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sansaorgana · 18 days

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Gale x reader, where she works at the 100 and gale thinks she comes from nothing and a hardwarding woman and he finds that attractive but then finds out she’s really from a rich wealthy family and he kinda feels betrayed in a sense

hello! 😊 thank you for your request, I loved it so much and it made me think of a Downton Abbey inspired scenario (just a little) 🥰 I wanted Buck and The Reader to have a happy ending no matter what, though, so I kinda lost control and wrote almost 6k words of this fic 🙈 long live the drama!!! 👑

reqests for buck and feyd are open btw 😇

Out of all the women working at the base, Buck Cleven liked (Y/N) the most. She was a local, British woman helping with the papers in the archives. Most people didn’t know a lot about (Y/N). She was a mystery and rarely talked about herself but Buck loved how eloquently she sounded and how well-read she was.

She was helping him to fill the papers for the Colonel and they quickly befriended each other. There was something about him that made her open up a little. They started to take walks in the evenings around the base and talk about their lives.

“Where are you from?” He asked her. “Somewhere around?”

“Yes,” she nodded and looked away quickly.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Buck assured her. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine,” she shrugged her arms, visibly uneasy. “What do you want to know?”

“Your parents…?” Buck took her hand gently and she smiled, allowing him to hold her fingers like that.

“They’re both alive if that’s what you’re asking. My father is…” she was looking for the right word, “...managing some land. We are not close, though.”

“So, he’s a farmer?” Buck raised an eyebrow.

“I guess you can call him that,” she nodded shyly and bit on her lower lip.

“How do you know how to use a typewriter and all those books you’re talking about?” Buck chuckled softly.

“Oh, so farmer girls can’t be intelligent?” She asked, playfully. “I’ve been working hard to get out,” she assured him.

“I know what it’s like. But I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for a woman. I admire you,” he nodded and leaned in to place a soft kiss upon her lips, taking her breath away.

She was confident, good at her job, intelligent, witty and to him she quickly became the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He would smile any time he saw her walking by and he would call her a farmer girl, to which she’d reply pilot boy. (Y/N) reminded him of his mother. The way she had come from nothing and worked hard to prove her worth, the way she was so soft-spoken, so elegant in the way she moved despite her harsh upbringing. She felt like home to him. Buck Cleven gave her heart and soul. He was already thinking of proposing to her after finishing his twenty fifth mission. He didn’t want to ask her anything of that sort too early. He didn’t want to ask her to marry him and then die. No, he had to wait.

But other things did not wait. He was a gentleman and she was a proper lady but since he could go down any day, they just allowed the heated moment to take them one of the nights in her small office next to the Colonel’s one. It didn’t feel wrong at all. It was no sin to love and be loved. Buck could already imagine them growing old together and raising their children. He would take her home with him or he would stay in the United Kingdom. For her he would.

And then, a week after giving each other a physical proof of their love, an expensive looking black Rolls-Royce parked in front of the base. Buck was there, too, talking to Harry Crosby, as they both observed an elegant driver leaving the car and looking around, visibly lost.

“Excuse me,” the man approached them. “I’m looking for Lady (Y/N) (Y/L/N),” he explained. “I do believe she happens to work here.”

“You’re looking for (Y/N)?” Harry furrowed his brows and scratched behind his head. “I’ll go for her,” he nodded and went inside the building.

Buck was left alone with the stiff and elegant driver.

“How do you know (Y/N)?” He asked him and the man blushed uncomfortably.

“I’ve been working for Lady (Y/L/N)’s family for ten years now,” the man answered.

Buck was confused. He had no idea that farmers in the United Kingdom could afford their own limousines and drivers.

“Tommy!” (Y/N) ran out of the building and the man straightened himself at the sight of her. “What are you doing here?!” She snapped at him angrily as everyone around started to watch the scene curiously. Buck had never seen her snapping at someone for no reason this way.

She would get angry when someone was lazy with filling the papers but even then her annoyance had some smooth and elegant undertone. But the way she treated the driver was signalising a different sort of dynamic between them two. He cleared his throat and looked down like a child scolded by his mother.

“Lady (Y/L/N), do forgive me… but I bring urgent news from Rosefield Hall,” the driver told her and handed her a letter from the inside pocket of his jacket. “It is about the Earl of Peterborough’s health,” he added.

(Y/N) grabbed the letter and opened it nervously. She gasped as she read it and her hands began to shake.

“I must… I must go home…” She whispered and handed the letter back to the driver before running to the building where the sleeping quarters for women were.

Buck followed her, demanding answers, as his heart was already stinging in his chest. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to know some of these things but he had to.

“What is going on, (Y/N)?” He asked as she was packing her things chaotically into a suitcase.

“My grandfather is dying, I must see him,” she explained nervously.

Her grandfather…? The only man whose health had been mentioned was some Earl of Peterborough.

“I am sorry to hear that,” Buck took a deep breath in. “But what’s going on with that driver? The Rolls-Royce? Rosefield Hall? Why is that man calling you a Lady? Who's the Earl of Peterborough?”

(Y/N) froze for a second with one of her blouses in her hands as she was about to throw it carelessly into the suitcase. She looked up into his eyes and Buck Cleven did not recognise his girl at that moment.

There was something different about her. Something cold and unreachable. Something posh. Her glance could kill and he would rather face the Luftwaffe missiles than her eyes.

“The Earl of Peterborough is my grandfather. Rosefield Hall is my home. I’m Lady (Y/N) (Y/L/N) of Rosefield Hall,” she informed him and he took a step back, furrowing his brows. “What? You’re really surprised, Major? Did you really expect a farmer girl to know Kant or quote you Charlotte Brontë? I’m rather surprised that you know them,” she pointed out.

Buck didn’t say anything at first as his mouth opened slightly and blood in his veins ran cold.

“So, you lied,” he whispered, feeling his heart shattering into a million pieces.

“No. I have never called myself a farmer girl. You’ve been calling me that,” she shrugged her arms.

“I don’t understand…” He shook his head. “Why couldn’t you just tell the truth?”

“Because I didn’t want to be treated differently,” she threw the blouse inside the suitcase angrily and went back to grabbing other things. “I didn’t want to be teased by a bunch of Americans for being a Lady. I wanted to blend in.”

That part was understandable for Buck and it was making him feel better, too, to know that she didn’t want to use her titles for getting special treatment.

“But why did you lie to me when we were alone? I wouldn’t tell anyone…” His voice shivered and he hated himself for letting her see how weak he had become for her. He hadn’t minded showing emotions in front of her before but now it suddenly started to feel too exposing and too humiliating.

“I didn’t lie because I was scared you would tell. I know you would not, Buck,” she shook her head and looked into his eyes again, attacking him with one final blow of the coldness of her gaze. “I gave you what you wanted, Cleven. You wanted me to be a determined working class little mouse that you’d offer a better life one day. And I lied because…” She hesitated as she bit on her lower lip. “Because I wanted you to like me,” she admitted casually and closed the suitcase.

Buck was petrified as he watched her. She lifted up the suitcase and that was when he hurried to her side.

“Let me help you, Lady (Y/N),” he tried to make a joke to release the tension, still too shocked to process the situation properly.

“You don’t have to call me a Lady, Buck,” she informed him. “And the suitcase is light.”

“Don’t have to?” Buck stood still as he watched her walk out the door. “Well, thank you very much for being so merciful and allowing me to ditch the title while I’m addressing you,” he clenched his jaw. She furrowed her brows at him.

“Oh, Buck, that’s exactly why I was lying, can’t you see? But I wasn’t lying about everything, I can assure you of that. It wasn’t a bored rich girl’s game. I will contact you soon, I promise,” she gave him the last, beautiful smile and walked out of the room.

Buck kept watching through the window. The people from the base were gathered around, pointing fingers at her. She approached the Colonel and explained some things to him as he nodded. He had to be the only person who knew her secret. The driver put the suitcase in the Rolls-Royce’s trunk and opened the door for her. She looked around, probably searching for Buck’s face amongst the curious crowd but he wasn’t there. So she sat inside and they drove away.

Buck didn’t know if she had tried to contact him or not like she had promised because he went down a week later.

One and a half year later he was back and everything felt so odd and out of place when he was going through his old things. One of them was a black and white picture of (Y/N). He took it in his hands and caressed it gently.

After everything he had been through in Germany, he was a different person now. He forgave her as he didn’t want to hold any resentment in his heart. And the memory of her – even if it hadn’t been the real her – had been keeping him alive on the cold and scary nights. A tiny hope to perhaps be able to see her again and explain a few things.

“You’re still thinking of her?” Rosie asked, awkwardly and Buck nodded.

“Sometimes,” he lied. It was way more often than sometimes.

“Actually, she did send you a letter,” Harry told him. “I have it in my office, unopened. It came two weeks after you had gone down. I wrote to her that you had been captured by the Germans when we found out but I never got the reply. Do you want her letter?”

“Yes,” Buck nodded. “You could send it to the camp through the Red Cross.”

“I could have but there was no guarantee you’d get it. They’d most likely lose it,” Harry told him and left the room to go to his office.

“Did she ever come back here?” Buck asked Rosie and his friend shook his head while pursing his lips.

“No, I’m sorry.”

Buck nodded, waiting in silence for Harry to be back with the letter. Thankfully, he was quick.

“Here it is,” he handed Buck the envelope and sat back on the edge of the bed.

The envelope was elegant and there was a picture of the family crest on it. Buck felt uncomfortable opening it but on the other hand, such a long time had passed that whatever was inside, was most likely no longer accurate anyway. The past couldn’t hurt him because it was unchangeable now.

Dear Gale, my pilot boy, My grandfather passed away two weeks ago. I was close with him, therefore it is a great loss for me to grieve after. I know I have promised to contact you and possibly explain everything but there is an urgent matter I have to discuss with you first. I fainted in the church during the funeral. It was not a big deal and I did not make any fuss about it but my doctor insisted on taking blood tests to make sure I was okay. Yesterday I had an appointment with him and he told me I was expecting. You can only imagine what a shock that was for me. He promised me he would not inform my father for now, until I contact you. But he is my father’s close friend and I do not trust him. You see, I was not lying when I said I was not close with my father. I know he will not be pleased with my pregnancy. I am scared. Can you please come to visit me? My parents were opposed to the idea of me working for the military so they will not allow me to leave again, especially in the time of grieving. My darling, there is not a day going by without me missing you and regretting the way I treated you. The things I said, I wish with all my heart that I could take them back. I kept lying to you for so long but please, do know, I have never lied when I said “I love you”. I do not expect anything from you – I do not even expect you to take responsibility for this child. And I know it is a complicated situation since we are from very different families and different countries but please, I need you to come here as I have to discuss this matter with you face to face. Yours, forever yours and only yours, (Y/N)

When he finished reading the letter, his hands were uncontrollably shaking. He checked the date of the letter – 20th of October 1943. It was the summer of 1945 already and he had left her with no reply all this time.

If the child had been born in the meantime, they would be one year old by now.

Buck stood up so rapidly that he got dizzy for a moment.

“What happened?” Rosie looked up, worryingly.

“I need to… I need to borrow a car,” Buck told him. “I have to go to that Rosefield Hall. Immediately,” he explained.

“But why?”

“I… I can’t… I will tell you when I’m back,” it felt difficult to say all these things out loud. He was anxious about what had happened to (Y/N) and their child and he was in a state of shock after finding out about the child in general. The way she had apologised and assured him of her love had also brought him a deep comfort and relief. He had to see her and he could only hope it wouldn’t be too late.

Harry nodded, realising that it was something important and he respected his friend’s decision not to share the details yet. He ran out of the building to talk to the Colonel about the possibility of using one of the military cars from the base.

Ten minutes later, Buck was already behind the wheel, studying the map on his lap with Rosie leaning on the car and peeking inside through the window.

“Rosefield Hall, here it is,” he found it and pointed with his finger. “About an hour away from here.”

“I can make it in 40 minutes,” Buck said.

“Man, be careful. 20 minutes won’t save you after such a long time,” Rosie furrowed his brows. He didn’t like the state his friend was in. “Listen, I’ll go with you,” he proposed. “You’re out of your mind.”

Buck tried to protest but he gave up seeing Rosie already sitting on the passenger seat. He sighed and started the engine. On their way to Rosefield Hall, he opened up to his friend and told him about everything. Rosie’s eyes were widened throughout the whole ride.

“It’s like straight out of the movies,” Rosie commented.

“Thank you very much for cinematography of this sort,” Buck shook his head.

“Man, what are you even worried about? I mean, she’s some rich lady, what could have happened?” Rosie asked.

“What if she got rid of the baby? What if she’s married now? What if she died? Or the baby died? And I missed all of this?” Buck swallowed thickly.

“None of it would be your fault,” Rosie pointed out and then he gasped at the field they were approaching. “Look! Aren’t those roses?”

“Yes, they are. It’s a rose field,” Buck nodded. “Which means the house must be nearby.”

“You call that a house?” Rosie whistled at the sight of the mansion in the distance. “It’s a fucking palace.”

Buck didn’t say anything. Seeing a place where (Y/N) had been raised made him feel uncomfortable when he compared it in his head to his home back in the USA. He felt like a beggar on the street, knocking to get the first warm meal in a week when he parked the car on the driveway with a small fountain.

“Wait in the car,” he told Rosie and jumped out of the vehicle.

He was approaching the doors when they opened on their own and a grumpy butler walked out with a surprised face.

“Excuse me, sir, are you lost?” He asked.

“Is it Rosefield Hall?” Buck asked to make sure.

“Yes, indeed it is,” the butler looked him up and down.

“I need to see (Y/N),” Buck explained nervously and the man furrowed his brow. “I mean, Lady (Y/N)...”

“Who are you, sir?” The butler remained suspicious.

“Major Gale Cleven from The 100th Bomb Group,” Buck took the cap of his uniform off and squeezed it in his hands.

“Cleven… Cleven… Oh!” The butler’s eyes widened. “Come inside, Major,” he finally invited Buck inside the mansion. “You are lucky, Major, because the Earl is in London today and only the lady of the house is present. Please, do follow me, I will inform her,” the butler nodded at Buck and led him through the beautifully decorated corridors to one of the living rooms. “Please, wait here, Major,” the butler bowed his head down and left Buck alone inside.

Buck looked around nervously. The place looked like a movie set indeed. Perhaps there was some truth to Rosie’s words. He glanced at the framed pictures on the piano and the fireplace but none of the pictures was of his (Y/N).

The doors opened again and a dignified middle aged woman walked inside as the butler announced her.

“Countess of Peterborough.”

Buck bowed his head down, not knowing what to do. She laughed softly at that and approached him to grab his arms.

“Please, tell me you’re that American Major who got my girl in trouble,” she pleaded but there was no anger in her eyes, only hope.

“I believe I am, my lady,” Buck swallowed thickly. “Where is she? Can I see her?”

The Countess smiled sadly at him and pointed at one of the sofas. They both sat there and faced each other as if they were whispering big secrets between each other.

“What took you so long?” The Countess asked with pain in her voice.

“I was a captive in Germany for over a year. I’m back in the United Kingdom for a few hours, really,” he explained nervously. He had a very bad feeling about his (Y/N). The way her mother was so sad while talking about her, the way there were no pictures of her around… “Please, tell me she married someone else,” he mumbled out and The Countess furrowed her brows. “Just don’t tell me she’s… She’s dead.”

“Not dead, no,” The Countess explained and he sighed with relief. “My husband was furious when he found out about her pregnancy. She refused to get rid of your child, she claimed that she loved you,” The Countess broke yet another sad smile and Buck’s heart started to pound in his chest. “I tried to change his mind but my husband is a… stubborn man…” She swallowed thickly and looked down, uncomfortably. “He disinherited her and threw her out. I sometimes visit her, I’m trying to keep in touch and help her financially in secret… Oh, Major, please…” She looked up again into his widened and terrified eyes as she tugged on the sleeves of his uniform. “Please, get her out of that place and help her. You have a son, a baby boy. He’s a year old now and such a beautiful child. They both deserve so much better. She’s there because she chose you, she loves you… Please, help her,” The Countess sobbed.

“Excuse me, my lady… She is… where?” Buck asked, nervously.

“Convent Home for Unmarried Mothers,” The Countess explained. “Oh, Major, it is a dreadful place! My girl is slowly dying there, it’s so painful to watch. There is absolutely no joy and fighting spirit left in her anymore.”

Buck felt a stinging pain in his heart when he remembered his (Y/N) with her red lips and a wide smile, her sparkling eyes and her neatly combed hair. He couldn’t imagine her in a place like this.

“How could you let that happen?” He asked her mother, not holding back the anger of his voice.

“It works differently for people like us,” The Countess explained. “In many ways we are still in the XIXth century,” she added. “But I’m so glad you’re here, it gives me hope… Please, tell me you are here to take the responsibility.”

“Of course,” Buck straightened himself. He was a man of honour. “Just give me the address of that convent,” he told her and she smiled through the tears and stood up to grab a piece of paper and a pen to write down the address.

“By the way,” The Countess sniffled her tears back, “when you’ll be asking for her, don’t ask for (Y/N) (Y/L/N). My husband forbade her to go there under her real surname so she had to choose a new one for herself.”

“And what is it?” Buck stood up to get the papernote from her.

“What do you think?” The Countess smiled at him softly. He had a feeling but didn’t want to make an idiot out of himself by saying it out loud so he remained silent and allowed her to answer the question on her own. “She goes by (Y/N) Cleven there,” she explained. “That’s how I knew it had to be you when the butler told me who was waiting for me downstairs. Because (Y/N) has never told me anything. She kept you as a secret in her heart. She was always a stubborn girl, a family rebel of some sort. So desperately she wanted to get out of here, to be away from her father – for which I can’t blame her, he’s a difficult man – that’s why she signed up to help in the military,” her mother explained. “I know, though, what she has told me. That there were misunderstandings between you two, some sort of argument and she regretted deeply for the way she had treated you. Please, do forgive her. She loves you so deeply, like I’ve never seen any woman of our sort to ever love a man. A rebel, as I’ve said.”

Buck’s head was spinning. He was glad for Rosie waiting inside the car because he wouldn’t be able to drive anymore. He only nodded at The Countess and hurried outside, not even waiting for the butler to open any doors for him.

He knocked upon the window and showed Rosie with his hand to get out of the car.

“What’s going on?” Rosie asked and Buck handed him the paper note with the address.

“Take me there. I can’t drive,” Buck looked down at his shaking hands. Rosie only nodded and they switched the seats.

The convent was another hour away. This time they were both sitting in the car in complete silence.

“Do you think I can just take her like that?” Buck finally asked when they were getting near. The sun was slowly setting in the sky with a beautiful orange hue.

“It’s XXth century, Buck, I’m sure she can just walk out of there any time she wants,” Rosie tried to cheer him up. “But where will you take her? Do you think the Colonel will let her stay with us at the base?”

“I will worry about that later,” Buck told him. “I want to get her out there first,” he explained and placed his hand on his chest as if this gesture would calm down his pounding heart when Rosie parked the car in front of the convent home. It looked like a scary and unpleasant place from the outside.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Rosie asked, worryingly.

“No. Wait here,” Buck nodded at him and walked out to hurry inside the building.

“Excuse me, sir, we are closed. You can come back tomorrow after nine am,” the nun sitting by the desk in the reception room told him.

“With all respect, I won’t wait until tomorrow,” Buck approached her and she looked up, scared. “I don’t want trouble,” he explained quickly. “I’m a pilot from The 100th Bomb Group in Thorpe Abbott, Norfolk,” he introduced himself and she nodded her head. “For the past year and a half I’ve been a captive in Germany,” he added and her eyes saddened. “I came back today only to find out that my child and his mother are here. Please, I want to see them.”

“Well, I think we can make an exception for you, sir,” the nun had lots of sympathy in her voice. “Let me ask the Reverend Mother,” she stood up and Buck nodded. “Please, wait here.”

So he waited, nervously squeezing his cap in his hands and looking around at the religious images on the walls. Finally, the doors opened and an elderly woman entered. She looked less nice than the previous one.

“Sister Cecila has told me your story, Major. I am willing to make an exception because of your bravery and service, sir,” she said and Buck sighed out of relief, giving her a nervous smile. “What is your name, Major?”

“Gale Cleven, sister,” he answered and she furrowed her brows.

“Ah…” She hummed to herself. “I know who you want to see then… Follow me,” she ordered and he nodded before walking out of the room after her.

She led him through a maze of cold corridors into the staircase and then upstairs to the living quarters. They were in a renovated part of the building but it was not very pleasant either. Buck felt a chill go down his spine at the sight and when he imagined (Y/N) and their son in a place like that.

“She was sent here by her father with no savings at all. Her mother sometimes sends us money for new clothes and toys but Miss (Y/N) is not interested in getting anything for herself anyway,” the nun explained. “She only cares about her son. She named him Winston.”

“It’s my middle name,” Buck told her as his heart filled with so much love for his son already at the sound of his name.

“I see,” the woman nodded her head and stopped in front of one of the doors as she searched for the right key on her keychain.

“Why is she being locked up?” Buck furrowed his brows and the nun gave him a scolding look.

“Do you think we let those harlots run around freely at night so they come back pregnant with even more mouths to feed?” She asked, accusingly.

Buck’s jaw clenched, trying very hard not to react in any way to her awful words.

She opened the door and then she pushed them open aggressively without knocking first. Buck’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of a small and neat room that was almost not decorated at all. (Y/N) was sitting on her bed with a little boy in her arms and reading a book to him, her finger was pointing at something on one of the pages but they both got startled by the nun entering the room rapidly.

“You have a guest, Cleven,” the nun told her coldly and stepped back for Buck to walk in awkwardly.

(Y/N) gasped at the sight of him as she dropped the book down on the bed. Her little boy, unaware of anything, reached out his little hands to grab the edges of it as he giggled.

“G-Gale…” (Y/N) left the boy on the bed and ran up to Buck.

