#she was dressed up nice and came to say goodbye when she left which she doesnt normally do so i dont think she'll be back for a while

[toastsnaffler]

really horribly anxious this morning and can't seem to shake it off :-(

[wolverinesleftclaw]

lowkey need logan talking me thru it 😖

oh my god i know, i imagine him just snapping and fucking the reader like crazy. i just know he’d be so vocal during sex. like all that anger omfg. introducing my love peaches as my lil oc for these requests :)

logan talking you through it +18

you’d always known logan had this deep anger inside of him. he tried his hardest to never let you experience it up close. which was why you decided to make a game of it. do whatever you could to make him so mad that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. you loved playing games, you always found yourself on top when it came to them.

you started small, pulling away from him in affection. logan’s deep fear of losing you left him constantly needing some form of affection from you to remind him that you weren’t going anywhere. this blew up in your face faster than anything else you could do when he came home after a mission with wade and threw you over his shoulder grumbling something like ‘jus need to feel you’

so you went big.

logan had left earlier for another mission. now usually you’d stay home like the good girl you were but you were dedicated to your cause so you decided to wear your shortest dress and tallest heels and went out. shooting a quick text to vanessa asking her to meet you at the bar.

you thought for a moment maybe you should at least text him and tell him you wouldn’t be home when he got back but decided against it. you sure did love self-destructive behavior.

‘hey hot stuff’ the soft voice of vanessa rang in your ears ‘last thing i expected was a text from you’

‘oh you know ness sometimes i like to switch it up’

‘mhm, you do realize wolvies going to lose his mind when he can’t find you’

a small smirk grazed your face as you grabbed her hand leading her into the bar ‘that’s exactly what i want’

‘you nasty little thing, i’m so proud’ she laughed calling that bartender over ‘two gin and tonics please, so what is it you want from him’

‘i want him to fuck me senseless’ you state with a smile, ‘ i mean your telling me that he doesn’t have it in him? he’s like two hundred pounds of solid muscle and anger for once i just want to be thrown around ya know?’

grabbing your drink you bring it to your lips as you look around the bar ‘nothing makes him more mad than other men’

‘well if you want to see him murder someone i say go for it, you’d probably find that hot anyways’ she teased grabbing her phone ‘oh look it’s wade’ she said flashing you her screen

‘you enjoy that, i’ll be mingling’ you laughed wiggling your fingers in goodbye, you quickly found yourself at the end of the bar ordering another drink, swallowing thickly you felt a bad vibe in your stomach maybe this was a bad idea.

‘what’s a pretty lady like you doing here alone’ a dark voice said from behind you.

as soft gasp left your throat as his hand touched your lower back. yup, definitely a bad idea.

‘oh um, waiting for my friend’ you croak out looking over his shoulder eyes darting around the room looking for vanessa.

‘yea and where is she now’ he said looking me up and down ‘you know a girl like you shouldn’t be here’

‘and why’s that?’ you question your grip on your glass tightening when he somehow moves closer than he was before.

‘you should be home waiting for your man to come home and take care of ya, doesn’t that sound nice’ his voice dropping octaves as his grip gets tighter on your hip.

suddenly the room got smaller and the air got thicker. what the hell were you doing? this isn’t you and your moment of confidence ran away the second another man started talking to you. you knew your place, you knew where you belonged and it wasn’t here.

‘normally that’s where she’d be’ the gruff voice of your boyfriend echoed around the room.

letting go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding you loosen your grip on the glass quickly getting off the bar stool and away from the man.

‘lo’ you start grabbing the sleeve of his jacket.

‘don’t’ he barked out, his eyes held an anger you’d never seen before and that scared you.

but wasn’t this what you wanted?

he grabbed your upper arm pulling you out of the bar and towards your car.

‘logan’ you tried again

‘stop talking’ he snarled opening your door and pushing you in before moving to the drivers seat. ‘i leave you alone for one fucking night and you decide to go and be a slut huh’

‘that isn’t what i was doing logan’ you argue back turning in your seat to face him as he pulls the car away from the bar.

‘did i say you could talk?’ he asks you as if it was the dumbest question in the world. your silence making him angrier.

‘did i say you could talk?’ he asks again impatiently his hand tightening around the wheel.

shaking your head no, you subconsciously push your thighs together to create some friction. hoping your boyfriend doesn’t notice the growing wetness in your panties with each word he speaks.

the car ride back to the apartment you shared was filled with silence, the tension growing in your stomach as you watched his jaw set and his hands almost break the wheel. not to mention the heavy breathing he couldn’t seem to get under control.

you knew you were in for it the second the door to the apartment closed and he pushed you roughly against it.

‘this is what you wanted huh bubs?’ he groans out slotting his thigh between your legs pushed perfectly against your heat. ‘could smell you the whole fuckin’ car ride’

‘lo…’ you moan as he attacks your neck, feeling his canines against your carotid as he harshly bites down to shut you up.

‘i’m here wondering if it was me that did this to you or that fuckhead at the bar’ he voiced roughly his hands moving under your thighs to pick you up. ‘hmm?’ he hums cocking his head.

‘you logan, only you’ the breathless words leave your mouth without a second thought. pushing your body forward to kiss him he leaned far away not letting you.

‘i’m in control here darlin’ not you’

holding you close to him he locks his lips with yours. the kiss nothing but messy, filled with teeth, tongue, and spit. he walks you to the bedroom throwing you on the bed hovering over you. your thighs pressed together did little to ease the need in your core. ‘cmon honey gunna let me show you how i’ll ruin any other man for you’

‘mhm’ you moan out when he continues his attack on your body, leaving trails of kisses down your chest stopping at the peak of your breast. ‘please’ you say closing your eyes

you heard it before you felt it. the sounds of his claws tearing your dress apart. very few times had his claws ever made an appearance during sex mostly being out of his control.

his mouth laps at your nipple, sucks, biting as his other hand moves down to your heat. ‘so wet already darlin’ i’ve barely touched you’ he cups his rough calloused hand against your cunt, his middle finger prodding your hole lightly.

squirming under him your rendered silent when he forces two fingers into you, pushing and pulling back and forth you moan out his name like a prayer.

‘cmon use your words’ he smiles down at you ‘feels good doesn’t it’ his head dipping down to meet with your neck again, his breath on your ear as he bites down.

‘just remember your mine’ his gruff voice bounced around my head as his ministrations came harder and faster his thumb meeting my clit in haste. ‘you gunna cum for me peaches’

you felt the familiar tension in your lower stomach, like a band that was waiting to snap. your pussy clenching around his two fingers you throw you head back moaning out waiting for that snap.

only for it to never come. your eyes widen as you lean up on your elbows looking at the seemingly put together man. ‘what the fuck logan’

‘watch it baby’ he counters getting off the bed and removing his clothes ‘you didn’t think i was gonna let you off that easy’

you watch as he walks over to the side of the bed grabbing your leg and pulling you forward. ‘open up hun’ he commands grabbing a fist full of your hair.

you eye his large cock placed in his right hand. god it was beautiful. you could trace every vein with your eyes closed that’s how well acquainted you were. the weight of his member made it band downward instead of bouncing up to his belly.

opening your mouth and sticking your tongue out he eased himself into you. ‘just like that…’ he groaned out, not giving you a second to adjust he picks his pace up. hips thrusting forward at a fast rate, his hand in your hair the only semblance of balance you feel in that moment. ‘you look so pretty like this’

moving your hand down your body you fingers barley touch your clit before his rough hand wraps around your wrists pinning it above you. ‘so fucking impatient’ he groans with one last thrust to your mouth before pulling out completely.

his hand that’s wrapped in your hair pulls your head up so he’s met with your face. ‘why you crying peaches? m’ i being to rough for ya’ he mocks before dropping you on the bed slotting himself between your legs.

he lines himself up with your hole before roughly grabbing your hips and thrusting in. the pace he sets is relentless, borderline inhuman as he stretches you out leaving you a babbling mess of ‘yes baby oh god’

‘fuck peaches your so fuckin’ tight takin’ all of me’ he groans his grip on your hips sure to leave marks. ‘such a little fuckin’ slut for me’

feeling your orgasm climbing to its peak you feel your breath getting heavier and your hands clamping onto to anything and everything to stabilize you.

‘be a good girl and cum for me yea’ he commands his rough grip moving up towards you neck with pressure. just the feeling of him absolutely railing the fuck out of you is enough to make you cum but add in the sudden choking and your a goner.

you cum with a scream slamming your eyes shut and your nails digging into logan’s back. it’s not long before his thrusts slow and his hips stutter does he cum inside of you with moans in your ear.

pulling out of you he lays his back against the bed pulling you close. ‘you love playing games don’t ya peaches’ he laughs out against your head.

[gejo333]

Art credit: PIYO @Oz_174 on Twitter/X

An Unexpected Match XI

Pt. 1 Pt. 12

DBF/DILF Miguel O’Hara x female reader

Summary: Miguel’s worst nightmare comes true😰😰😰

I’m actually shocked for how quick I got this chapter out, lol. I had to add this photo above it’s so cute! I imagine these would be photos Y/n took on her phone of Miguel and Gabi. I think the top two would be her screen saver🥰 Also just want to say again thank you for the 800 follows! Your likes, comments and reblogs mean the world to me!💕💕💕

I apologize for any grammatical mistakes I missed.

Enjoy🥰

Wc: 4.2k

————————————————————————

The morning of Gabi's Birthday. Before the accident:

"Goodbye cariño. Have a nice day with classes. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye. Have a good day at work. I'll pick up Gabi from school."

After Miguel left for work and Gabi was finished with her breakfast you cleaned up the counter and washed the dishes.

"Ok baby bug. Let's get you ready for school." You help her down from the chair before going upstairs to get her dressed. Her outfit was already laid out as she specifically wanted to wear this one dress to school for her birthday. Once you helped her get into it she giggled and twirled around as she watched the skirt part spin with her.

After doing her hair, you check the time eyes widen as you realize you don't have enough to look presentable today. So you decided to wear a matching pair of sweats and sweatshirt, Uggs, and put your hair in a cute messy bun.

"Ok let's head out baby bug, we're running a bit late." You grab her lunch and water bottle and put it in her backpack, hanging that on your shoulder as you pick her up, carrying her on your side hip as you head to the garage to your car.

You strap her in to her car seat in the back before getting in to the driver's side. Once you get out of the garage and begin to drive you look in the rear view mirror to see a smiling Gabi starring out the window.

"Hey, baby bug?"

"Yeah mama?"

"Papa and I are going to send out the invites to your birthday party that's next week."

"Yay! Will everyone be dressed as a princess or superhero?"

"Yep! Or both if they want to."

"I didn't know you could be both! Can I be a princess superhero?" Gabi gasped when she heard your words, which made you chuckle slightly. So cute.

"Of course you can, sweetheart. I'll come up with an idea for what we should do for your costume and we can go find something after school today. How does that sound?"

"Yay! Can it be a surprise for Papa?"

"Sure baby bug. I will have to tell him though that we won't meet him right after school. But that's it's for a surprise." You chuckle from her silly request. You made a mental note to text Miguel the update when you got to your class.

After talking more about her upcoming birthday party you made it to her school. You quickly get out in drop off area to unbuckle her from the car. After helping her out of the car you help put her backpack on.

"Ok, have fun today Birthday Girl! I'll see you at pick up! Love you my baby bug." You kneel down to giver her a proper hug which she happily returns before running off to her drop-off line to see her friends.

Once you saw she was with her teacher you drove off towards your university to attend your classes for the day.

———————

You were done with your last class for the day and had an hour before you had to pick up Gabi. You sat back on a lawn chair that were spread through out campus.

"Ugh, I can't with this semester. It's killing me already." Stephanie groaned as she sat in the chair next to you. You both came out of the same exam, not knowing if you did well or not.

"Steph, why did you decide to take 18 credits for your last semester?"

"Girl, I had too or I would have to pay for another semester. Enough about school, how's it going with you and Miguel's relationship being public?"

She turned her head to look at you.

"As expected everyone's so nosy and either being a bitch or an asshole about it. I haven't talked to my parents since the holiday party. But it's not like they are eager to reach out to me."

"Yeah Jack told me that your parents are going nuts still over it. Ugh speaking of your brother, he's being so annoying lately. I love him. But if he leaves a plate in the sink one more time, I'm going to tackle him." Stephanie groaned in frustration.

"Well, Miguel lately has been very insistent on wanting to have kids. Did you now that he expected to get me pregnant this year so we could have a baby next year? And then when I told him when I wanted to have kids he wasn't happy about it. So we had to compromise and agree on three years from now. Steph! I don't know if I'll be ready to have a baby in three years. I don't think I would be able to handle a career fully by then."

"Damn, three years from now. That's crazy. But I guess I get why you agreed. He is older than you. That is probably the one downfall to being with someone older."

"I don't now if it's a downside. We just are at two different points in our lives, but we love each other. I don't know, maybe deep down I knew I would probably be starting a family soon when I began dating him. And it's not like I don't want a baby now. I have the baby fever. I just worry that sometimes i still feel like a kid myself, despite being an adult and I just don't know if I'll be a good mother." Stephanie places her hand over yours and smiles.

"Y/n you will be an amazing mom. You do such a great job with Gabi."

"Thanks Steph. And your going to be a amazing aunt."

"Hell yeah I am!" She said before you both laughed from her comment.

After talking and relaxing a bit longer with Stephanie it was time to part ways as you get back in your car and drive to Gabi's school to pick her up.

Due to traffic you arrive a few minutes from her finishing class. When you go to pick-up your brows furrow as you see the kindergarten class but a new teacher, and no Gabi. Confused you decide to park the car and walk to get her.

"Hi, where is the regular kindergarten teacher?"

The woman smiles at you. "I'm the new teacher assistant. I started today. She had to leave early today so I took over. Who are you picking up?"

"Gabriella O'Hara. Where is she actually? She's usually here when I pick her up."

"I'm sorry but Gabi was already picked up." The woman said as she checks her clipboard. Your brows furrowed from her response.

"Her father came to pick her up? He didn't tell me he was going to."

"It wasn't her father. It was her mother." The TA's words made your vision almost black out. Your heart felt like it stopped and your body felt numb.

"What do you mean her mother picked her up? I'm Gabriella's mother. You let my daughter go with a complete stranger?! Who did you let take my daughter?!" Your voice raised.

"Her name was Sofia." The TA hid behind her clipboard.

"When did she pick her up?"

"Like 5 minutes ago. They drove that way." The woman shaking pointed her finger in the direction that the car went.

"You and the school will be hearing from our lawyer. I'll be back once I get my daughter back. You better hope I fucking get her." You get into the TA's face glaring down at her before you sprint to your car and turn it on and start driving faster than you have ever been.

All you could hear was your heart beating deafeningly loud in your ears. You felt physically sick. You pick up your phone as you call 911.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Hi m-my daughter. W-well my step daughter. She-she was abducted from her school. The teacher just let a stranger take her!" Tears fall down your cheeks as you feared that you might never see her again.

After giving the police all the information they finally dispatched a car and sent out an amber alert. You asked if you could call your boyfriend, her father, which they said you could.

You hear the earth shattering noise of the amber alert blare on your phone. You tried to wipe away the tears from your eyes as you drove, as they become unbearably blurry disrupting your vision.

You call Miguel. It rang from some time before...

"Hi this is Miguel O'Hara. I'm currently unavailable at the moment. Please leave a voicemail and I will get back to you."

You call again. Same thing . And again.

Same response. You then remember he would be in back to back meetings all day and probably has his phone turned off or on silent.

You call again. "Please answer Miguel. Please!"

Another automated message. You cry out in frustration. "Fuck! Where did that bitch take my daughter?"

You drive for what feels like forever, a piece of your heart tearing away every minute you did have her in your arms.

"Oh my god." Your gasp as your eyes widen. Two cars ahead was the same piece of shit car Sofia drove. Not caring about breaking the rules you drive over the spread limit as you get in the lane beside her car. And if the universe couldn't be anymore helpful the light turn red. You ripped yourself from your seat and out of the car as you ran in front of her car.

Sofia's eyes widen in surprise before returning back to her usual glare. She continuously honks the horn. The light turned green but you didn't move es ring other people to honk the car.

"Hey! What's going on here! You're holding up traffic lady!" Said a random man.

"Sir please. This woman kidnapped my daughter. I won't let this woman out of my sight without my daughter. Please, can you please help!" You begged as tears streamed down your face. You just wanted your baby girl back.

A few other people left there cars curious to see what was causing the traffic jam.

"Oh honey. What are you doing?" Said a random older woman as she walked up to you.

"Please can someone help me get my daughter. I can see she's scared. Please."

The man ripped the car door open, luckily that woman was dumb enough to keep her doors unlocked. Sirens can heard growing in the back. Sofia rolled down her window. "Omg this bitch is crazy. That's my daughter. She's lying!"

"Mama!" Gabi cried at the top of her lungs as she squirmed through the man and woman's arms and towards you. As the sirens grew closer your were too slow to see Sofia reverse before heads towards you at full speed. Gabi was right in front of the car with you. You pushed her out of the way, luckily she didn't fall.

The last thing you saw was the fearful look on Gabi's face before everything went black.

————————————

"W-what did you say?" Miguel voice was barely above a whisper.

"Y/n was hit by a car. We also want to say that your daughter is safe with us."

"Wait, what? What happened to my daughter and girlfriend?!" Miguel voice raised fear and anger taking over his mind.

"A woman by the name Sofia abducted your daughter at her school. Y/n had called the police and chased after them. When she found your daughter, to get away from the police Sofia ran over y/n to escape from them."

"I-I'm on my way." Miguel ended the call as he ran towards his car and drove to the hospital his heart ached. He couldn't lose you. He wouldn't be able to handle it.

He arrived to the hospital and ran into the emergency ward. In the crowd he immediately spotted his daughter. "Gabi!" When hearing her father's voice she ran from the social worker watching her and into his arms as she wailed.

"Mama's hurt!" She cried in his arms as he wrapped his arms around her and kiss the top of her head, relieved that his daughter was safe. However the ache in his heart was still fully there at the thought of you being critically injured. "I-I saw a car h-hit Mama! I want Mama!" She cried. Bearing his daughter's wails brought tears to his eyes as he try to call her down, which was difficult as he was no where near calm.

A while later a doctor in surgical attire walked towards him. "Mr. O'Hara?"

"Y-yes."

"We just finished surgery with Y/n. However she still is in critical care. We-"

"Is it p-possible if we can talk in private?" Miguel gestured towards his daughter's who cries were only getting worse from the doctor's news. The doctor nodded, "follow me this way."

Miguel handed Gabi to the social worker, however she wouldn't let go of him. "N-no!"

"Princesa, Papa needs to know what's happening with Mama. Please go with the social worker. I'll be right back. I promise." Gabi listened as she allowed him to give her to the social worker.

When they were in a private space, the doctor signed. " Would you like to see her? Just as a warning, it won't be a pretty sight."

Miguel could only nod as he was led to the ICU. When he entered the room, his heart shattered. He rushed over to your side as he got on his knees. His hand shook out of control as he intertwined his fingers in your limp hand.

"Dios...mi amor please por favor fight through this. I'm going to be right here. I won't leave your side. Please don't leave me. I won't be able to live without you. Gabi wouldn't be ok. I won't be ok. I love you so so so much."

Miguel didn't realize how long he was by your bedside, when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"Hey." Said Gabriel.

"Thanks for coming to get Gabi. I-I just can't leave y/n side." Miguel looked up to his brother. Gabriel's heart broke as he saw the disheveled appearance of his brother.

"Please try to get some rest. You know she would want that."

"No. I'm not leaving. I'll sleep in the chair."

"Ok." Gabriel said before looking at Miguel one more time before leaving the room.

——————-

Your eyes slowly open, closing once from the bright light before opening them again. You gaze at your surroundings. Your were in a hospital? Right, you were hit by a car.

To your left, a head with disheveled brown curls laying on your bed. You slowly smile as you lift your hand as you gently brush some of the hair out of his face. Almost immediately, his reddish-brown eyes stare up at you wide. You remove you hand as he shoots up.

"Y/n?"

"Hey" you say voice really hoarse from the lack of talking. Miguel intertwined his fingers in yours as he kissed your hands and then pressed butterfly kisses all over your face. Over-the moon to see you awake.

"I'm so glad your awake. I knew your would wake up." Tears spilled down his cheeks, which brought worry to your face as you lifted your hand to caress his cheek as you wiped away his tears. He leaned into your touch.

"Your acting like I was a sleep for a while." You lightly chuckle, coughing slightly from your dry throat. "How long was I out?"

"Two weeks." Your eyebrows raised slightly, surprised by his answer. It seemed like you just were hit after rescuing Gabi.

"Is Gabi ok?" Concern was etched in your tone.

"She is. Perfectly fine because of you. Witness' said that you saved her from a car hitting both of you. I can't believe that damn woman hurt you. But she's getting the justice she deserves. She'll be in prison majority of her life for kidnapping Gabi and harming you." Miguel placed a kissed to your forehead before sitting back down.

Concern grew on your face again as you notice the large dark circles under is eyes. "When was the last time you got some proper rest?"

Before he could answer your question the doctor came in and walked towards your bedside as he checked your vitals.

"Glad you were able to wake up Ms. L/n. We weren't sure when you would. You've been healing very well the past two weeks. One thing though, the way you were hit by the car almost made you lose your uterus. It was touch and go for a bit during surgery, but we were able to save you from having another surgery . You'll be able to go home in a day or two. I'll let you rest." The doctor smiled before leaving the room.

His words made your heart beat slightly faster. You might have lost your uterus? Wow, Universe, really trying to tell me something, huh?

"You should get some re-" Miguel was interrupted by familiar voices entering the room. It was your parents and brothers. After having a near death experience you would think you would be happy to see your parents again. But honestly they feel like just as much of a pain as Sofia was.

"Miguel." Said Sam as he walked in behind his wife and gave a frown towards Miguel.

"Sam." Miguel returned his same expression.

"Sweetheart you're awake! I'm so glad you're ok." Said your mother as she walks to the other side of the bedside. She tried to hold your hand but your remove your from hers, causing her to frown.

"Sweetie?"

You look to Miguel, tired eyes asking for him for help you. Knowing exactly what want, he said, "hey, she's pretty tired. Maybe come back after she's rested."

Your mother shot him a glare, "how about you come back after she's rested."

"Mom, y-you and Dad should leave." You spoke up.

"But I'm your mom, sweetie. Everyone needs their mom when they are hurt."she tried to hold your hand again, but once again you removed your hand from hers.

"Well you haven't been acting like a mom ever since the summer. I only want people who aren't going to hold immature grudges based off who I love. So unless you can accept that and apologize, then leave." It did hurt a little to see your mother's hurt expression. But you had to be brave, how she and your father have been acting is not right, and you're not going to have anything to do with it.

"Fine. Have it your way." Your mother frowned as she turned around and left. Before your father left he gently squeezed your hand, "glad you're alive and well."  Before leaving the room.

Your brothers started a bit longer catching up with you before leaving as well.

Time seem to go by fast as you were already being discharged from the hospital.

As Miguel helped you get into the passenger side of the car, you stopped him. "Wait, they never came by our room to take my insurance and fill out stuff for the bills."

Miguel smiled as he brushed some of the hair from your face, " no need to worry about that, cariño. I already paid for it."

Your eyes widen as you looked at him slightly annoyed but that automatically leave as you give him a smile. "You really didn't have to do that. I would have tortured some out myself. But thank you. That was really sweet of you." You caress his cheek.

"No need to thank me, mi amor. You're the love of my life and my family. I'm going to take care of my family." He kiss you on the lips before closing your car door and hoping you in the drivers side.

When you arrived home, Miguel decided to carry you inside the house and up to your shared bedroom despite your slight protests, as you knew he hadn't had proper rest in two weeks.

"No need to worry about me. I'm alright, hermosa."

"Well, I'm going to worry about you and fuss over you because your the love of my life. And I want to make sure you're ok and well. Now laid down next to me and get some rest. You said Gabriel is going to drop off Gabi tomorrow." Miguel smiled down at you as he listened to your words and laid down next to you. He gently wrapped his arm around you and brought you close to him careful not to bother any of your stitches. Feeling his warmth the fatigue washed over you as you fell asleep.

The next day you woke up to the sounds of people talking down stairs. When you began to wake up a bit more you realized Miguel wasn't in bed. As the other voice grew closer a smile came to your face as you realized who it was.

"Mama!" Gabi ran into the room as she jumped on the bed, followed by Miguel running in and catching her before she barreled into you. "Be careful hija. Remember what I told you, Mama is still healing. So we have to be gentle around her."

He let go of her and put her on the bed when he knew she had understood. Your smile widens as you stretch your arm out wanting a hug from her, which she did extra carefully, as she took her father's words into account.

"I missed you a lot Mama."

"I miss you too my baby bug. I'm so relieved that you're safe and ok."

After some time you and Miguel noticed she fell asleep, as he lifted her up and took her to her bedroom to rest. When he came back he sat on the bed next to you.

"Did you get any rest?"

From not getting an answer you lightly glare at him with a pout. You move closer to him which he gladly appreciates. "Miggy, please get some rest. I won't be able to rest if you don't get proper sleep."

