Midnight Hour
With the warm haze of sleep fading from you, your brow furrows as your right hand presses lightly against his lower abdomen, your thumb sweeping up and down in a small attempt at a comforting motion. You quietly call for his attention, voice still thick with sleep.
“Star? Is everything okay?”
His typically silent breath suddenly hitches, and his head angles down to face you. Now that he’s turned toward the light, you catch the way his eyes shine, and the way the light reflects off of what you quickly realize are tear tracks, running down his cheeks.
You awake in the middle of the night to find your lover in tears.
Pairing: Astarion x Reader
Word Count: 3,139
Content Warnings: [crying (obviously)] [non-specific mentions of Astarion's past trauma] [this fic was written by someone who hasn't actually played the game and that might show in the details/the lack thereof]
Blinking your tired eyes open, you squint at the light of the crackling fire in front of you. Closing them again, you let out a soft sigh as you try to guess at the current time. Given that you woke on your own, you’re assuming it’s likely close to, but not quite, time for you to take over tonight’s watch shift.
Your group has fallen into a routine where you pair off into teams of two, and a different team keeps watch each night. Tonight’s turn belongs to you and Astarion, and he’s taken the first half of the shift as usual. You usually, ironically, sleep your best on the nights that he keeps watch, in spite of only getting half the amount of sleep as you do on the nights another team has the job.
You suppose you can credit the fact that, at the end of the day, Astarion is a creature of the night. Something about knowing he has the upper hand when it comes to any unwanted nighttime visitors your group may encounter is… reassuring. To you, as well as to the others in the group, loathe as some of them may be to admit it. That is, once they all felt confident in his promises to not make a surprise midnight snack of them, at least.
Tonight is a bit of an exception, though, and you’re not quite sure what woke you early this time. You typically sleep soundly until he gently coaxes you awake, nails combing through your hair, voice soft and apologetic in your ear. He’s always somewhat reluctant to wake you, but he does so nonetheless, having learned his lesson after the first time he made the executive decision to let you sleep the whole night through. His arguments of “You really looked like you could use the rest.” and “What’s one sleepless night? I can sleep when I’m dead.” didn’t hold much water in the face of the way he dragged ass through the entire next day.
In “the spirit of fairness” and “proving that he can stick to an agreement,” he never tried to take the whole shift by himself again. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with how guilty he felt when he heard the disappointment in your tone when you awoke that first morning and discovered he hadn’t stuck to the plan. Definitely.
Laying there in the quiet, you try and fail to pinpoint what feels different about tonight. You don’t hear any strange noises, nothing feels unusual, and blinking your eyes open again you raise your head a bit to look around the fire. The rest of the group are circled around the other sides of the heat source, sleeping soundly. You figure that you’re probably just getting used to this routine by now, and your body simply woke up around your usual shift change time on its own.
Still, that doesn’t explain the vague, unplaceable feeling that something is just… off.
You let out a sigh that turns into a yawn as you stretch and roll away from the fire onto your back. Letting your head roll further to the left, your eyes land on the familiar sight of your lover’s back as he sits in his usual position beside you, diligently watching your six.
He’s taken to placing his bedroll right next to yours, insisting that you lie between the fire and himself. You couldn’t really argue with his point that he can’t feel the cold anyways, so there’s no need for him to be the one next to the fire. Nor could you argue with the benefits of having him as a line of defense between you and whatever lurks beyond the reach of the firelight.
The feeling of security and protection that he provides you with is still relatively foreign to you, and a soft smile blooms on your face at the warm feeling it brings. Your smile then falls a bit as you remember the silent question you ask yourself on the regular, of whether or not you provide him with the same.
You roll the rest of the way to your left, and shuffle further toward him, closing what remains of the small gap he’d placed between the two of you. Lying halfway on your bedroll and halfway on his, you curl your body around his seated form, bringing your right arm up and gently placing a hand on the right side of his waist. He flinches slightly, and if this were earlier on in your relationship, you’d retract your hand. He’s long since informed you though that his reaction to unexpected touch is simply involuntary, and as long as it’s you, you’ve no need to pull away.
You recall the quiet, restrained desperation in his voice when he first explained it to you, all but begging you not to pull away. He can’t control the way his body reacts to touch, given that before you, he couldn’t recall the last time being touched meant anything other than pain. In spite of that though, he wants it. He wants you. That’s obvious in the way that he, without fail, immediately relaxes under your gentle touch once his mind and body process that it’s coming from you. The way he’s come to not only relax, but to lean into it. Lean into you.
You’d never push past his boundaries, never in a million years, but he’s made it quite clear after about a thousand of your quiet requests for consent at every minor touch, that he’s entirely welcoming of your non-sexual physical affections. Getting the man to verbally admit that he actually enjoys cuddling with you, without the truth being concealed beneath a heavy layer of playful banter and practiced, honeyed words didn’t come easy, but he came around to it in his own time.
So, you don’t pull back, instead following through with the motion and slowly snaking your arm around his waist. You press your front against his lower back and curl around to rest your left cheek atop his left thigh. You can’t help but notice that he doesn’t relax into you in the way he usually does, and your head turns to the right a bit, struggling to get a half-decent look at his face as you’re both turned away from the fire light.
He remains tense, still, and unresponsive to your movements, gaze seemingly locked dead ahead of him, staring out into the dark forest.
With the warm haze of sleep fading from you, your brow furrows as your right hand presses lightly against his lower abdomen, your thumb sweeping up and down in a small attempt at a comforting motion. You quietly call for his attention, voice still thick with sleep.
“Star? Is everything okay?”
