#kabby modern au

[electricbluebutterflies]

i'm not drunk enough for this. -kabby

Modern AU, PG-ish, also on ao3.

Chaperone the Debate Team retreat, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

Well, actually it was more like “as the teacher nominally supervising this horror show of a student activity, you get to make sure these kids don’t kill each other in the middle of nowhere after one of the worst seasons in school history”, with undertones of “if they collectively decide to murder you, no one will blame them”, but…

Marcus is heading for a midlife crisis anyways. If this latest bit of administrative fuckery is what finally pushes him over the edge, so be it.

It’s not the kids he’s worried about, really. Well, he is worried about them, but most of them are graduating next month and legal adults on paper and most of those have been his problem for the past four years and well…

He knows he can’t exactly control which of the mothers decides to be the other chaperone, but why did it have to be that one?

Abby is the kind of nemesis you can only have in a smaller town, and Marcus does not say that lightly. She’s done everything in her power to make his life difficult since they met, and her marriage to one of his friends gave her so much opportunity until that accident, and the number of major life events that should’ve either outright stopped that woman or kept her too busy to terrorize him and yet somehow didn’t…

Unfortunately for him, Abby has a very blonde daughter who takes too much of her and was the only kid on the team to even make it to State this year, and Abby is the most involved debate team parent by a mile, so…

This is a circle of hell, Marcus thinks. Possibly multiple overlapping ones.

The kids don’t really need that much supervision. The kids are loose on a state park that hasn’t quite hit the normal tourist season for the year, and the only reason to have adults present is to make sure someone in the vicinity has the common sense to call 911 if needed. For intents and purposes, Marcus is stuck in the great outdoors for two and a half days with nothing to do except-

“I’m not drunk enough for this.”

He’d assumed, at some point, that his counterpart would’ve correctly estimated the weekend’s actual responsibility level and brought a book or two to keep herself occupied, but apparently-

“You do realize we’re just here in case someone gets food poisoning from an undercooked hot dog,” Marcus mutters.

“Is that likely?”

“You do realize I’ve somehow gotten stuck with every questionably parented kid at the school who’s been kicked out of football or… I don’t know what the aggressive girls did before but-“

“If you are describing my daughter as questionably parented, I will-“

To be fair, the thought has crossed Marcus’s mind a few times, but his goal for the weekend is to not get murdered, so-

“At least you’re an involved parent,” he says instead. Might be better for everyone if she wasn’t, but-

“She didn’t want me to come, but the school basically told me that no one else wanted to do this and unless I was in the ICU…”

“Would you have taken a way out if you’d had one?”

Abby laughs. She’s pretty when she does that, impossible to look away from, he is trying to keep his eyes on her face but the neckline of her shirt is… she’s going to get bug bites in some sensitive areas, he can’t wait to see how venomous she gets when-

“Probably not.”

He’s not that lucky, more like.

“The trip does end early if someone breaks a bone. Anything less than that…”

“Broken bones are nothing. Clarke was a Girl Scout for a bit, you wanna see bad parenting in the middle of nowhere…”

“Don’t tell me you volunteered for this hoping you’d get to practice your field medic skills.”

“No, I just thought you were out of your mind for taking this bunch of idiots to a remote location and letting them run wild and-“

“They had a bad season, the administration wanted to do something, the budget was minimal…”

“And that’s enough to justify that some sixteen-year-old is going to get poison ivy somewhere awkward and make it my problem?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a terrible person.”

That probably shouldn’t sound like a compliment from her, but-

“You did technically volunteer.”

“I’m being forced to use vacation days and if I stay alone in that house all weekend…”

“So trying to make me miserable had nothing to do with it?”

“The idea barely crossed my mind.”

He doesn’t believe her, but their sparring matches are so much more fun with an audience and they don’t have one right now, and-

“If you say so.”

[ao3feed-the100]

Christmas at Storm Lodge

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Rghj1xB

by Two_Chancellors

Vancouver, BC. Marcus Kane drives an Uber by night and studies for the bar exam by day, in between taking care of his six-year-old daughter Octavia. With a chaotic ex-wife and no time for dating, he’s resigned himself to a quiet but lonely Christmas in the mountains with his daughter. When he offers a ride to a woman walking alone one rainy December night, little does he know that this Christmas, all his dreams may actually come true.

Inspired by Clair De Lune from Rik Mayall Presents.

Words: 8560, Chapters: 3/?, Language: English

Fandoms: The 100 (TV), Kabby fandom

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Abby Griffin, Marcus Kane, Octavia Blake, Clarke Griffin, Aurora Blake

Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane

Additional Tags: Christmas, Snow, Fluff, Light Angst, Secrets, Hurt/Comfort, Family Issues, Marcus is an Uber driver, Modern AU, rocky mountains, Fun

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Rghj1xB

[artisangriffinkane]

Finally, after the longest writer block I ever had, I am here with a new chapter. It's been a lifetime I know, but I promise I will not let you wait that long again for the rest, ENJOY MY PRECIOUS READERS I LOVE YOU A TRILLIONS OF KABBY HUGS

[raquelmurillolapiz]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: The 100 (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin & Clarke Griffin, Abby Griffin/Jake Griffin, Abby Griffin & Octavia Blake, Octavia Blake & Marcus Kane, Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake & Marcus Kane, Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake, Abby Griffin & Raven Reyes, Abby Griffin & Jackson, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes Characters: Abby Griffin, Marcus Kane, Clarke Griffin, Bellamy Blake, Octavia Blake, Raven Reyes, Jake Griffin, eric jackson, Jackson (The 100) Additional Tags: Kabby, Kabby Angst, Kabby Slow Burn, Slow Burn, Angst, Fluff will come around eventually, Humor too I promise, blake siblings, Marcus is such a loving father I might need to cry Summary:

Twenty years. It had been twenty freaking years, she had disappeared, leaving everything and everyone behind herself, without ever bothering to call or to make contact in any possible way, and all of a sudden here she was.

-

Abby left her hometown, Arkadia, 20 years ago. When she decides to come back, the first person she goes to is her former best friend Marcus, with whom she hadn't talked since her departure.

-

Saudade - is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return.

So it seems like I am back again, what do you think about giving this fic a look? There are already two new chapters ready to be commented from you, just saying!

[fandammit]

Wonderwall (3/5)

[A/N: Sorry for the late update! I have to say that there’ll definitely be no update this weekend - it’s my 7th wedding anniversary! :) 4K words and a few makeouts. ;) As always, lots of love to @shefollowedfires, who is my everything tbh.)

on Ao3 || Chapter 1 || Chapter 2

She stared at his open palm, her eyes traveling up the length of his arm and taking in the expression on his face - honest and open and hopeful, his eyes lit with amusement and warmth.

She smiled and nodded, laying her hand on his, unable to ignore the electric pull between them as she did. He kept her hand in his even after she stood, his hand cupping her palm.

She glanced over at him as they walked over to the middle of the hotel ballroom, his words turning over in her mind.

That was part of your appeal.

The words themselves, though quiet, had not been unsteady; had seemed wholly sincere despite the flirtatious lilt at the end. Twenty years ago, she would’ve said that her only appeal to Marcus Kane was as a target for his bitterest insults.

But it was easy to now to look at their protracted and contentious history - the edges now softened with time, her perspective sharpened by maturity - and realize how much of their conflict had been a direct result of her own unnecessary sharpness.

Truthfully, if she had been as self-aware then as she was now, she would’ve realized that his own challenging of her had helped make her better in their shared adolescence - a better debater, a better writer, an all around better student. She had just been too blinded by arrogance to notice it.  

She was brought out of her musing when he turned to face her. He tugged her closer to him with one hand, the other coming to rest on the curve of her waist. She smiled and let her hand drift up his arm and around his neck, her fingers brushing up against the curled edges of his hair.

The last remaining notes of the cheesy R&B song ended, a new one starting up - plucked notes on a guitar string.

She tilted her head up slightly, her brow furrowed in concentration as she attempted to make out the first few chords of the song. It sounded frustratingly familiar for all that she couldn’t quite place the song.