"I just have to finish one thing." He said as he took out his phone and started typing away on it, resting your head in his lap, you could see slightly what it said on his screen. Your eyes widen when you saw that it was your finacial portal to your university.

"Miguel, why are you in my financial portal?"

Miguel looked down at you with a pleading gaze. "Mi, amor don't get upset but while you were in a coma I paid for the rest of your university...and your student loans."

You sit up slowly from laying on his lap as you give him light glare and a frown. "Miguel...I told you I would handle them. First off how did you even gain access to them? You know how I felt about you paying for that."

"I know you're upset. But did you expect to get hurt in a car accident? No. You can't work, so I knew your wouldn't be able to pay your monthly payments. I have more than enough money to cover it. And I know you feel bad about it. But I'm going to take care of you. And plus it's down. Nothing can be reversed."

"Well, thank you. You really are an amazing boyfriend. But if you think you're not going to go unpunished for doing it without my knowledge. Though I can't have sex right now, oh once I'm cleared. We're still not having sex." You pout as you turn the away from him in bed. You heard him chuckle as he moved closer to you his chest pressed against your back as he kiss the side of your head, "alright hermosa. That's fair enough. It's was all worth it."

"You say that now."

——————————-

Two weeks later

“Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you… happy birthday dear Gabi…happy birthday to you!” Sang the crowd of kids and parents as Miguel carries the princess superhero themed cake with six candles in front of her. You smiled and cheered as she blew out all her candles.

You had found out that Gabi wanted to postpone her birthday party until you had woken up and felt better. Of course you felt extremely guilty that she had to wait so long to celebrate, but she would always reassure you with a big hug and saying, “it wouldn’t be fun, if you wouldn’t be there to celebrate with me Mama.”

Tears brimmed the corner of your eyes as you watched her and her friends jump in excitement in their mixture of princess and superhero costumes as they wait to get a slice of cake. You smiled as you saw Miguel hand her a slice, kissing the top of her head before she walked over to the dinning room table with her friends. You looked at Miguel as he gazed happily at your daughter. Miguel then turned to meet you gaze as you could feel the love in his gaze and smile from across the room as he mouthed the words, I love you. Which you did the same.

You thanked the universe that you weren’t taken away from them and can still live your life to the fullest by their side.

————————————————————————

Hope you enjoyed the chapter🥰

Tag List

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[alisonwritesimagines]

And Your Eyes Look Like Comin' Home ~LA!Mihawk Imagine~

Summary: Mihawk has to go back to sea to both yours and his dismay.

Author’s Note: The next post will be about Shanks and reader meeting!

Based in my Enchanted series

Reader’s Pronouns: She/Her

Warnings: slight angst, but mostly fluff

Side Note: This is a secondary blog. If you comment a question down below, I will not answer since this is not the main blog. Please send the question to my inbox if you want a response back!

Do not repost this anywhere!

It became almost like clockwork. During the week, you’d teach at the school, Mihawk will walk you home, and you two will have dinner together. And on the weekends, you would sell what you had in your garden before enjoying the day around the village and waters with Mihawk before going back home.

It was a nice routine between the two of you.

But Mihawk needed to go back to sea and he didn’t want to leave you. He had grown fond of you during his time here. But he needed to take care of business. After all, he was a pirate warlord of the sea.

“I need to head out to sea again,” Mihawk tells you one night at dinner. No sugar coating. No leading it on, just the straight honest truth so you wouldn’t have time to process it.

“You do?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. When do you leave?” You asked disappointingly. As much as you didn’t want to admit, you wanted him to stay.

“Tomorrow morning.”

“You should take some food with you before you go,” you tell him.

“I’ll be okay.”

“I insist.”

“Very well.”

The next morning, you stood by the dock to say goodbye to him. You gave him a basket of the food you grew in your garden along with some extra stuff that Mihawk had bought for the two of you.

“So I guess this is farewell?” You asked him. You hated that you were sad about saying bye to him.

“For now. I will be back in a month or two at most,” he tells you.

“To finish me off and claim your berry?” You joked. You came to closure that Mihawk had no intentions of killing you anymore ever since he decided to stay.

“No. To come see you again,” Mihawk said before sailing off. You shook your head at him, not believing his words before walking back to your home.

You had gotten some letters from Luffy during the time to keep you company. He wrote to you about his time at sea and how he has a crew who he’d love for you to meet. But reading his letters made you sad, missing him even more.

Every day for the next two months felt boring after Mihawk left. You knew it was a bad idea to keep falling for pirate men but you couldn’t help it. You wanted them to stay but you knew that they also belonged to the sea.

-

You heard a knock on your door which scared you for a moment. You weren’t expecting anyone especially not at night. You took a peak from the peep hole before opening the door quickly when you saw who it was.

“Brought you some new seeds from some other islands for you to grow in your garden,” Mihawk tells you as he held up your basket. You saw two bottles of red wine in the basket along with some other goodies besides the seeds (which were organized nicely).

“I’m guessing you’re staying for dinner?” You asked with a small smile. Your heart was racing from seeing Mihawk in front of you again.

“If you’d have me,” Mihawk said. You nodded before letting him inside your house.

“Not gonna lie. I kinda missed you,” you chuckled.

“What a coincidence, I missed you too,” Mihawk says with a soft smile. You smiled up at him before grabbing him a plate for dinner.

-

After dinner, you and Mihawk were drinking a glass of wine while he told you what he did while he was out in sea.

“I got you this as well,” Mihawk said as he gave you a large box with a bow wrapped around to keep it shut. You gave him a side look before taking the gift and carefully undoing the bow.

Inside the box was a beautiful dress. Your eyes widen as you looked up at Mihawk.

“What? I can’t accept this. Mihawk, this is too much,” you tell him as you tried to give him back the dress.

“I insist. It’s yours,” Mihawk tells you as he pushed your hands away gently. You admired the dress in your hands before looking back up at Mihawk.

“Thank you,” you say before kissing his cheek.

“I think we had enough to drink. Let’s get you to bed shall we?”

“You know, you can stay here if you like. I have an extra bed in the next room so you don’t need to stay on your ship.”

“If you’re okay with it.”

“Yeah.”

“Then I shall stay. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Mihawk tells you. You nodded before taking the dress in your hands to take with you to your room.

“Goodnight, Mihawk.”

“Goodnight, Y/n.”

You went into your room and closed the door behind you. You admired the dress as you held it up to your body, imagining yourself in it. It wasn’t too fancy and more of a casual dress but it was still beautiful. When was the last time you got to treat yourself with something so beautiful?

The next morning, you put on the new dress before walking out of your room. You saw Mihawk in the kitchen, getting breakfast started.

“I could’ve cooked,” you told him. Mihawk turned around to look at you.

“You look beautiful."

"Thank you," you smile as you got closer.

"Does the dress fit nicely?”

“It does! I’m still in shock about you getting a dress this nice for me,” you chuckle to yourself.

“And why’s that?”

“I just never thought to myself that I deserve something this nice,” you tell him.

"I think you do deserve something as nicely as a dress," Mihawk tells you.

"Thanks. I feel like I need to be careful with this dress. I don't want to get it ruined."

"I can always get you more dresses if you like."

"You don't have to do that."

"I insist."

--

The next time Mihawk went to sea again, you were upset once more. You didn't want him to leave but you knew that he needed to be out at sea.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back again this time," Mihawk warned you.

"Just be careful. Okay?" You asked.

"Of course."

"Be safe," you tell him.

"I'll be back again," Mihawk said before sailing off once more.

The next time Mihawk came back, he had another dress wrapped up for you.

"I feel bad now. I don't have much to give to you," you tell him.

"You letting me into your home is more than enough."

"Where are you from though, Mihawk?"

"Kuraigana Island."

"You're a long way from home," you pointed out.

"Maybe. But I'm fine with being away for the time being," Mihawk said.

"Maybe one day I can visit Kuraigana Island?" You suggest.

"I'd like for you to visit whenever you can," Mihawk says. You smiled a little before getting dinner ready.

[confusionmeisss]

𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 - 𝐜. 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

🫧 frat-bro!chris sturniolo x fem!reader

🫧 in which you unfortunately learn you weren’t as special to chris as you were made to believe.

🫧 angst. hurt/no comfort.

🫧 602 words.

🫧 hello lovelies! this is inspired by tate mcraes i still say goodnight , it’s one of my favorite songs of hers. its heartbreakingly beautiful, i recommend giving it a listen. anyway i hope u enjoy n’ much love!! <3

The first sign was when he stopped saying goodnight. A little thing, but you knew then that he was letting go, but still you held on tight and ignored it.

Then he stopped looking at you the same way he did; like you were the only thing that mattered in the entire universe. Instead he looked at you like you were getting old; like he was sick of you.

He always did have ridiculous expectations when it came to your relationship. Like, if you both went to the same party, you weren’t allowed to show up together or really interact too publicly. And his validations were few and far between. You always dressed up nice, it was just something you’ve always liked to do for yourself, but you always did like the extra validations you’d get from others. It felt nice. But he rarely ever gave them out, and it started to make you a little insecure.

At some point, during a frat party that was being held for the end of the first semester, you overheard Chris complimenting a random girl on her outfit, and it made you leave the party early. It just wasn’t fucking fair, how she got the compliment you should’ve gotten. How all these girls always seemed to get the compliments from Chris that you should’ve gotten.

You remember the breaking point. The thing that made you call off your entire relationship with Chris. It was the day before everyone was leaving for winter break. You’d gone to visit him at his frat house to say goodbye.

You knocked on the bedroom door you knew was Chris’, waiting patiently for it to open up and reveal the boy.

The door soon opened to reveal an anxious looking Chris.

“What are you doing here, Y/N? I told you not to come.”

“I know,” You said nervously. “But I just wanted to say goodbye before we all leave is all.”

“Okay. Bye then,” Chris said, going to close the door.

“Wait!” You said, putting a hand on the door to stop him. “Are you alright? You seem a little out of it.”

“I’m fine,” Chris said, glancing behind him.

“Are you sure?”

He looked you straight in the eyes. He had that look in his blue eyes that you’d come to learn meant you were going to be hearing a lie exit his lips.

“Yup. Everything’s fucking dandy. Thanks for stopping by, but you can go now.”

At that response you hadn’t been able to say much. Chris had never spoken to you that way before. And being so distracted by the new feeling swarming your chest and trying not to cry, you’d simply nodded your head and left the frat house.

After the first week of winter break and talking with your cousin, Lizzie, about your entire situation with Chris, you came to the conclusion that you just couldn’t keep that up when the next semester started.

When you got back to school for the second semester, you avoided Chris at all costs. You stopped going to parties, knowing he’d be there. You stopped going to places you knew he’d be at, really. It’s not like he really noticed the newfound lack of your presence in his life anyway. You really weren’t as special as you’d been made out to be. You should’ve known he was simply scared of being alone.

Which is why you felt so fucking stupid because every night before you go to bed, you whisper out a quiet goodnight chris, because you loved him the way he never even planned on loving you.

[lynderman]

Accusations (Finnick Odair)

TW: Mentions of prostitution

⊱ ────── ✯ ────── ⊰

Of course being a victor wasn't easy for Finnick and you took knowledge of that. He'd started having to mentor kids for the games when they happened so he'd leave you alone at the home while he took a train to the capitol for the duration of them. And he'd always come back looking exhausted. Eyes sunken, body trembling, the lack of sleep and basic self care evident in just about every part of him. The first 2 years he mentored neither of his tributes won and that struck something in him. Late at night when he couldn't sleep, you'd ask if he wanted to talk but he wouldn't respond. Just roll onto his side and look out the window. Times like these, you'd comfort him. Running your hands through his hair and tracing shapes onto his back until you heard his soft breaths as he drifted off to sleep; his chest rising and falling instead of shaking as usual.

Although at some point in time, things changed. Finnick was getting called to the capitol more often. He'd always kiss you goodbye when you left him at the train station. When asking him why he left, he'd say: "Victors meeting with Snow. He needs input on new areas, training-" blah blah blah. Whatever. And you believed him. Of course you would. Finnick Odair in the 10+ years you've known him and the 4+ years of dating him, has never once given you any reason to doubt him. He'd never been deceitful or a liar. Quite the opposite. And you know he'd never cheat on you. Anyone from district 4 could tell how starstruck the boy was with you, the same going for your feelings about him. You often laughed with him and indulged in the treats and gifts he'd be sent from the capitol by his 'secret admirers'.

On the day of his 18th birthday, he was brought to the capitol again by Snow. But today would be different. You and his own mentor from his games, Mags, a sweet elderly lady who was sadly mute, decided to surprise him in the capitol. She had pulled some strings, telling you it was about time you got to go with him and experience their lavish lifestyle even if it was just for a day. Yet the train ride took so long, you and Mags had arrived at the station late in the evening. You both found your way to the hotel Finnick was staying at; reassuring her that you'd find her in the morning when you saw him. So you snuck into his room and took the gift you'd kept in your pocket from out and set it on his nightstand. And you waited. And waited and waited patiently for your boyfriend to come back. It seemed like an eternity. It was 2:04 A.M when you checked the clock last. Just as you were about to give up and get your own room, you heard the door click and the lock unlatch. The smile on your face was huge. Finnick had always done so much for you despite being busy and caught up with the world of being a victor and you wanted nothing more than to do the same for him!

Jumping off the bed, you came around the corner as you heard the door shut and lock from the inside. "Happy birthday Fin-" All the excitement and glee left you as you took in the sight before you. Instead of your usual prim and proper boyfriend in his suit and tie he'd wear here or nice dress shirt, he practically naked. His buttoned up shirt was wrinkled and undone. Tie was no where to be found and his hair disheveled. His chest was covered in scratches and cuts. Eyes bloodshot and lips- His lips. They had purple Stains around them. Marks and shapes of another persons lips on them. You knew wore lipstick, let alone if you did it would not be that ugly shade. Arms falling to your side, you felt your stomach drop. "Fin-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" You were taken aback by his voice. His tone was cold and demanding, even rude. Not responding due to confusion, get got closer and asked again; louder and more aggressive. "I asked you what the hell you were doing here." With a gulp you looked at his eyes which were glaring at you with furrowed brows. "Mags and I- We took a train here. We wanted to surprise you for your-" "Yeah? Well you should've asked me first." You scoffed at him. "That wouldn't make it a surprise, Finny." His head snapped back to you at your sarcastic comment. Mumbling something under his breath he bumped into you as he walked past. "I love the surprise. So good to see you here. Happy birthday Finnick! I love you so much that I came up here and crossed a huge boundary with you out of my own self interest!" He said, mimicking you in a way he'd never used before. You didn't like it at all. He was being rude and dismissive after you put in so much effort to-

"Get your stuff and go to home." You paused and glanced at him. "I'm sorry?" "Thanks for the apology. Now go home. Get your shit and leave. Train station. I'll call and make an arrangement for-" "No." That one word made him turn around to face you fully, irritation written all over his face. "What'd you say?" "I said no." You snapped back standing your ground. He came from the bed and stood in front of you. "You don't get to be a dick to me after I came all the way up here to see you on your birthday. Especially not when you come back to the hotel room looking like this." Motioning your hands up and down you referred to his state. "It's not like I asked you to come here and do that." He said back. His words stung a bit. Finnick never was rude or dismissive like he is now. Clearly he was angry but you didn't know why. "I don't know why you're mad at me. If anything I should be mad at you. For fucks' sake it looks like you just went to a strip club or something!" Pausing, you eyed him up and down. "Is that why you're mad? Because I've caught you cheating on me? The Finnick Odair is mad because he's been put in his place as a lousy, cheating, lying, pathetic excuse of a boyfriend who-"

Your words were cut short when his fist went flying past you and into the wall beside you, barely missed your face by a mere inch. There was no point in looking at the damage he caused, knowing there was a hole set in place. His body was close against yours, pure and utter rage written all over his face and radiating off of him. "I have done everything to protect you. All of it. For you." You laughed. A loud and obnoxious laugh in his face. "For me? You've been coming up to the capitol for months, no- years, just to find some other girl to fuck cause you're done with me? C'mon Finny. If you wanted to break up with me this badly you could've just told me-" "Tell you what, huh? Tell you over dinner: 'Hey sweetheart! I've been going to the capitol on orders of President Snow every weekend 'cause if I don't he's going to kill you when I'm not home.'?" Your lips thinned, eyebrow raising in confusion. "Or maybe I should've waited till date night next week. Yeah, sounds like a better option. While we're walking down the street just tell you that I come up here to do his bidding and whatever he asks of me!"

"Finn-"

"Oh, no. no. Perhaps I wait till our anniversary next month. Y'know. While we're in bed, doing the do, I lean in real close, kiss you, and tell you that I've been fucking other people in the capitol because I have to. Because to them, I'm desirable." By now Finnick had left his position of cornering you in the wall. He was pacing in circles, hands in his hair as he tugged at the golden strands. "Finnick, what're you-" Out of no where, he grabs a nearby lamp and throws it against the window, glass shattering and getting everywhere making you shout. Grabbing things left and right, he begins to toss them around, breaking everything in sight. The remotes, the tables, the glasses. Any and everything in his way is gone and destroyed with a matter of seconds. He punches the walls, he punches the mirrors to the point where glass cuts his knuckles and blood seeps out and onto the white carpet beneath his feet. And you do nothing. You stand there in complete shock. Shock of seeing your boyfriend; The sweet, loving boyfriend who breaks and tears everything apart. The same boyfriend who has never been violent outside of the 65th hunger games. The boyfriend who has never once rose his voice at you or done anything even remotely disgraceful or disrespectful towards you. His eyes lock on yours and he slowly walks over, towering over you as sweat drips down his forehead.

"How do I go about telling you, huh? HUH?!" He draws closer to you again, his words long and dragged out until the last word. That last 'huh' he shouts. At you. Directly at you; making you flinch at the volume. "HOW THE HELL DO I TELL YOU? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY TO YOU?!" As he shouts, you see the anger leave his posture, his body, his face, all at the first tear that falls down your cheek. As much as you hate to admit it, you're scared. You've never seen Finnick act so hostile nor yell at anyone. Especially you. All of the anger is replaced by guilt and regret as he sighs. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just-" He stops talking midway and gives a shaky exhale, a signal that he himself is holding back tears. His body slumps and he sinks to the floor out of pure exhaustion, you following suit and crawling in between his legs. His hands grip his dress pants so tightly his bloodied knuckles turn white. "Finnick.." Your hand come up to hold his cheek and for the first time in years, you see your boyfriend cry. Hot tears flow out of his eyes and flood his face as they coat your hand. His body trembles and you feel it shake against your own. Breath ragged, all he can do is let out choked and incoherent sobs. Broken sobs that make you want to cry for him.

Your heart aches as you see your once confident and put-together boyfriend break down beneath you. His cries echo throughout the room and you swear you've never felt this much pain in your life as you can do nothing more but hold him. Cradle him in your arms like a baby on the bloodied carpet as his tears stain your neck. Shushing him, you try and get his breathing back on track; and after a few minuets he isn't borderline hyperventilating anymore. When you feel his heart beat slow down you raise his head from yours and hold it in both your hands. "You don't have to tell me but at least-"

"Snow sells me for my-body." He pauses. "He has since I turned 16. That's why I come up here so often. I've b-been considered 'desirable' by the capitol citizens. The f-first time he asked I said no and he let me go home. But-" He has to pause to stop himself from choking on sobs again; contrary as your own tears began to fall at his words. "A month later he brought me back and told me if I said no again, he'd-" Another pause. Yet this time he looked at you. His sad and swollen eyes seemed to look at you with such adoration it made your hear sink more. "He'd kill you." He pulled you closer to his chest as he ran his hands up and down your arms. "And I c-can't lose you. You're the only one- The only person I-" "Finnick, stop." You couldn't bear to hear him go one. Hearing why he was here so often broke your heart. The thought of him coming up here to spare your life made you feel bad. Even worse when you'd just accused him of cheating minuets earlier. With a sigh you placed a small and gentle kiss on his lips.

"I'm sorry I accused you of cheating. I was upset and- I don't even have a reason to be upset at you, mines' stupid. But I'm sorry that you've done this for so long. You don't deserve to be treated like this, you're not their property. You deserve so much better, love." If it was possible he pulled you closer, his hands holding onto you for dear life. "No one's ever gonna touch you again, I promise. We're gonna find a way out of this. I won't let anything happen to you, ok?" He said nothing; you squeeze his hands over your hips before helping him off the floor and into the bathroom. As he sat on the toilet you poured water onto a towel and began to dab at his wounds. Leaning down ever so slightly, Finnick gives you a peck with a small smile. "I love you." He whispers. "I love you too, Finn."

[mchlgayser]

ATTENTION WHORE!

starring: neymar x female!reader

warning/author's note: mention of a bitch trying to look like u- this is OBSESSION, neymar being sooo pissed off, not at you ofcz you're his babygworl 🥺 heavy cursing???? almost a fight scene. P.M.G ALERT ⚠️ 50% angst and 60% fluff, (no shit) I kinda hate it bcs it was chaotic not proofread

extra note: none. have a nice day xx

song suggestion: copycat by billie eilish

The call ended, you said goodbye to your boyfriend and he disconnected the call. Your head was against the pillow, eye boring on the dream catcher that hung outside your balcony, gazing as it sways left and right as the wind blew.

Just a minute ago, Ney woke you up from your beauty sleep with a call, he's practically reminding you about today's practice. He wants you to be there to watch him practice before a big game that was coming soon. After all you couldn't say no to him. You sat up stretching your joints and stood up to have a bath.

It was a long and warm bath, you had already readied a pair of clothing which is a black turtleneck along with a pair of oversized hoodies, you are wearing loose ripped pants and a G.A.P cap.

After five minutes, you are done putting on some light makeup and a pair of Nike air force. Finally, grabbing on your car key and left the room with your bag over your shoulder. One hand holding your phone and the necessity.

You get into your car and drive off to the venue where he'll be practicing.

-

It was a twenty minutes drive, minus the traffic as it was week day and parked your car on the vip basement parking lots. A few securities is guiding the site and you, with leisure walk to the entrance, one of them immediately recognized lets you in without questions but someone beat you to it. A girl in her mid-twenties, probably around your age, with hair in 'blonde' color, wavy curls coils, shoulders bumping against you. Her sharp eyes was on you the whole time but so were yours 'Yes?' She started with a harsh manner

You simply rolled your eyes at her 'I'm here for my boyfriend.' You said, eyes challenging. She scoffed 'Guards please take this delusional woman away!' She ushered but none of them budged 'Are you deaf?!' Sh yelled pointing her index finger out 'Now--'

She was cut off by a familiar voice of your boyfriend, he was running towards your direction 'Neymar--' The woman's eyes went wide, mouth agape upon seeing Neymar with arms around your body, your head hidden by his broad chest

'Sorry, I was't late was I?' You said pecking both of his cheeks and one final kiss in his lip 'No meu amor, you came right on time... Oh I see you met our new assistant manager.'

You gave the woman a nasty playful glare and give your boyfriend an innocent smile 'Yes, Let's go anjo, I wanna meet Kyky!' You implied to your friend, Kylian and he bobs

What you didn't know at the moment was a nasty, horrendous plan had come up to the woman's head. A creepy smile crept to her angel-liked features as she strutted back into her office room.

-

The next day, you came back again to the practice venue to see your boyfriend, you had also promised your friend, Kylian a fancy dinner with him today. You get in the lobby seeing a few staff eating brunch and some of them chit-chatting. You came upon your friend, Angela whom you meet months ago when she started working here and she was talking to the woman from last night.

They were intrigued with the talking until she sees you approaching 'Love, Meu Deus, how're you?!' She said, excusing herself and went to hug you, you gladly hugs her back 'Hello Angel, it's nice seeing you again!' The two of you broke the hug and the woman made her way beside Angela 'Nice meeting you again, miss Y/n' You eye her up and down and something, somewhere triggered in you. The way she's dressing. It was familiar, so oddly familiar.

Angela looks between her and you with wide eyes, she gasped 'Shit, haha Y/n, I forgot I got something to show you. It's regarding my sister's weds!' You get the hint obviously since Angela is an only child.

You hum and left with her 'You should've thinking what I'm thinking right now didn't you?!' Her voice is harsh and quiet, you half-shrugged 'Is it because she wears the same clothing I wore on your birthday party?'

She eagerly nods, you gulp the huge lump on the back of your throat 'It might be just a coincidence, I mean it can happens right?' She stopped you abruptly 'If going to your social media account to stalk you and copy you does it still means coincidence?' Your eyes was now on her, fully.

'How would you know anyway?'

She hid somewhere in the hall corner and whispered to you 'I sees her last night,' She backed away 'But she told me cus she find you pretty.' Now you didn't wanna come to any rushed decision and accuse her even though you know how shitty she was by the way she acted yesterday. You decided to set the conversation aside and just focus on today. Spending times with Ney and Kylian.

-

The practice ended, and both Ney and Kylian are now in the changing room to shower and change attires. You waited outside on the bench playing with your phone

'You are so cute Neymar!' You heard a voice approaching, you tilted your head back seeing Neymar, Kylian and Alexandria who you get to catch name is. She had an arm loosely wrapped around Ney's arm and she was laughing while Ky eyed her the whole time. You witness Ney getting uncomfortable by her constant touches so you decided to step up

'Hand to yourself please!' It didn't came out serious but playful. You stare up at her as she slowly lets go and let out a short awkward laugh 'Awh party pooper!' She mocked you.

