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dlwritings · 4 years

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Aftercare | Tom Holland

masterlist found here

pairing - Tom x reader word count - 6,568 (I have no idea how this happened) warnings - language, bad/uncomfortable first time, bleeding after sex, oral (f receiving), fingering, good sex! A/N - this wasn’t requested but the idea came to mind a while ago so here we are (I think I’m just sick of being a virgin and this came out of it)

summary - Not everyone cares about their first time. Some people just wanted to get it over with .You had always wanted it to be special. A special time with a special guy. But after ages of never finding that guy, you decide to just get it over with. Tom helps with the aftermath of the disaster.

You had always wanted your first time to be special. It wasn’t that you wanted to wait until marriage. You just wanted it to be with someone you loved, not a random stranger. But as the years went by, you felt like the chances of you finding someone you loved were slim. Hell, you were 22, and you hadn’t been in a serious relationship since you were 17. Your virgin status was starting to irk you. Not because of the label. No, you knew virginity was a social concept at best that society created to shame girls. The reason it irked you was because you wanted to have sex. You wanted to be in a relationship with someone so you could get absolutely railed by someone who loved you.

Was that too much to ask?

It didn’t help that you had a crush on your best friend. Girls all over the world swooned over Tom Holland, and you were one of them. The only difference was, you actually knew him. You had been friends for ages, and you had been in love with him for about just as long. Despite all the flirty comments the two of you shared and the endless platonic cuddling, that’s all it was. Platonic. Sometimes you swore he felt the same way, but after years of never making a move, you decided it was all in your head.

You weren’t sure at what point you just caved and downloaded Tinder. You couldn’t say what pushed you over the edge. Maybe it was the smutty Harry Styles fanfic you read that just went too hard (literally) and turned you on to the point of cracking. Regardless, you had done it, and you were actually doing pretty well on the app. You were getting a lot of swipes, and you were feeling pretty good about yourself. When one particularly handsome and charming guy -Theodore- asked you on a date, you agreed.

The restaurant you were going to was pretty fancy, so you wore a cute black skater dress and some killer red pumps. You did your makeup and hair to the best of your ability and finished applying your lipstick just as Theodore texted you that he was at your apartment. Okay, so he wasn’t going to pick you up at your door. That was fine. The gesture was a little outdated anyway, right?

“Hi,” you said, opening the car door and sliding in. “Theodore?”

“Theo,” he said with a smile. “(Y/N)?”

“That’s me,” you said. “It’s great to meet you.”

“You too,” he said. “Ready for dinner?”

“Mhm,” you hummed. “‘M pretty hungry.”

“Me too,” he said with a chuckle.

The date was fine. It was nothing exciting. Nothing to write home about. Theo was nice enough. He was polite and everything, and he made some jokes that genuinely made you laugh. Still, he spent a lot of time talking about himself and not a lot of time asking questions about you.

As the night wore on, you could tell where it was headed. And Theo really was nice enough. You didn’t love him, but you liked him, and at this point in your life, you would take that. You invited him back to your apartment, which he accepted. You got into your apartment, and Theo wasted no time pressing you up against your front door and kissing you. You kissed him back, all the while hoping he didn’t notice how scared you were and how long it had been since you had kissed someone.

You two eventually stumbled into your bedroom, and Theo all but threw you onto your bed. You scooted up to the top of the bed and watched him unbutton his shirt and toss it aside. You expected him to kiss you or pull your dress off, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved to unbuckle his trousers and tugged them down along with his boxers. He grabbed a condom from his wallet and rolled it onto his already hard length. He smiled down at you and fumbled with your panties, pulling them off and throwing them to the floor. Part of you wondered if you should tell him it was your first time, but you also didn’t want to kill the vibe. Didn’t want him to run away. So, you let him thrust into you, biting your lip to stop the painful moan that wanted to escape your lips. You definitely weren’t wet enough, and he hadn’t stretched you out at all before sliding in. “Oh, fuck,” Theo moaned, hanging his head in pleasure. You focused on blinking back tears and tried to find any good feeling that might be there, but you couldn’t. It just hurt so much, and you wanted to tell him to stop. You should’ve told him to stop. You shouldn’t have to suffer through shitty sex just because you felt obligated to put out. But, you were the one who wanted to lose your virginity.

“(Y/N), Jesus fuck you’re so fucking tight,” he moaned. “You like my cock splitting you open like this?”

You weren’t sure how long guys were supposed to last, but you were sure it was longer than this.

Theo spilled into the condom and collapsed on top of you. He panted against your neck before placing a soft kiss to your skin. “You finished, right?” he asked.

“Hm?” you said. “Oh, yeah, thanks.”

You winced as Theo pulled out of you and went to the bathroom to get rid of the condom. When he came back, he pulled his boxers and trousers up his legs and buttoned his shirt back on. “This was great,” he said as he slid his shoes on his feet. “We should do this again sometime.”

“Okay,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper as you watched him. He walked over to you, placed a kiss to your forehead, and saw himself out of your apartment.

It didn’t take long for tears to spill from your eyes. When you lifted your dress to look between your legs, you saw you were bleeding. The sight made a sob escape your lips as you covered your mouth with your hand. You knew you needed to clean yourself up, but you felt actual pain between your legs, and your mind felt numb. As you cried softly, mascara running down your cheeks, you blindly reached for your phone that you had set on the bedside table and opened your contacts. There, you clicked your third favorite contact: Tom.

The line rang a few times -you didn’t pay attention to how many- before Tom answered. “Hello, love,” he said, an audible smile in his voice.

“Tommy?” you croaked out.

Tom had been laying back in bed watching TV but sat up as soon as you spoke. Not only did it obviously sound like you were crying, but you only called him Tommy when you were sad. He knew you had a date that night, and his mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?

“Can you just come over?” you asked. “I’m sorry to do this.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll leave right now. Be over in ten.”

“Okay,” you whispered. “See you soon.”

You hung up before he could respond. You laid in bed curled up in a ball, clutching your arms over your stomach. You couldn’t stop crying, and wished you could go back in time and stop yourself from downloading Tinder in the first place.

“(Y/N)?”

You opened your eyes at the sound of Tom’s voice. You were grateful you had given him a key for emergencies. Seeing him only made you cry harder, so he rushed over to you and sat beside you on the bed, pulling you onto his lap. You hissed at the movements, the pain between your legs even more present. “What happened?” Tom asked, running his hands through your hair.

“It hurts,” you sobbed, not knowing how to sit to ease the pain. Squeezing your legs together made it worse, but keeping them open was painful too.

“What hurts?” he asked.

You sniffed, trying to compose yourself so you didn’t sound like a blubbering idiot. You knew Tom wouldn’t judge you no matter what you said or did. That was one reason you loved him. “He wasn’t gentle,” you whispered. “And, and he didn’t prep me at all, but I didn’t want to stop him because I thought it’d be rude.”

Tom was quiet for a few moments, trying to let the words sink in. His heart broke at what you were implying. He knew you were a virgin, but you had always expressed to him that you wanted your first time to be special. He wasn’t judging you for losing it to some Tinder date, but it made him sad that you didn’t get the memorable first time you had always wanted.

“Are you bleeding?” he asked, his voice soft.

“Yeah,” you said back. “Hurts too much to get up and, and clean it.” Tom nodded in understanding, petting your hair comfortingly again.

“How about I run you a bath,” he said. “And while you’re in the tub, I’ll go get you some ice cream, okay? And we can watch some films for the rest of the night. Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah,” you choked out. “Thanks, Tommy." He nodded, kissed your forehead, and stood up from the bed to get a bath going in the bathroom. You stayed in the same position on the bed, doing your best to keep your tears in while you were alone.

“Alright, love,” Tom said when he came back in the room, crouching beside the bed so he was level with your face. He stroked your cheek with a soft smile. “Bath’s all ready. I put your favorite bath bomb in.” You managed to give him a smile back, but when you sat up, you frowned again at the ache between your legs. Tom licked his lips and gave you a tight, sad smile. “C’mere,” he said as he stood up straight and held his arms out to you. “I’ll carry you.”

You didn’t have the energy to argue with him, so you stuck your arms out and let him pick you up and carry you bridal style to the bathroom. He sat you on the toilet and knelt in front of you. “You want me to help you into the tub too?” he asked. You bit your lower lip and hung your head in shame.

“Do you mind?” you asked.

“Course not,” he said. “You take off your clothes, and I’ll lift you in.” You nodded and waited for him to turn his head so you could undress without his watchful eye. Not that it mattered, because he was literally about to lift your naked body into a bathtub. When your clothes were off, you muttered his name, so he turned to face you. He made sure to keep his eyes on yours rather than your body as much as he could as he hooked one arm under your knees and one around your back, lifting you up and setting you into the bathtub. He took your hair tie from your wrist and pulled your hair up into a ridiculously messy bun on the top of your head. You managed a soft smile as you sunk into the tub.

“Okay,” he said, petting the top of your head. “I’ll go pick you up some ice cream, yeah? You call me if you need anything, and I’ll come right back.”

“Okay,” you said. “Thank you.” He nodded, kissed your forehead, and left you alone in the bathroom.

When Tom got in his car, he gripped the steering wheel tightly and tried to compose himself. God, when he found this son of a bitch, he wasn’t going to hold back. And he would find this son of a bitch. For now, he had to focus on helping you feel better. He drove to the store to pick up the ice cream he knew you liked, and on the way there, he found himself calling his mom.

“Hello, lovely,” she said when she picked up.

“Hey, Mum,” he said back. “Can-” He cleared his throat. “Can I talk to you about something kind of serious?”

“Of course,” she said. “What is it?” He hesitated, but knew his mom would be able to help. After all, mother knows best.

“(Y/N) called me and, and she had sex with someone, but it, it wasn’t good sex.” He was trying to keep out awkward, intimate details.

“She’s sore?” she asked.

“Mhm,” he hummed. “Like, really bad. And she was bleeding a little too.”

“Oh dear,” she sighed.

“Yeah,” he said as he pulled into the parking lot of the store. “I’m going to pick her up some ice cream, but I want to know what I should get to actually help her.”

“Well, there’s not much you can do, really,” she said with another sympathetic sigh. “As odd as it sounds, she might want to use an ice pack. And-” She paused. “-are you ready to be an adult about this, Thomas?”

“Mum, I called you about this,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “Lay it on me.”

She chuckled. “If you want to buy her some Vagisil moisturizing gel or something, it couldn’t hurt. Maybe some Midol.”

“Okay,” Tom said, letting out a heavy breath. “I can do that.”

“Good boy,” she said. He could hear her smile. “You’re very sweet to do this for her, Tom.”

“Thanks, Mum,” he said, a blush forming on his cheeks. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

They exchanged I-love-yous and goodbyes, and Tom hung up the phone. He was in and out of the grocery store fairly quickly (the most time was spent searching for the Vagisil) and headed back to your apartment as soon as he could.

You were still in the tub when Tom got back, so he set everything on the vanity in your bedroom and helped you out of the tub, wrapping a dry towel around your body. You both headed into your room, and you got out some pajamas to put on. Over the shorts and tank top, you pulled on a hoodie you had once stolen from Tom. He didn’t know, but it was your comfort hoodie. You wore it whenever you were sad or stressed because it made you feel safe.

“Um,” Tom said, rubbing the back of his neck as you crawled into bed, “I got you some stuff.”

“Stuff?” you repeated, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Yeah,” he said, fumbling with the grocery bag. “I got ice cream, and, and, uh, well, you said you were hurting, so, um-” He cleared his throat, and you couldn’t help but smile at how nervous he was. He dumped out the contents of the bag and revealed that he bought an ice pack, some Midol, and a small tube of Vagisil. Suddenly, you wanted to cry all over again. You sucked in your lower lip and looked up at Tom who immediately frowned. “Oh no,” he said. “I’m sorry. Did I overstep?”

“No, no,” you said, shaking your head. “This is just-” You took a shaky breath. “This is really sweet, Tommy. Thank you.”

Tom’s smile returned as he nodded once. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll go get spoons, you pick a film, okay?”

“Okay,” you said back. He took the ice pack to put in the freezer for a while, and you moved everything else to the bedside table. “Tom?” you called after him.

“Yeah?”

“Can you get me some water too?”

“Of course!”

You worked to open up the Midol which you did just as he came back with spoons and a water for you. You thanked him, downed two of the pills, and smiled as he plopped beside you on the bed. “Did you pick a film yet?” he asked, allowing you to sit between his legs and rest your back on his chest.

“No,” you said. “Something on Disney+ I think.”

“Whatever you want, love.”

You eventually settled on Monsters Inc. which Tom said was fine. Realistically, you knew he would’ve been okay with whatever you picked. Less than halfway through the film, you and Tom had already abandoned the ice cream, allowing it to melt slowly on the bedside table. One of you would put it away in the freezer before going to bed. As the minutes ticked on and the ache between your legs started to subside, you couldn’t help but think about Theo again. Tom must’ve noticed your shift in demeanor, because he rubbed your stomach with his thumbs and nudged your cheek with his nose. “Are you okay?” he asked. You hung your head and closed your eyes, not wanting to burst into tears all over again.

“Just wish I did it all different,” you whispered. He hesitated a moment.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked. You swallowed back the lump in your throat before speaking.

“We got back from dinner,” you told him, “and I invited him into my apartment.” You shook your head at the memories. “Everything happened so fast. We were kissing, and then, he was taking off his clothes and-” You couldn’t help it. Tears started to come again. You felt so sad and stupid and embarrassed and hurt and used. “-he didn’t even take off my dress. He didn’t touch me or anything. He just put on the condom and-” You cut yourself off with another shake of your head, figuring Tom got the picture. “It was over pretty quick, and he asked me if I came and I just said yes.”

“But you didn’t?” he asked.

“Of course I didn’t,” you mumbled, painfully aware of the shake in your voice. “He didn’t do anything to make me feel good at all. I feel so stupid.”

“You shouldn’t,” he said. “If anyone should feel stupid, it should be him. He’s clearly shitty at sex.” You giggled softly which made Tom smile and nudge his nose against your cheek again. You looked up at him. “I’m sorry your first time wasn’t more special,” he said. “I know you wanted it to be nice. And you deserved something nice.”

“It’s whatever,” you said dismissively. “Maybe I made a bigger deal out of it than I should’ve. I set my expectations too high.”

“No you didn’t,” Tom said. “You just wanted a good first time. That’s not asking too much. Hell, you didn’t even get to cum. You’re allowed to be upset about this.”

You scoffed. “Well, let’s just say I’m deleting Tinder, so I don’t see me getting anything better anytime soon. Not unless I meet some sex god at the office.” Tom sighed and kissed your temple.

“You’ll find someone better,” he mumbled against your skin. “I promise.”

After the whole Theo fiasco, you deleted Tinder, deciding whatever game you wanted to call that just wasn’t for you. Everyday went by with the same routine. Wake up, work, come home, watch TV, go to bed, repeat. Eating was sprinkled in here and there, and you tried to change up your meals whenever you could for a little bit of variety. Otherwise, it was all very monotonous.

So when you got home on Friday and found a note taped to your front door, you were rightfully confused. You pulled it from the wall, let yourself into your apartment, and closed the door behind you with your foot as you ripped the envelope open.

(Y/N)-

We haven’t gotten dinner in a while. Wear something nice, and I’ll pick you up at 6:00! It’s gonna be great x

Tom

You pressed your lips into a tight line and held the note to your chest as you leaned against the door. Sometimes you hated Tom for doing stuff like this. He was such boyfriend material, but he would never be that. Did he have any idea what he did to you? How he made you feel? Probably not. You loved Tom, but he sure was thick sometimes.

It was already about 5:00, so you had to get ready pretty quickly. You put on a white, lace, bodycon dress and started to do your hair and makeup. Tom arrived before you were quite finished, but he let himself in. “(Y/N)?” he called.

“Bedroom!” you called back. He came in, and you caught his reflection in the mirror. He looked handsome, as expected: blue slacks, a white button-up, and brown shoes that matched his brown belt. You turned to look at him, your lips slightly parted. Before you could say anything-

“Wow,” he whispered. “You-” He chuckled. “Wow.”

“Shut up,” you said with a laugh. “Don’t be weird.”

“I’m not!” he said, matching your laugh. “I’m just saying. Wow. You look great.”

“Well thank you,” you said, walking up to him. You straightened his collar that was folded oddly. “You don’t look too bad yourself.” You patted his chest and tried not to let your hands linger for too long. Tom stuck his arm out for you to take, which you did, and the two of you walked out to his car.

You and Tom had been going on friend dates for ages. Once he became famous, he loved treating you to fancy dinners whenever you both had time to spare. You on the other hand were a sucker for bowling nights and paintball tournaments. But nice restaurants were lovely too, and any time you could spend with Tom, you would take.

Dinner flowed as nicely as it always did when you were together. You chatted about your work, and he shared as many details of his newest project as he could. The whole time, you couldn’t help but feel like there was a weird tension in the air. Maybe tension wasn’t the right word. There was just something going on with Tom that you couldn’t quite place. You didn’t ask him about it until you left the restaurant. He invited you back to his place for drinks, and you obliged.

“Are you okay?” you asked him as he pulled out of the restaurant parking lot. “You seem a little off.”

“Off?” he repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” you said. “Forget it.” Tom just chuckled and continued the drive down the street. When you arrived at his apartment, you knew for a fact something was going on with him, and you didn’t like how he was hiding it. “What is up with you, Tom?” you asked him. “I know something’s going on. I know you.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair as he closed the door behind the both of you when you got inside.

“You know I love you and care about you,” he said.

“Of course,” you said, folding your arms across your chest. “Why are you-”

“C’mere,” he said, taking your hand. Your eyebrows furrowed even deeper than they already were but allowed him to walk you over to his bedroom. When you walked in, your lips parted slightly in shock. He had a lamp light on and his essential oil diffuser (the one you bought him for Christmas) going, the soothing smell of lavender filling the room. On the bed -which was neatly made; a rare occurrence at Tom’s house- were rose petals. You turned to look at him, sure he could hear your heart pounding in your chest. “There’s no pressure,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “but I couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair it is that your first time was so horrible. It should’ve been with someone special like you wanted. Someone who cares about you. And, well-” He sighed as if realizing he was fumbling around the point. “I want to make it up to you. I want to show you what good sex is supposed to be like.”

“You, y- you, uh,” you stuttered. “You want to have sex with me?” He licked his lips and took a step closer to you.

“No pressure,” he said. “No strings. Just good sex and the guarantee of at least one orgasm.”

You swallowed thickly. “At, at least one?” Tom smiled and nodded, then closed the distance between the two of you by wrapping his arms around you.

“At least one,” he repeated. He could tell you were hesitant by the way you were nibbling on your lower lip, so he stroked your cheek gently in an attempt to calm you down. “If you say yes and you change your mind while we’re doing it, that’s okay too. I’ll take it nice and slow for you.” He paused, licking his lips as he glanced down at yours, then up at your eyes again. “But if this is too weird, that’s fine. I just wanted to give you the chance to have great sex with someone who cares about you.”

You giggled a bit. “Are you saying you’re great at sex?”

“Mm,” he hummed with a smug smile. “I don’t want to brag, but I’ve never heard any complaints.” You melted into Tom’s touch as he pulled you a little closer and buried his face in your neck. “What do you say, darling?” he whispered, kissing your skin lightly. “You want me to make you feel good?” You took a shaky breath and closed your eyes as Tom sucked the skin of your pulse point, surely leaving a bruise.

“Yeah,” you whispered. You felt Tom smile before he pulled back to look at you. He pressed his forehead to yours and kissed your nose.

