#rosé calling them mommies made me laugh

[idkthisisjustforfanfic]

that makes four.

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PART 4

Tristan had slapped his menu shut before you could even sit down. He’d been begging you to try a new place in Encino with him, you figured it was a good excuse to get Zoey out of the house and to let Maeve and CeCe duke it out in Shelli and Irv’s backyard instead of yours.

It was all work talk at first, he offered an update on a meeting you missed to drop off Maeve at a friend’s and Zoey sucked down a glass of wine promising to pump and dump before the night ended.

But now your plates were in front of you and you twirled spaghetti around your fork when she asked: “How’s your pool boy?” You stared up at her, unimpressed.

“He’s not my pool boy, and he’s fine.”

Tristan raised his eyebrows across the table. “Would you let Harry Styles be your pool boy?”

“Can we not talk about him like this, please?”

“Oh come on,” Tristan pulled a face. “If you’re not going to sleep with him at least let us fantasize.”

You must have twitched, a quick glance in Zoey’s direction or a quiver of your lip. Zoey leaned in and her voice was serious. “What was that?”

“What? Nothing.”

“What do you mean what was that?” Tristan asked.

“She made a weird face when you said that.”

“No I didn’t,” you defended. “I just don’t like talking about him in public, especially like this.”

“Bullshit,” Zoey laughed, leaned back in her chair. “What are you not telling us? Did you see him shirtless again?”

You let out a breath, wiped at your mouth and wondered if telling them would be the biggest mistake of your life. You couldn’t even get the words out before Zoey leaned in.

“You had sex with him?!” her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, Tristan’s fork clanked against his plate when his jaw dropped open.

You’d made it a whole week, almost. You pushed the thoughts down and brushed them under the metaphorical work rug. The body wash prototypes were in, you were booking models to do a photoshoot, video shoot, everything was getting lined up for the rollout in another few weeks. You didn’t have time to tell them about something silly and stupid and maybe a part of you didn’t want to fill them in because you were afraid they’d burst your bubble. It’ll never work out, what happens when his house is ready, he has a tour to go on.

“Be quiet,” you looked around and worried if anyone had overheard Tristan’s not-so-subtle name drop. “It’s not a big deal, okay? It’s not like it’s gonna be a regular thing.”

Tristan pulled his head back, offended by your words. “You had sex with him and you’re not going to make that a regular thing? Have you seen him?”

“Yes,” you made a face at Tristan. “I have seen him.”

“You are going to hit and quit Harry Styles?” Zoey leaned in and said his name much more quietly now.

“Well,” you dropped their gaze for a second, reluctant to be honest with them in fear of their reaction. “It’s happened once, and then we kissed once but CeCe came down, but she didn’t see anything. I’m just too old to be hooking up with a twenty-four year old.”

“Wait, okay, slow down. When did this happen?” Zoey asked.

“After my birthday dinner,” you shrugged. “We came home, had wine, the girls were out.”

“And when did you make out with him aside from that night?”

“The next night. And we didn’t make out, it was barely even open-mouthed.”

“Ew,” Tristan grimaced.

Zoey snapped to get your attention. “So twenty-four hours after you had sex, you kissed him?”

You made a face at her, unsure where she was going with it. You hadn’t been clocking or documenting your sexual encounters. “I don’t know, probably.”

“This is straight out of a trashy romance book written for middle aged women,” Tristan leaned back in his seat and took a pull from his glass of rosé. “I mean that in, like, a nice way.”

“Okay,” Zoey leaned forward. “So, nothing has happened since a week ago, then?”

“No,” you shook your head quickly. “Just those times. And I don’t think anything should happen again.”

They both groaned at the same time, Zoey’s shoulders sunk and she rolled her eyes. “You deserve to have sex with a hot guy.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“Even if he’s younger than you.”

“I don’t want to traumatize my children.”

“Well you don’t have to have sex in front of them,” Tristan made a goofy face and you waved him off.

Zoey snorted out a laugh but you ignored their immaturity.

“I mean that having Harry here is already probably confusing for them, right? Their dad leaves, their grandpa dies, now we have some stranger in our house and he’s playing with them in the backyard and--”

“Being more of a dad to them than Luke ever was?”

Zoey’s words brought a sigh out from between your lips. “Exactly.”

“Having a positive male role model is good for them,” Tristan said.

“Sure,” you nodded. “But what about when Harry moves out? He’ll just be another man that will leave them. They’ll be super fucked up.”

Tristan reached forward and took your hand in his. “Hey--it’s more about the fact that they have you and they have other people who love them. Who cares if their idea of a family isn’t the stereotypic, heterosexual norm?”

“I know,” you relented. “I just don’t want them to be poorly adjusted.”

“Okay, that sounds like something an obnoxious prep school guidance counselor would say to you,” Zoey eyed you with skepticism.

You shrugged your shoulders. “It was Maeve’s teacher.”

“Okay, fuck that teacher!” Tristan nodded. “Your kids are adjusting, and that’s because of how good of a mom you are to them. And mommy deserves a pool boy.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, even if his words were worthy of an eye-roll. Zoey tried not to let wine drip from her nose after a snort escaped between sips.

“Not my pool boy!” You giggled.

“Which is good,” Tristan nodded, his tone completely serious. “That would be so cliché even Nora Roberts wouldn’t write it.”

**

Slumber parties always made you anxious. They were one of those things that made you question how on earth people trusted you to watch a group of children when sometimes, you still felt like one yourself.

Maeve’s 11th birthday party was no exception. Five other girls danced around your living room and CeCe sat at the counter while you iced cupcakes. Her little face was scrunched into a pout so intensely that it almost made you giggle.

“You alright?” You asked her, dish towel over your shoulder when she let out another sigh.

“Just wish I could play with them,” she held her palms towards the sky in exasperation, reaching for a container of sprinkles when you let out a laugh.

“You get to go for ice cream with Uncle Jeff, remember? You’re gonna go to the beach, too, I think.”

You’d been trying to bribe her all week: a new tutu, a new doll, anything she wanted just to make her give up and accept the fact that her older sister didn’t want her at her slumber party.

And you couldn’t blame either of them. Of course Maeve didn’t want her younger (and very loud, dramatic, and demanding) younger sister trailing behind all night. But, on the other hand, of course CeCe felt left out when she saw all of the older girls arrive with their sleeping bags and birthday gifts.

She sighed again, your conversation interrupted by a ringing from your cell phone on the counter beside her.

“Uncle Jeff?”

She was right, you reached for the phone and held it up with your shoulder, hoping the laughter from the living room wouldn’t travel it’s way into the speaker.

“Hi--are you here?”

“Y/N, I am so sorry to do this--”

“Oh god, Jeff, no!”

“I just got called into the office because one of my artists apparently just posted some stupid shit on the internet--isn’t there someone else who can hang out with CeCe? Where’s Tristan?”

“I don’t know where he is, but I doubt he’d be thrilled to play dress up or skip through a park.”

“Zoey?”

You could hear traffic through his line, his karma for backing out at the last minute was having to sit on the 405. “She has a ten-week-old infant, Jeffrey.”

“Well where’s Harry? Can’t he pitch in?”

You let out a groan, CeCe had taken to pouring sprinkles into her hand and lapping them up with her tongue.

Harry was upstairs, hiding away from the girl gang currently singing karaoke and sipping on juice boxes. He had the day off and had dipped out in the afternoon to meet a friend for lunch. You tried to mind your own business--he could come and go as he pleased and just because you had slept with him once didn’t give you the right to suddenly start asking questions about his plans.

But the universe pitied you, apparently, because right when you told Jeff you’d figure it out and hung up on him aggressively, Harry pranced down the stairs and headed for the fridge.

“How’s it going down here?” He reached for a juice box, crisp apple, and fumbled with the straw when he turned to face you.

“Everyone is alive and nothing is broken,” you scanned the counter, another batch of cupcakes still in the oven with 10 minutes to go.

With the straw now between his lips, he raised his eyebrows. “Bar’s that low, huh?”

“Well, your friend Jeffrey just bailed on watching CeCe and going for ice cream.”

She was blissfully unaware of the change of plans, still licking sprinkles out of her palm, but now swiveled around on the stool to watch the girls jump around in the other room.

“I can take her,” he shrugged nonchalantly, ran a hand through his hair when you stared at him for a second.

If traffic was Jeff’s karma, Harry must have been yours.

“Are you serious? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all,” he smiled. “CeCe? What do you say we do ice cream and pizza?”

She turned around at the sound of her name, her eyes lit up. “Pepperoni?” She asked.

“Of course,” Harry replied to her like it was a crazy question.

“Is Uncle Jeff coming?”

“He’s not,” You informed her, arms crossed over your chest. “You’re alright to go with Harry?”

You didn’t mean to make it awkward, but mom mode kicked in and you realized CeCe had never spent time alone with Harry except maybe in the backyard.

“Yeah!” She hopped down from the stool and grinned up at him. “Can I get a milkshake?”

Harry looked over to you and when you nodded, he held out his hand. “As many as you want.”

“That’s not what I said,” you called after him, watching as he led her over to the back door. He plucked his keys off the hook on the wall and smiled at you over his shoulder. “Please don’t be out late, text me when you get where you’re going!”

CeCe shouted a bye mommy!!!! before they disappeared into the driveway. A sudden raise in your pulse had you questioning what type of mother lets their 6-year-old get in the car with a pop star who’s probably hounded by paparazzi and maybe even doing cocaine on the weekends.

You picked up your phone and it rang four times before Zoey answered. “I need you to talk me off the ledge.”

“What ledge?”

The timer beeped and you gloved up to retrieve the rest of the cupcakes. “I’m apparently a psychopath because I just let Harry take CeCe for pizza and ice cream.”

You could tell she held back a laugh. “Why does that make you a psychopath?”

“Because he’s a stranger! What if he never comes back with her? What if he gets chased by paparazzi and CeCe is the next Princess Diana?!” The thought shuttered through your bones, a shiver down your spine when Zoey cleared her throat.

“Okay, so, as a mom, I totally get that. But I also think you’re freaking out too much.”

The cupcake tin rattled onto the granite. “How?!”

“He’s not a stranger, he’s been living with you guys for like, over a month now.”

You thought about it for a second. Two weeks turned into a few more, four weeks slipped by easily. What felt like it was going to be a blip on the radar now felt like a totally normal thing: dinners with him as the fourth seat and texts to him in the middle of the day asking if there was anything he was in the mood for.

“I just can’t believe I trust him enough to do that, I guess.”

“Y/N, he’s a good guy,” she laughed. “He likes your kids and he definitely likes you.”

“We’re not going there,” you said. “I have a house full of ten-year-olds and cupcakes to frost.”

“Okay, well, you’re not a psychopath. And there’s nothing wrong with having feelings for him.”

“Zoey! You are starting to sound like the psychopath!”

“I’m alright with that,” laughter through the phone when you told her you had to go. Love you, see you later, pinch Benny’s cheeks for me.

You were swept up in the excitement of the night. Your own pizza was delivered before 8pm, a movie turned on by 9pm. They decorated cupcakes at the dining room table and proceeded to eat more than they could fit in their tummies.

Maeve was in heaven, opened presents when you snapped pictures on your phone. Harry had texted to let you know they’d stop at Shelli and Irv’s before heading home. If CeCe came home in the middle of presents, she’d probably break down right there.

So when you heard the alarm signal a new entry, you hoped CeCe was too tired to argue with you about sleeping in her own room and not in Maeve’s with the rest of them. Your legs were folded beneath you on the couch, noise in the kitchen when Harry rounded the corner with CeCe asleep on his shoulder.

You stood up, eyebrows high when he smirked in your direction. “She’s out cold,” he laughed. “Fell right asleep on the way home.”

“It’s like a ten minute drive from their house,” you said, opening your arms to take her. “Sorry, here.”

“I can bring her up...just lead the way,” he motioned with his head for you to go first up the stairs. He followed you down the hall and to CeCe’s room, pink walls and a plush carpet underneath her twin-sized bed that still seemed too big for her.

He put her down when you flipped on a nightlight, watched when you tugged the duvet over her and kissed her on the forehead. You sighed when you stood up straight beside him, voice quiet. “I’m not waking her up to brush her teeth cause she’ll freak out and want to be included in the party. Am I a bad mom?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, smirked down at you quickly before looking back to her. “You’re a great mom.”

You elbowed him in the ribs playfully. “You have to say that.”

“I do?”

“I’m your landlord,” you laughed, leading him back into the hallway.

“I thought you were my friend?”

A sigh, the darkness a cover for your confusion and your fluttering heart beat. “Yeah, that too.”

He was quiet for a second, if it weren’t for the bedroom of kids down the hall you’d pull him into you despite better judgment. He stared down at you with a dimpled smile, but you took a step back.

“Thanks for taking her, and hanging out with her. You really didn’t have to.”

“I had fun,” he reassured you. “We got a pizza and ate in a park near Westwood Hills, then got ice cream, visited with Shelli and Irv,” he listed it off like it brought him as much joy as it did her.

“Hey, not to be weird or anything, but--how’s your house coming?”

He sensed the shift in the air too, but he didn’t know that it came from a place of fear. A question you had to ask: this was temporary, this wasn’t real, this was just a convenient set up and you couldn’t lose sight of that.

“Oh, yeah--I’m going over on Sunday to see it. Apparently there are still issues with the plumbing that have to be updated. They said it might be a few more weeks.”

“Okay, I just didn’t know.”

“Yeah, is that okay? I can try to find somewhere to stay if you need me out?”

“No,” you said it quickly. “I don’t need you to leave.”

“Okay,” he said, his eyes still on yours. He reached forward to brush a piece of hair behind your ear. “I like staying here with you guys.”

“...I like it too.”

“Mom?” Maeve’s head poked out of her bedroom. “Hayley spilled soda on the carpet!”

He stepped back from you quickly, like his reflexes were getting better each time. You laughed at his sudden movement, “coming!”

He smiled down at you and let out an exaggerated sigh once Maeve’s door was slammed shut and the music was back on, a magnetic pull between your chests that maybe he felt too. “Hayley, Hayley, Hayley.”

But again, a rush of uncertainty and self-doubt made you grateful for the interruption, your stomach weaving itself in knots when you stared at your ceiling fan and hoped that sleep would come.

Work picked up in the next week, Tristan was in your office most days with spreadsheets and graphs and to-do lists that made you feel like you needed a margarita at 2pm. On Wednesday Harry made dinner and CeCe had a meltdown when you forced her to take a bath.

Friday night entailed dinner at Shelli and Irv’s, the girls and Harry and Jeff too. You stood in the kitchen with a glass of wine in hand, Shelli watched as their chef sautéed something through steam. When Jeff pulled Harry away to show him a new guitar Irv had been gifted, you ignored the smile on Shelli’s face.

“How are things going?”

“Fine,” you said, casually and calm and cool. “How are you?”

“Y/N,” she smiled. “Does Jeffrey know?”

“Know what?”

“About you and Harry?”

“No,” you told her quickly. “There’s nothing to know, alright? We were drunk, it was not a big deal.”

“Alright,” she held up a hand, effectively resigning when she sipped her Pinot Grigio, a disappointed sigh before she asked: “How are the girls holding up?”

You sighed, unsure if she’d really drop it. You told her about Maeve’s birthday party and caught her up on the body wash debut. Deadlines were quickly approaching, the launch party was being scheduled and production was full steam ahead.

You almost thought you’d make it through the rest of the night without any drama--no more mention of Harry or the happenings between you. But eventually he and Jeff found their way back to the kitchen and you hoped that no one noticed how close Harry stood to you.

Jeff was in the middle of filling you and Shelli in on Harry’s album plans: they were wrapping up production and soon they’d announce the release date, his excitement cut off by a shout from the backyard.

“Mommy!” CeCe’s voice was shrill and desperate as it rang through the house. She let out a loud sob and when you looked up, you saw her clutching her elbow with a new grass stain on her shirt. She was fine, it was one of those moments where she thought the world was ending but everyone else knew getting knocked over by her sister wouldn’t kill her.

“She’s fine,” Maeve rolled her eyes, a quick look down to CeCe who’s eyes were already filled with tears.

“No I’m not!” she screamed back at her sister.

You looked to Shelli with an exasperated look, set your glass of wine down on the counter. Before you could make any movement, though, Harry’s hand hovered on the small of your back. “I’ll go, enjoy the wine. She’s fine.”

He was right, there was no question that CeCe would survive her scraped elbow and bruised ego. He moved towards the backyard and you were frozen in place when Jeff’s forehead wrinkled.

“What was that?” he asked, eyebrows strung together like tea lights once Harry was out of earshot.

“I don’t know--what do you mean?”

You looked over at Harry, now on the ground in front of CeCe who’s wails were much quieter. She wiped at her wet eyes, a little laugh escaped her lips when Harry brushed the grass off of her elbow and cracked a joke.

“Well, he seems pretty good with them,” Jeff leaned against the counter, the sliding door providing a perfect view as CeCe stood up and raced back towards Maeve.

