Tumgik
#If I actually do end up getting the job (doubt) I genuinely bet I’ll last a week before either quitting or getting fired
gio-cosmo · 1 month
Text
The p3r dlc really has me walking around Tartarus with the Junes theme playing in the background. What a time to be alive.
25 notes · View notes
goddesswritings · 3 years
Text
“Can I slap her for you?” -  Corpse Husband | Part Two
Title: “Can I slap her for you?” – Part Two
Pairing: Corpse Husband x Reader
Summary: Being stuck living with the queen of YouTube drama and partying during the pandemic has seriously worn down your patience. Meeting Pokimane has changed your life for the better, making Among Us a pivotal part of your life.
Word Count: 5.2k
Unedited for now. I was eager to post. I will edit it later.
Corpse Masterlist
********
<< PART ONE
Tumblr media
After you left the apartment, you sat in the parking lot of some random store, trying to decide what to do now. Sighing, you opened your phone and went to Instagram. Corpse was probably wondering if it went okay.
Corpse: She left the stream, thank you!
Corpse: What exactly did you do?
Corpse: She’s sending Sean angry DM’s now.
Corpse: Hey, are you okay?
Y/n: Hey sorry, I had to pack. I’m fine, happy to help get her out of the stream. I switched off the power to her office.
Honestly, you wished you could have stood up against her more often than you did. She was four years younger, so you should have been able to have the say in things. But no, Olivia was a control freak and a spoiled brat too. She would no doubt tell your parents you started a fight with her, and she felt unsafe.
Corpse: Wow, you’re badass. Packing for what?
Y/n: Um, she may have kicked me out of the apartment, and I may have left without a fight because I’m tired of her shit. 🤷‍♀️
Corpse: Do you have a place to stay?
Of course you didn’t and you really should have thought about that before just leaving the way you did.
Y/n: Not really but I will find somewhere.
Well you hoped you could. There weren’t many people who were keen in taking in a friend during a pandemic.
Corpse: Poki’s going to call you.
At that message, your phone started to wring and sure enough, it was Poki.
“Hello?” You asked hesitantly.
“So someone let it slip that your sister kicked you out?” Poki said calmly.
“Is that someone, Corpse?”
“Yes, he said it out of shock but I’m glad he did. Knowing you, you would have kept it a secret from me.” She was right. You hated inconveniencing your friends.
“Damn you, Corpse.” You muttered making her laugh. “Yeah so I ruined Olivia’s stream and she started screaming at me before kicking me out. I didn’t fight it because I am tired of her.”
“Understandable. Well do you need somewhere to stay?”
“Yes but I will find some place.”
“Nope, you’re staying with me. Come over now or I am coming out to drag you back to my place.” Her protectiveness made you smile.
“Sure, I’ll be there in a few.” You hung up.
Y/n: Thank you for looking out for my stubborn ass, Corpse. I would have never told her.
Corpse: Stubborn is one word to describe you. Cute is another.
That comment made your face heat up from the sheer adorableness of it. Corpse seriously just called you cute.
Y/n: Can I say you have a genuinely nice hand. It’s marvelous.
Corpse: Hey, don’t make fun of my hand. It takes all the heat for me. That hand is very anxious every time I post him.
Y/n: Awe I bet. Give him hugs from me. Also tell him I’m a big fan!
The easy flow of conversation between the two of you was nice. You got along extremely well and talking outside of the game was nice, since you could focus on what you really wanted to say to him.
Corpse: He’s flattered!
This was great and took your mind off Olivia and the fact she just kicked you to the curb with nowhere to go. But Poki was there for you. You appreciated her more than she knew.
You pulled up in front of her apartment building, parking the car, you got out and grabbed your stuff. Typing in the code Poki had given you a while ago, you were let into the building. Entering the elevator, you made your way to her apartment.
Barely knocking, the door flew open to reveal Poki. She looked mad but also worried. She pulled you into the apartment and hugged you tightly.
“Can I slap her for you?” She asked calmly.
This made you giggle. “I mean I would like to slap her as well.”
“We should make a plan. Hey, the group is still on, come say hi.” She started to lead you to her office.
“Are they still streaming?” You didn’t want to reveal your face to the world, not like this.
“Oh no. We ended our streams when Olivia started talking about you. She completely wasn’t respecting your privacy and we weren’t about to let her spill it to our viewers.” That was so sweet of them to do.
You had left your bags in the other room while you followed her. An idle conversation was going on when you entered.
“Hey guys, I’m back.” Poki took a seat in front of the computer, she pulled up a second chair. “I have someone special here.”
Sitting down, you saw her nod for you to say something. “Hey, did you miss me?”
They went wild.
“Y/n! Oh we missed you!”
“Don’t leave us again.”
“I’m sorry I invited your sister to stream.”
“Hey Y/n.”
The mix of voices was overwhelming in a good way. Sykkuno, Rae, Sean, and Corpse pretty much spoke over each other which made you laugh.
“One at a time, guys. You can’t overload her.” Leslie told them.
“Sorry Y/n. We just really missed having you here. You’ve become one of our favorite friends to play with.” Sykkuno said sounding as sweet as ever. That man was just the best.
“Yes, I can say we agree.” Rae added.
It was nice to hear they missed you. It really helped to lift your mood as well.
“Did your sister really kick you out?” Toast asked
“Yes she did. But it’s not surprising at this point. She’s probably been gunning to kick me out as soon as she could.” Sad truth
“Well she’s the worst player ever. She can’t keep a secret at all. I really should have never agreed to get her into the group.” Sean said sounding sad.
“Hey Sean, please don’t worry about it. She’s always weaseling her way into things. It’s completely not your fault.” One of the things she loved to do was incessantly DM other youtubers for collabs or for free stuff. She really had no morals.
“Well thank you, Y/n. You’re literally the sweetest.” Sean said earning a bunch of ‘I Agrees’ from everyone else. That really was helping make the night better.
“Who’s up for some more Among Us to relax after that shitshow?” Lud asked making everyone laugh hard. It was agreed the group would do it. Luckily, you had your laptop and joined the call and game and stayed in Poki’s living room to play. Honestly, it was so good for you.
**
At the end if gaming, you said goodbye to the group. Then Poki showed you to the extra room that used to be her roommates before she moved out last month.
“Hey, are you looking for a roommate?” You asked as you put the bags on the bed.
Poki sent you a smile. “I am. Are you interested?”
This was good. “Yes, I mean I still have to find another job since my main is still furloughing me until this pandemic gets better but I have some money saved up.”
“Hey, please don’t sweat it. Besides, I know a friend who’s in need of an editor, I may have mentioned your name and she really wants to talk to you about it. Is that okay?”
“Wow, that’s perfect. Thank you, Poki. You’re such a great friend.” It felt good to have someone there for you.
She pulled you into a hug. “Always. I am so glad I met you. You’re one of my best friends.”
This was an honor. “Don’t make me cry.”
“I can’t promise anything. Anyway, I will leave you to rest. It’s been a long night. Tomorrow I will give you my friends details.”
“Sounds good, night Poki.”