You didn't said anything after that and let her be, Kylian told you that he's and Neymar are ready to leave. He had already reserved a table for you three and now was finally the time to leave the venue. Alexandria perks her ears at this 'You three are having dinner together? Cool can I tag along!' It wasn't a permission but an order. She wanted to come along

Both Kylian and Neymar didn't wasted a second and said no but your answer is a yes 'Sure.' You shrugged. Ney shot you a confused look but you held his hand tighter.

-

The food is placed down, and Alexandria is having her best time laughing and trying her best to get both Ney's and your friend's attention. Keyword, trying. Both of them didn't pay her any of that and instead acts like she doesn't even exist. You had to purse your lip most of the time to stop yourself from laughing out loud at her attempts.

'So Y/n what do you think if I dyed my hair (your hair color)? Do you think it'll suit me.' From the corner of your eye, you see Kylian uncomfortably shifting on his seat, you smile back at her, eyes creasing 'That'll look good, definitely!' She smirk and bobs her head up and down 'Great!'

The conversation goes on, and you unintentionally left Alexandria out of the conversation, joking around with your two best guys, some times eyeing her to see she's been playing with her food, head down and awkward.

'Don't remind me of that!' Ney complained at you, Kylian is laughing his ass off at the two of you 'That was legit hilarious! The fact that he, himself didn't notice it just makes it ten times funnier' He snorts.

Alexandria huffs loudly averting the two attentions on her 'You guys left me out' She pouted, grumbling incoherent words to act naturally cute, Ney faked a silent gag at that and you pushed him giving him a stern glare. This time he pouts mumbling stuff

Alexandria soon leave, Kylian following suit ten minutes later. You and Ney are still walking, taking a breather together at the park, hands in hands gazing on a starry night atmosphere 'Has Alexandria been giving you hard times?' You eyed up at him and let a small toothy grin 'Nah, not yet.'

'It's been almost half an hour, wanna go home?'

'Please...' He wrapped his arm around your shoulder directing you to the car and driving to your both's shared apartment.

-

Two days went by after that, and for that, you haven't come by once to the venue because of your hectic work. Ney is understanding so it wasn't much of a problem since you have already promised him to drop by today, your vehicle parked and you entered the place. It was empty only a few stuff passing by. The players must been practicing, you thought walking to the main field and as you strut you came across Alexandria. Oh how you felt like shit that day was. She had her hair in (your hair colour), wavy curls just like you did but it was slightly longer. You feel nothing but anger. Her heels too. She was wearing the same pair as you. The one Neymay got you on your birthday which is also the same date as you both anniversary.

She was smiling, walking up the tunnel towards you 'Oh what a coincidence, we look very similar today!' How badly you wanted to pluck those teeth of hers. That wicked smile never wore off of her face. That disgustingly beautiful hazel brown doe visions.

Two steps away from her and you scoff 'Aren't you looking stunning today? I hope you car got flat tyre in the middle of the wood.' You barked back at her intentionally bumping her shoulder against yours 'And, please... Stop being so fucking pathetic and go fuck yourself somewhere else, needy whore.' The sound of heels clicking against the floor clearly heard along with her rigid and fast breath. Her chest heaving up and down is a violent manner.

You saw Neymar doing two touches with his teammate as you seat on the bench and watch him practice, Alexandria came again taking a seat beside you 'Y'know, it was't so bad hearing you barked like a dog earlier, can't wait for it in the future.'

'What future? You'll get hit by a truck tonight.'

Never spare her a glance, you wave your hand at your boyfriend after making contacts, she swatted your hand down and Neymar who clearly sees everything are not exactly pleased by it.

You glare at her, taking her wrist in your arm and start squeezing it 'You really should stop pissing me off, I don't wanna get into a fight with a low life bitch like you.' didn't get the enough chance to dodge it, Alexandria placed a loud and hard slapped across your cheek 'Who's a bitch now huh?!' You exhaled a long sigh, putting your bag down and stood up towering over her small figure, your hand made its way to the back of hair as she yelps in pain, slapping your hands both telling you to stop but it all fell on deaf ears.

'I warned you. To stop. Being. A. Bitch.' Punctuated each words with an echoing slap. Neymar rushed to you pulling you away from her, she fell to her butt and cries, a few strands of her hair was on the palm of your hand, you cringed waving your hand to get it off 'It hurts you bitch!' She screamed, you scoff turning away from her, Neymar turns to her 'Now, don't call my amor that you filthy woman, I've keep up with you this whole time not for you to talk shit and call my girlfriend names, now even dressing up like her, dyeing your hair to look like her. You are delusional. You need helps.' Neymar bursted, eyes raging with pure anger and rage.

She sniffle, looking down on the floor 'You should just pack up your things and leave or we gonna make it harder for you.' Mbappe confessed in a playful state. She started scurrying like a mice bowing her head at you thousand times and left, running.

You moaned feeling relieved that she's finally left, right now all you wanted was to go home and rest. This is a long day after all. Neymar stay behind comforting you with kisses and hugs 'Do you wanna go home now minha princesa?' You gaze up on him 'Can't I?' Neymar did not wait a second and left with you afterwards.

[xoxo-sarah]

Brother's Best Friend

Part 2

↝a/n: idk how to feel about this one. Feedback is appreciated! :)

↝pairing: robin buckley x Harrington!reader

↝Warning: arguing, a school fight, homophobic douchebag who says gross stuff, party, alcohol, pinning, kissing, not proofread

↝⎙ 6.15.23

She hated you. She hated how you dressed, how you acted, how you talked, how you smiled, how you laughed, how you walked, how you fixed your hair. How you applied lip gloss on your plump, kissable lips. Most importantly, she hated how you were Steve's sister. You and Steve were complete opposites, always having something small to argue about no matter who's around. But having each other's backs when needed.

She could recall a day where you wore a pink skirt along with a scowl on your face as a girl from school had been talking crap about your brother. The other girl hadn't been popular, but a shit talking bitch nonetheless, just listening to everything and gossiping when given the chance.

Robin had been at her locker when she heard everything, the caos and people talking about a fight as they ran down the hall. She followed the two younger highschoolers, coming around a corner to see you, ears a fire-y red and knuckles a ghost white as your nails dug into your palms. The other girl kept blabbering about the next bimbo to be in your brothers bed, which set you off. A small, humorless laugh had the cocky grin fall smooth off her face. Robin wasn't close enough to hear what you said before the girl had swung, hitting you but hurting herself more with how she had her fist, most likely jamming her thumb. A gasp echoed in Robin's head, watching as you only swung once, enough to say it was self defense- when in reality it just felt good to shut the girl up for a little bit.

She had just watched as the principal walked both of you down the hall, scolding you.

She hated how you made her promise not to tell Steve that you got suspended. "You can't tell Steve."

"And why not? You punched her!"

"For good reason!" You had countered, pleading her with your eyes. "Please, Robin." That might have been the first time you have been nice to her. There was always some snippy comments being spat at her when she was around, making Steve take up for his friend. "I'll do anything; He can't know."

So she kept your secret. You kept getting ready for school in the mornings, leaving with a small something for breakfast, and bidding Steve goodbye. She didn't know where you went after you left, or where you could spend 7 hours where Steve wouldn't catch you. But her mouth stayed shut. She honestly surprised herself, keeping a secret- especially from her best friend.

On a random Friday you had worn a blue skirt, accidentally matching Robin's blue shirt. Steve had pointed it out, laughing it off as you got a snack. Robin noticed the small smirk on your face ever since you came out of your room. She also noticed how it grew as you asked Robin to walk with you to school, since you were both going, of course.

"You're not going to murder her, right?" Steve joked, although seeming a little concerned. A little out of the ordinary.

Rolling your eyes, you slapped him upside the head. "I can't walk with a friend?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think Robin was a friend..."

"We're friends- right, Robin?" With a scoff, you turned to her, waiting for her to reply.

Slowly nodding, she couldn't help but notice the difference lip gloss you wore. Had you been wearing that one all week and she hadn't noticed? She had been over every morning to talk to Steve before school. No, she would have noticed. Why was she so worried about it?!

She stood up ubruptly, bidding goodbye to Steve before hauling herself through the house. She heard you running behind her. "Wait up!" Even now, she hated how she could smell your perfume when you finally caught up, walking beside her. "Thanks for not telling him."

Opting not to respond, she continued to walk, finding her shoes interesting.

"Sorry I've been rude to you in the past, I've just never been able to talk to people and the first time I met you I thought you were just one of his flings but then you stayed and I didn't really know how to feel and you were just so-"

For once it wasn't Robin rambling, she finally understood what her mother was talking about when she'd ramble on for what felt like hours. "Hey, Breathe."

"Sorry."

"I was so what?" Robin stopped walking, turning to you.

She noticed the small blush on your cheeks and ears, yet another pretty pink shade on you.

"What?"

"You said I 'was so'...what were you going to say?"

"Pretty. You were- are so pretty. Sorry." Any sign of the Harrington smirk and confidence was gone. You looked like a whole different person in front of her. Robin couldn't believe it.

"How can you go from a spoiled brat to a shy little thing?" She didn't notice how her voice darkened, usually not talking to you like this. But you had.

"What?" Your eyes widened, jaw droppimg before you glanced around.

Robin felt like she hadn't been in control of her body when those words slipped out. Sure, she had thought them but she didn't want to actually say them! "I didn't- that wasn't supposed to be said outloud. I didn't- I don't." Turning back around, she started walking again. "How about I accept your apology for being mean to me before and you forget about what I just said, deal?"

She could see your stupid grin from beside her, "deal."

"Give it back!" She hated how you would take things and run away with them, giggling as you did so. Like now, you took her sandwich and ran away through Family Video, giggling like a maniac. "C'mon, that was the last of the bread!"

"I'll give it back for a kiss." She hated how your words made her cheeks flush. You've joked about kissing her before, along with all your friends. But it was different for her. She didn't even know if you know about her being lesbian. Steve wasn't one to go around telling everyone her business so she doubted it. When she didn't reply, you slowly made your way back, handing her the sandwich back. "I was kidding."

"Yeah, yeah." She reached for her sandwich, putting it back in the ziplock, not feeling hungry anymore.

You noticed, of course you did. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"No." Your hand was suddenly on her arm, stopping her from moving. Your touch was like fire to her skin, despite how soft your skin was and how you've been whining about how cold it was recently. "What is going on with you lately?"

She opened her mouth to squash whatever you were thinking was wrong with her, but Steve came back from the back room, done with the new stock. "Y/n? I thought you were busy today."

When it hit you, Robin saw it in your face. Your hand fell from her arm, in search of your purse. "Oh shit! I gotta go-" Her eyes never left you as you stepped towards the door. "Robin, we gotta hang out sometime." Her eyebrows were practically over her head, like a surprised cartoon. Her brain felt as if she had forgotten how to talk, or even what word were.

She couldn't do that. She would not be in a room by yourselves ever again. "Date?" It slipped past Robin's lips before her brain fully went back from the frizzy state.

Steve gave a glance to his friend, not quite sure what had changed between you two- going from hating each other to wanting to hang out. He didn't question it. Not having to hear you take jabs at each other was heaven. "Maybe."

Robin heard your voice as soon as she entered the room, causing her feet to turn and try to quickly get out of the room and maybe even the country. "Buckley!"

Shit. Robin cursed herself, shutting her eyes as you giggled, making your way to her. She knew the party was a bad idea. She had been bored all day, with Steve having work and it being her off day, plus a Saturday. When she had heard some kids from school talking about a party, she didn't really think about who would be there. She now regretted that.

"Robin." She turned, seeing your smiling face, noticing your eyes creasing from how big you were grinning.

"Y/n." She acknowledged you. Your face fell a little when her face was straight, not sign of any emotion.

"I wouldn't expect to see you here."

Not knowing why that hit a nerve, she couldn't help to feel hurt. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Uh," your smile fully fell, looking away from her. "Wanna come meet my friends?"

She had followed you through the house, weed and alcohol reeking through the room. Her eyes were set on your back, how the shirt tucked into the back of a pretty little white skirt. She wondered if that was all you had in your closet- it's not like she was complaining. More laughter echoed the little corner where a few people Robin had seen you hang around were sitting.

She stayed by your side most of the night, watching people around and you. She was never one for drinking, you however, wanted the buzz. You were even more giggly. Robin didn't know if she could handle it much longer.

"She just hasn't had this guy yet- I can't turn her back straight." Her eyes shot up to one of the guys who had interrupted your introduction to introduce himself. She could tell he had had way too much to drink, alcohol practically replaced the blood in his veins.

Her eyes followed where he and a few other people were looking and laughing. A girl who was openly lesbian was talking with her friends, laughing and enjoying the party, unknown of the cruel words being said.

The laughing pissed Robin off. Who did he think he was to say that? She couldn't believe you were friends with this guy. She half expecting you to laugh too, any second now. But as she turned slightly to look at you, you looked almost uncomfortable. "Mark, don't say stuff like that." The guy stopped laughing, his eyes traveling your body.

"What, Harrington?" He sat up, dragging his hand down his front to land on his crotch. Robin's nose crinkled in disgust. "You know what I can do to a woman." Your whole face broke out in disgust, almost as if all the alcohol would come up any second. "I'd have her straight as a board in no time."

As you stood up ubruptly, Robin's hands went out to catch you as you wobbled. "You're disgusting." You slurred, turning to walk away.

Robin was up and following you in a second, feeling as if getting away from that group was a breath of fresh air.

When the real fresh air hit her, she noticed you leaning against a tree in the front yard. She was quick to walk over. "Hey- you alright?"

"Yeah. He just makes me feel sick to my stomach."

"That might be the 10 gallons of alcohol you consumed." She joked, chuckling at herself, trying to lighten the situation.

"We should just leave." You got off the tree, wobbling on the sidewalk, towards your house. You didn't expect to feel her following you, thinking she would walk the other way, towards her own house. "What are you doing?"

"Walking you home." Her hands were in her pockets, the wind blowing her hair behind her.

"You don't have to."

"You shouldn't be walking home alone and drunk in the dark."

You didn't reply all the way back to your house. She walked you into the house, grabbing you a glass of water. The door opened with a push of her shoulder against it. "Here." She looked up, eyes growing wide with the lack of clothing you have. Her head shot to your door, closing it incase Steve came out of his room. Her eyes stayed on the ground as she quickly walked over to your dresser, almost slamming the glass down.

"Robin?" She hated how sweet your voice was. It almost didn't sound like you.

No one should ever sound that sweet, it's dangerous. "Ye-yeah?"

"Can you help me?" Her eyes looked up, going straight to your own, not daring to even look at your exposed collar bone.

"What?" Surely you didn't need help just throwing some clothes on.

Yet, you shamelessly stood in your underwear and bra, looking at her. "I can't undo my bra." You turned, your back exposed to her. She felt the air get stuck in her throat.

"Can't you just get in bed?"

"It pokes me." You whined, your hands trying to reach back but failing to fully find the clasp. Robin stepped forward, her hands becoming sweating as they met the cloth, slowly unclasping the three little metel pieces. Even after she was done, she couldn't help how soft your skin looked; how she wanted to lean forward and kiss until her lips felt numb.

"Thank you." She didn't moved as your turned, a tired smile on your face- her eyes stayed looking straight into your own.

The space between you was little, neither of you moving, for different reasons though, Robin had realized. She stepped back, letting you climb into your bed.

"You shouldn't go to bed with makeup on." Her voice was a little over a whisper. She had heard your complaint about how bad it was for your skin and your sheet and pillowcase.

You groaned, throwing your hand over the covers. Before you could voice your distaste for anything but sleep, she was walking towards your vanity, getting the makeup remover and walking over to the bed. You looked up at her as she kneeled beside the bed, bringing the cotton to your face, gently rubbing the makeup off. Your eyes raked over her face as if you haven't seen it before.

"There." She closed the bottle, throwing the cotton into your trash bin, going to stand up. Your hands stopped her movement, making her look at you in question.

She hated how soft your eyes looked up at her. "Thank you, Robin." Your fingers grazed her arm back and forth, an unknown pattern being made. "You're the best."

"I know."

"You can't go home."

"Why?"

"Because you shouldn't be out this late, all by yourself." She sighed, enjoying the patterns being drawn on her skin.

"I'll be fine."

"No." She looked at you with question in her eyes at how stern you were. "You can stay here." You patted the spot beside you on the bed. She felt the air get caught in her throat again, and her ear turn pink. As if on cue, rain hit your window, running down the glass as if it was taunting Robin and her emotions.

You don't lay in the same bed with people you hate. But she couldn't help it. It was late, cold, and raining. And your voice and face were so soft in emotion. She couldn't help herself.

Her eyes were glued to the ceiling, listening to the rain outside and your breathing beside her.

After a few minutes of silence in the dark room, she felt movement in the bed, and heard the blanket wrinkle with your movement. Suddenly, she felt your eyes on her, causing her to turn her head.

You were on your side, still having the same look in your eyes, as if she was the first person you had ever laid your eyes on. "You're pretty."

"You need to go to sleep, y/n." She dismissed you, seeing the sleep take over, noticing under your eyes and how your eyes were glossed over in sleep.

"Can I have a goodnight kiss?" She stared at you, not seeing the normal joking smirk, yet she nervously chuckled. She stopped when you sat up, a frown on your face. "I'm serious."

"You're drunk."

"Not enough." She followed your movement, sitting up and ignoring how the sheet fell from your exposed chest. "When I say I want to kiss you, I mean it."

"What?" You rolled your eyes, your hand going to grab hers.

"I like you. A lot, actually."

"It's just the alcohol talking- lay back down."

"No!" She flinched at your outburst. "I like you. I actually do. I have for a while. That's why I was mean to you when Steve brought you over. He's always managed to bring such beautiful girls over and you were way out of his league, truly. I was jealous, I guess." You were almost shy under her gaze, fiddling with your own hands now, letting her have her own back. "I kept being mean so I didn't have to ignore you completely - god, that would've killed me, Robin. I wasn't sure what to do- I certainly couldn't just go up to you and tell you I liked you. I wasn't sure, ya know? But when I saw the way you used to look at Vicky- I knew. I think I also brought my jealously out on you for that- sorry about that. She's a beautiful girl, I get it. But you're my 'Vicky'. I adore you more then I could ever physically express. And I probably wouldn't have even said anything if it weren't for the liquid courage, honestly. But I'm still thinking like I normally do. I know this isn't a mistake, no matter what happens between us next. And I am now realizing I'm blabbering. Sorry."

When you looked up, you were surprised to see her grinning.

"You're adorable." It was your turn to blush. "Can I kiss you?" Her quiet, raspy voice would have you doing anything she could ever ask.

"Of course. It's not like I've asked you 200 times-" her lips met yours, softly moving against each other and not coming up for air until your lungs screamed. She pulled back, her hand grazing the side of your neck.

You could feel her breath fan against your face, her forehead against your own. She whispered against your lips before going back into a kiss, not getting enough of you. "You talk too much."

Maybe she doesn't hate you.

•2021-2024 by xoxo-sarah on Tumblr•

•My work is not to be translated, copied, modified, and/or reposted on any other site without my permission. [!I don't give permission!]

[charlottecutepie]

☥ Bunny meat (William Afton x fem!reader x Michael Afton)

Summary: He was a likeable middle-aged man who had wonderful children, his dream job and a beautiful wife. He never blamed himself for his own actions, or to be more exact, he never thought about their consequences.

author note: im glad some of you liked the story and left comments, im glad I can share with you this fic, hopefully you’ll like this chapter<3

tags: darkfic, unhealthy relationship, angst, smut with plot, p in v, dubcon, oral sex, rough and gentle sex, daddy kink, blood play, knife play, fear play, hurt/comfort, violence, gore/murders, child abuse, follows fnaf lore, moral and physical abuse, virginity kink, anxiety disorder, age gap, daddy issues, unreliable narrator, hallucinations, hidden pairing, William is sick, psychopathy, unhealthy narcissism

Chapter 3

Chapter 2. Birthday girl

The bright rays of the sun hit your closed eyelids, making you wince and cover yourself with a blanket. But because of the sultry summer heat, you became instantly hot. When you opened your eyes, the first thing you saw was your own personal open diary. Being half asleep, you forgot that you were writing in it all night. In a panic, you closed it and hid it under the pillow, hoping that mom didn't come into your room.

After you got yourself in order, you went out to the living room, but mom wasn't home. She left a note saying that breakfast was on the table, and she would be back in a few hours. You sighed.

What a nice beginning of your birthday.

…

Mom returned home closer to two o'clock in the afternoon. You noticed how her, all happy and cheerful, was getting out of the purple car with bags.

You knew whose car it was. You didn't like it.

The next hours flew by quickly. Your mom all happy entered house, you rushed into her arms. A million kind words, congratulations, kisses on the forehead. And most importantly — your gift. A minimalistic purple dress, made as if specifically for your figure. It fit you perfectly, hugging your waist and breasts.

Closer to evening, you and your mom were ready. She put on makeup, not too bright, but it was unusual for you to see her with lipstick and mascara. She was wearing her favorite skirt, which she always wore for walks with you when you were little. A light beige jacket complemented her look.

“Okay, now we’ll wait for a taxi.” said woman, approaching you.

The car pulled up a few minutes later while you were standing and discussing the upcoming evening. You and mom got in the back seats and the driver started the car. The whole ride you couldn't leave the thought of where mom got the money for a taxi. And when you got out of the car, your confusion only increased, because she didn’t pay driver as he only smiled goodbye.

It appeared to the eye. The most famous pizzeria in your whole town: “Freddy Fazbear's Pizza”. It looked like an ordinary diner, but you knew why it caused such a stir among children and adults. It was because of those animatronics, which, to tell the truth, caused you strange feelings. These robots were thousands of times taller and bigger than you, and their design always made you shiver. Despite the fact that you spent your entire childhood in this pizzeria, because you had to hide from your father somewhere, you still couldn't get used to their appearance. But the children who came here, apparently, were satisfied with everything.

When you entered the pizzeria, you immediately noticed that… Nothing has changed here. It was strange, because Mr. Afton was always busy with drawings, some projects related to this place. What can you say, he literally lived here, disappearing into his office day and night. The place was filled with people, mostly little kids, who happily jumped around animatronics, trying to somehow talk to them. Most of the tables were occupied, you started looking around the pizzeria in search of an empty seat.

“And here you are!” voice of William Afton called out to you. You jumped in surprise, causing him to grin. “Oh, what happened? Did I really scare you that much?”

“Mr. Afton, good evening!” your mom shook his hand.

“Hello, [your mom’s name].” he looked at her with a smile and, turning around, went to an single table, telling you to follow him. “ I chose this place especially for our dear birthday girl.”

Your cheeks flushed from such attention. You smiled and you sat down at the table. Your mom picked up the menu, but mr. Afton shook his head.

“Excuse me, ladies, but I have reserved today's choice for myself. In honor of your birthday, we offer you the best pizza and drinks of the diner!” he clapped his hands, imitating joy. “You won’t be disappointed.”

With these words, he disappeared from sight, leaving into the crowd of children and adults. You looked at your mom, who was just glowing with an abundance of joy and happiness. She looked so carefree, happy as a child, and you laughed at the thought of who has a birthday here.

Half an hour later, a nice and friendly waitress brought a huge hot cheese pizza with an incredible flavor. Smile didn’t leave your face as the look of this pizza was so good that you noticed the envious look of the children at the near tables.

You and mom started eating. After a while, William joined you both. Sitting down at your table, he waved to the waitress, and she instantly brought you three glasses and a bottle of champagne. This surprised you, but you decided not to show it, continuing to smile.

“You know, this is a children's place and alcohol is not welcome here.” Afton began, pouring champagne into glasses. “but in honor of the coming of age of Y/n, I decided that its possible to break this rule.” he smiled, looking at you.

“Mr. Afton, you are right, such a day should definitely be celebrated!” your mother has already taken a full glass, the same thing was done by the man himself. Both adults looked at you expectantly. You laughed nervously and also took the glass in your hand.

“Happy birthday, Y/n!” exclaimed William and you clinked glasses. It was your first experience with alcohol, bringing a glass to your lips and drinking the liquid from it, you immediately winced at the taste, although the smell was quite tolerable.

You spent the remaining half hour at the same table, talking about absolutely any topic, remembering how you spent your childhood in this pizzeria, and William also talked about his eldest son. You laughed at the stories about Michael, because he was your best friend from school, and he always positioned himself as a cool, dangerous macho in front of you, and in William's stories he was just a silly boy.

Time flew by so fast that you didn't even notice how all the people disappeared. Looking at the clock, you saw that it was already late evening, which means the pizzeria closed its doors to visitors, however, this didn’t alarm either Afton or your mother. They were sitting at the table, having a nice conversation about something, until her phone rang.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

You were left alone with him. All your joy in one moment disappeared somewhere, giving way to anxiety. You began nervously touching the hem of your dress, afraid to start a conversation.

“You look absolutely gorgeous in that dress.” William broke the silence. You looked up at him and smiled sweetly, thanking him. “Yeah… after all, I have a sense of style.” he chucked, taking a sip of champagne.

“Did you buy this dress?”

“This is a gift for your coming of age.” he noticed your confused look and added: “yes, I paid for the taxi too, honey."