He felt tears forming in his eyes at the sight of her. She looked like a shadow of her old self. But it was still her. His (Y/N) that he had been dreaming of for all these months in Germany.

“I thought I would never see you again… I got the letter from Harry, that you were a captive. But I didn’t expect you to come back for me…” She sobbed.

“I came back this morning and have been looking for you ever since,” he put his hands on her arms to calm her down. “Here, come to me,” he pulled her to his chest to hug her and she twisted the fabric of his uniform in her fist as she hid her face in it. The nun squinted her eyes at them. “Can you leave us alone, sister?” Buck asked her.

“It is out of the question!” She protested.

“I’m taking (Y/N) and our son away from here tonight anyway. Get out,” Buck snapped and she made an offended face before walking out.

“You… You really mean that?” (Y/N) looked up and Buck caressed her wet cheeks. Her eyes were so hollow now, her lips dry and shivering. “After everything I have done to you…? You still want me?”

“I have forgotten already,” Buck smiled sadly at her. “I only remember how much I love you.”

(Y/N) sobbed once again and threw her hands around his neck.

“I will take care of you,” Buck promised and rubbed her back. He laid his eyes on his son who was sitting on his mother’s bed and playing with the book in his tiny hands but he was curiously looking up as well. “Will you introduce us?” He asked, nervously and (Y/N) took a step back and nodded, wiping her cheeks with the palms of her hands.

“Winston, baby, come to mummy,” she picked the boy up and he whined as he dropped the book. “Look, this is your daddy,” she approached Buck again as the boy widened his eyes. She kissed her son’s temple and handed the boy to Buck.

He held his son delicately and stared back into his eyes, feeling so much love and affection filling his heart that he was sure it would burst and explode any given moment. Little boy reached his hands out and caressed the scars on his father’s face. Buck felt the fresh tears streaming down his face.

“He’s so full of kindness,” (Y/N) explained in a whisper. “Just like you.”

“Pack your things, I want you out of here as soon as possible,” Buck told her and she nodded.

He kept staring in awe at his boy and allowed his little hands to caress his face curiously, giggling occasionally. In the meantime, (Y/N) was packing an old worn-out suitcase. Buck noticed that she was mostly packing Winston’s things and not her own. It made him sad to see her in such a state but it also filled his heart with even more love for her when he realised how much she loved their boy and how much she sacrificed for him. For all of that, he would now give her everything and she didn’t have to worry about anything anymore.

When she packed the suitcase, she nodded at him and they both walked out of the room where the angry nun had been still standing.

“So, you’re just going to walk out like that? In the middle of the night?” She asked (Y/N).

“I’m not a prisoner here, Sister Bertha,” (Y/N) reminded her. “And it’s barely eight pm.”

“And where will you even go?” The nun followed them nervously to the staircase.

“As far away from here as I can,” (Y/N) only told her and shrugged her arms.

The nun didn’t follow them downstairs. Buck and (Y/N) left the convent after saying goodnight to Sister Cecile sitting in the reception room. At the sight of them, Rosie jumped out of the car with a wide smile.

“Rosie!” (Y/N) ran up to him and hugged him.

“(Y/N)!” He picked her up to spin her around as she dropped her suitcase. “I’m so happy to see you again, we’ve all been wondering about you!” He put her down on the ground and he laid his eyes on the little boy in Buck’s arms. “And that must be your boy?”

“His name is Winston,” Buck told him with pride and Rosie winked at the baby boy who giggled in return.

“Let’s go back now, eh?” Buck told him and Rosie nodded. He picked the suitcase up and packed it inside the trunk.

Buck and (Y/N) both took the backseats with little Winston sitting on Buck’s lap. Their pinky fingers were touching delicately on the seat.

“I have only one question,” Buck looked at her softly when the boy fell asleep in his arms.

“Yes?” She turned her head around to look at him, too.

“Why didn’t you get out of there to find a job somewhere? You can use a typewriter and you’re well-read.”

“I didn’t have savings to get out like this. I was bringing this idea up to my mother but if she gave me more money, my father would realise. He is very controlling. I didn’t want her to be exposed to his anger because of me. And I… I just gave up, to be honest. My life didn’t seem to have any prospects anyway,” she admitted sadly. “There was no future for me.”

“There is a future for you,” Buck assured her and held her hand to squeeze it lightly. “Long and bright. I will give it to you.”

MASTERLIST || BUCK MASTERLIST

#sansaorgana: Answered #lovely anons #*buck #lilysfiction #gale cleven x reader #austin butler x reader

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nanawritesit · 8 months

Text

Obey Me! Demon Brothers: When You Wake Up From a Nightmare

tw: bad dreams, anxiety, sharing a bed, cuddling, kissing, eating food

Lucifer:

You were currently tiptoeing your way through the House of Lamentation, stumbling around in the dark. You knew the path to Lucifer’s office well, but it was still hard to navigate without any light. It also didn’t help that your heart was beating out of your chest from the dream you just had.

Finally reaching the correct door, you gathered up your courage and knocked on his door lightly.

“Come in.” he said from the other side.

You crept around his door to see him at his desk, papers sprawled out everywhere as usual. You knew you’d be more likely to find him in his office than his bedroom at this hour.

“MC, what are you doing up? You should be asleep, we have school tomorrow.” he asked in a slightly scolding tone.

So should you. You thought to yourself.

“I um…” you stammered, gaze fixed upon the floor.

He sensed your nervousness, and his tone softened. “MC, it’s alright,” he reassured, “you can tell me.”

You huffed, then straightened yourself up. “I had a bad dream, and now I can’t sleep.”

“Ah, I see…” he observed, folding his hands together. “Are you sleepy?”

You nodded sheepishly. “I am, but I’m too anxious to let myself fall back asleep.”

“Hm…” he hummed, drumming his fingers on his desk in thought. “Would it help if someone was in bed with you?”

Your heart stopped. The avatar of pride himself was offering to share a bed with you just so you could fall back asleep. Of course, you had fantasized about it several times before, but were far too shy to initiate anything with him.

“I…” you stuttered, clearing your throat. “I suppose so.”

“I was thinking about heading up to bed soon myself.” he explained. “You could join me if you’d like.”

You nodded with a small smile. “I would like that.”

He grinned. “Alright, let’s go.”

At first, it was a bit awkward. He slept on his back, and you were curled up in a ball facing away from him. You tried your best to let go of your anxiety, but it seemed to just make you feel worse.

“Lucifer?” you whispered hesitantly.

“Yes MC?”

“I’m still scared…” you admitted, feeling embarrassed. It was humiliating to tell a demon you couldn’t fall asleep because of a stupid dream.

He sighed and rolled over, putting his arms around you to spoon you. Your breath hitched in your throat as he put one arm around your waist and the other under your pillow. He draped a single leg over both of yours, then plopped his head onto the edge of your pillow.

“There, now you’re safe and protected.” he told you. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

You were stiff at first, but it was surprisingly easy to lean into his touch. He really did make you feel safe. He smelled like coffee and vanilla, and was so warm…

Before you knew it, your eyelids were starting to feel heavy again, and you were drifting off to sleep without a care.

“Goodnight my dear.” he whispered, somehow sensing that you were about to pass out. You hummed in response, making him chuckle before nodding off himself.

Mammon:

You woke up in a cold sweat, turning on your bedside lamp quickly to make sure nothing was after you. You sighed in relief as you realized it was just a dream. However, your mind drifted back to your sorcery class earlier today.

You were instructed to envision your worst fears as you looked into the cauldron, manifesting them into a hexing potion. Yours turned out great, but now it was plaguing you. What if you accidentally manifested some sort of terrifying entity, and it was now coming after you?

You began to tremble in anxiety, feeling your heartbeat quicken. You sprung out of bed and ran to the one person you knew would make you feel better.

“Mammon wake up!” you screeched, bursting through his bedroom door.

He groaned as he raised himself up. “Hm? What’s goin’ on?” he asked with a yawn, squinting his tired eyes.

“I think something’s after me!” you cried. “I don’t know what it is but I just had a horrible nightmare, and today in potions class I was manifesting my worst fears into a hex, and now I’m scared it’s coming for me and-“

“Okay, okay,” he interrupted, concerned at how you were gasping for air between sentences. He put his arms around you and just held you there for a second, rubbing his hand along your back soothingly. “I’ve got ya. It’s okay.”

You squinted your eyes shut, pushing the stray tears out of them. You buried your head into his chest as you caught your breath.

“Mammon, I’m so scared.” you confessed.

“I can tell, you’re literally shakin’…” he observed. He leaned back and placed a hand on your forehead, looking down at you with a concerned expression. “You’re burnin’ up too. Ya poor thing…”

“What if something is coming to get me?” you asked. “What if it wants to hurt me?”

“I wouldn’t let anything hurt ya, MC. You’re with the Great Mammon now.” he reassured with a smug grin. Normally a remark like that would’ve annoyed you, but tonight it was strangely comforting.

“Thank you Mammon…” you sighed in relief. You looked around the room awkwardly. “Can I… can I sleep in here tonight?”

His eyes widened and his face immediately heated up at the suggestion. He wanted to scream “yes!” from the rooftops. But he just coughed, shifting into a stricter posture. “I don’t know if that’s-“

“Please?” you practically whimpered, reaching for his hands. You were looking at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.

Damnit. He thought to himself. They’re way too cute to refuse.

“Well… what kind of demon would I be if I didn’t help my human out in their hour of need?” he stated with false confidence. “But just for tonight!”

“Yay!” you cheered, burrowing under his blanket like a little bunny.

His thoughts were racing as he joined you. Be cool, Mammon. You’re just sharing a bed with your crush. It’s no big deal. Whatever you do, don’t think about how snuggly they look, or how they were just begging you to sleep together, or how they came to you first over everyone else…

“Thank you for keeping me safe, my big strong demon.” you chuckled. You thought to yourself for a moment, then leaned over to peck his cheek. “Goodnight Mammon.”

His heart felt like it was going to explode, and his face was on fire. “Oh come on, ya can’t just do that! How am *I* supposed to fall sleep now?”

Leviathan:

Just as you expected, the lights of Levi’s room were still on. He was sitting up in his bathtub bed, playing video games. It was a sight you saw every day, but tonight it was especially calming.

“Levi?” you called out as you entered through the doorway.

He jumped slightly at the sudden intrusion, but smiled once he saw that it was you. “Oh, it’s you MC. Do you need something?”

“Yeah actually, I…” you began, rubbing the back of your neck anxiously.

He looked you over, observing your tousled hair, clammy skin, and dark circles. “Bad dream?”

Your head snapped back up, and you let out a small gasp. “How did you know?”

He shrugged, setting his controller down. “I used to get them a lot. I just kind of know the look of them.”

“Really?” you asked. “But you seem so brave!”

He blushed lightly, glancing down at his lap with a smile. No one ever thought of him as brave.

“I just started doing things I love when I woke up from a nightmare.” he explained. “Playing video games, watching anime, reading manga… it was a good way to get my mind off the dream, and helped me feel sleepy enough to go back to bed. And since it put me back in a good headspace, I usually had a good dream afterwards. ”

You smiled gratefully. “Thanks for the advice Levi. I’ll give that a try.” You started to walk away, but he grabbed your wrist suddenly. You froze and glanced down at it.

“Sorry.” he chuckled nervously, letting go. “It’s just… if you’re not ready to go back to sleep yet, I was wondering if you’d want to watch some anime together? I’ll give you my ruri-chan body pillow and everything.”

You couldn’t help the great big smile that broke out on your face. “I’d love to, Levi!”

He gave you an equally huge grin, and pulled you into the tub on top of him. You screeched playfully, scrambling to sit up on his lap. Feeling a lot better already, you were confident that you would have a good dream when you eventually went back to sleep, like Levi said. What he didn’t know was that he was the topic of all your good dreams.

Satan:

Satan was sitting up in his bed, propped up on his pillows and reading a book. He was in his pajamas, clearly doing his nightly routine of reading before bed. He glanced up from the top of his book when he heard you enter his room.

“Ah MC, it’s good to see you.” he smiled, closing the book but keeping his thumb on the page he was reading.

“Hi Satan, um… what are you reading?” you asked, trying to deflect the attention off yourself.

“Oh not much, just some poetry…” he told you, gesturing to the book. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah…” you sighed. There was no way you could act like nothing was wrong. He could read you too well. “Do you… remember that time we were studying together and I fell asleep to the sound of you reading aloud?”

He nodded with a miniscule smirk.

“Well, I just had a really bad dream, and I can’t fall back asleep… could you do that for me again?” you asked, bashfully kicking at the foot of the bed.

“Of course I can, dear.” he said, trying to contain his joy at how you came to him for help with a request like this.

He scooted over and flipped up the comforter, patting the spot next to him. You slowly climbed up next to him, cautiously resting your head on his shoulder.

He put an arm around your side to hold the other end of his book out in front of you. “I didn’t know you enjoyed my reading so much.”

You shyly looked away from him. “You just… have a really relaxing voice, okay?” you mumbled.

He held back a chuckle, turning his attention back to the book. He began reading it out loud to you.

You followed along for a little while, but eventually your eyelids fluttered shut, and Satan’s words got more and more jumbled. You just felt so cozy and safe in his arms, and before you knew it, you didn’t even remember how scared you were. You quickly fell asleep right there on his shoulder.

He glanced down at you, smirking to himself as he noticed your unconsciousness. He turnt his attention back to the book.

“‘I may never find words beautiful enough to describe all that you mean to me, but I will spend the rest of my life searching for them.’ John Mark Green.”

He shut the book and placed it back on his night stand. Carefully lifting you off his shoulder, he laid you down flat on the bed and covered you up. Once the lights were off, he curled up next to you and went to sleep with butterflies in his stomach. You were truly special to him.

Asmodeus:

You crept into Asmo’s bedroom to see him sound asleep on his huge, luxurious bed. He had on a pink sleep mask, and was wearing the softest silk pajamas you’d ever seen.

“Asmo?” you whispered, gently shaking him awake.

He whined, shuffling around a bit. “Mm, who is it? You know I need my beauty sleep!”

“Asmo it’s me, MC… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have woke you. It was just a nightmare. I’ll go back to bed…”

He suddenly sprung up, whipping off his sleep mask. “Oh my poor darling!” he pouted, turning on his bedside lamp. “Sorry about the tone MC, I assumed you were one of my brothers. I would’ve been much nicer had I known it was you!”

“It’s okay Asmo…” you told him with a chuckle.

“No it’s not ‘okay,’ you just had a nightmare!” he gaped, putting his hands on your shoulders. “That’s really scary! I mean, I never get them, but Levi does, and from what I hear they’re pretty terrifying!”

“It was, but… I can’t remember what it was about.” you told him disappointedly.

“Oh, that’s horrible honey…” he said, pulling you in for a tight hug. “I bet it’s even worse not knowing what scared you!” He began to run a hand through your hair comfortingly. Your eyes rolled back in your head at the soothing sensation. It felt really good to be babied by Asmo.

You nodded into the crook of his neck. “I’m still pretty scared too… can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Of course you can darling!” he cooed, kissing your forehead. “I’ll give you all the attention you want until you fall back asleep!”

“Awh, thanks Asmo…” you beamed, falling back against the mattress with him.

The two of you stayed up for a little while longer, gossiping and giggling until you started feeling tired again.

“You’re so cute when you’re all sleepy like this…” he complimented you, tucking your hair behind your ear. He was looking at you with such genuine admiration in his eyes. “You’re beautiful, MC.”

“Not as beautiful as you, Asmo.” you chuckled, trying to ignore the blush that was creeping up your cheeks.

He laughed, cuddling up to you. “Well, no one’s as beautiful as me. But you come pretty close.”

Beelzebub:

You woke up in the middle of the night with a general sense of anxiety. It wasn’t so much that you were panicking, but it was enough to put you on edge.

You were startled by a loud noise coming from down the hall. Paralyzed with fear, you somehow managed to creep out of bed and down the hallway, holding a broom out in front of you for protection.

You stopped in front of the kitchen, hearing something shuffling around in there. Whatever was lurking around the house was definitely in there. You collected all the courage you had, then leapt around the corner into the kitchen, charging in with your broom raised to strike.

“MC, it’s just me!” Beel cried, throwing his hands up in surrender. He was currently knelt in front of the oven, picking some cookies up off the ground.

“Oh…. sorry Beel, I’m just a bit jumpy… I heard a loud noise and got scared.”

“That was just me baking cookies.” he chuckled, standing up. “I accidentally dropped the tray taking them out of the oven. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“No it’s okay, I was already awake.” you explained, taking a seat at the counter.

“Really? You’re usually asleep at this hour.” he observed. He set the tray in front of you, gesturing for you to take one.

“Well I was, but I just randomly woke up.” you told him, taking a bite of a cookie. “I don’t know why, I just felt super anxious and full of dread.”

“That’s not good.” he said, stating the obvious. “I usually only get nightmares when I’m hungry. That’s why I always wake up for a snack before I can have one.”

“Maybe that’s what I need.” you chuckled. “Good thing you were up baking!”

He laughed along with you, grabbing a cookie himself. “I’m glad I can help. But even if I wasn’t, you know you can always wake me up if you need something. I wouldn’t mind.”

You smiled warmly. “Thank you, Beel. I really appreciate that.”

He nodded contentedly, then picked up the tray of cookies. “Well, I’m gonna take these back to my room and go back to bed. Wanna share?”

You were a little shocked that he was being so forward. He must have noticed this, because he gave you a comforting expression before he explained.

“The cookies, not the bed.” he laughed. “Although I wouldn’t mind sharing both.”

You giggled at his bluntness. “Sounds good to me.”

“Which one?” he asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” you teased, grabbing the cookies and running ahead of him up the stairs. He quickly caught up to you in the bedroom, but you jumped into his bed before he could catch you.

“I see, you wanna share both too.” he grinned, crawling up next to you. He took a bite out of the cookie you were holding. “How gluttonous.”

Belphegor:

The faint sound of snoring reached your ears as you opened the door to the stairs of the attic. You knew Belphie would be asleep. Having just woke up from a nightmare, you first thought was to go to the avatar of sloth. Surely he would be able to help.

“Belphie?” you called out, approaching his sleeping form. No response. You shook him lightly. “Belphie, please, I need you.”

That seemed to get to him. He immediately rolled over and sat up. “MC? What is it?”

You sighed in relief that you were able to wake him up. “Belphie, can you do anything about nightmares? I just had a pretty bad one, and now I can’t sleep.”

“Oh, I’m sorry MC.” he said sympathetically, ruffling your hair. “Yeah, just lie down right here next to me.”

You did as he asked, curling up in his cozy blankets and pillows that smelled just like him. The lavender aroma was intoxicating, instantly making you feel sleepy again.

“Alright, is it okay if I lay on top of you? It helps the magic work better.” he asked. You nodded, and he put his weight on you. His head was on your chest, and he had his arms curled up around your sides. It felt like you had a big, cuddly teddy bear on top of you. That combined with the way he was drawing little circles on your arm with his fingers was enough to put you back to sleep in no time.

You awoke in the morning tangled up together. He had somehow wriggled his way up your body, laying on his side and holding onto you while you faced him, curled up into his chest.

He woke up at the feeling of you stirring next to him, a small smile forming on his face as he stretched his legs. “Good morning, MC.”

“Morning Belphie.” you mused, brushing his hair out of his face. “That was some magic you used last night.”

He chuckled lightly. “I didn’t use any magic last night MC.”

Your mouth fell open in shock. “You didn’t? But… I fell asleep so easily!”

“I honestly just wanted to cuddle you.” he confessed, blushing slightly. “But I guess it made you feel safe enough to fall back asleep.”

“Yeah, it did… I didn’t have another nightmare, so I’ll let you off the hook.” you decided, smirking at him playfully.

“I don’t apologize for anything.” he remarked with a devilish grin.

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thatfreshi · 8 months

Note

can i request the reader has an emotionally abusive parent and astarion finds out and protects and comforts her?

TW - Emotional abuse, gaslighting, domestic violence

Recommended Song: The Archer - Adam Melchor

After settling down in Baldur's Gate again, you and Astarion have been slowly trying to fit back into the city. It's hard though, after such a long adventure, after trauma and perilous feats, to just be a person. You've reached out to a couple of old friends, trying your best to explain everything without revealing too much, especially without Astarion jokingly baring his fangs and saying "Be warned, I bite." The dumbass seems to think reverse psychology works on everyone.

So word slowly gets out that you're back in town. People that you knew forever ago suddenly stop by the house, and each time Astarion has to double-check that you know them, paranoid about people coming into the home you've built for the two of you. You don't blame him one bit.

It's a Summer afternoon, and you've just come in from tending your little backyard garden. Astarion calls out to you as you come in the back door.

"Darling, there's yet another person here to see you."

He gets a little overwhelmed by all these people wanting to come see you, but he tries his best to be supportive.

"Alright, coming."

You take off your gloves and hang them up by the door, making your way to the front of the house.

"Who is it?"

"Not sure, she wouldn't say."

He opens the door, and a shiver runs down your spine. Your mother.

"Oh, it's so good to see you Tav."

She lunges for an embrace before you can step away, your body is in shock. 'Why is she here?' 'How did she find out?' 'Who could've possibly told her you were back in town?'

"And who is this handsome man?"

Astarion realizes you're a little stunned, and he takes over the conversation for you.

"Astarion, and who might you be?"

"Well I'm Tav's mother of course! I'm sure she's told you all about me." He words are lined with spite, poison dripping out of her mouth. Your vampiric lover senses the tension, and yet you quickly switch tones.

"Come on in mother, we can show you around."

A fake smile, a facade. He's taught you well how to hide your intent, especially in peril.

"Yes, of course."

His voice trails off, wondering what you're up to. You simply start a tour of the house, acting like you would with any old friend.

"So obviously here's the little living space. I'd like to have some more plants in here, but somebody has to have a place to store all his books."

You try to shoot him a playful look, but when you meet eyes both of you know it's wrong. You chuckle a little too late, almost robotically.