“Okay,” he said. “C’mere.” The two of you walked over to the bed, and Tom helped you move to the head of the bed. He sat in front of you with his legs crossed, and you mirrored his position. You tried to give him a strong smile, but you knew it came out small and nervous. He chuckled softly and put his hand on your cheek. “S’okay to be nervous,” he said. You bit your lip and nodded just as he started to lean forward and brush his lips against yours. You released your hold on your bottom lip and accepted his kiss, opening your mouth as soon as Tom traced his tongue across your lip. Already, this was different than when you were with Theo. It was like Tom was pouring his care into the kiss.

You put your arms over his shoulders and played with the hairs at the nape of his neck. He started to lay you down on the bed, and you could feel your breathing pick up. Still, you kept your lips pressed to his. His tongue massaged against yours, and you held in your whimpers as best as you could. It got harder when he started trailing kisses down your jaw and neck. His mouth wasn’t muffling your noises, so you had to bite your lip to keep yourself quiet. “Darling,” he whispered against your collarbone, “you look like an angel in this dress.”

“Thank you,” you whispered, your eyes fluttering closed.

“Can you lay on your stomach for me?” he asked. “Wanna unzip you.” You nodded and rolled over, and you swore you heard him hum as he put his hands on the back of your thighs. He ran them up your body, pausing to squeeze your ass which made you jump. He chuckled and moved to unzip the dress, kissing the skin that was exposed as he removed the fabric. You turned to sit up so he could pull the dress off you, and he licked his lips when he saw you weren’t wearing a bra. Everything suddenly felt very real, and you moved to cover yourself. Tom frowned and shook his head. “You’re so beautiful, (Y/N),” he said. You hung your head, still feeling an odd sense of uncomfortableness, but Tom was having none of that. He lifted your head and kissed you again. He laid you down on the bed and started kissing down your neck. “How’re you doing?” he asked, feeling your erratic pulse against his lips.

“Just nervous,” you admitted. Because this was Tom. You could be honest with Tom.

“That’s okay,” he said, sucking your pulse point until a bruise formed and you whimpered. “‘S not gonna hurt, okay, love? ‘M just gonna use my mouth to start. Warm you up and make sure you’re ready for me.”

“Okay,” you whispered.

“And you let me know if anything doesn’t feel good,” he said. You nodded, and Tom kissed down your body, pausing to pay attention to each of your breasts. He sucked on each nipple until it was hard and extra sensitive to the touch. He smiled as he nipped at your bud until you whined and tugged your fingers through his hair. You could feel a pulsing between your legs, and you needed more. Tom could tell, because he smiled again and kissed down your stomach until he got to the waistband of your panties. He looked up at you through his eyelashes, and you licked your lips and stared up at the ceiling. When you broke eye contact, he tucked his fingers in your panties and pulled them down your legs. Your breath hitched, but you didn’t say anything. Tom would take care of you. You had no doubts about that. If he said it wouldn’t hurt, you believed him.

Tom pushed your legs apart and brought his mouth down to your thighs, kissing each of them before placing his mouth on your opening. You gasped and put your hands in his hair, and you felt him smile. His thumbs dug into your thighs as he licked up your slit, avoiding contact with your clit. And as badly as you wanted him to touch you there, this was already feeling better than everything Theo had done to you. “Tom,” you breathed out, squeezing your eyes shut. “Feels so go-” You cut yourself off with a moan as Tom started swirling his tongue around your clit. “Oh Christ,” you muttered. “Tom!” He wrapped his lips around your clit and sucked, causing you to whine again and arch your back.

“Can I add a finger?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you gasped. “Yes. Please, Tom.” He nodded and sucked his finger in his mouth, then slowly eased it into your opening. “Ahh!” you moaned.

“You okay, love?” he asked.

“Mhm,” you hummed. He slowly started moving his finger, still keeping his mouth on your clit. You squeezed your eyes shut as he slid another finger inside you. The sudden change in fullness startled you in a good way. So this was what foreplay was supposed to feel like. Tom added another finger, and you swore you were in heaven. He could tell you were feeling good by the way your jaw was dropped but no noise was coming out. He smiled and curled his fingers a bit so that they grazed your g-spot perfectly. “Tom,” you whispered. “I, I’m-”

“Cum for me, darling,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

Your thighs squeezed around his hand as he flicked his tongue over your clit and moved his fingers faster in and out of you. In seconds, you were coming around his fingers with a soft cry as you dug your head into the pillow. Tom kissed your thighs and slowed his fingers down to help you ride out your high. When you caught your breath, you blinked your eyes open and looked down at him. He had a lazy smile on his face, and he kissed up your body until he got to your lips. “You want to keep going?” he asked. You nodded and lifted your head slightly to kiss him. He pulled back quickly and tugged his shirt over his head, then let his jeans and boxers follow.

His cock was more impressive than Theo’s. Longer. Thicker. If his foreplay wasn’t enough, you knew now that sex with Tom was about to be much better than it was with Theo. Tom reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out a condom, wasting no time rolling it onto his length with his lower lip tucked between his teeth. He pressed his hands into the mattress on either side of your head, and you gripped his biceps in your hands, your nails leaving little half moon shapes across his skin. “S’okay,” he whispered to you, stroking your cheek with the back of his hand. “S’not gonna hurt, okay? I promise.” He leaned down to pepper gentle kisses across your face. “Do you trust me, love?” You nodded.

“Yeah,” you whispered. “Yeah. I trust you.”

Tom smiled and gripped his cock, lining himself up with your pussy. He guided himself in, inch by inch, kissing your neck and whispering words of encouragement into your ear as he did so. He was right. It didn’t hurt. In facte, it felt so fucking good, you wanted to cry. “Oh, Tom,” you muttered, your head tossing back. He kissed up the column of your neck, and you could feel a smile across his lips. Once he bottomed out, Tom paused, giving you time to adjust. You let out a shaky breath, and he moved his head so he could look in your eyes. He only hovered for a moment before pressing his lips to yours. You sighed into the kiss as his tongue slipped into your mouth, fighting for dominance against yours. He stayed still until you wrapped your legs around his waist, silently encouraging him to move. He pulled his hips back and thrust them forward in a slow, smooth stroke. You cried out in pleasure, and Tom moved to kiss your neck again.

“Oh fuck, (Y/N),” he moaned. “How’s it feel?”

“Tom,” you cried. “Feels so good.” He brought his fingers up to his lips and licked two of them before sliding his hand between your bodies. His fingers found your clit right away, and he started rubbing fast circles, hoping to bring you close to that edge. He wanted more than anything to move faster, to pound into your tight cunt like it was all his -like you were all his- but he held back. This time couldn’t hurt you at all. He wouldn’t be like that other guy. He wanted you to remember this. To happily remember this. Even more than that, he wanted this to mean something.

He just wasn’t sure he was ready to admit that much yet.

You squeezed around his member, and Tom muttered, “Fuck,” under his breath and moved his hips a little faster. “You’re close,” he said. It was a statement. Not a question. Like he already knew your body better than you did.

“Yeah,” you confirmed. “‘M close.”

He let his hand move at the same pace as his hips -faster and faster, bringing you closer and closer to climaxing. “Tom,” you cried. “I’m, I’m gonna, oh.”

You squeezed your eyes shut and came, squeezing so tightly he came right after. He moaned your name in your ear, slowing the movement of his hips to help you ride out your high. You gripped his hair in your fists, and he started kissing your neck again. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. “Did you know that? Do you know how beautiful you are?” He pulled back so he could look in your eyes, then brushed his knuckles across your cheek again.

“Thanks, Tom,” you whispered. He smiled and pulled out of you, frowning as soon as you winced.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”

“No,” you said, shaking your head. “I’m okay.” He smiled softly and kissed your cheek, then pushed himself out of bed.

“Want you to go to the bathroom, okay?” he said. “Then we can go to bed.” You nodded, your head feeling a little hazy, then got out of bed. Tom watched with a soft smile as you trotted off to the bathroom. While you were gone, he changed the sheets, put on some clean boxers, and got you a pair of boxers and a t-shirt to wear to bed. You were back in a few moments, your hair now up in a bun and your makeup off your face. You gave him a sheepish smile, your arms folded awkwardly across your chest, and he smiled back. “I got you some clothes,” he told you. “You’re staying the night, yeah?”

“If that’s okay,” you said, hanging your head a bit.

“Course,” Tom said. You smiled, then took the clothes he offered you and changed. By the time you were dressed, Tom was under the covers. You got into bed beside him, and turned on your side to face him. “So,” he said, reaching out to stroke your cheek again, “how was that?”

You giggled. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

He chuckled. “It’s always good to hear the compliments out loud.” You rolled your eyes and gave his shoulder a shove. Your expression shifted a bit.

“How was I?” you asked. He gave you a soft smile.

“You were perfect, love,” he said. “Best I ever had.”

“Shut up,” you said. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying!” he said. “I’ve ever had sex with someone I-” He cut himself off, his smile dropping a bit. “It’s just different.”

“With someone you what?” you asked. Tom swallowed, and you could sense something that looked like nerves in his eyes. “What?” you pressed, a giggle passing your lips. “What’s on your mind?” He sighed and sat up, causing you to furrow your eyebrows and mimic his position.

“(Y/N),” he said, “I love you.”

Your response was immediate.

“What?”

“I love you,” he repeated. “And, and I care about you so much. When, when you said sex with that douchebag was so bad, I wanted it to be better for you. You deserve something better than that. I really mean that. But, but what I didn’t tell you was that it was also, it was a way for me to-” He sighed, clearly annoyed with himself. “I wanted to sleep with you because I love you. I, I saw this as a chance to, to be with you the way I want to be with you. And I know how wrong that is. I know how messed up that sounds, but-”

“You love me?” you said. You were still having a hard time processing the admission. He just sighed and nodded. Before he could say anything else -and he looked like he was going to say something else- you closed the small space between the two of you in a kiss. He jumped, but the shock wore off quickly, and he rested his hand on your cheek. He smiled beneath the kiss, and you smiled back. When you pulled away, you kept your foreheads pressed together. “I love you too,” you whispered. “And, honestly, I wish my first time had been with you, but, but I’m glad you made this one count.”

“Yeah,” he said with a small chuckle. “Me too. And don’t you worry-” He pressed a kiss to your nose. “-all the times after this are gonna be just as good.”

“Yeah?” you giggled. “Promise?”

“Oh yeah,” he said with a grin. “I promise.”

----- ----- ----- -----

add yourself to my TAGLIST

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#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland fluff #tom holland smut #fluff #smut #marvel

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hotchley · 3 years

Note

Okay so I fully believe that a teenage Jack would 100% Snapchat Garcia back an forth with funny things Hotch does. Making fun of his dad the way only a son could do and Garcia living for seeing Hotch and his son happy.

Oh I love this, and I really don’t want to write my current WIP, so have some headcanons!!

Jack Hotchner and Penelope Garcia, snapchatting!!

so what happened was, Jack, a gen z child, downloaded Snapchat so he could talk to his friends and because it seemed like fun

when he synced his contacts to the app, he was beyond shocked to see that Auntie Penny was on there- he did later realise that was a stupid thing because of course Penelope would be

they’re friends on the app, but they never really communicate, he just likes to see the various shenanigans the team got up to and she liked to keep an eye on him because that’s basically her nephew

one time, Jack posts a picture of Hotch, very intently staring at his phone whilst wearing his reading glasses to his public story by accident

Penelope sees it before Jack can delete it, and replies with something about how he looks so adorable like that and she wishes she could see him so relaxed all the time

and now that they’re out of WitSec, Hotch and Jack obviously see the team pretty frequently, but obviously not as much as they did before

so on an impulse, Jack says: what if you could? he’s at home most days, apart from there’s a faculty thing and he never realises when I’m on my phone so I could just... send you the photos?

Penelope let out an audible squeal when she got that message and responded with an: of course!! I would love that!!

the next day, it’s Hotch coming through the door with his briefcase, wearing the most Dad outfit Penelope’s ever seen, even though he’s now a college professor

and the day after that, it’s Hotch inspecting the sugar content of something Jack got, but his glasses are perched on the bridge of his nose and he’s still squinting

there’s always at least one photo everyday, and sometimes it’s not even Hotch being funny, sometimes it is just him falling asleep on the couch or glaring at his laptop like it’s a suspect

Jack is in some of the photos, making the stupidest faces whilst Hotch looks very, very unimpressed with him

Penelope cherishes every single photo she gets sent, because for the first time in longer than she cares to think, Hotch is happy, healthy and the circles under his eyes are less extreme

#people talk to me #criminal minds headcanons #criminal minds

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jawabear · 3 years

Text

Online Match (Marcus Moreno x Reader)

Not my GIF

A/N: this was suggested but the lovely @bensolobutterflies who suggested about Marcus falling for Missy’s teacher. And this is such a Marcus trope so I had to do it! I hope this is acceptable. I got a little political about teacher somewhere in the middle but hopefully it’s not too bad. The messaging parts might be laid out a little weirdly. I didn’t really know how else to lay it out but I tired to make it decent? Again, I used Spanish but I don’t speak it so it may be wrong. I hope you enjoy. Sorry for any mistakes. Stay safe.

Genre: fluff

Warnings: Fem!reader, Marcus being a soft boy, Missy and Anita being match makers, nerves, just whole lotta fluff

Summary: When Missy signs him up for online dating, Marcus wonders whether the girl he really likes will be on there too...

The first time he had met her, it was her first week. She had hosted a parents meeting, not just do discuss the wellbeing of the children she taught but to introduce herself to the parents.

Now Marcus wasn’t one who believed his love at first sight. He had always said that you don’t fall in love with someone before you even know them. But when he first saw (Y/N), he fell deeper than he ever had before.

Perhaps it was just his want to be with some that was lurking deep deep inside him that caused him to fall for her so quickly. Or maybe it was because she just seemed so...perfect. Everything about her was just perfect. Her hair, her eyes, her nose, her smile, the way she spoke, the way she dressed. All of it was just perfect. And he liked her. A lot.

But he thought it would be complicated. Dating his daughters teacher was sure to come with complications. No doubt there was a rule against it somewhere. Most likely he would come out okay, but he didn’t want to risk her possibly loosing her job. Not that he would ever admit his feelings for her. He wasn’t brave enough to jump back into the dating pool. Although both Missy and his mother had been hounding him about it for months now.

They had both noticed how lonely he seemed. Of course he would always say that he didn’t need anyone so long as he had them, but they both knew he needed someone. He needed to start dating again. Missy was making that very clear to him.

“So Dad, I was thinking that we sign you up for online dating” she said nonchalantly as she munched on her dinner. Marcus nearly chocked on his coffee at her words.

“Missy” he said, wiping his mouth to ensure no coffee had spilled “have you and Abuela been discussing this again?”

“We’re just trying to make sure your happy, Dad. You deserve someone to love and someone who loves you back”

“I have you, honey” he smiled “I love you”

“I love you too. But seriously. You deserve someone. You’ve had to be both dad and mum. It would be good to split it” Marcus didn’t respond to this, so Missy carried on “so, we signed you up for online dating”

“You what?” He almost yelled.

“We signed you up for online dating” she repeated. “Here” she grabbed his phone from his hand and went about downloading the dating app do his phone. He watched in interest as she signed him in. “See”

“Why would you do that?”

“Maybe this will be a bit easier for you to get back into dating instead of doing it the old fashioned way of actually going out and talking to people. I mean, get with the times dad”

“The last time I dated someone, going out and talking to people were the times” he chuckled as he took his phone back. “It’s getting late Missy” he said looking at the time on his phone “hurry and finish your food” he told her. He stood and took his now empty coffee mug over to the sink and washed it out before placing it on the side.

It wasn’t long before she had finished and brought her plate over to the sink, he could clean it tomorrow. “Up to bed” he told her whilst rustling her hair. She sighed and dragged herself up the stairs to her bedroom.

Marcus headed upstairs a short while later and peaked his head into her room to see she was just getting into her bed “you got everything you need?” He asked her. She nodded in response “okay. Night Missy”

“Night Dad” she yawned before rolling over and pulling the covers over her. He pulled her door shut and made his way to his own room, where he stripped off his shirt and jeans and grabbed his pyjamas bottoms and slipped those in before climbing into his bed.

Try as he might, sleep never seemed to come easy to Marcus. He tossed and turned for ages and still sleep didn’t come. Even when it would, it would last long. He was a light sleeper thanks to his job as a Heroic. He was quick to give up on trying to get to sleep and reached for his phone instead. Hoping that somehow that could make his tired.

Marcus lay in bed holding his phone staring at his profile on this dating app that he had been signed up too. He had to admit, they did a good job at making it. It definitely did show his best features, but it wasn’t like people didn’t know who he was. But it showed perhaps a more unknown side of him.

Even so, most of the people who messaged him only really did because he was the Leader of the Heroics. He wasn’t about that. He didn’t want to be with someone just because of his title. As cheesy as it sounds, he wanted someone who would like him for him.

Marcus bit his lip as he thought. He wondered. Wondered if (Y/N) would be on there. It wouldn’t hurt to check right? There’s no harm in just seeing if she was in there. But he hesitated. He thought it was a little weird. But it wasn’t like he would have to message her if she were on there.

He bit the bullet and searched her name. Surprisingly to him, there were actually quite a few on there. He scrolled down and down looking at each profile for her. He wasn’t holding on to much hope that she was on there, but she was. The second to last profile was her. He clicked on it and was put into a trance by her profile picture. It was a sweet picture of her with what he guessed was her dog. He didn’t know she had a dog. Not that that was a problem. He loved dogs.

His thumb hovered over the chat icon on his screen. He debated with himself for a solid minute about whether he should message her. Would it be weird? It was late, she would probably be asleep. But he could say hi. Right?

So he did. He wasn’t exactly sure how he managed to do it. The few seconds it took him to type out his message of ‘Hi (Y/N)’ and send it just seemed to be a moment of black in his memory.

“Shit” he swore audibly. He messed about trying to figure out how to delete the message but he couldn’t. “Shit shit shit” he whispered sharply as he sat up and threw his phone to the foot of his bed in embarrassment.

He buried his head in his hands, filled with instant regret. How would he be able to face her now? Surely she would hate him. Think he was weird. Now he would never have a chance with her.

A soft ding came from his phone to indicate he had a notification. To be honest, at first, he didn’t twig that it could’ve been from her. He just assumed it was from something else. But when he looked at his phone he saw it was a notification from the dating app.

She had replied.

(Y/N): Hi Marcus. This is a surprise

What did that mean? Was she happy he messaged her? Was she just being nice? Was he looking too deep into this? Yes, probably.

Marcus: a good surprise?

(Y/N): Yes. A good surprise :)

Marcus smiled at her message.

Marcus: it’s pretty late. Why are you still up?

(Y/N): I’m lesson planning

Marcus: lesson planning at 10:30?

(Y/N): a usual night for me. Why are you still up?

Marcus: I’m used to not sleeping. My job often required all nighters.

He felt like such a teenager. Staying up late talking to the girl he liked. They spoke all through the night. It was nice. He didn’t feel obliged to say anything particularly to her. They were just talking. Getting to know each other better from what they already did.

Marcus was smiling throughout the whole of their interaction and was wondering if she was doing the same. He wondered if she was as happy to be talking to him as he was talking to her.

She was.

She had completely abandoned her laptop for her phone. The lesson planning being forgotten. He was all she was thinking about. He was all she wanted to think about. Because he had reached out to her, she began to wonder if maybe he liked her back. Surly he must’ve right? Other wise he wouldn’t have messaged her in the first place.

Then she thought that he must’ve looked for her. She thought it was unlikely that she would just happen to pop up on his app. This made her heart flutter and she smiled brighter. Even though it was over messages, she hadn’t had as nice a conversation as that one in a very long time. She wasn’t the most sociable person, which made any one who knew her question as to why she became a teacher. She didn’t really have much of a life outside the classroom (so she matched the classics idea that students had about teachers).

They talked until gone midnight and Marcus decided to call it there for the night. He knew that she probably needed to rest before having to teach the next day. But he didn’t want to stop talking to her. He was really enjoying himself. But he had to be fair to her. Just because he couldn’t sleep, didn’t mean he had to stop her from sleeping too.