Those nicknames again… This stupid pinky blush appears on your cheeks again. All you can do is keep smiling stupidly.

“I really liked this dress, Mr. Afton!”

Your conversation was interrupted by your mother, running up to you with worried look on her face.

“Mr. Afton, please take Y/n home, I am urgently called to work.” then your smile instantly disappeared. You looked at Mom, pleading with her to stay. “Oh, hun, I'm sorry, but it's very urgent. I'll be home early in the morning, don't wait for me and go to bed.” after kissing your forehead one last time, she ran out of the pizzeria.

…

William's car isn't exactly small, but it's not huge either. Anxious thought didn’t leave your head that he drank alcohol and got behind the wheel, you hoped that you would get home safely. In general, ideally you should have been sitting in the back seat, but it was occupied by some things.

“Don't be so nervous, y/n." his voice sounded so calm. “You've known me since childhood, why are you so scared?”

Damn, was your anxiety really that noticeable?

“Sorry, I haven't been myself lately…”

“You’ve always been a little scared girl.” you frowned at such statements, you’re not sure whether he was mocking or showing real emotions. “I feel so sorry for you, such a hard childhood.”

At end, you arrived without incident. His car is parked next to your house. Afton took you to the porch, all this time his piercing gaze didn’t leave you.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“You're welcome, dear, and happy birthday again.”

You went inside, but when you heard his footsteps behind you, you got confused and looked at him in surprise.

“Mr. Afton, is something wrong?” you asked, watching him come into your house, closing the door. “I can wait my mom alone.”

“I see that you’re afraid to be alone.” he smiled. “Do you mind if I keep such a lovely girl company?”

[illiterateaffairs]

DISTRACTIONS I | LONDON CALLING

pairing: jamie tartt x f!reader (ted lasso)

rating: T (language) 

word count: 4,772

summary: you arrive in richmond anxious about starting your new life, but quickly feel at home among this new cast of characters. one of them is of particular interest to you for some reason. 

A/N: thank you to everyone who read the prologue, sent messages, and left nice comments in the reblogs and tags!! would love to continue to hear your thoughts. 💕

distractions masterlist | previous chapter

The next two weeks are somehow the slowest and quickest two weeks of your life. You put your notice in at work the second you can. The coworkers you mingled with the most are sad to see you go, especially Kara. On your last day, she surprises you with flowers and candy, and you wish you’d spent more time with her. You make a mental note to reach out to her from time to time. 

Your landlord lets you leave most of the furniture behind since you won’t be needing it all at your new place. Rebecca promised the flat she had for you was both homey and chic. Despite being eager to get out of there, you feel a sense of loss as you say goodbye to your apartment before heading to the airport. Even though your relationship was far from perfect and ended tumultuously, you and Mason made some good memories there. You watched your first Richmond game there, even though you had no idea what was going on. And now here you are on an eight hour flight to London, getting ready to work for Richmond. 

You thankfully sleep most of the trip, having opted for a late night flight, so by the time you land, it's the afternoon in local time. You have no idea how you’ll manage to sleep at a reasonable time tonight, but that’s later-you’s problem. 

The butterflies that have taken up home in your stomach since you left finally take a break from aggressively fluttering around when you see Ted and Beard waiting for you outside. You break into a huge grin before jogging over to the duo. You instantly feel at home when Ted is engulfing you into one of his signature hugs, and you come to the realization you haven’t seen him since he started coaching over here. Same with Beard, and while the two of you wouldn’t normally go for a hug, you find yourself wrapping your arms around him briefly anyway, and you can tell he doesn’t mind at all. 

“How was your flight, Kiddo?” Ted asks as they lead you to a fancy black car parked nearby with an even fancier-dressed man. 

“It was good,” you respond distractedly, “I’m sorry, do you have a driver?” 

Ted smiles as he pulls out the back door for the two of you, Beard rounding the other side, loading your bags into the trunk. “Courtesy of Rebecca. She wanted to make sure you arrived in style.” 

In the back of the car, you fit snugly between the two coaches and you couldn’t be happier. 

“And don’t worry,” Ted continues, “We came over here as soon as training ended, so most of the team should be out for the day. And as far as everyone else knows, we’re just two generous colleagues who offered to pick up the newly-minted foreigner from the airport. No one will know we’re secretly two of your favorite people in the world.”

You chuckle, but you appreciate his words. Turning to glance at Beard, he mimics zipping his lips shut and you mirror him with a giggle. 

The car ride back is filled with loud chatter as the three of you- mostly you and Ted- catch up, while you try not to be alarmed by the fact you’re driving on the left side of the road. When you pull into the parking lot of Nelson Road Stadium, you feel the butterflies start to return. Here we go. 

The driver follows you, promising to wait in the lobby until you’re ready to head home for the night. Beard heads to the coach’s quarters while Ted introduces you to everyone you pass on the way to Rebecca’s office. You try not to seem overeager to meet her in person - which you are. You cautiously follow Ted into the room, overhearing the familiar sound of Rebecca’s voice mixing with someone else’s. When their attention is drawn to where you and Ted are standing, Rebecca enthusiastically stands from her couch to greet you and you’re instantly taken with her presence- she’s even more beautiful and tall in person. 

You go to shake her hand but she opts for a warm hug as she tells you how excited she is for you to join the team. She and Ted introduce you to Leslie Higgins, Richmond’s Director of Communications. He shakes your hand with a kind smile, but you can tell he’s surprised when he hears your American accent for the first time. The three of you don’t give him a chance to question it as Ted drags you back on your welcome tour. But not before Rebecca demands you text her later that night to tell her what you think of the flat she readied for you.

Ted takes you back downstairs to where the locker rooms and coaches offices are. To Ted’s earlier point, not many players are around but you can’t help but be intimidated by the few you meet briefly. You’ve never been around famous athletes before. You try to remember their names - Colin and Isaac are the two that have stuck so far. You smile at Beard’s familiar face when Ted takes you to their office, knocking on the window to grab another man’s attention. Ted informs you that the man is Roy Kent, a name you recognize from the handful of games you’ve watched over the years. He’s another coach for the team now. Roy grunts out a ‘nice to meet you’ without bothering to turn around, but Ted lets you know that's a pretty nice gesture when it comes to Roy, so you take it. 

As you leave the locker room, you meet the team’s kitman, Will, who immediately seems like the sweetest person in the world and you hope to get to know him better during your time here. 

Finally you make it to what Ted describes at the main event - the pitch - and he was right, it was glorious. You’ve never been in an arena of this size, and despite not being too big of a sports person, you feel excitement engulfing you. You’re only pulled out of your trance as Ted calls out to one lone straggler who seems to be getting in some last minute practice on the field. 

“Hey Jamie!” Ted yells across the field, “Practice ended over an hour ago bud! Grab a shower and go home and get some rest.”

Jamie jogs over to you two with the soccer ball under his arm, “Aye aye, Coach.” Out of breath, the not-unattractive footballer looks you up and down. “Who’s this?”

You introduce yourself and Jamie shakes your hand once before dropping it.

“She’s Rebecca’s new PA we told y’all about earlier this week. She’s going to be helping out with some social media posts and what not.” Ted reminds him and Jamie seems to nod in recognition.

“Guess I’ll be seeing ya around then.” he smiles politely and then heads back inside. 

You and Ted spend a few more minutes admiring the stadium but your interest shifts to Jamie. He looked familiar, but not from the football matches you’ve watched, you don’t think. But where else would you have seen him?

Eventually Ted leads you back inside, finally showing you where you’ll be spending most of your time. He explains that your office used to belong to the team’s PR person, Keeley Jones, before she left to start her own firm. He says the club is still one of her top clients, so you’d be working closely with her from time to time, and that he couldn’t wait for you to meet her, claiming you’d absolutely adore her. You believed him. So far you were taken with everyone you’ve met. Rebecca was incredible, Higgins seemed great, Colin and Isaac a fun pair, Will a sweetheart, and Roy an interesting man you looked forward to learning more about. Even Jamie - who you couldn’t get a read on just yet - still intrigued you. 

You plop down in the desk chair now belonging to you and can’t help but spin around a few times. Ted chuckles and tells you he’ll leave you to get comfortable for a bit while he finishes up some things for the night, promising not to be long before he comes back to take you home. 

Finally having a moment to yourself after almost 12 hours, you let out a long breath you didn’t know you were holding in. Distracted by the excitement of being in a new city, catching up with Beard and Ted, and meeting your new coworkers, you hadn’t had a chance to process that you did it. You uprooted your life and successfully made it halfway across the world to start a new one.

Before you let complete panic sink in, you open the laptop sitting neatly on your desk. There’s not much on the computer, but there’s a folder with information about AFC Richmond and the players. You decide maybe you should start learning everyone’s names since you’re going to be responsible for curating their social media presence and such soon. Looking at the team roster, your eyes immediately find Isaac and Colin’s pictures, feeling proud that you at least know a couple players' names. Same with Jamie, but then you scan the rest of the roster and realize there are a lot more names and faces you don’t recognize. Your mind scrambles to come up with some mnemonic device to help you remember everyone, but before you can come up with a comically long sentence, there’s a knock on your office door. 

Looking up, you expect to see Ted, but instead find a younger man with a bright smile. You feel a burst of recognition and glance down at the roster on your computer, matching the face of your visitor with one on the screen.

“Oh, hi! Are you…Sam Obi…”

His smile doesn’t falter as he steps into your office. “Sam Obisanya,” he pronounces smoothly, and then says your name just as eloquently. “I just saw Ted, and he told me you’d just arrived and I wanted to take the chance to say hello and welcome to the team.”

Warmth spreads across your chest as you smile back at him, “That’s so kind, thank you.”

“Of course! I know you haven’t been here for long, but how are you liking things so far?”

“Oh it's been good,” you trail off, finding yourself unable to lie to his sweet face, “A bit intimidating.” 

He frowns, “Why’s that? If Jan Maas said something strange to you, he’s just blunt because he’s Dutch.”

You chuckle, briefly glancing back down at the roster to put a face to that name. “Noted. But no, I think I’m just realizing how much I don’t know about soccer, or football, I guess. And that there are a lot of you to remember.”

Sam laughs, “We are a large team. Anything I could do to help?”

Part of you wants to be nice and tell him he doesn’t have to stick around any longer, but the anxious part of you grabs onto the life line, “Actually, yes, could you help me get to know all the players’ names- like, tell me things about everyone so it's easier for me to remember?” You lean back and tilt your computer towards him so he knows he’s welcome to stay, and he immediately gets settled in one of the chairs on the other side of your desk. 

You spend the next thirty minutes getting to know Sam as well as the rest of the team, and you already feel more at ease. Sam proves to be even more wonderful than his first impression gave off. He shares hilarious anecdotes about every footballer on the team, and before you know it you’re able to recall who people like Dani and Zoreuaux and Bumbercatch all were. 

Sam and you also exchange some personal stories. You tell him about your life in Chicago and how you were looking for a fresh start, albeit leaving out a few details you don’t want to burden him with on the first meeting. Sam shares that he'd moved to England a few years ago from Nigeria, and that he was going to open a Nigerian restaurant here soon for a little taste of home. You told him you couldn’t wait to try it. By the end of your conversation, you feel like you have someone you can call a friend in Richmond, and Sam even offers to show you around the city during some off time later this week. 

As Sam gives you one last quiz about AFC Richmond’s player’s and your eyes linger on Jamie’s picture again, your brain finally remembers how you know him. You flashback to a memory of Kara practically giving a full PowerPoint presentation to your office back home on the drama going down on her favorite British reality show. 

“Oh, my God,” you yelp, scaring the hell out of your potential new friend who rests his hand over his chest, “Sorry, I just realized how I know Jamie.” 

“You’ve met him before?” Sam questions, surprised. 

“No, I’ve just seen him on that one show, Lust something…”

Before you have the words out, Sam is cackling, “Yes, Lust Conquers All! Not Jamie’s finest moment but definitely a memorable one.” 

“God, he was such an asshole,” you comment, recalling the way he acted in the few clips Kara showed you. 

“Oh, he was,” Sam nods, “He used to be a total prick. He still is sometimes, but more in a loveable way.” At your unsure expression, Sam elaborates, “Jamie’s been through a lot. And yes, he used to be very self centered. But since Ted’s been around, he’s become a better teammate, and a better friend.”

You can’t help but smile at the nod to Ted’s impact. It doesn’t surprise you in the least; he’s always bettered the lives of the people he’s met. Still, your heart swells with pride. 

“Well, either way, I look forward to seeing what he’s like off the screen.”

Sam heads out a little after that, with another promise of being your tour guide this weekend and another to have lunch tomorrow. Then Ted’s coming back to collect you to take you home for the night. You bid a farewell to Rebecca in the parking lot before you’re driving off. After making sure you can get into your apartment building, you say goodnight to Ted, who promises to walk with you back to the stadium for your first official day tomorrow. 

When you enter your new flat, you’re taken back by how much you love it already. The furniture is feminine but not overly posh. The décor and colors are bright without being over the top. It feels more like you than your old apartment, even though you picked out that place and the furniture yourself. You quickly remind yourself of Mason inserting his opinions over yours when it came to those choices, before you push all thoughts of him away for the night. 

You spend the rest of the night unpacking your clothes and other small belongings. You’re pleasantly surprised that you're eager to sleep as it gets close to an appropriate time for bed. You quickly change into the first set of comfy clothes you find and climb into your very large and very comfortable bed. You text Rebecca to express how much you adore the flat and how grateful you are for everything. She responds pretty quickly, telling you that you never have to thank her but she’s glad you’re settling in. 

You bury yourself under your covers, trying to coax your thoughts away for a good night’s sleep. But your mind runs rampant with thoughts of working with Rebecca tomorrow and hanging out with Sam. A new country, new job, and (hopefully) new friends. It’s only been one day but you were already feeling reassured about your decision to move here. Which is good because you only bought a one way ticket. 

Your first few weeks with AFC Richmond could not have been more of a dream. You didn’t expect to enjoy working for a football club as much as you do. Where your old job was drab and had you focused on making boring food and clothes sound appealing, with this job you got to spend time with the players who were actually interesting people you got to promote. On most days, you got to hang out with the team and film content while they practiced or played. Sometimes events occurred after training or games so that’s when you’d gotten to know a lot of them. You were closest with Sam, who you’d begun to spend more time with when neither of you were working. On other days, you’d work more closely with Rebecca, assisting her with more mundane tasks, but still more enjoyable than any of the grunt work you did back in America. And Rebecca had quickly become one of your favorite people to be around. You didn’t think you’d meet a more remarkable woman until a week in when she introduced you to Keeley, who you’d already heard so much about. No surprise she lived up to the hype. 

Keeley is the friendliest and most talkative person you ever met, and you hope her and Rebecca’s energy rubs off on you even just a little. The pair of them quickly included you in their girl talks and invited you to sit with them during games when you’re not busy capturing content. They also quickly caught you up on the gossip around the club, first and foremost that Keeley is still getting over a breakup with Roy, and apparently she doesn’t quite understand why they had parted ways. While she seems to be mostly handling it alright- meaning not taking a job an ocean away from home to run away from him- it gives the two of you something to bond over.

When you have time to yourself, you try to sit down and write. Sometimes you’re able to get a few sentences typed out in a Word document, before you’re furiously smashing the back-space button because you hate every word. One day, you share your writer’s block struggle with Trent Crimm, a former journalist who Ted is letting shadow the club for a novel he’s writing. Roy and the team had been pretty bothered at first, but everyone is on better terms these days. Despite your respective preferences for non-fiction and fiction, Trent gives you the advice to not force anything. You’ll write when you’re ready. And while you appreciate and try to take the advice, you wish you were ready now. With a job that doesn’t make you want to rip your hair out and a beautiful city you’ve been exploring, you should be more inspired than ever. But so far no such inspiration has struck. So you try to be patient. 

Instead you focus your energy on helping Keeley with the new Bantr campaign she has AFC Richmond collaborating on. Most of the team is staying past practice to get new promotional pictures shot and in a few weeks you’ll be helping Keeley shoot video footage for the ads. You couldn’t help but feel excited to be on this side of the advertising world, and actually be a part of the team that's being advertised.  

You're squatting on the ground, off to the side so you’re not blocking any shots. Your phone is unlocked and ready to capture some BTS of the photoshoot as Isaac is the first team member to get his picture taken. As you're about to press record when the photographer begins to shoot, you can’t help but giggle at how serious Isaac is taking this. He stands stick straight with his hands clasped behind his back and lips in a straight line. 

“Something funny, new girl?” he asks without breaking eye contact with the camera. He’s been calling you that since you arrived despite now having been around for a month. You think he means it affectionately, though he probably wouldn’t admit it. 

“No, it's just you look so…stern?” you chuckle as you start recording a clip, “If this is for a dating app, shouldn’t you try to look more appealing to any potential suitors?”

“I thought they were blurring our faces?” he asks with furrowed brows, referring to the fact that the app was anonymous and this ad campaign would be following suit.

“Yeah, but don’t you want to be a sexy blur?” 

This makes Isaac crack a smile as he lets out a surprised laugh. You snap your fingers at the photographer, “There, get that!” 

Satisfied with your first piece of content for the night, you stand up and join Keeley where she’s observing everything from behind the monitor displaying the photos as the photographer takes them. 

Keeley smiles at you, “That was pretty good! They could all stand to loosen up a bit - they’re not taking mugshots.”

“That’s literally what all of their football headshots look like,” you joke, “Is there no smiling in football?” You laugh together as another idea strikes, “Hey, what if we play some music? That might relax everyone and loosen them up?”

Keeley’s light up. “That’s a great idea,” she turns to face the other players waiting for their turn, “Oi, does anyone have a speaker?”

Colin raises his hand, “I’ve got one in my locker.”

Moments later, the locker room is filled with upbeat music from a playlist Keeley curated on the fly. The team’s energy instantly escalates, and so do the pictures of them. As Dani takes over Isaac’s spot in front of the camera, you hear someone whispering your name from outside the locker room. You find Sam waving to you from the doorway. You smile and jog over to meet him.

“Looks like a party in here,” he comments amusedly. 

“Yeah, why aren’t you participating by the way? Got a secret girlfriend you’re not telling me about?” 

Sam flushes, “Not quite. I just don’t want to appear too…available.” 

You quirk your eyebrow, “Suspicious but I’ll allow it. So what's up?”

“I wanted to know if you were free Friday night? We end practice early that day and I was wondering if I could take you to that museum I told you about if you still haven’t been?”

“No, that sounds perfect, I would love that!” 

You share excited smiles. “Great! I’ll see you tomorrow then?” 

“Bright and early.”

As you bid good night to Sam and return your focus back to the shoot, you note that Jamie is getting his photo taken now. You accidentally catch his gaze and successfully fight the urge to break eye contact. You offer a smile as you go to get more footage for Richmond’s Instagram, but Jamie returns the smile seemingly half heartedly. You try not to take it personally since you haven’t really had the chance to get to know the guy since you’ve been here. You wonder why that is. While you weren’t very close with many members of the team, aside from Sam, most of them have taken opportunities to get to know you a bit. Except for Jamie.

You try not to dwell, knowing enough about his reputation to know not being close might not be a bad thing. 

The rest of the photoshoot goes extremely well. The Instagram stories you post of the guys are already gaining a lot of attention, and the photos look incredible. You ask Keeley to see if you can get Bantr to let the club use the photos as some of their new imagery online, knowing it would be a shame to just blur them and not have the world see the player’s personalities. As the team files out for the night, you stick around to help Keeley and the photographer pack up, wishing them a good night as you need a few things from your office before you head home. You think you’re the last one there until you hear a voice coming from the parking lot as you exit. Once you’re outside, you recognize the voice as Jamie’s with his distinct Mancunian accent. He appears to be on the phone but you can't make out anything he’s saying on the other side of the parking lot. Even from afar, you get the sense that it's not a pleasant conversation, so you linger by the door to give him some space. Luckily, Jamie’s hanging up with whoever it is a few seconds later, giving you the chance to resume your journey home. You try not to startle him as you get closer but you do anyway. You immediately apologize, letting him know you’re just passing by and you didn’t mean to sneak up on him.

“It's alright,” he assures, though he still seems a bit off, “Didn’t know anyone else was still here.”

“Just me,” you shrug. You know you shouldn’t say anything and just continue walking home, but you have to ask. “Is everything okay? I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping, but that phone call sounded tense and you look…unwell?”

Jamie eyes you like he’s trying to figure out what your angle is. You hurry to reassure him.

“I know we hardly know each other, so in no way do you owe me an explanation, but just figured I’d check in.” 

Jamie nods slowly. For a second you think he might share something with you, but instead he just lets out a quiet sigh, his shoulders sinking, “Nothing you need to worry about.”

You accept his answer and nod. You’re unsure of what to say next, or if you should say anything. You’re about to turn around and wish him a good night when he’s the one that speaks up. 

“So you and Sam seem quite close.” 

You turn back to him and narrow your eyes at him, “Yeah? He’s been showing me around the city.”

Jamie nods thoughtfully, “Are you two…,” your eyes narrow in a full squint as you cross your arms to egg him on, “Seeing each other?”

You can’t help but laugh. In no way were you expecting him to ask that. “Why do you care? Do you have a crush on Sam or something?”

Jamie’s face scrunches up, “No!”

“What then? You gonna tell me Sam’s nice-boy persona is actually an act and he’s secretly been plotting to murder me?”

“No, Sam really is that nice.” 

“Then why are you asking if I’m dating him?” 

“I’m just curious,” he spits out defensively, “Wasn’t sure if it was alright for players to hook up with the club’s employees or whatever.”

“Oh,” you lower your defenses for a second, “...So you have a crush on Beard then?”

Jamie’s defensive resolve melts away as he actually lets out a laugh at your teasing. “No he aint my type. Beard’s too scratchy.” 

You laugh along with him and enjoy that he played along. 

“Well then to answer your question, no Sam and I are not dating, we’re just friends. And no, I don’t think there’s technically any rule against any consensual mingling between the staff and you footballers.

“Hmm,” Jamie nods, his lip pouting a bit, “Good to know.”

“I’m glad to be of help, but I should get going,” you start walking backwards towards the parking lot’s exit, “But I’ll see you tomorrow I guess?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jamie steps towards you, “You’re just going to walk home alone? At night?” Jamie glances around and answers his own question when he doesn’t see another car in the lot besides his own. “Can I drive you?”

You shake your head assuredly, “Don’t worry about it. I walk home everyday. My place isn’t far.”

You can tell he wants to respect your answer, but asks one more time, “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” you smile, “Have a good night, Jamie.” 

He gives you a small smile back, “You too.” 

You wave before shoving your hands in your coat pockets and take off down the road. When Jamie’s sports car drives past you, he honks the horn twice and you chuckle. 

During your short commute to your flat, you replay your interaction with Jamie. You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to be like. While your conversation was brief, it seemed like he was a decent guy and that he had a sense of humor. The way his hair fell messily on either side of his face was nice, but that was neither here nor there. Maybe Sam was right. Jamie Tartt wasn’t so bad. 

A/N: mwahahahaha

[legally-lupin]

Her pt2 - Mattheo Riddle x Theo Nott X fem! Reader

Summary: who will you agree to a second date with ?

Go to part 1 for this story <3

Her pt1

It only took a night for an owl to come. Y/n sat in the great hall eating her breakfast when a huge owl crashed on the table spilling everything around it. A goblet of tea fell onto her lap. She jumped up from the sudden temperature change

“Merlin’s beard!!” She huffed wiping her skirt with tissues. Hermione helping her

“Who’s bloody dumb bird is this?” Ron said taking the letter from its foot the bird screeched and flew away its big wings causing everyone’s hair to blow

“It’s for you” Ron handed you the paper you stared at it the owl put you In a sour mood and whoever sent it will get an earful from you.

“Let’s see who was smart enough to send in a bloody owl the size of a dog!” Y/n huffed peeling the green ribbon off it

Dear y/n

Meet me at the astronomy tower doors before dinner

Bring a blanket or a jacket you choose :)

MR x

“Well?” Hermione asked looking over her friends shoulder

“Mattheo” y/n replied looking around for the boy smiling at him he winked at her with a piece of toast in his mouth

“Well we have class so let’s go before the traffic starts” Harry said laughing y/n pulled out a spare skirt out of her bag

“Can we stop by the toilets first I need to change”

Theo and Mattheo gave y/n subtle glances throughout the day which she responded with a smile her mood much better after changing.

During potions Mattheo sat next to y/n the trio looked at him but ignored him.

“Hey pretty girl” a kiss was placed on her cheek she gave a small smile and continued with her potion

“Sorry about the owl. He’s a bit dumb” Mattheo chuckled y/n gave the slytherin a really? You don’t say look laughing.

“Mr.Riddle I don’t think this is your table” professor snape raising an eyebrow. Mattheo smiled awkwardly before whispering

“See you in a few hours” and walked to his table. You can see Theo’s clutch on the silver rod tighten

“What am I gonna do?” Y/n sighed mione tried to comfort her friend

Dinner came by quickly. As you got dressed into something nice you faced Hermione spinning

“How do I look?” A big smile formed on your face

“Amazing as usual!” You linked arms as you left your common room

As you bid your goodbyes to your friends you made your way to the tower where Mattheo was already waiting for you. With a large bouquet of your favourite flowers in it.

