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elareine · 5 years

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Snow comes down in June (TimKon)

“I don’t know if this was a good idea.”

Tim flinched, and Kon cursed himself and his big mouth. “Not like that! The sex was awesome. Obviously.”

“But?” Tim raised an eyebrow, visibly trying not to look pleased with the compliment.

“What now? Not going to lie, I’m pretty into you. It’s just…”

“We’re friends,” Tim finished for him, understanding blooming on his face. “And we live together.”

“Yeah. Dating would be difficult, and you’re, like, important, dude.” It was true. As amazing as last night had been—as much as Kon wanted nothing more right now than to add to the hickey already blooming on Tim’s pale throat—the idea of losing Tim made something in his stomach clench and scream.

Tim considered the problem for a minute. Kon waited him out patiently. His friend always needed his time with this kinda stuff.

“Yeah, I can see where you come from,” Tim finally agreed. “Friends?” He reached out a hand.

Kon grinned, relieved, and took it. “Best friends.”

In the spirit of everything being completely normal and fine, Kon decided to go and get laid with someone else. And he was lucky: The second girl he struck up a conversation with at the student bar seemed to be down. Kon liked the humor in her intelligent blue eyes; the way she gave back as good as it got, and didn’t beat around the bush when she asked: “So, your place?”

“I live at the dorms, so… How about yours?”

“I got three roommates, so no way.” She smiled, putting her hand on his shoulders. “Surely, you can arrange something at your dorm?”

Something in him squirmed at the idea of texting Tim and asking if he could scram for an hour or so. “Uh. My roommate—he’s sick. Don’t wanna kick the poor guy out when’s already feeling like shit, y’know?”

“Uhuh.” Her eyes had turned skeptical. “Sure. Maybe another time, then?”

“Yeah, that—that’d be nice.”

But she didn’t give him her number, and by the end of the night, Kon headed back to the dorm alone.

Tim looked up from his laptop in surprise. “Oh, hey. Thought you were heading out tonight?”

Kon knew his outfit (tight black shirt, even tighter jeans) gave him away. He also knew that Tim would be kind enough to let him get away with it if he lied, so he shrugged. “Changed my mind. Wanna watch some Star Trek instead of working on that essay?”

“Yes, please.”

Okay, so that hadn’t been ideal, but whatever. He just had to get used to the idea of Tim as just his buddy again. Next time.

When Kon tried again, it wasn’t at a bar, but the Cockpit, their local queer club. As a group, they came here often. Sometimes one or two of them decided to streak out on their own if someone caught their eye, and today Kon was determined that it would be him.

It didn’t take long before some caught his eye. Pietro, his name was, and he was slim and athletic, just how Kon liked them. He seemed amenable to the idea, too, chatting with him for a while and agreeing to being bought a drink.

When he stepped up to the bar, though, Kon got a surprise. “Tim? What’re you doing here alone?”

Tim shrugged. “The others wanted to dance. I’m just not in the mood.”

From the corner of his eyes, Kon could see Pietro turn around and smile at him, clearly expecting him to walk over any second now.

“Go on,” Tim gently shoved his shoulder, though he wasn’t smiling. “Someone’s getting impatient.”

Kon looked helplessly between Pietro and Tim. It was no contest, really. “Actually… I’m starving. Wanna see if the caf still has some of those pancakes?”

Tim’s face lit up. “Sure.”

Pietro turned away, disappointment evident on his face.

Urgh. Kon was destined to not get laid again ever. Problem was: When he looked at Tim’s smile, he didn’t even mind all that much.

Maybe, Kon thought, the issue was that he’d been focusing on himself instead of Tim. Perhaps he just needed to see Tim be happy (or at least smexy) with someone else to get over this entire thing.

So the next time they went to the Cockpit, he made a point of nudging Tim toward every guy that looked even remotely interested, even going so far as ditching him when one was finally coming over to them.

The next time he checked, Tim and the dude were getting it on on the dancefloor. That was some foreplay right there, Kon thought, watching in fascination. Plan flawlessly executed, then. A+, well done.

It felt good. Really.

“What’s got you looking like old sour grapes himself?” Cassie slapped his back, making him almost choke on his drink.

“Just watching Timmy get some.”

She followed his line of sight and whistled. “Not that’s a catch.”

Kon frowned. “Ya think so? I’d have said he’s not pretty enough for Tim.”

“Pretty.” Cassie stared at him. “You think Tim’s into pretty boys. Pretty.”

“Yeah, you know, like those boys in his judo magazines. Dude looks more like a jock.” A thought struck Kon. “If he’s doing this to make fun of Tim—”

“You know what.” Cassie took a deep breath. “I wash my hands off you two. Go fuck in an alley for all I care, I’m gonna get another drink.”

Hurt, Kon looked after. Why would she say something like that? He was just trying to look out for his friend!

…was he?

The bus ride back to campus was way too quiet. None of the others had wanted to leave yet, but Tim had been busy with Jock Guy, and Kon hadn’t trusted himself not to interfere if he stayed. So. The first bus home it was.

At least this gave him plenty of space to be mad at himself. What the fuck did he think he was doing? He had no right to be jealous of whoever Tim was fucking. It had been Kon who’d suggested they stay friends, after all.

Worse, Tim had been unbothered by Kon’s earlier attempts to hook up with other people, so it was just Kon who was stuck on that night.

Images played in his mind of Tim grinding against the other guy at the club, shaking that tight butt of his in the adorable way he had when he was trying to be sexy. His mouth must've tasted so sweet, just like when Kon had been the one kissing him—

Kon banged his head against the window and cursed.

“Why in the world are you reading your English assignment at one in the morning?”

“Why the hell are you back already?” Kon asked in return, blinking. He’d only been home for half an hour. Tim must’ve taken the bus right after Kon’s. “What happened to what’s-his-name?”

Tim made a dismissive noise as he took off his shoes and coat. “Not really my type.”

“I knew it,” Kon whispered under his breath in triumph. Louder, he asked: “What did you end up doing?”

“Ditched him while he was in the men’s room.”

“…that’s cold,” Kon laughed. He wasn’t proud of it, but man, that felt good to hear.

Tim shrugged again, letting himself collapse on the bed next to Kon in a graceless heap. “Don’t really care. He’s not important.”

“Aww, c’mere.” Kon pulled Tim into his lap, knowing how cuddly the other got when drunk. Tim made a contend noise in reply, settling down into a nap while Kon kept reading.

It was comfortable, Kon realized. Despite their claims to the contrary, they had been keeping a careful distance between ever since that night; only now, drunk and tired, did they seem to be able to cross it.

He wanted to spend forever like this.

Well, then.

“Hey, Tim?” Kon asked.

“Hmm?” Tim’s eyes opened slowly.

“I’m. Not great at getting over you.”

Tim was silent for a moment. “It’s only been a month.”

“Yeah, but.” Kon made to gesture at his himself, only to realize that Tim’s face was angled away from him, his hair hiding him from view. “It’s kinda getting worse.”

“Worse?”

“The, you know.” Kon really wished he was better at this. Hadn’t he considered himself smooth just last week? “Being in love with you thing.”

Those blue eyes still weren’t looking at him. “I thought we agreed it’s too difficult. That I’m too difficult.”