“Wonderwall,” Kane said, indicating the music playing overhead. “But the Ryan Adams cover rather than the Oasis original.”

The first few lines of the song started up, the familiar words washing over her and setting her adrift in a wave of nostalgia.

“This was my favorite song for a lot of high school,” she said halfway through the second verse, then huffed a laugh, waiting for him to sardonically point out that it had been everyone’s favorite song in high school.

Instead, he just smiled.

“I remember,” he said, and she swore the look in his eyes shifted to something closer to fondness - even affection - as he said it.

The verses transitioned to the chorus, and she found herself unintentionally singing along to the words.

And all the roads we have to walk are winding And all the lights that lead us there are blinding

She stopped abruptly, embarrassed, and was about to apologize when Kane smiled at her and picked up where she left off.

There are many things that I Would like to say to you But I don’t know how

She drew closer to him as he sang, finding herself drawn to low, steady timber of his voice. She smiled up at him before joining her voice with his to sing the last part of the chorus.

Because maybe You’re gonna be the one that saves me And after all You’re my wonderwall

She let her voice trail off as he did the same, found herself suddenly distracted by the look in his eyes - intense and simmering in a way that made her momentarily drop her gaze to his lips. She shifted her other hand in his, threading their fingers together before she looked up and met his eyes.

“You know,” she said, mostly to distract herself from the sudden spike of want between them, “this song actually reminded me of you for a long time.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“There was a yearbook wrap party our junior year and someone had a guitar. I can’t remember how it came up, but Sinclair said that you could play. I didn’t believe him, so I made you prove it.” She looked at him and smiled. “And you played this song.”

The corner of his mouth turned up.

“I remember.”

“I mostly remember being annoyed at the fact that you could play well and had a great voice.”

He laughed.

“I mostly remember being annoyed with Jac for making me perform in front of everyone.”

She smiled, then tilted her head up at him with a questioning look.

“You know, I always wondered why you called him Jac when everyone else called him Sinclair.”

Kane stared at her intently for a long moment, his eyes searching her expression before he answered.

“It’s what he liked,” he finally said. “I think that’s half the reason he was happy to start college - he finally got to be called by his first name again.”

She furrowed her brows.

“Then why’d everyone else call him Sinclair?”

He squinted his eyes at her and tilted his head, momentarily confused, before answering.

“You really don’t remember?”

She shook her head.

“It was because Jacapo Sinclair seemed backwards,” Kane said. “Like - .”

“His last name should be his first and his first name should be his last,” she finished up, realization dawning on her. “I said that.”

He nodded.

“That you did.”

“And he didn’t like it?” She asked, though it was really more statement than question.

He looked down at her with a wry expression.

“Well, people mostly do like to be called by their given name.”

She huffed a laugh, though it was more embarrassed than amused.

“I guess you would know.”

He leveled a soft grin at her.

“I would.”

“So,” she said slowly, “I had everyone call him a nickname he didn’t really like for three years.” She shook her head. “God, I was kind of an asshole.”

Kane gave a noncommittal shrug, though the smirk on his face spoke to a certain level of agreement. She laughed, appreciating the honesty that had once so irritated her as a teen.

The smirk on his face became a genuine smile.

“To be fair, it’s not as if you made anyone do anything. People kind of just did what you wanted without you having to really ask.”

“Except for you.”

He smiled.

“Well, I was kind of an asshole, too.”

She laughed at that.

“God, if I could go back and do it all over again.” She shook her head as she smiled up at him.

“What would you do, you think?”

She bit her lip and stared off to some unfixed point above her.

“Well, I’d at least make sure to call people by their preferred names.” She dropped her gaze to meet his. “And I would’ve tried not to be such an asshole to you all the time.”

He smirked.

“Just some of the time?”

She shrugged, her lips curved up in a teasing smile.

“Only when you deserved it.”

“That’s fair.”

Silence settled back down over them, the last repeated chorus of Wonderwall fading out, replaced by the soaring strings of I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.

She let go of his hand, a giddy rush spreading out from the pit of her stomach when she noticed the flicker of disappointment on his face. She reached out to him as he stepped away from her, her hand drifting up from his shoulder to back behind his neck. She tangled her fingers together at the base of his neck and stepped in closer to him as he dropped both hands to grip her tightly around her waist.

“I figure you owe me another dance,” she said, unable to keep a smile from her face at the look of pleased surprise on his face.

He arched an eyebrow.

“And why is that?” One hand slid from her waist and rested warmly against the small of her back, drawing her closer to him. “Not that I’m complaining.”

She cocked her head up at him.

“I do believe you said you’d tell me what my appeal is if I danced with you.”

He was a quiet for a moment, his gaze serious and halfway nervous, before he answered:

“Your strength.”

She furrowed her brows, a skeptical look in her eyes.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, first off - you’re here. Dancing, with me. Someone you’ve spent the last twenty three years hating.” He gave her a small smile. “It takes a certain kind of strength to change your mind about someone after that long.”  

She laughed, his glib answer unexpected after the seriousness in his expression.

“I didn’t spend twenty three years hating you.”

He raised an eyebrow and leveled a skeptical look down at her.

“Oh really?”

She shrugged, a teasing smile on her lips.

“I mean, there were a whole string of years where I didn’t even think about you, so I forgot to hate you.”

He grinned at her.

“That’s fair.”

“I was gonna say - hard to know how strong a person is when you’ve spent all of twenty-five minutes with them.”

He looked down at her, hesitating for a moment before he let out an unsteady breath.

“I didn’t even need that long to figure it out.” He shook his head at her raised eyebrow. “Abby, you lost your husband, and after that you managed to become head surgeon and raise your daughter on your own. I know that can’t have been easy.” He looked at her, his gaze warm and full of empathy. “It takes a lot of strength to keep moving forward after that kind of loss.”

She was quiet for a long moment, unsure of what to say. The man standing in front of her was increasingly not what she expected - charming where he’d once been aloof, sincere in a way that was utterly disarming.

Which all served to make him that much more attractive to her. She licked her lips as her eyes unintentionally dropped to his. The glance must not have passed unnoticed, because suddenly she felt his hands tighten around her waist for the barest of moments. The movement set off a wave of warmth that started at his fingertips and spread out through her veins.

She found herself wondering what kissing him would be like.

She blinked rapidly at the intrusive thought, unbidden but not, obviously, wholly unwelcome. She looked up at him and found him staring down at her intently, a simmering heat in his eyes as she watched his gaze dip down to her own lips.

She found herself moving closer to him, unconsciously tipping her head up, the wine combining with her attraction in a way that was almost reckless.

A burst of laughter from a table at the corner of the room jarred her back into herself, as she froze and dropped her eyes back down to a point just below his chin. She felt overly warm and jittery, shook her head in an attempt to clear it and took a deep breath.

She was drunk enough to imagine herself kissing Marcus Kane. She wasn’t drunk enough to actually start making out with him in the middle of the dance floor.

She heard clear his throat and forced herself to look up at him.

“You wanna step outside for a little bit?” He asked quietly. “I hear the outdoor lounge has a great view of the city.”

She nodded and stepped back from him, grateful for the distraction.

They walked out, his hand hovering above her lower back.

The night air was cool against her flushed skin. However, she soon realized that the twinkling of the stars overhead were far more romantic than the manufactured dimness of the ballroom they had just left, and the way that Kane kept glancing at her as they walked only made her feel warmer, if anything.

She was suddenly forced to admit that her desire to kiss Marcus Kane wasn’t a trick of wine or a fleeting thought in the middle of a sentiment soaked slow dance. It was a steady, pulsing want that kept hammering in her mind. Some part of her felt like she should fight it for - what reason? Nothing more than some deep set part of her that was still mired in the machinations of the past.

The more adult, and far more insistent part of her pointed out that Marcus Kane was charming and friendly, the candid rawness of their adolescence now tempered enough to be called sincere and genuine.

He was also far more handsome than she might have ever imagined he could be, a fact that was only magnified by the kindness and the openness of his smile.