"Ah yes, Tav here used to read all the time as a little one. Read all those silly little adventure books, even wanted to go on one."

"Yes, but-"

"BUT, instead we kept our lovely little offspring around to help with the business for a while, convinced Tav it was best to help the family."

Something triggered in Astarion's brain, the way she said family.

"Yes, of course mother. It was the right thing to do after all."

He realizes you never spoke about your parents, or about any of your family members for that matter. You've always spoken so freely, without a care in the world. Suddenly you were stiff, conforming to a conversation that you had no control over.

"Well, everyone must leave the nest eventually."

He smiles, trying to relieve the tension, still analyzing your movements.

"Well, my child here just up and disappeared a couple years back, left me and my husband in shambles."

Clearly she didn't know about the nautiloid, or about any of your adventures.

"And yet suddenly here you are, a house, a lovely man, and you feel no need to tell your parents you're home? After all, we could always use the help."

"Well, Astarion and I have been very busy mother, finishing up the house, settling in."

"You know I could've helped with all that."

"We've been managing fine."

The conversation starts to get aggressive. Astarion goes into that protective stance of his, standing tall next to you and wrapping his arm around you.

"Yes, if we ever need help we'll certainly reach out."

There's a slight hiss at the end of his sentence, and you nudge him in the side, trying to get him to keep his composure.

"No need to get all defensive. Tav and I, we understand each other. I just worry, my child being out in the wild, adventuring through forests with all those miserable monsters."

"Would've been better being away from the worst of them."

You mutter under your breath. It's frustrating, this woman coming back into your life, trying to convince you to come back and 'help' her out with the business. You did almost all the work, under her hand. And when you said you wanted to leave and go out on a grand quest...

"You know what, you need to leave."

You finally speak up.

"Excuse me?"

She's shocked.

"Yeah, before there's another accident. Would hate if I broke my leg again."

Astarion's grip tenses.

"That was a sad coincidence and you know it Tav."

"No, you pulled the ladder out from under me while I was climbing to fix something on the roof, and I fell and shattered my leg, and this just so happened to be the day after I told you I was going to leave the city."

"I was trying to stabilize it after I saw it was falling. Don't blame your poor mother."

"And what about when you refused to have a cleric come see me, and I was on bed rest for months on end, while you did nothing."

Your mother goes to speak again, but Astarion cuts her off.

"As my lovely partner here has already said, I think you need to leave, now."

He unwraps himself from you, stepping towards the defensive woman.

"There's no way you believe Tav's idiotic lies. Don't be a fool."

"You're the fool, a fool who's about to lose their head if you don't turn around and leave this house."

She goes to say something else, watching as he goes to grab his trusty dagger. Instead she simply huffs, and storms out the door. Astarion slams it behind her.

"You'll come back Tav, you'll see reason!"

He quickly deadbolts the door and comes back over to you, and you finally break down. That woman, she terrorized you your entire childhood, and some mind flayer ship took you away from her, thankfully.

"You... you never told me about your mother."

"Yeah, I didn't think it really compared to all of your shit."

You wipe at your eyes.

"Now, we don't need to compare apples and oranges my love. It's abuse, all the same, all evil."

He holds you for a while. You're still nervous you'll hear banging on the door, but hopefully Astarion scared her off well enough.

"She'll never be back here, not if I have something to say about it. Here, come sit."

You make your way to the sofa, and he just holds you for a while. It's silent, except for his breathing and a few soft sobs from your sorrows.

"You know, I don't mean to pry, and you don't have to answer if you don't wish to... but did she really let you suffer like that? With your leg just, shattered?"

"Mhm. I couldn't walk for months. I still don't think it ever healed properly. I begged for her to get someone to come look at it, and she just kept saying 'no Tav, they'll just charge us for some bogus potions' and that was that."

He wraps his arms around you tighter than ever. He's lost in thought, going between thoughts of your pains and his own.

"We're so lucky."

You're a little surprised. It's not often he's such an optimist, especially at times like this.

"What do you mean?"

"I think we understand each other better than anyone. Your griefs echo mine, it just makes sense. Not to say I'm happy you went through that... but we're just lucky, lucky to have each other."

You plant a gentle kiss on his hand.

"I agree darling. Thank you, for always being here for me."

"Only because I know you'd do the same for me, my love."

The two of you stay cuddled there for a long time, not really saying or thinking anything. Just two people, sitting in the air of each other's freedom. Just two lovers who were the first to be loved by one another.

#angst #comfort #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate astarion #astarion x tav #astarion x reader

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gurugirl · 9 months

Text

A Good Boy | 5. When In Greece

Summary: A family vacation to Greece is meant to be peaceful and relaxing but when Y/n is forced to confront Harry about her feelings everything is turned upside down.

Note: This is stepmon!reader x stepson!harry - both are adults in this story but don't read if you don't like it.

Word Count: 17,236

Warning: 18+ only, NSFW, smut, inappropriate & forbidden relationship, age gap, cheating, lying, angst

A Good Boy Masterlist

Y/n stumbled bleary-eyed to her car as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like she was in a cloud of red, full of stinging bees trudging through a telescoped tunnel of hopelessness. She’d never experienced that particular feeling before but she forced her brain to stop its thoughts and found a safe spot to release her tears and sobs into her leather steering wheel which was at the campus café parking lot just a half mile from Harry’s dorm. Not ideal but she was unable to hold her despair in for another moment when she pulled into an open space and shut the engine off.

When she finally hiccupped through her tears and numbness began to take over she dialed Marla.

“Where are you?” Marla knew the call was coming. And being the best friend anyone could ever ask for, anticipated needing to keep her day free for her friend.

“I’m at the campus café,” Y/n gasped and closed her eyes. A ridiculous woman. From the beginning of the affair to the end. A terrible, vile, and evil person. There was no redemption for her.

“Stay where you are. I’m coming to get you–“

“No. I’ll come over. I can–“

“No, you cannot. I will not let you drive while you’re crying and upset. We can get your car later. I don’t want you getting into an accident. Stay put. I’m already on my way.”

And for Harry? The moment he slammed the door shut behind her he fell to the floor on his hands and knees and let his salty tears pool under him onto the stupid cheap rug he bought to make his room look more “homey”. He wanted to rip the rug to shreds but he couldn’t manage to stand up and pull himself together, much less begin to shred woven cotton and polyester into bits out of anger.

He couldn’t begin to make sense of his emotions. The sadness and rage. He wouldn’t be getting over her for a long time. He knew it. He was devastated and the worst part was that she really did like him but she was trying to protect them both from further hurt. He would have learned to deal with it. He would have adapted to the rules. He just needed time. Just a little more time. He was still trying to get used to it.

It was hopeless. He knew all along that it couldn’t last. He just didn’t think it would be over so fast. He’d barely gotten over the thrill of having her for it to all suddenly be ripped away.

He didn’t hate her. Not even close. He was mad, yes, but he could never hate her. Everything that led up to her breaking up with him wasn’t her fault.

He blamed his father.

He blamed the arrangement, which he knew was his dad’s idea. He hated that it was Y/n that Leo wound up picking. She deserved love and affection and she needed it.

He swallowed the bile that rose up in his throat. His hangover was not helping matters. His muscles were stiff as he tried to sit back onto his shins. He was shaking from how he’d tensed his body and from the heartbreak and the tears and the grief.

When his phone chimed with a message his heart leaped and he crawled across the floor to snatch up his phone from his table quickly. But then when he saw it wasn’t Y/n, but rather Tyler letting him know he’d forgotten his wallet, he felt a sharp dejected anguish he knew he was going to have to get used to.

. . .

Y/n was in charge of selecting their ocean villa. It was a detached, private villa with a pool overlooking Agni Bay. They would be staying in Corfuand near where they could book private charters to islands and to surrounding beaches. She had booked some excursions and day trips for them but mostly they’d be lounging by the pool on the huge outdoor terrace.

She learned a few days prior that Harry was joining them and bringing Tyler. Leo had told her. It stung a bit that Harry hadn’t told her himself. But then again, it made sense. After breaking it off with him she hadn’t heard from him at all. She missed the daily texts and nightly calls. Missed his voice.

Two weeks without hearing from him at all had been difficult but she immersed herself in tennis club, booked extra sessions, found a nice murder mystery book series to read, and kept herself busy with the girls.

Marla was supportive and helpful. Cyndee and Gina still didn’t know anything but Cyndee did bring Harry up on their last Friday outing. Y/n wanted to strangle Cyndee for bringing it up at all because she was barely hanging on that evening as it was. But of course, Cyndee didn’t know better. She wasn’t in on the secret. Y/n wanted so badly to text Harry and just send him a quick I miss you message. But that wouldn’t help anything.

Leo went out of town for a couple of days for a conference upstate and so Y/n did her best to keep busy. Booking the vacation trip was actually fun. Cathartic even. She’d had the villa reserved far in advance but tacking on the little details felt really nice. Though she was nervous about the idea of Harry being there with them. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe it wouldn’t be a problem with him there. Perhaps things could go back to how they had been before everything happened.

She doubted it but hoped. Plus Tyler would be there to distract Harry. She would do her best to enjoy every minute of her vacation.

And as booked and busy as Y/n made herself during the day, the nights were not kind. When she was finally alone in her room in the dark with her thoughts she cried. She’d let her emotions pour out and soak her pillow. She’d cry in the shower and sit under the water for far longer than she should, being that water was such a scarce resource.

The worst part was that Leo had initiated sex the night after she broke up with Harry. It was awful. She told him she wasn’t feeling well so he backed off. But the following night he wanted her in his bed.

So she went to his bed and tried to perform. She tried to focus on the man she was with but it felt like betrayal. It felt bitter and nauseating. She couldn’t stay wet and she couldn’t finish. But of course, Leo did and once that was done she went back to her room and scrubbed her body until her skin was raw and her eyes were red with tears and her sinuses were clogged in that annoying way that you can’t even manage to clear them.

It had never happened to her before. Her feelings for Harry were much deeper than she allowed herself to realize. But on top of her own feelings for him was the worry that he was also hurting the way she was. She didn’t want to hurt him. She didn’t want him to feel this way.

But he did. He felt the same stabbing pain in his chest every time he thought of Y/n. He cried any time he was alone and he composed message after message to her but never sent them. He couldn’t get the lump out of his throat. He couldn’t eat much. He forced himself to have lunch midday with his friends during the week but it was torture pretending he was fine.

Tyler was worried about him. He checked on Harry every evening before quiet time in the dorm.

“Let’s go out this Friday. We’ll invite a bunch of friends. Let loose. No pressure for anything. Just some fun.”

Harry was indifferent. He didn’t care if he went out or stayed in. It was all the same. He was numb anytime he was with people so he knew he wouldn’t enjoy himself and if he stayed in by himself he’d just write a letter to her and cry and also wouldn’t enjoy himself. Nothing mattered.

The only thing that had him moving forward was his anger about the situation. He told his dad he was going to Greece with them, which he immediately regretted but then knew he couldn’t take back because Tyler was going and plans had been made. But part of him looked forward to going and seeing Y/n. Maybe… just maybe she’d change her mind. Maybe she’d want him again if she just saw him. Maybe he could convince her…

And the third week that had gone by since they’d seen each other was another blur for both of them. Harry was just going through the motions. Studying, school, forcing a smile, crying, sleeping… And for Y/n she was barely paying attention to anything that was happening during her busy days, never letting her mind wander too far from her current activity whatever that may have been. But her nights were clear and painful. She allowed herself to think of him and to cry and to feel.

Her girl’s night out was something she usually looked forward to but this time she was dreading it when Marla told her they’d be going to a new place. Leo hadn’t been home all day and Linda finished cleaning the house early and so Y/n was left alone for a big part of the day. It had been a mistake to assume she was going to relax and lay by the pool and read. She couldn’t focus. So instead she let herself think of Harry and wonder about him. The lounge chair she was on was the one that she and Harry had come to after their pool escapade.

Putting her hands on the fabric of the cushion she imagined that day so vividly. Then the girls came over and later that night they’d had sex in his room but Marla had overheard. She winced from the memory.

Everything reminded her of him. So she was feeling more like drinking a bottle of wine and smoking a joint and passing out rather than dancing the night away in a busy bar.

But, just like every other girl’s night out, Marla arrived in the Uber to pull Y/n out of her slump.

She hadn’t even bothered to wear makeup. She did put on a dress but it wasn’t anything that would draw attention. Her flat sandals were more cute than sexy. She hadn’t showered that day.

“Not to be rude, my love, but you do not look like you’re ready for a night out. We’re going to that new spot in Malibu. Remember?”

Y/n nodded, “Yeah. I remember. Maybe I shouldn’t go. I’m okay just to stay home,” she shrugged.

“Absolutely not. You’re coming with us. You need to get out of this big empty mansion and have some fun. Stop thinking about him. Just… come out and enjoy yourself the best you can. It’s better than wallowing here alone.” Marla was right of course.

The club in Malibu was a very popular spot. They’d never been because Malibu was a bit of a hike but they figured a change of scenery could be good (Marla suggested it).

Cyndee had gotten them in at a spot with a VIP table and bottle service. The table was in the middle of all the action. The room was dark with flashing lights and loud music and the ceiling opened up to the night sky. It was actually quite posh.

Lots of young pretty things were dancing and grinding together. The dance floor was packed. Y/n felt out of place. She normally dolled up but tonight, she looked more like an 8th grade math teacher.

“Please smile. You’re making me sad,” Marla whispered into her ear as they took their spot in the circular booth. Cyndee was dancing already and Gina was sitting at the table with a man who she knew from some social club she frequented. He just happened to be there at the club that night.

Gina introduced him, “This is Elias,” he stretched his hand out to shake Marla’s and then Y/n’s.

Elias was attractive and friendly. He was also really funny, which Y/n found refreshing. A good laugh. That’s what she’d needed.

She wasn’t in the mood to dance at all but Marla kept trying to convince her to let loose, “Come on! You’re gonna regret not dancing the night away. I think it’ll do you good!”

“Yeah! Come out and dance! I’ll go up with you too.” Elias smiled down at her and raised a brow.

She shook her head and sighed before slipping out of the booth and ambling to the dance floor.

And both Marla and Elias had been right. It was fun. It made her feel better. She almost forgot about Harry for a solid five-minute stretch.

She hadn’t had much to drink. She knew that the more alcohol she consumed the sadder she’d get and there would be a chance she’d wind up drunk texting Harry. She didn’t want to do anything to mess up any progress of moving on.

Elias was a terrible dancer so he fit right in with the girls. The DJ was playing some interesting music choices, some not so good to dance to but Y/n tried to ignore when the next song came on. In fact, it was so hard to transition from dancing and the beat at the end of the previous song to the next she gave up, “I’m going to grab a drink,” she spoke to Marla.

She needed a breath, despite the fact that the club was packed, getting off the dance floor cleared her mind up a bit.

The setup at the bar was very different from how it was at Murphy’s. It was in the shape of a large circle in the center of the room with neon lights that lit all the colorful bottles underneath.

Leaning her hip to the bar wall she tried to catch the eye of one of the bartenders. People all around were dancing slowly to the beat, couples smushed together enjoying the new pace of the song. The lyrics weren’t clear but Y/n knew it was something that had couples grinding together.

When she finally caught the eye of one of the bartenders she smiled and watched as they made their way toward her. But then suddenly her space was crowded by someone far taller and then she heard his voice, “Having fun?”

She thought she must be dreaming. Must be mistaken. Perhaps she’d had more alcohol than she realized. She rotated herself to look up and saw the light green eyes and soft strawberry lips of the man she’d been missing for nearly three weeks.

“Not really,” she replied honestly.

“What will you have?” The bartender interrupted their moment.

“Just a water for me, please,” Y/n nodded and smiled politely before Harry asked for a tequila. Neat.

Harry kept his eyes on Y/n. He could see she hadn’t worn makeup and hadn’t done anything with her hair at all. It made him feel the tiniest bit better to know she wasn’t trying to look sexy for anyone. Especially since she wasn’t with him.

“Who’s he?” He’d had enough tequila that he didn’t care if he sounded jealous. He was jealous. He didn’t like that she was out and dancing with some guy.

“I just met him tonight. A friend of Gina’s,” she shrugged and took in his appearance. Dark circles and stress lines between his eyes. Unshaven face. She felt like his appearance reflected her own sadness. “How are you doing, Harry?”

He scoffed and peeled his eyes from hers to look across the bar, “Just great.”

She nodded quietly and let her eyes drift off into a corner as she felt the weight of everything on her. The way this wasn’t fair. The way they were both hurt but there was nothing they could do about it.

When the bartender came back with their drinks Harry finally looked back down at her, “So you’re not drinking?” He took a quick sip from his own glass as he kept his eyes pinned to hers.

“I had a couple but I’m not trying to get drunk. It’s not wise probably.”

Harry tilted his head, “And why’s that?”

“Because alcohol kind of exasperates sad emotions. I don’t need to feel any sadder.” She spoke honestly. She didn’t need to tell him that. She could have just kept that to herself but he was being a bit cold with her, a bit standoffish and she didn’t like it. Her hope was that the confession would resonate and he’d lower his walls a bit. She wanted his warmth. Missed it.

He nodded and smirked as he looked over her head and lifted his glass upward gesturing to someone before looking back down at her, “Don’t be sad. You got exactly what you wanted.”

Suddenly he waved over at the bartender to get her attention again and Y/n figured it was best if she left. He was not budging with the attitude and she was beginning to feel her face heat up from frustration and grief, which soon would turn to her nose getting filled and tears breaking from her eyes. So she pushed herself off the bar and began to make her way through the packed floor back to her friends.

But she felt his hand wrap around the back of her arm before she could get too far and she felt the melancholy rise of undeserved hope sneak up her skin and to the back of her neck as she turned, “You did get what you wanted didn’t you? Tell me you got what you wanted.” He spoke into her ear as the song changed to something more up-tempo.

Shaking her head she scanned his face, “No. I didn’t get what I wanted. I got what I deserved.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I didn’t deserve what I wanted, Harry.” She swallowed as he stared down at her, his face close to hers so he could hear.

“What did you want, Y/n?”

“That’s not fair. We can’t talk about this here.” She looked to her peripheral and back to him.

Harry’s eyes roamed her face as the bartender called out to him to pick up the second drink he ordered. He looked over his shoulder and then turned back to her, “I want to talk to you. Where can I find you?”

Y/n turned and jutted her chin toward the round booth her group was at, “Just there at that booth.”

She floated across the floor in a daze toward the table. She almost couldn’t believe it. What kind of luck was this? Los Angeles was massive. Knowing that Harry was at the same bar as she was, in Malibu of all places, seemed impossible. Highly highly unlikely. She settled into the booth opposite Cyndee and Gina and looked around the bar in search of Harry. She wasn’t sure where he’d gone off to or who he was with so she didn’t know where to look.

But after a few minutes, she saw him cut through the crowd toward her and behind him, not following, a young woman, Y/n recognized as Leslie. He was in the club with Leslie. She wondered if he’d perhaps been seeing her. That would be a good thing in regard to their situation. She didn’t like the idea but it would be good for him.

“That’s Harry!” Cyndee spoke loudly across the table, looking from Y/n to Harry as he neared the table.

Everything appeared to her in slow motion as he smiled and greeted the two ladies and then looked at Y/n as he leaned in to speak close, “Will you come with me? So we can talk?”

The hallway toward the bathrooms had tiny square mirrors all over the ceiling, walls, and floor. The music was still evident from the main room of the club but things were quieter once they’d passed the threshold into the hallway.

Y/n leaned into the cool wall behind her and crossed her arms as she looked up at Harry who stood in front of her, “Who’s the guy?”

“I told you, Harry. A friend of Gina’s. First time meeting him tonight.”

He nodded, “Seemed to be getting pretty friendly with him out there.”

“We were just dancing. Plus Marla was with us. Doesn’t matter anyway. What about Leslie? You’re here with her?”

“Here with a bunch of friends. And I asked Leslie to come. Yeah. Doubt you really care.”

His words were cold and very unlike how she’d been used to him behaving around her. But it was probably better this way. She shrugged, “I just want you to be happy. If you like her that’s good.”

Harry sighed, “So you gonna tell me what it is you wanted that you didn’t deserve?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about that. I mean…” she dropped her arms to her sides and bunched the material of her dress nervously, “I think you know. You know how I feel, Harry.”

“See that’s what I’m confused about. The more I think about it the harder it is for me to wrap my mind around it. You said you broke up with me to spare me but I feel like the real reason is because it’s too hard. I think if you really liked me enough you’d have tried harder. You didn’t even give me a chance before you dropped me.”

“No. I saw how much it was affecting you. I can’t stand to hurt you so I needed to do it. Yes, part of it was because it’s hard. The situation was –“

“You hurt me the most by breaking it off,” he put a palm on the wall next to her head as he spoke, “Now I’m just angry. It didn’t make things better. And now what was the fucking point? You said you didn’t even get what you wanted. So why do it? Tell me what you really wanted. I just need to hear you say it, Y/n.”

She blinked her eyes as she looked into Harry’s. She was suddenly glad she hadn’t worn makeup because she was already feeling the beginning of the sting of tears behind her eyes, “You. But you know that.”

His features softened immediately. His berry lips parted as he wet them with his tongue and he brought his other palm up to the wall to narrow the space between them, “If you wanted me, you had me. You have me.”

She shook her head, “I don’t deserve you, though. That’s why this–“

“Fuck off with your bullshit. Like you’re some kind of martyr. You took everything from me. I just wanted to be with you. I wanted to be yours,” he kept his voice low but he spoke with heat and emotion, “I would have learned to be okay with it but you dropped me so fast I didn’t even have time to get used to it,” Harry pushed himself back and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t. I have no idea what I’m doing at all. I feel evil. I feel like your feelings are far more important than mine,” she felt the first tear make a warm trail down her cheek and then as she blinked a second and third. “I’m sorry.”