Ah. There lay the rub. Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at his friend’s self-deprecating dramatics, Kon gently took him by the shoulder. “Turns out, I don’t want easy. I want you.”

Finally, Tim looked at him, his eyes big and hopeful in the lamplight. “Are you sure? Because. You gotta be sure. I’m not doing this again.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Kon smiled.

“…and you couldn’t have figured that out about a month ago?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Make me.”

Turned out, Kon hadn’t lost his ability to get laid, after all.

#timkon #elareine writes #advent calendar 2019 #yall ever wanted to yell at your characters

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hallythelantern-blog · 6 years

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Marichat May 2018: Chapter 2

Prompt: Can I Pick, Princess?

Chapter 1

Fanfiction AO3 Wattpad

Chapter 2: Secrets

Marinette collapsed onto her bed. She dug her hands into her face, letting her fingers pull down the skin directly below her eyes.

"What have I done, Tikki! I can't believe that I gave Chat Noir an invitation to stay here– possibly forever!" she exclaimed. "I don't regret doing it, but... what if I accidentally find out who he is? What if he sees you with me? What if he somehow finds out that I'm Ladybug? UGH I HAVE DUG MYSELF A GRAVE THAT I WILL NEVER GET OUT OF." Marinette wiggled her body so that her face was now facing the pillow. She hit her face with the pillow multiple times for extra measure.

"Calm down, Marinette." Tikki said. "It's not like Chat Noir is going to barge in without permission. The only problem is whether you two can keep conversations without giving too much away."

"Which we will NEVER be able to do," Marinette groaned. "Did you just see me? I almost gave myself away. And that was Day 0."

"It's okay!" Tikki said. "I've seen this multiple times throughout my years. Most of them were happy endings. And besides, it's okay if the secret does leak."

"It is?" Marinette looked up from her pillow.

"Yeah. I mean, as long as you two can keep it a secret to the rest of the world, it's okay"

"Right, but isn't keeping two people's secrets is a lot harder than one?"

"Yes, but it's not the end of the world."

"Okay," Marinette sighed of relief and broke into a full-out grin. She sat up. "We can do this. We can work this out."

"Yes, you can!" Tikki smiled. "But Marinette, can I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Why did you invite Chat Noir in the first place?"

Marinette smiled. "Well Tikki, I can't turn down a stray kitty."

The bell rang. Marinette and the rest of her class headed for the door while Ms. Bustier tried to squeeze in a few last words.

"Don't forget, we'll be knitting scarves on Friday! Make sure to bring your own yarn!"

As Marinette and her best friend Alya exited the gates, Alya laughed.

"Why a scarf?"

"I don't know," Marinette said. "I guess it's just for the practice?"

"It's almost summer. How is a scarf going to be of any use? It would be of much better use if we could knit ourselves a pair of swimsuits." Alya said.

"But Alya, that's not that works," Marinette giggled.

"Yeah, true. It's a shame." They walked until an idea popped into Alya's head, which was not too long. "Hey, I know. Maybe you can give another scarf to Adrien so that this time he will know it was from you!"

Marinette blushed. "Maybe." That sounded like a great idea.

Someone touched her shoulder.

"Hey Marinette," Adrien called from behind her.

"AHH!" Marinette threw her hands up and rotated one hundred and eighty degrees exactly. "A.. Adrien!? Wh..what brings you here? Is.. is there something you need?"

"Yes, actually," his right hand was on his head. He rubbed it back and forth as he blushed. Marinette thought that it was cute. "It's actually quite embarrassing, but I don't know how to knit. So I've actually never been to yarn stores and don't know how to pick one for the project. I was hoping you would help me?"

"Oh, yeah, of course!" Marinette smiled, but slightly confused. "But I don't think that not being able to knit is embarrassing."

"Well, when you're the son of a fashion tycoon.." Adrien rubbed his head even more.

"Well, I don't think that that's a problem." Marinette said. "Who your parents are don't define you or what you do."

Alya and Adrien laughed at the same time.

"What?" she asked with a worried look on her face. "Did I say something wrong?"

"What's so funny?" Marinette looked at Alya, curious.

Alya was still pushing back her tears when she pushed Marinette aside. "Girl, you know you said that to Adrien Agreste, right?"

"Oh..."

"Um.. Adrien?" Marinette said. Adrien was still laughing, although he looked as if he was trying his best to suppress his tears. "If I have in any way offended you –"

"No, no. No you haven't at all." Adrien burst into laughter again. Alya laughed along. Marinette joined, but she was unsure about what they were really laughing about.

They stood like that for a minute.

"You're right. It doesn't define me!" Adrien smiled. "So, does today or tomorrow work for you?"

"Today works great!"

"Great, I'll meet you at 4! Thanks, Marinette!" Adrien said, and ran towards the limo that was waiting for him.

"Oh my gosh, Alya!" Marinette squealed. "I'm going shopping with Adrien!" She jumped up and down in happiness.

They met each other at the front of the school at 3:58. Since the store was not that far away, they decided that they should walk. Marinette wondered where Adrien's bodyguard was.

"So, how is the physics project coming along for you?" Adrien asked as they walked.

"Great! Not that you are great. No, what am I saying! Of course you are great! You are greatness itself!" Marinette chuckled nervously. "I mean, it's going well. How about you?"

"Umm.. thanks? It's going great here, too." Adrien smiled. "I'm almost done typing the conclusion."

"Wow, you're already that far ahead?" Marinette was shocked. "I'm only quarter done. It is a really hard project after all. You're amazing."

Adrien chuckled. "Thanks, maybe I can help you some time? Physics is my best subject after all."

If this was what heaven felt like, she wanted more of it.

"But I actually think you're the one who's amazing, Marinette."

"Me?" Marinette asked, covering her heart with her two hands.

Adrien nodded. "It's not common for a girl our age to be so talented in so many things." Marinette felt heaven again. It was wonderful. "From designing clothes to album covers to video games! On top of that, you save so many people."

With that last sentence, all the colors on Marinette's face vanished and were replaced with white. "What do you mean?"

Adrien had a worried look on his face. "Are you okay? You seem very ill. Maybe I should call Mrs. Dupain-Cheng," he said, rummaging through his bag for his phone.

"No! No! I'm okay." Marinette stopped him by holding his arm. "Hehe." Marinette smiled a smile too big. "So, you were talking about?" Marinette said all of this very fast and high pitched. Adrien had a confused look on his face.

"I mean, you always stand up to Chloe for other people, and you always help other people when they need it."

Marinette sighed, letting her hands come back to her sides. So he didn't know that she was Ladybug. It felt like the weight of the skies had been lifted from her shoulders.

She beamed. "Well, in that regard, you're far more awesome than I am. I mean, your face is plastered over all of the walls of Paris! Not that I care but," Marinette began digging her own grave.

Adrien smiled brightly at first, but it got darker as he said every word. "Thanks, but I don't do modeling for myself. I'm not that brave."

"You don't? Then... do you do it for your father?" Marinette asked.

"Yup." Adrien smiled as he looked down at his shoe.

He had that look too. That look of being used to constant disappointment.

It broke Marinette's heart that the two boys she was the around the most were also the ones who had the deepest wounds.

"Well," Marinette began. "Maybe you'll grow to like working in the fashion industry! And even if you don't," her voice softened. "You can always do something else."

