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up-in-space-reading · 1 month

Text

Average Weekly Screentime - Chap 10: So Who Won?

pairing: Jake Peralta x Amy Santiago

word count: 3141

warnings/tags: college au, texting, drunk texting, text fic (mostly, there's prose a few chaps in), bets, bisexual!jake peralta, jake peralta has adhd, parties, drinking and alcohol, sexual references, implied sexual content (nothing explicit, just suggested its going to happen/has happened), friends to lovers, swearing, mentions of cannibalism, lighthearted threats of violence (typical rosa stuff yk), fluff

read on ao3

Average Weekly Screentime masterlist

Story Summary: texting fic college AU with the squad! It's the beginning of the school year and while everyone else thinks it'll be the same as the previous year, Gina has a feeling things are going to be different and wagers a bet with Rosa and Charles. Told through all the various group chats everyone is in.

authors note: The last chapter to this monster of a fic! Hope you enjoy <3

Jimmy Jabbers

[09:24am, Friday]

Four Eyes: Jake has once again fallen asleep in class Four Eyes: Bets anyone?

RoRo: he’s gonna wake up in 12 minutes

Mr Grapes: 10 minutes

Queen G: 20 minutes

Four Eyes: Will keep you updated

[09:36am, Friday]

Four Eyes: Rosa I don’t know how you do it

RoRo: idk RoRo: you guys just gotta get good i guess

Queen G: this sucks

Dance Squad

[11:36am, Friday]

G-Hive: rosa ur bet date was two days ago G-Hive: i just remembered

Scary: gina you just might win this

G-Hive: omg omg this is so exciting

Charlese: Remember when you tried to get them together on new years?

G-Hive: i had a momentary lapse of judgement G-Hive: BUT now im back in betting mode G-Hive: need to keep them apart for another few weeks

Scary: that’s meddling once again

Charlese: Technically Rosa has some buffer time before her bet is completely void

Scary: neck and neck gina Scary: watch your back

G-Hive: anyone else getting super scary vibes rn???

Skipping School Is(n’t) Cool

[10:05am, Saturday]

Ferris: good morning beautiful

Cameron: Good morning!

Ferris: whats the plan for today??

Cameron: I actually have to do some work, you’ve been distracting me the last few days

Ferris: sorry i cant help that i wanna spend time with my giirllfrieennddd

Cameron: I wasn’t complaining at all Cameron: I’m just warning that if you come over I will be doing work

Ferris: im literally on my way

Unnamed Chat

[10:45am, Saturday]

Jake: hey ter!

Terry: Hey Jake, how’s it going?

Jake: absolutely wonderful amazing excellent

Terry: Haha let me guess – things went well with Amy

Jake: ur the first person im telling bc u helped me so much omg im so excited

Terry: Well congrats to both of you Terry: I hear Taylor has a lot of love songs

Jake: im never living it down Jake: and IM TOO HAPPY TO CARE

Terry: Hahaha

Jimmy Jabbers

[02:04pm, Saturday]

Four Eyes: do u think that guys named cal their name is short for calendar

Pineapples: yes ames i think thats true

Queen G: how do i tell amy u have her phone

Pineapples: she is aware Pineapples: but i dont think she realised what i was gonna do with it mwahaha

RoRo: you should probably give it back

Four Eyes: He has returned it now Four Eyes: He’s cowering in the corner because he knows I’m going to take his

Pineapples: someone help me

Mr Grapes: Just go fetal position Jake, that’s what I do

Pineapples: Too late

Queen G: RIP soldier

RoRo: i think it’ll be funny if amy killed him

Dance Squad

[02:10pm, Saturday]

G-Hive: so that was weird right??

Scary: super weird

Charlese: Definitely weird

G-Hive: okay cool

Jimmy Jabbers

[04:28pm, Saturday]

Mr Grapes: Anyone wanna do dinner tonight?

RoRo: can’t, busy

Mr Grapes: What are you up to?

RoRo: wouldn’t you like to know, soup boy

Queen G: fine ill do dinner

[04:53pm, Saturday]

Mr Grapes: @Four Eyes @Pineapples are either of you interested in getting dinner? Mr Grapes: Haven’t heard from you yet

Pineapples: sorry charles, im busy

Four Eyes: I’ve already got plans, sorry

Mr Grapes: That’s alright!

Dance Squad

[04:57pm, Saturday]

Charlese: That’s weird right?

G-Hive: definitely

Scary: you two have fun

G-Hive: @Charlese ill meet u at sals in 30?

Charlese: Yep!

“We have got to find a new dinner spot” Amy whispers to Jake across the table who’s giggling.

“Aw but I like Sal’s” He whispers back, their chins nearly touching the table as they duck from view.

“Probably on us that we assumed Gina and Charles wouldn’t come here” Jake continued with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Yeah, that’s definitely on us. What do we do?” Amy asked anxiously.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re here, we’re here, they don’t know about us. What do we do?”

“Sneak out the side door and pretend we were never here?” Jake suggested with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

“Sure, let’s do it” Amy agreed, a small smile returning to her face.

The two of them got up quickly, Jake grabbing Amy’s hand and dragging her out of the diner quickly behind him. She had her bag slung over her shoulder and was carrying her scarf, not having had a moment to put it on yet.

Once they were out the door and walking down the street the two of them laughed as Amy finally wrapped her scarf around her neck. Jake took Amy’s arm and linked it with his, holding her close as they walked down the snow lined streets.

“We’ve gotta find somewhere else to get dinner now” Jake brought up after they’d been walking for a few minutes with no real destination in mind.

“How would you feel about pizza?” Amy asked with a smile, knowing exactly how Jake would feel about pizza.

“Dumb question Ames, I know just the place”

He redirected them, crossing the street and turning a corner while Amy simply followed his lead. Once there they ordered and got their pizza, they laughed about their escape from Sal’s again and Jake filled Amy in on the ongoing Sasha drama after she overheard Gina mention it.

They finished their pizza and hung around in the shop for a little while longer, ignoring their phones and everything outside the door. As far as Jake was concerned, right now the world existed in the pizza shop, sitting across the table from him.

It was only when the owner of the shop politely told them he was going to be closing soon did they leave – leaving behind a nice tip for having stayed so long – walking arm in arm slowly back towards campus under the light of the street lamps. Amy could tell Jake was trying to delay saying goodbye to her, and if Amy was honest with herself she didn’t want to say goodbye either.

They stopped at the usual split in their path, this section of the sidewalk held so many memories and emotions that Amy couldn’t believe it had all happened in less than a year. The two of them hugged for probably too long, they were clingy for a few day-old relationship but Amy never wanted it to stop.

“Come back to my dorm with me?” Jake asked her quietly, breath brushing against Amy’s ear in a way that made her skin tingle, “If you want” he added, giving her an out.

“I want to”

It was an easy decision, and one she didn’t regret at all.

DDC

[10:28am, Sunday]

G: messaging to check on u bc i havent heard from u in nearly 24 hours

Jacob: im fine g

G: alright G: how r u feeling?

Jacob: great!

G: cool

Dance Squad

[10:32am, Sunday]

G-Hive: something happened

Scary: context?

G-Hive: somethings happened with jake

Charlese: Proof?

G-Hive: 1 image attachment G-Hive: says hes great before noon on a sunday G-Hive: i think tf not

Scary: weak

Charlese: Yeah it’s not a super strong argument

G-Hive: ugh honestly you two

Charlese: I’m starting to give up on them honestly Charlese: If it hasn’t happened by now it won’t ever happen

G-Hive: r u serious charles!!! G-Hive: ur not serious

Charlese: Okay I’m not 100% giving up

Scary: i have

Charlese: What??

