#the differences in dates is bizarre because i made these towns all around the same time when i was on an AC bender about a year ago. so i | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ugly-anastasia · 3 months

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On This Night, In This Light | Anatoby

Date: 15 June 2024 Featuring: @toby-determined Warnings: yeaaaaarrning

Annie makes an unexpected stop on her way home from prom.

ANNIE

Annie continued down the path, not letting up her pace. She cursed this long path; if she were at Town Hall she could call an Uber and be home in fifteen minutes. But no. That was fine, though. Every step got her closer to her destination.

Sometime halfway down the path, Annie nearly tripped over a root, and she ripped her shoes off as though they’d personally insulted her. By the time she got back into town, her feet were sore and covered in dirt, her hair hung flat around her face, her dress had picked up dirt and leaves, and her makeup was smudged across her face. But she was almost home.

Except that when she pulled up the Uber app, the closest one was twenty minutes away, and stupidly expensive. Prom night rates. Annie should have known.

I could just walk at this rate, Annie thought bitterly, stepping onto the sidewalk and starting down the road. Once in a while, she checked the Uber rates. Still ridiculous.

Annie walked. She walked and walked, pushing away the thoughts of her argument with Gaston, her argument with Georgette. She pushed away the thought of Mummy’s disappointed face when this whole ordeal inevitably got splashed across the gossip blog. Somehow, she found herself in northeast Swynlake.

Somehow, she found herself approaching Castle Suites.

Annie could blame it on Swynlake magic turning her around and getting her lost. But if she was honest with herself, she’d been on her way here ever since she’d left Gaston on the steps of the castle. Because she knew who would be here, practically the only one in Swynlake home on prom night. He’d told her he would be.

Annie knocked on the door.

TOBY

And Toby was.

Home that was. In the empty flat since Lucky was at the dance with his date. Toby had waved him off, complimenting his attire, and then turned back to the space to get started. He hadn’t been lying when he said he had plans to clean the place while he had the night to spare. Not that it ever got to the point of being concerning, but now there weren’t any dishes in the sink and the stack of mail that he’d been meaning to get to had been sorted, no longer living in a mess on the counter. His laundry had gotten done and his bed made. He had even been able to reorganize one of his bookshelves, no longer having to restack the most recently finished ones on his bedside table. They all had a place to sit without fear of being knocked over in his search for his glasses in the morning.

It smelled vaguely of pinesol, though he tried to mostly use non fragranced supplies these days. Lucky didn’t have to say it but Toby had done research, thinking too much of something would be harsh on a werewolf’s nose.

He had been asleep when someone knocked on the door. Yes, it was early, but he had been tired and needed the rest. The sound made him blink awake. He waited to see if it had been on their door and not someone else’s on the hall, because who would be here at this hour? On this night? Unless Lucky had forgotten his keys or something. When another knock came, echoing through the flat, he sighed.

He got up, put on his glasses, and wandered out to look through the peephole, raising up on his toes slightly to do so.

And there was Ms. Tremaine.

Forgetting that he was in only a plain shirt and pajama pants, still looking sleep soft and a little groggy, he opened the door.

“Ms. Tremaine,” he greeted. “What are you doing here?”

ANNIE

Annie had only ever seen Toby in the same clothing— black slacks, a white button-down, a tie. In his pajamas, he looked different— softer, and Annie again had a bizarre impulse (this time to smell his shirt to find out what detergent he used).

Something was seriously wrong with her. Why was she here?

She knew why she was here. Because all Annie had wanted tonight was for someone to see her. And Toby always did.

“Toby-“ Annie started, and her voice caught in her throat again. God, could she get through a single conversation without crying tonight? “I’m sorry, I- I just didn’t know where to go. I hope I didn’t wake you…”

TOBY

In turn, Toby was taking in her person. It was concerning, seeing her make-up as it did and the dirt on her feet, the hem of her dress. It certainly made him feel very guilty for still thinking about how beautiful she looked. Especially when her voice came out sounding like that. Clearly something was wrong. He had known that because she was here instead of where she was supposed to be, but everything together made him start thinking something horrible had happened.

It was Swynlake Prom after all.

“That’s alright! That’s not- important. Are you okay?” he asked, then, quickly moved out of the way and taking the door with him. “Forgive me, would you like to come in?”

It felt wrong to make her continue to stand there. And who knew who would come out of the elevator or stairwell next. She probably didn’t want to be seen at his door.

ANNIE

“Oh- oh yeah,” Annie said, stepping inside, very aware of the dirty she was tracking into his spotless flat. It smelled nice in here, like it’d just been cleaned. Maybe Toby had stuck with his plan to clean the place after all, or maybe he really did keep the place this tidy.

Annie had never been over here before, so she didn’t know. But the image made her smile— Toby, wiping down surfaces and playing his music as loudly as he wanted to.

For a moment, she just stood there, as though she wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten here. And then it occurred to Annie how weird this was. How concerning it probably looked. Showing up at Toby’s door looking like something that had been fished out of the gutter with no explanation for him.

She looked into his eyes, concern written all over his face, and Annie couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I just- I just wanted it to be enough!” Annie blurted out, bursting into tears again. All the emotions she’d been holding back ever since she’d left Gaston at the castle came rushing back, and Annie couldn’t stop the flood. She sniffled loudly. “I don’t know if I can do it anymore, Toby. I just don’t know.”

TOBY

When he turned around, shutting the door behind her, Toby was thinking the same thing. That she had never been to his flat before. He had only ever been to her home. But that was because he hadn’t wanted her anywhere near here when the demon was around. And then…well, there was never any reason for her to come over. They always met out and he had a flatmate that would have made meeting here for work a bit awkward probably.

He hovered, unsure, about to ask if she wanted something to drink or to sit down, but suddenly she was talking once more. And crying. Toby stepped closer but stopped before he could breach any personal bubble, hands coming together to keep from reaching out to touch her. He had never seen her like this. The closest had been near and around the custody case but this was… He couldn’t even piece together what she was saying. It made his chest ache, desperate to fix it. If only he knew what it was.

“Do what anymore?” he tried, voice soft in response to her obvious pain. “What happened?”

ANNIE

This was pathetic, Annie realized. Showing up to her coworker’s house in the middle of the night like this, crying because a guy she didn’t even love didn’t love her.

Except it wasn’t just her coworker. It was Toby.

She wiped at her eyes, sniffling. “Sorry, that- that didn’t make any sense,” she apologized. “It’s all- it’s all quite silly. I just- Gaston and I had this fight. It wasn’t his fault. Really. I just- I just feel like rubbish, and I thought- well, you- I-“ Annie was slipping into her accent again. “You make me feel like… not that.”

TOBY

Toby looked away from her to search for where he’d put- ah. He stepped off to get to the tissue box that sat on the table beside the couch. Spring had passed by, but there always seemed to be something in the air that would trigger a bout of allergies for him. So there was always a box around. He plucked two of the top, one after the other, and returned to hold them out to her.

He had been listening the whole time, brow furrowing at the reasoning. She’d had a fight with her boyfriend. Presumably at the dance. Oh dear. Toby didn’t really believe that it wasn’t Gaston’s fault, because how could that be when Ms. Tremaine seemed so devastated by whatever it had been over? Busy thinking about all of this, he almost missed her last statement. It made him blink, looking up to see if this was said with sincerity.

Because…how could that be? How could she feel better around him when all he had done, for however long, was make her feel uncomfortable?

He decided to focus on what actually mattered, which was why she was so upset.

“It’s not silly if you’re this upset over it. What happened?” he asked. “That is, if you wish to tell me. You don’t have to- if it will make it worse.”

ANNIE

Annie took the tissues, smiling weakly. Then she blew her nose in a loud, decidedly not-weak way. It was embarrassing, but it wasn't like Annie really had any of her dignity left at this point.

Once, she might have hesitated to tell Toby because he was a reporter, and he sought out salacious stories for the paper— it was how he made his living. Annie had helped him report on many such stories, after all. But ever since she'd asked him not to tell anyone about her custody battle, and he'd respected that, she had complete trust in him. Not something Annie could say about a lot of people.

"I guess- honestly, the details aren't important," Annie said, wiping her eyes with the remaining tissues. She looked around for a wastebin to drop the used ones in and spotted a neat, recently-cleaned one right next to the couch. This place was just so… tidy.

She walked over to drop the issues in the wastebasket and then sat down. "Sorry, do you mind if I- these things were killing my feet," Annie said, holding up her long-abandoned gold heels to demonstrate.

Annie took a deep, ragged breath. "Anyway… I guess we just don't see things going the same way. He wants to keep things c-casual, and I- well, I thought he liked me, you know? So I thought he'd change his mind eventually and want to be serious, and not want to see other people. But tonight made it very clear that that's just not happening. And- look, he's not perfect, we all have our things, but I could be happy with him. I'm sure I could. I just…" Annie shook her head, tears smarting again. "He's basically my only option, and I can't even get him to choose me! How fucked is that!"

She rubbed her face with her hands. "I'm sorry. You don't want to hear all of this, do you?"

TOBY

It didn’t bother Toby at all, seeing as he did it all time it was perfectly normal to him, and no doubt relieving to get it all out. He nodded, gesturing awkwardly to the seat that, yes! Yes, of course she could sit. He should have invited her to as soon as she came in, but he had been so worried about her it hadn’t even come to mind. And now that she was sitting he lingered, shifting his weight as he tried to decide where he should sit.

Eventually he settled on the chair that sat parallel to the sofa where she was so as not to crowd her.

He listened intently, frown deepening as she continued. At this point he was wide awake, no longer dredged in unconscious confusion. How on earth she could have said it wasn’t D’Avenant’s fault was beyond Toby. But more than that, she making it sound like D’Avenant was some sort of last option for her. That without him there was no one else in the entire world that could make her happy.

“Of course I do,” he said quickly, dismissing the notion that it was ever a bother to listen to her. Even if this was the subject. “But- Ms. Treamine, surely you know that you shouldn’t have to make yourself be happy with someone. You should just be happy, which you of all people deserve to be. And from the looks of it, he does not make you happy. Nor, may I add, does he seem to care about that either since you made it all the way here without him coming after you.”

ANNIE

Well, that last part was certainly true. Gaston was probably already off with some other girl by now. And Annie had really thought that she could make peace with that idea, that she had been through so much heartbreak with Charlie that she was immune to it by now.

But being happy in the way Toby was talking about— being really, truly in love with someone, and knowing they loved you too— she just didn't think it was an option at this point. And Annie had thought she could get Gaston at least to want to be with her, even if he didn't love her, but apparently even that was too much to ask.

"That's really nice of you to say, Toby, but-" Wasn't that why she had come here? He always told her what she wanted to hear. Tonight, though, it just made her sad— like maybe she'd tricked him or something. "But it's not really that simple. I mean, my reputation is pretty bad around here, and even people who would see past that probably don't want to date someone with kids, or they want someone prettier, or with more money, or- I don't need to give you the whole list, you get the picture. And I want to be one of those people who's happy alone, I did the whole independent woman shtick for a couple of years after my divorce, but it's really fucking lonely…"

Annie choked up again and reached for another tissue. "The point is, I think I gave you the wrong impression. I let you believe I'm, like, this confident, powerful person with tons of options, but I'm really not."

TOBY

Toby had no idea what words had been exchanged between Ms. Tremaine and D’Avenant, but clearly something more than she was saying had happened because this was…it was devastating to witness. To listen to. He felt emotion welling up in his throat, making it feel tight.

Because she was right, in a sense. She had presented herself as someone who was all of those things, but after a while, he had grown to know her. Especially after the story about her ex-husband. There was a reason she felt she had to be those things, because how else was one supposed to react to pain other than building up barriers to protect themselves against the possibility of it again?

“No,” he shook his head. “You are so much more than that.”

After their conversion in the office Toby had sworn up and down to himself she wouldn’t say anything like that again. But he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t just sit there and allow her to believe all of the things she was saying when it wasn’t true. So what? So her edges were showing, jagged and fragile with the wounds of the night. If anything it endeared him to her all the more. How could anyone think otherwise?

“I know you’re not those things all of the time but that’s fine! That’s-! …the human condition. But you never gave me the wrong impression. You are confident, just like you’re clever and petty and eager and bossy and warm and-” He could have kept on but stopped himself, starting again. “The point is, you’re you. And that should be enough for anyone. I know you’ve been wronged by these men, but you can’t take that as a reflection on yourself. That’s on them. Because they have no idea what they’ve let go. And I know that when you find a man you deem worthy of you, that he’ll understand what I mean. He will never treat you like all these others have because…he’ll know he was never worthy of you, but he’s going to do everything in his power to try to be.”

ANNIE

Annie stared at Toby. And it wasn't fair. Because how was she supposed to keep denying her feelings for him when he went ahead and said things like that?

Did he know? Did he know what he was doing? Did it occur to him that his words had that power, that they could wrap around her like an embrace, even if Toby and Annie weren't touching? He named all these things about her and they weren't all positive, but the way he said them, he made them sound like they were. Because he was saying them, and he liked her anyway.

"Toby, I-" Annie struggled to find her words. More tears rolled down her cheeks. "I have to tell you something."

There it was. No going back now. And if this ruined things, if he was scared off forever or if it ruined their friendship, well, hadn't Annie already done that by showing up at his flat in this state?

"Ever since our conversation the other night. The one when you walked me home, when I had a bit too much wine, I'm sorry about that— I know what I felt, though, and it was real, I— the way you talk about things, the way you see the world, the way you see people, and the way you see me— I feel- I am-"

Annie swallowed, trying to stop her stammering. "I thought if I could be with Gaston, I could make it go away, because I didn't want to ruin our working relationship, or our friendship. But I have to tell you, Toby— when you talk like that, you make it really hard for me not to feel these- feelings for you."

There. She'd said it.

"But- but you don't have to- if you were just talking hypothetically- I understand if- you know- anyway- I'm sorry-" Annie added, uncharacteristically awkward in her speech. What a pickle she'd just put him in, right?

TOBY

Toby wanted to do something more. To reach forward and wipe the freshly fallen tears away. To take her hand between his own. For the first time, he understood what people meant when they said words weren’t enough. Instead he remained in his seat, watching her, his fingers laced together tightly so they would stay put.

He knew what she was going to say. It had been coming on for a while. In fact, he was surprised she had remained in contact with him for as long as she had. Right from the start it had been a wonder she had chosen him to talk to at the Squire. Then to work with. Then to call a friend. He had gotten too greedy in his desire for connection. His first real find of it and now he had gone and ruined it. But he couldn’t say he regretted it. At least he had experienced it. At least she knew it was possible for someone to care about her, she just needed to find the person she could love in return, too.

Toby looked down at his hands when she started talking about the other night. The one where he thought she’d discovered him. Here it comes, he thought, bracing for the impact, eyes closed.

Except it was not quite the blow he had been preparing for. Feelings for you, she said. As in… Toby slowly raised his head, eyes finding hers, searching. It seeming so impossible he could hardly think on it too long before she was saying something else, implying that he didn’t have to reciprocate. But surely…? This whole time he thought she had to have….why else would she…?

Toby let out a breath, eyebrows creasing as he looked at her with fondness and awe because maybe she didn’t see it. After all she had said tonight, maybe it wasn’t impossible to think she had not noticed.

“Anastasia, don’t you know? I’ve been half in love with you since we met,” he said, regretting that it had only been in the past few weeks that he had fully understood his feelings for her, back where it had started, sitting across from her in the tea shoppe.

ANNIE

It was like the breath had been knocked out of Annie. All this time? Since they'd met? Annie's mind raced through all the years, all the memories together— but of course. There was never a time when he wasn't there for her, when he hadn't looked out for her or had her back. It was like putting on a pair of glasses and suddenly seeing everything in focus.

Half in love with her since they'd met. Toby really did have a way with words, didn't he?

One in particular, actually. Because he called her Anastasia again, and she just about melted.

"Oh- Toby." Annie didn't know what her plan was, really, with what she did next. She launched herself off of the couch, maybe to grab his hand or something or just be closer to him, but she tripped over the hem of her floor-length dress and wound up crashing into the chair as she tried to catch herself on the arm of it. Annie laughed, though some tears leaked out too. "Sorry, I- I don't know what that was."

TOBY

Even after what she had said, Toby was still scared that he had said too much with that. He also was not entirely sure what to do next. He had never done anything like this before. It was by some miracle or the very grace of God that she decided he was at all suitable for her feelings and he didn’t know where the limit was. He seemingly had none, his heart an insatiable thing of constant hunger for whatever it wanted. Right now, all it wanted was whatever she was willing to give.

He didn’t really have time to react as she came forward, also not sure as to what she was going to do, only leaned back into the cushion of the chair. His hands separated from one another, raising up as if to catch her but she did that herself so his hands were left to hover at her sides. He smiled at her laughter, it feeling like a splash of water, before he realized just how close she was to him.

“That’s alright,” he said, voice quiet. With hesitant movements he reached up. Although he was quite desperate to touch her he didn’t know if it would break whatever this moment was. Because maybe it was one of those Swynlake dreams, they had been married in one before after all. Or maybe it was just one of his own. He didn’t want to wake up either way. Toby swallowed before brushing the back of his knuckles across her cheek, clearing away the fallen tears, eyes tracking the movement as his skin felt hers.

ANNIE

Toby had told her that he'd been half in love with her since they had met, but that wasn't the case for Annie. In fact, when she'd first met him, she'd completely written him off— a dork whom it wouldn't be hard at all to manipulate so that she could get a good story written about her, the job she wanted, a friend at all when the Squire office intimidated her. Annie had thought she held all the power. And she'd thought that was a good thing at the time.

But as time went on, that perception had changed. Slowly, so slowly that Annie hadn't even realized until it was far too late. Yes, he was dorky, and that was something Annie liked about him, even if she wasn't sure her Nashville friends would understand it (or that her past self would understand it, honestly). The way he lost control of his rolling office chair sometimes or kept his abandoned story ideas in a Google Drive folder called "the graveyard."

And in this moment, the back of Toby's hand gently brushing against her cheek, the kindness in his eyes, Annie realized something else— she didn't need to hold all of the power in a relationship. She didn't even really want to. Maybe it was better to know that someone could break your heart and trust they wouldn't.

Annie reached one hand up to her cheek to hold Toby's hand there. It felt warm and solid against her cheek. Just like him— not that she'd ever been this close to him before, but Annie was suddenly desperate to find out.

"Toby…" She blinked, leaning closer, heart pounding as her face hovered slightly above his. "Can I- do you want to…"

TOBY

It had always marveled him when she reached out toward him and made contact. With his hand, his shoulder, when she had hugged him. Since leaving his family, people hardly touched him. If they did it was by accident or necessity, never because they decided to all on their own. But Ms. Tremaine did. Another wonder that he didn’t know if he would ever come to fully understand.

She had her hand against his and while it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar it was still something he looked at with surprise. Now her palm and fingers suddenly felt like a massive weight. As if being touched, even when it seemed to be given out of affection, was unbearable despite how long he had gone without it.

He had been so consumed with watching the way her fingers looked and moved against his that he hadn’t noticed her leaning that move closer. Her voice saying his name dragged his eyes away to find hers and then, at her half questions, traveled down to find her mouth. Toby swallowed and forced himself to make eye contact again because that probably wasn’t what she was asking. He didn’t actually know what she was asking, mind too muddied to try figuring it out because whatever it was she wanted he probably wanted it, too. Even if he didn’t, he would still give it to her.

Toby nodded.

ANNIE

Annie rested her other hand on Toby's shoulder, his soft t-shirt. And then, very slowly, as though looking for any signal she had misread this—

(She rarely moved so slowly— with Gaston, everything was hungry and fast-paced. But there was a pleasure, Annie was finding, to taking one's time).

—Annie's eyes fluttered shut and she closed the space between them, gently pressing her lips to his. He was warm and solid, just as Annie had thought he might be. But softer, too, than she'd realized.

TOBY

Toby’s eyes fell, only half lidded when she kissed him, unwilling to part with the sight of her just yet. He wanted to know every inch of sensation, including the way she looked this close. Her eyelashes, wet and clumped by make-up, and the way her hair fell forward with her. It was only when the sensation of her lips on his got so overwhelming that they shut completely, but that merely made the touch all he could focus on.

Soft was what the kissed remained, as he didn’t want to press any further than that. As much as he may have wanted to, she had been through a lot tonight. This was enough. Even if she left and changed her mind, came to her senses, and never spoke to him again come the morning, he wouldn’t regret that this was what he had been gifted.

Instead he brought his other hand up to the side of her neck to keep her from moving away as he pulled back, eyes still closed, so he could press their foreheads together. He was content to simply be near her, to be able to breathe her in. Attempting to soak up the feeling of her proximity while he could.

ANNIE

Annie had meant what she said when she'd told Gaston she wasn't in the mood to sleep with him tonight, or anyone for that matter. It wasn't just about him. She was tired, mentally and physically and emotionally. And as much as Annie enjoyed what she and Gaston did together, there was always an element of performance to it, at least on Annie's part. She felt like she had to make herself enticing, like she could get a good score in a hookup. And that took energy that Annie just didn't have tonight.

But this— this, Annie felt she could do all night. Her forehead pressed against Toby's, her eyes closed, breathing in the detergent smell she'd wondered about earlier. There was no performance to it, just quiet, gentle intimacy. Intimacy that Annie realized she'd felt with him from the moment she'd read his abandoned story about the man in the park— no, longer than that, from the moment she'd told him the truth about the custody suit. Maybe longer. All of it leading them to now.

She opened her eyes again and smiled. "Hi," Annie said, maybe a little bit shyly, uncharacteristic for her. "Was that, uh, okay?"

TOBY

As if able to feel her gaze on him, Toby opened his eyes to be met with her smile. Her greeting. It made him smile, too, before falling into the depths of disbelief of all that was happening. It still didn’t feel quite real. Nothing like this had ever happened to him and he had never expected it to, but here it was all the same.

“Hi,” he echoed and then before he could answer her question with the probably never ending string of compliments that would have poured out of him, concerned crossed over his features. He pulled back another few inches so he could look at her properly, letting their still joined hands at her cheek fall between them. He didn’t let go, pulling it toward himself to rest against his chest, didn’t think to in the haste to ask, “Was…was that okay for you?”

Because he could have done something wrong. He didn’t know. It seemed a more likely thing than him having done anything right, especially in regards to…this.

ANNIE

Annie's smile widened. She felt like a kid again, giddy.

"More than okay," she replied. Annie already knew she wouldn't forget that kiss for a long, long time. Maybe ever. "It was… very good."