Harry watched as she tried to hold back her emotion but he saw the tears on her face and he felt bad for his outburst but he was still so raw and angry from everything. “Please, don’t…” he softly brushed the back of his hand upward over her cheek to wipe her tears, “don’t cry. You’re gonna make me cry.”

She put her hand over his and closed her eyes, “I don’t want you to cry. You deserve to be happy, Harry.”

He shook his head and reached up to cup the other side of her face with his hand, “You don’t want me to cry? It’s all I’ve been doing. Every night for the past 19 days. I miss you, Y/n.”

She looked up at him, “I miss you too but you know we can’t… you deserve to be with someone you can have a real relationship with.”

Harry stepped in close and rested his forehead against hers, “Don’t want anyone but you.”

The world stopped and the only sound she could hear was her heart pumping in her chest. Having him so close to her was comforting and overwhelming all at the same time. It hurt but it felt good. She was confused. Maybe it had been a mistake to break up with him. Maybe that was the mistake.

“Harry?”

The pair separated quickly when they heard Leslie’s voice. Y/n’s face began to burn with embarrassment. She’d let it go too far. She hadn’t been in her right mind. Harry’s words and his eyes had her spinning and in a daze.

Leslie said something that Y/n couldn’t hear as her ears began to ring and regret blanketed her skin. She should never have allowed it to get that far. To let him touch her and stand so close… she knew better.

She looked between Harry and Leslie when Harry turned to whisper in her ear, “Will you come find me when you leave? I want to see you.”

Leslie’s face told Y/n everything she needed to know. Leslie was curious about what was going on. Suspicious. Leslie clearly liked Harry. And Harry could like Leslie too if it hadn’t been for Y/n.

Looking back at Harry she shook her head, “Harry… this can’t. No. We can’t.”

His hand wrapped around her wrist, “Yes, we can. Please don’t do this. Please, Y/n.”

“Leslie is right there, Harry. Go have fun with your friends. Pretend I’m not here.”

Harry stepped back and let go of her. He shook his head in disappointment, his eyes piercing into hers, “Fine.”

The way Leslie kept her eyes on Y/n until Harry pulled at her arm had Y/n feeling her guilt and shame bloom and swell.

She closed her eyes as Harry led Leslie out of the hallway and back into the main room of the club. It hurt too much to watch. She felt like she was back to day one when she broke up with him. She hoped that he’d begun to move on but he hadn’t. And neither had she.

“So what was that about?” Cyndee asked as Y/n slid back into the booth.

“He just had a question about our family vacation,” Y/n lied. She was glad the club was dark and the lights that illuminated could hide that she’d been crying. It was ridiculous. She was ridiculous.

Harry had effectively ruined her girl’s night out. Of course, it wasn’t totally his fault. He was in the same boat she was. And she tried not to let her eyes rove the features of the people dancing or standing at the periphery to perchance spot him again, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to see him. Just another peek.

But Harry had moved so that she wouldn’t be able to lay her eyes on him, though he knew where she was and he continued to look toward the booth where she was sitting.

“Why do you keep looking over at your stepmom?” Leslie pulled him down so she could speak into his ear. He’d assured her that what she saw was just them talking and that it was loud so they had to stand that close. He said that Y/n had been upset about something. But Leslie wasn’t quite so sure. She’d seen his forehead pressed to hers. Had seen how he was cradling her face in his palms and how tense the moment was.

“Oh, didn’t realize I was. Just worried about her.”

And that was kind of the truth. He was worried about her. But not for reasons he could explain. Not to Leslie.

More alcohol. Shots, beer, martinis, dancing. A full hour had gone by. Y/n was on the dance floor again and trying to let the alcohol cover up her sadness but even in her state she couldn’t stop thinking about Harry. Especially when she’d finally caught sight of him on the dance floor. Especially when he was dancing with Leslie. Kissing Leslie. Hands on Leslie. Hips pressed to hers.

She swallowed down the jealousy the best she could. It was better to have Harry with someone his age. Someone who wasn’t his stepmom.

Marla danced with Y/n and kept asking if she was okay.

“I’m just trying to not think about it,” Y/n spoke into her friend’s ear as she watched Leslie’s hand sneak up the back of Harry’s shirt.

And it wasn’t that Harry wasn’t enjoying Leslie touching him and grinding against him. He thought Leslie was cute. He liked her. And in another world where he hadn’t gotten involved with Y/n, he’d be over the moon about where the night was leading. He’d already invited Leslie back to his dorm room, to which she enthusiastically said yes.

He was going to forget about Y/n the best he could. Do normal 21-year-old college guy shit and have sex with someone after a night out. He could see himself dating Leslie. Enjoying her company. And maybe he’d get over Y/n after enough time.

But it didn’t help that he couldn’t stop stealing glances at her. She was dancing near the other man. Not in a way that should have Harry feeling jealous but he couldn’t help that part. He was jealous. He didn’t think anyone should be near her. If he couldn’t have her then no one else should either.

“I’m right here, Harry,” Leslie put her arms up over his shoulders to pull his attention back to her. He didn’t know what he was doing. He was really trying to enjoy the girl he was dancing with and ignore the one he was not but it was almost impossible. He’d do almost anything to have the girl in his arms be Y/n rather than Leslie. To have Y/n’s hips glued to his, her eyes on him, her warm skin stuck against his…

When he looked at Y/n again and caught her gaze he caved. Maybe it was all the alcohol, or it was his jealousy, or his heart thinking for him rather than his brain but he put his hands over Leslie’s arms and moved her off of him, “I need to um...” he didn’t finish saying what he needed to do. But he knew it was a need. He had to convince Y/n of what he was already sure of himself.

Harry trudged through the sweaty bodies with his eyes on her and she watched him approach. His eyes were dark and his face set with a menacingly chilly expression.

He stood in front of her and pulled her in by her waist and she gasped, “What are you–“

“Dancing with my stepmom.” Harry began to sway and Y/n grasped onto his sturdy biceps, “Harry we can’t. Someone will see–“

“I don’t fucking care, Y/n,” He leaned in and spoke lowly into her ear, “Just listen. I want you. I don’t care if I’m just the side piece or whatever shit you want to call it. I fucking don’t care. Let it be messy. We’ll be together when my dad’s not around. I can give you what he can’t. Don’t punish yourself because you don’t think you deserve that. You do. We both do.”

She darted her eyes to Marla who was next to Harry before turning her head to respond to her stepson, “It doesn’t matter what we want. We can’t have that, Harry.”

His grip on her waist tightened, “We can and you know it. Unless you tell me you don’t want me. Tell me right now that you hated being with me and that you don’t miss me and I’ll leave you alone. Tell me all those things you told me about how you felt were just lies and I’ll never bother you again.”

She couldn’t help the way her body trembled as he spoke and the breath she let out bloomed over his neck. He knew she couldn’t deny it. He knew she wouldn’t take back what she said. And that was enough for him to feel like it wasn’t over.

“Harry…” she breathed his name as his thumbs dug into the material of her dress at her waist.

Suddenly it felt as if there was no one in the club except for them. She could feel his cheek against her temple, the whiskery bits scratching her skin. Their bodies moved together slowly as the next song came on.

When she felt his mouth move as he spoke she had been unable to stop the way her chest rose and fell deeply, pants leaving her mouth.

“You can’t because you need me just as much as I need you, Y/n. Fuck everyone else. I don’t care. Fuck my dad. Come home with me.”

And despite the pair forgetting about everyone around them, all their friends watched on as Y/n and Harry danced close, Harry's lips moving next to her ear, Y/n’s breaths deepening, her hands on his arms, his on her waist.

“Y/n,” Marla tapped her arm, and the sudden shock of being brought out of Harry’s spell was clear on her face when she looked from Harry to Marla. “We should get going. Okay?”

And that was it. He’d lost her again. She shook her head at Harry as she slipped out of his arms and pulled herself away from him and out of the club.

. . .

She had been thankful that Marla had come when she did. She was just about to give in. Just about to let the alcohol and Harry’s convincing words do all the thinking for her. She wanted to go with him. Wanted to just forget about it all. She wanted him. She could admit that. And part of her did need him. That was what was so hard. Because, yes, the sex was fun and she really loved it with Harry. But it had gone beyond sex. Their connection was deeper than just sex.

Waking up the next morning in her bed with Marla asleep next to her she felt crushed. Felt suffocated. She didn’t know how she was going to handle going on a vacation with him. Seeing him every day. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to stay away from him. Strong enough to keep denying herself or him.

She was in too deep and she knew that. She knew her feelings weren’t just physical. She knew it wasn’t just a phase. She knew that, to her, Harry was more than just a man she’d gotten involved with that she had begun to have some kind of attachment to.

It was more than that. And she knew it. But she just wasn’t ready to admit it to herself yet. Not aloud. Nor in her mind would she connect her thoughts and her feelings and recognize that one unmistakable emotion.

When they got back to Y/n’s house after that disaster of a girl’s night, Marla had given her a stern talking to. The truth. The reality.

“That was dumb, Y/n. Everyone watched you and Harry practically make out on the dance floor.”

“We didn’t kiss, Marla.”

“I know, but that was… very intimate. You might as well have had his tongue down your throat. He was talking with his lips on your ear and holding your body against his. It was obvious that it wasn’t just a friendly chat. And that girl he was with? Well, she saw it too and you should have seen the look on her face. Poor thing.”

Y/n knew that was what she deserved to hear. It was the truth and she had a moment of weakness. But Harry made her weak.

“I know. I’m just having a hard time not… I’m fucking so confused. I hate this.”

“You’ll feel better in the morning. Want me to stay the night? I’ll keep your phone away so you’re not drunk dialing him or something.”

And so that’s what happened. Marla was trying to help. She was a good friend. Y/n was thankful. But she also hated that she wasn’t waking up in Harry’s bed. Hated that she didn’t give in and that they couldn’t just be together. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get over him.

Harry’s stunt with Y/n had been the nail in the coffin with Leslie. She was planning on going back to his place. But after seeing the way he was behaving with Y/n, twice in one night was all she needed to see to know that there was something going on.

So he woke up in his bed alone thinking about Y/n. Thinking about how she didn’t deny the way she felt. But she still left him standing there like an idiot. He’d gone out on a limb and fucked up the sure thing he had with Leslie that night and wound up not getting any at all. His hope had soared and then crashed once again as he saw her look over her shoulder before stepping deeper into the crowd of people and out of sight.

. . .

The private villa Y/n selected was five bedrooms. Looking online at the photos of the property she hummed to herself as she imagined being dragged into Harry’s room and fucked against the door. He’d be angry with her for making them wait so long. He’d growl into her ear quietly about how she was his and how she needed him as he held his palm over her mouth to keep her quiet.

She swallowed and tried to push those dirty thoughts away. Leo was in his office as she was in her room imagining doing filthy things to his son. She couldn’t help it. Even though they hadn’t spoken since that night at the club she knew that they’d be seeing one another again soon. And that the private villa was spacious and there would be plenty of opportunity for them to have privacy.

For better or worse she couldn’t stop thinking about it and hoping they’d get the chance. She knew she shouldn’t think that way. But it was hard to stop those thoughts from taking over. Because she knew how he felt about her. She figured he’d try and convince her again and if it was just the two of them in a room with the door locked she wouldn’t say no. She wouldn’t be able to.

. . .

The airline lounge was quiet. There weren’t that many people to be seen at 5 am. Y/n sipped a latte and tried to distract herself by looking at her phone but she knew that Harry would show up soon with Tyler. She’d been unable to get much sleep the night before. Which was a shame because the flight with a layover was nearly a full day of travel.

They had a layover in Dublin and from there they’d fly into Corfu where they had ground transportation waiting to take them to their private villa on the ocean. She couldn’t wait to get to their destination.

“Harry texted. They just got through security,” Leo spoke suddenly.

Y/n nodded and looked back down at her phone, trying to act less affected than she was.

When Tyler and Harry arrived at the lounge they sat in a different area closer to the breakfast bar. Harry wore a baseball cap that covered his brown curls and he had his eyes closed until it was time to board their flight.

Y/n was glad that Harry and Tyler were not sitting near her and Leo on either flight. Traveling for nearly an entire day was already stressful enough. She didn’t need the extra tension of seeing Harry the entire time. She’d be getting enough of that in Greece.

. . .

The villa was even more gorgeous in person. The terrace was massive with lovely little lights attached to the outdoor canopies and was set on a hill that overlooked the ocean bay. The pool was huge and the property was totally private, surrounded by olive trees and plenty of land for them to explore if they chose. The interior of the villa was rustic but chic. The stone walls and floors with arched doorways and high ceilings with wooden beams were stunning. Every bedroom in the place had a view of the bay. It was literally quite breathtaking.

Leo and Y/n’s room was massive with a large window and terrace and hammocks swaying in the wind. Plants gave them some privacy but Y/n shuddered when she thought about that. She didn’t know how this vacation would go down. If Leo would want sex. He probably would. He was already relaxed and in quite high spirits she could tell.

Y/n was already in a cute bikini by the time Harry and Tyler had come outside to enjoy the terrace and pool and the view. She had her eyes closed, lying flat on her back on one of the lounge chairs.

But Harry wasn’t going to give her anything. He was going to act like he couldn’t care less about her presence or her body or what they’d gone through. If she could act so nonchalant about it so could he.

When Y/n heard the guys jump into the pool she sat up and glanced at Harry’s strong chest before turning her gaze away to watch the gorgeous view of the sea. It was difficult, though, to not let her eyes drag over his pecs and to his tattoos. His arms and his shoulders.

He looked happy. He was laughing with Tyler and seemed relaxed. And that was a good thing. Yes, it was better that he was happy rather than upset about the way things had ended.

Leo jumped into the pool with Harry and Tyler suddenly, the three of them laughing and enjoying the first official day of their vacation.

And Harry could tell that ignoring her was already working. He didn’t look at her but he could feel her eyes on him. He could tell she was trying not to look but failing.

“Thinking about going out tomorrow night. There’s a really nice bar in town. You’d be okay with that if just me and Tyler went?” Harry spoke to Leo but loud enough for Y/n to hear.

Y/n looked down into her lap and tried not to frown. Tried not to let her emotions take over her face. She didn’t know if this was payback or if Harry was actually trying to just move on. Or… perhaps it was just a ploy to make her needy of his usual attention.

“Of course! The driver can take you wherever you need to go and bring you back too. I expected that you and Tyler would want to go out and meet some girls or something.” Leo laughed.

Y/n pouted before blinking her eyes shut and trying to ignore the conversation. She didn’t want to even think about Harry meeting anyone. But what a selfish thing to consider. Her fantasies of Harry begging her to be with him or dragging her to his room slowly began to fade with the reality of the situation. She needed to let it go.

Bedtime came early. Everyone was exhausted from the long trip. Harry had still barely spared her a glance, though he did politely offer her the bottle of wine to refill her glass. But that was it. It was quite the blow to her ego. She figured that was what she deserved, though.

Tyler knocked at Harry’s cracked open door before stepping into his room, “You doing all that on purpose?” He gestured toward the door behind him.

“What do you mean?” Harry’s smirk gave away that he knew just what Tyler was talking about.

His friend cocked his head at Harry and rolled his eyes as he walked deeper into the room and sat on the edge of Harry’s bed, “What do you think I mean?”

Harry shrugged, “Just want to have some fun while I’m here on vacation. Trying not to think about Y/n or anything.”

“Dude you’re so full of shit. You had the chance to do that when we went out to the club but instead, you scared Leslie off for good trying to get with your stepmom in front of everyone.”

Harry shook his head, “Today’s a new day. She doesn’t want me so I’m just gonna have some fun.”

. . .

Y/n woke up before anyone else and made coffee. The place was beautiful. She couldn’t get over how bright and paradisiac the place was.

But even with how lovely the villa was… she tried not to pay much mind to the little voice in her head that told her Harry was doing it on purpose. That he was trying to make her jealous. Make her miss him. Make her eat her words about him finding someone his age to be with.

She’d gotten lucky that Leo was so tired the night before. He did kiss her goodnight, though. She rarely got that from him. But she knew he’d want something. He was in way too good of a mood the night before. She could tell he was going to want a roll in the sack soon.

She thought that with Harry and Tyler out that evening it would be a good time. It would be much easier to go along with it if Harry wasn’t nearby. She could pretend to be into it. Maybe he’d go down on her and she could pretend–“

“Up so early.” His raspy, deep morning voice was maybe her favorite sound. Ever. Her cheeks immediately warmed up at his voice coming from behind her, cutting her off from her thoughts.

She turned and watched as he walked around the large stone table to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Yeah. I got to sleep right away and slept hard. Woke up and felt like I’d had enough rest.” She sipped her coffee as she watched Harry turn around with a mug, take three long-legged strides toward the table and sit down right next to her.

Without looking away from her he took a drink from his cup and Y/n continued to speak to fill in the awkward silence, “So, anyway. And you’re up early. Did you get enough rest?”

Harry smiled thoughtfully as he placed his mug down, “Sure. Slept pretty well. Fell asleep pretty quickly.”

He didn’t miss it when she mentioned that she got to sleep right away. To him, that meant that nothing happened between her and his dad the night before. Which of course he felt relieved by. He tried not to wonder when the last time they slept together was.

Y/n nodded, “Good. I think it’s so peaceful here too. Maybe that’s why we slept so well.” Her smile was genuine and her eyes told Harry she was taking all of him in. Soaking up his presence. Want. Longing.

Good.

“Well, I mean I’ve slept better before. Can think of a couple of times in particular. Ya know?” Harry raised his brows knowingly and licked his lips.

She softly nodded her head and the smallest smile broke out on her lips, “Yeah.” Memories of just how well they could sleep after the kind of intense sex they always seemed to have filled her thoughts.

Neither of them budged from their spot as they kept their eyes agaze on the other.

It was quiet and soft. She could stare into his eyes all day if she were allowed. She wanted to reach across the space to him and pull his shirt collar to bring him down for a kiss but she wouldn’t He wished she would.

Their moment was interrupted when they heard footsteps, quickly both taking their mugs in hand and sipping the hot liquid.

“Morning, early risers,” Leo yawned and stretched his arms overhead.

Tyler didn’t wake up until nearly noon. Y/n stayed most of the morning in a hammock by the pool reading while Harry sauntered around in only athletic shorts, baring his chest and abs. She was glad to have a book to read to distract her from the expanse of his skin littered with inky sketchings. The last thing she needed was to have Leo see her ogling his son.

After Harry and Tyler had left the big villa felt odd. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been used to being in such a large dwelling. Leonardo’s home was nearly as big. It was that the sudden weight of what she knew was coming felt paralyzing. She wasn’t going to be able to get out of this one she knew. Sure she could just say she didn’t want to have sex but that’s what she’d been doing far too frequently lately.

And just like she knew would happen, Leo was pulling her into his chest and trying to talk dirty to her. Two months ago it would have been welcomed.

“They’re gone for the night. What do you say we have a little fun?”

Y/n plastered a fake smile on her lips and drew her hands up over his shoulders, “What did you have in mind?”

“Haven’t felt you in a while. Missed you.” Leo pushed his mouth over hers and she closed her eyes and tried to shift her thoughts from the moment. Tried imagining she was doing anything else. Playing tennis with her trainer Margaret, swimming in the pool, shopping for new shoes…

But by the time they’d gotten into their bed, it was getting difficult to imagine that anything else was happening. So she switched tactics. It was Harry kissing her neck and pulling her clothes down and exposing her breaths. It was Harry whispering to her how pretty she was and what he wanted to do to her.

When he’d slid her panties off and he was bare between her legs she pushed herself up by her elbows and looked at his cock and gulped hard, but not out of lust or want. This wasn’t Harry and it was obvious. It was hard to trick herself that she was kissing Harry and touching his naked body when it wasn’t him. She didn’t want Leo. Not anymore. Not at all.

She blinked her eyes at him and grinned as she placed her palm over his dick before he could put on a condom, “Let me suck you off. Haven’t done that in a long time. And then you can come on my tits or something.” She figured a blow job didn’t feel as dirty as sex. Though choking on a cock was not fun when she wasn’t into it, it felt better than having sex with him, though.

And it wasn’t fun. Leo was well endowed and she had to work for him to come. He kept trying to pull her off so he could fuck her but she insisted that she wanted to get him off with her mouth.

She half regretted the route she’d taken. It probably would have been much faster if she’d just let him fuck her. He would have nutted in under ten minutes and she could fake an orgasm easily and that would be that. But instead, it took nearly double that for him to begin shaking with his release bursting down her throat before she pulled off of him and stroked him over her tits and tummy.

It was also no surprise to her that he didn’t even try to offer her anything once he was done. Which she was thankful for. This was one of those times she was relieved that he was a selfish lover.

. . .

Y/n startled awake when she heard Harry and Tyler stumble toward their rooms, with attempts to keep their voices down but failing quite miserably. It was just after 1 am. But when she heard the giggle of a female voice she sat up and strained her ears to listen closer.

Had they brought girls back with them?

She heard stomping and laughing then shushing before one door closed and then seconds later another. She considered going to stand outside of Harry’s door and pressing her ear to the wood to listen. But that was insane. He deserved privacy if he did bring a girl back. And that would be a good thing if he had (this seemed to be her mantra lately). A good thing for him to have some fun. With someone that wasn’t Y/n. That’s what she told herself anyway. In reality, it made her want to vomit.

She laid her head back onto the pillow and sighed. She closed her eyes and tried to let her mind think of anything but what might be happening in Harry’s room. She didn’t want to think about him joking around with another girl in that flirty confident way he does, taking her dress off, kissing the exposed parts of her skin as he lowered the fabric down over her hips. She couldn’t let herself imagine him with his soft raspberry lips doing things to some other girl that he’d done to her. And certainly, she refused to picture him having sex and coming on her tummy when they realized they forgot the condom because they were too caught up and horny.

She hated it. Hated the idea of any of that. Hated being jealous. Hated that she wasn’t being snuck into his room to do all of those things with him.