His typically silent breath suddenly hitches, and his head angles down to face you. Now that he’s turned toward the light, you catch the way his eyes shine, and the way the light reflects off of what you quickly realize are tear tracks, running down his cheeks. He’s actively crying, tears dripping from his chin, and now with his head tilted down at you they take a different path, running down to converge and fall from the tip of his nose.
You nearly bolt upright in your shock, quickly unwrapping yourself from him and clambering around on all fours until you’re sat down in front of him, your hands gripping tightly to your upper thighs in worry. His wide-eyed gaze followed your every movement, and even now that you’re sat still in front of him, his eyes still dart around, frantically scanning you, for what, you don’t know.
“What- what’s going on?”
You keep your voice as quiet as you reasonably can in spite of your shock and concern, not eager to wake your companions and have everyone witness… whatever this is.
He doesn’t respond, looking just about as lost as you feel, shaking his head in silence as more tears fall. It’s one hell of a sight, and it suddenly hits you that this is the first time you’ve ever seen him cry.
Unsure of what to do and what even caused this, you resist the urge to wrap him in a hug, not wanting to overstep in this unfamiliar territory. Instead, you glance back over your shoulder and once again see and hear nothing of note before trying another question.
“Is there a threat? Did you see something that scared you, honey?”
He takes a long moment to answer, seeming unsure, before eventually settling on another shake of his head. His lack of confidence in his answer isn’t the most reassuring thing at the moment, but given that you aren’t detecting any danger either, you decide to believe that he really didn’t see any threat. At least, not here. Not right now, in the present moment, in front of him. He seems about halfway here and halfway gone, and if your growing suspicions are correct, he’s probably been sat here lost in the dark corners of his mind for a while now, given the state he’s in.
You catch movement to Astarion’s right side and watch as Karlach raises up from her prior position sprawled out face-down on her bedroll, propping herself up with her forearms beneath her. Her expression of concern is too aware and her eyes are too awake for her to have just now woken up, and you quickly gather that she’s probably been awake and laying there long enough to have heard your questions and Astarion’s lack of any verbal response. She doesn’t say anything though, and doesn’t move, just letting the situation unfold and keeping a watchful eye on the darkness behind you.
Relaxing slightly at the knowledge that someone else is awake and helping to keep watch now, your focus shifts back to Astarion, who’s gaze has moved to his lap, tears still falling fast. It’s almost unsettling, the way he cries. There’s no sound, no movement, his breathing is hardly even affected, nothing more than the occasional shaky breath to give away any sign of struggle at all. You don’t have to guess why it’s like this, given what he’s told you about his past. You’re sadly certain that he learned to cry like this ages ago. Silent and still, sat alone in the dark so no one would notice.
You don’t want to think about the sorts of punishments he’s endured as a result of showing such pain and emotion, but your mind pulls from what experiences he’s shared and offers up a few anyways, making you begin to feel sick.
Leaning down and trying to catch his gaze, you ask another question.
“Astarion, are you with me right now?”
He blinks, more tears spill, and his lips finally part as he responds to you with a strained whisper.
“I’m trying to be…”
You smile in spite of your current emotions and the general mood of the situation, doing your best to be something positive, something gentle, something safe for him to focus on.
“There you are…”
You say it to yourself as much as to him, relieved to finally hear his voice, as laced with pain as it sounds. You hold out your hand near where his lie balled into fists in his lap, offering him contact without forcing it on him.
“I want you to keep trying, okay? Do your best to come back into the present with me. You can take my hand, if you’d like?”
He stares down at your offered hand for a long moment before shakily unballing one of his fists. He hesitates, fingers trembling, before reaching out and placing his hand in yours. His skin is even colder than usual and slightly damp to the touch, and you couldn’t be less put off, or give less of a fuck about the messy state of him right now, or ever, if you’re being honest. You just want to help him, however you can.
You curl your warm fingers around his palm, wanting to pull him into a hug so badly but restraining yourself, letting him call the shots.
“You’re okay now, Star. You’re safe right now, here with me. We’re safe.”
He’s quiet for another long moment as he shuts his eyes tight, taking in your words. His other fist unfurls, and his body trembles almost imperceptibly.
“I… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
Your heart breaks.
“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for. Nothing at all, I promise you.”
He shakes his head in disagreement, his voice an insistent whisper.
“I shouldn’t be doing this.”
Your shoulders drop from where they’d been tensely held up, body slumping with a silent sigh as you watch him still try to hold this wall up between the two of you. You’d made it past a number of his walls already, but this one… this one you’ve yet to be granted access behind.
“It’s okay to cry, you know?”
Another shake of his head, this time with far more force behind it, almost vehement.
“No.”
You soften your voice, insisting.
“Yes. It is. You can cry now, Astarion. No one’s gonna hurt you. No one’s gonna judge you. I swear on my life, that’s the truth.”
His breaths become more labored, uneven and shaking.
“You aren’t his anymore. The old rules don’t apply. You can let it out, now. No one, and I mean no one, is going to punish you for it.”
His eyes pinch closed and his head shakes hard side to side, like he’s fighting his own mind, and his hand opens and closes like it wants to grab onto something. He then moves, wrapping his free hand around your arm and suddenly you’re being pulled toward him, desperately, insistently.
You follow the motion as he continues to tug at you, first leaning forward and propping yourself up with your other hand on the ground as he continues to pull you closer. You quickly gather what he wants as he lets go of your hand in favor of latching onto your other arm, pulling you upward, choking back tears all the while.
You raise up on your knees and his hands move once again to hook beneath your arms as you allow yourself to be pulled up onto his lap with physical strength you keep forgetting he possesses. Hooking your legs around his waist, you wrap your arms around his shoulders and pull him into you. His arms wrap tightly around your waist and he buries his face into the fabric of your shirt at the collar, muffling the soft sound of his crying which has now turned to full-blown sobs.