“So, I never asked you.” She looked at him intently, though she kept her tone light and breezy. “If you could’ve done anything in high school differently, what would you have done?”

He stared at her for a long, still moment. Then, he stepped in close, his hands cupping her face gently before he lowered his head and pressed a kiss against her lips. Before she could react, he moved away.  

“That,” he said quietly, his eyes darting up to meet hers, half questioning, half nervous. “I would’ve done that.”

She looked back at him with surprise, a voice in the back her head that sounded suspiciously like Callie’s singing out a chorus of “I told you so’s.” She reached up and looped her arms around his neck, her fingers immediately brushing through the long strands of hair at her fingertips.

“It’s probably good that you didn’t,” she said with a smile.

He quirked his eyebrow at her.

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

“I wouldn’t have appreciated it then,” she said before leaning up towards him and kissing him in return. He tugged her closer to him and returned her kiss with a fervor that was surprising, her mouth opening up immediately under his. He tilted his head for a better angle, his body surging forward and pressing her against the balcony wall. His hands tangled in her hair, his tongue stroking hers, teasing and tender in turn. He broke off the kiss slowly, pressing his lips one last time against hers before drawing his head back and looking down at her.

“Wow,” she said when she finally like she could speak without sounding too breathless.

“What?”

“That,” she said, unable to hide her bewilderment, “was just not what I imagined kissing you would be like.”

He stared at her intently before a smile unfolded slowly across his features.

“So you’ve imagined kissing me?”

She leaned away from him and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be smug. It’s a very new line of thinking.”

He nodded, a serious gesture at odds with the playful gleam in his eyes.

“Obviously not for me.”

“Obviously,” she echoed faintly. After a moment, she looked up at him with a questioning tilt of her head.

“So,” she said slowly, “you wanted to kiss me when we were eighteen?”

He bit his lip, then nodded.

“Before then. But, yeah, then too.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded for a moment. Then she sighed and shook her head.

“Callie will never let me forget that she was right.”

The corner of his mouth turned up.

“Yeah, I thought she’d figured it out by our Senior year. I was constantly swinging between fear that she’d tell you and hoping that she would.”

“Honestly? I probably wouldn’t have listened then,” she admitted. “You know, until Callie brought it up tonight, I just thought you hated me like - .” She stopped abruptly, suddenly wishing she could reel the words back in.  

“Like you hated me?” He chuckled. “It’s alright - I was a basically a prick for most of high school.” He shrugged. “I did mean what I said earlier - by our senior year, I really wasn’t sure how to talk to you without arguing with you. I know it’s pathetic, but then - well - I just figured that it was better than nothing.”

She shook her head.

“It’s not pathetic.”

“It kind of is.”

She laughed.

“Well,” she said, edging back closer to him, “I at least don’t want to argue with you any more.”

He tilted his head down at her.

“No?”

“Nope. Not even a little bit.”  

He raised an eyebrow.

“And what would you like from me?”

The corners of her mouth tugged up in a smile.

She leaned in, her fingernails scraping gently through his hair and down the slope of his neck.  

“I can think of a few things,” she murmured before pressing her lips against his.

The kiss was slower this time, more languid than fevered.

His hands gripped her waist, warm points of contact that anchored her to him.

He dipped his head and alternated between gentle nips and hot, open mouthed kisses down the slope of her neck. When he brushed his tongue against the hollow behind her ear, she shivered and gripped his hair tightly.

“Marcus,” she sighed out, his name more breath than voice.

He stilled for a moment, then pressed his body in closer to her, one hand drifting up the lines of body and resting beneath her breast, the other coming up to thread itself in her hair. He tugged gently at her hair, her head tilting back, opening up more of her neck to him. He laid a line of soft kisses up the slope of it, then licked a slow stripe to her ear. He pressed his mouth against her ear, his breath hot, his voice low and fevered.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say my name.”

Her answering reply was swallowed up by his mouth, his lips crashing against hers. Part of her wanted to protest that it couldn’t possibly be the first time that she’d used his first name, but at the moment, she couldn’t think of anything except for the feel of Marcus’s mouth on hers, the press of his body, the touch his hand skimming its way up her thigh and cupping her ass.

She squirmed against him, and he broke off the kiss, leaning back to look her intently in the eye.

“Okay?” He asked, his breathing rushed and heavy.

She kissed him in reply, steady and slow, her hands making their way under his shirt. She trailed her lips up to his ear and kissed his earlobe before she spoke.

“Definitely okay.” She pressed her lips against the soft dip beneath his ear and sucked gently. “Just suddenly very glad that I wore a dress.”

He groaned, then moved his mouth over hers, one hand tightening around her waist, the other drifting down from the curve her ass to the soft skin of her inner thigh. Her breathing quickened as he began to trace slow circles onto her skin with his thumb. She felt dizzy with desire, her nails dragging down his back, her hips angling up towards his.

She was suddenly frustrated by the amount of clothing between them. Exhilarated by the want coursing through her veins, intense in a way she knew she hadn’t felt in years.

“Marcus,” she said, the last sound of his name coming out as a sharp gasp as his hand reached up to cup her underneath her dress, his thumb pressing against her in a way that made her moan. She wanted to tell him to take her home with him, but she also wanted him to keep his focus right where it was.

The decision was made for her when a loud oh shit rang out next to them. They both froze, Marcus whipping his hand out from underneath her dress, her dropping her hands down to his hips.

She didn’t look over to whoever had interrupted them - just kept her gaze focused solely on Marcus’s chest as she attempted to slow her breathing. She saw Marcus look over to his right, his face half-hidden in shadow. A frazzled sorry punctuated the air before they were alone again.

He looked back down at her, his eyes dark with desire and brimming with amusement.

“So - ,” he began, at the same moment she said, “Where - .“

They both stopped, smiling at each other, strained and heavy.

“You first,” he said.

She leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

“Where are you staying?”

His eyes widened with surprise.

“Here. I’m - uh - I have a room here.” He stared down at her, then swallowed, his eyes alight with a heat that made her want to kiss him again. She bit her lip instead and watched his eyes darken even further. “Do you want to come up?”

She nodded.

“I just need to get my purse.”

He leaned down and kissed her.

“I’ll meet you in there.” He glanced down briefly and then back up her, a rueful expression on his face. “I’m gonna need a second before I walk across a crowded ballroom.”

She smiled and rolled her hips against him, grinning wickedly at him before she darted across the empty balcony and back into the blaring music of the ballroom.

She headed straight towards her purse at the table, then turned around and found herself face to face with Callie.

“And where did you disappear off to?” She asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Before she could answer, she saw Callie’s eyes track across the room and narrow. She turned to follow Callie’s line of sight and made eye contact with Marcus as he made his way across the room. He smiled at her, his hair still slightly disheveled, and she found herself smiling back at him as heat rose in her cheeks.

Callie’s hands suddenly gripped Abby’s arms tightly.

“Holy shit, holy shit! Did you two - ?”

She turned to look at Callie.

“What?” Her eyes widened at Callie’s obscene gesture. “God, no, Callie. It’s only been twenty minutes.”

Callie shrugged good naturedly.

“Hey, sometimes that’s all you get.” She looked closely at Abby, then smirked. “Well, it was at least obviously enough time for you to have a pretty passionate make out in some darkened corner.”

“How did you - .”

“Other than the fact that your hair is kinda a mess?” She laughed as Abby’s hands went immediately to her hair and started to smooth it down. “Your face is all red from, oh, I don’t know - beard burn, maybe?”

Abby sighed, though she was in too good a mood for it to said like anything but contentment.

“No ‘I told you so’s’ please.”

Callie laughed.

“Please. I’m only going to say it about once every other hour for the rest of your life.” She giggled loudly and grabbed both of Abby’s arms in glee. “God, I can’t believe you’re going to fuck Marcus Kane.”

“Wow, a little bit louder please, I don’t think the bartender on the opposite side of the room heard you.”

Callie rolled her eyes.