Marcus: it’s really late (Y/N). You should go to sleep.

(Y/N): I didn’t realise that was the time!

There was a slight pause before she messaged him again.

(Y/N): I really enjoyed talking to you Marcus. Like...really enjoyed it. It was nice to just talk.

He smiled brightly at this, knowing she felt the same about their conversation as he did made him happy.

Marcus: I’ve enjoyed it too (Y/N). I don’t really get the chance to just talk to people now really

There was another pause. This one was longer than the last and it made him a little anxious.

(Y/N): can we talk again tomorrow?

He had to hold back his cheer. His heart leapt with joy in his chest at her words. It didn’t seem anything extravagant really, but it meant she wanted to talk to him. Maybe she did like him back. It was now that he was kind of thankful that they weren’t talking face to face. He could hide his initial reaction from her.

Marcus: of course. I’d like that

(Y/N): I’d like that too. I better get some sleep. Goodnight Marcus.

Marcus: goodnight (Y/N)

Marcus dropped his phone to his chest and beamed up at the ceiling. He hadn’t felt that happy in a very very long time.

Over the next few week, they continued to talk. They got closer and closer. And they learnt more about each other with every message. And with every message, they feel more for each other. But if they saw each other in person, because of the school setting, they didn’t show that they had been talking.

But Missy was becoming suspicious of Marcus. He was on his phone a lot more often than usual. But any time she tried to ask what he was doing, he would always just say nothing and put his phone down.

And then the fateful day came where he finally asked her out. They had been talking throughout the day but Marcus thought it was time they actually move the growing relationship further. After all, that’s what the site was for.

Marcus: (Y/N). I’ve been thinking...

(Y/N): about what?

Marcus: well...This is a dating site. So would you want to go on a date with me? An actual date?

There was a long pause. A very long pause. Marcus’s heart sank. Maybe she didn’t want to go any further than a friendship. Had he made things awkward now? Had he completely ruined his chance with her?

(Y/N): Absolutely!! I’d love to go on a date with you Marcus! xx

The two kisses at the end made his cheeks burn slightly. He felt relief in his heard and went about making plans with her for their date. They decided on dinner. A classic first date. It wasn’t to anywhere overly fancy, god knows teachers don’t get paid enough to eat in fancy restaurants. They set a day and a time and Marcus couldn’t contain his excitement.

He couldn’t hide it from Missy anymore.

“Okay” she said annoyed, filing her arms as she stood in the kitchen door way as he leant on the counter next to the sink. “What’s going on? You’re acting weird. You’re way happier than normal. Tell me Dad”

Marcus turned to look at his daughter and set his phone down. “You really want to know?” He asked.

“Yeah!” She exclaimed.

“Alright. Fine” he drew in a deep breath and pushed himself up so he was standing up straight “I’ve...met someone”

“What?!” She beamed “you have? This is amazing! Is she nice? Is she pretty? Are you going on a day with her?”

“Yes, yes and yes” he said quietly “Friday. At 6. Will you be okay is Grandma comes and looks after you while I’m out?”

“Only if I get to meet your new girlfriend!”

“I wouldn’t say she’s my girlfriend just yet” Marcus laughed nervously “but she’s coming here first before we go, so yes, you will get to meet her. Just...don’t be...disappointed or weirded out by who it is”

“I won’t be! She must be something to make you keep smiling all the time! This is so awesome! I have to go tell Abuelita!”

“Wait you don’t have to-“ he couldn’t finish his sentence before she had run off upstairs to call her grandma.

Marcus shook his head and looked back at his phone.

Marcus: Missy seemed pretty excited that I’ve got a date

(Y/N): did you tell her who it was? xx

Marcus: no. I wanted it to be a surprise. Do you want me to tell her?

(Y/N): I don’t mind. If you want to wait, it doesn’t bother me. I’m just excited for Friday!! xx

Marcus: I’m excited too. I’m so excited. I know it doesn’t really seem like it. But I’m still it very good at the whole technology thing

(Y/N): oh Marcus! You make yourself out to be so much older than you are! But I can tell you’re excited. Xx

(Y/N): I’ve got to go. But I’ll try and talk to you a little later xx

Marcus: okay x

The days between then and Friday seemed to drag on. The world just wanted to make them wait it seemed. They talked their nights away when they could, in hopes that would speed up the time. And then finally Friday evening rolled around. And Marcus was freaking out.

“You’ll be fine, mijo” Anita told her son in a knowing voice as she held up her hand to try and calm him as he messed with the sleeves of his shirt “when you see your beautiful date all your worries will fade away”

Marcus glanced up at her but then looked back down at his sleeves “Espero que tengas razón Mamá” (I hope you’re right, mama) he muttered.

“por supuesto que tengo razón! He estado mal antes” (of course I’m right! I’ve never been wrong before) Anita said almost proudly making Missy laugh quietly. This is turn cause Marcus to smile. But that smile fell when the doorbell rang.

Marcus’ face paled. Was it 6 already?

“Dad!” Missy called to him, pulling him from his trance. He looked at her and she motioned for him to head for the door. He stood abruptly and walked towards the door. He took in a deep breath before pulling it open to reveal (Y/N). She flashed him a bright smile and he looked her up at down to see she was wearing a long light blue dress. It wasn’t overly fancy but it looked beautiful.

“Hi Marcus” she said quietly.

“Hi...(Y/N)” he said slowly trying to regain his composure (not that he ever had it in the first place). “Y-You look amazing!”

“Thank you. I’m not too over dressed am I?” She asked looked down at the dress she had chosen.

“No, you’re fine. More than fine. Beautiful actually” he said quickly.

She blushed slightly at his compliment and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear “thank you Marcus” she said “you look nice too. Very handsome”

He couldn’t really say anything. He was too flustered. He let out a small noise and stepped to the side “come in. I um..I need to grab my jacket” she nodded and stepped inside his house, awkwardly following him as he walked into the kitchen.

She stumbled backwards a little when she saw Missy and his mother sat there. She had met Anita on a few occasions, she came to pick Missy up from school a few times. They both looked a little in shock to see her stood there whilst Marcus rooted around for his jacket.

“Miss (L/N)?!” Missy exclaimed.

“Hey Missy” (Y/N) said. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so nervous. It was just weird to be seeing her out of the school setting.

“It’s you? You’re the one my Dad is going on a date with?” She asked.

“Um...yes. I am” (Y/N) said. She looked over to Marcus who had managed to locate his jacket, slipping it on. “It’s not...weird...is it?”

“No!” Missy smiled “this is great! This is awesome! I knew it would be you!”

Both (Y/N) and Marcus let out quiet breaths of relief “she’s a beautiful girl Marcus. And I know she has a kind heart” Anita said with a gentle smile. (Y/N) felt Marcus’ hand on her lower back. The small action spread a comforting warmth through her body “now go! Have fun!”

Marcus briefly left (Y/N)’s side to kiss Missy’s head before walking (Y/N) back to the door. They left the house and he walked her to his car “well I think that went well” she said with a nervous laugh.

“It went better than I expected” he said “I thought she would be a little bit weirded out”

“Me too. But I’m glad she wasn’t. And I’m glad your mum took a liking to me too”

“I doubt anyone could not like you (Y/N)” she got in the passenger side of his car whilst he got in the drivers seat. “I, for one, like you. A lot”

“I like you too Marcus. A lot” she leaned over with the intention of kissing his cheek, but he turned at the last second making her lips land on his. That had to have been a scripted event. But neither of them was complaining. They both smiled into the kiss before she pulled back and pulled on her seatbelt.

“Shall we go?” He asked, an ear to ear grin on his face.

“Definitely”

10/01/21

Taglist: @linkpk88 @phoenixhalliwell @lunaserenade

#marcus moreno #marcus moreno x reader #marcus moreno fanfic #we can be heroes #fluff #pedro pascal #fanfic

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half-bakedboy · 3 years

Photo

Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz | Rated T | Chapters 1/11 | Posting Every Other Day

When Maddie showed up at the one-eighteen covered in bruises and needing a place to stay, Buck didn't hesitate to let her into his home and the new life he had created in L.A. While he was happy to have his sister back, he was tired of insisting to her that he wasn't as lonely as she accused him of being. So when she assumes he's in some secret relationship with his coworker and best friend, Eddie, Buck decides it couldn't hurt to tell a little white lie, especially when it meant his sister could focus on something that wasn't her own past.

Now Buck is stuck trying to navigate through a ruse of his own creation while dealing with newfound feelings for his best friend that seemed to sneak up on him.

Oh, and did he mention the mysterious accelerant that kept finding itself in his path, putting everyone he loves in danger?

read chapter one on ao3

“I’m just worried about you, Evan,” Maddie sighed into the phone. Buck’s heart did that stupid little stutter directly correlated with disappointing his sister and he held the phone away from his face as if that would lessen the guilt he felt.

“Mads, I’m—”

“You’re not fine.”

Buck sighed. “I wasn’t going to say fine. I was going to say—” Buck thought for a second, but his sister was right—as she usually was—and who was he to argue with her? “Alright, I was going to say fine, but it’s because it’s true!” Buck urged, hoping that the more times he said it, the more likely she’d be to believe it. (Maybe he could convince himself of the fact along the way.)

“It’s been almost two months since Abby—”

“Really, big sis? You just gotta bring that up?” He complained, groaning more than audibly as he stared up at the firehouse ceiling. He had found in the last few weeks of overtime shifts that counting the tiles and slabs that made up the structure was a great way to pass the time.

“Yes, little bro, I have to bring it up because I’m—”

“—Worried about you.” Buck finished the sentence with her and prepared for annoyance or, at the very least, another deep sigh, but instead, she stayed quiet as if giving him the chance to speak up.

Another sigh resonated before Maddie said, “You’re all alone in this big city with no family. You have to understand my worry.”

“I do, I really do, but I’m finally finding myself here. The 118 has really taken me in as their own; they’re friends who almost qualify as family at this point!” Buck argued, running a hand through his hair. Maddie couldn’t possibly understand what his fellow firefighters had meant to him.

“Have you at least started dating yet?” Maddie asked. Buck resisted the urge to hang up on her and took a deep breath as he considered her question. He could tell the truth, which was that he hadn’t so much as touched a woman since Abby tore his heart out of his chest and stomped it into the ground.

Or…

“I’m dabbling,” he decided to say instead.

It wasn’t completely a lie. He had decided a few days ago with a lot of pressure from Hen and Karen that he needed to at least attempt to get back out there and downloaded one of the most popular dating apps he could find. He set up his profile—albeit very scarcely—and had been waiting for those likes to come in. What he wasn’t expecting was almost complete radio silence and for his ego to take a direct hit when Chim got a date within the first hour of downloading it.

“Anyone I should know about?” For some reason, Buck wasn’t expecting the question. He thought that Maddie would shy away from asking or just be happy that Buck had divulged even just that little bit of information, but no. She just had to put her brother on the spot and have him panicking about what to say.

“Soon?” He sputtered, immediately regretting his words the moment Maddie’s small squeal echoed through the speaker.

“Evan Buckley, I knew you were keeping something from me the second you said you were fine! You knew that I wouldn’t just take that laying down, right? You must’ve!” The happiness in her voice broke Buck’s heart a little further and he couldn’t back down; not when her joy was so obvious in her rambling and the way she giggled into the phone.

“I— It’s really new, Mads,” Buck muttered as he tilted his head to the side and let his phone rest against his cheek.

“New is good and you deserve good, Buck,” Maddie said, the words like a gentle caress to his cheek that he would have leaned into if she was there. As if an idea had just occurred to her, Maddie gasped and said excitedly, “I’m gonna come visit. I’ve gotta meet this family of yours and you can’t avoid introducing me to whoever is making your life a little less lonely if I show up at your door.” Buck was annoyed that she had a point, but the prospect of having his sister around after a few years of space had his heart warming in his chest.

“You’re welcome here any time, Mads. I’ve really missed—”

“I’ve gotta go,” Maddie said, her voice quieter and a bit more panicked than Buck would ever have wanted to hear. “Doug needs me to— Well, he just needs me. Will you please stop being such a stranger and let me in on your life from now on, little brother?” Buck rolled his eyes at the term of endearment but agreed easily anyway.

“You know everything there is to know, sis.”

He wished he could be surprised when he got the text a few hours later that a trip to L.A. just wasn’t in the cards for her.

----------------------------

The one-eighteen was quiet—though Buck wouldn’t dare say the word—for the majority of his shift a few days after his call with Maddie, which he was grateful for because Bobby was tabling his famous pasta bar as Buck skipped up the firehouse steps. The rest of the team was already seated in their usual spots and Buck took his next to the newest recruit, Eddie, elbowing his side as he leaned to scoop up the first piece of lasagna.

“Ay, the rest of us eat first, unless you’re planning on serving me, Diaz,” Buck teased with an over-exaggerated wink.

“You know I just live to serve you, Buckley,” Eddie shot back easily and Buck couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up inside of him. It had been their thing since the new guy started. Buck would flirt with him until the rest of the team groaned or stopped it and apparently, Hen was at her wits end already if the piece of bread that slammed into Buck’s head was any indication.

“ Jeez , Hen, we’re just having some fun,” Buck pouted, taking a large bite out of the piece of food that landed on his plate.

“Do you always have to flirt with the newbie? It’s honestly sickening,” Hen complained with a roll of her eyes but Buck knew there was no heat in her words. He realized that look was all too similar to the one his sister would have given him. Buck laughed and tossed a grape tomato in her direction in retaliation.

“There’s no stopping us now,” Buck assured her with a wink.

And there really wasn’t. Buck and Eddie had been like that since the very beginning, and they only grew more comfortable and in sync in the few months they had spent working together. Eddie had joined the team as an openly gay single dad with no hesitation and Buck had respected that immediately. He was not one to hide his interest in any and all genders, but he wasn’t exactly waving a flag when he started at the one-eighteen.

There was about a minute of silence when Eddie introduced himself before Buck decided that the best way to smooth him onto the team dynamic was to hit on him. Buck made a ridiculous come-on about a firehose that was brushed aside by the rest of the team, but Eddie laughed and gave it right back. The two had been fast friends ever since, much to the dismay of the rest of their team.

“What’s everyone’s plans for the next three days off?” Buck asked as he stacked both his and Eddie’s plates full of food, tossing an untouched piece of bread behind his back that Eddie caught seamlessly just before it landed in his salad dressing.

“Christopher and I have a Marvel marathon planned that I couldn’t even try to get out of,” Eddie offered, slurping up a spaghetti noodle as Buck sat back down. “Which reminds me that he wanted me to ask you if you could come?” Eddie asked, peering at Buck out of the corner of his eye. Buck wasn’t sure where the sudden shyness had come from, but before he could ask or answer, Bobby was chiming in.

“May and Harry are with Michael so I will be finally showing Athena that my cooking skills are not just for show,” Bobby said with a large smile on his face. Buck liked seeing him like that, unapologetically happy for the new life he was starting.

“I’m planning on sleeping until my alarm goes off in three days,” Chim laughed from where he leaned back in his chair. “What about you, Buckaroo?”

“Well, I was going to try and find a date because my sister won’t stop bugging me about being single, but…” He trailed off, cupping Eddie’s shoulder tightly in his hand, “I just got an offer I’d be a fool to refuse.”

Eddie smiled and shrugged off Buck’s touch with a fond roll of his eyes before they focused on his plate. Buck glanced around at his team with an uncontrollable smile on his face as they bantered and laughed and listened intently to whatever story Hen was telling about her son, Denny. He thought back to his conversation with Maddie and how worried she had sounded for him, as if he was alone without Abby.

He wasn’t. His team—their laughter and camaraderie, their friendship and love, their shared stories and experience—was everything he needed.

----------------------------

Buck was stuck with the dishes once the table was cleared, but he didn’t mind. He liked to get lost in the mundane task of scrubbing and cleaning, the clanging of the dishes a friendly reminder that he had spent much-needed bonding time with his team. Plus, doing the dishes meant he got to decide where they would go out after their shift and he had the best places in mind.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” Buck heard Chim’s voice softer than he expected from the second-floor terrace.

“I’m— That’s just the question of the day, isn’t it?” Buck’s heart dropped as he recognized the all too familiar voice and before he could think twice, his legs were bringing him down the stairs in a sprint. “I’m looking for—”

“Maddie?” Buck asked. When she turned, he caught sight of the bruises littering her face and peaking out from underneath the collar of her shirt. The long sleeves did nothing to hide the darkness around her wrists and she didn’t even try to cover up the gashes on her cheek and lip.

“Hey, Evan,” she said weakly, a forced smile tugging at her lips. Buck had her in his arms before her legs could fully give out and he held her tightly to his chest, careful of the soreness he knew was probably hidden underneath her clothes.

“Hey, hey, I got you. I got you, you’re okay,” Buck whispered into her hair as she sobbed, nails clawing at his back that probably would have hurt if he wasn’t so focused on providing his sister comfort. He caught Chim’s eyes over her shoulder, EMT bag in hand, and shook his head, searching the room for Hen. Chim seemed to understand exactly what he was doing and ran to the back where Buck was pretty sure Hen was resting.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Maddie choked out as she tried to pull away. Buck wouldn’t let her, though, as he threaded his fingers through her hair and kissed her temple softly.

“Here is perfect, okay? Don’t worry about it,” Buck reassured. He wasn’t sure exactly what to say to her. He had known her relationship with Doug wasn’t the best and there was no doubt in his mind that that monster had hurt her. The way her body trembled and her voice shook had Buck feeling uneasy himself as he led her to one of the more comfortable couches in the station.

“Hey, sweetie, I’m Hen. You’re Buck’s sister? Maddie?” Hen said as she approached, carefully as if walking up to an easily spooked animal. Buck appreciated it as much as it hurt him to see.

“That’s me, the overbearing big sister,” Maddie attempted to joke, but it fell flat to everyone that had gathered around except for Buck.

“I don’t think I ever used the word ‘overbearing’ specifically. Maybe persistent, annoying was probably dropped in there a time or two,” Buck teased. He was too grateful when Maddie’s hand came up to swat his shoulder to focus on the wince on her face at the movement.

“She can’t be worse than you, Buckaroo,” Chim chimed in from where he stood a few feet away, flanked by Bobby and Eddie, who Buck noted was paying closer attention to where he kneeled beside his sister than he was at Maddie like everyone else.

“I promise I’m not,” Maddie said weakly. Buck held onto her hand delicately as Hen settled beside her, the EMT bag on her lap.

“Any family of Buck’s is family of ours,” Bobby stated, nodding at Hen as if giving her the okay to fully check up on her.

“He’s told me a lot about you guys, his family away from family. I—” Maddie’s breath hitched as Hen pressed her thumbs over the bruises along her collarbones and she pressed her lips together to compose herself before she continued. “I’m sorry for barging in this way, looking like—”

“—Like a Buckley?” Eddie offered, easing the bit of tension of what wasn’t being said in the room. Buck sent him a thankful nod as he squeezed his sister’s hand. “We’ve heard y’all are prone to accidents. The number of times I’ve had to patch up this one on company time is too many and counting.” Buck laughed and tossed a friendly finger in Eddie’s direction, smiling when Maddie seemed to relax at the banter.

“This one is always tossing himself into the fire quite literally, huh?” Maddie asked. Buck could tell she was relieved to have the conversation moved away from her and he didn’t mind being the target for her benefit.

“I’ve only been here for a few months, but I’m pretty sure Buck would put anyone before himself.” Eddie’s voice was a lot closer than Buck had expected and he didn’t realize how much tension was building up inside of him until Eddie’s hand landed in between his shoulder blades. He glanced up to catch his friend’s eye, smiling softly at the steady and comforting press on his back.