But the silence was a gift. She could hear nothing from their room and so she eventually convinced herself that she’d only imagined hearing a female’s voice, that there hadn’t been girls with them. And that thought was the only thing that helped her ease back into sleep.

. . .

When she finally woke up the following morning she had a feeling of dread and sadness in her tummy. Leo was already up as his side of the bed was empty.

She didn’t want to get up and walk into the kitchen and find two pretty girls sitting with coffee while Tyler sat next to one and Harry the other. Then it would be real. Because she had convinced herself that she’d only imagined hearing things the night before. But she knew what she heard. The distinct voice of a female, maybe two. She hoped she was wrong.

Freshening up her sleepy appearance first she put her messy hair into a ponytail and splashed her face with water. Her pajamas were cute. Little silky shorts and a tank top. It was her regular sleepwear. She had no idea what she was about to encounter but at least if she was going to see the young woman that got a taste of Harry the night before she could look somewhat cute.

But then she heard Leo’s voice. The window in the bathroom faced the balcony of their bedroom. She hadn’t seen him out on the balcony when she went into the bathroom so he must have been standing at the far corner away from where he could be spotted.

“I miss you, honey. I know…” his voice was quiet and soft. He never spoke to Y/n that way. He seemed so gentle with her. Sounded so malleable. So tender.

He chuckled breathily and spoke, “12 more days, Parker. Wish it was you here with me…”

She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head. What had she gotten herself into? The man she was married to was clearly in love or falling in love with another woman. Y/n wasn’t upset that Leo was finding love with someone else. Y/n didn’t love Leo. But everything felt so fleeting suddenly. So finite. Things weren’t always as they seemed and now she was hyper-aware that the kind of agreement she had might be coming to an end.

She took a deep breath as she walked out of the bathroom, not needing to hear anything else from Leo to understand what was happening, and braced herself for what she might encounter in the kitchen.

But what she found when she got there was not quite what she’d imagined. There was indeed a young woman. Harry was seated at the table with his head drooped down and a mug of coffee in his hands while on the opposite side was Tyler sitting next to a sleepy girl. It was clear that the girl was with Tyler. Though, that didn’t mean there wasn’t another girl somewhere. Perhaps even still lying in Harry’s bed.

Harry appeared to be painfully hungover.

“Morning,” Y/n spoke as she eyed Tyler and the girl.

Everyone’s eyes were suddenly on Y/n.

Tyler cleared his throat, “This is Alex. We’re just waiting on the car to get here so she can go home.”

“So soon? You can stay for breakfast if you like,” Y/n smiled at the girl as she poured coffee for herself.

“Oh that is so kind of you but I have to be at work soon.”

Y/n glanced at Harry who couldn’t even force a smile onto his face. She wanted to ask if there was another girl in the house somewhere but based on Harry’s appearance she thought she knew the answer to that question.

Once Alex left Y/n tasked herself with making a big breakfast for everyone. Cooking made her happy and she figured if the guys were both hungover they’d want something to eat to soak up all the alcohol from the previous night. And also just the knowledge that Harry hadn’t brought a girl home, made everything in her own tummy settle and she was feeling quite peckish as well.

Y/n learned that Harry had gotten on a table and danced the macarena after housing some girl's martini. The girl was apparently into Harry but then he’d gotten quite trashed and that’s when Tyler suggested they head home. With Alex in tow of course.

“Shut up, dude,” Harry grumbled his words.

“Totally blew your shot with her man! And the funniest part of it was that she was so pissed that you drank her drink in one go. Like you just yanked it from her hand, gulped the whole thing down, and then climbed on the table and–“

Harry punched Tyler’s shoulder, “Shut. Up.”

After breakfast, Harry lay by the pool fully clothed. In fact, Y/n was quite sure he was wearing the same clothes as he had been the night before.

Y/n hated that this news made her happy. Hated that she felt smug that he’d gotten too drunk to bring a girl home. Hated that that idea improved her mood at all. But it did.

She was cleaning up the dishes and putting the leftovers away when Leo walked into the kitchen and clapped his hands together, “Today is a beach day. The boys can nurse their hangovers by the sea.”

Most of the morning had been wasted at the villa with Harry trying to recover and get his shit together before they could finally head to the bay.

The water was deep blue and the sky above was bright and clear. The beach had chairs with sun umbrellas all along the shore. They found a few chairs together and draped towels over them.

Harry seemed to be feeling better. Especially when two girls came up to greet him. It was clear they both were interested in Harry. Tyler was an attractive guy too, but Harry was… well he was Harry.

The girls were from Italy and spoke English perfectly. They were pretty with pretty hair, pretty skin, pretty lips, and pretty accents.

Watching Harry flirt sucked. She didn’t know any other way to feel about it. She tried to pretend she didn’t notice. But it was impossible being that they were only a few chairs away. She could hear everything too. The girls were giggling and Harry was being cheeky and cute, trying to say something to them in Italian and they ate it up, correcting his words and making him repeat but it seemed to only endear them to him even more.

Harry wore a pair of short green swim trunks that did little to hide his tight ass and strong thighs. Tattoos on full show, lean and well-muscled torso flaunted. Harry knew he was attractive. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the girls introduced themselves to Harry and Tyler.

Y/n let her sun hat slip over her eyes as she laid back and tried to focus on the sound of the waves in the ocean and not the flirtatious laughter coming from Harry’s direction.

“Will you rub sunscreen on my back, Y/n? Feel like I didn’t get enough toward the shoulders,” Leo put his hand on Y/n’s arm to get her attention.

She scooted in behind Leo on his beach chair to reapply sunscreen to his back but with the angle she was at she had a better view of the boys.

Harry was draped casually on his chair. His smile drew deep dimples into his cheeks and the tiger tattoo on his thigh was being traced by the girl sitting next to him on his chair. They were no longer laughing but speaking quietly to one another.

She watched as the young woman pointed to his butterfly tattoo and Harry took her hand and urged her to put the pad of her finger along the lines of the ink.

Harry could tell Y/n was watching. He did feel a little bad. Just a little, though. Because he wasn’t interested in the pretty Italian girl with her hands on his skin, which was a bit rude of him. And he was reveling in the fact that Y/n might be getting jealous. Also rude of him.

But when he did finally allow his sight to take his stepmom in he noticed that his dad was rubbing lotion on her back and shoulders. He watched fingers graze along the side of her boobs and noted how his dad was grinning and whispering into Y/n’s ear.

Y/n was holding her hair to the side so it didn’t get sunscreen all over it and her other arm was out in front, palm flat on the chair between her legs so she was slightly bent at the waist. Her cleavage nearly spilled out of her yellow bikini top.

He didn’t like the way Leo was touching her or how Y/n was grinning at whatever was being said.

Harry took the girl's wrist and pulled her hand higher, now pressing her palm over the sparrow on his right pec.

“You work out a lot,” the girl spoke as she looked at Harry with her big brown eyes. She wanted more he could tell.

Harry turned his attention back to the girl fully and shook his head, “Just a few times a week. You obviously work out too.”

Y/n could pull the girl’s hair out. Her hands were on his pecs, feeling the firm muscle that Y/n enjoyed kissing and touching herself. But the worst was the way Harry was looking at the girl. His eyes dragged down her body as he spoke quietly to her. And when he pinched her thigh and she laughed loudly, hopping up from the chair, Harry followed after her and they ran playfully toward the water.

“Want a drink? I was thinking about bringing back some wine or something. There’s a shop just over there.” Leo spoke as Y/n stood up and moved back into her own chair.

“Yeah. Maybe some wine would be good.”

. . .

Leo had had a bit too much to drink. And Y/n hated, hated to think it, but it meant he’d pass out and would be unlikely to try anything with her. She could avoid sex with him. At least that evening.

It also meant, much to her devious delight, that Harry and Tyler had to bid adieu to the lovely young ladies, but not before getting some contact information so they could meet up later. Y/n needed their help to get Leo back to the villa in one piece.

Tyler was already setting up plans for that night to see Gia by the time they helped Leo to bed.

“Dude they’re both gonna be there tonight. Gia and Bambi.”

Yeah. The girl that Harry had been flirting with was named Bambi. Of course, that was her name. She was adorable with long legs and big brown eyes. She could pass for a Bambi.

“I don’t know, man. We just went out last night. I got so wasted and sick. Not sure I’m into it.”

“Really? Bambi was all over you. She wants to see you. You don’t have to drink, H. You know that right?” Tyler laughed.

Y/n was not purposely listening. She just happened to be in the kitchen wiping the countertops as the guys were in the sunroom connected to the kitchen. The fact that she could hear was totally a coincidence. Totally.

“Nah. You go. It’s fine.”

There was a pause for a beat and Y/n strained to hear if they were speaking. Whispering perhaps?

When Tyler responded his voice was much quieter so Y/n wiped her way toward the stone island in the center and perked her ears.

“It’s because of Y/n. Isn’t it? I know you’re still hung up on her but you gotta move on.”

“Tyler, I just don’t feel like going.”

“You’re not gonna be mad if I do then?”

Smiling to herself she moved away from the island and tossed the rag into the sink. Harry wasn’t going out to meet up with Bambi. She shouldn’t have been pleased with that but she was.

Tyler left after the sun had already gone down. Y/n hadn’t heard a single peep from Leo when she settled onto the terrace with a book and the yellow bikini she’d been wearing at the beach. Even at night, the weather in Corfu was warm.

Harry had been in the kitchen for a bit on his phone and then he disappeared for a while. She wished that things could be easy between them. Go back to how they were before.

But when he strutted out to the terrace and walked in front of her before splashing into the pool she was a little surprised that he’d come out with her at all. She thought perhaps he’d keep his distance. But of course, she knew better. She knew he wouldn’t.

And like they had been doing, mostly effectively since arriving in Greece, they ignored one another. Harry swam laps and Y/n read her mystery book and the stars twinkled down on their little paradise by the beach.

Y/n connected her cellphone to the speaker and put on music she had in her saved favorites. A random mix really.

Harry watched her walk across the stones to the outdoor mini fridge and pull out a bottle of beer before turning to Harry with a brow raised, “Want a beer?”

He nodded as he pulled himself out of the water and began to walk toward her. Droplets trickled down his skin and dripped from his trunks that were hung low on his hips.

She did well not to stare at his wet body as she handed him the cold bottle.

“Surprised you didn’t go out with Tyler. Seemed like you would have enjoyed seeing that girl tonight.” Y/n spoke as she sat down on the chair next to her book.

She immediately regretted asking. It made her look desperate, jealous. But perhaps she was.

Harry took the lounge next to hers and put his feet up as he took a swig from the bottle.

“Yeah. I would have enjoyed seeing her. She was really nice.”

“So why didn’t you? This is your vacation, Harry. You should enjoy it.”

Harry leaned his head back into the chair and turned to look at Y/n, “I am enjoying it. Maybe another night I’ll go out. Last night was too much for me.”

They sat silently for a bit as Y/n picked her book back up and tried to concentrate on the words on the page but her mind was racing.

When the next song came on, it had changed the mood entirely. A slow song and the lyrics were maybe somewhat ironic given their circumstance.

Harry stood from his chair and stretched his arms overhead before taking down the last of his beer.

“You done with yours?” He gestured toward her bottle.

“Oh. Yeah. Thanks, Harry.” She was about to pick up the bottle to hand to him but he reached across her and picked it up. Their faces coming within just inches. He’d done it on purpose. But she didn’t say anything as he straightened himself and took the bottles to the trash.

She looked back down at her book but the lyrics of the song and Harry’s fit body were far more interesting to her.

“You’re staring,” Harry spoke with a smile.

Y/n scoffed and rolled her eyes, “No. No, I’m not.” But she didn’t remove her eyes from his frame as she grinned.

Harry kept his gaze set on hers as he adjusted his swim trunks, plucking at the fabric near his crotch where the lining was irritating his skin. He’d done that on purpose too. A reminder to her of what she was missing out on.

She tried not to imagine him without the shorts. She knew what he looked like underneath.

Blinking her eyes she looked down at her lap and took a breath.

“So, Tyler’s having fun. He brought that girl back yesterday and now he’s out with another tonight. Quite the ladies' man,” Y/n tried changing the subject or at least the trajectory of where her mind was beginning to wander.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Harry shrugged as he plopped back down onto the chair and stretched his arms behind his head. “Kind of funny…” Harry chuckled, not finishing his thought.

Y/n turned to look at him, “What’s funny?”

Harry’s bright eyes binged on her exposed skin, “Cause I should be out with him. Bambi was cute. Coulda had fun. Yet here I am.”

Nodding she turned to face him, putting her feet onto the stone below the chair, “You should have gone. It would have been good. You can still go you know.” “Would it be? Is that what you want?” Harry mimicked her stance, turning himself and putting his feet onto the stone, their knees facing one another.

“What I want? What do you mean?”

Harry’s pink lips opened and then closed as he considered his words, “Want me to go out and have fun with someone else? Someone who’s not you?”

Y/n shook her head and looked away from his deep gaze. Of course, she didn’t want that. What she wanted wasn’t fair. Wasn’t right.

She stood up so she could pace. To put some distance between her and Harry because even though he was a couple of feet from her it was too close. But she didn’t get far when she felt his hand on her hip and he was standing over her, “That’s what you want?”

It wasn’t fair. Her feelings weren’t fair. The way he felt for her wasn’t fair. Nothing about their situation was fair.

She looked up at him and the slow riff of the new song made their proximity feel even more intense. It just wasn’t fair.

“Stop, Harry. You already know the answer.”

When his other hand landed on her hip and pulled her in so she couldn’t back away from him he nodded his head, “I do know the answer. That’s why I’m here. With you. Because we want the same thing. Don’t we?”

She dropped her eyes toward his chest, just about where his heart would be. The heart she longed to keep for herself. The most tender heart she’d ever known.

She nodded her answer but did not look up at him. Because it wasn’t fair. Her answer wasn’t fair. His feelings weren’t fair.

“See? You’re just torturing yourself, Y/n. Torturing me. I need you in a way I’ve never needed anything, and I know it’s the same for you. Please look at me.”

Harry didn’t know he could be so relentless about something. He was generally very easygoing and didn’t bother to push anyone in the way he did with Y/n. But it was different. Because he knew they had something special. Something rare.

Slowly she gave in and looked up at him again, bringing her hands up to his chest, palms flat. He looked down at her hands and then back up to her eyes, “Can you feel my heart?”

She nodded as Harry took one of his hands and pressed it over the back of hers to hold her palm in place. The unmistakable frenzied thudding of his muscular organ below vibrated against her skin, “It doesn’t do that with anyone else. Not like this.”

She didn’t want to cry. Didn’t want to let her feelings overwhelm her like they had been since she broke it off. Wanted to keep strong. Didn’t want to give in. Didn’t want to not give in.

“I know you feel the same way. Why are you doing this?”

She let out a shaky breath and blinked her eyes, “Because we can’t.”

“Y/n… I’m…” he shook his head and took a deep breath, “I need you to be honest. Because I can’t keep doing this to myself. I’m going crazy. Tell me you don’t want me.”

“That’s not fair.” Her words were a whisper.

“If you can’t tell me you don’t want me I’m never gonna be able to move on from you, Y/n.”

Harry brought his hands up to her face, not allowing her the chance to look away from him.

“I can’t.”

“Y/n… there’s not a single part of me that doesn’t want every single part of you. It’s only going to get worse. Tell me now you don’t want me. Before I kiss you.” His nose was pressed into her cheekbone as he closed his eyes. He could tell her breath was deepening. Her fingers softly stroked the skin and hair of his chest.

“Harry… please… don’t…” she couldn’t ever tell him she didn’t want him. She should tell him so that they could put an end to all of it. Tell him she never wanted him. Tell him it never meant anything to her. But how could she when that was the furthest thing from the truth? Her heart couldn’t let her speak those things aloud to him. Couldn’t utter those lies.

“Say it and I’ll stop. Say it, Y/n. Put me out of misery. Let me move on if you don’t want me. Say it and I’ll leave you alone for good.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Harry’s lips found the edge of Y/n’s mouth and his muttered words sent a shock through her soul, “Y/n, I love you.”

She gasped and pushed at him, her eyes wide as she shook her head, “No you don’t. Don’t say that!”

Pulling herself from his hold she turned and quickly walked back inside to get away. She needed to break down and cry and scream into a pillow and stomp her feet… anything to stop her veins from overflowing with him. Anything from stopping herself from responding to him in kind.

“Y/n!” Harry walked after her and followed her into the stairwell as she ascended as quickly as her legs would carry her. But Harry’s legs were longer and he was not letting her get away.

“Don’t run away from me, please!”

She pushed her way into a spare room and tried shoving the door closed but Harry’s strong body blocked the door as he forced his way in and closed it behind himself. The dark room was illuminated by the moon and the twinkle lights strung up over the terrace.

“Harry stop. You don’t mean it. You’re… you’re confused… it’s–“

His hands found her waist in the dark and he pulled her into his arms. He pressed his face into her hair, lips close to her ear, “I’m not confused. I’m in love with you.”

She had given in to her tears already. It was too much. Having his arms around her and his skin against hers, his voice, his words. I love you.

She melted into his arms and pressed her wet cheek against his chest as she cried.

Harry was gentle. His hands caressed her back as he allowed her to cry in his arms. He knew he was being bold by telling her how he really felt but he needed her to know. He wanted her to admit her feelings to him. She couldn’t say she didn’t want him because she did want him and he was sure she felt the exact same way for him that he did for her.

“Please, Y/n. If you can’t tell me you don’t want me I’m never gonna stop. I don’t care about the consequences. I don’t care if we get caught or if we keep it a secret forever. I just… I love you. I need you.”

Harry’s shorts were mostly dry by that point. Y/n felt the fabric against her hips as he tightened around her the slightest, his warm breath over her ear, “I love you.”

What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to just push him away and ignore it all? It was already impossible, but now with his confession, she couldn’t do anything but let her heart crack open wide and allow him in. His warmth and kind heart smothered her resolve. Drowned it until it was gone.

“Goddamnit, Harry.” She spoke with her mouth smashed over his skin.

He put his hands on her face and turned her head up to look at him in the shadowy room, “I’m gonna kiss you. Tell me right now if you don’t want me to but I can’t go one more minute without it,” he whispered his words as he dipped down slowly.

Her silence was his answer and when his lips smoothed over hers their moans of acceptance meshed together with mouths moving in synch.

She had missed his kiss. His breath. His tongue.

When he felt her fingers glide into his curls he thought he might pass out. He didn’t know if this was only for the night or if it meant forever, or maybe just something in between. But it was clear she was his in that moment.

She could feel him under his shorts, thickening up quickly. And that flipped a switch in her right away. She’d been denying him of everything. He might have flirted with some girls during their break but he hadn’t been with anyone. He was hers. Every part of him belonged to her and how could she ever refuse him again? To deprive him of what he wanted, needed felt abusive. She never wanted to hurt him.

“I’m sorry, Harry…” she spoke against his lips as she pushed him toward the bed. Her legs were about to give out from the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She needed to be in his lap or lying next to him so they could be closer. She needed him closer. “I was wrong to break up with you.”

Harry gasped at her words and when he felt her pushing him toward the mattress he stepped back and pulled her with him, their lips never parting.

He hoisted her up over his body as he sat on the bed and slid himself into the center and up to the headboard keeping her with him as he went.

Y/n settled her thighs over his and kept her mouth on his, “I want you. I’ve always wanted you, Harry. I’m so sorry…”

His hands were shaky as he hugged her tight. He hoped this meant for good. He hoped she wouldn’t regret this again. He had never regretted it.

“You mean it?” Harry kissed her softly before parting from the kiss and putting his hands on her hips.

Y/n nodded and scratched his scalp gently, “I mean it. I’m not done with you. I could never be. I was wrong when I thought it would be better to be apart.”

“Promise me? You’re not gonna leave me again?”

Leaning forward she nudged her nose into his and brought her hands down to cup his face, “I promise you. Never again. It was stupid. I need you, Harry.”

The whine that left his throat when she rocked her hips down over him had blood rushing to her limbs and she pulled at him to move his back away from the headboard before pushing him flat to lie down, “You need me too, don’t you, baby? Need me to take care of you?” She rolled her hips over his bulge and he nodded and breathed out the word yes.

“Poor thing. I’ve been so bad to you. I’m gonna spend so much time making it up to you. I promise, Harry.”

“Please, Y/n.”

“Missed you, Harry. Missed this…” she pecked his lips and then kissed her way down his jaw, neck, his pecs, and sternum. Her mouth left small wet spots as she moved and whispered over his skin, “I’m sorry for all of it, baby.”

Harry arched his back when she licked her tongue along the ridges of his abs and he whimpered, “I need you. I need you now.”

She smiled and looked up at him. They both had tears in their eyes but things had shifted quickly. Instead of uncertainty and grief their hearts were reacting with love and devotion. Y/n would show him her devotion the best she could.

She put her palms on his pecs and sat up to look him over, “So pretty. So perfect for me, Harry. I was dumb to think I could suppress my feelings for you.”

Harry brought his hands up to her low back and smoothed his palms downward over her bottom. Her little bikini was flimsy and so it was easy for Harry’s thumbs to slip under the fabric so he could keep hold of her.

She needed the moment to take him in. There was just enough light to see his face and torso, to see his lips parted and his chest rising and falling.

“You know that I’m yours too, right? You’re the only one who has my heart, Harry.”

Harry let out a quivering breath as he squeezed her bottom and in a strained voice spoke barely above a whisper, “Say it again.”

Settling herself over his hips and leaning down to put her lips close to his ear and her palm over his heart she spoke, “I’m yours. I love you, Harry.”

The moment she whispered those words into his ears, Harry felt like his heart would give out, like his nervous system was going to shut down… his ears became muffled as blood rushed to his head and his heart pumped viciously in his chest. His breath caught in his throat and he began to melt and sink down into the mattress and through the floor into the cement foundation of the room below and then into the earth. But as long as he had her in his arms he was alive and in love. He was safe with her heart and her words.