Adrien looked at her. Those eyes, they looked familiar but where had he seen them?

He smiled. "Thanks, Marinette."

They walked in silence for a minute.

"So," Adrien asked, "What do you think about Chat Noir?"

Marinette's eyes widened. "Chat Noir? Why do you ask?" Was there something he knew?! Did he know that Chat Noir had came to her house yesterday? And possibly was coming today? If he did, then she was screwed. She didn't want to lose her chances with Adrien because he saw her with Chat Noir! And also, their identities were at stake. She didn't want to have to lie to Adrien, but she knew that it was going to be inevitable if he found out.

"I think he's a great superhero. A little bit too on the flirty side, but he's very reliable."

"So.. no change?" Adrien asked.

"Um.. I also think he's also very sensitive and has a good heart." Why was she answering this in the first place? "But, but of course!" Marinette's voice grew higher in pitch, "This is only from me looking at clips of him in Ladyblog and news sources. So I might be wrong." She chuckled nervously.

She could practically hear Tikki's groan right now. There hadn't been much interviews from Ladybug and Chat Noir recently. Anyone could have figured her bluff.

Adrien smiled with one of his brows higher than the other.

"B,but why do you ask?" Marinette asked nervously. She had to change the topic to something. What could she change it to? Maybe puppies would do the trick. I mean, who doesn't like puppies? Or maybe pigeons. Pigeons are great.

Adrien put his hands on Marinette's shoulders. "So, about that yarn!" Adrien started, his voice too loud.

"uh..uhh.. uhuh!" all Marinette could do was stay standing.

The doors of the store opened automatically as soon as they stepped on the welcome carpet.

"Let's go," Marinette said, taking the lead. The two had been walking side by side in the streets, but now Adrien trailed along behind her and took in every corner of the store with wonder.

"Wow, it's like a whole new world in here," he said.

Marinette giggled. "I remember when it was my first time being in here. It was magical and intimidating at the same time," she said with nostalgia. She had been eight.

"Hopefully, you take out the intimidating part today," Adrien winked. Marinette giggled.

"I'll see what I can do."

They finally reached where they had set out for. Marinette and Adrien both gasped for air, and Adrien smiled.

Marinette frowned. She still wanted to be around with Adrien more, even if it was a millisecond. She had asked him if she could get supplies for her other projects first, which he had agreed to. And so she led him down all the aisles but where she knew the yarns they were looking for were, saving it for the last. They were mostly successful, except for that rendez-vous Marinette and Adrien had as a result of getting lost in a room called "Employees only."

Adrien had said that he had Chinese at 5:30, and it was 5:00 right now. It wasn't too bad. Actually, far from it.

"Well," Adrien said, looking at the aisle as if it was their final destination. "I guess the store is no longer intimidating." Adrien laughed.

"Yeah," Marinette laughed along. Oh, it's going to end soon, she thought. Without even her noticing, her laughter had ceased. Her head turned down, her shoulders hunched. She fiddled with her fingers anxiously.

Adrien noticed. "What's wrong? Are you sick?" He asked, worried.

"Oh no! Thanks Adrien, it's okay," she said.

Adrien frowned. "You sure?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? Nothing's wrong." Marinette said, the voice becoming lower and softer in pitch as she reached the word wrong. She tried to smile, but it didn't enter her eyes. Within seconds, her happy facade dropped and she was sighing.

Oh no. What do I do? What do I do? Adrien thought. Emilie had always taught him the value of being nice to everyone and not making anyone unhappy, but she had never told Adrien what to do when a friend was like that! He wanted to cheer her up, but what did he have to do? He had a great time with her. He didn't want to see her sad. But he didn't even know why Marinette was sighing. It also didn't seem like she was going to tell her.

Out of desperation, he picked up a red yarn and gave it to her.

Marinette looked at him with a curious expression on her face. "What-"

"Take it. I'll pay for it. It's the least I can do as a thanks." Adrien said. "And besides," he cupped one hand in front of his mouth, as if it was a secret. "I wanted to pick yours," he winked.

My, why was everything so hot? Her head, this store, and Adrien..

If Marinette was water, she was certainly boiling now. And it was about to overflow.

"Tha..Thanks!" She snatched the yarn and smiled awkwardly. "In return, let me pick yours," she said.

"Of course, princess." Had she just heard correctly? Maybe she needed to get some hearing aids. Age of fourteen, and she was already losing her auditory sense.

"Uh.." she scanned the ailes and quickly grabbed a green yarn. "Here!"

She held out the yarn and waited for Adrien to take it.

She smiled that same smile from when she had given him his lucky charm.

Adrien lifted his hand and slowly unraveled his fingers so that his hand would fit the yarn. However, he missed and touched Marinette's hand with his index finger instead.

"Oh, sorry," Adrien said apologetically.

She wanted it again. It was as if she had been transported back to the day Adrien had lent her his umbrella. Like.. lightning. As good as, or perhaps better than, heaven. She blushed furiously. "Oh, it's no problem." She held it closer to him, asking him to take it.

Adrien smiled. "Thanks." The green yarn was now in his hands.

He walked behind Marinette again until they saw the register. "Now," Adrien teased, "Is it going to take another hour to get to the register, princess?"

"That depends," Marinette smirked. Maybe her ears needed some serious help. "We can always go back to the Employees Only room and try again from there. Maybe we can get a new record."

Adrien liked this. It felt so familiar.

He paid for both of their yarns and her other supplies despite her protests.

It was around 6 PM when Marinette returned. She was exhausted, but in a good way. After her shopping with Adrien, she had gone to the Eiffel Tower to work. Jagged Stone had recorded a new single, and he had again asked Marinette for the design of the cover. And her trip to the store had given her lots of inspiration. She knew that with a few more, she was going to get something no one had ever seen before. It was either going to be the worst thing to be created in human history or the best.

She entered the house, took off her shoes, and headed straight for her bedroom. But as soon as she was about to go up the stairs, she saw a familiar black cat on the living room couch, sipping hot chocolate.

"Hey, princess."

I know it wasn't Marichat this chapter, but I think it's essential that they see each other in and out of the masks. So, this story will likely have a boatload of dynamics: Marichat, Adrinette, Ladrien, and Ladynoir. Probably in that order. Also, this is all buildup for the Reveal hehehe :D.

Did you like it? Hate it? Have suggestions for the story and/or constructive criticism for my writing?

I'll try to upload every day (time not decided), so that I can do all of the prompts :D. I upload on fanfiction.net first.

Thanks everyone!

#marichat may 2018 #marichat may #marichat #miraculous ladybug #marinette #adrien agreste

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bananannabeth · 7 years

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You Found Me In The Rain

Jane 'El' Hopper is new to Hawkins, but when she shows up on the Wheelers' doorstep in the middle of a storm Karen gets the feeling that she's seen her somewhere before.

Read on Ao3

The wind was howling so loud that Karen barely heard the knock on the door. And when she did hear it, she thought that she’d imagined it. It was freezing cold outside, raining sideways, and although the storm had rolled in suddenly, no one should have been out in that weather. But then the knock sounded again, slightly more insistent and with a distinct pattern to it, this time.

Elbow deep in dish-water, Karen called out, “Ted, can you get that?”

There was, of course, no answer, apart from a soft snore.

Karen sighed and tried again, “Nancy? Mike? Can one of you get the door?”

