#reposting again bc charlie!!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dungeonsdragonstdelinquents · 1 year

Text

anderperry fic rec

hi! if youre seeing this, i actually answered this in an ask but i think i accidentally deleted it bc i literally cant find it, so im repost it here. im keeping my intro of my ask just bc i gave some backround about the fics i listed. happy reading!!

Hi thank you for the ask!! Oh goodness my favorite dps fics…I will include in general fics that I liked, but the ones that I have placed an asterisk with are pieces that had me–for lack of a better phrase–crying, screaming, shitting on the floor from how poetic they made me feel. Which really doesn't make much sense, but when i say poetry within me i just mean this strange feeling that is difficult to describe. Also these are all anderperry because i am a basic bitch, so apologies if you were looking for any other pairs! Maybe after finals I will look into some of the other pairs and put together a list for them too :)

(in no particular order)

What We Stay Alive For **** by PiscesVanity on ao3, 18/18 chaps, 66,485 words.

Summary: “Do we get second chances in this life, Todd?” Neil asks him like he expects a negative answer. Todd doesn’t give that to him.

“Yes. we do. I know it.”

“Do you?” Neil grins, playfully elbowing him. “Did you at least wait to take it? That second chance? Until the world was more peaceful? More kind?”

Ten years after the death of Neil Perry, Todd Anderson wakes up with a second chance.

My notes: This incredibly crafted piece of art was the first dead poets fic I ever read. It honestly set the bar for me, for future reads. Also i didn’t have the chance to reread this one because this baby is long as FUCK and as much as I love long fics to read, I have to study for finals today so I can’t right now. I’m like 80% sure this is the fic where they confess by the lake and say something along the lines of “if you feel something even similar to what i feel…” but again i can’t be sure. Either way all I remember is that this fic is fricken good. Just for context, this is a time-traveling fic, but the type of time travel that happens in 13-going-on-30. Todd prays for a second chance on the eve of the 10 year anniversary of Neil’s death and he wakes up in his 17 year old body, on the day that he started school at Hell-ton. I think in general I just love the dead poets fandom because it combines some of my favorite tropes in any form of reading–50s/60s time period, boarding schools, and well…being gay. It is a fix-it so there is some angst, but there is a happy ending. But it will hit hard, especially since it comes close in the end so be wary. When I first started it, I was concerned about my own interest dwindling because the fic was going to cover the entirety of the movie, and since I have issues rereading or rewatching pieces of media when I know the end or the majority of it, I didn’t know if I was going to last. But the author of this stunning work (I know it sounds cheesy BUT IT IS) crafted it in a way that didn’t leave me bored. Even though several lines were pulled from the movie due to it being a time travel fic I still felt involved and captured by the story. It was comforting at the beginning to see how Charlie and Todd took care of each other after Neil’s death, and it was also intriguing to see how Todd almost started where he left off with Neil when he went back in time. He was more open than he had been prior, but eventually had settled back into his ‘old’ personality that he had before his first encounters with the poets.

to be alone with you by wordshakers on ao3, 1/1 chaps, 3,602 words.

Summary: “Thursday evenings were, unequivocally, Neil’s favorite part of the week.

On the surface, the explanation for this was simple enough. It was his opportunity to turn his focus entirely to the topic that made him happiest: Shakespeare. He savored the time he was able to spend sitting out on the dock, overlooking the lake, reading and reciting the words he loved so much.

The other reason–perhaps the more prominent one–Neil wasn’t able to explain quite as easily. In fact, he could hardly admit it to himself. Thursday evenings…they meant being alone with Todd.

An anderperry first kiss fic, set in a near-canon universe of the film (minus the death). Fluffy mutual pining.

My notes: I can’t recall everything about this one because my mind has been scrambled the last few days, but it is fluffy, it is cute, and it has Todd and Neil practicing lines together–what more could you want?

letters to my dearest beloved ****by UniversalSatan on ao3, 4/4 chaps, 34,162 words.

Summary:

“My dearest beloved,

It is with great relief that I finally write to you. I think it doubtful for my words to ever reach your ears, but spare me this chance to lend you a piece of my thoughts–and only a piece, for I must write with caution lest I be discovered.

Neil, amidst his own internal emotional conflict, accidentally stumbles upon letters Todd had been writing in secret to an unknown recipient. Neil (an idiot) continues to intrude on Todd’s privacy by reading each new letter in secret, continuously agitating over their purpose.”

My notes: I’m not 100% sure how well this fic is known because as I stated in the post you mentioned I am extremely new to this fandom, I think I only watched the movie the Saturday before last. Let me tell you, my heart was beating all over the place during this. I cannot believe the audacity of Neil! I don’t want to spoil it because it’s literally a masterpiece, like this should be published and printed and given awards to–the letters and the imagery in them were so *shakes author like a squeaky toy* I LOVE YOUUUU RAHHHHH. Anything i have to say just will not convey how fucking amazing this fic is. Please go read it if you haven’t. And also Neil is an oblivious little man in this fic, the best type of Neil.

A Midnight Summer’s Dream: A Story of Hope (chapter 2 specifically) by cc tinselbee (thearchivistonmars)

Summary: (my words) an almost main au that will tear your fucking soul from your body. Beautiful, amazing, life altering, makes me cry in the best way. The bittersweetness of it all is POTENT. It is an Almost Maine au (I am scared to look into almost maine now from how heartbreaking this fic was. I have only read the SECOND chapter, I’m sure the first chapter is magnificent but as of now I am in the midst of finals so I will check it out when I am done.)

My notes: Someone printed out this fic, tied it to a brick, and threw it into the window of my heart, shattering my soul into pieces. How could you do this to be, author? This piece has me able to physically feel my brain putting up barriers to stop thinking about the ending that is implied. Nope, nope, nope. If you are one for incurable angst, please go ahead and enjoy. It’s a wonderful story and it evoked emotions in me that I couldn’t even stand. The author is very talented for this and I’m manifesting that alternative/possible happy ending they mentioned in their notes/comments. I haven’t read the first chapter, so this is specifically about the second one because up until a few moments ago I didn’t realize that there was a first chapter–I clicked on the link to the fic from the author’s tumblr and was sleep deprived and thought it was the beginning of the fic 🙂

Gentle Lover, Remedy ****by violet_sunset on ao3. 1/1 chap, 13,135 words.

Summary: “Todd’s first semester at Welton marks the moment he stops going to church. There are regular Masses offered in the chapel, but whenever Todd thinks about going he’s overwhelmed by nausea and has to hover in the bathrooms until he is sure he won’t vomit. When he was a kid and he thought God was just a pair of arms open in embrace, he would have jumped at the chance to attend, to sing from the hymnal and listen to homily and absorb the sacrament of blood and body. Now, God seems like a distant thing.”

My notes: HOLY FUCK, RELIGIOUS GUILT MY BELOVED. That’s one of my favorite tags to see in a work, and it isn’t often that I have seen it in some of the pairings that I like. Of course, with religious guilt comes internalized homophobia and period typical attitudes–the fic actually made use of words used in that time period that were used to refer to queer folk, so if any of those trigger you please be wary as well. I love, love, LOVE the usage of religious metaphors and words that are littered all around in this piece as well as the descriptions that show Todd’s pathway of his beliefs. As we know Todd has a deeply ingrained inferiority complex and WOW does it shine in this fic. It made me cry feeling the second-hand guilt that Todd feels. Also, the author tackled the controversy of appropriation in the film–meaning Charlie’s preference of the name Nuwanda–and expanded on his ethnic background which was really nice to read. They also touched upon Charlie’s relation to gender and (semi-canonical?) non-binaryness (it's a word because I say so) in a beautiful and delicate way that is very rare in most works that I have seen. In general there are very few fics that I have read that have included Charlie as being anything other than cisgender, so it was wonderful to see it included in this work. As well as this, Todd having a panic attack/sensory overload when a certain ginger starts being homophobic was incredibly well written and it felt like it captured those feelings that you have during an overwhelmingly stressful moment, though that is an understatement. Todd’s inability to realize just what the fuck is going on and being sort of spacey during it all–been there and done that baby. This author is so fucking talented, and this is probably my favorite dps fic of all time. I dont have the words to effectively describe how amazing it is, so if you are able to, I highly suggest reading it to experience it for yourself :)

It’s Rotten Work by cc tinslebee (the archivistonmars) on ao3, 1/1 chap, 2,774 words.

Summary:

“I was hoping…” Neil peered back up at him with those fervent eyes before he broke his inconspicuous character and cracked a smile, “my favorite scene partner would help me test it out?”

In the midst of Todd’s continual crisis of what exactly Neil’s ‘no’ means, Neil asks him to read from a scene from Orestes. You know, for practice.

My notes: Short and utterly sweet. I love reading pieces that just show how much characters love each other whether it’s platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between. I’ve always been one for a slowburn, and it wasn’t until I realized that I was aromantic that the reason I love that trope is because in between the first ‘hello’ and the inevitable kiss, that love that I read about was similar to how I felt. Just a simple fondness that the characters had for each other that made them feel alive and safe etc. I could go on forever about that, but what I mean to say is that this fic captured that feeling of affection in a fleeting moment between Neil and Todd, and I think it’s lovely.

The Pepper Ghost Effect by Anonymous on ao3, 6/6 chaps, 19,472 words.

Summary:

“1964. Todd Anderson, now a successful playwright, whisks away an old flame from a horrifying mental asylum. That old flame, Neil Perry, becomes Todd’s new muse.”

Notes: Beware of the tags. It is a very angst ridden fic that addressed Neil’s mental health and the possibilities of what could have happened if he survived his first attempt on his life. Key word, first attempt. There is period-typical homophobia, past abusive partners, and ableism and abuse stemming from the sanitarium that [spoiler] is placed in for some time. There is a happy ending, so it’s not just angst and I feel that this fic is severely underrated. There are like only 24 kudos on it right now and 4 comments which?? What?? It’s an absolute masterpiece, and effectively captures the feeling and emotion of hopelessness and depression of a situation. Neil’s emotional response and numbness to everything around him resonated with me and I felt like it described my own brush with darkness from the lower points in my life. Read at your own risk and don’t push yourself if any of the tags may be triggering, but if you are able to this is a wonderful read that will elicit all sorts of feelings in your heart.

In the Subjunctive by ghostlin on ao3, 1/1 chaps, 5682 words.

Summary:

“The night the play opens, Neil turns left.”

My notes: This is a sort of fix-it fic with Neil coming back to the dorms after his fight with his father. It leaves off sort of ambiguous–and I do adore a good ambiguous ending–leaving the reader to imagine a happy ending. I consider it a happy ending because Neil is alive, but he is less than well mentally as of what he has endured. It also centered some on Charlie and Neil in the aftermath of it all which I enjoyed because I feel that sometimes fics forget that they are all friends. Todd wasn’t the only one mourning Neil–they all were. Also I liked the way the author captured the surprise of Charlie’s acceptance of Neil’s sexuality amongst the blunt hatred of the time. Often I feel like some fics don’t try to keep the edge of fear or vulnerability that that time period called for–which is totally fine! You do you, boo. I just have a preference for it because I feel that it almost adds to an ambiguous read of a situation. I also liked how the author wrote about Todd’s perception of Charlie and how he perceives him–whether or not Todd is supposed to be unreliable (I think it’s made somewhat clear that Charlie likes Todd–he wouldn't be encouraging Neil to spill his feelings if he didn’t) in his narration.