“Yeah, I mean, he is.”

“He also touched your back in a funny way.”

Shelli raised her eyebrows and sipped at her wine again.

“And now my mom is making a weird face,” Jeff’s eyes narrowed when he looked at you. “Are you--is there, like, something going--”

“No,” you said quickly, a finger pointed at Shelli and another pointed at Jeff. “Do not say anything in front of the girls.”

Shelli stifled a laugh but managed to look incredibly innocent at the same time.

“Oh my god!” Jeff said this with a noise of shock, eyes wide when he looked between you and Shelli, then back out to the yard where Harry laughed with Irv. “Oh my god, and you knew?”

Shelli shrugged her shoulders, a don’t blame me look crossed her face when you took a swig of wine to calm the pounding of your heart.

Jeff had always been protective and caring and like a brother. Not in a weird way, not in the you can’t date my friends way. Just in the sense that he wanted to know who you were hooking up with and he’d been encouraging you relentlessly to stop picking assholes ever since you filed for divorce.

But this was different, this was a friend of his and a client of his. It was someone that his entire family knew and this was probably the worst choice of rebound.

“Please relax,” you said this with a look of warning in his direction. “I will explain to you what your lunatic mother is smirking about but you have about fifteen seconds to wipe the look of shock off your face before he comes back in here.”

“She’s fine,” Harry waved a hand once he was back in the kitchen. “And what look of shock are we wiping off of our faces?” The dimple was there again, the corner of his mouth pulled up and he scanned all three of you for any sort of information.

“Just that you are so good with the girls,” Jeff covered for you, a confident nod when he hoped Harry would believe him.

“That’s surprising to you?” Harry pulled his head back, an obvious look of mock offense. “I’m great with children. They love me.”

Maeve came in from the fading light, out of breath from running around with whatever ball they’d gotten their hands on. “Who loves you?”

“Kids,” Jeff replied for him.

“Oh,” Maeve said. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?” You looked down at her, unsure if she was agreeing or just voicing that she understood.

She shrugged, plucked a chicken skewer from a dish in front of Shelli. “I mean, I like having him around.”

Harry was practically tickled pink. “Thank you, Maeve.” He turned to rub this in Jeff’s face. “See?”

“He cooks well, plays outside with us, definitely funnier than mom,” Maeve kept listing things off, pulling laughter from the rest of the crew.

“Maeve!” You whined. “I’m funny!”

“You’re like, sometimes funny.”

“Sometimes funny is better than never funny,” Harry nodded in your direction, an attempt to soften the blow.

CeCe had wandered in behind her sister, she picked at the scrape on her elbow until you called her attention. “CeCe--do you think mommy’s funny?”

“Mmmm,” the thought on it for a second, put her finger to her chin and scrunched up her nose. “Sort of.”

Jeff let out a big laugh at that, Harry tried to stifle one and you dismissed the jabs. “Okay, well, it’s not like anyone here is a comedian.”

“Harry’s funny,” CeCe said with a smile. “He reads books in silly voices.”

Jeff’s eyebrows shot up at that again, amused and surprised by the fact that Harry was in on the bedtime routine. But it was infrequent, sometimes CeCe would beg for more time outside or another thirty minutes of TV.

If the tears got aggressive or the tantrum became too much, she perked up pretty quickly if Harry offered to read with her. It was way more exciting than reading with you, Maeve had explained.

After showering Harry with compliments, the girls were excited to sit on Shelli and Irv’s patio. Pink lemonade and a delicious dinner, though neither of them would even so much as take a bit of your salad.

They ran around some more while you sipped wine, Jeff and Harry had been talked into a two versus two soccer match and Irv laughed his head off when Maeve actually scored on Jeff. Darkness came and CeCe crawled into your lap, eyelids getting heavy until you buckled her into the backseat.

You’d taken one car, CeCe’s booster seat was too clunky to move over to Harry’s so you drove and felt slightly embarrassed about the crayons and coloring books scattered on the floor of the backseat.

“Mom, can I have another sleepover this weekend?”

“With who?”

“All of the girls from last weekend.”

“Honey, no, that was a big party for your birthday.”

“I’m aware,” she shot back quickly. “But we all had so much fun and we wouldn’t be as loud as we were last time.”

“I said no, Maeve. You can do something with your friends if you want but we’re not doing another sleepover right now.”

You’d been hesitant about it in the first place. A group of ten and eleven-year-olds? With Harry in the house? It felt like a recipe for disaster and aside from a few excited stares when they were first dropped off, you all escaped relatively unscathed.

You worried at first about the whispers from other moms--she’s letting a twenty-four year-old live with her children?--but you soon realized that they were almost more excited about sneaking a glimpse of Harry than their daughters were.

“You’re so annoying,” she quipped from the back. “You never let me do anything fun.”

Harry’s lips twitched up in a tiny smirk, a sideways glance in your direction. You’d already told him how awkward it felt to discipline them with him right there, a glass of wine in the kitchen one night and he teased you about your frustrated mom voice.

“Maeve--don’t be rude. You just had a birthday party and now you want another, basically.”

“No, I want to have the same girls over. It’s not my birthday so it’s not a birthday party.”

A left turn into the driveway. “But you want me to order pizza and make cupcakes and you want to drink a bunch of soda again?”

“Yes.”

You pulled into the garage and cut the engine, turning to look at her. “Maeve, sweetie, I love you. But no.”

She let out a huff and shoved the door open, she typed in the entry code and slammed the door to the house before the rest of you could even climb out.

“The drama,” CeCe shook her head, tired steps towards the house.

“The drama is right,” you told her with a laugh. “Go wash up and I’ll come up in a few, okay?”

She scampered up the steps, you dropped your keys on the counter inside and then turned to look at him. “Do you have a second?”

He nodded, leaned on the counter. “What’s up?”

You didn't know if it was a good idea, but you'd spent enough morning drives to school lecturing about how honest is the best policy, so you figured you'd give it a shot.

“Uh, well--Jeff may or may not be suspicious about you and...me.”

Using the phrase made you nervous, like he’d laugh and think it was stupid. You and me.

“Oh,” he said, eyebrows arched. “Did you--why did that come up?”

“Well you went to handle my crying child, which is--you know--”

He laughed a little, “too boyfriendy of me?”

Your heartbeat picked up in pace, your face felt hot and it suddenly felt like he was watching you too closely.

“No--I don’t know--you touched my back and he just asked what was happening.”

He deflated at that, hung his head low for a second and then looked up. “Oh, I--uh--I’m really sorry, I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“No!” You felt bad, that wasn’t the message you were trying to convey. If anything, you wanted to give him the out and the okay that he didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to step into your family like some hero for you or your daughters. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable, I just--I don’t know where you are at, I guess.”

“And now Jeff is asking questions,” he laughed, a nod like he knew where you were going with it.

There was no label necessary. It wasn’t that type of thing, you knew that. “That’s what you walked in on after CeCe got hurt.”

Another nod, like the puzzle pieces were fitting into place. “Right. Got it. Was he--how did he seem? Did you tell him that we--”

“He put it together,” you cut him off, again careful of the words used around the girls even though they were upstairs and--by the sound of it--bickering in the bathroom. “But he was fine with it. I just think we need to be careful, you know. The girls...and this is temporary, and--”

“Absolutely.”

“So, you know, just--”

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence. “I should go tuck them in.” You turned on your feet and headed for the stairs before he could reply, desperate to get out of the situation out of fear of having to find more words to string together in a messy jumble of emotions.

Another slammed door from Maeve when you reached the top of the stairs. You knocked twice. “Can I come in, please?”

“No!”

“Maeve,” you leaned against the doorframe. Harry came up and offered an awkward smile. “Please let me talk to you.”

“I’m not talking to you!” She shouted.

Harry came over and knocked. “Maeve? It’s Harry--can I come in?”

Silence for a second, her footsteps were audible on the wood floor. The door opened a crack, she peered out with narrowed eyes. “Fine--but not her.”

You looked over at Harry, unsure of his game plan but also fed up with the theatrics and the overreaction. He shrugged his shoulders half-apologetically, a smirk in your direction before he slipped into the room.

Did you stay and listen? Was it weird? What would he even say to her?

You decided against it, headed for your own bedroom and tugged on pajamas after you flicked on CeCe’s night light and kissed her goodnight. At least only one of them was being dramatic today.

Five minutes passed, then ten. You tried not to look at the clock and focused instead on a book Zoey had told you was a must read.

Eventually there was a knock on your door, Harry pushed it open and smiled. “Do you want some intel?”

“Duh,” you said. “Come in.”

He walked forward and sat on your bed, a sigh when he brought his eyes to yours again. “Well, she said you’re annoying again.”

“Of course.”

“She’s just grumpy. Said Hayley wanted to have a sleepover this weekend because it would be better at her house.”

“Ah,” you nodded. “Some 5th grade rivalry.”

“Classic, really.”

You laughed. “Was she okay talking to you?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, eyebrows low on his forehead. “Opened right up.”

“Well, we do know she likes you more.”

He rolled his eyes. “She just likes that I’m not you.”

“Feels like that’s the same thing.”

Quiet for a moment when he angled towards you, scanned your face with his eyes.

“I guess I’ll go say goodnight.”

“Oh, I tucked her in.”

Your mouth tugged into a smirk. “You what?”

“She said she didn’t want you to come in.”

“So you tucked her in?”

He let out a laugh, explained the process like it should have been obvious. “Yeah--pulled up the blanket. Patted her on the head. She said she brushed her teeth.”

You leaned back against the headboard, the same buzzing feeling in your chest took flight when he asked: “why is it so shocking to everyone that I’m good with them?”

It slipped out before you could think of the possible consequences. “Because you’re young.”

“I’m not that young.”

“And Luke was just--not like that. He was pretty disinterested after CeCe was born.” You hoped this was enough of a redirection.

“You’re really caught up on my age, aren’t you?”

“No.”

He raised his eyebrows and offered a look that said: bullshit. When he didn’t speak, you cracked a joke.

“Or...you are not hung up enough on how old I am.”

“Why should I care how old you are?”

“Cause you’ve had sex with me and you’re living in my house.”

“Both of those things I am aware of. And feel really good about both of them.”

You let out a laugh at his nonchalance, folded your arms over your chest when he stood up. “You’re something else.”

“I’m not,” you disagreed.

“I think you are,” he nodded, leaned closer to you and offered a challenging glare. His hair was messy, he’d been running around in the backyard with them at Shelli and Irv’s, a few glasses of wine in him seemed to loosen him right up to the point that he was ready to slide tackle your six-year-old.

He watched you for a second, almost like he was waiting for you to stop him. You didn’t, though, you wanted him to kiss you just as much as it looked like he wanted to close to the distance between your chests.

Instead of telling him you shouldn’t, instead of telling him that the girls were down the hall and this was risky, you pulled him on top of you, tugged him by the t-shirt until he flopped down on your bed with a laugh against your lips.

He lifted himself up after a clumsy moment, looked down at you and smirked.

“What?” You asked playfully.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been so turned on by someone in my whole life.”

His words circled around you, pulled your body up to melt into his when his hand cupped your face. He laced his fingers through the hair along your neck, the warmth from his body made your pulse rise with each second.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this when they’re home?”

If the dimples on his cheeks weren’t enough, if the way his tattoos littered his skin wasn’t enough, if the look in his eyes right now on top of you was not enough to create a full-on mom fantasy in your head, the way he talked about your daughters was.

“Yeah,” you tugged him back against your mouth, felt the way your hips tilted against his without any thought. His hands moved to your wrists, holding them in place when he trailed his lips down your jaw, down your neck, pressing kisses in a line along your collarbone.

His hands were warm when they grazed your hips, connecting with skin beneath the fabric of your shirt. You grasped for the hem of his and tugged it over his head in a quick motion, eager to reconnect and feel his skin against yours.

He tasted like wine and smelled like summer, yanked your panties down to your ankles and used his fingers to pull quiet gasps from you like no one had ever before. He held onto your headboard and thrusted into you after you begged: please, please fuck me.

S’probably my favorite thing to do, he said.

The lights were long off and when your heart beats settled and you wiped sweat from your forehead, he laced his fingers between yours.

“Does Jeff want to kill me?”

“No,” you giggled, turned on your side to get a better look at him. The moon through the window illuminated his nose, his eyebrows, the specks of light green in his eyes as they devoured you. “But I’m sure you’ll get a talking to.”

“Should I not talk to him about it?”

You knew what he was asking, you knew he really meant what am I supposed to tell him? What does this mean?

You didn’t have an answer. You didn’t know what he should say or how you should address any of this, because at the end of the day you were a mom and a business owner and he was eight years your junior. He had an album to finish and tour and you knew how that worked.

You watched your dad’s busy lifestyle pull his marriage apart at the seams. Late nights, dinner parties, too much coke in the 80s before you were born and all of those signs pointed in one direction: this would never last.

It couldn’t last, nothing about the equation made sense. Harry + you = fling, rebound, a hook up or friends with benefits type situation that would eventually fade into a memory when he went on tour or when he got the call: your house is finished!

You didn’t have to answer him, though, the pattering of feet in the hallway as a little voice shouted mommy! had you shoving Harry out of bed and onto the floor with a thud before CeCe could push the double doors open.

“Mommy! I had a bad dream!”

“Hi, honey, oh, it’s okay,” you were upright in bed and welcoming her into your arms when Harry grimaced in the dark.

He mouthed a few swear words as you held CeCe, squishing her face into your shoulder to keep her eyes from landing on Harry. You gestured at him wildly with your free hand, ordering him to duck down and remain unseen.

“It was just a dream,” you told her, “you’re okay. Do you want me to walk you back to bed?”

“No,” she cried out quickly. “Can I sleep here?”

You hesitated, then nodded and looked at Harry in the dark. “Of course, yes, you can fall asleep here and then I’ll bring you back to your room.”

“Okay,” she said, the steadiness of her voice returning when she crawled out of your lap and to the spot where Harry had just been. She tugged at the comforters, pushed the pillow in different directions before she let her head rest atop it.

She let out a sigh, her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks and soon enough Harry poked his head up to look at you with wide eyes as you rubbed CeCe’s back.

You held up a finger to your mouth, gave him a threatening glare when he bit back a laugh. You rolled your eyes--it wasn’t funny. She almost walked in on the two of you and while she’d already endured some traumatic things this year, seeing her mom hooking up with the pop star from down the hall would be sure to take the cake.

When Harry caught your gaze again, you smirked, he giggled, clamped a hand over his mouth and watched you for a second.

“Be quiet!”

“You’re the one talking,” he laughed.

“Well she’s asleep now, but we can’t bring her back yet or she’ll wake up.”

“How long do we have to sit like this?”

“A while,” you told him with certainty. “This is called parenting.”

But he did, he sat on the floor on the side of the bed, watched you watch her and eventually, he picked her up from the mattress and followed you down the hall to her room. She softened into him, head on his shoulder and arms around his neck. The sight of it made you want to replay the earlier scene in your head over and over.

She didn’t stir, a few heavy sighs when you pulled the comforter back up to her shoulders, and once the door was shut behind you both, you smirked up at him.

“I think you should go back to your room.”

“Really? After all of that?”

“After almost getting caught by my six-year-old? Yes.”

He laughed and rolled his eyes playfully, crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine, but maybe we can do that again at some point and have it end differently.”

You nodded. “I think that sounds doable.”

He leaned forward, kissed you quickly, and then turned to head for his own room. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Harry.”

**

Harry came home from his house tour with good and bad news. The plumbing was fixed, which sped up their timeline, and yet the painters and interior decorator had gotten behind because of it, pushing the timeline out a few weeks.

You weren’t sure which part was good and which part was bad, because by now you were having trouble imagining what your house would feel like without him in it.

You got the news when he strolled in, athletic shorts and a baseball hat on his head when Jeff clapped him on the back. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Harry eyed him suspiciously, reached into the fridge for a juice box. “I live here…”

“Oh, I know you live here.”

“Hello, hi,” you waved at Jeff. “Please do not be weird.”

“That’s all he knows how to be,” Harry offered you a fake-apologetic look.

“That’s all he knows how to be,” Jeff mocked him. “Actually, I know how to be cool and not weird about the fact that my childhood best friend and my adult best friend-slash-artist are now, you know, involved.”

Your stomach did a somersault at his wording, a quick look in Harry’s direction, sure that he would deny the accusation or play it all down.

You found it hard to believe that Harry would be in support of labeling this as anything. Why on earth would a guy like him want to be tied to you with any sort of label or phrasing or word?

“Moving on,” Harry said with a nod. “Are we down to meet up with Tom and Sam tomorrow?”

“Yeah, and we have to do that phone call on Tuesday to go over tour dates.”

Maeve ran in then, a smile on her face when she looked up at Harry. “I have something to tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“I learned a new chord on the guitar. By myself.”

“You did?” He acted way more excited about it than he likely was.

Jeff smiled and then told Maeve: “If you learn enough chords maybe you can be his guitarist.”