“Oh, please. Everyone here is too drunk to notice. I’m nearly too drunk to notice.” She stepped in closer to Abby, her eyes serious and solemn. “So, how was it?”

“How was - ?”

“Oh my god, Abby, the kiss! How was the kiss? It must’ve been pretty damn good if it convinced you to sleep with him.”

Abby nodded slowly, trying to fit her jumbled mess of desire and surprise into words.

“He kisses like he argues,” she finally said, pleased with herself for what she felt was the perfect description.

Callie, however, wasn’t.

“What the fuck does that mean?” She laughed at Abby’s affronted look. “Abby, not all of us spent three straight years getting into every argument imaginable with Kane.”

Abby grinned, then furrowed her brows in confusion. Damn. There really must’ve been something to that makeout if her history with Marcus now made her smile instead of grimace.

She bit her lip, thinking of the best way to describe a sensation that was both familiar and completely novel.

“I mean, you remember what our arguments were like, right? How they had this tendency to get out of hand really quickly?”

“I remember,” Callie said dryly. “Everyone remembers that, Abby.“

“That’s because he always had this weird ability to make you feel like there was nothing else at all on this entire planet except for you and him. He’d be wholly, intensely focused on you - just put everything into it, and you knew he wasn’t going to stop until you’d been convinced.”

Callie stared at her for a long moment before a huge grin lit up the features of her face.

“Holy shit. You’re going to have such a good night.”

[girlgoneangsty]

In light of these last heartbreaking eps of The 100, Kabby do need a baby, even if it’s a modern setting. So here comes a baby :D 

On a side note, it doesn’t matter how happy people seem or how much support and love they have - sometimes their inner demons are stronger than  them, and that’s what this video is about.

[sunshinejcowger-blog]

'Within castle walls' Kabby fanfic https://archiveofourown.org/works/14955893/chapters/34657946

[lala-kate]

AO3 Link #4

Irish Coffee:  Kabby drabble in which Marcus and Abby are neighbors, and he knows he’s fallen in love with her. 

[float-me-now]

Shout-out to fics [2/?]

Chapters: 25/?

Fandom: The 100 (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin & Marcus Kane Characters: Abby Griffin, Marcus Kane, Clarke Griffin, Jake Griffin, Indra (The 100), Callie Cartwig, Jacapo Sinclair, Octavia Blake, Harper McIntyre, Echo (The 100), Raven Reyes, Charmaine Diyoza, Hope Diyoza, Paxton McCreary, Thelonious Jaha, David Miller (The 100), Diana Sydney, Lexa (The 100)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Small Town, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Fluff, Humor, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Eventual Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, longing looks, Will They or Won't They?, Selective Obliviousness - somewhat, Held Gaze, UST, Almost Kiss, We'll Get There - Eventually, Idiots in Love, Angst, Loud Sex, Shameless Smut, First Dates, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Fluff and Humor, Some Humor, Friendship, Alternate Universe, Explicit Sexual Content, Developing Relationship, Romance, Drama, Family Drama, Firsts, Porn With Plot, Slow Build, Sports, we have angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Romance

Summary:

Abby Griffin has the best friends anyone could ever ask for, a beautiful daughter, and a successful career, but her life is overturned when her marriage to Jake Griffin of nearly two decades comes to a brutal end. With her daughter Clarke heartbroken from the change, Abby has a lot to contend with.

When her daughter's developing anger issues begin to affect her passion for soccer, Abby knows she must step in to help. She certainly didn’t expect to be so attracted to her daughter's coach: the handsome former soccer player named Marcus Kane. Word travels fast in a small town like Arkadia. He's her daughter's coach, she's technically still married, what would people think? When the two have an instant attraction to one another, it leads to them finding difficulty in staying apart for very long. And then... the rumors spread.

MILD SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

So, I literally stumbled on this fic by chance. I don’t really care for Kabby as a ship, also because I’m everything but an Abby fan. But! The summary was intriguing and I spotted some characters among the tags that I really adore even though they’re not the most popular, so I gave it a shot.

It was so worth it! The writing style is really good, the story is original and fresh, the descriptions are great, characters are in character and everything is really realistic. The plots and subplots are interestings and there are also some nice twists! Another thing I really appreciate in modern aus like this are things from the show that are carefully adapted to the modern context: it was very nicely done here and it made me crack a smile when I read them.

The parts with Abby, Callie and Diyoza are a lot of fun to read. The characters’ reactions, their behavior and feelings are very well described and appropriated to the context.

The thing I like the most maybe is the way in which every character is well rounded. No one is perfect, no one is a total asshole: everyone makes mistakes and everyone has a good side to them, they are realistic human beings. Even characters that are originally villains are well characterised (when I read that McCreary was just a gruff and bitchy man instead of a r*pist or a totally ooc hysterical psychopath I nearly jumped off my chair. Literally thank you for that).

It’s hard to point out highlights because it’s really long and it has many good pieces, but the chapters about the car accident are the best parts of the work in my opinion. I consider this a very nice fic and a must-read for Kabby fans.

Please be aware of the tags!

[slytherinbarnes]

( modern au of kabby wedding )

clarke: stop the wedding they cannot be married

octavia: why not?

clarke: because of the kiss

la lune: mom can't get married because I kissed bellamy??

clarke and octavia: you kissed bellamy?!

octavia: i can't believe you bellamy, I can't believe you didn't tell me!

la lune: john, I thought you said you aren't gonna say anything!

octavia: you told murphy and you didn't tell me???

john: I didn't say anything!

la lune: then how the hell does clarke know?

clarke: I wasn't talking about la lune kissing bellamy, I was talking about dad

john to la lune: you kissed your dad?!

octavia: you kissed your dad?!

clarke: ew, no! of course not! mom kissed dad

this is exactly how this situation would go 😂

[electricbluebutterflies]

Kabby + reorganising the bookshelf

Modern AU, PG-ish, also on ao3.

He’s trying not to be invasive.

Marcus knows how this looks on paper. Formally moving in with his girlfriend, into a house that already has a defined aesthetic… well, maybe that’s not quite the word for it but someone else figured out what goes where and everything has had its place for years, and-

Abby thrives in chaos. He’s known this as long as he’s known her. The problem is that he doesn’t.

Take the large bookshelf in the living room, for instance. It is, to its credit, sizable enough for what it needs to hold and assembled well enough that her late husband probably did it – Marcus has no problem with these relics for a variety of reasons, but the relevant one was that Jake was more competent with power tools than he’ll ever be – but the organizational system is… nonexistent, Marcus thinks, and that won’t do, and-

He's just going to arrange alphabetically by author. Nothing is going to move more than a few feet from its current location. How could that possibly go wrong?

Answer – half of the bookshelf’s contents are in piles all over the floor when Abby gets home from work, and it takes her a moment to notice, and-

“Marcus Gabriel Kane, what the fuck are you doing?”

Well. To say that is decidedly not the mildly amused reaction he was hoping for…

“Has anyone ever tried to organize this thing?” he replies, because apparently the self-destructive streak is strong today.

“I didn’t ask you to do it.”

“Isn’t doing little favors part of a healthy relationship?”

“That means flowers. Not… whatever compulsive dumbass idea you’re currently too far into for me to stop.”

“At least I’m not trying to color-code it?”

“If you even think about it…”

“I should’ve asked first. Is that what you want me to say?”

Abby drifts closer, arms crossed under her chest in that way she does when she’s not mad just disappointed, that look on her face that says how lucky he is that she loves him and oh is he ever aware of that right now and-

“I lost the bet,” she murmurs, lighter than she was a few moments ago.

“Do I want to know?”

“There… may have been some speculation on what highly organized bachelor who hasn’t lived with anyone in fifteen years thing you’d do first after you moved in. I expected you’d start with the medicine cabinet, not this.”

“And someone else did?”

“Clarke apparently has a good eye. And I now owe her… I don’t even remember, but I’m sure she does, and-“

“I’m not sure if I should be amused or-“

“Felt harmless to me. You’re part of our lives, and I wouldn’t have asked you to move in if I thought there’d be a problem, but you are who you are and-“

“So, ask before I rearrange anything else?”