#fic rec #anderperry #dps fic rec #dead poets society fic rec

29 notes · View notes

vaggatha · 4 years

Photo

i spent waaayy too long on this piece which is deadass just a messy sketch

#chaggie #hazbin hotel #vaggie #charlie #if i repost this it's bc it disappeared from the tags again #anyway i hope the girls enjoyed their slipknot gig lol #my stuff

81 notes · View notes

benwaitingforsolo · 4 years

Text

only the beginning - charlie barber x reader fluff

request from @cas-backwards-tie : “Hi! I saw your post about requests and was wondering if maybe you could write a post about Charlie x Reader buying a house together? Like maybe they're moving in and showing Henry where they're gonna live and (maybe) start their own little family? Please and thank you”

warnings: female reader, mention of pregnancy, fluff

edit: i reposted this bc there’s a typo in the last few paragraphs with reader and charlie and some ‘news’ and tumblr won’t fix it when i edit it lol soooo if you go to my page you’ll see a reposted version of this one shot. thanks love you bye :)

"It's this one, with the red brick and white patio." Charlie pointed, his eyes stuck on the road.

Not looking up from the toys in his hands, Henry asked, "Does it have a big yard? We never had a yard in New York."

"It does! I made sure of it," you answered, looking back at him.

After Charlie pulled in, he hurried around the car to open Henry's and your doors. "Honey, can you leave the toys in here? The house is big and empty, and I don't want you to lose them." Charlie asked as he unbuckled his son.

"Charlie," you sang, "it'll be alright, else is he going to do while we're here? Appreciate the baseboards and built-in cabinets?"

Henry laughed at the fact the house was unlocked by a secret code but took it incredibly seriously when his Dad told it to him.

"I like this place already, Dad. The walls aren't a boring color like the last apartment." Henry complimented, tracing his hands on the walls.

Charlie fingered through a pile of papers for the house and responded, "That place was dull, wasn't it? If you want, and you have to think very carefully about it, we can paint your room whatever color you want."

"I can?!" He asked excitedly.

"You can! Do you want to come see it with me while your Dad does some lame adult-things?" You asked, combing your fingers through Henry's mop of hair. Over the past months, he grew comfortable with you around, understanding the new arrangement of his Mom, Dad, and their partners.

Henry nodded, and the two of you ran up the stairs. You showed him where your room would be, the bathroom with a shower and a tub, the hall closet, and most importantly, his room.

The whole house was empty, but seeing you and Henry in it made Charlie feel whole. "Babe? Henry? Where are you?"

You and Henry giggled in your hiding spot. Little did Charlie know, you fought for this house because of the hidden crawlspace in Henry's closet. It was an easy sell for Charlie, though, as it was equidistant from his work and Nicole's place, making his new co-parenting life easier.

"Hiding!" You yelled out, hoping not to give your position away.

The two of you heard Charlie's groaning as he looked for you. "There's no furniture for you to hide in? Where the hell are you?"

"We should probably get out of here before Dad throws a fit," Henry admitted.

Agreeing, you climbed out first to catch Henry as he wiggled out.

"There you two are." Charlie was relieved when he saw you and Henry looking out of the window of Henry's room. "Henry, I brought a book of paint colors if you want to look through it." You always admired how great a parent Charlie was, talking at his eye level, always giving his everything to him, among more.

You held Charlie's hand and kissed his shoulder chastely as he kissed your temple.

"Did you look in the other bedroom yet?" You asked, leading Charlie out of Henry's room.

Charlie looked a bit puzzled, not getting when you were talking about, as when you came to see the house for the first time, the spare room was set up as an office. "You mean our room?"

"Nope." You used your freehand to turn the handle of the room you didn't show Henry. "This one."

After you opened it, Charlie stepped into the smaller bedroom, he stood in place and turned in a circle since there wasn't a lot of walking space in the room. He paused when he saw an already-built crib flush against the wall. "This wasn't here last time." He said, confused.

"I know. I had it delivered a few days ago."

Immediately, Charlie knew what this meant. You watched as his eyes grew in size and started to well up with tears. "You're pregnant?"

"I am." You smiled as Charlie took you into his arms. He kissed you tenderly, typically his kisses were ferocious and hungry, but with your news, he was gentle. You broke the kiss and rested your forehead on his. "I know it's early, but I wanted to surprise you."

Charlie's hands rested on your lower belly, which showed no signs of difference, but it didn't matter. "I hate moving, but this makes me excited to make this place ours."

"Then we better do that soon Mr.Barber. I'm not sure how much help I'll be in a few months." You teased, trailing your fingers up his long arms.

Your lips met Charlie's once again, this time with less hesitation. Emotions ran through you, and you weren't sure if it was from the change in hormones, the adrenaline of your news, or the excitement of the house. Regardless, you and Charlie didn't mind, because it was only the beginning of your story.

thank you for the request @cas-backwards-tie! i haven’t had the chance to write charlie yet! i hope you enjoyed this! :)

#charlie barber x reader #charlie barber reader insert #marriage story fic #charlie barber fic #charlie barber oneshot #lol hope my computer doesn't die as i write these tags #charlie barber #hope this was cute lol #oh also #not my gif #omg but #imagine that gif but charlie asking reader if they're pregnant #cw: pregnancy #cw: pregnant reader

60 notes · View notes

oscar-piastri · 5 years

Text

rewrite history [ben hardy x reader]

title: rewrite history

pairing: ben hardy x reader

summary: where ben and the reader have a huge fight because of ben’s career. he wakes up the next day in an unknown apartment, only to realise that his meeting with the reader never happened.

words: +10k (i’m shook)

taglist: @styles-charli

notes: kinda long bc ya know i had to write their whole story and how they met. I also never wrote anything that long so please, forgive me if you get lost because it can be a little bit messy

BECAUSE OF TAGGING ISSUES I AM REPOSTING THIS

Ever since you were little and watched all those romantic movies, you were dying to meet the right person, the one you’d live happily until the end. And you believed that it could happen to you when your path crossed Ben’s. Meeting Ben in high school was the highlight of your life, it only took an eye contact for you to fall head over heels for this boy, and the feeling was mutual.

You actually met during your junior year of high school. You often stayed a bit late at school to study because you knew you’d be too distracted at home, with the television playing in the background, your phone right next to you. One night, you stayed so you could practice your oral presentation for you history class for the next day. You were walking in the woods, trying to memorize your text by saying it out loud but you couldn’t help but grunt every time you’d mess up at a specific part.

“It was actually better than the previous time” you jumped with surprise when you heard this voice behind your back. You turned around slowly, still panting from the little heart attack you almost had. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare the hell out of you” the boy apologized, smiling.

You looked at him and you felt like his smile was contagious, because you were smiling back at him, completely forgetting about your history presentation for a few minutes when you noticed his beautiful eyes. And it was all it took for you to experience the amazing thing that is a coup de foudre. “It’s okay. I was just too focused on this thing for my own good” you explained, waving the paper in your hands.

“I’m Ben, by the way” he introduced himself, placing his right in front of him.

“Y/N” you replied shaking his hand. Your eyes landed on his sport bag and you couldn’t help but ask him what he was doing.

“Rugby practice. We kind of finished later than usual” you explained, dropping his bag on the ground to sit on the table behind him. “I was on my way home when I heard you speak to yourself, so I came inside” he continued and his words made you blush in embarrassment.

“I was not talking to myself! I was reciting my presentation!” You defended yourself, putting your notes in front of his face, making him laugh.

Ben looked at his watch and put his eyes on you again. “We’ve got twenty minutes before they close the door. Need help?” You couldn’t turn down Ben’s offer, your stress made it impossible to memorize everything so a little help couldn’t hurt.

You spent the last minutes trying to memorize your speech with Ben’s help, until the watchman asked the two of you to leave. You grabbed your stuff and walked with Ben to the school’s door. You eventually thanked him and left to go back home.

You spent that night completely forgetting about your presentation because Ben was the only thing in your mind, and to be honest, it wasn’t a bad thing. It allowed you to forget everything about your stress.

The next day, you successfully presented your history presentation, you knew your text, didn’t stutter, didn’t forget anything and for once in your school life, you were able to spend your presentation without your nose stuck in your notes.

After your day, you decided to find Ben and thank him for his little help that boosted you. You remembered Ben mentioned a rugby practice, so you decided to head towards the sport field, hoping you’d find him. You noticed his silhouette running during his training so you decided to sit on the bleachers to wait until it was over.

About 30 minutes later, Ben and his teammates were grabbing their bags. When Ben looked in your direction, you shyly waved at him and he instantly jogged in your direction.

“I wanted to thank you for yesterday. I don’t know what you did to me, but I slayed my presentation” you giggled before placing the book you were reading back in your bag.

“Yeah, my charm is working great. I’m pretty sure I hypnotised you with my smile and you managed to do great” Ben joked, winking at you. His act made you blush a little, because you could feel your cheeks getting warmer.

“So hum… What can I do, to properly thank you for last night?” You asked Ben with a smile.

Ben was wearing a huge and cheeky smile on his face, not hesitating any seconds before telling you what he wanted. “You can agree to go on a date with me”

You were quite surprised by his demand and you swore that your mouth stayed open while your brain was processing everything, which took a little bit of time. “Uh… Y-yeah. Sure” you eventually managed to speak, but you couldn’t hide the effect Ben had on you, as your cheeks became red for the second time in just a few minutes.

The blond boy couldn’t hide his joy either, as he took his phone out of his bag and handed it to you, so you could give me your phone number. “I’ll text you” Ben promised you before you let him go to the locker room so he could change.

Walking to get outside the field, you received a text from an unknown message and you figured it was Ben. You read his text “How about tomorrow night?” and turned around to find Ben looking at you, right in front of the locker room. You happily texted him right away, saying that you couldn’t wait.

One date, one kiss and you were already head over heels. Your relationship with Ben felt like an evidence and you couldn’t wait to finish high school by his side and see what the future was holding for the two of you. Holding hands in hallways, little kisses before going to different classes, waiting for him at his rugby practice, watching every rugby games, Ben helping you study were your daily routine, and it soon turned you into the most famous couple in your high school.

“So, what do you think? I need your opinion” Ben said, anxiously playing with his fingers.

“I think you should try it!” You replied in all honesty. “It’s worth a shot!” Ben had just told you he wanted to join a drama school. His friends were the one who suggested it, because he needed a new activity, due to the fact that he had to quit rugby. It was a terrible decision for him to make, but he was always suffering from many injuries and it could be dangerous for him if he continued to play. But now, his friends were trying to find a new passion and you couldn’t help but feel excited for Ben.

“Alright love, I trust you for this one” he said before kissing you. And this boy was right to listen to you and his friends.

Plays, famous tv show in England, Hollywood when he got cast to play in the new X-Men movie, Ben achieved all of that with his school. The more he was acting, the more he loved it. When you met Ben, he wanted to become an engineer, after that he saw himself becoming a professional rugby player, but now, the only thing he wanted to be was an actor.