For a long time, Annie didn't move, she just leaned against the arm of the chair and looked at Toby and felt his heart beating steadily under his t-shirt, not quite believing what was happening.

"You, um- you too?"

TOBY

He breathed out in relief, shoulders dropping with it. His smile grew softer as the silence lingered, and not in a bad way. Not in the way he thought it had for these past days since that night. There didn’t feel like anything needed to be said now, because he felt he could already hear her despite her not saying anything at all.

It gave him more time to admire her, the hand on her neck moving to brush the hair on that side back behind her ear, fingers running down the length of it.

“Me?” he questioned, bemused that she should even think to ask after him. Wanting to convince her, he began rambling instead of thinking of something tolerable to say, “I- yes. Of course. Nothing could compare, nothing- nothing will feel the same after that. I’m still not convinced I’m not asleep right now. You are the dream.”

ANNIE

Annie shivered pleasantly at the gentle touch. Don’t stop, she thought, as though he could read her mind.

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be the first time,” she said, referring to that magical medieval dream from a few years ago when they’d been married, which they’d oddly never really spoken about.

(Of course, it wasn’t so odd, knowing what Annie knew now).

She blushed, realizing it might have sounded like she was insinuating something else, though. “I mean— that dream, when we were Lord and Lady Bookworm or whatever it was. Do you remember that?”

TOBY

That made his skin grow warm, too, rising from his neck up to his cheeks, thinking exactly what it sounded like. But that she had meant him. Because it was true.

In fact, thinking about it, it may have always been true. Even before they had even met and he had come to Swynlake where the magic seeped into even that portion of one’s life. He had dreamed of someone whose hand he could hold without them recoiling and someone who would listen to him when he talked. Now here she was, and better than any dream his mind could have created.

But then she clarified and, oh. Toby nodded. A new wave of embarrassment and guilt washed over him, making the heat on his skin burn that much warmer. “Yes but those weren’t exactly the best circumstances.”

ANNIE

“I still think we made a rather good team, didn’t we?” Annie said. “And that was right around the time we put out that article about Dian Morey and Princess Elena. You know, I was quite amazed by you that day, the way you told off the security guard. I don’t think I realized until that moment, how… handsome you are when you’re confident like that.”

She brushed some of his hair to one side with the hand that had been resting on his shoulder, smiling fondly.

TOBY

Toby couldn’t deny that, they had been just that. Even if he had acquired her companionship in that world through necessity on her part and opportunity on his, it had felt like they were on the same page. Just like in this life.

He balked at her compliment. It was rare that he was bestowed one and when it did it certainly was not in reference to his appearance. But she was being sincere, so he couldn’t even contest the point without invalidating her word, which he would never do. A breath of disbelief left him at the smile she had on her features, directed at him. He had to look away, overwhelmed by it and her touch.

“Well, I couldn’t have done that without you. You made a very compelling speech,” he said. “But yes. We do make a good team.”

Which, like a hefty rock being tossed into the peaceful water they had been floating on, reminded him of work. Of them being co-workers. Of everything that was going to be beyond the door to the flat in the morning.

ANNIE

Annie wasn’t thinking of that now. It would occur to her later, much later, but right now, she was still basking in the glow of the moment. She smiled.

“My mum has the kids for the night. I don’t have to go home,” she said. “I mean- unless, uh, I guess your roommate will probably be home…”

Not that Annie had any grand plans for the night. She just imagined she could do this all night, sitting here and talking and looking in each other’s eyes.

TOBY

Toby hummed with acknowledgement in regards to Lucky, about to check the wrist where his watch usually resided only to realize it was still on his bedside table. Same as his phone. So he had no way of knowing what time it was to guess as to whether his flatmate’s night, and date for that matter, was going well and if they had time.

It did not even occur to him that she might be concerned about his thoughts on her staying longer, or even the whole night. As if he would object to more time spent in her presence.

“Yes, and I doubt anything I own would be comfortable for you,” he said, glancing down at her dress. The thought had jumped about five steps ahead in semantics but he was thinking about how tired she was, and how no one wanted to sleep in something with dirt on it if they didn’t have to. “I’ll leave it up to you. I wouldn’t want to strand you here without something to sleep in.” Then he managed to hear his blunder and tried to correct it. “Or- er, to change into.”

ANNIE

It wasn't like Annie would really have minded. Her original plan, after all, had been to go back to Gaston's, and he much preferred her when she didn't have any clothes on at all. Most nights she spent there, she just pulled on her dress from the night before when she left the next morning, carrying her shoes. Occasionally, she stole something out of his closet, but never because it was particularly comfortable— just because she thought he might get something out of it. She always ended up giving it back before she left, anyway.

So the thought of Toby lending her pajamas— well, it was just very sweet. And very him.

"What, you don't think I can pull this style off?" Annie teased, poking at his t-shirt. She did wonder what Toby's things would look like on her. What they would feel like. Would they smell like him?

Well- maybe that was a thought for another time.

"I'm just teasing," she added. "I'll get out of your hair. We can talk more tomorrow, okay?"

Annie made no move to get up, though. She just remained there, leaning against the chair, one hand on Toby's shoulder, the other on his heart.

TOBY

He looked down at his shirt, as if unaware and needing a reminder of what he was wearing, before smiling at what he assumed was a joke since, in his opinion, she could no doubt embody any type of clothing. She had worn leaves and dirt and the brutal night very beautifully.

What she said next made his smile falter slightly.

“Don’t say it like that,” he said, voice quiet again, like she had wounded him with the implication that she was some sort of burden. “You’ll always be welcome wherever I am.”

He had the impulse again to punctuate this somehow and then realized that it seemed like he could act on that now. So he did. Toby picked up their still woven hands, that had been pressed together so long he had forgotten they were two separate things at all, to briefly press her knuckles to his lips.

ANNIE

Annie smiled, the gesture, the light touch of Toby's lips on her hand sending little electrical currents through her. She'd long understood that there was really nobody else like Toby Determined. But this was a new side of him. Annie felt a little bit like she'd been dropped into the new Bridgerton season she'd spent yesterday binge-watching while she did work around the house. But she hadn't thought that could be real.

"Aw, Toby," Annie said softly, before learning in to kiss him again briefly. "I should go. The Uber prices probably calmed down by now…"

TOBY

He blinked after she pulled away, dazed at how easy that had seemingly been. Toby didn’t know if he was ever going to get used to it. That was, if there would be time to. But she had said they would speak tomorrow and he didn’t want to keep her from getting any needed sleep.

“Right,” he said and cleared his throat, reluctant to let her go. From his hold, from the flat. But, hopefully, there would be more of this to come. Toby moved to stand, waiting for her to follow so he could walk her to the door at least.

ANNIE

Annie could have stayed there all night, continuing to prattle on about Uber prices, but she knew this was probably for the best. Right now, it really did feel like a dream, like Toby had said. Once she had a shower and a good night's sleep, it would be real— or it would all be a dream, either one.

She slid back to her feet and picked up the shoes, taking her phone out of her purse to call the Uber. Still much more expensive than it should have been, but oh well. Worth it.

"Barry will be here in six minutes," Annie said, looking up from her phone as she walked with Toby to the door. "Thank you for everything, Toby. Really. This went from the worst prom ever to, well, definitely the best in a long time."

TOBY

He nodded, wondering if maybe he should offer to go with her to the ground floor but knew that was just an excuse. It was best he stay and let her go now, otherwise he would be tempted to ask for more and push too far. He already wandered so far over the line, there was no need to plead farther.

Toby smiled and shook his head, waving away her gratitude. It hardly seemed earned. He had done nothing more than what he felt he had always done. If anything, he should be thanking her for all that she had said, all she had given. The latter statement did make his chest fill, heart oozing something sweet and warm with the knowledge that a moment spent alone in his flat had not only compared to such an event as prom, but had beaten it, too.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “Sleep well.”

ANNIE

"You too," Annie replied reluctantly. She lingered in the doorway a moment longer, impulsively kissed him on the cheek, and then it was down the hall, into the elevator, into Barry's car, and back to her quiet, dark house.

As she locked the door behind her, as she shed her dusty dress and showered and changed into pajamas, Annie couldn't help wondering if she could have stayed. If she could have insisted on one of Toby's old t-shirts, if he would have held her in his arms into the night. If he would have minded her snoring. If he would have made her breakfast or if he'd want her to do it. The thoughts carried her into bed and under the covers.

She didn't do what Toby asked, though. She didn't sleep a wink.

#toby #on this night in this light #wheres that emoji of mr knightley lying on the floor bc thats how i feel

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mydearzero · 2 years

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Hii can I please request a fic where the reader is a bit of a freak/outcast like Eddie and they get bullied by all the popular kids for it and one day Eddie notices and defends reader? While reader is thanking Eddie for pretty much saving them, they confess that they’ve always had a bit of a crush on Eddie and Eddie feels the same way about reader and they kiss and start dating?

Thank you for your request! I had kind of a hard time writing this bc I kept getting distracted, but we got there eventually! Enjoy!

Freakshow | E.M. x Reader

MASTERLIST

Summary: You're surrounded and try to drown out the taunting, but it seems impossible. Your long time crush Eddie Munson comes to your rescue.

Slightly angsty, fluff. Gender neutral reader, no descriptions or pronouns used.

Warnings: Mentions of blood and a suicide pact. Violence.

2.3K words

You weren't a pussy. Let's start there. You could handle teasing, name-calling and the occasional tug at your bag. You understood that being 'different' in a town like Hawkins would come with judgement and scrutiny. Bullies were a thing, and they didn't care about anybody's well-being but their own. People that fit their cookie-cutter image of what a person should be like were the only ones who deserved to be left in peace.

What didn't sit right with you were the onlookers. The people who knew better yet decided to stay silent. The people whose moral compass was tinted with a grey hue, knowing they should speak up. Understanding you were a regular person, just like them. But they were scared, understandably so. Terrified they were going to become the victim. The one who they wished they stood up for when it became their turn.

But not Eddie.

You'd admired Eddie Munson for a while now. Daring, unafraid and mesmerisingly authentic. You watched him like a hawk. You cursed yourself for being just like the people you condemned, a bystander whenever he got harassed. See, that's where you differed. While you were both considered freaks, Eddie made a point to stand up for himself. To not let himself be ridiculed for having peculiar hobbies, unusual clothes and a bizarre personality. He'd mock his bullies right back, shaming them for their conformity. You did everything in your power to not be perceived. Eddie did everything in his power to make sure he was not only being seen, he wanted to be heard. He wanted the world to move forward while the population around him remained stagnant.

People saw Eddie 'the freak' Munson. An oddball, drug dealer, and leader of a satanic cult. And perhaps that's exactly what he wanted people to see. He wanted people to stay away, leave him be. Be afraid, so they couldn't get close and see him for who he truly was. You didn't claim to know Eddie. But you did see through the first surface layer of protection he'd put up. Eddie was caring. He was kind of a dork, really. What you hadn't expected, however, was the glimpses you'd caught of his intelligence.

He was so smart. Not always academically, but Eddie was highly emotionally intelligent. He could do excellent in school when he really tried, but the subjects didn't hold his interest long enough for him to attempt excellence. Eddie was the listening ear to his friends, even to peers who wouldn't usually give him the light of day. Whenever one of the jocks mocked him, it was like he'd borrowed them from the library on a free pass, not even having to try and read them to understand their smallest insecurities and where they stemmed from because anybody could read them. He knew how to shut them up.

Your current predicament wasn't great, to say the least. Jason and his posse were being merciless. They wouldn't leave you be for even a second. You were beginning to feel like a caged animal, taunted by juvenile zoo visitors who didn't bother to read the warnings on the outside of the enclosure. The comments weren't the issue. The proximity and severity were what was causing you to start hyperventilating, what left you feeling claustrophobic. You couldn't twist or turn. Everywhere you looked, someone clad in Hawkins High gear was watching you. Pointing with their friends, making unintelligible jokes. The only escape was with your eyes closed, listening to your walkman and praying for them to leave.

Eddie knew you weren't usually too concerned with the assholes currently crowding you. But just like you watched him, he studied you. He knew your body language to a certain extent, and you were definitely trying not to panic. Eyes squeezed shut, eyebrows furrowed and hands trembling ever so slightly as you drummed your fingers along with the music. You were good at hiding your laboured breath, Eddie had to admit. He knew you were struggling. They were taking your autonomy, your ability to do what you wanted.

Eddie's extreme aversion to injustice probably stemmed from never being treated fair throughout his life. His jaw was tense, his eyes harsh when he observed Jason. He shouted at you mentally. 'C'mon, say something. Make them pay. Don't let them treat you like a doormat.' But you didn't budge. He didn't want to intervene. Not because he was scared of Jason and his gang of goons but because he knew you were like him. You took pride in being independent. You didn't need other people. He was scared that in a situation where you were being cornered, he'd only be adding another person to the crowd if he were to interact. He'd just be another person taking control of your situation.

He waited impatiently for you to do anything for a few more minutes. He was tapping his foot, playing with his food absentmindedly. His other hand was at his mouth, chewing on the nail of his thumb as he monitored. He shot up the second he caught the sunlight reflecting through the cafeteria window onto a minute tear escaping the corner of your eye. The boys surrounding the table gave him questioning looks, but Eddie beelined to the bench you were sitting on. He gave Jason a threatening glare before tapping on your shoulder, putting on the most genuine smile he could manage.

"Hey, what're you listening to?" He asked when you finally looked up. You pushed your headphones off your ear and paused your cassette. "It's, uh, Black Sabbath..." Your eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "Eddie, why are you talking to me?" You asked, distrusting. You might observe him, but you could by no means be considered friends. He laughed at your bluntness and crossed his arms. "You just looked-"

"I don't need your help, Eddie." You didn't intend to be so cruel. You knew he was just trying to help you. You didn't even know why you were being so defensive. Wasn't that precisely what you wanted people to do? To help others in situations like yours? You could lie to yourself, but you knew it was because you didn't want Eddie to view you as weak. You were no damsel in distress.

"I know you don't, sweetheart. But hey, your panic attack stopped, hmm?" You took a second to process what he'd said and realized that your breathing had indeed slowed, hands no longer quivering. The soft smile on his face was one of compassion. He'd been in your shoes. Your eyes met his, and a laugh bubbled in your chest. "Shit, Munson. Fair play," you chuckled. The cage seemed to disappear. You didn't feel trapped, not with him by your side. Your feelings for Eddie were undeniable at this point. Your envy of his individuality had slowly turned into admiration. You were head over heels for the guy, even when this was the first time you'd held a proper conversation. You might not be a damsel in distress, but you did want him to care for you like he did his friends and loved ones.

He noticed a unique sparkle in your eyes when they met his. It was like he was seeing you for the first time. Why weren't you friends? Why hadn't he bothered and annoyed you until you caved and realized he was actually not that bad to have around? Why hadn't he obnoxiously flirted with you until you caught on he was being serious? Why had he just watched you when he could've had you to himself all this time? He'd had a little crush on you for years. Why had he never done anything about it?

His thought process was shattered when Jason gripped your headphones off your head, taking some hairs with them, and smashed them on the floor before either of you could make a move to stop him. A broken cry left your mouth as you sank to your knees, scooping the broken pieces up with your hands in devastation. Tears welled in your eyes and Eddie felt awful. It was his fault. It was him Jason was after. If he hadn't had a moment of vulnerability with you, Jason wouldn't have come over. Jason sought any opportunity to ruin Eddie's day, even if it meant finally crossing the unwritten line to the extent of harassing you.

Eddie saw red when he punched Jason. He'd never resorted to violence, but Jason left him no choice. The rings on Eddie's fingers had left some gnarly imprints on the side of Jason's jaw. "You fucking freaks! Go make a fucking suicide pact or something, you fucking psychos! I'm gonna make sure your life is gonna be a living hell in Hawkins, Munson." A glob of spit mixed with blood made its way onto Eddie's face.

Eddie grabbed Jason's jaw, pulling his face close to his own. "Listen here, fuckface. You wanna fuck with someone? Try me. I don't care whatever the fuck you and your buffoon boys come up with. But I see you doing it to anybody besides me? You're fucking dead, Carver." Eddie spat right back in Jason's face before pushing him to the ground.

He put a sturdy hand on your upper arm and pulled you up. "C'mon." You know he didn't intend on hurting you, but his grip was gruelling. He was livid. He led you out of the cafeteria and out of the school. You'd barely managed to grab your bag. "Eddie! Eddie, stop. I'm okay." You tugged your arm from his grasp. He stopped in his tracks, releasing you with a quick apology. He sat on a bench near the entrance with a deep sigh, inviting you to join him. He lit a cigarette and looked to his tapping feet, refusing to meet your gaze.

"'M sorry. Didn't mean to intervene." He took a drag and exhaled. "It's okay. Thank you, really. I wasn't managing it like I should've." You sighed. You knew if it would've been happening to Eddie, he would've told them off long before it had gotten as bad as it did. "Are you kidding? You handled that like a champ." He finally turned to look at you. "Thanks, Eddie. I mean it." You offered him a timid smile.

A comfortable silence hung in the air as you watched Eddie smoke. He didn't seem creeped out that you were just staring. A wave of nerves washed over you when it sunk in that you were now alone with Eddie Munson, who'd just punched Jason Carver because he was being a dick to you. Should you say something? "Eddie?" You started and instantly regretted it when his eyes met yours in an expecting gaze. "I uh-" What were you gonna say?

"I have a really big crush on you." Wait, fuck, no. That's not what you wanted to say. Eddie chuckled at your now mortified expression. "I sure do hope it's not some kind of psychological saviour crush just because I punched Jason for you." He teased. You smacked his bicep and laughed sheepily. "It's not funny." You whined.

"No, it actually is. The thing that's not funny is how we could've been a thing ages ago, it seems." He flicked his cigarette to the floor before crushing it with his foot. Your expression was one of confusion and yearning. He elaborated. "Dude, freshman year? When you kinda began doing your own thing? I was so far up your ass you could've asked me to go bald and eat the hair, and I would've done it." He joked, but his body language was screaming with vulnerability. He was opening up because you did. You weren't sure what his confession meant, but he didn't take your silence as a bad thing.

He put his hand on your chin and lifted your face so it was closer to his. "I have a really big crush on you." You smiled at his confession. "Shall we make a suicide pact now?" You wiggled your eyebrows. Eddie's head was thrown back when he choked out a loud laugh, surprised at the recall of Jason's rant. His gentle hand never left your face, moving to cup your cheek. The same hand that had punched Jason, on the same cheek. Funny how soft it could feel when it had made Jason bleed.

"Can I please kiss you?" You asked, suddenly feeling exposed. Eddie couldn't help but grin. "I'll make you a deal, and you know I'm real good at those. You can kiss me, but only if I can take you out. And then you'll never have to ask permission for a kiss again." You suddenly leaned away from his touch, face serious. Eddie looked concerned, maybe hurt. His expression quickly changed to one of glee when you put out your right hand for him to shake. He took your hand in his and shook it. "You've got yourself a deal, Munson." You grinned. He pulled the hand he was still shaking to his chest, catching you as you fell forward and planting his lips on yours. You melted into the kiss, closing your arms around the back of his neck.

When you finally pulled apart, Eddie was outwardly giddy. You laid your head on his shoulder and giggled to yourself. "Dude, will you go bald and eat the hair?" You asked. Eddie scoffed a laugh and shook his head disprovingly. He put his arm around your shoulder without answering. You had the feeling this might just work out. You might just get your happy ending.

#eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x gender neutral reader #eddie munson x gn!reader #stranger things fanfic #stranger things x reader #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic #stranger things x you #stranger things one shot #stranger things drabble

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cesca-untoldstories · 3 years

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Can you explain more about why Jotaro is Jonas's Father yet 'Cesca married someone else and he never fulfilled the role of father as such?

✨ Okay! What if I tell you that was all 'Cesca fault? ✨ /please don't kill me haha, remember this whole story is full attached to Jojo's bizarre adventure's canon so some things might me really hard to accept (and for me too) but is for the character development! I swear! ;w;

At the end of Diamond is Unbreakable, Francesca agreed to leave Morioh with Jotaro, Joseph, and little Shizuka. The real reason behind leaving the town was to help Jotaro with the resolution and investigation of the arrows for the Speedwagon foundation. Jotaro's life is sadly not rosy, spending the whole day together and then going to sleep in different rooms. Francesca asked him about his family more than once. Jotaro mentioned that his relationship with Rebecca (Jolyne's mother) had ended a long time ago but it was something that hurt him to this date. The conversations after work in a restaurant or near-by bar where they were staying made him tell her about his life beyond. Not being able to be there for Jolyne when she needed him most and only for fear of drawing people who want to kill him to what he protects and loves the most.

Francesca noticed many times how he stayed on the phone for hours without saying anything, listening to a couple of screams from an emotionally shattered Rebecca. waiting for hours for Jolyne to pick up the phone to talk to her father, but that moment never came. Jotaro was emotionally wrecked and a couple of times Francesca offered her selfless help...as one of his closest friends to date.

they traveled together to many places and not only for work in the interval from 1999 to 2001. To Italy due to Francesca's uncontrollable desire to see her home again where Jotaro was her emotional pillar, and otherwise when they traveled to see Jolyne from the shadows; how she got along with friends, having lunch at school, how she did her chores around the house and helped Rebecca make dinner. Francesca was a very important pillar for Jotaro in those moments when he just wanted to go home. She knew that he and Rebecca were nothing, but the unconditional love still existed. little by little the concern and affection that Jotaro and 'Cesca needed slowly turned into something romantic, the need to be reciprocated and loved.

both decided to keep that secret since it was not ethical for work, much less for everyone else close to them. but here was a break for Francesca. her dream was always to have a family, to return to feel the family warmth that she once had until she was 14 years old and then she never felt again. the desire to belong to a place and feel loved and desired. but at that time Jotaro had other concerns on his mind, his daughter was his number one concern and everything was for her. It is not until 2001 that Francesca discovers that she is pregnant and it was sweet and bitter news at the same time. She did want to be a mother but the conditions in which she found herself with Jotaro were unstable made her decide to kinda abort and flee from that place before Jotaro discovered everything.