“Really?!” She beamed.

“No,” you shook your head.

“Of course you would say that.”

“Maeve--you’re a kid, you can’t go on tour.”

“She’s right,” Harry said with a sweet smile, “You’re a bit too young for life on the road.”

“I’m eleven now, though!”

“I know! And very mature for eleven,” he complimented. “I’ll tell you what. You can for sure come visit and come back stage and maybe even bring a friend if your mother lets you.”

She looked to you quickly, excitement in her eyes when they all waited for your response. “Yeah--we can go at some point...see a show or something.”

“Hayley is going to die, oh my god!” She squealed with delight and then moved to sit at a stool beside Jeff.

He had half a sandwich on a plate, one he picked up on his way over for a boring Sunday afternoon of lounging by the pool. Maeve reached for a chip from the bag in front of him.

“By the way, mom, she invited me over Wednesday after school to work on a project, so can you bring me?”

“I have to bring CeCe to dance, sweetie.”

“Well I need you to bring me to the store to get supplies for this stupid poster-board thing we have to make! And Hayley’s mom said she had a question about Luna--something about a moisturizer or something.”

“I can take CeCe to dance,” Harry shrugged, almost like an onlooker in the room. “S’not a big a deal.”

“Are you sure?”

Jeff and Maeve crunched on chips between you, watching the exchange.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll just need to put her booster seat in my car.”

“And bring her a snack for after--she’s always cranky and hungry.”

He laughed, “I can manage that.”

“What would we do without you, Harry?” Maeve asked, a smile on her face.

Jeff put his chin in his hands, teasing. “Yeah, what would we do without you?”

“No one would get anywhere, people would seriously be missing out on my chicken tacos, and this house would be a lot less fun to live in.”

Maeve nodded in agreement, another chip stolen from Jeff. “True, true, and true.”

A few nights later it dawned on you that Maeve and Harry were as close as ever, spending evenings in your dad’s old office while Maeve tried to wrap her arms around a guitar long enough to strum a few chords.

CeCe didn’t seem to feel too left out, she was more than happy to be an audience for Maeve when she’d come running into the living room: Harry taught me a G chord!

On Tuesday night after school it was CeCe’s idea to go for pizza, she chirped about it in the backseat the entire way home, and after learning that the body wash production was behind schedule, you weren’t in the mood to cook.

You took Harry’s car--showed him how to strap the booster seat in and make sure it wouldn’t budge. He wore a hat and sunglasses which both girls found hilarious, but to you it was almost disheartening. What did it mean for him to be seen out with your family?

He sat beside CeCe and cut her pizza into tiny bites so it would cool off, Maeve sipped Mountain Dew from a straw and filled you in on the latest with Hayley. This week was going well, though Hayley said something annoying in the cafeteria.

It felt normal, not weird for him to be sitting across from you, his feet against yours beneath the table and a smirk in your direction every once in a while.

Both Tristan and Zoey had been dying to hear more details. It slipped out one day in the office that okay...maybe it wasn’t just a one time thing, and now the group chat you had with them was blowing up every day.

They were excited for you, rooting for your comeback and rebound and eager for you to just admit that there was something there. But you weren’t able to do that, especially not when everything in your heart wanted to.

By the time you’d all finished eating, he dipped out the back to pull the car around front. You pointed at Maeve and told her to watch CeCe while you went up to the counter to pay for the pizza.

The woman behind the register smiled when you approached. Long acrylic nails, wrinkles at the corner of her eyes made it obvious that she could have been your mother.

“We had one large plain and one small with pepperoni,” you told her.

“Oh, you’re all set, sweetie, your boyfriend paid on his way out.”

Your head pulled back in surprise. “Oh--he’s--we’re not,”

She let out a laugh at your hesitance. “He was just as taken back when I told him he had a beautiful family--said they're not his, though."

You forced a laugh, if only to match the humor in her voice when you turned on your heels to head back to your booth. The thoughts started spinning when Maeve and CeCe climbed into the back of Harry’s car.

He smiled at you when you slid in, patted you on the thigh before he turned around to make sure both girls were settled--Maeve clicked CeCe’s buckle into place and then he put the car into gear.

Sleeping with Harry was mostly meaningless, right? He was attractive and living in your house and clearly you both got something out of it. Convenient, easy, fun. Most of your brain had you convinced that there’d never be any more to it. There was no way that Harry would be interested in sticking around: two kids, a business to run. You didn’t exactly come with no strings attached.

And he corrected the woman too--not my kids, not my family, not my wife, not my anything. Had she settled on the next step down when she called him your boyfriend, or had he offered the label to avoid an awkward encounter?

It felt immature, your heart beating with urgency as you thought about it the whole way home, beads of sweat along your hairline and not from the warm weather. He sensed it, eyed you from behind his sunglasses when he parked in the driveway. Maeve and CeCe raced to the backyard, leaving the two of you alone.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, all good,” you offered a small smile, the same response you gave to one of the girls if they caught you on a bad day.

He followed you inside, kept his eyes trained on you when you dropped your purse on the counter. “What?”

“You seem off.”

“I’m fine,” you lied again. What were you supposed to say? The woman behind the register at the pizza place is making me question the relationship we have and what it means?

You weren’t 17. You were 32. He was 24. All of these numbers swirled in your head when he took a few steps closer to you, eyes out the window quickly to make sure neither of the girls were watching you through the sliding doors.

He pushed a piece of hair behind your ear, lips turned down when he looked over your face. “You can talk to me, you know.”

“I know,” you caught his wrist and held on for a second, like if you let go he’d disappear and take everything between the two of you with him. You closed your eyes, knew better but still said: “the woman behind the counter called you my boyfriend.”

He let out a laugh, unaware that your words were actually a confession. “She called you my wife, said the girls were cute. I told her I couldn’t take credit.”

“Yeah,” you forced another smile.

“Is that--are you, did that bother you?”

“No,” you shook your head. “I just didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“I’m not,” he said, eyes still on you like he wasn’t quite sure where your head was at. He pressed a confusing kiss to your forehead but then said something about calling his sister. You checked work emails and night faded into morning like it always did, no matter how uncertain life was, you always had that.

The next afternoon you brought Maeve to Hayley’s, dropped her off with glue sticks and markers and a plethora of project supplies. A yoga class after that, had her home and with dinner on the stove by 6pm.

Eventually, CeCe burst through the door with a smile on her face. Her pink tutu was around her waist, her legs clad in light pink tights and her hair in a messy ponytail on top of her head. “I had the greatest time at ballet!”

You turned around in the kitchen, eager to hear about her day. “You did?”

“I did,” she nodded confidently. Harry came in the front door behind her, sunglasses on his face and CeCe’s unicorn backpack in hand. Maeve was sat at the counter with a pencil, growing angrier with fractions by the minute.

“Why’s that?”

“We danced to a fun song, and we played a fun game, and everyone loved Harry!”

Your eyebrows rose at that, eyes caught his when he lifted the sunglasses. “They did?”

“Moms, not the six-year-olds.”

This caught Maeve’s attention--she sounded almost disgusted. “Moms?”

“I guess ballet pick-up is typically a mom thing?”

You shrugged. “I mean--I don’t see a lot of dads there, so yeah.”

CeCe shimmied out of her tutu and then climbed up to a stool beside Maeve. Harry walked to hang her backpack on a hook by the backdoor, you questioned if it was even worth asking.

“Were they, like, hitting on you?”

“I mean, not really.”

“Not really?”

He walked over to the island and leaned on it, the dimple in his left cheek let you know he liked the hint of jealousy in your voice. “Maybe a little.”

Dinner simmered on the stove, evening sun brought a glow to the kitchen that made his eyes even more green than usual. When you didn’t reply he broke your gaze, let out a sigh and said: “I’m going to shower before dinner, yeah?”

“Sounds good,” you nodded quickly, embarrassed by the silliness of your question. Of course the moms were hitting on him, of course they were intrigued by his presence and of course they couldn’t help but say hi or even ask for a photo. It shouldn’t have surprised you in the slightest.

He was up the stairs and out of sight quickly, CeCe picked up an extra pencil of Maeve’s and started doodling on her agenda book. You pushed sautéed veggies around in a frying pan and pretended that all of this was normal.

“Hey mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like Harry?”

You turned around quickly, Maeve’s eyes were inquisitive but not judgmental.

“Do I like Harry? Of course--he’s nice.”

“No, I mean do you like like Harry?”

CeCe didn’t seem too interested in your answer, she hummed to herself and kicked her feet back and forth. Maeve, though, waited patiently while you tried to piece together words that wouldn’t make the roof blow off of your house.

“Harry and I are friends, sweetie.”

“You’re not answering my question.”

You let out a forced laugh. “What is making you ask this?”

“You seemed jealous about the other moms.”

“I wasn’t jealous,” you defended. Were you really about to get into it with your eleven-year-old? Would you really defend yourself and make this the hill on which you'd die?

She watched you for a second, looked back down at the worksheet in front of her. “You seemed jealous.”

You were thankful for the fact that she wasn’t making any eye contact now. You let out a sigh and decided that not responding was your best option. Adrenaline coursed through your veins, had it been that obvious? Was she old enough to pick up on the undertones of your relationship?

You turned back to the stove, watched the vegetables sizzle in the pan as your mind started to cave in on itself. All of this was getting out of control, right? First the woman yesterday and the dizziness that overtook you when she said the word boyfriend. Now Maeve sitting at the counter with a curiosity in her that you couldn’t really blame her for.

The doorbell rang, CeCe’s head popped up in excitement. “Who is that?!”

“I don’t know,” you said. She hopped off her stool and took off the door as you followed behind her. You hadn’t planned on a visit from Jeff, maybe Tristan needed last minute approval on a product.

But when CeCe yanked the door open with both hands and an excited smile on her face, you didn’t expect to see Luke, hands in his pockets and eyebrows raised high.

“Daddy!”

“Hi sweetie,” he knelt down on one knee, wrapped his arms around her when Maeve made a noise of excitement before rushing over. She crashed into him, pushing her way into their hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asked excitedly.

“I wanted to visit, I was in the neighborhood,” he said with a shrug, eyes glancing up to you.

It was bullshit, he’d always been good at talking his way out of things or coming up with an explanation, smile sweet and words even sweeter. He backed away from them when they let go, stood back up and smiled at you, a quick nod in greeting.

“How’ve you been?”

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[thevampirearcher-md]

11 for prompts?

11 stars ✨

(i decided not to go the literal route for this one because I like to complicate my existence, but here you have it.)

It’s always a mix of excitement versus regret when Denali plans an arts and crafts day for the four-year-old, fifteen kid preschool group that she teaches. She loves getting them to experiment, to show their creativity - it’s always an unadulterated expression of their joy and their view of the world. Denali wishes she could live in the world of a four-year-old.

On the flip side, she always ends up being the one to have to do the extensive clean-up that follows. Preschool arts and crafts is like a tornado of paint and glitter and scraps of paper and not once has Denali found that, besides their room, she also had to clean part of the hallway, too.

Still, in a balancing act, between her love of art and her hostility towards cleaning, the love always wins. As it always should be. Even outside of preschools and fantasy stories.

“You’ll make the kids cry with that expression,” Jan points out. “And the parents might get the wrong idea, too,” she’s placing thick pieces of white, silver and gold craft paper at every workstation.

Denali sighs. Having her mood show on her face is inevitable right now, but she has set up this whole thing so that she can forget that she got broken up with right before the holidays. She is going to absorb every single smile and cheerful whoop and squeal of delight and when she’ll get back to her deserted apartment at the end of the day, she won’t feel as bad as she has until now.

“Turn that frown upside down, Nali, they’re starting to arrive,” Jan points to the cars that have been pulling into the parking lot - mommies and daddies leading their offspring towards the building.

“Here we go,” Denali plasters a smile onto her face. She’s not feeling it that much, but she will.

The first people through the door are Jessi, her absolute favourite student - but don’t you dare tell the other kids, she’s not supposed to have favourites - followed by a woman that she’s never seen before. She looks put together in a pastel pink pantsuit, wearing a sparkly lace something peeking out from her suit jacket, with her hair done up and her face perfectly made up. Her air is of pure professionalism and success, but she’s also holding Jessi’s small hands and running in after her cackling.

“Miss Nali!” Jessi exclaims.

“Hola, honey,” Denali greets the little tot who has collided with her legs and wrapped her arms around her thighs. “Are you excited for today?” She nods furiously.

“We’re going to make the most beautiful decorations out of the bunch to take back home to mommy, right?” the woman accompanying her winks and the child jumps from Denali to her. “Where do you normally sit?” she asks and Jessi saunters over her usual place right next to Denali’s desk. “Hello, Janice,” the ginger calls out as her eyes follow the tot she’s here to guard. Then she turns her full attention onto Denali and the latina feels a blush starting to creep up her cheeks.

“Hello,” Denali greets meekly, her voice suddenly lost in her throat.

“Hi, I’m Rosé,” she extends her arm out to shake. “Goonie has rehearsal and she has called on me to fulfill my godmother obligations. Who knew godmothering comes with obligations?” she laughs as Denali’s hand wraps around hers shaking.

“Everyone,” Jan rolls her eyes. “It’s in the job description, Rosie,” she announces into the nearly empty room.

“Who was even talking to you?” the ginger snaps. “I was trying to spark up a conversation with Jessi’s very pretty teacher,” the woman smirks.

Jan would make a face, but three of the loudest kids in their group have walked in, accompanied by their gaggle of blonde mothers, who are complaining loudly amongst themselves and both Jan and Denali need to get to their duties.

~~

“Ok, everyone,” Denali claps her hands. “A small bit of attention, please! So, today is the last day before Christmas holidays and I thought we’d do a bit of a project all together. We’ve already laid out the supplies that we’ll need to make… Drumroll, please, Jan… Thank you, star ornaments for the top of your Christmas trees,” Denali announces and the children break out in excited squeals of joy, twisting in their parents’ laps to look at them. “Parents, there’s instructions on how to do them at every station. If there’s any issues, feel free to call on me or Jan, we’ll be right here the whole time,” she smiles and she can feel how genuine her joy is, now that she’s surrounded by all these pure little souls.

Surveying the chubby little faces, she notices that Jessi is pouting, while both Jan and Rosé are trying to cheer her up. “What’s up?” Denali crouches next to the table.

“Mommy would want a blue star,” Jessi whimpers, the last few traces of tears still in her eyes. “And auntie Rosie loves pink,” she pokes her little finger into the dimple in Rosé’s smiling cheek.

“Mommy likes gold, too,” Rosé tries to reassure, but Jessi turns her face away.

“But her favourite colour is blue,” she huffs. “I want to make her a blue star!” A few of the other mommies turn to look at them, frowning at Jessi.

“Oh, Jessi, honey, I’m sure it won’t matter what colour the star is. Your mommy will love anything you bring home to her because you’re the one who made it,” Denali smiles. “And how could she not love it?”

Involuntarily, Denali’s eyes slide to meet Rosé’s - hazel orbs that glint as an idea strikes her. “Hey, Jess,” she whispers. “I have an idea.”

Jan’s eyes narrow as Rosé’s volume drops to where only Jessi can hear her. “What kind of idea?”

“It’s gonna be our little secret, right, Jess? Now, shoo, we have a lot of work to do.”

~~

“Bye, bye, bye,” Denali has gotten to a point where she can’t even grasp the meaning of the word, she’s seen so many people off. “Bye,” she says again as Rosé enters her field of vision.

“Wow, so excited to see me gone,” she smirks, igniting Denali’s blush. The room is quiet and empty, apart from them and the mess that they’re surrounded by. It’s less horrible than usual - having the parents here clearly helped in that department - which means less clean-up and more time at home to ponder her now empty apartment.

“Oh, no,” Denali chokes out. “I didn’t mean it like that, I just kinda get into a trance,” she shakes her head. “Where’s Jessi?”

“I called in a favour Jan owes me and had her take Jessi out to the car,” Rosé explains.

“Oh, you two know each other?”

“Sadly,” Rosé sighs dramatically. “I work with her girlfriend. Anywho, I wanted to talk to you… And present you with a little something Jessi and I thought you would like,” her hand reveals itself from behind her back to reveal a smaller scale star than the ones everyone else has made, made from silver paper, its corners coated in fine gold glitter. The small cone that’s supposed to go on the top branch of the Christmas tree is small enough to just fit Denali’s fingertip.

So, of course, she promptly puts it on her index and wiggles it, sending some of the glitter flying off of it. “Oh, this is so cute,” she gushes. “I wish I could thank Jessi for it,” she pouts.

“Maybe you could,” Rosé smiles. “Jan said you don’t have any family in the city and you won’t be doing anything for Christmas so I thought - leave such a beautiful woman sad and alone on Christmas or invite her to a low-key gathering of some very high-key obnoxious people? Decisions, decision,” she scratches her chin with her finger in a pensive motion. “So, consider this your invitation to be my plus one to our Christmas dinner.”