“Goodnight, Y/n.” She waved goodbye and closed the door behind herself.
Smiling, you sat on the bed. It was such a good thing that she was here got you. But also Corpse was the catalyst that got you to actually tell Poki was what happening. He was sweet and it seemed he was looking out for you.
After changing into comfy pj’s, you brushed your teeth before climbing into the freshly made bed. Opening Instagram, you saw that Corpse has messaged you.
Corpse: I don’t like being too forward but hey here we go. Can I please have your number so we can talk more easily?
A smile made its way to your face. For a tough man, he surely had a sweet way of getting to you
Y/n: Yes you can. xxx-xxx-xxxx.
The nerves jumped when you sent that message. Less than a minute later, you received a text from an unknown number.
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Hey Y/n, it’s Corpse. Would you mind if I called you so we could talk for a little?
You liked this idea truthfully. It only helped to show how genuine Corpse was being.
Y/n
Not at all. Please go ahead and call me.
Your phone rang, displaying Corpse’s name.
“Hello?” You answered the phone while pushing away the anxiety.
A soft deep laugh filled your ear. “Hey sweet girl. How are you feeling?”
His words made you want to sigh in the most lovesick way. That never happened these days.
“I’m good. Poki had an extra room I could crash in and well I might just be her new roommate.”
“I love that. She’s so much better than your sister I assume.”
“She is. Here I won’t have to deal with the incessant pandemic partying Olivia likes to do.” That selfish bitch.
“Shit, is she stupid? She does know she’s risking a lot of lives, right?” You loved that Corpse had the logic you craved.
“So she is stupid, and her response was always that it’s not her problem and that the vulnerable people should stay home.”
“She sounds like the typical beauty youtuber these days.”
“Yes, she is. She has no morals.”
“Well that’s not good. I guess that’s why her name keeps popping up all over social media. She really needs to be careful, before she becomes the next Tana.” He was right but you personally thought she was past that point already.
“It’s too late. She’s already passed the point of return with all of this.”
“Yikes. It’s good you got out of there when you did.” A soft but deep laugh was heard through the phone. The sound made you giggle. Hearing such a tough guy laugh the way Corpse laughs, made you feel giddy. “So about what I said earlier, I meant it.”
“Huh, what are you talking about?” You truly were a little lost by this.
Corpse laughed again. “When I called you cute earlier. I meant it.”
Heat filled your face and a small smile made its way to your lips. “Thank you, Corpse. That’s really sweet of you. I don’t like to show many people who I am because they will immediately connect me to Olivia, and I don’t want that.”
“I get that. I don’t show my face for fear they won’t like me when I do. All my fans have built up this expectation of what they want me to look like and now I just don’t want to let them down. Plus it’s nice being able to stay anonymous if I go into public, but of course people will hear my voice and know. Shit, it’s hard.”
“Awe, I’m sorry. I saw what the attention has done to some people, but I think not everyone goes into that headspace. Also, I think you should stay faceless if it makes you feel better. There is no rule that says you ever have to show your face. People who push you to do it have no boundaries.”
Corpse was quiet for a while and you thought you had offended him. “I’m sorry if I said the wrong thing, Corpse.” You squeaked.
“No, you said the right thing. I was just thinking. You’re right. A lot of people have been on me to reveal my face, but I never intend to. I want to be able to live my life without being swarmed by fans, or god forbid, them judging me by my appearance.”
“Which is really fucked. When I first appeared in my sister video, the comments were awful. They couldn’t understand how she was related to me, but I never thought I looked bad. But I guess they expected Olivia to be surrounded by people in her genre. It was so hard to see those comments.” Thinking back to it, Olivia had even added to it. Telling you that you should have tried to look more like her for the video. You should have worn something more colorful and put-on way more make up then you liked. But you hated that. That wasn’t you.
“I can’t imagine the things they said. Is that why you deactivated your twitter?” How did he know about that?
“Oh, yeah. How did you know about it?”
“I remembered seeing a story about it on YouTube last year. They didn’t show your face, so of course I didn’t know it was you. But I figured it out when Olivia joined the game tonight and she blabbered on about being your sister. I’m sorry you received that hate. No one deserves that ever.” His voice was calming you now.
“Thank you. Olivia seemed to add to it, as well. Fuck, she’s just the worst person.” Family definitely had the ability to be shitty. “Meeting Poki last year really was the best thing. But also joining this Among Us group has been so good for me. Thank you for accepting me.”
“Of course. You’re a natural in the game but you also fit very well with the group.” Corpse really hoped you believed him because this was true. The group had a whole conversation about it when Olivia finally left
“I’m flattered. The Corpse Husband is telling me I fit in with him and his streamer friends. Wake me up, I must be dreaming.” You knew his words were genuine because it was just easy to tell.
“You better believe it, baby, because it’s true.”
You stopped short when you heard him call you baby. Of course Corpse had used that word before but right now it felt more intimate.
Letting out a yawn you realized it was nearing 4 am. “I appreciate it.” You mumbled, feeling the events from the day seep in.
“You’re tired, aren’t you?” His deep voice was lulling you closer to sleep.
“No.” Another yawn broke through.
“You can’t lie to me, Y/n. Get some sleep and we will talk tomorrow.”
The words made you smile. “That sounds good, Corpsie. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, sweet girl.” Despite wanting to stay on the phone, you hung up. Sleep was quickly coming in to claim you. You can happily say you fell asleep with a huge smile on your face.
**
Waking up was easier than it had been in a long time. Normally you woke up to Olivia screaming at you or someone else. So it was nice to wake up to silence. It allowed you to relax and wake up properly.
Your phone buzzed from beside you. A text from Corpse is what you first saw, so you opened it.
Corpse
Good morning, sweet girl. I hope the night treated you well.
Sweet and to the point. His messages made you think he had a thing for you. Well you hoped he did but he also could just be treating you the way he treats friends.
Y/n
Yes, I slept well and for once I wasn’t awoken by my obnoxious sister.
It would he good not to live with her.
Corpse
I bet. Hey I hate to be the one to show you this, but your sister posted this on her instagram.
He then sent a link to the post. It made your blood boil.
::::
There was a picture of her, she was holding up a ripped picture of you. A huge frown was on her face.
oliviaxoxo It’s a shame when family starts to treat you like you weren’t the one to give them money when they needed it. This is my sister and she’s a bitch. For the last few years, she’s been the one editing my videos. Well I found out she was trying to sabotage me, so I had to fire her and kick her out. What a shame it is when family stabs you in the back. 🙃🙃
1,454,787 people like this
oliviafan23 Is this true? Damn, f*ck fake people.
queenolivia Sueeee herrrrr!
lovinliv Family ain’t shit. Spill her info so we can drag her.
sykkuwu Whoa, why are you spreading lies about your own family?
   |
queenolivia Why would you defend someone like that?
valkyrea You’re such a sad human for doing this. Stop lying.
pokimanelol Let’s see, none of this is true. Your sister has done so much for you and you’ve never appreciated it. Get some help for this.
corpse_husband This is sick. No wonder your name is always blasted everywhere. Do your sister a favor and stop talking about her.
    |
oliviaxoxo I don’t know why you’re defending my stupid sister, but that totally makes you not hot to me anymore. Ugh.
   |
valkyrea Uh, that’s what you got from this. Wow, you’re not worth this.
    |
corpse_husband What can you expect? The covid must have gone to her brain.    |
corpseandlivfan Whyyyyyyy Corpse, why would you stand up for her. Do you not realize how horrible Y/n is? Please tell me this is a joke!?!?
   |
 corpse_husband Well, she’s a good friend of mine and I won’t let people make up lies. So it’s not a joke.
