

I would find you everywhere, and so I held fast to the possibility that I would bring you back.

Today, I relinquished the chance of it ever becoming a reality.

I could have gone back and saved you. It would have worked. There were puzzle pieces in that chamber that I would have clicked into place; there was magic buried in those relics that I would have unlocked and unleashed.

I would have joined the ranks of mages of myth. I could have unraveled everything.

The chamber is nothing but ashes now.

I still find the two of you everywhere. Your dreams for my potential are in the spells I learned from Essek. Your hope for the Empire is in Beauregard’s pen as she fights for our people, stroke by stroke. Your love is in the grin that Veth shines on her son when he fires a toy crossbow at the ass of a local shopkeeper.

I miss you. I love you. I am sorry.

I hope I can still make you proud.

~

Caleb closes that worn, leather-bound book for the last time. Tucks it back beneath his arm, stands, walks to the entryway of his tower. His hand shakes as he reaches for the handle.

Well, you and the Nein got me to the door. Now I have to walk through it.

He takes a deep breath, then takes his first step outside.

He arrives in Blumenthal alone, visits their graves, leaves his letters in the ground.

And he gets to work. But in this, he is not alone.

Beauregard is there, matching every armload of books he carries with two of her own. They spend their days compiling records and narratives, wielding the truth both in court and behind the scenes—children of the Empire leaving their home better than they found it for the children who will come after them, just as they always vowed.

What wasn’t planned is this: a couple times every week, Beauregard drags Caleb out of the library. They teleport to a remote cottage in a location that few are privy to, where Yasha will have started preparing the ingredients for a new recipe from Caduceus. The instructions are often passed through a jumbled chain of Jester’s messages, and there always seem to be a suspicious number of bugs included for supposedly vegetarian dishes, but they make it work all the same. On more than a few occasions, Caleb plays referee while Beauregard and Yasha spar, safe in the knowledge that their attacks are of their own free will and they will never truly harm each other again.

Jester and Fjord spend much of their time on the open sea, but Jester’s voice is never far from Caleb’s ear. She tells him of everything from her newest tattoo victim to an encounter with a dragon turtle with a grudge, from a shanty about dicks she came up with on the fly to an update on a young half-orc girl Fjord has taken under his wing. Every once in a while, Jester will demand a reunion, too. Some of them are out of necessity—such as when Uk’otoa finally comes knocking and Fjord can no longer sail the other away—but many are not. They meet in Nicodranas when the Nein Heroez docks for a pastry run, they meet in Hupperdook for a night packed with drinking contests and celebone sticks and hugs for Kiri, they meet on Rumblecusp when life becomes too much and the nine of them sorely need to fuck off to a vacation. Soon, even Darktow is open to them, once Kingsley has unseated the Plank King and lifted their ban from the island. His reign is long, and it is magnificent. Until he grows bored.

Caduceus joins them for every mandated reunion, but for the most part, he tends to his garden or explores the world on his own. But he is never out of reach, and when he does not come to the rest of them, they go to him. It is not uncommon for Caleb to arrive in the Blooming Grove to see Beauregard already meditating by the pond. Other times, Fjord will be there drinking tea with Caduceus, and the three of them will share a quiet conversation, each far more secure in their words than they’d been over fish and chips all those years ago. Often it is just Caduceus and his parents and siblings, and Caleb will be invited to a family dinner in a home that Ikithon could not burn down.

Veth remains a constant in Caleb’s life. Of course she does. Sometimes, when the two of them are teaching the neighborhood kids how to point a copper wire, or reminiscing over a glass of sherry, or simply talking while she weaves flowers into his hair on the beaches of Nicodranas, he’ll think back to his old fears of losing her to her family and laugh. After all, how could such a thing be possible when he is a part of her family himself?

There are others, too.

Countless students who pass under his tutelage and grow into young mages who know that power should be used to protect, not to manipulate. A cat—well, there are many cats, but there is one in particular that Caleb does not own, a snowy white fey cat who slinks in and out of his classroom as he pleases, whose eyes seem to flash when the Martinet arrives to have a word, who settles into place around Caleb’s shoulders with a purr when the rare nightmare returns.

An unexpected kinship with Yeza, forged at first through mutual respect and an understanding in their love for Veth, but eventually growing into a friendship in its own right. It is one that unfolds in quiet nights by stacks of books, in gleeful debates when comparing notes on magic and alchemy, in exhausted evenings watching over Luc together while Veth takes a girls’ night out to cause some chaos with Jester, Beauregard, and Yasha.

His old friends, who, try as they might, never seem able to sever the threads that have always tangled their fates together. It is Eadwulf who comes around first, with the silent offering of a bottle and a grim smile as he and Caleb crumble the bricks of Vergesson to dust. Astrid takes time. It makes sense—she has always been a fantastic dancer, and for a while, it appears they will be trapped in a precarious political tango forever, stepping around each other in their roles as the Archmage of Civil Influence and a simple teacher who may or may not be practicing treason in his classroom. But in the shadows, Astrid pulls a few strings to keep Caleb out of prison. Caleb hears a rumor and sends the might of the Cobalt Soul after a colleague who wants Astrid dead. And eventually, she begins joining him and Wulf on their evening walks through the streets of Rexxentrum. They return to the dance hall. They get lunch. They share memories, relearn each other’s old scars, and discover that solace can still be found in each other the way it was when they were children. It will always be complicated. It starts to become beautiful.

And of course, floating by Caleb’s side every step of the way is Essek, a drow who has learned to curb his ambition and care for others, who has decided to make his own amends. The former Shadowhand to the Bright Queen, who now spends his days picking up cupcakes for Jester in Uthodurn, planting seeds in the Blooming Grove. Sitting in on Caleb’s lessons with a different face each week, sketching runes into the floor of Caleb’s home amongst scattered papers and spell components, curling up on a couch beside Caleb and begrudgingly getting through Tusk Love because he promised. A traitor, a hero, a lifelong friend. A steadfast love.

So when Caleb Widogast arrives at the final page of his story, he is no longer shrouded in guilt, or grief, or regret. No, he is surrounded by the warmth of his chosen family when he takes his last breath, when time has run its course and he is finally ready to meet his parents again.

(And even before he sees their faces, he knows. He knows he made them proud.)

—————

also on ao3 | my other cr fics

[perlukafarinn]

(ao3)

The day starts out pretty unremarkable. Dean wakes up at the crack of dawn to Cas slipping out of bed for his morning jog. He pulls him down for a good-morning kiss that turns into a make-out session that turns into them trading lazy handjobs and then falling asleep in each other’s arms again. 

Their actual start to the day is around ten AM, when Cas finally gets up for his jog and Dean gets up for his cereal and a scroll through the morning news. He’s on the look for hunts, mostly out of habit since there’s been very little monster activity since Chuck went and fucked off for good. He doesn’t find anything this morning but that’s hardly a surprise. It’s been a couple of weeks since they’ve been out on a hunt and that inactivity, weirdly enough, is starting to bother him less and less. 

Cas comes back from his jog about an hour before noon and with the mildest of prodding convinces Dean to join him in the shower. Afterwards, they throw together a lunch made from yesterday’s leftovers, taking their time eating and playing footsie under the table, because that’s apparently the kind of couple they are.

Usually by this time of day, Cas would be off in the Men of Letters’ library working on translations or cataloging and Dean would be on the phone helping Garth help out young, out-of-their depth hunters or in the garage, working on one of the beautiful but sadly neglected vehicles left behind there decades ago. 

Today, both of them are seemingly feeling kind of lazy and so hardly any work gets done. It’s not until late in the afternoon that Dean feels the urge to do something productive and suggests they go out for groceries, which Cas readily agrees to. 

The ride into town is quiet. Cas plays his mixtape - the damn thing should be worn out by now and Dean should  long since be sick of it but for reasons too sappy to mention he isn’t - and they sit and listen in comfortable silence. It’s not until they pass the town hall on their way to the supermarket that Cas gets a contemplative look on his face.

“Should we get married?”

Only years of experience behind the wheel prevent Dean’s hands from twitching wildly and veering them into oncoming traffic.