Again, no response.

The knock came again, that same pattern, and Karen slid her hands out of her gloves with a sigh. She padded out of the kitchen but was beaten by Mike, who jumped over the last three stairs in one bound and ran to the door, wrenching it open.

A gust of cold air blew through the house.

“El!” he exclaimed, grabbing the arms of the small figure huddled on their landing and pulling her inside, kicking the door shut behind her. “I didn’t know you were coming over today! Why are you out in the rain? Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

Karen paused in the arch just before the entrance hall, slightly stunned by the speed of her son’s questioning.

El - official name Jane El Hopper, the mystery girl who had shown up a few weeks prior and was suddenly all that Mike could talk about - looked a little stunned as well. She was always quiet, but she seemed to take even longer than usual to process the barrage of questions Mike had thrown at her as she stood just inside the door, rain water dripping off her coat and her hair and onto the floor.

Mike had worked himself up into a bit of a frenzy, staring intently into her big brown eyes and asking, “Why didn’t you just unlock the door? You can do that, you know, instead of standing out in the rain. I’ll explain -”

“Hopper says,” El began, but was interrupted by a sneeze. She shook her head and tried again, “Hopper says I have to knock. To let people know. No -” She sneezed again, more violently this time, “No breaking and entering.”

“It’s not breaking and entering if you unlock the door,” Mike countered, pulling a Kleenex out of his pocket and handing it to her with practiced ease. “And you don’t have to worry, if anyone saw it’d probably just be Nancy, or my mom, and Mom would probably understand -”

“Mom would probably understand what?” Karen said, halting him in his tracks.

Both of them turned to look at her, eyes wide. Evidently, neither had realised she was standing behind them.

“Uh…” Mike began, glancing at El out of the corner of his eye. “You would understand that…”

El sneezed again, loud enough this time to cause Ted to stir in his Lay-Z-Boy.

“Oh, gosh, you poor thing.” Karen walked towards them, sternness immediately dropped for sympathy. “Look at you, you’re soaked through.”

El shifted under her gaze, stiffening slightly when Karen reached out a hand towards her.

“It’s okay,” Mike reassured her, grabbing her hand. “Mom’ll help. Won’t you, Mom?”

He looked up at her then, wearing an expression she didn’t recognise. Equal parts pleading and warning. It made him look much older than he was.

Karen returned the look with one of her own, one that said, ‘Don’t think we won’t be talking about this later, Michael .’ But when she turned to El her expression was soft.

“Of course,” she said with a smile. “First we need to get you out of those wet clothes.”

Slowly, El nodded.

Before Karen could say anything else, Mike was speaking at a million miles an hour again. “I’ll go get my sweatpants and a new sweater for you. Soft, okay?”

El nodded again, drawing her bottom lip up between her teeth.

Karen didn’t miss how Mike squeezed her hand before letting go, shouting out, “I’ll be right back!” as he bounded up the stairs.

El didn’t say anything to break the sudden silence. She kept her head down, gaze averted, and wrung her hands together in front of her. Even though she was spending more and more time at the Wheelers’ these days, El never really seemed to say all that much to anyone apart from Mike.

No one else seemed frustrated by this in the same way Karen was: the boys included her in all of their games, explaining the rules to her with a patience she hadn’t realised any of them (except for maybe Will) were even capable of; Nancy happily carried on one-sided conversations with the girl, content with smiles and nods and single words for responses; even Jonathon seemed somewhat relaxed around El, and Jonathon was one of the shyest people Karen had ever met.

Karen cleared her throat. “Why don’t we hang your coat up here?” she said, gesturing to the coat rack.

El responded faster than she’d been expecting. She hurriedly shrugged out of the coat, stretching up to hang it on the hook before resuming her previous position.

“Shoes?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, yes, you can leave them here, too,” Karen quickly said, glad that the girl had initiated something, even if it was just one word.

El was just toeing out of her shoes when Mike came running back down the stairs, arms full of a dark blue and gray bundle. “Here you go!” he said, holding the clothes out towards her.

She took them with a small smile, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

Mike smiled back, slightly dopey, and Karen felt a pang of panic. She’d suspected, of course, that El was more than a friend to Mike - and this wasn’t the first time she’d seen them act like this around each other. But it was the first time she’d been close enough to see the dusting of pink that covered her son’s cheeks, or the way that El’s eyes lit up when he smiled at her.

“You, uh, you can get changed in here.” Mike led her down the hall to the guest bathroom. Karen followed, not wanting Mike to slip away before she got a chance to speak to him. El stepped into the bathroom, but Mike didn’t step away. “And leave your wet clothes on the tub, so they can dry a little, I guess. I’m, uh, I’m going to close the door,” he said, and Karen’s eyes widened. He flashed her a quick glance, looking panicked, before turning back to El. “But I’ll be just out here, okay? I’ll be waiting right outside.”

El said something in response, too quiet for Karen to hear, but it made Mike blush again as he gently shut the door. The blush intensified when he looked up at his mom.

“Michael Wheeler,” Karen began, quietly enough so that El wouldn’t hear but stern enough so that Mike knew she meant business, “What exactly is going on here?”

“Mom,” he hissed, throwing a nervous glance at the bathroom door. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Your friends can’t just show up here out of the blue -”

“My friends show up here all the time without you knowing!”

Oh, God, when had he started talking back? “I know your other friends, Mike, I don’t know El -”

“Well you should get to know her, because she’s awesome, and she’s not going anywhere.” The strength with which he said that, the absolutely certainty behind the statement, floored her for a second. Maybe this was more than the little crush she’d thought it was.

Karen shook her head, trying to stay on topic. “And your other friends aren’t girls -”

“Mom!” Mike looked absolutely mortified. “Oh my god.”

“Michael, this is serious, I think we need to lay some ground rules -”

A sneeze came from the bathroom just before the door opened and El stepped out in Mike’s old clothes.

His attention immediately shifted to her, Karen all but forgotten. “Better?”

El smiled. “Better.”

“Come on, let’s go -”

“Uhuh.” Karen held out a hand to prevent Mike from running off down the hall. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“But Mom!”

“El, sweetheart,” she said, looking over her son’s shoulder. El looked a little uncomfortable at being directly addressed, but quickly straightened her shoulders and held Karen’s gaze. “Does your dad know that you’re here?”

There was a slight pause before El answered, “No.”

“We need to call him then, to let him know that you’re safe. Is he at the Station?”

Karen had been more than a little surprised when rumours had started circulating that Chief Hopper had an illegitimate daughter who had just moved to town, and even more surprised when he’d dropped said daughter of at her house the very first Saturday after the rumours had started circulating, apologising for adding another one to the bunch of kids that called the Wheeler basement home.

But Karen was nothing if not polite, and so she had gracefully accepted this turn of events without question, and she’d seen how grateful Hopper was for it.

“Yes,” El said. “I was going to meet him there. After studying at Dustin’s.”

“Did something happen?” Mike asked seriously. “On the way there, I mean?”

El looked pensive. “It started to rain.”

Karen saw the weight lift off Mike’s shoulders as he exhaled. “Oh, and you didn’t want to ride your bike in the rain?”

She spoke in that short hand the two of them seemed to have, conveying only the most pertinent information and skipping most of the context. “Your house was closer.”