Scary: my betting day has passed and i either get it exact or i lose Scary: i’m not winning on a technicality

G-Hive: what about the prize money???

Scary: we just don’t pay out?

Charlese: Damn, this is a sad way to end it

G-Hive: HEY! my bet is still ongoing

Scary: you’re seriously gonna hold out hope??

G-Hive: unlike SOME people i dont back down from a bet

Scary: ugh fine i’m still in

G-Hive: YES

Charlese: Okay I’m still in!! you just caught me in a moment of weakness

G-Hive: lovely lovely G-Hive: time to go get proof

DDC

[10:51am, Sunday]

G: where r u???

Jacob: my dorm why???

G: i feel like ur lying

Jacob: im not lying gina Jacob: why would i lie about that

G: idk but ill find out

Jacob: u do that

G: ill ask amy where u r

Jacob: amy will just tell u to ask me

G: we will see

Girls Girls Girls

[10:55am, Sunday]

Gina: @Amy do u know where jake is??

Amy: I don’t know, probably in his dorm? Amy: He’s probably still sleeping

Gina: hmm okay

DDC

[10:57am, Sunday]

G: i still dont believe you

Jacob: 1 image attachment Jacob: what about now??

G: u couldve taken that pic anytime

Jacob: i just took it now

G: ugh fine

Girls Girls Girls

[11:03am, Sunday]

Gina: @Amy can u send me a pic of the cover of that book u recommended the other day

Amy: You have never asked for a book recommendation and I don’t believe you that you’re starting now

Gina: u and jake talking about me???

Amy: WHY would Jake and I be talking about you??

Gina: u tell me????

Amy: You are in a mood this morning

Rosa: tell me about it

Jimmy Jabbers

[11:07am, Sunday]

Queen G: i have had ENOUGH Queen G: @Four Eyes @Pineapples explain urselves

Four Eyes: What do I have to explain???

Pineapples: i am also confused as to what i need to explain

Queen G: one or both of u are lying to me Queen G: dodging questions and such

Four Eyes: Good god you need to go outside or something

Queen G: i will NOT be made out to be crazy

Pineapples: then stop acting like it girl

Queen G: where r u both right NOW???

Pineapples: in my dorm Pineapples: in bed if u want specifics

Four Eyes: I’m in my dorm, at my desk to be specific

Queen G: take a pic of ur desk rn

Four Eyes: I’m not entertaining this

Queen G: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH Queen G: im gonna figure it out

RoRo: maybe let it go gina

Mr Grapes: Gotta agree with Rosa

Queen G: ugh fine

Dance Squad

[02:35pm, Monday]

G-Hive: im following jake and amy this afternoon G-Hive: who wants to join

Charlese: I’ve got nothing better to do

Scary: this is the last time i’ll entertain you

G-Hive: it wont even be long G-Hive: ill be able to tell if theyre together or not immediately G-Hive: meet me in the courtyard

Charlese: On my way!

Scary: coming

Skipping School Is(n’t) Cool

[02:48pm, Monday]

Ferris: heads up rosa gina and charles are following me to the library Ferris: theyre doing a bad job

Cameron: Hahaha okay

Ferris: should we have some fun with them?

Cameron: We absolutely should

Jake made his way to the library happily, lighter than air and excited to see Amy again. When he walked into the library she hadn’t noticed him yet but as soon as Jake saw her he couldn’t stop the smile spreading from ear to ear.

Amy finally noticed him as he approached the table, a matching smile gracing her face, and it took everything in Jake to hold back kissing her as soon as he was sat down next to her. They kept their conversation casual and work focused, it felt like before they were together when the two of them were dancing around whatever was happening between them.

After some subtle searching of the library by taking looks around at random intervals he was able to spot Gina, Rosa, and Charles at a table nearby. They were pretending to be engrossed in one book between the three of them and doing a bad job, Rosa was clearly uninterested but there anyway.

Skipping School Is(n’t) Cool

[03:21pm, Monday]

Ferris: three musketeers sitting at a table near the computers Ferris: doing a terrible job at hiding

Cameron: I’m not even surprised Cameron: What did Gina expect to discover?

Ferris: probs us together

Cameron: Nosiest friends ever

Ferris: haha tell me about it

“This is boring, they’re clearly not together” Rosa was annoyed.

“But what if they are and they’re just playing it down?” Gina argued back.

“If they were together we’d know by now” Charles now joined in.

“God this is ridiculous” Gina threw her arms up in frustration, “I just need them to kiss or something”

“Go ask them” Rosa suggested slightly sarcastically.

Gina fixed Rosa with a look that made Charles want to shrink in on himself, feeling grateful he hadn’t crossed either of them.

“We could just wait for them to tell us?” He suggested in hopes of stopping Gina and Rosa’s staring match.

“Fine” Gina agreed begrudgingly.

Gina was the one to get up first, followed by Rosa and then once they started walking away Charles quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind.

Jake saw movement out of the corner of his eye, catching his attention he looked up to see Rosa, Gina and Charles all making a hasty exit from the library and he smiled knowing he and Amy had been able to bore them into leaving.

Once their friends had left the library he leaned over and gave Amy a quick peck on the cheek, startling her out of her concentration where she looked at Jake with surprised.

“What abo-“ She began before Jake cut her off.

“They just left”

Amy let out a laugh before placing a hand on the side of Jake’s face, he leaned into it with a content sigh. Jake then reached up to lightly grab Amy’s wrist, keeping her hand in place as he twisted his head to plant another kiss on her palm.

“You can’t distract me like that” Amy said quietly, trying to be teasing but sounding more breathless.

“Sorry” Jake had apologized but didn’t sound one bit sorry, returning to his work with a satisfied smirk.

Jimmy Jabbers

[06:25pm, Wednesday]

Queen G: sasha is having a party on sat so im absolutely going Queen G: anyone else in??

Mr Grapes: Oh definitely! Mr Grapes: Do you know if she invited Sam or Matt?

Queen G: she invited both of them and its most of the reason i wanna go

Mr Grapes: It’s self sabotage at this point

RoRo: ill go if it means watching sashas life implode lol

Pineapples: ill be there

Four Eyes: Yeah I’ll go too

Queen G: im so proud of all of u Queen G: so like are you guys team sam, team matt, or team sasha

Charles: I’m team Anne! She’s been messed around

Queen G: so true charles

It was the first time they’d hung out as a whole group since Jake and Amy had gotten together and hiding their relationship was more difficult than Jake had anticipated. He wanted to hold her hand in the back of the uber and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked into the party but couldn’t do any of it.

That was until they split up after playing some small drinking games together, Jake immediately asked Amy if she wanted to dance and she couldn’t have said yes quick enough. He assumed his friends were off finding the drama, Gina and Rosa probably on the hunt for people to flirt with while Charles waited for Genevieve to arrive soon.

Once he and Amy had reached the dance floor her pulled her close, bodies pressed up against one another – he wasn’t wasting a single moment keeping her at a distance. They danced together in the way Jake wished they could’ve on New Years, and it was the most fun he’d had at a party in a while.

So much fun that he leaned down to kiss Amy hard, brain slightly foggy after the alcohol they’d had so far, but pleased when Amy leaned into it. The kiss became intense as they abandoned any illusion that they were dancing.