He’s still shockingly quiet in spite of it all, and you imagine it’s a mixture of being unable to let go of what’s ingrained into him, and not wanting to alert the entire camp to his current breakdown.
Your thumbs stroke up and down in place on his back, not wanting to let go of your hold on him but still wanting to give him some sort of comforting motion to focus on. Besides, you figure petting across the entire expanse of his scarred back might do the opposite of calming him down, so you refrain and keep your arms wrapped firmly around him. Turning your head down toward his, you whisper to him in between soft kisses to his temple.
“That’s it, love. Let it out.”
“You’re safe now, Astarion, I swear.”
“There’s nothing wrong with this.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
“You have every right to cry. No one ever should’ve taken that away from you.”
He grips you even tighter as you shower him with painfully unfamiliar affection and acceptance, comfort unlike anything he’s ever felt before in his horribly long life. His forehead presses against your right shoulder as his crying slows, trying to ground himself and catch his breath. You make a point of holding him securely against you, breathing slow and deep to give him an example to follow.
You catch movement in your periphery and glance over at Karlach as she quietly sits up and makes a series of silent lip movements and hand gestures that you don’t entirely grasp. You work them out to mean that she’s gonna take over watch for the rest of the night, and you can rest with Astarion. You send her a grateful look and mouth a “thank you,” to which she waves you off with what you think you read as a silent “don’t mention it” on her lips.
After a short while spent focused on slowing down his breath and bringing him fully out of his memories and back here with you, you whisper quiet words in his ear.
“Your work is done, Astarion. You can rest now.”
You mean it in both possible interpretations of the words, and he seems to understand that, his body finally relaxing against yours for the first time tonight.
“You wanna lie down with me, love?”
He seems like he almost nods, but stops himself, whispering back in an exhausted voice, scratchy and thick from crying.
“Someone has to keep watch.”
You hesitate to inform him that Karlach has already taken over that role for tonight, sure that he’d get no sleep at all if he knew she’d witnessed this. You know you’re gonna be awake watching over him for the rest of the night anyways, so instead, you offer a compromise.
“I can hold you and keep watch at the same time, love. Just… let me sit and you can lay against me.”
He gives the suggestion a moment of thought before nodding his head, reluctantly loosening his hold on you. You maneuver the both of you carefully so as to avoid allowing his tired eyes to catch sight of your obviously awake companion sitting behind him.
It isn’t much of a task considering his eyes are halfway closed already, his only remaining focus locked on you. You settle down at the head of his bedroll, guiding him to lie down and bringing his head to rest in the center of your lap.
Your hands take turns gently combing fingers through his white curls, and you feel his tense shoulders begin to relax at the feeling. You bring a thumb down and gently stroke over the lines creasing his brow, quietly encouraging him to release the tension he likely doesn’t realize he’s holding. You watch him pull in a deep, albeit still slightly unsteady breath, and you can practically feel the relief that washes over him when he exhales.
Words aren’t necessary between the two of you at this point, not in this moment, but you offer him a few anyways, hoping they’ll resonate in his tired mind as he slips into sleep.
“You’re safe here, Star. Rest easy.”
A/N: Like I said in the CWs, I haven't played the game for myself (yet!) so I only know what I've seen in the hours of (mostly Astarion-focused) scenes I've watched on YT. As a result, this might have read a bit funny if I've gotten certain details wrong. For instance- I have no idea how resting at the camp actually goes, whether or not someone keeps watch all night, etc. Also I'm not sure if Astarion even needs to actually sleep or if he meditates/falls into a trance and just calls it sleep, but for the sake of simplicity, (and me being clueless,) when I say he falls into sleep just assume he's doing whatever he'd normally do to rest.
On a different note- this little fic was inspired by a combination of two things. The lovely art and additional commentary on this post, by @velnna , and also by me listening to Midnight Hour by Sierra Eagleson on loop for like, an hour, and daydreaming up this specific scene before proceeding to write it out. It is a beautiful song that is now the title and theme-song for this fic, and I encourage you to go give it a listen if you haven't heard it already.
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VIRALITY // 10
10 - Maybe Both, Maybe Neither
pairing: nicholas ruffilo x fem!oc [vallie]
masterlist/intro: here | crossposted: ao3 | word count: 5.8k
summary: after waking up next to each other vallie & nicholas go their separate ways. vallie goes to visit an old friend who may be more than friendly. nicholas goes to sober up noah but doesn’t expect him to pull the curtain back on his resentment.
warnings: mentions about alcoholism/AA meetings/cheating, arguing, noah being annoying but what's new, tea is spilled !!, vallie is vulnerable for once in her life, lots of dialogue, alternating POVs sorry 🥲
A/N: Sorry it's been like 2 months since I’ve updated, it literally did not feel like it 🥲 school & life are kicking my ass lol + this chapter ended up being so complicated / difficult
Also! This chapter introduces a very mild crossover with Christian 'Kras' Anthony from the band Chase Atlantic - he's being used as a fun little temporary reoccurring side character. Don't worry, knowing who he is isn't necessary to understand his character lol i just think he's cute🥰
don't like it don't read it. don’t be mean for no reason & let others enjoy things thnx :)
-NICHOLAS-
A jarring buzzing jolts me awake. I sit up a bit with scrunched eyes trying to follow the noise with a wandering patting hand. The noise leads to Vallie’s phone rattling on my bedside table next to her. I grab it and sleepily ignore the call out of habit.
In my still half-sleep state, I don’t want to be anywhere else besides where my body was curled up against her. I return to my spot with my arm around the brunette, tugging her closer. Her scent fills my nostrils when I nuzzle into her neck. The smell of her hair is peppermint-y and the scent on her skin reminds me of marshmallows and… matcha?
Whatever it is, it’s warm, cozy, and smells so yummy it makes me want to eat her again.