Even though you were still studying, you would still attend event with your boyfriend, to show how proud you were of him and to show him your endless support.

Ben helped you study back in high school and now you were helping him learning his lines for new movie projects. Ben always turned to you for your opinion and advice. Every time he was offered a new acting proposition, you could be sure to spend the night listening to Ben’s doubts, opinions on the role and help him decide whether or not he’d accept it.

You heart would melt every time Ben mentioned you in an interview and you thanked the world every night for putting Ben in your life. It was obvious that Ben and you made the perfect team. You both have come so far and the feeling of pride was always mutual. Your career was nothing next to Ben’s acting career, but you were doing your dream job and this is what made Ben so proud of you. Everything was perfect, just like a dream. Ben was often absent but you still made it work. Your relationship was filled with supporting texts, dance sessions in the kitchen, cute pics. You adopted a dog, you got engaged and were planning the next step: maybe a baby.

But sadly, everything doesn’t stay perfect for too long. Ben was now casted in bigger movies, his fame was rising and his absences were longer and started to hurt more than they did before. Ben wasn’t asking you to attend events with him anymore, saying he didn’t want you to be harassed by fans and paparazzi, it was crazy because it never bothered him before. So you always stayed home, watching him posing with girls, who by the way, were standing way to close to him. It was painful to watch, because after years of being together, you were slowly feeling left out. Now the kitchen was empty, Ben wasn’t here with you to dance anymore, you took your meals alone in front of the tv because he was barely home, too busy to hang out with his friends. Ben was barely talking about his schedule anymore and you found yourself betting on if he would be home that day or not.

Today was a special day for you, your birthday. You loved this day because Ben would always make his day free of any appointments and any scenes to shoot, just to spend the entire day with you. But today it was completely different, you woke up to an empty space next to you and that set up the mood for the rest of the day. If this happened a year ago, you would have thought that Ben was in the kitchen, making you an awesome breakfast but today, you refused to be fooled by a fantasy, perfectly knowing that Ben wasn’t in the house.

You heart still shattered when you left your room to find the house empty of Ben’s presence. You were still greeted by Frankie but it wasn’t the same. You walked in every single room of this house that now seemed too big for yourself, hoping to find a note from Ben, at least to say where it was, but there was no sign of it. You never felt that lonely on this day you loved this much.

Your ended up spending this day by yourself, with the company of your loyal dog just answering phone calls of your family, wishing you a happy birthday. It was hard for you to swallow your tears, not wanting to let them know about your day turning into a disaster. You friends didn’t bother make plans for you because they all thought you’d spend your day with Ben, you couldn’t blame them for not doing anything because even you thought Ben would be here with you. Every time your phone rang, you hoped it was Ben that was calling you. You left him a few texts because you were getting a little bit worried, but he never replied.

Your heart actually stopped beating when you randomly switched channels and ended up on a random emission where Ben was the guest of the day. Of course you were relieved he was fine, but you were feeling so mad that he was on tv on not with you for your birthday. You were already dialing his agent’s number but what Ben was saying made you stop.

“Yeah, I pretty much owe my career to my friends. They’re the ones that got me to switch into acting. I wasn’t sure at first but they had pretty good arguments” Ben explained to the journalist, that seemed to drink his words like it was water, not even realising that Ben was not saying the entire truth. You were upset to hear that Ben completely erased you from that life changing decision he took years ago with you. He always told you that it was because you thought it was a good idea that he actually did it, and now, he was changing history.

“Well, thank you for giving us some time Ben. But before we finish, I heard you had some big news to tell the world?” the journalist asked her last question and it made you all confused. What news were they talking about?

“Yeah, I guess this is the perfect moment to announce that I got cast in a new big movie. I’m very excited to be a part of this project, it’s gonna be a real challenge for me and I can’t wait to start shooting in a few days” Ben announced, a pure and exciting smile on his face whereas your face was wearing nothing but sadness. You jaw dropped when you fully understood his words and you grabbed the remote in a hurry to turn the tv off. You were left disappointed with a heavy silence that made you hear Ben’s words again and again in your head.

You couldn’t believe that Ben just destroyed your team, by pushing you away from his life, from his project, when you’ve been here with him since his start. He was erasing you from his professional life and you couldn’t help but ask yourself how long until he erase you from his entire life.

You forced yourself to get up and walked to your bedroom. Your mind wasn’t at it but you changed your clothes into your pajamas and climbed into bed, waiting for Ben to eventually come back.

For hours, you kept looking at the white ceiling above you. You didn’t move when you heard the door opening and Frankie barking to welcome her favorite owner. It took Ben a few minutes, that felt like an eternity for him to find his way to your bedroom.

“Are you asleep?” He asked whispering as he walked to his drawers. But you didn’t answer, and you just rolled in bed so your back was facing him. You felt his body in bed and you decided it was time to speak up.

“Do you even still love me?” Your voice broke the silence that was feeling like a terrible pain. You couldn’t look at Ben, and you wished for him to be asleep so he’d never have to answer.

“Of course I love you! Darling, why are you even asking me this dumb question?” Ben replied right away, changing his position so he could sit next to you.

You searched deep for the confidence to confront your fiancé. You turned around to see Ben and you did just like him, you sat on the bed. “You’ve been erasing me from your life, Ben! I can forgive that you don’t mention me for you debut career, but I can’t help but feel useless when I hear that you’re accepting movies without talking about it with me! I thought you always wanted to have my opinions on things. I thought we were a team, in all aspects of our life!” You cried out, letting the pain out of your body.

Ben was a little bit lost and the confusion could be read on his face from miles. “B-but we’re a team, love! Look, I know I haven’t been good to you lately but this movie, I always dreamed of something like that. I couldn’t hesitate” he confessed, trying to reassure you the best he could.

“It’s not just this… Do you know what day we are?” You told him, ready for the possible confrontation.

He seemed to think for a minute and you saw on his face that he remembered because guilt was covering your face “Your birthday…”

“I waited all day for you to come home. But I didn’t know if you were, because I don’t know what are your plans anymore. You just keep me in a blur, guessing what you’re doing” you explained trying to stay calm, but your nerves were driving you crazy and you had to get up. Your fingers landed on your engagement ring and started to twist it as you were speaking.

Ben instinctively moved from his spot to be right in front of you, putting his hands on your fingers “Please don’t take it off” he begged so quietly that it felt like it was just the sound of the wind.

“Trust me, I don’t want to… But I’m not sure I’m happy enough to keep it forever” you confessed, not wanting to lie to Ben.

“How can you even say that?! I’m giving you everything you ever wanted!” Ben argued clenching his jaw, not understanding how you could feel like that

“Yeah, everything but yourself….” You muttered and it drove Ben even more angry

“You know what, let’s not talk about that now. I’ve got an important thing tomorrow” he growled, angrily passing a hand on his blond hair.

“Wow, nice. Just ignore this. Very mature Ben” you sarcastically said, clapping your hands

“Screw it” he hissed before getting out of the bed. He grabbed his clothes and you saw him change in a hurry. You heard his footsteps on the ground and a minute later the door slammed shut, leaving you alone once again.

When you realised he was gone, you tried to bite your lips to avoid the tears from falling but it was completely useless as you became a crying mess. And as painful as it was to do it, you took off the ring and placed it on your nightstand.

Ben on the other hand, was not ready to go to sleep, as he was sitting in the local pub, trying to drown his anger in alcohol. A fight was the last thing he needed and even thought he was thinking about it, he couldn’t understand your point. You’re happy, he’s happy, the perfect couple, just like in high school.

After hours of looking at his empty drink and all the bottle in front of you, he chose to go home, hoping that you wouldn’t be mad anymore. When he got to your bedroom, he saw your sleeping silhouette and he actually smile because you were sleeping peacefully. But his smile disappeared right away when he noticed the ring on the nightstand. He knew that it wasn’t saying that you were splitting up, just that you were pushing back the wedding but it felt like he was being stabbed in the heart over and over again. He eventually collapsed on the ground, with the only wish to talk about it when you’d wake up.

Ben woke up with the worst headache when his alarm went off. He grunted trying to catch his phone and after struggling for seconds he managed to turn off the alarm, making the silence ease the pain in his head. He got up with difficulty, his legs were feeling too heavy for him.

“Love?” He called out, walking in the room, rubbing his eyes half closed to wake himself up. Ben knew the room by heart but was surprised to hit a wall on his way to the living room. “Shit since when is there a wall here?”

He kept walking, the impact against the wall made him fully awake and he couldn’t hide his panic when he didn’t recognize any of the furnitures. “What is this place?... Oh my god, did I cheat on Y/N?” Ben asked to himself, worrying about what he did or not did while he was drunk the other night.

Ben’s first instinct was to call you, he unlocked his phone in a hurry and looked for your number but there was nothing. The incomprehension was present and it got worse when he realised the lockscreen wasn’t the same. It used to be a picture of you holding Frankie and now it was a picture of him with other people. He did not even recognized who was posing with him on this picture, at least not all of them.

Ben looked around the place, ran into every room of the apartment to find clues and he noticed pictures of him framed and hanging on walls. Everything looked like at was Ben’s place. He eventually found a little dog sleeping on his bed, it wasn’t Frankie but it was still something. He tried to call Joe. He had to call Joe to seek some answers. Maybe it was a prank, maybe it was a bad dream, but one thing was sure, Ben needed answers.

But when he realised Joe was missing from his contact list, he couldn’t help but yell to express his frustration. He noticed on the kitchen table some newspapers and saw that the front page was destined to a huge article about Bohemian Rhapsody. His heart stopped beating again when he realised he wasn’t the actor playing Roger Taylor, he grabbed the sheet of papers and threw them in the nearest trash can. It was all incoherent and he eventually decided to sit on the couch and take deep breath, maybe if he was calming himself, he’d see things more clearly.

He finally opened the laptop in front of him, surprised to find himself tapping the password like he knew it for years. “Rugby0201”, what a dumb password, he’d never pick something so easy. He went on google and searched for his own name. Nothing. No article about him nor his movies, his filmography was absent and only his personal social media accounts were linked. He clicked on his twitter and instagram account; just pictures of him with what seemed to be his friends, tweets about rugby. Not a single picture with Y/N. He then searched for your name and ended up on your accounts. He was surprised to see that you were following each other, even though all your accounts were pretty much empty. Oh, he wasn’t surprised, he knew you weren’t a big fan of exposing your life on the internet. You only opened those accounts because your friends kept asking you to do that. But it still meant that you knew each other in this life.

His mind focused again on the whole situation: it could be a prank from Joe, maybe there’s a secret camera and it’s part of a plan to promote Bohemian Rhapsody? Who was he kidding? No one would go this far just for a single prank. It was time to face the truth: Ben ended up somewhere where you never fell in love, and this explains so many changes. Probably a parallel universe.

Ben closed his eyes, remembering all the good things: how you first met, your first kiss, your first time, when you met his parents and when he met your family, when you adopted Frankie, when you got engaged, just all the happy memories. Ben wanted to cry but no tears came and it made him even more sad and angry at himself.

The sound of the doorbell brought Ben back to reality. He hesitantly walked to the front door and looked through the judas hole. He saw the familiar figure of one of his friend and was glad to see someone he knew. “Great, it’s you!” Ben said, opening the door. He was ready to take this opportunity to ask his friend as many questions as he wanted, to discover who is the Ben from this life.