::::::::
You were mad that she’d even say this shit publicly, but you should have known she would. She was nothing without her group of misguided followers.
Y/n
Can’t say I’m not surprised. This is so on brand for her. Thank you for sticking up for me. It means a lot.
Corpse
I would do it any day. She shouldn’t be able to get away with doing that to you.
Sadly, growing up, she did get away with doing the absolute worst shit and you always received the brunt of it.
Y/n
With any luck, she draws negative attention.
You clicked the link to view it again but instead were lead to a page that said the content was unavailable.
Y/n
I believe she just deleted the post.
Corpse
Oh, she did. That’s awesome.
It was. Olivia was never one to swallow her pride and admit any wrongdoings. That means she would never delete a problematic post, but she finally did
Y/n
I didn’t really read any other comments besides you and your friends and the top comments. I can’t imagine what her fans are really saying.
Olivia was completely okay with letting her fans attack people. It was seriously a huge mess. She fell into the category of YouTuber with the worst most entitled attitude.
Corpse
It’s good you didn’t read them, because they were horrible. I can’t believe she would let her fans do that.
Y/n
She’s done a lot of shady stuff. This is even before she blew up on YouTube. There is a lot of issues between us.
There was a lot that could be said about your relationship with Olivia and none of them were good. Forever it seemed, you had tried to make it work and hoped your sister would grow up and change but it never happened.
Corpse
I think she’s a vile human. From what I have seen and her complete lack of human decency, I just can’t help but feel she’s just not a good person and she never will be.
He was right. She would never change.
Y/n
You’re right. Hey, I have to go thank Poki for letting me stay but I also need to go back to that apartment to get the rest of my stuff. Can I call you when I get back?
Corpse
Yes, of course. Good luck heading over there.
Talking to him was pretty natural feeling. It was clear now that you were getting a massive crush on him. You had a crush on a man who’s face you’ve never seen. You couldn’t help it though, his personality just meshed so well with yours. He’d made you feel safe and wanted.
After getting dressed, you found Poki in the kitchen making breakfast. She sent you a sweet smile when you entered the room.
“Thank you for standing up for me against my sister on Instagram.” You were truly honored this group of friends liked you enough to do something like this.
“You’re welcome. I couldn’t just let her say that and get away with it. She’s done a lot to you, that you don’t deserve. Corpse messaged all of us the minute he found it and we all jumped into action. Sean and Felix were getting ready to comment when she deleted it.” She explained as she set a plate in front of you.
“I’m so honored. Thank you!”
“Of course, you’re one of us now and we will never let her get away with this stuff anymore.”
You could just cry with how loved they were making you feel. This is what had been missing in your life. Friends who genuinely cared about you and wanted to protect you from the nasty stuff Olivia was capable of doing.
“Would you come with me to the apartment to get the rest of my stuff?” You asked once the two of you finished eating.
Poki nodded. “Of course I will. You shouldn’t have to go alone.”
**
An hour later, you exited the elevator on the floor where you once resided. Your sister wasn’t home, which would be good but there was a chance she could return while you were packing. But you would deal with that when it came down to it. The two of you quickly got to work, packing your life up into the boxes you’d brought with you. Luckily, you weren’t one to collect a ton of stuff. You mainly just had to make sure your clothes and makeup were packed up.          
You and Poki would fill boxes and pile them by there door, then you would take them down to the car when you acquired a good amount. In the end, you figured you would fill maybe 10 boxes which is actually not too many considering you’ve lived in that apartment for five years.
Poki had left to go take two more boxes to the car while you finished up packing up your last few items. The front door closed, and you assumed it was Poki, but it wasn’t.
“Oh look who’s here? My lovely sister.” Olivia’s voice was flat and emotionless.
You rolled your eyes and turned to find her standing in the doorway, glaring at you. “Hello, Olivia. I’m just packing my stuff and then I’m leaving.”
“Who said you were allowed to come back here?” She grumbled, eyeing the boxes.
“Well, this is my stuff and I have every right to come pick it up.”
“If it’s in my apartment, it clearly belongs to me.” She snarled.
You snapped. “Cut it out, Olivia. This was my apartment too, until you kicked me out last night. You can’t just claim my stuff as your because you’re salty about me having friends.” She was a spoiled brat, and you were done letting her get away with it.
“I’m not the salty one. Everyone can see it’s you.” God she was so annoying. You taped up the last box and turned to her. She held her phone in her hand. “Everyone say hi to my sister. You know, the one I posted about earlier before someone reported my post.”
“Are you live?” You asked, keeping your face expressionless. Olivia would do this.
“I bet some of you remember the few videos I did with her. Well of course that was before she turned against me and decided she was going to try and ruin me. Say hi, Y/n.” A sick smile played on her face.
“I never consented to being in your live, Olivia. Please stop.” You tried to keep your voice calm so that she wouldn’t have any way to make you look like the bad person. But regardless, she was already doing it.
Olivia cackled. “Well I think I’m free to do as I please in my apartment.” You could only imagine what her fans were saying. “You’re right, Andrea, she is an idiot, and I should have her arrested.” She spoke aloud making your blood boil.
“You’re so immature, Olivia.” You grumbled before grabbing the last couple boxes and moving towards the door. Olivia decided to swat the boxes out of your hand, and they fell tumbling to the ground. “What the hell, Olivia. I could have fragile stuff in there.” You growled at her.
Olivia was just laughing. “This is funny. What else should I do, guys?” She asked as she panned the phone around the room.
Her immaturity was giving you a headache. Poki walked in and saw Olivia.
“Oh hey guys, look who’s here. Pokimane.” She panned the camera to Poki who frowned. Olivia just laughed and started talking shit until she was cut off by the stream just ending. “What the hell.”
You gathered the last few boxes, and Poki came to help while Olivia attempted to start another live.
“What the fuck, it won’t let me go live.” She growled while stomping her foot like a child.
“That’s what happens when an influx of people report your live.” Poki spoke as you both had gathered the boxes.
Olivia was frowning. “What did you do, Y/n.” She wanted to pounce at her, but Y/n and Poki were already at the door.
“Y/n did nothing, but I got word of your little livestream and contacted some friends for help. It will be at least 24 hours before you can have another live. But with the amount of people who reported you, well you may be banned for a while.” With that, you and Poki left Olivia standing there is absolute shock.
You and Poki put the last boxes in the car. “Thank you, Poki. How did you get so many people to report it?”