“Oh,” Denali’s eyes are wide and her brain can’t come up with words appropriate for the situation.

“Jan will be there… and Jessi,” she winks. “I thought those would be enticing aspects, besides, of course, my stellar presence and shining personality,” she laughs and Denali’s still at a loss.

“Umm… This is very…”

“Forward, yes, I am. But only with Jessi’s blessing,” she winks. “I wouldn’t dare to cross that one,” she winks again.

Denali’s mind spins around with the shock, but it keeps on coming to the same answer. She has no reason not to. “Sure.”

[lasting-inkpressions]

Burning Up [1/4]

Summary: When she applied to be the secretary for managing partner Rosé McCorkell, Denali hadn't expected to end up working for the biggest pain in her ass, nor did she expect anything beyond a professional relationship.

Word Count: 4,365

Note: Originally titled "Work Wives".

Prefer reading it on AO3?

Denali stood in front of the familiar panelled wooden door, a brown leather folio clutched to her chest and a fresh cup of coffee in her right hand. She was dressed in a cream sleeveless blouse and a black pencil skirt finished off with nude heels. She stared hard at the frosted glass with a name embossed in gold lettering across it.

Rosé McCorkell, one of the three managing partners in S. Child, a top law firm in New York City. She was also a major pain in Denali’s ass for all of the six months that she had been here as her secretary.

Steeling herself for her usual morning meeting with her, Denali took a deep breath, knocked on the door and waited. Seconds later, she heard the usual clicking of stiletto heels on hardwood floor before the door opened to reveal the woman that was her boss.

As much as she was a pain in the ass, Rosé McCorkell was undoubtedly a stunning woman. Standing tall in her black heels, she wore her auburn hair in perfect curls, dressed in a form fitting navy power suit with the blouse unbuttoned just low enough that Denali could see the deep curve of her cleavage. Catching herself before she stared for too long, she snapped her gaze back up to Rosé’s face and plastered on a smile, hoping that the other woman hadn’t noticed her staring.

“Good morning, Miss McCorkell, I’m here to go over your schedule for the day.”

Rosé stared back at Denali for a moment, causing the younger woman to squirm a little under her gaze, before deep red lips stretched into her trademark smirk.

The same smirk that drove Denali absolutely crazy for reasons she didn’t want to think too deeply into.

“Of course you are, come in.”

———

7 months ago.

Denali sat outside the interview room, waiting for her turn to go in. She was surrounded by other young candidates, each of them looking well groomed, neat and manicured. Most of them were in blazers, suits, the whole shebang and here Denali was dressed in a simple white blouse and black dress pants, her blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail with black pumps on her feet.

She hadn’t really thought too much about it when she had come across the ad and applied for the position. She just needed a job after graduating from college, but now she wasn’t too sure on whether she had made a mistake applying to be the secretary of a managing partner at S. Child. Denali had thought it would be an easy job. After all, a secretary just needed to be organised and have a good head on their shoulders, right? She hadn’t thought it would be a challenge, but looking around her now, with so many tense faces and how the place screamed money, she felt like she was out of her depth.

Maybe it wasn’t too late to duck out…

“Miss Denali Foxx.”

Denali cursed under her breath for not noticing that the previous interviewee had already left the room. She stood and walked to the door, feeling the eyes of the other candidates eyeing her outfit in disdain. Bracing herself, she knocked on the door and waited for a second before entering, coming face to face with three women seated behind a lacquered wooden conference table. Denali took note of each one as she sat in the lone chair before them.

From the website she had briefly scrolled through, she could recognise the three managing partners - Jan Sport was on the left, followed by Lagoona Bloo in the middle and Rosé McCorkell, the managing partner that she was applying to be the secretary of, on the right. From what she had gathered, all three of them were charismatic, intelligent and ruthless in their own rights when in the courtroom.

Lagoona opened a manila folder, cleared her throat and smiled warmly at the blonde in front of her. “Good afternoon Miss Foxx, thank you for taking the time to come down for this interview.” Denali smiled back at her, feeling a little more at ease at how friendly Lagoona seemed.

“Good afternoon, and thank you for having me.”

Lagoona nodded and introduced the three of them, then began the interview by asking her questions, with Jan interjecting a few herself. Denali had managed to answer most of them confidently, only ever stumbling once. All the while Rosé, the one who would decide whether she would be hired or not, had remained silent, simply choosing to flip through the thin file that held Denali’s details, barely even sparing her a glance.

After about ten minutes of back and forth, Lagoona asked her final question, then turned to look at Rosé.

“I think that’s about it from us. Do you have any questions for her, Rosé?”

Denali gulped, trying not to let her nerves get the best of her as the other woman finally looked up at her, folding her hands and resting her chin on them. After a few excruciating seconds, Rosé leaned back in her seat, eyes still trained on the blonde woman before finally speaking.

“Yes, why should I hire you out of everyone out there? From what I’ve read in your file, you seem to be the most inexperienced out of all the candidates. Were you hoping to somehow find a sugar daddy here? I mean you clearly have the looks for it.”

There was pin drop silence at her question. Lagoona had her face buried in her hands and Jan was struggling between wanting to laugh and wanting to strangle Rosé. Denali however sat stone still as Rosé stared down at her, her expression bored as she waited for the blonde to reply.

Denali’s mind was blank for a second before rage filled her veins.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Resisting the urge to slap the woman in front of her, Denali reigned it in and instead plastered on the sweetest smile she could muster.

“Well as inexperienced as I am, I can guarantee that if you hire me, you wouldn’t be hiring a cookie cutter suck up that wouldn’t be able to look past designer labels or waste their time trying to be someone they’re not. I can also guarantee that you wouldn’t be hiring a pushover who would go crying to their mother when the job gets tough, and knows that their worth is much more than just a few flimsy pieces of paper that won’t tell you the things that really matter.”

Denali stood, smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt before looking Rosé in the eye.

“And the statement about me wanting a sugar daddy? I’d rather a sugar mommy than a sugar daddy, though from what I see, there aren’t any worth my time here anyways.”

Figuring that the interview was a lost cause, Denali nodded her thanks to a stunned Lagoona and laughing Jan, completely ignoring Rosé, and turned on her heel to leave when she was stopped by two words.

“You’re hired.”

———

Present day.

Grinding her teeth as she glared at the desk in front of her, Denali had to tell herself to calm down as the source of her irritation smirked in her direction. If there was one thing that Denali could not stand, it was Rosé’s way of constantly pushing her buttons. Oh, there was no denying that the woman was good at her job, but the way she seemed to ooze confidence and acted as if she owned the damn place? God, that just made Denali’s blood boil.

“Is something the matter, Nali?”

Denali clenched her fist at the sound of Rosé's nick name for her. It was as if the older woman knew that it riled her up whenever she called her that. Looking up at Rosé, Denali bit back an insult and instead forced herself to smile at her. “No, Miss McCorkell, nothing’s the matter at all. Everything is perfectly fine.”

Staring down at the defiant younger woman for a moment from across her desk, Rosé winked at her. “If you say so, baby.”

Denali gripped the pen in her hand tightly. She breathed through her nose, mentally counting down the seconds till their meeting was over and done with as she wrote down every point that Rosé had said. Quickly going over her notes one last time, she looked back up at Rosé. “Is there anything else, Miss McCorkell?”

“Rosé.”

Denali blinked.

“What?”

“My name. I’ve told you to call me that from the beginning.” Denali rolled her eyes internally as she shuffled the loose sheets of paper into a neater pile. “And as I’ve said before, I’m much more comfortable calling you Miss McCorkell.” She heard Rosé’s low chuckle and the sound of fabric shifting. Denali looked up and immediately dropped her pen.

Rosé was suddenly much closer to her than before, leaning against the solid oak desk between them, an almost predatory look in her eye as she watched the younger girl seated in front of her.

“I wonder why.”

———

“So have you and Miss McCorkell fucked yet?”

Denali glared at Kandy as she walked back to her desk. She threw her pen at the girl and missed as it clattered to the floor, leaving the other girl cackling. “No bitch, and that’s never going to happen. What the fuck even makes you think that?” Kandy sat on the edge of Denali’s desk, a shit eating grin on her face. “Besides the fact that every time you leave her office, your face is always so flustered-“

“Because she always pisses me off-“

“-it’s also the way she stares at your ass, like she can’t wait to get her hands on it.” Denali rolled her eyes and retrieved her pen from the floor. “No, she doesn’t. I’ve never seen her look at my ass before.” And Denali was pretty sure that she would have noticed that, seeing as she’d been Rosé’s secretary for a while now. Plopping herself in her office chair, she opened her folio and started to go through her notes, pulling out a stack of colourful post-it’s from her drawer to help with her organisation. Not to be ignored, Kandy carried on as if the other girl wasn’t trying to ignore her.

“Girl, you don’t exactly have eyes on the back of your head, do you? Trust me, she wants to tap that.”

Denali resisted the urge to strangle the Latina sitting on her desk. Sure, there was always some tension in the room when they were together, but that was more from the fact that Rosé loved riling her up. It had been that way since day one, and sometimes Denali questioned her decision to have accepted the job offer, but the money and benefits were too good to pass up for a fresh grad. She shook her head as she replied dismissively.

“Even if she does, I’m not interested.”

Kandy looked at her in disbelief, one brow cocked. “Are you sure? She’s got a great pair of tits.” Well, she couldn’t argue with that. Denali had noticed Rosé’s ample breasts seeing as the managing partner loved to wear outfits that featured them in a daring, yet tasteful, fashion. If she had met Rosé in a bar, she would definitely have approached her.

Of course, she wasn’t going to tell Kandy that.

“Look, no matter how great her tits are, it’ll never make up for the mouth that she has on her.”

Kandy tutted, picking at her nails. “I’m pretty sure her mouth would be preoccupied when the two of you-“

“KANDY!”

“I’m just saying.”

Denali sighed, rubbing her forehead. God, this conversation was giving her a headache and digging at thoughts she had been trying to avoid herself.

“Listen Kandy, if there is one thing that I would never ever do, it is to sleep with my boss-“

“Denali-“

“I don’t care if she’s staring at my ass, I don’t care what she thinks of it-“

“Girl-“

“Me fucking Rosé McCorkell is never going to happen.”

“Well, as enlightening as this conversation is, it might be a little inappropriate to discuss my preferences in the office, don’t you think?”

She froze at the familiar voice behind her as Kandy quietly excused herself.

Shit.

“Cat got your tongue, Miss Foxx?”

Fucking shit.

Denali slowly stood and turned to look at her boss, who had an amused expression on her face and a file in hand.

“I believe that you left this document behind in my office.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Denali moved to retrieve the file from Rosé, trying her best to regain her composure.

“Right, yes- Let me photocopy this for you right away, Miss McCorkell.”

Rosé smirked and leaned in, her lips almost brushing against Denali’s ear.

“Strictly off the record, I do think you have a very nice ass.”

Face flushing a bright red and rendered speechless for a moment as Rosé pulled away, Denali stammered out an excuse before speeding off to the copy room, leaving behind a chuckling Rosé in her wake.

———

Denali was waiting alone for the lift at the end of the day, tapping her foot on the floor as she watched the numbers on the screen climb higher and higher.

It had been a long day, and she was still trying to recover from the embarrassing situation that had happened in the morning. She had spent the whole day actively avoiding her boss, something that wasn’t too difficult to do since she had a long list of tasks from her. Every time she had to drop something off at the older woman’s office, she made it a point to do so when she knew she was out for a meeting or when she was engaged in a call so that Rosé wouldn’t be able to say a word to her.

If she had the opportunity, Denali knew that the managing partner would say something to further humiliate or incite her.

Also, the statement that Rosé had made about her ass was still fresh and in the forefront of her mind, and something Denali had completely not expected. She knew that the two of them butted heads all the time, and that Rosé loved to challenge her secretary and pass along little comments and nicknames just to get a rise out of her. She had suspected that was the main reason that Rosé had hired her, because she was someone who fought back, but that comment about her ass? That had blindsided her.

She didn’t want to admit it, but everything Rosé did and said had an effect on her, and had been for some time now, but that was something that was entirely inappropriate.

Denali shifted her weight, watching the numbers get closer to the floor she was on when she heard the faint clicking of stilettos behind her and shut her eyes, praying to whoever was listening that the person approaching wasn’t who she thought it was, or that the elevator would arrive just before she did. Thankfully, the latter happened as the lift doors opened and Denali quickly stepped into the empty cab, immediately pressing the close button while pointedly making sure not to look up. She let out the breath that she had been unknowingly holding in as the doors slid closed, but her relief was short lived when the doors slid opened again, revealing the very same woman that she had been hoping not to see.

Fuck.

Nodding in greeting, she stepped to the side to give Rosé space, and also to put as much space as possible between the two of them. Rosé nodded back, and stood next to Denali, facing the doors as they closed and the lift slowly descended.

“So where has my little secretary been hiding the whole day?”

Denali’s hand twitched at her side. “I’ve been at my desk the entire day, Miss McCorkell, completing the tasks that you assigned me to do.”

“Is that so? So the little mouse that was scurrying in and out of my office wasn’t you?”

Swallowing a retort, Denali replied with as steady a voice as she could. “I don’t know what you mean, Miss McCorkell.”

Rosé turned her head, an eyebrow raised as she looked down at the squirming girl. Before she could say anything, the lift dinged and a group of people entered, forcing the two of them to take a step back. Denali breathed through her nose, then noticed how close Rosé was to her now in the confined space, so close she could smell the expensive Chanel No. 5 perfume that she loved to wear. Her heart was racing, and she wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe it was the fact that Rosé was now standing close to her, or the fact that her words were replaying over and over in her mind.

Denali stilled when she felt a finger touching the back of hand. She looked down to see a perfectly manicured finger lazily tracing her knuckles before looking up at the owner of the hand, and felt all the air in her lungs escape.

Rosé was staring down at her, eyes a molten hazel and lips curved into that same infuriating smirk that drove Denali insane. She felt the other woman’s fingers slowly slip to the palm of her hand, the light touch causing heat to pool in Denali’s middle and her breath to shorten, and all the while Rosé never took her eyes off her. The younger girl swallowed and bit her lip, noting how the older woman’s heated gaze fell to her throat and then her lips, her palm tingling as Rosé continued to trace patterns on the sensitive skin of her palm.

Seconds later, their little bubble was broken when the lift dinged and people started to shuffle out. Rosé withdrew her hand, and made to leave too, but not before whispering in Denali’s ear.

“Never say never.”

Winking at the frozen girl, Rosé exited the lift, her hips swaying with each step as she left the building.

Denali was fucked.

———

The dynamics of their relationship had changed since that day. Rosé didn’t try as hard as before to get a rise out of Denali anymore. Before it seemed like she was aiming to piss her secretary off, but now it was the opposite. It was as if she was repeatedly trying to fluster her, dropping little teasing comments, purposely brushing their fingers together when passing Denali things, constantly staring intently at her with a knowing smirk on her face. It was slowly driving Denali insane.

She could handle it when Rosé was trying to piss her off, but this? This was completely different and she didn’t know how to handle this kind of attention from her. Denali always found herself blushing to her roots and stammering in response to these new interactions, which seemed to further amuse and encourage the redhead. With each interaction, Denali also found herself questioning everything.

Why was Rosé acting the way that she did?

Was she bored and simply wanted to find something to entertain her?

Was she just toying around with Denali and her emotions?

Sighing as she filled the cup of tea for Rosé’s potential new client, she shook the thoughts out of her head and walked back to the meeting room where he was waiting. Pasting on a polite smile, she pushed the glass door open and set the cup of tea on the table before a greasy looking man that looked as if he was in his late forties.

“Here’s your tea, Mister Tate.” The man smiled back at Denali, taking the cup of tea and sipping from it, all the while giving Denali a once over, much to her discomfort. Putting the cup down, he made a face. “Oh dear, there’s no sugar in this at all, is there?”

Denali blinked. He hadn’t mentioned any sugar earlier, and she had assumed that he wouldn’t need any. “My apologies, Mister Tate, let me get a fresh cup for you.” Reaching over to take back the cup, she was stopped when he grabbed onto her wrist, a sly smile on his face. “There’s no need to bother, it’s fine. After all, I have a sweet, pretty girl like you to entertain me while we wait for Miss McCorkell to arrive.”

Not another one of these men again. Forcing herself not to drop her smile, Denali replied in a tight voice. “Thank you for the compliment, Mr Tate.” She tried to politely tug her hand back to disengage his grip on her wrist, but before she knew it, he was on his feet, an arm slung over her shoulders.

“Mister Tate? No need for formalities, just call me Jim. After all, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around more often now.” Her stomach rolled at the pointed look he had in his eye, the widening smile on his face making him look even greasier. She knew his type and the implications behind his words, and had to force herself to hold in her disgust. As much as she wanted to knee him in the balls, she couldn’t do that here in the office, especially since he was a potential client of Rosé’s.

Swallowing the bile that was rising in her throat, Denali struggled to maintain being civil as she attempted to step out of his grip.

