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multi-obsessed-fanfic-writer · 4 years

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Bet On It Part 2 (Draco x Reader)

Author’s Note: And it’s finally up! This is a part two to Bet On It, but it honestly only kinda mentions it once near the end so it can also be read stand alone. I hope this doesn’t seem rushed, but I had an idea and ran with it so I hope all of you like it as much as Bet On It. As always, feedback is appreciated and I can’t wait to continue writing! Requests are open, have a great day <3

Summary: You’ve been doing fine with your life so far. Draco’s your fiancé and you’re good at your job. But what happens when there’s a transfer into your division at the ministry that wants to shake things up?

Bet On It Part 2

Draco Malfoy x Reader

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: reg warnings - angst, fluff, a curse word maybe?, etc. // TW!! - unwanted advances & mentions of rape, please don��t read if that will hurt you in any way mentally or otherwise. I’ve included a warning section before the trigger material happens so you can skip over that if you want, or you can just skip this story. I want you guys to stay safe <3

“Draco! Come on, we’re going to be late!” You chastise your fiancé as you grab your wand and coat.

“Darling, you say that as if we can’t just teleport to work. Come on, I’ll apparate us there.” Draco smirks at you, grabbing your waist and pulling you to his chest. You’re about to reach up and give him a sweet kiss when all of the sudden you’re no longer in your apartment. You look around, slightly disoriented, at your new surroundings outside the Ministry of Magic.

You let out a huff and break away from him, wrapping your scarf around your neck that you had been carrying. It’s wintertime, and you are not one keen on freezing to death outside of your work.

“You could have told me,” You mumble, burrowing in your coat and scarf. Draco chuckles.

“Oh, come on. It was kind of funny.” He softly grabs your wrist and pulls you back into him, planting a sweet kiss on your nose. You giggle and pull him back for a real kiss to which he accepts instantly, wrapping his arms around your waist as your arms snake around his neck.

“We should probably go to work,” You whisper, your lips brushing against his. He groans.

“Do we have to?” He grumbles, kissing you again. You laugh

“Yes, Draco, we’re already here. They don’t pay us to kiss all day.” You pull away from him just slightly, looking at him with such adoration that it would take a fool to not see that you’re utterly in love with him.

“We’re lucky they’re letting us stay together, I suppose.” He sighs, releasing you from his grasp.

“We were a previously established couple, Draco. They can’t break us up because we’re not breaking department rules by ‘dating co-workers.’” You roll your eyes, stepping away from him and starting into the building. Draco follows closely behind.

“Whatever you say, darling. I’ve got a meeting this morning but we’ll grab lunch later, okay? I love you.” He gives you a chaste kiss on your cheek before walking swiftly away to his office. You smile to yourself and sit down at your desk.

Yes, Draco is slightly higher-up in the auror business here. It doesn’t bother you, though, because everyone in this office (including Draco) knows you’ve got just as much skill as him, just not the Malfoy name attached to you. Yet, that is. That will be different a few months from now.

“(Y/n), did you hear that someone’s transferring into the office today? They’ll work beside Draco, filling Lawrence’s old position.” Your friend and co-worker, who sits conveniently at the desk beside you, gossips.

“Oh, really? I didn’t think they’d get a transfer for his position, I heard that they were going to promote someone instead.” Your heart sinks a little bit. You were hoping for that promotion so you’d get an office like Draco, and a title that matches. The two of you are an unstoppable duo, and it’s a pity that the department can’t see past your relationship to make their division work as efficiently as possible. Oh, well. You’ll get promoted one day, and you’re determined to work as hard as you must to get there.

“I hear he’s dreamy, though. Too bad we can’t date co-workers,” She sighs next to you, momentarily forgetting about work. You chuckle.

“I’m lucky I don’t have to worry about that rule. I’m not sure I’d be working here anymore if I did.” You smile lightly, looking at the criminal documents before you that you had left to sign. You internally sigh, dreading this part of the job. You just wanted to get back on the field, but unfortunately, there is only one case out right now and it wasn’t assigned to you.

About an hour of paperwork drones on before you hear your name get called.

“(Y/n), may I speak with you?” Draco calls out, and you look up to see him standing in the doorway of his office. You smile and nod, standing up from your desk.

“Ooh, some alone time with the fiancé, hm?” Your friend teases you. You roll your eyes but the smile stays on your face as you push your chair in and step into Draco’s office.

“Yes, Draco?” You hum, leaning your hands on the chair in front of you. He motions for you to close the door behind you and you do so. You grin at him from the door and make your way to him. You wrap your arms around his torso and kiss the underside of his jaw.

“As much as I’d love to just hold you, (Y/n), this is unfortunately work-related.” He sighs, still wrapping his arms around you and setting his head atop yours. You pout below him, letting out a small ‘humph’ of disapproval. He chuckles and you feel the vibration in his chest, letting a smile work its way back on your face at that small triumph.

“What’s the work, then?” You hum, pulling away from his embrace to turn and look at the files in his hands. He sets them on the desk and opens them.

“I was tasked to find this former death-eater and they let me choose my partner this time, surprisingly. There is a small catch, though.” He looks up at you, a small but sympathetic smile on his face.

“What?” You ask.

“I’ll also be on the case,” A new man walks in, about your age, and extends his hand to you, “nice to meet you, I’m Oscar. I just transferred in from the other division.”

You shake his hand apprehensively before he moves to shake Draco’s hand next.

“Nice to meet you, Oscar. This is...our co-worker, Miss (y/l/n). She’s the best in the division and she’ll be joining us on the case today.” Draco introduces you. You internally groan. This must be the transfer that your friend was talking about earlier.

“Pleasure to meet you, Oscar.” You try your best to be polite, giving him a small smile.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Miss (Y/l/n), believe me.” He flashes you a blindingly toothy grin. Draco’s brows furrow for a moment, but it’s gone before you can ask him about it.

“Well, let’s get on with the case. We’ve got to look at all of the evidence in the briefing room first.” Draco leads the two of you down the hall and to the briefing room. You try to ignore how close Oscar seems to be walking next to you, brushing it off as him just being confident.

~+~

A few hours later, you’re officially off work. You smile and stop by Draco’s office, seeing him stressed over a pile of paperwork on his desk. You had caught the death-eater in record time, as he was surprisingly hiding out in the same place as he had always been, so now the process paperwork was on Draco’s plate. You knock on the doorframe softly, causing his head to shoot up.

“Hey, Draco, it’s time to go home. You can worry about the rest of that tomorrow,” You coo, walking over to his desk and laying a hand on his shoulder. His hand comes up and covers yours, squeezing tightly. He smiles and gets up, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair.

“Sounds perfect. I’m dying to get home anyway.” He presses his hand to the small of your back, edging you forward to go first out of the door. You do as you’re told and walk to your desk, gathering your stuff before walking out of the building with Draco. You don’t notice Oscar leering behind the two of you.

~+~

It starts off small at first. Little things that Oscar does for you that make him seem just slightly nicer. Things that you brush off because maybe he’s just a nice guy. Maybe he just cares. There are good men in the world, you’re about to be married to the best, so what if Oscar’s just a good guy? Sure, he picks up your pen when you drop it. He gets you extra paper for your desk when you run out without you having to ask him to. They’re no big deal.

Then things started increasing. He’d start getting you coffee in the mornings, setting it on your desk before you even get to work. He’d ask you to lunch a few times, promising to pay for the meal. You always felt obliged since he is technically your superior, so you thought nothing of it. You usually discussed business at the lunches, anyway. This went on for a few weeks.

What you didn’t see were the hungry glances he’d send your way. He always seemed to be watching you. If he wasn’t watching you, he was talking to you. And while you didn’t seem to notice this, Draco did. And it made him furious.

“(Y/n), what’s going on with you and Oscar?” Draco asks one day when the two of you get home.

“What do you mean, Draco?” You ask, concern filling your gaze that rests upon your soon-to-be husband.

“I mean...he’s into you, or something. Do you not see it? And you… you’re flirting back, aren’t you? Or am I missing something?” He asks, running a hand through his hair. He seems more sad than angry, you note.

You look at him quizzically.

“Draco, I’m not flirting with Oscar. First of all, I’m engaged to you and I love you. Secondly, how daft would I have to be in order to flirt with him right in front of you?” You scoff softly, going to cup his face in your hands. He lets you, lifting his gaze to meet yours as your hands envelop his face.

“But you always say yes to his lunch dates. You’re always so sweet to him. You...you look happy with him.” He frowns, eyes searching your face for any sign of misinformation. You chuckle softly.

“I’m happy with you, Draco. If you could see the way I look at you, there would be no doubt in your mind of where my affections lie. I go to lunch with him occasionally to discuss business, but I can stop that if you’d like. I love you. I’m just trying to be nice to the new guy, I promise you that’s it.” You murmur, stroking your thumb across his cheek. He nods, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“Okay. I love you. I trust you.” He buries his head into the crook of your neck, pulling you flush to him. You smile and rest your head against his chest. There was truly no place you’d rather be than his arms right now. You wish you could convey that so much better to him.

~+~

A couple of weeks later, you’ve tried to abide by your soon-to-be husband’s desires. You no longer go to lunch with Oscar, and you’ve been a little less sweet in your conversations. You know Draco’s not being possessive, he’s just trying to share his feelings. You know he’s struggled with that in his past, so you’re being accommodating. Plus, you’re not the biggest fan of Oscar anyway.

“Hey, (Y/n)!” Speak of the devil.

“Hi, Oscar.” You smile tightly, turning your chair to see Oscar walking to your desk with a coffee mug in hand.

“I got this for you. Your usual.” He sets the mug down on your desk, a wide smile on his face. You grimace slightly but turn it into a small apologetic smile.

“Oscar, I’ve told you that you don’t need to get me coffee in the mornings. It can’t be doing good things for your bank account.” You chuckle slightly forced, drawing the mug to the corner of the desk instead of right by you.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. You can make it up to me some other time.” He laughs. You stop slightly in your tracks for a split second before resuming what you were doing, hoping that you didn’t cause suspicion. You do not want to know the connotations of that phrase.

“Well, I should get back to my paperwork.” You chuckle, brushing off the small innuendo that you’re not sure he meant to make or not. You turn back to your desk.

“Would you like to get dinner sometime? Just the two of us?” He asks suddenly, drawing your attention back to him. You keep yourself from making a face.

“Like...a date?” You choke out, unsure of what else to say.

“Yes, exactly.” He smiles at you.

“I’m sorry, I’m already with someone. Draco’s my fiancé.” You deadpan. You immediately regret apologizing at the beginning of your sentence, you have nothing to be sorry for.

“Oh, my apologies, I had no idea! I’m so sorry, that must have been odd. Forget it ever happened.” He laughs, brushing it off. You smile nervously, knowing you won’t be able to just forget it, but you’re grateful that he at least took the rejection well.

“Well, I should get back to our current case…” You trail off, looking back to your work laying on your desk.

“Oh, about that. I’ve got some information about the case that I need to discuss with you later today. Come to my office after work?” He asks, taking a sip from his own coffee mug. You tense up slightly, but force yourself to relax.

“Of course. To discuss the case, right? Won’t...Mr. Malfoy also need to be present?” You press, not entirely comfortable with the idea of being alone with him after work.

“Oh, yes he’ll be there, too. So I can expect you?” He asks, tracing his finger around the rim of his coffee cup. You force a smile onto your face.

“I’ll be there.” Your smile drops and you turn back to your desk. Oscar seems to not have noticed because he walks back to his office and shuts the door. You roll your shoulders to relax some of the tension in them. You already rejected him, and he took it well, so everything’s fine. Plus, if Draco’s there after work, then nothing can go wrong, right?

~+~

Wrong. It’s time for you to meet with Oscar after work and Draco’s nowhere in sight. You’re sitting at your desk, eyes wildly searching for Draco to walk in with you, but no one is anywhere near. You see Oscar step out of his office and his eyes immediately land on you.

“(Y/n)! What are you waiting for? Come on, Draco said he’s running a tad late. We can chat in here until he’s back.” Oscar waves you over. There are a million alarms ringing in your head, but you stand up and walk over to his office. You don’t feel like you can just say no, as that might look bad to your authorities.

~TW: unwanted advances ahead! Please don’t read if this will trigger you. There will be another cut that shows when the TW ends~

“Hey, Oscar.” You try to stay casual as you sit down in his office. He strides in after you but keeps the door open. That eases your nerves slightly.

“How’ve you been, (Y/n)?” He asks, sitting on his desk in front of you. You scoot the chair back slightly, not liking the close proximity. You pray for Draco to walk in any moment now.

“I’ve been...fine. Thank you for asking.” You uncomfortably shift in your chair, waiting.

“And you’re sure you don’t want to go on that date later?” He asks, a dark chuckle in his voice that sends chills down your spine. Not the good kind.

“No, I’ve already told you that Draco is my fiancé.” You push your chair back, standing up. You’ve had quite enough, and he’s crossed the line now.

“Oh, come on. I was just playing around.” He chuckles, standing up as well.

“I came here under the notion that we would be talking business about the case, Oscar. This is not what is happening.” You state, setting your jaw and clenching your fists.

“Don’t be like that, darling. You know we have to wait until Draco’s here until we can discuss the case. He won’t be here for a minute or two...we can do whatever we want in the meantime.” In a breeze, he’s behind you and holding your upper arms.

“Get off of me.” You sneer, ripping your arms from his grasp and turning around to face him. You step back a few steps to lengthen the space between the two of you.

“Don’t fight it. I know you like me. You’ve said it all along with that pretty little gaze and flirtations of yours. Don’t deny it.” He keeps stepping forward as you keep stepping back until you run into the desk. He traps you against the desk, pinning your legs down and grabbing your shoulders. You whimper, fear filling your body with dread as he stares down at you hungrily. At this moment, you wish you had listened to Draco all those weeks ago and just stopped talking to Oscar altogether.

“Let go of me.” You try weakly as he leans down and stares deeply into your eyes.

“Make me.” He whispers harshly, not letting you get the last word in before he presses his lips to yours roughly. Your eyes widen and you resist, bringing your hands up to punch his chest repeatedly. He grabs your wrists with an iron grip, continuing to move his mouth against yours and work against your will. Tears prick at the corner of your eyes as you evaluate your options. Your wand is in your pocket, but how do you reach it?

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know you would have company--” You hear a voice from the doorway. Oscar breaks the kiss and turns around, seeming shocked. You look around him to see Draco standing there, slightly surprised until his gaze lands on you. Then you see his body language go slack.

“Draco?” You whimper, squeezing out from behind Oscar and running to your fiancé. You throw your arms around his shoulders and sob into his chest, your words coming out broken as you try to explain the situation but fail.

You feel his body stay tense under your touch, causing you to step away and look up at him. He doesn’t even look at you, just stares ahead as his face contorts in anger and hurt.

“Don’t bother coming home tonight, I’m sure you can stay at Oscar’s. Have fun.” He steps out of your grasp, turning on his heel and walking away. You try to reach for him, but Oscar grabs your wrist before you can make it.

“Not so fast, darling. We both know he won’t listen to you right now. Why not stay and enjoy the fun while you can? Besides, you heard it from him yourself. Why don’t you stay at my place tonight?” The devilish grin on Oscar’s face tells you all that you need to know.

“You set this up, didn’t you? You knew he was going to be here slightly later, so you made it look like I was cheating on him! You bastard!” You scream, ripping your wrist from his grasp with newfound adrenaline.

“I may have invited your fiancé for the discussion on the...urgent news of the case, but I accidentally told him the wrong time… it was a shame he walked in on us like that. Oh well.” Oscar tsks.

“You’re sick! Once higher-ups find out about this, you won’t have a job anymore!” You sneer.

“And what are you going to do? Tell on me? Please, I’m in a higher position than you. They won’t listen to a word you say...especially because you’re a woman.” He laughs in your face.

“You’re a monster!”

“No, I hunt monsters. I’m just a man with needs.”

“And I’m feeling the need to kick your ass.”

“As if you could do that. You’re weak, (y/n). I could take you in a heartbeat.” He growls.

“I guess we’ll see about that. Expelliarmus!” You grab the wand out of your coat pocket at the same time as him, but luckily you’re just slightly better at dueling than him.

“Stupefy!” You say, aiming your wand directly at him. He’s hit and down within a second, lying unconscious on the floor. You go over and pick up his wand, giving his ribs an extra good kick to bruise whenever he wakes up.

You take some of the handcuffs from your desk and handcuff Oscar to his own desk, knowing that someone will find him in the morning and you can explain the situation later.

~TW over~

Finally feeling the effects of everything that just happened, you wrap your arms around your torso and sob, curling into yourself. You realize what could have happened to you had you not taken action. Would he have gone so far? What would have happened if Draco didn’t walk in at that time?

Draco.

You find a little resolve left and stand up from your desk, wiping the tears from your eyes as you make your way to the door. You apparate back to your apartment.

You open the door and walk in quietly, seeing him laying on the couch, staring emptily at the ceiling.

“Draco?” You murmur, coming in and shutting the door behind you.

“I told you not to bother.” He mumbles, not even looking at you. Your heart aches.

“I can’t just walk away from this knowing that you’re believing a lie.” You walk toward the couch, seeing him sit up as you approach.

“Excuse me? Believing a lie? I literally walked in on you snogging him--”

“He forced me into it!” You defend yourself.

“You didn’t seem to be stopping him!”

“Are you kidding me? I couldn’t! He’s strong!”

“Oh, so you like him for his muscles, huh? I thought we had put the past behind us, (Y/n),” Draco scoffs.

“What are you talking about?” You cock your head to the side, a deep pain settling in your chest as you try to work through this. If you could just get him to trust you again...

“What is this? Revenge? Or are you just reverting to our Hogwarts days?”

“What? Draco you’re not making any sense.”

“Are you cheating on me to get back at me for what I did at Hogwarts? For when I broke your heart? It’s been over two years! I thought we were over it! I won back your trust, your heart, and this is how you repay me? You must be really dedicated to payback because you’ve shown that more loyalty than you’ve shown me.” Draco spits at you, venom laced in his voice as he accuses you. Your heart breaks. Is that really what he thinks of you?

“Why would I wait two years to exact my revenge? What do I gain from that at this point, Draco? I love you! Why would I lose all of that?” You ask him, slightly defensive but slightly just...hurt.

“I don’t know, maybe you’re just reverting to your ways of being a player. Maybe I’m getting played.” He hangs his head in his hands. You feel tears prick at your eyes again.

“Are you...are you kidding me? Now you’re just grasping at straws- I’m telling you the truth. He forced me into a kiss and made sure that you were going to walk in right as it happened. I swear it. I’ll do anything to make you believe. I didn’t do this for stupid revenge, I’m not a slut, and I’m not lying. I’m...kind of hurt that you don’t believe me.” You answer honestly, hoping that he’ll look up at you and know that you’re telling him the truth.

“It’s...really hard to believe you when I walked in on you kissing another man. It’s hard to unsee.” He murmurs.

“What do you want me to do, drink veritaserum so you can test me?” You scoff, throwing your hands up in the air out of frustration. The only thing he can do is take your word for it. If he doesn’t trust you, then what can you do?

“There’s no way to access that, you know it’s controlled by the ministry.” Draco shakes his head, still hung in his hands.