“Well it was actually Corpse. He texted me and informed me that she was doing a live and bothering you. He had his fans go report it, but apparently Sykkuno and Rae also sent their fans. I was going to send mine, but they had it handled. So this was all Corpse.” She explained.
Hearing this made you feel so soft for Corpse. “Awe wow. That’s so sweet of him.”
The two of you entered the car. “Y/n, can I tell you something without you telling him I told you?”
You looked over at her. “Yes, sure.” Your heart rate kind of picked up.
“Well the other day, Corpse admitted he has feelings for you, but he wasn’t completely sure if you felt the same way for him. But I mean I can clearly see you do. Your whole face just lit up when I mentioned him. So do you?”
Heat filled your face and you suddenly felt shy. “I do, yes. Which is ridiculous because I just met the guy, and I don’t even know what he looks like. But gosh, I like him so much. When I talk to him, I feel happy. He’s been so good to me through this crap with Olivia.” You admitted, knowing she already knew.
Poki smiled and squealed in complete happiness. “You two are just the most adorable people! It’s not ridiculous. We pretty much knew from the first time you joined us, that Corpse was into you. But oh my god, you’re into him. You need to tell him!!!!”
You agreed, Corpse deserved to know. “I do. But how? It’s been a really long time since I’ve told someone I liked them. Shit, I feel like I’m in high school again!”
This made Poki giggle. “Calm down, Y/n. I have a plan. Let’s get back to the apartment and we will talk about this. Rae also wants to be involved in this.”
Back at her apartment, you had jumped onto a call with Rae and the three of you talked about what your plan was for you to tell Corpse what you felt for him. Rae and Poki decided to organize an Among Us game strictly for fun and no one would stream, they would also use Proximity chat.
“So we will get him to follow you around until one of us is imposter, then we will lock you into wherever you end up. Do it then” Rae explained sounding so excited.
“Okay, that can work. Let’s do this!” You were nervous but also excited to finally do something good for yourself.
You and Poki set up for the gane and Corpse sent you a text.
Corpse
Are you joining the game tonight?
Seeing a text from him, made you feel giddy.
Y/n
Yep I am. So I will see you in game?
Corpse
Yes you will, angel.
Cue the insane butterflies.
**
The lobby loaded and it was you, Corpse, Poki, Rae, Sykkuno, Karl, Tina, Sean, Toast, and Leslie. All streamers you had grown to like a lot in the time you have been playing with them.
“Y/n, I am so happy you’re playing with us!” Tina gushed as her little character ran around yours.
“I’m happy to be here.” You really were.
“You’re sister is a piece of work, Y/n.” Sykkuno said.
You giggled. “Don’t I know it.”
“What did she do this time?” Sean asked.
“Decided to film a live when we went to get Y/n’s stuff from the apartment.” Poki explained.
“Oh, that’s gross.” Karl commented.
“I have to thank Corpse for helping.” You stated to the group.
“Yeah Corpse was quick to text us.” Sykkuno added.
“You’re welcome, Y/n. I wasn’t going to let her get away with what she was doing. Truth is, I got a bunch of fan DMs that were telling me what Olivia was doing. So a lot of my fans were already reporting it, but the tweet helped.” Corpse’s deep voice soothed you.
“I appreciate it so much. She was just being an immature brat as always.”
The group laughed before deciding to start the game. Poki and Rae agreed to text you when either of them were imposter. Now it was a matter of getting Corpse to follow you.
The group was on the Polus map, which seemed to be a favorite for everyone.
Rae
We should lock them in weapons.
Rae had texted you and Poki through the group text.
Poki
That’s the best place for them.
Y/n
Okay but I still have to get him to follow me.
Rae
He will. Just wait, I have a plan.
You trusted Rae and Poki to help you. Now it was time to admit it all to Corpse and hope he genuinely liked you back.
Y/n
Let’s do this!
PART THREE  >>                                         
985 notes · View notes
cloud9in · 3 years
Text
Promises (Poppy x MC) Part (2/?)
Read Part ONE (summary for fic is there)
ITS BEEN A MINUTE. @iamsimpforpoppy I hope you’re still around to read :P I love this story lol. Hope you guys do too!!!
Word Count (2.8k)
Bea and Poppy’s relationship became official a month after their initial meeting. One would say they moved quickly, too quickly. But every love story is different. This one in particular seemed to have little to none flaws, if you ignored the fact that Bea was promoted to Carter’s right hand woman in the Southside Spades.
 They did end up having that conversation after all.
 “…Are you sure Carter? I mean this is a huge deal and a special role-“
 “If I didn’t think you were capable you wouldn’t be here right now Goldilocks.”
 Carter winked and clinked his half empty beer bottle against Bea’s, who surprisingly had a nearly full bottle. He took note of the abnormality. 
 The blonde instinctively rolled her eyes at the nickname, “Okay but that name has to go. We need codenames……ooooh how about bimbo and himbo.” 
 “I’m guessing…..no, hoping I’m the himbo?!” Carter comments as he promptly tries to stop the laugh escaping from his lips.
 “Mmmmmmm, I’ll get back to you on that.”
 They share a laugh and Bea feels Carter’s gaze latch onto her in her peripherals. She could sense the shift of energy in the space between them, it almost felt uncomfortable, and that was something she never felt with Carter. “I never asked you if you were okay with such a role. If you aren't, I understand completely, I just want the best for you.”
 The blonde eyes soften at his comment and she looks at him, “never doubted that, where is this going though because you never express your feelings like a normal human being.”
 He pulls on the strings of her hoodie until it completely caves around her face, burying her whole.
 “Hey asshole!” 
 “That’s for talking too much.”
 Bea yanks her hoodie open and sticks her tongue out in a mock expression. “Oh boohoo. Poppy literally says the same thing, I don’t get it. I talk, it’s a problem. I don’t talk, it’s an even BIGGER problem. Damn a girl can’t ever exist in peace.”
 Carter places his bottle flat on the table and studies the blonde’s face. 
 She kept rambling on about her new girlfriend and the gang leader didn’t know it was possible to feel happy yet anxious at the same time. He was aware of when they entered the talking stage, went on their first date, and finally became official, because Bea told him everything. As much as the experience of being in a real relationship was new to her, Bea looked up to him and somehow she knew Carter would give her the best guidance possible. 
 It didn’t stop him from worrying. Like an older brother would. He feared the two would mix, and everyone knows that love and crime will eventually combust. He is no stranger to it.  
 “Bea.”
 “Did you know she stole one of my hoodies and actually won’t give it back?? What am I supposed to do, just take it? No she’d murder me.”
 “Jackson.”
 Her voice slowly dies down after sensing the seriousness in his tone. She takes a sip of her beer to ease the silence that sat in the air, and Carter responds shortly after.
 “You know I trust you with my life right? You’re very important to me, kid.” 
 “I know.”
 Guilt was a feeling he chose to lock away in an unbreakable box and bury six feet deep. There couldn’t be guilt in a lifestyle like this. But Bea was his only exception. And she was slowly bringing that box back up to the surface. 