“Okay,” Karen said, and both children turned to look at her. “Well, let’s go call Chief Hopper and let him know you’re here, and then when it stops raining Nancy’ll give you a ride to the station.”

“Nancy?” El asked hopefully.

“El can stay?” Mike asked at the same time, with even more hope than El.

“Until it stops raining,” Karen clarified.

“Who’s calling out to me?” Nancy asked, poking her head around the top of the stairs. “Oh, hey, El.”

El beamed up at her, waving shyly.

Nancy smiled back and descended the stairs. “I didn’t know you were coming over today,” she said, flashing a pointed look at Mike.

Mike raised his eyebrows at her. “Yeah, it was a surprise. Because of the rain. We’re just gonna call Hopper now and then -” Here he turned to El, taking her hand in his again, “ - then I can show you the new comic Lucas gave me last week after I beat him on that Science test -”

“You’re such a little nerd,” Nancy said, but it was fond, lacking all of the resentment that had been all too common between the two eldest Wheeler siblings for a while there.

“Shut up,” Mike mumbled, scuffing his socked toes against the carpet.

“Nerd,” El repeated, but it sounded a little like she was just testing the word out.

Mike looked up at her, shocked, and Nancy laughed. “See, El agrees with me.”

El’s conversation with Hopper was brief. El didn’t say much, just a quick explanation of the situation followed by, “Nancy,” and a few “yes”s, but when she hung up she was smiling.

“I can stay,” she said, and Mike whooped.

“Awesome! Let’s -”

But his thought was interrupted by El sneezing again, once, twice, three times in a row. When she finally stopped she looked thoroughly put out.

“I think El should probably get some rest,” Karen said.

She’d been expecting a string of protests from Mike, but instead he nodded, looking at El with concern. “You sound like you’re getting a cold.”

“I am cold,” she said seriously.

“No, not that type of cold. When you have a cold, you’re sick, like you can’t stop sneezing and your head feels funny and you feel tired. Is that what you feel like?”

Karen wondered what type of child didn’t know what a cold was. She stared at El, watched her think about Mike’s words before nodding seriously, and something twinged at the back of Karen’s memories.

She decided to focus on the most important thing, first, though. “I’ll warm you up a hot water bottle, and Mike can get you some more blankets.”

“Fort?” El asked.

“Yeah, we can go in the blanket fort if you want,” Mike said breezily, but at their words that memory of Karen’s began to solidify.

She remembered the government people sliding a file over to her and Ted, the serious face of a young girl with a shaved head staring up at them. She remembered a mess of blankets in the basement, the strands of fake blonde hair she’d found down there. She remembered Mike’s insistence over the next twelve months that the fort remain standing, that they couldn’t tear it down no matter how much Holly wanted that particular blanket, because it was important, okay, he couldn’t explain why, it just was.

She remembered how sullen and angry her son had been, right up until the moment that El came to town.

“Mom?” Nancy asked, eyes narrowed over the brim of her cup of coffee. “Are you okay?”

“I’m -” Karen took a deep breath. All three teenagers were staring at her, brows creased in concern. “When did you move to Hawkins again, El?”

El’s expression closed off immediately. She’d meant it as a defense mechanism, Karen could tell, but all it did was increase her resemblance to Karen’s memory of the girl in the photo. “Two months ago.”

Karen didn’t miss the panicked look Mike and Nancy shared. She tried to keep her voice steady and casual as she asked, “And how did you and Mike meet again?”

“Mom, this is embarrassing -” Mike began whining, but she cut him off.

“Don’t interrupt, Mike, it’s rude,” she said. “Sorry, El.”

El looked frantically between Nancy and Mike, who both looked just as lost. Her children were great at many things, but acting was not one of them.

“We met at school,” El eventually recited. “On the first day.”

“You’ve become such good friends in such a short time -”

“Mom, seriously.” Nancy was trying now. “Don’t embarrass Mike in front of El -”

“I’m not embarrassing anyone,” Karen said innocently. “You just look very familiar, that’s all.”

“You’re probably just getting El confused with someone,” Mike said.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

All three children looked mortified. She decided to put them out of their misery. “Okay, okay, why don’t you two go downstairs? I’ll bring down the hot water bottle when it’s ready.”

Mike grabbed El’s hand and they ran for the basement before she’d even finished speaking.

Nancy’s shoulders sagged and she leant back against the counter.

“Nancy?” Karen asked.

She straightened immediately, fingers tightening around her cup. “Y-Yes, Mom?”

“Can you do me a favor and go and check on Holly, please?”

Nancy looked relieved. She put her cup down on the bench and smiled. “Sure thing.”

Karen waited until she was out of earshot before grabbing the phone and re-dialling the station. “Hi Flo, it’s Karen Wheeler. Is Chief Hopper there? I really need to speak to him.”

She could hear Mike and El’s murmured voices from the top of the basement stairs, but as soon as she took one step down they fell silent; apart from a single sneeze from El. By the time she made it to the foot of the stairs they were completely focused on the board game they had set up between them. El was sitting inside the blanket fort, Mike just outside it, and Karen wondered how many times this scene had happened before, without her even knowing.

“Here’s a hot water bottle for you, El,” she said, holding it out.

Mike took it from her and passed it over. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Thank you,” El said, hugging it to her.

They sounded genuine, and Karen smiled. She considered leaving it at that, but then decided that it would be best to give them some warning. “There’s been a change of plans, too.”

Mike spun around to look at her and El froze with the water bottle half-tucked under her sweater.

“Change of plans?” Mike asked.

“Yes. Nancy’s not going to take El to the station. Chief Hopper’s coming here, instead.”

El dropped the water bottle into her lap. “Hopper’s coming here?”

“What for?” Mike asked.

“I have a few things I want to talk to him about -”

“Mom, seriously, that’s not -”

“It’s happening, Mike, whether you like it or not,” she said, holding up a hand.

He fell silent but didn’t look happy about it.

“Mrs. Wheeler,” El began cautiously, staring intensely up at her. “Am I in trouble?”

Karen’s worries intensified at how small El sounded when she asked that, and how scared Mike looked at the prospect. She shook her head. “No, El, you’re not in trouble.”

“Promise?” she asked quietly.

Karen glanced at Mike, who was looking between the two of them with a frown. Something about this seemed very important - Karen got the sense that whatever she said next would solidify El’s opinion of her for a very long time.

“I promise that you’re not in trouble,” she said.

El looked appeased, but Mike looked just as worried.

When she started heading back up the stairs, he mumbled something to El and then followed after her, catching her just at the top.

“Mom,” he said, grabbing her wrist.

Karen froze, looking across at him. He’d shot up so much over the past few months that even though he was standing two steps below her, he was almost as tall as her. “Mike?”

“Promises are really important to El,” he said, voice low. “You promised that she wasn’t in trouble, but I need to know - did you mean it?”

Karen gently put her hand over his on her wrist. “You said that I should get to know El better, and that's all I'm trying to do. I meant it, Mike. She’s not in trouble, and neither are you. "

Despite her reassurances, however, both El and Mike looked like a bundle of nerves when Chief Hopper appeared at the Wheelers’ front door at 5.15. They hovered just around the corner, probably thinking that the adults couldn’t see them, watching as Karen greeted Hopper warmly and he hung his hat and jacket on the rack, next to El’s still damp coat.