Abby leans in and takes a slightly bitey kiss. “Warn me, at the very least. And try to get this cleared tonight, okay?”

“Mostly done. It’ll be fine.”

“It better be…”

[none-of-them-were-you--caskett]

Kabby Fic

Hello everyone !! :D

I'm making this post because I once read a fic about Kabby that I can't find today...

Maybe one of you could help me ^^

It was an AU modern fic, where Abby was arrested on the road by Marcus who were a cop and she explained to him that she was late to pick up her daughter (something like that I think...). And then he did the road with her..

Do you know what fic is it ? XD

Love you all <3

[artisangriffinkane]

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: The 100 (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin & Clarke Griffin, Abby Griffin/Jake Griffin, Abby Griffin & Octavia Blake, Octavia Blake & Marcus Kane, Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake & Marcus Kane, Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake, Abby Griffin & Raven Reyes, Abby Griffin & Jackson, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes Characters: Abby Griffin, Marcus Kane, Clarke Griffin, Bellamy Blake, Octavia Blake, Raven Reyes, Jake Griffin, eric jackson, Jackson (The 100) Additional Tags: Kabby, Kabby Angst, Kabby Slow Burn, Slow Burn, Angst, Fluff will come around eventually, Humor too I promise, blake siblings, Marcus is such a loving father I might need to cry Summary:

Twenty years. It had been twenty freaking years, she had disappeared, leaving everything and everyone behind herself, without ever bothering to call or to make contact in any possible way, and all of a sudden here she was.

-

Abby left her hometown, Arkadia, 20 years ago. When she decides to come back, the first person she goes to is her former best friend Marcus, with whom she hadn't talked since her departure.

-

Saudade - is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return.

Chapter 6 is finally ready, I gotta say it took me a long while this time to find the right things to say and all, but then I started writing and i didn’t stop for more than 11000 words, also I already know what I will write for chapter 7, so amen to that!

[raquelmurillolapiz]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The 100 (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Abby Griffin & Callie Cartwig, Abby Griffin & Jacapo Sinclair, Abby Griffin & Thelonious Jaha, Marcus Kane & Calie Cartwig, Marcus Kane & Thelonious Jaha, Marcus Kane & Jacapo Sinclair, Marcus Kane/Diana Sydney, Abby Griffin & Diana Sydney, Marcus Kane/Callie Cartwig Characters: Abby Griffin, Marcus Kane, Callie Cartwig, Thelonious Jaha, Jacapo Sinclair, Diana Sydney, David Miller Additional Tags: Kabby AU, Kabby smut, kabby sexual tension, kabby schoolmates AU, kabby schoolmates reunion AU, abby and calli as bff because yes, marcus and diana had an affair and she is a bitch, thelonious is not an asshole, abby and marcus were best friends once so you know where this is going to end, Oral Sex, soft crack before the smut, Truth or dare game Summary:

It's basically a Kabby Schoolmates Reunion AU with an angsty background that ends up into the glorious smut we all love.

Twenty years without seeing each other, fancy sexy dresses, that bitch named Diana Sydney, free cocktails and dormant sexual tension, ready to wake up again and mess with these two idiots.

[fandammit]

Wonderwall (2/5)

[A/N: Nearly 6000 words and I didn’t even get to the promised slow dance. Probably 4000 words are straight up dialogue, so I hope you like talky fics. As always, thanks to @shefollowedfires for her help in making sure people don’t sigh and shrug forty times a chapter.]

on Ao3 || Chapter 1

Abby shifted, determined not to turn back around and catch another peak. She tilted her head in confusion at Callie.

“Wait, how did you not know what he looked like? I thought you Facebook stalked everyone.”

“I did. But he’s your same level of weird. His profile picture is a random landscape photo and everything else he’s tagged in is from faraway or from a weird angle.” She raised a teasing eyebrow at Abby. “Believe me, had I known he’d gotten this hot, I would’ve mentioned it to you earlier. As it is, he is now definitely top of the list.”

Abby shook her head.

“For you, maybe.  

Callie threw back her head and laughed.

“Ok,” she said once her laughter had died down, “because you didn’t just stare at him and imagine running your hands through his hair and beard.”

Abby drew her brows together, an indignant look on her face even as she wondered just how exactly Callie had pinpointed her line of thinking.

Callie looked at her over the top of her wine glass.

“Hey, who knows? After all those years of arguing with each other - maybe beneath all that angry tension is a whole lot of sexual tension.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that beneath that tension is just more tension.”

“C’mon, at least flirt with him.”

“Callie, why don’t you flirt with him. He could be your type.”

“Oh, please. Don’t try and deflect, Abby. We’re here for you, not for me.” She sighed melodramatically. “Besides, if you’ll remember - Marcus Kane is immune to my charms.”

“I do remember. You used to flirt with him relentlessly.”

Callie grinned at that.

“If you’ll remember correctly - I used to flirt with everyone relentlessly.”

Abby raised a brow.

“Used to?”

Callie didn’t answer, though her expression deepened into something slightly more mischievous. She leaned over to glance over Abby’s shoulder.  

“Anyway, I mostly flirted with him because he was so damn unflappable.” She looked back over at Abby with a smirk. “Except for, you know, when it came to you.”

Abby rolled her eyes.

“Yes, then he was just pissed off rather than emotionless.”

“Ok, fair. But you were the only one that could ever get a rise out of him. Figuratively speaking, of course.” She grinned wickedly at Abby. “Though maybe tonight you - .”

Abby held up a hand and shook her head.

“Please don’t.” She shifted in her seat. “Besides, I can’t imagine we’d even have anything to talk about. I mean, we had nothing in common even then.”

Callie nodded sagely.

“Right.”

Abby nodded, tilting her head towards Callie as she did to add emphasis to the motion. Callie continued to look at her with a glint in her eye, nodding her head and pursuing her lips as she did.

She sighed.

“What, Callie?”

“Just that, you know, you actually did have a lot in common.” She tapped her fingers onto the table. “You took all the same classes. You were both in Student Government and on the Debate Team and in Yearbook.” She paused and furrowed her brows. “You were even both in Track and - oh my God, Abby.”

Abby leaned forward, her hand going out in an open gesture as she tilted her head towards Calie.

“What?”

Callie looked over her shoulder again in what she assumed was in Marcus Kane’s direction, shooting him a look of such unhinged glee that Abby could only hope his back was turned. She didn’t want to have to explain away her friend’s temporary case of insanity.

“Callie - what is going on with you?”

Callie’s attention snapped back to her, her glee practically sending her bouncing in her chair.

“Abby, he totally did those things so that he could spend time with you.”

Abby leaned away from Callie, crossing her arms in front of her and shaking her head.

“Oh my god, no. I am not going to participate in your revisionist history of our time in high school.“

“Abby, seriously - what’s revisionist about it? Mr. Kaforous spent two full years trying to recruit Marcus to the debate team. Then you join and all of a sudden he’s the first one on the sign up list.”  

“It was our Junior year,” she shot back, “he needed to bulk up his resume.”

“But why not Academic Decathlon instead, which, let’s face it, was totally up his alley?” She leaned forward, her eyes shining with some weird excitement as her theory began to run through her mind. “Why’d he join Track and not Cross Country like the rest of the Soccer guys? And why Yearbook instead of Newspaper, even though I can tell you firsthand that Mrs. Belanger begged for him to join us every year?”

Abby looked around, casting her glance as though the answer to Callie admittedly good string of questions was on the table around her. When she couldn’t find one, she simply looked at Callie and pursed her lips.

“I don’t know why he did those things, Callie. But they must've had some added benefit we aren't thinking of.”

A self-satisfied smile spread itself across Callie’s face.

“Um, I'm telling you I do know the benefit and it’s that he got to spend time with you.” She stared at Abby, her smile spread so wide Abby wondered if her cheeks hurt. “You know, I always thought he was into you the back half of our Senior year, but now I'm pretty sure that he spent half of high school in love with you.”