Francesca came to Morioh when they were looking for Koichi for the mission to Italy in search for Haruno. but Francesca decided to stay in Morioh for a while announcing to Jotaro that she wanted to take some time to go home, all a lie to escape the torment of being pregnant. It wasn't until she found Kei Kanokami in a self-destructive situation because his daughter Mia had been kidnapped. Francesca decided to help him forgetting the fact that she was pregnant, it was a genuine concern for the girl and her father who had always been a hardworking man but now he was broken. Kei was the one who discovered Francesca's pregnancy and she announced to him that she didn't want it, that although... she loved that moment and always dreamed of it... she wasn't ready to bring a child into the world like that ( antepartum depression)

Kei is the one who offers her that there is no need to mistreat each other and destroy dreams when both can give that child a life. From that moment Francesca's chapter with her fear of not belonging to any place was filled with a familiar aura. Jonas was born into a family, the kanokami family and was born as Son of Kei; who always saw him as his son from the first moment. Francesca no longer escaped her fears, since she now had a man who really loved her and let her know it.

but hey, she's no saint and to blame for Jotaro not knowing about Jonas. she tried to be independent so as not to "bother" a man who was emotionally destroyed at the time with the news, he indeed was not in the mood to be a father but 'Cesca tried to get away with murder too. but maybe the story would have been different if Jotaro had known the truth. but that little secret of the Kanokami family is only confessed at the end of Stone Ocean under the words of Francesca in her last moments:

"Years ago I tried to escape my destiny, I tried to hide everything that always led me to you Jojo, I tried to be strong and I was able to escape everything with a great mastermind but the only thing I could never escape from was my son's eyes, the same reflection that your eyes show, the eyes of his father"

#canon story #francesca castiglier #jotaro kujo #kei kanokami #jonas kanokami #.writings #.rambles

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lilosaur · 3 years

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hi hi! okay so, i really like your work and i find them very fluffy and adorable— so! can i request a scenario (chifuyu, kawata twins, baji and mitsuya) where s/o comes out as non-binary and the boys are extremely supportive about it? again, i really love your work!

Aha thank youu! Yess! I hope u enjoy reading, this was fun to write. Also this was with 5 people but my limit is 4 so be sure to read rules next time (I just did one twin) :)

♡‧₊˚ Coming Out As Non-binary :*₊‧✩

⟶ ticket no. 12 ɞ

w/ Matsuno Chifuyu | Kawata Nahoya | Baji Keisuke | Mitsuya Takashi

ʚ Matsuno Chifuyu ɞ

You and Chifuyu were on a little coffee shop date, you had stayed up all night debating weather you should tell Chifuyu about you being non-binary. Once you successfully decided with yourself that your non-binary you wanted to keep it secret for a while but now it’s time to let it out. You were so nervous “what if” thoughts started to wander in your head. Would Chifuyu still view you the same? Would he start to test you differently? Maybe he’d just dump you on the spot and leave you in tears. No no you couldn’t think like that right?

So many doubts clogging your mind you only have one idea left, you had to blurt it out in one shot just break the ice and say it.

“Fuyu..I have something to tell you.”

Chifuyu's facial expression changed a bit he was now intrigued at what you had to say. His own mind starting doubting him too, we’re you going to break up with him right here and now? Did you not love him anymore? Both of you looked at each other worried about what you would both say.

“Fuyu I just wanted to let you know that I’m non-binary”

Chifuyu looked at you and his face was so much more calm now. You really scared him for a moment, honestly he didn’t realize what you said until a few seconds later after calming himself down.

“Oh, so wait does that mean your not a male or female right?”

“Yeah so..”

You continued to help educate Chifuyu on what exactly non-binary meant and which pronouns you’d prefer him to address you by. He's just an uneducated baby but he’ll understand as you explain more things to him.

When you feel insecure about it Chifuyu makes sure to step in and make you feel loved, sometimes he buys you a gift, someone’s he gives you extra cuddles or extra kisses. Once fuyu even bought you a little non-binary flag! He 110% supports you and wants to learn more about it, he doesn’t even view you any differently your still the same sweet Angel he fell in love with.

༚༅༚˳❃˳༚༅༚

ʚ Kawata Nahoya ɞ

You and Nahoya were watching movies and cuddling on a Saturday night, you’d debated ever even telling Nahoya about you being non-binary. You felt like he wouldn’t really understand or just be unsupportive of you. However you came to the conclusion that you have to tell him about it at some point.

“Uh Nahoya…can I tell you something..” You asked silently he could barely hear you.

“What’s wrong y/n?”

“Um…Nahoya I just wanted to let you know…but um I’m non-binary.” You mumbled it kind of whispering too he really just could barely hear you.

“Oh y/n wait I heard that before, what does it mean again?” He looked at you in confusion hoping you’d answer his question.

You took a little sigh of relief as you explain to him what non-binary means and how he could help support you and make you feel more comfortable. He was nodding his head along the whole time but you could tell he was definitely invested. The best part was he never once dropped his smile, which means he doesn’t view you any differently!

Nahoya still needs some practice as he may address you wrong but he’s still in his early learning stages of it all, he’ll always correct himself. Once you told him Nahoya gave you a nice cuddly hug and a kiss on the forehead, he told you he’ll love you no matter what because your still you!

༚༅༚˳❃˳༚༅༚

ʚ Baji Keisuke ɞ

You thought Baji might actually have a normal reaction, but when you called him to hangout and said you have to told him something your thoughts completely changed when you were in person about to tell him. You two were walking around town he was waiting to hear what you had to say, tbh your kinda scaring him..

You decided to just spit it out, no more holding back on him he has a right to know, right? You tried to calm yourself and mentally prepare yourself for all the outcomes of this situation but it’s barely working…

“Um so, Baji…we’ll I’m non-binary.” You almost mumbled it, your hands clung to your shirt messing around with your nails as nervousness began to break into your mind with his silence.

“Oh. Okay, what should I do to help support you y/n.”

Baji grew such a light and warm smile on his face now, giving you a look that seemed to be saying ‘don’t worry’

You explain to Baji what non-binary meant/is and he’s trying his best to understand and remember it all. Honestly he really doesn’t bring it up much he uses your preferred pronouns/name and always makes sure to tell other people your correct pronouns if they address you wrong. (With ur permission ofc.)

Baji's love for you will never change, your such a sweet person to him and you have a very special place in his heart. how cute

༚༅༚˳❃˳༚༅༚

ʚ Mitsuya Takashi ɞ

Mitsuya always showed how much he loved you, weather it was through gifts, actions, or words you always knew. So why were you in doubt of Mitsuya? Would he really just stop loving you? Ever since you made the final decision that you are indeed non-binary you’ve been terrified to tell anyone. At some point he’d need to know though, it’s scary even when you see him it feels like a big secret. You two already had plans to hang out tonight at his house, but was this good timing?

It was already too late to think about it, you found you and Mitsuya sitting on his bed just talking about your lives and what’s been going on. It hit your mind again, is this good timing? He literally just asked if anything new is going on in your life, how do you tell him though? Beat it around the bush or straight forward?

“Um y/n is something wrong.” I guess you were quiet for too long and zoned out a bit, his voice was so soft and gentle. Yes now is good timing.

“Um Mitsuya..I have something to tell you and it’s kind of big.” Mitsuya grew a worried expression once you said it was a big thing, so many possibilities filled his mind. Your both stressed out now.

“Mitsuya I’m non-binary.” As that sentence left your mouth you started to hold your breath, hoping, praying, wishing everything would still be the same without any change.

“Y/n! I’m so happy for you, that’s great!” He said with a smile on his face. You let yourself breathe now, he was okay with it? So bizarre but not really..

“Y/n I hope you know this won’t change anything though, your still the y/n I fell in love with.” His words broke through all the bad thoughts and endings you started to think of, Mitsuya really did accept you.

In fact Mitsuya has been questioning himself too, he’s been studying all kinds of pronouns, sexualities, and overall what he wants his identity to be. So he understand and you two will work with each other to help you guys find your true selves!

beep boop, aha I procrastinated this a lot bc of schoolwork so sorry for not posting for two days 😅 Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this one! Remember you're all valid, don’t let anyone get you down your so special in this world no matter what you identify as or who you love. 🤎

#chifuyu matsuno #chifuyu x reader #nahoya kawata #nahoya x reader #baji keisuke #baji x reader #mitsuya takashi #mitsuya x reader #tokrev fluff #tokrev hcs #tokyo revengers #tokrev #tokyorevengers #tokrev x reader #chifuyu fluff #baji fluff #nahoya fluff #mitsuya fluff

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ms-demeanor · 4 years

Text

Some meandering thoughts about jokes about rape and cultural changes in the last decade and a half

Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad we’re in a place now where we DO question rape jokes and it would be much harder to get away with “raping Jonah Hill is incredibly amusing” as the center of a scene the way that you could in 2007-2013 but I do kind of feel like we don’t talk about how sudden that change was enough.

People talk about how you should have always known that awful things are awful but if you’re surrounded by rape jokes and pedophilia jokes all the time and that’s what’s funny to the other kids around you and the adults in your lives and what makes up the jokes in the movies you watch then it’s hard to act like you always knew it was wrong.

Dead baby jokes were a HUGE thing when I was a teen and in my early twenties and sitting around swapping dead baby jokes was just a thing we did, and tossed in among them were things like:

A joke about incest with the punchline “Get off me pa, you’re crushing my smokes.”

This joke about a pedophile murdering a child.

Let’s not turn this rape into a murder.

And hell, look at the activity graph for “soap on a rope” on urban dictionary:

2014 starts a significant taper.

Letterboxd has their “sexual assault against men played for comedy page” and if you sort by release date there’s a downward trend with 2014 as a really stand-out year for rape jokes about men in popular movies:

2010 - 10

2011 - 12

2012 - 14

2013 - 12

2014 - 18 (jesus, which includes a prison rape joke in “Paddington”)

2015 - 9

2016 - 9

2017 - 11

2018 - 15

2019 - 4

2020 - 1

(this is of course with the caveat that this is only what has been documented so far)

Shock porn sites used to be a thing and they used to be a COMMON thing. A thing that would get remixed and have late night hosts make jokes about them and that got parody music videos.

So on the one hand I was really glad that in 2010 the hacker conference WASN’T asking me to make a rape joke on their tee shirt, but since Pool 2 Girl came up at every single “this is what defcon is about” discussion and some of the guys from the con had printed up “lemonparty.org” stickers to slap up around town it wouldn’t have been *surprising* if they’d been asking for that.

If you were a teenager in 2005 would you have known how much of a dick move goatse-ing people was? We didn’t have the same culture of trigger warnings (not that I disapprove of trigger warnings, they are good and I like them) and there was very much an attitude online at the time of “if you can’t handle it log off.”

I think the fappening was the turning point for a lot of this stuff - I think that was a big cultural moment that changed a lot of people’s attitudes really quickly and I’m seeing echos of that with what Chris Evans is dealing with right now: people are a lot faster to say “oh, that sucks, don’t be an asshole, report people for posting the pics” while I remember sitting and arguing in an imgur thread because there were a bunch of people saying “if you don’t like it don’t take nudes” about the celebrities who got caught in the icloud leak.

People look at Shane Dawson’s (admittedly gross and incredibly inappropriate) behavior with a poster of Willow Smith and act like it’s unprecedented***** but as someone who remembers not only Olsen Eighteenth Birthday countdowns but ALSO the jokes about fucking the Olsen twins that came BEFORE they were legal that’s just bizarre. Seeing people my age and older react to James Gunn’s pedophilic twitter jokes like they’re worse than Jay Leno’s jokes about Michael Jackson (which were made on TV! Across America! On a major network!) is just. It’s bizarre.

I’m glad we are where we are now, I’m glad that making rape jokes in public or jokes about incest or pedophilia (or murder or abortion) is less common and less okay (especially in children’s media, jesus fuck) and more likely to get criticized.

But I’m also pretty sure I’m going to get called a rape apologist by *someone* for saying “2010 was a different time, rape jokes were more common and we didn’t realize how shitty it was” when it really was a different time and rape jokes were more common and most people didn’t realize how shitty it was. I sure didn’t. I do now, and I’m glad I do now. But pretending that we should have ALWAYS known this, pretending that this was NEVER acceptable, pretending that it WASN’T a different time is ignoring the fact that for over a decade there was an entire genre of pedophilic rape jokes (that were frequently also racist) centered around one celebrity and that people told these jokes in public and in pop culture *all the time.*

Does that make it right? Fuck, I don’t know, shit is relative. It was still largely acceptable to electrocute gay kids and people tossed around the word “faggot” pretty freely. Mean Girls is full of jokes about how awful it is for people to think you’re a lesbian and Superbad is full of jokes about getting people shitfaced so they’ll sleep with you (so date rape) and there’s an entire “cute comedy” from the 80s starring Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn that’s an extended rape-by-fraud joke. I think that as a whole we’re better now as people than we were in 2010 and the 90s and the 80s and the 50s and I don’t think that someone who made a sexist joke in the 80s is irredeemably evil and I don’t think people making rape jokes in the 2010s are rape apologists in 2020 and I wish there was a lot more understanding of both history and nuance in these conversations.

*****to be very, very clear Shane Dawson has been filmed kissing underage fans on the mouth and having explicit sexual conversations with his very young cousin - Dawson has done things that go beyond “inappropriate” and fall clearly into “wrong” “bad” “dangerous” “illegal” etc, which is all the more reason that it’s so strange to see people focusing on him fake masturbating on a poster of Willow Smith. YES doing that was gross but why is it even being compared to the way he’s been filmed interacting with fans? The lack of nuance, making “fake masturbating at a poster” and “creating a sexually abused puppet character” the same as “inappropriately touched and kissed minor fans and engaged a young child in explicit sexual conversations” is NOT GOOD. That is a bad thing. Two of those things are tasteless and two of those things are actively harmful and it’s the actively harmful stuff that we should be focusing on and part of why it’s really weird to see shit like “pizzagate conspiracist accuses James Gunn of making inappropriate jokes” like yes Gunn please don’t but can we maybe refocus and talk about the dude who can be pretty significantly assigned blame for a fucking shooting? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/01/james-gunn-alt-right-marvel-film-director-tweets

Actually, you know what, I thought I was done ranting, I’m not.

It’s purity culture.

YES you should attempt to do less harm with your language, YES you should attempt to not use slurs, YES you should try to avoid making rape jokes. But there’s an entire huge group of people who are willing to drag up rape jokes from a decade when rape jokes were REALLY REALLY common in order to say that nothing you say or do today matters.

And that same group is ALSO really interested in expanding the concept of what pedophilia is to include age differences in adults or liking the wrong style of drawing and it’s a purity culture silencing tactic and can we PLEASE stop pretending that gross, tasteless jokes are the same thing as actually sexually abusing people? Can we stop pretending that pointing out “rape jokes were more common fifteen years ago and I feel bad about it but that’s just the way it was and I don’t make jokes like that anymore” is the same as saying “rape isn’t bad and you shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.”

It’s always good to try to be a less shitty human but if you’re only allowed to grow and improve and be less shitty if you never fucked up in the first place then it’s all just calvinist bullshit and none of us could ever really be saved in the first place.

I dunno, dudes. We got so careful about disapproving of the wrong kind of language that we let a white supremacist concern troll Disney into firing a director who caught the attention of the alt right by shit-talking the president.

I think perhaps we need to reexamine some strategy here.

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imaginesbymonika · 4 years

Text

The dress

Pairing: Javier Peña x reader

Plot: a black dress, an expensive whiskey, and one kidnapping lead to a confession

Warnings: fluff, angst, mentions of a kidnapping, mentioning of blood, foul language, Javier being an absolute simp for reader

Masterlist | Pedro Pascal Masterlist

Song to listen to while reading:

He had no idea what he expected to happen, but that was assumably not it. Javier went to the annual Christmas party of his department, yes he did, but only because of the accessible and most importantly complimentary drinks. Then he would leave early, to go and meet up with some prostitute. That was his routine. And it has been for countless years. But when Murphy nudged him with his right elbow and pointed towards the entrance his entire schedule differed.

Peña had no idea what to expect, but to see his fellow DEA agent in a tight black dress with white pearls around her neck, fuck- he most certainly didn't predict that to happen. Because usually, Y/N Y/L/N wore suits at work. T-shirts with jeans. He had never seen her in either a dress or a skirt. For some bizarre reason, he didn't consider her to even own one.

"Agents.", she says as she walks past the two men, towards a larger group of women. "Agent."

"Holy fuck.", Javier whispers under his breath as his eyes follow her every move. He takes a sip of his beer before he finally looks back at Steve. The blond man has a shit-eating grin covering his lips- one that makes Peña roll his eyes in response. It truly wasn't a secret, that Javier would occasionally stare at Y/N (or her ass) whenever she was hovering over her desk, busy reading documents, writing notes, or simply doing something else that made the man believe that she wasn't paying attention to him.

Maybe Y/N didn't notice him, but basically, everyone else did. That's why everyone who caught sight of Y/N instantly turned to glance at Javier. "Why are these people staring at me?", he clenches his jaw and awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other. When did he become so nervous? "Because they all know.", Steve whispers, as he smiles at the other agents. "Know what?" "Your little crush on Agent Y/L/N.", he lowers his champagne glass as the young woman walks up to him.

"Agent Murphy. Agent Peña. Merry Christmas, you two."

"Merry Christmas.", they both respond, nearly at the same time. Y/N chuckles softly before she turns to the blonde:" I heard, your wife is in town during the holiday season?" He nods, while a smile arises on his lips.

"Are you driving home to your family as well?", he inquires, but the female agent only shakes her head.

"I know that we are not supposed to talk business at parties like this one, but I think I will spend the extended weekend here-.", her gaze roams around the office before it falls back on the two men in front of her:" You know, go through some records. Maybe I'll find something." Peña nods, while his grip on his drink tightens:" Well, there goes my chance at having the department to myself." He tries to make a joke but his tone is too stern, which makes Y/N clear her throat:" Don't worry. I won't make a single noise."

From somewhere someone calls her name, and Y/N turns her head in its direction:" Would you please excuse me, gentlemen." But Murphy only smiles and nods:" Have a nice evening." Y/N tilts her head and locks eyes with Peña one final time:" See you tomorrow, Agent."

The two men watch her leave before Murphy brings his glass back up to his lips:" Seems like you've got yourself a date for the weekend." Javier simply scoffs:" Oh shut up. And it's not a date." He tries to play it cool, but the sensation in his stomach was making his insides turn.

----

It was quiet when Javier arrived at the office the next morning, he takes a deep breath before he turns on the lights. He couldn't help but feel disappointed when he figures that he was alone. He walks over to his desk and sits down while looking around one last time. A small sigh leaves his lips before he opens up the files, scanning the pages for any details he might have missed the first time. He is so engaged and concentrated, that he doesn't realize that the doors to his department open once again.

“Merry Christmas, Peña.”, a voice announces, and a second later a wrapped package is being put on Murphy's desk, making Javier look up. When he meets eyes with Y/N she smiles at him, before she walks toward the files room. "Merry Christmas.", he whispers back and watches how she closes the door behind her.

For a moment his gaze lingers there before it shifts to the package, it is certainly self-wrapped. Javier reaches for it and quickly rips off the red paper. His eyes widen. It's whiskey. His favorite brand. Expensive fucking whiskey:" Shit.", he whispers in amazement but can't help the smile that emerges on his lips.

The day goes by and every now and then Y/N leaves the small room and walks over to various shelves in order to look through different folders. And every single time Javier's eyes were following her every move.

The female agent stretches and closes her eyes for a second as she leans back. Going through papers and finding nothing of value was beyond draining. "Hey.", a voice declares and when she opens up her eyes she sees Javier Peña standing in the doorframe. A tired smile is playing on his lips, while he holds up the whiskey:" Care to join me?" "Sounds perfect."

Y/N stands up from her spot behind her desk and Javier takes a step to the side to let her walk past him. She makes her way to Murphy's desk and sits down. "Let me guess, you found nothing.", Javier hands her a glass. "Please, don't remind me. Have you?" But the man only shakes his head.

"Shit.", she whispers and sighs:" You think we'll ever find Escobar?" She watches how Javier takes a sip before he runs a hand down his face. Y/N can see the exhaustion written all over it. "Hopefully.", he answers:" God knows what I'd do if we don't." "Yeah."

A comfortable silence falls upon the two, as they continue to drink.

From that moment on, there was a particular connection between the two agents. It was something neither of them could really explain. Murphy continued to make his dirty jokes and comments about them, but Javier rarely reacted. He would just shake his head and threaten to beat him. However, he couldn't hide the way his cheeks would burn up, each and every time.

----

"We have a situation.", Messina declares loudly as she enters the office space, she takes one final deep breath and looks around:" I need everyone's attention, right now!" Without waiting, she continues:" This morning, a bunch of our agents have been taken, hostage!" Javier scans the room, his eyes hectically looking into every single face but when can't find her his blood runs cold.

"The nine AM patrol ride?", he questions, fearing the answer he is going to get.

"Exactly."

----

Javier quickly opens the car door:" I swear to God, if one of them touches her in any way, I will cut their fingers off!", he hisses. Steve only nods as he gets inside. The car ride to the location was largely quiet. Every now and then the two agents would receive instructions over the car radio and the brown-haired man would whisper something angry in return. "She is going to be okay, we-. "Don't make promises when you're not in control of the situation."

----

"Well, aren't you a pretty one...", the man who is hovering above Y/N whispers, while his thumb traces her bottom lip. The dirt on his skin meets the clean cut under her lip, making her flinch slightly. "Can I take her home with me?", he asks the other three men in the room, without tearing his eyes off her. They all laugh and Y/N feels how a shiver runs down her spine. "You can take whatever you want, once the boss is gone.", one of them announces and moves his head in order to get a better look at the female agent. He scoffs:" Damn. Perhaps we need to fight over this whore-."

They came out of nowhere. One second everything was going great and then the next those four cars came rushing toward them. Y/N swallows thickly at the look in the men's eyes.

The sounds of shootings outside of the building capture their attention, and without missing a beat, the men all hurry out of the room. Y/N takes a deep breath. For a couple of minutes the air is filled with it, the sounds of guns being fired, screaming and bodies dropping to the floor. However, when a deadly stillness falls upon the area everyone, including Y/N is holding their breath. Until the door opens again and agents flood in.

Javier searches every room. His brown eyes are incapable of finding her and it is killing him. Was he too late? Did they take her with them? His heart is beating heavily in his chest, but when he finally spots her he lets out a shaky breath. "Are you okay?", he asks and softly nudges the other agents out of the way. But before she can replay, he pulls her into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm fine.", she whispers, wrapping her arms around his torso. For a moment they stay like this before he lets go and glances down at her. With his left hand, he tilts her chin up:" That's a nasty cut.", he mumbles, before swallowing his anger:" Let's get you out of here."