“Yeah, that’s exactly who he is,” Maddie muttered. When Buck glanced up at her, her eyes were narrowed and darted back and forth between him and Eddie accusatorily. That was not good . Buck cleared his throat.

“Can you guys give us a minute?” Buck asked.

Eddie ran his hand up to Buck’s shoulder, squeezing gently and Buck couldn’t resist reaching up to let his palm brush over the back of Eddie’s hand, letting him know how much the gesture was appreciated. Bobby and Chim hesitantly nodded in response before they all disappeared, leaving an even more tense Maddie and nerve-filled Buck alone with Hen who was treating the cut on Maddie’s cheek.

As if scared for Buck to ask, Maddie offered, “It had been a few months, Buck. I thought— I really thought he had changed.” Buck sighed and rested his forehead on Maddie’s knee, relaxing only marginally when Maddie’s hand patted the back of his head.

“What was it this time? Did you argue with him a little too hard? Maybe you didn’t reach the level of perfection he always required of you?”

“Buck—” Hen warned, shooting a look that could kill in Buck’s direction.

“No, it’s— It’s okay. He’s right either way,” Maddie relented with a deep sigh. “It had been building since I said I wanted to visit you in L.A. I told him that you had alluded to seeing someone and that I wanted to see if it was true. He said I couldn’t go, that he was the only family I needed, and when I argued against that…” Maddie trailed off, gesturing to her face and that was enough for Buck to put together what happened next.

“He did this because of me?” Buck’s voice shook as he glanced back at his sister, reaching a hand up to stroke a finger over the dark bruise on her jaw. Maddie grabbed it and turned toward her brother, leveling their eyes together with a protectiveness in them that provided him the calm he needed.

“This was not your fault, Evan,” Maddie said sternly.

“It’s neither of your faults,” Hen added, resting her palm on Maddie’s arm softly. Maddie nodded and smiled at Hen as brightly as she could given the circumstances.

“She’s right and I came here because I can’t have this happen anymore,” Maddie stated, holding onto Buck’s hand a little tighter. “You mentioned your captain’s girlfriend was a cop?”

Buck nodded and wrapped his arms around his sister, wishing he had never let go in the first place.

----------------------------

Athena had arrived at the station quicker than Buck had expected her to. Upon seeing him, she pulled him into a tight hug that he didn’t realize he had needed so much before disappearing into Bobby’s empty office with Maddie. He didn’t trust just anyone with his sister, but the second the door shut, he felt like he could finally take a breath.

He was flanked by both Hen and Eddie in a flash while Chim paced in front of them, chewing on a piece of beef jerky to stay occupied. Bobby watched from above, silently observing his team, and looking ready to step in if Buck needed it. They were all there for him and when the door finally opened after what felt like hours later, the smile that tugged at the corner of Maddie’s lips told Buck she had seen just that.

“Again, I’m really sorry for—” Athena shook her head and pointed a finger at Maddie, effectively stopping her unneeded apology.

“You’ll only have to be sorry if you don’t let this one take care of you the way you deserve,” she said, raising her eyebrows like a challenge. Maddie pressed her lips together and nodded bashfully as she leaned into the arm Buck had thrown around her neck.

“Buck, shift’s just about over. Why don’t you show your sister where she’ll be staying?” Bobby said. It was an order as much as a suggestion but Buck was going to take him up on it either way.

“Yeah, that sounds great. Let me know if you need me to come back in.” Bobby silenced him with one look.

“We can survive the next hour without you, man,” Eddie chimed in. He walked over and pulled Buck into a one-armed hug as if he knew nothing could pry him away from his sister. Buck was grateful for the extra warmth Eddie provided him, either way.

“If you guys need anything, you know where we’ll be,” Hen assured, rubbing a gentle palm down Maddie’s arm until their hands were connected. Maddie squeezed it tightly and mouthed her thanks at Hen who brushed it off with a wave of her hand.

“I can’t thank you guys enough,” Buck began, but he stopped himself from saying any more before any of his team could argue. “I’ll see you in a few days?” He asked, directing his attention to Bobby so he could let his captain know that his sister arriving wouldn’t impact his work. As if he already knew, Bobby nodded and wrapped an arm around Athena’s waist.

“We’ll probably see you before then,” Bobby offered with a slight wink and Buck laughed.

“You guys sure I can steal my little brother away early?” Maddie asked nervously.

“Now that you’ve teased us with him leaving, you can’t take it back,” Eddie said from beside Buck. They both had to laugh and Buck punched Eddie’s arm in retaliation only for Eddie to grab onto his hand tightly, not letting him pull away yet. His voice was low as he muttered, “You’ll let me know if you need anything?”

It was meant to be a question, but Buck knew it wasn’t. Everyone around them was so focused on Maddie and her injuries—which Buck couldn’t blame them for—that none of them really stopped to think how tough the next few days may be for the Buckley’s as a whole. But not Eddie. Just one glance from his friend told Buck that Eddie was well aware of the toll this might take on Buck’s good-natured mind and that Eddie was going to be there through it all.

“Yeah,” Buck confirmed, resting a hand on Eddie’s neck in a friendly gesture of comfort, “I’ll call you.”

----------------------------

“I’m not going back there,” Maddie said the minute the door to Buck’s apartment shut.

“I know you’re not,” Buck agreed because even if she hadn’t made the choice herself, he wasn’t going to see his big sister hurt like that again.

“I grabbed what I could before I left and it’s going to take me a little while to get back on my feet, but—”

“Hey,” Buck said gently, wrapping his arms around his sister once more, “we’re gonna figure this out. It’s always been just the two of us, right? Sure, a few years have gone by, but you’re still the most important person in the world to me and we’re going to figure this out.” He repeated, believing the words so fully that Maddie must have, too. Her shoulders slumped in either relaxation or defeat, Buck couldn’t be sure which, and she pulled away enough for Buck to press a soft kiss to her forehead.

“Can I stay here for a little? Just until—”

“Maddie, stop. You’re staying here whether you like it or not,” Buck said with a laugh, ruffling her hair in his hand before she could swat him away.

“I just don’t want to impose on any guests you might have around,” Maddie said, crossing her arms over her chest and glancing around his apartment as if looking for signs of additional life.

Buck sighed, “Go take a shower while I make up some dinner.” Maddie’s laugh was so refreshing, the tension of the last few hours seemed to fall right off of his shoulders.

When he heard the water turn on, he busied himself with finding dinner even though he was still full from the large lunch at the station. He wasn’t sure when the last time Maddie had eaten was but her skin was too pale even through the bruises for him not to offer her something good. He rummaged through his cabinets for way too long, losing track of time as he listened to Maddie’s voice stop and start in the shower.

He used to love listening to her sing. She had always been carefree and beautiful and that was always something he admired. He could hear the hesitance in her voice as she weakly sang through the chorus of one of her favorite country songs and wished he could heal whatever it was inside that had her balking. Buck loved her more than anything in the world.

With a deep breath, he reminded himself that she had made that first step, the one he had wanted her to so many years before. He smiled to himself, grateful that she made it back to him mostly in one piece. Even though she didn’t have that fire in her eyes that he remembered, he knew that her deciding to come home to him was the spark she needed to light it back up.

A knock at the door had him cursing because the water had shut off and he still didn’t have dinner on the table. When he opened the door and saw Eddie, two pizza boxes in hand, he thought he might cry.

“I figured you usually go grocery shopping with Chris and I and we’re running low on food for two so—” Buck interrupted him by wrapping him another suffocatingly tight hug.

“Man, you could not have arrived at a better fucking time,” Buck sighed with relief. “I can’t believe you did this for her,” he muttered mostly to himself. Eddie opened his mouth, but before he could respond, Maddie trotted down the stairs, patting her hair down with a towel.

“Eddie, right?” She asked, a twinkle in her eye that Buck wasn’t too fond of given the situation. “Did you bring us dinner?”

Eddie nodded and mumbled, “Yeah, for, uh, you actually.” Buck took the pizza boxes from his hands and Eddie immediately ran his fingers through the hair on the back of his neck as if suddenly bashful. Buck thought he looked more adorable than usual but brushed it aside.

“That is so sweet of you,” Maddie said, knocking her hip against Buck’s. “Isn’t that so sweet of him, Evan?” Eddie snickered and Buck knew it was because of the use of his first name. He shot an unimpressed glance at Eddie who pressed his lips together in return as if holding back more laughter.

“Eddie’s just a regular old saint if you ask anyone,” Buck explained with much more sarcasm in his voice than he really intended. Maddie didn’t seem to notice as she smiled up at Eddie.

“Are you staying for dinner? I’m sure Buck would appreciate the company,” Maddie said happily, side-eyeing Buck as if he’d even thought to go against her words.

“Oh, no, I gotta get back to my kid,” Eddie said, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder. Buck knew Christopher wasn’t with him or else he would have asked them both to come inside.

“You have a kid?” Maddie asked, mouth agape for reasons Buck didn’t know but would definitely ask her about later.

“Yeah, Christopher. He’s—”

“—The best kid in the entire world,” Buck interrupted, turning to his sister. “Maddie, this kid is a spitfire and he’s got jokes and comebacks for everything, I swear! And he’s like the smartest 8-year-old I’ve ever met, not that I’ve hung out with many 8-year-olds, but still. You’re gonna love him!” Buck decided. He must have been rambling as both his sister and Eddie were staring over at him with amused looks on their faces. “…What?”

“I mean, I was just gonna tell her his age, but I guess all that stuff is true, too,” Eddie teased. He flinched when Buck swatted at him with the hand that wasn’t holding the pizza.

“He sounds incredible. I hope I get to meet him?” Maddie asked. Buck nodded quickly and a smile Buck wasn’t sure he had ever seen before tugged at the corner of Eddie’s lips. Buck was just about to offer for them to come over the following night when he remembered what he had already agreed to.

“Oh, crap. The Marvel movie night!” Buck exclaimed as he finally set the pizzas down on the side table. “Did you already tell Chris I was gonna join?”

“Yeah, but it’s totally fine. I’m sure he’ll understand that your sister is here and—”

“Nonsense! You promised that kid a movie night, he’s gonna get a movie night!” Maddie shouted as she opened up the pizza box and helped herself to a slice. Buck was glad she seemed to still have the appetite he remembered. “I don’t mind having a night to myself. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to just cry over a sad Hallmark movie with a glass of wine, you know?” Buck didn’t, but he also really wanted to hang out with the Diazes.

“We can always reschedule. Marvel isn’t going anywhere,” Eddie offered, but Maddie just shook her head and slapped Buck’s arm like it was his job to convince Eddie he would be a fool to do that.

“I’ll be over tomorrow at five with sandwiches to pay you back for tonight, okay?” Buck said softly, holding Eddie’s bicep in his palm. A blush covered his face and Buck wasn’t sure why he was being so nervous all of a sudden; they bantered and touched like that all the time.

“Yeah, okay. Maddie, thank you for letting me steal him and enjoy the pizza. Buck, I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.” He waved as he backed away and Buck watched as he jumped into his car and drove off.

Once the door was shut, Maddie smacked him on the arm and Buck recoiled, sending a confused glance at his sister.

“What the hell was that for?” Buck asked, rubbing his skin even though it really didn’t hurt that bad.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were dating a coworker !” Maddie shouted, gaping at Buck with joy in her eyes that he had missed more than he realized. He was so focused on her happiness, it took him more than a few reasonable moments to realize what she had said.

“I’m— Wait, what?” Buck asked, pausing mid-bite on the piece of the pepper and sausage pizza he made a mental reminder to thank Eddie for tomorrow.

“Eddie?!” Maddie repeated in a squeal. “I knew after our conversation that whoever you were dating wasn’t just any old person, but another firefighter? A male firefighter at that? No wonder you didn’t want to tell me yet!” Buck blanched and finished chewing his pizza carefully so as to not choke.

“Maddie, I mean this with no malice and all confusion; what the absolute fuck are you talking about?” Maddie scoffed and grabbed the pizza boxes, wandering to the living room and placing them on the coffee table. She made her way into the kitchen to grab two beers from the fridge before settling down next to Buck who had to sit on the couch and think before he fell over.

“Oh, you cannot even pretend that you guys aren’t head over heels for each other. The hand on your back at the station? The side hug? Bringing you pizza after a rough day? The blushing?!” Maddie raised her eyebrows at Buck and he honestly didn’t know how to respond.

He should have said it was nothing. He should have said they were the only two openly not-straight men that he knew of who worked at the LAFD and were closer because of that. He should have said that they were just friends who put their lives at risk for each other every day so their relationship was bound to be special. He should have said all of that.

But Maddie looked so happy and carefree so instead, he lied.

“It’s… really new,” he said, echoing the words he had told her before she came to L.A. Her squeal of delight was enough for any regret he might have had to wash away and for his heart to soar that he could put that bright smile back on his sister’s face.

“Evan Buckley, you have to tell me everything !” Maddie crossed her legs on the couch and settled back against the cushions, making herself comfortable in the place Buck had started to call home. Even with the bruises and cuts littering her face, she looked at ease, and Buck smiled over at her widely.

“There’s nothing to tell, Mads. He started at the station a few months ago and we just… hit it off. Like I said, it’s new and he’s… good.” He wasn’t sure why he had hesitated but he hoped she didn’t read too much into it. When she rested a gentle hand on his bicep and squeezed, he knew she had believed every word of what he had said. The fact it wasn’t a total lie was the only reason he didn’t let his guilt build up too much just yet.

“I’m really proud of you, you know?” Maddie said softly, moving her hand up to cup the side of his face and brush her thumb along his cheekbone. He melted into the touch and closed his eyes, the words resonating through him as the ones he always longed to hear.

“What for?” Buck asked.

Maddie sighed and said, “For being you.” She tapped his nose with the tip of her finger before she added, “Now tell me all about him!”

#buddie #buddie fic #911 on fox #911 fic #buck x eddie #eddie x buck #my writing #tiwistb fic #chapter one yall omfg #i cant beleive it!!#aklsjdfkl;ajsdl;f #evan buckley #eddie diaz

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annashittyglasses · 3 years

Text

AoT characters react to the internet/smart phones/social media for the first time (part1)

Master list

Erwin

He is always at Apple tutorial classes

Mostly reads books, if he can figure it out

Siri and voice assistant freaks him out

Asks Hange how to close an app

Definitely uses one finger to text and type

Googles the most random shit imaginable

He has 2 blocked numbers on his phone. Reiner and Bertolt.

Is terrified by anything that involves him.

Emails blew this mans mind. No more pointless meetings.

Loves FaceTime. But still tries to hold it up to his ear like a normal phone call

Calls out government officials on Twitter

His text size is set to the largest size

Hange

Adapts very quickly

Excited about Wikipedia and Google.

Has Twitter, posts about science and her thoughts.

Has an Instagram to post pics of her doing experiments.

Watches Chemistry videos on YouTube and tiktok

Definitely does TikTok dances bc she thinks it’s fun.

Always has to help Erwin and Levi

She has ventured into the fandom side of the internet. Secretly reads Aot fanfics. She for sure ships Levi and Erwin. But finds it super funny.

Super into Tesla and Elon Musk. Urged Levi to invest.

Does not trust the government. Very skeptical about any news article.

Levi

Adapted somewhat quickly.

He’s freaked out by the conspiracies about your phone listening to you.

Plays words with friends with Erwin.

Invests in stonks stocks

Has Twitter for his news.

Doesn’t trust Siri, but uses it to text sometimes.

Slow two thumb typing

Hange forced him to download TikTok

Sometimes finds himself actually laughing at a few Tik toks and enters a rabbit hole, but rarely.

Loves using audible. Listens to it while he works

Looks up cleaning hacks.

On cleaning TikTok but won’t admit he has a Tik Tok

Watches oddly satisfying vids on YouTube

Also listens to asmr when he’s stressed.

Him and Erwin secretly send each other memes about the cadets and laugh about it.

Loves emails. Less meetings is ideal.

Hange has told him about fandom internet and wouldn’t touch it with a 10ft pole.

Eren

Adapted pretty quickly

Loves social media

Has an Instagram and posts thirst pics of himself at the gym.

Loves watching prank videos on YouTube or fighting videos.

Definitely twitch streams.

Saves every meme from Reddit.

Has a TikTok, but only for the funny videos.

Ignores any emails from Erwin or Levi

Googles protein shake recipes to get swol.

Has all Apple products.

Probably has the Hermès Apple Watch just to flex, but doesn’t actually use it. Hoe is just for show.

Armin

Adapted quickly to the new technology.

Loves Wikipedia.

Googles things about sea life, ship wrecks, and submarines.

Uses social media to advocate against the use of plastic

Uses TikTok. He does a lot of dances with Hange.

Uses audible a lot.

He has Instagram, only posts pics of nature, cool things he sees, and his friends.

Will sometimes game with Eren.

Is always with mikasa and posts on his story.

Mikasa

Adapted quickly

Follows Eren on every social media and has post notifications set for when he posts

Discovered “find my friends” and uses it to find Eren

Loves Tik Tok, but doesn’t want to admit it.

She doesn’t make Tik Tok videos, but loves watching them.

Has ignored Jeans friend requests for months now

She enjoys the coloring apps bc it’s relaxing

Looks up boxing videos on YouTube and survival hacks

Loves watching off the grid style reality shows like Bear Grylls

Loves being able to connect with people on social media

Although she’s not very active on social media

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jo6hny · 3 years

Text

regrets - J.S.

Summary: The aftermath of a messy breakup with Johnny.

Word count: 642 words

Genre: Angst

A/N: Hey guys! How are you doing? I’m back with an angst scenario for all of you. This isn’t as good as my other ones but I wanted to try my hand at writing again. I hope you guys enjoy!

Shaky hands reach for the phone, you dial his number, the one you knew all too well despite removing it from your contacts. You hesitated for a moment before pressing the call button. It took three rings before he picked up.

"Hello?" His voice echoes from the other side of the screen. Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest and your hands became sweaty from nervousness.

"Hi." You breathed out, barely having the strength to utter words.

You missed him so much. The warmth he provided, the love, everything. Sometimes you wondered how far in your relationship you would be if you didn't fuck it all up. If you weren't so inside of your head that you decided to sabotage the only good thing you had in your life.

"Y/N?" The man on the other line asked. He acted like he didn't know it was you. In reality, he was waiting for you to call all week. He missed you like you did him and it took everything in him to stop himself from pressing your number and telling you how much you meant to him.

The both of you wanted the same thing. Reconciliation. But the both of you were prideful. You pretended you were fine by drinking your woes away and downloading stupid dating apps while Johnny pretended he was fine by fucking anything and everything he could see. You two wanted each other back but none was willing to make the first move.

"Yeah, hi." You replied, unsure about whether or not you were doing the right thing by calling him. "How are you?"

It took him a few seconds before he replied. What was he supposed to say? That he was miserable and that he wished he could turn back time? That he couldn't feel any emotion anymore?

"I'm fine. You?" He lied through his teeth. Beer bottles and condom wrappers were littered around his room. It looked like a frat boy's room and he wasn't very proud of himself for his negligence.

Y/N looked at the ceiling to stop tears from flowing down her face. Her heart was aching, she wanted him back but she knew that he would reject her. She wanted to go back to normal. But this was what she wanted, wasn't it? She was the one who broke it off after all.

"I'm okay." She whispered, barely audible for the two of them to hear. A lump was in her throat. She wanted to sob and apologize for causing pain between the both of them. She wanted to ask for his forgiveness, she wanted them to start over and be happy again. Deep down she knew though that things would never be the same.

A deafening silence enveloped the both of them after that. Neither had anything else to say but none of them wanted to hang up.

Taking the sleeve of her sweater, she wiped a stray tear and braced herself for what she was about to tell her past lover. It didn't matter if he doesn't feel the same way anymore, she just wanted him to know.

"I miss you, and I'm so sorry." Y/N expressed. She couldn't stop sobbing now, all of the hurt she had stored inside of her fluttered its way through.