She felt his grip tighten on her bottom but he said nothing as the moment had him spinning and sinking and soaring.

She kissed his soft lips and he suddenly jolted back into his body with a moan as he opened his mouth wide against hers. It was as if her lips were a defibrillator to his heart.

He bent his knees slightly and bucked up toward her, keeping his hands on her to hold her down. He wasn’t going to let her go.

She rocked her hips over him slowly as they kissed and licked wetly.

Harry’s dick was in an uncomfortable position in his trunks and the lining was scraping the skin as Y/n pressed her crotch over him. And as if she’d somehow read his mind, she pushed against his hands that were holding her bum and reached between them to push his shorts down and free his length from its confines.

When he sighed she cooed at him, “Feels better like that, doesn’t it? You’re too big to be smushed in there like that.”

Harry wanted to just thrust into her and fuck her from his spot on the mattress, holding her down and make her take him. He was desperate to feel her but he knew she was in charge. She was going to make it worth the wait. But he was shaky and leaking, “Y/n, please…” He didn’t even know exactly what he was asking for but he wanted anything.

“Yes, Harry. I know… Tell me what you need, baby. I just want to make you happy. Want you to feel so good.”

Harry pulled at the fabric of her bikini bottom and the hint was loud enough that she understood just what he wanted.

“Want these off? Yeah?” She kissed his mouth and gently brushed the crotch of her bikini bottoms over his cock.

Harry nodded and groaned, “Yes. Off…”

Y/n pushed herself up but Harry’s big hands wouldn’t let go of her bottom so she put her palms over the top of his hands and pried them off, “Need to let me go so I can get these off for you, baby. Will you let go?”

Harry whined but he did as she said.

Y/n got to her knees between his legs and first removed her top and then slowly slid her bottoms down her legs as Harry sat up and pushed his trunks the rest of the way off his body, but the moment she was completely bare he pulled her back into his chest, not wanting to have any space in between their bodies for a moment longer.

She giggled at the abrupt force of him pulling at her but then her mouth was covered by his, rendering her silent as he slowly moved his lips, savoring her taste and her skin on his.

The feel of her body draped over him, her hips and her bottom under his palms, her thighs spreading for him to have access to anything he wanted… Euphoria.

He reached down further, letting his digits glide down her bottom to the back of her thighs and then in toward her pussy that was pressed to his shaft. He let the pads of his fingers feel her soft skin over his hard erection, the tiny swivel of her hips to keep them connected was seductive.

She felt his fingers reaching behind her gently stroking her crease so she moved herself the slightest to feel the tip of his finger dip inside. The motion caused their lips to part and Harry let out a low moan.

Putting her hands on his chest she pushed herself up and sat over his finger making it reach deeper inside, “I want another Harry,” she panted as she rolled her hips onto his hand.

Harry groaned as he pulled his finger out and then thrust two inside of her. She was doing most of the work. He hardly had to move his fingers or hand at all with the way she was writhing over him.

“Missed your hands and your fingers so much, Harry.”

“I missed you, Y/n.”

She continued rocking into his hand, wetting his palm and making his fingers sticky with herself. Her clit was pressed to Harry’s frenulum giving him that decadent sensation of her pussy gliding over him gently that he missed so much.

Y/n reached around and pulled at his hand to bring his fingers out of her and she lifted his wrist toward his mouth, pushing his fingers onto his tongue, “That’s yours, baby.”

Harry closed his eyes at the taste as he felt her move down his body before wrapping her hand around his shaft.

She licked his tip and kissed the thick vein on the underside. Harry gasped and groaned and pushed himself up to reach for her, pulling her face upward so she would look at him, “Please, Y/n. I need to be inside of you so bad.”

Y/n grinned, grasping his wrist as she turned her face to kiss his palm, “Need to feel my pussy around you?”

Harry nodded as she climbed back over his body and smoothed her soaked cunt over his length, “Anything you want, baby.”

When she angled her hips over him and pushed down over his thick crown Harry let out a loud and guttural moan. Too loud.

And while Leo was probably still passed out, Y/n didn’t need to have this moment interrupted by anyone. She continued to sink over him as she put her palm over his mouth, “Shhh… this is just for you and me. Okay? Be a good boy and keep quiet so I can fuck you without anyone else hearing.”

It was nirvana to be connected with him again. To feel his thick tip being pushed inside her body, splitting her down the center in smooth strokes, nudging and gliding into her g-spot with each roll of her hips. And even with Y/n’s palm covering his mouth the sound of what was going on in the room was quite blatant. She was filthy wet over his cock, slick and sticky as she fucked herself down on him, pushing him into her guts. The bed started off with the smallest rattle from the metal frame and turned into a repetitive clunking thud on the floors as she rocked her hips over his harder. Even with their silence, the atmosphere in the room was sex and elation. They were finally together again and their bodies were celebrating the joy their hearts felt.

She was already chasing her own orgasm after only a handful of minutes of having him inside of her but she wanted to drag it out. Make it last. They had all night. And she didn’t care if Leo did wake and wonder where she was. Let him find them. Let him hear the squeak of the mattress and the wet sound of her pussy being fucked by his son. She was Harry’s. Only Harry’s.

Pulling her hand from his mouth she leaned over him, pressing her soft tits to his chest, and kissed him slowly as she fucked him. They were breathing in through their noses sharply to fill their lungs so they didn’t have to part their mouths.

Harry’s hands found her round bum again, squeezing and pressing her down while her hands wound through his curls.

Harry was leaking quite desperately and doing everything he could to hold back from filling her with his warm come. He wanted to feel her around him for as long as possible, “M’gonna come, hold on…” his breathy words were pinched as he spoke quickly.

Y/n paused and sat up, bringing his hands from her bottom to her tits, urging him to squeeze them, “S’okay, baby. It’s okay to come.”

Harry’s chest heaved as he shook his head and pressed his thumbs over her nipples, “Want it to last. Need to be here with you forever.”

Licking her lips and keening at the way he pinched her left nipple she nodded, “Me too. Want to feel like this with you forever. We’ll take our time and go slow. But if you come it’s okay. There’s so much time for us. I know you needed me,” she ran her fingers over his pecks and up to his neck gently as she felt him throb inside of her. He had been dangerously close to coming.

“Tell me again, Y/n. Want to make sure it was real.”

Letting her fingers travel up to his chin and to the side of his face she whispered his new favorite phrase to him, “I love you, Harry.”

He whimpered and she felt his cock twitch. That had nearly been his end again. Just her words and the moment they were in was almost too much for him.

“Fuck. Nearly came right then, Y/n.” He panted and tried to calm his cock as he closed his eyes with a big smile on his face.

“You deserve to come, baby. You’ve been so good.”

She began to slowly rock over him again, her clit pasted over his pelvis with the head of his thick cock pushed into her tummy, dragging against her cervix. He filled her up so perfectly, made her wobble and ache from the fullness his sizable cock gave her.

Her pussylips gripped him lavishly, slipping up and down and stimulating him from base to tip, coating him in her cream and wetting his lap. His fingers sunk into her soft skin with a pinch as she inched down and up in steady motions.

“Do you hear that?” She sheathed him with her cunt and lifted gently so the sound of their bodies connecting and slipping together could be heard, “It’s because I belong to you, Harry. No one gets me so wet and so achy.”

Harry choked out a quiet moan and listened to the noise of his cock being fucked by her wet pussy. He could barely respond with any coherent words except to whisper her name and whine when she seated herself fully onto him and clenched.

“And I can tell you’re mine too baby. You’re cock gets so hard for me. Can’t help it can you? Need my love and my attention. All of my affection. My cunt. We need each other, Harry.”

Quiet gasps and moist bodies meeting and parting slowly began to get louder, faster.

Y/n was going to come and she didn’t know if she could stop it from happening this time. She wanted to go all night but she was going to explode if she didn’t come.

“Baby… look at me…” she spoke quietly as Harry opened his eyes to take her in. Soft tits jiggling and, her mouth parted, “I’m gonna come. I want you to come with me. Okay?”

He nodded, “Fuck yes. Come on me, Y/n…” Harry gritted his teeth when he felt her begin to fuck down over him harder.

Harry bent his knees and began to plunge himself into her, meeting her thrusts with harsh smacks and splatting noises.

She could no longer hold in her ecstasy or her cries of bliss.

“I love you, Harry! Fuck! I’m coming!”

Harry coughed out a loud groan and gasped as her walls clamped and spasmed over him. His balls thudded into her, knocking her upward when he felt the relief of his come pouring out of his cock and spurting into her cunt.

As they writhed and came together they heard a thud from in the hallway.

They both heard the noise but they were in the throes of their orgasms, whining and moaning together in bliss with pounding hearts as they kept their eyes on one another.

It didn’t matter to either of them who it was or what the noise was. They’d deal with that when they were ready. At that moment they were alone in a room together, bodies interlinked, adjoined, shaking, panting, bursting. Nothing else mattered. No one else could come between them.

Collapsing onto his chest she ran her nails over his scalp and felt his hair between her fingers as she kissed his neck and sighed. Harry was still trembling with the smallest smile on his pink lips, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling with Y/n moving up and down with his breaths.

“I love you so much, Harry.”

He turned to his face to push his nose against hers, “I love you so fucking much it hurts. I still can’t believe this is real. Is it?” His arm moved around her waist as he held her tight.

“Yeah. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t know what I’m going to tell Leo but you and I will think of something. I don’t want you and your father to have a bad falling out.”

Harry kissed her soft lips and grinned, “You’re gonna leave him?”

“Yeah. I don’t want anyone but you. And it’ll make things easier for him and Parker anyway,” she chuckled quietly. It was true. She was convinced that Leo was not just fucking the girl, he was very much into her, if not in love. Based on what she’d overheard of their conversation she was confident that leaving him wouldn’t be difficult. It was the reason she was leaving him that would make things complicated.

Harry nuzzled his face into Y/n’s cheek and kissed her jaw, “I can’t believe you want to be with me. It feels like a dream.”

“It does.”

When they heard another thud and the sound of someone moving around down the hall they looked at one another, “Think it’s your dad?”

Harry shrugged and shook his head, “Maybe Tyler? He could be back by now. Don’t know.”

Y/n put her cheek over Harry’s chest and wrapped her arms around him as they both laid back down, “I don’t want to go out there. Not tonight. I just want to be here with you. Just you and me. We can think about what we want to do in the morning.”

Harry smiled and rubbed her naked back with his warm palm, “I don’t care if he knows tonight or tomorrow. I’ll wait until the time is right if you want. Maybe telling him while we’re on vacation is a bad idea.”

Y/n nodded and closed her eyes. She didn’t care anymore either. Now that she had him back again she wasn’t going to be letting go. Sure things would probably be difficult. She’d need to actually put her degree to use and get a job. She’d have to give up all the luxuries that being married to Leo afforded her. And she’d need to face the possibility that Harry would have a falling out with his father and that people wouldn’t be so kind toward her given the situation.

But she couldn’t imagine it not being worth it. Harry was worth all of it. There was no way she’d deny herself of him any longer. He was suffering and so was she. And why keep lying? She was in love. She was in deep. Harry had gotten ahold of her heart early on. There was nothing to be done but to yield to it.

Much to Harry’s chagrin, Y/n urged him to get up so they could clean up. They were sticky and gooey all over. It was absolutely necessary.

But of course, cleaning up was made slightly more difficult with a playful Harry. And of course, he was playful. He’d just learned that Y/n loved him just as much as he loved her. He realized that they had been on the same page the whole time. That she had missed him and how bad it hurt her. They were feeling the same things but now? She realized what he’d known all along. That they would be better together. No matter what.

Harry’s low, quiet baritone rang in Y/n’s ear as she giggled, “And how about this?” He dragged the rag over her clit as she pushed at his arm but he wasn’t budging.

“Harry! You’re just supposed to clean it,” she whisper-shouted as he watched where he was dragging the damp rag through her messy labia.

“I like it dirty, though, Y/n,” he laughed his words quietly as Y/n grasped the cloth and yanked it from him.

“You’re something else,” she grinned at him as she wiped herself up.

Harry had her perched on the bathroom counter and he was stood between her legs when they heard a knock at the bedroom door.

The bathroom they were in was connected to the bedroom and they’d kept the door open.

“Did you lock the bedroom door?”

Harry shook his head. Neither moved an inch when they heard the second knock.

“No matter what, are you with me?” Harry held onto the bottoms of her thighs to keep her in place.

“Yes, Harry. I’m with you, baby.” She nodded as they heard the bedroom door open.

Both Y/n and Harry were naked and only half wiped up after having sex. Staring at one another they listened as the footsteps drew closer to them.

And the scene was just as anyone could imagine. A pair of lovers pressed together, watching the door as the intruder cast eyes on the infidelity. A bare woman sat on a countertop with her thighs held up by a man in between her legs.

Harry held up a protective arm to shield her from the eyes that peered in.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tyler laughed his words as he stepped forward enough that Harry and Y/n could see who it was.

Harry let out a breath and Y/n covered her face in embarrassment.

“Get the fuck out of here, dude!” Harry spoke quietly.

“I just came in here because Leo is awake and I’m pretty sure he heard you. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

Y/n and Harry looked back at one another silently. Tyler said that he was pretty sure Leo had heard. But they wouldn’t know for sure until they faced him.

“Fuck.” Harry whispered, “I was hoping we could push this off until after vacation. What do we do?”

Y/n didn’t really know the answer. Ideally, they would have confronted Leo about this later on. Definitely not at the beginning of a two-week family vacation in Greece.

“We don’t know if he even heard anything. We can go out there now and get it out of the way. Or feel it out. See if he heard,” Y/n put her hands up to his chest.

Harry nodded and took a deep breath, “What if we just lock that door and get in bed together and wait until the morning?”

“We can do that too if you want. Maybe he has no idea and we can control when we tell him.”

The lovers smiled at one another in agreement before both leaning in to kiss. No matter what they were both on the same page now. There was no turning back.

“But if not. If he did hear we’ll figure it out. He doesn’t deserve you anyway, Y/n.”

Smiling up at him she realized that she was crazy but she was in love. And if anyone did deserve her it was Harry. The one who loved her. The one who was gentle with her. The one she loved.

“Yeah. We’ll figure it out together.”

This is the final part of this short series! Thank you for being here and reading!

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angelltheninth · 8 months

Text

Gatekeeper for My Heart

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, gentle sex, repeated confessions, hair-pulling (for Steve), wearing his shirt, praise, friends to lovers

Word count: 1.2k

A/N: Why does friends to lovers with Steve make so much sense that I can't stop thinking about it?

Someone always ended up hooking up at parties, it was like an unspoken law of going to them. You will meet someone and you will at the very least make out with them. At most you will end up on top or under or sideways of them in a bed, doesn't matter much whose and not remember them after.

This wasn't the case this time because even with all the alcohol in the world you couldn't forget Steve Harrington, your childhood friend, who was currently kissing his way up your naked stomach, the both of you giggling from the alcohol and butterflies in your stomach.

Steve was who you arrived at the party with but you never imagined he was gonna be the guy you were leaving with too. The first kiss was almost a joke, the both of you thinking it was the alcohol. Then you stopped drinking for a bit, had a few snacks, kissed again, and again, and again, there was some humping in the car, your hand on his hard cock while he drove, and then more kissing as you blindly stumbled into the bedroom and tossed away your clothes.

"Stop for a second." You pushed him away, still laughing.

"Yeah?" He asked with an unopened condom wrapper in his mouth, "You wanna stop? Did you change your mind?"

You laughed before you kissed him, easing his worries, "No, I just need to get something for myself." He had an adorable confused look on his face as you waltzed over to his shirt and pulled it over your head, "You know how much I like this one."

"Yeah cause you bought it for me." It was a gift from you, over five years ago. And he wore it often, so clearly he was very fond of it too. Or he wore it to make you happy, either explanation made you the happy one.

"You don't mind if I wear it do you?" You asked, already half-way to pulling it on. Steve's mouth feel open as he watched the fabric cover your breasts, the stiff peaks of your nipples clearly visible, "I'll take that as a no. Now where were we, pretty boy?" Steve shook his head and rolled the condom on, signaling that he was now ready for you. "You're hot when you're flustered."

"Not flustered really. Never thought I'd be having sex with one of my best friends. Or confessing to you." That was one part you had yet to address, your mutual confession, a drunken one then, now you were both s bit more sober. "I meant it, just so you know. The alcohol gave me the courage to say it for the first time but I don't want it to be the only time." Steve pulled you back to bed and wrapped his arms around your back, your faces close, eyes glistening, "I'm so in love with you. I've been in love with you for a year, I wanted to tell you for a year, and now I'm telling you, I'm in love with you."

It was different hearing those words from him. People said them before, even when you had sex with them, they never carried the same weight.

Steve already confessed to you, and you to him, you ad to make it even. "I'm in love with you. You were always there for me to cheer me up and drag me into your nonsense, life threatening mind you, but you also had my back. You're one of the sweetest men I've met, maybe the sweetest. I'm in love with you, Steve Harrington, head over heels in fact."

"I could make it heels over head if you want." His eyebrow wiggle was too cute to warrant an eyeroll. "But for tonight, I'd like to look at your face, if you don't mind." God, he was such a romantic too, you scored big time by falling in love with him.

"I don't mind, Steve." This kiss was much slower and softer then the others, no urgency, passion yes but it wasn't rough, there was pressure and hunger, but it was all so calculated, measured, your breathing slow at first and then a sharp inhale as Steve climbed in top of you, his body pushing between your legs, his cock rolling against your pussy. "Let me."

You watched his whole body stiffen when you took hold of his cock and aligned it perfectly with your pussyhole, "I don't know why I'm so nervous. Are you nervous?"

Given how fast your heart was beating, through his shirt almost, it was an easy guess. "Yeah. But it's you, so I know it's gonna be okay. I trust you."

Steve never gave you reason to do otherwise.

With a shared deep breath your bodies joined as one, his cock perfectly snug inside your pussy walls, a perfect fit if ever there was one. It was a single perfect moment, one in which you never broke eye contact, never stopped smiling even as he leaned down to kiss you.

His hands sought yours, intertwining your fingers with his as he began to move inside you, out all the way to the very tip and then easily back in, your bodies relaxing more with each thrust until it began to feel as easy and natural as breathing.

You couldn't wrap your mind around how it could feel this good, you wanted more of him, yet you had all of him right now, it wasn't enough yet. "I love you, I love you, no one ever made it feel this good, this special for me." Steve's cock twitched at your confession as well as your praise, "That's it, there."

"Here?" He smirked as he thrust with a little roll upwards, hitting your gspot, making you suck in air through your teeth, "You feel amazing. A perfect tightness for me. I think we're very compatible, you and I. A perfect fit, a perfect pair, sweetheart."

You smiled from ear to ear when you heard his affectionate nickname for you. You never wanted this night to end, you wanted to keep this moment lasting forever, you and Steve, loving each other, the echoes and mixes of your moans and skin slapping against skin looped until your body went still from the force of your orgasm.

"Need to throw this away real quick." Steve was reluctant to pull away too, but he had to throw away the condom in the trash. Luckily the separation only lasted a few seconds as he was already next to you by the time you finished stretching out your sore body. He threw a sheet over your legs but kept your upper half uncovered, you were already wearing his shirt after all, so you wouldn't be cold when he holds you close through the night. "I can't wait to do that again."

"You do realize we're gonna have a hell of a fucking headache when we wake up right? I'm not fucking you with a headache." The good news was there would be no awkward sneaking out because your feelings were mutual.

"Then you can stay over until it goes away. We'll make breakfast, take a shower, cuddle, make a date out of it. Not the most conventional one but I'll take any date with you." You snuggled against his chest , looking forward to your first date tomorrow.

#stranger things x reader #steve harrington x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things smut #steve harrington smut #stranger things x fem!reader #steve harrington x fem #smut fic #smut fanfiction #x female reader

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fr3sh-tragedies · 4 months

Text

Serenity

[Shadow of the Tomb Raider] Lara Croft x Female Reader

Word Count: 5.12k

Proofread: Yes

Content Warnings: Touch starved Lara (?), feelings of homesickness, fear of death, mentions of mourning, brief descriptions of wounds

Categories:

Angst Fluff Mix

One-Shot Preference Headcanon

[A/N]: Wanted to try a bit of a different format for the summary, hope it makes sense.

Enjoy!

Harsh winds whipped past the shape of the land, bending around every mountain and down every ravine and valley like ribbon. Shivering harshly and clutching onto her heavy coat, Lara sighed, planting herself in front of the campfire she had set up. As the flames crackled to life and began to grow, she scooted closer, holding her hands out towards the blazing heat in an attempt to warm them. She huffed out hot air into her cupped palms before rubbing them together and shifting to hold them out again.

She repeated this motion a few more times before wriggling her fingers around a bit. Once she was sure they were warmed up enough, she slipped her journal out from her traveler’s pack and took her pen out. She flipped over to the next blank page, beginning to jot things down with stiff hands. It started with her summarizing all that had happened during the current expedition up until that point, but quickly shifted to her feelings of homesickness. It wasn’t the manor or her private apartment she was missing, however. She was missing the woman waiting for her back home.

A small smile of content formed on her lips at the mere thought of her.

“God, [Y/N], I wish you were…”

She shook her head as a chill ran down her spine, as if she was being reminded of the brutal conditions she was in. With a small struggle, she scribbled out the ending of the sentence before starting a new one.

“No, I wish I was there with you. I didn’t realize how much I’d miss you. Especially how warm you are. It’s freezing out here, although I’m not sure what I was expecting. Even when we stayed by the hot springs for a bit, my hands were too frozen to do anything. Writing this right now is extremely difficult because we’re headed toward the peak of a mountain where the snow is really dense. The altitude levels are getting high, and it’s making some of the crew sick, so we had to set up camp in the meantime. Aside from Jonah, the crew here doesn’t really care for all of this. They’re either doing it for the media exposure or for the money. The majority of them have made it clear that they aren’t doing it for the sake of discovery. I do kind of wish you were here in all honesty. Jonah is interested in what we’re looking for, but it always takes some convincing with him. With you, you’re always on board immediately. And, according to the others, you share the same level of enthusiasm as me. I guess I never really noticed it.