He takes her hand and walks past the other agents toward the entrance, when they pass Murphy a relieved smile emerges on his face. "Agent.", the blonde man lets out:" It's good to see you alive." God only knows what would have happened if one of those fuckers had killed her. Y/N nods:" It's good to see you too." Javier rolls his eyes, he steps past his friend:" Now is not the time for this. Would you excuse us..."

"Of course.", Steve says, as he watches them get into the car:" Of course, you love birds."

----

Javier's apartment is quiet.

His movements are gentle, perhaps right now he is most likely the gentlest he's ever been in his entire life. Javier is slowly cleaning Y/N's wound, which gives her time to study his features closely. He wrinkles his forehead every few seconds, while his left-hand holds her head in place. "I'm almost done.", he whispers.

Soft and gentle weren't the type of words people usually used to characterize Javier Peña. Normally he was tough, harsh, and really serious. But at this moment, he was everything but those things.

"Thank you, by the way.", Y/N mumbles and watches how he wets the cotton pad, making him perk up. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't have to stop by. There were already enough agents at the scene.", she explains and he brings the pad back up to his lips, her hand flies up to hold on to his lower arm. He sighs:" Yeah, I don't know. I just had to. I don't know what I would have done, if-." He pauses, almost as if he was too scared to even think about it.

"If?" "If you would have died.", he finishes, dropping the cotton pad:" When Menissa told us about the news and I figured that you were one of those kidnapped agents... I- fuck, I practically went crazy."

Y/N watches him. "I don't even know how I managed to drive to that location without-." But before he is able to finish his sentence, Y/N pulls him into a kiss. He drops the cotton pad while his hands find their way to his core. She tastes a bit like disinfectant but is still way too sweet for his system. Javier didn't know what he expected, but to fall sky-high in love with his colleague wasn't it. However, he didn't care. Not one bit.

#angst #fluff #x reader #imagine #spotify #pedro pascal #pedro pascal imagine #javier peña x reader #Javier Peña #narcos x reader #narcos imagine #narcos javier #narcos angst #Javier Peña angst #Javier Peña fluff #Spotify

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 4 years

Text

Cheryl//this is me trying

Request: Can I request a season 1 cheryl x reader. Cheryl always protects reader from people and r is shy but falls in love with the redhead and some who’s accidentally tells her while she’s having a bad day but cheryl is quick to reassure her then they cuddle after going to pops or something and it’s just fluffy.

hey! happy valentines day gays! and get you, two imagines in one day, it must be the day of love. i hope you all like this because it’s really fluffy and i enjoyed writing this a lot!

Overnight, Riverdale became a shell of its former self. Two months since Kevin Keller and Moose Mason stumbled upon the body of Jason Blossom, and nobody has been the same since.

The town is riddled with secrets, they’re slowly destroying it like a disease. Nobody trusts anybody anymore, everyone is on high alert, and everyone is a suspect.

Cheryl usually loves being the centre of attention, she has done ever she was a kid. It’s something that comes naturally with being a twin, you share everything and as much as she loves loved the shared birthdays and friends, she has always loved being the centre of attention.

Now however, she hates it. Her life is a true crime documentary at the minute, and all she wants is for the killer to be caught so the crew can pack up and leave and she no longer has to stare down at the blinding lights being cast over her and her family.

The only thing that’s kept her sane over the past two months, is you. Despite everything happening, despite the murder and the secrets and the suspicion, you’ve stuck by her side. You were with her when they found the body, and you haven’t really left since.

The two of you are unlikely friends, she’s Cheryl. Bright and bold and never one to back down from confrontation. But you’re Y/n, sweet and shy and always the first to shrink away from any sort of attention directed at you.

She knows you hate the constant attention recently, it’s something you get used when you’re best friends with the victim’s sister, but not once have you complained.

You’ve being questioned by police, journalists and strangers on the internet. You’ve had camera’s shoved in your face on your walk back from school and been asked countless questions about what you know about the Blossom’s. And you’ve also been offered ridiculous amounts of money in order to talk. But no matter what happens, you always just rush past them and join Cheryl, who’s always waiting for you with a sad smile and warm hand.

Due to the constant hoard of vultures swarming Riverdale High, the two of you had to figure out somewhere else to meet after school so you could walk the long way home. It adds twenty minutes to your walk, but it’s not that well known around town, meaning people can’t bother you.

Plus, the extra twenty minutes that you get to spend with Cheryl isn’t the worst thing. It’s the opposite in fact. It’s the thing you look forward to, even if you are looking over your shoulder every so often

But today you’re not at your meeting spot.

When Cheryl pushes her way through the stares of her fellow students with you and only you on her mind and makes her way through the school basement, back up the stairs and out of the fire exit, you’re not waiting for her with a smile that makes her feel warm and a cold slice of pizza you snuck out of the cafe earlier.

The only thing waiting for her is a full bin and an empty field.

“Y/n?” She calls out and looks around the corner. She’s met with three seniors, all of which are smoking with absolutely no care for being caught.

“She’s not here.” One of them says, her blonde hair and large glasses cover half of her face and Cheryl forces a smile.

“Hey, Blossom.” A boy says and Cheryl freezes. Who knows what they want, but whatever it is, it probably won’t be nice. It’ll probably be something along the lines of ‘hey, did you kill your brother’ and no matter how many times she’s asked that, it doesn’t get any easier. “Maybe try the bleachers.” He says, ending his sentence with a sympathetic smile and Cheryl nods slowly, not really sure what to say.

“Thanks.” She forces and spins on her heel.

“We’re sorry about your brother, Cheryl.” The blonde one says and she turns around again. Each of them look sad, with matching frowns and sorrow swimming in their eyes.

Jason meant the world to Cheryl, but he also meant a hell of a lot to other people too. And that’s when it hits her. Of course you’re at the bleachers.

For some bizarre reason, only known by your father. You and your family used to come along every other week to watch the Bulldogs play. For a while you thought it was because your dad was trying to get you and your brother into football and this was a lot cheaper than the actual game, but the older you got the more you figured it was because he was just trying to relive his youth. For 90 minutes he could pretend that he was quarterback again and for those 90 minutes your dad would be the happiest he’d been all week.

Then one week, a redhead sat beside you. In clothes that were far too expensive to be worn to a high school football game. Her parents looked like they wanted to be there as much as she did, but then a boy with matching red hair ran out on to the pitch and you’d never seen a smile quite like it.

After that, you made sure to sit beside her at every game. And then one day she sat opposite you at lunch. The first few times she was alone, but then soon she began to appear with a group of other girls, but you were the only one she’d talk to.

Eventually lunch times and football games turned into group projects and sleepovers. You spend hours braiding her hair and listening to her tell you stories of other worlds and the creatures that live in them. You’d sneak down the dark and creepy halls of Thornhill in hopes of finding a midnight snack, and instead be met by Jason and your older brother in clown masks.

Eventually, you found a different way to get to the kitchen, one that Jason didn’t know about. And when he’d come looking for you, both of you would jump out and chase him around the house, much to the dismay of Penelope and Clifford.

Those bleachers are what started a whole friendship, not only between you and her, but also you and Jason. When you’re brother eventually made the team, thanks to a good word put in my Jason, despite him being a year younger. Him and Jason became as inseparable as you and Cheryl and so it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the four of you hanging out. It also meant that if Cheryl was busy, you and Jason would hang out until she finished whatever she was doing.

Grief is a hell of a lonely thing, and sometimes Cheryl forgets that other people miss Jason too. With everything going on, she didn’t even think about how you were doing. With all the questions, accusations and crying that constantly fills Cheryl’s house. She never even asked how you were.

And now her legs can’t carry her quick enough to were she hopes your sat. Because she’s already lost her brother, she can’t lose you too. She wobbles as her heels dig into the dirt, kicking up dust and mud as she runs across the field. Her hair swings behind her, and she can feel the red scrunchie loosen the quicker she runs.

The bleachers have all sorts carved into them. Initials in hearts, some of them still there, some of them crossed out so aggressively that it’s a miracle they didn’t chop it in half. There’s inside jokes and ridiculous rumours. Codes and dates and everything in between.

But something new has been added in the past few days.

cheryl murdered jason

and y/n helped

The writing is small and barely legible, but it’s there and the more you run your fingers over it the more it carves itself into your heart.

“Y/n?” Cheryl pants breathlessly and you quickly pull yourself away from it. Instead you stand up properly and pull the sleeves of your sweater down over your hands. The y/f/c scrunchie remains still in your hair and Cheryl has to stare at it for a few seconds to calm herself down. “You weren’t at our spot.” She says quietly and you close your eyes.

You let her down. You let her down. You always let her down.

“Sorry Cheryl.” You sigh and sit down in the dirt. Cheryl looks around before sitting beside you. “I just wanted some space.” You add and force yourself to look at her.

The sun sits behind her, but even that doesn’t seem as bright as it used to be. Nothing is what it used to be. For the past two months, you’ve been told that thats a good thing. But what’s good about someone you loved being dead. What’s good about watching someone else you love go through life but not really live.

Cheryl just exists.

But she exists for you.

Because as lost as she would be without you, she knows you would be just as lost without her.

It’s an unspoken rule now, you always text each other when you wake up and before you go to sleep. It’s something you used to do anyway, but now you make a point not to forget. Because forgetting means that the worst could have happened, and that’s something neither of you can bare to deal with.

“I get it.” She nods. “I was just worried that’s all.” She adds, trying to sound as casual as she can. But on the inside she’s screaming. Because she thought you had died, she thought whoever had killed Jason had gotten to you too, and the whole reason you’re both dead is because she wronged the wrong person.

There’s a lot of people that don’t like Cheryl, being unliked comes naturally to her. But she doesn’t know how she’ll cope if she’s so unlikeable someone she loves died.

She has no idea why your friends with her to be honest. She saw you staring at her at a football game once. But it wasn’t a stare she was used to. It wasn’t cold like her mothers or jealous like her friends. No, this was nice. You were staring at her like you wanted to know about her, like when you looked at her, you saw a friend not someone to be feared.

And so Cheryl clung onto the tiny hint of friendship, the crack of a door into something that could happen, and she shoved herself through it. It worked, and now you’re the only person she’s nice to. She’s mean to everyone else, she calls them names and teases them, especially when they’re rude to you...but you stay. And she has no idea why, but she’s not going to wish it away.

“Shit, sorry Cheryl.” You drop your head into your hands and Cheryl looks at you confused. She looks around, not really sure of what to do. “I didn’t think, God knows what you thought had happened.” You ramble and she realizes you’re crying. Her eyes widen and you look at her, your eyes red and puffed and your lips pulls into frown.

“It’s okay.” She replies and wraps her arms around you. You bury your head into her neck, the smell of maple and cherries invade your senses and you let out a shaky breath.

It smells like home and happier times, and you want to crawl into those happy memories and never come back out. “I was just being ridiculous.” She tries to play it off, to make it seem like she couldn’t feel her heartbeat in her throat and the ringing in her ears. Pretend like it didn’t feel like someone had pulled her heart out and stamped on it.

“No, no you weren’t. I’m really sorry.” You sob and wrap your arms around her. She falls into your neck, surprised but not upset with how tight you’re holding her. She never wants you to let go. But of course she has to, and so however reluctant, she untangles herself from you and lets out a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry.” You sniffle. She hands you a tissue and you wipe your eyes with it before scrunching it up in your hand. “I’ve just had a rubbish day. Somebody shoved this in my locker.” You frown and pull a balled up piece of paper out of your pocket.

Cheryl’s eyebrows knit in confusion as she takes it from you, her fingers graze yours and you freeze for a few seconds.

who do you think did it?

cheryl __

y/n __

Jamie __

“Why is your brother on here?” Cheryl asks, her voice rising with each word and you rest your hand on top of hers to calm her down.

“I dunno.” You shrug. “Your parents are on there too.” You add and point further down the page.

“What a bunch of dicks.” She grumbles and crumples it up. “Do you know who it was?” You shrug and she sighs.

“I’ve just gotten tired of the staring and the whispers. So I thought I’d just have five minutes peace before going home and having to listen to Jamie cry in his room but pretend he’s okay. Or for my parents to walk on eggshells around both of us. Neither of them know what to say, and because of that they keep saying the wrong thing.” You ramble and she listens intently, trying her best to find a resolution to all of your problems.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t know the answer to everything, no matter what her mom says.

“I just thought five minutes by myself can’t be terrible. But then I came down here and someone carve-well it doesn’t matter what they wrote. What matters is that I made you worry at the worst possible time in your life. I hurt you, and I’m really sorry. Believe me, hurting you is the last thing I want to do you. I feel sick even just thinking about it. I never, ever want to hurt you. I love you too much. I love you more that I’ve ever loved anything or anyone ever. I just love yo-” Your eyes widen when you realize what you’ve just admitted to.

You don’t want to look at her, but she hasn’t said anything in a while and that’s strange for her. So you force yourself to look at her, expecting the worst. Expecting disgust, disappointment, betrayal. But it’s none of those.

Instead she’s smiling. And she looks actually happy. Something you haven’t seen in so long, something you’re glad to see, despite the circumstances.

Oh yeah, you’ve just told her you’re in love with her. What do you say after that?

“I-er-”

“Y/n?” She cuts you off before you get the chance to ruin the moment. She’s known you for long enough to know that when you get nervous, you ramble and when you ramble you say weird things.

You’re grateful for her cutting you off, usually if she talks over you, it annoys the hell out of you. But this time it’s welcomed and she stifles a small laugh and the sigh of relief you let out.

But the next thing she says is something that you weren’t expecting, but you’re sure as hell grateful for.

“Would you like to go on a date?”

---

The red lights from outside, illuminate Cheryl’s pale face in the night, painting her in a reddish hue and you find yourself staring at her for far longer than would be considered normal.

Lucky for you, she hasn’t noticed. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to anything, not really anyway. Instead she stares down at her food, pushing a few fries around the plate and anxiety rises in your chest.

She’s already regretting doing this. She’s made a mistake and now she doesn’t know how to let you down gently.

She seems to sense you nerves because she’s looking at you quickly, a sad smile twitching at her lips.

“Sorry, I just. Jason always used to tease me about the two of us. It’s the only thing we’d take about sometimes. He’d constantly ask me if I’d asked you out yet. And every time I would say ‘no, we’re just friends’ but, well neither of us really believed that.” She says, a small laugh escapes her lips near the end, but she quickly shuts it off. It’s too soon for her to be laughing, too soon for her to be happy.

“Yeah.” You nod and finish your drink. “He used to tease me too. ‘if you don’t tell her, I’ll do it myself’.” You mimic his voice and a ghost of a smile twitches at her lips as she forces herself to look at you. “I am really glad you did ask me though.” Your voice shakes a little with nerves and Cheryl stares at you confused. “I do really like you Cheryl.”

“I really like you too.” She smiles softly and you stare at her lips. Sometimes you think the red lipstick has permanently stained her lips cherry red. Even when you guys are a sleepover, she still has bright red lips and the other part of you wonders if that’s just what they look like.

“Hey.” You start and a sly smile twitches at your lips as you remember an old memory. She leans forward, excited to know what you’re smiling about.

It could literally be anything, from a musty old book she let you borrow from the Thornhill archive, to a new tv show you started to watch. But whatever it is, she’s excited to hear you talk about it.

“Can you remember last year. It was Jamie’s 16th birthday and you and Jason were invited over. Jason was there because him and Jamie were planning on sneaking out later that night, and you tagged along so you could keep me company.” You start and she smiles at the memory.

The four of you sat in the living room, while your mom brought cake and your dad sang ‘happy birthday’. Cheryl remembers how happy she was, and she remembers talking to Jason afterwards, the two of them whispering and wondering if that was what a normal family was supposed to look like.

You, Cheryl and Jason had each pitched in for the record player he wanted. And even though you all knew that just Cheryl alone could have been able to buy him it if she really wanted, you knew they split it for you.

Jamie was ecstatic when he opened the box, and then all of the records you’d bought to go with it. He’d played it every single day since getting it, but now you haven’t heard it in months.

“Yeah.” She nods, a sad smiling taking over he face. “Can you remember when Jason pushed his face into the cake.” She adds making you snort a laugh.

The bell above Pop’s rings and Betty and Archie walk in. They send you a sympathetic smile before sitting at their own booth, and you and Cheryl share a look.

“Would you like another one?” You point at her milkshake and she nods, smiling shyly.

---

The walk home is over far too soon, and it’s only when you’re standing on your porch do you realize you took the normal way home by accident. Either the media has gone to sleep, or people are starting to forget about Jason and Riverdale.

That thought makes you frown and Cheryl watches your expression falter before you look back at her again.

“Thank you for walking me home.” You smile shyly and a nervous laugh escapes her lips.

“It’s no problem.” She shrugs and the two of you stare at each other for a few seconds longer than normal. She’s about to leave when you grab her hand and spin her around to face you.

She’s surprised for a second, until suddenly she feels a pair of lips on hers, and then the only thing she can feel is them. Everything else disappears, and though the kiss is short and a little awkward, it’s still perfect.

“Would you like to come in?” You ask and motion your head to large wooden door. The pain is chipped around the metal numbers, something your mom has nagged your dad about for the past 6 months. “We still have the rest of y/f/s to watch.”

“I’d love to.” She nods and the two of you grin at each other. “But seriously, how many times have you seen that now?”

“It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it.” You unlock the front door, giving it a quick kick before you stumble through it. “What matters is that this is the first time you’re seeing it.” You add and she rolls her eyes but follows you up the stairs anyway.

The sun sets over another day in Riverdale and darkness floods the town. The streets are cold and scary, but wrapped in your duvet and Cheryl’s arms, you’ve never felt warmer.

#cheryl blossom #cheryl blossom imagine #cheryl blossom x reader #cheryl blossom x y/n #cheryl blossom x you #riverdale #riverdale imagine

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kissme-hs · 4 years

Text

Torn Strings.2

Author’s note: here’s the awaited part 2 of my previous writing. One thing I wanted to let you all know is that this one is based on my personal feelings. Yes, I am experiencing whatever I’m writing. So I’m trying to put as much emotions as I can in it. Hope you all enjoy. Feedback is appriciated very much.

~Ria

Part 1

Pairing: Fem! Reader x Harry styles

Warnings: 18+ smut, slight age gap, explicit language, fingering, oral sex giving and recieving.

Word count: 2.5k

————

“Are you a hoe?”

It’s been a almost a month since Harry slammed the teak wooden door. The loud thud still echoes in your mind of wandering thoughts. To be honest he isn’t the one to be blamed you fell in love. It’s just in his nature, his charm works it’s magic even on those who refused to once give in the feeling of love. That’s just who he is.

And you know, after how ended things last time you shouldn’t be going back to him but it is just the way it is.

So when you texted him on a Saturday evening a month after of no contact-asking if he’d like to hangout since he was back in the town, not too long ago past his sudden outburst he didn’t say no. Pretending forgetting like- anything furious ever happened he showed up on your doorstep dressed up in one of his black sweatpants and navy blue sweater looking completely different from how the world views him.

And ever since his visit, the circle started again. But this time things changed. He became careful of his actions, making sure to make a move that might end up backfiring on him developing even stronger feelings in your heart for him. He stopped replying to your texts, only messaging you when he wanted to. And other stuff that not only made your heart ache but question your worth, were you so unworthy of to be fallen in love with?

Despite the toxicity this relationship of yours with Harry brought in your life, there was no stopping. You tried going on dates to check your compatibility with other men but none of them turned out to be like Harry’s. All the men were absolute sweethearts, but you couldn’t find the one that made you feel things like Harry did. The way you could be yourself around him was one of the reasons why you’re beats faster around him.

But when he chose very odd words to describe you, your mind went blurry. Is that what he thought of you? It hasn’t even been 15 minutes, you both still catching your breath from the orgasm.

His lips were hot and heavy on yours as he pushed you back on your bed with a slight force. Lips were never yours he placed his legs on either side of you, his hands travelled up your sides stopping at your shoulders. Fingers dancing delicately on the supple skin of your bare shoulder, his strong tongue gliding in your own with such as ease as your lips smacked together. Biting your lower lip with a tug he pulled away making you arch your back if your soul left your body with the kiss.

As shiver ran down your spine as the back of his ring cladded fingers ran over your skin before pulling down the straps of your cami top kissing the-now complete naked skin of your shoulder. Lips trailing kisses all the way to your neck. A gentle giggle leaving past your lips with the contact of his scruffy cheeks buried in the crook of your neck. You felt him smile over your skin with your hands tangling in his hair-a little wet from the shower he took before driving to you.

“sorry baby”

Pulling away from your neck he tugged on your top, you lifted your arms letting the man take off the piece off clothing. Doing the same with his t-shirt he revealed his tatted-toned chest. Your mouth watering with the thought of having taste of that cock you missed so much. So rolling over you placed your legs on his side seating yourself over his grown bulge over the material of his boxers-his sweats were the first thing that came off when you started palming him while making out.

“I want to get a take of you H.” You whispered in his ear straddling his lap as you kissed down his neck, sucking on the sensitive skin of his neck. He tasted his berries. Sweet and tropical

“Then do it baby. I want you to suck me” he pushed your straddling down lightly hinting you it was time to get to work. You licked his v-line before pulling his boxers down. His hard shaft sprinted up-slapping his lower body as his pink tip leaked with pre-cum.

Biting your lower lip, you grabbed his stiff hard cock giving it a few gentle pumps before licking a stride from bottom to top. He was thick and long and his veins popping out making your panties go damp. Failing miserably when you tried to take him completely in his mouth you gagged pulling away collecting your saliva and bobbing your head up and down his cock.

His hand griping tight enough on your hair to guide your mouth just like he wanted.

“hmm, you take me so good doll. Taking my cock like a filthy little girl you are” he moaned through gritted teeth as he bucked his hips further in your mouth making you gag. You could feel his tip hitting the deepest point it could in your throat. Your eyes leaking tears but you couldn’t care less, as you made a complete mess with your spit on his cock.

Taking him out with a pop you pumped his boner and you felt the twitch in his body which indicated he was close. Determined to make him come you kept pumping him picking up your pace only to pushed away by Harry. Pulling you up to his face level he grabbed your face with his hand and roughly placed you’re his lips on yours. His other hand sliding in your panties as he squished your cheeks before turning your face to his lips were directly hovering your ears.

“I want to fuck you so hard” his words made you whimper as a mewl left your lips. Your body crumbling in his touch and without warning he inserted his one long finger inside your opening, A loud moan escaping your mouth as you laid your head on his shoulder as he pumped his finger, now adding one more opening you a little bit.