“Wow, you look terrible! Have you been drinking?” his friend James asked laughing when he noticed the terrible face of Ben. “You could have invited me!”

“Yeah, I feel like I don’t know where I am” he said, trying to laugh at this situation. Ben and his friend sat on the couch, Ben was playing with his hands to distract him from going crazy. He knew this friend back in his real life, but now it was a complete stranger and Ben wasn’t sure he could trust him enough to tell him about what happened to him.

“Okay… Quick question, who am I? Like… What do I do?” Ben blurred out, using this opportunity to get to know himself better.

This question raised confusion in his friend and it started to worry him. “Mate… You okay?” His friend asked.

“Just answer” Ben said raising his voice, forcing his friend to answer this fundamental question.

“You’re an engineer. You wanted to be a professional rugby player but you had to let go of this dream because of injuries. But we still play every week” His friend finally answered, still not sure of Ben’s state. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Uh? Yeah… I got so drunk, it’s messing with my head” Ben faked a laugh, hoping this lie would be a good apology.

“... Okay? Well let’s go. We don’t wanna be late to rugby” Ben’s answer seemed to be a good one because his friend let it go. “And don’t forget, about lunch tonight, it’s for a big occasion” James continued, winking at Ben.

Ben didn’t understood everything but still nodded and acted like everything was fine, not wanting to worry his friend even more. He was dying to ask about you, he wanted to know if his friend knew you too but he didn’t want to sound like a crazy person.

Ben was glad that he could play rugby today. He needed an escape, a place to let his frustration out and the field was the perfect choice. It’s not a lie that he tried to get hurt really bad on his head, just to collapse on the ground and wake up with you next to him, like nothing happen. But as he expected, none of this happened and he just ended up with a worse headache than this morning.

When he got home, he spent a long hour under the shower, his mind quickly got lost in the fog created by the hot water, and the only thing he could think of, was the shower you used to take together, because you wanted to “save the water to save the planet”. The towel wrapped around his waist, he stayed a few minutes watching himself in the mirror, asking how it all got wrong. It has been a crazy day, a living nightmare and he couldn’t wait until that the diner with his friends goes quick so he could just lay back in bed, praying to wake up in his normal life. He didn’t totally wanted to go there, he didn’t know anyone there, his friends were no longer the same he used to know, he was not the same Ben they knew, it would just add more stress to this nightmare. But once again, Ben knew he couldn’t let this opportunity to get answers vanish, so he finally decided to look for nice clothes to wear.

But before going, Ben stopped at the table and grabbed some papers and a pen. It was important for him to write everything about this situation, so on the first paper, he wrote some of his favorite memories with you. On the other one, he rewrote the night where you had the fight that changed it all. He was not done, he wanted to write everything that he could think of, and he decided to write in two different columns, the life of the two different Ben he was. Ben1, the original Ben from his previous life, a notorious actor who married the love of his life. Ben2, an engineer playing rugby with his friends and who did not married the love of his life. If he didn’t want to screw up Ben2’s life, he had to take notes about his life and keep acting like him. He didn’t know how long he’d be trapped here, so taking notes about Ben2 was the most important thing to avoid raising suspicions. The last paper that was on the table was used to write about you. What y/n1 was doing, loved and hated and who y/n2 was. Sadly, the y/n2 column stayed empty but it made Ben more determined to get to the you from this universe, and discover what he needed to do to get his life back.

Ben took off the dumb wall decorations to put those papers on the wall, so he could take a look at them everyday and never forget about those cherished memories. He sighed when the clock showed him that it was time for him to leave. When Ben got to the restaurant address his friend sent him earlier, he noticed that most of his friends were here but couldn’t help to consider them as strangers. Friends for Ben2, but strangers for Ben1. He greeted them all with a fake smile, acted like he knew what he was doing but still used the headache and the many knocks he received at his latest rugby game as an excuse to stay in retreat. His friend was late and Ben was starting to get more and more impatient. He was about to text his friend to ask what was happening when he saw his friend coming through the door.

Ben thought he was hallucinating when he recognized who was escorting his friend. His heart stopped when he realised it was really you, holding hands with his friend, all smiling. Even though you were sitting on the other side of the table, Ben kept looking at you the whole time. God you were beautiful, and he missed this vibrant smile you used to have, the one you used to give him. His heart stopped everytime you kissed his friend because he only wished to be at his place, it was were he belonged.

This night made Ben feel like he’d been tortured over and over again. And the final blow struck Ben right in the heart when he saw James getting down on his knees. Ben understood right away what was happening, because a few years back, Ben did the exact same thing. He saw himself at James’ place, as his friend took the little red box from his pocket and opened it to show the beautiful ring that was inside.

Ben’s blood boiled when he saw the happy tears in your eyes and he wished to be deaf when you said those three letters that made his heart shatter. His knuckles quickly turned white because of how strongly he was holding the cutlery in his hands. He felt like throwing up when he saw you kiss him once again, but this time with the ring around your finger. Ben was dying to get out of here, but it would just make him look like a giant dick who didn’t care about his friend’s happiness and it would affect Ben2’s life. So he stayed and watched the scene, suffering in silence while he had to congratulate the happy couple.

“This is some messed up punishment from the universe because I was a dick who pushed away the love of my life” Ben angrily yelled out loud while slamming the door shut. He was well aware that no one could hear him but he still needed to let his feelings out. He threw his keys on the ground with such a rage that the impact could have made a hole on the ground. It was either the keys or his fist on the walls, thought punching the walls would make him feel way more better.

He angrily grabbed a pencil and wrote on the Y/N2 paper “engaged to someone else”. Just writing those words was a terrible act for Ben, but it wasn’t something he could ignore. He was trapped in this universe, not knowing how to go back and the love of his life wasn’t his anymore.

“How do I get back?” Ben mumbled to himself as he wrote this exact sentence on a new paper. He kept saying this, as he laid on the couch, closing his eyes to focus on this question. He thought about your last fight, the event that started it all and a few minutes, he got up like he had just been it by an illumination.

“That’s it!! I figured it out! I just need to make her love me again and I get back to acting! So I would be following the original timeline and I’ll be able to to back!” He explained to the dog that got into the room a few minute ago, attracted by all the noise Ben was making. Damn, he felt like he was losing his sanity, elaborating dumb and meaningless plans and explaining them to a dog he didn’t know.

The dog was tilting his head to the side, trying to understand the situation but he eventually barked and Ben took that as a positive answer. He was actually glad to have a pet partner, he knew he could rant, yell, cry and tell every doubts without being judged. Speaking of the dog, Ben realised he didn’t know his name and he didn’t noticed a collar around his neck.

“I’m renaming you Joe. It suits you” he said, getting down on one knee to put the dog’s head. “From now on Joe, you’re my confidant.” He said and the dog barked to answer.

Long and painful days had passed since that night, and Ben had made no progress in his desire to go back to his universe. He didn’t see you, didn’t talk to you, nothing. It was just long days at work and small walk in the park with the renamed dog. Adjusting to this life was really tiring and Ben found it harder to elaborate new plans, so his hopes were resting on the first plan he created.

But a surprise visit from his friend James boosted his confidence and gave him ideas.

“Ben, bro, I need your help” his friend told Ben before taking a mouthful of his beer.

“What for?” Ben replied, faking an interest.

“The wedding” Ben squeezed the bottle harder when he heard those words, but he quickly calmed himself to let his friend continue.

“Look, I already have the date for the wedding, the venue is reserved but we’ve got one problem. I need to go away for a few weeks because of work, I was wondering if you could help Y/N organize the wedding?” James asked, crossing his fingers to have a positive answer.

“Mate, I think you’ll have time to help her when you get back”

“The wedding is in two months” James admitted, and it made Ben spir the beer out of his mouth in surprise. “Yeah I know. It’s rushed” James laughed at Ben’s reaction. “But it has to happen for our anniversary, that’s the day we met”

“Wow, uh… Romantic” Ben replied with a fake smile, trying to ignore the feeling of his heart being slowly destroyed.

“I mean… You’re the only one I can trust with that. So, what do you say?” James asked, not noticing the strange behavior from his friend.

And this is how Ben ended up in this coffee place, with you sitting right in front of him with your hands full of wedding magazines and notebooks. He could notice that you were having trouble catching your breath and he couldn’t help but look at the drop of seat discreetly falling from your face because you had just ran to get here on time. One thing the two versions of you had in common, you hated to be late and you were reading to come all sweaty just to be right one time. Ben ordered for you before you came, he picked your favorite drink, well he hoped it still was your favorite in this confusing timeline.

“Sorry again for being late” you apologized once again before taking a sip of your drink. “And thank you for this, how did you know it was my favorite?” you asked, placing your drink on the table, to sort the magazines on the table.

“No worries! And uh… James filled me with some informations. It looks like we’ll be spending some time together, might as well know you better” Ben replied with a lie. Of course, lying was gonna be Ben’s daily routine because it was obvious he couldn’t tell anyone the truth; no one would believe him. The situation was a little bit awkward, no one was talking but you could feel Ben’s gaze on you.

“I thought you were an engineer, since when do you know how to plan a wedding?” You joked, breaking that awkward silence you couldn’t bear.

“Uh because James asked me to help while he’s away. Apparently, I know him better than any of our friends, so I’ll be able to make the right choices for him.” Ben was dying to yell that it was a stupid idea, but he didn’t want to scare you off right away.

“Oh.. That’s nice. I didn’t know you’d help me” You stuttered while browsing through a magazine, not looking at Ben because you weren’t sure of what his reaction would be.

“Why?” Ben asked surprised. Suddenly, a feeling of doubts rushed through his body: what if Ben2 was a jerk to Y/N2 and they didn’t like each other? What if this version of you was rude to Ben2? God, not knowing the complete life of Ben2 was a nightmare for Ben.

“Because we never really talked? I mean.. We both know that we went to high school together, but we never talked back then. The first time we spoke was when James introduced me to his mates in college. It’s too bad, we could have been friends before, instead of being just acquaintance because of a mutual friend.” You confessed, smiling at Ben.

Ben realised that in this universe, he never met you after school when you were studying. The coup de foudre never happened. He couldn’t help but wonder how Ben2 was like in high school, and how it ended for him since everything changed in Ben’s timeline as soon as he met you: you motivated him to get better grades, you helped him study and he helped you train for P.E classes. He wanted to ask you what you used to think of Ben2 back in high school, but he quickly brushed off this idea because you weren’t here for that. The two of you were here to talk wedding, your wedding with James.

“So… Should we get started?” Ben finally suggested and you nodded, unfolding the list of things to do.

Ben came home later this day, completely exhausted from looking at all those magazines. He did it before, and he honestly never thought he’d have to do it again with you but not for his own wedding. But from the few hours he spent with you, he sensed that you weren’t really that different from his original timeline, it was actually a good thing because planning that wedding would be easier because he knew what you’d like or don’t.

This wedding was always in Ben’s mind, whenever he was at work, he’d only think of the next time he’ll see you to pick the tables ornaments or the flowers. The hard part was to make his brain understand that it wasn’t his wedding and that he needed to be prepared to have his heart crushed if his plan doesn’t work, making him watch you marry someone else.