“Holy crap you actually...” your heart pangs in your chest, “you actually don’t believe me enough that you’d have me take a truth potion?” You mutter, feeling a few tears roll down your cheek. You never thought it would reach this point. You thought he would believe you. You’re not sure what to do anymore if he’s willing to take it this far.

“No. we’re agents trained in ways to avoid the truth serum in case we’re captured. It would never work.” He thinks through in his head. You scoff, the tears choking your voice slightly.

~TW: alluding to rape!~

“Forget it. Forget this. Send me an owl when you’ve learned some common sense, but I’m done with this right now. You….you can’t seriously believe that I’d want to be with that...that jerk. That slime ball of a human being,” more tears stream down your cheeks until you’re almost out-right sobbing, “I was...so scared of what he was going to do. I didn’t know you were headed that way, I….I thought he was going to take advantage of me...further than he did. I was terrified...but then you walked in and I thought I was saved….I thought…” You trail off, tears streaming down your face as the trauma of what almost happened sinks in. You never thought you’d be faced with this in your work before, but why are you surprised when it happens to women all the time.

~TW over~

Suddenly, there’s a strong pair of arms wrapped around your shoulders and pulling you into Draco’s chest. You sob into him, unable to control the tears anymore. Draco strokes your hair, whispering sweet nothings to you. You pull back after a moment and look at him, seeing the concern and love swimming in his expression.

“Did he hurt you at all?” Draco’s voice is soft but fierce. The amount of genuine concern and fear written on his face tells you that he’s serious at this moment and that he’s putting your previous argument aside for now. For you and your wellbeing.

“N-no...but I hurt him pretty badly. He’s probably still passed out in his office…” you try for a small forced chuckle, thinking about how you paid him back for what he did. Draco breaks into the smallest of smiles, pulling you back against his chest.

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry.” You think you hear him sniffle.

“For what?” You ask. You know exactly what he should be sorry for, but you want to hear it.

“For not believing you. I...I was the one caught up in the past, not you. I was so caught up in my jealousy and guilt from that guy and what happened two years ago that I couldn’t see past what I wanted to see. I’m so sorry. For just now, for two years ago, for everything. You deserve so much better.” He murmurs into your hair. You hug him tight.

“You apologizing so quickly...realizing your mistakes...Draco, that’s what solidifies in me that we do deserve each other. We’ve both made mistakes. I should have realized what was happening with him, and I should have told you and kept you informed...and you were blinded by jealousy and guilt. But we’ve realized this and we’ll move past it. I love you, Draco. You’re the perfect man for me.”

“(Y/n)...I couldn’t ask for a better woman to be my fiancée. And as for him...I would like to be informed next time, but you couldn’t have known what was going to happen. Don’t blame yourself for this, it isn’t your fault. It’s entirely on him and his choices, and I will see to it that he gets severely punished for what he did.”

You smile at him.

“I love you.” You murmur, burying your face into his chest.

“I love you too, (Y/n). So much more than you can ever imagine.” He sets his head atop yours, running his fingers up and down your spine. You’re not sure what’s going to happen now, but you know that Draco and you have made up. Mistakes were realized, and he prioritized your needs above his own and saw past his distrust to hear you out.

“Should we tell the ministry?” You ask.

“Yes, we’ll tell them tomorrow morning. And I’ll back you up the entire time, I promise. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m sorry I took it too far… I didn’t know what to think. But I should’ve believed you the entire time, I’m so sorry.” He utters quietly, pressing a long kiss to your hair. You close your eyes and relish his presence, his embrace, just him.

“It’s okay, Draco. I love you. I know.” You squeeze him just slightly tighter. You’ll need to save your strength for your next battle tomorrow.

~+~

A few days later, you’re packing up the stuff on your desk, a small smile escaping you as you remember all the good times you’ve had here. You were going to miss this little desk. You’ll miss your co-worker gossiping next to you all day. You’ll miss a lot of things about this little office space.

“Are you leaving, (Y/n)?” Your co-worker asks you, a small frown appearing on her face.

“Yeah, I am. I won’t be here anymore. The ministry didn’t quite believe me when I told them about Oscar’s offenses.” You frown, looking at your little box of stuff from your desk.

“Oh, I’m sorry. What are you going to do now?” She asks, casting a forlorn look to your previous desk-space.

“Well...I’ll be moving into Oscar’s office because I got Draco to speak up on my behalf. I may not have had much pull in this ministry, but my fiancé certainly does, and you can’t get away with hurting a future Malfoy. And trust me, I certainly have some pull here now.” You smile at her. Her frown transforms into a grin.

“Congrats, that’s so exciting! We’ll miss you out here, but congrats on the new promotion and office. You deserved it.” She hugs you, almost knocking your box out of your hands. You laugh as she pulls away.

You turn to see Oscar walking out of his office with a similar box in his hands, except with termination papers sitting atop the items. You send him a smirk and a small mocking wave as he leaves the building.

Excited, you turn back to your new office and start setting everything up. There’s a soft knock on your doorway and you look up to see Draco looking at you. You grin at him.

“We did it!” You giggle, throwing your arms around him as he walks up to you.

“I didn’t doubt you for one second. I knew you’d win the argument against the ministry.” He laughs, closing the door behind him for a private moment.

“Well, having the Malfoy name to back me up certainly did wonders. I should be thanking you.”

“You would’ve won either way, the other way just would have taken longer. Trust me, (Y/n) (Y/l/n)...soon to be (Y/n) Malfoy...is a force to be reckoned with.” He wraps his arms around your waist and leans down to kiss you. You accept the kiss with eager anticipation and throw your arms around his neck.

You pull away and rest your forehead against his, closing your eyes and basking in the moment. This perfect moment. You got the promotion, you got payback on Oscar, and you kept your love.

“I love you, (Y/n) Malfoy.”

“And I love you, Draco Malfoy.”

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marmolady · 3 years

Text

New Horizons

Main Pairings: Estela x (f)MC, Graleister

Summary: Endless Ending. Liv and Reggie are starting school in San Trobida. Notes at the end!

Word Count: 9695

Chronology: After 'Growing Pains', before 'How the time escapes me...'

Tagging: @saivilo, @edgydepressedchoicesthot, @sceptilemasterr, @greengroove @mauvecatfic

Thanks for reading!

San Trobida, July 2035

“Hey, Auntie Grace!”

Reggie looked up from his book at the sound of his cousin’s voice, and hastily placed aside his shiny new copy of ‘A Guide to San Trobidan History’ so he could rush out into the hallway.

Grace was already wrapping Liv in a hug. “Hello, sweetheart.” She kissed the side of her niece’s head, before her eyes wandered down to a bloodied knee. “Did you have a mishap on your bike on the way here?”

“Yeah… I clipped the kerb and crashed,” Liv said, offering her aunt a better view of her wound. As she heard Reggie’s footsteps, she looked up to meet his eye and smiled.

“Youch!” Reggie offered sympathetically as he came close enough to peer over Liv’s grazed knee.

Liv shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”

Grace, though, was more concerned. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when you fell?”

“No, just scraped my knee. It does actually sting a bit.”

“Hmm. Well, I think we’d better put some anti-septic that knee just to be safe.”

The new house was a mess. Boxes and misplaced furniture filled every room, and the twins-- six years old-- had been making forts with the packing boxes that had been emptied so far. The family had been in the house for just over a day, and some good progress had already been made. There had been a lot that had been left behind. Neither Aleister nor Grace put too much value on material possessions, so most of what had come with them and the children to their new home in San Trobida had been essential furniture, and the mountains of photo albums and memorabilia from a life with the kids.

Grace sat Liv down on a wooden ottoman, and, after a little bit of rummaging, found the first aid kit.

“Okay, this might hurt just a little,” she said gently, and she carefully dabbed Liv’s graze.

Liv yelped, “Fuck!”, causing Reggie to gasp, looking to his mother for a reaction, and Erin and Immy to burst out giggling from inside their box-fort.

Grace raised an eyebrow, but her warm smile didn’t shift. “It stings that much?”

“Yeah…,” Liv said, flushing a little. “Sorry about the language.”

“I’m sure I didn’t hear a thing.”

There was the usual bustling around as Aleister got the girls into their shoes; Immy and Erin had decided that swapping one shoe with one another was the peak of humour, but eventually, their father managed to get them each into a left and a right-- even if they didn’t match. Six-and-a-half-year-old sisters, Reggie had come to realise, made just about everything more of a headache than necessary.

Eventually, though, they were on their way. His mom and dad, walking beside the twins as they pootled along on their bicycles, had the address, but Reggie rode ahead with Liv, taking her lead as she zig-zagged through the streets of Valle Brava. Having only set foot on San Trobidan soil as a new resident some twenty-four hours ago, everything aspect of his environment set his senses alight. This wasn’t like being back in America. Perhaps it was the tropical climate, but he was reminded much more of La Huerta-- of home. Liv certainly seemed right at home here. She and her mothers had settled a few weeks before, and Liv had been coming here pretty much all her life. There were just a few blocks between their respective houses, and the wide cycle paths along the bitumen roads made for an easy journey. This, Reggie had been told, was a newly developed area; much had been re-built since the war he knew his Tia Estela had been involved in. The cycle paths ended as they came nearer to Liv’s place, a little way out of the main township. The foliage on either side of the road became thicker, and there was less street noise, more birdsong.

“Beat you!” Liv announced as she planted her feet into the ground, forcing her bicycle to a stop.

Reggie grumbled, pulling up beside his cousin in front of a humble bungalow-style house with outer walls a vibrant azure blue against yellow accents. The sound of a dog barking-- unmistakably Liv’s Robin, was further confirmation they’d arrived. “You didn’t beat me, Livia. I was following you. I didn’t even know where we were going.”

“Jeez, dude. No one likes a sore loser….”

“I am not a--!”

The door swung open.

“Reggie!” Taylor wasted no time in sweeping her nephew into a hug. “It’s so good to see you! I can’t believe you still have the energy for cycling over here-- didn’t you move house, like, yesterday?”

Reggie laughed. “Hi, Auntie Taylor!” There was something about seeing a familiar face in this new environment that made the pieces seem to click into place. Family made it home. “I’m a little bit tired but mostly just excited. I did sleep in today, so I guess I won’t crash until later.” His sisters on the other hand… there was no way they’d last the evening without overtiredness rearing its ugly head.

“I’m guessing your mom and dad are on their way with the girls?”

“Yeah,” said Liv, “but they’re pretty slow. I don’t have to wait to give Reggie the grand tour, do I?”

“Knock yourself out, kid. Hang on, Liv? Walk your bike through the house, please.”

“I was gonna!”

Reggie could only smirk. Like hell you were….

“Aaaand,” Liv finished off with a flourish, “this is my room!” She opened the door to a good-sized bedroom. It seemed to Reggie that what floor-space wasn’t taken up by the bed was piled up with boxes.

“I mean, I can’t say the mess wasn’t a clue.”

Liv gave her cousin a look as she flopped into her bed. “Hey-- moving house is hard. You’ll see soon enough. You get started all excited, but once you start living your life, you kinda get… stuck. Mama Taylor says we’re going to just blitz it all next weekend, and throw ourselves a pizza party as a reward.”

Reggie got up onto the bed and crossed his legs. “Do you like it here?”

“I love it here! I always liked coming here when I was little, so I guess it doesn’t feel like something completely different. I reckon my tio abuelo is over the moon that we’re here for good; it’s like I’ve got a grandparent now.” Liv’s cheeks flushed pink, and she glanced away.

Understanding, Reggie nodded. Together, they’d grown up in a family that didn’t take the traditional shape. There were some things that simply couldn’t be explained to other friends; like why Reggie’s grandma could help him with his homework, but could never come in for grandparents’ day, and why Liv had a whole side of the family with no grandparents at all-- not even dead ones.

“And,” Liv continued, “people don’t really look at my Mama Estela funny. I noticed that years ago. I guess ‘cause of the war, people don’t look twice at someone who’s maybe a little bit banged-up. I got so sick of it back in America. Every time we met someone new, they’d put on that ‘God, what happened?’ face. Maybe Mom doesn’t want to explain the whole ‘revolutionary in a civil war’ thing to every random person who can’t mind their own business. Some people have scars-- big freaking deal. It’s better here.”

“Yeah, that would be a nice change. The amount of times I’ve seen you and Auntie Taylor look at a nosy idiot like you want to deck ‘em--”

Liv burst out laughing. “True, that.”

The sound of excited barking rang out from the backyard. It seemed pretty likely to Reggie that his parents and sisters had just arrived. When he and Liv arrived in the backyard, Erin had already joined Estela at the barbecue, desperate to be involved, while Immy was passionately talking to Nicolas about goodness-knows-what. Reggie made a mental note to rescue him in a few minutes; that kid could be intense, and the poor old guy had come out here for a relaxing lunch with his niece.

Nicely, but firmly, Reggie nudged the wriggling, writhing form of Robin the dog to the side so he could join his mother and Auntie Taylor at the large alfresco table under the porch. And Robin returned to his favoured position at the feet of the barbecue-- Erin was just a kid, surely, she’d drop something….

“Do you need a hand with the salads?” Reggie asked as he greeted his mother with a hug. He’d been seeking a lot of those. With so much changing, familial comfort meant a lot, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

Perhaps more than anything, though, he was grateful to have Liv by his side. It was the way it had always been; from their toddler days on La Huerta, through elementary school, to their adventures in home-schooling. Some things might change-- some things might change immeasurably-- but he always had his cousin.

___________________________

La Huerta, 2028

Liv yelled out as she splashed down into the shallow surf. “Reggie!”

“I got her, Xiraana!” Reggie cried, and soon he was joined by a young Vaanti girl, who helped restrain their victim.

“No, no!” Liv squealed as she struggled. Vaanti kids, she’d long ago realised, were strong. “You’ll never take me alive!”

“Five-- four--- three….” Xiraana counted down, not letting Liv out of her grasp.

“Two-- one!” Reggie finished triumphantly, and he let his cousin fall unceremoniously back into the water. “The klaawyi ate all the meat off your bones. You’re one of us now!”

Liv pouted, but admitted defeat. It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen; she was pretty good on Team Klaawyi anyway. Or, she would have been… had she not seen the figure of her favourite uncle descending onto the beach from the great tree of Elyys’tel.

“Tio Diegoooooo! Hiiiii!” Liv ran across the sand, almost tripping in her desperation to reach him.

“Hey, Livia!” Reggie cried out, indignant at being suddenly abandoned. “You’re meant to help us catch them!”

But Diego had crouched down to wrap Liv in a hug, and Reggie might as well be talking to a pile of rocks for all that was being absorbed.

“Tio, they got me! Reggie and Xiraana got me, and now I’m a klaawyi!”

“You?” Diego laughed. “You’re no klaawyi-- I’ve never seen a klaawyi that was ticklish!”

“Wha--?” Oh no. Once again, Liv was shrieking with mirth, this time dodging the tickling hands of her tio.

Still standing in the shallows, Reggie stomped his foot, which achieved little but splashing himself in the face. The game went on without them; games of Klaawyi Chase didn’t stop for anyone. The usual fun on the beaches outside Elyys’tel would go on like this every day… whether Reggie and Liv were there to join in or not. And Reggie didn’t want to miss out now.

“Come on, Livia!”

She just shook her head, not letting her adoring gaze up at Diego slip for so much as a heartbeat. “Nah,” she said. “I’m done.”

Torn, knowing that whichever direction he ran in, he’d lose out on precious time with friends, Reggie admitted defeat and rushed back to Liv’s side on the shore. He looked back over his shoulder and waved goodbye-- for what he’d been told would likely be a long, long time. Engrossed in their game, his friends gave just the most fleeting of farewells before continuing to race through the small waves that lapped the beach.

Liv, in contrast, had eyes only for her tio. She clasped his hand tightly; if she held on tight enough, perhaps he’d have no choice but to come with her to wherever her mothers were taking her in the big aeroplane.

Where exactly she was going, Liv didn’t quite understand. It was away from La Huerta, but they weren’t going back to live with Tio Nicolas, they were going… someplace else. Someplace with no Tio Diego and Varyyn, where all the other kids would be boring shades of pink and brown rather than blue and green, and where no one knew about the yeti-bear, or the magic crystal alien that made her mom, or about The Story of the Year the World Stopped.

“I want you to come, Tio Diego…,” Liv softly beseeched.

Diego’s eyes grew misty, her earnest words having tipped him over the edge after what had been a long period of emotional build-up. Goodbyes were never easy, and Liv’s family was his family. He squeezed her little hand gently.

“I’ll visit you, Livi-- I promise. Cross my heart. And your mommies will bring you over to visit us here too; you are going to learn so many new games at school that you can teach Xiraana and the other kids.”

“But I’ll miss you…”

Having rejoined Liv, Reggie peered up at Diego’s teary face with concern. “Diego, you’re making your glasses all foggy.”

“Ha. I know, I know!” Diego wiped his eyes. “You might have a point there, Reggie; I want to spend this last night with you guys actually being able to see you!”

Liv giggled and wrapped her arms around her uncle’s legs, only to be peeled off and hoisted into the air. “We can still have fun until bedtime, can’t we? Will you tell us a story?”

On the ground, Reggie danced around, his arms waving. Diego-time was the best story-time.

In the arms of her tio, her playmate since she was a baby bouncing on his knee, Liv was a mess of emotions; of fear and excitement, of merriment that competed with the looming sorrow. It was more than her little self had a clue what to do with. She was only five.

Sensing his cousin’s turmoil, Reggie reached up a hand and took hold of Liv’s, hanging down by Diego’s side. “Don’t worry, Livia! If you worry, you won’t enjoy story-time.”

Liv stuck out her bottom lip. That little nerd-face could be pretty smart sometimes. Tomorrow night, there would be no goodnight story from Tio Diego, but tomorrow night was not now-- now, everything was as it should be. Her wavering grin returned, and to her delight, it brought matching smiles to the faces of her companions.

“Do you think Varyyn, and my mommies, and Auntie Grace and Uncle Alli, and Auntie Grace’s tummy babies want to listen to the story too?”

“Yeah,” Diego said, letting Liv back down to the ground, where she immediately found another hug in Reggie’s arms, “I think everyone would really like that.”

_____________________________

San Trobida, August 2035

“I don’t get it,” Liv said thoughtfully, as the car rolled right on past the turn for her Auntie Grace and Uncle Al’s place. “It’s right on the way; wouldn’t it have been easier for us to pick up Reggie?”

“Hon,” Taylor replied, “I think Reggie wanted his mom and dad to take him to orientation. They’ll probably be better at helping with his jitters than we would be.”

“I guess.” Liv looked out the window, watching the surrounding vegetation thicken once more as the car followed the road up out of the valley. “Orientation Day shouldn’t be too bad, right? Just, like, meeting our teachers, learning where stuff is, that kinda thing?” And you’ll have to try and make friends. That would be a laugh.

By the time they pulled up at the Las Selvas Secondary School, however, Liv fully understood her cousin’s nerves, and realised that was probably why she’d been so disappointed that he didn’t share a car with her. Through every big change in their young lives, his presence had been a reassuring constant.

“Uggghh,” she groaned. “Can I change my mind? Home-schooling was all right; more of that, please.”