Before I have the pleasure of manifesting that thought into reality, her phone goes off vibrating again, this time making me significantly more aggravated.
I snatch the phone looking at her caller ID – the name plastered across the screen:
Christian
with some emojis I’m far too sleepy to decipher.
Christian?
I decide not to ignore her phone call from an evidently urgent caller.
“Hey, Hey.” I gently nudge her shoulder. “Your phone has been going off.”
She lets out a sleepy groan that is probably the cutest noise I’ve ever heard.
She takes one look at the ID and immediately ignores it and shoves it under the pillow.
Odd.
She yawns and rubs her eye, “What time is it?”
“I’m not sure.” I try to look at the edges of my window covered with blackout curtains trying to gauge even the time of day. “You have your phone, check it?”
Her fingers tap against the mattress. “It’s not that important.”
“Who’s Christian?” I blurt out without thinking.
From the angle I’m at, I can see her eyes widen a bit at the question.
She clears her throat. “What?”
“The person who kept calling you. It was someone named Christian?”
“Oh um,” She bites down on my lip, seemingly contemplating her answer. “He’s a friend.”
I’m filled with a feeling I’m not sure I enjoy nor one I should be feeling.
“A friend?” I ask, unconvinced.
It’s none of my business. It doesn’t matter who he is.
“Yeah, a friend.” She scrunches her brows at the wall. “Why do you care who’s calling me?”
“I-I don’t.” I reply but I know I’m a shit liar and I probably don’t sound very convinced. “I was just wondering.”
“Right.” She yawns then gets up in a panic like she just realized where she is. “Oh my god we fell asleep.”
“Yeah…I figured you gathered that by now.” I said falling down flat beside her.
“Fuck Nick, how am I gonna get out of here?” She scrambles for her phone beneath the pillow to finally check the time. “Fuck, fuck, I have to leave.”
“Okay, okay, calm down. Let me just check out the house, I can take you to get your car.” I pull myself out of bed and let myself stretch out my arms above my head.
“Fuck.” She mutters, readjusting her entire torso in her tight top. “Remind me to never sleep in a corset ever again. I need to get out of this, can I borrow something?”
Her attention lands on me and at first, her forest greens are inquisitive and calm but when she actually looks at me, they widen. Her eyes slowly trail down my body and land where my shirt hangs above the exposed skin of my hips.
Watching her tongue slide between her lips makes my heart thump in my ear drums so loud I can barely hear what she’s saying.
“Also, can you um,” She clears her throat and looks back up at me, “Help me get this off?”
“Sure.” I nod and drop my arms back down.
She shifts in the bed so the zipper in the back of the faux-corset faces me. My fingers delicately gather her dark chocolate locks and drape them over her shoulder to get them out of my way. Her tan skin curves so beautifully from her neck to her shoulder that I feel as though if I don’t kiss her there it would somehow be insulting.
The need to kiss her there feels as necessary as air, so lean down and press a hesitant kiss to the crook of her neck as I begin unzipping her top.
She doesn’t stop me, which I was sure she would stop me now in the daylight.
Another kiss up, I linger more there.
Then another in the same spot, then another, and another, and another – until I am fully peppering her skin with open mouth kisses and my hands roam her curves.
She lets out little noises the closer I get to her ear that remind me of the ones she gave me when my tongue was inside her.
It’s not until I’m nipping and sucking at her skin that she speaks.
“Nick…” She whines in a tone that says ‘you know better’.
I tug down the rest of her zipper.
My lips still lazily drag up her neck.
I hum against her and let my hands wander down her sides to her hips. “Let me make you feel good.”
She lets out a shuddered whine but not a red or green light.
My hands round her hips giving them a gentle back and forth rub, “I need to taste you again.” I press another kiss against the sensitive skin below her ear and I can feel goosebumps erupt all over her skin.
My fingers burn everywhere they meet her skin and beg to be everywhere they shouldn’t be.
She closes her eyes and lets herself breathe for a second.
“Nicholas.” She repeats, more sternly this time. “I have to leave before anyone sees me.”
“I know.” I say simply and pull away, strategically resting both hands over my semi.
I know I shouldn’t press more. I know shouldn’t try to convince more. But god do I want to. All I’m thinking about is fucking her senseless.
She keeps a hand on the front of the corset to keep it flush on her skin. “Could I please borrow something?” She reminds me of her original request.
“Oh yeah sure, sorry.” I quickly scan the room for the closest item.
I spot a barely worn Deftones shirt and hand it to her.
“Thanks.”
She just sort of stares at me then makes a ‘turn-around’ motion with her hand.
“Oh, sorry.” I shift away from her. “It’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before.”
“Shut up.”
I hear her let out a sigh of relief, probably from finally being freed from the constricting top.
“Okay you can turn around now.”
I turn back to her and find what I expected: her in my shirt.
What I didn’t expect was to somehow find her even more attractive in my shirt than even a lace corset.
As much as I’d like for her to stay, I fear that if I don’t get her out now, I’ll devour her whole.
“I’ll just… go scope out the area.” I thumb over my shoulder towards the door.
“Good idea.” She nods.
I very quietly sneak out of my room into the empty hallway, gently closing the bedroom door behind me.
After tiptoeing around the house, I find everyone asleep as it seems still quite early, at least for them.
The drive back to the bar is quiet and somewhat awkward. I’m not sure if it’s because of what we did or if I crossed some sort of invisible line and made her upset.
Or maybe both,
Maybe neither.
Maybe I’m over thinking it.
We haven’t talked about anything, no rules, no boundaries. I don’t know how I would bring that up to begin with. What the hell are we doing? And how do I feel about it. How do I want to feel about it?