Finally Jake pulled away with heavy breaths, leaning down to whisper into Amy’s ear.

“Bathroom”

She nodded furiously and followed closely behind when Jake grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the dance floor.

Queen Gina Linetti @g-hive01

i love being right #calledit #sashasparty

[11:08pm, Saturday]

Jimmy Jabbers

[10:47am, Sunday]

Queen G: i think its time we talk about the elephant in the room

Pineapples: what?

Queen G: this has gone on long enough

RoRo: gina what are you doing

Mr Grapes: Don’t do something you’ll regret

Queen G: i have no regrets in life Queen G: including this Queen G: @Four Eyes @Pineapples you two like each other and you need to work it out before I start prematurely aging

RoRo: gina!!

Mr Grapes: We agreed we weren’t gonna meddle and this is beyond that!

Queen G: deafening silence from the culprits themselves

Pineapples: way to make things awkward g…

Four Eyes: Wait, you guys ‘agreed to not meddle’? What does that mean?

Queen G: dw about that Queen G: do u have anything to say for urselves??

Pineapples: gina what did u see???

Queen G: u know exactly what i saw at exactly 11 last night

Four Eyes: Shit

Pineapples: my b ames

Four Eyes: Takes two

Pineapples: if its any comfort gina that bathroom wasnt as romantic as u would imagine

Queen G: i didnt think it would be

Four Eyes: Aw don’t say that babe, I thought it was perfectly respectable

Pineapples: dont lie to me

Four Eyes: Sorry haha

Mr Grapes: Wait wait wait wait Mr Grapes: You just called him babe

Four Eyes: Oops

Pineapples: gina caught us so theres no point keeping secret

Four Eyes: Yes Jake and I are together

Mr Grapes: Greatest day of my life not joking

RoRo: good for u

Queen G: u guys will NEVER make me seem crazy ever again so help me god Queen G: i was fucking RIGHT

RoRo: for reasons you don’t need to know RoRo: when did this start?

Pineapples: last wednesday Pineapples: why?

RoRo: i’m $100 richer

Mr Grapes: Damn

Queen G: ah shit…

Four Eyes: Can’t believe you guys bet on us!

Pineapples: i can

Skipping School Is(n’t) Cool

[11:40am, Sunday]

Ferris changed Cameron’s nickname to Ames Ferris changed their name to Dread Pirate Jake Dread Pirate Jake changed the group chat name to As You Wish

Ames: Aw I’ll miss the Ferris Bueller theme

Dread Pirate Jake: that was for when we were friends Dread Pirate Jake: needed to change now that youre my giirrllfriend

Ames: Haha fair enough Ames: Meet outside to go get lunch together?

Dread Pirate Jake: as u wish my lady <3

Dance Squad

[11:40am, Sunday]

Scary: I’ll take my $100 in cash

Charlese: I don’t even care about losing money I’m so happy for them

G-Hive: you will never make a fool out of me again

Scary: sure sure Scary: now pay up

authors note: Oh my god, I can't believe its all done and over.

This is the longest piece of writing I've done so far, what started out as a silly little text fic idea that I wanted to do just to 'not waste a concept' turned into something that I've loved writing and am beyond proud of. I'm sorry there was a bit of a wait between chapters in the middle there but I hope the speedy release of the ending made up for it! Thank you so so much to everyone who commented and left kudos, you guys kept me motivated and excited to write this fic. Shout out to my friends both irl and online (none of whom will see this lol), you guys consistently provide me wonderful content to use in my writing lol (for this chapter it was: "wouldn't you like to know, soup boy")

Thanks again for reading my lil fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it <3

#alice writes #jake peralta x amy santiago #jake peralta #amy santiago #gina linetti #rosa diaz #charles boyle #fluff #college!au #bisexual!jake peralta #brooklyn nine nine #b99 #multi chap #average weekly screentime

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hermitcrossovers · 1 year

Note

This isn’t strictly hermitcraft but a lot of mcyt servers but- It’s an owl house au but instead of one isles, it’s a bunch of them. A bunch of continents. Each is a server.

There’s the the hermit’s Cove(a hidden continent that’s been there for a LOOONG time), and their main users are construction covens. There’s the isles of Dreams where their main users are abomination covens, and the Isles of Feilds(the most separated, there are little islands that are ruled by their own guardians. Their main coven use is illusion coven. There’s also the wastelands, a continent that’s literally just 2b2t and has potion coven users the most. More isles exist, but these are the big ones. They’re ruled over a council that’s this au’s version of belos. The covenheads are directly under the mysterious council. Traffic life is a separate continent, unnamed and hidden yet known to all against the council. A few of the covenheads are apart of that unnamed continent. QSMP is it’s own island with beastkeeping magic(think of the eggs).

For the coven heads, I went a lot by vibes mostly so correct me if anything’s weird

Bard- Wilbur soot(Ik so original)

Plants- Geminitay

Illusion- Fwhip

Oracle- Philza(he may or may not stay in his position if someone gives me a better idea)

Beast Keeping- Quackity

Construction- Grian

Healing- Lizzie

Abominations- Dream

Potions- (idk, maybe FitMC because I associate potions with Blowing up stuff and what blows up stuff? Tnt. And what uses tnt? 2b2t. And who’s the first 2b2t creator that comes to mind? Fit. Boom, baby.)

We mostly see this au thrught the lens of the hermit’s cove and the unnamed traffic life island with the bad boys, the soup group, and Pearl- who’s known as the scarlet beast. She was given a curse that made half her face like a crimson crescent moon and made her transform into some kind of beast. Bigb’s there too!

More on the unnamed island, it’s more of a meeting spot and night alley, if that makes sense. A few of the covenheads join there too! They see the corruption and want to put a stop to it. It was even the construction cove head who found the island and rallied the rebellion.

-🐝 anon

Hermit’s Cove doesn’t tend to focus on typical power structures, not caring how someone stands in the larger empire. The unnamed island is a free-for-all, where defectors and rebels come to hide, as well as the cursed like the Scarlet Beast, who commonly leaves the island just to mess with the empire. That tends to put a wedge between the inhabitants of those islands and the others, even within the coven heads. Plus, the Abomination head is still miffed that he got defeated by the Construction head in an old duel, and the heads typically split half and half on those lines.

-mod eagle

#mod eagle #hermitcraft #traffic smp #dream smp #mcyt

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sasuhinasno1fan · 3 years

Text

Finding your soulmate an in unexpected place- Lukadrien June Day 11

I finished it, I didn’t think I would but I suddenly thought of a Host AU from Stephaine Meyer and deiced to try and fit it in here. I move tomorrow so between working, I was trying to finish this. I hope you like it. Heads up, there is a warning as there’s mention of violence in trying to kill, an unnamed person dying and I guess the general violent stuff The Host had. Soulmate

Adrien held tight to the control he had on his body. He didn’t need Felix pulling another Kim incident, not with Lila glaring at him and muttering comments he could hear.

“Either shut up and serve us or get lost.” Luka snapped, clearly getting annoyed. “Not that you ever lift a finger unless ordered or ever do a good job anyway.”

She let out a huff and dropped the serving spoon, storming off. The other people in the line just let out a groan, a few mentioning how Fu was gonna throw her to other sections for her to work.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Adrien said, taking a plate from Luka, since he insisted on holding them both.

Using his free hand to serve themselves, Luka pointed out, “Did you want Felix to say something? I could tell you were holding hard to keep him from taking over.”