Estela leaned from the front seat and gave Liv’s knee a squeeze. “You know, I don’t think he’d ever say it, but I’m pretty sure Reggie would be really scared if he had to walk into this without you. Besides, you were so excited about starting here; you owe it to yourself to at least giving it a shot.”

Again, Liv groaned, this time even louder. “It’s so annoying when you’re right.”

“Story of my life,” Taylor laughed, while Estela smirked.

When they pulled up at the school, Reggie was already waiting, standing beside the car-park while his parents fussed over him.

“You have your phone?” Grace quizzed, checking for the fourth time since they’d set off.

“I told you, yes!” Reggie replied, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket to wave around for good measure. “I’ll send you a message when I’m ready to be picked up, I promise.”

“In that case, you just have a wonderful time, darling.” She wrapped him in a hug-- already Reggie was easily as tall as her. “Go well, and have fun.”

Liv rushed over, all smiles. Her own nerves were a whole lot less bothersome when she had the distraction of friendly faces.

There were a few more rounds of hugs exchanged-- and then, suddenly, Liv and Reggie were on their own.

“You wanna head over? Looks like people are already crowding around-- it’s probably gonna start soon.”

Reggie’s expression brightened, as if he’d been just waiting for a little push for his confidence to surge back forth. “Well, it will hardly be an auspicious start here if we miss the principal’s address. Get a move on, Livia!”

The morning passed relatively quickly. Liv placed herself next to Reggie at all times-- they’d been put in the same Grade Seven home room as requested, making him one of the eldest in the class, and her one of the youngest. The whole set-up wasn’t entirely different to the school they were accustomed to, other than the bilingual approach. They were given a small pile of boring paperwork, and outlines of what to expect in their new classes; as English was their first language, they’d be taking ‘Spanish as a Second Language’, and Liv was also excited about ‘Nature Studies’, a subject she’d never been offered in America.

As far as Liv was concerned, the most traumatic part of the session was being expected to stand up in front of a room of strangers and give a short spiel about themselves. The perfect opportunity to officially balls-up any chance they might have of making new friends, or at least that was how she saw it. She mumbled down into her chest; something about enjoying hiking and gymnastics, something about liking Batman, and animals, and then she hurriedly sat right back down with flaming cheeks. Reggie, she observed, handled the brief foray into public speaking with rather more poise. Even though he was shy-- perhaps even more than she was-- he seemed able to go into ‘school presentation’ mode, and breeze through. When he sat back down, though, his hands were shaking-- but that was for the eyes of his trusted friend only.

When the lunch break came along, Liv was ravenous; a new and challenging social situation could do that to a person. While Reggie sloped off to the bathrooms, she tested out the school canteen, emerging a little while later with a hot empanada. It wasn’t quite as good as her Mama Estela’s, but it was definitely a step up from what was on offer at her old school. Maybe she could get used to this place….

Liv watched this new world go by all around her as she ate, cross-legged beneath the tree she’d told her cousin to meet her by. Kids moved in their little circles, talking loudly, laughing. Most of them coming into Grade Seven had come from the local primary school, and many knew each-other. Liv and Reggie would be starting out on the outside… and that was daunting. She could not be more grateful that she wasn’t taking this on alone.

Or… at least, she shouldn’t be. The lunchtime queue moved on, the gaggles of kids spread out, and still Reggie hadn’t returned.

Damn, constipated on your first day. Sucks to be you, Reggie.

Tentatively, Liv approached the boys’ bathroom and, having ascertained that no one was watching, slipped in. Her footsteps were unheard, drowned out by the loud, frantic breathing of young Reggie, slumped over the sink. Alarmed, Liv rushed over. Tears were spilling down his cheeks.

“Reggie… it’s okay,” she said gently. A little unsure, she reached out a hand to rub his back, and to her surprise, he didn’t flinch away. Slowly, he seemed to regain control of himself.

“Liv…,” Reggie panted. “You know you’re not meant to be in here; this is the guys’ room.”

“Hey! Like it’s my fault you didn’t take your anxiety attack into the unisex bathroom. That’s on you.” Hmph. Ungrateful, much?

Reggie scowled, and dragged his cousin out of the toilet block by her arm. He slumped down by the wall, and scooched over to encourage her to join him.

“You’re a pain in the arse.” He was still shaking.

“It’s been said, yeah.” Liv huddled a little closer. “You don’t need to worry, okay? You’re not going to have any trouble making friends. Did you see they’ve got a chess club, and a photography club as well? At least that’ll get you talking to people.”

“That’s,” Reggie said quietly, “not exactly what I’m worried about.” When Liv looked at him expectantly, he continued. “When I was in a room with all those kids, my head just went back to being at our old school… and what happened. I know this place is meant to be progressive and all that, but that doesn’t mean that everyone’s okay. What if I think I’ve made friends with someone, and they find out about Erin, and they make it a big thing, and then some arsehole finds out….”

“Man, you’re really spiraling,” Liv observed, not especially helpfully. She wasn’t exactly surprised by what was troubling her cousin; getting into a fight in defense of his young transgender sister had completely unseated Reggie from the comfortable life he’d had at the last school. It had changed everything.

“You would too, if she was your sister!”

“Probably. But I think you should at least give people a go. It sounds like they’re really strict on any kind of bullying against minorities. Swinging back hard in the opposite direction after that fascist dictatorship.”

“Those are some awfully big words for you to be throwing around there, Livia; watch you don’t hurt yourself….”

“Hey! I know my stuff!” Liv demanded. “Do you think my tio abuelo would have it any other way? But anyway, I’m right. All the people who didn’t fit in before have come to this part of the country. Probably a lot of the kids have parents who saw really horrible things in the war; they wouldn’t want to send them somewhere that was bad like before. My Mama ‘Stel gave the principal the grilling of her life, and I bet she hasn’t been the only one. People are gonna want to make sure their kids are being looked after.”

A smile quirked on Reggie’s face as he imagined his aunt on a school tour. “I bet Tia Estela left Principal Sanchez quivering under the desk.”

“Yeah… after what happened in the last school, there’s no way they’d let us go anywhere unless they were sure it was a place that treated people right.”

Reggie knew that much. But his parents, and even his fierce aunt, could not shield himself, his sisters and his cousin, from everything. He contemplated silently, grateful for the patient companionship.

“I guess,” he said at last, “if no one gave anyone else a chance to be anything but the worst, then we’d be pretty lonely.”

“Yup. We should at least give it a shot. And if it all goes in the crapper, I’ll sic my moms on the fools that mess with us. And the freaking yeti.”

Reggie couldn’t help but roll his eyes. That had always been Liv’s answer to everything. “Livia, I hate to break it to you, but if you go around threatening people with yetis, everyone’s gonna think you’ve got a screw loose. Except me; I know you’ve got a screw loose.”

“So damn rude,” Liv growled. “Anyway, you really should eat something. It probably won’t help you feeling crap and light-headed if you’ve got an empty stomach. They’ve got arepas!”

“...I could eat an arepa,” Reggie admitted. There was only so much a young boy of thirteen could control; he couldn’t wave a magic wand and guarantee that his little sister would never be hurt by cruel, ignorant words, but he could look after himself, so that he was the best him he could be-- and the best brother.

_____________________________

USA, 2028

“You did a great job, sweetheart,” Taylor said kindly as Reggie delicately placed his knife and fork atop his small plastic plate, signaling that he’d finished. Immediately afterwards, the little boy’s small hand had dropped to his side to get a reassuring touch of his teddy’s scruffy fur. “It was nice of Big Bear to join us for dinner. Does he like lasagna as much as you do?”

Reggie yawned widely as he nodded to his aunt. He hadn’t known it was possible for a kid to be so full of yawns, but living with newborn twins had shown him just how big a tired feeling could be. “Big Bear likes to watch from the floor.”

“That’s nice of him to let you have the whole plate for yourself. We’re gonna have plenty to bring over to your mommy and daddy for them to eat tomorrow.”

Lasagna had been Reggie’s choice. This whole sleepover was to be all about him; giving him a welcome break from the stresses of being a new big brother to two babies at once. He’d been on many, many sleepovers at Tia Estela and Auntie Taylor’s place before, but this time felt different. Reggie knew that at home, his parents were busy with their other children… and in his sensitive state, it took no time at all for him to miss them.

Twins, Reggie had come to realise, were very hard work. They cried a lot… and his mommy cried a lot, and his daddy cried a lot, and he cried a lot. All crying and no sleeping was not a whole lot of fun. Reggie wanted so badly to get away from the babies, but at the same time he longed to be with his parents. However much fun it was to take a break at his aunts’ place, the worry in him just wouldn’t go away.

Side-by-side, he and Liv changed into their pyjamas. Five-year-old Liv, true to form, nattered away to him the whole time. Babies, of course, were the subject of choice.

“My moms say we’re probably not gonna get another baby. Maybe ‘cos you have two I can borrow one if I get lonely. Do you have one that you like best?”

Reggie shrugged.

“Maybe next time your mom and dad will have three. You could have all these babies like a baby army, and if someone’s ever mean to you, you will have like a hundred poopy diapers you can throw at them. No one likes poop.”

“I don’t want lots more babies,” Reggie said softly. I want no more.

“If you don’t like babies, you can come and live with us forever!” Liv suggested brightly, oblivious the the wobble of her cousin’s bottom lip.

When Estela popped her head around the corner to check on the kids, Reggie was in tears and Liv looked totally bewildered.

“Mommy, Reggie’s crying…,” she pointed out, rather unnecessarily, for her mother had already scooped the little boy into a cuddle.

“It’s okay, mijo,” Estela soothed as she gently rocked her nephew in her arms. “It’s okay to cry. This has been really hard. You know what? You have been such a good boy for Mommy and Daddy.”

Liv, not quite sure what to do, but nothing if not well-meaning, draped herself over Reggie and patted him on the back. “There, there. It’s okay.”

Estela took Reggie into the lounge room for some cheer-up time, and Liv took Big Bear. Taylor quickly joined them, and pulled Reggie into her lap for a cuddle.

“Are you feeling a bit sad, sweetpea?”

Reggie nodded. “Uh-huh. I liked it better how things were before. Everything’s different.”

Taylor gently rubbed the little boy’s arms. “Change can be really tough. It’s like you’ve got to figure out how life works all over again!”

“Yeah, it’s not nice.”

“So, it’s okay to have a good cry. We will give you as many hugs and cuddles as you need.”

“Reggie,” Liv piped up, “do you wanna play a game? That could make you feel happy?”

Reggie sniffed and nodded again. Pleased-- she had this cheering-up business down-- Liv plonked herself in Estela’s lap and leaned forward to her cousin.

“Do you wanna play… ‘Klaawyi Chase’?”

Estela intervened quickly. “Maybe something with a little less running around. It’s nearly bedtime, Livi.”

“Okay. Ummmm…. ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’?”

“Livita.”

Well, you’re no fun. Liv gave a soft huff and pondered. By her best guess, ‘Hide and Seek’ would be a ‘no’ too… especially as last time she’d hid, no one managed to find her for a full hour.

“How about,” Taylor suggested, “we have a game of ‘Fortunately-Unfortunately’?”

“I wanna play that one!” Reggie said enthusiastically. “Can I start? Fortunately, we all had ice cream for dessert.”

Liv bounced in her mother’s lap. “Unfortunately, the ice cream was smelly-feet flavour!”

“Livi!” Taylor exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Why was everything smelly-feet with that kid? “Okay, then-- fortunately, Robin Dog likes smelly-feet, so he ate all the ice cream for us.”

“Oh!” Liv cried. “I’ve got a really good one!” Hehe, Robin with smelly-feet farts….

“Unfortunately,” said Estela. “It was Mama Estela’s turn, and Miss Livita just had to wait.”

Liv turned and poked her tongue out at her mom, making Reggie giggle. He snuggled in against his Auntie Taylor’s chest, his mind far away from worries about his new role as big brother to a pair of very needy twins.

“Fortunately,” he said, smiling, “Furball was visiting, and he made us some new ice cream with no yucky flavours in it.”

“Unfortunately….”

_________________________

San Trobida, September 2035

It was the last weekend before school started, and a lazy warm day at the Montoya house. Estela was up a tree, hammering boards into what would soon be a playhouse for the kids. She’d already finished up a two-storey-high climbing wall on the other side of the yard, which, at Liv’s request, would eventually be connected to the new tree-house by a zipline. Then, there’d be a slide, and monkey bars, and a tyre swing, and a fire pole. Basically, Estela had made it her mission to put together the best backyard playground on the Costa Libertad. Taylor, meanwhile, had been busying herself with a vegetable garden, with the help of a fascinated Erin and her parents, who turned out to be quite clever when it came to soil chemistry.

Liv had been up and down her new climbing wall like a yo-yo, leaving her dog, Robin, running rings around the base and all but tripping Reggie up as he tentatively took his first steps towards ascending.

“Are you coming?”

“I’m trying! Your dog’s getting in the way.”

Eventually, Reggie managed to clamber his way up, with a little help from Liv who hauled him over the top.

“See; piece of cake.”

Reggie couldn’t quite agree, and now that he was up twenty feet, he was already dreading his descent back to solid ground. Keen to distract himself from the dizzying height, he passed Liv the rope that he’d carried slung across his shoulders.

“What do you want me to do with it?” she demanded. “You’re meant to drop one end back down….”

“I’m not going near the edge!”

“Fine. Immy! You down there still?”

On the ground, and trying to wrestle a squeaky toy giraffe from Robin’s mouth, Immy craned her neck up.

“Yeah-- but you’re lucky I am, Reggie was so slow.”

“Careful. I was careful. You should bloody well try it sometime.”

Immy rolled her eyes dramatically, but nonetheless took the rope end that Liv had lowered to her, and ran it over to Estela so the distance could be measured.

“There we go,” Liv said, after having marked the rope at the edge of the platform. “Done. Reggie, if you’re just going to look down, you might as well be on the ground. Come on-- check out the view!”

Begrudgingly, Reggie sat up properly and looked around.

“Woah.” Maybe he could see the appeal of being up so high, even if he was immensely grateful for the safety rails around the platform. “You really can see everything up here.”

“Isn’t it cool?” Liv beamed as she pointed her cousin towards the paddock behind the yard. “You wanted to see our horse? Right in there at the side of the sheltery-shed thing….”

“Oh, wow! Okay, fine, I believe you now. I guess she was just hiding earlier.”

“That’s Miel. She’s like, older than dirt; Mama Estela used to ride her when she was a teenager.”

“And she’s still alive?”

“Just about. I think she’s uh… nearly thirty? Pretty ancient. Mom found out she was all on her own after her friend died, and she bought her so she could retire here with us. She’s kind of a bitey asshole. Uh, the horse-- not Mom.” Liv quickly amended, glancing to the in-progress tree-house. “So, we’re keeping her, and if she wants to make friends with the new horses we’re getting, she can, otherwise at least she can, like, neigh rude horse words at them from over the fence.”

Reggie snorted. Weirdo.

“I’m super excited. I know Mama ‘Stel was kind of nervous about us moving over here because of how things were when she was a kid-- but it actually… feels nice. I love our new house. I love cranky Miel. I love that we’re gonna get chickens, and maybe a new friend for Robin. Even the school seems pretty good.”

Swallowing his fear, Reggie joined Liv at the railing, dangling his legs over the side of the platform.

“Yeah, I think I like it here, too. Mom and Dad seem really happy; Dad says he can make more of a good difference in the world here than in America. So, I guess that’s got to be good. Did I tell you we’re going to put a pool in?”

“You might have mentioned it. When you’ve been whining about the heat, for the hundredth time.”

“It’s so humid!”

Liv giggled. It was like being back in the tropics of La Huerta, and to her, that felt right. Granted, it might have been nicer if they could just pop on over into a neighbouring alpine region that was inexplicably right next to the hot, sticky jungle, but she really loved it.

“Well,” Reggie said, “it’s going to be great. And it should be done by the time Quinn and Michelle come to visit.”

“Do we even know whose house they’re staying at yet?”

“It should be my place.” Reggie puffed out his chest, as if to emphasise the rightness of his point. “You’re definitely getting Jake and Sean and Mikey. You can’t take all the visitors. And besides… we’ll have a pool.”

That was hard to argue with. “It’s up to the adults anyway,” Liv conceded. In the end, it didn’t matter; she was going to make the most of having her La Huerta family around even if it meant camping out in Reggie’s back yard. “But, I will be a much better San Trobida tour guide than you. I’m still showing you around.”

Reggie hmphed, and Liv laughed.

“Come on, Reggie,” she said, dropping gracefully down the side of the wall and taking up hand-holds. “I’m getting hungry.”

It was at that point that Reggie made the sobering discovery that going down, was rather more intimidating than going up a sheer vertical surface.

“Um, Liv…,” he said quietly. “I, uh, don’t think I can do that.”

“Oh!” Liv responded. “Sorry, I forgot you’re new to this. Maybe you should’ve started smaller. But don’t worry, I’ll get you down….”

“Okay…,” he murmured, clearly not remotely convinced.

“Mom!” Liv hollered, all but making her poor cousin topple over the edge in surprise. “Reggie’s stuck!”

Reggie felt heat rise in his cheeks as his sisters, hanging out on the grass below the wall at the worst possible time, burst out laughing. Like they could even get up this high to begin with.

Up in the tree-house, Estela looked up and wiped off the paint from her hands. Rescuing kids from scrapes had pretty much become her specialty at this point; twelve years with Liv had seen to that. “I’m coming,” she called back.

“I’m not exactly stuck,” Reggie muttered defensively, as his Tia Estela easily scaled the climbing wall to join him and Liv, who’d already rejoined him to offer moral support. “If I really wanted to, I could climb down; I just feel I should practice climbing up a few more times before I try that.”

“You’ll get there,” Estela said kindly. As far as she was concerned, the fact that her nephew had a realistic view of his own capabilities was only a good thing. “I’ll have that zipline going in no time anyway, so you’ll have no hurry to work it out.”

With his aunt’s back offered to him, Reggie took the cue and wrapped his long arms around her neck, and his legs around her middle. Getting rescued by one of the team of protective grown-ups? Basically, the story of both his and Liv’s lives.

“Hang on, Regito,” Estela laughed.

____________________________

La Huerta, 2034

The frigid wind howled against the cabin door, and it took all of Liv and Reggie’s combined might to wrestle it closed. Both kids were panting heavily-- and shaking like leaves-- as they nervously stepped away.

“Thank god this little hut was here, really,” Liv heaved. “I dunno about you, but I’d rather be stranded in a snowstorm with walls around me.”

Reggie said nothing, and just shivered, wrapping his arms around his own torso. He’d wrapped up-- as if his parents would let him go wandering into the colder pockets of the island without a heap of layers-- but the snow had wet his gloves through, and a chill was now spreading through his body.

“Hey,” Liv said, “we should… we should get a fire going. You look like you’re halfway turned into a popsicle right now.”

As his cousin busied herself at the fireplace-- thank goodness there was some firewood left-- Reggie fiddled with his emergency phone. His heart sank. No signal. His mom and dad were going to be so worried when he and Liv never came home….

“Uh, Liv… I think the storm’s screwed up the reception here. It won’t let me phone Mom and Dad.”