“What can I do for you, Mrs Wheeler?” Hopper asked, giving her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

For the first time, Karen had some doubts about what she was about to do. She cleared her throat. “Can we - uh, can we talk? I have some - questions.”

Hopper’s expression tightened, but he nodded. “Okay. Lead the way.”

It was only when they were settled around the dining room table, and only once El’s sneeze had given them away anyway, that El and Mike stepped properly into the room.

“Hey, kid, you feeling okay?” Hopper said, reaching out to ruffle El’s hair. She smiled at him, swatting his hand away. He nodded once at Mike in greeting. “Wheeler.”

“Hey, Chief,” Mike greeted with a familiarity Karen hadn’t been expecting, curling his hands around the back of one of the dining chairs. He glanced over at Karen and swallowed. “Is it okay if we…”

He let the sentence fall away, but everyone knew how it ended.

She should have anticipated this.

Hopper looked at her, as if gauging her reaction. Karen wasn’t sure what he saw, but he sighed and said, “Yeah, sure.”

El and Mike both pulled out chairs, the legs scraping against the floor, and Nancy came hurrying down the stairs. Karen thought for sure she was going to bolt out the front door, yelling something about going to visit Jonathon, but instead she skidded to a stop at the table and took the seat next to El.

“I’m not late, am I?” she asked, glancing around the table.

Mike rolled his eyes, and the Chief looked stony faced, but El giggled. “No,” she said, “Not late.”

Nancy smiled at her, before meeting Karen’s eye and shrinking down in her seat, looking away guiltily.

“What is going on here?” Karen finally asked, splaying her palms on the table top. “Why do I feel like all of you know something that I don’t?”

“Because we do,” Mike muttered, but the Chief glared at him and he quickly shut up.

He turned back to face Karen, clearly in cop mode. “Mrs Wheeler -”

“Karen,” she interrupted, ever the good hostess.

“Karen,” Hopper tried again. He took a deep breath, started to say something, and then turned to Mike instead. “You’ve checked the whole place?”

“Every bulb,” Mike answered confidently, which made absolutely no sense to Karen but seemed to make perfect sense to Hopper.

He turned back to Karen and asked, “What do you already know?”

That wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Karen leant back in her chair, surveying the group in front of her. Her gaze settled on El, who was staring right back at her, and her determination solidified.

“I know that El is the girl.” She dropped her voice low, some residual fear of being watched still lingering. “The one they were looking for, those government people.”

No one responded for a while, but when they did, they did it all at once.

“You can’t believe anything they said! Mom, they were evil, they were trying to hurt El, and me -”

“We didn’t mean to lie to you, Mom, but it was for your own safety!”

“You can’t tell anyone about this.” Hopper spoke clearly over the top of her children, full of all the authority you’d expect a Chief of Police to have. “For our sake and yours, you cannot tell anyone about this.”

Karen put a hand over her heart, mortified. “You think I haven’t figured that out already?”

Nancy hugged herself, while Mike just gaped.

Karen leaned forward, arms on the table, trying to show them just how sincere she was. “El is obviously not who they insinuated she was.”

El mouthed the word ‘insinuated’ to herself.

“And she obviously makes Mike happy, so I don’t - I don’t want her to go anywhere, or to put her in danger.” Karen pushed her hair back off her forehead and sighed. “I just - I miss being able to talk to my kids. I miss knowing what’s going on with them. I just want to know the truth. I can’t keep them safe if I don’t know the truth.”

El finally spoke. She mimicked Karen’s pose, both arms flat on the table, hands splayed, open and honest. “Friends don’t lie.”

Mike grabbed her hand. “This is different, El, this is -”

“No,” she said firmly, looking at him, and then at Hopper. “Friends. Don’t. Lie.”

Karen felt oddly touched at the absolute certainty in El’s statement. The thought that she might be considered a friend warmed her heart.

“I wish you hadn’t taught her that, kid,” Hopper said, rubbing his brow. But when he looked up at Karen, she could have sworn he was almost smiling.

“Friends?” Karen asked, and she was surprised when her voice came out in a whisper.

“Friends,” El said, reaching across and grasping Karen’s hand with her spare one.

Nancy laughed, disbelieving. “Oh, wow.”

“Okay,” Mike said, and then again. “Okay. Okay! Well, uh, then, I guess - We start…?”

“In the rain,” El said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. “You found me in the rain.”

#stranger things #stranger things fic #mike wheeler #eleven #karen wheeler #nancy wheeler #why do you write like you're running out of time?#mine

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freudensteins-monster · 8 years

Text

Un Nuovo Mondo

I wanted to write something for Bucky's 100th birthday and for some reason it sounded best as a follow up to my previous fic, Bella Notte. But I don't think that you need to read it to follow this. All you really need to know is that Darcy manages the science department at the Avengers upstate facility, and she and Bucky have been dating for several months.

Also, Un Nuovo Mondo is supposed to translate to "A Whole New World", from Disney's Aladdin because "Bella Notte" came from Disney's Lady and the Tramp.

“Shit,” Darcy muttered to herself as she finally started wrapping up for the night, three hours later than she had planned.

The day had started out so well, in bed with the birthday boy, but leave it to Jane to almost start an international incident in the pursuit of knowledge. After what seemed like an age on the phone, being transferred between a dozen embassy offices, and a couple of wire transfers to a few easily persuaded Latverian government officials, Jane was finally on her way home and Darcy was seriously late for Bucky’s birthday party.

“Shit, shit, shit…” she chanted as she double-timed it back to the residential building, wrapping her coat around her to ward off the cold.

The party was in full swing by the time she snuck into the common room, small clusters of people milling about as big band music played through the overhead speakers. She stumbled when she caught sight of the vintage motorcycle in the centre of the room, and the coffee table strewn with ripped wrapping paper and a small arsenal of weapons (and an electric buffer with a gift tag that read “To: Terminator”). She bit back on the urge to yell at the crazy people and their complete and utter disregard for workplace health and safety practices, reminding herself that she was not responsible for this particular group of crazy people, and headed straight for the cake. She was halfway through her second piece when she realised someone had actually gone to the trouble of covering it with a hundred silver candles, but then the staff in the cafeteria loved Bucky, so it wasn’t too hard to imagine them going the extra mile for the birthday boy. Speaking of…

“Where’s Bucky?” Darcy asked Steve, licking frosting off her thumb.

“Uh…” Steve glanced around the room, apparently oblivious to his best friend’s absence until Darcy pointed it out. “I think he went out for some air.”

“Air?” Darcy scoffed, glaring out the window at the frost-covered ground.

Steve smiled and shrugged, a gesture that seemed to say, “Winter Soldier, am I right?”

Darcy rolled her eyes in response and went in search of her boyfriend. She made a quick detour to their shared apartment to change into her warmest winter coat, the one she swore made her look like the Michelin Man, before venturing back outside. She found Bucky lying in a cheap recliner that, along with some other patio furniture, had mysteriously appeared atop one of the man-made hills during the summer, around the time of Clint’s last visit, and promptly lay next to him in order to bask in his radiator-like body heat.

“I’m so sorry I missed your party,” Darcy sighed.

“Don’t be,” Bucky replied, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he wrapped her in his arms. “We had our party this morning.”