“Hey” y/n said blushing. Mattheo pulled her into a hug her arms went over his shoulders and his went to her waist.

“You look so gorgeous” Mattheo whispered in her ear his lips pressed against her cheek

“Well you clean up rather nice your self” she remarked placing a kiss to his cheek

“Shall we?” Mattheo offered his arm which she gladly took as they ascended the stairs. Y/n was shocked to see the astronomy tower littered with lights and a table it was very sweet

“Oh wow you did all this ?!” You gasped looking at every detail Mattheo nodded proudly

“Of course I wanted it to be a great first date!” Mattheo pulled the chair out for you and tucked you in.

“A gentleman?!” You joked Mattheo chuckled before sitting himself opposite you

“For you” he smiled a big cheesy smile

“So what’s on the menu today?” Y/n asked looking at her surroundings

“Uh I’m not sure I told the house elves in the kitchen to surprise us for 10 galleons” as if on que the house elves arrived and placed the food in your table.

You both sat on the floor covered in soft pillows and watched the beauty of Hogwarts in comfortable silence

“I’ve really enjoyed our time together mattheo” y/n sighed her head leaning on his shoulder he hummed in agreement a hand snaked around her waist pulling he closer.

“Thank you for giving me a chance and if you don’t choose me I don’t mind as long as we stay friends” his voice was soft and you can tell he was tired

“Do you want to head to bed! Woah!” Mattheo practically tackled y/n to the ground holding her tight

“No I don’t want this night to enddddd!!” His grip tightened as he layed on top of her she laughed at his childishness

“Oh your laughing at me now ?!” The boy challenged y/n eyes widened as he started to tickle her.

“Mattheo no!!! I’m sorry!!” She pleaded in a fit of giggles mixed with Mattheos chuckles the bittersweet moment lasted only seconds before he stopped and stared at your face

“Wha-“ y/n was cut off with a pair of lips on hers. She froze not knowing what to do until she gave in and kissed him back her hands wrapping around his neck Mattheo hands raked her body as they made out. The two pulled away panting for air.

Mattheo walked y/n to her common room both very tired considering it was 1am.

“Thank you so much for such an amazing night. It’s been so fun” y/n pulled Mattheo into a big hug which he gladly returned.

“No, thank you for giving me a chance” y/n kissed Mattheo on his cheek before bidding him good night.

She entered the dorm she shared with Hermione and Ginny. They were both awake and y/n flopped on Miones' bed squealing

“Good night?” Hermione asked her friend laughing

“Tell us EVERYTHING!!” Ginny sang landing next to you. As you gave them a brief story about your date you sighed

“Girls I really don’t know what to do”

“Just sleep on it until you have to go out with Theo” Ginny suggested

“But what if I can’t choose?”

“Then date both” Ginny joked making Hermione laugh

The next morning y/n sat down once again for breakfast as she enjoyed her much-needed coffee. Theo sat next to her holding a bouquet of your favourite flowers and chocolates glued to it. Your smile was huge at the sweet gesture.

“Hey Theo!” Y/n said looking up at the boy who smiled warmly

“Hey y/n I wanted to ask if you wanted to go on a date with me today?” Theo said confidently as he handed you the flowers/sweets

“Of course I would love to”

“Brilliant meet me at the courtyard fountain in like 3 hours does that give you enough time?” Theo sweetly smiled

“More than enough I’ll be there!” Theo pecked y/n forehead before going off to his table

“Bloody hell” you hear Ron mumble Harry rolled his eyes

“Mioneee you have to help me get ready pleaseee!!!” Y/n begged hugging on to her friends arm

“You don’t even have to ask” the curly haired girl beamed as y/n grabbed her hand and they both ran out the great hall

You took a while to get ready making sure everything was perfect you looked at yourself in the mirror. It was weather appropriate but still amazing !

“You look so good!!!” Hermione said fixing your hair

You both headed down to the courtyard as some people were going to hogsmeade you see Theo waiting for you with his friends

“I’ll catch you guys later yeah?” Y/n waved goodbye to her friends and made her way to Theo. Draco was the first one to notice her he nudged Theo making him look to where he was nodding to.

“Hey y/n. Let’s go boys” Draco said dragging Mattheo with him Theo pulled you into a hug

“You look gorgeous as usual” Theo smiled twirling the girl around making her giggle

“Thank you Theo. You look handsome nothing new”

“So I was thinking we can go to London for the day instead of Hogsmeade I have permission from professor snape" Y/n's eyes lit up at the sound of going to her city.

"no way! I was waiting until the holidays to go and restock oh this is going to be so fun" she squealed hugging Theo. the boy laughed rubbing her back

"come on then before it gets too late" As they travelled via flu powder to London they found themselves at the Leaky Cauldron. theo placed a protective hand on the small of her back leading them out to the street.

theo watched as y/n went in and out of shops a smile never leaving her face

"hey Theo what do you think about this smell?" y/n presented her wrist to theos nose he wrapped a large hand around it and inhaled the perfume humming in satisfaction

"this one is much better than the other one" he put it in the basket that he was holding for her

as the pair shopped longer Theo noticed a group of guys staring at y/n and whispering to each other. theo went up behind her and wrapped both arms around her making her jump "oh, Theo you scared me! is everything alright? I'm sorry I'm taking ages" she apologised leaning into him.

"Don't apologies princess take your time" he smiled against her neck the group of boys long gone now.

y/n showed Theo the best places she liked to go considering she was born and grew up in this city. They somehow ended up outside y/n old house, the place she grew up in the place her mother was found dead.

"I'm sorry I brought us here. I just always visit it when I'm around" she sniffled leaning into Theo

"Never apologise for that it's absolutely fine" A small sincere smile was set on his face

"I don't want to rush you but we should head back to the leaky cauldron soon. professor snape gave me a time limit" he whispered into her hair. She nodded in response pulling away.

they headed back to Hogwarts. it was almost curfew when they arrived outside her common room.

"Theo?" y/n asks looking up at the boy

"hmm?" he responds

"what if i can't choose? like you guys are best friends and I don't want you to fall out over me" She began to get teary-eyed, making Theo's gaze soften as he pulls her in for a hug

"hey don't worry about us, and don't rush into a decision if your not sure yet just take your time. we will both be here for you." he rubbed her back she gripped his shirt tighter

"i like both of you and it's hard" she wiped a stray tear away she lookd up at Theo all doe eyed before grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in for a kiss which Theo gladly returned placing a firm hand on the back of your neck and another on your waist squeezing the area. Theo slipped a tongue in your mouth making you moan softly he smirked against your lips and got hungrier by the second wanting more of you. Theo pulled away from the kiss and started nipping at your neck your sweet noises make him let out a groan. Before pulling a way making you whine.

“Love. We can’t not yet. As much as I would love to” his forehead rested on yours as you caught your breath

“Get some sleep angel. I’ll see you in the morning” he placed kiss to your lips before bidding goodnight.

As you blindly entered the dorm room your vision too clouded by your own mind Hermione stepped in front of you

“Wow your flustered” she smirked helping you sit down

“How was it?” She gave her friend a supportive pat on the back as she laid her head on her shoulder

“It was nice. But I think I’m gonna sleep. Night mione” sleep overtook y/n within minutes

Who will you choose ?

If you choose Mattheo:

The next morning came and y/n was more then ready to see him. She went to the great hall and gestured for him to follow her.

“Hey gorgeous. How are you ?” Mattheo winked shoving his hands in his pockets

“Mattheo I uh. I choose you” you whispered mattheos slit eyebrow cocked up

“Sorry sweetheart couldn’t hear you could you maybe speak up?” He got closer to you knowing full well what you said

“I choose you. I want to be with you” you said a but too loud. Mattheo smile grew as he lifted you off the ground spinning you

“Oh love you don’t know how happy I am right now” he pulled you into kiss keeping you in his grip as tight as he could. You wrapped your arms around his neck and tugged at his hair making him grunt

“Don’t be doing that princess. Not here anyway” he whispered In your ear making you blush HARD.

“And don’t worry about Theo we had a conversation after your date with him and agreed no matter who you chose we will be happy for each other and not get in the way of the other one’s relationship” he pecked your lips tenderly and a bunch of wolf whistles were heard behind you. You span around to see your friends cheering you on. You hid in Mattheo chest making him chuckle

If you choose Theo:

You made your to the great hall a big smile plastered on your face as you looked around for him. Finding him at his usual table in his usual spot you went over and sat down next to him.

“Good morning ange-“ Theo was cut off with your lips on his he smiled and pulled you in closer

“Alright you two it’s too early for that” Blaise says chucking a piece of toast your way Theo gave him the middle finger as he kissed you one more time.

“So does this mean?” Theo questioned looking down at you. You nodded and smiled shyly as he pulled you into his side

“Mattheo and I spoke yesterday so don’t worry about anything ok. We are good” Theo whispered in your ear

“But will you do the honours and be mine?” Y/n nodded pulling the boy into a big hug

[observeowl]

Second Chance | Chapter 8 - Life Lessons

Series masterlist

sorry! i haven't been putting the taglist for the last 2 chapters. but you can reach it through the masterlist. hopefully i will remember it from now on.

You woke up about an hour later, sitting peacefully on the bench with Andrew. It was night out, and hardly anyone was walking outside except the few who came out to refill their bottle or take a breather. 

“Are you awake?” You hummed, still not wanting to go back in again despite having an hour's break. “Shouldn’t you at least finish the last half hour of training? I know Clint came out a few times looking for you, even though he didn’t say anything.” 

You stretched your limbs, resigning to the fate that you have to head back in. You used to take this opportunity to see Nat when she came to see Clint each week. You no longer feel the spark of interest you had when you first joined Archery. Now, it’s more of a mandatory thing than something you look forward to every week. 

With a clap of your hands, you stood up from the bench and headed back to range. Clint gave you a silent disappointed look before looking back at others. You ignored him and got back to your position to shoot the last few arrows before everyone called it a day. It was tough for everyone to have such a long training session when the minimum was 2.5 hours. Some come for the whole 5 hours in school, and this was practically twice that. 

He dropped you off at your door and passed you your archery bag. “Have a good night’s rest. I know you’re not staying long tomorrow, and you have a long way back.” You suggested to Andrew to head back to his room for some sleep as you were planning to stay behind to use the gym here tomorrow morning. Andrew has his basketball training session in the afternoon, which he has to get to; otherwise, he would have stayed and waited with you. 

“How are you going to head back though?” 

“I’ll figure something out.” He nodded before saying goodbye to your friends in the same room and left. 

“You two are in your honeymoon phase.” Your friend was stating the fact without any malic when she saw how lovey-dovey you were with him. You didn’t have anything to defend or deny as you knew this was how you and Nat started. Always next to each other, texting one another, until you saw disagreements that were too hard to settle.

“Have you ever been in a relationship?” You asked. She shook her head, and you just smiled. This was what you felt before you fell in love with Nat. Those couples that over-display affection was interesting to you. You never understood why they were always in each other’s space. But ever since with Nat, every little thought brings you back to her. It may not even be something she liked, but you wanted to share everything with her, the little things that made you happy such as seeing a cat on your way to work or a nice dress that you saw someone wearing.

“You’ll understand when you get one.” 

===

In the morning, you woke up in time to have breakfast before seeing Andrew off. You decided that since there were still 3 hours before checkout, you’d pack your bags, leaving out the things you require for your gym session. 

You were slightly self-conscious entering the gym, not because you weren’t confident in your own body, but because you were a gym noob. This was the first time you entered the gym alone, without anyone guiding you. You weren’t sure if you were going to use the equipment correctly or if you were hogging the equipment that someone was planning to use. 

You liked to stand in the corner with your weights, surveying everyone through the mirror. No one was going to use your weights, right? You were using the lightest one available, and most gym goers use the medium to heavy weights or the other machines. But either way, your mind was louder than the music in your ears, and you eventually left the gym after an hour of workout. 

“Didn’t think I'd see you here.” You lift your head to see Natasha looking at you. She was heading to the gym, the one who taught you gym basics. You ignored her and continued making your way to your room. “We have to be around each other, and you can’t keep ignoring me.” That made you stop walking and look around. You didn’t see anyone, so there was no point putting up an act to acknowledge her. 

“Hey, Y/N! You went to the gym too?” Suddenly Maria came out of nowhere, and you just smiled and nodded. “We are about to head to the gym too. Nat needs to get over her hangover, and she’s offering to guide me on what to do.” 

“Have a nice time. I’m sure you’re going to learn a lot.” You turned to leave, but Natasha called you once again.  

“How are you going back? I heard from Clint that Andrew left in the morning.” You had the intense feeling to give her a sarcastic comment, but you held back since Maria was here. 

“I can figure it out. I’ll take a bus or Uber if I feel like I’m rich.” You shrugged your shoulders before finally leaving. 

Your friends were doing their final packing as you entered the room. Since they were staying in the dorm, they were heading back together. You begged them to bring your bow bag with them and place it in the school locker because there was no way you were going to be carrying that heavy ass bag alone. 

As the logistic director of the archery team, you was designated to collect everyone’s keycard to return to the front desk after making sure everyone returned it. The only ones remaining were part of the executive committee. Since everyone was here, they decided to hold a quick meeting regarding the upcoming tournament. For your part, you have to get everything ready for the captain, such as the toolbox and first aid kit. 

This was the first tournament you were going to be participating in. Not exactly the first, but the first in this version of this life. Before this, you used to only head to the tournament to cheer them on, even though it starts really early and is held more than an hour away from your home. 

In actual fact, it has been a long time since you participated in any tournament. The atmosphere of hearing and seeing forty people shoot all at the time was something you were unable to find anywhere else. 

Once everything was settled, everyone was free to leave. Some already had a car and drove here, but they stayed in a different direction than you. Just as you were deciding how you were going to head back, your phone received a message. 

Gave you some money for an Uber back home :) 

It was Andrew. Before you could reply, he sent another message. 

I know you can well afford this, but you don’t have to save money every way you can. Plus, I want you to have a comfortable ride home. 

A smile plastered your face when you read his text. You didn’t think he remembered when you said you were trying to get a head start above everyone else in terms of earning money and getting a job because your parents were significantly older compared to your peer’s parents. As the only child, the burden of taking care of your parents falls on you. As much as they tried preparing for their retirement, the rising cost of living and inflation stresses you out. 

Thanks. How about we meet for lunch? I can pay it back to you then. My treat. 

Sure. I’ll hold you to it.

You picked up your bag, getting ready to leave and say goodbye to the group when Clint came forward to talk to you. You resisted rolling your eyes, not knowing what he was trying to talk to you about. 

“Look, I… you’re improving a lot, and I believe you will do well in the competition. I have never seen someone improve as quickly as you. Someone such as you in the novice section would do very well.” 

“Thank you. But I wouldn’t put too much faith in myself. There are others out there that do amazing as well.” 

“Have a good rest. I know training was tough, especially yesterday.” 

You nodded before giving him a small wave and pointing to the back, suggesting you were leaving this place and the conversation. 

===

A few days later

You brought your family out for lunch since their work gets quieter during the year-end. You brought them to a ramen place your future self found and thought it would be nice to introduce them to if they were still around. It also has a mall nearby to shop around if they like to do so. 

As long as the shop sells spicy ramen, you know what you’re going to order for your father. However, your taste buds and stomach were like children at times, more often choosing to share with your mother as you may not be able to finish the food yourself and not want to waste any. 

“Do you want the corn or pork option?” You asked your mother for her opinion. 

“I don’t mind; either is fine.” 

Such a tough decision. Ultimately, you decided on the ramen that includes corn since you were going to order gyoza as a side dish. 

As you were eating, your phone started receiving a lot of messages. You took a peek at what was happening from your lock screen and noticed it came from Camellia and Diana. They seemed really excited at what they were discussing, so you took a break from eating and checked your phone. 

C: Guys, guys, the results are out!!

D: Really?

C: Yeah, my friend checked hers

D: Ok, ok, I’m going to check.

OMG… I’m so nervous

C: Me too! I totally forgot what was on the test, though. 

You would love to check your results too, but you preferred using your laptop to check instead. And you would like to get your emotions in check before getting your results. This part of the test always freaks you out more than taking the actual test itself. You took a few deep breaths before putting your phone down and resumed eating again. It isn’t uncommon for you to feel irritated after looking at your phone, so your parents don’t think too much about it. 

You’ve always wanted to get those high-cut Converse, and you took this chance on Christmas sales to get one. You could have gotten it after you started working, but you felt it was too casual even though people wore them. You couldn’t lie, you were tempted though, but your morals stopped you. 

You tried different designs of shoes, so while waiting for the store assistant to get one in your size, you went out to tell your father he could wait somewhere else or in a pub, drinking his beer. He isn’t one to shop for a very long time. You got your mother’s opinion as you walked up and down, trying to get comfortable in the shoes. Ultimately, you decided on one and paid for it as your mother texted your father to meet at the car in order to head home. 

Once you get home, you quickly open your laptop and log into your school email account to check for your results. You felt your heart beating out of your chest, and your hands shook as you typed in your details. The more you felt you could do well, the more nervous you were especially since you have gone through one round of this

So, when you saw you only received a B grade for all of your subjects, your body slumped back down on your chair in a daze. You had a hard time registering how badly you did. How was this even possible? 

You really wanted to excel in this life and get rid of always being the average person in the class. But, even with this second chance, you’re stuck with that title; how was this fair? 

A B grade generally isn’t bad, but it is when that’s all you get. Were you only capable of getting a B?

You checked the email one more time before going to the official application and saw the same results. You resigned to fate and closed your laptop after that. 

After seeing the sad news, a nice day out with your family has ended badly. Thankfully your friends weren’t the type to ask to share results, so you flopped onto your bed and went to sleep. 

That was the first time in forever you let a tear slip because of your grade. 

===

“Hey Nat! Have you checked your results?” Clint asked when he realised today’s date. 

“No, is it today?” She pulled out her phone and checked her calendar. 

“Yeah! Hurry up and check it so I can gauge what I got!” He rushed her, giving her his phone with the login page ready for her. Maria, who was having lunch with them, also went to check her results using her phone more peacefully than her friends. 

“What’s the rush? Not like your results will change if I check now or later.” Despite saying that, Nat accepted his phone and checked her results to give her friend peace of mind. It took a while for the page to load, but she got there eventually. Happy with her result, she returned the phone to Clint without saying anything. 

“Holy shit! An A for everything!?” Clint exclaimed when he saw Nat’s results. Nat smirked at his response. She was confident that she was going to ace her exams. Law test was more practical in that sense; whatever she did in her career could be used in the exams. Unlike yours, you specialise more in the audit side, which was not tested.  The diners at the restaurant turned to look at them for a moment when he shouted. “What about you, Maria?” 

“Aced it too.”

“Right, right. So I should do well too, right?” Clint asked tentatively as he logged in with his details. Both women looked at each other sceptically, knowing he was not the brightest student in the class. 

“Well, I don’t know, Clint.” Maria sighed. “Who was the one who had to remind you a test was coming up?” 

“Nat?” 

“Who was the one who had to help you when you were doing your group project?” Maria continued asking. 

“Nat...” 

“Who was the one who had to give you their notes when you weren’t listening in class?” 

“Nat. Okay, okay… I get it. My grades aren’t going to be that good.” Clint grumbled as he waited for the page to load. Nat and Maria crossed their arms and stared at him as they waited. Sensing their stares, Clint turned his body away and shielded his phone from their prying eyes. “Alright, I got it. Not that good, but good enough.” He informed them as he pocketed his phone. 

“You’re not going to tell us what you get?” Maria asked. “How’s that fair? We both told you our results.”

“You told me willingly. I didn’t force it out of you.” Clint defended. 

“I got it.” Nat’s phone displayed Clint’s results, and Maria moved at the speed of lightning to grab it before Clint could even react. 

“How?!?” Clint looked at Nat, feeling betrayed. 

“Do you really want to know?” Nat raised her eyebrow. “I memorised your school ID since I always submitted the work. And your password is so easy to decipher. For the sake of god, find something else.” 

“Maria! That’s enough, give me my phone back.” She decided that it was enough of teasing Clint. “You didn’t do too badly. Just one B and one B+, and three As.”

“But it pales in comparison to the both of you.” 

“Why don’t we invite the others to the bar? Celebrate our results and drown in sorrow that the holiday is ending.” Maria suggested. 

“Alright, let me just text someone.” Maria nodded and went ahead with Clint to the bar they often visited with the group. 

Nat unlocked her phone and was about to press on your contact when she remembered you wanted nothing to do with her. She wanted to know how you were doing. On the surface, you always looked like you were okay with your results, shrugging your shoulders and waving it off, but she knew you cared a lot more and wanted a lot more. In the end, she closed her phone and went to the bar. 

Series masterlist

@queen-of-chaotic-surprises @esposadejoyhuerta @gemz5 @natsxwife

@dyslexic-dreamer @unexpected-character @eternalnight410

@leenasayeed @oh-thats-sad @skz-xii @gay-frogs-dancing-around

@justspance

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - North and South Weekly - Chapter 6

In which the Hale family says goodbye to Helstone….

The poem at the beginning, which is part of a larger poem known as In Memoriam, really sets the scene for a lovely place like Helstone and what’s it means to leave it. The larger poem’s theme is about understanding and working through grief — a fitting theme for this chapter.

“The rooms had a strange echoing sound in them,—and the light came harshly and strongly in through the uncurtained windows,—seeming already unfamiliar and strange.”

I love how Gaskell captures the surreal feeling of seeing a place you’ve lived in, now empty. It is strange to hear more echoes (due to the lack of furniture — acoustics, am I right?) and every room gaining more brightness from the windows with no curtains. When this happens, it feels almost as if you, in the simple act of moving furniture and other objects of living out, have removed all of the life out of it as well. It is a very strange feeling and it’s one I’m glad Gaskell touches on!

“Mrs. Hale’s dressing-room was left untouched to the last; and there she and Dixon were packing up clothes, and interrupting each other every now and then to exclaim at, and turn over with fond regard, some forgotten treasure, in the shape of some relic of the children while they were yet little. They did not make much progress with their work.”

I know they have work to do, but this is such a sweet image. And I’m glad Mrs. Hale is at least given a bit of time to look over — and think about — old memories with the children. It’s nice :) and relatable, I’m the same way with my old stuff lol.

“Down-stairs, Margaret stood calm and collected, ready to counsel or advise the men who had been called in to help the cook and Charlotte. These two last, crying between whiles, wondered how the young lady could keep up so this last day, and settled it between them that she was not likely to care much for Helstone, having been so long in London.”

Yikes, so once again, Margaret is judged by an expression she has on her face. As if everyone expresses emotion the same way!!! Also, Charlotte is the same maid who caught Margaret crying two weeks ago so…what about that? She obviously knew why (you can’t tell me she didn’t — news travels fast in a house as small as that, and I’m almost certain Dixon said something about that being the reason for crying), so it’s pretty unfeeling of them to judge her for not crying when she’s working to get her household moved practically on her own!!!

This also made me notice something: we’ve seen characters come to the wrong conclusion about someone else’s thoughts or feelings a few times now in this book, including our protagonist. Margaret is the only one so far who has rethought her judgement and came to the correct conclusion upon second reflection. I’m not sure if that’s going to be a running theme, but it’s something I want to keep an eye on! It’s definitely something that stands out to me about Margaret’s character and judgement, that’s for sure.

“They could not understand how her heart was aching all the time, with a heavy pressure that no sighs could lift off or relieve, and how constant exertion for her perceptive faculties was the only way to keep herself from crying out with pain. Moreover, if she gave way, who was to act? Her father was examining papers, books, registers, what not, in the vestry with the clerk; and when he came in, there were his own books to pack up, which no one but himself could do to his satisfaction. Besides, was Margaret one to give way before strange men, or even household friends like the cook and Charlotte? Not she!”

I love this peek into her logic for not crying. I immediately figured she was trying to keep it together in order to make the move go smoothly, but I always love her inner voice. She’s so determined and braver than I think she gives herself credit for :))) and interesting note that she won’t cry in front of her “household friends”. I’m probably reaching here, but could this be tied to when she was silenced by that maid all those years ago in Harley Street? Or simply because she won’t cry in front of anyone except her family? Hmm…

“a robin was singing,—perhaps, Margaret thought, the very robin that her father had so often talked of as his winter pet, and for which he had made, with his own hands, a kind of robin-house by his study-window.”

This is cute! And sad. It’s always the little things you think of when saying goodbye to a home :(((

“Margaret went along the walk under the pear-tree wall. She had never been along it since she paced it at Henry Lennox’s side. Her eyes were on that late-blowing rose as she was trying to answer; and she had caught the idea of the vivid beauty of the feathery leaves of the carrots in the very middle of his last sentence”

I know she’s been busy since Lennox’s departure, but her not coming back to this spot feels intentional to me…eep!

Also, love that she sees part of the garden and remembers a specific part of his conversation. Memories are so often like that and Gaskell is masterful at putting this relatable experience to paper. I once asked a professor why she enjoyed studying the classics so much, and she told me it was because she could sometimes feel like the authors were speaking to just her, across the time and space of so many years. This is one of those times I know just what she means!