“What.”

Cas looks over, frowning. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Is there any reason for us not to get married? We’re already planning on staying together for the rest of our lives.”

“Is there any reason-” Dean wheezes. “What the fuck, Cas? Is this your idea of a proposal?”

“Are you saying no?” Cas asks, mildly curious, as if they’re talking about the fucking weather and not getting married. “Because we don’t have to.”

Dean stares ahead, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Are you actually asking?”

“I suppose I am.”

“You ‘suppose’,” Dean mocks. “Gee, Cas, that’s real romantic.”

“Will you marry me?”

Dean pulls over. It’s far too sudden, probably leaving tire tracks in the concrete, and the driver behind them honks his horn loudly as he passes. Dean ignores him, taking a deep breath as he finally turns to face Cas. 

“Are you sure?”

He doesn’t really have to ask - Cas wouldn’t have brought it up if he wasn’t sure - but he needs to hear it. 

Thankfully, Cas seems to get that. “I want to marry you, Dean. Do you want to marry me?”

“Son of a bitch,” Dean breathes. “I mean - yes. Yeah, I do.”

Cas nods decisively. “Alright then. Now?”

“Now?”

It’s not exactly how Dean imagined this scenario would go (not that he - shut up) but it’s somehow the most romantic fucking thing that’s ever happened to him since Cas first told him he loved him. And hey, this time no one had to die!

They turn around, since there’s no point in going in without (forged) birth certificates. Once they get to the town hall, shortly before closing, they find out that it’s a three-day mandatory waiting period between applying for a marriage license and them actually being allowed to get married.

Cas suggests they use the interim time to pick up wedding rings. They wind up spending the next day driving to Topeka, where they find a couple of silver rings in a pawn shop. They’re tarnished but otherwise in good condition and once they get home, Dean spends the rest of the evening cleaning them while trying very hard not to think about just what they’re for.

The second day, Cas spends out back tending to his garden while Dean almost dials Sam’s number repeatedly before hanging up, torn between wanting to let his brother know that he’s getting married and not wanting to jinx it.

The third day, they head back into town. They arrive at the town hall just after it opens and it’s not until they’re standing in front of the clerk that Dean realizes they don’t have any witnesses. The clerk assures him that they don’t need one for civil ceremonies and the next ten minutes pass in a blur until Dean is being prompted to place the ring on Cas’ finger.

He does so with shaking hands, stilled only once Cas places one of his own on top and gives Dean a patient smile. He’s this calm for a reason, Dean finally realizes.

This doesn’t change anything.

Married or not, they’ve already promised themselves to each other for the rest of their lives. Til death do them part doesn’t even begin to describe it, and in sickness and in health is almost laughable at this point.

This really doesn’t change anything.

Dean’s own hand is still as Cas takes his turn, sliding the silver ring upon Dean’s finger. They say their “I do”s when prompted by the clerk, exchange a short, firm kiss, and just like that it’s over.

They’re married. 

*

When Jody invites them to dinner about a week later, they still haven’t told anyone. Sam and Eileen will be there as well as Jack and the girls - it’s a regular family reunion and the perfect chance to announce the big news to everyone.

Dean has a better idea.

“Let’s not tell anyone,” he says. “At least, not before dessert. Let’s see if they notice first.”

They’re in the Impala, about half an hour away from Jody’s place. 

Cas shoots him an amused look. “Is this because Sam claimed he always knew we’d get together when we first told him we were involved?”

“No,” Dean lies. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel, seeing Cas still giving him that look from the corner of his eye. “Fine, yes. But he didn’t know, for the record. He just likes to pretend he’s always on top of this shit.”

“He doesn’t like to admit when you’ve surprised him,” Cas agrees.

The conversation ends there but Dean’s plan is apparently agreed upon since once they arrive at Jody’s, Cas doesn’t say a word about their recent relationship upgrade. Jody doesn’t seem to notice anything different, but then Dean didn’t expect her to. She’s not the one they spend most of their time around. Neither do Donna, Alex, Claire or Kaia, none of them surprises. Patience, Dean is less sure about, but she at least doesn’t say anything. Her eyes do linger unusually long but that could mean anything.

Damn psychics.

Sam and Eileen arrive half an hour after Dean and Cas, Jack in tow. This is the real test; Sam and Dean may not spend as much time together in the past few months as they did in the years before but he’s still the person who knows Dean best and would be the most likely to notice a difference.

And yet, nothing.

Dean tries not to feel too smug.

They go through dinner without anyone mentioning it. Dean makes a point of reaching across the table as many times as he can, showing off the ring glinting on his finger. Cas must notice him doing it, judging by the fond exasperation on his face, but he’s the only one.

It isn’t until dessert that Patience breaks, patience (hah) clearly run out:

“Is no one going to mention that Dean and Castiel are wearing wedding rings?”

And all hell breaks loose.

Sam is wounded - mostly over Dean and Cas not telling him before they got married, though Dean can tell some part of it is his pride at not seeing this coming - but he’s over it soon enough, once they explain that it wasn’t a big deal, not some proper ceremony, just a quick affirmation of what they already knew.

“See if I make you Best Man at my wedding after this, jerk,” Sam tells Dean.

“Your wedding?” Eileen asks pointedly. 

Jody and Donna offer their congratulations before the conversation can get awkward, and Kaia, Alex, and Patience chime in with theirs as well. Jack looks confused at the whole proceeding, finally asking whether this means there won’t be any bouquet to catch, which only means Dean has gravely failed him in his pop culture education (oh, who’s he kidding, as if half the romcoms Jack has watched didn’t come directly from the recommended tab on Dean’s Netflix account). 

Finally, with a pointed elbow from Kaia and a hangdog expression from Cas, Claire mumbles that she’s happy for them. While Dean doesn’t doubt that’s true he also knows that this is more complicated for her than the rest of them, and for the first time he kind of feels guilty about springing this news on everyone. 

It doesn’t last long, not after Donna cheerfully raises her glass and proposes a toast to the happy couple and everyone else follows suit. They chant for them to kiss and, blushing outrageously, Dean complies, leaning over to press a quick kiss against Cas’ lips. 

“So, who proposed?” Sam asks once the hooting and hollering has calmed.

“Cas did,” Dean says, slinging an arm around his husband’s - his husband’s - shoulders. “And it was the least romantic proposal of all time, you should’ve heard him.”

Cas rolls his eyes. “If I had left it up to you, we never would have gotten married.”

“He didn’t even give me time to pick out flowers,” Dean informs Sam gravely. 

“There’s always the vow renewal,” Cas says, the casual statement managing to sound like a threat, and Dean shuts up. 

The conversation moves on, the mood noticeably cheerier. As Jack and Sam launch into a story of their most recent hunt, Dean leans against Cas.

“We could have flowers, if you want,” he mutters. 

Cas smiles at him, so bright and easy that it makes Dean’s heart stutter. He takes Dean’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the cool silver of Dean’s ring.

“That’s not necessary,” he says. “I’ve got everything I want right here.”

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

You made me imagine Shigaraki trying to explain his family to like, Spinner or something.

"This is Hana, she's my big sister. I accidentally stole her hands when I got my quirk so she's technically the only person allowed to mess with me."

"This is Himiko, she's...I guess my little sister? I think we might've tried to kill each other when we first met. She's cool."

"This is Eri. We only have custody of her every other weekend because the heroes keep finding our hideouts. I'm pretty sure she's our baby sister, but Dabi is convinced she's either my kid or Hana's."

OKAY BUT BUT BUT ANON, THIS GIVE ME AN IDEA FOR AN AU. HERE ME OUT:

In this au, AFO doesn't exists (what a blessing) and Shirakumo Oboro is still alive.

The night Tenko's quirk manifest, Hana prevents him from doing anything using her quirk: if someone touches her skin recently, she can freeze that person's movements for a short amount of time.

Some years later, Shirakumo saves them both from their abusive family. Kotaro goes to jail, Nao goes to a mental institution to recover from the trauma and Oboro adopts the kids.

Welcome to the Cloud Family.