Johnny didn't say anything. He didn't know what to feel. Should he say it back? Or should he hide behind his mask and pretend that he was better of without her anyway?

"You don't have to say anything, I just wanted to let you know." He heard from the other end of the line, interrupting his thoughts.

"I-" He said getting cut off by the dial tone. Y/N had hung up on him.

"I miss you too." He continued as he threw himself on his bed, wishing to forget the pain.

#nct #nct scenarios #nct johnny #nct johnny scenario #nct imagine #jhmasterlist #neo culture technology #johnny seo #johnny suh #kpop scenarios #kpop angst #nct 127

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peachiekoo · 4 years

Text

One Beep || JJK

“I think it’s unfair that we can’t do anything about what our heart want.”

⇢ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader ⇢ Genre: Angst; Fluff; Romance ⇢ Warning(s): Hints of divorce, slight flashbacks to dark past moments, denialism at certain points ⇢ Word Count: 2.04K ⇢ Posted: April 10, 2020 ⇢ A/n: Hey, so I made a fic based off of a show I’ve watched recently called “Love Alarm”. It has since became one of my favorite k-dramas! I’m extremely happy that this idea suddenly came to me. (I deadass don’t think I’ve ever been this hyped to write a fic) I hope you guys enjoy and also there might grammar mistakes which I sincerely apologize for!

Everything that happened was an accident actually.

Maybe everything would’ve been fine if you only went to class at least a good two minutes later. All of it could’ve been avoided if you weren’t trying to go run an errand for a friend. But then again, who knows?

It was a Monday morning at exactly 7:50 am when you got a text from one of your closest childhood friends, Chaeyoung.

[7:50 am] Chae🍊: bubs,, where r u??

[7:50 am] You: studying in the library

[7:52 am] You: why?

[8:01 am] Chae🍊: do you think you could drop off my paper to ms.eve? i left it in your bag

[8:01 am] You: rn?

[8:03 am] Chae🍊: I mean,,, I would appreciate if you did

[8:03 am] Chae🍊: <3

You sighed and rolled your eyes. Classic Chae move, you thought to yourself. You closed the book you had checked out beforehand as you neatly placed it in your bag before you looked for her paper.

Finally, finding the paper slightly wrinkled, you made your way to the exit. You decided to take the shorter way than the usual way since you wanted to quickly get back to studying again before heading towards your next class.

While walking, you were busying yourself with your phone. Looking at a few unread messages and scrolling on twitter before you heard a group of people discussing a new app.

It wasn’t your intention to eavesdrop but something one of them mentioned was an app that could tell if someone had a crush on anyone in a 10-meter radius.

“Unbelievable,” you scoffed quietly.

You continued walking past them as you decided to search up about it when you were recommended an app, LoveBeep. You chuckled at it. Do people really believe this? From the app details it’s popular at the moment. Are people just that gullible.

You were so engrossed by the app that you didn’t even see the tall figure in front of you. “Sorry! I-” Your sentence stops in the tip of your tongue when you realize who it is. He reaches a hand out for you without even throwing a second glance at you.

It was Jeon Jungkook. You two were never once friends but you shared a few good past memories together as your mom used to babysit him every once in awhile growing up. Now he probably wants nothing to do with you.

You felt your heart race in anxiousness. You quickly grabbed his hand and pulled yourself up before dusting yourself off and heading towards the main reason you were on the floor anyways.

You suddenly stopped though. You turned on your heels before gently tapping him on the shoulders. He looked at you with an annoyed look shadowing over his face.

“I’m sorry.” you sputtered.

All you heard was an annoyed sigh before he faced all the way towards you. He glared down at you. You felt as if you were shrinking, both mentally and physically. You watch him softly chuckling before he turned his gaze back to you.

“I don’t want your dirty ass apology, Y/n. Your mom has already enough,” He spits. “Why are you apologizing for what your mom did? Did you have any part in it? You pity me don’t you.”

You took a few steps back unconsciously before he grabbed your arm and pulled you close. He placed his mouth over your ear. “The fact that you constantly try to fix your mom’s dirty deeds is annoying. She should be able to feel the pain that she’s given others.”

Your eyes water at that for yet, he wasn’t wrong. She did bad things, but that didn’t make her a bad person. You pushed the boy off of you with resentment in your gaze.

It was silent for a moment before your voice broke it. “You know nothing. Nothing at all. You think you got it all figured out don’t you,” you hissed. “Don’t you!” you raved.

You felt the burning tears sliding down your cheeks. “I’ve tried so hard to be generous to you. Do you think I wanted things to be like this? Do you think you’re the only going through things?” you declared. “Go to hell, Jeon!” you shouted before storming off.

Finally, dropping the papers off, you continued on with the rest of your day. Doing your very best to avoid the brown-haired boy at all costs.

It was a late night, you were bundled under your covers. You looked across the room to see a Chaeyoung peacefully asleep in her own bed. You sighed as you rolled into another position so you could finally go to sleep but it seemed nearly impossible no matter how hard you tried.

You looked over at your phone and you remembered that ridiculous app from earlier. You grabbed it from the nightstand before typing the name into the app store before downloading

Once it was finished downloading, you inspect med the app. The first thing to pop up was a loading screen that displayed tips about the app. Once it finished loading you were introduced to a welcome sign before it faded out into 3 rings with a zero in the middle of them.

It seemed fake. Like an app, a seven-year-old girl would download to try to find her imaginary prince charming. Nevertheless, it still intrigued you. You stayed up the rest of the night trying to find out more about before you crashed around 4 am.

A few months later, it finally starting to begin spring. The incident with Jeon is far in the back of year head as you sit on the bench and enjoy the warm air and the few blows of cool air surrounding you as you took a considerable bite out of your apple, listening to Chaeyoung as she rants about her latest “life problems”.

You feel content for the first time in a while. You feel in your gut it won’t last for long though. You inhale a deep breath to just take the moment in. You let your eyes flutter closed for a second, reassuring Chaeyoung that you’re still listening to her.

Suddenly you hear your phone beep. You look at the notification to see from LoveBeep, saying exactly, “Someone in a 10-meter radius loves you”. You were just about to put your phone back since it wasn’t like it was the first time it had beeped before but you had felt a certain urge to look up.

You looked up to see Jungkook walking past you with a friend. You were just about to ignore the occurrence when you realize, he was, in fact, within a 10-meter radius when your phone buzzed. You felt your cheeks tingling at that.

No, it wasn’t him. It can’t be him. You convinced yourself. You’re in a school, there are tons of other students within a 10-meter radius of you. He was also walking with a friend meaning it could’ve been him.

The incident could’ve been easily ignored if for the past few passing you had with him within the last month didn’t result in your phone beeping. Every. Single. Time.

You kept trying to ascertain that it was another reason for this but what really got you was when you were in art class early, drawing a few sketches to waste time. You had felt your phone vibrate as you got other notification from LoveBeep. You had heard the door open before you turned your attention over to where the sound was made.

It had fully hit you. Jungkook is the one beeping you.

You were currently waiting by the exit of the school since Chae was taking way more longer than expected oddly since it was normally you that was always late.

The majority of the students had already left school, only a few people walking around which you assumed was for the after school clubs. You decided on going into the school to go find her when you saw the boy down the hall.

“Jungkook, we need to talk,” you said as you walked up to him. You felt your phone vibrate again in your pocket before you let out a sigh.

“What?” he asked nonchalantly. He looked up at you like you were, in fact, wasting his time.

You tilted your head at him slightly look at him straight in his eyes. You just wanted to get it over with.

How can he act so damn rude yet still have feeling for you? Seems kinda fucked up.

“Listen, I don’t wanna be here just as much as you,” you smirked at him. “I know you like me, Jeon.” All you heard in reply was bluff of air coming through his sealed lips.

He rebuked, “What in the actual fuck are you talking about? You genuinely think I out of all fucking people would like you?”

Annoyed, you pulled out your phone and went directly Into the app.

“Then what is this?”

“An app.”

“What app jackass.”

“LoveBeep obviously.”

“Okay, and what does it say.”

“I’m not reading that you can do it yourself.”

You groaned in annoyance. “Are you just that fucking difficult?” You shot the phone right in his face. “You like me.” You disputed

“You’re gonna believe an app?” he yapped through tight lips. An obvious thick tension in the air had you fidgeting with your school skirt. The reality of it hit you.

This dickhead, the one who is steadily hateful towards you. The one who you once were close with. Yet, he is someone who had a full reason to hate. Not hurting any less though.

You hated him. But you loved him. Not in the cheesy ‘I’m in love with my enemy’ type of way. But the ‘You and me against the world’ type of way. A platonic love that was now one-sided from something which you strictly blame on yourself no matter how many times you tell yourself otherwise.

Your mood suddenly turning more sour at the realization, you mutter out a barely audible “Why?” before keeping your gaze with his eyes.

“You are so sick and twisted. I know she fucked up everything but you just let it out on me and then when I feel like I did it you have then you yell at me about why am I trying to fix shit that I didn’t do. It’s because of you!” you exploded.

Not stopping there, you step to up still maintaining the connected glare as you continue on. “Then you have the fucking audacity to like me? What the fuck is wrong with you.” You wept, your emotions finally overpowering you. You were so filled with anger but it was useless because there was nothing you could do about it. “It’s so unfair you can live your life like this while I’m just here.” you ended.

“Live my life like this? My parents aren’t even in the same fucking country because of her and you think your life is tough because I developed unwanted feelings for you?” He argued.

Anger flurrying through you, your arm flung at him involuntarily, slapping him in the process. “You don’t know everything!” you screeched tear stains down your cheeks before storming off.

As you were walking off, you heard him yell out to you causing you to stop. “I think it’s unfair that we can’t do anything about what our heart wants,” You heard him let out an emotionless chuckle. “If we could do you think I would like someone as low as you?” he deadpanned before listening to his footsteps walk off.

“Fuck you, Jungkook.” you gritted out before continuing on. Deciding on going home, you decided to text Chaeyoung ahead of time.

[4:51 pm] You: im gonna walk home early

[4:51 pm] Chae🍊: ? did something happen :(

[4:55 pm] Chae🍊: y/n???

[4:56 pm] You: can we talk about it later please

[4;56 pm] Chae🍊: ofc bubs

[4;57 pm] Chae🍊: do you want me to order your favorite takeout when i get home?

[4:57 pm] You: yes pls

And that was the last time you had any interaction with Jungkook.

a/n: I hope you enjoy this series!

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karajaynetoday · 4 years

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everybody's got their demons, even wide awake or dreaming | part two

Photo credit: Jess Gleeson

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a lovely day. It’s time for part two of this series! Lizzie takes her opportunity to interview Calum one-on-one in this part. If you need to catch up on Part One, you can do that here. Onwards!

(This is a fem!OC story)

Word count: 3.2k

Warnings: none? i don’t think?

More writing here | send thoughts/feedback/suggestions here | if you’d like to be on my taglist go here

The day or so leading up to Lizzie’s one on one interview with Calum was a blur, as Lizzie tried to fix her body clock and orientate herself with how to get around LA. Her boss had offered her the opportunity to hire a rental car, but the idea of driving on the wrong side of the road was too much for Lizzie to stomach, so Ubers were the go.

Her body sometimes overslept, sometimes woke her up at 4am, so Lizzie had downloaded a yoga and meditation app to try and sort herself out. She might’ve almost given herself a concussion after toppling over while trying to do a particularly tricky pose, but no one needed to hear about that. The bruises on her elbow were embarrassing enough.

Danielle had sent Lizzie a text the morning of her lunchtime interview with Calum, confirming the time and place as they’d discussed. Lizzie had handwritten some notes for her questions, trying to contemplate what she could ask Calum that would differ to the others. Or maybe she should ask them all the same questions, and then in the piece she could compare and contrast responses? It was so hard to know what would make the best piece, especially with interviewing Calum in particular. Lizzie knew from watching other interviews, and in her group interview with all of the band the other day (and from back in their school days) that Calum was a man of few words. When he did speak, it was usually with purpose and thought, and made for some great content, but he wasn’t always particularly forthcoming. Which is why it had surprised Lizzie that Calum had volunteered for the first solo interview, but given Michael’s behaviour, she was glad to be continuing with the profile piece at all.

It was a really warm day, so Lizzie had to forego her usual blazer and jeans in favour of a long green dress with blue and white flowers on it. Her hands were sweaty as the Uber pulled up to the café Calum had suggested, and something in the back of Lizzie’s mind suggested it wasn’t just from the weather. She’d always been an anxious person, but she’d gotten a handle on it recently; this whole LA debacle had brought it back with a vengeance.

Calum was waiting for her just in front of the café, dark wayfarer sunglasses covering his eyes and his phone in his hand as he leant up against the brick wall beside the café door. He was wearing a grey hoodie and jeans, and nobody coming in or out of the café seemed to pay him any attention; but then again maybe people of Calum’s level of fame were just part of the furniture around here. It was near to Hollywood, after all.

“Hey, thanks for agreeing to meet me.” Lizzie’s voice wasn’t overly loud, but it still made Calum jump as he looked up from his phone at her.

“Of course, of course. I know I sound like a broken record, but we really are excited for you to do this piece. The new album era is something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, and - “ Calum began, smiling warmly at Lizzie, who cut him off by pulling open the café door.

“Before you start getting all meaningful and quotable on me, shall we get a coffee and take a seat?”

“A woman after my own heart. Let’s do it. Pro-tip, the brownies here are to die for.”

The café was bustling, but most of the patrons seemed to be lining up for takeaway orders. Calum stepped ahead of Lizzie and slipped into a booth towards the back, near a frosted window, greeting the wait staff by name as he went. Lizzie scurried after him, apologising as she accidentally bumped into a tall man with her shoulder bag in her haste and he glared at her. Guess not everyone was as friendly as Calum, then. She slid into the booth opposite Calum, pulling out her notebook and phone as she went.

“Is it okay if I record this? I’m not very good at taking notes.”

“Straight into it, LL? At least let a man have his coffee first.” Calum deadpanned, and Lizzie felt her face fall before she realised he was joking with her.

“Of course, sorry. Let’s order. The brownies, you said? How big are they?” Lizzie pasted a smile onto her face, grabbing for the menu on the table in front of her.

“I have it on good authority that they’re perfectly Lizzie-sized. Calum-sized, too - a real multipurpose snack.” Calum was teasing her now, but also being completely serious, as he got the attention of a waitperson who came over to welcome them and take their orders. A skinny latté for Lizzie, an iced coffee for Calum, and a warmed up chocolate brownie with a side of coconut yogurt for them each. They fell into easy conversation, about the weather, and Calum’s neighbourhood, and the other pieces Lizzie had written, almost forgetting why they were there in the first place. When their order of coffees and brownies arrived, Lizzie suddenly snapped out of her feeling of ease when she had to push her notebook and phone over on the table and remember that she was supposed to be interviewing Calum Hood, 5SOS bassist, not catching up with Calum Hood, her Year 9 science lab partner.

“Now that you’ve got your coffee, can I start recording?” Lizzie asked timidly, as she took a bite out of her brownie and audibly groaned at how heavenly it tasted.

“Depends. Will your brownie orgasm be mentioned in the article?” Could Calum say anything that wasn’t teasing her? Damn it.

“Maybe. Perhaps I’ll do a twitter thread of my trip food highlights, given that the profile piece will be under embargo until the album comes out.” Lizzie deadpanned right back, earning a smile and a small chuckle from Calum.

Lizzie hit record on her phone’s voicenote app, sliding the phone into the centre of the table. She flipped open her notebook to the page marked “Calum”, and she could see Calum trying to read her writing upside down.

“No spoilers, mate. I’ve got a strategy here.” Lizzie mused, angling her notebook so it was harder for Calum to see as he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Well then, Ms Lawson from Junkee Australia, do your worst.” He flashed her a grin, before taking a sip of his coffee followed by a bite of his brownie (sans any groaning… that must only be a first-time brownie thing).

“So, in our chat yesterday, it was mentioned that this next album is, in some ways, a letter to your homeland, and a reflection on your journeys so far as individual artists as well as being 5SOS collectively. For you, as Calum Hood, what’s the main contribution or perspective that you feel you’ve brought to this album, and the band?” Lizzie saw a flicker of something in Calum’s eyes as she shifted into journalist mode easily, but he only paused for another sip of coffee before answering.

“I think at this point, my main contribution is balancing the collective contributions in the room. I have a lot to say, and I do a lot of songwriting, but I also think the others would agree that I’m also quite observant, so I can read a lot into things they’re saying, or not saying, and bring it out of them into the music. We’ve known each other for almost half our lives at this point, so we know each other better than anyone else, but when we work with other co writers and things like that it can be hard to feel entirely comfortable with the vulnerability you need to bring into writing a song or telling a particular story that day. I’ve got the rep as the strong, silent, shy type, I know - “ Calum paused and returned the soft smile Lizzie was giving him, as she nodded encouragingly.

“But in interviews, when I’m being asked to explain myself and validate my artistic choices, I’m immediately more defensive and protective of it, because there’s something magical about the writing room, and the vulnerability that can only exist in that context when we’re songwriting, and creating that art. The end product, which is the song or the album or whatever, conveys the emotions in a way that I could never say them with words, and the beautiful thing is that so many people can listen to it and relate to it in ways that I’d never considered before. But that’s the power of it, you know? We make these songs to express ourselves, and fulfil our creative outlets, but it extends beyond that, and that’s the part that gets me.” Calum finished speaking and reached for another sip of his coffee.

“Right. The magic exists in the studio, and on the stage, and in individual people’s lives when they listen to the music wherever they are in the world, and it’s the connecting thread that brings you together with your fans, a moment that you can share even if you never meet.”

“Exactly, it’s the universal experience, and everyone has their own interpretation of what it means to them. Pisses me off when people try and dig to find out who we wrote a certain song about, or whatever. Sometimes it is a specific person or a moment, other times I make shit up to suit the vibe of a chord progression or a concept someone’s brought to the table. It’s a juicier headline if we name and shame, but it’s not fair to the person I’m writing about, especially if they don’t have a similar outlet for a right of reply, and it’s also irrelevant, because my meaning behind a song could be completely different to yours, but that doesn’t make it less valid.” Calum shrugs as he speaks, his tone calm and nonchalant.

“Makes sense. The music can exist as art, and be open to interpretation, like everything in life. And with this album, and reflecting on your homeland… what does that mean, for you? Because 5SOS have lived almost their entire adult lives overseas, so I know it must be hard to self-determine a cultural identity that’s so strongly linked to somewhere you haven’t lived for so long.” Lizzie asks, munching down another bite of brownie.

Calum cocks his head to the side and rolls his bottom lip into his mouth, and Lizzie feels a lump rise in her throat. Had she phrased the question wrong? Was he mad? Had she struck a nerve? Fuck.

“Sorry, we don’t have to - I mean, we can keep discussing the album in a different way if you’d prefer -” Lizzie started babbling, and she froze when Calum reached across the table and rested on hers reassuringly.

“Breathe, Lawson. I just need a minute to think about a deep and meaningful response to your question. You’re fine.” Calum was speaking softly, and there was an apology of sorts in his eyes when Lizzie glanced over at him. She was about to ask him something else, when a waitress came over to check on how everything was going with their orders and offered a second round of coffees and Calum withdrew his hand from the table as he ordered another iced coffee to go, times two.

“If you could have it ready to go in about an hour, that’d be great.” Calum flashed the waitress a smile, and she shot him a wink as she headed back to the counter to update his order.

“A whole ‘nother hour? You spoil me, Mr Hood.” Lizzie joked, downing the last of her coffee and desperately hoping to avoid any awkwardness in her remaining interview time with Calum.