“Even now, while she walked sadly through that damp and drear garden in the dusk, with everything falling and fading, and turning to decay around her, he might be gladly putting away his law-books after a day of satisfactory toil, and freshening himself up, as he had told her he often did, by a run in the Temple Gardens, taking in the while the grand inarticulate mighty roar of tens of thousands of busy men, nigh at hand, but not seen, and catching ever, at his quick turns, glimpses of the lights of the city coming up out of the depths of the river. He had often spoken to Margaret of these hasty walks, snatched in the intervals between study and dinner. At his best times and in his best moods had he spoken of them; and the thought of them had struck upon her fancy.”

I love how it’s a quirky little detail like this that Margaret touches on and thinks of fondly. I often wonder what my friends remember about the stories I tell them!

Suddenly, Margaret hears a “stealthy, creeping, cranching sound”. She “knows” it to be a poacher that she has no fear of but…

“to-night she was afraid, she knew not why. She heard Charlotte shutting the windows, and fastening up for the night, unconscious that any one had gone out into the garden. A small branch—it might be of rotten wood, or it might be broken by force—came heavily down in the nearest part of the forest; Margaret ran, swift as Camilla, down to the window, and rapped at it with a hurried tremulousness which startled Charlotte within.”

I can’t blame her: I’d be spooked too!!! I think this also speaks to the larger issue of Margaret no longer feeling comfortable here: with the house being unfamiliar all packed up, is it any wonder she finds the outside noises, once so normal, strange as well?

“Margaret sat down on the rug, partly to warm herself, for the dampness of the evening hung about her dress, and over-fatigue had made her chilly. She kept herself balanced by clasping her hands together round her knees; her head dropped a little towards her chest; the attitude was one of despondency, whatever her frame of mind might be. But when she heard her father’s step on the gravel outside, she started up, and hastily shaking her heavy black hair back, and wiping a few tears away that had come on her cheeks she knew not how, she went out to open the door for him. He showed far more depression than she did. She could hardly get him to talk, although she tried to speak on subjects that would interest him, at the cost of an effort every time which she thought would be her last.”

Poor Margaret! Here she is, so despondent and melancholy herself, yet the minute she hears her father, she immediately straightens up and tries to act cheerful for his sake. How long can she keep this up?

I’m going to put this through a neurodivergent lens again, but this time it’s more metaphorical. So, for many ND people, they often have to “mask” themselves in order to fit into neurotypical society. This can include things like eye contact, saying things they don’t feel, pretending to express an emotion they’re not actually feeling at the moment, and more. At best, it’s exhausting and uncomfortable. At worst, it can lead to questioning sense of self and burnout. Margaret is, more and more often, putting up a kind of “mask” and setting aside how she feels about leaving Helstone. She had to do it when her father initially told her, she did it for her mother (all day, no less!), then Dixon (when she interrupted her crying session), for the mover and her household friends (love that term fyi), and now for her father again. At some point, something will have to give way and she will need to express her real feelings. Luckily, she has been able to deal with some of her emotions in private, but she has been interrupted and forced to quell it every time, which is not good! I’m worried she’s going to burn herself out if she keeps this up.

Margaret asks what her father has been up to and finally gets an answer:

“‘I went to see Widow Maltby; she is sadly grieved at not having wished you good-bye. She says little Susan has kept watch down the lane for days past.—Nay, Margaret, what is the matter, dear?’ The thought of the little child watching for her, and continually disappointed—from no forgetfulness on her part, but from sheer inability to leave home—was the last drop in poor Margaret’s cup, and she was sobbing away as if her heart would break. Mr. Hale was distressingly perplexed. He rose, and walked nervously up and down the room. Margaret tried to check herself, but would not speak until she could do so with firmness.”

And so the dam breaks. I might have spoken a bit too soon, but it still needed to be said. Again, poor Margaret :(((((( I would be crushed at hearing this too!!! Mr. Hale, why are you surprised she’s upset??? Of course she’s upset!!! I guess he doesn’t understand how long she’s been holding it in. I just want to give her a warm blanket and hugs (if she likes hugs).

“She heard him talking, as if to himself.

“‘I cannot bear it. I cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. I think I could go through my own with patience. Oh, is there no going back?’”

So, the first time Margaret cried and then sadly wished for this to be a dream, you told her (basically) to get over it and that she needed to be brave, your mind was made up — and now you’re moved to change your mind??? What happened??? It’s a little late, buddy!!!!

“‘No, father,’” said Margaret, looking straight at him, and speaking low and steadily. ‘It is bad to believe you in error. It would be infinitely worse to have known you a hypocrite.’ She dropped her voice at the last few words, as if entertaining the idea of hypocrisy for a moment in connection with her father savoured of irreverence.

“‘Besides,’ she went on, ‘it is only that I am tired to-night; don’t think that I am suffering from what you have done, dear papa. We can’t either of us talk about it to-night, I believe,’ said she, finding that tears and sobs would come in spite of herself.’”

Margaret :((((((((( she’s right though, he’s spoken to the entire village of his plans at this point, to go back now would make him look pretty bad! Also, the need to tell him she’s not suffering from his choices…when we know the opposite to be true 😭😭😭 she’s too good for both of these parents sometimes, I hope they appreciate how good of a daughter they have. Don’t get me wrong — they have their good moments — but she is so kind and giving!!! And she seems to get so little in return for that at times, at least in this moment.

Also, yeah, I can tell she’s emotionally draining herself to the limit because she’s starting to cry despite her holding it in. Speaking from personal experience, that’s not good!

“A sting at Margaret’s heart made her strive to look out to catch the last glimpse of the old church tower at the turn where she knew it might be seen above a wave of the forest trees; but her father remembered this too, and she silently acknowledged his greater right to the one window from which it could be seen. She leant back and shut her eyes, and the tears welled forth, and hung glittering for an instant on the shadowing eyelashes before rolling slowly down her cheeks, and dropping, unheeded, on her dress.”

Again, another example of her being so selfless. Oh Margaret, things will get better :((((

“Poor Mrs. Hale had cried in her way nearly all day long; and Dixon showed her sorrow by extreme crossness, and a continual irritable attempt to keep her petticoats from even touching the unconscious Mr. Hale, whom she regarded as the origin of all this suffering.”

LOLLLL that’s so petty of Dixon. I could analyze this to oblivion but…you know what? I’ll let her have this one. It’s funny and doesn’t really harm anyone — Mr. Hale’s literally asleep.

When they get to London, Mrs. Hale is remembering all of the places the last time she visited, but she also points out to Margaret: HENRY LENNOX?!?!?

LOL, that’s so funny he’s just *right there* when she gets into London. Would some people call this cliche? Perhaps. I call it “seeing the exact person you don’t want to see/maybe do (it’s complicated) at the exact wrong time” phenomenon. It happens to everyone.

“Margaret started forwards, and as quickly fell back, half-smiling at herself for the sudden motion. They were a hundred yards away by this time; but he seemed like a relic of Helstone—he was associated with a bright morning, an eventful day, and she should have liked to have seen him, without his seeing her,—without the chance of their speaking.”

She’s so real for that. Keep the memory good, Margaret! Who knows what he would’ve said had he actually spoken to you.

“They alone seemed strange and friendless, and desolate. Yet within a mile, Margaret knew of house after house, where she for her own sake, and her mother for her aunt Shaw’s, would be welcomed, if they came in gladness, or even in peace of mind. If they came sorrowing, and wanting sympathy in a complicated trouble like the present, then they would be felt as a shadow in all these houses of intimate acquaintances, not friends. London life is too whirling and full to admit of even an hour of that deep silence of feeling which the friends of Job showed, when ‘they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was very great.’”

Very true!!! “Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone”. You know who your real friends are because they will help you through times of grief, not treat you like a “shadow”. I think the fact that Margaret instinctively knows they would be treated that way at all of the places she thinks of tells me they’re not true friends and she knows that, even if she won’t fully admit it. And quoting Job to cap off the chapter is very telling of how grieved she feels!!

That’s all for this chapter (on time for once — yay!). Hopefully, they’ll have a bit of a better time in the next chapter.

[luvhhannie]

sophomore year | wc: 2.5k

“ugh do i actually have to go?” you ask jaehyun as he lay on your bed in you and judie’s shared dorm.

“i mean, personally, i think you need to socialize…and because you two have bad memory…i can’t believe you two forgot who yugyeom was…that’s your bestfriend.” jaehyun said as he scrolls through his instagram. judie whistled as she comes out of the bathroom. you rolled your eyes at jaehyun and finally started looking for an outfit.

“My bad man! I’ve got a bad memory…and besides, yn, you gotta go for me since I can’t go. Fuck this stupid term paper, how could I forget about it!” Judie said as she starts typing her term paper on her MacBook.

“you frats are the worst…i’m only doing this for you, jae…and you too judie.” you said as you held a dress infront of you. jaehyun and judie both nodded their heads. you started undressing yourself when you suddenly hear jaehyun.

“damn, badonkadonk.” he said as judie slapped him and covered his eyes. you chuckled as you slip into your dress. 

“no, but really…and also because i heard one of my twitter opp would be there.” you said, starting your makeup. jaehyun removed judie’s hands from his eyes as he pondered.

“which one?” he asks. you sighed.

“jungkook.” you said. he suddenly starting laughing.

“i’m friends with him…you know that right?”

“don’t remind me…i always forget your friend group…it’s too big man.” you complained, finally finishing your makeup. you spritz some perfume on your skin as you put on your heels. jaehyun looked at you and smiled.

“you don’t look too bad. Stay safe here judie, and actually finish your term paper.” he said as judie laughed, waving goodbye. You and jaehyun left, him as the designated driver. 

arriving at the frat house, you could already hear the blasting music from the building. you gulped as jaehyun parked his car just near the house. the both of you came out of the car when jaehyun suddenly patted your shoulder.

“hey, just have fun tonight, okay? and if you ever feel uncomfy, call me.” he said, guiding you inside the house. the amount of beer and men is indescribable. you saw some familiar faces here and there but didnt really know them personally. as you were looking around the house, you were suddenly handed a cup of beer, along with jaehyun.

“you made it!” a voice said behind you. you look behind you and saw a male with raven hair. he had an eyebrow piercing and a lip piercing. wasnt your type.

“yoo! jungkook!” jaehyun greeted him while you were astounded. jungkook? like your twitter opp? you knew he was gonna be here tonight, but you didnt know you were gonna meet him as soon as you walk in. jungkook looked at you and smirked.

“ynrkive you make me sick.” he said as you playfully punch his side. he jokingly fainted into jaehyun’s arms and laughed. he reached out his hand to yours. you shake his hands and smiled.

“nice to finally meet you too…who would’ve thought i was trolled by a film student.” you said while taking a sip from your cup. jungkook laughed as he guides your group to the living room, taking a seat on the sofa. 

“i just wanted attention that day! and i mean it worked!” He laughed. You, jungkook and jaehyun continued walking when suddenly jaehyun was pulled away from your group. 

“Oh! Yn-ssi! It’s been a while.” A deep voice said as you look up to see the person. You smiled.

“Hey Johnny, you just gonna steal him away? That’s rude.” You joked as the man beside you chuckled. Johnny shook his head.

“I mean, if you don’t mind? But my friends wanted to hangout with this old pal of ours. Sooo…I’ll talk to you both in a bit!” Johnny said as he pulls jaehyun away from you and jungkook. You rolled your eyes and suddenly jungkook stood up.

“Since our dearest friend jaehyun ditched us, lemme introduce you to mine, yeah?” Jungkook asks you. You smiled and nodded your head, following his steps. You two walk to the kitchen, where all the booze stay at. Jungkook swiftly patted your shoulder.

“Taehyung, jimin, meet ynrkive.” He says as the blonde male, taehyung, accidentally spits out his beer. The short dark haired male, jimin, widened his eyes as he looks at you.

“Holy shit, you guys actually met in real life…” jimin says as he takes a sip from his cup. You raised a brow as you look at his choking friend. Jungkook shook his head.

“They know about our twitter drama.” He explains as you nodded your head. Taehyung finally calms down and smile shyly.

“Sooo, are we just gonna call you from your twitter handle or what?” He asks. You chuckled and introduced yourself to them. You didn’t expect jungkook’s friends to be like this. You thought they would be more obnoxious like the other frats in the building. But surprisingly, they ere pleasant to talk to. As your group converse about college life, you saw someone familiar from the corner of your eye. You look over your shoulder and saw minghao. You smiled softly. You tell your new founded peers that you’re going to talk to someone real quick as you walk towards minghao, not noticing the figure beside him. You called out his name and his gaze went towards you. He smiles as you wave at him. 

“Hey, I didn’t know parties were your thing.” You said as he rubs his neck.

“I also thought parties weren’t your thing, but you’re here…I’m getting deja vu.” He chuckles. You laughed as you admiringly smile at him. Suddenly a cough broke you and minghao’s gaze from each other. The figure beside him clicked her tongue as she looks at you. You widen your eyes and introduce yourself.

“Oh, hi! I’m yn! I’m minghao’s friend.” You said as the girl only looked you up and down. 

“Sumin…hm, myungho, we should get something to drink.” Sumin says as she rubs minghao’s arm, which she was holding on to her dear life. You eyes her and minghao, noticing minghao’s uncomfortable look. 

“You okay?” You ask minghao, almost in whisper. Unfortunately, Sumin heard you. She rolled her eyes at you.

“He’s more than okay. Babe, come on.” She says to minghao as they start walking away. You watched Minghao’s walking figure as you walk back to jungkook, taehyung and jimin. The three males looked at you.

“You know sumin?” Taehyung asked you. You didn’t notice that they were watching you the whole time. You shook your head no.

“No, but I think she’s friends with minghao…my friend over there.” You said, pointing at their direction. Jungkook raised a brow. 

“Ohh…that’s surprising, Myungho isn’t the type of person to be friends with someone like sumin.” Jungkook stated. You looked at him.

“You’re friends with Minghao?” You asked. He nodded his head. You heard Jimin hum beside Taehyung.

“That���s true, Myungho wouldn’t hang around people like Sumin, I mean everyone knows she’s just full of botox, nothing wrong with that but that’s literally her only personality…is he alright?” Jimin asks in concern. You shrug your shoulders.

“I think so…I mean Sumin did say he’s alright.” You said, worry evident in your tone. As the four of you were talking, you all suddenly hear screams from outside. Jungkook raised his head.

“Oh, I think they’re playing beer pong.” He says as he basically drags you three outside. There you saw your stolen friend, jaehyun, and the thief, Johnny, along with other frats having a chaotic pong session. Jungkook groaned.

“How come they didn’t call me out to play with them!” Jungkook in an exasperation sigh. Taehyung laughed.

“Even if they did, you’re pretty bad at beer pong, surprisingly.” Jimin said, earning groan from his friend. As they were bickering, you watched the game go on as you see minghao being pushed by his friends in front of the table. He started playing against one of the frat members and successfully won the game. You watch them cheer him on. As you were watching you see Sumin hugging him and pulling into a kiss. You paled. They’re together? 

You watch her place her lips on him as the cheers even roared louder. Minghao’s back turned to you and you saw Sumin’s gaze on you, her lips still on him. Your gaze became harsher as time stops for you. You suddenly felt a tap on your shoulder. You instinctively gave the person a glare, not realizing it was jungkook. Your gaze softens at his figure. He looked at you in concern. 

“If looks could kill, you would’ve killed me right here. You okay?” He asks you. You nodded as you look back at minghao and sumin, who now was joining the cheers. You shook your head.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” You excused yourself. Jungkook looked at you in concern as you walk past Taehyung and Jimin, asking you if you were okay. You swiftly walk past them as your steps lead you to the bathroom. You accidentally bumped into someone because of your racing thought. You briefly looked at the person and apologized. You reached the bathroom and closed the door. You looked at yourself in the mirror and closed your eyes tightly.

“Why are you being jealous? You’re just a friend…It’s just a crush, nothing else.” You consoled yourself. You finally opened your eyes and looked at yourself. You didn’t even notice you were crying. You wipe off your tears and sighed.

“Stupid fucking feelings…I should’ve known he just sees me as a friend. I’m such a wuss.” You whispered quietly. After a few more minutes in a bathroom calming yourself down, you finally opened the bathroom door, ready to leave, when you were met by Sumin. You flinched in surprise.

“Took you long enough to come out, were you taking a shit?” Sumin laughed as she pushed you back in the bathroom. You looked into her eyes, trying to maintain your composure. 

“‘Was just a bit drunk, needed to calm down.” You lied. Sure you were a bit tipsy from the beer, but you were pretty sober. Sumin looked you up and down. She smirked.

“You know, you should get away from Myungho.” She says suddenly. You widened your eyes.

“What? He’s my friend.” You said to her. She only glanced back at the door.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with girl code…and you know, me and myungho are basically together.” She simply said. Unknowingly to you, you were oblivious to her tone. You pondered for a moment. Were you accidentally trying to home wreck a relationship? But you didn’t do anything wrong, did you? You were in your thoughts when Sumin suddenly walked closer to you.

“But then again, I’m not scared he’s going to cheat on me with…someone like you. I mean, just look at yourself.” She says, envy in her tone. You suddenly look up at her with confusion in your face.

“Okay, I can respect your relationship with him whatsoever, but what I look like is nothing of your concern. Just because I don’t drown myself in fillers and botox doesn’t mean I am more inferior than you.” Now you’ve done it. You only heard it from Jimin, you didn’t mean to actually say it in front of her face. You gulped nervously as she looks at you in rage. Why was she even mad at you in the first place? You don’t know this girl! 

“Whatever, but Myungho will never love a girl like you. He’s basically doing charity work if he starts dating you. I mean, it’s always looks over personality.” She says as she leaves the bathroom. As you watch her leaving figure, you instantly sobbed in your hands. Were you really that…ugly? You never really cared about your appearance. You were content with how you look. You cried silently, not noticing another figure coming in the bathroom. You heard their footsteps as you wipe your tears away, walking away.

“Sorry, just too drunk right now.” You lied, but you were stopped in your tracks. What’s up with people just stopping you from doing what you wanted to do tonight?

“I’m so sorry for leaving you behind.” You heard the person say as they hug you tightly. You look up and see Jaehyun. You shook your head as he releases you from his grip. He looked at you in concern. 

“I knew something was wrong when you left, are you okay?” You heard behind him. You saw Jungkook also looking at you in concern. You looked at the both of them and sighed. 

‘I’m…okay. Jaehyun, I’m going home.” You said to him. He looks at you as you walk away. Yo heard him bid his goodbyes to Jungkook as he follows you outside. He opened his car door for you as you two sit inside. You averted your gaze away from him as you look out the window. Jaehyun sighed.

“Are you sure everything’s alright? You know you can talk to me about it-”

“Just drop it, Jaehyun. I’m alright.” You said harshly. He sighs and nod his head, driving you back to your dorm. The ride was silent. Finally arriving at your dorm, he stopped you from getting out. You looked at him.

“Sumin didn’t do anything to you, did she? I saw her leaving the bathroom before I went to see you.” He asks. You only averted your gaze. From the silent treatment, he got his answer. He lets you go and told you to be safe and have a good night. You bid your goodbyes to him as you walk inside your dorm. Reaching your room, you were greeted by a tired Judie, who you can assume just finished studying. She smiles at you softly.

“How was your first frat party?” She asks as you go in the bathroom to take off your makeup. You washed off your face and went back in your shared room. You hummed.

“It’s okay.” You simply replied. Judie opened an eye, as she was already laying down on her bed.

“Just okay? Well, did you see your one and only minghao?” She teases you. You stiffened. You were not in the mood to think about him, or else you’ll just get reminded of Sumin. You whispered something under your breath, judie seemed to catch it.

“What was that?” She asks you again.

“Forget him.” Judie now shot up from her bed. 

“What? Did he do something bad to you? Did he try to touch you in any way? Did he-” 

“Just forget him, Judie. Such a waste of time.” You said as you tell your friend goodnight. Judie stayed on her bed just staring at your laying figure. She sighs and laid back in bed. She’s definitely going to ask Jaehyun what had happened.

˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖

yes or no I x. minghao x reader - deja vu in a frat party?

𓇢𓆸 synopsis: where jaehyun is forced to be yn's wingman for mingyu, but unbeknownst to him, mingyu is also getting some help from his friend.

previous <-  -> next | masterlist

𓇢𓆸 taglist (open!): @writingbarnes @90s-belladonna @leewonkyeom @to-mi-yo

a/n: this is the second to last flashback chapter before we go back to the present. i had to literally rewrite this chapter because i didn’t like the first draft 😞. thank you for all the support and feedback! 🩷

[hide-in-imagination]

"Roads That Cross... with a Phone Call"

You can read the previous chapters here: (1),(2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19), (20), (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29), (30)

I only needed a solar eclipse to update! Yay!

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The next day, Simón left two more marks on Ámbar’s chest.

It was during lunchtime, which was rare because, usually, after a night like that, they didn’t need to satiate any more urges so soon after. But the pause in activity had been felt by both of them, and now that they could do it again, they didn’t seem to want to wait at all.

“I can’t stop thinking about last night,” Ámbar breathed between kisses and hurried hands, yanking off his clothes with the same urgency as her tone of voice. “I can’t concentrate on anything.”

Simón groaned and held her against his body, and then he gave her what she wanted and fucked her into the mattress.

There was something so satisfying about reducing such a strong force of nature like Ámbar into a gasping, whining mess with just a few bucks of his hips. She always had a witty comeback at the ready, an ironic comment aimed at whoever talked to her, but when she was like this, with him, she felt so much that Simón could leave her speaking in tongues.

It filled him with pride. It incited him to give more.

After, when they were dressing back up to grab something to eat (Simón shouldn’t have unraveled her for as long as he did, now they’d have to eat fast if they didn’t want to go over their lunch hour, but he’d missed this) Ámbar saw the new hickeys on her breasts and laughed, saying she didn’t know he had this side of him.

Honestly, Simón didn’t know either. It took seeing Ámbar wearing nothing but his shirt for him to realize just how much he liked it, and he couldn’t deny the surge of primal satisfaction upon seeing the marks on Ámbar’s breasts and neck. It looked sexy. She looked his.

Luckily, Ámbar said she didn’t mind, as long as they were few and nowhere visible, and as long as he allowed her to mark him too. Simón had no issue with that. In fact, part of him wanted her to leave the most obvious love bite on his neck and then have her show her own ones too just so he could flaunt them in front of Benicio like— See? We’re very happy together, stop being a pest.

But that would be petty of him, and he would feel bad using Ámbar like that, as if she were an object he wanted to show off. He felt a little disgusting just for thinking about it, so Simón pushed the urge down, down, down, until he could barely feel it at all. Besides, his imagination-self was way more shameless than he actually was. If Simón really walked around with a hickey on his neck, he’d die of embarrassment.

There was nothing to prove anyway. Benicio could’ve been bluffing when he spoke about that spot on Ámbar’s neck—A lucky guess. But even if he wasn’t, it didn’t matter. Ámbar chose Simón. Perhaps they’d been seeing each other less than usual the past few days, but every morning without fail they had breakfast together, and when the time came for Simón to leave, instead of saying goodbye, they always said: ‘I love you.’

“Have a nice day, I love you.”

“See you later, I love you.”

“I’m running late, gotta go, love you.”

I love you, I love you, I love you. That was the one thing important.

Throughout the next few days, they saw each other a little more actually, which came as a pleasant surprise to Simón. A couple of official, Manager things required Ámbar’s presence in the Roller, starting with the arrival of the new hires Ámbar had been requesting from Vidia for a while. They were three part-timers who would be taking over the weekends from now on so that Pedro, Eric, and Simón himself, could rest: two girls who would be in charge of the cafeteria, Cata (or Cat for short) and Rae, and one guy who would be the rink assistant and in charge of the lockers, called Alex.   

Ámbar introduced them all personally on their first day of training. She told the girls and Alex that Eric, Pedro, and Simón would be in charge of showing them the ropes around the Roller, while she also managed to, somehow, slip into conversation, twice, that both Simón and Pedro were in a committed relationship. Very much taken. Not single.

She said it all with a smile and it was very smooth, but Simón still had a hard time refraining from laughing. Personally, he didn’t think it was necessary to point that out considering they would only be training the girls for a couple of days and then they’d never see them again unless they visited the Roller in their free time, but Ámbar apparently still felt the need to draw that line in the sand.

To be honest, it made Simón feel pretty good. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one with a bit of a territorial streak in the relationship.

The second reason Ámbar started visiting the Roller more was to personally supervise the last few arrangements for the Day of the Dead party. There were some led light signs that needed to be installed on the walls, spotlights for the ceiling and stuff like that, so Ámbar had to be there to give directions to the handymen responsible for it. Some decorations had to be done by hand too, and while Ámbar could make some of them at home, oftentimes it was more practical to just do them at the Roller.

Simón was happy to see Ámbar more, no matter how briefly. When she first started working on the decorations, he offered to help, but she told him to just worry about his own work, that she got it covered. Simón still helped her bring a table to the rink, one wide enough for her to put all of the materials on top of it and work on her crafts comfortably, and also carried any bags she needed to move from one place to another— There was no way he’d let her do all of that herself when he had a good pair of arms.

On a good day, they walked back home after work together like they used to, Ámbar’s hand in his, her snuggling up to his side to fend off the cold.