 “I need you to promise me that you won’t let these two worlds collide.”
 “Carter….”
 “One of you will get hurt. And I won’t forgive myself if it’s you.”
 He leaves Bea at the table, the remnants of his comment still replaying in her head. She pulls out her phone and sees a text from Poppy on her lockscreen. 
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Can’t wait to see you tomorrow 😘 
 The blonde smiles unconsciously and opens the message to respond.
 I’m missing you like crazy. I have a special surprise for you.
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- You know I highly dislike surprises, just tell me. 
 And ruin the surprise? You must be crazier than I thought. 
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Jackson.
 Patience babe…tomorrow it is. 
 Bea clicks her phone shut and slips it back into her pocket before downing the rest of the beer. 
***
“You know your hand on my ass only makes them stare even more Jackson?”
 Bea bites her lips and gropes the blonde’s plump backside shamelessly while slowly whispering into her ear.
 “That’s the point, princess.”
 Poppy shivers almost instantly at the boldness. “Is this the surprise you were talking about?” Bea doesn’t answer, instead trailing her hand up Poppy’s skirt. This was definitely not the time and place for such behavior but she was clearly still learning everything about her girlfriend. 
 And it definitely felt good to call her that.
 “Since when did you get so brazen? You know you’re exactly the type of person my daddy told me to stay away from.”
 Bea laughs at that statement and wraps her arm around the blonde’s waist, “yeah? And why’s that?”
 “Well I can’t ask him now, he might rough you up and that’s my job.” 
 Poppy could feel the stares of everyone burning into them, but she could only focus on the blonde cuddled up against her. The shorter girl wouldn’t call herself an attention whore, but she sure loved the PDA that Bea projected without a care. It felt nice to be genuinely admired in public rather than putting on a mask everyday. 
 But it’s safe to say that Poppy preferred all the handsy stuff to happen in private. 
 “Do you want to grab dinner with me tonight Pops?”
 “Am I picking the place?”
 “…Yes.”
 “Then yes.”
 Bea rolls her eyes at the blonde’s downright shady self but smiles nevertheless. 
 “Now don’t cancel on me out of the blue. I will not be thrilled about it.”
 “Shouldn’t I be telling you this? Your dad always has something going on in his business that somehow has to involve you too.”
 Poppy sighs and glances over at Bea, “well you know I’ll have to take over eventually. Especially since I’m legally allowed to handle deals now.”
 “I hate that word. Legal. Ugh.” 
 The shorter girl scoffs and plants her hands on her hips, “yeah I bet you do.”
***
Bea dragged open her closet in search of clothes for dinner tonight but the dinging noise of a text distracts her. 
 C-Dog🖤- Need you tonight. Something came up, meet us at the garage.
Bea wanted to thank the gods up above that she didn’t promise Poppy that she’d show up for dinner. But that wasn’t going to save her from the fury of the blonde. Good thing it can’t get worse than that, right….?
Only it was. And Poppy will probably beat her up herself, if she wasn’t dead by the next day. 
Bea’s mind and heart races as she digs her brain for a proper excuse to tell her girlfriend, but is very unsuccessful. She’s good at drug dealing though. 
 Going with the good ole truth never really hurt right?
 Baby I’m so sorry I won’t be able to make it tonight. Got held up with the gang. I know I’m an asshole, I’ll keep in touch I swear. 
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- What else could I expect from my gang banger girlfriend 🙄 please stay safe..
 You know I always do.
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Do I? We need to talk about this tomorrow.
 Of course Pops.
 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Call me every chance you get or I swear I’ll track you and trust me you do not want me to do that.
 Yeah she definitely doesn’t. Especially since Carter sounded frantic over the phone. The last thing Bea needed was a paranoid girlfriend, so she played it cool like always. 
 Just simple stuff baby girl, talk soon.
 ***
“…What do you mean it’s gone?! So where is it? Do you know what this means Carter??”
 The gang leader sighs frustratingly, rubbing his eyes in efforts to gain some stability. “The product was here, and now it is not. Which can only mean it was stolen. And when I find out which son of a bitch did it, they’re dead.”
 “In the meantime, we are dead”, Bea emphasizes wildly. “This is the Red Raven gang we’re talking about. If they get any inclination that we lost their drugs, they’ll kill and replace us. No mercy. None.”
The blonde paces back and forth trying not to think about buying a plane ticket to Timbuktu. 
Carter approaches Bea and plants his hands on her shoulder, “breathe Jackson. You are my partner. The leader of this gang. So get it out of your system and start being rational.”
 The blonde lets her shoulders sag as she inhales and exhales in place for a while. The minute she’s grounded she catches Carter’s gaze and her eyes light up. “List. I need a list of whoever went in the room with all of the product. We need to narrow it down.”
***
“Jackson you’re a fucking genius.”
 “It’s called having common sense but I’ll take the praise. It’s the only one I’m getting from you anyways.”
 Carter resisted the urge to pick a fight with the younger girl, because finding stolen drugs and not getting killed seemed like a much better idea. 
 Bea figured out that Henry, one of the newly recruited members of SS was a thief, or maybe just a crackhead. Same thing. He was the last to be in that room so all eyes were on him, and guns.
 “Heyyy buddy. Henry right?”
 The shorter man trembled at the sight of a gun lodged right into his mouth. “Mmmm!”
 “Oh I’m sorry, did you want to say something? Here let me just”, Bea clicks the gun which only causes the thief to panic even more. It was almost pitiful. 
 “Alright lay off the poor sucker.” 
 Bea pulls the gun out of his mouth and sits down on a stool in front of Henry with a grin. “So…where is the stash darling?” 
 He points almost immediately to a built in storage locker with a shaky finger. 
 “Ohhh well that was so easy Henry! Glad you could comply. You should tell your friends to be more like you. But…between me and you, they might already be dead”, Bea whispers that last part slowly, smirking when Henry’s lip quivers violently. 
 “Please just do it already! Why are you guys waiting?”
 Bea raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced over at Carter who scanned the man’s face intensely. “I guess he wants to die? Talk about kinks I mean come on”
 “No.”
 Carter reaches his arm out towards Bea but never takes his eyes off Henry. The blonde watches in confusion until she realizes the thief is looking behind her, and so is Carter.
 “It’s a setup Bea, duck!”
 She dived for the ground quicker than lightning as a bullet flies through the air, leaving a trail of dust behind. Carter ducks for cover as well and starts firing rounds towards the men who snuck up on them. He managed to hit three of them but one grabs Bea by the leg and drags her against the rough concrete. 
 “Son of a- get your dirty hands off of my Dr. Martens. My girlfriend bought me these!”
 A swift kick to the face shut the blonde up real quick but she manages to recoil and send the man sprawling backwards into a row of barrels. 
 Carter guns him down and Bea finds her footing, pistol in hand and a thirst for revenge. But they never stopped coming. 
 Her and Carter were left battered and bruised, but alive. Their product was gone again though. But atleast they were alive. Carter told her that it was a theft mission primarily and neither of them were meant to die. But it only made Bea wonder who those people were.
 And why were they kept alive?