“Which is honestly a bit of a surprise. I know I can get a bit…aggressive about these things, or obsessive. People tell me I start getting picky about things once I realize they don’t have the same interests and intentions as me. And Sam wonders why I don’t like hanging out with other people.”

She laughed softly to herself, skimming over her words before she continued writing.

“Except you, of course. I wish I could bring you along with me to these expeditions, but I’m just…worried Trinity is going to get to you somehow, and aside from Jonah, you’re the only one I have left. If they got ahold of you, I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I’ve lost too many people already. I can’t lose you too.”

A small pause. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself during these trips anymore. Before she had met [Y/N], she had gotten used to sleeping alone and spending the majority of her time alone. She could go on journeys without worrying about returning home to someone. She didn’t want to die, that wasn’t what she was thinking of. She just didn’t feel guilty about trips taking longer than she initially planned. Deep down, though, she knew [Y/N] understood. Each time she’d make it home to her girlfriend, she was always greeted with relief and excitement rather than annoyance and resentment.

During the nights where she was alone on the expeditions, she could eventually get herself to fall asleep for short periods of time, pretending she was back home in bed with her girlfriend, cuddled up together under the blankets and sleeping in.

Another thing she had to readjust to was doing things solo. The only thing she tended to do on her own at the manor anymore was paperwork. [Y/N] would do everything with her there: researching, reading, cleaning, taking trips to different cities, and so on and so forth. She had grown so accustomed to that to where she found herself itching to talk to someone or move around at the campsites when she used to just sit there and think to herself.

She genuinely enjoyed the idea of having someone to come home to every time, but it still caused guilt when anything went wrong. There was a near-constant worry that her job was straining the relationship, regardless of what [Y/N] told her.

She had never been in a relationship before, so she really had no idea what to expect. It was stressful trying to learn how to open up to someone, but once she realized she could fully trust [Y/N], she found it much easier to start talking about her past.

Another sigh slipped past her lips, her gaze dropping down to the page of her journal again.

“I can’t wait to get home to you again. And honestly, I never thought I’d be able to say that. With how often I’m traveling, I figured I wouldn’t find someone who was willing to put up with my constant researching and preparing. I suppose I could take you on easier trips where I know Trinity won’t be. I could teach you how to go rock climbing and the basics of how to survive out in the wilderness.”

A sense of fondness washed over her, remembering how Roth would take her backpacking and traveling to random places so she could learn all of his tricks.

“If Roth were still here, I bet I could’ve convinced him to let you come with us to one of our training expeditions. He loved teaching all about journeying. He probably would’ve talked your ear off the way he did with me.”

Once more, a soft laugh escaped her.

“I’d honestly give anything to hear him lecture me about trusting my instinct again. You would’ve loved him. He was a good man.”

She studied her entry, repeatedly skimming over Roth’s name scribbled out in her shaky handwriting.

“I wish you could’ve met him.”

She frowned at the memory of what happened in Yamatai, guilt beginning to bubble up to the surface again. She sighed, trying to shift her focus to something else.

“I can’t wait to get back home to you. I miss you. Hopefully I’ll be able to see you sooner rather than later. I already want to come back just so I can be with you again. I love you.”

Gently, she shut her journal and tucked it away again, dropping her pen in on top of it before zipping the bag shut. Once she placed the bag to her side, she shifted to turn back to the fire, which had grown to a decent size. Her unfocused gaze watched the flames in front of her dance wildly to the bitterly cold gusts of wind. Soon, as she waited for Jonah to call her over, her mind wandered off, her body shivering, aching, and craving to be in her warm, plush bed by [Y/N]’s side again.

The expedition finally came to an end. Unfortunately, it had taken an extra three days thanks to Trinity’s operation disrupting everything. Lara was returning home with another artifact, one which she planned to donate to a local museum instead of adding to her personal collection. She asked Jonah to drop the artifact off for her, her expression alone telling him all he needed to know. He agreed, knowing she just wanted to get home to [Y/N] again and rest. Once the plane landed and they disembarked with their luggage, Lara instantly found her car still parked in a private garage she had paid for ahead of time.

She hopped in instantly after tucking her small amount of luggage into the trunk, started the engine, and sped off toward her home. The majority of the drive there, she reflected on what had happened during the expedition. Although she had been in a warm environment for hours on the way back, she still felt chilled to the bone after swimming in glacial waters for hours on end. All she craved was to get home and warm all the way up so she could sleep comfortably, even though she knew the moment the numbness subsided, her joints would ache even more.

Once she finally arrived, she parked her car in her usual spot and headed inside, completely forgetting about the bags in the trunk. Her body felt like it would collapse any minute, so she was desperately trying to get inside and find [Y/N].

With a great deal of effort, straining the aching muscles in her arms and back, she shoved the main door open leading into the front parlor. Before any of the servants could lead her somewhere to get her injuries treated or get changed into warmer clothes, Lara made a beeline to the stairs leading up to the second floor of the main building. She wobbled down the hall to her bedroom door, weakly pushing it open with a small grunt of pain. She didn’t spot [Y/N] in the bedroom right away, so she checked the bathroom attached to it.

She wasn’t there either. Odd.

With a groan, she forced herself to trudge back out of the room and down the hall, planning to check the library next. And if she wasn’t there, she’d search the main study. Before she could make it to the doorway leading to the library, [Y/N] stepped out carrying a couple of books. When she spotted Lara, her face lit up, excitedly placing the books aside on a nearby console table and rushing over to the brunette. At the sight of [Y/N] heading her direction, a small surge of energy bolted through Lara’s senses. She beamed over at her and opened her arms, sighing in relief when the smaller woman leaned heavily into her embrace.

“Lara, you’re back! How was the trip? Find anything good?”

Lara grinned wider at her enthusiasm–a breath of fresh air to have someone show genuine interest in her own passion. “Yeah, we found an old artifact, but I told Jonah to just go donate it to the local museum. I don’t have much space left on the shelves in my study, and I don’t want to clutter our room with them.” [Y/N] chuckled at her words, a small nod as her response as they remained in their embrace a moment longer.

At length, much to Lara’s dismay, [Y/N] leaned back. One hand dropped down to gently take hold of the brunette’s, and the other lifted to cup her cheek. At the feeling of warmth against her face, Lara leaned into the touch, her eyes shutting as she sighed. “C’mon,” [Y/N] started softly with a warm smile, “let’s get you patched up and changed. Then you can get some sleep.” Before she could try to refute, Lara yawned and nodded, wearily following the smaller woman’s lead as she carefully tugged her toward the bedroom again.

Once in there, she sat Lara down on the bed, retrieved the First Aid kit from the medical cabinet in the bathroom, and joined her on the mattress, which the brunette seemed to immediately sink into. She pulled out a damp rag she had also grabbed and began to dab cautiously at the scratches and cuts littered across Lara’s skin. When she began to apply the antiseptic, she earned a few hisses of pain, though they quickly died down with each passing second. All the while, Lara’s eyelids were growing heavier. She did her best to bite back her yawns, though most of them still snuck through.

After cleaning all of the visible marks, [Y/N] stitched up what she needed to, and applied bandages to what was left. She quickly packed the kit back up and stored it in the bathroom once more. Then, she helped Lara head into the bathroom and get undressed, helping her step into the bath when the warm water filled up enough. Once the brunette was situated and comfortable, [Y/N] took her hair down for her and began to rinse and lather it with the shampoo she had set up beforehand. Once her hair was clean, she then washed Lara’s back, shoulders, and mostly everything but her stomach, legs, and mostly whatever was underneath the water, which she let the Croft do on her own.

By the time Lara was clean and wrapped up in a towel after stepping out of the tub, [Y/N] left and came back in carrying a pair of clothes that had just been pulled out from the dryer. She gave the brunette a bit of privacy to get dressed. Lara hummed contentedly at the warm, soft fabric brushing across her skin: a pair of black fleece pants with a slightly oversized gray t-shirt.

She stood after tugging her clothes on. After folding the towel back up enough to hang on the rack on the wall, she flipped the lightswitch off and left the bathroom, finding [Y/N] standing by the bed with a tray in her hands. Curiously, Lara walked over and sat down at the foot of the bed with an eyebrow raised. Before she could question what it was, [Y/N] moved to hand the tray to her, revealing her favorite dish warmed up and placed nicely on a plate.

At the sight of it, she blinked, and soon looked back up at her girlfriend, who had moved to her own side of the bed. “Go ahead and eat. I wanted you to have something in your stomach so it doesn’t growl and wake you up like last time.”

With a pleased grin, Lara nodded and shifted up to her spot in bed to prop herself up against the headboard. She was quick to pick up her fork and dig into the dish, clearly grateful to have something prepared for her instead of needing to fix something for herself the way she had done the past few days in the wilderness. It saved her a lot of time and energy, all of which she could spend on recovering from the trip. Within minutes, the plate was clean and her cup was empty. She moved to get up and bring it to the kitchen downstairs, but [Y/N] was quick to stop her and take it from her hands. “Hey, no, go ahead and stay here, alright? I really just want you to relax for a while.”

Even if Lara had planned on refusing the help, it would’ve been no use, as [Y/N] was already by the door by the time she finished speaking. She quickly slipped out of the room, leaving Lara there to wait. She hadn’t even had a chance to nod. She sighed, shuffling downward to bundle up underneath the thick blankets layering her mattress and tugging them partially over her head. The moment her head made contact with her pillow, she groaned in relief, the plush surface welcoming her and pulling her into a partial slumber already.

She fought to stay awake a little longer, however, wanting to be cuddled up against [Y/N] as she slept so she could hear her heartbeat. Ever since the two had started sharing the bed, that’s how Lara fell asleep. It’s why going on long expeditions was so difficult sometimes–she had no heartbeat to listen to, no breathing she could hear but her own, and no warmth to lean into when she got a chill or had a strange dream that kept her eyes pried open in alarmed confusion. Another yawn pushed past her lips, her eyes slowly fluttering shut. Just as she was close to being lulled into sleep, the bedroom door creaked open again. [Y/N] stepped inside and turned the lights off, then headed over to the windows and closed all the heavy curtains, leaving a very dull light in the room.

She then crawled into her side of the bed, though she was quickly met with Lara scooting over and pressing her head against her chest, planting her ear directly over the girl’s sternum to hear the steady thumping of her heartbeat resting safely behind her ribs. A sigh of relief made its way from Lara. She wriggled over a bit, nuzzled her face further into the blankets, and finally settled for a position. With a small smile, [Y/N] rolled over just enough to wrap both of her arms around the brunette’s torso. She pulled her closer as softly as she could.

“Did you wanna talk about the trip?” She whispered softly. A bit of a delay, but Lara answered with a small shake of her head. “No,” she murmured almost inaudibly. “Maybe tomorrow.” [Y/N] nodded in response. She slid one of her arms over a bit, earning a groan of disapproval, though it was quickly replaced by an even fainter groan of pleasure once her fingernails began to gently rake through Lara’s brunette locks. [Y/N] repeated this motion for a while before changing to let her nails scratch soothingly at the sore muscles of the taller woman’s back. “Mmm, what about you?” Lara finally managed to slur out after a few minutes.

[Y/N] hummed, confused. “What about me?” She questioned quietly. Again, there was a pause before she got a response. “What about your day? Tell me…about your day.”

“Oh. Well, it wasn’t very eventful, to be honest. I just helped some of the maids and then read a few books. That’s why I was leaving the library when you made it in.”

“Mmh.”

Lara groaned and shuffled even closer. “I missed you so much,” she whispered. [Y/N] beamed down at her, pure adoration in her eyes. “I missed you too.” She pressed a kiss to the brunette’s forehead, to which Lara responded by scrunching up her nose and leaning her head forward, wordlessly asking for another one. The smaller woman complied after letting a gentle giggle slip in between breaths and pressed a longer kiss to Lara’s head, earning a small huff of satisfaction.

For a while longer, [Y/N] continued to talk about whatever came to mind. Lara wasn’t entirely listening, she just wanted to hear her voice, but [Y/N] already knew that. She didn’t mind. She could talk about seeing a bird on the window sill, and Lara would still find it calming solely because she could hear her speaking. She could hear the low rumbling and vibrations in her chest with every word spoken, and on top of the sound of her heartbeat, it was like the ultimate white noise for Lara.

She wasn’t entirely sure why it brought her so much comfort, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. It helped her fall asleep and stay asleep, which is something she struggled with for the longest time. Being able to get a proper night’s rest felt so refreshing.

Especially after having to be on high alert and sleep lightly for weeks on end during most of her journeys.

After a while, [Y/N] ran out of things to talk about. However, knowing that hearing her make noise was what helped Lara fall asleep, she opted to sing softly instead. An hour or so must’ve passed before Lara’s breathing deepened and slowed, evening out as her body signaled she was fully asleep. After finishing the song she had been practically humming at that point, [Y/N] stopped singing. When she fell silent, her own eyes beginning to droop from fatigue, Lara tugged her closer, unconsciously trying to find the source of the noise again. She settled after a moment when her hearing focused in on her heartbeat once more.

She mumbled something under her breath, though the blankets muffled most of it. The other half of the incoherent speech was caused by her lack of conscience. [Y/N] didn’t mind it though. Finally being able to hold Lara safely in her arms again after two and a half weeks was all she had been wanting. She glanced down at her, smiling tiredly and pressing a gentle kiss to her head again before yawning and closing her eyes.

Soon enough, she fell into a deep slumber as well.

The following morning, the sun crept in through the blinds, alerting everyone of its wake. Bright golden beams trailed their way into the bedroom, sneaking up the covers and making Lara suddenly aware of her surroundings again. She grumbled, calloused fingertips grasping at the hem of the comforter that had slipped from over her head and tugging upward, desperately trying to block out the warmth that stirred her awake. It had been years–until she met [Y/N], anyway–since she had been able to sleep in peacefully without the overwhelming worry of needing to constantly accomplish something. She wanted to stay asleep at least long enough to finish her dream.

For a moment, she smirked to herself, noticing just how soft she had gotten once her relationship had been established with the other woman. Had they never met, nor had they gotten as close as they did, she’d likely still be awake at this hour, buried away in her personal study with stacks of books and loose files strewn about.

With a sense of bitter hesitation, one in which she debated falling back into the dream she had been having just a moment prior–which thankfully wasn’t another nightmare keeping her awake–she let her weary eyes flutter open. A small shove downward let the covers fall free from over her head again, begrudgingly allowing the sunlight to caress her features in a more willing manner. A sigh of relief slipped past her lips once she was able to let her eyes adjust to the blazing beams of light dancing around with each small movement.

After a moment of gaining her bearings, she yawned, drowsily rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes as she shifted over to find [Y/N] still resting at her side. The corners of her lips perked up into a small smile of contentment at the sight. She hummed, shuffled up to let her head rest even in front of [Y/N]’s, and gazed over at her.

The light that had disturbed Lara of her rest now brought her a sense of peace. The warm glow of the amber streaks lighting up the room seemed to embrace every little mark across [Y/N]’s skin, highlighting each scar and stray freckle. Never before had she seemed so at ease in her slumber–or maybe Lara had been too focused on holding her close to have noticed. She noticed it now, though.

And she intended to savor every minute of it.

Moments passed, and her hands were itching to feel the softness of the woman’s skin. With a slight ounce of uncertainty, worried she might stir her awake, she finally lifted her hand from the spot on the mattress next to her and drove it up to let the backs of her fingers graze over [Y/N]’s cheek, huffing out a small sigh at the warmth as though she hadn’t been pressed tightly against her mere moments before.

Her fingers trailed up to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind the sleeping woman’s ear, slowly and silently shuffling forward to press a featherlike kiss to her forehead. At the feeling of soft lips and touches against her skin, [Y/N] began to wake, her brows furrowing together momentarily in thought, as if she were stuck between her dreams and lucidity. Her features softened just as quickly as they tightened, followed by her eyes flitting open and instantaneously focusing on the smitten gaze in front of her. She hummed, grinning and letting her hand slide up to gently take hold of Lara’s. With a small squeeze to her lax hand, [Y/N] turned her head to press an equally soft kiss to her palm.

“Morning,” she murmured against her skin, letting her focus flicker back toward the deep brown eyes now somehow filled with even more love than before.

“Morning,” came her faint reply.

“Are you feeling better now that you’ve slept?” Lara grinned, nodding almost unnoticeably. She carefully slipped her hand from [Y/N]’s, then letting it trail down to the smaller woman’s hip. Once moving a bit closer, as well as shuffling back down further into the comforter, she wrapped both arms around [Y/N]’s waist, tugging her closer and letting her head fall against her chest. Once [Y/N]’s chin moved to rest atop the brunette’s head, Lara sighed, her eyes fluttering shut once more. “Yes, but if I’m being completely honest, my entire body is aching right now. So much happened before I got back.”

She chuckled, wincing to herself at the sudden jolt of pain that erupted from the nerves in the skin taut against her stomach. “I don’t know if I can physically get up yet. Or if I'll be able to at all today.”

A playful snicker sounded above her, prompting her to lift her head and look up at [Y/N]. “Are you sure that’s why? Or do you just want to stay in bed and cuddle like this for the day?” Lara rolled her eyes with a smirk of her own. “I’m telling you: every single muscle in my body is painfully sore. I could get up if I absolutely needed to, but I don’t, so I’d really just prefer to stay here.”

With a moment in between the playful banter, Lara dropped her head back against [Y/N]’s chest. She waited, pondering what she wanted to say as her nails gently scratched at the soft fabric of the shirt she leaned against, sighing silently at the feeling of the motion being reciprocated in a far more soothing way. As she focused on [Y/N] tracing random shapes and words against her scarred skin, subconsciously wondering if she could make out anything specific if she focused, she closed her eyes.

“But even if I somehow wasn’t sore like I am now, I’d absolutely want to stay like this for the day. I missed you,” although her voice had already started off gentle, her tone only seemed to drift further into silence. Whether it stemmed from sheepishness or fatigue, [Y/N] didn’t know. She didn’t mind it, however, and instead pulled her closer. “I missed you too. So very much.”

She paused, one of her hands stroking the brunette strands sprawled out on the mattress behind Lara as her brow creased in thought. “I do worry about you though,” she admitted after what felt like hours, not sure if Lara was still even awake at the moment or if she had heard her. She had, however, and was quick to gaze back up at her, partially hidden way beneath the comforter. Her eyes, which had just been staring at her with a mix of blissful fatigue and love, were now a concoction of bleary concern and confusion. “Why?”

“Because sometimes I worry that something is going to happen to you while you’re away, and I’m never going to know. I mean, I know you won’t go down without a fight, but I’m still terrified that there will be a day where I see you alive for the last time. That thought alone plagues my mind every single time you leave, and it just…scares me?” She scoffed. “No, it’s so much more than just feeling scared. I’m terrified beyond belief that a thought like that could somehow become a reality.”

She hadn’t realized she had begun rambling until Lara shifted up to be eye-level with her again, a far more serious expression taking over. With her features creased with concern, Lara cupped [Y/N]’s face, the pads of her thumbs stroking away the tears that she hadn’t even realized had fallen. When had she started crying?

“I promise you I’m never going to let that happen, alright? There’ve been so many times I shouldn’t have been able to survive, but I did. Like you said: I won’t go down without a fight. And now that I have you here, I have all the more reason to fight to stay alive. I couldn’t bear the thought of never coming home to you. Just…don’t ever worry about me not coming home, okay? One way or another, I’ll find a way to get back to you.”

Her tone softened with every passing word, her heart and mind filling with relief upon seeing a gentle smile grace [Y/N]’s lips. She returned her grin and leaned forward to rest their foreheads together. “Even if it means I have to admit to Jonah that I’m wrong,” she added with a fake annoyance and a small roll of her eyes. [Y/N] couldn’t help but chuckle at her words, allowing Lara to finally let out a small sigh of solace.

“I wouldn’t trade my time with you for anything,” she reassured, trading roles and pulling [Y/N] into her chest instead. “Not for an artifact, not for a trip to some uncharted land, not for my studies, not for anything. I know I may not be the best at showing it, but I truly love you, [Y/N]. I promise you that I’ll always find my way back to you.”

At her reassurance, [Y/N] nuzzled closer to focus in on her heartbeat, unable to bite back the wide smile that stretched across her lips. “I love you too,” she whispered.

Her words were true, she just wished she could find a way to prove it to her every day. Regardless of how invested she could get in her studies or research for her next expedition somewhere far away, she wouldn’t trade these moments of serenity for the world. She treasured them far more than any artifact she had discovered, and would do anything to ensure more of those memories could be made. Not even the strongest forces out there would stop her from returning to the one person she could call home, and she vowed, one way or another, to make sure it stayed that way for good.

#fluff #x reader #female reader #slight angst #tomb raider #rise of the tomb raider #shadow of the tomb raider #lara croft #lara croft x reader #lara croft x fem!reader #lara croft x female reader

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seaslugfanclub · 4 months

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Yayyyy, asks are open! So anyways, I remember in the favorite villain request that Jafar mentioned about helping Reader with unsavory guests, can we get a scenario of Reader dealing with those kinds of guests? You can use any villains you’d like lol

Losers, Creeps, and Weirdos

TW: Creepy park guest being gross!

It was a good day. Pleasant temperatures, manageable crowds, and full staff. (Y/N) thought that it’d be one of those rare occasions where they’d be able to go home early.

Of course, the universe has a cruel sense of humor.

It was halfway through (Y/N)’s shift, and they’d been scheduled to walk around Magic Kingdom, helping guests with directions and keeping a general eye on things. And from afar everything seemed normal, a couple Disney characters walking around and interacting with guests, but (Y/N) noticed after a while that a lone male park guest was constantly trailing behind Princess Aurora.