“How do you think the new guys have been adapting to the Roller?” Ámbar asked him conversationally, turning to look at him. “I mean, I asked them, obviously, they said they were fine, but with me being the manager maybe they don’t feel as comfortable talking to me as they do with you.”

Simón smiled. People could say whatever they wanted about Ámbar, but she was actually thoughtful, and ever since she’d become manager of the Roller, she’d been doing a great job at it. He would already put her leaguesover La Generala.

“They’ve been doing great,” he replied. “Alex is amazing at rollerskating, which is very lucky because that was the only thing Eric couldn’t teach him.” The two laughed at that. “The rest, he’d been picking it up nicely. Same thing with the girls. They both had experience working at places like this before, so it’s been easy for them to get the hand of making the beverages and working the register…”

“Oh that’s right, didn’t they both work at a coffee shop before this?” It must have been on their resumes, or maybe Ámbar talked about it with them when they met, before she introduced them to everyone. “Not like the same coffee shop but, you know.”

“Yeah.” Rae and Cat had told him that too. “Actually, I think they bonded over that and they’re starting to become friends.”

“That’s good.” Ámbar smiled. She looked to the side. “As long as they don’t get too distracted and do their job, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Simón laughed. Yeah, the boss position fit her well. Maybe she wouldn’t work at the Roller forever, but he could totally see her leading, with good ideas and consideration. “You know, I actually worked at a coffee shop too,” he mentioned.

Her eyes focused on him with a curious glint. “Really?”

“Yeah, back when I was sixteen. Then I started at Foodger Wheels when I turned 17. Then when Luna turned 16, she joined me at Foodger Wheels, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”

Ámbar leaned her head back a little, looking at him with slightly wide eyes. “Wow, I didn’t know you worked at Foodger Wheels too,” she said with disbelief. “So, that means that day it could’ve been you delivering my food instead of Luna?”

“Oh.” It was Simón’s turn to be surprised. “I had never thought of that— You’re right.” He huffed out a laugh. “How crazy.” He looked to the city in front of him, imagining how that could’ve been. “Do you think anything would’ve turned out different if it had been me instead of Luna?” He asked Ámbar.

“Well, maybe it would’ve helped to get me into your good graces if you hadn’t first known me as the girl who threw your best friend into the pool,” she said.

Simón burst out a laugh. “Oh my god, I had forgotten about that.” It seemed like a lifetime ago.

His gaze centered on Ámbar and his heart melted at how far they’d come since then. He brought their joined hands over her head and wrapped his arm around her in a fluid movement they had done dozens of times.

“Maybe I would’ve fallen irrevocably in love with you at first sight and never even questioned my friendship with Luna,” he told her, smiling down at her.  

Ámbar’s lips ticked in that way that meant she was holding back from smiling. “I mean, I am that pretty,” she agreed, making him laugh and place a kiss on her temple. Ámbar’s giggle finally broke free after that. “But I think just knowing I had a boyfriend you would’ve forgotten about me,” she said. “Too much of a mess. I can’t see you wanting to get in the middle of that.”

Right, back then Ámbar and Matteo had been dating for a while. They were the ‘it couple’ of the Roller. If Simón had fallen for Ámbar back then, he surely would’ve had a very bad time, kind of like Luna did when she was falling for Matteo.

It certainly wasn’t a position he would’ve liked to be in. But Ámbar was wrong in thinking he could’ve just forgotten about her so easily. Simón hadn’t been able to do that ever since last year, ever since he first started falling in love with her. He couldn’t imagine how he’d manage to do so.  

“Honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for me back then,” Ámbar said, looking to the front. “I would have not treated you right.”

She tried to make it sound funny but he could catch the self-deprecating edge in her voice. Her gaze lowered to her feet. “Well.” Her voice turned shyer. “Even now I’m not sure if I’m doing so great.”

Gently, Simón brought them to a stop. “Hey.” He squeezed her softly against his side, and when she turned to face him, he smiled at her lovingly. “You make me very happy. Don’t ever doubt that.”

Ámbar looked between his eyes and then her mouth curled into a smile, just as loving. “I love you.”

Simón gave her a short kiss. “I love you too.”

That was the one thing that mattered.

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

Another day, another 300 decorations Ámbar had to do.

She left the house that morning with Simón, choosing to work in the Roller that day. She had a box of unfinished flower garlands in her room, but she had many masks and posters at the Roller that she had started to paint and she wanted to finish those first, before anything happened to them and the paint smeared and she had to do them all over again.

If anyone had told her a year ago that she’d be doing all this craftmanship, ever, Ámbar would have either laughed very loudly or asked what millionaire sum they were paying her because there was no way she would do that otherwise.

As it turned out, some people were worth more than any sum of money, and Ámbar would personally paint hundreds of skull decorations if it meant making Simón happy. In fact, it wasn’t so bad. The artistry was rather relaxing if she just focused on the task at hand and didn’t think about how many other little trinkets she had to finish before the big day.

Maybe she would have to ask for help after all. Especially considering these were all decorations for a tradition she had never celebrated, meaning she wasn’t even sure if she was doing them correctly.

In a moment of distraction, she accidentally bumped one of the paint bottles with her arm, tipping it over and causing its contents to start dripping over the table.

“Shit.”

Ámbar hurried to pick up the bottle and place it straight on the table again. She reached for her purse and pulled out the pack of tissues she always carried with her to wipe off the damage. Thankfully, she was quick enough that the paint didn’t spread too much, so the decorations were safe and she didn’t stain the rink either. The same thing couldn’t be said about her fingers though. She hadn’t really thought about that in her hurry to protect all her precious hours of work.

The tissues helped with most of it but she couldn’t get all of the paint off her skin. Ámbar didn’t want to risk staining the decorations with her fingers, so she left the rink and walked toward the dressing room. A make-up remover wipe would definitely do the trick.

It didn’t occur to her to knock because she didn’t expect anyone to be there when she pulled the door open.

She certainly wasn’t expecting to find Delfi and Pedro making out when she did.  

The couple sprung apart instantly when they heard her come in and whirled around to find Ámbar at the door. They stood there frozen, their backs to the mirrors and their wide eyes fixed on her as growing embarrassment flooded their features.

Ámbar maintained a poker face, staring back in complete silence.

Her eyes centered on Pedro.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he blabbered hastily.

She arched a brow.

“I mean, it is, but it’s not— I’m— I only took a short break, all the tables already have their food, I’m waiting— Please don’t fire me.”

Pedro, as it seemed, gave up on trying to salvage the situation and just begged.

Ámbar kept her voice and gaze even. “Pedro.”

“Yes.”

“Get back to work.”

The boy nodded energetically. “Yes. Of course, Ámbar. Right away.”

With his head down, Pedro sped out of the room as if his life depended on it. The door closed behind his back and Ámbar and Delfi were left alone. Their eyes found each other, and they kept each other’s gaze for a long second.

Ámbar couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.  

Delfi still looked embarrassed but she started laughing too, catching it from Ámbar, and just like that, all the previous tension totally vanished.

“Oh my god, you should’ve seen your faces—I should’ve taken a picture!” Ámbar rejoiced. It had been priceless. “I see you two totally made up from your fight,” she said to Delfi, giving her a teasing smirk. “As a person, I love it, but as the manager of this place, I need to make sure that kissing is the only thing you two have done in here.”  

Delfi blushed furiously. “Of course! Are you insane? I would never do more right here in public!”

Ámbar laughed at her flustered state and raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay, it was just a question.” She let her hands drop. Her smile turned more genuine. “Good for you though. You both seem happy.”

Delfi smiled with that distinctive softness pertaining to being in love. “We are. Very much.” Then, either for the sake of being polite or maybe to draw attention elsewhere, she brought the topic around to Ámbar. “How about you? How are things going with Simón?”

Well, we don’t secretly make out at the Roller, but we do much worse at the mansion when no one’s around. Or should I say better?

“Mmm, you know how couples sometimes watch TV shows together?” Ámbar said instead of that— Too much information. Delfi nodded. “Well, my boyfriend is making me watch all Marvel movies in chronological order,” she shared flatly. There truly was a lot of time for leisure when one got their period— Who would’ve thought?

“Hey, at least those are entertaining,” Delfi said. “My cinema teachers at my university make us watch 3-hour-long, black-and-white films in which nothing happens— And they swoon like it’s the best thing ever!” She complained with disbelief. 

Ámbar grimaced. “That sounds awful.”

“It is. How I wish I could be staring at Chris Evans’ back instead.”

“Oh yeah, nice view,” Ámbar had to agree. “He’s not my favorite though— Too goody-goody.”

“Says the girl that’s dating Simón.”

Ámbar gave her a dry look. 

“Is it Thor then?” Delfi asked curiously. “Chris Hemsworth is hot too. Or Antman. He’s dorky; maybe it reminds you of Simón.”

“Why does it have to be like Simón?” Ámbar protested, and kept talking before Delfi could make another joke at her expense. “For your information, my favorite’s Iron Man. He gets so much shit for being— What? Proud? He’s the smartest man alive and a multimillionaire— He has reasons to be proud. If I were him, I wouldn’t even help those idiots; fend for yourselves.”

“It’s cute the mentor-like relationship he has with Spiderman though,” Delfi said, and immediately started breaking down. “Oh my god, when I watched Infinity War, you have no idea how much I—”

“Ssshh! Don’t tell me, we haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Ámbar stopped her, raising her hands.

Delfi’s brows ticked up. A teasing smile formed on her lips. “Ah, so you do like them.”

Ámbar shrugged and focused her attention on pulling some nonexistent lint out from her sweater. “I like that Simón likes them.”

When she looked up, Delfi’s smile had grown into a shit-eating grin.

Feeling a surge of embarrassment, Ámbar straightened her back and hid it behind a scoff.

“Why am I still talking to you?” She moved toward the mirrors. “I came here to do something much more important, and I have plenty more important things to do. If you’ll excuse me.”

Ámbar sat in front of one of the mirrors and rummaged through the drawers until she found a package of makeup remover wipes.

As she pulled one out, she caught Delfi’s reflection on her peripheral vision, staring at her. “You know, you really are different now,” she commented.  

Ámbar glanced at her through the mirror before refocusing on wiping her hands. “Is that bad?”

“No,” Delfi said light-heartedly. “I like this Ámbar better. Less bossy and easier to tease.”

Ámbar sent her a look, but the small curl to her lips betrayed she wasn’t entirely mad at this playful dynamic. It felt nice to just have some unserious conversation with someone once in a while— other than her boyfriend, obviously.

She had just finished cleaning her fingers when Delfi spoke once more.  

“Jazmín told me you apologized to her the other day.”

Ámbar tried not to show her disappointment at losing the levity of the conversation so quickly. Peaceful moments never lasted very long for her. It seemed like something always had to remind her of her old transgressions (or her current ones, which she refused to think about.)

She dropped the used wipe into the trashcan next to her and replied with tranquility. “It was the right thing to do.”

She could’ve left it at that, but given the opportunity, Ámbar turned around in the chair to look at Delfi directly. “But I’m not expecting you two to go back to being my minions or anything, don’t worry,” she clarified. “I’m just slowly, little by little, tying up loose ends.” It was all she could do.

She couldn’t go back in time and change the things she did. All she could do was apologize, and be better in the future. Before, her concept of ‘better’ only meant succeeding in all aspects of her life, no matter the cost. Now, she understood all the damage she had inflicted, onto others and herself, for thinking that way.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t like to be your minion again,” Delfi said, with clear disdain forthat idea. No one would want to be in that position, Ámbar thought with some guilt.

A playful expression showed up on Delfi’s face. “But maaaybe I could be your friend.”

Ámbar had to do a double-take. She stared at Delfi, trying to discern if she was only making a joke, but she looked sincere. Something warm and bright fluttered weakly in Ámbar’s chest— Hope.

“Really?”

Delfi showed her a small smile. “I think you’ve really changed. And, if we ignore all the awful things, we did have some very good moments throughout all those years of friendship. Plus,” she added with that playful lilt again, “I’ve noticed that the only people you talk to lately are either Simón, Ramiro, or the rest of the guys that live at your house— I think you’re in desperate need of a girl view.”

The fluttering was no longer a tentative thing but the mighty upward flight of a bird through the sky. A smile grew on Ámbar’s lips and she rose from her chair, hesitating only for a moment before going for a hug, and to her utter relief, Delfi hugged her back, just like in the old days, but better.

“Thank you,” Ámbar told her over her shoulder, eyes closed to capture this moment, this proof that not all her bridges were burned.

She could hear Delfi’s smile in her voice as she answered. “You’re welcome, girl.” 

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

The raucous of many voices talking and laughing all at the same time permeated the locker room as the Roller Team tied up their rollerskates for another training session.

There weren’t enough benches in the place, so everyone took turns to put their skates on. Simón had been the first one to enter the lockers, so he gave his spot over to Jim and was then the first to slide out.

He was excited about rollerskating, of course, but the truth was that his main motivation to arrive before everyone else was the dazzling blonde standing on one corner of the rink, surrounded by an assortment of flowers and skull decorations in different colors, almost as vibrant as her, but not quite.

Ámbar heard him roll near, so she spun on her feet, and a smile blossomed on her lips when she saw it was him. Simón felt his heart do a happy dance and thought of how lucky he was to have her, not for the first time. Having the person you love love you back had to be the most magical thing anyone could ever experience. Having said person also throw a party for you just to gift you a little piece of home had to be a bonus not many received, and one Simón was incredibly grateful for.

Sure, their relationship wasn’t perfect— not by a long shot. There were a lot of things that worried him. Things he wished that could be better. But in the quiet moments, Simón was simply in awe of just how in love he was with this girl.

“You’re kidding,” Ámbar said with a happy sparkle in her eyes. “I was just about to call you, how did you know?”

If he hadn’t been already, that would’ve made Simón smile. “I don’t know, I guess we’re connected.” At least I’d like to think we are.

He pointed down to his skates. “Also, it’s time for our training session.”

Ámbar’s eyes widened. “Oh, is it that time already?” She checked her phone and, upon confirming this, pocketed it quickly. “Sorry, time flew by. Before I go, real quick— I changed my mind.” She looked at him with a slightly chagrined expression. “Could you help me with all of this? I’m sure you know a hell lot more than I do and—” The rest of the guys started filling the rink right that second. Ámbar looked behind Simón and called out to them. “Please stay clear of this corner!” She gestured to her table. “I’m working on all this stuff and I wouldn’t want them to tear or anything.”

His friends made different sounds of agreement. Simón turned to face Ámbar again. “Sure, I’ll help you with the decorations, no problem.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m just kinda lost with all these skeletons and things.”

“Well, you don’t have to fret anymore because the bestMexican boyfriend in the world has at least a million ideas for you,” Simón declared playfully.

Ámbar’s brows ticked up with interest. “Really? A million ideas? Well, I sure have to find him now and get him to help me. You know where I can find him?”

Simón placed one hand on the table behind her and leaned in closer, answering her little smirk with one of his own. “Well…”

Juliana clapped her hands loudly from the middle of the rink. “Alright, alright! Time for practice!”

“Yeah, let each other breathe for a moment, you guys!” Matteo yelled at them. 

Simón pulled away from Ámbar and looked at the other boy. “Envy is bad for you, Matteo!”

The rest of his friends started to tease Matteo. Simón turned back to his girlfriend with a smile. “See you at the mansion?”

Ámbar nodded. Simón gave her one quick peck before skating away to join his team with the initial warmups. He watched from afar as Ámbar walked away from the rink.

Simón wished she didn’t have to. He missed having Ámbar as his skating partner, the days when she was on the team and they were all friends. He knew that a lot had happened, and Ámbar had only stopped being a Red Shark some time ago, so it wasn’t as easy as just inviting her back, but he wished he could. He didn’t know how everyone would react if he did though. He’d like to believe they wouldn’t be completely opposed to it, but that wasn’t the same as liking the idea, and Simón would hate himself if he put Ámbar through an uncomfortable situation like that. He didn’t want there to be a them with her just existingon the sidelines. (Although he understood that it was her who first created that divide.)

In summary, he just had to be patient, as with all things Ámbar-related.

That was fine by him. After all, he was convinced that she was worth it.

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

Hours later, after everyone had already had dinner and the oldest went to sleep, Simón found himself with the guys in the storage room. They’d been showing Matteo some new songs they had created for the Roller Band, and he even helped them finish some of them, coming up with some brilliant ideas that made Simón and Pedro’s eyes sparkle and their hands play the instruments more enthusiastically.

(Simón refrained, once again, from just asking him if he wanted to be part of the band. While he would love that, Matteo had his solo career dreams, and that was totally okay— Simón wouldn’t want him to accept just out of a sense of comradery for them, or pity, and then regret it later.)

Now, after all of that, it had gotten late (and Simón had some arms to return to), so Pedro had risen from his seat behind the drums, and Matteo and Simón were putting their guitars away, disconnecting cables, and all that stuff.

It was just the usual until Matteo made a joke about how “If you wanted to, you guys could be a Christian Rock duo and call yourselves ‘The Apostles’, what with those names you’ve got” and Simón rolled his eyes.

He was about to point out how ‘Matteo’ was also an apostle’s name when Pedro jolted suddenly and grabbed Matteo’s shoulder.

“There! Did you see that? I told you!” Pedro exclaimed, amused, and pointing at Simón for some reason.

Matteo let out a laugh, joining Pedro’s amusement. “Oh my god, you were right!”

Simón looked at them a little self-consciously. “What? What is it?”

Pedro looked at him with a teasing smile. “Ámbar’s rubbing off on you, man. You roll your eyes just like her now.”   

Simón wrinkled his brows, bemused.

“Doesn’t everyone roll their eyes sometimes?”  

“Not like that they don’t,” Matteo countered. He pointed at him. “That is a registered trademark of Ámbar Smith.” 

Even though they were making fun of him, the notion made Simón feel all warm inside.

A little laugh escaped his lips. “Well, maybe. I mean, we spend a lot of time together.”

“We know,” Pedro said dryly.

“Yeah, you smell like flowers now, dude,” Matteo said, “I think everyone knows.”

“Actually, I’m surprised Luna’s dad hasn’t told you anything yet,” Pedro said.

“I think he’s pretending not to notice for the sake of his mental health,” Matteo theorized.

Simón frowned a little. He knew he was bound to smell a little like Ámbar when they started sharing bathroom products, but he didn’t think it was that noticeable— He still used his own deodorant and wore cologne some days. He tried bringing his arm up to his nose to see if he could catch a whiff of ‘flowers’, as his friends said, on his skin, but of course, it being his own body, he couldn’t really smell anything because his nose was used to it.

“Maybe I should start using my own products,” Simón thought out loud. He liked knowing he smelled a little like Ámbar (it felt like they were married, which was silly and insane, of course, therefore that thought only lived in the most profound level of his subconscious) but maybe parading around that they shared the same shower when he was supposed to have his own room wasn’t the best idea.

“I mean, considering whatever Ámbar uses is probably more expensive than what you earn in a whole week, yeah, maybe,” Matteo said.

Oh. He… hadn’t thought about that. 

“Anyway, we were talking about your new music career,” Matteo continued. “Should I help you two replace all mentions of ‘girls’ in your songs with ‘Jesus’?”

Simón and Pedro laughed out loud.

“Absolutely not.”

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

Ámbar was about to change into her pajamas and get into bed when she realized she couldn’t find her Scotch tape anywhere.

It wasn’t like it was a terrible thing. She could easily buy another one. But she liked to be organized, so she decided to go downstairs and check the living room in case she’d dropped it when she was working on the decorations earlier. If it wasn’t there, then she’d consider it lost and buy another one, because she was sure she still had it at the Roller.

Ámbar walked through the hallways and down the stairs trying to make as little noise as possible in case someone was already sleeping. The lights were off in the living room, but there was enough light coming from the garden lighting outside that it wasn’t hard to see. It wasn’t enough to find a tiny clear tape on the carpet though, so Ámbar turned on a table lamp, and when that wasn’t enough, pulled out her phone and used its flashlight as well.

Finally, she found the little roll of tape underneath the sofa. She must have kicked it under there by mistake earlier. She put it in her pants pocket, and she had just turned off the flashlight on her phone when the device started ringing, startling her a little.

It was the loud sound against the otherwise silent house, the lightning panic of ‘shoot, I’m going to wake up someone’ that reflectively crossed her mind. She would’ve gotten over it as quickly as it happened if it had been any other number calling her on the phone. But as she read the caller’s ID, Ámbar’s nervousness didn’t settle down— It was heightened.  

‘Vanessa’

Maybe it was the suddenness of it— That she took her by surprise. Maybe it was her brain urging her to quiet the noise as soon as possible. Maybe it was the mix of curiosity and worry at having her godmother call her at this hour. Maybe, under different circumstances, Ámbar would’ve thought about it twice before answering the call.

But the fact of the matter was, she did.  

“Hello?”

“Ámbar.” Sharon’s voice came through with its usual mix of impassiveness and undercurrent firmness. “I hope you’ve gotten over your little tantrum because I need your help. It’s important.”

The ball of anxiety grew in Ámbar’s chest, along with confusion. “My help? With what?”

“I need to get inside the mansion,” Sharon said without preamble. “I can take care of the guards at the entrance, but I need you to make sure that no one crosses my path while I go in and out of my room. I’ll go at night, when it’s less likely someone will see me.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Get inside the mansion— Are you insane?” Her voice almost rose for a moment and Ámbar had to remind herself to keep speaking quietly. If anyone heard her, it would be incredibly bad— But what her godmother was saying was even worse. “Wasn’t it enough with last time?” She demanded with outrage. “I thought you had understood that it’s not a good idea— You’re going to get caught.”

“Not if I have a good lookout, which is why I need you. You’re the only one I can trust, Ámbar.”

Ámbar shook her head. That was always Sharon’s technique— Try and pull at Ámbar’s heartstrings when she needed something from her. But Ámbar had done this dance too many times. She knew how it ended.

“No,” she replied, firmly. “I am not going to help you. Why are you even asking me? Ask Rey or Maggie—they are your little toy soldiers, don’t pull me into your crazy ideas.” I have too much to lose.  

The mild softness in Sharon’s voice vanished as fast as it had appeared. “Rey got me the key for the chest four days ago, but since then, he’s been reluctant to cooperate with me and I can’t enter the house without help from the inside, it’s too risky,” she explained with evident frustration. “It must be Maggie’s influence, no doubt. That woman only causes trouble.”

Good job, Maggie, Ámbar thought with some relief.  

“Or maybe Rey doesn’t want to help you because he knows as well as I do that this is a bad idea,” she emphasized. “What even is in that chest that you want it so much?” 

“That’s none of your business,” Sharon retorted immediately. “Just help me get inside to retrieve what’s mine and I promise that I won’t step on that house again. Not until I have gotten rid of those pests who took it from me in the first place, of course,” she added.

Ámbar closed her eyes. How could she not see? No one took anything from her— She was the one who alienated herself from her family for trying to hide the truth. Was accepting the reality that Luna was the heir to the Benson fortune so impossible for her that she was willing to destroy everything in order to avoid it? Destroy herself?

“You need to stop this, godmother.” Ámbar tried to infuse strength into her words but her emotions filtered in, making it sound like begging. “What you’re doing is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it’s dangerous— I’m worried that something might happen to you. Please stop this before it’s too late.”

“If it really worried you that much, you would help me,” Sharon said. “The sooner I get what I want, the sooner all of this will be over— You know that, Ámbar.”

“The Valente don’t deserve this,” Ámbar said. “They’re good people. And if you don’t want to think about them, think about Grandpa— He is your father. He almost had a heart attack the last time something happened, imagine if something terrible happened to him— Would you really be able to live with that?”

“My father made his own decisions, including siding with those newcomers who took everything from us, so whatever happens to him will be exclusively his responsibility.”

Ámbar shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.” Was she really that far gone? Did she not care about anything?

Am I wasting my time? Ámbar thought with sudden, terrifying despair. Is there no way to fix this?

“I’m very serious,” Sharon declared. “So think very carefully if you want to keep siding with that family.”

Ámbar swallowed a groan of frustration. “You don’t understand, it’s not about sides. I just want—”

The sound of footsteps coming from behind her made Ámbar’s heart jump to her throat.

Rapidly, she hung up and turned around, trying to not seem too suspicious.

The fist in her chest tightened when she saw it was Simón who had come in through the kitchen door— out of all possible people— and, judging by the curious look he was casting her way, he had definitely caught her talking on the phone.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

“I thought you’d be in bed,” he said. “Why did you hang up so fast? Who was it?”

Ámbar tried to think through the buzz of panic in her head. “Yeah, um, I forgot something down here so I came to find it,” she said. Her mouth felt dry. “I did, so, it’s all good.”

Simón made a noise of understanding but the wrinkle between his brows remained. “And the call?”

“No one,” Ámbar responded instinctively. Fuck, she was so stupid— of course it couldn’t be no one! “I mean, no one as in nothing important, don’t mind it,” she tried to dismiss it.

Simón let out a laugh. “If you really told me you were talking to no one, I would be worried that you’ve been stuck inside this house so long it has started to affect you and you hear voices now,” he joked. 

Ámbar forced a weak laugh out of her in response. “Yeah, no, it was… Emilia,” she came up with. “She was just calling to annoy me, so I cut her off. But it was nothing, really.”