With one ease motion he rolled you on your back, your nipples perking up with the sudden exposure to cold air which was no more pressed against a body. Harry placed himself between your legs taking in the aroma of your sex, nose directly over your clothed center. Hooking up his fingers between your pj’s he pulled down the cotton lower along your panties not wanting to waste any more minute and having a taste of you.

It has been a while since he had his mouth on that sweet pussy of yours.

“You smell like heaven darling; I wonder if it tastes even sweeter”

“Why don’t you find out yourself”

Placing his wide tongue on your core he licked from your opening to the clit. His muscular tongue collecting all the juices in one go. Hands spreading your legs wider and pinning your hips down-knowing how you always squirm whenever he goes down on you. He groans as the taste buds on his tongue sensed the sweetness of your pussy. Giving up on being gentle, he gripped your thighs throwing her over your shoulder and licking the pussy mercilessly. Suckling upon the little bundle of nerve, he pushed his tongue inside of you feeling the tightness of your walls.

The eagerness of his licks and sucks on your pussy made your clit throb and soon you were pushing on his head with the building up coil in your belly. Knowing your body like the back of his hand his mouth never left your core as his tongue flicked your clit roughly. He wanted you to cum. He wanted to boost his ego becoming aware of the fact how easily he could make you cum unlike other males you had in your life.

“shhi, I am gonna cum Har- you cut of your own self feeling your body release the orgasm. Your breath heavy and body tired from riding your high you laid there catching some air. Harry laid beside you before his body placed itself over you to finish the unfinished business you started.

“Excuse me?” You replied turning your head to face him who was still looking at the ceiling. Moonlight falling over his perfectly sculpted face as he stared into the oblivious blinking whatever was going through his mind.

“I asked you, are you a hoe?” he answered thinking you didn’t hear him before not knowing it was you giving him second chance to rephrase his question. Seemed like he had no intention of doing so.

“Wh- what makes you say that Harry?” Yes you were hurt, yes you could cry if he wasn’t there. Never ever you have been called a hoe. Been known for the most kind and generous heart yourself the word was completely foreign to you. And you just wished you could forget what it meant but no. You wanted to know what made him ask you such a bizarre question.

“I saw you on a date” He replied finally facing you. His face blank, having no sign of emotion at all.

“I-“

“How can you go on a date when you are fucking me?”

“I did not go on a date harry, It was my colleague. He wanted some help because he was going through a rough patch with his wife” You explained. Your brows scrunches in annoyance. Why did it matter to him at all who you went out with and don’t?

“Also I don’t owe you any explanation of who I go out with and who I don’t. We are just fuck friends like you said so I’d rather have you minding your business.” You said turning to face away from him so he doesn’t see the building up tears in your eyes. He had the audacity to ask you such question under your roof, if it was someone else, he would’ve been out of your house by now but you couldn’t kick him out. And no you did not go on a date with anyone after you rekindled your past relationship you had with Harry.

You were no double standard lady.

“Hey, I’m sorry” he whispered rubbing your shoulder as you hide your face further into the pillow.

“I-I just don’t you to change your feelings for me” his following up sentence made you enraged. Change feelings? He was the one who told you, it was your fault to have feelings for him and now he’s the one who don’t want you changing them either. The confusion he put you in was enough to make you mad. Of course, the feelings you had for him were still there. You were trying your best to fade it away well aware of the fact that future held no possibility of you two being together-in fact he made his point in the same himself. Then why was he scared of you losing your feelings for him?

His words were generating nothing but several questions in your mind, tangling you in the confusion.

“What exactly do you want from me Harry?” You gave up raising your voice as you sat up not caring if your chest wasn’t covered but now bare to him.

“First you go away slamming my door when I tell you I have feelings for you. Blaming me for not knowing better and letting my emotions go. And now when I am trying my best to get rid of the feelings you first, under my roof call me a hoe and then go telling me you don’t want me to change my feelings for you? What kind of fool you’re making of me Harry?!” You questioned his intentions. Shifting to sit up he opened his mouth but nothing came out.

It's like he was caught. He himself didn’t know what he wanted from this relationship of sexual desire that he had with you.

“Oh I’ll tell you, you just want to keep me around so you can have a person you can rely on mentally and sexually when you want to without committing to it. You’re scared of making promises Harry, and when you realized that one day this won’t be what I want anymore leaving you alone you questioned me.” You were spitting nothing but facts.

Yes he was scared that one day you will leave him but wasn’t coming to you just because his body desired yours, but because ever since he left you the day with anger in his eyes. His own self doubted him. Did he really not feel anything towards you? Was it just a fuck or more than it. Trying to find the answers he came to the conclusion of having some sort of feelings for you.

The thought of you happily smiling with someone else wasn’t something he could bear.

But he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready for another heartbreak. Call it his naïve side of nature, he presumed it won’t work out, just like it didn’t between him and Camille. But thinking you’re losing feeling for him brough the fear he had buried deep inside, out once again. He couldn’t lose you. Though he did not want to commit, he did not want you to fall out of your feels for him. Maybe it was his toxic nature or selfishness but he wanted you all to himself without making him yours.

You didn’t hold you tears back this time. He deserved to see your tears, as much as he deserved to know that you were hurting. Every day spent with him took a part of you. You wanted harry to see what pain he put you through, how his confused mind messed up with yours.

“I’m just scared” breaking the silence of your sobs he looked at you. The way fat tears faintly rolled down your cheeks made his heart ache, after all, he did care about you.

“Of what?”

“I’ve been hurt in the past and I just don’t want the history to repeat itself once again.”

“how would you know if you don’t give a chance?”

“I don’t have more chances to spare”

“Then I think we should end whatever this craps is” you said wiping the tears with the back of your hand cussing at his selfishness. For the sake of his heart he was willing to break yours. How pathetic.

“Why would you want this to end”

“why don’t you give us a chance”

“I am not ready for a relationship right now”

“I am willing to make this work if you are-?”

“You can’t change my mind”

“Okay then this is the last time I see you, you know the way out” You replied ending the back and forth going conversation. Saying this indeed stung your heart but you lost nothing. Yes, your love for him was deep, but his selfishness was deeper. It wasn’t your job to get him ready for something he isn’t. And in the end if you who’s hurting both ways so why not put a full stop to the ongoing story of no outcome.

This time it was your time to be selfish and choose yourself over a man who wasn’t willing to give in his feelings for his greed, so why should you sacrifice your peace and love over someone who’s going to end up taking the generosity for granted.

And for how long could you do this anyways. After all, all good things come to an end.

#harry styles #harry styles imagines #harry styles fan fictions #harry styles writings #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x you #harry styles smut #harry styles one shots #harry styles blurbs #harry styles angst #hs #hs writings #hs imagines #harry styles fanfictions #harry styles fics

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yourturntosimp · 3 years

Note

safaranger headcanons? i love them sm...

A/N: yes hello i had this formatted so long ago i js couldnt get myself to log in and post it JHGFDFGHJ neways my head got too full and i needed smth to do so here it is!! these were rlly fun to write ngl TWs: none tbh theyre js vibin- mention of toxic traits (overstepping boundaries), safalin drugs the valentines chocolate but it’s for the sake of creativity ok, ig they're kinda yandere if you squint? idk i felt like their canon personalities speak for themselves in terms of yan JHGFDCFVGH, not much besides that

♡ "nerd" /r

♡ they call eachother saffy and ray bc it's CUTE OKAY-

♡ they go out at like 4 in the morning and get 7/11 slushies

♡ safalin gets her blue raspberry and just watches as ranger tries to fill up his cup with every flavor of slushie

♡ this is their usual date as in it happens like three times a week

♡ they go on nicer dates sometimes

♡ like eating awful cardboard pizza in a parking lot

♡ or sitting on the edge of a highway bridge together

♡ taking turns shoving or scaring eachother to see if they could actually get the other to fall off of said bridge and into oncoming traffic

♡ they're so romantic, i know--

♡ safalin is generally very mousey when she's not being murdery, obv, so they can't go on many loud dates, or dates where talking to other people is a must

♡ ranger is generally very loud, so they can't go to many quiet dates either

♡ like. study-date at a library? he's already been banned bc he won't shut up and insists on yelling while he's there

♡ okay, how about the movie theater? wouldn't that work for both?

♡ no.

♡ the answer is no.

♡ he will either watch the movie by himself or just google the ending and twists, just so that he can yell EVERYTHING out in the theater when the movie's about to start

♡ it's awful, and he relishes in the absolute anguish of the other movie-goers

♡ but it's also kinda cute how he grabs safalin's hand and absolutely books it to the exit to avoid the onslaught of popcorn and drinks being thrown at them

♡ and safalin is a sucker for soft shenanigans, so needless to say, this happens often

♡ "but zuzu," i hear you asking because i am omnipotent and i know all, "wouldnt they get banned after a couple times?"

♡ and to that i say,

♡ yes

♡ they are banned from every movie theater in the city, actually-

♡ this is no problem, however

♡ and it ties into another one of their dates

♡ roadtrip time!!

♡ they take turns driving, but they mostly take off-road, probably-illegal paths

♡ why? they both get awful roadrage

♡ and also ranger likes to gas the car to the fastest it can go

♡ they also take turns with songs from their playlists, though ranger sings very loudly to his

♡ when safalin's not driving, she's either asleep, talking to ranger about bizarre medical cases off the top of her head, or rambling about the human brain

♡ that was just me being excessively roundabout in saying that the poor girl has motion sickness </3

♡ ranger's medical knowledge only goes as far as "haha funny advil go brr brr brr", so uh

♡ damn, ig safalin's just gonna have to deal with it for the next 3 hours until it's time for a bathroom break

♡ ranger will stop the car for a quick break if it gets too bad, but saf would personally rather not risk being flung through the fucking windshield-

♡ remember how this all started by them getting banned from all the cinemas?

♡ yeah they rlly drove all the way out just to do that same shit at a different one in a whole other town

♡ ranger is a surprisingly good cook, and safalin is limited to cooking different types of noodles

♡ but ranger, as a good chef, uses his powers for evil

♡ hot sauce. hot sauce everywhere

♡ safalin has her knife collection, ranger has his hot sauce collection. they are hazards.

♡ one day he may just.

♡ get bored and fuck around, yk?

♡ "babe i made you a sandwich!"

♡ "...honey ily but why are there jellybeans in the middle of this ham & swiss sandwich?"

♡ valentines day is a mess.

♡ they divide off the sides of the kitchen and refuse to speak with eachother

♡ you'd think they're fighting but no, they're just making surprise chocolate

♡ safalin sticks with normal chocolate ♡ until she mixes different types of sedatives and medicinal ingredients in them.

♡ for the sake of creativity!

♡ and then she decides that she wants them to be flower-shaped

♡ and she can't go out to the store and buy molds, no, that would make it too easy for ranger to see when he's being terribly un-stealthy at peeking over the cardboard barricade separating the two of them

♡ homegirl starts just.

♡ using piping bags to make petals. no words for this tbh--

♡ her hands are limp the next day, she can't even turn on the lights

♡ ranger is...also creative with his

♡ there are lots of chocolates, but they're all....weirdly shaped

♡ and when safalin finds out that a good half of them have sour gummy worms and skittles inside, that's ample explanation

♡ the rest? hot sauce

♡ this may seem like an unfair tradeoff, but i raise to you an opposition:

♡ ranger eats a single one of safalin’s chocolates and fucking explodes in hives- ♡ he insists on continuing to eat them, but he passes out after the third one is down his throat-

♡ safalin's chocolates were sharp and also drugged

♡ the weird flavored chocolates and the drugged chocolates balance eachother out in terms of awfulness, so it's a fair match-

♡ and also it's the thought that counts, yadayada they're hopelessly in love, whateverrr

♡ they don't fight too often, but when they do it's usually over one thing

♡ boundaries, yayyyy

♡ ranger wants to do everything fast, loud, and spontaneous

♡ this means things like suddenly running up and tackling safalin, or a short trip to walmart turning into a drive to the next state

♡ safalin has alot of problems with stuff like this

♡ she doesn't like sudden impact, she doesn't really like sudden anything

♡ she wants at least a warning beforehand, but ranger being ranger says "lol ok" and proceeds to completely forget within the next 3 seconds

♡ this sets safalin into a place of "you're saying ok but you keep doing it, do my boundaries not even matter to you or what?"

♡ so this is in fact a problem

♡ safalin's end of fault arises with bad communication and clingyness

♡ if she wants a hug, she'll want it immediately, but she won't say anything about it for fear of being a bother

♡ and then she'll get sad about it, because "i want a hug so bad rn but what if im being annoying aaaaaaaaaaaaa"

♡ and then ranger will just have to sit there trying to figure out why his gf is sulking

♡ so if/when he figures it out, he gives her a hug, right?

♡ but then she wants to be like that all day

♡ and ranger can deal with like....an hour, two hours tops

♡ but,,,,,,all day???

♡ safalin doesn't care about things like eating and using the bathroom

♡ "can't you just wait? just like...5 more minutes, please?"

♡ and when he can't bc

♡ bro's hungry, or he has to pee, cmon dude-

♡ she gets all sulky again, and it repeats

♡ for basically all day, every day, 24/7 all year long-

♡ it’s at a point where safalin gets sad when ranger wants to go somewhere else that isn’t with her

♡ so this is also a problem

♡ they're working on it

♡ they're both struggling, but they're trying

♡ ranger yells as a warning while he's charging at safalin, and safalin recognizes the importance of an eating schedule and needing the bathroom. healthy habits, people-

♡ yk if you consider their personalities without the opposites attract ship trope, it could be tough to see how they work together

♡ and honestly, yeah, they don't even know how they started dating eachother, one day they just said uwu at the same time and then they were a couple ig--

♡ but they balance eachother out pretty well

♡ ranger is good at conveying how he's feeling through body language but less with actual language it comes out as just a string of profanities

♡ safalin's body language is also reserved so you can't rlly read her, but her actual language is pretty good at conveying things

♡ so the combination of the two means that safalin is usually the one to help ranger articulate his words, while ranger is the one to clarify the connotation safalin's trying to convey in her words

♡ their communication is (mostly) smooth, and they can read eachother pretty well

♡ AND they're a sadistic murdercouple who also happen to be a pair of the two absolute biggest nerds you could find

♡ so really, what's better than that?

♡ nothing.

♡ they are the peak.

♡ they have an entire cult dedicated to them.

♡ viva la safaranger

#zuzu writes #FINALLY #tia safalin #rio ranger #yttd safalin #yttd ranger #headcanons #safaranger #yttd safaranger #yandere yttd #kinda?#tw yandere #a little bit??#if i check back on this and any of it is formatted wrong #i will start crying

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wikiangela-fanfics · 3 years

Text

"How long will you stay?" - Sambucky

Part 3 to "You should smile more"

This took a looong while to write lmao

And it turned into a fucking long fic too hahaha (8k words, wow)

Idk, I actually like this one 😊

and again, thank you SO SO SO much to @tasteslikestrawbebbies for beta-reading ♥♥♥ really wouldn't be able to post it without you haha

Ao3

Part 1, Part 2

Enjoy ♥

***

Soon, they went out and Sam was relieved to not be alone with Bucky.. He still wanted him as close as possible, and he might have been walking way too close to him, their shoulders brushing. He desperately wanted to kiss Bucky, too. He really felt like he was getting addicted to those lips after just three kisses. He needed it. Fortunately, they were around people, so he was able to stop himself. He wasn’t that far gone yet.

They took a stroll around the neighbourhood, and went to the docks, meeting people everywhere. Bucky turned on his charm and everyone seemed to take to him. It seemed so natural, but at the same time it was bizarre. Sam was amazed. He’s known Bucky for a few years now, and he would never imagine him being so… charismatic. He knew stories about young Sergeant Barnes, from before he became the Winter Soldier, he heard how Bucky used to be. But to actually see it, it was odd. But also really nice, to get to see and know this side of him. He looked so… at peace. Sam has never seen him like that before he came to visit. It seemed that his little town might just be the place for Bucky to settle in. Sam found that he would really like that.

So yeah, people were nice, as Sam had told Bucky they were, and no one cared about his past or his metal arm. All that mattered was that Bucky was polite and friendly, and so fucking charming. Sam couldn’t stop staring at him, and he was pretty sure there was a soft smile on his face, and he wouldn’t be surprised if his eyes turned into freaking hearts. And people were smiling at him as if they could see it, which, yeah, he didn’t even bother trying to hide it.

Other than introducing Bucky to the people they were meeting, he took Bucky all around the town. He showed him all the places he used to hang out at, all the places that had some history and stories Sam could tell Bucky… and Bucky seemed to really enjoy listening to him. Of course he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t tease Sam the whole time, but Sam had a nice time with him.

With that and everyone stopping them for a short conversation, which sometimes lasted so long Sam had to make up excuses for why they really had to go, it was already early afternoon when they were on their way back. They were walking, because nothing was actually that far, and it’s not like they were in a hurry. Sam actually really enjoyed just being in Bucky’s company.

“So how do you like the town?” Sam asked, glancing over at Bucky. And again he was struck by how gorgeous that man was. His hair was a bit messy from the wind, he was looking ahead, so Sam could only see his side profile, the sun illuminating it, making his perfect face look even better, somehow. His expression was calm and almost blissful.

“It’s great.” Bucky smiled, looking briefly at Sam. “I really like it here.” he added almost shyly. Which was a new look on him. “The town is beautiful, the people are nice… and spending time with you isn’t the worst.” his voice was quieter now, as if he didn’t really want to admit that. Sam chuckled and purposefully bumped his shoulder into Bucky’s.

“Thanks. You’re not a horrible company either.” he responded, earning a beautiful grin from Bucky. And then he tripped and almost fell, which made him realize that he’s been staring at Bucky non-stop for the past couple of minutes. He cleared his throat, averting his gaze and looking back at the road ahead. He hoped Bucky didn’t see him almost tripping, but he wasn’t looking at him anymore so he wouldn’t know what his expression was. “So you like it here.” Sam repeated Bucky’s words. Buck hummed in confirmation. “Then, uh, how long do you think you’ll stay?” he dared a small sideways glance at him.

“I promised-” Bucky started, but Sam interrupted him.

“No, I know, I know. I just mean.” he sighed, cursing himself for starting the topic. “Let’s say I wouldn’t want you to go. Wouldn’t tell you to leave.” because he’d never do that. He wanted Bucky around as long as possible. “How long do you think you’d wanna stay?” he was looking at his feet now. He didn’t see Bucky, who was quiet, so he was worried about what the answer might be. And then he had a ridiculous thought - what if Bucky didn’t want to be there at all and came just because he promised? Which was just insane, he had just told Sam he liked to be there.

“As long as you want me here.” Bucky replied finally. Sam looked at him again. Bucky seemed and sounded confident in his words. He was still looking ahead, but there was a fond smile on his lips. “However long that might be.” he turned his head and their eyes met. Sam couldn’t contain the wide, happy smile that he felt tugging at his lips. Bucky’s smile widened as well in response. He reached out and squeezed Sam’s hand for a second before letting go and looking ahead again. They fell into a comfortable silence.

It was what Bucky said before. The same words. But Sam knew they had different implications here. Despite there being just two sentences, there was much more said between them at that moment. Sam believed he understood Bucky perfectly, and if not, well, then he was an idiot with way too high hopes. But from what he got out of it, he knew that Bucky wanted to stay. He wanted to be there, maybe permanently. In this town, in Sam’s life. He was happy here, that much Sam could see just by looking at Buck. And if Sam never told him to go, he would just stay. Forever. And Sam was down with that. He would love that. He wanted Bucky around for the rest of his life… and that thought was scary. And it led to: oh my God, I think I love him. Which was even scarier. They kissed three times, they were going on a date, Bucky was making jokes and innuendos about them having sex, and yet Sam still wasn’t sure where they stood. Because nothing with Bucky was easy, and it never would be. But he was alright with that. They needed to talk, but they would get to that. Maybe by then Sam would stop freaking out about the fact that he’s in love with James Bucky Barnes, the guy he had sworn he didn’t wanna see after the whole thing with Karli and the Flag Smashers was over. Separate long vacations. Yeah, right. Now he never wanted them to be apart again. How that happened, he had no idea, but here they were.

He looked at Bucky again and smiled. He didn’t need to know how it happened, even if it was the most insane thing that could’ve happened to him, and that includes all the robots and aliens they fought, and even being snapped out of existence for five years. All he needed was Bucky, and he was sure now that he would always be there.

“Gotta find something to do, though.” Bucky broke the silence after a while. “Can’t go around the town and do nothing every day.”

“We have time to figure it out.” Sam said without thinking.

"We, huh?" Bucky smirked, glancing at Sam. When their eyes met, his smirk turned into a wide grin. We could be understood as yeah, me too, can’t save the world every day, but he did not mean it in that way, not entirely. He meant me too, but also, we’ll figure it out together because you’re staying with me and I love you. And he knew Bucky got that, maybe without that last part, that was just… it was like once he thought about it and realized it, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was repeating in his head and he felt like a giddy, lovesick teenager. He got it bad.

“Shut up.” Sam rolled his eyes, shoving Bucky lightly. He couldn’t help but grin back. His hand itched to grab Bucky’s, but he didn’t think they were there yet. So he kept his hands to himself, changing the topic and conversing with Bucky for the rest of the way.

***

They ended up going to the docks again and hanging out with some people there, and helping with some stuff. Bucky even ended up lending a hand with moving some heavy things. While Sam watched with a huge grin on his face, because Bucky was beautiful, and when he was in a t-shirt, showing off his strength, picking up such weights easily as if it was nothing… that was doing it for Sam.

And he knew he was being really obvious, as he was getting knowing looks and smirks from people around him, who have known him forever, but he didn’t care. He meant it when he said that those people were always welcoming and accepting. It was his favorite place in the world. And it just got even better, with Bucky staying for an indefinite period of time. He just couldn’t help smiling at the thought. And it was on his mind a lot.

“You’re really gone on that boy, huh?” said Mrs. Harris, one of his neighbors, who was sitting next to him at the moment. There was a fond smile on her face. “You’ve been swooning over him since he came here the first time.” she observed, obviously having seen them together before, probably when they were working on the boat.

Sam just blushed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Then he chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I think I am.” he said with a sigh. If Bucky’s super hearing could pick it up from where he was, Sam didn’t care. He would be glad, actually, because that meant he didn’t have to say it to Bucky’s face, at least for now.

They talked some more, then Bucky joined them, and they just sat there for a while, chatting and hearing all the neighbors tell Bucky stories about the town. But then it got late. And they had a date.

“C’mon, old man.” he said, clapping Bucky on the leg, as he was getting up. Bucky just looked at him in confusion. “We have a thing, remember?”