***
“Beatriz Naomi Jackson what the actual fuck?!”
 “Oh not the middle name…”
 Bea tries to avoid Poppy’s killer gaze as she surveys the damage that had been done to her girlfriend’s torso, legs, and face. 
 The strawberry blonde could barely mutter a word. Her mouth opened and closed in brief shock before collapsing next to the injured girl. 
 Bea could see the tears flowing down her rosy cheeks, which contrasted her porcelain skin. “Poppy…are you crying? I..please don’t..”
 “What do you expect me to do Bea? It kills me to see you hurt like this. Who did it? Tell me!” The blonde chokes on her own words as her hands hovers cautiously over Bea’s wounds, afraid to make her feel pain.
 “No I can’t tell you. I mean…I didn’t expect this to happen. It was a setup and we were outnumbered-“
 “We need to get you to a hospital Bea oh my god.”
 The blonde knew that she couldn’t go there. Not with the cops on the scene of the shootout, and actively looking for the people involved. Aka her and Carter. He told her to lay low and heal up, but she didn’t expect Poppy to be sitting on her bed waiting for her when she got home. The initial look on her face made Bea regret ever choosing this life. 
 She regrets it ever since being with Poppy. But it’s like a drug, once you start it’s hard to stop. 
 “I’ll call my father, he has the best doctors available and we’re gonna get your the right treatment and-“ 
 Poppy immediately cuts off, her eyebrows scrunching up until she realizes something. “Wait…what do you mean you were outnumbered Bea?” 
 Bea swallows heavily, praying that this conversation couldn’t escalate further, but that isn’t the case. 
 “Bea, answer me”
 “It..it was just me and Carter. We didn’t think there would be an ambush. We had just gone there to get goods we lost.”
 “And where is Carter? Does he know you’re like this right now? Did he leave you, I swear to god Bea if he left you…” Poppy’s voice cracks as her whole body shivers in violent waves. 
 Bea pulls her girlfriend in for a hug even though it causes every inch of her body to sting harshly. It was the comfort that she needed though. Watching Poppy breakdown over the sight of her was too much, and she began to contemplate everything. 
 “Pops listen to me, I cannot go to the hospital right now. There are cops looking for us.” The strawberry blonde stares at her until she understands the velocity of Bea’s words. 
 “Fine. But there will be a doctor that will come to treat you at my house. And you’re coming, I don’t want to hear it.” 
 Bea knew not to protest that. It was quite obvious this whole incident has left both parties distraught and she didn’t want to try and tell Poppy how to feel. 
 “Just tell me something. Are you in immediate danger? Is someone trying to harm you right now.”
 The blonde chose her words carefully. Because even after coming home beaten to a pulp, she still couldn’t tell the love of her life the full truth. 
 “No Poppy, they just wanted the drugs. They got what they wanted. I’m not in danger.”
 For now.
 “I will be okay.”
 I hope.
 “Don’t lie to me Jackson. I can’t do this if you lie. You promised me you wouldn’t get to the point where you’d have to choose between me and the gang.”
 “I know Poppy…I-“
 “You promised.”
 “And I’m going to keep that promise-“
 “Yeah the hell you are. And you’re going to promise me that you won’t ever come home like this again. You’re going to get yourself killed before we even start our life together. Our future.”
 Bea sucks in a breath which punctures her chest. She couldn’t tell if the injuries or Poppy’s words had caused that terrible ache. “Our…Wait I..”
 “I love you Jackson. I…don’t care if you think it’s too early to say that. I don’t care if I sound too cheesy for a mean girl. I love kissing you and feeling the laughter run through your body when we hug. I love being the reason you smile. I love you. And you don’t have to say it back. I just..I needed you to know-“
 “I love you too. Probably maybe from the moment I met you.”
 Poppy’s eyes seemed to glisten once again and this time there was no sadness etched into the shape. She smiled a pure smile and wrapped her arms around Bea in a tight hug. 
 She captures her lips in a searing kiss that leads to a trail of kisses down the strawberry blonde’s neck, dip of her collarbone, and chest. Bea kisses her until her chest gives out from exhaustion and pain.
 “Then you have to promise that this won’t happen again.” 
 “I promise.”
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES: They’re gonna be fineeeee, right guys??? Graduation next chapter woooo.
Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme  @baexpoppy @poppysmc @doey-eyes8 @veenast @straightlikewetspaghetti @phoennixxsblog
60 notes · View notes
fanficshiddles · 3 years
Text
Stitching The Wounds, Chapter 9
Tumblr media
It was an hour later and Loki returned home first. He grinned when he walked into the living room and found Leona watching TV, eating some popcorn and wearing his hoodie.
‘Hello my little omega.’ He purred and walked over to her.
She smiled at him as he sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug which surprised her a little. But she liked it.
He then cupped her chin and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, lingering for a moment which took her breath away. Her cheeks reddening.
‘Hi.’ She squeaked out.
‘You’re wearing my hoodie.’ Loki grinned, looking down at said hoodie.
‘Oh… Yeah, I forgot I still had it on. It’s really comfy.’ She said sheepishly and was about to take it off, but Loki stopped her.
‘You suit green. Don’t worry, you can wear my clothes whenever you wish.’ He winked at her and settled next to her, his arm around her. ‘What’s mine is yours, doll.’
She took a moment but then she leaned into him and relaxed under his arm, her head against his chest.
‘Have you had a good day?’ He asked quietly, rubbing her upper arm softly.
‘Mmmhmm. How was school?’
‘It was fine.’ Loki shrugged.
She turned her head to look at him, grinning. ‘I bet you’re a really strict teacher, right?’
Loki threw his head back, laughing.
‘Some would say that. But I am fair. There has to be a balance, it’s not just about teaching but connecting with them too. I think a lot of teachers forget that every student is a human being, all with their own problems and issues out with school. All with their own personality. Which can affect their work and way of learning. It’s about finding what works for each individual student. Being strict constantly isn’t the best way to teach, unless of course someone is just taking the piss, that’s when I can get stricter.’ Loki explained softly.
‘Mmm… That makes sense.’ She nodded. ‘I uh, was having a look around and I saw the box you have of gifts from students. It seems that you really made an impression with so many, so you must be a good teacher.’
‘Oh you were being nosey, were you?’ Loki raised an eyebrow but he smirked, giving her arm a squeeze.
‘I wanted to see what else I could find out about the two Alphas I’m living with.’ She said innocently, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
Loki chuckled. ‘I have had some wonderful students over the years.’
‘What age do you teach now? I noticed there was a bit of a mix by the looks of it.’ She asked.
‘Right now, ages around sixteen. So for some, it’s their last year of education. Others want to go on to College or University. Or stay on for another year or two. I did teach primary school pupils for a few years a while ago, they were around six and seven. A lot of fun, but incredibly hard work.’ He smiled fondly.
‘Were they scared of you?’ Leona asked with a smirk.
‘At first, they were terrified. But by the end of the first day they loved me and were all hugging me before leaving.’ He chuckled.
‘You do seem to have that vibe… You and Kilgrave both do, actually.’