“Callie, even if were true that he joined all those clubs because of me, you know how Kane was - he was probably just trying to figure out a way to get under my skin - and don’t,” she said holding up a warning finger, “turn that into an innuendo.”

Callie shut her mouth tightly, very obviously keeping herself from saying any more. She took a long drink and set down her glass, then looked at Abby thoughtfully, her fingers tapping out a rhythm against the table

“Just say it, Callie,” Abby said after long, loaded moment.   

“Ok, just - there is some evidence that he wasn't as bad as you remember.” She took in Abby’s raised brow and nodded. “When he was chair of the athletics committee, he worked really hard to get new jerseys for all the girls’ sports teams because they were like, ten years old and disgusting.”

“Because he cared about females in sports?”

“Well,” Callie hedged, “mostly because he cared about our image as a school, but hey, the girl’s soccer team finally got new jerseys, so I was grateful.”  

“Of course. The school image reflected on him, so he wanted to make sure we looked good.”

Callie finished her drink before she continued.

“He also used to tutor people after school in the library. Do you realize he was basically the reason that we had the highest percentage of people in the state pass all the AP History tests three years straight?” She reached across the table and took a sip of Abby’s wine. “He’s the reason I even managed to get a three on the AP US History test. You remember how useless Mr. Lemons was.”

Abby furrowed her brows at Callie.

“I didn’t know that.”

Callie lifted a shoulder in a easy gesture.

“Why would you? You never needed one and you definitely never would’ve asked him to be one.”

“I mean, I didn’t know you needed a tutor. You could’ve asked me.”

Amusement flashed across Callie’s face.

“Abby.”

“What?” Abby asked, indignant. “I got a five on that test.”

“Honey, you know I love you and I’m sure you’d be great at it now, but in high school -.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You were just so naturally great at everything that it frustrated you when other people weren’t.”

Abby blinked rapidly at that, caught off guard by the statement.

“And he wasn’t?” She asked, not even trying to dig at the man, mostly just curious about it all.

Callie shook her head.

“I’ve known Marcus since pre-school. He always had to work a lot harder at everything than you did. Not just the social stuff, though God knows how much work he needed in that department, but all the academic stuff, too.Somehow that made him a good tutor.”  

“I didn’t know any of that stuff.”

Callie arched an eyebrow over the lip of Abby’s wineglass.

“As if it would have mattered.”

“It might have,” Abby said defensively, though not with any real conviction.  

Callie gave her a look of pure affection.

“Abby, one of the things I love about you is that once you decide on something, there’s nothing that can stop you from doing what needs to be done.” She swirled the last of Abby’s wine before drinking it down. “Which makes you an awesome friend and mother and head surgeon now, but when we were younger it mostly meant that once you made up your mind about something or someone, nothing was going to convince you otherwise.”

Abby was quiet for a long moment, staring pensively across the table at Callie. She was self-aware enough to know that Callie spoke the truth, and old enough to recognize all the ways the sharp edges of her personality had been softened with time and maturity. She’d long cast Kane as an emotionless, prickly antagonist of her high school years; now she wondered what the story might look like if she had to live it all over again.

“So, you’re telling me,” Abby said slowly, “that he wasn’t actually the asshole I remember him to be?”

Callie snorted a laugh, then shook her head.

“Oh, God no. He was an asshole. It was only my desperation to pass that class that made me turn to him.” She beamed at Abby and leaned over, knocking their shoulders together. “But I also think you've made him out to be some kind of outlier, when really he was an asshole the same way any eighteen year old kid can be an asshole.”

She stared at Callie for a moment, the thought coming to her in a moment of embarrassing epiphany.

“Apparently, so was I.”

Callie flashed a smile at her, then threw an arm around Abby’s shoulders.

“Sometimes. But you were also way more fun than he was and actually capable of showing human emotion, so you still won out.”

Another glass of wine arrived for Callie then as Abby mulled over what Callie had just said. While she wasn’t quite sure if she really believed it, she found herself admitting that it wasn’t as far fetched as she had made it seem to Callie. Truthfully, she had definitely spent far more time with him than with any other single person in her high school career - hundreds of late nights finishing up Yearbook spreads or preparing for competition, hours of traveling in cramped spaces to Debate competitions and Track meets. And they had been thrown together or paired up fairly often, much to her constant irritation and dismay. But could she have really misread and missed him so completely?

She felt her lips turn up in a sardonic expression.

Well, actually, yes.

She’d long known that a tendency to focus on big ideas and broad ideals meant that she was more susceptible to missing the details that were directly in front of her. It was perfectly plausible that the hostility from her end hadn’t been reflected, but instead had been deflected.

But really, did it matter? High school was twenty years ago. The fact that he might not have been as terrible as he’d beenin her memory didn’t really change the fact that they’d spent three years verbally sparring with one another, that those years probably negated any reason for them to really speak to one another tonight.

She turned around to find Kane in the crowd of people in the middle of the room, her eyes finding him immediately at the far end of the ballroom. Apparently all that time spent together during high school made it easy for her to quickly pick him out of a crowd. She was grateful that the distance between them and the breadth of the room made it possible for her to study him. He was wearing a dark grey sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, the fabric of it thin enough to show off the hardened lines of his back and torso. He moved easily around the room, reaching out to hug old friends and offer handshakes to former classmates. It was a strange sight, because she felt like she had spent all of high school seeing him hold himself apart from everyone, arms crossed and features shuttered closed. He also smiled more in the few minutes that she watched him than he had their entire time in high school. Too bad, too, because she found herself liking the shape of it - wide and open and completely honest.

She cleared her throat, trying to shake that last thought from her brain.

“Anyway, regardless of all that, he is still not a candidate for your mission for tonight.”

She heard Callie snicker behind her.

“You mean, regardless of what I just revealed about our time in high school, or regardless of the fact that he got ridiculously hot and you can’t stop staring at him.”

Abby felt her cheeks heat up, suddenly grateful that she wasn’t facing Callie.

“Um - I. Both.” She shook her head, though she still found herself unable to keep herself from tracking him in the crowd before her. “And I don’t - I’m not - he isn’t that hot.”

“Right.” Callie drawled out, sarcasm running across the word. “You know that defense is way less convincing after the third time you’re caught lusting over the man.”

She turned around abruptly, her eyes narrowing at Callie.

“I am not..”

Callie reached over and rested her hand on Abby’s shoulder.

“Abby, you’ve licked your lips a half dozen times since you started staring at him and you keep, like, running your hand down your neck.”

Abby froze, her hand flush against her neck. She dropped it before shaking her head vehemently, unable to meet Callie’s knowing stare.

“Really. He could stand right in front of me and it’d have no effect on me. At all.”

“Well, that’s good to know, because he’s coming over here right now.

“Wh - what!”

Callie’s grin widened.

“Yup, headed this way with - I think - yes, Sinclair.”

She was suddenly filled with a desire to - jump up, fix her hair, smooth down her dress. It was only by sheer will that she did neither, just barely managed to rearrange her features into something approaching curious rather than frantic.

“Seriously? Why?”

Callie raised her eyebrow at her.

“Uh, because it’s a reunion? And you’re supposed to...reune.”

She laughed loudly, hoping that she didn’t sound anxious.

“Right, that’s not a word.”

Callie smirked.

“Also, since he’s with Sinclair, I’m guessing it has something to do with that yearbook project he’s doing...”

“What yearbook project - ?” She asked, confused at the way Callie mentioned it like she was just supposed to know what she was talking about.

“It was in the email.”

“There was an email?”

“Oh my God, you’re impossible.” Then, her eyes brightened, a cheshire cat grin splitting her features. “Hey, wait - weren’t you and Marcus voted most likely to succeed for senior superlatives?”

“What?” She asked, confused at the sudden change of topic. When Callie offered no clarity or explanation, she nodded. “And yes, we were.” She snorted a laugh as she shook her head. “Most awkward picture of my life, if recall correctly.”

Callie smirked in a way that made Abby worry, just a bit, about the trajectory of the night.

“Well, we’ll certainly see after this if that stays true.”