We say goodbye and it’s stiff and odd. I’m not sure if I should kiss her? Or treat her like my colleague?
Maybe both,
Maybe neither.
That one feels more like a maybe neither.
The way she acted this morning makes me think that whatever… this is, is over.
I know it should be done, but there is a part of me that doesn’t want to stop. At least not yet. Maybe if I got one more fix.
Regardless how I feel about it, it was a mistake. I knew that the first time, I knew it last night and I know it now.
Why did I let this happen. How did I let this happen?
I tap my fingers anxiously against the steering wheel once I’ve parked at home.
I know Folio wouldn’t really care but if Noah or Jolly found out about this?
Oh my god.
I don’t even want to think about what would happen.
All I know is two things.
One, I can’t keep fucking thinking about this – I can’t keep thinking about her.
Two, I unfortunately know what I need to do when I walk back through our front door.
-VALLIE-
As soon as my car door shuts behind me, I let out a long sigh that I wasn’t aware I was holding.
I fold my arms around my steering wheel and rest my forehead against it.
“Fuck.”
The entire ride home there was this nausea festering in the pit of my stomach.
I like being with Nicholas.
I like being with Nicholas too much.
And this stupid fucking Deftones shirt is too comfortable and smells too much like him – and I like it more than I should. And I need to get home as soon as possible to get it off me.
This is absolutely the last thing I needed – catching feelings or whatever the fuck is filling my chest with butterflies from someone I’m representing.
This is the band that I shouldn’t have even taken on in the first place, and now I’m here on the verge of vomiting because I miss the way his bed feels. This was not the plan.
I shake my head from the the thoughts as I walk through my front door. It’s just the dickmatization talking. That’s it. I like his dick and that’s all.
His huge fucking…
No.
No.
And god his fucking tongue...
No.
No.
This absolutely cannot be happening.
I won’t let this happen.
I need to nip this in the bud before it goes any further.
I chuck my phone and keys on my dresser and use my palms to lean against the edge.
An abrupt buzzing of my iPhone against the hard wood shocks me from my dissociation.
Christian
Christian
Christian
…could be exactly what I need.
I slide the answer bar across the screen and bring the phone to my ear.
“Hey Kras.” I smile, using his nickname.
“Val!” He chimes cheerfully on the other line. “I’ve been trying to get ya all day!”
“I’m busy Kras, you know that.” I roll my eyes playfully. “What’s up, what do you want so badly?”
“Tour ended last week and I’m staying in LA for a bit for some band stuff before I head back home to Sydney.” He pauses. “I wanna see you. I need to talk to you about something.”
I press my lips together and take a deep breath, suddenly stressed about what exactly that meant.
“Okay. When and where do you wanna meet up?”
“Today? My place?”
“Okay, see you then.”
After a much-needed shower I’m finally at the door of his temporary apartment. I smooth out my outfit, which wasn’t much really, just some sweats with a cropped tank. With as long as I’ve known Kras, it didn’t really matter what I looked like, but I still wanted to look cute. I use my hand to flatten my tied up hair to make sure there’s no ridges before I knock on his door. It doesn’t take long for him to answer it.
“Val.” He greets with his signature big goofy smile.
The tall, long-haired blonde envelopes me into giant hug and I embrace it. His scent fills my nose with memories; it’s soft, comforting, and most of all, fun.
Christian and I have always been close, he’s the closest thing I have to a best friend. Our friendship has always been…interesting to say the least. I think most people would consider our dynamic complicated, but to us it’s quite simple.
I give him a good, hard squeeze around his midsection. “Augh, Kras I’ve missed you.”
He reciprocates the squeeze and places a kiss atop my head. “I missed you too.”
I pull away with a smile and smack his arm, “You don’t text me enough! I didn’t even know your tour ended.”
“Me? The phone works both ways Miss ‘You know I’m busy’” He mocks me jokingly.
“God, I forget how strong your Aussie accent is in person.” I chuckle, diverting the conversation.
I shiver at the ice-cold chill I get from his AC and rub my arms for warmth.
“Fuck it’s cold as shit in here.” It’s so frigid even my teeth chatter.
“Yeah, sorry I like it freezing. You want a jacket or something?” He offers then crosses the room when I nod.
He picks through some clothes in an open suitcase and hands me a multicolored flannel. I pull the flannel over my arms letting the material engulf my body.
After a brief catching up about tour and life, I lean against the wall and cross my arms.
“So, what is it you wanted to talk about.” I cut straight to it.
He bites down on his lip, and I can’t tell if he’s excited or nervous.
Maybe both, maybe neither.
“We need a manager.” He blurts out.
“Oh? I thought you were working with-”
“We want you Val.”
I laugh, because surely, he can’t be serious. I don’t belong to an agency and work my two clients freelance, all on my own. There’s no way I could take on another band, especially one as successful as Chase on top of the other two.
“What? No, no, I absolutely couldn’t manage you guys…”
He steps towards me and trails his fingers down my arms and hooks onto my hands. “Sure you can. You used to, remember?”
I shake my head, “Oh, you know that doesn’t count Christian. We were nobodies – you were nobodies. Of course I could manage your measly little 10,000 Instagram followers.”
He squeezes my hands and tugs on my arms. “C’mon Val. It’ll be like the good old days. It’ll be fun!”
“I don’t know about you, but living in a tiny LA apartment with three men struggling to afford food wasn’t really that good or fun.”
He rolls his eyes and tugs on my arms again. “For old times’ sake?”
I shake my head, “No, no, I already have enough on my plate. I just took on another band not that long ago.”
“Please Val, for us?” His brows curve up, and he gives me the biggest hazel puppy dog eyes that he knows I can’t say no to. “For me?”
I groan and rest my head back against the wall. “I’ll think about it, okay?”