Shirakumo, a sort of vigilante now, keeps saving and adopting people that were forgotten by society.

Around that time he meets a girl maybe two years older than Hana. Her name is Magne and she ran away from her home because they didn't wanted her for being trans. She ask Shirakumo is she can stay with him, helping him raise the kids. He allows it, thankful.

Magne immediately becomes Hana's best friend. Both girls are an amazing duo and they help Tenko learn how to manage his quirk.

While Hana and Tenko study and Shirakumo works, Magne stays with the home duties, goes out with friends, lives her normal life being who she truly is.

She's cleaning the kitchen one morning and when Shirakumo breaks in through the window, holding a little girl in his arms. The girl looks younger than Tenko and it's covered in mud and blood. She's smiling big, fascinated with Shirakumo's quirk, like she's just taking a ride.

Shirakumo found her playing inside a trash can in the street. She was looking for something to eat. Her parents, some rich bastards, had abandoned her aftering finding out their kid liked to bite living animals and drink their blood. They kicked her out of the house and faked her death.

To cover up his vigilante identity, Shirakumo opens a bar. It's small, comfortable, perfect to hide from heroes and villians. He has a contact named Giran, who redirects to him all those people who need a hero but can't trust in the law.

Magne is the one managing the bar with Shirakumo, whevener he's not working. Hana, Tenko and Toga go to school.

Let's take a minute to imagine Hana and Touya being classmates. Imagine Hana and Touya arguing and even fistfighting. They become rivals. Which is pretty funny because you have Fuyumi trying to stop hee brother from insulting her best friend.

Little Hana hating Endeavor. Preach.

Natsuo and Tenko study together. They bond over trains and having idiotic parents.

PLEASE TOGA AND SHOTO BEING CHILDHOOD FRIENDS.

I mean, I've always headcanoned that Shoto and Toga are both neurodivergent so imagine then bonding over that.

Toga is considered a weird kid but Shoto likes being around her because she doesn't look like him like he's unreachable. Toga is always telling how his fire is so pretty, nothing like Endeavor's fire. Also Shoto, who's always bleeding thanks to his training, doesn't understand why it's a big deal that Toga asks him for some. He just gives her and they pretend to be twins when she uses her quirk.

The day Touya goes to Sekoto peak, Hana is looking for him because Shirakumo insists that she should invite him to have dinner with them. She goes with Shirakumo to Endeavor's house and from there they go look for him at the peak.

When the fire begins, Oboro flies over and rescues Touya. However, they both get pretty burned. Shirakumo scapes with the kid and arrives at the bar. Magne contacts an illegal doctor to cure them both.

Hana tells Fuyumi that Touya is alive but she refuses to tell her where he is. She will only tell her if Fuyumi tells her about Endeavor. Hana knows she's being cruel but she also knows them, and she knows something bad is going on with them.

Hana takes Fuyumi to where they keep Touya once she admits Endeavor's abuse.

But Touya refuses to go back. He's barely healing, slowly, and he hates his dad. He is full with hatred and anger and hurt. Shirakumo fears for his life, but he can't simply fight Endeavor.

Fuyumi returns home, troubled. Finally she talks with Rei and the woman visits Shirakumo in secret. She visits her son.

They reach an agreement: For the world, Touya Todoroki would be dead. Only his siblings and his mother would know the truth, along with the Cloud Family. Dabi would be just a kid without a family, someone who grew up in Shirakumo's bar.

And so they did. The Todorokis would visit him regularly with the excuse of the todosiblings being friends with the cloud kids.

When Hana and Fuyumi started college, Dabi stayed behind with Toga and Tenko. They started training together, and before anyone could notice, they were already a team.

The final adoption of the cloud family happened when a woman gave a little girl to Shirakumo one rainy night. She was terrified of the child. In the hurry, she told him to take the kid to a mafia boss and left, but Shirakumo couldn't do it.

Shirakumo already had experience raising little girls and raising children with problematic quirks, so she fit perfectly in their family of weirdos.

The yakuza never knew about this.

Eri grew up glued to Tenko, because they look a like a lot, so people didn't doubt them being siblings.

Shirakumo turns into a reformed pro-hero just to start teaching at UA along with his old besties, Aizawa and Yamada. He's in charge of teaching the kids about how the villians think and work.

Hana ends up studying to be a lawyer, but only to cover up her family whereabouts.

Toga and Shoto starts studying at UA together (or the AU where Toga replaces Mineta at class 1-A). Toga calls Aizawa "uncle Eraser".

Magne keeps the bar with the help of Tenko aka Tomura and Dabi. Which is just a lie because Tomura and Dabi follow the vigilante path together, creating the Anti-hero League. Bonus point because Natsuo has to constantly use his medical skills on his older sibling and his best friend, since they are both reckless idiots with self-destructive quirks.

Fuyumi works with Eri on learning how to control her quirk. Turns out Fuyumi is an amazing teacher and Eri completely adores her.

Rei is responsible for Shoto's scar but this time is totally an accident. She still goes to the hospital BUT Dabi exposes Endeavor and together they all sent him to jail.

Compress, Spinner, Twice, Mustard, Giran.. They all find their way to the Anti-hero League and most important, to the Cloud Family. Shirakumo is proud as fuck because his son is just like him.

Which takes us to Tomura having to explain he has four sisters to Spinner.

And this is the story Tomura told him and the reason why Spinner keeps losing his mind every time he sees them all on the family reunions.

The end.

[mxndoscyarika]

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice (Sam Wilson x fem!Reader) | Chapter 1: Snickerdoodles

Summary: Being best friends with Sarah Wilson was simultaneously the easiest and hardest thing you’ve ever experienced. You felt at home with the Wilsons, and helped raise Sarah’s children after her divorce and the Snap. But harboring feelings for her brother, Sam, and not being able to do anything about it hurt more than it should. When he comes back home between leads on Karli Morgenthau, with Bucky in tow, you can’t help but feel a spark of hope.

Ao3

Like my writing? Here’s my masterlist.

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice masterlist

Author’s note: It’s been a very long time since I’ve written anything for Marvel, so I hope this is ok! I tried to keep the story canon-compliant, so you can think of this as sort of an elaboration on Sam and Bucky’s time in Louisiana. Enjoy, and let me know if you would like to be added or removed from my taglist!

Warnings: food, mutual pining, jealousy, tfatws spoilers

| next >

“Careful, AJ, the tray’s hot,” you warned as AJ and his brother burst through the doors of the house. They still had their backpacks on, the zippers and keychains jingling as they ran up to you with all the energy two young boys could hold. “What’s going on?”

“I think a better question is: what are you doing in my house?”

Your eyes widened. You recognized that voice. When you looked up, you were greeted with Sam standing at the entrance of the kitchen, his own bag slung over his shoulder.

“Uncle Sam is home!” the boys cheered, running back to Sam and smothering him with hugs. They easily reached past his waist by now; they couldn’t stay little forever.

He looked as great as you remembered, his kind smile and sparkling eyes making you feel butterflies in your stomach even after all these years. No amount of high school sleepovers with Sarah, weekend dinners, or summer drives could’ve changed that. The fact that his shirt fit him perfectly definitely didn’t help, either.

“Welcome home, Sam,” you greeted, unable to keep a smile off your face. Fidgeting with your hands, you explained, “I’m doing some baking to test recipes and also make dessert for Sarah’s box lunches. If I knew you were coming home, I’d have gone to pick you up.”

The last couple times he’d visited, you were busy at work. And as much as you wanted to stop by, you knew Sarah missed her brother. It would’ve been selfish for you to show up during their short reunion.

What you didn’t know was that Sam went through his visit waiting for your car to pull up on the driveway, or park by the dock. Sarah had called him a lovesick puppy.

“Don’t ‘Welcome home, Sam’ me, come here.” He waved you over, lifting his arm so you could slip into his embrace.

Laughing softly, you hugged him tightly around the waist and rested your head against his shoulder. You tried not to think too hard about how you fit perfectly against him, the warmth and strength of him like the missing piece of the puzzle that was your life. “We missed you a lot.”