“What do you - .”   

“Hey you two,” she heard a voice behind her say.  

Abby turned around, greeting Sinclair with a hug. They’d been in Yearbook together, she in charge of clubs, he as the editor their Senior year. Kane stood back behind him a few feet and raised his hand in greeting when she let go of Sinclair.

“It’s good good to see you - both,” she said, tacking on the last word and peering around Sinclair at Kane. He smiled at her, and even though it was uncertain at the edges, it was still absurdly and immediately pleasant. She had to fight her own responding frown - not at the man himself, but at the fact that she found him so distractingly attractive. Instead, she allowed herself a small smile at him in return, then turned her attention back to Sinclair.

“So, hopefully you two read the email?” He asked.

Callie shook her head.

“Abby didn’t, Sinclair, so you should explain it to her.”

“Uh - ok. So we’re doing a video yearbook with everyone - you know, a then and now sort of thing. And since you two,” he said, pointing between her and Kane, “were voted most likely to succeed, we need to take a picture of you two looking, you know, successful. And then I’ll interview the two of you and see what you’ve been up to.”

“So everyone can judge whether or not we lived up to their vote?” Kane asked, speaking for the first time, dry, self deprecating tilt to his words.

Sinclair smirked.

“Something like that.” He held up a camera and stepped a few feet away from them both, Callie shuffling back behind him. “So, I’m going to need the two of you to stand next to each other and, you know, look like you’re on top.”

Behind him, she saw Callie mouth “of each other” and sighed heavily, wondering how she managed to have a 38 year old friend who still sometimes acted 12. Luckily, a peek beneath her lashes showed Kane folding down the sleeves of his sweater, thank God, so he didn’t have to wonder why her best friend and date for the night was now making lewd motions behind Sinclair.

She straightened her own dress out, smoothing out the fabric, before standing just near enough to be deemed close but not so much as to be touching any part of him. It seemed dangerous, somehow. She noticed that he did the same, his arm hanging stiffly beside him, careful not to brush up against her.

Sinclair cleared his throat.

“So, ok, maybe stand a little bit closer to one another.”

She shuffled in closer to Kane, squinting up at him. Jesus, had he always been this tall? She knew he hadn’t always been this good looking, but had he always towered over her so completely? He looked down at her, his expression as uncomfortable as she felt.

Somehow, that actually made her feel better.

She took in a deep breath and tried to exhale her strange sort of nervousness. She was being absolutely ridiculous. So what if he was undoubtedly twice as attractive as any other man in the room? It didn’t mean anything, really. She straightened her spine as she stepped in close to him. She looked up at him and smiled, then looped her arm around his waist.

“We should at least try and make this photo less awkward than the one where we were eighteen and hated each other.”

He chuckled at that and nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, he draped his arm around her shoulders.

She smiled brightly at the camera, trying not to think about the fact that she was pressed close enough to feel the hard lines of his body and idly wondering what he looked like without a shirt on.

She blinked rapidly at that last thought. She really needed to slow down on the wine.

After a few moments, Sinclair nodded and looked down at the screen of his camera. Callie sidled up close to him and waited for him to tip the camera screen in her direction.

“Just so you know,” Kane said, glancing down at her, “I didn’t hate you when we were eighteen.”

She made a noise of disbelief as she tilted her head up at him.

“I find that very hard to believe.” She shifted to get a better look at him, but didn’t pull back her arm from around his waist. Probably because he hadn’t moved his from around her shoulder yet either, though she found that didn’t mind. “You could barely get out two words without arguing with me.

The corner of his mouth turned up.

“I think by that point I wasn’t really sure how to talk to you without arguing.”

She stared at him, surprised at his level of honesty.

“I guess - well I know, actually, that I didn’t exactly make things easy for you,” she finally said, deciding to offer up her own honesty in turn.

He huffed a laugh, then shrugged.

“We were kids,” he said quietly. “There’s quite a lot I would’ve done differently.”   

Not even an hour ago, she probably wouldn’t have agreed with him. Or even have given him or her the chance to talk to one another.

But it wasn’t an hour ago. And it wasn’t twenty years ago.

So instead she just offered him a small half smile and nodded.

“Yeah, me too probably.”

He stared down at her, his dark eyes registering surprise.

“That’s unexpected.”

Her smile became something closer to a grimace as she looked at him with a halfway chagrined expression.

“It’s recently been brought to my attention that I may have been overly harsh to certain individuals in high school.”

He chuckled, then shook his head.

“Certain individuals should then probably admit to being overly blunt and unapproachable.”

“What - .”

“Pictures look good, you two.” Sinclair called out, causing both of them to turn towards him. It suddenly occurred to her that their arms were still wrapped around one another despite the fact that the last five minutes had been decidedly without any picture taking. She quickly dropped her arms and stepped away from him. She tried to ignore Callie’s knowing look and focused instead on Sinclair as he gestured to the seats beside him. “Wanna have a seat and we’ll do a quick interview? It shouldn’t take very long.”

She hurried to the proffered seats and sat down, smoothing out her dress as Kane took a seat next to her.

Sinclair steadied the camera on a tripod next to him and clicked it on before turning to Abby.

“So, Abby Griffin, formerly Walters. Take us through your life since you graduated from high school.”

She groaned inwardly. She wasn’t overly fond of talking about herself, and still couldn’t quite figure out how to mention the fact that she was a widow without deflating the entire room. She stared at the camera and decided to skip mentioning it completely. It was a quick interview about where she’d been and what she was doing, not a confessional of how hard the last few years had been.

She stared into the camera.

“Well, I went into college with a bunch of credits, so I graduated a year early and went straight to med school. Survived that, got married and had a beautiful daughter named Clarke soon after that. A few years later, I became a surgeon. I worked in trauma for a while but -.” Her voice skittered to a stop and she bit her lip in attempt to focus away from the feeling of sadness welling up in her. She saw Kane’s eyes flickering with sympathy, his gaze understanding in a way that made her wonder if he knew about Jake somehow. She looked away from him and back up at Callie, who was giving her a look of love and affection, the expression giving her the focus to return back to the moment. She cleared her throat and continued. “Sorry, I, um, ended up switching to Obstetrics, which is what I’m still doing right now.”

Sinclair gave her a long look before he nodded and switched his attention to Kane.

“And what has Marcus Kane been up to since being voted most likely to succeed?”

He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. She turned to face him, curious as well to hear what he’d gotten up to. While she had always known what she wanted to do, he’d always been so all over the place in school that she could never figure out what he even wanted to do.

And, of course, she’d never bothered to ask, either.

“I got a business degree, worked for a few years, then decided to go to law school,” he began. “I ended up in political consulting and moved out to DC, where I worked on a few campaigns until about five years ago when my mom got sick.”

His gaze faltered for a moment, his eyes taking on a faraway, sorrowful look that made Abby want to reach out and lay a comforting hand on him. She’d heard his mother had died a little less than a six months ago, had felt guilty when a last minute surgery had kept her from attending the funeral. She’d had his mother as a teacher- as almost everyone at their school did at one point or another - and could remember always wondering how such a warm, kind woman could’ve raised a boy as aloof and distant as Kane.

Except that she didn’t need to wonder that, now. Kane’s eyes, though still filled with sadness, now gleamed with a warmth she always remembered from his mother. Kane cleared his throat and moved on.

“Anyway, I lost the drive to work in politics and ended up as became a freelance development consultant, mostly for the non-profit industry. Which is what I’m still doing right now.”

Sinclair nodded, then leaned back in his chair.

“So, the question I’ve been asking everyone - what’s the thing in your life that you’re most proud of?”

Abby shuffled in her seat, trying to come up with an answer that balanced honesty without too much sentimentality when she heard Kane clear his throat next to her.

“For me, it’s that I was able to take care of my mom in her final years and…” He looked away for a moment, then back at Sinclair. “And be the kind of son she deserved all along.”

She swallowed hard against the lump that suddenly grew in her throat, though grateful that he gave her the opening to say something similarly honest and touching.