“Would have still been hilarious if how he went off on Kim was any indication.” Someone behind him said.

While it did prove to the rest of the group that Felix was still in his body, the constant grapple the two had when Felix decided to insult Kim back, when he blocked Adrien and started yelling at him being a parasite had been embarrassing overall. With Felix throwing scathing comments and Adrien apologizing a second later or begging Felix to stop, it wasn’t something he wanted to relive.

Hey, the asshole deserved it! Felix yelled in his head, his sudden volume causing Adrien to flinch. And she deserves a few scathing remarks, see how she likes it.

“Please stop.” Adrien muttered.

“Being loud again?” Luka asked, leading them to a free seat by Marc and Nathanial.

“And rude.”

It’s not rude if it’s true. But fine, I’ll behave.

Adrien doubted it would last long but kept his mouth shut. Marc and Nath had their noses in their respective books, being writer and artist respectively. Their jobs might have disappeared once the Souls landed on their planet but with Adrien helping with supply runs because of him being a Soul, they were able to restock on their items and get back into it. Rarely were the couple seen without a note book and pencil.

“Oh, Adrien, I had a question.” Marc asked, realising the two were there halfway through their meal.

“I can’t tell you the rest of the story again.” Adrien said, assuming what Marc would ask. Along with helping with supply runs, he was also teaching those interested about the different plants since the Souls had gone to – Invaded – at least 15 other planets and Adrien had been to most of them. Marc had gotten curious and bugged Adrien to finish one of his stories, which later upset some of the others. Felix said it was like when you watch ahead of a show, you’re watching with someone. Adrien didn’t get it, but he also didn’t want to upset anyone again.

“No, not that. Tempting, but not that. I was wondering if Souls believe in the idea of soulmates?”

“Soulmates? Are they a species?”

“More important,” Luka interrupted, “why were you thinking of that?”

“Well, I was trying to think of things I did before you know, things happened, with the writing community. Challenges I guess to get me back into it. One of them was listing all the troupes you like by ranking and I remembered that soulmates was one of my tops. I’m sure you can understand why I don’t fully love the idea, but it made me think. Do you guys have soulmates?”

Adrien looked at Luka, still not fully getting it.

“Basically, soulmates are people who are your perfect match. When people say they’re in love, they say they’ve found their perfect match, the one person they can’t live without.”

“So a lifemate? The Bears had that, and the Flowers.”

“Yes, basically that. Do Souls have mates?” Marc asked.

Adrien shrugged. “Not really. We only really ever encountered it with the Bears and Flowers. The practise was kept. Though, there have been times where two Souls find each other and have this instant connection, but it’s so rare. At most it’s like here, they find someone and stay with them. it’s not a decision we take lightly.”

“So no breakups. There’ve been times where it’s been pointed out that just because 2 people are soulmates, doesn’t mean they’re right for each other.”

“No, no break ups.”

“Huh, maybe soulmates aren’t bad after all.” Marc said.

“Don’t let Lila and her band of followers hear you say that. Come on, we have to help with laundry.” Nath reminded, getting up. “We’ll see you two later.”

With the two gone, Adrien focused on his food, knowing he’d need the energy for supply check he and Luka had to do after this.

“I have a question.” Luka asked, after draining his cup. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but say a Bear has a mate and then it has a Soul placed into it. What happens to its mate? The Bear’s mate?”

“It has the Soul’s mate placed into it. The idea of lifemates is something we Souls love, something we appreciate. If they have a mate, we use their memories to make sure they stay together.”

“So love is important then?”

Adrien nodded, “It is.”

Luka smiled. “Good. It’s nice to know no matter what, they keep mates together.”

Of course he likes it. Felix said. When he felt Adrien’s confusion, he continued. Well, he’d love nothing more than to be your soulmate. I mean it’s so obvious he likes you.

Adrien choaked on whatever he had in his mouth, some vegetable from the soup. Luka, like Adrien? No way.

“Are you ok? Was it Felix?”

Why am I always the first to be blamed?

Adrien would have replied with this actually being his fault but he was too busy trying to breath. Once he fully swallowed what was in his mouth, he could finally think. Luka did not like Adrien like a soulmate did. He just didn’t. besides, Adrien didn’t like him like that.

“Here. Are you ok? What happened?” Luka asked, handing him a cup of water.

“I’m fine. Um, I forgot Max wanted to see me. I’ll see you in the supply room, ok?”

Souls didn’t lie, or at the very least Adrien didn’t, but he guessed his sudden change of topic made it easy for Luka to not notice. He darted out of the dinning room. The colony was massive, filled with tunnels, some of which the group still didn’t know about. Without needing a babysitter every minute, Adrien had taken it upon himself to go exploring some of them. there was one just off the tunnel that led to the waterfall that Adrien liked. The water wafting from that nearby fall made the area cool and maybe it was the Soul part of him that liked chilled areas. He flopped onto the floor, trying to wrap his head around what Felix had said. Luka liked him?

Yeah. I mean, he was on everyone else’s side of not liking you, and then he changed his mind.

“So did a lot of other people!”

Yes, but remember, he was there to try and kill you with the others.

Not a memory Adrien enjoyed. It had been his first night, ‘locked’ in the supply room with Bridgette taking guard. He remembered that Bridgette, despite hitting him within seconds of seeing each other, refused to let anyone else guard him. Luka and one other person tried overpowering her, while Kim slipped past to try and strangle him. Felix always called Bridgette strong and she showed it by actually kicking all 3 attackers butts and leaving Adrien more scared of humans. Fu eventually released Adrien from his jail to get used to life and Luka had been one of the few people who actually looked when Adrien was in the room. He didn’t complain if they ever had to work together and when Xavier-Yves tries attacking him when Bridgette wasn’t around, Luka had been the one to stop him. He apologized and before Adrien knew it, he was usually around helping him. He’d gone from this person he’d been scared of to a person he could depend on. Luka had started seeing past just the Soul and saw Adrien.

But there was no way he liked Adrien.

Yes, Felix said, sounding tired, he does. You see how much he looks out for you and how he never treats you different since he apologized. Plus, let’s be honest, he always knows what you’re thinking and is always looking out for you and he’s not living in your head.

“Bridgette and Marinette look out for me. They like me too. Bridgette is who I like.”

Adrien, I don’t think you do. Marinette might have always liked you, but Bridgette didn’t. look, I love her to death, but she was willing to hurt you before she knew I was in here too. I don’t think I’ll ever find someone again, so I like her a lot, so much so I would do anything to keep her safe. No Soul has ever had to deal with what we’re dealing with right? So they wouldn’t know the affects. I think the reason they pair mates with mated Souls is because of residual feelings. They associate those feelings with the person in front of them, so adding those residual feelings with your actual ones, you’re even more in love. When you first saw memories of her, what did you think?

What did he think? He…thought he was in love. But it wasn’t immediate.

It grew when we found them again and my feelings came back tenfold. Adrien, you think you like Bridgette but I don’t think you do. You just associate her with the feelings and latched onto mine when we saw her again. I mean, come on, you feel awkward around her now that she’s so nice to you. do I think she likes you, yes, I do, but not like that and not like Luka feels. I think she thinks she does but I wouldn’t be surprised if you did ask her and she couldn’t give you an answer.

Was Felix, right? Were his feelings for Bridgette residual, not even real? Bridgette hadn’t been the nicest and Adrien still swore by liking her but Luka had changed and he felt more comfortable with him.