His hands leave mine and find their way to my hips, slipping under the flannel so his hands are holding onto bare skin between my tank and my sweats. His forehead presses against mine.
“Is there anything I can do to help change that answer?” He asks between the small space separating us while his finger traces my jaw line tilting my chin up a bit.
I tug at my lip – this is partially why I came here right? To nip my Nick problem in the bud, to break the dickmatization spell.
“I don’t know, maybe.” I tease up at him with round eyes.
“Hm.” He hums and leans in, pressing a kiss to my lips and I freeze.
Even though we’ve done this a million times before, it just feels wrong now. Nicholas and I aren’t even… anything, we’re just fucking, right? But it still feels odd.
I know this feeling.
And I know what it means.
Fuck.
I pull away and give a little head shake.
“Plum?” He asks using our code word for when we’re interested in or dating someone else.
I groan loudly, shuffle past him to his bed in the studio apartment and dramatically fall flat, face down onto it. Then let out an even louder, longer groan.
He walks over and gently sits criss-cross on the bed next to me.
“Must be a pretty good Plum to have you like this.”
Our friendship was simple. We’re the rare example that a friends-with-benefits can be truly, purely platonic and casual. Kras is a generally affectionate guy, even with his bandmates. And he is one of the only people I feel comfortable being affectionate with, so I let myself be affectionate with him.
We are platonically affectionate best friends who fuck when we’re single. It sounds impossible but it’s who we are and who we have been for almost 10 years.
It’s nice, cozy, and convenient. Easy.
He’s safe, familiar, and reliable.
Which is more than I can say for any friendship or relationship I’ve ever had.
I turn my head towards him still flat against the bed.
“It’s bad Kras.”
“How bad?”
I chew on my bottom lip. “I work with him.”
His eyes widen. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes.”
“…In the band you were talking about?”
I turn back to hide my face in his duvet. “Oh yeah.”
“Val noooo.”
I chuckle at how his ‘no’s sound like ‘naaauur’s.
“I knooow.” I whine into the sheets.
“Singer?”
I shake my head against the duvet.
“Guitarist?”
“Bassist.” I reply muffled in bedding.
“Oof.”
A laugh escapes me at his reaction. I pop my head up at him, “Stop, I know.”
I pull myself up and cross the bed to sit next to him and lay my head on his shoulder.
“Maybe I just really like his dick.” I state confidently staring out the large window across the room. I blankly watch the daytime city lights flicker across the highrise-littered skyline.
“You think so?” He asks looking down at me a little. “I’ve never seen you get like this over just good dick. You’re pretty cut and dry about like…emotions. You’re good at separating sex from feelings.” He laughs and nudges me. “That’s why we work so well.”
I groan and hide my face in his shoulder because I know he’s right. He’s always right when it comes to shit like this.
“He sang to me Kras.”
“Oh god…was he any good?”
I feel my cheeks heat up and I nod against his arm, “It was so pretty.”
He laughs and tickles my side, “Look at you! You’re smitten! I never thought I’d see the day.”
I grab the nearest pillow and smack him with it, “Shut up!” then fall back flat and cover my face with it.
There’s a silence between us for a bit, a million things running through my mind, but Kras speaks for me.
“You know you can’t love him, right?” He says gently.
My brows furrow immediately, I slam the pillow down and shoot straight up.
“WHOA, whoa whoa.” I cut through the air with my hand. “Nobody ever said anything about…the L word. I do not…love him.” I can barely get the word out as if it’s something forbidden. “I barely fucking know him. I just like his dick.”
“Okay, okay.” He raises his hands in defense. “You can’t like him. You know that right?”
“I don’t even know if I like him. We’re just fucking. That’s all.”
He glares at me with a face that screams, ‘yeah right’. “Well, fine, you know you can’t keep fucking him.”
I let out a long sigh.
“Yeah, I know. I thought coming here to fuck you would help.”
He laughs then tapers off in thought.
“Maybe we don’t actually have to fuck in order to help.” He suggests.
I raise a brow at him, “What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean… guys normally don’t just sing to girls they’re casually hooking up with.”
“Okay…?” I motion for him to keep going.
“So, if it comes up or anything, you could just lie.” He shrugs.
“Lie about what?”
“About like, fucking someone else. If he likes you enough to sing to you, he probably won’t be happy if you tell him you’re fucking someone else. So, he’ll stop trying to fuck you.”
I chew on my thumbnail in thought, he’s right. Like always.
“Maybe. I don’t really know if he’d even care. We never really talking about anything… I thought we just had a silent agreement about just fucking, he never said anything about-”
“He sang to you Val.”
I anxiously twirl the ends of my ponytail and chew on my bottom lip. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
He gives me the most ‘are you for real’ glare.
“Okay, okay.” I deflate. “IF it comes up, I’ll mention something.”
“Just don’t say who I am. I don’t know him, he could beat my ass." He laughs. "Plus, it would be pretty awkward for him to find out that you’re fucking a hot guitarist from your other band.” He smirks cheekily.
“Shut up.” I elbow his side playfully, “I never said yes.”
“But you will.”
I chew on my lip thinking it over.
On one hand, I’m already insanely busy and overworked with the two artists I’m already managing.
On the other hand, as odd as they are, they are old and close friends of mine. It wouldn’t be like managing strangers or learning a whole new fanbase, I helped build the foundation of the one they have now back in 2014.
And it would be a good distraction.
If this plan works out with Nick, maybe I could move on from Plum status and I can actually focus on my job.
“Fine. I’ll do it. BUT,” I hold a finger pointed towards him menacingly, “ONLY temporarily.”
“Ah yes! I knew you would!” He exclaims, wrapping his arms around me and tackling me to the bed, pressing various ‘thank you’ kisses to my cheek.