“Mister Tate, if you would kindly please let go of me, I-”

“Come now, Miss Foxx was it? Where’s your sense of hospitality? You forgot the sugar for my tea, but you look like you’ll make up for it-“

“What is going on here?”

The blonde felt a sheer sense of relief flood her when she saw the managing partner standing in the doorway of the meeting room, though the furious look in her eye was something unexpected.

Denali had never seen her this angry before.

The man however seemed completely oblivious to the rising anger of the other woman, and instead smiled at her. “Miss McCorkell! I was just getting acquainted with your lovely secretary here.”

Rosé glared at the man. “Mister Tate, I believe that my secretary doesn’t like your arm around her, and unless you’d like to lose that arm, I suggest that you take it off her.” Looking surprised, the man listened and took his arm off Denali, and she moved away, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Her eyes darted between the two as he stammered. “Miss McCorkell, we’re all adults here. I’m just having a bit of fun. Isn’t that why you keep her around? She sure is a stunner-”

Big mistake.

Rosé took a threatening step towards him, fists clenched and eyes glinting with unbridled rage at what he was implying.

“Get out.”

He gaped. “I- I beg your pardon?”

Rosé sneered, looking down at the now pale and shaking man.

“You heard me, you daft man, get out! I don’t need scum like you in my office, and I certainly don’t need your money. Now get out before I call security!”

Gaping like a fish out of water and scrambling to leave, the greasy man grabbed his bag and hurriedly left the office without looking back as Rosé kept her eyes pinned on his retreating back before turning back to face to her secretary. Denali gulped, and instinctively made to apologise, but was stopped when the older woman moved towards her and gently took her by the shoulders, examining her. “Denali, are you alright?” She asked, sliding her hands down and stopping to hold her wrists, rubbing soothing circles into her skin.

Denali hadn’t noticed, but she was shaking, and Rosé’s motions were slowly calming her down. Taking a shaky breath, Denali smiled weakly at her. “I’m fine, Miss McCorkell. Thank you for stepping in when you did.”

Rosé nodded. “Of course, how could I not? But are you sure you’re alright? Do you want to take the rest of the afternoon off?” Denali laughed drily, waving off the offer. “It’s alright, I’m fine now. It’s nothing that I’m not used to.” Rosé’s thumbs stopped moving and she frowned at Denali.

“What do you mean?” Denali blinked. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that.

“I mean I’ve had my fair share of creeps before-“ She explained with a fake laugh, trying to lighten the mood when she saw Rosé’s face darkening.

That wasn’t good.

“You mean here? In my office?”

“Well, er-“ Rosé stepped closer into Denali’s space, raising a hand to cup her face as she stared into the younger’s eyes, voice low as she demanded. “The truth please.” Denali swallowed, feeling the slightly murderous intent that the other woman was exuding, which contradicted the gentle hold that she had on Denali. Hesitantly, Denali nodded.

“..yes.”

Rosé clenched her jaw, taking a second to process what Denali had confirmed, before stepping back and letting go of her secretary. Denali could see that her hands were clenched into fists that Rosé quickly stuffed into the pockets of her suit when she noticed Denali looking at them, as if wanting to hide how she was trying to not lose her temper.

“I want their names.”

Denali frowned, confused. “Wha- Why?”

“So I can tear up their contracts. Anyone who touches you is not worth my time.” Denali’s eyes widened. This sounded like a rash decision, and she didn’t want to cost Rosé or the company money. Breaking contracts meant loss of income, which wasn’t worth it. Not when it was just a simple matter of harassment that she should be able to handle herself. “But Miss McCorkell, it’s not worth it, I can-“

Rosé shot Denali a sharp look at that, cutting her off. “No buts. I want their names on my desk by the end of the day.” Denali swallowed and nodded stiffly as Rosé held her gaze, eyes hardened before softening as she sighed. The managing partner turned to leave, but stopped at the doorway to give her one last meaningful look.

“Denali, don’t ever think that you’re not worth it.”

And she left, leaving behind a wide eyed and blushing Denali staring after her.

———

I have been hung up on the idea of writing a fic with a flirty boss Rosé and feisty secretary Denali. The sexual tension just writes itself.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. (:

xoxo Vera

[artificialqueens]

One for the Books (Rosnali) - Athena2

Summary: Denali works in the children's section of a library and falls instantly in love with Rosé after she comes in with her daughter.

A/N: This is just a fluffy little one-shot I finally finished and wanted to share. Thank you so much to Writ for beta-ing and encouraging me to post this! I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback if you'd like!

It’s a rare day that Denali gets flustered at work. She works in the children’s section of a public library, where only one baby spitting up on the rug during story time is a good day. She’s handled crying kids and arts and crafts messes that look like horror movie sets and become more familiar with disinfecting wipes than she thought possible. Nothing really phases her.

Except the woman at the desk right now.

She has waves of red hair and the kind of smile you see on TV, one that softens her face and rounds her rosy cheeks. She has an adorable kid on her hip, and Denali can’t look from the gentle curves of the woman’s arms as she holds her.

“Um, how can I help you?” Denali manages.

“Hi, can I make a library card?”

“Sure!” Denali tugs on the drawer of cards and applications so hard it nearly flies out of the cabinet. She grabs a bright yellow card and watches the woman fill out the application in the elegant cursive Denali wanted to snap her pencils trying to learn in second grade.

Denali usually types the patron’s information in the system on autopilot, not even noticing their names. But she looks at the woman’s—Rosé, her name is Rosé—application like it’s a study sheet for a test, like the curves of the letters and her phone number will reveal her secrets.

No secrets are revealed, though, and Denali passes her the card.

“Thank you.” Rosé smiles.

“The tigers, Mommy!” A little voice says impatiently, and Rosé laughs.

“Right, right. Um, can you tell me where the books about tigers are? Luna loves them.”

Denali finally turns her gaze away from Rosé long enough to take in the little girl in her arms. She’s around three and a mini Rosé, with red hair in two fluffy pigtails and a toothy grin. There’s a stuffed tiger tucked securely under her arm, and Denali smiles.

“What’s your tiger’s name?” she asks.

“Hunter,” Luna says, moving the stuffed animal’s head so Denali can see.

“He looks great,” Denali says. “I can show you where the books are, if that’s okay.”

“Perfect,” Rosé says.

Perfect. It echoes in Denali’s head as she leads Rosé over to the books. Maybe it's a good sign. After all, Rosé could’ve insisted on getting the books herself, but she let Denali show her instead, and—

Yeah, Denali is already head over heels for this woman.

She’s had crushes before, but she usually doesn’t fall this hard or this fast. Especially not someone she’s known for all of a minute. But something about Rosé makes Denali feel like she’s known her all her life.

Denali clears her throat. “Here’s all the books about tigers. There are a bunch of other animal books too, if you want to check those out. I’m Denali, by the way. If you need anything else.”

“Thank you so much,” Rosé says, and Denali forces herself back to the desk because she can’t just stand there forever.

She watches Rosé kneel down on the floor with Luna, pulling out book after book and showing each one to her. There’s a softness in Rosé, in how patient she is, in how carefully she re-ties her daughter’s itty-bitty pink Converse. She’s beautiful as she is, but her genuine smile and kind eyes around her daughter make her even more beautiful, and Denali wants to take it every second. When Rosé takes the stack of books to the chair in the corner, pulls Luna into her lap, and starts reading to her, making funny faces and showing her all the pictures, Denali’s heart damn near explodes.

“Girl, get a grip.”

“Wh—huh?” Denali whirls around to see Symone watching with a smirk on her face.

“You’re basically drooling.”

“I am not!” Denali wipes her mouth self-consciously anyway. She spends the next half hour trying to busy herself in cleaning the desk, but she just shuffles the same five pens around and keeps watching Rosé be adorable with her daughter. When she comes up to the desk to check out her books, Denali leaps to the computer to do them for her. Rosé manages to hold the entire stack in one arm and her daughter in the other, and Denali wonders if Rosé’s arms could hold her. She can’t stop imagining herself nestled within them.

“Mommy, can we get ice cream?” Luna asks, smiling hopefully.

“Okay.”

Denali grins as Luna cheers.

Rosé rolls her eyes fondly. “She’d eat ice cream every day if I let her,” she says to Denali.

“I’d eat ice cream every day if I let me,” Denali says, and Rosé gives another infectious laugh.

“Thank you for your help. We should be back soon.”

“I’ll be here,” Denali says, nonchalant even though she knows she’ll be counting down the days.

—-

Rosé comes back the next Saturday, and the one after that. Denali used to loathe the Saturday shifts she got stuck with, the day filled with either absolute screaming chaos or absolute mind-numbing boredom with no in-between, but she quickly gets used to Rosé coming in and making small talk with her while she checks out her books. Before long, she’s actually looking forward to Saturdays, to the tiny window she gets to see Rosé, making silly faces for her daughter and laughing at all Denali’s jokes.

Denali’s heart leaps in her chest when she sees a glimpse of red hair come through the door, and she gives Rosé a little wave and doesn't care how dorky it is, how desperate she looks. Rosé smiles and waves back to Denali as best she can with arms full of toddler and books. She sets the stack on the desk with a sigh, shifting Luna to her other arm.

“Getting your workout in?” Denali teases.

Rosé snorts. “Definitely. The books are about as heavy as she is, I’ve been reading her three or four a night.”

“You can return these in the box outside, you know,” Denali says as she scans them in. “If you don’t want to carry them all the way in here.”

Rosé bites her lip. “But that’s one less time I’d get to talk to you.”

The book slips through Denali’s hands and hits the counter, her cheeks on fire. Her heart skips a beat, then resumes its rhythm with a deep pounding in her chest. Rosé likes talking to her. Rosé likes talking to her so much she lugs a pile of books in here just to do it, and it's a few seconds before Denali can speak again. “Are you--are you getting any other books today?” she stammers.

Rosé shakes her head. “Nah, I just wanted to stop in quick and drop these off. I’m taking Luna to the zoo today.”

“To see the tigers!” Luna adds happily.

Rosé smiles. “That’s right. We’re gonna see all the tigers.”

Denali smiles too, her heartbeat finally returning to normal. “I hope you have fun. Say hi to the tigers for me, okay?”

“We will. See you next week.”

“See you.”

Denali really, really wishes she was going to the zoo too.

---

Denali is still coasting on the high of Rosé’s latest visit a week later, even if neither of them has done anything to capitalize on her comment about enjoying her talks with Denali. But Denali knows the interest is there, knows the way Rosé’s eyes shine when she looks at her aren’t just her imagination. Denali will keep testing the waters, let herself be a little more flirty, and one of these weeks, she’ll fully make her move.

The thought keeps her going all day, through the disastrous clean-up after someone spills an entire box of crayons--the 96-pack, of course--and through the reorganization of the mess someone made of the fairy tale collection. She’s giving the furniture a once-over when she spots a familiar stuffed tiger on the chair, her mind filling with the image of Rosé reading to her daughter here this morning. Luna must have forgotten the tiger, and Rosé was so busy juggling all their books that she must not have noticed.

She could just hold the tiger until the next time Rosé comes in, which will hopefully be soon. But she thinks of how fiercely Luna clings to the tiger and Denali can’t make her go without it; Denali was a stuffed animal kid herself, each one with a name and backstory and assigned night for sleeping with her. Plus the library is closed on Sundays, so the earliest Rosé could get it would be Monday morning, and Denali winces thinking of how rough two nights without the tiger might be for Luna.

Or she can just call Rosé.

Every patron in the library system has a phone number and address in their profile, and though she can’t remember Rosé’s last name, she’s the only Rosé in the system. Finding her phone number won’t take more than five seconds. It feels personal, almost intimate, somehow, looking Rosé up like this, calling her because Denali recognized her daughter’s stuffed tiger. Really, though, it’s no different from looking up a patron’s number to tell them a book they ordered came in, and Denali does that all day--heck, she gets paid to do that all day. This shouldn't be any different. She dials the number before she can think about it too much, warning the butterflies in her stomach to settle down.

“Hello?”

“Um, Rosé?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Denali. You know, from the library. Anyway, I was cleaning up and I found a certain stuffed tiger hanging out on the chair, and I bet someone’s really missing him.”

“Oh, thank God.” Rosé sighs, and Denali can practically see her body slumping in relief. “We just noticed him missing an hour ago, I’ve been going everywhere we went today looking for it. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“I’ll be here,” Denali promises.

“Thank you, Denali. Really.”

Rosé is so sincere that Denali’s grateful they’re just talking on the phone and Rosé can’t see her blushing. The tiger keeps her company at the desk until Rosé rushes in, her cheeks flushed and hair messy. Luna looks equally stressed, and Denali can tell she’s been crying. She jumps up from the desk and hangs the tiger to Luna, who hugs it to her chest and sniffles.

“Thank you so much,” Rosé says. “Luna, can you say thank you to Miss Denali?”

“Thank you Miss Nali,” Luna says, and Denali’s heart just about melts.

“You’re welcome.”

Luna runs off to play with the blocks, and Rosé leans against the desk with Denali to watch her.

“I’m so sorry I had to bother you with this,” Rosé says, running a hand through her hair. “I should’ve noticed she didn’t have it, I just—“

Denali brushes her off. “Please. I had to kick a teenager off the computer for watching porn this morning. Holding onto a stuffed animal is one of the better things I’ve had to do today.”

Denali is wondering if that was too much information when Rosé bursts into laughter, so infectious that Denali laughs with her.

“Seriously?” Rosé asks.

“Pretty much a typical day in the library,” Denali says.

Rosé snorts and shakes her head. “Anyway, I mean, if there’s something I could do to thank you—“

“I like ice cream,” Denali blurts, cheeks instantly burning. “I mean, uh—“

“Are you suggesting an ice cream date?” Rosé asks, raising her eyebrow.

“I am,” Denali says confidently, because apparently today is the day she’s making her move.

Rosé breaks into a grin. “It’s a date.”

[angelsswirl]

Been Through

Chapter 3: Hate is on me

(Uh) And that's a long ass ride. Mindlessly going around until I close my eyes.

"You need friends."

"You're not my friend?"

"No. I'm your nanny. You pay me. I can't be your friend. That's like prostitution or something."

You paused in your vegetable chopping for a beat, "Yeah. And I don't associate with people who are as dumb as rocks, so maybe you have a point."

"Hey! I heard that."

"Not like I whispered it."

Lily's nanny, Kiara, scowled at you, she covered Lily's ears dramatically.

"You're a bitch, you know that?" Lily attempted to wiggle out of the hold.

"I'm mean, not evil."

"What does that even mean?"

You blinked in surprised. It completely slipped your mine that she wouldn't understand the reference. That was between you and Lisa.

"Sorry. Inside joke."

Kiara only shrugged. She tickled Lily's sides before letting the four year old run off deeper into the house, more than likely on her way to the playroom.

"So, how was your date?" Kiara leaned on the counter next to where you were still preparing dinner.

"It wasn't a date."

"You meeting a girl for coffee? Sounds like a date to me." Kiara crossed her arms in front of herself.

"You're not my friend, remember? Even if it was a date. I wouldn't tell you."

"If you didn't pay me so well, I would've quit ages ago."

"Oh! That's all I have to do to get rid of you?! I could've been saving money this entire time."

"Fuck you."

"You're not my type."

"Anyway."

"Are you staying for dinner?" You asked.

"Nope. I actually do have a date." Kiara smirked then went to grab her belongings.

"Ok. Have fun! Please don't get murdered. Lily would be highly upset."

"Haha! Bye bye, Boss." With that Kiara pranced out of the door.

You laughed to yourself, before continuing to make dinner for you and your child.

~~~~

"So, how long are you going to pretend like you're mad at Y/N?" Jisoo jumped on top of Jennie who had been resting peacefully under the covers of her bed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh don't play that game with me."

Jennie rolled her eyes.

"What is it that you think you know?"

"I know that you're still in love with Y/N. I know that you're being stubborn and acting like she's the devil incarnate. I know that Lisa has a "playdate" with Y/N and the rugrat in like the next week. I know that if you keep being an asshole you're going to get left in the dust, and regret that you didn't even try to fix things." Jisoo spoke softly, her concern lay with both of her members. She wasn't picking sides, but Jennie's sulking was starting to get on her nerves.

"What if the kid isn't mine?"

"So what? The kid isn't yours, you mate with Y/N, you're a stepmom. Big whoop." Jisoo quite frankly didn't understand the problem. Her and Rosé were omegas, it was kind of their natural instinct to be fine with children no matter the source.

"You wouldn't get it. It's an alpha thing I guess." Jennie huffed. In all honesty, she didn't really care if Lily was hers or Lisa's. She more cared about the fact that if she pursued you again that her heart would get shattered to peices. Just like the first time.

"That's dumb. You're dumb. If you like the girl, go get the girl. I'm not above singing Kiss The Girl from The Little Mermaid directly into you ear until you call her." Jisoo poked a finger into Jennie's side, causing her to squirm.

"Fine. I'll call her."

"Good. I'm going to go bother Lisa so no one assumes I'm picking sides."

With that Jisoo left, leaving Jennie to stare blankly at her shining phone screen.