“Wow,” Sinclair said, looking at Kane in surprise before shaking his head and turning to Abby. “And what about you, Abby?”

She smiled at Kane before she turned towards Sinclair.

“Having a daughter who has all the best parts of Jake and me and raising her to be better than I ever was.”

Sinclair nodded before he shifted towards the camera and turned it off.

“Nice job, you two. That one should be a real crowd pleaser.”

He turned towards Kane with a raise of his brow.

“You know, I’m a little surprised you didn’t mention your kids.”

Kane blinked rapidly, his brows drawing towards the bridge of his nose. Abby, too, turned toward him in surprise. She’d never been great at keeping track of everyone post high school, but she did feel like between her and Callie, one of them might’ve known that Kane had a son.

“What - .”  

Sinclair waved a hand at him.

“I saw you at the St. Mary’s Promotion yesterday. Your son - Bellamy, right? - gave a great speech. And your little girl was hilarious.” He chuckled. “I tried to find you afterwards, but you guys had already left.”

Understanding dawned on Kane’s face.

“Oh.” He nodded, his eyes darting between Sinclair, Abby and Callie. “Bellamy and Octavia - they aren’t mine. They live next door to my mom’s house.” He crossed his arms in front of him. “Their own parents aren’t really around, so I’ve tried to help out where I can.”

“Ah,” Sinclair replied. “Ok, yeah. I was trying to figure out when you would’ve had time to have a fourteen year old son. Also, it makes a little more sense now why he used your first name in his speech.”

Kane smiled.

“Yeah, I definitely didn’t have the time or probably the empathy needed to raise a kid when I was 24.” He scrubbed his hand through his beard. “I do what I can whenever I’m in town.”

Sinclair clapped him on the shoulder.

“Must be a pretty damn good job for him to single you out during his speech.” He turned to Callie. “Alright, you’re next. We need to find your fellow life of the party.”

Callie nodded, shooting a completely unsubtle grin at Abby before she hooked her arm through Sinclair’s.

“Oh, we can get to me last. I can help you find everyone else who might be here.”

She gave an overtly obvious wink in Abby directions while Kane - thank God - was saying goodbye to Sinclair. She watched them go with a roll of her eyes, then turned back to Kane.

“Hey,” she said quietly, “I'm sorry about your mom.” She leaned forward and laid a hand on his arm. “She was a really kind soul.”

He looked down at her hand and swallowed before meeting her eyes.

“Thanks,” he said softly. He opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated. She quirked an eyebrow in his direction, encouraging him to go on. He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering with uncertainty. “And I'm sorry, too - about Jake, I mean.” He shook his head. “I really can't imagine how difficult that must've been - must be, actually.”

She nodded, grateful that he seemed to be neither uncomfortable or overly emotional like people tended to get when they learned she was a widow.

“It's been a difficult few years.” She admitted, then gave him a small smile. “But things have definitely gotten better.”

They were quiet for a minute before a thought hit her.

“I'm surprised you knew - according to Callie, you're not exactly active on Facebook.” Her eyes widened suddenly, her face warming up against her will. She had definitely not meant to own up to the fact that she and Callie had talked about him at any time in the night. It didn't help either that her hand was still lingering on his arm. She quickly drew it back. 

Luckily, he seemed to be battling his own inner monologue to really notice her telltale embarrassment.

“Oh, uh .” He looked away from her momentarily, his posture suddenly stiff and awkward. “Sinclair mentioned it - earlier, when we were catching up.”

She stared at him, trying to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up. She wondered at the line of conversation where she had come up before his event at St. Mary's.

And speaking of -

“So, what was that about Bellamy’s speech?” She asked.

His shoulders relaxed into relief. He was quiet for a moment, then tapped his fingers against his thigh, his expression a mix of anger and sympathy.

“Bellamy was NJHS president, so he got to make the class speech. Unfortunately, his parents didn’t show up. Which wasn’t really a surprise and it was only an eighth grade promotion but - .”

“It’s still important to show up,” she finished up.   

Kane nodded.

“Exactly.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Anyway, there was a part in the beginning when he asked all the parents and guardians to stand up so they could be recognized for all the hard work and support they’d given to their students.” He shook his head. “I felt terrible for him that he didn’t have anyone there to stand up for him.” He paused, his eyes softening with tenderness. “But before he asked everyone to clap, he looked right at me and said, ‘Marcus Kane, that means you, too.’”

Abby felt an overwhelming sense of fondness blooming in her chest at the very obvious fact that Bellamy’s recognition meant so much to him.

“And what about his sister?” She asked.

A look of affection gleamed in his eyes.

“After he pointed me out to the crowd, Octavia yelled out, ‘what about me? I helped you, too.’”

Abby laughed.

“Yeah,” Kane said with a grin, “that’s the exact reaction she got out of the crowd, too.”  

“How old is she?”

“Just turned ten.”

“Same age as Clarke, then.” She was quiet for a moment, letting the last strains of a Boyz II Men song wash over them. “Do you have a picture of them?”

Kane nodded, then pulled his phone from his pocket, swiping across the screen for a moment before turning it to face her. She peered down at a photo of him bracketed by two dark haired children. The boy - Bellamy, she corrected in her head - had dark, curling hair and a wash of freckles spread out across his tan skin. Octavia had the same dark hair, though was paler than her older brother, her eyes a striking shade of green. Whoever had taken the picture had caught Bellamy mid laugh, while Octavia smiled brightly up at him, her face awash in obvious devotion.

She looked back up at him.

“No wonder Sinclair thought they were yours.”

He didn’t say anything as he put his phone away, though she caught sight of his contented expression as he did.

“Do you have a picture of Clarke?” He asked.

She nodded and pulled out her phone and showed him the screen, the wallpaper a recent selfie of her and Clarke.

Kane looked at it for a moment, then glanced back up at her.

“She looks like you.”

Abby snorted and looked at him, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

“How do you figure?”

He smirked at her.

“She just looks like anyone who thinks they can give her shit better be prepared to catch hell.”

She laughed, nodding slowly as she did.

“You know,” she said after a moment, the words stuck halfway between an accusation and a compliment, “you’re kind of charming.”  

He stared at her, his expression somewhere between confused and flattered.

“Thank...you?”

She let out a rueful chuckle, then shook her head.

“It’s just - you didn’t used to be.”

“That’s a rather nice way of saying I used to be a complete asshole.”

Laughter bubbled out of her. The corner of his mouth tilted up.

“You know, I’m actually still an asshole. I’m just better at hiding it now.”

She smiled at that.

“Well,” she said, tipping her head as she shrugged her shoulders, “at least you’re honest.”

He gave her a wry look.

“As I’m sure you can remember - honesty was never really my problem. It was tact that I needed to work on.”

“You seem to be doing alright with that now,” she pointed out. “I mean, I haven’t felt the need to argue with you even once tonight.”

“I guess it only took me twenty years to figure out how to actually talk to you.”

“And it only took me twenty years to not want to constantly challenge everything about you.”

“I didn’t mind,” he said quietly, not quite meeting her eye. “That was part of the appeal.”

She glanced down and caught his eye, the air between them abruptly charged with tension and then gone. She exhaled out slowly and steadily, the wine and the dim lighting combining with his surprising charm and the fact that he smelled ridiculously, deliciously good to make her feel flushed and keyed up.

“So, what’s my appeal now?” She asked after a moment, leaning in with a playful smirk. She had meant the question to be teasing, but instead it came out low and throaty.

He took a small, sharp intake of breath, and stared at her for a moment, surprise flickering across his face. Then, he smiled and pushed his seat back, standing up in front of her. She furrowed her brows in confusion at the abrupt movement, then did a double take when he reached out a hand in her direction.

“I’ll tell you if you dance with me.”  

[bellarkefanfictions]

Hi so i've looked through all the tags but i can't seem to find it. A looooonnnng time ago you posted something and from what i can remember it's a fic set in an office where the whole story is just messages. The whole gang is there and it's pretty long i think. Abby and kane are like ceos maybe? eventually belakre is together and have a kid

At the Office