“Right.” a wide smile showed up on his face. “Well, we gotta go. It was nice talking to you all.” Bucky said, as he also got up, smiling charmingly at their company.

As they were walking back, Sam could feel Bucky staring at him. He wasn’t gonna comment on that this time, remembering how he was the one staring at Bucky before, which he obviously had to notice.

“What?” he asked finally, as they were getting close to the house. Sam wanted to get cleaned up after the day and maybe look kinda nice, even if they were just going to the local bar for drinks and something to eat.

“You sure you wanna go on a date with me?” Bucky asked, a bit shyly. Sam looked at him with a frown. “Tonight?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You don’t wanna go? ‘Cause we don’t have to.” he added quickly, not wanting to seem pushy. Though, to be fair, Bucky did agree. Making inappropriate jokes that made Sam’s brain stop working while he was at it.

“Of course I wanna.” Bucky rolled his eyes. “I just mean, we spent the whole day together. I would get it if you were fed up with me.” he chuckled.

“I’m always fed up with you.” was Sam’s automatic response. “I just… you might be the most annoying person I’ve ever met, and yet I still wanna hang out with you.” he shrugged. Bucky just hummed in acknowledgment. “But we can just stay at home and watch a movie or something. If you want.” he added, thinking that maybe Bucky just didn’t wanna go out, since he clearly stated that he did want to go on a date. Which still sounded ridiculous. Sam and Bucky going on a date. Insane. But then again, so was them kissing and Sam being in love with Bucky.

“Sam.” he didn’t have to look to know that Bucky rolled his eyes. “I wanna do whatever you wanna do.” that was interesting, because Bucky explicitly said that they’re not gonna do what Sam wants to do tonight, not on the first date or whatever. But Sam wasn’t about to say that, he didn’t want to seem desperate. Although he had a feeling Bucky might know what he was thinking anyway. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything either, but there was a smirk on his face, when Sam glanced at him.

“Then we’re gonna go for a drink.” Sam decided. He was surprised to find that he was actually looking forward to that. To have some sense of normalcy after all he’s been through the last couple of years. Of course by normalcy he meant going out for drinks with a person he was attracted to and had feelings for. That person being Bucky was still a huge shock, but who was he to question it? The heart wants what it wants. And his traitorous heart apparently wanted Bucky.

“Okay.” Bucky said, bumping his shoulder into Sam’s. While doing that, the back of his hand touched Sam’s and he has never wanted to hold someone’s hand more. But before he could make up his mind on whether to go for it, they got to the house and Bucky went to take a shower after the day of walking everywhere and then helping out at the docks.

***

Around an hour later they were at the bar. They ordered their drinks and food and… they were sitting there in silence, opposite each other. But it wasn’t weird or uncomfortable, it never was between them. And before Sam realized it, they were having a staring contest, initiated by Bucky, who had an amused smirk on his face. Like always, Sam could not win with the master of staring, especially when the waitress brought them the drinks and snapped him out of it. He shook his head, chuckling.

“You’re impossible.” he said, but couldn’t contain a small, fond smile. Bucky just shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “Can I ask you a question?” he added, just to start any kind of conversation. And he was kind of genuinely curious.

“I think that’s usually what people do on dates. You know, talk.” Bucky answered, his voice low and quiet, but Sam heard him perfectly.

“Yeah, I know.” Sam rolled his eyes. “I was just wondering. If I hadn’t kissed you first…” he saw Bucky’s cheeks get pink and it was truly a sight to see. “Would you ever make a move?” he smiled smugly, as Bucky looked at the drink in his hands and licked his lips before answering. Oh wow, those lips. Suddenly Sam regretted going out because all he wanted to do was grab Bucky’s beautiful face and smash their lips together.

“If I was sure you felt the same way, yeah, probably.” Bucky shrugged, looking to the side now, his face red. It was so amazing how embarrassed he could get talking about feelings.

“So you like me?” that was a stupid question and Bucky’s look and raised eyebrow told him as much. But he asked anyway.

“You think if I didn’t, I’d still be here with you? On a date? Or that I would kiss you? Or, you know, want to stay here?”

“Yeah, okay, I know, dumb question.” Sam chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. “You know, a few weeks ago I never could’ve imagined we’d end up here.”

“No one could’ve.” Buck said. “I never thought that I’d even ever-” he cut himself off and chuckled nervously. “Nevermind.” he kept looking at the table.

“Buck.” Sam felt bold and took Bucky’s hand that was on the table. He didn’t give a fuck if people saw it, everyone in the town already knew he was in love with Bucky. And if it got out and the media found out… well, he also didn’t give a fuck. Not at the moment. He thought he knew what Bucky wanted to say, but he couldn’t be sure, so he just gave him a questioning look.

“It’s fine, I don’t wanna ruin the mood or whatever.” Bucky said, but didn’t pull his hand away.

“Okay, let’s change the subject then. But just so you know, you can talk to me about anything.” he added and Bucky just squeezed his hand and smiled. “Imma repeat myself again, but damn, your smile is gorgeous.” Sam added with a goddamn involuntary sigh, already feeling embarrassed at saying that. He should really get a grip, but Bucky’s smile was just doing things to him. At the sight, his pulse was quickening and his heart was doing backflips, and his lips were automatically forming into a smile too.

“If I knew all I had to do was smile to get you like this, I’d have done this ages ago.” Bucky laughed, relaxing again.

“Really?” Sam’s eyebrow raised. Bucky blushed again.

“I mean, I always knew you were, um, hot.” his face was now red, and it was at the same time beautiful and satisfyingly funny. “I didn’t like you very much, but, you know.” he shrugged. Sam was grinning now. “Oh, shut up.”

“I’m not saying anything.” he laughed. But he had to tease him a little bit. “Aw, you’ve had a crush on me for ages. That’s adorable, Bucky.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You basically did.” Sam argued with a teasing smile.

“I didn’t use the word crush. Because that’s not true.”

“Do you even know what having a crush means?” Sam questioned.

“Yes, I know what it means.” Bucky’s tone sounded almost offended that Sam would even imply that he wasn’t up to date with all the slang and what-not. He knew that Bucky was behind on a lot of things, which was really understandable, of course, but still it was very amusing. “I can use the Internet. And I talk to people.”

“Really? You talk to people?” Sam’s eyes widened in mock-shock. “Who? You hang out with people young enough to know shit like that? Wow, and here I thought you only talked to me, or some old men. You know, closer to your old, old age.”

“And you say that I'm annoying.” Bucky rolled his eyes, probably already knowing that Sam was not gonna let that go. Although, truth be told, Bucky had some things he could tease Sam about, too. “But you gotta admit, despite my ‘old, old age’, I still got it.” he smirked. “I mean, I have you practically throwing yourself at me.”

“So your memory’s back now?” he decided to not acknowledge the comment about throwing himself at Bucky. It was kinda true, anyway, there was no arguing, and that fact just made him blush.

“Yeah, thanks to you. Forgot already? Maybe your memory needs some refreshing, too.” he felt Bucky’s foot bumping into his, almost like a kick, but lighter.

“Maybe it does.” Sam automatically licked his lips, earning a huge, smug grin from Bucky. His gaze focused on Bucky’s lips. “Yeah, that might just be the case.” he added a little distractedly, not able to stop staring, making Bucky’s smile widen. And there was another nudge to his foot under the table, which snapped him out of his daze. “Sergeant Barnes, are you trying to play footsie with me right now?” he asked with equal amounts of amusement and amazement.

“Oh, am I?” Bucky asked faux innocently, looking Sam straight in the eyes, as their feet were now basically tangled together. It was new and different, and completely unexpected, but not unenjoyable, especially seeing that amazing smile on Bucky’s face. “I’m pretty sure I just moved my foot, and you started assuming shit.” Bucky added, his tone teasing, while one of his legs basically wrapped itself around Sam’s calf. A thought crossed his mind that they were at the bar and the lack of any kind of tablecloth was making their legs visible to anyone who looked in their direction. At least it was dark. But honestly, he didn’t really care. He couldn’t, when all he could focus on was Bucky and his smirk and that mischievous glint in his eyes, and the fact that he was touching him. Sam’s skin felt like it was on fire, and Bucky looked like he was having the time of his life.

“You’re impossible.” Sam repeated with a soft laugh. Bucky just winked at him and took a sip of his drink. And the way Sam’s insides fluttered at the wink... He was just so gone on Bucky it was ridiculous. He was just glad they could still act normally, joke and tease each other, without any awkwardness, despite the very obvious tension in the air.

The rest of the evening remained in the same light, happy tone, they talked all the time, about a lot of different things, obviously adding some teasing, like they always do, and some flirting, too. They had some more to drink, which caused Sam to get quite tipsy, while Bucky seemed stone-cold sober. The damn super soldier metabolism. Sam didn’t really think about that when suggesting to get a drink.

So now here they were, walking back home, Sam constantly bumping into Bucky every couple of steps, which the old man found really amusing. To be honest, Sam figured that if he had two or three drinks more, he would be tripping over his feet. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Otherwise he would die from embarrassment. Well, he still might, because apparently tipsy Sam talked without any filters.

“So are you staying because you like it here or because I’m here?” Sam asked at some point and if he was sober he would freak out. Or, he wouldn’t let the words out of his mouth, because that was just… completely unnecessary. Additionally, he wrapped his hands around Bucky’s arm and basically clung to him, which he didn’t even realize at first. He was both too tipsy, and too comfortable with Bucky. Maybe the last part was a good thing, since they were trying to build something here, but he was aware that a big part of their whole relationship was teasing and making fun of each other, so he knew that he would probably be reminded of his clinginess at some point.

"What do you think?" Bucky answered, turning his head to look at Sam with amusement and a smirk.

“I think you just wanna be where I am.” he said, more sure and confident than he was about anything else. “And if I went back to DC, you’d go with me.”

“Do you wanna go back?”

“I mean, I’ll have to, eventually.” Sam shrugged with one arm. He was vaguely aware that he was really leaning on Bucky at that point, but he didn’t seem to mind. After all, he was super strong, so that probably wasn’t even fazing him. It occurred to him that Bucky must’ve been pretty comfortable with him too, if he didn’t mind him invading his personal space that much. “It’s better to be close if the people need Captain America.” he said with exaggerated pride. He knew it would be hard, and his doubts were still there, but he could do it. He had to. Plus, he wasn’t alone, he’d have Bucky with him, hopefully. “I have a place there. I’d probably get a job.” he added. He’d been thinking about it, and it made sense. He couldn’t just stay in Louisiana forever, as much as he’d like that. And he needed to make a living somehow. But that all was stuff to think about when he wasn’t intoxicated. Right now, it was Bucky who had all his focus. “So, you know, this is more like vacation. Which we deserved. And then we’re gonna go back to DC. Or Brooklyn, if you prefer that, that’s good enough for me.” He talked too much. He was tipsy and he kept talking and he was a bit afraid he would freak Bucky out with all his planning for the future. They were on one date, for God’s sake. He needed to chill. But then again, he was a bit drunk, so he didn’t care all that much at the moment.

“We, huh?” Bucky chuckled. “That’s presumptuous.”

“C’mon, like you’re not gonna follow me anywhere I go.” Sam rolled his eyes. He really felt super confident right now. That could end with him saying even more embarrassing things, but he’d leave freaking out for the morning.

“You might have a point.” Bucky somehow freed his arm from Sam’s grasp and put it around his arms, bringing him as close as he could while still walking. “If you want me, I’ll go wherever you want.” Sam felt a kiss on his forehead. Oh, so Bucky was gonna be sappy now? Well, maybe he figured since Sam was drunk, he would get away with saying shit like that without teasing later.

“Aw, that’s adorable.” Sam ginned. “Never would’ve guessed that you can be so cute.”

“I’m not cute, shut up.” Sam didn’t need to look at Bucky to know that he rolled his eyes, but his tone of voice was light and amused.

“You shut up.” he shoved Bucky lightly. “I had a nice time.” he added suddenly, changing the topic completely. “Tonight. With you.”

“Me too, Sam. Like I said earlier, you’re not the worst company. Or the worst date.” Buck responded, laughing when Sam elbowed him, with what was supposed to be his full strength, but clearly didn’t work. And just like that, they were back to bantering the rest of the way.

***

They barely stepped inside the house when Sam pulled Bucky in for a long, enthusiastic kiss. Honestly Sam thought about those lips the whole evening, and he just wanted to keep kissing Bucky for as long as he could. Which wasn’t very long apparently, because Bucky pulled away way too soon.

“It’s late. You should get some sleep.” he said and went towards the living room, leaving Sam in the hallway, a little confused. It wasn’t that late. And they could stay up, it wasn’t like they had work in the morning or anything. Wow, he realized that he really just wanted to stay up and make out with Bucky. Well, not only make out, but nothing more was going to happen, so he’d settle for kissing.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked as he followed the other man into the room.

“Going to sleep. What does it look like I’m doing?” Bucky glanced at Sam before reaching for the folded blanket.

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch, you know?” Sam said, leaning on the doorway, probably emboldened a bit by the alcohol. “Plenty of room in my bed.” Bucky looked back at him, a suggestive smirk forming on his face. “Don’t even- I mean sleep. Just sleep.” Sam hurried to add before Bucky could make a comment and remind him that it’s not happening. “Get that fucking smirk off your face before I change my mind.” that got a small chuckle out of Bucky.

“You sure?” he looked kinda nervous as he put the blanket down and turned fully towards Sam.

“Yes, I’m sure. Don't make it weird.” Sam rolled his eyes, walking over to Bucky, grabbing his hand, and leading him to his room. Before that, Bucky managed to grab his bag from the couch.

Once they changed and settled in bed, Sam basically laid on top of Bucky’s chest, their faces close.

“Uh, hi?” Bucky said with a confused smile.

“Hi.” Sam answered, grinning like an idiot, before capturing Bucky’s lips in his again.

Bucky immediately reciprocated, putting his metal hand on Sam’s back, and his flesh one on the back of his head. Sam put one of his hands on Bucky’s cheek, while the other he used to prop himself up. Feeling Bucky’s strong body underneath him was incredible and a bit frustrating, because he just wanted him even closer. His head was swimming, probably from the alcohol, but he chose to believe that at least part of it was because of Bucky’s kisses. It was getting more and more heated, with tongues and teeth, and Sam’s hand started to travel from Bucky’s face to his arms and chest… and that’s when Bucky broke the kiss with a groan. Sam was vaguely aware of making a disappointed sound too, as he chased after his lips.

“So that is why you wanted me in your bed.” Bucky said, licking his lips as he looked up at Sam. “Are you trying to get in my pants, Wilson?” he raised his brow.

“Maybe.” Sam smirked, going in for another kiss, but Bucky leaned away, as far as he could with Sam still on top of him. “Buck.” he basically whined, though he’d never admit that. He just wanted to keep kissing him, goddammit.

“Sam, you gotta go to sleep. You’re drunk and tired, and it’s late. There will be plenty of time for this later.” he said, his hands trailing up and down Sam’s sides. It felt nice.

“Fine.” Sam murmured, then rolled off Bucky, but cuddled up to him immediately. “But can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Were you serious? About, y’know, the first date thing?” he felt like he was drifting off already, as soon as he laid his head down on Bucky’s flesh shoulder. Well, Bucky was right, he was really tired, apparently.

“In this case, yes.” he answered.

“Care to elaborate?” Sam asked, not feeling satisfied with the answer. What the hell did that even mean?

“I mean, if we were, I don’t know, in my apartment or something, and not in the same house as your sister and nephews, and if you weren’t drunk… who knows how the night would end.” there was a hint of teasing in his voice.

“So. When we’re alone and sober…” Sam trailed off. “Okay. That can be arranged.” at that Bucky laughed, maybe a little too loud, which made Sam shush him.

“Wow, you’re unbelievable.” he kept chuckling. “Calm down, we’ve only gone on one date.”

“Hopefully there will be more.” Sam was basically half-asleep at that point, but still awake enough to keep the conversation going.

“Yeah.” Bucky kissed the top of his head. “Goodnight.”

“Night, Buck.”

***

When he woke up, Bucky was wrapped around him, still sleeping soundly and calmly. It seemed like he didn’t have nightmares that night, and Sam was really happy for him. Bucky actually confided in him that it happened more rarely when he was here. That was good. He still had a long way to go, but that was progress. Sam turned so that he was facing Bucky, and smiled widely, running his fingers through his hair. He could wake up like that every day.

But then he was reminded of the alcohol he consumed the previous night, because he really needed to take a leak. He didn’t wanna wake Bucky, so he carefully tried to slip out of his embrace. He mostly succeeded, with the other man startling just twice, either not waking up somehow, or just choosing to stay in bed and not acknowledge the world just yet. In any case, Sam was free to go to the bathroom.

When he was done, he planned to just go back to bed, but he saw his sister in the kitchen, and smelled the delicious coffee she was drinking.

“Hi.” he greeted her, going straight for the coffee pot.

“Morning.” Sarah grinned, leaning against the counter, as Sam reached for the mug and poured himself some of the coffee. “How was your date?” she asked, her tone clearly teasing.

“It was great. Could’ve ended a bit better, but well, besides that, it was awesome.” he shrugged, leaning against the counter opposite Sarah. He had no idea why he was saying this, it would make more sense if Bucky was there and he could tease him about it, but nevermind. He just woke up and was before his coffee.

“Oh, so it was a date? You just said that you were going out.” Sarah was clearly a bit surprised, but also amused. He did say that when he saw her briefly before going out, because why would she need to know more? But he also didn’t feel the need to hide anything, especially from his sister.

“Yeah, Bucky and I went on a date.” he rolled his eyes, but couldn’t contain a smile. It sounded ridiculous and unreal, but it happened. He was on a date with Bucky, and then they slept in one bed. Crazy. “So would you stop flirting with him?” he added, just a little bit annoyed.

“Excuse me? He’s the one flirting with me” she laughed.

“You’re encouraging him, though. And he’s just being a little shit, he’s not flirting.” well, Sam wasn’t really sure about that, but he was gonna put a stop to it anyway. Again, he was not jealous. Just a bit irritated.

“Oh, I get it, he’s trying to rile you up, huh?” Sarah was grinning now. “But I know that, Sam.” she gave him an exasperated look. “I’ve known that he had eyes only for you since I met him. And you’ve been pretty obvious, too.” she took a sip of her coffee.

“No, I wasn’t. That’s bullshit.” he said, sounding offended. Even though it was more than probable for Sarah to see right through him. She knew him really well, after all.

“Sam. It’s enough that you look at him and you get this dreamy look on your face, and you can’t stop smiling. You’re so smitten.” she chuckled. Sam couldn’t argue with that. “I’m happy that you two worked it out, though.” she added, more seriously now. “But if he breaks your heart, I will kill him.”

“I don’t doubt that.” he laughed. “He won’t, but thanks, I appreciate it.” Sam felt silly thinking that, because they just started dating, but he genuinely believed that this is something that’s gonna last. He believed that Bucky wouldn’t leave him, or break his heart or whatever. In Sam’s mind, there was literally no chance for that. Which was ridiculous. Their relationship was new and fresh, and what if something like that did happen? But then again, he’s known Bucky for much longer, they’ve been through a lot together, and they developed some kind of friendship that seemed to naturally evolve into something more. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t worried. But he didn’t need to think about that now. He should really just take it one day at a time before freaking Bucky out or something.

They were silent for a moment, just sipping their coffees, before Sarah spoke up again.

“I see that Bucky didn’t sleep on the couch.” Sam just hummed to let her know he was listening, as her statement didn’t require an answer. “But you said that the date could’ve been better. So what went wrong?” she asked, seeming half curious, half amused.

“Apparently, Bucky’s a damn gentleman.” he grumbled into his mug, earning a loud laugh from Sarah.

Just then the object of their conversation walked into the kitchen, and Sam’s lips immediately formed into a wide grin.

“Mornin’.” Bucky greeted them, a soft smile appearing on his face too, upon looking at Sam.

“Hey, Buck. How’d you sleep?” Sam asked.

“Surprisingly well.” he answered, his smile widening. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing.” Sam answered, at the same time as Sarah said:

“You.”

Sam gave her a death stare, while Bucky chuckled, his cheeks reddening. Before he could say anything, though, Sam asked: “Coffee?” already reaching for another mug.

Bucky looked amused, but it seemed that he let it go for now, accepting the coffee from Sam.

Soon after that, the boys came down for breakfast, which Sam had started on in the meantime.

Later, as they all sat at the table, eating breakfast and talking, Sam took a minute to just look at the rest of them. Bucky fit in so perfectly, everyone loved having him around. And he was so good with the boys, who were really excited whenever they got to spend time with him. As Sam was looking at Bucky intently listening to some story AJ was telling, while Cass tried to interject, and Sarah tried not to laugh but at the same time keep some sort of peace at the table, he knew that this was as close to perfection as it could get. This was his place and his family. He wouldn’t exchange it for anything. And as his gaze met Bucky’s, he was filled with so much affection and love, he felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest, and over to Bucky, probably. They smiled at each other and he knew that this, here, was the happiest he’s ever been.

***

It was about a week later when Bucky asked him out again. It was an agonizingly long week for Sam, with Bucky now sleeping in his bed, and them still not going further than some heated make-out sessions. Sam was pretty sure he was going to lose his mind if they kept this up. He loved just having Bucky around, and he loved that despite them getting romantically involved, their whole dynamic barely changed. But he was getting frustrated. So when Bucky suggested a second date, Sam eagerly agreed.

He couldn’t have expected what Bucky planned, though.

He found himself on his boat, just before sunset, a blanket spread on the deck, with a couple of pillows, and a picnic basket with some food and a bottle of wine. Sam was amazed.

“What the-” he cut off, looking from the prepared picnic to Bucky, and back at the boat. “I- uh, I had no idea you could be so, um, romantic.”

“Yeah, well.” Bucky rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I wanted to do something nice. And maybe spend some time alone.” he shrugged, his cheeks reddening. “And the boat is fixed up now, so… I gotta admit tho, Sarah really helped with the food. It’s not much, but-” he shrugged again.

“It’s amazing.” Sam smiled, bringing Bucky closer and leaving a soft kiss on his lips. It wasn’t that late and there were still some people at the docks, but he didn’t really give a fuck. He wanted to kiss Bucky, and that’s what he was gonna do, no matter what others might say. Or what might get leaked to the press. He would worry about that later.