Adrien mulled over it for what felt like forever. He waved off Luka’s question if he was ok, knowing he wasn’t fooling him. Marinette, Bridgette’s younger cousin, asked as well but took his word when he said he was ok. He should have known Luka would have gotten tired of Adrien being weird eventually. Luka had shoved him a familiar bandana and waited until his vision was blocked before dragging him somewhere. Once he felt the breeze across his face, he knew he was outside.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked, trying not to stumble over the rocky plane.

“You’ll see. There’s a rock you need to climb here.”

If he kills us, he’d be the greatest actor ever.

Adrien decided to not respond.

“Ok. Now back up with me, there’s a rock you can sit on.” Once Adrien was seated, he felt Luka sit next to him as well. “Now take your blindfold off.”

Adrien knew he was outside, but it seemed like he was at the top of the mountain their home was in. the setting sun was casting pinks and purples on the land below.

“Wow.” He said, taking the view in.”

“I thought you might like it.” Luka said, smiling down at him when Adrien looked over. “You’ve been acting so weird I thought you were starting to get stir crazy.”

“Sorry.”

“I thought we agreed you’d stop apologizing so much. Besides, I can’t blame you.” Luka said, closing his eyes and letting his head drop back, taking in the wanning sun. “I miss going out too.” A content smile grew on his face.

‘I like his smile.’

Oh. Oh.

Oh indeed. Now do you see what I mean?

Adrien did. He was starting to understand that if something as simple as Luka’s smile made him happy, then he had feelings for him that were deeper than the ones he had for Bridgette. When it had started Adrien couldn’t pinpoint, but this was more. Adrien wouldn’t sure if he’d consider Luka his soulmate though.

He is, trust me.

“Are you ok?” Luka asked, noticing Adrien was staring at him.

This time Adrien was telling the truth. “I’m fine.”

__________________

Adrien looked over at Bridgette who was stretched out on one of the beds, flipping through the channels. Luka was in the shower, leaving the two alone. Since realising how he felt about Luka, Adrien wanted to test something. Bridgette was obviously jealous when it came to Luka and Adrien, which made him think Bridgette felt the same, but since learning about the residual feelings, Adrien was starting to think Bridgette just thought Luka was interested in Felix. Now he had the chance to find out.

“Bridgette?”

“Yeah?” she asked, not looking away from the TV. Luka would have given him his full attention. He was starting to see the flaws.

“I need to ask you something.”

She finally looked over. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you love me?” he saw that he threw her. “And when I say me, I don’t mean my looks, because I know you love Felix. I meant me. Adrien. If I had a different body and you knew me, would you say you love me?”

“Um, well…” she sat up and looked at him. “I do care about you.”

“I know you do, but do you love me?”

He watched her open her mouth, struggling to say something. He also felt Felix utterly relieved.

“It’s ok. Trust me, I’m not mad. And you can stop being jealous of Luka, Felix is pretty sure he doesn’t like him. Can you tell Luka to meet me outside?” Adrien said, leaving Bridgette to get what he was trying to say.

He found a bench close to their room but as far away from the front desk as possible and not near any light that would reflect off his eyes but not Luka’s.

Are you gonna do it? Tell him?”

“Maybe. I also don’t know why you were worried. You know she loves you.”

Yeah, but I’m essentially dead. I could have been wrong on her end. Even been wrong when it comes to her before. But not like you weren’t relieved too. It makes how you feel pretty clear huh?

It did. Knowing the feelings weren’t returned made it clear to Adrien who he really had feelings for.

“Hey, what’s up?” Luka had his sweatshirt’s hood up, even with the new fake mark they made to make other Souls think he wasn’t a normal human. His sunglasses were hanging from the front.

Adrien pointed at the sky. He’d chosen their stopping point for a reason. It was the farthest from the city lights. “I thought I could repay you for the sunset.”

“Well, can’t argue with that.” Luka dropped down on the seat next to him, looking up at the stars. “I told you about how Jules and I used to live on a boat right? Mom would show us the constellations. The big and little dipper where the ones I could always spot. That’s what sailors use to find their way around the seas.”

“I’ve seen so many constellations. But I like the Earth ones more. The stories behind them say more.”

“Yeah, we can thank the Greeks and Romans for that.”

Adrien glanced over at Luka before saying, “I asked Bridgette if she loved me. She doesn’t, just Felix.”

“Are, you ok?” he asked slowly.”

“I am. I realised a while ago I don’t actually love her. I care for her, like I do Marinette, but not love. Those were Felix’s feelings that I held on to. It makes sense, I didn’t know her yet I thought I was in love with her. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t feel the same.”

“Oh. Well, good. I mean,” Luka seemed to be at a loss for words.

“It’s ok, really.” Adrien said, silencing Luka. he could tell him now. But what if Felix was wrong? What if he only liked Felix’s face but not the Soul inside?

Easy Adrien, you don’t have to say it now. Just, wait until it feels right.

Felix was right, he could wait.

Except he couldn’t. when they got back to the tunnels, they found out someone was dead. Because Adrien’s Seeker. It’d been a whirlwind after that, having to talk to the abrasive woman who started the bond he and Felix had, the funeral, teaching Max how to remove Souls without killing anyone, sending the Seeker away and finally the realization of what he had to do.

No, NO. you can’t do this! This is your life too. You can’t just leave. What about Luka?

Luka. Luka would understand.

Oh yeah, tell him then. Tell him what you plan on doing and tell him how you feel. He won’t pat you on the back and wish you well, and neither would Bridgette, no matter how she feels.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Adrien looked up and saw Luka at the entrance of the cooler tunnel he like. They’d gotten back from sneaking the Seeker’s Soul to a transportation facility and he’d darted off the minute they got back to go over what he’d realised.

“Huh?”

“You like cooler places, so I thought you’d be near the waterfall. How are you feeling?”

Adrien wanted to say fine, but instead he got up and walked up to Luka. he looked down at him with his blue eyes, confused but not saying anything. Luka knew him, inside and out.

Tell him or I swear, I’ll take over and do it myself.

“I like you. the way Bridgette likes Felix. I have for a while and I wanted to tell you, but I got scared. I’ve never told this to anyone, I thought I never would.”

“Adrien.” Luka said softly. He didn’t look nervous or uncomfortable. That content smile was growing on his lips.

“Felix teased me and said you wanted to be my soulmate but I didn’t believe him.”

Then Luka’s brow furrowed and then he started to look nervous. And angry.

“Adrien. Tell me the truth. You showed Max how to remove a Soul. Did you do it so he’d do it to you?”

Adrien opened his mouth to lie, but Luka always saw through his lies. “How?”

“You know about the heart song thing. that’s how I gauge people’s emotions. Telling me you feel this way should be happy, but you sound miserable.”

“How do you know it’s not because I think you like Felix?” why was he trying to push this away? He knew Luka had figured him out.

“I’m not interested in Felix; I couldn’t be if I tried!”

Hey!

“So you have his face, big deal. I didn’t fall for you because of how you look. I fell for you because of the kind of person you are. Your kind and caring, even to those who don’t deserve it. You have so much love to give and every time you think you don’t matter; it kills me inside. So I know why you’re doing this and I’m begging you, please don’t.”

“But Felix…”

“What about him? You matter just as much! If you do this, you’d be hurting so many more people. You can’t do this. Adrien please.”