Sitting on his couch, he kept staring at the paper on the wall where he wrote his ultimate goal: “be an actor and win her back”. But the more he was looking at it, the more he felt like it was a dick move; he was trying to steal his friend’s girlfriend. He could explain it, “sorry mate, your girl has to love me so I can go back to my real life, knowing that I would have messed up 3 lives here. Ben2 will see you at rugby next week”. No, it would only make them think that Ben2 is crazy and the consequences could be terrible for ben2’s life.

“Ah Joe, life is not easy” Ben told the dog as he patted his head. “I woke up in someone else’s body, in someone else’s life. Life is hard and it’s making me pay for my mistakes. Trust me, if you have a dog girlfriend or a dog boyfriend- I won’t judge, don’t miss things up” Ben concluded and his felt his dog’s eyes being lost as Joe tilted his head to his side, wondering what Ben was saying.

Days passed and Ben kept meeting with you as much as they could, because James was still away. It might sounds rude, but Ben loved the fact that your fiancé wasn’t in the picture right now because he could spend time with you. He was torn between the feeling of destroying lives and the feeling of getting his life back; sometimes he was ready to risk it all and some other days he just wanted to let you happy with James.

But this time, after meeting you once again, he was ready to put his plan in action.

“Such a Dumb James move” You randomly blurred out, closing the notebook filled with notes and addresses. “Deciding for a wedding date way too soon and leaving me to deal with everything” you sighed, massaging your temple to ease the headache you got after calling dozens of flower shops.

“You have me” Ben replied, smiling, not realising you truly meant what you just said.

“I sometimes wonder if it was a good idea. A wedding” You words raised Ben’s attention and he was showing signs of confusion. “We were doing great before he proposed, but now? Since that night he’s across the world, he left his friend planning his wedding and this dumbass doesn’t even answer the phone” You barked, throwing a pen on the table. “Don’t tell him. Please. He doesn’t know I’m having second doubts.. This conversation needs to stay a secret for now”

“Why?” Ben asked confused. He couldn’t understand the fact that you wanted to keep your doubts away from your fiancé, especially since he was the problem here.

“He’d be so mad! He got it all planned, I mean… I heard he already bought a house for us, before he had to leave. He wanted it to be a surprise for our wedding but his mother told me by accident.” At this point, you couldn’t stop the tears from falling. You were slowly starting to freak out because you just got hit by the fact that everything was happening too fast and you may not be ready to get married. Of course, you’ve been with James for years, and it felt like the right thing to say yes when he proposed. But now, your body was just filled with doubts and you weren’t sure of anything anymore. “It’s just me questioning everything, it happens during a wedding preparation. Don’t worry” You tried to hide your true feelings by faking a laugh while you whipped away your tears. “I’m fine”

Ben saw right away that you were lying, it was something he could always read on your face when you were together. “Y/N, it’s stupid, just tell him how you really feel! If he truly loves you, he’ll understand and he’ll agree to push back the wedding” Ben suggested, but you shook your head no

“He’s not as understanding as you are… Sometimes I wonder if I truly love him...” You confessed, hating yourself for even feeling this. You were feeling awful for being unsure of your feelings after spending almost 10 years with James, and you knew that he’d never understand your situation.

“Don’t make the mistake of saying goodbye to your happiness for someone” Ben simply said before he left you in this coffee place, so you could have all the time you needed to think about what you were feeling. As he walked home, he was getting more and more determined to win you back; he saw that you weren’t fully happy in this relationship and this was the breach he needed to completely start his plan without feeling remorses.

You didn’t call Ben for a few days, you basically answer to nobody’s phone calls. When James finally decided to get back at you, you always ignored him, mostly because you wanted to make him feel forgotten just like he made you feel, but also because you didn’t know how to tell him that you were no longer sure of your feelings. And the fact that you started to spend more time with Ben made you see a better version of him, one that you couldn’t dislike.

Ben, on his side decided to pursue his plan. Every night, after work, he started looking for auditions. He knew he was a good actor, damn even an amazing actor full of talent, so it shouldn’t be too hard for him to see his acting career take a huge step and be back at what he loved; movies. It was pretty bold of him to show up like that without a proper agent and all, but he didn’t care, he was running out of time.

“Wish me luck, Joe. Your old boy Ben should be back if I succeed” Ben announced before leaving his apartment to go to his first audition.

After days of ghosting people, you finally decided to call Ben. Not to ask him to join you to help you pick a dumb wedding stuff, but to let him know that James will be back, and that you were ready to slow things down with him. Ben was surprised when he saw your name on his screen and he questioned himself a few seconds, whereas he should answer or not. He finally picked up his phone right before you hang up.

“Can you come?” you gently asked, trying to hide the relief in your voice that Ben answered.

“Sorry, I have an appointment” Ben replied right away, already beating himself for answering so coldly.

“To where?” You asked back “Sorry, didn’t want to be intrusive” You continued when you didn’t hear Ben say a word.

Ben walked from his kitchen back to his living room, still silent as he sat on his couch like the nervous wreck that he was. “That’s okay” it really was okay, Ben didn't mind telling you stuff, because that’s how it has always been. “It’s for an audition”

“A casting? Does it mean that our dear mr Ben has some acting skills that we didn’t know about?” You said, laughing and teasing Ben over the phone. When Ben heard you smile, he couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face. God, he loved that laugh.

“Yeah, to be honest, no one knows about it” Ben explained, but still holding back the real reason of why he made that choice.

“I’m honored to be the first to know! I truly am” You spoke softly on the phone, and Ben could barely hear you

“Yeah, I trust you with that secret information” He laughed and hearing his laugh warmed your heart. It has been so long since you had a random conversation that made your heart feel like that.

“W-Why?” you timidly asked, but still feeling honored that someone you only started to be friends with only a few weeks ago, was trusting you with that, when none of his friends knew about it.

“Because you trusted me before” he said in all honesty and even know he wasn’t in the same room as you, he knew you were blushing and smiling. “And also because we’re from the same school. Students solidarity” he added that part to bring a funny part to this truthful and emotional moment. And it worked, because at the other side of the phone, he heard you giggle softly. “Anyway, what did you wanted to talk to me about?” He asked, remembering why you called him in the first place.

“Maybe we can meet at our usual wedding planning spot aka the coffee place? Only when you finished your audition though” you suggested, not wanting Ben to feel force to come.

“Alright, I’ll text you when I’ll be out. But not too long, I’m not a famous actor yet, I still have to go to work, only took my morning off.” Ben added, which made you smile again

“Sure! And.. thank you Ben” You said before hanging up.

“I just need to make her happy again… And I know for a fact, she’s not happy with him, she doesn’t act like her true self! She’s hiding behind James, just like she did with me, and I cannot accept it this time. I’m the only one who knows the real her” Ben ranted at his only company; Joe. Ben couldn’t bear to see you unhappy in a relationship. You were both made for each other, and he’ll do anything to get you back and fix his mistakes, because he knows he’s the right man and that you belong together.

“Pushing back the wedding, uh?” Ben asked with a slight smirk. He joined you a few minutes ago and you told him the truth.

“Yeah… James was pissed off but he eventually agreed. Wasn’t easy though, but he said he was ready to wait” You explained, taking a bite of your food.

“Well, I’m happy for you” Ben lied as you showed a weak smile

“Yeah, it looks like your job with me is over. No need to have a rushed wedding anymore” you said faking a put. It felt right to spend time with Ben, you felt like you could be yourself all over again. You were completely overjoyed to discover a new Ben, and you wondered where he had been hiding this aspect of himself.

“What a bummer” He laughed to hide his fear of not being around you anymore. He wasn’t close to his goal but he was still on the good road. He still felt like a douchebag for making your couple break up, but he also knew that you deserved better than James.

“But we can still hang out as friends! Trust me, it’s better than meeting to talk about flowers. It must have been boring for you” You apologized, knowing that not all men like to help organizing weddings, especially weddings that aren’t theirs.

“No don’t worry. I can use some practice if I wanna get married someday” he said laughing a little. It was in fact hurting him, because he kept thinking about the months he spent planning his wedding back in his real life.

“Oh my god, and what a terrible friend I am! How was your audition?” You asked raising your voice, a sign that you were excited and happy to know about it.

Ben explained the process of the audition, the different roles he auditioned for over the weeks and you loved hearing about it. It was such an interesting topic and you were really glad Ben found his way there. He didn’t had a positive answer yet but you promised him that you believe in him and that someday his talent will be revealed to the world. He found this situation funny and it brought nostalgia in his mind, as a similar scene happened many years ago in his reality.

“Keep me updated! I wanna know if I’ll have a famous friend so I can show off” she joked sending Ben a wink and he chuckled at your action. You were both outside, saying goodbye as Ben was the one who ended this moment because he had to leave for work. His eyes were glued to your lips curved into a gorgeous smile, he saw your cheeks blushing and you gaze focused on him. He was battling against himself not to kiss you but you were the one who caved.

You hesitantly pressed your lips against his and you felt Ben smiling, reassured, you drowned your hands in his hair as he cupped your face in his hands. You knew it was wrong, but it felt so much like the right thing when Ben made the kiss more intense. You felt like the whole world stopped around you, and it was just the two of you with some butterflies in your stomach, something you haven’t felt in a long time.

Yet, you were still who pulled away. “I’m sorry” you simply said, twirling the ring James gave you before you left.

Ben stayed without moving, watching you leave. Remembering what just happened put a vibrant smile on his face and he felt his own cheeks blushing. For a minute, he thought that everything was fixed and now that you kissed, he would go to sleep and wake up in the right universe. But then he thought about your apology and it confused him. Did you regret it? It sure felt like you wanted that kiss as much as him, hell, you’re the one who kissed him. But maybe everything wasn’t as good as Ben expected and maybe you weren’t falling in love with him.

But he brushed those thoughts away as he walked back to his workplace. Work wasn’t the best place where he could get lost in his thoughts and in his doubts; he needed to focus if he didn’t want to mess up Ben2’s job as well as his friendship with James.

He was excited to get home, and when he did, he went straight to bed, hoping to fall asleep right away and wake up in his bed next to you. But for you, it was a complete contrast, you spent the night wide awake, looking at your engagement ring and at your fiancé that was peacefully asleep. You kept thinking about that kiss with Ben and how good you felt and it only made you rethink all of your latest decisions once again, sleep was nowhere to be found and you only wished for the sun to rise so you could go to work and put your mind somewhere else.

Ben woke up with his alarm, his eyes opened in an hurry and they closed as soon as he realised that nothing changed. He grabbed the pillow next to him and crashed it against his face to muffle his loud groans. Maybe it didn’t work because you weren’t in love with him? Maybe there was actually no way out of this? Questions were filling his brain but he still decided to stick to his plan. Maybe you weren’t the problem, maybe it’s because he wasn’t an actor yet. Joe joined him in bed and started barking and licking Ben, trying to send him the message that he was hungry and needed some food. Ben’s mind was so focused on you that he forgot the poor dog, loyal friend to Ben2. “Sorry buddy, you’re stuck with me again” he chuckled, perfectly knowing that this poor dog didn’t notice the difference.