“Okay, let’s just get going, before the sun goes down. I’ve been told that sunsets are romantic or some shit.” Bucky’s whole face was red now, and he clearly tried to downplay his emotions and the fact that maybe he also thought that sunsets are romantic and wanted to look at one with Sam. It was adorable, and Sam just wanted to stay in that moment forever.

“Yeah, okay.” he just said, still grinning from ear to ear.

Soon enough, Bucky steered the boat out on the water, quite far from the docks, while Sam made comments about how he’d better not drown his family’s boat and since when could he steer a boat, anyway.

The sun was quite low when they both finally sat down on the blanket. Bucky poured them wine, because of course the guy brough fucking wine glasses on deck, and they just sat there, enjoying the snacks prepared by Sarah, and looking at the beautiful sunset. At some point Sam glanced at Bucky though, and he couldn’t look away. Bucky was so gorgeous, and in that moment it was even more accentuated by the relaxed look on his face and the light from the setting sun. He was more beautiful than the sunset. And Sam just… Sarah was right, he was smitten. He was so gone, there was no turning back.

“You’re staring.” Bucky said, his gaze still on the horizon, taking a sip of the wine.

“I like the view.” Sam responded, enjoying how Bucky’s cheeks immediately got pink again. “Besides, you’re always staring. I think I’m entitled to stare a bit too.”

“Sure.” Bucky chuckled, glancing at Sam. Then he leaned in to kiss him. This kiss was short, chaste and sweet, and it was just perfect for that moment.

Sam loved kissing Bucky. They managed to kiss quite a lot in the short time since they’ve started doing that, but still every time they did, he felt the same excitement as if he was kissing him for the first time. And that reminded him of how nervous and panicked he was, which seemed silly now, that he could just lean in at any moment, and it would most likely be reciprocated.

And he loved this whole date, it was so simple and peaceful, and it was just them. Bucky really seemed to know what Sam wanted, or maybe he just wanted the same things, but either way, it was nice. It was wonderful. And so surprising, Sam never would’ve thought Bucky could come up with something like this. Although… did he, really?

“So, this date.” Sam leaned back on his hands, looking at Bucky curiously. “You thought of it yourself or did Sarah help you with that, too?” he kept his tone jocular, to make sure Bucky knew that he wasn’t serious. He loved it anyway, no matter where the idea came from.

“I came up with it.” Buck admitted, looking away. He seemed kinda shy, which only made Sam smile fondly. “I just thought you might like it.” he grumbled.

“I love it, Buck.”

“Good.” he looked at Sam, giving him one of his most charming smiles. “For once you’re not gonna complain.”

“I never complain.”

“Whatever you wanna tell yourself.” Bucky rolled his eyes and Sam kicked his leg lightly.

“You’re lucky I like to spend time with you, ‘cause usually you’re annoying the shit outta me.” Sam laughed.

“I am lucky.” Bucky’s voice was quieter and softer this time. Sam was amazed at how they could go from teasing and joking to serious conversation and right back. It was crazy, but then again, so were they.

“You’re gonna be all sappy the whole date?” he asked because it was stronger than him. Honestly, he wouldn’t really mind that.

“I dunno. But if you have a problem with that, you can always leave and go home.” he gestured vaguely towards the docks, which were pretty far away now.

“We’re on a boat, Buck.” Sam rolled his eyes, but he knew Bucky and he knew what he was gonna say next. So he was just humoring him now.

“Can’t you swim?” he smirked.

Sam chuckled despite himself. It wasn’t even funny, and he predicted that was what was gonna come out of Bucky’s mouth. And he still couldn’t help a laugh. His feelings and infatuation with Bucky were progressing, way too quickly for his liking.

A while later, they found themselves laying down on the blanket and pillows, looking up at the dark sky and the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night, and the stars were almost as captivating as Bucky, but not quite, which is why Sam kept glancing at him once in a while. A couple of times he caught Bucky looking at him, too, which made him feel all giddy.

They were also talking and finishing the one and only bottle of wine that Bucky brought.

Then at some point Sam propped himself up to take a sip of his last glass, and never laid back down, instead leaning in and kissing Bucky. Soon enough, they were full-on making out, pressed against each other. When Sam felt Bucky’s hands roam over his body, one even landing on his ass, this time he pulled away, albeit reluctantly. Bucky groaned in disappointment, moving his kisses to Sam’s neck.

“Sam, what the hell?” he asked, his voice muffled by Sam’s skin.

“Uh, I really don’t want you to stop. But I have a question.” Sam said, panting a bit already. Bucky sighed with exasperation and pulled back to look at Sam and raised his eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, last time it was not being alone in the house and the alcohol. So I just need to know if you changed your mind or if you’re just being a tease right now.” he said that more seriously than he felt, but he wanted to know how he should approach the situation.

“That’s why there was only one bottle of wine, Sam.” the exasperation was still in Buck’s voice. “Enough to get you a small buzz, without getting drunk. And I figured wine would’ve been romantic or something.” he mumbled the last bit, reluctantly letting it slip. “And it’s not a first date.” he added louder, with a smirk on his face.

“Okay.” Sam licked his lips and took a deep breath. “So we agree what’s happening here, right? We’re gonna do the nasty?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Just say have sex like a normal person.” Bucky rolled his eyes, capturing his lips in a passionate kiss again.

And finally, freaking finally, Bucky didn’t pull away when Sam’s hands slipped under his shirt. Even better, Bucky took it off and Sam could admire him in his full glory. He actually took a second to stop kissing and just look, because damn. He moved so now he was straddling his lap, and trailed his hands over Bucky’s chest and then down his arms, feeling the difference in the textures, and Bucky seemed a little bit nervous for a second, before Sam smiled and brought both his hands up to leave a kiss on each of them. He had no idea why but the metal arm was definitely doing it for him. Soon, that arm wrapped around his hips and brought him even closer to Bucky, if that was possible, and they kissed like that for what felt simultaneously long and too short. He briefly thought that it was so great that it was summer and the night was warm, but that thought disappeared as soon as Bucky flipped them over so that Sam was on his back, feeling the hard boards underneath, and Bucky started trailing kisses down his now bare chest. And he got lower and lower and lower… and Sam was losing his mind, this time in a good way. That was about to be the best night he’s had in a long while.

***

Later, laying on the pillows and the blanket that they were half wrapped up in, Sam felt blissful. Once again he couldn’t take his eyes off of the man beside him. He just… Bucky was the best thing that could’ve happened to him. He has grown so much over the past couple months, and Sam couldn’t have been more proud. He was an amazing person, with a big heart and this whole grumpy facade that hid a real softie. Sam loved their conversations and even, or especially, the bickering and teasing. He secretly loved Bucky’s sense of humor, too, even if it sucked and he was rarely funny. Plus, he was just gorgeous and Sam wanted to keep looking at him forever.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Bucky asked, his flesh hand tracing small patterns on Sam’s arm.

“Nothing.” he smiled, leaving a soft kiss on Bucky’s lips. It wasn’t really nothing. But he felt like it was too soon to say. Even if he was more sure of it than anything.

He was undoubtedly, completely, utterly in love.

Bucky raised his eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Just flashed him that gorgeous, soft smile, and Sam just melted, going in for another kiss, he just couldn’t resist. He hadn’t felt happier in years.

Yeah, he really loved Bucky.

THE END

#sambucky #sambucky fic #sambucky fanfiction #fluff #sambucky fluff #sam wilson #bucky barnes #sam and bucky #my writing #tfatws #third part #fanfic #last part #i suck at tags

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willowbird · 4 years

Note

Cute uncle!Andrew and Neil with Aaron’s future kids!

Ooh! Don’t mind if I do! I hope you enjoy! <3

------

The reunion had been Abby’s idea, and while Wymack had done some obligatory grumping about the idea of having this particular group of Foxes invading their house (”I hope you remembered to hide the liquor.” “David, they’re all legal adults now and we’re inviting them over to drink with us.” “Make sure you have the fire department on standby.” “David, I highly doubt they’re going to burn down the house.” “I swear to fuck if those Minyards think they’re going break my shit I’ll haul their asses out to the park and leave them in a cardboard box.” “David, I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”) he was able to admit, at least to himself, that he was looking forward to seeing them again.

Sure, he’d kept up with all of them individually in his own way, and they’d gotten together periodically over the years, but this would be the first time in at least a decade that the lot of them would be under one roof -- under his roof -- and he was looking forward to seeing with how own eyes how they were doing.

He’d thought he’d known what to expect.

After all, he’d paid attention to the pro careers of Matt, Allison, Kevin, Neil, and Andrew. He spoke with Renee at least once a year in person when she came by PSU to hand-deliver her donations (and Allison was usually with her these last few years as well). He saw less of Nicky and Aaron, since Nicholas had returned to Germany after graduation and Aaron had moved on to medical school and that was even more rigorous than the training schedule he’d put them through, but he was still aware of their general well-being. Dan he probably saw the most, as she’d gone on to coaching and was now in the same division as PSU, running a newer exy team at a small public university in northern Georgia. Kevin was always around for the holidays and visited during the off-season, and they spoke on the phone regularly -- so he was generally up-to-date with his son’s life.

It had started out within the bounds of his expectations. Nicky and Erik had flown in the night before and stayed at a hotel in town, but Dan and Matt had arrived first because Nicholas Klose still didn’t understand the function of a goddamn alarm clock. A prompt Renee and Allison showed up a little after them, followed by a harried Nicky and an exasperated Erik. Kevin ambled in solo, followed by Neil and Andrew, who still looked unbothered by the whole damn world (probably because they were the ones typically setting it on fire, but hey - what did he know?). Last to arrive were Aaron and his wife, former Vixen and one of the youngest female neurosurgeons in the field, Katelyn.

That was when things got... strange.

Wymack had been in the kitchen, pouring a seltzer for his (three years sober) son, when he heard the front door open and Abby greet the final arrivals. He heard a small, excited little voice call out, “Unca Annew!! Unca Neew!!” Then there was the rapid patter of little feet followed by a squeal of delight and a deep laugh that Wymack couldn’t place because he’d legitimately never heard it before.

Curious and confused, Wymack stepped out of the kitchen just enough to peer into the foyer and his eyes didn’t quite register what he was seeing.

Andrew was standing in the foyer with a blond-haired little girl in his arms who couldn’t be any older than three (though frankly, he was shit at guessing ages on munchkins). He was grinning and hugging her, listening as she jabbered on about something-or-other. Neil was standing at his shoulder, also smiling, though his attention diverted and his expression softened in a way that Wymack hadn’t known the venomous little viper to be capable of.

“U-unca Neewy?” Wymack noticed that the little girl in Andrew’s arms wasn’t the only child present. An identical child in a different colored dress was huddling behind her mother’s legs, looking anxious at the new place and the strange woman (Abby) who kept smiling down at her.

“Hey there Pips,” Neil said quietly, crouching down and opening his arms in offering. It took a moment, then the little girl cautiously edged away from her mother before half-tripping on uncoordinated legs the five or six steps it took her to get to Neil, who wrapped her up in his arms as natural as breathing and hugged her tight. He murmured something in her ear that Wymack couldn’t hear and when the little girl nodded he scooped her up and kissed her cheek before turning to join Andrew and the other small child.

Andrew and Neil holding children. Andrew and Neil being good with children. Andrew and Neil, smiling and laughing and comforting small little children. It was such a bizarre thing that Wymack didn’t really think when he spouted off a bewildered, “What the actual fuck?”

Seven faces instantly snapped to where he was standing and it took more will than he liked to admit for Wymack not to cower under the five disapproving adult gazes and the two shocked child ones.

“David!” Abby hissed, and he grimaced an apology.

“Ooooooo, he said it! He said it!” crowed the chatterbox in Andrew’s grasp.

Andrew looked like he was about ready to commit murder and never in all the years had he known the bastard had Wymack ever felt intimidated by him -- until now. It made no sense, but somehow, he became about thirty times more effective with a small child in his arms. What the fuck was up with that?

The other child made a timid little whimpering sound and Neil shot him a similar promise of an untimely death with one scathing narrowing of his eyes. Suddenly, Wymack was very eager to cancel his plans to go see the Denver Wildcats next game.

Then Neil softened again in that way that made Wymack feel like he’d been transported to an alternate dimension. He bounced the child gently and murmured quietly to her, and this time Wymack was able to hear what he said.

“I know he’s big and loud, but that’s Wymack. Remember I told you about him?”

“Uh-huh...”

“Remember what I said?”

“Uh-huh...”

“Pips.” The tone was gentle, but still commanding in a way that eerily reminded Wymack of Betsy. This was getting too weird.

The little girl hugged Neil tighter around the neck, then took two deep breaths before pulling back and peaking over at where he was still standing right at the entrance of the kitchen. She studied him warily before saying, “He’s da bear man.”

The... bear man? What... the fuck?

“That’s right. He’s big and loud but very soft. And he’ll stay far away if you don’t want him close.”

Wymack was pretty sure he needed to lay down.

Thankfully, Aaron finally decided to speak the fuck up. Granted, the tiny fucker sounded way too amused for his own good. “Coach, you haven't met the twins yet. The little energizer bunny with Andrew is Penny and Neil’s got Piper. Piper is a bit shy, that’s all. She’s not all that great with strangers still.”

“Alright family, let’s get out of the foyer hm? Would you girls like some snacks? I bet Uncle Andrew will show you where the cookies are if you ask him nicely,” Katelyn offered with a knowing smile.

It had an immediate effect. Even the shy one, Piper, lit up like damn Christmas tree as both girls looked to Andrew like he was here to deliver them Salvation. In a childlike unison that had absolutely no right being that adorable, both girls gasped, “Cookies?!”

Andrew smirked. Then he chuckled and kissed Penny on the cheek. “Oh, I think I can find something.”

Wymack stepped out of the way as Andrew led the way with Penny, Neil and Piper right behind them, into the kitchen.

He watched them go, then just stood there, gobsmacked for a moment. Katelyn was the one to cross over to him and pat him consolingly on the shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, Neil has already offered both of them to teach them how to pick locks when they turn five.”

It did but it didn’t.

Aaron snickered unhelpfully. “Go have a drink, Coach. If that is fucking you up, just wait until tea time.”

“Tea time?” Even to his own ears, his voice came out raspy. “What the fuck is tea time?”

Aaron cackled in response. Cackled.

Jesus Christ, this was not what he had signed up for.

#asks #blue-hail #aftg #aftg fic #aftg prompt #future fic #uncle andrew #uncle neil #andrew is good with kids #neil is good with kids #pov david wymack #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #neil josten #david wymack #foxes reunion #fluffy drabble #100 followers

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rushingheadlong · 4 years

Photo

POP IN THE SUPERMARKET

Conveyer rock - is it all a hype? Colin Irwin looks at pre-packed pop and talks to the men behind new bands Queen (left) and Merlin

Hype. An ugly, unpleasant word frequently recurring in rock circles.

Up in the boardroom of a vast record company the fat cigar brigade are scratching heads. Binn and Batman have come up with another surefire hit and they want somebody fresh to market it. They ponder a few names and finally decide on one with slight but clear sexual connotations - suggestively camp.

Name settled, they work on the people who will be in this new band. They might be able to find a ready-made group to fit the bill but better to mould their own. There's a singer who has been around for a few years.

He's not great but he knows how to throw himself around a stage, has a hairy chest and can hit the high notes. Give him a new name and he'll do. Somebody knows a lead guitarist who can play a bit and looks good. They can advertise for the others.

They'll work out a sensational stage act, rig them up in some flash gear, buy them the best equipment and arrange a string of appearances in some influential venues. Plunge a few thousand quid in launching them with advertising and posters and "They'll be the biggest thing since sliced bread," chief fat cigar tells his underlings.

Session musicians are employed to record the single and being a Binn and Batman special the radio stations label it "chart bound" and play it twenty five times a day. Seeing the glossy photos in the bop mags the kids gather up their pennies and buy it.

VOILA, stars are born - or manufactured. An extreme form of hype.

There's also a cliché commonly used in the business about people who have been around for many years and finally make it. It's called talent-will-out. An idealist phrase but there is still a popular belief that if a band is truly talented enough it will win through in the end.

Yet even the greatest band in the world need a bit of pushing in the first place. When a record becomes a hit it's not always that easy to distinguish between hype and talent-will-out.

If a record company spends astronomical sums of money promoting a band, is it hype? Or is it a legitimate and necessary weapon in the music business? The argument is that the BBC's ever-tightening playlist and the effects on the industry of the three-day week have made it harder than ever for a new group to make it - talent or no. Without a big money machine behind it there isn't a hope.

The situation is illustrated by two energetic new bands, who both look like breaking.

Big money has been spent on Queen and Merlin, who have had new singles released during the last month.

Queen's record, "Seven Seas Of Rhye," is already moving swiftly up the chart, while Merlin's "Let Me Put My Spell On You," is doing well enough to suggest it might follow suit.

There is no suggestion that either band is a manufactured or manipulated product in the sense of the Monkees. They play the music on their own records entirely themselves and they are both hard at work on the road.

Yet the question arises as to whether they would be doing quite so well without the resources of big companies behind them.

In the case of Queen it's Trident Audio Productions and EMI and for Merlin it's Cookaway Productions and CBS.

The one common factor is that money and backing has been provided because the companies have a solid, unshakeable belief in the artists they are promoting. They are indignant about any suggestion of a put-on or that there has been any attempt to con the public.

Listen to Merlin's producer Roger Greenaway for half-an-hour and there is no doubting his faith in their ability. "They are going to break, I know they are. I'm convinced the record will be a hit."

Nobody's saying exactly how much it has cost to launch either band. "Over a period of months between £5,000 and £10,000" has been spent on marketing Queen by EMI while the figure for Merlin is even vaguer. "A bit, but not a vast amount. Not a fortune by any means."

"Seven Seas Of Rhye" is Queen's second single and was recorded as part of the album "Queen 2" which has just been released. Things started to move for them about a year ago when they recorded their first album for Trident, who have a distribution contract with EMI.

An advance was paid to them to help with the immediate costs of putting them on the road.

Review copies of the album - about 400 of them - were sent out to everyone who might conceivably have any influence on the record buying public, from discos to the national press. Copies were personally distributed to radio and TV producers and extensive advertising space was bought in the trade papers.

The launch for Queen was more concentrated than most artist are entitled to expect.

Trident were completely behind them from the start and found them their American producer Jack Nelson. EMI promotions men Ronnie Fowler and John Bagnall decided they had a product with an exceptional chance of success and they went all out to exploit it to the full.

Says Fowler: "Every record we release we work to a pattern of promotion. When I went round with the album it was normal procedure. It becomes un-normal when people start phoning you - that's when you put more effort into it."

Bagnall adds: "It became obvious after a week or so that it wasn't standard promotion that was necessary. We did a more complete promotion job than usual on Queen because we thought they were going to make it.

"They're all good-looking guys and I did a round of teeny papers and all the girls in the office swooned over them. Brian, the lead guitarist, had made his own guitar and a couple of the nationals picked up on that. It was good, gossipy stuff."

Queen's publicity machine was working from all angles because they were also getting external promotion from Tony Brainsby's promotion office.

He had been involved with them from the time they had been trying to get record producers interested. The intensity of it all paid off when they were invited to do a spot on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Radio Luxembourg latched upon the single "Keep Yourself Alive" and played it regularly.

Their first tour, supporting Mott the Hoople, got the full works. Local press was saturated with releases about this new band which was shortly coming to their town, elaborate displays were arranged at the front of the house on the night of the concert, local disc-jockeys were informed, and window displays were made in about 200 local record shops.

"Trident and EMI committed themselves right from the start to this band, to make sure they had a PA which was better than other bands had and to make sure they had the right clothes. Some of their outfits cost £150 each," said Bagnall. "Spending money on a band isn't hype. It wasn't being flash or extravagant for the sake of building an image. It was making sure that everything else was as good as their music."

Not so far removed from the attitude towards Merlin, although it has been on a smaller scale in this case.

The first Merlin tour, still underway, is rigorous. They are playing ballrooms and colleges all over the country on a lengthy round.

An ambitious project for a new, unknown band, but it has already been successful in that it has launched them as a name people now know. A full-page advertisement was bought in the MM. That's the sort of treatment you might get if you're Bowie, or Ferry, or even Mick Ronson. But Merlin?

They have only been in existence in their present form since last May.

They emerged as a result of discussions between Alan Love and Derek Chick about the possibility of forming a band with definite commercial appeal and a glamorous stage act. The idea reached fruition via a band called Madrigal, who had for some time been working the same circuit as Mud before "Crazy" broke for them.

Madrigal disbanded but reformed with the same drummer and bass player, and Love as singer and Chick as manager. A couple more young musicians were found to join them and Chick started the usual hustling to get them going.

In due course they came to the attention of Cookaway, and Roger Greenaway was hastily summoned to take a look at them. He had already seen Madrigal and when he saw the new model he immediately saw a big future for them.

Greenaway says: "I'd been looking for a group of this type for three years - a young under-20s group who can present a good act. There's a lot more showmanship attached to bands now. I wanted an act with a slightly different approach. I was in New York producing the Drifters and I came back especially to hear them."

He quickly took them into a studio to see how they reacted there and among the tracks they recorded was "Let Me Put My Spell On You" which had been written by Greenaway in collaboration with Tony Macaulay. Like Queen, the best equipment and some fancy costumes were bought for them and the launching process was put into operation.

My own experience of the Merlin project was a couple of weeks ago at Reading Top Rank - a bizarre mixture of precocious boppers, ageing teds, and stern-looking heavies.

Posters and pictures of the group were plastered all over the place and by the time they eventually appeared late in the evening you had been informed quite thoroughly that Merlin had made a record called "Let Me Put My Spell On You."

Greenaway says of Love: "He's got star quality and he's a great charmer. The guitar player Jamie Moses has got a terrific potential too. I've worked with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones but for me this guy at 18 is a better player than Jimmy Page was at the same age. He's the sort of player guys can follow - like Jet Harris - he had an incredible following with the guys."

He likens the Merlin launch to a military operation. The career of the group has been minutely planned since October. Accepting that it is almost impossible to get airplay for a new band on the BBC they decided the best way to break them was through a solid mass of live dates.

The dates were booked, once again the best equipment, including a light show, was bought for them, and distinctive stage costumes especially designed.

"By the time the tour has ended they will be a really tight band. We are getting support in the regions and you can break a record if you can get regional radio stations and disco plays. I believe this record is a hit and the signs are there. This is a ten-year job as far as I'm concerned."

Not that big money backing is any guarantee of success.

One of the biggest projects of this type was the launching of young Darren Burn as Britain's answer to Donny Osmond. To their eternal credit the record-buying public didn't apparently want an answer to Mr Osmond and the campaign failed.