“I missed you, too,” Sam replied softly, his arm tightening around you just a little. The soft rumble of his voice made your heart flutter. “I really need to come back more often. Next thing I know, the boys will be as tall as me and you’ll be married to the luckiest bastard in the world.”

“Not that lucky,” you reasoned, pulling him along to the tray of cookies. “I’ve been doing lots of recipe testing, and my apartment is already full of cookies and cakes. It would drive anyone crazy. I don’t think even the biggest dessert person would be able to stand it.”

His eyes lit up at the sight of the cookies. “I didn’t know you knew how to make snickerdoodles. Can I have one?”

“Go for it,” you said, touching the edge of the tray to make sure it wasn’t hot anymore. “You can be my taste tester. The ones in stores are always too sweet, so I figured I would make my own.”

“I’ve been telling you: your baking skills are unmatched,” he said. A moan left his lips as he bit into the cinnamon-sugar cookie, causing your face to heat up. “Between your baking and Sarah’s cooking, I’m surprised neither of you have opened a bakery or restaurant. The line would go down the street.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly in the best position to open a bakery these past few years,” you noted, leaning against the counter next to him. Your day job wasn’t fulfilling, but it was what you needed to stay afloat. Baking, on the other hand...it was a dream. If you could spend your days baking instead of sitting in an office, you would. But you dreamed of a lot of things. You didn’t quite realize how close you were until you looked up and found yourself face to face with him. His gentle smile and soft eyes made you look away quickly, not wanting him to think you were staring. Although you totally were. “Anyways, what brings you back here?”

The door opened again, and in walked Sarah and Bucky Barnes, the two chatting away with bright smiles on their faces. You hadn’t seen Sarah quite that energetic in a long time; being a single mom and keeping the family business afloat definitely wasn’t easy. Even with your help in taking care of the boys after the Snap, you knew Sarah had a lot to shoulder.

“Who’s this, Sam? Your new partner?” you asked, walking up to introduce yourself. Meanwhile, Sarah busied herself with getting AJ and Cass to calm down and start on their homework.

“More like coworkers,” Bucky said, shaking your hand. “We figured that since there’s not much going on right now, we might as well lay low. This is a very nice house, by the way.”

Smiling, you replied, “It is. Well, this is Sarah’s house, so I guess you should be telling her that. I’m just helping out however I can.”

“I know, she told me about you on the way here,” he said, his voice soft like velvet. “All good things, I promise. Though it didn’t take me long to realize how great you are.”

Well, that caught you off guard. You couldn’t help but smile shyly and wave him off. “Oh. That’s very nice of you-”

“Hey Buck, why don’t you get settled in? We’ve still got some work to do on the boat.” Sam interjected, coming up behind you. Resting his hands on your arms protectively, he continued, “You can set your bag down in the living room, and we can figure something out for the night.”

---

A couple days later, everyone was sitting around the dinner table, chatting over plates of peach cobbler. The chunks of golden fruit glistened with sugar and cinnamon, half-buried in buttery crumble and melting vanilla ice cream. You’d made it after work, driving from your apartment to make it with the Wilsons and Bucky. Sure, you could’ve made it at home and brought it over, but there was something special about a freshly-baked cobbler that was still bubbling from the oven.

“-And then Sam came over and took over peeling and cutting the peaches,” you began. “So-”

“And so, everyone made it through the prep with all their fingers intact,” Sam finished, laughing at your pout. Mimicking the way you held the paring knife, he explained, “The way she was holding the knife was terrifying! My blood pressure shot up just by watching her.”

He’d gently pried the knife out of your hands, insisting that he knew what he was doing. You’d rolled your eyes but obliged so you could focus on making the crumble. No matter how long you knew each other or how many times you proved yourself, he always had to butt in. It must’ve been an older brother thing, much to your dismay. As great of a brother you knew he was, you didn’t want to be his little sister. You wanted something more than that.

“Oh no, you sit back down,” Sam started, making you pause your cleanup. He went around and stacked up the empty plates, shaking his head fondly. You tried not to look too lovestruck as his arm brushed against yours, the touch gentle and warm. “Bucky and I will take care of the dishes. You girls just relax, ok?”

You watched them go, your gaze lingering on Sam’s broad shoulders. That was one thing that made you fall in love with him; whenever he was around, you felt safe and cared for. His hugs were a luxury, and his kindness a rarity in today’s society. Maybe he thought you would get married, but you wondered why he hadn’t found the one. He’d looked so handsome at Sarah’s wedding, you could just picture him standing at the altar someday.

“I saw that look.”

You blinked. “Look? What look?”

Sarah smirked and rested her head on her hand. “You can’t fool me. I saw you making those googly eyes at my brother.” When you sank into your seat in embarrassment, she laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. Actually...I’m excited to see where this goes.”

“Nothing’s going anywhere,” you said, rolling your eyes. It didn’t matter that you had feelings for Sam. After all, you were his sister’s best friend. If anything were to happen between the two of you, it could affect their relationship. You couldn’t do that to them, not after everything they’d been through.

It was hard enough to see him knowing that you were such a big part of Sarah’s life. Telling him would put that all at risk. What would Sarah tell the kids if you couldn’t ever come back?

“There’s always a chance,” she reasoned, keeping her voice low to make sure no one else could hear. “Besides, something tells me he wouldn’t say no. And I’m sure the kids would love to have you be their official aunt.”

You smiled, trying not to give into the glimmer of hope. “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens, then.”

Meanwhile, Sam and Bucky were huddled around the sink and covered in droplets of soapy water.

“You are an actual child,” Sam chuckled, flinching as Bucky flicked some suds at him.

“Not as childish as you for not telling her that you’re in love with her,” Bucky jabbed, rinsing a plate under the water before handing it to Sam for drying. “How long have you been at it, birdy?”

Sam sighed and shook his head amusedly. “You really want to go there?”

“I’m just saying, it’s kind of hypocritical that you can flirt with your sister’s best friend but I can’t flirt with Sarah,” Bucky said, giving him a knowing look.

“You do realize flirting with your coworker’s sister is worse, right?” Sam rebutted, putting the dried dishes away. “If you hurt her-”

“You’re changing the subject, Sam,” Bucky interrupted, letting the water rinse away the soap residue before shutting it off. Crossing his arms, he said, “You haven’t answered the question.”

Unable to look him in the eyes, Sam sighed and said quietly, “18 years.”

Bucky’s brows shot up. A mischievous grin appeared on his face, “Almost two decades. You’ve got it bad, huh?”

Bracing his arms on the counter, Sam smiled to himself. “We met shortly after I joined the military. We only got to know each other a little before I had to go again, but...she was something more to come home to, you know?”

“Wow, you talk like she’s your wife,” he teased, recalling the way Sam had held you. “Do you plan on ever telling her?”

“And risk making things awkward for my sister if she doesn’t feel the same way?” Sam shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Well, how do you know she doesn’t like you back? She looks at you a lot, always gets that cute little smile whenever you talk-”

“Wait, cute?”

Bucky held his hands up. “I’m just making an observation.” He smirked. “One that seems to get you a little jealous, am I right?”

“No-”

“You’re lying, I can tell by your body language” he cut off, smiling softly. Gesturing towards where you and Sarah were sitting, he said, “Let me just say this: if you don’t ever tell her, one day you’re going to feel much more jealous when you’re sitting in the audience of her wedding.”

---

“Hey Sam?”

The man jogged down the stairs. “You called?” He reeled back as you turned around with a forkful of funfetti cake, narrowly missing his face. “What’s this?”

You looked startled at how close he was, still holding the fork up. “Oh, I was just wondering if you’d taste this and tell me if it’s sweet enough.”

He chuckled softly and leaned in. “Of course, honey.”

Warmth spread through your body at the pet name. His lips closed around the fork just as Sarah walked in, drawing your attention away from the man in front of you.

At first, you were confused as to why she was grinning like a cheshire cat, but then you realized something: you were feeding Sam.

Your bodies were nearly pressed against each other, your free hand resting on his bicep as you fed him the cake. You became keenly aware of how close your faces were, and how at some point he’d rested his hands on your waist. Part of you wanted to savor this moment because it wasn’t likely to happen again. Another part of you wanted to run away and hide for doing something so ridiculous.