~~~

BLACKPINK were on a break at the moment. Which was good for you because it meant their schedules weren't nearly as full as they might have been otherwise.

But it was also very, very bad, because it meant that they were bored, and you were their closest friend this side of the Pacific Ocean.

Lisa sat crisscrossed on the floor of your house. Lily was attempting to teach her this game she had made up about five minutes before that made absolutely no sense. You commend Lisa for being a good sport.

"Lily, do you know who BLACKPINK are?" You're not sure if that was Lisa's curiosity getting the better of her or if she finally got bored of the incoherent game.

"The colors. Yes. I know them. I am smart like my Mommy. Would you like me to spell them for you?" You were pretty sure Lily didn't know how to spell either of those words, but you were pretty excited to see what she came up with.

"Not the colors, Silly." Lisa poked at Lily's sides, making the child giggle loudly, "I mean the music group."

"No. I only listen to Baby Shark. It's my favorite. Did BLACKPINK make Baby Shark!?" Lily's eyes widened in awe.

"No. But I gave it the performance of a lifetime once." Lisa mumbled that last part to herself, but you heard it and let out an almost identical giggle to your daughter's.

"You want to dance with me?" Lily nodded so fast you had to grab her head so she wouldn't give herself whiplash.

Lisa smiled in return and grabbed her phone. You assumed she was procuring a playlist.

You recognized the first song almost immediately, and can't help but feel like she did it on purpose. It was, after all, your favorite.

"Kick It? Really?"

Lisa put her hands up in mock surrender, "I pressed shuffle."

Lisa most definitely did not press shuffle.

Soon both Lisa and Lily are deep in the throws of their dance party.

There's a knock at your door, and you frown. You hadn't been expecting anyone else, but again the girls were bored so you wouldn't be surprised if it was Rosé or Jisoo.

You opened the door without any further thought.

"Jennie?"

At this point you're sure you were a serial killer in a past life. What else could explain the misfortune you're experiencing in this one?

Jennie and Lisa and your kid....

You stifled a scream deep in your throat.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Jennie raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Can I come in?"

"....Sure." You hoped your anxiety wasn't as palpable as you thought it was.

Jennie entered with something close to a smile. A smile that turned into....not a smile when she walked fully into your living room.

"Hey, Jennie!" Lisa greeted, she didn't stop dancing, and neither did Lily.

"You gonna join them? I have a feeling they won't stop until Lisa's phone dies or one of them does. Whichever comes first."

Jennie eyed you for a second, then turned back to the duo in front of her. After a second she shrugged, "Might as well."

You laughed as the three of them bounced unceremoniously around your livingroom for a good 25 minutes before something occurred to you.

You had blatantly lied to Lisa's face.

You didn't know which one of them was  Lily's mom. It, of course, had to be one of them. Unless you were the virgin Mary. You had only ever had sex with two people, and that was Jennie and Lisa.

You could have told Lisa the truth. You could have if you were fine with looking like a slut, but you weren't, so you lied.

When you first found out you were pregnant you had just assumed you would have just known when Lily was born. Mother's intuition or something, but that didn't happen. You couldn't just look at her and tell. She looked like a smaller version of you. Your own mother joked that you had cloned yourself.

So, no, you didn't know. And now, four years later, you're too afraid to find out.

You decided to let the three of them tire out, while you went to your room to think.

You would have thought you'd hear the footsteps following you, but you were lost in your thoughts and Jennie was sneaky when she wanted to be.

You sat on your bed, Jennie appeared in the doorway a second later. She didn't say anything.

"Why are you here?" You asked.

"I wanted to talk to you. I didn't know Lisa would be here today."

You dragged your eyes up to her face, "Then talk."

Jennie moved to sit next to you on the bed.

"I'm sorry. I've been an ass. I was mad, for the wrong reasons and I was taking it out on you the other day in the store."

"I just up and left with a kid. You're allowed to be mad about that."

"I know. That's not what I was talking about."

Jennie doesn't elaborate and you don't ask her to.

"Well, I accept your apology."

"Thanks." Jennie turned to face you better, "I do still want to talk more over dinner."

"Kid or no kid?"

Jennie chuckled, "I'll let you dictate that."

"No kid it is, then." You both laugh, though, you're being completely serious.

"I missed this." You said softly.

"I missed you."

Before you can react, Jennie's lips are on yours. Your reflex is to kiss her back and you don't hesitate to appease the instinct.

A few moments later you break apart.

"What was that for?" You asked a bit breathlessly.

Jennie shrugged, "Just wanted to get to you first."

You blushed a deep red, "Well, I hope it was worth it."

[sanababes]

Bestfriend

Pairings: fem!reader x Park Chaeyoung / Rosé

Warnings: nothing but fluff ☁️

-----------

Y/n had just woken up from the annoying alarm of her clock ringing throughout her room. Sitting up grumbly, the girl walked lazily towards the bathroom and got ready for school.

After a few minutes it was already 7am, pretty early for you though. Y/n grabbed her bag then went out of her room and strutted to the kitchen.

"Morning sweetie!" your mom greeted happily while putting foods on the dining table.

"Hey mom" you greeted her back then started munching on some toast.

Y/n ate breakfast with her mom peacefully while chatting about random things. Atfer she finished, you kissed your mom goodbye and rode your motorcycle to school.

You arrived after 10 mins and saw your bestie Rosé waiting at the entrance. You parked your vehicle then rushed yourself towards the blonde girl.

"Ughh finallyyy" Rosé whined.

Y/n chuckles lightly then pats the head of the latter.

"Sorry if kept you waiting Chae"

"Hmm apology accepted Y/n/n" your bestfriend said then clinged to your arm as you both walk towards the classroom.

You greeted friends that said hello to you and Rosie, the blonde did the same as people around you admired the girl beside you. I mean Y/n can't even deny her ethereal beauty and realized that she had feelings for Rosie for a long time.

"Y/n?" She called as you snapped out of your trance.

"Huh? Oh my bad, just thinking about the long test tomorrow hehe..." you utter an excuse.

"Uh okay then, you still have to tutor me later~" she reminds you playfully and pulled you inside the classroom.

Y/n and Rosie sat beside each other and waited for their homeroom teacher to come. You stared at the latter while thinking about how lucky you are to have her from the start. She just met you randomly at the park near your residence when you're still kids then you both clicked together and started to become close, that easy.

Rosie glanced at you that made you look away.

"Oh? Kang Y/n is staring at me lovingly, I'm grateful for that" she remarks dramatically while clutching her chest as you blushed at the nickname that she gave.

"No I'm not" you tried to hide your blush.

"I just caught you clearly Y/n/n don't try to lie about it" the latter chuckles then kissed your cheek.

Before you had the chance to respond, your teacher arrived making the students sit down and greeted the him politely.

"Goodmorning class today we'll discuss about blah blah blah..." Mr. Kim introduces the lesson as you glanced at Rosie and held her hand under the table.

She looks at you questionably but you just shrugged acted innocent. The latter chuckles and just let you be while lowkey liking your simple affection.( 😏 ehe)

Y/n slowly focused on the lesson and the day goes by normally.

~timeskip~

*RING RING RING*

The school bell ringed loudly as the clock strucks 4 and the last subject was finally finished. You sighed heavily then putted your things on your bag.

"Fuck, I just wanna go home Chaeyoung-ah..." you whined silently.

"Don't worry, we're going now" she chuckles at your sluggish movement and dragged you out the classroom.

Y/n felt stares around the two of them and she's sure that it's all towards Rosie. It ruined her mood a little bit and felt down because she thought about the people who likes her bestie that's more better and suitable than herself. You started to mutter incoherent thoughts on your mind and didn't noticed that you've arrived in front of your motorcycle already.

Rosie saw you frowning while looking dazed, she decided to cup your face and ask you what's wrong.

"Y/n, is there something wrong?" she asked worriedly.

You looked at her and shook your head slowly.

"It's nothing, let's go... I still have to tutor you"

Y/n grabbed her helmet and gave it to the latter. Rosie glanced at the protective gear warrily then looked back to you.

"How about you?" She asks.

"Don't worry about me, just put it on" you insisted while smiling lightly.

The blonde finally agreed and putted it on. Y/n got on the vehicle as she started the engine making it roar loudly, aaand maybe a few students looking at their direction too.

Rosie finally sat behind you and hugged your waist tightly.

"Yah! If we got into an accident, I'm going to kill you" the latter threatened playfully.

You just laughed and drove away. Of course since your beloved bestfriend is just behind you, you made sure to be slow and carefully than usual. (I mean, you wouldn't want your future wife to be harmed so-)

After a few minutes, you finally arrived in front of your house.

Y/n glanced at Rosie and saw her struggling with the helmet. She chuckles at her cuteness then helped the latter.

"Argh, why is this so hard to remove!" Rosie says frustratingly.

You just smiled and kiss her forehead.

"Atleast you're cute Chae"

The latter blushed furiously but pushes you playfully towards the door of your house.

You opened the door and saw your mother chilling in the living room.

"Sup' mom" you greeted her calmly.

"Hi mommy!" Rosie greeted excitingly and ran towards the older... exactly opposite to what you did.

Your mom hugged the latter and gave a kiss on her cheek.

"I missed you darling, I'm glad you came over today"

Rosie smiles brightly and chatted with your mom for a bit so you decided to go to your room already, not wanting to ruin their moment.

Y/n throws her bag down then flopped on the bed lazily.

"I think I really love her..." you mutter lowly and closed your eyes tiredly.

On the other hand, Rosie opened your door and saw lying on your stomach. She laughed quietly then laid on top of you which made you groan.

"Hey! You still have to tutor me Y/n, don't sleep on me please. I know you're a sleepy head" she whines while shaking your shoulder.

"Fine fine, now get off me so we can start"

With just a few seconds, you're now teaching Rosie some formula which will be used tomorrow in the long test.

"So you need to find the x of the triangle and know the specific sides or vertex which will be..." you explained it carefully while glancing at the blonde occasionally.

You smiled when you saw her frowning upon the example that was given.

"You're so cute Chae" you suddenly blurted out of nowhere.

Rosie looked at you confusingly.

"Eh? I already know that Y/n/n" she answers confidently.

You just chuckled half-heartedly, suddenly thinking about confessing to the gorgeous girl in front of you.

"Chaeyoung-ah..." you hold her hands nervously.

Rosie hums while anticipating what will you saying.

"I-I, uhm I like you, n-no I mean I love y-you more than j-just a friend"

You looked down then closed your eyes, waiting for the rejection that you imagined. The latter smiles at your cuteness then lifts your chin up.

"I love you too Y/n"

You looked up again, still couldn't register what she said.

"Y-you love me too?" Y/n asks.

The blonde nods repeatedly as she started to lean closer to you.

You kissed her passionately as you couldn't contain your excitement. Rosie smiles between the kiss whilst standing up to sit on your lap. You wrapped your arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around your neck.

The latter pulls away then rests her forehead into yours, both of you still catching your breaths.

"Can you be my girlfriend, Park Chaeyoung?" Y/n asks happily, her heart beating faster than before.

"I can be your future wife as well, Kang Y/n" Rosie replies then leans in again for another kiss.

~the end~

𝘽𝙍𝙐𝙃 𝙈𝙔 𝙂𝘼𝙔 𝘼𝙎𝙎 𝙄𝙎 𝙁𝙇𝙐𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝘽𝘾𝙐𝙕 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙇𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙇

《 I'm sorry for being inactive for the last few months, I'll try to update more from now on :> 》

[chonisbestmistake]

Missed opportunities and second chances [2]

[part 1]

Lisa x Female!Reader

Warnings: fluff, angst

Word count: 2,626

Summary: You broke up with Lisa almost three years ago. Then you met Jennie at the store and this is not something she expected. At all.

NOTE: It`s kind of a mid-part because I decided to split the 2d part in two and feed you all. All of your answers are gonna be answered in the 3d part. Soon.

It was a Saturday morning when you finally had the courage to text Jennie. You’ve been thinking about pros and cons of reaching out to her for a whole week, finally deciding it wouldn`t be so bad to have her back in your life again. The only thing still concerning you was that Jennie was Lisa`s friend, which means she`ll know about their little get-together in no time. Or she already knew. About you and Vanessa. Jennie wouldn`t hide it from her friends even if you asked her to, it was obvious. And that was indeed a problem. You weren`t ready to discuss anything with them, especially with Lisa. Thought you doubted she`d want to even look at you after all these years. Anyway, it was a matter of time before they knew everything, so you let your fears go and texted Jennie like a brave woman would do.

~

You: Hey, it`s Y/N.

Jennie: Finally! I thought you forgot about me.

You: Just been busy with work and stuff, you know. Do you still want to meet up?

Jennie: Hell yeah I do! Are you free today?

You: Yeah, I just need to pick Nessie up from her dance classes and I’ll be free. 

Jennie: Great! I wanna see this cutie again, can you take her too? Let`s meet at this cafe, I’ll send you the address.

You: Sure. See you! Nessie says hi by the way.

Jennie: Tell her hi too! Can`t wait to see you guys again.

~

“Are we here yet?” Vanessa was bouncing in her car seat, always ecstatic about going out and seeing new places. You were amazed at how energetic she was even after two hours of dancing and jumping around. Every time you picked her up she was blabbing non-stop with that high-pitched excited voice about new kids she met and new moves they learned and you honestly couldn`t feel happier.

“Almost.” You answered, pulling your car to the parking lot and smiling at your child. 

“What about now? Here?” Nessie tried to look out of the window, sighing happily when you stopped the vehicle. 

“Let me unbuckle you first, kiddo.” You got out of the car and put Vanessa down, stretching her outfit. Her pigtails were a little messed up from jumping, so you fixed them quickly, getting a small ‘thank you’ in return. “Let`s go now.” 

Taking Nessie`s hand, you made your way to the small cafe on the side of the street. A sweet scent of coffee enveloped you both when you came in and Vanessa instantly sighed at the sight of cookies and other desserts on the shelves. You chuckled slightly and pulled her further in, promising to buy some sweets and searching for the familiar eyes.

Jennie was sitting in the farthest corner, hidden by the curtains, with a cup of fresh latte and a phone in the other hand. She was chatting excitedly with a blonde girl by her side and when your eyes met - you immediately recognized her. Her eyes widened and you smiled shyly. Nessie let go of your hand and ran to meet Jennie while you were still staring at Rosé.

“Hey, sweetie pie! How have you been?” Jennie pulled Vanessa up on the couch and hugged her tightly. Nessie was ecstatic that her new friend greeted her so warmly and giggled loudly.

“Hi, aunty Jennie! I’ve been great, thank you!” She sent her a toothy smile, turning back to look at Rosé. You realized you zoned out and made your way to the coach, sending Rosé a smile. She stood up instantly and wrapped her arms around you in a tight hug.

“Chae.” You sighed, burring your nose in her neck and returning the embrace. 

“Y/N, I missed you so much!” She let go of you and you two sat down. Rosé turned to Vanessa with a beaming smile, who was examining her curiously.

“Hi! I’m Chaeyoung. But you can call me Rosie if you want.” She said sweetly and your daughter grinned, nodding.

“I`m Vanessa, nice to meet you! Are you mommy`s friend too?” She asked Chaeyoung and looked at you for approval.

“Yes, baby, we`ve known each other before you were even born, can you imagine?” You said in a playful tone and Vanessa gasped in surprise.

“Woah, that`s a whole lot!” Her eyes widened comically and she grinned at Rosé, holding her little fist up above the table. Chaeyoung paused for a moment and then chuckled in realization, fist-bumping her gently.

“You`re so cute, oh my God.” She whined, poking her cheeks and Vanessa giggled happily.

After a while, your nervousness faded completely and it started to feel like an old`s friend get-together. A waiter brought a set of cookies and some drinks to the table, Vanessa was enjoying her meal and the conversation was floating peacefully between the three of you. The girls talked about their love life, the comebacks, family matters and you were happy to hear they were finally getting their freedom after almost six years of being in a cage, as you used to call their company. Rosé was texting someone when Nessie called her attention suddenly.

“You look like a princess!” Nessie sighed in awe and you and Jennie shared a good laugh while Rosie`s face was turning crimson.

“Why do you think that?” She asked shyly and you answered before anyone could process the question.

“It`s the blonde hair. She has a thing for Rapunzel and we`ve seen it for a hundred times already.” You sighed dramatically, patting your child`s had.

“Yes, she`s my favorite!” Nessie giggled and bit another cookie like there was no tomorrow. 

“Aww, that`s nice to hear. I like her a lot too!  But don`t tell that to Lisa or Chu, she`s their favorite and they`re going to tickle me to death if they know.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes playfully and your heart skipped a beat even though you were in the conversation with Jennie.

“Chu..?” Nessie tilted her head and Rosé hurried to explain.