Since that kiss, you tried to avoid Ben but you couldn’t stop the weird grimaces on your face every time James mentioned Ben, you almost choke on water pretty often and it made it harder for you to hide your guilt. Tonight was the worse night for you to have the talk with James, it was your anniversary, but you couldn’t live like that anymore.

“What’s wrong, love?” James asked, gently putting his hands on yours, to show you that he was here for you.

“We need to talk” you announced coldly, giving him a sorry look.

Ben was waiting for an important phone call, he went to a lot of castings and today he would finally have an answer for one of them. He was stressed but excited to see if he got the part. His whole plan was based on this and he couldn’t handle the failure. When he heard his ringtone he didn’t bother looking at the name on the screen and he pick up right away

“Hello?” he asked almost out of breath. He was hoping for the usual speech from the casting director but no sound came out on the other side. He only heard what looked to be someone sobbing and he knew right away who was calling him. “Y/N?” he gently asked.

“We fought all night” you blurred out between sobs and Ben sighed.

“Where do you want to meet?” Ben offered, ready to be the shoulder you could cry on. Well if he was completely honest, he was glad this happened because he was one step closer to his goal.

“Thank you…” You muttered before Ben sent you his address so you could come.

It only took you a few minutes for you to get there. To be quite honest, Ben has been waiting behind his front door ever since you hung up and he almost had a heart attack when he heard the doorbell. He didn’t forget to take away everything he put on the wall that was related to you and his plan. When you got inside, he welcomed you with a warm hug and he walked you to the living room where he put some snacks and hot tea on the table, with a few boxes of tissues. You thanked him for the gesture and he was quite proud of himself. The fact that he knew you by heart made it easier for him to prepare everything you needed to feel better. After long minutes of being silent, you noticed that Ben’s eyes were glued to your fingers, and you realised that he saw that the engagement ring was missing.

“I broke up with him this morning” you dropped this information before taking a sip of the tea. Ben’s eyes widened and he tried his best to hide the smile on his face. “He kept being angry at me because I wasn’t ready to get married, he brought that back again and again and I got tired of that. Yesterday we fought because I said I wasn’t sure of my feelings. It lasted all night- didn’t know I could yell at someone for hours” You were just speaking without stopping, you needed to tell Ben everything and how it all happened, and he just listened, not saying anything. “I think at some point I threw the ring at him? And I said we were over”

“Shit, Y/N, I’m so sorry. I kinda feel like it’s my fault” Ben apologized, feeling a little guilty.

“Don’t be” You said smiling, something you didn’t do in a few hours. “You were right, I didn’t want to marry him in the first place. I felt like I owned him something -because he loved me when no one else did, so I kept telling myself that I love him, that I wanted him when I wasn’t feeling anything anymore. I’m not gonna lie, I was putting his needs and happiness first, even if it means making me unhappy for the rest of my life. And he didn’t understand that and he just blamed me for not making this work. He completely ignored and erased the fact that I tried to make it work, for years. Well at least I saw his real face, an egoist jerk” You concluded feeling free of this dead weight that was James. But you didn’t mention to Ben that he was one of the reason why you decided to break up.

You were glad that you became closer to Ben, he made you realise something you tried to bury and he was doing his best to make you happy. You spent a few more hours with him just watching tv, he was careful not to start any subject of conversation that would make you cry and even though he tried to hide it, you knew he ignored James’ calls.

After you left, Ben put all the papers back on his wall and he kept staring at the big letters on one of the papers. “Ben’s mission: make y/n have a happy life with her dream job and a loving boyfriend”. He didn’t care about the consequences now, especially since you broke up with James; he could make you fall in love, and that would make him go back to his real life.

You announcing that you broke things off with James was just the beginning of the ending; later that day, Ben got the call he was expecting. After many auditions, he was offered a job in a promising movie. They praised him for his talent, wondering where he had been hiding for so long and Ben just felt unstoppable now.

Ben and you started to spend more and more time together, and as he started feeling that his succeeded, that he was gonna get his real life back, he realised how wrong it was. You were falling in love with him and Ben was just gonna disappear to let Ben2 come back to a life where you were in love with him while he might not be. It would just make everything worse and after spending hours thinking this through, he decided to stop trying getting his old life back. Mostly because he realised you weren’t happy in his real life, not as much as you are in this universe. And as painful as it was, Ben was ready to let go of his friends, of his acting career to put your happiness first. And to be completely honest, he didn’t hate this life, he loved his job, he loved playing rugby and seeing his friends more but most importantly, he loved seeing you happy.

He knew that by letting his old life go, he was making the right choice because he knew he’d never hurt you like he did. He used to be so unconsciously selfish, putting his needs first, not bothering to keep the love between you two, but now it was over. He had the chance to start over, a chance to put your happiness first and that’s what he did, by staying in this universe where she fell in love a second time. So he decided to turn down the acting job he was offered, because he knew that it was what made him turn away from you and he accepted leaving in this universe, as long as it was by your side.

“Why did you say no? You worked so much on this!” You asked a little bit disappointed in Ben’s decision. You believed in him and you knew he’d be a great actor.

“Because I made that mistake once, Y/N. If I do this, I’ll lose something that is way more important that the spotlight, I’ll lose the love of my life all over again, and trust me, I don’t want to be stuck in this nightmare again” Ben declared, taking your hands in his and holding them tighter. You opened your mouth to say something but no sound came out because confusion took control of everything. “Y/N, you are the love of my life” Ben confessed and you first instinct was to crash your lips against his.

The universe was giving a new chance to Ben but he didn’t understand it first; he thought it could use this opportunity to go back to his life, to retrieve what he used to have but he was wrong; the universe was giving him this chance so he could start a new life, by learning from his mistake.

“What’s wrong, Ben?” You asked your boyfriend as he watched you from the other side of the room.

“Nothing, I just love looking at you” He said with a soft smile.

#ben hardy #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy imagines #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy one shot #ben hardy fanfic #w*#*

319 notes · View notes

lena-in-a-red-dress · 4 years

Text

End of the year Asks

This meme was generated by @magikyle and as always if you want to reblog, please do so from the OP. I’m only reposting because I’m answering them in full and not as a traditional ask meme.

Song of the year? “Sinners” by Lauren Aquilina

Album of the year? Hozier (I know it’s not unique to this year, but it was my most consistent listen!)

Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year? I don’t know if I’ve listened to anyone new this year. I spent a good chunk of the year listening exclusively to podcasts.

Movie of the year? Terminator Dark Fate or Charlie’s Angels.

TV show of the year? Supergirl, despite everything. I’m still hooked.

Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you? Episode 5x01 of Supergirl

Favorite actor of the year? Katie McGrath, bc it doesn’t specify NEW actor, and I’m a basic bitch.

Game of the year? Assassin’s Creed Odyssey!

Best month for you this year? Please do not me ask to remember what happened in which month. Just... don’t. My brain doesn’t work like that.

Something that made you cry this year? Everything?? Depression is tough, yo.

Something you want to do again next year? Travel travel travel...

Talk about a new friend you made this year My work friend is my betta sensei, and has been a much-needed connection when my depression otherwise isolated me. It was totally unexpected but I’m really grateful for her friendship.

How was your birthday this year? The absolute worst.

Favorite book you read this year? I’m a little ashamed to say I haven’t read many books from start to finish this year. There’s been a LOT of writing.

What’s a bad habit you picked up this year? Randomly tsking while thinking. It’s literally popped up in the last week because of the cat.

Post a picture from the beginning of the year. Pass

Post a picture from the end of the year. Pass

A memorable meal this year? Any of the delicious new curries I’ve tasted. They’re the best!

What’re you excited about for next year? Exploring my career as a writer!

What’s something you learned this year? That self-kindness takes practice, and therapy is vital.

What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year? I live alone now!

Favorite place you visited this year? Austria, probably. I spent a lot of time on my own, and got to explore quite a bit.

If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be? Be kind to yourself. It’ll get better.

Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions? I did. I wrote not one, but two original stories for submission and publication.

Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one. I created several! One is a modern incarnation of King Arthur, who is an everyman kind of dude. He’s loyal to his friends... a loyalty tested when one is revealed to be the reincarnation of his legendary mortal enemy.

#ask meme #end of the year #2019 #personal #answers!#more of these were like the last one than i originally thought #oh well.

15 notes · View notes

actuallylorelaigilmore · 4 years

Photo

[laptop] i’ve officially watched my first five movies! to celebrate, i’m reposting the text list to more easily cross movies off it. i’m also linking each of my movie posts to the titles, so you can see my thoughts without having to scroll my whole tag :)

4th man out (2015) [hulu]

a beautiful day in the neighborhood (2019)

a family man (2016) [netflix]

a simple favor (2018) [hulu]

a wrinkle in time (2018) [disney]

abominable (2019)

about a boy (2002)

about time (2013) [netflix]

admission (2013) [laptop]

all the bright places (2020) [netflix]

always be my maybe (2019) [netflix]

an education (2009) [laptop]

ant man (2015) [disney]

ant man and the wasp (2018) [laptop]

aquaman (2018) [laptop]

arrival (2016) [laptop]

atonement (2007) [laptop]

august: osage county (2013) [laptop]

australia (2008) [laptop]

be kind rewind (2008) [laptop]

bedazzled (2000) [laptop]

begin again (2013) [laptop]

big eyes (2014) [laptop]

billy elliot (2000) [laptop]

birds of prey (2020)

blockers (2018) [laptop]

bohemian rhapsody (2018) [laptop]

bombshell (2019)

bowfinger (1999) [laptop]

boy erased (2018) [laptop]

brideshead revisited (2008) [laptop]

bright young things (2003) [laptop]

cairo time (2009) [laptop]

can you ever forgive me? (2018) [laptop]

charlie’s angels (2019)

chef (2014) [laptop]

clemency (2019) [hulu]

coco (2017) [disney]

colette (2018) [laptop]

crazy rich asians (2018) [laptop]

crouching tiger, hidden dragon (2000) [laptop]

demolition man (1993) [laptop]

detective pikachu (2019)

devil’s knot (2013) [laptop]

earth girls are easy (1988) [laptop]

effie gray (2014) [laptop]

fast color (2018) [hulu]

fright night (2011) [laptop]

frozen 2 (2019)

galaxy quest (1999) [amazon]

goodbye christopher robin (2017) [laptop]

gosford park (2001) [laptop]

happy death day (2017) [laptop]

happy death day 2u (2019) [laptop]

happy texas (1999) [laptop]

her smell (2018) [laptop]

hidden figures (2016) [bluray]

high school musical (2006) [disney]

high school musical 2 (2007) [disney]

high school musical 3 (2008) [disney]

holes (2003) [disney]

how to talk to girls at parties (2017) [laptop]

hunt for the wilderpeople (2016)

hustlers (2019)

hysteria (2011) [laptop]

i don’t feel at home in this world anymore (2017) [netflix]

i, tonya (2017) [hulu]

infinitely polar bear (2014) [laptop]

jackie (2016) [laptop]

jane got a gun (2015) [laptop]

jojo rabbit (2019)

judy (2019)

junebug (2005) [laptop]

jupiter ascending (2015) [netflix]

just mercy (2019) [laptop]