There were tears, a lot of them and Luka had dragged Fu into it, begging for a tribunal to make the decision, which he’d agreed to. Before he knew it, he was in Luka and Juleka’s room, empty for Juleka no doubt being with Rose.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Was Luka’s excuse.

Luka was still pacing, steaming while Adrien sat on his mattress. He’d stayed with Luka for a while before Bridgette got Marinette to ask him to stay with them, so he was familiar with the space.

“Please sit down.” Adrien asked.

Luka sighed before dropping down next to Adrien. “You can’t ask me to accept this. I thought you were in love with Bridgette and to hear you weren’t, I finally thought, this is it. I can tell him. But instead you tell me you’re giving Felix his body back?”

“I told you I love you too.”

“That’s not funny. When you said that thing about soulmates and didn’t say a word about how thought it was true, that hurt. Adrien, you might not believe it, but I do.”

Adrien felt like crying again. Though he was getting close with his eyes filling up. “This hurts.”

“Then don’t do it.” Luka said, pulling Adrien’s head closer to rest their foreheads together. “Please don’t.”

Adrien leaned in closer and kissed him. He’d only ever kissed Bridgette, who did it to see if Felix was actually still there and help pull him out after Adrien blocked him. He liked this better, it was soft and slow and it meant something.

It kept it on his mind when Luka eventually fell asleep and didn’t wake when Adrien pulled from his arms. He pressed a kiss onto Luka’s cheek. “I believe Felix now. You are my soulmate.”

Adrien, please don’t do this. I mean, I don’t love Luka kissing my body but he loves you and that’s all that matters.

“You’d get Bridgette and Marinette back. Luka will move on.”

He’d reached Max’s office and saw everything set up.

“Thank you for everything.”

You’re my brother and I don’t want you to do this.

“Ready?” Max asked, putting his supplies next to the cot.

“I’m ready.”

_________________

“Adrien, wake up. Come on, I have to yell at you for disappearing.”

“Wow, yelling at your soulmate. Nice.”

“You want to yell at him too.”

“Of course I do. Clearly yelling in his head doesn’t work.”

“Shh, I think he’s moving.”

He knew those voices. Luka, Marinette, Felix?

Adrien forced his eyes – eyes? – open and stared up at the rocky celling. He also saw Luka, Marinette, Bridgette, Max and Felix looking down at him.

“Didn’t think you could get rid of us that easily, did you?” Felix asked. It was strange to see the face he’d been wearing staring back at him without the use of a mirror.

“Here.” Marinette held a mirror up to him. A new face stared back at him.

“I look like Felix.” His voice was slightly higher than he was used to. His eyes were green and his hair more golden than Felix’s lighter blonde. The face shape was different too but he still looked like Felix.

“That’s what I thought when we saw you.” Marinette said, sounding proud of herself.

Adrien pushed himself up. He didn’t feel weak but his body felt different. He felt slimmer but he could still feel muscle. “How?”

“Turns out Luka isn’t the only one who can tell what you’re thinking.” Felix said, looking at Bridgette.

“I got here just after Max finished you. he was going to tell us anyway. Felix found me and Luka and we went to go look for a body. Well, me, Felix and Marinette. Luka stayed with you.”

“I didn’t want to leave you. I didn’t care what you looked like so I stayed, helped Max put you back after we were sure this Host didn’t have a human still inside. You look pretty in your Soul form.”

The same content smile, the one Adrien realised was one that only he saw, was flashed at him.

“You wanted me to stay?”

“How many times do I have to say it? Adrien, I love you and that’s not going to change.”

Adrien wasn’t impulsive. He thought things through and was sort of a diplomate in matters. But this was different. He took Luka’s face in his hands and kissed him, sighing happily at the same feeling being there the last time he kissed him.

“Don’t run off again.” Luka said before kissing him again before Felix yelled at them to stop.

He wouldn’t, not after he found his soulmate.

#lukadrien june 2021 #the host au #soul!adrien #host!felix #lukadrien

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waveridden · 7 years

Text

FIC: the genius next door

“Okay.” Cib folds his arms, elbows resting on his thighs. “Welcome to the first meeting of the currently unnamed Los Angeles supernatural phenomena expert group, or LASPEG until we figure out something better.” (A Haruhi Suzumiya AU. 1.7k, Steven/Cib if you squint.)

AUcember || title lyric

Steven swats at Cib’s hand. “Fucking quit tapping your fingers, you’re giving me anxiety.”

“Holding still gives me anxiety,” Cib complains, but he switches to jiggling his leg. “Do you think anyone’s gonna show up?”

Steven opens his mouth to say that even if nobody shows up he’ll hang out with Cib, when a new voice says, “Is this the meeting?”

Both of them look up. There’s a tall guy standing there with his hands in his pockets and his thumbs hanging out, blinking down at them. Steven kind of hates him immediately.

“Hell yeah, dude!” Cib grins up at the guy. “Sit on down, we’re gonna wait for whoever else shows up. Grab a seat, put your feet up.”

The guy sits down, looking tentative, and then actually puts his feet up on the table, like they’re in someone’s house and not a coffee shop in public.

“My type of guy,” Cib says appreciatively, and kicks his feet up too. “Steve?”

Steven, who has never been good at resisting peer pressure, puts his feet on the table. “What are we doing?”

“The meeting,” says new guy, who looks uncomfortable. “Do we- is putting our feet up a required part of the meeting?”

“No,” Steven says, at the same time Cib says, sharply, “yes.”

“Whoa, table feet!” says someone new. Steven glances up just as a guy with glasses crashes into the seat next to the other new guy and swings his legs up on the table. “What’s up, guys, I’m James, and I wanna catch a time traveler.”

“Catch?” Steven repeats, bemused. “And do what?”

James shrugs. “You know. Have them.”

“For what?”

“Hey,” says a third new person, Jesus Christ. Steven would ignore her, but she sits next to him, and at least doesn’t put her feet up on the table. “I’m Autumn.”

“Autumn, James!” Cib points at the first guy. “Foot man?”

“Please don’t call me that,” foot man says. “My name is Parker. Can I take my feet down?”

Steven reaches out and swats one of Parker’s feet off the table. “The table’s small. We can’t all have our feet up.”

“Oh, I’m keeping mine up,” says James. “Gotta kick back these crazy days, am I right, guys?”

“Wow,” Autumn says, and then goes quiet again. Steven decides that she’s definitely his favorite one here.

“Sick name!” James says.

“No it’s not,” Steven says quickly. “I’m not going to be part of a group called LASPEG.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Cib says cheerfully. “We in this group are going to be tracking down, meeting, interrogating, and learning to love supernatural phenomena, but only the ones that people don’t care about in the media right now. Vampires, fuck those guys, we don’t need werewolves or ghosts.”

Nobody seems to react to any of that. Steven frowns. “How did you guys hear about this group, anyways?”

“Flyers,” they say, in the most terrifying unison. Steven decides to stop asking questions.

“I put up flyers,” Cib murmurs to Steven as an aside. “The graphic design on them was bad.”

“How bad?”

“I’ll show you later.”

“Great.”

“We are not looking for vampires,” Cib says again, because when he pitched this to Steven he was pretty adamant about the no-vampires thing. “I have three priorities, but we can replan if you guys really want to catch a zebra or whatever.”

“Zebras are real,” Steven says exasperatedly.

Cib elbows Steven. “All of these are real, idiot!”

“All of what?”

“Aliens! Time travelers! Espers!”

“What the fuck is an esper?”