“Breakfast in bed is not a party.”

“You were mostly naked and there were chocolate chip pancakes; it was an awesome party,” Bucky countered with a smirk.

“We could be having another mostly naked party, you know, inside where it’s warm,” she teased.

“I just need a minute,” Bucky replied quietly.

“The party too much? I told Steve not to make it a surprise party.”

“Please,” Bucky snorted. “Punk couldn’t keep a secret from me if he tried. I knew he was planning something weeks ago.”

“Natasha warned you?”

“…no.”

“Liar,” Darcy smiled, burrowing closer to her favourite heat source. “Oh! I almost forgot your present,” she mumbled, rifling through her pockets.

“You already got me something,” Bucky tried to argue before being swiftly cut off.

“Mostly naked pancakes don’t count, Bucky. Here,” she grinned, passing him a piece of paper with a gloved hand.

“What does it mean?” he asked with a furrowed brow as he read over the string of numbers.

“Those are the coordinates for TRAPPIST-1e.”

“The first planet in the habitable zone?” he queried. “…I don’t understand.”

“Well,” Darcy preened. “As the former assistant to a renowned astrophysicist, I happen to know a guy from the International Astronomical Union. I may have also gotten drunk with him the last time we passed through France and damn, is that guy chatty after a bottle of wine.”

“Is there a point to this story?” Bucky teased.

“The point, Mr Barnes, is that I had sufficient enough blackmail material on him to garner a favour.”

“What kind of favour?” Bucky asked warily.

“I got him to rename the planet,” Darcy blurted.

“What?”

“I got him to rename the planet,” Darcy repeated excitedly. “So, from now on, until such time they get around to giving it a ‘proper’ name, the planet will be known by the designation JBB-1917.”

“You… you named a planet after me?” Bucky asked, mind reeling. “Holy shit, Darce.”

“Do you like it? I mean, as presents go, something you can actually touch might’ve been better,” she rambled, chewing on her bottom lip.

Bucky silenced her fears with a kiss, and then another one. “It’s perfect, Darcy. It’s the most amazing thing anyone’s ever given me.”

“Yeah?” Darcy grinned. “Does that mean we can go inside so I can rub it in everyone’s faces?”

“You sure that’s not just a ruse to go back where it’s warm?” Bucky laughed.

“Of course it’s a ruse, Bucky! It’s freezing out here! Pleasepleaseplease,” she begged, rolling off the recliner and weakly attempting to drag Bucky with her.

“Alright, alright,” Bucky whined as he got up. He gave Darcy a mischievous smirk and before she had a chance to react he threw her over his shoulder and raced back to the main building, laughing as he ran.

“I was thinking…” Bucky mused aloud later that night as he curled up in bed with his best girl.

“Mmm?” Darcy replied drowsily.

“The La Silla Observatory in Chile’s the best place to see my namesake.”

“Uhuh…”

“And Steve did get me that motorcycle for my birthday.”

“Yeah…?” Darcy shifted so she could better see his slightly nervous expression.

“Do you wanna go on a road trip with me?”

“Really?”

“Yes. I mean, I haven’t really gone anywhere since I became a free man. And I honestly don’t remember going on vacation in my whole damn life. A hundred years, and I never went anywhere unless I was ordered to or on the run. Some time away with my girl might be nice,” he posited, pulling her close.

“Hmm… I guess it would be nice to travel to a foreign country without the whole the-world-is-ending shtick ruining everything. And I could do with a break from work. How long were you thinking?”

“The trip might take us a month. Two, if we do it right.”

“A road trip. On a motorcycle. For two months?” Darcy repeated in disbelief.

“Or we could drive down and hitch a ride on a quinjet back, or vice versa. Whatever you want,” Bucky shrugged, trying for nonchalance and missing.

“You don’t think that’s going to be, like, the ultimate relationship test?” she asked timidly.

Bucky smiled and did his best to kiss away her fears. “I think we’ll pass with flying colours, sweetheart.”

In fact, Bucky had such faith in the strength of their relationship that by the time Darcy had put in her vacation leave and prepped her assistants for her absence he had dug up enough dirt on members of the IAU to have them rename JBB-1917’s sun DAL-1989, and had an engagement ring, commissioned from the finest forge in Asgard, tucked safely in his backpack.

#un nuovo mondo #freudensteins-fics #wintershock #happy 100th birthday bucky barnes #bucky barnes #darcy lewis #fluff #established relationship #birthday presents

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talesoftheinquisition · 8 years

Text

Professor Dameron!

This piece is for Day 6 of Stormpilot Week and the theme is Any AU, so I decided to go back to my Modern AU from Day 1 (Intimidating. Or Not.) and fleshing out part of it. You probably don’t have to read that piece first but it wouldn’t hurt. :D

Finn’s about to get lucky, Rey interrupts and Poe freaks out and runs. Cue two weeks of frustration before Finn takes the bull by the horns and sorts things out.

Finn was on cloud nine. He had Poe straddling his lap as they kissed and he’d managed to get the man’s jacket and shirt off and was busy working on Poe’s jeans. In return Poe had pulled off his t-shirt but hadn’t gotten any further since he didn’t seem to want to remove his lips from Finn’s and that was seriously impeding his hand/eye coordination. Finn wasn’t arguing with that, especially when Poe rocked his hips against his and drew groans from both of them.

“Fuck, Poe,” he gasped when they finally surfaced for some air. He ran his hands up Poe’s back and grabbed hold of his shoulders.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the idea,” Poe replied breathlessly, shimmying a bit closer and making them both moan.

Finn’s eyes widened. He hadn’t really had any concrete plans for tonight but he hadn’t realised that was on the metaphorical table. “Yeah?”

Poe dropped his forehead onto Finn’s shoulder then after a moment began mouthing kisses onto the bare warm skin there. “Shit, Finn, I’ve wanted you to fuck me since we first met.”

Finn’s whole body stuttered and his grip on Poe tightened at the thought. “Yeah,” he breathed. “Oh yeah. Let’s do that.”

Poe gave a low laugh that Finn wanted to hear a lot of and raised his head. “I didn’t think I was being all that subtle about it.”

Finn smiled ruefully. “I can be a bit oblivious about that sort of thing.”

“I kind of figured,” Poe replied. His eyes were dark with a sort of happy lust and he opened his mouth to say something but it never came out.

“Professor Dameron!”

The startled squeak came from the direction of the front door that neither of them had noticed opening. Standing in the doorway, one hand on the handle, the other clapped over her mouth, was a young woman, Finn’s roommate Rey, who was staring at them with shock and just the faintest hint of mirth.

Finn looked back at the man sitting in his lap. “Professor Dameron?” he said in his own sort of croaking squeak. He might be in the History department but he knew who Professor Dameron was. The man’s reputation preceded him. He had just never connected Poe with Professor Dameron. After all, he’d never expected the enfant terrible of the Science Faculty who kept coming up with ridiculous and outlandish theories and then smugly proving them right in the face of scepticism and ridicule to be the same man who geeked out adorably about Cassian Andor. “Really?”

While he’d been boggling about this, Poe had been looking between him and Rey with what looked a lot like dawning horror before finally focussing on Finn. “You’re a student?” he said in a tone Finn couldn’t quite decipher.

“Um… yes?” Finn said carefully.