“Anything for a fellow Australian, mate. To answer your question, it’s strange, because yes I’ve never lived there full time as an adult, but there’s something about your home country and your hometown that stays with you, no matter where you go or how long you’re gone. Obviously, for me, my sister lives overseas, and neither of my parents were raised in Australia, but it still means a lot to me, because it’s home, you know? The industry there is… interesting, but I still think that if we didn’t have the background we all have as individuals and the band, there’s certainly a lot of decisions we’ve made and ways we’ve gone about things in our careers that are heavily influenced by our upbringings and the mindsets we all have from that experience.”

“Home is where the heart is, right?” Lizzie offers, thumbing her notebook absently.

“It’s true. But it’s also refreshing to go back and escape it all a bit, you know? None of my friends at home really give a shit about Calum from 5SOS. They just like hanging out with Cal, which is nice.” Calum shrugs, clasping his hands together on the table in front of him.

“Just Cal? Not cool guy Cal? C Dizzle Swizzle?” Lizzie bit back a grin, remembering the multitude of nicknames Cal had garnered over the years.

“Look, cool guy Cal is just my constant state of being. C Dizzle might make an appearance if I’ve had one too many, but either way, they’re just happy to see me. Or happy to tell me some home truths that I haven’t heard, or wanted to hear, so that’s important too. You can’t live in LA for as long as we have without having a good support crew to keep us grounded, you know? Even if some of the ones who mean the most to us are on the other side of the planet.” There was something in Calum’s eyes again as Lizzie looked at him, and she could tell it was more than what he was trying to say for the sake of the profile interview.

She swallowed down one final bite of the heavenly brownie, and turned the page to find her next question. Lizzie couldn’t entertain the idea of asking Calum why Michael was mad at her, because it would break the air of professionalism she was desperate to maintain; also, she wasn’t entirely sure he’d even tell her. Calum and Michael had been inseparable in their school days, and Lizzie knew that their bond and sense of loyalty no doubt ran even deeper now than then, given all of their shared experiences, trials and tribulations to date. But Calum had always been so kind and patient with her, whether she’d accidentally ruined their Year 9 science experiment, or she’d nearly thrown up on his shoes at the Year 11 formal after party, or when Michael had stormed out of the studio a few days ago and he offered her his time for the first solo interview. Lizzie brushed off the train of thought, and continued with her interview questions for Calum.

The conversation flowed easily, and Lizzie could already feel the profile starting to come together in her mind. She jotted down a handful of notes on how to adapt her questions for Luke and Ashton based on Calum’s responses, and before they realised how long they’d been chatting, the waitress returned with Calum’s two takeaway iced coffees.

Lizzie asked the waitress for the bill, but Calum waved her off.

“I’ve got it, Lizzie. Don’t stress.”

“But I can expense it! I have a receipts app, and everything!” Calum laughed at how excited Lizzie seemed at the concept of submitting a work expense claim.

“Okay, fine. You win this round.”

Lizzie pressed stop on her phone recording, and reached for her bag to slide her notebook in. The waitress returned with the bill, and Lizzie handed her travel bank card over, drumming her hands absentmindedly on the table while she waited for the waitress to come back with her card and the receipt.

“Lizzie?” Her head snapped up as Calum spoke.

“He’s not… I know it seems like he’s really mad at you, but he’s not.” It took a moment for Lizzie to register what Calum was saying.

“He’s not mad at me? He refused to speak to me and stormed out of the room the first chance he got, but he’s not mad? Right.” Lizzie couldn’t help but sound bitter as she spoke.

“I can’t speak for him, but I know him. He’s not mad, he’s just hurt about everything.” Lizzie could tell Calum was being very careful with his choice of words, and she eyed him curiously across the table.

“What does he possibly have to be hurt about? He’s the one that -” Lizzie catches herself halfway through her sentence, and squeezes her eyes shut as she inhales deeply.

“Here’s your receipt and your card back, miss. Thanks so much for visiting us today, have a lovely day!” Lizzie blinks and squints up at the waitress, who hands back her card and a paper receipt. Lizzie mumbles her thanks, and goes to stand up and slide out of the booth, and Calum follows her out of the café.

“Lizzie, I didn’t mean to upset you -” Calum’s apologetic tone had Lizzie spinning on her heel to face him once they’re through the doors of the café.

“You didn’t, Calum. It’s fine. I’m here to do a job, and I appreciate your time today, I really do. Michael and I… I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, okay? I know it won’t be easy, but for now, I just want to focus on getting the best interview content I can from you all. That’s why I’m here.” Lizzie wrings her hands nervously, and she can feel how sweaty her palms are.

“Is that the only reason you’re here?” Calum’s tone isn’t teasing, or harsh. It’s genuine, curious, soft. He’s not moving as he stands in front of Lizzie and gazes down at her from his full height.

Before Lizzie can answer, Calum’s phone starts to ring, and he casts her another glance before stepping away to answer it. While he’s chatting to whoever’s on the other end of the line, Lizzie decides to order herself an Uber and make her way back to the hotel so she can make a start on transcribing the interview with Calum. Because that was why she was here, Lizzie told herself in her head, stubbornly. Didn’t matter about the feelings in her stomach, and the tightness of her chest. She was there to write a profile about a band, nothing more, nothing less.

“I’ve got to go and meet Ash at the studio, are you all good from here?” Calum’s question broke Lizzie out of her internal dialogue.

“Yep, all good. Thanks again for your time, Cal. I really appreciate it. I think it’s going to be a great piece, and I’m intrigued to see what comes out of the other interviews. All of them.” Lizzie’s pointed tone isn’t lost on Calum, and he grimaces slightly at the fire he seems to have ignited. Ah well. Lizzie and Michael had to sort their shit out sooner or later, right?

Right?

Calum was trying to convince himself as he strolled down the street towards his car, pondering if he’d made things better or worse between Michael, his best mate through almost his entire life, and Lizzie, the girl that he’d been sure Michael would love forever, but had walked away from in a shadow of hurt, betrayal, and disbelief. The girl that apparently had no idea Michael felt that way, or that if he did, it wasn’t justified. Someone’s side of the story just wasn’t adding up, but Calum wasn’t sure whose it was. Not anymore.

Taglist: If there’s a line through your name, I couldn’t tag you, so please message me to let me know your new URL or what the go is! @suchalonelysunflower @blackbutterfliescal @redrattlers @loveroflrh @spicycal @notinthesameguey @metalandboybands @cheekysos @ashton-trash @another-lonely-heart @queenalienscherrypie @becihadshawn @allthestarsandthemoon @wheniminouterspace

#5sos fanfiction #5sos imagine #calum hood imagine #calum hood fanfiction #michael clifford fanfiction #michael clifford imagine #ashton irwin imagine #ashton irwin fanfiction #luke hemmings imagine #luke hemmings fanfiction #my writing #everybody's got their demons even wide awake or dreaming #let me know what you thiiiiiiink #part 3 is already in the works but i figured i should post part 2 first lol oops

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1doll-4u · 4 years

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𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐗: 𝐎𝐍𝐄 — 𝐁𝐍𝐇𝐀

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: everyone x fem! reader (basically)

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 1,581

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: angst, fluff

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: you download an otome game called, ‘paradox’ and become addicted to the game. the longer you play, the more you realize that the game isn’t as normal as it seems.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: cussing, violence, gore, sexual situations/smut (not in this chapter), possible triggers, horrible writing, underage sex, rape/non-con, character deaths, sexual content, age differences, etc.

𝐀/𝐍: lowercase intended + this is short but the chapters will get longer as you continue to read, don’t worry ~

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: i’ll be making a tag list for anyone who wants to be updated/notified of when i post! please comment or send an ask if you would like to be tagged!

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | 𝐎𝐍𝐄 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈 | 𝐁𝐍𝐇𝐀 — 𝐌. 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐊𝐄𝐘:

[ ✉️ ] - in game (chat requests)

[ 💌 ] - in game (narration)

[ 📨 ] - status notification

[ 🕊 ] - in game texts

[ ⌛️ ] - hourglass (more) — [ ⏳ ] - hourglass (less)

[ 🔮 ] - magic (given)

[ 🥀 ] - curse (given)

[ 🌺 ] - gift (given)

[ 💕 ] - like — [ 💞 ] - love

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄: 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓

"you need to download the app, pleaseee, i need to talk about these hot boys with someone," your friend pleaded through the phone.

you sigh in defeat, finally giving in. she has been bugging you to download some otome game called, 'paradox' for the past few days.

"fine, but if it's horrible and the guys are ugly i'll delete it."

"it isn't horrible i promise, and the guys are realllyyy cute in the game."

"i'll text you after i play it, okay?"

"you better."

you end the call and open the app store, looking up the app. you find the app pretty quickly because of it's stark differences from the other otome games.

the icon is a plain white clock with a black background and the preview pictures didn't even show any of the love interests. the pictures are just screenshots of some chats and strange quotes with clocks on them.

no wonder only forty people have played it.

currently it's 3 AM for you but you don't care for sleep. besides, talking to (hopefully) hot fictional guys does sound appealing.

once the app finishes downloading you tap on the icon to open it. a notification pops up and tells you that you have to update the app first.

isn't the update supposed to go along with downloading it? stupid phone.

you go back to the app store and press update. within a few seconds the app is updated and you open it.

your screen turns black for a second before fading out to reveal a boy with green hair, eyes, and a pale complexion.

꒰ 💌 ꒱

"do you have any pictures of you as a baby?" the green haired boy asks while scanning your room again only to find no pictures of little you.

"i think they are in the attic, i'm not sure.." you answer, not paying much mind to him as you continue to play on your phone.

the boy lets out a huff and jumps on you, crushing you with his body weight. "i want to see them, let's go to the attic and find them," he insists.

"fine! just get off of me first," you exclaim, roughly pushing off the boy who is two times your size. the freckled boy gets off of you quickly, he was practically bouncing from excitement. you weren't sure what he was so excited about. both of you were just going to find your baby pictures.

once you stood up your friend was pulling you out of the door and urging you to lead you both to the attic. you never understood how he could be so energetic all the time.

"izuku, can you pull the string? i can't reach it."

the boy does so without objection. a short staircase appears before the two of you when pulling the string. you enter first with izuku following after.

"you can check those boxes on the right while i check the boxes on the left," you suggest. he nods and begins searching.

"i really hope we find them, i want to see some cute baby pictures of you," izuku admits, feverishly looking through each box.

you ignore him and the warmth spreading across your cheeks. izuku has always said sweet things to you but you still haven't gotten use to it.

you push the box you looked through away to get to another box when something catches your eye. the wall in front of you has a faint outline of a..door? it was quite small.

you touch the outline of it with the tip of your fingers, rubbing off the dust that was hiding it. your parents never told you that there was a secret room in the house. did they even know that there was one?

"izuku, i found something." you couldn't look away from the door for some reason. it had this sort of pull to it. your hands were itching to open it.

"did you find the pictures?" izuku walks toward your sitting figure, hope brightening his eyes.

"no..but i found this secret door. let's try to open it," you look for any sort of knob or handle only to find none. there is a faint outline of a keyhole though, it was covered with wallpaper.

"i really wanted to see those pictures but they can wait..how should we open it?" izuku takes a seat next to you and scoots closer to the door to examine it. "ow!"

"what's wrong?"

"this loose nail just snipped me," izuku points at the loose nail and board in front of him. there was a small glint of something underneath the loose board.

you pull the old board off to find a aged key underneath it. "wow- you unintentionally found it without even trying."

you turned your attention back on the small outline of the door and scratch away at the wallpaper with the key until it fully went in. it was difficult turning the key but with some help from izuku you both managed to do it. an audible click sounds and the small door opens outward.

inside is complete darkness. you are hesitant to peak your head in because you are afraid of some sort of insect jumping on you.

"can you find us a flashlight? i don't think it's a good idea for us to go in without one.." you explain. one part of you didn't want to go in and the other did.

you felt both excited and scared of what could possibly be discovered. izuku hands you a flashlight after a few short minutes of searching and you click it on, slowly entering the little room first on all fours. izuku follows you without hesitation.

"i'm surprised it isn't dusty in here and infested with insects by now," you said, continuing onward with a little more energy than before now that you don't have to worry about possibly getting attacked by spiders.

it felt like the room or more like tunnel was never ending. the walls being a pitch black didn't help that thought. after what felt like twenty minutes of endless crawling, you notice light peeking out from another door a few meters from you.

you quickly crawl to it and push as hard as you could. the door finally caving in when the both of you pushed your weight on it.

izuku falls out of the door and tumbled onto the ground ungracefully with you. the both of you stood up, stretching your limbs and dusting off your clothes.

"how did we get here?" taking in your surroundings you knew immediately that you both aren't at your house. the room the two of you are in is lavished in decorative furniture. the walls are a creamy white and the furniture has a complimenting black and white color scheme. it looks like something out of a fairy tail.

"this is weird," izuku looks around, equally confused. how did you get here? how could that small door connect to this room?

you noticed the room had another door. the room didn't look like it was just one room. you open the door a few inches wide and take a peek outside. you couldn't believe it.

outside of the door, was a wide hallway with many other doors aligning the walls. everything just as decorative as the room.

"this can't be real!" you open the door wide and leave the room, izuku following. "this doesn't make sense.."

the two of you marvel at your new surroundings, it was like you both got sucked into a fantasy book.

you were so immersed in your surroundings that you didn't even hear a pair of foot steps approaching.

a body crashes into yours causing you to fall harshly on your back.

"i-i'm so sorry! please forgive me..(l/n)? oh this is bad- i'm truly sorry!" a blue haired boy with long droopy bunny ears apologizes profusely. he extends a hand out for you and you take it hesitantly.

his whole appearance is quite unique. rich dark blue hair, pale skin (though it's crimson now, most likely from embarrassment), long bunny ears that are a shade darker than his hair, and troubled indigo eyes. wait, how did he know my name?

wait, how did he know your name? you never entered your name in the game..unless it synced with your Apple ID..

꒰ 💌 ꒱

"it's okay, really.." you didn't really know what else to say. the poor bunny boy looks like he's going to break down and cry any moment. it oddly makes you feel sympathetic for him.

the strange boy's eyes look you up and down, seemingly checking if you are injured in anyway. it is pretty endearing.

"i'm sorry again i, uh i..." bunny boy averts his eyes to his watch and jolts up, tapping his foot nervously, "oh no, i'm late! the prince is going to be really mad..we should go now, please follow me."

without looking back, bunny boy starts to walk away. prince? could they just be some weird cosplayers? sense bunny boy could give you more answers you follow him with izuku.

"i don't know if we should trust him.." izuku whispers to you before giving bunny boy a quick glance.

what will you say?

‣ "he doesn't seem harmful.."

‣ "yeah, you're right..but he seems to know what's going on."

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: n/a

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lilibetts · 4 years

Photo

Someone within a twenty feet radius loves you!

(Part 2/3, Theme 1)

Betty was going to delete LoveAlarm from her phone.

She should have deleted LoveAlarm off her phone.

But come Wednesday afternoon, she still hasn’t, and she couldn’t have told you why. A glutton for punishment, probably.

>>No, you’re just a hopeful romantic! Veronica texts her while she’s in the library during study hall, working on an English essay. >>The app is all about proximity. You don’t know who you simply haven’t been within twenty feet of yet. Or maybe they just haven’t downloaded the app.

Maybe so, yet Betty can’t help but feel like there is a fine line between hopeful and masochistic. She wants to text Veronica back with a passive-aggressive message about how Veronica has it easy with a bunch of pings and *at least* two people around the school who love her. But she doesn’t because that would be shitty.

The point is, LoveAlarm is still on her phone and she’s doing her best to forget all about it and her unexpectedly complicated feelings about Archie. That’s when it happens: she feels her phone buzzing across the wood table.

Frowning, she checks it, assuming it’s Veronica with more encouraging platitudes. Betty can scarcely believe what she sees, however:

Someone within a twenty feet radius loves you!

The red heart on her screen is practically vibrating off the phone as she watches in shock. Her eyes dart up and around, landing on every face surrounding her. There has to be what, twelve people in the library that could be within twenty feet of her? It’s a popular location for study hall, after all.

Someone is in love with her.

Was it Trev? Chuck? Sweet Pea? Alex C.? Tyler? Dilton? Of course it occurs to Betty that it could be a girl, but she isn’t up to date on who’s Out and who Veronica and Kevin are convinced are closeted. It definitely isn’t Ethel Muggs, who has started scowling at her every chance she gets lately.

The number on her phone goes back down to zero, so either the person turned their phone off or they just left her radius. Another frantic glance around only shows her the front doors swinging shut. Frowning, Betty realizes that Sweet Pea is no longer in the library and Trev has gotten up and walked over to a shelf in the back. Nobody seems to be doing anything with their phone.

Biting her lip, Betty considers her options, but there’s really only one solution.

*********************************************************

Jughead is in the Blue & Gold, fingers clacking away at the typewriter Betty had gotten him for his 16th birthday, Sweet Pea’s teasing words echoing in his ears, when said Hitchcock blonde comes bursting into the room.

“Juggie!” she exclaims a little breathlessly. She has one of those determined grins on her face that make his heart go pitter-patter.

Thankfully, his phone is off, so it can’t tell on him.

“I need your help.” She drags another chair up to his desk and sits down primly, spine straight and ankles crossed. /If you have the time./

/Of course. What’s up?/

Betty hesitates then, biting her lip. /I downloaded LoveAlarm,/ she says finally, arms and voice tentative. /Someone pinged it in the library earlier and I want you to help me find out who./ With that, Betty slaps down a piece of paper with a list of names on it. Jughead swallows hard.

He’s not an absolute moron, he did expect this. When presented with an unknown suitor, of course Betty Cooper would immediately start to investigate.

He could just tell her, but again, vulnerability is scary. As Tim Kreider wrote, “If you want to enjoy the rewards of being loved, you also have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.” It’s a certainty that she’ll figure it out eventually. Maybe he’s being a coward, but hey, Betty *loves* solving mysteries.

Jughead doesn’t expect her love in return, he’s just flattered that he was the first one she thought of to help her figure out who pinged her LoveAlarm.

/Why are Sweet Pea and Trev’s names starred?/

/They left my radius around the same time my LoveAlarm went from 1 to 0./

When Jughead had decided to sneak into the library earlier and make her phone ping while he hid in the stacks behind her, he had been counting on the other students around her as cover but now, seeing that she’s zeroed in on two guys in particular has a pit opening up in his stomach.

“You’re a fucking idiot, Jones. Just tell her,” Sweet Pea had told him.

His hands feel clunky as he tries to sign. /And if it’s one of them, how would you feel?/

The question stymies Betty, who shakes her head and shrugs, gathering up her things. /I don’t know. Let’s just figure out who it is and I’ll figure out how I feel then./

“Okay,” Jughead ends up saying to her retreating back.

Thursday is simultaneously the most fun and the most torturous. In the morning, Jughead finds himself helping Betty stalk Sweet Pea down G Hallway, chatting him up to stall him near the Chem classrooms and surreptitiously waving her over once he ascertains that Sweet Pea has his phone out and turned on.

“Hey, Sweet Pea!”

Betty practically bounces as she comes to a stop next to him, eyes bright but biting her lip nervously. She’s balancing a 13”x9” tupperware container in her arms, and her phone is in her left hand, turned away from them so they can’t see LoveAlarm open on the screen.

Of course Jughead turned his own off as soon as he arrived at school. What do you think he is? An amateur?

“'Sup, Coop?” Sweet Pea doesn’t know a lot of sign language, but he smiles down at her easily. Jughead is overwhelmed by a sudden urge to kick him in the shin. “Are those for me?” Sweet Pea approximates sign with some basic pointing from the cupcakes in the tupperware container before pointing at himself.

“Uh…” Betty’s sneaking a glance at her phone and for a moment, Jughead is worried. “Yes, you can have one. They’re Boston Cream Pie cupcakes.”

He groans on the inside. Those are his favorite.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Sweet Pea murmurs, grabbing one and peeling away the liner so he can take a bite.