Liv looked up, and for the first time, she looked truly fearful, her usual intrepid spirit extinguished in a flash. “They’re really gonna panic,” she said softly. She shuddered. If their parents came out looking for them, it meant walking out into a blizzard, and all the danger that came with it. If she could just tell her mothers that she was safe, that she and Reggie had shelter… they could wait out the storm. Anything could happen, anything….

“Are you okay, Livia?” Reggie asked, and he handed her a heavy blanket as he sat down cross-legged in front of her feebly burning fire. “You look kind of spaced-out.”

“Hng?”

“They’ll find us; it’ll be okay.”

“I don’t want them to come and find us,” Liv snapped. “I want them to stay where it’s safe. They could get hurt or, or worse because we were stupid enough not to turn around when the weather changed.” She placed a stick too roughly, and her firewood tower collapsed, extinguishing the flame. “For fuck’s sake!”

Reggie, wisely, stayed quiet, letting his cousin fix up the mess and get a new fire started without interference. He watched her with concern as her eyes welled. “Livia…?”

She huddled close to him, but for a long while, didn’t speak.

“Reggie,” she murmured at last, “something really horrible happened a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t want to talk about it with you, ‘cause… ‘cause I didn’t even want to think about it…. It just made me feel too bad. But, uh.... I was… I was playing in the sea with Mama Estela. Just like we always do. We were just goofing off. Then, um, I got all tangled up in those freaking weeds. They grabbed me and held me under.”

“That must have been so scary….”

“Of course, Mom got me out of there. B-but there was a sea-snake in there. It bit her. It happened so fast… I hardly even saw what happened, but she suddenly just... could hardly even get out of the water. I somehow managed to haul her up out the water, but she was all limp and… and I gave her the anti-venom, and she just started having some kind of fit.. Like her body was jerking around, and her mouth was all frothy.” She gasped through a sob. “Then she… she stopped breathing, completely.” Liv shuddered as the memory filled her mind, vivid as if it were yesterday. She could feel Reggie’s wide, horrified eyes upon her. “I screamed. I screamed for help. Mama Taylor was up the beach, she couldn’t hear me. S-so I did CPR. My hands were shaking so-- so bad. And all I could think was ‘I’m gonna screw this up. I’m gonna screw this up and my mom’s gonna die’.” Her voice cracked and she sputtered through hot tears that she wiped away with her arm. Before she knew it, Reggie had his arms around her and was holding her tight. “I don’t know how long it was,” she said. “It felt like forever, but it was probably only a few minutes. Then she started breathing and I just… I cried, and cried, and cried.”

Reggie gently rubbed Liv’s back, and it soothed her.

“I, uh, I guess I always thought Mama Estela was invincible. To me, she always was. There was nothing I couldn't do either, because she would always be there to protect me. It was so close, Reggie… it looked like she was gone.”

“I… didn’t know it was as bad as that. My dad told me she’d been bitten but…,” Reggie mumbled. “You must have been so scared. Have you… have you talked to your moms about it much?”

Liv sniffed, and wiped her face again. “Yeah. You know what my Mama Taylor is like; we’ve talked it through lots, I’ve told them how I’m feeling. But I haven’t… like… had a big cry since it happened.” Until now. Now, she just couldn’t seem to stop the tears from coming. Reggie didn’t seem to mind; he just sat with her, and rubbed her back, and told her it was okay.

After what seemed like an age, her tears slowed.

“It is going to be okay, you know?” Reggie said gently. “Obviously, they’re going to come out looking for us, but they’re smart. They’ll be prepared; just like your Mama Estela was with the anti-venom.”

“Yeah…,” Liv said, her voice small. You could be as prepared as you wanted, but sometimes the world managed to stay one step ahead. The storm outside was wild and furious, battering on the roof and walls… and it was frightening. Liv could only snuggle under her cousin’s arm, and trust that whatever search and rescue party was out there would come through.

The two kids huddled together beneath their blanket, speaking little, but making their mutual support known without words. Just the squeeze of a hand through the most blood-curdling howls of the wind, and the simple offer of presence.

Somehow, the creak of the door shoved open cut through the dull roar.

“Oh, thank goodness!”

“Dad!” Reggie leapt forward and flung his arms around his father, his face lighting up further when Grace followed in behind. “Mom!”

Grace put her shaking hands to her son’s face, gently sweeping hair from his eyes. “Darling, are you all right?” Then she pulled Liv into a fierce hug, and in a moment Aleister had his arms around all three of them. “We were so worried!”

Liv whimpered against Grace’s shoulder. “Are my moms out in the storm?” She knew the answer already.

“Yes, honey. They’re out searching for you. Don’t you stress, okay? We’ve got a flare to set off so they’ll know we found you here-- and Varyyn and Diego too.”

“Woah,” Liv murmured, “you got a whole search party out.”

There was a buzzing, and the flickering of blue light, then Iris materialised.

Reggie beamed. “Hey, Grandma! So, a ‘whole search party’ is pretty much correct.”

“I will say, being able to scan for nearby lifeforms is quite handy in situations like these.”

So, find my moms and Tio Diego. Liv hugged tighter to her Auntie Grace, with no words pleading for help.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Grace said gently, stroking Liv’s face, while Aleister saw to setting off the flare. “It’s going to be just fine. We’re not far from Elyys’tel; we all fanned out from there, so no one is going to be too deep into the mountains.”

That… actually made sense. It was enough, just enough to keep Liv a step above panic-mode. She headed back to the fireplace, but as her backside hit the floor, a guttural roar rocked the cabin, and she leapt back to her feet.

“What the--?”

“You two stay back!” Aleister ordered, his voice shaking. Why, oh why, did the children want to go gallivanting out in the frozen wilderness when there was a perfectly serviceable tropical paradise right outside their front door? He was going to be old before his time at this rate….

Grace, though, was already hauling open the door, to reveal the hulking figure of the Mountain Guardian.

A growl rumbling in her throat, Arktos loomed in the doorway, looking down at Grace with a questioning gaze.

“Hello…?” she said cautiously. The gigantic bear-like creature was generally reasonably friendly…. “Did we… did we disturb you with the flare?”

Arktos grumbled, her furry ears flicking with curiosity.

“Our friends are out there in the storm,” Grace continued, certain that the yeti would understand; her past experiences had only supported the fact that this creature was incredibly intelligent-- and benevolent. “The flare was to bring them to this cabin.”

With a soft huff, Arktos shuffled backwards, and all of a sudden, it seemed as though she was surrounded by a force-field… a bubble that the wind and blinding snow couldn’t penetrate.

Understanding, Grace turned to Iris. “I think we’re going hiking again-- with a little extra help this time. Al, you’ll stay and watch the kids?”

“I--I--” Aleister stuttered. “Well, of course. Stay close to the… the bear thing.” Scrambling a little, he pulled off his outer layer and offered it to her. “I won’t have you catching hypothermia.”

And Grace stepped into the snow, Iris hovering behind her, and found shelter in the yeti’s protective shield. She looked up at the beast, now rearing up onto colossal hind legs to scout for signs of nearby human activity. “Thank you, Arktos. I guess… I guess, you choose the direction, and we’ll start the search.”

The unusual trio headed out into the storm, and within moments, they were invisible for the wind thick with snow. Aleister, a look of dumbfoundment upon his face, closed the door, and again, the cabin was quiet.

“Damn. Auntie Grace is a fricking badass,” Liv breathed, face alight in awe.

Aleister, recovering from his wife’s shock exit quickly-- he’d seen her steely courage in action enough times to just about take it in his stride, nodded. “Indeed.” He brushed the last flakes of snow from his coat, and looked around the room. “Well, I don’t suppose the wait will pass any faster with us standing around here. Reggie, did we leave any board-games here last time?”

“Uh, looks like we’ve got ‘Scrabble’?”

Well, Liv thought, I don’t have a hope in hell against these people. Should’ve left ‘Twister’ here….

Reggie sat himself down in front of the crackling fire and started unpacking the box. “Hey, Livia-- team up with me?”

He was clearly still a little worried about her. If there was an opportunity to thrash her at something, Mr Pedantic-Always-Right would take it without fail. Or so Liv had believed.

She plonked down cross-legged beside him. “Yeah? Yeah, all right.”

The two kids exchanged a high five, and Liv couldn’t help but grin. You are going down, Uncle Al.

___________________________

San Trobida, September 2035

As the car pulled up the neatly paved pathway to Aleister and Grace’s house, Liv excitedly rolled down the window.

“Reginaaaaald!!!” she hollered.

“How,” Aleister wondered aloud, “can such a small person-- and the offspring of Estela and Diego of all people-- sound so eerily like a bloody foghorn?”

A beaming Reggie followed his father out the front door. He exchanged hugs with both his parents-- and his two little sisters-- and then rushed to join his cousin on the back seat.

“Are you ready to go, mijo?” Estela checked in, suppressing a laugh as Taylor all but did a contortion act to give her nephew a hug from the front seat.

He had Liv, didn’t he? So, basically, he was ready for anything.

The short drive to the school saw the return of those pesky jitters, and Reggie knew from the way his cousin jiggled her leg the whole way there that he was definitely not alone in that. The school ground, filled only with kids their own age when they’d been there for orientation, was swarming with adolescents of all sizes-- and just about all of them were bigger than Reggie and Liv.

With an awkward hug and a kiss to her mothers in the front of the car, Liv bit the bullet and, bulging backpack in hand, stepped out into a brave new world. There was only one thing for it; Reggie would just have to take the plunge. He swung his backpack over his shoulder, and followed after his cousin.

“Welp,” said Liv, “here goes nothing!”

Reggie gave a nervous laugh and playfully bashed Liv with his backpack, putting a reassuringly silly grin on her face.

We’ve got this.

_______________________

NOTES

Little Xiraana is @mauvecatfic's baby. Check out her stories; you won't regret it!

If you read 'A Ride to Remember', you might remember Miel. She's the very same horse.

Aaaaand, the incident Liv is recounting during the snowstorm is the one you can read from Estela's perspective in 'Teething Problems: Part Two'.

#endless summer #playchoices #liv montoya #reggie hall #graleister #estela x mc #estela montoya #grace hall #aleister rourke #diego soto

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comic-book-jawns · 4 years

Text

A Proper Date

“You sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, ’course. I’m with you.”

Jamie gave her an easy smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. And from the way her upper body was fidgeting, Dani could tell her legs were shaking under the table.

It happened sometimes when they were on the road for a while, especially if Jamie wasn’t driving. It was Dani’s cue to pull over, wherever they might be. Jamie would protest, and Dani would say that Jamie was perfectly welcome to stay in the car if she wanted to, but she was getting out to stretch. And Jamie would crack that crooked smile and follow her out.

Recently, Jamie had finally grown comfortable enough not to protest. And she’d been the one driving today, anyway, though it had been a long trek. Jamie had been insistent on making it to D.C. for their one-month anniversary, so they could go to a fancy restaurant for a proper date.

All Dani cared about was making Jamie happy, and Jamie had been so eager, so excited all week. But now, the day had finally come, and Jamie’s demeanor had changed. She was affectionate, as always, but not nearly as flirty, not as talkative, period. Dani had tried to suggest they do something more low-key, but Jamie had maintained this was what she wanted.

But here she was, wearing the same outfit she’d worn to Owen’s mum’s funeral, compulsively sliding the corner of her paper menu in and out of its leather holder. Dani had bought appropriate attire once they’d arrived in the city that afternoon, and cheeky Jamie had finally made a reappearance, but only briefly.

Dani wouldn’t have thought she would miss getting teased so much, but she would now gladly make a fool of herself if it meant just getting Jamie to give her a genuine smile. She was having a hard time getting Jamie to even look at her, though. When Jamie wasn’t burying her face in the menu, her eyes were darting from table to table.

She was starting to think that maybe Jamie was having second thoughts about going on a date in public with her. After all, they weren’t exactly inconspicuous in a dining room chock full of heteronormativity. But that had never seemed to bother Jamie before. They were cautious, of course, about PDA, always aware of their surroundings, but Jamie had never seemed scared of it.

Just then, Jamie reached across the table, took her hand and squeezed it, even flashed a quick grin. Was that a warmer smile than the last? In any case, Dani’s theory had been disproven. So what was it? It was almost like Jamie had never...

Dani wished she could kick herself under the table, even moreso when she saw their waiter returning.

“Do you ladies know what you’d like to drink?”

Jamie looked at Dani expectantly.

“Actually, I’m sorry. I think we’re gonna have to take a rain check. I’m not feeling too well.”

She got up, grabbing her clutch.

“Dani?”

Poor Jamie looked even more nervous now, caught off-guard. Wordlessly, Dani walked around the table as the waiter frantically moved out of her way, retook Jamie’s hand and pulled her along behind her until they made it outside. Then, she turned back to face Jamie, who seemed on the verge of tears.

“I’m so sorry! I should’a been payin’ more atten- ”

Dani pulled her into hug, cradling her head.

“Shh... it’s okay. I’m okay. I just needed an excuse to get us out of there.”

“What?”

Her voice had jumped an octave, and Dani had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. It wasn’t that it was funny, really, but it kinda was. Jamie had gotten herself all stressed out trying to make Dani happy, while Dani had been trying to do the the exact opposite to make Jamie happy. They really were quite a pair.

Dani pulled back, cupping Jamie’s bewildered face.

“Jamie, I need you to be honest with me, okay?”

She nodded.

“What do you want to do tonight?”

“I - ”

Her eyes shifted back to the restaurant.

“Don’t think of it as a date. Just as... as any other day... We’re here in D.C. Where do you want to go?”

Dani could see she was starting to calm down, but she still looked hesitant.

“First place that comes to mind.”

Finally, Dani saw a spark returning to those hazel eyes.

*****

Half an hour later they were lounging on a green on The Mall, burgers in hand. Jamie’s first thought had been walking The Mall, but she’d dismissed it just as quickly. Dani was having one of her tired days — not that she would admit it, but Jamie could always tell. It’s why she’d insisted on driving, though Dani hadn’t napped as much as she’d hoped she would.

She flipped onto her stomach, leaning on her forearms, so she could face Dani who was lying on her back, one arm propping up her head.

“Thank you.”

She smiled shyly as Dani grinned.

“Black-tie isn’t really my style, anyway.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow as her gaze wandered to Dani’s slim-cut dress.

“Could’a fooled me.”

Giggling, Dani gripped Jamie’s chin, sat up, putting her half-eaten burger back on its wrapper, then leaned in to kiss Jamie’s already blushing cheek.

“I forgot something in the car. Be back in a sec.”

“Okay.”

Jamie watched her for a moment, then put her own half-eaten burger on its wrapper, turned back onto her back and sat up, hugging her knees with one hand and grazing the grass beside their blanket with the other. She still didn’t quite understand how she was lucky enough to have a girlfriend who had not just willingly — but happily, purposefully — abandoned a 5-star restaurant for a make-shift fast food picnic just so she would feel more comfortable.

Suddenly, her head jerked forward as something hit it from behind.

“Oi!”

She looked back to find a football — or soccer ball, as Dani had so blasphemously called it when Jamie had bought it a couple weeks back — rolling to stop in the grass. She looked up to find Dani frozen in horror on the edge of the green, hands covering her mouth. Jamie felt the corners of her mouth twitch.

“What was that for, then?!”

Dani started rushing over, blushing furiously.

“I’m so sorry! I meant to hit your back.”

“Right... ” Jamie cocked her head, smirking. “Poppins, why ya tryna hit me with a football?”

Dani slowed to a stop, kneeling down beside her and grabbing the ball.

“You’ve been uptight all day. You need to blow off some steam.” She looked up, smiling. Jamie’s smirk dissipated. “So please go run around.”

Dani held out the ball to her. For a moment, Jamie just gaped at her, but then she shook her head.

“Jamie, do you know how many times you’ve changed positions since we sat down?”

“I’m - ”

“Jamie - ”

“I can’t! This is ma first - ”

She’d kept it to herself all day, and now, in the eleventh hour, just when things were turning around, she’d finally let it slip. Her mouth went dry. She looked down and scratched the back of her neck, trying to think of a way to salvage this. It wasn’t a bell she could unring, or laugh off.

But the longer she waited, the more awkward it would be. She reluctantly looked up to find Dani... still smiling. No hint of discomfort or even surprise. Huh... oh.

Jamie looked down again, laughing nervously. Dani’s behavior was making more sense now. And Jamie really did appreciate how sweet she was being — how sweet she’d been all night — more than she could say, but...

“I - I just, I want to... I have to do this properly.”

“Says who?”

She looked back up and went to object but couldn’t think of what to say. Dani winked and offered the ball again.

Finally, Dani’s persistence was rewarded with her favorite lopsided grin. But she couldn’t dwell on it for long. Suddenly, the ball slipped out of her grasp as Jamie’s lips crashed into hers, sending her toppling back. As she laughed, Jamie pulled back, brushing Dani’s hair out of her face.

“Ya know... ”

Smiling, Dani interlaced Jamie’s hand with hers.

“There will be plenty of time for that when we get to our room, but I’m not letting you stay all wound up until then. Go score some touchdowns.”

Ever since Jamie had “chastised” her for calling it a soccer ball, Dani had decided to lean into it just to frustrate her. But Jamie just laughed.

“What about you?”

Dani smirked.

“Who do you think you’re supposed to be showing off for?”

*****

For the next hour, Jamie had run around barefoot — dribbling, scoring “touchdowns” between trees, kicking the ball up to herself and bouncing it on her thighs — as Dani cheered her on. For someone who’d apparently never played on an actual team, she was pretty incredible, Dani thought.

That being said, she had managed to hit herself in the head, thanks to a wayward bounce off a tree. Dani had jumped up immediately, feeling all the more guilty for her own wayward shot earlier. By the time she’d made it to Jamie, a red mark was already taking up half her face.

But Jamie herself had been rolling on the ground laughing, clutching her stomach as tears streamed down her face. And that... that was proper first date material, as far as Dani was concerned.

Soon after, they’d gotten back in the car for the 20 or so minute drive to the motel they would be staying in, and Jamie had promptly passed out in the passenger seat.

Dani smiled now as she returned to the car after checking them in. Jamie was still out cold, which presented her with a decidedly adorable dilemma. There was no way she could carry Jamie up the stairs to their second floor room. Maybe someday, but for the time being, even the first floor might’ve been a non-starter considering Dani could only just barely lift her.

She knew because she’d tried once while they’d been making out, managed to hike Jamie up all the way to her waist. And Jamie had been very impressed. But no sooner had they resumed than had Dani’s arms and legs, already shaking under the strain, given out, sending them both tumbling to the floor laughing hysterically.

Dani imagined a repeat onto concrete would be decidedly less amusing, so that left waking her up. But she just looked so peaceful that Dani couldn’t bring herself to.

*****

Jamie wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was still dark when she’d woken up to find Dani sound asleep behind her in the passenger seat, which Dani had apparently reclined as far as it would go. It had taken Jamie a moment to get her bearings. The last thing she remembered was getting into the car.

But then she’d started putting the pieces together; and feeling Dani’s chin resting on her shoulder, Dani’s arm wrapped around her, squeezing them into this seat definitely not meant for two, Jamie well and truly could have cried.

But she’d had more pressing matters to attend to. Reaching around blindly, she’d found their room key in the cupholder, gently extricated herself from Dani, opened the car door, then turned around to scoop Dani up. After gently sliding her off the seat, Jamie had readjusted her a couple times, until her head had finally slumped against Jamie’s shoulder, instead of uncomfortably lolling back against nothing.