It was definitely horror and something darker, something that looked a lot like self-disgust, that crawled over Poe’s face then and he quickly scrambled off Finn’s lap. He stared at Finn, wide-eyed and shocked, then snatched up his shirt and jacket, holding them in front of him like he was protecting his modesty. It should have been ridiculous but it just left Finn baffled and confused.

“Poe?” he said, leaning forward with one hand outstretched,

“I… I have to go,” Poe squeaked then he scurried towards the door. Rey scrambled out of his way, still staring in shock, and he disappeared before Finn could say or do anything.

“That was Professor Dameron!” Rey said, pointing in the direction Poe had gone and staring at Finn. “He was…” She seemed to start getting over her shock because a smirk began to curl her lips. “Half-naked and sitting in your lap, Finn. Why was Professor Dameron sitting half-naked in your lap?” She looked at his dishevelled state and the smirk turned into an outright grin. “Oh wait. I think I know.”

“Rey!” Finn ground out. He groaned and buried his face in his hands for a moment. “I thought you were going to be out late.”

Rey shrugged and closed the door. “The movie sucked and Kylo was being a turd. So I came home.” Her eyes narrowed. “You weren’t going to have sex on our couch, were you? You know my opinions on that sort of thing.”

Finn gave her a flat look. “Well, obviously there’s no risk of that happening now.” He chewed on his lip. “He looked kind of freaked out, didn’t he? He looked freaked out, right?”

Rey hesitated then she nodded. “Yeah, he did but you did say you were a student. And he is a professor.”

“He’s not my professor nor is he likely to be,” Finn objected. “And I’m not a kid! I’m twenty-four, Rey!”

“I know that but I’m betting he doesn’t.” She frowned at him. “How did you not know who he was?”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Because I’m not the one who squees over every paper he publishes.” Rey sputtered at him but he ignored it. Her hero worship of Professor Dameron was a long established fact and she’d already lined up her current classes so she had the requirements to take both of his classes next year. “I’ve never seen him before and I sure as hell didn’t know his first name. How was I supposed to know?”

“Didn’t he tell you his surname?”

“Uhhh.” Finn shrugged sheepishly. “No. Or if he did, I didn’t hear it.”

Rey gave him an unimpressed look. “You were going to have sex with someone whose name you didn’t properly know?”

“Rey!” Finn protested. “I’ve been chatting with him for weeks before we decided to meet. It’s not like he’s a stranger.”

“Uhuh.” Rey gave him an unimpressed look. “Right. That’s why you didn’t know his full name and he didn’t know you were a student, albeit an older one.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” Finn said with a roll of his eyes. He finally grabbed his shirt and pulled it back on. “It… it didn’t matter, alright? He’s…” He sighed. “Perfect. And don’t look at me like that. I don’t mean physically. Not entirely. I mean, yeah, his body is awesome and he’s cute as hell but he…”

Rey pretended to gag at the beatific expression on his face then relented and grinned. “Yeah, you looked like you were getting to know each other pretty well.” She glanced back towards the door. “Shouldn’t you go after him?”

“He drove here,” Finn said with a sigh. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”

“Tell him I’m sorry I interrupted,” Rey said as she headed for her bedroom.

Finn grumbled and got to his feet. He’d had such excellent plans for tonight and now they’d been thoroughly derailed. He’d call Poe tomorrow and they could reschedule, maybe at Poe’s place where they would hopefully not be interrupted.

Except that when he called Poe the next day, the call went straight to voicemail and Poe never replied. Text messages were also ignored as were emails and messages on the forum they both frequented and Finn started feeling a bit panicky, not to mention a bit pissed off. If Poe wanted to call it off, he could at least have the decency to tell Finn and not just ignore him completely.

Finally, after two weeks of this rubbish and a slowly growing sense of panic, he decided that he was going to have to confront Poe head on and he stormed over to the Science department buildings to find Poe’s office. It wasn’t very difficult and when he stormed into the outer office, there was a young man sitting there apparently marking papers.

“Is this Professor Dameron’s office?” he demanded.

The young man eyed him dubiously for a moment then nodded and pointed towards the door. “Yeah. He’s in there. Just a warning – he’s not in a great mood.”

“Neither am I,” Finn growled then he opened the door and closed it behind him with a bang.

Poe was scribbling on a whiteboard on the other side of the room and he gave a start at the noise, dropping his marker in surprise. He whirled around and then froze when he saw who was there.

“Finn!” he squeaked.

“Oh good. You do remember me,” Finn snapped.

Poe flushed and swallowed hard. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I… I didn’t know you were a student and I… I would never take advantage of a student. It’s just wrong and…”

Finn stormed over and captured Poe’s mouth in a kiss, cutting off his babbling. Poe made a muffled noise of surprise as his hands flailed wildly. Then he groaned and grabbed hold of Finn’s sweater, dragging him in close and returning the kiss with a fervour that made Finn moan as well. He wrapped his arms around Poe and pressed a line of kisses along Poe’s jaw and neck that had the other man tilting his head and making encouraging noises.

“I’m twenty-four,” he said between kisses. “And in the History department.”

Poe hummed happily then the words seemed to sink in and he pulled back just enough to look at Finn. “You’re…?”

“Twenty-four,” Finn repeated slowly.

“And in…?”

“The History department. My major is military history. You’re not taking advantage of me. You’ll never come close to marking any of my papers.”

Poe flailed again. “How…? What…?”

“I was in the military,” Finn said patently, though he started to smile since Poe wasn’t exactly trying to get out of his embrace so this was going a lot better than he expected. “I got injured and was discharged. I decided to go back to school and get a degree and see what I can do with it.”

Poe stared at him but Finn could feel the way he was relaxing in his arms. “So you’re…?”

“Not a kid,” Finn said firmly. “I know what I’m doing and what I want.”

Poe gave him a slightly exasperated look. “Are you ever going to let me finish a sentence?”

“You were asking stupid questions so I thought I’d jump ahead and get the answers done,” Finn replied, grinning at Poe’s indignant noises. “And Rey apologises for walking in on us and scaring you off.”

“She didn’t scare me off,” Poe said, looking offended. “I just…”

“Ran away,” Finn finished for him.

“Yes, well,” Poe began.

Finn didn’t let him finish. He leaned in and kissed Poe again. The older man returned it enthusiastically and backed them up until Finn felt the edge of Poe’s desk against his arse. He pulled himself up then hauled Poe in to stand between his legs. Poe dived in for another kiss and Finn felt his hands slide under the hem of his shirt to smooth up his stomach and chest.

“Ungh, Poe?” he mumbled into Poe’s mouth.

“Mmmmm?”

“We’re in your office.”

Poe froze then let his forehead drop onto Finn’s shoulder. “Shit. We are.”

“We should go to your place.”

Poe raised his head and gave him a questioning look.

“You don’t have a roommate, do you?”

Poe stared for a moment longer then grinned. “No, actually, I don’t.”

“Good,” Finn said firmly, pushing Poe back just long enough to slide off the desk. “Because we were interrupted last time and I was really interested in what you were suggesting.”

Poe groaned and pulled him into a quick, fierce kiss. He then started running around, throwing things into a backpack. Once that was done, he grabbed Finn’s hand and started dragging him towards the door. Finn just laughed and let him do so. He was hardly going to argue when he was getting what he wanted.

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