“Someone with ESP! You know-” Cib wiggles his fingers. “They can sense extra things. I wanna find those. Anyone know any of those?”

Steven looks at every member of the group. All of them are looking away. “I think that’s a no,” he says. In retrospect, that should’ve been the first sign that something was up.

“Okay, the thing is,” Parker says, “in the most technical sense, I am an alien.”

Steven stares at him. “You brought me out to lunch to tell me you’re an alien.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you mean, like, alien from another country? Because Cib is Canadian, so you’re not-”

“From another solar system.” Parker picks up his spoon and swirls his shitty-looking cafe soup. “I’m here for Cib.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say you’re here for Cib? Because if you’re abducting him-”

“Not abducting,” Parker says. “Observing.”

Steven shakes his head. “No, no, I can’t- this is too much. What kind of an alien are you?”

“Technically, I’m a data interface, not an actual species. All I’m here to do is watch Cib.”

“Why Cib?”

“Because he can manipulate reality,” Parker says, and keeps stirring his soup like he hasn’t just said the most batshit crazy thing Steven has ever heard.

“You’re not great at explaining this,” Steven says.

Parker shrugs. “I’m meant to watch, not to talk. I didn’t get a ton of the social skills. Or any of them.”

“Do you actually think Cib can manipulate reality?”

Parker shrugs again. “He doesn’t know he can. He can just bend things a little bit. Just enough that it makes a difference.”

There’s a lot Steven could say to that. But he actually wants to eat his lunch instead of dealing with this practical stranger having a breakdown, so he does that instead.

“Do you think espers are a thing?” Steven asks Autumn, foolishly. They’re out exploring downtown, because Cib is convinced that there are going to be fairies or aliens there or something. He hadn’t had the heart to tell Cib that Parker’s apparently a goddamn alien, so he just called dibs on Autumn and went out.

“I mean, yeah,” Autumn says. “Technically, I am one, so.”

“Jesus,” Steven says. He doesn’t even have it in him to be surprised. “You too?”

Autumn blinks. “Is someone else an esper?”

“No, but there’s an alien.”

“What, Parker? Is he calling himself an alien?”

“What would you call him?”

“A data gatherer. Technically from outside of the galaxy.”

“And what would you call yourself?”

“A psychic,” Autumn says. “Esper is a dumb word. Don’t tell Cib I said that.”

“Why not?”

“Because he might make everyone forget the word psychic ever existed.”

“So you’re on that too.” Steven sighs. “Listen, I don’t think Cib can actually manipulate reality. You have to know that.”

“Maybe,” Autumn says. “But it’s kind of weird that he wants to meet an alien and an esper, and we just show up in your lives, right?”

Steven stares at her. “That’s a little menacing. Are you menacing me?”

“Never,” Autumn says. Steven gets the weird feeling that she means it.

“Hey, James,” Steven says, “are you, by chance, a time traveler?”

James brightens. “Oh, you figured it out! Cool, I was worried I was going to have to explain the whole thing to you. You talk to Autumn?”

“Her and Parker.”

“Yeah, it seems like they’d take care of that.” James tilts his head, examining Steven. “You have questions.”

“No shit I have questions,” Steven says, because really, no shit he has questions. “When are you from? Why are you here? Why are all of you here?”

James starts ticking off fingers. “From the future, can’t say exactly when. Here because of Cib, can’t say exactly why. And all of us are here because he can sort of change reality - shit, I wasn’t supposed to say that, don’t tell my bosses.”

“You have bosses?”

“Well, yeah, I’m not just some freelance bitch!”

“Can Cib actually change reality?” Steven demands. “Why are you guys all so convinced that my best friend can just… change the world?”

“Because we think he did,” James says. “A little over five years ago, something happened, and that’s the farthest back any of us can time travel now. Something weird happened, and everyone knows about it.”

Steven frowns. “I met Cib five years ago.”

“Huh,” James says, thoughtfully.

“Huh, what?”

“Just huh.”

“Don’t you just huh me, explain why you’re making confused noises!”

“There’s a piece of this puzzle that we can’t make sense of,” James says slowly. “Because - I’m here because Cib wants to find a time traveler, and same goes for Autumn and Parker. But you… are just a guy, as far as we know.”

“As far as I know,” Steven agrees.

“But you’re here,” James says. “No other normal people have any kind of lasting relationship with him, as far as we can tell, but you… Steve, dude, there’s something different about you.”

“What do you mean, different?”

“Dunno,” James says, and Steven feels weirdly like he’s being taken apart. Like James is dissecting him with his eyes. “But it’s neat.”

“I think the group is going great,” Cib declares. “Week three, no fairies yet, but I swear to god, that dude we saw was an esper.”

“He said he was an essayist,” Steven says, trying to act like he’s not staring at Cib. Reality-manipulating Cib. World-altering Cib. Unexplainable phenomenon, Cib.

“That’s what he wanted us to think,” Cib argues, and Steven thinks: nothing has changed. Even if Cib can literally bend reality to his will, it’s still just Cib. It’s not that different than what Steven always thought.

“Whatever,” Steven sighs. “This group is still weird.”

And Cib, the unexplainable phenomenon, just grins brightly at Steven. “I’m glad you’re here, dude,” he says warmly. “Warts and all.”

“Fuck you,” Steven says automatically, and Cib smiles like he knows Steven doesn’t mean it. And, well, Steven doesn’t get genuine often, so he just shakes his head. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, man. You know that.”

Cib slings an arm around Steven’s shoulders and tugs him in closer. “I do,” he says. “But it’s nice to hear you say it on your own.”

#ship pine 7 #shipping pine 7 #cib x steven #ragehappy #aucember17 #waveridden.fic #rpf for ts #hey jaz? your anime is showing

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forestiyari · 7 years

Text

Life In Plan (1/2)

A Captain Swan Modern AU

Rating: T

Summary:

She’s 16 when he catches her, and their life goes on from there.

Disclaimer: None of the OUAT world belongs to me.

Although I’m not posting I have four WIPs that are taunting me. This is me sitting down at 3:30am and saying “ignore them, just write something- anything”.

And I swear- despite appearances, this is Captain Swan, it’s not Liemma.

Part 2 will be posted later in the week.

Also on

AO3

Life In Plan

She's 16 when he catches her.

"Bad form, Lass. Take that out of your pocket and put it back on the shelf." His hand on Emma's arm, grip tight- there's no chance of escape and his voice- low, commanding... Dangerous- brokers no room for argument... "Now." Reluctantly she curls her fingers around the pilfered candy bars and withdraws her hand from her pocket, briefly considering throwing them in his face to try and escape, but his hold on her is so solid she doubts it's an option.

He must be new here- the ill-fitted uniform marking him as a member of staff, but his accent decidedly foreign. He's older than her, but not by much, and obviously much more observant than the other youths that work here- it's the first time in three months she's been caught. Emma replaces the chocolate on the shelf, ignoring the pang of hunger that runs through her before meeting his gaze defiantly- challenging him to make his next move.

"There,” A smile washes over his face and his grip relaxes, although he doesn't remove his hand completely. "Was that so hard?"

"Yes." She bites back, determined not to agree with a word he says.

"Tell me Lass, at the end of the day, when stock goes missing, who do you think gets the blame? Whose wages get docked?" He raises his eyebrows in question, obviously expecting her to answer- but it's honestly not something she's thought about before... It's not like she steals for profit.