“Jisoo and Lisa, our friends. Lisa actually has a strange hair color that I can’t really explain because it changes so quickly, but Jisoo`s a redhead. You`re going to love them though, they`re so funny!” Chaeyoung chuckled and Vanessa tried to smile with her mouth full, failing miserably.

“Chae, what are you talking about?” Jennie asked, concern written all over her face because she knew you wouldn`t be happy at the idea.

“Oh, Jichu texted me they were nearby and I told them where we are, so they decided to come and meet Vanessa as well. They`re so excited! Chu`s been dying to see you, Y/N.” She answered easily and you sighed, trying to organize your thoughts. Jisoo was one thing. But you were definitely not prepared to meet Lisa right now nor introduce her to Vanessa. “Y/N, I hope you don`t mind? I`m sorry I didn`t ask beforehand, but it`s been so long…”

“I`m not sure if it`s a good idea, Chae…” You desperately tried to think about any excuse to escape the situation and avoid meeting the girls but the doorbell already rang in the distance and you immediately heard their voices before you even saw them turning around the corner. Your hand unintentionally flew to Vanessa in a protective gesture which didn`t go unnoticed by Jennie. She frowned, probably trying to rationalize your actions but you didn`t give it a second thought because all of your attention was on the two women who were making their way to your table. They were wearing masks but their eyes were wide open, filled curiosity and excitement. Jisoo took off her mask, showing her pretty smile and Lisa followed her quickly, smiling shyly when they came closer.

“Y/N! My God, it`s been years.” You stood up, returning the hug, and realized you`ve been holding your breath this whole time. Vanessa was unusually quiet, sitting with Jennie, probably startled by the tension in the air. You looked at Lisa, who seemed lost and out of place, so you just smiled kindly and embraced her quickly, braking the ice like it was nothing.

“Hi, Lisa.” You whispered in her ear gently. Her sent was so familiar yet it felt like a distant memory. You zoned out for a moment but caught yourself quickly and let her go, owning a small shy ’Hi’ in return. It was obvious she didn’t know how to act around you yet and you felt just the same, desperately trying to look confident. Meeting an ex was never an easy task. 

The free of you sat down and Vanessa crawled to your lap, wrapping her hands around your neck and looking at two girls with suspicion and curiosity. She seemed to notice your discomfort and came to the rescue. It made your heart flutter and you smiled at how protective and sensitive she was already at such a young age. You loved your little girl so damn much.

“Aww, cutie.” Jisoo cooed at the view and you remembered that all eyes were on you now.

“It`s okay, baby. Don`t worry, I’m okay.” You whispered in her ear and she relaxed against your front. In the corner of your eye, you saw Lisa tilt her head curiously, like a puppy, and smile at your daughter.

“Hi, I`m Lisa!” She said in a cute voice and held her fist up. You saw Nessie`s eyes widen comically in excitement and everyone chuckled when she hurried to bump her fist in return, almost falling off your lap. Her little palm looked even smaller in comparison to Lisa`s and it made your heart ache.

“I`m Vanessa.” She grinned happily and you couldn`t help but smile brightly, admiring your child. Your nerves started to ease again, though it was still hard for you to look Lisa in the eyes, so you focused on your baby girl completely.

“I`m Jisoo, nice to meet you, Vanessa.” The older girl smiled and fist-bumped her too, noting the similarity between you and your daughter out loud. It made you blush and you felt pride warming your chest. Giving birth was really the best decision you`ve ever made.

“Chichu.” Nessie chuckled loudly and Jisoo glared at two other girls that were laughing hysterically. Lisa followed them shortly, adding a little 'You`re dead, guys.’ in between.

“It wasn`t me!” Jennie giggled while Chaeyoung hid her face in her hands, snickering and moving away from Jisoo`s grasp before she could catch her by the elbow.

“You`ll gonna pay for that, Chipmunk.” Jisoo shot her a death glare and everyone laughed again. You felt yourself relax in their company and you were thankful they made everything easier. They were just like that. And all of your concerns about meeting Lisa again faded into the background.

“So, Y/N, tell me everything! What have you been up to? How did you get this little nugget over here?”

“I`m not a nugget!!!”

You talked for about an hour and it felt like you never parted. Vanessa made everything seem so simple, carefree and bright, and by the end of the conversation, everyone was completely in love with her. You answered all of their questions, avoiding the topic of Nessie`s other parent like a plague. Jennie was paying close attention to you again, but you brushed it off, thinking she`s just missed you that much. Lisa was being unproblematic and you were thankful she didn`t mention anything about your horrible break up. To be honest, all of your previous fears were useless. It`s like she was the same Lisa you knew years ago - bright and funny, but now she was more mature and it seemed like she thought twice before saying anything. You were really enjoying their company and Vanessa seemed to like them just as much.

“Mommy!” She gasped suddenly in horror and you felt your heart speed up. “I forgot Nicky at the studio!”

“Oh my God, Nessie, you gave me a heart attack.” You sighed, closing your eyes and leaning back on the couch, and the girls chuckled. “We`ll get him back later, i promise. But please, don`t scare me like that ever again.” Vanessa nodded and returned to her noodles you ordered a while ago like she didn`t just nearly killed all of your nerve cells.

“A studio?” Rosie perked up and you snickered. Of course, she wouldn`t just skip something related to music in any sense.

“I dance!” Nessie answered happily and a noodle fell out of her mouth, making Jennie burst out laughing. You picked the food up and wiped her face gently.

“You like to dance?” Lisa asked excitedly and Jisoo rolled her eyes, grinning.

“Yes! It`s the best thing in the whole wooorld!” She nodded eagerly and Lisa high-fived her, asking Vanessa to show her some moves later.

“I wonder who she got it from…” Jennie muttered under her nose, but you heard it clearly. You frowned, catching her eyes with your own, but she didn`t look away, and you couldn`t help but tilt your head in question. She didn`t say anything, eyes falling to her phone quickly, so you changed the subject.

“Alright guys, we still have to go back to that studio and it`s someone`s nap time soon, so we better head out.” You said and Vanessa shook her head quickly with eyes full of concern.

“It`s not mine, mommy!” She looked tired already and was about to start getting fussy, but you still brushed her hair gently, took the money out of your purse and stood up.

“Yeah, it`s mine.” You smiled at her pouty lips and Chaeyoung cooed. “I so need a nap.” You said, showing how exhausted you were by rubbing your eyes softly.

“Okay then, mommy. I’ll stay with you when you get your beauty sleep, aright?” She nodded confidently and jumped off the couch in a second.

“Thank you, baby, you`re the best!” The girls stood up too to say goodbye and you smiled at them, still not believing everything went so good. 

“How are you so good with her?” Jisoo chuckled, hugging you and you grinned, returning the embrace. “I thought she was about to have a tantrum like any other kid would. You`re a magician!”

“Practice, duh. And, I’m the best.” 

“You sure are.” Jennie snickered, kissing your cheek.

“Don`t forget to say goodbye, Nessie.” You told your kid, who was hugging Rose tightly. 

“Bye-bye, aunty Jennie, bye-bye, aunty Rosie, bye-bye, aunty Jichu, bye-bye, aunty Lisa!” She lost her breath byt the time she said goodbye to everyone and the girls burst out laughing, melting completely. You hugged Jisoo and Lisa and took Nessie`s hand in yours.

“It was so good to see you guys!” You said on your way out while Vanessa was waving excitedly.

~

Lisa`s smile was still imprinted on your mind when you were putting Nessie to sleep that night and it felt so odd to think again about a woman you haven`t seen for so long yet who was related to you so much. She was still that Lisa you knew back then, but it seemed like she was completely a different person now and you couldn`t help but worry if this get-together with your ex would be a good thing for you or not. It got worse when Jennie texted you again that same night, wanting to meet up and promising that it would be just you and her this time. You were starting to get worried that she might be suspicious or if she knew something she didn`t need to, but you tried to reassure yourself that there was no way she would know. Right? You didn`t get much sleep that night, holding Nessie closer to your chest than usual, flashbacks of your past coming back to you till the sun rose in the morning and Vanessa opened her sparkly eyes again.

[lottiesfics]

Pray You Catch Me (d.d/chap1) {Lemonade Series}

Prompt: Each song from Lemonade tells a story in one way or another, the story of love being tortured and ruined to finding a conclusion that will work. You and David had been together for years, 3 years of marriage and one child. Although, David and You have been through some hard times. Rumors of infidelity had begun to spring about, leading to a one night binge of you re-thinking your love for him. Word Count: 1,086

Chapter 1- Pray You Catch Me

Ever since I was young I was told my

intuition

was always in the right spot. I knew what I wanted and I reached for the stars and still that above. I worked hard and waited for my chance to play in life. With David, I felt that. I met David a few years into my big move out to Los Angeles, the city of dreams. Despite it being majorly different from Omaha, Nebraska. I gave it a shot. I ended up loving it. I sat up from the empty half-bed, the duvet rolled off of me so smoothly. Almost saying, "Take her and go, leave him." Yet, I couldn't pull myself to do that to him. I pray at night that we can fix this. I stood up and moved into the kitchen pouring myself a drink. 11:58 pm. The clock blinked in slow-motion. I wait all night for him to come home, I watch the stories, I watch the vlogs and I wait. I watch our 2-year-old daughter sleep peaceful, unaware of the issues Mommy and Daddy are facing. We married in July of 2019. We were so young, only 23 and 22. We thought all would be well and the first two years were the best two years. Kaela came into our lives, we bought a new house, the vlogs were sky-rocketing and then boom. As a bomb dropped into a heavy part of my heart, It all broke. An attack felt placed upon us. "David Dobrik spotted with a model outside of Delila's" "David Dobrik kissing Summer Carter" "David Dobrik was caught cheating on (Y/N)!" The headlines rolled in. With that so did the tears, and my

intuition

. I thought he was true. I like to believe he's true. When I bring it up, even now, the anger within him rises and he walks out. Now I just wait. Sometimes he's here early, we fall asleep in one another's arms and all feels right in the world. Other nights, I hear him come in. On the phone at 4 am, "Yeah I made it home. I told her 2, but, Zane was so funny tonight how could I not stay? Okay, I'm going to bed, night S." He would hang up his phone, undress and climb into bed. I would let the tears dry on my face as he wrapped his arms around me. We both knew. We both knew the truth but knew why we were making it work. I still loved him. I think I always will, but, what would Kaela do? I wonder sometimes if this is fixable. My phone buzzed, taking me out of my daydream and thoughts. It was a text from David it read: "Hey baby! I won't be able to make it home tonight, I got caught up in something and I need to stay back and finish editing with Joe. I'll see you in the morning. xoxo." I scoffed. This was a first for him. Now my

intuition

was screaming, "He's untrue. What's gotten into you! Leave him!" Yet, I replied with an "ok" and took my glass of wine to the couch. I pray that he understands what he's putting this family through. We're we too young? Is everyone right? What is going on? I think back to our first date. The first night we shared together. He picked me up from my apartment in his white Tesla. Me being me, I was incredibly excited. It was none the less David Dobrik but a Tesla! He drove out, farther than I thought. We ended up four hours away in Palm Springs. We went to an elegant restaurant, somewhere that I never even dreamed of going. Caviar was huge and everything was plated with a form of gold. I remember laughing with him and talking about his friends vs my boring friends. Yet, that night I would go home and call them all. I would describe the night saying, "Guys, I think I finally found someone I can be myself with." Yet, even though marriage would come, I don't know if he would see it as a binding element. We sat in the Tesla later that night, talking about everything under the sky. Our lives before Los Angeles and our lives after. What we did for a living, who we really were and who we wanna be. I trusted him. I told him everything. I cherish our vows and our wedding. I remember saying, "Through thick and thin, I will always be true. I pray you and I will always stay the way we were the first day we met. In love, happy and hopeful.” Sadly, the only hope I had now was that Kaela would watch and learn from his mistakes. Understands she deserves someone who will appreciate her and treat her as she is. Not someone who is only there half the time and then who is vacant, leaving the home to be empty. The argument; that he makes the money, I'm the housewife. The argument I hate more than the time my own Father pushed me off the edge. I take another swing from my glass until it's all gone. At this point, I grabbed the bottle of Rosé. The static in my mind grew quiet as another text beeped in from my phone. "Let me know if you need anything, love u -Davey". I felt the tears growing in my eyes, I knew the dishonesty was there. My

intuition

was screaming, "Leave, now" I walked over and down the hallway to Kaela's room. I looked at the door. For a two-year-old, she slept amazing. She loved when David was here, yet, there have been nights. Nights she needed him and he couldn't be here. Those are the toughest. Those are the nights I wonder if he would choose Summer over his own child. I walked back over to the island in the middle of the kitchen. I took a few sips, groaning out loud, "What are you doing my love?"

[andy-loves-corgis]

Enough for you (Drake x MC)

Book: The Royal Romance (Future)

Pairing: Drake X MC, 

Rating: M  (a little NSFW-ish)

A/N: @drakewalkerrosenberg asked me about the biggest fight Riley and Drake had, so here it is. It’s also my first take on married Riley and Drake. I hope you enjoy it.

She gripped the sides of the book she was reading, she could hear the faint music coming from the grand ballroom of her estate, they were holding yet another fundraising ball, this time for flood relief in Portavira, she had promised Penelope and Zeke that she would help them a few weeks ago. Of course, it was before her diagnosis.

Preeclampsia.

The word was engraved in the back of her head and all around her 37-weeks belly, she inhaled deeply again, she felt like her whole existence rested on that word, what once was a happy time for her and Drake was now a nightmare.

The doctor asked her not to step aside from politics during that time.

Even though I’m a fucking duchess in the middle of a conflict of interests with other nobles.

He also suggested bedrest, not all the time, but her ever-so-caring husband wouldn’t let her leave the bed for more than 2 hours, and it wasn’t like he was staying there with her, no. As Duke of Valtoria, Drake had to take on her responsibilities, she had even to hire and assistant to him, since he refused to let her into the turmoil of the negotiations with Cormery Isle.

She was so done with being shut down of everything. When her feet touched the ground, she relished on the feeling of the rug on her bare feet, her hand placed upon her swollen belly, they wanted to be surprised on the sex of their baby, maybe only a couple of weeks and the future Duke or Duchess would grace their household.

She walked to her wardrobe her fingers resting on a rosé dress Ana De Lucca has made specially to this night, it would be a shame if it went to waste, she grinned mischievously, Drake could be mad, but she was sure once he saw her it would all be alright.

Slowly she slipped some rhinestones flats on her feet, being careful to avoid her reflection, she hated how she looked like a hot air balloon in anything she wore. She had to remind herself that it wasn’t the reason why Drake has been turning her down for over a month.

He’s just worried, we all are. You need to get out of mommy, little person, so I can have my hot body back.

Riley snuck her head outside their master suite, feeling excited as she was when she met Drake in the shadows, over 4 years ago. Following the waltzing melodies, she made her way through their halls, taking in the beauty of the paintings hanging there, she missed painting too.

Half hi in the shadows, she scanned the crowd looking for him. If she still knew her husband, he would be… yes, there he was, by the bar. She shook her head, making a mental note to scold him to sneak from his own ball to drink.

Her internal smile died when a tall blonde handed him a tumbler of whiskey, her curves accentuated in a silky silver dress, her blonde hair falling in loose curls around her young face, she laughed heartedly brushing her finger in his upper arm patting his hair and laughing again, throwing her locks over her shoulder. Riley’s gaze turned to Drake that seemed unfazed by her little show, though he seemed to be having fun.

It was his assistant. Amelia D’Angelo, 25 years old, had an impressive resumé at such a young age and appeared very serious on her job. Appeared. For a second Riley closed her eyes, breathing in, she couldn’t let her anger take the best of her, it was a health matter.

“Oh my god, Riley!” she heard the fuzzy sound of Hana’s voice near the door. “I’m so happy to see you”.

“Oh Hana, thank you for coming!” she tried to smile. “I’ll come right back, just need find Drake.”

With a brief hug she marched towards the bar but was stopped by another of her best friends.

“Riley, you came. You are so big!” Maxwell’s eyes glinting, his soft hands touching the sides of her belly.

“Thanks Max” she said gritting her teeth, he could be so dense sometimes, she was about to dodge him when another voice caught her attention.

“What are you doing here.” Drake’s voice was one step from showing how mad he was, his lips on a thin line.

Riley felt her rage coming back, as soon as Amelia walked right behind him looking puzzled.

“Could you excuse us?” Riley used the diplomatic tone she took years to perfect and saw as the girl looked at Drake to confirm, making Riley’s nostrils flare.

“What are you doing here, York?” his use of her maiden name, made her think he wasn’t that mad at her.

“I didn’t want the dress go to waste, besides, I miss dancing with my husband.” She missed too many things, to be honest.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll let you hit this dancefloor, you need rest” he said taking her hand, like a parent with a brat child, leading her to her throne, so she could sit.

“I thought you would be happier to see me, but you seemed like you were having so much fun without me.” She used her most sarcastic tone, the one she knew Drake hated.