Sam turned his head and froze. Heat rushed up his face as his sister shot him a knowing look.

Permanent taglist:

@cinewhore @randomness501 @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @miraclemoreno @halfwaythereroyal @fioccodineveautunnale @talesfromtheguild @tortles @ladamari68 @theokatcov @snivellusim @starryluce @inked-poet @this-cat-is-dea @shedobewritingalittle @chews-erotically @thefandomimagines​ @emesispo​ @bitchin-beskar​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @dishonouringmycow @sarahjkl82-blog​

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice taglist:

@tweedlydumbtweedlydoo​

Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed from a taglist for this fic!

[sequinsmile-x]

Day-to-Day

Chapter 4: Aaron

Words: 5k

Warnings: None 

Read over on ao3, or below the cut.

Please let me know what you think <3

December 2009

He’d convinced her to go. Aaron had seen her hesitation as she stood at the front door of their temporary apartment, the twitch in her fingers when Amelia almost immediately reached out for her after Aaron took her. The way she bit her lip when Theo asked her, again, if she really had to go out.

She did have to go, despite how much she would deny it. He knew she needed some time with her friends, and Penelope and JJ had practically begged for a girls night. The 6 months Emily had been gone long and drawn out for all of them. She talked them down to dinner, not wanting to spend too long away from her family that had been so delicately stitched back together. Getting a table at any restaurant so close to Christmas had been difficult, but being the daughter of an ambassador had its advantages, and for once Emily hadn’t been hesitant to use them.

Aaron had sent her on her way with a kiss to her cheek and an assurance that they would be ok without her for a couple of hours.

He was now slightly regretting that decision, but he would never tell her. Their children were feral. Jack was in a mood. His teenage angst was out in full swing this evening, the anger he had experienced shortly after Haley’s death coming back to the forefront in the fallout of the situation with Foyet. He was hiding out in his room, playing a video game and ignoring his father.

Theo was asking where Emily was every few minutes and when she’d be back. He tried to placate his son with his favourite tv show and pizza, and it wouldn’t do. Theo was sitting in the living room, sideways on an armchair as he watched the front door intently. Aaron knew he was going to have to have a conversation with Emily soon about the attachment issues, but it was not the time yet, knowing his wife wouldn’t take it well either. That part of her loved that their son constantly sought her out.

Amelia was cranky. She still didn’t fully trust him, but things were better than they had been when she first shied away from him a few weeks ago. He knows that Emily nursed her before she puts her to bed, that it’s a treasured part of his wifes daily routine, so in the hope that a snack will help he grabs a small yoghurt from the fridge and places her in her high chair.

He feeds her, and although just under half of it ends up on her face, she does calm down a little whilst she is eating. He cleans her up, but she starts fussing again almost immediately.

As soon as Emily walks into the apartment he breathes a sigh of relief. Theo jumps out of the chair and to his mothers side, immediately hugging her.

“Mommy, I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” She kneels down to hug him properly, kissing the side of his head. She pulls back to look at him, thumb worrying over the now mostly healed cut on his forehead that he had acquired during Aaron’s final showdown with Foyet. She looks over and sees Amelia crying in Aaron’s arms. “It’s late, why don’t you go to bed and I’ll come say goodnight in a bit?”

Theo nods, hugging her again before bounding off, throwing a goodnight aimed at his father as he runs down the hallway.

“You were right.” She says, happiness pouring off of her as she removes her coat and shoes at the door. “I really did need that. Pen kept trying to convince me to drink wine even though I told her I’m still nursing.” She says with a laugh in her voice, she turns to him and the smile slides off her face as she takes in the sight of him, and he realises how stressed he must look.

Ameila tries to turn in his arms at the sound of her mother’s voice and starts to cry harder as she reaches out for Emily. Aaron transfers her with little fanfare, knowing that whatever was wrong with the little girl was something only his wife could fix.

“What's this all about, baby?” Emily says as she holds her daughter tightly, her lips pressed to her forehead as she rocks her. “Has she been like this since I left?” She asks as she looks up at her husband.

“The past hour.” Aaron says, watching as Emily gently bounces Amelia in her arms as she attempts to settle the 11 month old. “I’ve been struggling to calm her down.”

The sympathy on his wifes face makes frustration flood his veins, another reminder of something Foyet had taken from him. His relationship with his daughter was still fragile, the way she was still unsure around him a punch to the gut every time she frantically reached out for her mother. Emily looks at the high chair and frowns when she spots the yoghurt pot still sitting on the tray.

“Did she eat that?” Emily asks, her hand rubbing delicate circles on Amelia’s back.

Aaron looks over before turning back to his wife. “Yeah, she was cranky. They all were. I thought a snack would help tide her over until you got home.”

Emily hesitates. It’s fast, almost undetectable, but he catches it.

“Aaron.” Her voice is soft, gentle in a way that was usually only used on the children when she wanted them to know they weren’t in trouble. “She’s lactose intolerant.”

The memory hits him suddenly. Emily curled up next to him in the hotel room they had stayed in when they were first reunited, filling him in on anything and everything to do with the kids. He remembers her telling him that the doctors had got to the bottom of Amelia’s bad stomach, and that she was dairy free herself because she was still nursing her. She’d lamented missing chocolate and cheese, and joked it was her biggest sacrifice as a mother so far.

“I’m sorry.” He stutters, not sounding like himself as it dawned on him. “I’m sorry.” He repeats as he runs his hand through his hair.

“Aaron, baby, it’s ok.” She says, her hand on his arm. She has Amelia on her hip, one arm securing their grumpy baby to her. “It happens. I should have reminded you before I went out.”

“I should know what my daughter can and cannot eat without being reminded.” He seethes, his anger aimed at himself. He tears his arm from under her hand and takes a couple steps back. He watches as she tries to placate him further, useless reassurances on the tip of her tongue. “I’m going out.”

“Honey-”

“I need some air.” He grabs his keys from the side table and leaves the apartment before she can argue any further, the door closing a little too harshly behind him.

Emily sighs and closes her eyes. Amelia buries her head further into her mothers neck, whining as she did so.

“Oh, sweet girl. I know you feel icky.” She kisses the side of her daughter's head and rubs her back. “Let's go see what your brothers are up to.” She kisses her head again and walks through the apartment in search of her sons. ________________

She feeds and settles Amelia before reading with Theo for a bit, smiling as her son drifts off to sleep against her side. She quietly slips out of his room, well practised at the quick and silent exit, and gently closes his bedroom door. Jack gives her a small wave and a grunt when she pops her head into his room, his grumpiness obvious the second she lays eyes on him.

Emily washes her face, blowing out a breath as she takes in the sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. Any joy, any relief she felt after spending an evening with her friends had wilted as quickly as it had bloomed in her chest. The lightness that JJ’s laugh, and Penelope’s overly personal questions about Emily and Aaron’s reunion, had brought was torn away by the devastation in her husband's eyes just before he left the apartment.

Everytime they made progress, every step away from what Foyet had done to Aaron, to their family, it felt like they were thrown right back into it. Emily was exhausted. She missed the version of them that had existed before she had come home to find her husband missing and his blood staining their hardwood floor.

She wondered if they’d ever get the old them back, or if they would slowly build something better. Emily was hopeful that the move to the new house would help, that it would give them new foundations. Somehow even stronger than the ones they had before.

She’s finishing up getting ready for bed, pulling her pyjama shirt over her head, when she hears the front door open, and her husband’s familiar steps throughout the apartment. She hears their bedroom door open and close quickly. She takes a deep breath before she walks out of the ensuite and she sees him sat on the end of the bed, his head in his hands. She sits next to him, purposely keeping her hands to herself despite how much she wants to touch him, to assure him everything was ok. A slight clench in his jaw is the only indicator he has even registered that she's there. She waits him out, knowing he needs to process this himself before he’ll speak to her.

“I should have remembered.” He finally says, removing his head from his hands but not looking at her.