The pop supermarket is not a new trend. The attractively packaged mass-produced record has been a part of the industry for a long time. The early releases of Love Affair, White Plains and Edison Lighthouse for example spring to mind.

The whole thing is justified for the makers by the fact that they still become hits, thus proving there is a demand for made-to-order records. If the public is willing - or gullible enough - to pay 50p for music created in the boardroom. Well it must be OK.

The Merlin single is blatantly, unashamedly aimed at being a big hit - that seems to have been the one criterion in making it. It has all the ingredients and as the whole thing has been done with concentrated professionalism it will probably be a hit.

Back to Roger Greenaway: "I don't want to present this as a Monkees type of image. It's not a manufactured group in any way - these guys have all been in other bands.

"What Merlin are about is success - reaching people. It's so wrong for opposing people to criticise. If Chinn and Chapman go out to reach a particular market at the thing they do best, and they reach them, then they're doing their job. They've filled a gap.

"When this record happens it'll be called hype but we haven't hyped anybody. Not a vast amount of money has been spent on them. It would be silly to have a tour like this without some sort of advertising. All the money that has been spent on them so far has been towards getting them on the road.

"It's expensive but it's minimal if you think of it as a along term thing."

It may be unfair to associate Queen with the pop supermarket. The group themselves were apprehensive about appearing on Top Of The Pops and the prospect of a hit record.

They have always regarded themselves as an album band and were concerned about being connected with the chart groups. The fact remains that they have been on the receiving end of a giant campaign to create a best-selling single and album.

The first album had sold far better than they had anticipated and there was great excitement around Trident and EMI as the second one was being made. Manager Jack Nelson came in virtually every day to play new tracks as they were completed and many discussions followed on which one should be released as a single.

A special meeting was held between Bagnall, Fowler, marketing manager Paul Watts and a few others to discuss the approach to the release of "Queen 2."

"We talked about the possibility of boxing the album, and other various publicity and posters needed to produce an album we were convinced was going to be one of the biggest of the year. We set a high target for it. 'Seven Seas' isn't a housewives' record so with the daily shows like Edmonds, Blackburn and Hamilton, there's no chance of getting it played, we knew that from the start. But the weekend shows - Rosko, Henry, and D.L.T. - they all flipped over it. I took the records round personally because I felt so strongly about it."

The prime plug, however, is Top Of The Pops. If a record gets exposure on that there is a more than even chance that it will become a hit. He played it to the show's Robin Nash and a couple of days later Nash phoned him and asked him where Queen were. Later he rang back and invited Queen to do a session.

The band weren't too sure whether they wanted to do it but eventually agreed although even then they didn't know until the last minute whether it would be used because they were half expecting a David Bowie film to arrive and take it's place. But in the end Queen were shown and "Seven Seas Of Rhye" moved dramatically from there.

"A lot of people have invested an awful lot of time and money in this band but not as a hype," says Bagnall. "The only truth in the music business is that if a band isn't good, no amount of money will get them to make it."

Greenaway may be right that Merlin are one of the most exciting bands to merge since the Beatles. Fowler might be right that Queen are one of the best since the Who. But big business still remains one of the sadder aspects of the music industry today.

----------

Huge thanks to the anon who brought this to my attention, since I’ve been looking for a copy of this article for ages now!

Credit for the original scans goes to @Chrised90751298 over on twitter, though I stitched it back together into a single image for ease of posting over there. Open the image in a new tab to see the full-size version!

#queen band #queen #queenband #merlin band #long post //#text

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carriagelamp · 3 years

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April l was apparently the month for me to revisit some children’s authors who are steeped in controversy at the moment. So here’s my hot (well, lukewarm) takes on issues that absolutely do not need a single other person talking about them. Also some actual good books that I read this month!

Badger in the Basement

The Animal Ark books are a childhood classic — though I recently found out that apparently there’s a difference between American and British publications, and the American versions didn’t include a lot of actual COOL animals which is… bizarre. As a Canadian stuck in the middle of this, this nonsense drives me nuts. This one was about the main character, the daughter of pair of vets, trying to protect a local badger sett from men wanting to participate in badger digging and baiting. These books are always feel-good, and it was a nice single-day-read while I waited for a library book to come in.

Chi’s Sweet Home

The cutest manga series about the misadventures of a little kitten, Chi, who has been adopted by a loving family. I’ve never bothered to read them in order, but apparently this time I stumbled across the last in the series -- whoops! Still, stood on it’s own pretty easily, and it was a fun read! Things get tense when the family realize that they may have found Chi’s original home… and may have to give up Chi forever.

Earth Before Us: Dinosaur Empire!

This was an odd graphic novel, I feel like I’m not sure who the target audience was exactly. It was a nonfiction comic done in a Magic School Bus style, with the purpose of teaching current, up-to-date facts about the animals that lived in the Mesozoic Era. If you’re into dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy this! The art is absolutely adorable, I love the dinosaur illustrations, and I learnt some really neat facts. That being said, the pages are really dense, and there’s a lot of info crammed in… some of it will probably go way over a child’s head without specific additional teaching or a very strong personal interest. But that being said, a dinosaur obsessed kid is still probably going to really dig this… as would a dinosaur obsessed adult. It wasn’t my cup of tea exactly but I’m sure it is someone’s.

assorted Dr Seuss Books

I love these types of controversies because it means getting to listen to every moron who has never had an opinion on Dr Seuss ever start generating a mile of them out of the aether. So many people are so mad about the six books that are getting retired and I bet most of them haven’t even read them. These are not the friggin Cat In The Hat or The Lorax or even the likes of Yertle The Turtle. I was raised by a grade one teacher, was a voracious reader who loved Dr Seuss, and wrote my university thesis on children’s literature, and I still only knew two of the six books on that list. So by all means, if you want to write an essay explaining why those specific books are worth clinging to, feel free, but if you haven’t even heard of them maybe it’s not a big deal. *grumble*

Anyway, my grousing aside, it gave me the urge to reread a bunch of Seuss books, including the two retiring books I personally knew: McElligot’s Pool and To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. I do still enjoy both, especially McElligot’s Pool which always sparked my imagination, but it’s obvious why they’re being retired and I personally think it’s the right choice. There’s so much good kidlit out there, we can survive without these.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden

A f/f romance manga, fairly standard fair though cute if you’re looking for some historical angst, pretty dresses, and mutual pining. A young Japanese woman moves to England in the hopes of meeting a writer (Mr Frank) who she has long admired. Along the way she is employed by an enigmatic woman with plenty of money, rumours, and melancholy following her. I’ll be honest, uncut romance isn’t really my genre, but I’ll probably still try to the second book to see if the story picks up.

From The Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary

It’s no secret that I’ve been on a Hogan’s Heroes kick. This is the autobiography of Roberty Clary, who plays my favourite character in the show, Louis Lebeau. And holy shit what a life this man has had. He was a Jew growing up in France before the start of the war, and who was one of many children taken away from his family and sent off to the concentration camps in Germany. This was an amazing, intense, inspiring, and heartbreaking read… it has Clary’s voice all over it, and it tells everything from the charming childhood he had, to the horrors of the concentration camps, the brutality of survival, and then about his exciting journey into the entertainment industry afterwards. It’s an experience, would recommend if you’re a fan of the show.

The Ickabog

The second controversial author I read this month. Originally I was going to give Rowling’s new book a miss, given everything that’s been going on over the past few years, but in the end my curiosity got the better of me. Politics aside, it was a fun read! Not groundbreaking, but enjoyable enough and written in an interesting style. It didn’t read the same as a lot of modern kidlit, it felt more like a cross between a classic fairytale and a Dahl book. Perhaps a bit like Despereaux. It tells the tale of how an idyllic country gradually falls into ruin through the ignorance, inaction, and greed, and how a supposedly fictional monster hides the very real, human monsters at the heart of the country. It was cute and pleasant and I’m glad I decided to get it from the library, though for anyone who is choosing not to engage for political reasons: you aren’t missing anything major.

Franklin In The Dark

A Canadian classic. I don’t think there’s a single person my age who hasn’t read or been read a pile of these books, and the nostalgia is so comforting. I found this on Youtube and listened to someone read it to me, and honestly 10/10 would recommend for a calm evening.

The big reason I decided to seek this one out though, was because I finally got to the M*A*S*H episode that inspired this entire series! In the episode C*A*V*E, in which Hawkeye is freaking out over his claustrophia while the camp is forced to take shelter in a nearby cave during some intense shelling, he mentions that if he had been born a turtle he would have been afraid of his own shell, and that the other turtles would make fun of him cause he’d be forced to walk around in his underwear. And so this first story about a young turtle who’s afraid to sleep in his own shell and drags it around behind him. So if you were ever curious, Franklin the Turtle is in fact named after Dr Benjamin Franklin Pierce. (this is also why the French version is named Benjamin!)

Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf

I loved the Guardians of Ga’Hoole books as a kid but I never read the Wolves of the Beyond series. This first book was an interesting read, Lasky does a great job creating worlds and societies for the animals that inhabit them. Lone Wolf is about a deformed wolf cub who was abandoned in the wilderness to die. And he would have, if a desperate mother bear, who had recently had her only cub killed, hadn’t stumbled across him and saved him, vowing to raise him as her own...

Petals

A “silent” graphic novel. It has beautiful artwork and is told entirely through pictures, no text at all. It’s loves and heart-wrenching, though it left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied… I felt like there should have been more. Still, a neat story.

The Southern Book Club‘s Guide To Slaying Vampires

What a banger of a novel!! I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s about a group of suburban mothers in the ‘80s who form a book club out of a shared need for community and a love of grisly true crime novels. But when a strange drifter appears in town and starts setting down roots… and when children begin disappearing… these women need to band together to confront the horrors that have invaded their neighbourhood, and face down not only a terrifying monster among them but the patriarchal system that allows it to flourish. To quote the preface:

“Because vampires are the original serial killers, stripped of everything that makes us human — they have no friends, no family, no roots, no children. All they have is hunger. They eat and eat but they’re never full. With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.“

The Weirn Books: Be Wary of the Silent Woods

I love Chmakova’s graphic novels, though I’ve only ever read her slice-of-life middle grade series before. This one is pure fantasy and very fun. It’s about two cousin “weirns” — witches with demon familiars — who attend the local night school. Things get strange though when an ominous figure appears outside the old, abandoned school house deep in the Silent Woods, and begins tempting children down its path…

I’m very much looking forward to word of a second book and was honestly kind of surprised that I haven’t heard more about this book given how popular her other series is. This has all the same charm and quirks but for those of us who prefer stories based in fantasy rather than reality.

And A Bonus...

For some masochistic reason I got a Garfield book out of the library. Jeez, if I didn’t love these as a kid, I found them absolutely laugh out loud hilarious, and now I just don’t see it anymore. But here I will share the one strip in the book that actually made me laugh

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ellewritesathing · 4 years

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Faking It - Epilogue

Summary: You’d done plenty of dumb things in your life, but the dumbest had to be picking Greendale’s latest bad-boy to pretend to be your boyfriend.

Masterlist Part 6 | Epilogue

Word-count: 2.3k+

A/N: okay so about a million years ago @corishirogane3 sent me the cutest headcanon for this series and i had to make it canon. i’ve rewritten the ending so much that i’m not sure how i feel about it anymore but!! i wanted to post this sugary sweet ending after my finals so 💕💕 i hope you guys like it

Caliban hated birthdays. His mother would always try her hardest to make each year better than the last, with more outrageous parties in the hopes that he would forget he was a bastard whose father cared more about his reputation than his son. It never worked.

Kinkle: Happy Bday man! You’re still an asshole but I’m glad we’re friends again

As if his childhood confusion wasn’t hard enough, Caliban’s teenage angst almost burned everything to the ground. He was angry at his family for abandoning him and his mother, at the people around him for being conceited and boring, and at California for being too goddamn sunny.

Theo: happy birthday to my gay awakening 💕

Birthdays made Caliban infinitely aware of his precarious loneliness in the world. He’d stopped telling people when his birthday was long ago, but somehow they’d find out and ruin his plans to spend the day alone and screaming at the sky. Year after year, it was just the same hollow wishes from people who didn’t really care about him.

Rosalind ✨: happy birthday old man. i got you a haunted portrait so you don’t wrinkle

But this year was different. Caliban still wasn’t sold on the perfect greeting card birthday, but he’d been less angry since moving back to Greendale. Dating you - real or not - meant he got a group of friends as part of the deal, and the lot of you had extorted his birthday to draw up his astral chart. Apparently, he was an Aries sun, Capricorn moon - whatever the fuck that meant.

Sabrina: Happy Birthday Cal 💞

Still, Caliban could move across the country and collect as many friends as he liked, but he wasn’t sure if he’d ever enjoy his birthday.

With a sigh, Caliban threw off his covers and padded across to his closet. He pulled out his usual dark clothes and scrounged around for his leather jacket before realizing he’d loaned it to you. He smiled to himself and set to make himself presentable.

This first hour of his birthday was always spent alone. It was one of the many birthday traditions he and Isobel shared, along with birthday pancakes, ditching the last half of school, and triple chocolate cake with Sour Patch Kids stuck to the icing. He was thankful for all the things his mother did for him, but that first dose of silence and solitude was crucial if he was going to deal with all the birthday bullshit that lay ahead.

Caliban’s phone dinged with yet another notification and he stopped in the middle of the hallway to dig his phone out of his pants pocket. Sure, Caliban talked a big game about hating birthdays but he still checked every text he got, hoping for ... something.

Fitch: Happy non-birthday to the best not fake boyfriend I’ve ever had ❤️ I love you and I’ll see you soon

He always read the texts, but he almost never responded. He leaned against one of the door frames and started typing something in the way of a reply. The only problem was that Caliban was only gifted in the way of words when he was lying, and he never wanted to lie to you. Caliban sighed and locked his phone without sending anything. He’d figure out what to say once his stomach was full of pancakes.

Expecting to come downstairs to the low hum of Isobel singing along to music, the smells of cinnamon, sugar, and melted chocolate, and one very messy kitchen, Caliban was surprised when he reached the bottom stair and heard your voice. Everything else was as expected, but you stood out among all the chaos.

“Is this okay?” you asked quietly.

Isobel stopped her humming for a second. “Oh, yeah! That’s perfect, sweetheart.”

The pancake batter sizzled in the pan and Caliban decided to brave the kitchen. It was still as messy as always, but there you stood, clad in a borrowed, sunflowered apron and brandishing a spatula.

Since you and Isobel were whispering and watching the pancakes rise with your back turned to the entrance, Caliban walked over as quietly as he could and got a better look at the assortment of toppings on the counter. He'd just bitten into one of the strawberries when you turned to grab something off the counter.

You jumped sky-high and Caliban laughed. “Jesus. How long have you been there?” you asked.

“Long enough.” Caliban tried to sound nonchalant, which was difficult to do with all his curiosity. His cool facade was also ruined by Isobel rushing around the island to hug him and kiss his cheeks.

Isobel settled slightly after sitting Caliban down on one of the stools and promising to be right back with his present.

With your new-found solitude, Caliban turned to with an amused smile. “When you said you’d see me soon, I didn’t think you meant quite so soon,” he said. He reached for another strawberry.

You were happy to have caught him off-guard. “That’s kind of the point of a surprise.” You turned back to the stove to keep the pancake from burning but looked over your shoulder to add, “I mean, I can leave if it’s a problem?”

“You would deprive me of your company on my birthday?”

You set a plate in front of Caliban that had a single, oddly shaped chocolate-chip pancake. “I'd never dream of it, Abercrombie.” You took a step back, pulled out a knife and fork, and set it in front of him. “Tell me how it tastes?”

Caliban cut a piece and held his fork out to you.

“No way. That’s your birthday pancake.”

“You would really make me beg on my birthday?”

“You can’t play that card the whole day-”

“Yes, I can. Because it’s my-”

“Don’t say it-”

The word was on the tip of his tongue, but Caliban didn’t get the chance to play his birthday card another time because Isobel rushed back into the room holding a wrapped present and grinning wildly.

Isobel set the present down on the stool next to Caliban and tapped the top. “I know you don’t like opening them in front of anyone, but I couldn’t wait.” She tapped the gift again before reaching out and squeezing his hand. “Happy birthday, my love.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Caliban said in a low voice. Isobel gave him the sad smile she always did on his birthday and he gave her the matching smile he always did.

Your voice broke both of them out of their birthday stupor. “Well, I’ve got to get going or I’ll be late.” You untied the knot behind your back as you spoke before lifting the apron over your head. “I just wanted to stop by to steal a few legendary birthday pancakes and drop off the scavenger hunt stuff.”

“I’m sorry, would you repeat that?” Caliban asked, sounding as saintly as he could.

Isobel laughed. “Your brilliant girlfriend figured out how to give you a special birthday while letting you spend the whole day by yourself.” She wrapped an arm around Caliban’s shoulders and looked over at you. “There are clues and activities all over town and you can only come back once you’ve finished them all.”

As intriguing as a day spent on his own seemed, Caliban couldn’t help but feel like there was a catch coming. “And what about my daily need for education?”

“I thought you were a fan of more alternate education,” you teased. You leaned over and ate another bite of pancake. “Don’t tell me you’re going soft in your old age.”

Caliban gave a short laugh. “I said no such thing.”

You smiled. “Your mom promised to give you the first clue after your first pancake stack. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Caliban nodded, suddenly unsure of how to respond. He was bad at receiving gifts at the best of times, and this gift was personal and bestowed upon him in front of his mother. It was an awkward set of circumstances. “Thank you,” he said softly as he hugged you goodbye.

“Of course.” You kissed his cheek and disappeared out of the kitchen after waving goodbye to Isobel.

Once you were gone and Caliban was left with the familiar sounds and smells of the morning of his birthday, he began to think that maybe his opinion on birthdays needed a bit of changing.

---

Though he’d only participated in a few scavenger hunts, Caliban was competitive and he was relentless. He tore through clue after clue in the same ravenous fashion that a pack of wolves would their next meal, though he tried to savor it as best his hunger would allow. Every handwritten clue was kept, every souvenir pocketed, and every moment memorized. He didn’t want to waste the most thoughtful gift he’d ever been given just because he was an impatient bastard.

But, as he stared at his suspiciously dark house, he wondered if he should have taken it a bit slower. The last clue had hinted at something waiting for him at the house, and his desire to finish the scavenger hunt waged war on his hatred of birthday parties. He was just about to put the car in reverse and dart into the street when your head popped around a curtain. You ducked inside at such a speed when your eyes met his that Caliban laughed at the mental image of you crashing into a lamp and trying to play it off.

In the end, neither his desire nor hatred lured him into the depths of his birthday party. His bizarre inclination to do anything and everything you wanted drew him in.

So, Caliban showed up at his party. He wore a party hat, played nice with the other kids, and blew out the candles on his cake. All in all, it should have been the perfect end to his perfect day. But even with all your careful planning, there was no accounting for the bullshit hole in Caliban’s chest that always left him feeling empty.

When the hole in his chest got too big, Caliban sneaked up the stairs, ducked into his room, and slipped out the window. He wasn’t running away - though the thought did cross his mind - but he just needed some fresh air. Harvey’s laughter mingled with that of his other friends and the laugh tracks of bad movies, drifting through the open window to the warmth of the April night. Still, there wasn’t enough fresh air in the world to fix him.

“Hey!”

Caliban twisted around to see you popping your head out of his bedroom window. You had a silly grin on your face and your hair was falling all over your face. The hole in Caliban’s chest got a little smaller. Your smile softened as you tilted your head to mirror his.

“Hey, you wanna get out of here?”

“Aren’t you worried about missing the party?” Caliban asked.

You shrugged. “Roz and Theo ate all the good snacks so it’s pretty lame anyway.” Caliban laughed and you flashed him another smile. “Come on, Abercrombie, you really gonna make me climb on the roof to come get you?”

Caliban let out a long whistle and adjusted to get a better look at you. “I’d like to see you try, but careful - it’s slippery out here.”

“Stop being an asshole and let’s get out of here before someone notices we’re gone.”

Grinning, Caliban rolled over and held a hand out to you. There was no need to be so secretive, really, but sneaking down his mother’s carefully cultivated trellis was half the fun. Caliban squashed some hydrangeas on the way down, you tumbled into him after getting your foot stuck, and the two of you were left breathless for a moment before rushing to the car so no one would discover your attempted prison break.

Giddy as you turned onto the freeway, the two of you laughed with the windows down and music blaring. Caliban didn’t think his birthday could get any better than it already was, but that moment with you was his favorite part. Or at least, it was until you started complaining about wasting away and you pulled into a diner for something to eat - then he found a new favorite moment.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“You know what.” You tilted your head. “Is this because of the fry thing? I’m telling you, if you just try it then you’ll like it.”

Caliban laughed and shook his head at ‘the fry thing,’ also known as your insistence to dip your fries in whatever milkshake you had on the day. “I’m not trying it.”

“You’re a coward.”

“You can��t say that to me. It’s my birthday.”

“You hate birthdays.”

“Still.”

Rolling your eyes, you pushed the plate of fries over to him. “Try it once, okay? And you’ll see it’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet, hot and cold, yummy and delicious.”

Caliban couldn’t help it. He’d been putting it off for almost a year now, and it just didn’t feel right to say no to you after everything you’d done for him today. Plus, you were cute when you got your way. So, he reached out and dipped a fry in the milkshake.

Annoyingly, it was everything you’d said and more. Despite the sugary, fried high he was bound to be on in a few minutes, Caliban knew the best part of this whole endeavor would be to see your sickeningly smug face when he admitted defeat.

You’d turned him into a cheesy cliche. He was disgustingly romantic, he carried your books between classes, and had your coffee order memorized. Because you were the sweet to his salty, the brave to his reckless, the Fitch to his Abercrombie.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tagged: @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e @miss--moose @marrypuffsstuff @harryscarolinaa @igorsbby @foji2000 @hxlalokidottir @artaxerxesthegreat @thxmagic @strawberriesandknives @xealia @hotmessindisguise @acciomaximoff @reheated-coffee @shelby-x @perseny-blog @millie-753 @luneerius @shizzybarnaclee @lettherebelovex @throughparisallthroughrome @ietss @thebookwormlife @mechanicalanimalz @mariamermaid @nqbmf @caliban-is-my-girl @shephard17895 @andie-kathleen @clockworks-world-to-fandoms @luquincy @marina468 @olivia-west-allen @drrramaaaqweeen @roxytheimmortal @blondeeee-e @piensa-bonito

#caos #Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #Faking it #Caliban

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