“There we are.”

“Mmm.”

Evidently, Dani agreed. Laughing softly, Jamie had kissed the top of her head, then set off.

It hadn’t been easy, exactly. Tiny as she was, Dani still had a few pounds on Flora, and Jamie’s legs had already started to cramp from all her frolicking around The Mall. But she’d handled the strain, welcomed it even after everything Dani had done for her in the past few hours alone.

Thirty minutes later, Jamie was sliding into bed, now thoroughly exhausted. As it turned out, getting Dani changed into her pajamas had been the more difficult task. Every time she’d touched her, Dani, still mostly asleep, had giggled and squirmed like Jamie was tickling her — which, after a certain point, Jamie was, making things exponentially more challenging for herself.

But it had been worth it. Finally, she’d gotten Dani, now clad in a T-shirt and shorts, tucked in; gotten changed and washed up herself in all of five minutes; and could now sink into the left side of their bed. They’d switched sides a few weeks ago, after Jamie had had a nightmare; and it was then, too, that Jamie had made a tacit promise not to run away if she started feeling scared or upset or otherwise emotional.

So she remained in place when the tears finally came as she processed her milestone. It had certainly not gone to plan, her plan anyway; but, in fact, it had gone far better than she ever could have planned, or dreamed for that matter.

She felt a tugging on the corner of her T-shirt, then saw Dani slide over. But Dani’s eyes remained closed, and she continued tugging. For a moment, Jamie thought Dani herself was having a nightmare, but she seemed calm. And then it hit her: Dani was trying to turn her onto her side.

Jamie gave her an assist and immediately felt Dani’s arm wrap around her back, rubbing it. Then, she felt Dani’s other hand gently press her head down onto her chest before softly smoothing her hair. As she closed her eyes, she felt Dani sigh.

And with that, Jamie, for the first time in her life, happily cried herself back to sleep.

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lupins-sweater · 4 years

Text

Silly Goose

(Remus Lupin x Reader)

Requested by the lovely @poppin-potter

Summary: Reader takes care of drunk Remus

Warnings: Drinking/ Alcohol, food

Sorry about the really infrequent posting; school is starting, and it’s been awful trying to juggle this and getting ready for school. Once school resumes on the 19th, posting will be even more infrequent. You can still request things, but just know it’ll take forever to get to. It’s been very stressful considering I have to go back in person, and my school isn’t doing a lot to prevent the spread. I will be trying to catch up on other’s fics in the meantime though.

The Gryffindor common room was packed with students from every house; it was the last day of OWLS. The most popular songs blasted through the stereos causing people to sing and dance in time with the music. Of course alcohol was involved. How could it not be? After weeks of slaving over review materials, everyone was ready to let loose and relax. Even Remus Lupin, a friend of a friend. This friend, being Lily Evans, was your roommate since fourth year.

You knew he was one of the popular boys in school along with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. It made sense they were well known though. Except for Pettigrew, they were all smart, handsome, funny boys who knew their way around the rules. From what Lily has told you and the short conversations you’ve had with them, you kind of figured out their personalities. Potter was cocky and reckless; he was usually found either with the boys planning something or chasing your red haired friend around. Black was loud and a complete tease; he was always flirting and shooting winks your way. Pettigrew was...quiet and a little creepy; he also was a mouth breather, so he got in your nerves. And Lupin was also quiet, intelligent, and sarcastic; you sat next to him for a couple classes, and you tried your best not to laugh at his little remarks about the content. He noticed your struggle to keep it together when he whispered his comments into your ear when the professor wasn’t looking. To keep it together as in not to burst out laughing, but you did melt a little when you could smell his cologne and chocolate on his breath.

You also found out he was a werewolf after seeing him in the hospital wing every month during your shifts. Volunteering to help heal students back to health is what brought you closer to Remus. Although his friends kept him plenty of company, you wanted wanted to make sure his couple days at the wing weren’t lonely. He admitted he was a werewolf when you asked, not so smoothly, where did he get all the scars and how he got hurt every month. You felt awful after asking, but he was okay with it. He knew you were friends with Lily, and from what he could tell, you were trustworthy.

You were seated on a velvet love seat next to Lily and your best friend, Y/F’s/N. They were talking about dating which didn’t interest you, so you stared into space daydreaming about about a trip to Italy. Lily rudely interrupted your visions of running through an art museum by poking your arm. You looked at her slightly annoyed and hummed in response.

“What about you? Do you have your eyes on someone?” she asked. She already knew the truth, but she wanted to hear you admit you had feelings for the tall werewolf. Your quick glances and nervous behavior didn’t go unnoticed.

“No. Not that I can think of,” you lied. You returned you gaze back to the wall, hoping you could go back to daydreaming, so you didn’t have to continue the conversation.

“Really? Not even Remus?” Lily teased. “Could have been fooled.”

Loud laughing distracted you from coming up with a smart ass reply. You and your friends swiveled around to see the Marauders laughing about something. Whatever it was, it seemed hilarious. You didn’t even realise you were smiling when you observed Remus doubled over laughing; his smile wide and eyes teary.

“Don’t you think Remus is so cute, Y/N?” Y/F’s/N pokes you.

Your face felt hot as you tore your gaze away from the sandy haired boy.

“Ooo you do! Why don’t you ask him out? He’s right over there,” Lily pushed you.

“Nooo. I could never do that!” you objected.

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t like me in that way! I’ll just embarrass myself.”

“Whatever you say,” Lily sang raising her eyebrows in response.

----

As the clock’s hands inched closer to two a.m., the students began to filter out the common room. The only people left were the Marauders, you, and Lily. The boys were clearly drunk as they slurred their way through plans of future pranks. You got up from your spot and began to pick up the cups strewn around the floor and coffee table.

“Do you need help?” Lily asked with a yawn.

“Nah. I’m fine. Maybe you could help the boys up the stairs,” you laughed as you watched them stumble to the boys dorm, “looks like they need it.”

“Ha ha yeah. I’ll help James and Sirius if you help Remus.”

“What? That wasn’t part of the deal!” You could feel the heat on your face as you looked past Lily to see Remus waving at you and stumbling backward.

“Maybe. Alright. What about this? I’ll help Sirius and James and pick up the rest of the rubbish if you take care of Remus.”

“Fine. If that means you’ll stop telling me to ask him out.”

She rolled her eyes “I only want you to get yourself a man; you complain about not having a boyfriend.”

That was one hundred percent true. You didn’t want to sound desperate, but you were kinda lonely and felt like you were mature enough to try dating. You also wouldn’t admit this out loud, but you were jealous of your friends who went on dates during Hogsmeade trips, leaving you alone.

You walked over to the sweater clad boy on the small desk and waved.

“Hello,” he greeted in a quiet voice and waved back.

“All right, Rem. Let’s get you to bed.” You reached your hand out to show you wanted him to follow you. He hopped off the desk and pulls you in for warm hug. Your thoughts could be best described as a giant exclamation point; the hug was totally unexpected as Remus wasn’t a fan of pda, and since you had a crush on him, the butterflies in your stomach threatened to spill.

“I like it when you call me that. It makes me very happy,” he admitted with a pleased smile.

“What? Rem?” you giggled as you tried to wriggle yourself out of his grip.

“Mhmm” he let you grab his arm and walk up the stairs one step at a time.

You felt your arm tug as you tried taking another step and looked down. Remus had apparently tripped.

“Oh dear. Come on,” you helped pull him back on his feet. Once he’s standing again, he brings his arm around your shoulders for support. The smell of alcohol hung off his breath as you wondered how much he had. Either he was really happy the year ended or his week had been rough.

You pulled your wand out of your sweater pocket and muttered a spell to get into the boys’ dorm.

“You’re so smart,” he praised you.

“Thanks...so are you.” Wow. This is awkward.

“No. You’re crazy smart,” he reiterated with a lopsided smile,“ and cute.”

“My goodness. We’re confident today. You’re pretty good looking yourself,” you sent a wink his way as the blush returned from earlier.

The two of you finally made it to his dorm room; the other three occupants were laying in bed. You guided him to the four poster bed to the farthest side on the right wall and took off his shoes when he sat down.

“Okay. I’m going to go get you something to eat soon, but I need you to get dressed in pajamas. Are they in your trunk?”

“Ooo food! Yes. The trunk,” he rubbed his eyes and watched contently as you rummaged through his trunk. You grabbed a water bottle and a pair of blue matching pajamas.

“Thank you, Y/N!” He unscrewed the cap and started chugging its contents causing you to cover your mouth in an attempt to not laugh. The rest of the boys were trying to sleep.

“Try not to drink the whole thing!”

He stopped to shoot you an incredulous look. “But I’m thirsty.”

You laughed silently and moved toward the door.

“Wait. Don’t leave me! Stayyyy,” he whined, “I promise I won’t drink all the water.”

“I’ll be right back. I’m just getting you a snack.”

“Oh! Silly goose.”

You laughed at the odd phrase. “What? Me?”

“No me. I forgot you were getting food.”

“Get dressed, Rem,” you pointed to the clothes on his lap. He smiled in return.

——

You got back from the kitchens with some crackers without getting caught surprisingly and noticed Remus had fallen asleep. Smiling to yourself, you walked into the bathroom and grabbed the bin to set next to his bed.

You tiptoed your way to his bed, careful not to wake the others. He did in fact get dressed in the pajamas you gave him but the shirt was buttoned incorrectly. You resisted the urge to fix it and set down the crackers and bin.

Before leaving you got out a piece of parchment and a quill from his school bag propped up next to the nightstand.

You were feeling a little brave, so you wrote:

Hello, Rem! (Or silly goose as you called yourself)

How did you sleep? Hope you’re feeling good. Your water is on the stand, and I left some crackers for you. The bin is on the floor if you need it.

You looked like you had a great time last night. Who knew you would be so clingy when drunk? Don’t worry; you didn’t do anything stupid.

It was nice to talk to you outside of the hospital wing and class. Maybe we can study in the library next week? I’d love to get to know you better.

-Y/N

You then left to go to bed in your own dorm, glad Lily pushed you to take care of Remus.

——

General HP tag list

@summer-writes @masterofthedarkness @iliveiloveiwrite @siriusly-addicted-to-writing @nebulablakemurphy @obsessedwithrandomthings @haphazardhufflepuff @firewhisky-kisses

#remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x y/n #remus lupin x you #remus x y/n #remus x you

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kashimos-hajime · 5 years

Text

cookies and rings and things | b.b.

summary: “What do you want for Christmas?” “I’ve got everything I want right here.”

WARNINGS: swearing, but it’s all soft, cute and just love!!! lots of love :) pairing: bucky barnes x fem!reader word count: 8.3k

a/n: written for @sunmoonandbucky for no particular reason other than i saw that she needed fluff and i was more than happy to provide. make sure y’all show her some love bc she just ACED AN AUDITION and literally,, i love her,,, so much,,, NOW HAS A SEQUEL TITLED: POSITIVELY PERFECT

“How much do you love me?” she asks, winter gleaming on her bare skin and firelight playing in her eyes. It’s Boxing Day of 2024, the first truly normal one after the Blip, and Bucky watches as snow falls like feathersoft stars outside his window at the compound.

“Count the snowflakes, multiply by a million.”

“Big number,” she muses and he can feel her nails scratch at his waist lightly as her socked feet nudge against his. He wonders what kinda insane person wears socks without any clothes on, but then decides that it’s the kind of person who’s fallen in love with him.

“Well, I love you more than that,” he replies. She wrinkles her nose and snuggles in tighter against him. The fur lining of those ridiculous reading socks tickle the inside of his calf as she curls against him and he doesn’t think he should be able to love a girl this much. Then, he can feel the cold metal of the ring she slid onto her own finger less than twenty-four hours ago and realizes that he had thought a lot of things shouldn’t be possible, and yet they still are.

“Dork,” she murmurs against his neck.

“Lover,” he replies against her ear.

Bucky doesn’t mean to notice her. He’s running laps around the newly rebuilt compound, she has a whistle in her mouth as she shouts drills around the metal thing. Sharp cracks of ‘Pick up the pace!’ and ‘Move it, kids!’ nip at his ears when he runs by and Sam says something about how he’s getting distracted. He hadn’t realized at all.

“Who’s she?” he asks, wiping the sweat from his brow. He’s just finished five laps and he stands on the inner edge of the track, watching as recruits run past. A towel is slung over his shoulder and Sam skids to a stop in front of him, stepping in beside the soldier. The rookies’ shirts are soaked and they pant as they whip past, but none dare to slow down when she stands waiting just a few metres away.

“New trainer.” Sam’s got a glint in his eye Bucky thinks he knows when he says her name. He’s just getting to know the guy but he’s a pretty easy book to read anyway. “Heard she’s a hard ass on the newbies but it’s ‘cause she has a rep.”

“Then they’re getting what they signed up for,” he says shortly. Despite the cool autumn breeze brushing against the thick heat of his neck, his heart burns into his chest as he heaves another breath.

“Alright, walk it off. We meet by the pool in fifteen.” She catches their attention again, and Bucky notices she’s wearing a half-zipped up windbreaker and joggers, and nothing underneath. Not that he intends to notice. Her hair is tied up back, and he kinda can’t help but look at her neck and her collarbones and, oh, no, he’s looking at her black sports bra—

“Dude.” He blinks at Sam’s amused snap. “You’re staring.”

“Shut up.” Bucky’s voice roughens up as his cheeks begin to flash red and he hides his face in his towel when Sam nudges him with a sweaty elbow.

“She’s cute. I can get you her number,” Sam says but Bucky lets out such a strangled sound that both Sam and the cute trainer look at him.

If it were possible, Bucky’s skin would melt off.

“Hey,” Sam calls her over by a name Bucky can barely hear because he’s too busy staring at his feet and wishing the ground would swallow him up. “You’re the new trainer, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Her voice is so much softer than before. Guess it’s like that when you’re not yelling at recruits and talking to Avengers. Bucky raises his head, absently running a hand through the few strands of hair that’ve fallen from his ponytail. “You’re Sam, right? I feel like we’ve met before.” She cocks her eyebrow and tilts her head. “Did you use to live in Washington?”

“Yeah, I did.” Sam’s smile pinches his cheeks and Bucky’s lips press together in a displeased frown when a grin flickers across her face. “Did you work in the VA? ‘Cause you’re starting to look familiar.”

“Yeah.” When she smiles, it morphs her face into something startling warm and lovely. Bucky dips his head low, trying to act like he’s not really part of the conversation—a mere bystander—because if he looks at her for too long, he knows it’s just too intense to be anything but creepy. “I think we used to bump into each other at the gym. I was a physical therapist at the office, and—”

“You made cookies any chance you got, I remember now!” Sam exclaims and she laughs loudly. “You always made my vets’ day when your cookies came in, so thank you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m here now. It’s funny how life works.” She shrugs and Bucky can feel her gaze land on him. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.” Her name slips off her tongue like poetry and Bucky, midway through a swipe of sweat down his neck, looks at her with narrowed eyes. He doesn’t mean to glare, but he’s caught so off-guard by the sudden change in direction of their conversation that he isn’t even a part of that his face reverts to something less than friendly.

“Bucky,” he says stiffly, although he doesn’t know why she doesn’t know the names of every Avenger. She probably does and is just being polite, a stern voice in Bucky’s head reprimands and he can feel Sam almost sigh in disappointment. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too. You haven’t tried my cookies yet, so I haven’t proven my worth but I promise they’ll change your life,” she says, completely unphased. Bucky guesses she’s more than used to grumpy guys. “Fall equinox is tomorrow, so wait just a tiny bit longer?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Bucky doesn’t understand the question at the end of her sentence but she seems satisfied with his answer as she shoves her hands into the pockets of her windbreaker. “You probably have to get back to work,” he adds lamely and she turns to look at the compound. The autumn breeze curls hair against her cheek and Bucky bites his lip to resist the urge.

“I’m free later tonight,” she says, eyes squinting a bit when she turns back to Bucky and Sam clears his throat when Bucky himself doesn’t say a word. It’s like he’s drowning in her eyes. There’s something so effortlessly patient and warm in her gaze that Bucky can’t help but just… rest. It’s almost as if he can rest in her presence.

“So is Barnes.”

“What?” He snaps back to reality harshly, as usual. “We’re supposed to—“

“Actually, I can handle it on my own. She, however—” At this, Sam gestures wildly to the trainer who stands there, the beginnings of an amused grin growing on her face—“needs help with cookies.”

“I can’t,” he croaks after a minute of stuttering, and he simply clamps his mouth shut, averting his eyes. She’s too pretty for him.

“I mean, company is always welcome,” she says, but he shakes his head.

“I’ll just get in your way and I don’t wanna mess up your cookies.”

“You can’t mess them up. I always think of something and it always works out.” She reaches over to take hold of his flesh arm and despite the coolness of the day when they’re not running their lungs out, her hand burns against his skin. She gently squeezes his elbow. “Don’t worry so much, okay? I’ll be in the kitchen after dinner in the mess.”

She lets go too soon and slips her hand back into her pocket as Bucky opens his mouth to reply.

“I’ve got to go to the pool,” she says, jerking her head towards the compound. Her eyes flicker to Sam whose grin nearly splits his face. “Bye, Sam. It was nice seeing you again, although I suppose we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now.”

“Big building,” he says with a shrug. “Who knows?” She chuckles lightly, and then her gaze slides to Bucky.

Her eyes just seem to find his so calmly. It’s magnetic, and if he believed in love at first sight, this would be it.

“See you later, Sergeant.” She magpie salutes and he can’t help but mimic like a monkey, a lazy swipe of his finger from his brow. It’s so relaxed, so slow and he’s slouched on one hip, his metal hand on his towel, that he thinks he’s never felt so light. It’s almost routine—he could get used to this.

Man, it’s so easy with her.

Her smile brightens remarkably and she heads back to the compound with a little spring in her step.

Sam waits until she’s inside before grabbing Bucky by the neck and giving him a noogie.

“You gotta dress up nice, man,” Sam advises like he’s on the same level as Tan from Queer Eye. Bucky stares at his reflection in the floor-length mirror and frowns in response.

“We’re baking, not going to a gala.” Maybe I should take her to one. Get invited to enough of them as it is, a part of him muses, but he quickly chases that thought of his head. “Besides, she just saw us earlier today sweating like dogs so I don’t really think she’ll care if I show up in a t-shirt and shorts.”

“But this is your first date, man. You gotta dress to impress.” Sam shuffles through Bucky’s closet whilst its owner gapes at him.

“It’s not a date.”

“Yeah, and I’m not Captain America.”

“Shut up, Sam.” Bucky catches the pair of dark washed jeans and a cozy little sweater Wanda said would be cute on him. Glancing at his reflection in the mirror, he sighs. The warm white and the dark blue are so not his style. His style is black in different shades and fabrics and he is going to kill Sam. “This? I’ll look like—”

“Husband material. You’ll look like a straight up husband. She will cuff you on the spot,” Sam declares much to Bucky’s annoyance. “Are you gonna wear the photostatic veil Banner programmed for you?” He glances over to see Sam holding the mesh of tech, and he frowns thoughtfully.