This time, Jughead’s groan may have been audible.

Betty catches Jughead’s eye and shakes her head. Great, that’s one name scratched off their list. To Sweet Pea, she says: “I better be off, or I’ll be late. Bye, guys!”

Jughead watches her leave, ponytail swishing from side to side. Sweet Pea watches him watch her leave for a moment before he clears his throat.

“Listen, Jones, I don’t mean to rush you and all, but...having a cute girl come up to you all smiles and offering you a cupcake—a damn delicious cupcake at that—might make a guy catch feelings. Just saying.” With that, Sweet Pea takes another bite of the cupcake, getting chocolate icing smeared all around his lips. Every chew he takes seems like a threat. A helpful threat.

“Lima Charlie,” Jughead sighs. Message received and understood. Sweet Pea’s older brother had been in the army and thus, he and Jughead had spent years using military jargon over walkie talkies as they snuck around Sunnyside. With a nod, Sweet Pea gives him an unnecessarily hard pat on the back and heads down the hallway.

When Jughead ducks into the Blue & Gold in between the next classes, he sees the tupperware container on his desk, next to his typewriter, a sticky note on top:

The rest are yours! I made your favorites, after all. -B

God I love you, Betty Cooper.

Lunchtime is nearly a disaster. Betty had roped the two of them into helping the Theater Club finish some set decoration for a production of Almost, Maine. All for nothing, because as it turns out, Trev is out for a dentist appointment. Still, Jughead manages to have fun being half-heartedly helpful while he eats his lunch—two ham sandwiches Betty brought in for him as a bribe for helping her with this—and Betty’s having a good time too, as evidenced by the fact she’s smiling so hard her eyes crinkle, and even when she tries to scrunch up her face to be mad at him eating more than painting, it just collapses into another giggling fit.

It’s when lunch is over and they’re heading up the aisle to where they’d left their things that Jughead remembers he left his phone on. Betty has hers with her, since she thought she would be testing Trevor’s phone for pings, and she’s barely five feet behind him.

Crap.

He hurries ahead and grabs it, depressing the power button. Just before the screen goes black, he could have sworn he saw his LoveAlarm app begin to open.

He doesn’t let himself think anything of it. In the rush, his thumb had probably hit the app button.

**************************************************************

Thursday night finds Betty pondering the mystery that still remains: the identity of the person who loves her. Sweet Pea has been eliminated from the list of possibilities, but Trev Brown remains a question mark.

Curled up in her thick socks and comfiest sweatpants, hair wet from her shower and starting to curl, Betty stares at her laptop screen as she contemplates their next step. Her and Jughead had bonded over their mutual love of The Baxter Brothers and Tracy True books as children, and they’d conducted more than one investigation together over the years, so it’s natural that Betty had gone to him for help with this, even if it’s a little embarrassing.

But why, a niggling little voice asks at the back of her mind. Jughead’s question comes back to her: what will she do if it’s Trev? She doesn’t know.

Trev’s...nice. He’s cute, and smart, and Betty doesn’t have the faintest idea what she’d do with the knowledge that he’s in love with her. Go on a date with him, she supposes, to at least see whether there is something there before she...breaks his heart? That’s what you do, right? You go to dinner at one of the few nicer restaurants in town or you go see a movie at the Bijou.

She doesn’t really want to think about this, Betty realizes, as her attention wanders from her Sleuthster search results to the ads along the column on the right. One ad catches her eye and she gasps, straightening in her chair and grabbing her phone. Her thumbs fly over the keys as before she hits [send].

<<Do you still have the reels for Rear Window?

>>Yes, why?

<<We should set the projector up in my basement and watch it this weekend. I’ll supply the snacks.

>>Capital idea, Betts, but how are you going to get all that junk food past the K9-level olfactory senses of Alice Cooper?

<<It just so happens that my mom and dad are going to visit Polly in Boston this weekend.

>>Cambridge. Just say Cambridge.

<<As long as we dispose of the evidence and air out the basement with some Febreeze, mom will be none the wiser. I’m sure Archie will donate his trash bin to the cause.

There’s a longer pause before Jughead replies.

>>It’s a plan

>>Speaking of plans, what do you need me to do tomorrow re: Mission Pings?

Betty grins and taps out the basic framework of how they’re going to corner Trev before the pizza party at lunch, but Jughead will have her phone on him so he can feel for her ping, and listen for Trev’s ping. A thought occurs to her and Betty suddenly feels selfish for insisting that Jug help her.

<<I meant to ask you...have you downloaded LoveAlarm?

>>What do you think?

>>Besides, I already know what it would say.

A terrible feeling, like a vise in her chest, takes her over as she reads and re-reads those words. How can Jughead believe this? Almost immediately on the heels of that thought is the reminder that Betty herself had been despondent on Tuesday when she allowed the melodramatic thought that ‘nobody was going to ever love her’ to take hold.

<<That’s bullshit. Any girl would be lucky to fall in love with you!

She means her words. Jughead may be antisocial, he may wear that crown beanie practically all the time, and okay, yes he can be the most extra fucking weirdo on the planet...but he’s also clever and passionate, she’s seen firsthand how caring and considerate he can be, and of course he’s objectively attractive.

Betty stares at the window that faces the Andrews’ home, with the roller shades that are always pulled down lately, and pictures Jughead’s face in her mind, how he’s a bit on the pretty side, especially with that mouth. She thinks about how jealous she’s been of that wild head of dark hair in the past, when she’s seen him with the hat off, and how over the past year he’s shot up another inch or two and seems to have filled out, especially in the arms—

>>From your thumbs to God’s ears, Betts. Night, I’ve gotta be up bright and early to help you catch the worm.

She lets out a huff of laughter and rolls her eyes even though she knows he can’t see her.

<<Night, Juggie.

#bughead #riverdaleevents #avarosier writes

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hedwigstalons · 4 years

Text

The Tracy Prize - part 1

I’m not quite sure where this one will end up. I’ll just go along for the ride and see what happens.

xoxoxox

Dealing with students was one of the perils of working in a university but today of all days she could have done without a confused first year accosting her after class. With end of year exams approaching more and more of them were needing reassurance that they had grasped a concept correctly. Some days she felt more like a counsellor than a tutor.

A quick glance at the clock showed she had just over an hour before she was due to deliver her presentation. She still had plenty of time to cross campus and dump her books and files in her office but she would have liked longer to go through her notes before pitching her case to the panel. The outcome this afternoon had the potential completely change the course of her career.

Crossing the quad in the bright sunshine of early summer she kept her head down and walked fast. If she could just avoid eye contact with everyone she might make it through without being dragged into another conversation.

She rounded a corner at speed and collided with six foot of solid muscle coming in the opposite direction.

Her world became filled with pain and plaid.

The files smashed into her solar plexus, winding her and causing her to stagger backwards. Books cascaded from her arms to land in an untidy heap on the floor. She would have joined them but for a pair of strong arms with lightening reflexes grabbing her and steadying her backwards tumble.

She looked up into the face of the man who had been both her downfall and her rescuer. She saw concerned brown eyes topped by a tuft of dark hair.

“Are you ok…Dr Ashwell?” A momentary pause as his eyes clocked her staff ID badge.

“I’m fine. Sorry, I didn’t see you” she answered as she crouched down to scoop up her scattered belongings.

The man had barely flinched during their headlong collision although she was sure a block of books to the abdomen couldn’t have been a comfortable experience for him. She expected him to continue his journey and was a little surprised when he crouched down beside her and helped reform the pile.

“A traditionalist, huh?” he queried. “Most people just use the e-book copy now.”

“I like to be able to add my own notes to the margins.” She let out an audible groan as her tablet was unearthed from the pile. The screen was smashed to pieces and one side of the device had popped open exposing the internal workings. “They are also durable. This is just not my day. I can kiss goodbye to that grant” she muttered angrily.

“I was to blame too. Please, let me ping you the funds to replace it.”

“It’s not the tablet that’s the problem. It’s the flies that were on it that I need.”

A slight look of confusion crossed his brow.

“Don’t you have a back-up?”

“Of course I do but only at home. I’m meant to be giving a presentation in…”, she glanced at her watch, “an hour to try and win a research grant. Without my slides and data I may as well not bother.”

“Look, if it helps you can use mine. Maybe download your work and I can stick it on a flash drive for you.”

He drew a sleek tablet out of a smart leather satchel. The bag alone looked like it cost more than the rent on her apartment. The device in his hands was even more sophisticated and clearly had holo-capabilities. Maybe she would take him up on the offer to pay for the damage after all.

“It’s no use. My home set-up isn’t connected to a network. I got burned once by a research partner and keep things off-grid now. It’s a decision I’m currently regretting. Unless by some miracle I can get this thing working I’m screwed.”

She jabbed the power button and the mangled device flickered into life. However, the display was shot to pieces and there no way of calling up the precious information contained within.

“Where there’s life, there’s hope. Pass it here. I take it this is at least has some connectivity so you can use University network?”

She nodded. The tablet was very much a work device for when she needed to be part of the system. She had only transferred her presentation and a few data files on to it for ease that morning. She didn’t share the stranger’s optimism that he could extract her work but shrugged and passed the tablet across anyway.

They moved across to a nearby bench to get out of the path. They and the books were causing quite an obstruction. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and made a call.

“John, I’ve got a challenge for you. I’ll pop you on loudspeaker; I’ve got company. I need you to try and retrieve some files from a tablet that’s seen better days.”

“Must be bad if you’re calling me. So what am I dealing with?”

“It’s got power but it’s completely smashed after I sent it flying.”

There was a snort over the line. “And you guys say I’m the clumsy brother. Turn on your tablet and I’ll run a tech proximity scan.”

The two devices were placed side by side on the bench. The mysterious John was evidently able to operate things remotely as as the screen on the functioning tablet flickered through settings without any input from their end.

“The closest tablet I’m picking up is registered to a Claire Ashwell. Is that the one?”

Claire gave the affirmative. Her eyes widened as a carbon copy of her lock screen, or what her lock screen would have looked like if it wasn’t currently a jumbled mess of cracks and lines, appeared on the neighbouring device.

“But my security settings….”

“Are not a problem” answered the disembodied voice.

The lock screen had disappeared and been replaced with her desktop. She felt a deep seated unease at how easily this stranger at the end of a phone had accessed her computer.

“If someone could pop a flash drive into one of the ports I’ll transfer across what you need. Just tell me what to look for.”

The man beside her complied with the request for a flash drive.

“Uh, just the folder called ‘Tracy Prize’. Everything else I can get from the university system once I’ve replaced my tablet.”

The man beside smiled but she missed it. Her eyes were focussed on the screen which was currently showing that her precious data was being transferred to the flash drive.

“Speaking of replacing your tablet I’ve transferred some funds to your account too. It should cover the cost of the tablet and the software that was on it.”

“How the hell did you do that?!”

“You’ve done internet shopping. Everything leaves a trace.”

The infuriatingly calm voice was doing nothing to dispel her fears of hacking. Her colleagues thought she was an oddball with her bizarre approach to digital security but the man on the other end of the phone had been able to access her tablet and then her bank account in seconds. She was just glad that she hadn’t put any of her more sensitive research on her work tablet.

“Anyway, my work here is done.”

“Cheers John.” replied the man beside her and he disconnected the call. He removed the flash drive and passed it to her. “Perhaps I’ll see you around, Dr Ashwell.”

She found herself on the receiving end of a beaming smile. She sat on the bench for a few moments longer and watched as he disappeared across the square and into a coffee shop.

The whole encounter had only taken a few minutes and if it wasn’t for the mangled tablet and shiny new flash drive in her possession she could hardly have believed it had happened.

She picked up her books and continued the journey to her office. Once safely behind its closed door she pulled out her own phone and called up her banking app. Sure enough her account showed that a healthy deposit had just been made; far more than her basic device was really worth. She resisted the strong urge to delete everything off her phone. Hackers gave her the creeps.

Another glance at her watch. 45 minutes until show time.

She withdrew a sheath of papers from a folder. Print outs of the slides she was about to present. Time to get in the zone.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #virgil tracy #john tracy #escapism from work

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lickrustdavid · 4 years

Text

Take Me Out 1.7k AO3 Shoutout to @maxbegone for helping me with some of the baseball stuff, and listening to me ramble as well! Ronnie’s halfway to first base and almost falls as she stops herself to look at him, the whole field and bleachers suddenly deathly quiet. Shit. Of course it’s Brewer who gets hurt. Of course it's her fault. She might not be his biggest fan, but she would never intentionally hurt him.

+ + +

Games are always something Patrick looks forward to, getting to play one of his favorite sports, the camaraderie and the competitiveness. And he enjoys when David comes and watches him- it always makes him try harder, even if it is just a silly small town game. Bob's Garage is down by three points, and Roland is up to bat. Patrick’s walking around in the outfield, psyching himself up, determined to make sure Ronnie won’t get a home run. Their relationship is still pretty much the same, even though he and David are married. He thinks maybe she doesn’t shoot as many glares his way like she used to, but he could also just not be paying attention.

Widening his stance a little, Patrick looks at David who’s on the bleachers and winks at him as he munches on chips. He’s looking particularly cute today in an actual t-shirt instead of a sweater. It’s mid-June and sweltering, and every time they change positions and go to the dug out to grab bats, David’s making sure he still has sunscreen on his neck because ‘you’re skin is porcelain Patrick! I don’t want my husband getting skin cancer!!’. One thing Patrick loves about these games, is that when they’re on the field, they rotate who’s pitching each inning. It’s something he’s done before- little league, a couple of seasons in high school and a few games in college when he needed to step in, and he loves it.

The fourth inning is starting and Patrick walks up to the pitching mound, pulling his glove on. He gets Stevie first, striking her out all three times. She gives him the finger and he blows her a kiss, making David roll his eyes in the stands. Jeremy, a guy who helps cook in the cafe, comes up next, and he makes it to second, but Patrick’s not worried. It’s Ronnie who walks up after, and she looks at him as if to say ‘give me all you got white boy’. Licking his lips in concentration, the first ball is a miss. The second ball she hits, but it’s a foul, going out of bounds. Patrick’s feeling confident now, giving her a smirk as he readies himself, then throws the third ball straight to her, turning as he finishes through.

Ronnie hits it, the ball clanking against the metal bat, and it goes straight back to Patrick, striking him on the side of his head. He falls instantly, his face pressing against his left arm on the ground, right hand against the side of his head, knees on the ground, curling into himself. Pain shoots through his skull, pain he hasn’t felt since he’d played hockey, and he lets out a loud, pained groan. His green baseball hat is knocked to the side, glove under him.

+ + +

When the ball connects with Patrick’s head, David’s whole body goes cold, his world tilts. He’s heard people talk about it before- the insane adrenaline rush you can get from watching something traumatic happen. His body feels frozen, and he doesn’t realize he’s moving until he’s halfway to the field. That’s his husband, crumpled on the ground. He doesn’t know what’s happened exactly. He could have been hit in the face, or head, or….or…. David’s chest feels tight as he runs- if Patrick could see him now he’d be impressed- onto the dusty field, where Stevie, Roland and Ronnie are all around him. David tries to drop next to Patrick, to make sure he’s still breathing, but Stevie grabs him, shaking her head, as Ronnie gets next to him. She’s got tears in her eyes, David sees, and then realizes tears are falling from his own eyes too.

“Patrick,” his voice is a whisper, his whole body is shaking, and he’s sure he’s having a panic attack. He feels Stevie wrap an arm around him.

Ronnie’s halfway to first base and almost falls as she stops herself to look at him, the whole field and bleachers suddenly deathly quiet. Shit. Shit shit shit. Of course it’s Brewer who gets hurt. Of fucking course. She runs as fast as humanly possible, dropping to her knees by him. No blood, so that’s a plus, she thinks, as she puts one hand on his back, the other hand placed on his sweaty head. She finds herself solely focused on him, feeling motherly instincts kick into drive.

“Can you talk?” Patrick takes a deep breath at Ronnie’s voice, feeling entirely too nauseous. He takes another breath and swallows.

“Y-Yeah…”

“Where’d you get hit?”

“I got hit? Uhmm.” Patrick feels dizzy even though his eyes are shut. He can hear a slight intake of breath from Ronnie, feels her hand tense on his back. “Head...head hurts..”

“You think you can sit up, or at least turn your head for me?” He wonders if he can. His head feels tight and heavy and his everything is hazy. Vaguely he can hear someone- David, maybe in the background, panicking, can hear him crying, the sound muffled. Definitely David.

Slowly, he pushes himself up, wincing almost instantly at the bright sunlight. “My head hurts,” his voice wobbles a little. David drops down to him, grabbing his free hand.

“Oh my god Patrick,” he chokes out, and Ronnie looks at him.

“A little quieter David.”

“Honey….what...oh my god,” David’s voice is shaky and Patrick turns his head to look at him.

“My head hurts,” he says again. Patrick feels dizzy and the nausea he’s kept at bay is steadily becoming more insistent and he really doesn’t want to throw up all over David, so he only has one other choice. His head turns the opposite way and he gags, lunch ending up half on Ronnie’s cleats and half on the mound.

“Fuck!”

“Oh my god!”

“It’s alright Brewer,” Ronnie says over Stevie and David, rubbing the shoulder next to her. “We need to get him to an ER, he’s definitely got a concussion,” she says to the others. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go see if I have a bucket in my truck. David we’ll need to take your car, mine won’t hold you and him comfortably.”

As they wait, Patrick squints up at David, and wow. He’s so. Pretty. His hair and his arms and his face. His stubble. Patrick just wants to kiss him forever. David looks at him with an amused smile. Maybe he can read his mind.

“I can’t read your mind honey, you’re talking outloud.”

Oh. Another sharp pain rolls in his head and he shuts his eyes back, gagging.

“You’re coming too,” he hears David direct to who he assumes is Stevie.

“Okay honey, we need to get you to the car,” David murmurs, rubbing his back as Ronnie runs back with a bright orange contractors bucket. Stevie dutifully takes the bucket and holds it close to him, just in case, as Ronnie and David help him up. The sudden change is enough for Stevie to be thrusting the bucket his way. He’s going to have to really thank her later. No one should have to deal with Patrick Brewer puking into a bucket.

As Patrick’s eyes flit around for a brief moment, moving through the shade, he sees most everyone’s gone now. Roland is off to the side on the phone, and Twyla, who’d been in the crowd, is still watching nervously. “Tell her I’m okay,” he mumbles, feeling bad that she’s so worried for him. He hears Stevie snort a little and Ronnie relay the message to the tall brunette. David says something about him being the farthest thing from okay.

Once inside the car he and David share, Patrick closes his eyes again. He’s in the back seat with David, and he really should care about the fact he gets carsick, but now isn’t the time- he’s already nauseous anyway. The car jostles a little as all the doors shut, the sound making him wince.

“Who’s driving?” Patrick asks, but he already knows, at least he thinks he does.

“You’re lucky you’re already hurt or I’d smack you,” she huffs, pulling out and starting the drive. The closest ER is in Elmdale, so it’s a tense forty minute drive. Between Ronnie’s medical questions, David freaking out, Stevie trying (and failing) to lighten the mood, and him puking again, he’s grateful when the door opens and he’s being manhandled into a wheelchair.

++++

“Stop trying to look at your phone, they said no phone for two weeks!” David snatches his phone out from his hand, setting it back on the side table. Patrick grumbles, looking up at his husband with sad eyes.

“I’m so bored David. So. Bored. I have nothing to do. Playing guitar hurts my head, I can’t watch tv or read.” He knows he’s being uncharacteristically whiney, but he’s so damn bored.

“I thought you said you felt fine,” David smirks, but then presses a kiss to Patrick’s lips. “I’m sorry sweetheart. You only have eight days left, I’m sure they’ll fly by,” he adds, though they both know that’s a bold faced lie. “I could get you like….an audiobook thing? Like Audible or whatever? I think a couple different influencers have codes for free months, and I think the Jenners do too,” David grabs his own phone to check.