The amusement left Simón’s expression and he became serious. “Do you want me to talk to her?” He offered. “I’ll talk to her,” he decided before she could speak. “It’s not fair that she’s harassing you after they kicked you off the team. What does she think she’s doing?”

Ámbar’s eyes widened slightly. “Nonono, leave it, really, I can handle her,” she assured him, trying to seem as unbothered as possible while fear gripped her senses. “It’s not like it bothers me anyway, it’s her time she’s wasting, not mine.”

“You sure?”  

Ámbar nodded immediately, eager to put the topic to rest. Simón, too good to just let it go, walked toward her with a slightly saddened expression and held her hands in his. “We shouldn’t have even invited her to sing with us at the Roller Jam,” he said with some bite. “I know why you suggested it, but if she’s still bothering you even after you tried to do something nice for her, then she’s not worth it.”

He was so aggrieved for her sake and it only made Ámbar feel worse. He only wanted her to be treated fairly, kindly— He wanted to defend her from what could bring her harm. And in the meantime, what was she doing? Sinking in a sea of lies and drowning others with her in order to maintain them.

I’m the harm and he doesn’t know it.

“I just thought it was fair. And who knows? Maybe she just needs time,” she attempted to defend Emilia in order to salvage her conscience. “But whatever— I don’t have time to think about Emilia or anything of the sort, it really doesn’t matter,” she said fast and dismissively. She squeezed his hands and smiled. “Let’s just go upstairs, okay?”

Ámbar turned off the lamp and they went up to her room hand in hand. The darkness gave her an excuse to not look him in the face.  

The warmth of Simón’s hand felt suffocating against her own, as if it burned her skin— holy water on the worst sinner. Ámbar felt disgusting. She didn’t deserve this hand.

But she was not going to let it go. She held it tighter. She held him tighter.  

She was not letting Simón go.

Ever.

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

The next morning, Ámbar woke up before him, as she usually did, but Simón convinced her to stay in bed and sleep some more. They’d had a long night last night (Ámbar had been inspired, running her hands and mouth all over his body, and he had no desire to say no) but more than that, she’d been visibly tired lately with all the preparations for the Roller Jam, and she deserved the rest.

“It won’t kill you to sleep in one day; take the morning off.”

His stubborn girl was still propping herself up and rubbing at her eyes, trying to wake up even though she was clearly exhausted. “I can’t do that, I’m supposed to be working.”

“I won’t tell Vidia if you won’t.”

Ámbar gave him a disapproving look and pouted, and she looked absolutely adorable with her disheveled hair and sleepy eyes.

Simón kissed her pout. “Seriously, just sleep two more hours, it’ll be okay.”

Ámbar closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow. “Mmm, but I like having breakfast with you,” she murmured.

Simón smiled and tucked some hair away from her face. “Me too. So, sleep so that we can do that tomorrow.”

Ámbar hummed again and snuggled under the covers. There might have been an ‘okay’ there somewhere but it was too muffled and sleepy to tell.

Simón leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of her head before getting up. “I love you.”

“Luv u,” Ámbar mumbled, and by the time Simón walked out of the room, she was out like a light.

The rest of Simón’s morning went on as normal, with him walking to the Roller with Pedro, starting his workday, and supervising the new part-timers while they learned the ropes in the cafeteria.

The first few days of this last activity had felt like double work for Simón and Pedro because they had to train the new girls in addition to keeping up with all their usual duties, so it was a lot. Alex, the new rink assistant, had been easier: He already had rollerskating experience, so all they had to do was show him how the rental system in the lockers worked and teach him about safety precautions in the rink and what to do in case of any accidents— stuff like that. Eric, being the full-time rink assistant, took over most of his training, so Simón and Pedro only had to worry about the cafeteria.

‘Only’ was an understatement, of course— It was the hardest part. But by now, Cata and Rae had gotten a pretty good hang of things— Simón hadn’t lied when he said to Ámbar that they learned things quickly— so he felt way more at ease. Actually, he hadn’t felt this relaxed while working since the days when Nico was still with them. Four people worked better than two, after all. He would miss the girls once they started working on their own on the weekends, and he was sure Pedro shared the sentiment, but in exchange for that, they’d finally get to have their weekends free like the rest of the world, so really, they couldn’t complain.

He brought two hamburgers over to table 4 and then there was a small lull in activity as all the customers enjoyed their food and joyful conversation. Simón took the opportunity to go to the lockers and see how Eric and Alex were doing. Just as a friendly visit, mostly, but if he was being honest, he did have another agenda.  

He’d been thinking for the past few days how great it’d be if Alex happened to play an instrument and wanted to join the Roller Band. Simón didn’t want to get his hopes up, but they could finally be a band again! Alex seemed like a very nice guy from the interactions Simón’d had with him until now, and Eric felt comfortable around him, which said a lot because he was usually nervous around new people, so really, what was there to lose in asking?

Unfortunately, when the three of them got talking and Simón subtly brought the topic up, he came to find out that, while Alex loved music, he had absolutely no ability for it.

Simón hid the disappointment he felt. Of course finding a new member wasn’t going to be that easy. Looking at it objectively, it would have been an unbelievable stroke of luck if Alex turned out to be the solution to all their problems. Not because Simón got to the Roller and was a perfect fit for the band meant that everyone who arrived would be as well.

Maybe Eric could join if he weren’t so shy, Simón thought.He’d been great at Nico’s farewell party. But Simón wasn’t going to force him out of his shell just for his own gain.

The idea of the Christian Rock duo was starting to sound appealing.

They were still talking when someone else walked into the room. There was a minimal pause, almost imperceptible, as the three of them glanced to the side to check if it was someone in need of assistance, but it was just Emilia, who walked toward her locker without even looking at them.

Eric and Alex continued talking, but Simón didn’t. He stayed staring at Emilia, feeling a spark of anger flare inside of him as he remembered last night.

He simply couldn’t understand it. Ámbar was breaking her back organizing an event that everyone could enjoy, that she invited Emilia to participate in as an olive branch, and Emilia repaid that good faith by calling Ámbar just to mess with her? How could anyone be so ungrateful?

Simón couldn’t even be sure this was the first time something like this had happened. Ámbar had a tendency of wanting to deal with everything herself— The prime example of that being that she told Simón not to worry about it, that she could handle Emilia— So who knew how long this had been going on.

Emilia put her skates away and walked out of the lockers as quietly as she had come. Simón tightened his fists. Yes, Ámbar could deal with Emilia— Simón had no doubt that she could handle almost anything if she put her mind to it. But it wasn’t fair that this was happening, and Ámbar didn’t have todeal with everything alone— She had him now. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow something like this to keep happening without doing anything about it.

Simón said a quick bye to the guys and walked out right after her.

In the hallway, he threw a quick look around in search for Benicio, because wherever Emilia was, Benicio was always close by. Simón found him still at the rink, rollerskating by himself. Good. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with both at the same time.

Emilia was already crossing the front door by the time he brought his gaze back to her. Simón hurried after her, walked out of the Roller too, and stood in her path, causing her to stop.

“I need to speak with you.”

Emilia blinked, both in surprise and confusion. “With me? What, is there another event you want me to sing at?” She joked. “I’m very sorry but you’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow—I gotta get to work.”  

She tried to pass by him but Simón blocked her way.

“No, it’s not about that. And you know what? If we had known this is what your response would be, we never would’ve invited you,” he spat her way. “I mean, Ámbar wanted to invite you as a kind gesture, she was trying to put an ending to all the fighting so you could be a part of something nice for once, and this is how you repay her? Calling her up just to annoy her? It isn’t enough for you to be so unfriendly to everyone in their presence, you had to bother her during her free time too?”

Emilia wrinkled her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night, when you called Ámbar on her cellphone to harass her,” Simón stated in no uncertain terms.

Emilia’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “I haven’t called your little girlfriend since she sucked face with you. She became a loser by association.”

“Don’t lie, Emilia. Ámbar told me.”

“I’m not lying,” Emilia protested. “Here, you wanna see?” She pulled out her phone and offered it to him. “Check my phone’s call history. You won’t find Ámbar’s name anywhere.”

Simón hesitated for a moment. Something inside him rose in alarm, not allowing him to move. He took the phone and tried to quiet it. Emilia was just pretending to be offended, that was all.   

She unlocked the phone right in front of his eyes, which again unnerved him due to the confidence of the gesture, but he carried on. He just had to prove she was lying. He tapped out of Instagram, the last app she’d been using, apparently, and went to the home page to find the Phone app. He went to the call history and started scrolling down. 

He checked the names, the dates on the list, checked again.

Nothing. Ámbar’s name was nowhere to be found.

It must have shown on his face, the way his stomach started coiling into knots, because he heard Emilia’s annoyed vindication. “See? I told you. I don’t even remember when was the last time I called Ámbar. It should show up there somewhere. Has it been a month maybe?”

She was just thinking out loud, unpreoccupied now that she’d been proven right. Meanwhile, Simón was struggling to keep his nervous system under control.

It can’t be.

It can’t be.  

“You could’ve deleted it,” he told her, looking up from the treacherous list on that stupid device.

Emilia, arms crossed in front of her chest, seemed unamused by the accusation. “Yeah, because I see the future and I knew you were going to want to see it,” she said ironically. She rolled her eyes. “Please, Simón, don’t fool yourself. Ámbar lied to you. And, I mean, why are you even surprised? It’s Ámbar. Lying is what she does best.”  

No.

It can’t be.

“Look,” Emilia deflated, uncrossing her arms and looking at him with something akin to pity, “from one Mexican to another, I think you should stay away from her. You’re too goody-goody, and Ámbar… well, there’s a reason why we used to be friends.”

A slight tremor was taking over Simón’s limbs. He couldn’t even look at Emilia. He couldn’t look at anyone.

“Now if you excuse me,” she took her phone from his hands, “I’m gonna go.” Emilia took a couple steps before stopping. “And tell your girlfriend that if she wants to do right by me or whatever then she shouldn’t go around sullying my name with false accusations.” She walked away. “See ya, Simón.” 

Even after she was long gone, Simón remained unmoving. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his ears.

Ámbar lied to me.

Ámbar lied to me.

He tried to slow down his breathing, swallow the pulse in his throat, but the pain in his chest didn’t go away.   

This couldn’t be. There had to be some explanation. There had to be.

Calm down. He could hardly hear his thoughts through the blaring of his heartbeat. It’s just a phone call. It’s not a big deal. This isn’t like last year. It isn’t—

But if it’s not a big deal, then why did she—?

Simón breathed in and out, hard.

All around him, his world started crumbling down.

…

..

.

[littlegodzilla]

Hii!! It's my day, I'm very nervous but I hope you'll like it!!

Day 6- Holiday proposal - Daryl Dixon

Fluffy one shot

****

Daryl opens his eyes before the sun rises. He slowly sits up on the mattress and remains silent for a moment. There is still no movement in the prison. He gets up slowly, dressing, tightening the laces of his boots before picking up his crossbow and walking down the metal stairs, so subtle, so quiet it seems as if he is floating.

The morning is cold, but he doesn't mind, you are approaching winter, the weather is slowly changing, he has to be thankful they have that place when the weather changes so abruptly that they have to fight the snow and the dead. He gets on the bike, but doesn't start the engine, he doesn't want to make noise. On his way he meets Rick, who comes down from the watchtower. They greet each other with a little nod and the former sheriff approaches his friend.

"You're going back out?"

"I gotta finish it 'fore the date arrives." He shrugs.

"What do I tell him?" At the sound of your name, Daryl can't disguise a smile.

"That I'm out huntin', like always." He mumbles and Rick nods.

"You know she likes going with you, you've always gone together and now you're pushing her away..."

"I know, I've noticed she ain't happy too, but the day is comin' up and... I still gotta find some things." He tries to excuse himself, but Rick shakes his head.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, I understand, Daryl, and it will be worth it, believe me, can you do me a favor? If you find something for Judith..."

"Of course, count on it."

They say goodbye with a gentle slap on the back and Daryl adjusts the poncho on his body. When he's far enough away, he starts the bike's engine turning into a soft purr in the distance.

**

You and Daryl have known each other since before the zombie pandemic. Although Daryl is two years older than you, you were in the same classroom at school. At first Dixon didn't have much confidence with anyone, always away from the crowd of classmates, wanting to be invisible, but it was complicated, Daryl was hard to ignore; not only because of his worn, dirty clothes, not to mention his skin, his body odor, he was handsome, under all that facade and that bad mood, he was attractive, his blue eyes, that curious mole on his lip. When you got close to him, things slowly changed, discovering that Daryl was a nice guy, shy, but protective, funny when he got enough confidence. You were good friends for several years at school, in high school things changed a bit, Daryl stopped showing up for classes, which started to worry you wanting to look for him and make sure he was okay. Things at home were never easy and certainly hadn't changed. The worst part was his reaction.

"What yer doin' here?" He barked at the sight of you.

"I was worried, you haven't shown up at school for days and..."

"And what ya care? It ain't yer problem that I don't go to school."

"No, but..."

"I said leave me alone!" He barked angrily.

"But Daryl, we're friends and..."

"We're ain't friends, stupid!" He pushed you away from him.

It hurt, you always thought you and Daryl were friends, that you had formed a nice bond, but apparently not.

Over time you learned that was Daryl's way of protecting himself from the world and that day he was protecting you from his family, too. Your relationship cooled, but when the dead came back to life, Daryl's old van showed up on your doorstep.

"C'mon, don't have all day!" he yelled at you and you didn't hesitate to run out.

**

You open your eyes as your watch alerts you that it's already morning. Yawning as you stretch out on your cot and rub your eyes trying to clear your head completely. All around you you hear noises, which tells you that the rest of the prison inhabitants are already awake. You step out of your cell after changing your clothes, your smile fading a bit as you realize Daryl is gone.

"Has he left again?" you ask Rick.

"He's out hunting..."

"Again? Without me?"

Since everything went to shit, Daryl and Merle went out of their way to teach you everything they knew about hunting and survival, you weren't a bad student, thanks to them you quickly learned how to use a bladed weapon and how to shoot. It had become almost a couple activity since you arrived at the quarry camp outside Atlanta. You and Daryl always woke up before everyone else and spent most of the morning searching for prey to feed the whole camp.

That hadn't changed, but since you arrived at the prison, Daryl had started doing things on his own, which you really don't mind, everyone needs their space, and besides you know how he is, but he had never excluded you like that, without saying anything, just disappearing for hours, sometimes even days.

"You know he tries hard, plus since Carl found that calendar, the kids are excited..." He says matter-of-factly, but you get what he's saying.

Sophia and Carl are excited about the idea of being able to have a Christmas, there in the prison, you've been doing some calculations and after a long time wandering around and after losing the farm, Christmas is near, you're safe within those walls and no one looks like they're going to want to bother you, which means you can relax.

"Do you think Daryl... is looking for something for the kids?"

"I'm sure, Carl made him a list to decorate the block." Carol laughs at the memory.

Rick nods, in fact, they've been finding things in the abandoned towns several miles outside of there, Glenn and Maggie have been helping the hunter with all that, plus finding food and milk for little Judith. What the others don't know, is that Daryl has his own plans for the day. He's only told Rick and Carol because he needs an alibi for every time he goes out in the wee hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, his escapades alone are starting to bother you a little. The last time you stopped talking it all started like this, disappearing from school. You don't want to lose him again, but you know that the hunter needs his own space to talk about these things.

**

Several more days pass in which Daryl comes and goes from the prison without saying much, the rest of you concentrate on keeping the place livable and at the same time you start decorating it for the Christmas days. You are all excited about it, you help each other, you prepare decorations, you plan on finding a tree to decorate, you even talk about possible gifts, not just for the kids, the inner child in each of you is excited about the idea of having Christmas again, and you all think about buying something for everyone.

"Hey..." Daryl's voice that morning startles you. He's planted in front of your cell door. "Ya gotta any plans for today?"

"Well, according to the calendar Carl found, today is Christmas Eve, so we'll finish decorating, make something for dinner, and wrap presents to leave under the tree."

"Uhm... sure."

"Why?"

"I wanna know if ya wanted to come huntin' with me...somethin' for dinner, y'know, somethin' special." He looks at you with intensity, biting his thumbnail.

Your heart starts beating rapidly in your chest, after all that time avoiding you, Daryl finally seems to remember you exist. You try to bite back the smile that wants to form on your mouth and shake your shoulders, wanting to appear calm.

"I don't know... Do you really want me to go?"

"What do ya mean?"

"All this time you've been going alone, maybe you prefer the company of nothing, to mine." You reply and hear him snort in amusement.

"Don't talk nonsense, I'll wait for ya at the entrance of the block." He tells you without further ado, leaving you alone again in your cell.

Despite your surprise you gather your things and hurry out after him. It's been a while since you've been out of the prison together and although you'd like to stay and help decorate the prison, you miss the moments alone with your boyfriend.

Because since a few months ago, specifically since you arrived at the Greene farm, your relationship became real, after everything you had fought for, after life before the apocalypse, all those feelings came up again and apparently Daryl reciprocated your feelings since you were kids, he apologized to you for how he had treated you in the past, but you had nothing to forgive.

Since then your bond has grown stronger, which makes it all the more striking that he's gone so long without even addressing you.

"Where are we going?" you ask walking right behind him.

"To hunt." He says as if it's the obvious thing to do.

"Uhm... Are you okay?"

"Sure, you?"

"Yeah, it's just... nothing, forget it." You mumble continuing to walk beside him, Daryl looks at you and wraps his arm around your waist for a moment.

"C'mon." He smiles a little and leads you through the woods.

*********

However, things don't go exactly as Daryl had planned; he was supposed to take you to the cabin, but a strong storm broke out before he could foresee it. There weren't even clouds and you had left the Prison, but now the cold is worse, the water falls incessantly on you, the air stirs your clothes, soaking the water to the bone. You should turn back, Daryl knows that, but he's not able to see beyond his nose either.

"Fuck!" He roars in frustration, you grab his hand and pull him to guide you to lean against a log.

Despite the untimeliness of the situation, there are several Walkers creeping through the woods, it's best that you're not discovered while you're trying to get home. Daryl holds your hand tighter and looks at you. He seems hesitant, he looks nervous and distressed, you want to tell him you are fine, but his hand pulls you along making you move faster through the trees until you find a cave in the hollow of a mountain. It's not very high, but it will be enough to keep the dead from being a threat.

You climb quickly to protect yourselves from the cold and rain, Daryl helps you up and rubs your arms several times to help you warm up. You smile gratefully, move further inside, making sure it's not occupied by any animals or worse and prepare a fire to get the cold out of your bodies and wet clothes. You still don't say anything, you can see that Daryl is angry, very much so, you have rarely seen him like this, frustration and his strong temper, you all know it in the group, but this is different, he has a frown on his face, he chews his lip so hard you are afraid he will hurt himself, he keeps wringing his hands, but it's not because of the cold and from time to time he mumbles something, but you don't hear what exactly.

"Daryl... Are you okay?" you try to help. "You've been weird for a while now..."

"Weird?" he huffs wryly, staring at you. His eyes have turned into two icy icebergs. "This is yer damn fault."

"My fault?" You open your eyes wide, your stomach twisting, reminding you of those days when you were kids.

"Yes!" He barks getting up from the floor, moving around the cave like a trapped animal, rubbing his hair with both hands. "This shouldn't have to happen!"

"I don't decide when it rains, you know Dixon?" you growl in annoyance and he turns on his heels to look at you.

"I'm ain't talkin' about the rain, fuck the rain!" he replies and you get up off the ground too.

"Then what's the matter, you can't just tell me it's my fault and expect me to agree with you."

"It's yer fucking fault, because I'm ain't like that." He replies at last raising his hands in a gesture of obviousness. "I don't give a shit about these things, but ya do" He keeps talking and you frown again, confused.

"What are you...?"

"Ever since ya found that fuckin' calendar, ya and the kids are like crazy for that day to come, but y'know what? It's just another fuckin' shitty fuckin' day!" He barks again, breathing hard through his nose, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his whole body is tense and his fists are clenched.

"It may be just another day, but everyone is looking forward to it, something different, a day without thinking about what's out there, a day where we can feel safe and share it all together..." You press your lips together trying not to let Daryl's words hurt. "I know that..."

"Ya dunno shit!" He cuts you off and you jump startled by his scream. "I had it all planned out! Shit, I've spent days, days! Fixing it all up for this goddamn night."

"Fixing it?" you're confused again, Daryl doesn't look angry anymore, more disappointed and sad.

"I found... a cabin, it was perfect, just needed to clean up a bit and fix some windows, get rid of the Walkers that were nearby..." He keeps talking, now he has his head down, as if he felt ashamed of what he was saying. "I wanted to get everythin' ready for the night before Christmas, Rick was helping me... I wanted it to be special..." He huffs loudly and a dry, bitter laugh escapes him. "Fuck, I even had a ring..."

Your mouth falls open in surprise, Daryl is still rambling on with his thoughts, but you feel a strange ringing in your ears, your heart is beating a mile a minute, you feel your eyes suddenly fill with tears, but you try to calm down.

"A ring?" you dare to ask. Daryl raises his head at last, to meet your gaze, shakes his shoulders and grunts.

"Yeah... I wanted it to be special, 'cause ya deserve it, for everythin' ya've been through, for everythin' ya've had to endure since ya met me."

"Daryl..."

"Ya've always been important to me, but I was terrified of what my family might do, that I might do to ya..."

"We talked about this, Daryl, I forgave you and..." You walk over to him, holding his hands, squeezing them between yours. "We're together now, you're a wonderful person, Daryl, with your stuff, like everyone else, but..."

"Wanna ya marry me." He cuts off your words all at once and you feel it hard to breathe. "I know things aren't like they used to be, that in this world it doesn't matter anymore, but..." He gasps through his mouth, his forehead rests against yours. "Wanna be yers, forever, wanna belong somewhere, to feel safe at last and... and I feel all that when I'm with ya." He confesses and your tears are uncontrollable, you hug his shoulders and stand on tiptoe to kiss him intensely, love, he holds you by the waist, reciprocating your kiss.

"I want to be yours, forever, Daryl, my heart will always belong to you and I will always be by your side, every day you come home, I will be waiting for you, because you are mine..."

"Because I am yers and yer mine..." He whispers, still your foreheads touching.

The two of you recite those words as if they were vows, as if you were already in front of an altar, it is your sincere promise, your pact that makes the union real and eternal. Daryl's arms wrap around you and embrace you once again.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell at ya, I..."

"It's okay." You shush him in a whisper, smiling, stroking his hair with infinite affection. "It's okay."

You two stay like that for a few more minutes, cuddling, enjoying each other, saying nothing, just standing there, next to the small fire. Outside the rain stops making the peace and calm around you more intense.

You wake up the next day huddled next to an almost extinct fire, the sun is shining brightly, nothing more threatening than the chirping of a cricket or bird can be heard. You look at Daryl smiling broadly, his ears have a deep red tinge to them that makes him look adorable, everything you talked about last night, everything you promised is still up in the air and now Daryl is trying to deal with it, you smile and hold his hand to get his attention.

"It's still Christmas..." You whisper looking at him intently. Daryl watches you as he bites his lip and mumbles nodding his head.

"Yeah, c'mon." He holds your hand and the two of you walk out of the cave.

You follow his footsteps through the forest, even the zombies are gone, your hands are still clasped together, your fingers intertwined and with each new step you take, your heart beats harder.

Finally you find the cabin that Daryl has been fixing up these past few days. Miraculously the bad Georgia weather hasn't brought it down. The wooden stairs are decorated with golden tinsel and some red Christmas balls, on the door is a wreath decorating it, you stand there looking sideways at your companion, who smiles coyly and wiggles his eyebrows, inviting you in. Your hands tremble as you grasp the knob and push your way in. Daryl remains behind you, silent, in fact he doesn't enter until you are in the center of the main room, your eyes scanning all around you, your mouth open in surprise. The archer smiles feeling somewhat proud but also embarrassed because he has decorated everything himself and he's not sure if it's a disaster or not.

But you still can't speak, you look around the whole place, the tree decorated with the balls, the figures, a pair of socks on the fireplace, where there is wood to enjoy a nice fire, the furniture is clean and arranged, the sofa looks comfy and warm with the blankets Daryl has left on it, there are garlands and tinsel everywhere, even on the beam above the living room there is some mistletoe hanging. You smile wide and gesture for him to come closer, when he does you wrap your arms around his shoulders and kiss him with all your might.

"I love it."

"I did what I could..." He defends himself and you shake your head.

"It's perfect."

You kiss each other slowly, enjoying the moment, Daryl pulls away from you going to find your surprise, he knows it won't be so surprising anymore, but he doesn't regret any of the things he said to you yesterday. From the drawer next to the couch he pulls out a small box to return to your side. The nervousness returns to you, but you're not the only one nervous, his hands shake as he opens the box for you to see its contents. Inside is a small handmade ring, made of wood, in the shape of a carved arrow. Again your eyes fill with tears.

"Did you make it?" you whisper in a tearful voice.

"Yes, I spent several days until I managed to give it the shape I wanted..." He confess.

You can't stop the tears as Daryl puts the ring on you and shows you that he wears a very similar one on his finger as well. Your hands intertwine again, your foreheads meet and you can almost feel your hearts beating at the same speed.

"I love you, Daryl..."

"I love you too, Mrs. Dixon."

*******

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I hope you liked it!

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