"Tell me Boy," Her lips curl back, a snarl in place, "Where else is my meal coming from?" Emma gets the desired response- he jerks back, surprised, and she's free. Because she's learned recently that no one expects a pretty blonde in glasses to be homeless, to be a runaway- and defying expectations gains her an advantage. She should be running now, she knows this- the second his hand was off her arm she should have been gone- but now she wants an answer from him.

He regains his composure slowly, straightens up and extends a hand. She looks down on it, bewildered, because just what is she supposed to do with that? It takes a few moments to realise he's expecting to shake her hand.

"Liam Jones, at your service."

"Emma Swan. Whatever."

***

The next night she avoids the convenience store and heads uptown to the soup kitchen. She hates it there- with the suspicious eyes and roaming hands and social workers it reminds her too much of the group homes she's experienced, but she can't go any longer without food and the warmth and shelter it provides is a nice distraction for a while.

It's late- too late for any real food to be left- when she sees him enter. Liam Jones, the boy from last night and for a fleeting crazy moment she imagines he's here for her- but no one comes for her, she learnt that long ago. She can see his uniform collar peeking out from beneath the oversized knitted sweater he wears as he shuffles to the end of the line, accepting the dregs of stew with a small smile meant to appease the over-enthusiastic do-gooder that serves him without inviting conversation.

She waits for him to leave then follows him, curious. He walks for what seems like miles- away from the convenience store and her usual haunts- before furtively climbing through a broken basement window.

Dawn is threatening and she considers... Stupid... She's so far from "home" she won't make it back in time to sleep before the rush hour traffic makes it impossible and she knows her only real option is to take a leap of faith- to trust Liam on his pledge.

At your service

To say he's surprised when she lands beside him is an understatement, but after a long gaze and a nod he settles back down on his side. Wordlessly she mirrors him, their backs not quite touching.

***

She's 17 when he saves her.

Because this was never really what she planned to do, but just walking by isn't a commitment and considering doesn't mean deciding.

And she's not really a virgin anyway- not since Mr Fowler and his son's education back in eighth grade.

"What the hell were you doing on Hazel, Emma?" He doesn't shout and she really wishes he would- because she can deal with anger, with violence- but this silent, stubborn, disappointed rage she has no idea what to do with. It's the kind of anger that implies caring and emotion and she's never been good at that.

Never had a chance to be.

"I wasn't on Hazel." She lies, knows that he sees straight through it with the flash that shoots through his eyes, and some complicated unnamed part of her rushes to clarify. "I mean... I walked down Hazel, but I wasn't "on" Hazel. Not in that way." And she wasn't. Not yet. She hadn't decided yet.

"Emma..." The relief in his face is evident, but he's no fool. "I swear, if I find you're turning tricks..." He grinds out the words through gritted teeth and she can't stop the anger from rising.

"You'll do what Liam?" The words slap him sharply and she sees the hard edge run from his eyes, replaced by something more... Desperate.

"Just please, Emma. Not you. Come to me first."

***

They're not always in each other's lives.

Liam works every shift he can at the convenience store and around the holidays picks up extra at the factories- she's not sure how he manages it- knows that somehow he must have a bank account, some papers.

Emma cleans occasionally- cash in hand from the nicer neighbourhoods- but only enough to get her through a few weeks' meals at a time.

She lives in the moment while he saves.

They've spoken enough for her to grasp why- to understand there's a brother he wants to provide for, wants to rescue and bring to The States. She knows he's younger, knows Liam truly believes he can do it- save enough for an apartment, a flight, a visa. Emma wishes she could believe in anything the way that Liam believes in his plan.

But for the moment it's nice to know that there's always a solid back she can sleep against should she need it.

She doesn't need it.

***

She's 18 when he rescues her.

When Emma and Neal's Bonnie and Clyde adventure stutters to a halt at a roadside, The Bug tired of running on fumes and steam pouring from the undercarriage. She walks a mile back along the way they came to the payphone, praying Liam still works the midday shift and his manager will let him take a call. He does, he will.

But when she gets back to where she started there's no yellow VW waiting, no Neal with open arms and an easy smile.

Somehow Liam gets the bus driver to stop in the middle of nowhere to pick her up. She has no idea how, too out of it to really care. She's sunburnt and sore and goddamn heartbroken.

And that's before she realises she's pregnant.

Liam never judges, never really says a word about it.

He contacts the social workers, lets her hate him just a bit for that.

He takes the looks, the comments in his stride- lets everyone believe that it's his fault, that he was irresponsible enough to knock up the teenager he's living rough with- just another pair of runaway statistics.

He brings her the adoption papers, reads then through, tells her where to sign, lets her love him just a bit for that.

Then it's over.

The baby's gone and it's just Emma and Liam again. Except it's not. Because he's almost done it, he says; almost has the deposit for an apartment and enough rent saved up to make it a viable option.

And she loves him for it, she really does, is so happy for him.

But then there's the reason she went off with Neal in the first place- because she doesn't belong in that world. The world of apartments and steady income- that's life stuff and Emma Swan... She doesn't have a life, she has the here and now... Anything beyond that is a bonus.

***

Emma drifts for what seems forever.

She knows that theft isn't a way of life. She as good as promised Liam she wouldn't turn tricks. The gangs are easy to get into but impossible to get out of. She can pull off the confidence tricks but the victims leave her feeling... Dirty...

Emma doesn't have a plan.

Emma doesn't have parents or a GED or transferable skills.

Emma has a rucksack of clothes, a library card and three stretchmarks that refuse to fade.

Emma has Liam, she knows she does... But Liam doesn't need Emma.

***

She's 20 when he inspires her.

"Emma, how hard is it to find a missing person, d'you reckon?" He asks. It's winter and the window of the room he's renting doesn't close properly- the draft meaning they huddle on the bed in beanies and gloves. And she knows it's a rung on the ladder of his plan but apart from the mattress being dry she doesn't see much improvement over the basement they've squatted in for free for years.

"What sort of missing person?" She responds with trepidation... Because she's spent too many hours at the library looking for any clue as to her parents' whereabouts and probably just as many looking into the history he doesn't tell her. She's gotten pretty good at computers.

"You remember that guy Rick that I work with?"

"The one who thought buying me McDonalds made us an item?" She clarifies with a raised eyebrow- because they've laughed way too much over that fiasco.

"The very same." He grins back at her, not at all ashamed of having allowed her to defend her own honour, deleting the CCTV footage of her 'assault' now that he has managerial responsibilities. "He hasn't shown up for work the past three days, which isn't unusual, but..."

"Doesn't he owe you money?"

"$400 advance on his wages- out of my pocket."

"How much do I get if I find him?" She asks and he grins.

"$100."

"$250."

"$150."

"Done." They shake and the following day Emma has a small fortune in her pocket.

***

Emma's good at finding people.

Really good.

She gets it now- the planning, because when she brings in her first skip and is looking at the cash in her hands there's too much there to not plan.

She could survive for a year on that pay check.

Or she could start living.

And after the third skip she brings it up with Liam- because comparatively there's not that much difference between a one-bed and a two-bed apartment in a nice enough area. So that summer they move in and she has a room, a closet, a bed. They share a kitchen and a television.

At first she can't believe the bills, but it doesn't take that long to get used to.

Their apartment, their things, their life.

***

She's 21 when he breaks her heart.

"I bought Killian a plane ticket- he'll be here on Thursday."

#CS fic #cs ff #cs au #captain swan fanfiction #captain swan fic #liam x emma brotp #forestry

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