Thinking it over, Patrick finally nods, looking thoroughly depressed that he can’t do anything. David’s banned him from working, though he’s pretty sure the lights would make him want to leave anyway. His head feels alright when he’s got Tylenol or Motrin in his system, so at least that’s something. After a few minutes, he hears David make a noise of excitement which Patrick assumes he found a code, and then David’s got his phone, typing in ‘7673’ on his lockscreen before going to the app store.

“What book do you want? Practically everything ever is on here,” David says as it downloads.

“Mm, maybe like….something baseball related? I don’t know...m’tired,” Patrick shuffles back under the covers, eyes feeling heavy. David snorts, kissing his forehead.

“Okay honey, we can look later. I’ll be home at noon to bring you food.”

#my fic #i am all about the whump lately #my next fic will be soft and fluffy

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peggyellis · 4 years

Text

welcome to holland.

I have accepted at this point that my posts are all going to be badly out of chronological order in terms of our trip. We’re now skipping over Denver, Wyoming and Idaho and going straight to Washington. Oops?

Over a year ago, my friend Julia sent me a free audiobook, “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.” In short, it’s a story written by a therapist who finds herself needing therapy after a breakup. I downloaded the book but never got around to listening to it – I’ve never really been the audiobook type. Obviously the Universe knew what it was doing – when I set out on this trip, I fired up my audible app and found the book sitting there ready to be listened to. Somewhere on that long miserable drive from Kansas to Denver, I started listening.

The author touches on a number of topics: relationships, grief, loss and change. I have about 20 different posts I’ve started stemming from this one book, but the one that is freshest in my mind today is “Welcome to Holland.” In the book, Lori (the author) is counseling a woman who learns she has terminal cancer. Lori explains that "Welcome to Holland" is a prominent essay, written in 1987 by American author and social activist Emily Perl Kingsley, about having a child with a disability. Yes, I stole that last bit from Wikipedia. The idea is this: parenthood is like planning a trip to Italy. You’ve always dreamed of going there; cruising the canals in Venice, eating pasta in Naples, being awed by the roof of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. You buy books on the best places to eat and tour, and spend hours learning basic Italian phrases. You dream of your experience; the wonderful things you’ll see, the people you will meet, and falling in love over and over again with Italy.

You board your flight and fall fast asleep, and when you awake, you’ve just touched down. You look out and see tulip fields and Dutch architecture, and your flight attendant welcomes you and your fellow passengers to Holland. Wait…what?!? But I boarded a flight to Italy!, you exclaim. I’ve made so many preparations! But try as you might, no amount of begging, pleading or cajoling will get you to Italy. You’re in Holland, and Holland is where you must stay.

See, Lori explains, “Welcome to Holland” isn’t just about parenthood; it’s about life. We all make plans and visions of what our lives will look like. We will be married. We will have a great job. We’ll be parents to beautiful and healthy children. We’ll travel the world. Inevitably, no matter how hard we try, one day we board a plane to Italy and wake up in Holland. We spend so much time preparing and planning for our lives to look one way, but sooner or later, no matter how hard we try, we all end up with our metaphorical planes touching down in Holland.

It is in Holland that we are all faced with a choice. We can spend our time missing Italy, trying desperately to get back there, and dreaming of our trip that we originally planned. We can gnash our teeth and cry and wail at the fact that this stupid plane was supposed to go to Italy, and instead we’re stuck in this dumb place that is anything but Italy. Or – we can take a look around us and start to experience the beauty of Holland. It doesn’t have Michelangelo or the Vatican or pasta, but Holland has tulip fields, the Hague, legal marijuana and the best Brazillian steakhouses inside or outside of Brazil. (Take the last one or two from personal experience). Holland has beautiful architecture, bikable cities and a great airport. When life lands us unexpectedly in Holland, we are given the choice – nay, the opportunity – to fall in love with Holland, even if it’s not the reality we expected.

Sounds nice, huh? Well, my first reaction was to scoff and say something to the effect of “yeah, sure, whatever lady.” Holland sounds nice when we’re talking about an unexpected move or a job loss, not when we’re talking about terminal cancer or a divorce or a disabled child. Did this woman really expect me to be like “oh man, I am just SO HAPPY that the man I wanted to marry broke up with me two days after I lost my job and now I am homeless, jobless and single with no prospects on any of these 3, Holland is SO GREAT”?!?! No thanks.

I hated Holland all through Kansas, most of Colorado, parts of Wyoming and DEFINITELY in Idaho. Holland was the pit in my stomach when I thought about returning home. Holland was the familiar text ding, only to find it was someone else. Holland was grief and loss. If you’d asked me to paint a picture of Holland, it would probably look a lot like Newark, the city I am convinced is the worst place on earth. Grey, smoggy, dirty and sad, I wanted nothing to do with Holland. I wanted to go back to Italy.

When I showed up to our home outside Seattle on Saturday night, I had cried the entire way through Oregon, decided to throw my phone into the Pacific Ocean when I reached Seattle, and vowed to hate Holland for time and all eternity. In what had become a theme on this trip, our host Renee took one look at my red swollen face, and immediately knew just what to say. She’d ended up at this farm in an unexpected turn of events when a divorce left her lost and homeless. In the 50+ acres of cattle, vegetables, horses and lakes, she’d found beauty even in the unexpected. I looked around, and the sprinkler mist created a rainbow in the weeping willows. The lake glistened in the setting sun, and the open fields stretched on for miles. Even Luna made a friend in Shadow, the friendly German Shepherd, and they romped in the front yard for hours. Our home was a little in-ground greenhouse that had been converted to a studio, and the hanging lanterns and wide windows made it cozy. Holland suddenly didn’t look so bad.

Scenes from the farm

It was there that I decided I wasn’t ready to go home, that I was going to open myself up to more adventures, and that it was okay to be not okay. That night was the eve of the infamous chicken alfredo, and Luna and I took a long walk into the cattle pasture while I contemplated my new life. Holland suddenly wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t what I expected, and I missed Italy, but Holland started to show its beauty there in Yakima, Washington. I would need to learn a new language, and maybe buy some new tour books, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad here. Welcome to Holland. I’m here to stay.

Our home in “Holland”

Wisdom from the universe and our little greenhouse

#travel #welcometoholland #washington #girls who travel #luna

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apparentlynotreallyfinnish · 5 years

Text

A Cut Above - Part 2/3

If you missed it you can read the first part here.

This part is from Link’s perspective.

---

Link already had his hand on the door handle when Daniel yelled after him.

“Wait!”

Link cursed in his mind. He’d almost managed to escape this time. Daniel jogged from the backroom to him. Link could see him shift into his puppy dog mode. His deep brown eyes widened and his features softened and damn if he didn’t look cute as a button. Sometimes Link wondered if he purposefully tried to use Link’s gayness to his advantage.

“Linkipoo…”

Link sighed. “What is it?”

“I still have one customer but I really really really need to get going. Amanda got into an earlier train and… You know how it is with long distance relationships?”

“I don’t really,” Link mumbled as Daniel continued, ”Could you take him? Please?”

“Daniel… It’s almost six p.m. I came at eight this morning. I’m beat. I want to go home,” Link said resolute to refuse this time. He’d done a few too many favors for his business partner.

“I know. I’m so sorry. He was supposed to come yesterday but he had to reschedule. And this was the only time I could give him. He’s a really nice customer. Quiet. I know you like the quiet ones! And it’s just a basic wash and cut. I would be eternally grateful…!” Daniel coaxed him, batting his eyelashes and pouting his lips. Link could feel his resolve melting away. Just a quick cut; that wouldn’t take more than half an hour. His hand fell from the door handle and Daniel’s eyes sparkled with victory.

“Fine. But just this once. And you better make this up for me!” Link said sternly. Daniel’s small body crashed against him and his arms wrapped around Link’s shoulders. Link felt ashamed of how much he enjoyed the hug. It had been a long time since he’d been touched intimately so even an innocent embrace like this felt ridiculously gratifying. Daniel let go and to make matters worse for Link, kissed him on the cheek making his face burn. Get yourself together, man. You’re too easily manipulated.

“He’ll be here any minute. I think his name was Rhett. Tall fellow. Like really tall, taller than you!” Daniel hollered from the backroom with a giggle as he gathered his things. Soon he rushed past Link throwing him air kisses as he went. Link waved at him, already a bit annoyed he’d once again succumbed to Daniel’s wiles.

Link set up his work station and checked himself in the mirror. He looked somewhat presentable but the long day was painted on his face; he looked worn. The scars from his recent stumble down the stairs were fading but he still looked like he’d had gotten into a fight with a cheese grater. Link touched his cheek lightly and sighed. It was vain to worry about the scars but he still did. Apparently, they should disappear almost entirely. He was skeptical.

The long day was making his legs ache. He sat on his chair and took out his phone. It was already over six; the guy was late. Go figure. Link had downloaded a dating app the previous night. His friends had been pestering him about it for months and he’d finally caved. He opened it now and absentmindedly browsed the potentials. He knew he needed to put himself out there if he wanted to find someone but it was hard. He was already in his forties. He didn’t feel like dating around. He just wanted someone to settle down with. But it wasn’t like the One would just walk in the door and say ‘Hey, here I am. Sorry I’m late’.

The bell above the door jingled and Link lifted his head from the phone. His jaw almost dropped on the floor.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late,” a deep voice said from the door.

Link’s stomach flipped and he scrambled up from the chair. The man shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He turned to look at Link. His hair was a mess of blonde curls and he had a bushy beard that matched it. His eyes were weary but soft. He looked tired and strangely energized at the same time. Link recognized him instantly. Doctor McLaughlin. How many times had Link said that name to himself after their brief encounter three weeks ago? Hundreds? Thousands? He looked more handsome than Link remembered. A simmering heat coiled into Link’s stomach and he swallowed.

Link stared at him wide eyed, opening and closing his mouth. No words came out. The doctor, Rhett, stepped forward.

“I had an appointment with Daniel?” he said questioningly. Finally, Link found his voice again.

“Yes, I’m sorry but Daniel had to leave unexpectedly. I promised I’d take you.” As soon as the words left his lips, he heard the double meaning and blushed fiercely. There was a small smile tugging at the corner of Rhett’s lips. He nodded and said with a serious tone of voice.

“I’d love for you to take me.”

Link’s voice was lost again, as was his mind. He just stood there, staring at the man smiling at him, feeling very acutely the sudden hardness in his pants, hoping against hope that it was unnoticeable.

“So…” Rhett said and motioned towards the chairs. “Which one do you want me to…?”

Link pointed at his chair.

“Excuse me a second, I’ll be right back,” he mumbled and without waiting for an answer fled to the backroom. He took hold of the edge of the little table they had for lunch and such. His head dropped between his arms and he breathed deeply. He could do this. It’s just a customer. He’d been doing this for years, decades even. He was a professional. It was just a head of hair. Not at all the man he’d been dreaming about the last three weeks. Not the man whose name he’d been moaning at the dark hours of the night as he’d fucked into his own fist.

“Fucking Daniel. Never doing you a favor ever again,” Link muttered and straightened out. He shook his body to release the tension and plastered a service smile on his face.

“Sorry about that. Just had to check on something,” Link said as he returned to the main room of their little barbershop. Rhett just smiled at him through the mirror. He was wearing a green button-down that perfectly matched his eyes. The bright lights of the mirror had a tendency to make everyone look a bit pale and lifeless but he just looked ravishing.

Link’s fingers lightly touched Rhett’s chin to lift it. He ignored the feel of his warm skin and slipped on the protective cape. He smiled politely at Rhett through the mirror as he hovered his hand above his head, like he always did before touching the customer’s hair. It was almost like a little warning ‘watch out, I’m going to touch you now and it’s going to be quite intimate but necessary’.

Link steeled himself mentally and reached down. As his fingers carded through the curls the doctor’s eyes fluttered closed and he bit his lip. Link’s heart skipped a beat and then raced on with the enthusiasm of a kid running out of school at the start of the summer. Was that enjoyment or awkwardness on the handsome doctor’s face? Link quickly turned his gaze back on Rhett’s hair, turning it over in his fingers and feeling the texture.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked, feeling a bit better as he examined his new canvas. This was familiar. This he knew.

“Oh just to shorten it a bit. Nothing special,” Rhett said. His eyes were open again and Link wondered if he’d imagined it all.

“Sure. Could you actually move to the washing area? I can feel there’s some product in your hair and I’d like to wash it out before starting.”

“Of course.”

They moved to the sink and Link set it up to a correct height.

“Tell me if the water is too hot,” he murmured automatically as he started to wash Rhett’s hair. His fingers worked gently but efficiently. Rhett’s eyes were closed again, but that was normal. No one liked to stare at the ceiling during a wash. But on the off-chance that he was actually enjoying the touching, Link committed to making this the most pleasurable hair appointment he had ever experienced.

Link always gave the customers a short head massage while washing their hair. It was part of a good service in his mind; a little pampering that cost him only a bit of his time and seemed to make his customers happy. He’d actually taken a course and knew how to do it properly. But usually it was just a few minutes while shampooing. Now he took his time and as his fingers worked on Rhett’s scalp he could feel the man’s body relaxing under his touch.

“Do you think Daniel would mind a lot if I jumped ship?” Rhett muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“Never been this relaxed during a wash. I’m pretty sure I could fall asleep here,” Rhett answered voice soft.

“You wouldn’t be the first one,” Link said with a little laugh, thankful for Rhett’s closed eyes. The blushing was getting ridiculous.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s not uncommon. It’s relaxing. I get it. I like getting my hair washed too.”

Rhett hummed in reply and Link’s fingers moved to rub his temples. An audible moan slipped from Rhett’s lips and Link had to fight hard not to moan with him. The sound made his thighs tremble and his dick twitch. His mind instantly conjured up an image of Rhett making that sound while Link kneeled in front of him and… Link shook his head and tried to concentrate on the movements of his fingers.

Eventually Rhett’s hair was clean and Link asked him to move back to his chair. His hair was quickly dried and Link started to work on the cut. Rhett followed his hands working on him from the mirror.

“So, how’s the leg?” he suddenly asked and Link almost cut way more than he was supposed to. He breathed a silent sigh of relief that he managed to stop himself in time.

“It’s better, thanks. Itches a bit. I – I didn’t think you’d remember me,” Link said. He hadn’t seen any recognition on Rhett’s face when he’d stepped in and he must see dozens of patients daily; it would have been foolish to think that Link would stand out.

“I couldn’t forget you if I tried.” Rhett’s voice was barely a whisper. It took a moment for the sentence to sink into Link’s head. His hands stilled. All of a sudden his lips felt dry and he had to lick them to be able to speak. His stomach was aching sweetly. Rhett couldn’t mean what Link hoped he was meaning…

“Yeah, I knew you were lying when you said you see the fainting thing all the time,” Link said forcing a tight laugh. That’s what it had to be. The idea of Rhett actually finding him unforgettable for any other reason was ridiculous. Rhett turned and looked at Link with a tilted head and a small smile. God, those eyes. Link was going to sink into them again and say something stupid.

“It wasn’t the fainting. It was your smile,” Rhett said.

Link felt dizzy. Rhett was so close. His smile took Link’s breath away and he wanted to bend down and taste it. Rhett moved towards him like he’d read Link’s thought and Link panicked. He jumped back and the scissors slipped from his hands. They dropped between the back of the chair and the height adjustment pedal. Link’s hand automatically reached for then and he yelped as the blade cut deep into his finger.

They both looked wide eyed as Link pulled his hand up and watched how a fat droplet of blood seeped out of the cut and rolled down Link’s finger. Link immediately felt queasy. Oh, no! On the edge of his vision Rhett was scrambling up from the chair. Link tried to get a hold of the chair but his hands didn’t move like he wanted them to and he missed. The world tilted. Oh, for fucks sake, was the last thing running through his mind before everything went dark.

He came to slowly. He was on the floor. That was certain; he could feel the cool tile against his bare calves. But his head and upper torso were supported by something. No. Someone. Link’s eyes fluttered open. Rhett’s worried face was hovering over him. When Link’s eyes opened a relieved smile spread across his face.

“Welcome back,” Rhett whispered as he tenderly brushed Link’s hair off of his forehead, continuing the movement until he was caressing Link’s cheek. Link’s head laid on his lap and his fingers were closing in on Link’s slightly parted lips. It was all too much for the touch starved body of Link. His skin was buzzing and despite his horizontal position he felt faint.

“Wha – ?” Link mumbled trying to get his bearings.

“We really need to stop meeting like this,” Rhett said with a cute little smirk. “If I believed in corny pick-up lines I’d say that when I wished for you to fall for me, this was not what I meant.”

Link’s heart leapt into a gallop. His mind was a jumble of thoughts and all he could get out was.

“You can call me Link.”

“Okay. Link. I’m Rhett.”

“Rhett. Nice to meet you. Again.”

“You too.”

They stared at each other for a moment and the butterflies that had taken permanent residence in Link’s stomach went wild. Rhett’s fingers kept lightly brushing Link’s jawline. Link wanted to climb up his body and wrap around him.

“Let’s get you on that chair and patch up that finger. I do enjoy having you in my arms but I’d rather you fall into them voluntarily. So, close your eyes, just in case,” Rhett said and nudged Link to get up. Link almost sighed out loud. He didn’t want to leave the warmth of Rhett’s body but he did as he was told and closed his eyes. Strong arms pulled him up and guided him to his own chair.

“First aid kit?” Rhett asked.

“Cabinet under the counter,” Link answered without opening his eyes. He heard Rhett walking behind the counter and rummaging through miscellaneous things in the cabinet. Soon he was back and took Link’s hand gently on his own. The cut was cleaned and bandaged in no time.

“You can open your eyes now.”

Link blinked. He felt blinded by the lights. Or it could have been the luminous smile given him by Rhett who was knelt on the floor in front of him. Link’s heart skipped a beat when Rhett looked up at him; his gaze intense and soft all at once. Link swallowed as Rhett took Link’s hand back on his own and gently kissed the bandaged finger. Shivers ran up Link’s arm and down his back. Rhett could surely see the goose bumps his touch had created.

“It’s an old trick but I think it still works,” Rhett said, a smile tugging at his lips, as he settled Link’s hand back on his leg. “How do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere else?”

Link bit his lip and gathered all of his courage. His hand rose, trembling, and pointed at his lips.

“Here.”

Rhett’s eyes shimmered as he supported himself by the armrests of the chair and leaned in to give Link the lightest of kisses. Their lips barely touched and Link almost groaned when Rhett backed up slowly.

“Better?” Rhett asked voice raspy and sweet. Link shook his head. A small smile lingered on Rhett’s lips as he leaned back to kiss Link once more. Their lips met properly now. Mouths open, tongues brushing together, Link’s hands balling up into fists on Rhett’s shirt. Wet and hot and perfect. The kiss lasted an eternity and it still wasn’t enough for Link.

They parted with a soft sigh. Rhett stepped around the chair and fished the scissor from their hiding place.

“I’m not sure if I should even ask you to finish my hair cut. I think it might be tempting fate.”

“No, I’ll do it! Can’t leave you like this,” Link said with a blush. Rhett offered him his hand and Link took it. He was pulled up from the chair and ended up flush against Rhett’s lean body. Link’s face tilted up and he swallowed - again. All he seemed to be doing tonight was swallowing and blushing. But he’d gladly continue doing them all night long if that was something Rhett would allow.

“Okay. But only if you promise to be careful,” Rhett said with his sternest doctor voice.

“I promise,” Link said solemnly.

“Good, because I’m really hoping to take you home with me and I’d rather take you in one piece.”

#Appa writes fic #rhink #rhink fic #A Cut Above #part 2 #fluff #Doctor!Rhett #surprise it's #barber!Link #they meet again #a bit of hurt/comfort

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