‘What, scary?’ Loki raised an eyebrow.
‘Yeah. You are both Alphas and quite intimidating at first.’ Leona said honestly. ‘But I think you’re both just big softies really.’
Loki slid his hand down from her arm to her side, giving her a slight tickle, making her laugh. ‘Don’t tell other people that, it will ruin our reputation.’ He teased.
While Leona had meant what she said, she still knew they had a mean swing. And had proof of that. She didn’t doubt they would be able to keep her in line and give her a good challenge. But she knew she was safe with them. And that meant absolutely everything.
Kilgrave arrived home later when Loki and Leona were eating dinner. He greeted them, kissing Leona, then went upstairs to get changed.
Suddenly Loki and Leona both heard a loud wail come from upstairs. Leona couldn’t help herself from laughing. Loki looked across the table at her, an eyebrow up.
‘What did you do?’ He asked firmly.
She covered her mouth and tried to contain her laughter. ‘Me? Nothing...’ She said innocently, but Loki could tell she was far from innocent.
‘Stay here.’ He growled at her before heading upstairs to see what Kilgrave was so distraught over.
When he walked into Kilgrave’s room, he had to cover up his own laughter as he put his hand over his mouth.
Kilgrave had his drawers open and they were a mess. His hair was a mess too as he’d ran his hand through it so many times in the last minute in despair at the sight on front of him.
‘She is SO in trouble.’ Kilgrave snarled as he started re-organising the drawers.
‘Mate… I know this is a big deal for you.’ Loki started as he sat down on the end of his bed and watched. ‘But she doesn’t know, you can’t give her into trouble for pulling what she thought was a funny prank... And it kind of is.’ He grinned.
Kilgrave sighed in irritation and he took a few deep breaths before turning to face Loki, who quickly tried to put on a serious face. Kilgrave glared at him and clenched his jaw. He turned back to continue tidying first his boxers back into a neat order.
Loki couldn’t control himself while Kilgrave kept muttering under his breath, taking his time to organise everything and folding his socks together. Loki was almost pissing himself laughing at the situation. Kilgrave kept glaring at him over his shoulder.
‘We need to tell her.’ Loki said once he was able to calm himself down from laughing.
Kilgrave sighed and ran his hand through his hair again.
‘I was hoping we wouldn’t have to.’
‘Once you claim her, you know it’s only going to become more difficult. You’ve always been expecting this. If she knows, it will be for the best. Trust me.’ Loki said as he stood and patted him on the shoulder.
‘Fine… I’ll be down soon.’ He sighed.
Loki gave Leona a look and a smirk when he went back downstairs. She just giggled and put her plate away in the sink.
‘When Kilgrave comes down we need to talk to you.’ Loki said as he finished his dinner.
‘Oh? What about?’ Leona asked.
‘I think you know what about.’ Loki drawled.
Leona felt her ass tightening at the thought of possibly getting another spanking already.
But she knew it was something else, something serious, when Kilgrave came down and they all went into the living room to talk. Loki turned the TV off too.
Kilgrave narrowed his eyes at her briefly and shook his head. ‘That was quite the prank you pulled on me, pet.’ He growled. ‘It’s a good job you’re cute, or you’d be in serious trouble for doing that.’
Leona smirked but continued to try and look innocent. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’ She teased. ‘So what is it you need to talk to me about?’  
Kilgrave sighed and ran a hand down his face. ‘When I was younger, I really struggled with control issues. I used to struggle with not being in full control of everything and everyone. I received help with it when I was younger, which helped a lot. In a way, being a bit of a control freak helps with my job, but at the same time it can affect personal relationships and friendships. I am much better at controlling it than I used to be, but there are still times I struggle. We have suspected for a long time that when I get an omega it would become a bit more difficult to manage. Which is why Loki and I decided it was best to tell you.’
Leona was slightly stunned, she hadn’t expected that. But it did make sense. And she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach now for doing what she did to his drawers.
‘I… I’m sorry, for doing that. I wouldn’t have done it if I had known.’ She said and looked down at her hands in her lap, feeling genuinely bad.
‘No, it’s ok. Loki got a right kick out of it anyway.’ Kilgrave growled slightly and glared over at Loki, who started laughing again. Kilgrave leaned over and put his hand over Leona’s hands. ‘I’m not a bad person, I wouldn’t ever hurt you. I want you to know that. But there might be times where I seem like I am being too bossy or strict, but I can’t completely help it sometimes.’
‘If you ever feel like he is being unfair, such as this morning with not wanting you to go out alone, you can call him out on it.’ Loki said.
‘Yes, just tell me you think I am being unfair. And we can talk about it. Sometimes I just need someone to reason with me a little bit to see that I am overreacting.’ Kilgrave nodded.
‘And at least I am here too, which I think will help. As I will be able to keep him in line a little if he is being ridiculous. Or keep you in line if you are trying it on and being naughty.’ Loki winked at Leona, making her laugh a little.
‘I know you’d never hurt me. You’ve been nothing but kind to me.’ She smiled at Kilgrave. ‘I guess having me as your omega isn’t going to make things easy in regards to your control issues though.’
‘Don’t start with any of that, Leona.’ Loki growled in warning, knowing where she was going with it. ‘We don’t want to hear it.’
‘Loki’s right, we don’t want to hear it.’ Kilgrave said, giving her a look.
‘Alphas have a level of control over their omegas as it is, I’m hopeful that once we all settle in together everything will fall into place. But as we’ve said, if you feel Kilgrave is being unfair then just say something.’ Loki said.
‘I won’t be offended, as I know it’s an issue that might rear its ugly head at times.’ Kilgrave said honestly. ‘But I have never been violent… well, only to Alphas that deserve it… But I would never lay a finger on you in that way. I promise you that.’
‘I know you won’t.’ Leona said. ‘But uhm… am I going to be spanked for messing up your drawers?’
Loki and Kilgrave looked at one another then they both smirked.
‘No, you’re not.’ Kilgrave chuckled.
Leona tried to hide the fact she was slightly disappointed…
‘You didn’t know. And it was a damn good prank.’ Loki grinned. ‘One that I have thought about doing many times myself, but I know I’d get my head ripped off if I even dared to try it.’
‘You’re not cute like Leona is, so you most definitely wouldn’t get away with pulling a stunt like that.’ Kilgrave said as he glared at Loki, making Leona giggle.
‘I guess maybe having an omega might help.’ Leona said as she fiddled with her fingers. ‘As you will be able to focus on me. Maybe having some control over me, which you do, might help. As an outlet, in a way?’ She suggested.
Kilgrave and Loki smiled, realising she was right. It might be the opposite to what they originally thought and might help Kilgrave instead.
After their talk, the three of them snuggled on the sofa together. With Leona on Kilgrave’s lap and her legs draped over Loki’s. Kilgrave felt calmer now, and he was glad they told Leona about his issues. She didn’t seem worried at all, which relieved him.