“Should I?” He hasn’t had the opportunity to try it on, and although he knows everyone is used to his metal arm… He sighs. This is way more complicated than the forties. “Yeah. Good impression, right?” he says lamely and Sam claps him on the back, helping him seal it to his metal arm. As the nano-sized cells connect to the metal plates, a fleshy color blooms from the shoulder down and he feels like silk brushes against the tiny fibers of his arm. He can feel every single little cell, buzzing in a way that’s barely even noticeable. Bucky hopes that when he doesn’t focus on it, it’ll fade into the back of his mind.

“Atta boy. Come on. We’ve got dinner and then it’s time for your date! Wanda made paprikash.”

“Great,” Bucky intones dully, nerves biting at his stomach. He has no appetite for this. “I love paprikash.”

“We don’t sulk on first dates, Barnes.”

“It’s not a fucking date!”

After a dinner full of questions from Dr. Banner on how the photostatic veil was feeling and from everyone else on why, Bucky volunteers to do the dishes and clean up to make sure everything is spotless for when she comes in. Despite confusion among the rest of his colleagues, Sam assures them that ‘this is the plan, guys. Barnes’s got a hot date coming over.’

This, of course, only results in Bucky threatening to throw a skillet at him.

He wipes down the countertops, cleans the sink, and reorganizes the fridge while he waits for her, and he absently wonders what kind of cookies she intends to make. Chocolate chip, jam, sugar, shortbread…

Ingredients! His eyes widen and he turns to look at the dark pantries in slight horror. I should probably get them out for her. And measuring spoons, that’s what she needs, right? His stomach is in knots as he runs around the kitchen island, trying to find all the tools they might need. He tries to think of when Wanda had last made something sweet—what had she used? He ducks to pull out the biggest drawer, relieved to find three metal bowls of different sizes.

“Small, medium, large,” he murmurs under his breath, and he puts them all out beside the other instruments he thinks might be needed. A whisk, a bunch of different spoons, a glass cup and metal scoops… He glances around and tries to figure out what he’s missed before deciding to just open up every possible drawer and cupboard, and see what pricks his imagination.

He only gets to the second set of drawers when a soft chuckle catches his attention.

Whipping around, he feels his heart drop into his stomach when he spots her leaning against the doorframe. Her hair is pulled away from her face, and she has a book and aprons hugged tight to her chest.

“I didn't want to disturb you,” she says, an impish curl to her mouth. Bucky steps back from the kitchen island as she walks around and her gaze sweeps his collection. “It was cute.”

“Not many people can sneak up on me,” he says, a bit defensive as a flush makes its way up his neck. He doesn’t mean to sound like it, but maybe it’s the embarrassment of being caught that makes him oddly proud of his work.

“Not many people help me bake cookies,” she replies, standing next to him. She sets down the book and aprons down and he can catch the faint whiff of dinner at the mess hall clinging to her t-shirt. His heart hammers hard enough he’s sure even the deaf would be able to hear it as she gently plucks at different tools, thinking about what they will and won’t need.

Not the thing that looks like a weird wire version of brass knuckles, got it.

“Uh, pastry cutter,” she names, returning it to its place without a mistake. “We won’t really need it since we’re not cutting up big portions of fat.”

“Good to know.” He nods and writes that down in his head. “Anything else we don’t need?”

“We can use it all if you want,” she says with a laugh living in her voice. “It doesn’t really make any difference to me.”

“Okay, well, let’s just get started, then.”

“Aprons first.” She unfolds the two things, one white and navy, and the other black. The black one says Kiss the Cook and Bucky feels a flash of heat at the print. “Which one?”

The white and navy striped apron has a blue pocket with tiny white polka dots, the same pattern frilling the bottom and on the shoulder straps. The black, it’s clearly larger and for a man, and Bucky wonders if these were truly the only aprons she had or if she only bakes with guys she’s interested in. A flicker of jealousy runs through him. How many guys cooked with her before him?

Stop it. Not a date. Bucky shakes his head and shrugs.

“Whatever looks best on you,” he says. “Not that either of them would look bad or anything, but—”

“Thanks, Sarge.” Her eyes crinkle when she smiles big enough and she slips the black apron over her neck before sticking out the white and navy one to him. He stares at the piece of fabric for a moment before slipping his arms through and twisting his arms to tie a tight knot. She does the same and it’s pulled tight against her, Kiss the Chef smack in the middle of her chest.

“So where do we start?” He swallows because he thinks he’s just signed up for more than he bargained for. He looks at all these raw ingredients, ingredients he’s pulled because he thought it might be useful and doesn’t even know where to begin.

“First, we have to decide how many cookies and which type,” she says, pulling over the book and making space for it. She opens it up and his eyes widen at all the tabs poking out, different colours surely meaning different things. It’s an organized mess.

With a piece of scrap paper and a pencil, she writes down the number of required cookies. “Around there,” she says with a swift circle around a number bigger than Bucky had thought. “And these are the cookies we can make that everyone can eat,” she continues, writing a list down one side and then sectioning it off with a line, “these include nuts,” another section, “and these will have icing on them.”

“That’s a lot of planning for the fall equinox, ma’am,” he begins, trying not to sound daunted. She laughs, her eyes darting to his face. Her stare burns into his cheek as she shrugs.

“Hope I’m not scaring you away.”

No. Never. “Maybe a little.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do the math and teach you a few tricks, and you’ll be a natural. Promise.” He’s surprised by how easily he believes her. As she talks about all the different types of cookies, the textures and ingredients one can use, Bucky finds himself slipping. He lets her scoot closer as she shows him how to sift the dry ingredients.

“Just tap it against your hand like this,” she says and Bucky copies her. She shows him how to prep the pan, and he preheats the oven. They mix the dough with their hands, and Bucky watches as her skilled hands manipulate the oily dough she’s created like it’s second nature. He glances down at his own pile in a glass bowl that doesn’t look too shabby, and almost smiles. “Yours looks really good, Bucky.”

“Thanks.” His eyes stick to the chocolate chips and he pokes it with a half-proud smile. “I had a great teacher.” She laughs again. She’s easy to laugh and smile, and every time she does either of those things, something in him feels like it’s going to burst with light. He wishes he was like that, but at the same time, he feels brighter than he has in days. Maybe it’s something about how she treats him like any other guy, or maybe it’s that she makes him smile more than anyone has in a while.

“Well, this is only batch one and two out of like, twenty billion,” she says as they begin to shape their cookies. Bucky had ripped the parchment paper for their trays and laid them flat and while they roll these balls of chocolate chip cookie dough, he can’t help but listen to her go on and on about things she wants to talk about. Life since the Blip, the recruits, hobbies and childhood memories. He can’t help but give his two cents too, and she tilts her head as she listens, a soft smile on her face.

“You’re a great listener,” she comments as he sets the trays in the oven and closes the door. She sets the timer on her phone and begins to prepare for the next batch.

“It was all I could do for a while,” he says with a shrug. “You get good at stuff you do for a long time.” Her actions slow and she turns to stare at him. He focuses on cleaning up his work space, swallowing down the smell of butter and sugar. “Guess something came out of it,” he adds uncomfortably when the silence grows. He looks beside him, at her, where there is a smear of flour across her cheek, where she merely stands there in silence, and sighs. He’s ruined it. “Sorry.”

“Is that why you hid your hand?” she asks softly and his eyes widen noticeably. “I didn’t want to ask to make you uncomfortable, but I did wonder.” She looks down to make sure she’s measuring enough sugar and she closes her eyes for a moment, clearly cursing herself. Bucky wishes he could say something, but his mouth doesn’t click with his brain. “Forget I even brought it up. I’m sorry, I—”

“I wore it for tonight,” he blurts out and she looks at him, eyebrows furrowed together. “It’s a photostatic veil Banner coded for me and… and I wore it for you.”

“Why? It’s not like I’m afraid of it.”

You should be. “I guess I just wanted to be normal for a night,” he sighs and she stops sifting for a moment to really look at him. Setting down the sieve, she leans on the counter and places the other hand on her hip, waiting for him to explain patiently. “Sam called it a date, and I think it got to my head.”

“Oh,” she breathes. He tears off the photostatic veil carefully, letting the mesh crumple in his hands and she swallows. The air is thick with an emotion neither of them can quite name and Bucky is quite sure she will never want to see him again. God, is this what it’s like to flunk a date? He sets down the mesh on a clean countertop, watching the hologram flicker as he flexes his metal fingers. They gleam in the artificial light and he hides it behind his back, shame pooling in his chest.

“I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t want to make it awkward for you,” he mutters and she reaches to touch his metal wrist tentatively. Kiss the Chef wrinkles against her chest and his gaze falls to the floor. He doesn’t quite know how to describe how utterly disappointed in himself he is when she steps closer, fingers curling over his. No pity in her eyes, she squeezes his palm carefully.

“I don’t want you hiding yourself away,” she murmurs, tilting her head so he is forced to look at her. His eyes stare dejectedly into hers and she smiles, using her other hand to cup his face. Powder dusts against his eyes and he squints. The smell of dough clings to her skin and she smiles fondly at him, fingers stroking his cheek. “I like you just as you are.”

“You like me?” he asks, confused, and she chuckles. “All I’ve done is help you make cookies.”

“‘Course I like you, dork. You’re hot.” A teasing bite in her tone, she taps his nose with her thumb before returning her palm to his cheek. “And I know you didn’t have control of anything in your past, and you’re trying your best, Bucky. That’s all any of us can do, now that we’re back.” Her eyes avert for a moment, and then find his again. There is a gooey softness that reminds him of molten chocolate and snow on Christmas eve. “I really do like you, you know. Have a big ol’ school girl crush on you, to be honest.”

“On me?” Why not anyone else? He’s bewildered. Sam, or that new receptionist on two, or even some other trainer because…

Frankly, Bucky thinks he’s lost all appeal to those who know him since 1945.

She takes his silence as rejection and it shows in the uncertainty that mars her face. Bucky wishes he knew how to articulate that he is insanely attracted to her and how the way she laughs makes his heart believe it can jump mountains, but instead he is stunned into a quiet that fills the kitchen. He only met her a few hours ago. How can he even begin to explain it?

“We have cookies to make,” he says instead, eyes flitting to the open ingredients and he turns his head against her hand. She springs apart from him, cold rushing to fill in the space she’s left behind as she draws her hands towards herself.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess we do.” Her face falls and she grabs the sieve, a wobbly smile built on her lips. “Forget I brought it up, then.” She begins to sift her dry ingredients once again and he mentally groans to himself. Why is he such an idiot?

He mumbles her name softly, and she pauses, turning just so to look at him.

“I like you, too,” he says with a difficulty that shouldn’t be there, because it’s true. “I know I just met you today, but you’ve already made me feel… different, I guess”

“Different?” A tentative, stronger smile begins to curl the corner of her mouth and he nods, his lips twitching upwards. His hand, flesh and warm, settles on her hip all on its own, a fluttering touch that he is completely unsure of as he gently turns her to face him fully. She’s so damn gorgeous with flour on her face and eye bags beneath her eyes that he’s sure she will inevitably make his heart burst. It pounds in his head as he tries to grab at reasons he needs to step away, to stay away, but his heart battles his head ferociously.

I’ll hurt you and I can’t stand the thought. I’ll hurt you or kill you or lose control and you can’t stop me and I don’t want to hurt you ever. His brain screams the words H.Y.D.R.A had thrown at him, the looks handlers had tossed at him flashing in his head—terrified, wild dog, monster.

I want to protect you, I want to love you, you light me up, I can protect you. I won’t hurt you. I’ll be better for you, if you could love someone like me. His heart whispers, louder than the silence. It’s the forties boy in him, the son his mama raised and the brother Rebecca loved, and he can recall the faces he’s adored—Steve, Ma, Becca.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Bucky murmurs and she hesitantly touches his face. His eyes flutter at her gentle touch and she takes it as an invitation to cup his face once again. “It’s just… you.”

“I’m not special,” she tells him bashfully, words brushing against his lips as he closes his eyes for a moment against her hand. When he opens them once again, he finds her watching, transfixed. There is a new serenity in her eyes, one that tells him she is completely enchanted on something that cannot be him—he is anything but an angel.

“You really are.”

“Now, now, Sergeant Barnes.” Her voice is warm as whiskey and he can get drunk off the sound of her laugh. He can feel her smile just by how her energy shifts and Bucky falls, for the first time in his life; he falls harder than he ever has. “Go on like that and you’ll get anything you want from me.”

“Even permission to kiss the chef?” Bucky’s words, thick and hot, jumble in his mouth. Her nose brushes his, sparks tingling in his veins as her hand trails to cusp the back of his neck.

“That permission will always be granted without question.”

He kisses her softly, hesitance laced through his lips and it is only when she crushes him against her does he bury his hand in his hair and kiss her like she is meant to be kissed: feverently, reverently, forever reminded that Bucky Barnes is lucky enough to be completely in love with her.

Bucky is quite sure Sam is in love with his girlfriend in the fact that he’s in love with the fact that his girlfriend is possibly in love with Bucky. Bucky himself doesn’t think that she could possibly be in love with him, but Sam is more than eager to prove otherwise.

“Sam asked what I’m getting everyone for Christmas.” She’s on the shoulder press, the muscles in her back flexing and waning in a slick sheen of sweat while Bucky completes his set of push-ups.

“He’s thinking too far ahead,” he mutters. “It’s only the start of November.”

“Well, you know him. I think he just wants an opinion on what I’m getting you.” Standing up, she grabs her water bottle, squirting a stream of ice-cold water into her mouth before laying down beside him. “What do you want for Christmas?”

He pauses mid-way up from his two-hundredth push-up. “You don’t need to get me anything, doll.” The nickname is still a bit strange on his tongue but he thinks he can get used to it.

“Yeah, but I wanna get you something.” She juts out her bottom lip in an adorable pout, a telltale sign she wants him to kiss her and he leans on one hand to press a quick kiss onto her lips before resuming his workout. He knows the signs on what she wants fairly easily now. He’s grateful she’s spelt it out so many times for him.

Playing with his fingers means she wants attention, a pout is a kiss, suctioning kisses to the neck means she’s feeling some sorta way and he’s more than happy to oblige that feeling. There’s a long list of little tells that Bucky’s starting to think it’s a whole other language.

“How about cookies?” he deflects and she rolls her eyes, getting up and sucking down some more water.

“I make cookies for everyone. You deserve something special,” she argues and he sighs. “I really want to make our first Christmas special.” He lies down and pushes on his palms, stretching out in a cobra pose while she rolls over into the splits. He pulls back into child’s pose while she leans forward and he’s thankful for the silence.

What do I want? he wonders. What do I want that I don’t have already? His eyes drift to her form only a few centimetres away and he thinks, Nothing.

“I’ve got everything I want right here,” he intones seriously, crawling forward and she turns to him, eyes wide. Sitting upright, she changes legs. “I guess I want nothing to change.”

“Dork,” she mumbles, and a sticky heat pools in his face as she pokes his cheek. He sits down and she offers him his water bottle with a shake. He shakes his head, the argument that his own is only in the locker room. “Come on. Locker room’s too far away from me.” A sweat drop tracks down her jaw and he smiles softly, brushing it away. Legs crossed, he takes it without taking a sip. “Besides, I told you you can take what you want. I don’t mind.”

“Okay,” he says, knowing full well it just doesn’t feel right to take back the hoodies she’s stolen from him. Maybe one by one, he’ll take them back and wear them for at least twenty four hours before giving them back. Then, his scent will stay with her. “What do you want for Christmas, then?”

“I—” Her sentence is cut off by an alert on his phone, one they both know not to ignore and she sighs. There is disappointment, their little bubble popped with a simple text. He sets down her water bottle to get it, gut dropping at the message displayed on his screen. “How long is it?”

“Emergency response in Cairo, I don’t know,” he murmurs. Pocketing his phone, he grabs his towel and rushes back to her. He grabs her face and presses a desperate kiss against her mouth, eyes squeezing shut and she mumbles words he can’t decipher against his grieving lips. Her fingers touch his jaw gently, a reminder that he must go, and he pulls away. “I’ll text you as soon as I can.”

“Stay safe.”

He smiles shakily and promises that he will.

“Barnes. We got a package for you.” Sharon Carter’s voice catches his attention from his sniper post and he blinks away the winter sun from his eyes. No movement still. “Merry Christmas.”

The blonde extends a box towards him, a slight smile curling her lips and he frowns at the stark bleakness of it. Black, and absorbing no light, it feels heavier than he thought it’d be.

“Thanks.” He shifts, his bones clicking as he glances out the tiny slit of a window. There hasn’t been movement for weeks. Crossing his legs, he sets the box before him and a tiny blue hologram pops up from a tiny hole in the center. His eyebrows furrow together as it scans his face and he squints.

“Facial scan complete: Hello, James Buchanan Barnes.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice echoes in his small little perch and he still thinks it’s weird without having the side effect of Stark in his suit chasing after him to hear the A.I. but he shoves that uncomfortable feeling of the dead man out of his head. That is too much regret to unpack right now on a mission.

The box unfolds, the mechanical whir humming in his ears and a waft of sweet sugar rushes into his face as he peers within.

Cookies. Sugar cookies, butter cookies, frosting and crystal sprinkles, gingerbread, snickerdoodle, a note in her writing.

“She requested I ask you to read her note before eating the treats,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. says and Bucky pulls out her note. “She also requested that you stay safe, despite not being home for Christmas.”

Taking the blue cue card, he sighs at the mere sight of her writing. His heart aches much more than he realized and he wonders if she misses him half as much as he misses her.

Buck,

Times may be tough while we’re apart, but absence only makes the heart grow fonder. Stay safe, Sarge, and come back to me.

Merry Christmas. Forever thinking of you.

When he bites into one of those cookies, he melts into the wall he’s leaning to and closes his eyes, just imagining her standing in the kitchen with that Kiss the Chef apron tied tightly around her. The taste brings back memories, and brings him back home to New York, to her. Home, he muses wistfully, home is waiting for me with her laugh and smell and eyes. Home.

Bucky drops his bags as soon as he’s off the quinjet because he spots the dark blur that is his girlfriend in a track pants and a big poofy parka running down the road towards him. He barely gets his arms up in time before she’s flying into his arms and he lets out a grunt, stumbling back as he flings his arms around her waist and holds onto her tightly. Her legs squeeze his waist as she burrows her head into his neck and Sam laughs as he unpacks the equipment.

“Bucky,” she says, pulling back and his arms hold her to him still, gently supporting her back and her bottom. Her hand cups her face and she brushes hair out of his face, tracing a healing cut on his lip. “You’re home.” She embraces him again, thighs tightening as if she’s afraid to see him leave again and he merely closes his eyes, letting the first day of 2024 snow against his skin. “You’re home.”

“I’m home, lover,” he promises, and she laughs, face wet when she steps back onto solid ground again. He opens his eyes to admire her, a vision; a sight for sore eyes from the arms length he holds her at. The snow melts as it lands on her skin but it nestles in her hair, a frame of white for her pretty face that he’s missed far too much. “God, I’m home.”

She laughs, a watery smile surfacing as she leans up to kiss him. They are rapid, wet with emotion and she smiles against his lips, just laughing in relief. “I love you so much,” she whispers and he blinks, drawing back. Her face is the epitome of happiness as he gawks at her and she wipes at her eyes. “You don’t have to say it back, but I just… I love you.” She doesn’t look afraid, only confident in her feelings for him and he scoops her up, his heart bursting with sunlight.