(Y/N) tried to brush it off at first, thinking that the guy was a little socially inept, just wanting an autograph. But the way the man was just… looking at the increasingly uncomfortable princess made (Y/N) feel nauseated. It was when the man got Aurora near a park bench somewhat out of sight that (Y/N) began to speed walk towards the two. (Y/N) got there right when the man began to reach his hand out towards the girl, Aurora looking near to tears.

(Y/N) immediately got between the two, making sure Princess Aurora was out of sight behind them as the man looked shocked. And that was the moment the scene began.

“I’m telling you now, man. If you don’t back off right now I’m going to call park security. I swear to god I’ll do it.”

“Are you serious right now!? It’s just a park attraction, your acting like it’s a real person!”

The man was incessant, unable to just walk away. His face was red and (Y/N) was slowly reaching towards their walkie talkie, ready to call security.

“I’m not going to stay here and teach you the basics of human decency, she is a 16 year old girl. Either you leave yourself or by force.” (Y/N) remained stone-faced, arms still protecting Aurora behind them, who was now clinging to their tennis shirt.

“Wha- do you know how expensive it is to get into here!? JUST LET ME-“ He started to move towards (Y/N), about to grab them when a slender hand stopped him.

“-excuse yourself from the premises and never return.. Yes, I do believe that’s the best course of action.”

(Y/N) and Aurora turned towards Jafar, who had his scepter raised and the man’s hand in a vice like grip. The cobra scepter gleamed red as the man’s face went slack, eyes becoming a cloudy red.

“yeah… i should… i should leave…” the man slurred, Jafar letting go of the unnamed guests hand as he began to walk away, his movement’s unnaturally stiff, only for Jafar to grasp the man’s shoulders again, his face twisted in disgust.

“Oh, and while you’re at it, why don’t you take a quick dip in the lake? I’m sure Medusas crocodiles would… appreciate the company.” He crooned as he lightly shoved the man away, for good this time.

The group watched as the man lumbered off, disappearing into the crowd. After a beat of silence Jafar turned around to the shocked (Y/N) and Princess Aurora.

“And I think that we should report this to management, don’t you think (Y/N)?”

(Y/N) straightened out a bit, nodding in agreement, “Yeah… let’s go”

————————————————————————

Upper management was naturally disturbed at the days events, taking aside everyone to get their own accounts of the story. After a report was filed, and both park security and police set off to find the man, the group was dismissed.

Princess Aurora was taken off the schedule for the next few days, and a one of (Y/N)’s colleagues was called to chaperone the princess back to where all the “Good Guys” resided. But not before giving a tearful ‘thank you’ and a quick peck on (Y/N)’s cheek as gratitude. Princess Aurora, bless her heart, even gave Jafar a timid yet heartfelt thanks, before departing with the park attendant. (Y/N) and Jafar now alone in the empty workroom.

….

“I can’t believe it…What you did today was..nice.” (Y/N) looked up at Jafar in awe, a crooked smile stretching across their face.

Jafar shuddered, waving his hand in dismissal, “Oh please, you know better. I was simply going about by business when I saw that… altercation. I couldn’t have such troglodyte ruin a peaceful day for me. You know as well as I do that the only ones that can bother you are us.”

“I know, but you could’ve found another park staff to help, instead you went out of your way to help us. Thank you.” (Y/N) chuckled, laughing even more at Jafar’s disgusted expression.

“Yes, yes, I’m amazing. Just don’t go blabbering about this to the others, Allah knows what’s going to happen to my reputation when that princess inevitably tells her little friends about today’s events. Ugh- I’m never going to live down..” He muttered under his breath, rubbing the space between his eyes.

(Y/N) hummed, dusting themselves off as they began to leave,

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul. I owe you one, Jafar— oh!”

Before Jafar could react, (Y/N) spun around- reached up and kissed the ex-viziers cheek,

“-As an extension of my gratitude. See ya!” They whispered, before quickly pulling back and rushing out of the room, leaving the flustered sorcerer behind, gently touching his cheek.

“Hmm… mabye it wouldn’t hurt to help them more often…”

————————————————————————

Hope you enjoyed! I hope I wrote Jafar not too OOC 😅 It’s a shame that a lot of people forget that virtually all the Disney Princesses are children, the amount of mature content I’ve seen of them is super uncomfortable.

Oh, and the other Villians totally caught wind of what Jafar did, now they’re all ragging on him.

#disney villains #disney imagine #disney x reader #self insert #disney jafar #jafar #princess aurora #aladdin

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plainclothesdisaster · 10 days

Text

Red Knight Chapter 5

DP x DC | Dead on Main

Read on Ao3

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The night after the brawl in Danny’s apartment Jason was out as Red Hood scouting a possible arms deal when he spotted it— a Curse Ghost, vaguely beastly and oozing black goo, just as ugly and unsettling as the one from Danny’s place. Jason texted him.

Found one.

So you didnʼt lose my number after all. I��ll be right there.

Jason sent him the location- a rusted sewer grate at the edge of crime alley that he’d seen a curse ghost vanish into. Danny arrived minutes later in jeans and a jacket, same as always. Not like Jason had been expecting any different, but he had gotten used to working with the Bat. Capes and masks came standard. Danny was anything but standard.

“You bring the gear?” Danny asked as he stepped up toward the sewer gate Jason stood beside.

Jason opened his jacket to reveal he had strapped all kinds of whips and tasers and lasers and launchers to his holsters. He even wore the invisibility cuffs. And the sword.

Danny grinned. “I also brought something extra I think youʼll like.” He reached into his own jacket and pulled out, with great panache, a pair of plain white gym socks.

Jason scowled. “A selection from your laundry pile?” Still, he took them as Danny handed them over.

“If by laundry pile you mean my pile of genius inventions, then yes.”

“Iʼll pass.”

“Suit yourself.” Danny shrugged. “If getting sewer water in your shoes is your thing I won’t stop you.”

Jason frowned.

And then he found himself wearing Dannyʼs socks (back in his boots, mind you), hunting the curse down the drain tunnel, hovering inches above the water instead of sludging through it.

“Real flight just wasnʼt doable with the tech, but these still have their uses.” Danny commented from ahead, his voice echoing down the tunnel completely careless of stealth. He also hovered, simple as if gravity had just turned off for him, none of the wobbles or wavers in balance that Jason was currently trying to hide. Forty feet into the darkness of the sewer and Jason was relying on the night vision in his helmet. Meanwhile Danny seemed just fine.

As they approached a junction in the pipe, Danny slowed. “Its here,” he whispered. Jason sensed it too, somehow. The air was colder and more alive somehow, the colors more warped and saturated.

They peeked silently around the corner and there it was, lounging half submerged like an overstuffed crocodile. Black ooze seeped into the water all around it, making it hard to tell where the beast itself began.

Danny threw him a look, anticipation dancing in his Lazarus green eyes. And then without further warning he pounced.

Hopes of keeping their socks dry vanished. Danny was quickly sopping, no thanks to his outfit choice. Still he fought like a terror, ducking out of the way of massive dripping jaws that threatened to halve him as he returned blows and blasts in kind. Jason watched with trained curiosity. Heʼd been so preoccupied with not dying last time he hadnʼt learned much. This time he bit down his fear enough to make sense of how the curse ghost moved- like water and like a rockslide- and how Danny countered- like mist and lightning.

The curse ghost turned toward Jason and like a firecracker hid anger ignited and lost any inclination he had to stay on the sidelines. He instinctively reached for his guns but then thought better of it in close quarters. Instead he pulled the sword off his back. He swung with stiff determination, slicing through black crocodile hide. He felt a grim thrill as the beast roared.

Jason fought with less caution this time. More rhythm. In the end they overpowered it, beating it down deeper into the sludge until Danny sucked it up with the thermos, neat and tidy.

Danny smiled at him. “Nice work.”

Jason kneeled where it had fallen. Traces of black goo remained on the walls. He ran his fingers through it and it stuck to his gloves like slimy tar. “What the hell are these guys made of?”

Danny kneeled next to him, also inspecting the sludge remains. He pursed his lips. “It’s corrupted ectoplasm.”

Like Jason’s, Danny didn’t say. Didn’t need to.

“These guys are more solid than regular ghosts. It didn’t just phase out of here. It splashed in the water.” Danny rubbed the goo between his fingers before shaking it off.

“You said they’re Gotham’s curse, right? Makes sense that they’d be solid here, more than the regular ghosts.”

Danny looked at him, studying his face as if his mask wasn’t there. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”

Why did he feel such a surge of glowing pride at Danny’s acknowledgement? Like passing another test. Earning his way into this world.

He caught himself. What the hell did he need to prove? He knew he was a great detective- and he could do it all without all the fancy tools and access that Bruce and his flock had.

But solving the curse ghosts was one thing. Solving Danny was what he really cared about. And to do that he needed Danny to trust him.

During the days that followed he tried to tend to his other cases, and he thought about Danny.

Mid stakeout of an upstart drug trafficker his mind wandered. Danny, going to class like some normal college kid. Eating lunch. Making friends. Did he have friends? Jason considered tailing him again to find out, but he thought better of it. If Danny caught him snooping now it wouldn’t be easy to explain it away, and he’d lose the burgeoning trust between them. Or burgeoning friendship. Were they friends?

Jason had made allies for less before, but with Danny he couldn’t let his guard down, not completely. Jason remembered how he took down four thugs like it was nothing. He remembered how Danny looked at him with icy eyes right before he’d dropped him off a building. Every instinct reminded him Danny was dangerous.

The back alley door he’d been watching opened and it took him two seconds longer than it should have for him to react. The men nearly saw him as he ducked his head behind the corner and out of sight.

He eavesdropped on the drug deal, mentally filing away details on where the money was going. He watched as the men got in a black car, noted the license plate. It all felt a bit pedestrian compared to the Lovecraftian beasts he now knew to be lurking in the shadows.

He’d dealt with his fate share of meta weirdness and science experiments gone wrong in Gotham. But he wondered if this was how Bruce felt after coming back from dealing with Justice Leage level business. How was he supposed to focus on small time drug trade when a supernatural threat loomed large over his city?

Amity Park continued to yield no answers, even when he deepened his search. Going out of his way to delve into Gotham library archives wielded no new leads. Newspapers, business reports, even government documents- all missing or, more worrisome, heavily redacted.

When he looked again for the scientific paper by the Drs. Fenton, it had also disappeared from the net. Good thing he’d made a backup when he first discovered it, but it meant someone wasn’t taking too kindly to him poking around.

None of what he found explained what Danny was. Or, maybe more importantly, what kind of person he was.

He remembered something Alfred had once told Bruce after long nights of fruitless research. Some things you can’t solve while holed up in your cave. Some you have to do personally.

He didnʼt remember agreeing to it but he found himself meeting up with Danny nearly every night. Even if he tried to work on his other cases, inevitably a curse ghost would show up and derail his evening plans.

Danny speculated that they sought out Jason more now because he’d proved himself a threat, the same way they came after Danny. “Now that they know your ecto signature-“ whatever the hell that was- they’ll come looking. Territorial bastards.”

“Easier than hunting them down I guess.”

“I like the positive attitude.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

They established a meeting place on the roof old hotel that sat in the heart of crime alley. There had been texts exchanged at first but as the weeks went on they became unnecessary. Jason knew that when he swung up on to the roof each night that Danny would be there waiting for him.

That particular night he landed on the roof with barely a sound. Dannyʼs eyes still flicked over immediately. He sat where he typically did on the roofs edge, and his lips turned up in a half smile as soon as he saw Jason. Excitement buzzed in Jasonʼs skin like neon. Adrenaline. Just the anticipation for the upcoming hunt, he told himself. Certainly nothing else.

They weren’t waiting long before sirens and burglar alarms rang like beacons a few streets over.

“Shall we?” Jason cracked his knuckles.

“After you.”

Jason tipped himself forward off the building, diving in a short free fall. As he neared the street he didn’t reach for his grapple gun, instead he pulled on that energy under his heart, focused on his socks and hovered the last few feet to the ground. Danny followed behind in lazy twists and curls like a leaf in the wind.

They caught up with the curse ghost on the next block over. It ran through the street, a mangy goopy dog, as tall as a truck with too-sharp teeth. As it passed lights in doorways flickered and went dark, cars honked in the streets as drivers cut each other off, the cops on the corner stopped a group of teens with hands itching at their hips.

Jason felt it too, the way that whisky burns down your throat, riling you at your core.

“Ooh it’s a real nasty one,” Danny quipped. Was it Jason’s imagination or were his teeth even sharper than usual?

So far Jason had only encountered the beasts in places already filled with death and fear and aggression. It made his skin crawl to see the effect work the other way. The beast crashed through the street like an invisible wave, spreading misfortune, inciting aggression. He tasted acid at the back of his throat.

Danny had told him the curse caused suffering and then fed on it, a cycle that perpetuated ending with it getting stronger and stronger. All at the expense of Gotham. It struck Jason as blunt as a crowbar to the side. No matter what he did as Red Hood, no matter what any of the bats did— peace in Gotham had less than a snowball’s chance in hell. Not with these beasts running wild.

He ran after it wordlessly, Danny by his side. They followed the trail of misfortune through the streets of crime alley and then into downtown proper. Jason had half a though about truces and territories made with Batman in where he could and could not operate, but any qualms blew past him as his vision tunneled on the beast.

Heat churned under his skin and he felt a swell of rage despite the fact that Danny still kept pace beside him. This rage wasn’t sharp and bright like the rage he intimately knew, instead it burned oily and black.

They rounded a corner and real heat smacked him in the face. Ahead of them a building burned vigorously, flames eating their way out windows on every floor. He watched as the curse ghost dove through the open front door into the inferno.

“Shit,” Danny hissed beside him. “I’m going in.”

Without further warning Danny disappeared, presumably diving in after the beast.

The rage still burning in his gut egged Jason on to follow. Then, a cry from above. In the window, two kids framed by an orange inferno. Below on the street other people covered in soot pointed up, desperation in their voices.

Sense snapped back to him like an ice bath, priorities set. He strode toward the building and launched a grapple line, zipping up to the window.

“Grab on tight.” He hoisted two little girls off the windowsill and they followed his instruction, clinging to his midsection. He lowered them all down just as a loud crack came from the building above as the beams began to burst.

As he set the girls on the ground the older one spoke up, her voice barely a squeak. “Our brother-“

Fuck. Jason looked back up. The window frame was nearly devoured in flame. Fuck.

The wail of sirens echoed steadily closer, but not fast enough. He couldn’t just rush in unscathed like Danny had, he wasn’t wearing the jacket that made him intangible (supposedly, he hadn’t yet made it work all the way). But he still had to do something. He gripped his grapple gun and steeled himself.

And then Danny shot out of the second story window like a comet, landing haphazardly beside Jason. Around his neck, wrapped safely within his arms, was a little boy.

The sisters cried out with joy and Danny passed the boy to them, dazed and soot covered but still breathing. Danny smiled up at Jason, ashes tangled in the mess of his black hair.

“Red Hood?”

Shit. He would recognize that voice even if he were still dead.

“Batman.” Jason turned and saw his former mentor illuminated in firelight.

Fire trucks and EMTs arrived moments later, tending to the civilians and doing what they could against the blaze. Out of the corner of his eye Jason saw a flash of the iconic red and yellow on the roof. Robin was deploying some kind of fire extinguishing smoke bombs from above.

“What happened here?” Batman was never one to mince words. Still, Jason didn’t appreciate the accusatory undertone.

“Isn’t a guy allowed to save a few kids from a burning building once in a while?” He retorted.

“You’re outside of Crime Alley. Any particular reason?”

“W—“ he glanced over his shoulder. Danny was nowhere to be seen. Good. “I was just passing through. Helped how I could. But now it seems like you and Gotham’s finest have got it handled so I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait—“

Jason in fact did not wait. He shouldered his way past running firemen and slipped deeper into the shadows behind the crowd. He remembered the invisibility cuffs and with a bit of focus he made extra certain Batman couldn’t follow.

He waited till he was safely back inside the streets of crime alley (he chuckled to himself that anyone could think of these streets as safe) before he dropped the invisibility.

He found Danny waiting for him on top of their hotel.

“You okay?” Danny asked as Jason sat next to him on the edge of the roof.

“Fine.”

“Sorry I bailed so quickly, I-“

“Batman can not find out about you,” Jason interrupted. Meta or not, Batman wouldn’t be pleased if anyone as powerful as Danny was roaming around Gotham unchecked. If Bruce saw him, if he got any sense of his capabilities, he’d certainly confront him, or worse.

“Yeah, exactly, way ahead of you,” Danny breathed. “The Dark Knight is not on the list of heroes I’d like to meet.”

Jason hummed in the affirmative, satisfied.

“You get the curse ghost?”

“What? Oh, no. Forgot about him as soon as I saw there were still people. in the building. I think I got them all out before the B man showed up.”

“You’re a hero then. Or vigilante.”

“Was. I’m retired.”

“You don’t seem retired to me.”

“It’s complicated.”

In truth Jason had been relieved when Danny flew out of the building with that kid. Relieved for the kid of course, but equally relieved that Danny had chosen the civilians over the curse ghost. It meant that maybe he was just as altruistic as he claimed to be.

“So are these ghosts better or worse than the ones in Amity Park?” Jason ventured, pushing what trust he’d built.

Danny stiffened at the mention of Amity Park.

“I never mentioned Amity.” A hint of dangerous green glinted behind his eyes. Jason swallowed.

“I know. I was curious.” He replied, as breezy as possible. Like he hadn’t spent hours scouring through old records and obscure blogs to even get this scrap of information.

Danny pressed his lips together. “I haven’t been back in a long time.”

“Not even to see your parents?” Jason was getting reckless now.

“No.” Hard and cold as stone. “They’re not there anymore.”

Noted. Fenton parents were a subject to avoid with Danny. And a subject he would need to redouble his research on.

“And yeah. All ghosts are similar everywhere. Aside from the Curse Ghosts.” Danny offered, the chill fading from the air.

Getting info off of him was easy if Jason asked the right questions. Figuring out the questions was the hard part.

“How did they even get here then? The Curse Ghosts.” Jason asked. “Is there a portal close by?” Portal like the one the Fentons may or may not have created, like the one that supposedly killed Danny.

“No, they’re special. They form here in Gotham, no portal necessary,” came Danny’s unguarded reply. His gaze was far off, down into the streets like he could see them there.

“Actually,” Danny got that conspiratorial look as he turned to Jason, “Come with me.”

“Iʼve been trying to find a pattern for where the curse ghosts show up.” Danny sat at the messy desk in his apartment. Jason leaned over his shoulder as he pointed to a map on an outdated monitor.

It was Gotham, with red points dotting various locations. Jason recognized a few as locations theyʼd fought Curse Ghosts together but there were dozens more spots that Jason hadnʼt been at.

“Crime Alley is one obvious hot spot. Plenty of misery here to feed off of. But also— here by the docks, in the business district, by city hall, at Arkham.”

“So, anywhere.” Jason deadpanned.

Danny shot him a look. He clicked a key and another layer of dots showed up on the map.

“News stories of note- strange deaths, corruption, theft. Thereʼs always a surge after a beast shows up.”

“Seems obvious. And unhelpful.”

Danny huffed. “Yeah, well, usually one of your seventeen resident vigilantes shows up and restores order before things get too bad. Starves ‘em out a bit, unlike the big fish we were after tonight. But this is still helpful to get a bead on those to avoid real disasters.”

Jason studied the map layered with articles. “There has to be a way to predict where they’ll form.”

Danny hit a few keys and tossed him a thumb drive. “Knock yourself out.”

Danny leaned back in his chair. He looked tired.

Jason changed the subject. “So what do you study?”

“Huh?”

He gestured to the GU hoodie and various homework-esque bits around the room.

“Oh. Mechanical Engineering,” Danny replied with limited enthusiasm. “What about you? You go to school?”

“Not since I died.” Jason replied. Danny winced. “But itʼs okay. Not really my scene.”

“Oh cmon. There must be something youʼd want to study.”

“Maybe- no. Itʼs stupid.” Jason sat down on the arm of the sofa- the one that was still mostly intact.

“They have all sorts of weird degrees you can do now. You could do Crimonogy. Physicology. Extreme weightlifting with a minor in anthropology.”

“Or Literature.”

“What?” The corners of Danny’s mouth quirked up as he turned toward Jason.

“You know- the classics. Novels. The poets. That kind of stuff.”

Dannyʼs face curled into a smile. “Didnʼt peg you for the type.”

“You donʼt know me.” Jason was thankful the helmet hid the heat rising to his face.

“Touché.”

“Why mechanical engineering?” Jason countered.

“My grades were so shit in high school it was kind of a fall back.” Jason raised a doubting eyebrow.

“No really,” Danny continued, “I grew up around my parents tinkering. I couldnʼt help but pick it up. Much easier than studying Literature.”

“But do you actually like it?”

He shrugged. “Iʼm good at it. Isn’t that basically the same thing?”

Jason snorted. “Not at all. You still get to choose.”

Danny turned away, hiding his face. The silence stretched on for a long moment. Then, “So why are you a crime lord instead of a literature professor?”

Jason considered the question. Truthfully it hadn’t considered doing anything but what he did. This life he lived felt a bit inevitable. On his worst days maybe he’d considered giving up, but then his anger would always come snarling back. Anger at Bruce, anger at the Joker, anger at Gotham itself. Fighting was his only reprieve.

Or so he thought, before he met Danny. Before the irrationality of his rage had been doused completely for the first time since his death. For the first time it felt like he had room to consider. Room to choose.

“Gotham needs someone like me. As soon as it doesn’t you can catch me in the lecture hall teaching Jane Eyre.”

Danny considered him with a hint of a smile. “I’ll be sure to register for that credit when you do.”

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dp dc crossover #danny phantom #red hood #fanfic #fanfiction #dc x dp #dp x dc fic #red knight fic #jason todd #I finished this on my phone on a beach so pls excuse any wonkiness

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