“Okay, okay enough.” I chuckle trying to escape his grasp.
-NICHOLAS-
I let a long sigh at the bottom of the stairs, shifting my weight between both feet. I tap my fingers on the wooden railing anxiously. I probably shouldn’t be this rattled over something I’ve done a million times before. But it doesn’t get any easier.
I push myself up the stairs in one driving force knowing that it has to be me. It’s always me.
Never Folio. Never Jolly.
It’s always been my job.
There’s no response when I knock on Noah’s bedroom door.
I knock again, no answer.
I knock again, no answer.
So, I let myself in.
As expected, Noah’s passed out with a fresh bottle of whiskey half drank on his nightstand. His room still in as much filth as it’s been for a while. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve only ever seen his room even remotely messy a handful of times, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. In the past I’ve known the reasons behind the mess or the drinking – usually over a breakup or some depression spell – but this time he kept me in the dark. I have no fucking clue what's going on with him.
If I wasn’t so aggravated with him already, the mess of the room would worry me even more than I already am.
I cross the threshold of garbage between the door and his bed and pat his cheek awake.
“Noah.”
Sleepy snores tumble from his mouth and while one might find them endearing, right now, they’re pissing me the fuck off.
“Noah.” I say more sternly, nudging him more. No luck.
I try various other ways, and nothing works. He’s out cold.
So, I try a tried-and-true classic.
I climb on top of him and straddle his waist over the duvet, one knee at each side of his hips. His boney exposed shoulders offer a great anchor so I grab them, shaking him awake.
He comes-to slowly, droopy heavy lids struggling to open. His fist goes to rub his tired eye but winces when he’s reminded of the swollen black and blue that surrounds it.
“The fuck are you doing?” He groans, stealing a pillow from beside him to cover his face. “Get off of me.”
I snatch the pillow from his grasp and toss it across the room. “No. You’re going to get up. You’re going to shower. And I’m taking you to a meeting.”
He shields his eyes with his arm. “I’m-I’m fine Nick, don’t need a meeting.” His words slurring together.
“You’re a fucking idiot.” I correct.
“I don’t need a meeting.” He hiccups and I can smell the alcohol radiating off him, seeping through his skin. “I’m not going. I'm just gonna sleep.”
I grab his wrists, pin them to the bed and get low to his face. “Oh you’re going. We’re gonna sober you up, starting with a shower.” I pull off him and stand beside the bed.
“Let’s go. C’mon.”
“No.”
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way has the same result. Let’s go.”
“No.”
I sigh, even though I knew it would end up like this. “Fine. Hard way it is.”
I yank the sheets off him and use two arms to scoop up his body by his midsection and throw him over my shoulder. He’s thin enough to where even I can lift and carry him easily – or maybe I’ve just gotten used to the weight of him in my arms.
“Nick let me fucking go.” He whines but doesn’t try to wiggle out of my grasp, probably too hungover to move that much.
With every bit of my strength, I carry his thin body to his guest bathroom.
I all but toss him into the shower, start the water, and fling the curtain closed.
“Hey! What the fuck!” He yells and shuts off the water immediately.
He slings the curtain open and snatches a towel off the nearest rack, wrapping it around his shirtless torso.
“What the fuck is your problem, Nicholas!” His hands frantically wipe the water from his face.
I let out a frustrated groan and turn to leave. "Stop being a baby."
He steps out of the tub and calls after me, “Hey, I’m not fucking done talking to you!”
The shower shock did exactly what I needed it to do, sober him up, but now I regret even waking him up.
“My problem is that you’re a fucking drunk Noah.” I snap turning back to him.
“I’m not a fucking drunk, I have it under control. You’re just fucking paranoid!” He steps into the hallway dripping water all over the carpet.
“I’m not fucking paranoid, Noah. I’m not letting you drink yourself to oblivion.”
His brows lift in offense, “Let me? What the fuck are you, my fucking keeper?”
“Sometimes it sure fucking feels like I am!” The words escape me before I can stop them.
He chuckles in disbelief, “Well, nobody fucking asked you to be.”
“It doesn’t matter if anyone asked me to, I have to because who the fuck else is gonna pick your sorry, bruised ass off a bar floor in the middle of the fucking day?” My hand helps exaggerate each word.
“Jolly or Folio would’ve.” He sasses, crossing his arms.
“Oh yeah? And how long you think they’d put up with that?” I step closer to him. “Not for as long as I have, that’s for fucking sure.”
His eyes scrunch together like he’s hurt or offended.
Maybe both,
Maybe neither.
“I won’t let you push out everyone in our lives Noah.”
His eyes land on me and he cocks his head to the right a bit like a dog processing a foreign noise.
“‘Push out everyone in our lives’ is that what this is actually about? Alice?”
My gaze locks on him and my hands curl into tight fists at my sides. There are many words I want to say but none seem able to leave my tongue.
“Oh my god. You can’t be serious.” He steps back and points defensively at me. "I didn't push her out, you did!"
My blood boils and burns as it courses through my veins. My eyes narrow at him.
“I know you fucked her Noah.” I shove my finger so hard into his chest that it nearly knocks him back.
“I didn’t even like her Nick! Why the fuck would I fuck her?” He immediately denies.
“Because you always have to have everything you want, including the things that aren’t yours.”
“‘Things’” He scoffs. “Funny how you’re so upset about someone you only see as a thing.”
My teeth grind so hard it makes my jaw clench, “You know she was never a thing to me until you fucked her.”
“Oh, give it a break Nicholas! Stop blaming me for her leaving.” His hands exaggerate his words then points straight at me. “You are the reason your relationship failed. You are the reason she left.”
My eyes narrow as I step closer to his soaked body. “I would really watch what you fucking say if I were you.”