“I love you, too,” he whispers into her ear, embracing her tightly. She lets out a tiny exhale at his strength but hugs him back tightly anyway. What is love if not hugs that barely allow you to breathe and kisses until you’re dizzy? Bucky doesn’t know. “God, I love you.”

Bucky learns a lot dating her.

She hums when she cuts his hair—which she does every so often—and likes to cuddle in her sleep. She bakes for every occasion she can think of and likes to spoil Bucky rotten. Although their jobs often keep them apart during the day, Bucky likes to just watch her in her environment, ordering the recruits around.

She has a different sport she favours for every season. Jogging in the fall, hockey in the winter, tennis in the spring and swimming in the summer. More often than not, she drags a happy Bucky with her to the rec centre and he’s more than happy to participate, whether he shows it or not.

She expresses her feelings through cooking, which Bucky has learnt the hard way. One time, they got into an argument over something stupid—he can’t even remember what started it—and came to the kitchen at 2AM to see her sitting at the kitchen island crying her eyes out and surrounded by baskets of muffins.

“Lover,” he had called out softly, already too loud for the eerie time between midnight and morning. “You’ve got a bit of a muffin problem.”

“I know,” she had replied dejectedly. “I don’t know what to do with all of it, Buck.”

They had donated it to shelters around the city, going on their own from street to street with baskets full of muffins. It becomes ritual, to have days where they bring baked goods and homemade meals to those who need it.

She doesn’t really know how to take care of herself, based on how she treats herself during assessment season, so Bucky has to pick up her slack and feed her more than caffeine. He feeds her diets that are balanced and healthy, and makes meals that he learns in his spare time to share with her while she shouts herself raw at the soldiers.

He remembers her favourite foods and music, and knows just how to put an exhausted girl to bed with makeup and bra off. He remembers to write when he’s gone for too long during missions, and he remembers her birthday, favourite colour, and which show she’s currently obsessing over. He always downloads the seasons to catch up so he understands what she’s talking about.

It’s safe to assume he knows when to propose, hell, he’d been ready the night they first baked together, but he just has to remember to catch her ring size. There’s so much of his mind cluttered with these useless yet utterly adorable facts about her that he can’t bring himself to delete, that it’s always the one thing he forgets to do.

Here is where his friends come in.

They’re all hanging in the lounge on a lazy autumn day. Their one year anniversary is coming up and Bucky and Sam are watching football while she talks to Wanda about potential plans.

“Popcorn,” Sam says without tearing his eyes off the screen, shoving the bowl in their general direction. Bucky grabs it unceremoniously, popping a few into his mouth while she twists in his grip to pass the bowl to Wanda.

“I have cookies cooling, boys,” she warns them and Wanda chuckles. The witch puts the bowl back on the table next to the empty nacho plate while Bucky’s girlfriend decides to curl against him, and his arm around her waist squeezes her close. His hand trails down to her thigh, hoisting her legs up while she peppers kisses on the underside of his jaw.

“I don’t understand anything about this game,” Wanda intones once commercials hit, amused when Sam lets out a shout of disappointment. Beeping from the kitchen, a timer, breaks whatever retort he was prepared to throw back at the Sokovian and Bucky lets out a whine when his girlfriend unwinds from his lap to get up.

“Sorry, babe, but I gotta get them before they get too cold,” she says and Bucky frowns before nodding. He cups the back of her neck, and she kisses him quickly before pulling away and skipping to the kitchen. Wanda immediately crawls into the space on the other side of Bucky on the couch, pulling out her phone while Sam leans over to whisper.

“She sends me pictures all the time,” Wanda begins nefariously and Sam pulls out a strip of paper, a line in pencil across it. As he rolls it up into a ring, Wanda leans over to show Bucky pictures of the girls’ conversation. “She adores all of them, but she cannot decide.”

“And here you go, man.” Sam gives the paper ring to Bucky. “Got it while she was taking a nap.”

“She wants silver rather than gold,” Wanda says.

“And she doesn’t care about a venue.”

“But she likes the idea of a seasonal wedding.”

“Dude, she wants your babies.”

“She wants two or three kids.”

Bucky’s head begins to spin as they continue to bombard him with facts or proof that she actually wants to spend a life with him, and he blinks, staring at the commercials that still flash in his face. Grabbing Wanda’s phone, he focuses on the images that his girlfriend had sent the witch, gorgeous silver rings with diamonds, some with less, some with more, and simply tunes the two out, trying to internally decide what he should buy her. Meanwhile, Sam and Wanda have fallen into some argument about whether or not Bucky’s wedding is going to be a summer or winter wedding, when a new voice pierces the air.

“Who wants cookies?”

Immediately, a hush falls over them. Bucky tears his eyes away from the phone just as Wanda snatches it back just in time for her to appear, striding into the room with the smell of cookies rushing in after her. She sends them an odd glance, and the trio of Avengers merely separate as she sets down the plate. A fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies are stacked ontop of a porcelain plate and Sam lunges forward to grab one while she picks one up delicately and resumes her place on Bucky’s lap.

“What were you three talking about?” she asks, amused, and he takes the cookie with a click of his mechanical arm. She tucks her head underneath his chin while his hand goes back to her thigh and he bites into the cookie.

“Nothing you gotta worry about,” he says. The game starts again and she can’t pipe up to argue without Sam telling them to shut up, so she doesn’t. Instead, she rests her head on his chest and Bucky hopes she doesn’t hear his heart beating like crazy in his chest.

By the tiny smile he can feel against his chest, she can hear it.

Bucky holds the ring in his pocket for four months.

He had bought it the very next day after the football game because if he had let it sit, the nerves would’ve gotten to him, but now, new nerves are causing him to become paranoid: waiting for the perfect moment, scared that she’ll find out.

He thinks the proposal should be grand and all about how much he loves her and how much she’s shown him and loved him and it needs to be perfect. It is anything but that.

“Morning,” she whispers as her eyes flutter open. She’s laying against him in their comfy, toasty bed, and he doesn’t want to move for Christmas festivities except they both have to—a charity breakfast for veterans where Bucky is speaking, then a novice hockey game because his girlfriend just had to teach the cutest little seven year old boys how to utterly destroy their opponents, and then dinner.

He traces shapes along the slope of her back lazily, craning his head to look at him and she smiles dazedly.

“Hey, lover.” He grins easier now, and when his smile splits his face, her own does too. “We’ve got a day ahead of us.”

“A day that’s way too long for Christmas,” she mumbles, closing her eyes and pressing her cheek against his chest. “Convince me to get up.” It’s still dark outside, a blissful 5AM full of snow delicately fluttering outside their window. He wraps a leg around her waist, pulling her close while she dozes and she lets out a contented sigh at his arm draped over her side.

“Don’t want to,” he replies, eyes closing. “Want you to stay right here with me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Kinda want to stay here forever,” he continues drowsily, eyes fluttering shut and she shakes in his arms with a silent laugh. “Wish everyday could be like this.”

“You wake up earlier, and maybe it could be,” she retorts. Of course the early bird in her is perfect for her morning drills with her recruits, but Bucky prefers to sleep in like the owl he is, and he lets out a snort, kissing her hairline. “Just saying.”

“I’m too busy catching up on your shows.” His arm tightens around her.

“Catching up. Liar. I know you were up at 2 AM this morning binge-watching.” She tilts her head up, eyes opening. A spark lights up her face and a mischievous curl of her lip tells Bucky she’s about to say something that’s going to make him blush. “Just admit you like Gossip Girl and go, babe.”

“Alright, I like it.” Rolling his eyes, he pecks her forehead and she smiles victoriously. It’s so adorable that Bucky, with less than three hours of sleep, adds, “God, I want to marry you.”

“What?”

Oh.

Shit.

Bucky is suddenly more awake than if someone had thrown him into an ice bath. She almost throws herself off of him, sitting up and he follows her with his eyes as she twists to turn on the lights. Golden light paints her a goddess, and her hair is messy atop her head as she stares at him with wide eyes.

Bucky sits up slowly, the blanket pooling around their waists, and she blinks at him as he chews on the inside of his cheek.

“Do you not want to get married?” he asks slowly, almost afraid. Although he’s nearly 100% certain she wants to be with him, a part of him still bites at his stomach with doubt. “Have… have I been looking at this wrong?” He doesn’t tear his eyes away, holding this staring contest as she continues to stare at him, lips slightly parted and he reaches over to touch her hand. “You okay, lover?”

“You wanna marry me?” she asks, and he nods slowly, fire rising in his stomach and crawling up his neck as he makes a mental note never to keep secrets from her because when he’s been running on three hours of sleep, he likes to spill his guts where he feels safe.

“I… I got a ring and everything.” He turns to open the drawer on his nightstand and pulls out the dark navy box, velvet brushing against his sleep-numb fingers. “Wanda and Sam helped, and I was going to make this a big thing, but—” He’s tripping over his words as he pries it open, and he watches as her gaze falls to the silver ring, the exact one from one of the pictures Wanda had shown him—”I know I don’t really deserve you, and god, you deserve better than a proposal at 5 AM but I really do want to marry you.”

“Buck—”

“I love you. I love you so much it’s crazy because I didn’t think anyone could love me, or that I could open my heart to someone like you, and I know you deserve more than this, a better man, but—”

“Bucky—”

“All I’m trying to say is… thank you. For loving me.” His sleep addled brain tries to scramble for more things to say, and he smiles, almost sad but so, so, very much in love. “Thank you for bringing laughter into my life again.”

“Bucky, you fucking dork,” are her first words and he blinks as she lunges into his body. The blankets twist and her warm muscles wrap around him as she peppers kisses all over his face. “You wonderful, wonderful man. I love you so much. I love you, I love you, I love you.” His arm props him up against her body as he holds onto the box and she straddles his waist, twisting to look at the box. Her smile is tender as she takes out the ring and slides it onto her finger and he smiles bashfully when she shows him the fit. He lets the velvet box slip from his hand to cup her waist and he sighs blissfully when she leans to kiss him.

“Remember when I asked what you wanted for Christmas last year?” she murmurs against his lips and he smiles as the cool metal of her new ring trails down his neck to his shoulder. “And you said you wanted nothing to change…”

“I guess I just didn’t want anything more than you,” he whispers fondly and she smiles, eyes closing as she knocks her forehead against his. “But this one change I can handle.”

“Yeah?” She opens her eyes to stare deeply into his and he smiles, a warm curl to his lip.

“Yeah.”

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skepticalkoi-catastrophe · 3 years

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TᕼOᔕE ᗯᕼO ᕼOᗯᒪ

ᕼYᑌᑎᒍIᑎ ᙭ ᗷᒪᗩᑕK!ᖴEᗰ Oᑕ

✑ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙱𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚢 @parkhabits , 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 2011 𝙼𝚃𝚅 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚆𝚘𝚕𝚏. 𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜, 𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚜, 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 ~♡

[4] ᗷITTEᖇᔕᗯEET

Next chapter ⏭

I reflexively searched the opposite side of the bed for her, emptiness residing where she should be. "Lei?"

Curiously, I untangle myself from the sheets, stumbling across the floor. Sunlight spills through my bedroom window as I pull my T-shirt over my head to cover my exposed skin.

Concern consumes me as I turn the door knob, swinging open my bedroom door. The unmistakable scent of vanilla, chamomile, and pancake batter fill my nose.

She's making breakfast, huh?

The closer I got, the stronger the scent became. Instead of the routine chirping of birds being heard, I'm greeted by Leilani's soft humming.

Leaning against the kitchen doorway I watch as she pours mini dollops of batter into the skillet. She doesn't seem to notice my presence.

Leilani gingerly sways her hips as her humming turns to singing the chorus of Charlie Puth's "Attention."

It's melody brings a smile to my face. I tip toe closer to her. She's a sight to behold to say the least. Even when wearing her black satin bonnet.

"Good morning, Ankle Biter. " I say suddenly, causing her to flinch.

"Holy shit!" She squeals. "You scared the crap out of me Hyunjin."

Nuzzling into her shoulder, I give her waist a gentle squeeze.

Her tone softens.

"You know, I like your hugs better when I know they're going to happen. How long have you been standing there?"

"Does it matter? Besides, warning you takes the fun out of it."

My pout visible as I watch the mini pancakes cook. I don't want her to leave my arms just yet.

After that night, I've noticeably become increasingly paranoid. The killer is still out there, which scares me and has me on edge.

"Why are you up so early? You're usually asleep till 12 noon." I ask.

She turns off the stove scraping the mini pancakes into two separate bowls with a spatula.

"Thought I'd surprise you with breakfast. Your first day was kinda stressful, so I figured, we could indulge ourselves a little bit today."

Her body practically swimming in my hoodie. The material barely reaches below her thighs.

"So this is where my hoodie went. I've been looking for it all week."

"I was going to give it back after I found it in the laundry room." Leilani turns in my grasp, her eyes looking up at me. "It smells really good and it's comfy."

She lifts her hand to its collar, self- consciously pulling at the drawstrings. The sleeves are just long enough to cover her fingers. I have a habit of buying my hoodies larger than normal. Because I know Lei has a habit of wearing them.

"It's fine. Just let me know next time okay?"

She nods, her arms falling to her sides after she puts the used dishes in the sink. Walking over to the kitchen island she placed the bowls in font of either seat.

Turning away to the kitchen cabinets she reaches for the maple syrup.

The bottom of her ass peaking out from the hoodie as it hikes up higher.

"Are you wearing shorts?" I mentally curse myself for asking such a stupid question.

Why would I ask that?! I'm such a dumbass!

She side-eyes me, exposing her shorts to me. "Depends on how hard you were staring. You disappointed or something?"

I almost choke on my fork full of pancakes. "What?! Fuck no! No, I'm not."

My brows raise and my eyes widen with humiliation.

She giggles, retrieving two glasses from the dish rack and a carton of O.J. from the fridge.

"I'm just teasing Jinnie." She mocks me.

"Ha ha, real funny, Lei."

Leilani somehow persuaded me into going to the mall with her. Of course, I had no choice but to go along with it. There's no way in hell I was going to stay home.

We went to store after store for what felt like hours. Leilani's indecisiveness reminded me just how much I hate shopping. Not to mention all the distractions in this place. I begin to hear a baby cry from two floors below us.

But that's impossible. No one can hear that well and that far. Right?

Leilani found everything she needed except some new shoes. She's currently trying to decide between Converses or Vans. Knowing her, we'll be here till closing time if this keeps up. We stopped at Forever 21 so she could buy some outfits.

"Hey Jinnie?" She asks, peeking her head from behind the dressing room curtains.

"Whatcha think?"

She opens them wider. Wearing a fitted navy and white stripped sundress, it sat on her curves just right. It's enough to make a man cat call.

"Y-you look beautiful, Lei." A warm sensation spreads across my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. My words caught in my throat as she turned back to the mirror.

"Beautiful as always..." I whisper under my breath.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Nothing. Nothing." I chuckle, stroking my arm. "Why don't we take a break okay? I'll go get us some boba while you finish up. I'll be right back."

On the farther side of the mall, I can hear someone picking up their order at the counter before I step inside. My mind must be playing tricks on me. Shaking it off, I ordered one large brown sugar boba and one large taro boba milk tea.

"Order for Hyunjin!" I'm startled by the cashier's booming voice. I quickly get our order and exit the store.

Some guy shoves past me, causing me to almost drop our drinks. Jerk.

Back at Forever 21, I find Leilani talking to some guy at the storefront. By the way her heartbeat sped up, I could practically smell her nervousness. As well as that awful scent from Friday.

"We should hang out sometime. A drive-in movie under the stars doesn't sound to bad does it ?" His voice is all too familiar.

Fucking San.

The strong urge to punch him in the jaw grew the closer I got.

"You here alone or-?"

"She's with me." My lips tightened as I cut in. Without hesitation I toss my arm over her shoulders. He takes notice. "We're kinda busy right now so she'll talk to you on Monday. We'll see you around."

San's eyebrows pull down together. An askance expression sweeping his face.

"See yah."

I suck my teeth.

What the hell us his problem?!

Taking the escalator down to Journey's, she tries on some shoes. Leilani finds her pair of black high-top Converses and asks the store clerk to bring out her size.

"He wasn't flirting y'know," She says trying on her shoes. "You didn't have to be rude."

"I wasn't being rude, I just don't like him." I sourly protest glaring at my cup of boba. "Something about him dosen't sit right with me. Like he's putting on an act."

Her heartbeat quickens again.

"And why not?" She takes a few steps in her shoes facing a small floor mirror. "You and I both know what it actually feels like to put on an act. He's polite and just trying to make some friends."

Leilani bit the tip of her thumb ruminating over my words. "I get that you're trust in others isn't what it used to be, but I think you should be worrying about yourself. I can handle myself."

If only you knew.....

She unlaces her shoes putting them back in their box.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that I-"

"I know, just forget it. Pay for your shoes, I'll be right back."

A surge of pain races along the top of my head. Leilani stands by the counter paying for our shoes. Taking the opportunity to sneak away to the restroom I hunt through my pockets for my medication. The pain worsening with every second.

"C'mon, C'mon..."

Finally, both pills are in my hands. But my palms are bloody with claw marks. I shove them back in my pockets. I rush over to the sink and I splash my face with cold water.

There's no blood in the sink. There's no blood on my hands. No claw marks. Nothing.

What the fuck is happening to me?

We ordered Italian takeout before riding the bus home. Locking the front door, we drop our bags and take off our shoes.

"You get settled and I'll get everything ready down here." Leilani says.

I silently nod and head upstairs. Admittedly it was awkward for the duration of our time together after out small spat at the mall.

She wasn't wrong though. My paranoia is getting the best of me, and in my eyes, Leilani and I.N. are all I have in this town. Parents are mourning the lost if their children while students are mourning the loss of their friends.

I have every reason to be overprotective. But I guess I'm going about it all wrong.

Hot water washes away the majority of my anxiety, calming me instantly. As my body begins to relax, I hear indistinct screaming. My mind immediately brought back to the night of the massacre. Crunching leaves, blood splatter, final gasps of breath.

I cover my ears, backing up against the cold shower tiles in a frail attempt to ground myself in reality.

Stop...stop...stop...stop it...

The memories of bloodshed were getting harder to ignore. I grit my teeth, trying to block out the sound of running water.

Make it stop....make it stop....MAKE. IT. STOP!!

"Hyunjin? Hyunjin are you alright?"

Leilani knocks on the door.

"Your food's going to get cold."

I shut off the water, dropping my hands. Leaning my head back against the tiles until the steam clears.

"I'm fine Lei, I'll be out in a second."

Her foot steps retreat down the hallway to the stairs.

That was a close one.

Leilani stares comprehensively at the movies on the TV screen, stuck between which to choose. It was Disney vs. Studio Ghibi. She closes her eyes, sighing.

"Hyunjin, Blondie, what should we watch?" She asks looking up at me from the sofa. Our food resting on the coffee table.

I snicker, knowing her indecisiveness is getting the best of her again.

"Well you always say I look like Howl so wouldn't that make you my Sophie?"

She burst into a fit of giggles. "You're so corny. Howl's Moving Castle it is, then."

An hour or so later, I glance at her as the movie ends. "You tired?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Lei, don't lie. I can tell." It was late, I realized as I yawn.