“Aaron-”

“Don’t.” He interrupts, finally looking at her. There are unshed tears in his eyes that make her heart ache. Thoughts about how she could find a way to bring George Foyet back to life just so she could kill him herself burning through her.

“Don’t what?”

“Tell me that it’s ok. Because it isn’t.” He shakes his head at himself. “I gave our little girl…” His voice falters and he clears his throat. “I gave her something that’s made her sick.”

“And so did I.” She reasons, and she grabs his hand. “For the first almost 5 months of her life she was getting it through my breast milk. You did it once. Give yourself a break.”

“I should have remembered.” He says, repeating himself.

“Baby.” She says, moving her hands to grasp his cheeks. “Please stop this. She’s going to be ok. She is ok. She’s fast asleep next door.” She leans her forehead against his, her thumbs stroking his cheeks. “We’re all ok.”

He starts to cry, sobs escaping him that he hadn’t set free since their ordeal had ended. Emily had been waiting for it as he processed everything at his own pace. She pulls him towards her, his head resting on her chest as she wraps her arms tightly around him, one hand in his hair as she presses fierce kisses to the top of his head.

“I’m right here.” She kisses the top of his head again, unsurprised when she can feel her own tears on her face. “You’re ok. I’m here.”

She comforts him like she does their children. With tender words and soft touches, the whispering of nonsense against his hair as he slowly calms. The grip he has on the back of her shirt loosens ever so slightly.

Aaron sniffs as he pulls back, a shaky smile on his face as she wipes his tears away with her thumbs.

“I’m sorry.” He apologies, his voice cracked and torn open by the months of repressed emotion he had let out against her skin.

“You have nothing to apologise for.” Emily says tenderly. “I’m your wife. This is what I’m here for.”

Amelia’s cry through the baby monitor visibly undoes some of the work she had done in calming him down, some tension returning to his shoulders. Emily kisses his cheek before she stands up.

“You get ready for bed, I’ll go see what's up with her.” She says just before leaving the room, crossing the hallway into the small bedroom serving as Amelia’s temporary nursery. Most of the baby's things are boxed up ready for the move to the new house. Emily smiles as she approaches the crib, Amelia already standing with her arms reaching out for her. “What’s wrong, sweet girl?”

She picks up her daughter, settling her on her hip as she kisses the side of her head. Amelia almost immediately settles, her crying quietening down as she presses her face into her mother’s neck.

“You just wanted to cuddle, huh?” Emily says, pacing the small room. “I think your dad could do with a cuddle too.”

Emily walks back into their bedroom to find it empty, but the tap running in the ensuite calms any nerves that he had left again. She settles into bed and lays Amelia on her chest, the baby snuggling down, her fingers grasping at her mother’s shirt.

When Aaron leaves the ensuite he falters slightly at the sight in front of him. Emily catches it, the small hesitation before he climbs into bed. Amelia is already half asleep, the discomfort she had been in when Aaron last saw her gone, and Emily watches the tension leave him as he sees with his own eyes that the baby is ok.

“See, she’s fine.” Emily says, smiling at him as he lays down next to them.

He kisses the top of Amelia’s head, which makes her open her eyes. She reaches out for him and he carefully takes her to settle her against his own chest. Emily smiles as she moves to be closer to them, her head resting on Aaron’s chest next to their daughter. He presses a kiss to the top of his wifes head.

“My girls.”

“Yeah.” She replies. “Your girls.” ________________

April 2021

Aaron sighs in frustration as his phone rings, distracting him from his lesson plans. Emily often teased him for his interpretation of retirement, the profiling classes he taught at the academy taking up a fair amount of his time. He turns from his computer to pick up his cell phone, frowning when he sees a number he doesn’t recognise as he answers.

“An inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York is calling you, to accept the charges please press one.” An automated voice says through the phone.

The name of the prison makes him freeze, there is only one person he knew who was in prison in New York. He presses one and puts the phone back to his ear, waiting for the call to connect.

“Aaron?” He hears down the phone, the voice on the other end of the tinny line was unsure, nerves easily showing through.

“Sean?” ________________

The rest of the day goes by in a blur and the next thing he is truly aware of is the front door opening, Amelia and Theo bursting in, both of them animatedly talking about their days.

“Hi Dad.” Theo says as he passes through the kitchen where Aaron is sitting, grabbing a snack and leaving the room almost immediately. “I’ve got loads of homework, back in a bit.”

“Hi Theo.” He says, a small smile on his face as his ever studious 18 year old is already out of the room, his mind clearly on whatever work he was assigned that day.

“Dad, do we have any antacids?” Amelia asks as she joins him in the kitchen, grimacing as she walks in with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“Are you ok, sweetheart?” He asks, frowning, pulling her into a quick hug she only protests slightly as she walks past.

“Yeah, just a bad stomach.”

Before he can ask any more questions the front door opens again, and Emily’s voice soon follows.

“Hi.”

“We’re in the kitchen, Em.”

She joins them, a wide smile on her face as she kisses his cheek.

“Everything ok?”

“Everything is fine.” Amelia answers far too quickly.

“Mills has a stomach ache.” Aaron says, and he can’t help but smirk at the way she narrows her eyes at him.

“Traitor.”

“Amelia.” Emily says, her hand gently grasping her daughter's chin to tilt her head, sighing when she sees the hives on her neck. “You had the cheese fries for lunch again didn’t you?”

The 12 year old sighs, knowing lying to her mother, to either of her parents, is pointless. “Yes.”

“Baby, you’re lactose intolerant.” Emily chastises as she tucks some of Amelia’s hair behind her ear.

“Mom, it's cheese fries. Totally worth it.”

Emily sighs, knowing that the slight grimace on her daughter's face is nothing to do with her rebuke, but the discomfort she knows she is in.

“There is some Pepto in the medicine cabinet in our bathroom. Go take some and go lie down.”

Amelia smiles gratefully and starts to make her way out of the room before she turns back. “I’m not going to find anything gross in there am I?”

“Amelia.”

“What?” She says, throwing her hands up. “I’ve caught you guys making out way too many times not to check. I’ve been burned before.”

Emily raises an eyebrow at her. “Go. Now.”

“I’m going.” Amelia says as she leaves the room, something a bit too close to a curse word muttered under her breath.

“That girl will be the death of me.” Emily says as she turns to Aaron, his silence throughout her exchange with their daughter, the lack of quips about how similar they were, now only striking her as odd as she takes in the look on his face. His gaze fixed in the distance, not focused on anything in particular. She frowns and takes a step closer to him, placing her hand over his on the counter. “Honey, are you ok?”

He looks at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Sean called me.”

Emily doesn’t cover her shock, her hand tightening over his. It had been years since they had heard from Sean. The supposed truce the brothers had come to in New York, when a rare family vacation had turned into a case, had fallen apart as soon as Sean was formally sentenced. Aaron had tried reaching out at the beginning, attempting to visit his brother, but it had always been radio silence on the other side.

Over time he stopped trying, his attempts at calling Sean getting further apart. His requests to go see him stopped. To anyone else it would look like Aaron had accepted it, that he simply was no longer going to be a part of his brother's life. Emily knew better than that.

“What?”

“He called from prison. He wants me to go see him.”

“Oh.” She replies, taking a second before she joins him at the kitchen island, linking their fingers together properly as she settles next to him on one of the stalls. “Are you ok?”

“I think so.” He answers, looking at her, uncertainty all over his face despite his answer. “No.”

Emily places her spare hand on his thigh. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to see him.”

She nods, squeezing his leg in comfort. “Then we’ll go.” She smiles when he turns to look at her, his brows furrowed.

“You don’t have to come with me, it’s fine. I know work is busy.”

“Aaron.” She replies firmly, leaving no room for argument as she moves her hand from his leg to cup his cheek. “I’m coming with you.”

“What about the kids?”

“We’ll be gone one night. Theo is sensible enough to look after Amelia, and Jack lives 20 minutes away if they need him.” She pulls him towards her for a kiss. “Stop arguing with me, it never gets you anywhere.”