keeping mum (2005) [laptop]

knife fight (2012) [laptop]

knives out (2019)

kubo and the two strings (2016) [laptop]

lady bird (2017) [netflix]

laggies (2014) [laptop]

last christmas (2019) [laptop]

late night (2019) [amazon]

legally blonde (2001) [laptop]

lemonade mouth (2011) [disney]

lilo and stitch (2002) [disney]

little women (2019)

logan lucky (2017) [amazon]

long shot (2019)

love, simon (2018) [laptop]

mad max: fury road (2015)

mars attacks! (1996) [laptop]

mary queen of scots (2018) [laptop]

me and earl and the dying girl (2015) [laptop]

meet the robinsons (2007) [disney]

megamind (2010) [laptop]

men in black international (2019) [laptop]

mermaids (1990) [laptop]

miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children (2016) [laptop]

miss pettigrew lives for a day (2008) [laptop]

miss sloane (2016) [amazon]

molly’s game (2017)

monkey business (1952) [laptop]

monuments men (2014) [laptop]

moonrise kingdom (2012) [laptop]

morning glory (2010) [hulu]

mr. magorium’s wonder emporium (2007) [laptop]

mr. mom (1983) [laptop]

much ado about nothing (2011) [laptop]

nancy drew and the hidden staircase (2019) [laptop]

nanny mcphee (2005) [laptop]

nanny mcphee returns (2010) [laptop]

never let me go (2010) [laptop]

northanger abbey (2007) [laptop]

obvious child (2014) [laptop]

other people (2016) [netflix]

pacific rim (2013) [laptop]

paris is burning (1990) [laptop]

penelope (2007) [laptop]

pete’s dragon (2016) [disney]

pirate radio (2009) [laptop]

pitch perfect (2012)

pitch perfect 2 (2015)

pitch perfect 3 (2017)

please stand by (2017) [hulu]

pride and prejudice and zombies (2016) [laptop]

professor marston and the wonder women (2016) [hulu]

return to oz (1985) [disney]

rise of the guardians (2012) [laptop]

rocketman (2019) [hulu]

saving face (2004) [laptop]

seeking a friend for the end of the world (2012) [laptop]

short term 12 (2013) [laptop]

sing street (2016) [laptop]

sleeping with other people (2015) [netflix]

spiderman: far from home (2019) [laptop]

spiderman: homecoming (2017) [laptop]

spiderman: into the spiderverse (2018) [netflix]

spotlight (2015) [netflix]

spy kids (2001) [laptop]

suicide squad (2016) [laptop]

teeth (2007) [laptop]

the anniversary party (2001)

the best exotic marigold hotel (2012) [laptop]

the breadwinner (2017) [netflix]

the children act (2017) [laptop]

the disaster artist (2017) [netflix]

the divine order (2017) [laptop]

the emperor’s new groove (2000) [disney]

the fall (2006) [laptop]

the favourite (2018) [laptop]

the five year engagement (2012) [laptop]

the gentlemen (2020) [laptop]

the godfather (1972) [laptop]

the godfather part 2 (1974) [laptop]

the godfather part 3 (1990) [laptop]

the great gatsby (2013) [laptop]

the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018) [netflix]

the hate u give (2018) [laptop]

the hunchback of notre dame (1996) [disney]

the hunger games (2012)

the hunger games: catching fire (2013)

the hunger games: mockingjay - part 1 (2014)

the hunger games: mockingjay - part 2 (2015)

the iron lady (2011) [netflix]

the legend of tarzan (2016) [laptop]

the man from u.n.c.l.e. (2015)

the master (2012) [netflix]

the miseducation of cameron post (2018)

the mummy (1999)

the mummy returns (2001)

the notebook (2004) [netflix]

the prince of egypt (1998) [hulu]

the queen (2006) [netflix]

the second best exotic marigold hotel (2016) [laptop]

the secret garden (2020) [not out yet]

the skeleton twins (2014) [hulu]

the spy who dumped me (2018) [hulu] [amazon]

the truman show (1998) [laptop]

the velocipastor (2018) [laptop]

the way he looks (2014) [laptop]

their finest (2016) [laptop]

this means war (2012) [laptop]

to all the boys: p.s. i still love you (2020) [netflix]

tootsie (1982) [netflix]

treasure planet (2002) [disney]

tully (2018)

us (2019) [laptop]

velvet goldmine (1998) [laptop]

venom (2018) [laptop]

victoria & abdul (2017) [laptop]

walk the line (2005) [laptop]

what we do in the shadows (2014) [laptop]

where’d you go, bernadette (2019) [hulu]

widows (2018) [laptop]

wild target (2010) [laptop]

yesterday (2019) [laptop]

zombieland: double tap (2019) [laptop]

movies removed from the list:

burn burn burn (2015)(removed bc couldn’t find)

in the heights (2020)(release delayed til next year)

pacific rim: uprising (2018)(removed bc not actually recommended)

star wars: the rise of skywalker (2019)(removed bc yikes after all)

the witches (2020)(release delayed til next year)

underworld (2003)(removed bc previously seen)

underworld: evolution (2006)(removed bc previously seen)

underworld: rise of the lycans (2009)(removed bc previously seen)

#the images still exist but i don't feel like reuploading them every time i watch a single movie and cross it off?#so this seemed like an easier way #200 movies in 2020 #update

9 notes · View notes

defectiicon · 5 years

Text

Roleplay history!

The rules are simple! Post some characters you’d like to roleplay as, have role-played as, and might bring back. Then tag some people to do the same. Aside from that, please repost instead of reblogging!

Currently playing :

Sparkplug (hi hello u are here hello)

Swerve (@metalallcrgy)

Sludge, sometimes (slvdge)

Like 12 Tarns

Rodimus

Charlie

Pipes

Way more blogs than is reasonable

Want to play :

guilmon bc reasons

other muses but i told them no

Have played :

Leanne; fandomless OC, my original RP blog

God!AU Vanitas

Knock Out (my first TF blog???)

Ice Cream Kitty

Walker Yumasaki

Rei, a Durarara OC

G1 Roller

Blue from PokeSpe.

Yuffie from FF7

Will / would like to play again :

Goditas, kinda.

Yuffie

Walker

Tagged by: @weaimtomaim Tagging: anyone that wants to steal this

6 notes · View notes

laaylaazyy · 2 years

Text

Hey :)) I just made this acc .. I wanted a fresh start and also an acc for only K-pop related things so if my blog doesn't have too much in it, then it's really just bc I "moved" and I might not post/repost much first. I'm mostly here to read y'all's amazing works!

♡ Some Info ♡

My name is Layla, I go by she/her, I'm 19 y.o. and live in Germany. My MBTI Type is ISFP-T, and I'm a Sagittarius :))

Groups I stan/love/listen to:

I'll highlight my "Favorites" with Pink

When I say favorite, that also means I'm actively watching content about/from them for example! (But also actually, some groups like BTS are my favorite but I don't really watch anything from them or listen to their songs anymore. They where the first group I "stanned" and learned to love when I first got into Kpop, so they will always have a special place in my heart! But I just kind of lost interest to keep up with their content.. but again, they will always be one of my ults! They are the only group that I don't watch actively anymore but are still one of my favs/ults)

I still love the others just as much but u know everyone has their favorites :)) (I also just know much more about them and have seen almost every content already compared to the other groups! And I actively watch content about/from them)

Treasure, NCT (ot23), Golden Child, P1harmony, Oneus, Enhypen, Blitzers, TXT, TNX, BTS, OMEGA X, Stray Kids, Shinee (I have a very special place for those boys in my heart too.), The boyz, OnlyOneOf, The Rose, BTOB, EXO, Ateez, DAY6, MONSTA X, SF9, CIX, ASTRO, CRAVITY, Mamamoo, Dreamcatcher, Aespa, Itzy, IVE, Blackpink,

and a looooottt of other groups but I need to come back and add them from time to time since my brain isn't working rn lol-

Here some solo artists/groups/bands I absolutely love (Kpop and other)

Giveon, Donna Missal, Alina Baraz, Sickick, HAARPER, RINI, Gaho, PLAZA, Mac Ayres,Taemin (as an Solo Artist) Shirin David, Doja Cat, Abir, Dean, Ariana Grande, Beabadoobee, Ghost Mane, The Neighborhood, Wizkid, Wendy, Senidah, Lewis Blissett, Frank Ocean, Chase Atlantic, Labrinth, Woosung, Tame Impala, Summer Walker, Jessi, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, BOA, BLACK PUMAS, Somo, WOODZ, 6LACK, Normani, Kang Daniel, The Internet, Tom Misch, Tekno, Social House, Sam Kim, Jung Jin Woo, BewhY, Eric Nam, SIR, H.E.R, Charli Taft, Murda, IU

And again, many more others :)

Some things I really enjoy:

Cooking, Baking, Photography, editing, reading, Kpop, Anime, Music and other things <3

Literally know one wanted to know any of that above but anyway 🤸

I always love to make new friends! My DMS are open and I'd love to talk!<3

Right now listening to:

#<3 #Spotify

0 notes

harmonioussolve · 4 years

Text

Proper Nice - Chapter 14

(reposting bc I was rushing last night & there were typos LOL)

read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21342046/chapters/56365450

Summary: You're a hospital event coordinator and you meet Arthur after hiring him for a gig. Then, you find out that he's gonna be your neighbor. Then, maybe you guys fall in love, idk. This is my first fic so be kind and enjoy :-)

He chuckled as he stumbled over his words. “I, um. I don’t know. Narrow it down for me, maybe?”

“Okay,” you straightened and crossed your legs. In your peripherals, you saw Arthur’s eyes watching you intently. You weren’t sure if he was aware of his now tighter grip on your hand.

The two of you continued to make comfortable small talk to pass the time in the car. You wished that this car ride could last forever - to skip the stupid gala. You wanted to tell the driver to turn around so that you could just take Arthur home.

“You can smoke in here, by the way - if you want to,” you offered.

“Oh… No thanks.” He nervously ran a hand through his hair.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to seem rude.” He nodded in the direction of our driver, who was hidden by the partition.

“Oh, he doesn’t care, I’m sure.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Arthur said as he pressed his lips into a reassuring fine line. There was an awkward pause - an opportunity for you to speak up. But, when you started, Arthur spoke again.

“How far away is your parents place?” He asked as he looked away from you out his window.

“Not too much further,” you exhaled. You couldn’t do it. You were going to chicken out. Your heart was breaking before you could even start to let the words out.

Arthur craned his neck to get a better view out his window. Past him, the evening sky had darkened under a sheet of charcoal clouds. The sun shined through just slightly, casting a eerie glow on the rolling green hills. You guys were now officially outside of Gotham - not far, but far enough that the view outside of your window looked like another planet. No graffiti, no concrete, no fluffy clouds of pollution. Just lush green for as far as the eye could see with miles of black wooden fencing. Civilization was barely visible here, and where it was, was few and far between.

Arthur didn’t even notice you looking at him. While he was distracted by the view, you had the opportunity to regard him for just a second. His jawline, the way his brows were furrowed and emerald eyes were focused, his hair that fell just right and brushed along the side of his cream colored collar. It wasn’t fair.