I shut off the TV, slipping my hand behind her lower back. She stirs, muttering.

"How long was I out?"

"Long enough. Let's get you to bed, yeah?"

One arm under her legs, the other supporting her back, she buries her face in the crook of my neck.

"I don't wanna go to sleep yet."

"How come?" Carefully, I climb up the stairs to her room. I lower her onto the mattress. Placing the covers over her, I cease when she wraps her hand around my forearm.

"'Cause I like being with you." She whispers. Her droopy eyelids are all I can focus on.

"And I never want you to leave me."

She tugs on my sleeve, pulling me beside her. Grabbing her bonnet I make sure her hair is safely inside of it. Within minutes she was fast asleep. Moments like this made me understand what it ment to cherish someone. I turn off her bedside lamp and planted a light kiss on her forehead.

"I'm not going anywhere, Beautiful."

𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚖 𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 ~

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝- @peachjaem00 @ramenlixxie

#hyunjin fluff #hwang hyunjin angst #hwang hyunjin stray kids #hwang hyunjin #stray kids hyunjin #hwang hyunjin fluff #black y/n #black oc #teen wolf au #teen wolf #werewolf au #werewolf boyfriend

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justsomefluff · 4 years

Note

Hi hun! I love your work so much! I was wondering if you could do ATEEZ reacting to finding out you still sleep with your baby blanket? I still sleep with mine and I’m 19 and I’m throughly embarrassed about it 😅 thank you so much!!!

Okay thats endearing af so don't be embarrassed!!! Also this is kinda short bc I was getting really soft and I could've written forever but I couldn't let myself go there lmao

Hongjoong:

(ok this gif doesn't really match but it’s so funny wtf)

The second he finds out you still have your blanket he’s like... I’d die for you

Like he loves that you have that innocent, meaningful part of your life still with you

Joong loves that it shows your soft side, that only he gets to see

It really shows him that you are a sentimental person and he’s like “I hope she keeps me forever like that blanket uwu”

Loves and I mean LOVES when he finds you sleeping with it

Whether he caught you in the middle of a nap, or maybe you went to bed earlier than he did

He sees that and it’s cuddle time

Doesn’t like to disturb your sleep though so he’ll just very gently wrap himself around you and brush your hair out of your face

Just a lot of soft touches until he falls asleep too

Seonghwa:

Mama Hwa activated

you’ve got a baby blanket, and youre already his baby? Perfect for his need to parent

Like he’ll still be boyfriend goals but he’s also gonna treat you like a toddler sometimes

Not in a bad way, I mean like he’s gonna tuck you in and sing you to sleep and all that stuff an actual mom would do

He just cant help himself, I mean really you need to go easy on him

He’s too soft around you

Like he might die if you get any cuter, cut it out!!!

And he always makes sure you have the blanket the way you like it before you sleep

Like if you just wanna hold it? Cool he’s got you. If you wanna wrap up in it...Also cool!

Will take care of all your blankie needs without question

Just wants to give you the world :’)

Yunho:

the second he finds out about your blanket he’s gonna wanna get a matching one

“Wtf why”

“so I can have a piece of you when im on tour” and your hearts just goes POOF

and so he finds one super similar (not necessarily identical but its one that works)

becomes just as attached to his new blanket at you are to yours

takes it everywhere

but its so cute like you guys will be cuddled on the couch each with your respective blanket omg

and the guys find you all the time like passed out with your blankies and holding hands and stuff

they’ll take pictures of you two to tease you about it but you guys secretly save every single photo

it’s just perfect lock screen material really

Yeosang:

Teases you at first, I can’t even lie about that

but it’s not mean or anything it’s more like “you love that blanket more than me” kind of thing

but eventually he just sees it as a part of you

and if you’re ever not holding it, it’s so jarring to him

like “where's the blanket this is so weird you look naked we gotta go get it”

it always puts a smile on his face though

like if you ever have to go somewhere that you cant or don't want to bring it to, then he’ll stay home and secretly bury his face in it

it becomes a comfort thing for him too bc it smells so much like you

if you ever catch him smelling it he’ll be like “I WAS JUST SEEING IF MAYBE WE NEED TO WASH IT”

he’s embarrassed but you’re endeared to no end

you’ve totally got at least one picture of him with it somewhere bc I mean... your two fav things on earth in one pic?

magical

San:

I WAS SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS ONE AH

Okay San relates heavy bs you’ve got your blankie and he’s got Shiber

Will send you pics of Shiber wrapped up in your blankie like bro :’(

And you guys will stuff both Shiber and your blanket in between you and hug at the same time

Because lets face it, nothings gonna get in the way of cuddles alright I don't make the rules

And one night he’ll be like “let’s trade for today”

but then five minutes in both of you are like “nope nope we gotta switch back I cant do this”

but you both think it’s really funny low-key and end up laughing at each other’s inability to sleep without your favorite thing

he’s so sweet to you about it though like if you’re ever sad, he knows exactly what to bring to make you feel better

uses the blanket constantly and whenever you’re at home he always has it for you

like you sit down in another room for two seconds and he’s like

“You left this in the bedroom” and throws it at you

and he’ll get Shiber too bc “they’re friends”

overall he’s just so cute about it and genuinely understands the need to have something like that around

Mingi:

(^ him practicing his keynote speech on why you should cuddle with him instead)

Okay Mingi’s a big baby about it

like he gets it but he’s low-key (read: highkey) jealous of the blanket right

“Cuddle me insteadddd”

won't let you live like fr

never tries to take it from you or anything though

just wants you to prioritize cuddles with him is all

will literally take advantage of any moment that you don't have it right

like if you're on the couch watching a movie he’s basically in your lap

if that’s your emotional support blanket then you’re his emotional support human okay

“why do you need an emotional support blanket when I can be your emotional support Kpop boy?”

“Mingi, I don't think that’s how it works” (I mean can he really still be your emotional support Kpop boy if he's already your bf? how’s that work?)

he eventually figures out a way to get his cuddles though

he just compromises and sleeps under the blanket with you

“Why didn’t I think of this before it’s perfect?”

“Maybe bc you're an idiot”

cue play fighting that leads to smoochies under the blanket

Wooyoung:

Ok this one is problematic for you

because he likes to borrow it

“Wooyoung-ah, that’s MINE”

he has the “mom says it’s my turn” attitude lmao

like no. it’s not your turn if it’s not YOURS...I digress

he gets so annoying about it that you cave and buy him his own blanket

it’s not even close to the same kind as yours, but you got one in his fav color and everything so he’s really excited about it

covers your face in kisses to show his gratitude

but he immediately washes it with the special detergent you use so that it’ll still smell like yours

and he turns into Linus from Charlie Brown you know?

never washes his blanket and takes it literally everywhere

if you wash it for him he won't talk to you for like a whole day lmao

“But it had to be done. Wooyoungie, it was for the greater good”

“Shut up”

but he’s secretly really happy that the detergent smell is back bc it reminds him of you awwww

so basically he picked up your habit really fast and it just sticks

Jongho:

tell me why Jongho is protective of your blanket

jk, I know why

it’s bc he knows you’d be devastated if anything ever happened to it

he’s always chaperoning you like “Jagiya, don’t eat that rn you’ll get crumbs on your blanket”

or “be careful not to spill that on your blanket, bb”

like “Jongho...sweetheart...I GOT IT”

and if anything ever happened to it, like it gets stained or ripped or something

he’s already googling how to fix it

acts like a surgeon “ok, we need to be very gentle with this stain” “cut the thread very precisely”

so dramatic, but it’s cute because you know he’s only like that to make sure you’re happy and have everything you need

like three months after he finds out that you have the blanket he’s basically a certified tailor and stain-remover

perfect house-wife when it comes to your blankie lmao

#ateez #Ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez yunho #ateez yeosang #ateez san #ateez jongho #ateez wooyoung #choi jongho #ateez fanfic #fanfic #ateez imagines #imagines #fluff #ateez fluff #reactions #ateez reactions #ateez scenarios #scenarios

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stereksecretsanta · 4 years

Text

Merry Christmas, everchanginginks

For @everchanginginks. I hope you enjoy this gift!

Read On AO3

*****

Just down the hall from the quiet studying of history students in Room 17-B lies classroom 17-A which, contrasting its quieter neighbor, is filled with sugar-fueled enthusiasm as adolescent students gleefully tear into their candy atom diagrams. Only after getting the go ahead from their awesome chemistry teacher wearing a colorful periodic table tie over a blue dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, of course.

Said awesome teacher places the end of a blue raspberry sour punch straw in the corner of his mouth and chews with an unabashed grin. As he’s halfway through the straw the bell rings and he breaks into his parting spiel for his students, the straw sticking from the corner of his mouth like a cowboy.

“Okay class, please make sure to turn your worksheets into the tray on your way out and please take your candy diagrams with you. You’re not gonna break my heart if you don’t eat them, I just don’t want next period to deal with this period’s mess. Tonight’s homework is on the board and on the syllabus, and don’t forget to submit your vote for Teacher of the Year during lunch if you have not already. Have a good rest of your day everyone, and as always come to me with any questions...and that means any ."

Scattered responses of “Okay” and “Thanks Mr. Stilinski” and “Bye” fill the room as the students start to file out the classroom.

“You’re about as subtle as a brick to the teeth.” Says a mildly amused female voice from over his shoulder.

Stiles finishes the candy and turns around to look exasperatedly at the strawberry blonde speaker sitting behind his desk, "And you’re underestimating how important this is. My reclaiming of the throne is in danger!"

"Uh huh..." MIT grad and certified genius Lydia Martin nods in mock understanding as she sips from her floral patterned ceramic travel coffee cup.

"Thanks again for agreeing to come in and lecture for my AP Chem students on such short notice by the way.” Stiles scratches at the tousled mess on his head and offers the open package of sour punch straws from his desk, “You are a literal God send."

She grimaces and waves the proffered sugary confection away, "For someone in the sciences, your improper use of the word 'literal' is rather concerning. Perhaps your throne is in more danger than previously thought."

“Don’t say that, you’re gonna jinx it!” He reaches over and raps his knuckles against his wooden desk three times while speaking a mile a minute, “I need to win, I can’t have mister ‘look at me bringing my history and polisci students on the coolest field trips in the history of this school because I can somehow pull strings to make these trips a reality despite there being like no funding--seriously how does he do it--and my students adore me even though I constantly look like I probably lure people into the woods with my beautiful eyes and murder them in my free time’ beat me at my own game, again !”

He huffs at the end of his tirade and looks to Lydia for understanding, but she avoids his gaze and poorly suppresses snickers under her breath.

“C’mon it’s not that funny. I know he can ‘smolder’ his way into the heart of even the most introverted student,” Stiles gesticulates with each emphasis, “but I have charm , I’m approachable , I understand these students. I love my job and I do everything in my ability to give these students every opportunity they deserve . If that’s not ‘Teacher of the Year’ material, then I don’t know what is.”

Stiles stops, taps his chin thoughtfully and sighs, “Though I totally understand that the title is purely for bragging rights, and it ultimately comes down to just continuing to be the best teacher I can be. Derek is a great teacher that also deserves the title and I can respect that, but gosh darn does he get my competitive side riled up.”

“Uh huh…” Lydia hums and taps her fingers against her cup as she pointedly looks past Stiles, “Mr. Stilinski, I do believe there’s someone that needs your help?”

“Oh!” Stiles quickly straightens himself and his tie, and turns around with a wide grin, “What can I do for--YOU!” Stiles quickly twists his expression into a frown and throws a finger up accusingly after registering who was darkening his doorway.

Standing in the doorway with a glare that could send a lesser man running for the hills is the previously mentioned competitor and last year’s winner for ‘Teacher of the Year’, mister ‘coolest history teacher’ Derek Hale in all his annoyingly gorgeous, stubbly, glory. He side-eyes Stiles’ organized chaos in the chemistry lab from behind thick framed hipster looking glasses and grimaces, “Am I interrupting something?”

Stiles grits his teeth, he can practically feel the judgement over his classroom’s state radiating off of the (not even tenured!) history teacher and no amount of soft looking cable knit sweaters could lessen that blow. “As a matter of fact--”

“No, you’re not interrupting anything at all Derek.” Lydia places a hand on Stiles’ shoulder as she walks past him, “I was just about to go say hi to Kira.”

Derek moves aside to let Lydia pass, she turns to smile at Stiles from the doorway, “I’ll come back by 6th period for your second AP Chem class. I think I’ll also grab some lunch from Whole Foods.”

“Uh...Bye?” Stiles weakly waves at Lydia’s parting back. He refocuses his attention on the offending history teacher and crosses his arms across his chest petulantly, “Alrighty, what d’ya need Mr. Hale?”

With a roll of his eyes, Derek holds up a handful of papers, steps forward, and emphatically places them in Stiles' inbox, “Your mail. I know your TA usually grabs it for you, but he’s out sick today. And I was already in the mailroom.”

“Whoa, wait wait, how do you know that my TA is out sick today, have you been stalking my classes? Are you trying to find a way to one up me? Steal some of my stellar teaching techniques because you know that you’ll lose otherwise?” Stiles narrows his eyes as his lowers voice into a conspiratorial tone while leaning forward to scrutinize Derek’s expression, “What’s your game here Mr. Hale ?”

Derek hazel eyes widen incredulously as he scoffs, “I don't need to stalk your classes, Liam's one of my students too. And please remind me, what did I do to make you so hostile again?”

“Playing dumb isn’t cute. You know full well what you did.” Stiles pokes at Derek’s chest and--oh that’s a soft sweater--puffs his own out, “But no matter what, I’m going to take what’s rightfully mine .”

His competitor’s face reddens in anger and Stiles feels a thrum of excitement at his ability to break Derek’s usual expression of ‘sourpuss lumberjack murderer’. A sly grin works its way across Stiles’ face as he shrugs coyly, “What can I say, I’m a man who knows what he wants.”

Stiles’ wrist is suddenly grabbed by a warm, slightly calloused palm--there may be something to that murderer in the woods theory--and wrenched away from the soft sweater. “And what would that be, Stiles?” Derek growls--who the hell growls --while leaning in way too close for comfort.

“What would that be? Um...I want to win? Obviously?” Stiles splutters as his face reddens, offended that Derek would suggest that there would be anything else . “I’m gonna own you, Derek. I’m gonna own you so hard, you won’t know what hit you.”

“How about you take me to dinner first, before you ‘own’ me?” Derek says matter-of-factly.

“Uh no, how about you take me to dinner to celebrate my overwhelming victory over your grumpy ass? Doesn’t that make a little more sense than going to dinner before either of us win?” Stiles rolls his eyes, laughing at Derek’s lack of logic. But his laughter sputters out and he stills once his brain processes what just happened. “Wait… wait wait… was that some sort of sad attempt at asking me out in the most backwards, reverse engineered manner possible?”

Stiles looks Derek in the eyes, who nods patiently, as if Stiles was one of their students that needs tutoring.

“Oh my God. Oh my GOD !” Stiles backs away and into his desk, voice rising in panic, “What even? What’s happening here? Are you trying to throw me off my game? Cause that’s a dirty tactic, even for you. Because there’s no way someone like you would legitimately ask out someone like me . That just doesn’t make sense. You’re like a sexy lumberjack murderer historian, and I’m like a young Bill Nye. I'm in the sciences , and you're in the humanities . And you don’t even like me. You haven’t liked me since your first day!”

“Hold on.” Derek holds his palms up defensively, “What are you talking about? You were the one glaring at me like there was no tomorrow.”

Stiles inspects Derek’s expression for any sign of deception, seeing none he sighs. “Fine, I guess it was just so unimportant to mister bigshot Hale to remember measly Mr. Stilinski. Do you remember moving into your classroom?”

He nods, urging Stiles to continue.

“So I didn’t know that the new teacher was moving in that day , so when I saw a big package outside of your soon to be classroom, I assumed that it was my delivery of graduated cylinders that was dropped off to the wrong room since it was early in the morning and people make mistakes sometimes, y’know?” Stiles gives Derek no opportunity to say anything and continues at full speed. “I went over and got ready to take the package, only to have you open the door and give me the scariest look in my entire life . Do you remember what you said to me, Derek?”

“You said,” Stiles changes his voice to imitate Derek’s, “‘That is my private property. If you value your time at this school, you will leave it alone. If I see this behavior again I will bring it up with Principal Yukimura’. So, yeah! Something about that kinda exchange can make a guy think you hate them!”

Derek groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, “Oh my God...You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Oh, so you do remember? Or did you conveniently forget threatening me?” Stiles grabs another sour punch straw and chews it angrily, “Because I sure as hell didn’t!”

“Stiles…” Derek laughs breathily, “I thought you were a student . I wasn’t wearing my glasses and it was dark . Oh my god . I thought the first time we met was in the teachers' lounge, and by that point I already unknowingly made a terrible first impression on you. No wonder you looked at me with such hatred. Oh my goodness.”

“...oh.”

“Yeah, oh…”

Stiles chews the straw thoughtfully and rocks on the balls of his feet. “So… about that backwards dinner invitation…”

“Yeah?” Derek perks up slightly, looking almost adorable , though Stiles would never say that outloud.

“How about whoever wins ‘Teacher of the Year’ gets treated to dinner, hm?” Stiles holds out a hand for a handshake.

With a goofy grin revealing adorable (there’s that word again!) bunny teeth that brighten up Derek’s entire face, much better than the usual murderous look, he enthusiastically takes Stiles hand and shakes it.

“Deal.”

Epilogue

“I still can’t believe it!”

“I know.” Derek hums as he reaches over to refill Stiles’ glass.

“Honestly, who saw this coming?”

“Certainly not me,” Derek swirls some pasta around his fork and fondly watches Stiles throw back the wine as if it was jungle juice rather than a nice glass of Chardonnay.

Stiles’ honey-brown eyes glimmer with the same kind of mischievous enthusiasm that Derek remembered seeing for the first time at the first assembly of the school year. He gave some sort of spiel about the importance of working together and not being afraid to ask for help, which ended with a demonstration of elephant toothpaste. Derek is embarrassed to say how much he grew to admire the gawky chemistry teacher after that assembly.

“I absolutely kicked your ass dude.” Stiles leans across the table to grab the dessert menu. “Since it’s your treat, I think I’ll indulge in some dessert.” He worries his bottom lip, which makes Derek have to cough and turn his attention away.

“Don’t call me dude.” Derek weakly responds.

“Ooh, this one is topped with bourbon vanilla bean chantilly cream, which is basically bougie whipped cream. How do you feel about bread pudding by the way?” Stiles looks up from the menu through his eyelashes--and there is no way he doesn’t know how he looks--and flutters them exaggeratedly. “Or are you too sour over losing to wittle ol’ me?”

Derek snorts and reaches over to clasp Stiles’ free hand, “On the contrary, I’d be happy to lose to you again.”

Stiles returns the gesture and leans forward, eyes glimmering, his face mere inches away from Derek’s, “Promise?”

Derek is suddenly very glad that they are sitting because he can feel himself go weak in the knees. He nods thoughtfully, “Yeah, I promise.” And leans forward to close the gap.

Their first kiss tastes like garlic bread, which is a little unconventional, but Derek wouldn’t have it any other way.

#everchanginginks #stereksanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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