“Or what?” He asks but I have no answer. “When are you going to stop punishing me for something I never fucking did?”
I watch his eyes: dark brown, heavy, bloodshot, and one lined with a dark bruise from the bar fight. His words sound genuine, but I know his eyes, I know them like the back of my hand.
I know when he’s lying, and he’s lying to me right now. I can’t prove it, I haven’t been able to, but I know he’s been lying to me for the past year.
“For the love of god Noah, can you just stop fucking lying?” I snap. "You don't even have enough respect for me to tell me the truth?"
“Wow.” He presses his lips together for a moment. “You must think so low of me to really believe that I would do something like that.”
“I don’t have to think low of you to believe the truth.” I hiss, stepping towards him. “But you’re going to keep denying it so it’s irrelevant what I believe did or didn’t happen. What I do know, is that you have a fucking problem, and you need help.”
He steps towards me with low brows and narrow beady eyes, “I didn’t fuck Alice and I don’t need a fucking alcohol anonymous meeting just because I still like to get drunk sometimes. I am a fucking adult, and I don’t need you to ‘save me’.” He scoffs and runs his tongue across his teeth. “You know? Maybe that’s what actually drove Alice away, you and your fucking high-and-mighty, savior complex bullshit.”
Every inch of skin on my body feels like its burning and my heart races so loud I can barely even think clearly. I tighten my fists so tight that my nails dig into my palms painfully. I know that if I do anything, it will make me look like the villain.
“I can’t fucking hit you because if I do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.” I growl lowly. “Get sober or don’t, I don’t fucking care anymore – but we have a chance, a real chance at making it now and if you ruin this for us Noah, I will never fucking forgive you. Do you understand me? I will fucking destroy you if you fuck this up for us.”
His brows curve up and he looks at me like I’m insane for insinuating that he would. “I won’t.” He replies through gritted teeth.
I glance over the railing when I hear the house beginning to stir with Jolly and Folio starting to wake up, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don’t need them getting involved.
“Just,” I lower my voice between us. “Make it to rehearsals, meetings, shows – the rest I don’t give a fuck. Just make it to work. Sober.”
“Fine.” He says quickly, "If that will keep you out of my fucking business and leave me the fuck alone."
"Fine."
"Fine." He repeats, because of course he has to have the last word, before storming off to his room and slamming the door behind him.
I mirror him, making it to my room and slamming the door.
Once alone, the feeling that courses through my body is nauseating, painful and overwhelming. It is a visceral ache, I feel it twisting in my chest first, in my ribs, then flows and pools in the pit of my stomach.
I thought I moved on from the Alice situation. I tried to force myself to believe him, I tried to forget and push it so far down that it wouldn’t hurt. Tried to rationalize, maybe he didn’t sleep with her. Maybe he didn’t betray me. Maybe it really is just me projecting the weaknesses of our relationship onto him. But no matter how hard I push it down, it always bubbles back up.
And in my gut, I know he did it. Everything adds up, the timelines, the behavior, all of it.
I was just never prepared for a girlfriend to cheat on me with my best friend. I was never prepared to have him sleep with my girlfriend. Not after everything we’ve been through.
I was never prepared to have my heart broken by the two people I trusted and loved more than anything in my life.
In retrospect, I guess, I should’ve expected it. For as long as I can remember Noah always had girls fawning all over him. He always had that lead singer charm even though he never planned on being a frontman. Girls were never an issue for him, he seemed to get anyone he ever wanted.
Is it really that far-fetched that the one I had wanted him too?
Is that all that this is going to be from now on? Any girl the rest of us want, would just want Noah first?
I never pictured that this would be our future.
I never pictured my best friend of over a decade fucking my girlfriend then lying about it to my face.
I never pictured having to drag said lying, alcoholic best friend out of bed trying to get him to an AA meeting just so he could be sober enough for rehearsals.
I never imagined that out of the four of us, it would be me having to hold it all together. I never signed up for that. I signed up to play an instrument, to sign CDs, sleep in busses and sit in interviews. I never signed up to play manager, I never signed up to secretly scrape Noah off bar floors, be his personal caretaker and tentative AA sponsor. Doing all of that just to have it thrown in my face, to stand next to him – every day in rehearsals, in photoshoots, on stage, across the fucking dining table – knowing what he did and pretending that I’m okay with it.
I never thought I’d feel stuck in this band, this thing Noah and I have worked on and dreamed about since we were 15. I’ve poured so much of my life into this fucking band.
I can’t just up and leave. I’d have nothing left. I’d be nothing without them and I can’t be the bomb to blow us up. Especially not now when everything is just starting to take off. All this work would’ve been for nothing.
It’s not just my livelihood and dream, but theirs as well. I can’t do that to them.
And as much as I want to, as much as I’ve tried, I can’t leave Noah. We both know I’m right whether he wants to admit it or not. Nobody else would do what I do, nobody knows what I do, and nobody knows how to take care of him the way I do. He’s stubborn and stupid and won’t let anyone else in the way he’s let me in.
I don’t know why I’m the only one who has gotten the curse of his trust, but I have it and I can’t hand it off or set it down – no matter how heavy or suffocating it is.
Next Chapter -> 11 - Peak Fashion
tag list; @ladyveronikawrites @kingdomof-omens @persuasivus @strawberryruffilo @thebadchic @the-hell-i-overcame @sinkingteethinwhitenoise @cncohshit @dominuslunae [comment if you'd like to be tagged?]
A/N: The love for this story has honestly been so overwhelming (in a good way obv) and I couldn't be more grateful. I really thought this would flop lol so, thank you so much for every like, reblog, ask, or comment. It means the world to me truly. Thank you.
i love hearing your thoughts so feel free to share! (i'm really bad at responding to comments/asks but i still love them 🥺)
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