His lips twitch, a brief smile taking over. “You think I would have learnt that by now.” _______________

It takes a couple of weeks for them to get things lined up, so that the quick trip to New York wouldn’t disrupt their day-to-day lives too drastically.

Amelia was unimpressed when they told her that Theo was in charge, rolling her eyes at the thought that she needed babysitting, but when they come to leave her attitude fades when she sees how stressed her father was, how on edge he seems as he checks they have everything before they set off on their drive.

She doesn’t remember her Uncle Sean, she had only met him once when she was 3, and she knew enough from what her brothers and parents had told her about that trip to New York to know why she had never seen him again. Another seemingly life changing moment they went through as a family that she had no memory of, relying on hearsay from her brothers and the toned down version she knew her parents told her.

“Please behave for your brother, Amelia.” Emily says as she hugs her daughter.

“I always behave.” She replies, rolling her eyes when she sees her mother raise her eyebrow. “Ok fine, I’ll be good.”

Aaron hugs her next, and Amelia doesn’t miss how he holds her a little tighter than usual. She hugs him back, smiling when he kisses her forehead as they pull apart.

She feels bad for her dad, knowing how much he values his family tells her how much it would hurt him to not be in touch with his brother. Amelia considers how it would feel to not be speaking to Jack or Theo, and despite how much they both annoy her frequently the idea makes her heart clench.

“Call if you need anything, ok?” Aaron says and Amelia nods before pulling him back into a hug.

“I love you, Daddy.” She says, using the moniker she dropped a couple years ago and it makes her chest fill with happiness when he smiles into the top of her head.

“Love you too, Amelia.” ________________

The drive is long, and quiet, and by the time they pull up to the prison Emily is grateful to see it. Aaron had insisted on driving and she’d let him, knowing it would ultimately be worse for him to not be occupied on the trip here. She was planning on taking over when they left for their drive back to the city, but she hadn’t mentioned it yet, knowing that he would already try and argue that point.

They get through security and are shown to the visiting room. They take a seat next to each other and Emily turns to him, trying to read her husband’s face.

“Are you ok?”

He chuckles. “Ask me later.”

A buzzer sounds and a door opens, prisoners walking out and greeting their family and friends. Towards the back is Sean. Emily thinks of the first time she met him. He wasn’t much older than Amelia was now, and already damaged by the things he had been exposed to in his young life. She remembers how he had been nervous around her, a crush on her that he barely concealed.

“Aaron, Emily.” He says as he makes it to the table. Aaron stands and hugs him, and then Emily does the same.

“Sean, how are you?” Aaron asks as they sit down.

“As good as I can be considering I’ve been here nearly 10 years.” He says, his eyes fixed on his brother. He looks at them both. “You guys have hardly changed. How are the kids?”

“I have a picture.” Aaron says, pulling out his wallet and removing the photo of his family that he keeps in there. It was taken on Emily and Theo’s birthday the year before, her 50th and his 18th, all five of them and Sara together and smiling. It was one of his favourites. He slides it across the table to let his brother look at it.

“Wow, they look grown up.”

“It’s been a long time.” Aaron says, the conversation stilted. The awkwardness cloying, making the air around the table feel thick.

“Jack is 28 now, and married. That’s his wife, Sara, in the picture with us” Emily says, trying to break the tension. “Theo is 18 and Amelia is 12.”

Aaron is staring at his brother, profiling him as he listens to Emily talk about the kids. He watches as she explains that Jack is a resident at Georgetown, and that Theo was going to Cornell in the fall. He watches as his brother listens to her stories about Amelia, their wild thing of a daughter who kept them both on their toes. He recognises his brother's expression, it’s one he perfected when they were young, a way to get what he wanted from their mother. It clicks in his head, and he wonders why he didn’t think of it sooner.

“What do you want Sean?” He asks, interrupting the conversation between his wife and brother.

“Aaron-” Emily begins to say, uncertainty in her voice.

“He wants something. That's why he asked me to come here.” He looks back at his brother, and Sean chuckles slightly.

“You don’t miss anything do you? I’m up for parole soon.” Sean explains. “My lawyer said it would be good to have someone upstanding talk at my hearing, and I don’t know anyone more upstanding than you.”

“You want me to talk at your parole hearing? That’s why you got in touch?”

Emily feels how tense her husband gets next to her, the disappointment he clearly feels at Sean only getting in touch because he needed something palpable. She grabs his hand under the table, providing the best support she can in the moment. He lightly squeezes her hand in a silent thank you.

“Yeah. I told my lawyer what you do for a living and he said it was perfect.” Sean says, missing the way his brother sighs, the brief closing of his eyes as he tries to cover his disappointment. “So will you?”

“Of course.” Aaron replies, clearing his throat as he does. “Get your lawyer to send me the details.” He turns to Emily. “Excuse me for a second.”

He gets up and walks towards the bathroom. Emily turns her attention back to her brother-in-law.

“Are you kidding me, Sean?” She says, exasperated.

“What?” Sean asks, his face screwed up in confusion.

“It’s been 9 years.” She explains. “9 years and you reach out because you want something.”

“It’s thanks to him that I’m in here in the first place.”

“You know that’s not true, Sean.” Emily implores, and she stares at him until he relents and nods. “He’ll do it for you because he’s your brother and he loves you. But when you get out you will work on your relationship with him. I won’t let you use him for this and then disappear from our lives again.”

“Are you...threatening me, Emily?” He asks, an eyebrow raised at her in a way that reminded her of Aaron.

“Very much so.” She says seriously, before she smiles. “I’d also like you to get to know my kids better.”

“I’d like that too.” ________________

When they get to their hotel in the city he barely looks around the suite they have for the night before he goes into the bathroom. Emily sighs as she puts her bag down and goes to the mini bar, grabbing a drink for each of them.

She feels his arms wrap around her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder.

“Did I ever tell you that you’re my favourite wife?”

‘I’m your only wife.” She chuckles, turning to give him his drink.

“That works out well then.” He leans down and kisses her. “Thank you for today.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” She cups his neck, and strokes her thumb over his jawline. “My place has always been by your side.” Emily kisses him quickly. “Lets go sit down.”

She leads him over to the couch in the room, leaning against him as they get comfortable. They sit in silence for a while, having their drinks whilst his fingers trail up and down her arm.

“I let him down.” Aaron says eventually, making Emily turn to look at him, a curious look on her face. “Sean. I’ve been letting him down since we were kids.”

“Honey, you know that's not true.”

“It is. I left when he was young, I left him in that house with the ghost of our father and our shell of a mother.” He says bitterly, throwing back the rest of his drink.

Emily stares at him for a second before she takes his glass out of hand and places it with hers on the table next to the couch. She settles herself over his lap, straddling him in a way that makes him raise an eyebrow and place his hands on her hips. She cups his face in both her hands.

“Listen to me, Aaron. You are not to blame for any of this. You were a kid yourself, Theo’s age, and you wanted to start your own life. You are not responsible for your parents and what they did or didn’t do. Or for the decisions that Sean has made that has led him to where he is.” She looks directly into his eyes, looking for some understanding or agreement. “Ok?”

“Ok.” He nods his agreement, and she can tell he isn’t completely convinced, but it’s enough to placate her for now.

She still wants to cheer him up, so she changes tactics, moving her hands so she’s cupping the back of his head instead before she leans down to kiss him. She presses herself closer to him, signalling her intent, she smiles against his lips when he pulls her closer, his grip on her hips tightening.

“Let's go to bed.” She says, slightly breathless as she pulls away.

“I like the way you think, Mrs Hotchner.”

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with "Mr Porter" (2021)

Minutes before Mr Joshua Jackson joins me in a booth for a Friday afternoon drink at a vibey hotel bar in Santa Monica, he’s confronted by his past. Or rather, a woman in her early twenties who is binge-watching Dawson’s Creek, the teen show about a close-knit group of high-school friends coming of age in a sleepy American town, which made Jackson incredibly famous between 1998 and 2003. The series, which also made household names of Ms Michelle Williams and Ms Katie Holmes, went off air 18 years ago, but is now streaming on Netflix, to the bemusement of Jackson, who played lovable rogue Pacey Witter. “This girl was like, ‘Are you...?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am. He got old. I’m sorry to break it to you,’” he says, before ordering an iced tea and a charcuterie board to tide him over until dinner time. “It always surprises me when young people say they’ve just got into Dawson’s Creek. I’m like, ‘Is it a costume drama to you? Do you feel like you’re watching a historical documentary?’”