“I’m always happy to see you, mostly when you’re happily tucked on our bed, taking care of your health.” His whispers hushed.

“Oh sure, so you can fool around with your new assistant?” the words escaped her mouth before she could think about them.

Never before she had seen Drake so outraged.

“Are you insane?” his voice rising.

She tried to even her breath, but the hot anger boiling inside her was making her dizzy.

“See, that’s what I was talking about.” Now he had gone full mad at her.

Drake took her hand as she forcefully shut her eyes to see if the dizziness lessened, he guided her back to their room in a sepulchral silence. He took her out of her dress, not like all the other times he undressed her after balls, this time was if he wanted to get it over with, seating her on the bed and taking her flats, pressing on her skin to check for swelling.

“I texted Amelia, she will take care of the ball, since I will stay here making sure you don’t leave this bed.” Drake got up taking his jacket off and loosening his tie

Riley chewed on the inside of her cheeks.

“Good to know you are text pals now.” Her voice like venom spilling on her chin.

“What is your problem, Riley?” now she was in danger, using her first name was reserved to either when he was calling her name during sex or when he was angry.

“MY problem? You wanna know my problem?” she was about to get up, but his look made her stay sitting, she knotted her robe around her before continuing. “My fucking problem is that you put me on a golden cage, where I’m not allowed to paint, to talk about my damn job, I can’t barely leave this bed!”

“The doctor said you…”

“So I go there to surprise you, fill myself with a little joy before our world becomes our child and find you getting very close to a staff member?” her sight was blurred, and she felt the tears threatening to fall.

“How can you think that?” she had hurt him. “Not only thinking I would be sleeping around with our staff, but that I would be sleeping around in the first place.”

“You don’t even TOUCH me Drake.” Hot and wet strings crossing her face. “You barely look at me twice, so… so I should understand I’m not funny, or hot anymore because I’m sick and could hurt our child.”

She gave in to the sobs, after a few seconds she felt his arms wrap around her. She tried to fight him at first, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“I love you, York. 7 years ago, you came into my life like a distant dream, I would never do anything that could risk what we have.” He whispered in her hair, making her cry even harder. “I’m sorry.”

He laid her on the bed and stroke her hair until her sobs died down and she drifted to sleep.

Two hours later she woke up to a buzzing sound, Drake sound asleep beside her, still wearing his suit. She reached to her nightstand, but wasn’t on her side of the bed, drowsily grabbing Drake’s phone instead.

Amelia Assistant 45 minutes ago: Hello Mr. Walker, just so you know, the party went well, though you were fairly missed.

Amelia Assistant 10 minutes ago: I enjoyed our conversation today and think that our work together is really paying, if you want to relax after everything that happened with your wife, you can meet me.

Amelia Assistant Now: I’m waiting for you at your office.

A breath caught on her throat, she knew that there was something to suspect and it wasn’t her husband, now, it wasn’t the hot-blooded anger she used to feel, it was an icy determination. She carefully moved Drake’s arm from around her and put on her slippers, marching across the halls into her office, which Drake had been using.

“I knew you wanted this too, Mr. Walker…” Amelia turned around, wearing a silky black nightdress and a terrified look on her face once she met the Duchess. “Your Grace, is everything alright?”

“Good evening, Miss D’Angelo” Riley smiled at her, watching her pull the neckline of her skimpy nightdress up. “Please, sit.”

“Do you want me ask someone from the staff for a more comfortable chair for you, Your Grace?” Amelia kept pulling her hair behind her ear.

“Oh that’s very kind from someone wanting to fuck my husband.” Riley’s voice dripped sweetness, but her face was devilish. “Don’t worry, I’ll stand. It won’t take long.”

“Your Grace I wasn’t… I…” she started to speak, but Riley cut her.

“You know that my main flag for this duchy is Women’s Rights and Feminism, so the first thing I did was suspect my husband, someone who took a bullet from me, but I was wrong, I see…”

“I fell in love, he didn’t even bother to bring your name up in conversations.” Amelia’s tone was sharp, disgusted, making Riley rise one brow.

“You see, Amelia. I know girls like you.” She took two steps towards the table. “You think you’re entitled to everything, that you are better than the wives of the men you seduce, you trust your face and your body so much, but if we take all of that, what’s left? Nothing.”

The girl gulped.

“Eight years ago, I was serving tables and Drake was taking care of the stables, and if I had not be given this duchy, I would’ve happily moved back to the U.S with him, to serve tables happily and live in a hole-in-wall apartment, just to sleep by his side every night. He didn’t even bring my name in conversations because you’re not even worthy to hear my name.” Riley stood royally above Amelia, who trembled in fear and anger.

“Are you going to fire me?”  Amelia asked, without meeting Riley’s gaze.

“No.” Riley stated, and the girl looked puzzled at her. “I’d rather see you work every day under the whispers of the staff, who will certainly know about this little conversation, and seeing how a man who respects his woman treats someone who doesn’t. Have a good night, Miss D’Angelo.”

Riley turned to the door and met Drake on the other side.

“I saw the messages and I was about to come and fire her, but I think you handled that pretty well” he smirked, and she rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go back to sleep, this child is throwing a party in my womb” her hand held her stomach as their child moved.

Drake laid with his head on the side of her belly, caressing and whispering to it until they fell asleep.

Riley woke up late on the next day, with the sound of Drake in jeans and white Henley getting in the room with breakfast.

“Rise and shine, my love” he set the tray next to their bed and sat beside her.

“I woke up with a resignation letter on my table. Looks like I don’t have an assistant anymore.” He grinned.

“Oh what a pity.” Riley feigned sadness.

Drake lowered his head to kiss her.

“And I also wanted to say that…” he moved his lips to her ear “Hearing you last night was so hot.”

Riley hummed, biting her lip as one of his hands found her breast, rolling her nipple in his fingers.

“Maybe I can show you how much…” his hands were about to travel south when she held his wrist.

Drake looked puzzled at her.

“Drake, I think my water broke…”

.

Tagging people who might like it: @agent-bossypants; @silviasutton1989; @sleepwalkingelite; @ooo-barff-ooo; @likethetailofacomet

[helen-blackthorn]

Idk if you’re still taking prompts but Helen and Aline taking care of a baby and them being the cute couple-ly Mum goals please. Just heline with babies thanks

here you are love, so sorry for the wait on this xx 

Years ago, Aline would have never imagined herself having a child.

Deep in her teenage torment days, she had always supposed that she would only ever have a child for her parents sake more than her own.

Somewhere down the line, that opinion had shifted, although when it had been exactly was unclear. Aline thought perhaps it had been when she and Helen had exchanged family rings, sipping rosé wine on a blanket under the Los Angeles stars on a beach all to themselves. Aline had envisioned their futures together while her fingers traced the engravings of the Blackthorn family ring on her hand, familiarizing herself with the feel of it.

Or, maybe it had been when Drusilla clung to her hips the day she had been due to leave back to Idris and made Aline promise to come back as soon as possible, because she adored Aline and loved to have someone new listen to her stories. Or the time Helen had woken her up from where she had fallen asleep on the couch, Tavvy napping in her arms, and commented how great Aline was with kids despite her initial skepticism.

Maybe, Aline considered, it had been Magnus and Alec and their little family together. She had seen the look in Magnus’ eyes when he was with Rafael and Max, pure adoration, and she had seen the way Alec’s mood seemed to shift - as if the weight of his life had been lifted off of his chest, making way for something much lighter, and happier.

Whichever it may have been, or a combination of them all, Aline was eternally glad that her perspective on becoming a mother had changed.

It was Aline’s cousin, Vivianne, who had reached out to catch up and, in casual conversation, mentioned that the Academy had just received a recently orphaned girl from the Istanbul Institute. She was young at only five years old; too young for training, and with no living relatives left to take her in, the Academy was looking to place her in the care of another Institute. Vivianne had also offhandedly mentioned that she was a sweet girl, smart for her age, and that Aline would, as she put it, “fall in love” with her.

Aline relayed the information to Helen the same night, and then they were portaling to Idris the next morning.

There had not been much of a discussion. Helen and Aline were more or less on the same wavelength as one another, able to detect what the other was feeling by just looking into each others eyes. It was an unspoken agreement: they were ready to go from two, to three. They were ready.

Vivianne had been right, of course, and even bounced on the balls of her feet when Aline had told her so.

Her name was Alya, and she was pure radiance, a sun that radiates warmth that Aline could hold in her arms and hug tight and kiss without the fear of getting burned from it. Aline understood, in that moment when Helen knelt down to her eye level and Alya gave a shy smile and brushed Helen’s hair away to see the elven curve of her ears, the change in Magnus and Alec with their sons.

Fifteen year old Aline would have laughed and said: “no way am I going to be responsible for another human being,” if asked about children. Would have laughed harder at the idea of being called a mother.

Twenty-six year old Aline stood smiling softly in a doorway, watching on as her daughter gave her wife eskimo kisses and murmured nonsensical words she always expected to be said back to her. It had become something of a nightly ritual over the past year.

“Okay, okay,” Aline announced as she entered the bedroom, carrying with her a small collection of mundane children’s books she found stashed away in the Institute’s library, which Julian mentioned were once Tavvy’s. She sat at the other side of the bed, sharing a knowing smile with Helen before addressing their daughter. “It’s getting late and I still owe you a story, princess.”

And she did. Alya got cranky otherwise, and that usually meant for nightmares.

Alya beamed over at her, clapping her tiny hands together excitedly - which meant either Kit or Emma had snuck her sweets before bed and she was still riding out the sugar rush. Aline made a mental note to question them about that later. “Can I pick the story tonight, mommy?”

“Just one this time,” Aline said firmly but affectionately, laying the selection out before her.

“Then it’s bedtime for you,” Helen added, quickly tickling Alya’s sides which elicited a peel of high-pitched giggles as she pressed a myriad of kisses on her small tan cheeks.

Afterward, Alya got to work deciding which story she wanted to be told, her face the picture of concentration. Aline and Helen called it her ‘serious business’ face, because of the way her brows would furrow, her mouth set in a thin line, and her tiny fingers at her chin.

“I want this one,” Alya determined at last, pointing at a book with fairies - not to be confused with actual faeries - on the cover. “‘Cause they have pointy ears just like Mama’s.”

“Excellent choice,” said Helen as Alya leaned back, tucking the blanket around her with a smug little grin.

Once she was settled in, Aline handed her wife the other books and cleared her throat.

By the time she finished the story, the sugar high had surpassed and Alya was struggling to keep her eyes open. Helen, who had moved to sit beside Aline to put her arm around her waist, smiled softly. “Ready to sleep, baby?”

“Mhm,” Alya hummed, snuggling further into her pillows.

Aline closed the book and took one of Alya’s hands to give it a kiss. She had taken to giving the palms of her hands little kisses before she slept to will the possibility of nightmares away, a small non verbal reminder that she was loved, and it delighted her when Alya begun to do the same thing. She’d stayed up gushing about it with Helen all night, similar to how they had when she first called them ‘mommy’ and ‘mama.’

“Goodnight, little one,” Aline said.

“Night, mommies,” Alya murmured groggily, voice slurred with sudden exhaustion. Aline knew she would be sleeping within minutes.

Helen turned off the lamp light on the bedside table and the two got up to leave, hands entwined simply for the sake of just touching, closing the door quietly behind them.

*fun fact, I personally don’t imagine them having kids, but this was cute and writing it might have swayed me a little. thank you for the prompts, I hope I did them justice :)

*Alya (ah-lee-uh) means ‘sky’ or ‘heaven’ in Arabic, according to wikipedia. for Livia

*I was just going to make this a quick little cute scene but I’m meticulous and needed to create an entire backstory before I could continue lmao I’m sorry

[jenlmanfre]

Cook Using Only What’s in Your Pantry

My kitchen overfloweth. And despite the headline, I only dream of having a pantry so various cabinets are carrying the burden of my over-buying of ingredients. I do cook - quite a bit and between a fussy eater, a household member who avoids gluten and my own Mediteranean-ish diet there is a ton of half-full this and not-yet-expired that around for the intrepid at-home chef.

So this week, instead of doing a menu plan based on whatever caught my eye on Pinterest and building a shopping list that requires going to Trader Joe’s, Vons, Sprouts, Baja Ranch Market, 99 Ranch Market and H Mart, I decided that I was going to shun my overconsumption ways and only use what was in my kitchen/garden. Enter the two-pound bag of dried fava beans that I bought at the Pasadena Farmers’ Market last summer.

Ah… dried fava beans. They promise a nutty, slightly bitter/slightly sweet taste - kinda like that cheese that came on the wine bar board that you couldn’t decide if you liked or not, but you also couldn’t stop nibbling at. A two-pound bag of them. Don’t be confused - this isn’t a bag of puffy, cute, pale “broad beans” that you buy at the grocery store. These are big, ugly greenish-grayish-brownish misshapen globs that cause cooks on the internet to attack each other on their chosen battlefields of the correct time for soaking and boiling, and of course - to shell or not to shell. This last one being of utmost importance because the fava beans I bought are still armored in their shells. Not their pods, mind you. No, those have been removed. But that’s not enough protection apparently, so favas have thick, Predator-armor-like shells too. Being one of the oldest cultivated foods on the planet - favas make you work like a beleaguered gatherer in the Fertile Crescent whose entire village’s life depends on getting the nutrition out of this hateful legume and the fava bean knows it.

To be fair, the fava bean isn’t the only culprit in this adventure. People on the internet lie. Every post, article and cooking video that states all you need to do is soak the beans overnight and then “easily slip the shells off” is a lying piece of sh*t content. The author clicked “post” and then laughed maniacally knowing that the unaware audience will read it, buy the damn beans with the shells on and have their souls crushed after hours of splitting, peeling and prying off the hide that is vacuum sealed to each and every bean. Also - unless that picture on the recipe shows a dip or purée… the author never even thought of using dried fava beans. The shelled dried fava bean only comes in two forms: pre-cooked hard as a Jolly Rancher or cooked formless mush. That’s it. Now you know the truth.

But I gotta use the beans - says the voice inside while mentally flipping through shocking infographics on carbon-emitting food waste. I decided to cast my lot with the not-gonna-shell the beans folks. Those brave folks in the comments who say, “toothsome, but edible and helps keep the shape.” Yep, I’m NOT GONNA SHELL THE FAVAS. Say it again - NOT GONNA SHELL THE FAVAS. I feel empowered. I feel bold. I’m on it… let’s soak those suckers overnight!

Next morning, they have done their osmosis thing and look like that dude who vehemently denies taking steroids at the gym (you used to go to before COVID). Call it puffy.

Gonna get ‘em cooked and add some extra power by firing up the Instapot - like a fava-bean sauna and add a couple of minutes because I DIDN’T SHELL THE FAVAS.

A steam release later and I’m sweating the aromatics in a big pot on the stovetop: why do I have so many onions? Let’s put in the weird-looking rainbow carrots that actually were not rainbow - only yellow - that came from my garden. Garlic… There's always a ton of garlic around here.

Adding a splash of some random rosé (the cook in me said white, but the wine drinker wanted to get rid of the rosé that came in a bundle of taster bottles I got last year).

Needs some umami - nope, no mushrooms available. Oh - um, how about some SPAM? (Did you know SPAM is all caps? It’s also supposed to be followed by “luncheon meat” because it’s a trademark, not a noun, but AP style guide doesn’t own me.)

Why do I have SPAM, you ask. Because last year, when I was being COVID Super Mommy, I took the kids on a virtual Spring Break gastro-vacation around the world. Friday was Hawaii and I thought - SPAM Loco Moco for breakfast! But after a week of cooking and eating rather extravagantly, all I could muster was a DoorDash Hawaiian Bar-B-Que delivery for dinner. Hence SPAM in the cabinet. Chopped and in it goes.

Here’s some roasted red peppers leftover from last night and some stray cherry tomatoes that are starting to look wrinkly. It's upcycle cooking.

Beans… natch needs thyme. Dammit, my potted thyme up and died on me in November - use the ground. Ah… but there is some lovely fresh oregano from the balcony.

And of course, a bay leaf. Wait… where is the freaking bay leaf? I just bought another bottle of bay leaves. Damn - I use a lot of bay leaves.

Add in some bullion and then the favas. Mix all together. Hmmm… looks kinda thin. Tomato paste to the rescue. Plus, Salt and Peppa’s here!

Still looks blah… what’s in the fridge drawer? Chard from the garden! I have so much chard - that plant is out of control!

Let it simmer. Recite line from MacBeth for good measure while doing the clean-up:

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

After an hour or two - say the time it takes to start a new game on Sims but you get bored because the whole Master Chef career track doesn’t thrill you like it used to - sauce taste test says flavors are nicely melded.

I am ready for a satisfying lunch of Not Shelled Fava Bean Stew from the Depths of Jennifer’s Cabinets with a sprinkling of parmesan and pita triangles for scooping!

Moments later, biting down on a pod of vinyl-covered paste -

I shoulda shelled the favas and made a dip.