He turned to you and his face fell when he noticed you staring. You retracted your hand quickly from his with a gasp, a nervous reaction. His eye darkened.

“What’s wrong?” He said softly.

He knew something was wrong. He could sense it. You warmed your hands back up by rubbing them together as your cheeks burned of embarrassment. Not only was something clearly wrong, but he had definitely caught you staring at him. “Nothing.”

He tugged at his own collar, readjusting it as if it were choking him.

“…Red is your color,” he stated suddenly. Quietly, he added, “and you are so… beautiful.”

Caught off guard, your only response was to blink back at him. His eyes were so tantalizing and green and solemn - you wondered if he realized how unique they were.

The driver pulled into the driveway - small beige pebbles crinkled under the tires and broke the silence. Through the gate, it stretched to the front of the house, where there was a roundabout. You peeked at Arthur out of the corner of your eye and you could see him become restive. The house that you grew up in was beautiful - tall and intimidating - decorated in towering brick with cascading ivy.

The driver stopped the car at the front door, where he shifted it into park and got out of his seat. He opened Arthur’s door, and he paused before stepping out. He took a deep breath and straightened his jacket after standing and extended his hand to yours. You wiped your sweaty palms on your dress before taking his hand. His tension was rubbing off on you.

He leaned in and whispered, “Is this really where you grew up?”

“Mhmm,” you hummed nonchalantly. Maybe if you acted like it was nothing, then it would be nothing.

The two of you stepped into the vast foyer, the clicks of your heels echoing. The short train of your dress swayed behind you as a gust of air from the front door tousled your hair. Arthur lifted a hand to smooth it down for you, his eyes sparkling. You wanted so badly to ask him to leave with you right then and there but, you knew that tonight had to happen - whether you wanted it to or not.

One of the employees offered to take Arthur’s jacket & he politely declined. You looked around and everything was just how you remembered it - beige, glossy marble. Pristine and cold.

You guys started down the hallway into the living area where Sabrina greeted you warmly. She jumped up and down at the sight of you and wrapped her arms around your neck.

The colors of each room were all the same - monochromatic, neutral and, in your opinion, boring. A large sectional cream couch divided the room where a handful of people stood and sipped from champagne flutes. Colorful art pieces on canvases were dotted around the room, each perched on their own easels.

“Finally,” she joked lightheartedly. “And Arthur, you look dashing. Don’t you clean up nicely!”

“Thank you,” he started to say as Sabrina grabbed him by his neck and lowered him to her. She placed a kiss on each of his cheeks as his eyes widened. You giggled at his surprised reaction. Even though she was an acquired taste, you loved how your best friend made an effort to make him feel included.

“Oh! This is my date - Charlie.” Sabrina moved aside so that her date could greet the both of you. You’d never met this guy before. You were sure he was a Tinder match. No judgement. He seemed nice and he dressed appropriately. He was tall and blonde and looked like he was probably his high school’s quarterback.

“A red suit, man… I like it! Very bold,” he stated as he patted Arthur on his shoulder.

“Why don’t you guys grab a glass of champagne?” Sabrina offered. “We have to make the most of this fucking snooze fest - no offense.”

“None taken,” you stated with raised brows. You and Arthur walked over to a credenza at the far end of the sitting room, weaving in and out of people. Each of you grabbed a glass as you raised yours to him.

“To tonight.”

“To tonight,” Arthur repeated, gently clinking his glass to yours. You glimpsed at him slyly above the rim of your champagne flute, your lips quirking upward. The bubbles sizzled down your throat as you stopped yourself from gulping the whole glass out of nervousness.

Arthur leaned in to whisper in your ear. His warm breath brushed your neck and sent a chill down your spine. The sharp scent of aftershave and cologne was tempting. “I, um, wanted to tell you again how amazing you look.”

“Why, thank you,” you said as a flush dusted your cheeks. “You are, certainly, prince charming.”

A rose tint dusted his cheeks as he peered down at you.

You lowered your voice. “I guess we should get the hard part over with.”

“What’s that?” he said as he looked up and took in all of the high ceilings.

“Meeting my parents.” You took his hand and lead him through a short cut. You guided him through the swinging doors of the kitchen where a full staff was scrambling to get the next course ready.

“Do you guys always… have a full kitchen staff?” He questioned as you urged him to keep up with you.

“Erm… no. Just the main three chefs. They live here.”

“They live here?” You ignored his astonishment and pulled him through the next set of swinging doors out of the kitchen. Down the hallway, you could hear your parents talking in the back room. The yellow light seeped into the hallway through the archway to another sitting area. You inhaled deeply & reassuringly rubbed Arthur’s arm.

This was the first hardest thing that you had to do tonight. If I could just get through this, then i’ll be halfway there.

“Darling - finally! I was wondering where you were.” Your mother welcomed you with open arms. She delicately patted your back and kept you a safe distance away from the intricate up do that her hair was styled into. Her Chanel No. 5 perfume singed your nostrils. Your father was at the other end of the room, entertaining a group of guests that you didn’t recognize. His booming, deep laughter drowned out the sound of the music.

“I was just showing my lovely date around,” you said as you stepped aside to introduce Arthur, who was standing timidly behind you.

“You must be Arthur,” your mother said as she grabbed him gingerly by the shoulders and proceeded to kiss both of his cheeks. “I’m so glad you guys came.”

Arthur only nodded in response. Your mother adjusted her beige and brown fur shawl around her shoulders. Her dress was a fluffy, metallic navy blue with a strapless sweetheart neckline. It looked like something that someone would wear to a wedding if they were the mother of the bride.

Or, if you were someone’s rich mom.

She motioned her hand towards a tray of champagne flutes that sat on top of the counter. “Please, help yourselves.”

Arthur chose to hang on to his current glass, which was still half full. You set your now empty flute down on the counter to grab a new one. This was going to be a long night.

“So, Arthur. What do you do for a living?”

Getting right to it, are we?

Arthur shifted nervously. “Um, well… I’m pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. But for now, I work as a party clown.”

Her eyebrows shot up while she was taking a sip from her flute. “Mmmm… a party clown?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ahh,” she considers, setting her glass down. “Interesting.”

You felt yourself become self conscious of the tone that she had with him. You could sense her being just the tiniest bit condescending and this conversation couldn’t end sooner.

“Isn’t that lovely?” You chimed in and tilted your head at her. “That’s how we met, actually. He goes around to all of the hospitals and makes the children laugh. He loves to spread joy in that way. You should try it sometime.”

Arthur mouth fell slightly agape as he stood quietly beside you. You suddenly found yourself thinking of how different your relationship with your mother was compared to his. He was her caregiver, for God’s sake. He probably wouldn’t dare to speak to her like that, as much as he might want to.

She lifted her chin with an amused smile, ignoring your rebuttal. “How old are you, Arthur?”

Your brows knitted together in shock. What an odd and unnecessary question to ask him at their first meeting. You couldn’t say that you were completely surprised, though. It was your mother, after all - ruthlessly and unabashedly nosy.

“…I’m 32.”

She hummed once again. “Quite the age difference. Have you thought of another career?”

You and Arthur exchanged looks. You wished you could pull one of those flimsy black holes from the old cartoons out of your evening clutch, drop it onto the floor, and jump into it - disappearing and taking Arthur with you.

“No ma’am. I… have always wanted to be a comedian. My mother… she says I was put on this earth to spread laughter -”

Your mother’s eyebrows raised once again. “Oh! That’s a wonderful dream to have, Arthur. But, have you thought of a more… sustainable career?”

“What do you mean, ma’am?”

Is she not going to correct him? She’s just going to let him call her, “ma’am?”

“Well,” she started. “Here are my thoughts-“

Maybe we should start running now.

She delicately swept a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat. “- I want my sweet girl to be taken care of. I need her to be with someone that has a solid career with substantial job security. I’m not sure if being a… performer would provide that - unless, you come from money.” She chortled into her champagne before she devoured the rest in a theatrical gulp.

“Mother, please-“

“I’m just being realistic, darling. Best to get this over with in the beginning, right?”

You scowled at her. She wondered why half of your relationships never lasted and the other half never even met her. She wasn’t a realist - she was relentless. Your heart shattered thinking of how Arthur might be feeling in this moment. You hoped that he wasn't actually taking her words or attitude into consideration. Your mother’s approval was certainly not needed when it came to being with him.

You were just about to pull him away when -

“How else would you be able to afford to live in New York?”

Your heart stopped.

“New York?” Arthur asked faintly. He glanced back and forth between your mother and you. Your throat began to swell. “… Are you leaving?”

You were frozen under his beseeching gaze. The backs of your eyes started to burn with tears that threatened to make themselves known.

“Well, if you two are as serious as you seem to be about each other, wouldn’t you go together?” your mother challenged with knitted brows.

Your jaw clenched as you ground your teeth together. No, no, no. Not like this. I should’ve told him in the car when I had the chance.

“… What? When?” Arthur looked at you desperately. He looked panicked - as if he was waiting for you to tell him that it wasn’t true. But, it was.

“In a month!” your mother exclaimed a little too excitedly. “I’m sorry, I assumed you knew!” She threw her hands up and shrugged her shoulders with a tsk. “I mean, you brought him as your date, darling. You never bring a date.”

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck before looking down at the floor. “I had no idea.”

“I was going to tell you -“

“Oh, my darling has been wanting to live in New York all of her life. We are so proud of her.”

“I’m sure -” Arthur snorted as he clasped a hand over his mouth.

“Arthur…” you whispered, rubbing his back to try to console him.

Suddenly, he doubled over in cackling laughter. He grabbed the edge of the counter to steady himself as your mother jolted in surprise, laying a delicate hand on her chest and gasping. A few of the other guests at the other end of the room turned there heads in your direction.

“I-I’m… sorry. I have… a condition,” he choked out in between gulps of air. His laughter became louder as he wrapped one of his arms around himself.

“Arthur,” you cooed. “Let me explain -“

“I… have to… get some fresh air.”

You tried to extend a pleading hand to his, but his fingers slipped though yours.

When you turned to follow him instead, your mother grabbed your arm, pulling you back to her.

“Sweetie, do you really want to go after him? He can’t take care of you the way that you should be,” she whispered into your ear so that the other guests couldn’t hear. “There’s something wrong with him. You’re wasting your time.”

“How dare you?” You spat as you sternly removed your arm from her grasp. “There is nothing wrong with him and I am not wasting my time - why would you say that?”

You paused as a few of the guests shot concerning glances toward you two.

You could feel your eyes begin to swell and your vision became blurry. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”

“Of course, darling but -“

“Good,” you interjected, holding up a hand. “Say no more. Please.”

She leaned back and squinted at you. “You love him, don’t you?”

Without answering, you turned and left the room. Down the back hallway, a pair of french doors led out to a second story concrete deck. You grabbed a bunch of the front of your dress and held it up off the floor. Between the window panes, you could see Arthur with his back to you, smoking a cigarette. He braced himself by placing his hands on the bannister.

You quietly opened the doors, the evening winter air immediately chilled you. You closed the doors behind you, crossed your arms, and slowly made you way to him.

“Arthur…” your voice, barely above a whisper, cracked. “Please, hear me out.”

#arthur x reader #arthur fleck #arthur fleck x reader #arthur fleck x you

0 notes