The idea of a Friends-style reunion episode or a Sex And The City revival feels equally far-fetched to Canadian-born Jackson, now 43 and wearing it well in a pale green linen shirt and tailored linen trousers by Oliver Spencer that complement his fading brown hair and Cali-tanned skin.

“I don’t know why you’d want to [bring it back],” he says. “Nobody needs to know what those characters are doing in middle age. We left them in a nice place. Nobody needs to see that Pacey’s back hurts. I don’t think we need that update.”

And Jackson doesn’t need Dawson’s Creek. From Mr JJ Abrams’ sci-fi series Fringe (2008-2013) to the Golden Globe award-winning The Affair (2014-2019), from Ms Ava DuVernay’s ground-breaking true-crime drama When They See Us (2019) to the recent Ms Reese Witherspoon and Ms Kerry Washington-produced Little Fires Everywhere (2020), he has commanded the small screen – with a collection of dynamic and diverse work – ever since.

His latest role as Mr Christopher Duntsch, the Texas surgeon convicted of gross malpractice when 33 of his patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them and two of them died, in chilling Peacock crime drama Dr Death, is only stepping his career up another gear.

“I’ve never played anyone irredeemable before,” says Jackson, who is joined in the eight-part series (based on the 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name) by Messrs Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin. “He is charming, gregarious and has a high-level intellect, but he’s also a misogynist, probably a sociopath, certainly a narcissist and a complete incompetent who is incapable of seeing himself.”

If Duntsch is terrifying, then Jackson’s portrayal is even more so. The artist formerly known as Pacey is virtually unrecognisable (thanks to prosthetics) in the opening scene, but the real challenge for Jackson was allowing himself to view someone who is so “spectacularly evil” as a human being in order to walk in his shoes. “It’s a more damning portrayal of the man to make him into a human being, rather than just make him the bad guy,” he says. “He really believes he’s the hero, he’s the genius and that he’s the victim, so once I got past my own judgment, all the other things fell into place.”

Jackson might have his pick of stellar roles – and challenges – now, but it has not happened by accident. Take it from someone who has been in the business since landing his first job aged 14 in Disney’s live-action movie series The Mighty Ducks, opposite Brat Pack alumnus Mr Emilio Estevez.

“You try to make it look like it happens accidentally,” he says, “but there is no way to do this and not be ambitious. I’d say I’m extremely ambitious because I’ve been doing this cutthroat job for nearly 30 years. I’m in the pay-off phase of my career now. One of the benefits of surviving for as long as I have is you get to learn from your own mistakes.”

Such as? “I wouldn’t say, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ because it all becomes bricks in a path, but [after Dawson’s Creek] I was not choosy enough about the things I was doing. You get stuck. You start trying to perform the performance you think people are hoping to see you do. I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time. There was definitely a conscious moment in my mid-twenties when I realised I wasn’t really enjoying the work that I was doing. My manager at the time just said, ‘Take a breath. You’re burnt out.’”

The turning point came in 2005, when Jackson was offered a role in the two-hander Mr David Mamet play A Life In The Theatre, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart. “God bless him, Patrick could have made my life miserable because I had no idea what I was doing, ” he says. “I hadn’t been on stage since I was a kid and now I was in the West End in over my head. But it reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it’s not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people.”

It’s no surprise Jackson’s time on Dawson’s Creek led to a career crisis. From the ages of 19 to 24, he lived with his fellow cast mates in Wilmington, North Carolina, filming day in, day out, in an arrangement he likens to college. “You get to the end and they’re like, ‘Here’s your degree. Go live now. You’re an adult. Go out into the world,’” he says.

But most graduates don’t have to deal with global fame. “It’s transitory. You’re only ever cool for a moment and then you become much less cool. I was always pretty dubious about flatterers,” he says, recalling a time he was stung in London in the mid-2000s. “I went on a date in Hyde Park with a woman whose name I will not use – she was socialite-famous – and she was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time. I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family.”

It was his growing fortune, rather than fame, that caused Jackson the most anxiety. “Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends’ parents would make in a year,” he says. “It was lovely to have the money, but it was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as.”

Born in Vancouver, but raised in Topanga, California, until he was eight (before moving back to Vancouver following his parents’ divorce), Jackson bought his childhood home in 2001 and lives in it today with his wife, British Queen & Slim actor Ms Jodie Turner-Smith, and their 15-month-old daughter.

“My father unfortunately was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple, so it was a very healing thing for me to do,” he says. Fast-forward to 2021 and his baby daughter now sleeps in her father’s childhood bedroom. “There was a mural of a dragon on the wall in that room that I couldn’t believe was still there, years later. The owner [who sold him the house] said, ‘I knew it meant a lot to somebody and that they were going to come back for it some day.’”

Becoming a first-time parent during a pandemic sounds stressful, but it afforded Jackson months at home with his wife and child that his normal work schedule wouldn’t have allowed.

“I now recognise how perverse the way that we have set up our society is,” he says. “There is not a father I know who works a regular job who didn’t go back to the office a week later. It’s robbing that man of the opportunity to bond with his child and spend time with his partner.”

Despite his obvious career ambitions, fatherhood has changed Jackson’s priorities in “every possible way”, he says. “It’s 100 per cent changed how I approach my work and my life. That has been made so clear to me in this past year. For me to feel good about what I’m doing day to day, my family has to be the central focus.

“There are plenty of things left for me to do, but now the thing that gets me excited is experiencing the world through my daughter’s eyes. I can’t wait to take her scuba diving. I can’t wait to take her skiing. I can’t wait to read a great book with her. I’m not worried at all she’ll be a wallflower. She’s been a character from the word go.”

Jackson met Turner-Smith, 34, two days after his 40th birthday. He had been single since his 10-year relationship with German actress Ms Diane Kruger ended in 2016. “I was not looking to fall in love again or meet the mother of my child, but life has other plans for you,” he says.

The couple met at a party. Turner-Smith was wearing the same The Future Is Female Ejaculation T-shirt Ms Tessa Thompson’s character, Detroit, wears in the 2018 film Sorry To Bother You. “That’s what I used to break the ice. I shouted, ‘Detroit!’ across the room. Not the smoothest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We were pretty much inseparable from the word go. It was a whirlwind romance and I can tell my daughter I literally saw her mother across a room and thought, ‘I have to be next to this woman.’”

A self-confessed “useless” shopper, Jackson gives his wife full credit for his current wardrobe. He is jewellery-free, apart from a wedding band and a gold signet “JJ” ring on his little finger (a present from his wife), and discovered tailored sweatsuits (by Stampd and Reigning Champ) in the pandemic.

“Jodie has influence in the way that a wonderful wife encourages you, through love, to dress well. She was like, ‘We’re going to throw away all the sweatpants from your past and I’m going to get you some that actually make you look like an adult male and you will still feel comfortable around the house,’ and I’m like, ‘What an amazing idea!’ Who knew you could get sweatsuits that actually look good on your body?”

Jackson’s style has evolved, he says, “from slovenly teen to it’s-nice-when-your-clothes-actually-fit-you”. The penny dropped after he auditioned for his former co-star Estevez, who was directing the 2006 Mr Robert Kennedy biopic Bobby. He said to me, ‘You only got this job because I know you. You came in here to play a very well-put together 1960s political operative and you’re wearing jeans and a hoodie.’

“I had to grow up a little bit. We are very much raised in Canada to never, ever show off, so it took me a while to recognise it’s OK to look good when you go out.”

Still, when you’ve grown up in front of the camera, “every pimple literally documented”, and lived (very successfully) to tell the tale, you can probably be forgiven for the odd fashion faux pas.

“I wore a silk Ascot to an event once in Paris and I still have nightmares about it,” he says. “I looked like Fred from Scooby Doo, but you live and learn.”