Leona felt closer to them after today. It was weird, in a way. She felt like it made Kilgrave more human in a sense. That perhaps the two Alphas weren’t as perfect as they first seemed to be. Which actually made her even more comfortable. As she felt like she didn’t need to be perfect to impress them.
She could hopefully just be herself.
109 notes · View notes
weelittleweasley · 3 years
Text
Little Lion | Ron x Reader
Prompt as requested by 2 anons: Naturally as a Slytherin, you exude confidence and intimidation. Ron Weasley, on the other hand, not so much. But that’s what made you so attracted to the other, much to everyone else’s surprise. Question is will he muster up the courage to ask you to go to the Yule Ball with him?
Warnings: None!
Word Count: 3.8k
A/N: IMPORTANT NOTE: I know, I know, I know, the Yule Ball is only around for the Triwizard Tournament, but let’s pretend like it doesn’t exist just then!! I wanted to age everyone up to year six and give Ron and opportunity to redeem himself from the robes his mother sent him hehe. I literally am a fucking fiend for Ron Weasley, my love for him should be ILLEGAL. Ron content on here is MINIMAL TO NONE! If anyone has any great fic recs for Ron, PLEASE SEND THEM MY WAY. LOOK AT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!! I AM IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!!!!!!!!!
Tumblr media
All it took was for you to walk down the hall to get people to look at you and start whispering between each other. It wasn’t a bad thing at all, in fact you quite liked it. You were a confident girl and sometimes that confidence intimidated people. It gave you this sense of power that you liked to use when you needed something out of someone. Not to mention the people you surrounded yourself with in your house were also quite intimidating people, one of them being Draco Malfoy. 
You and Draco were best friends, a dynamic duo of sorts. People thought that you two would end up together, falling madly in love. But Draco was like your brother. He took you under his wing when you got Hogwarts and he was the person who helped you unlock that unfaltering confidence within you. Besides, Draco and you’s personalities clashed too much for it to work with you. You were both dominant, confident, intimidating people; Both of you needed to be in control at all times. Far too similar. 
Instead, you took a liking to people who were more reserved. People who thought before they acted upon their impulses. You needed someone who balanced you out. But someone who could dominate you and keep you at bay when you needed it. Only problem was people like that were scared of you or found you unapproachable. Which you understood, but at the same time, you wished that those people could suck it up and make a move.
As you walked down the hall today, Draco made his way next to you. “We should skip Potions today,” he states as you roll your eyes. Sometimes Draco kept this cool boy act up too much and you knew he was a big softie on the inside and he actually enjoyed school more than he liked to admit. “Seriously. We could ditch Slughorn’s class and hang out in the common room or by the Black Lake,” he tries to tempt you.
“Dray, we’re going to class whether you like it or not,” you speak as you continue to walk to class, Draco groaning when you tell him this. “Slughorn is may be old, but he says valuable things,” you push his shoulder.
The blonde boy just sighs. “I hate when you’re right.”
The both of you walk into Potions class, your face lighting up when you see that your other friends from Slytherin were already in class, awaiting your arrival. You grab a seat with Draco on your right and Pansy on your left. Pansy already starts gossiping about people who you could honestly care less about, but you give her the attention she wants anyway, her being one of your closest girl friends in the school. 
As she blabs on about some poor girl from Hufflepuff that she picked on during lunch, you watch as some Gryffindors enter the classroom, your eyes sticking on the Weasley boy. Ron Weasley was someone who you watched from afar. He was one of those boys who had that boyish charm that made you blush. The ginger was funny, for sure, but he had thoughtful and kind mannerisms that made your heart flutter when you watched him. You picked up on how he would notice when Granger would get distressed and he would offer her a sweet from his backpack that he had stored for occasions like this. You watched how he always packed more than one quill because Potter always managed to forget his. You watched how his eyes widened with fear when Slughorn would talk about how Potions can go wrong quickly, the Weasley boy fearfully concocting his. All of those little ticks made you develop a little crush on him after months of watching him.
Ron sat down in his typical seat next to Hermione and Harry, but he could feel a set of eyes on him from the moment he walked into the classroom. “Is she looking at me?” he nervously asks Harry. 
Harry glances over in your direction, watching that your eyes were glued on Potter’s best friend. When you notice Harry looking at you, you quickly turn away and pay attention to Pansy who continues to ramble. “She was,” Harry reports back. Ron nervously groans. “Oh come on, maybe she has a crush on you.”
“I highly doubt it. I bet she’s planning how to rip my heart out of my chest and then serve it to Malfoy on a silver platter,” his voice cracks. “She scares me.”
Hermione rolls her eyes, “Oh, please, Ronald. Just because the girl is confident and knows what she wants doesn’t make her scary; it makes her smart. I don’t know why she would have a crush on someone like you.”
Ron just looks at Hermione. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he exclaims.
With a huff, Hermione turns to Ron and Harry. “It means I’m surprised that she doesn’t have a crush on someone like Draco or Blaise Zabini. She likes someone like you, Ronald. Merlin, I didn’t think I would have to spell it out for you,” she turns back to the board, ready to start class. 
Your conversation with Pansy is interrupted when Professor Slughorn appear in front of the classroom and starts class, telling you to get into pairs. You turn to Draco, who was always your partner, Pansy with Blaise, Crabbe with Goyle. Everyone in the class regardless of their houses worked with the same people. Slughorn notices this and asks, “How about we switch it up and work with different people?” This earns a chorus of groans from the class. “I’m glad all of you are so eager to work with each other,” he says sarcastically. “I’ll assign the partners.” This earns more groans from the class.
Slughorn starts to pair people up with each other. You start to think that Slughorn is trying to make drama in the class when he starts. “Parkinson and Potter,” he announces.
“You’re bloody joking,” Pansy huffs making you laugh with Draco, making Pansy turn beet red. She grabs her things and moves to a work table in the back of the classroom. 
Slughorn continues to rattle off names of unlikely duos. “Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy,” Slughorn continues as you have to stifle your laugher and Draco whispers multiple profanities, slapping your shoulder, him grabbing his things in a huff. Hermione was definitely not happy about this pairing either as she has a scared look on her face as she looks at Ron before she moves to the back tables. “Miss (Y/L/N) and Mr. Weasley,” Slughorn announces.
Your heart quite literally stops and Ron looks like a deer in headlights. You did not expect this pair to happen. You can hear Draco cackling in the back of the classroom as you whip your head around. “Shut it, you nitwit,” you spit at him as he continues to laugh. You grab all of your belongings and make your way to a back table as Ron follows. Draco is still laughing, so you waste no time, slapping him upside the head, him letting out an ow! as you do so. “Bloody moron,” you huff at him before plopping down at a table with a shy Ron next to you. It is awkward. 
Slughorn calls out the last few partners before giving you the assignment for the  day. After he finished speaking, the class is silent for a long beat before the small chatter beings. You turn to Ron and offer him a small smile which he nervously reciprocate. The poor bloke is afraid of me, you think too yourself. “-so-”
“-um-”
The both of you talk at the same time. “You go,” you insist to Ron.
He shakes his head. “No, no, go ahead, I don’t even know what I was going to say, something stupid probably,” he tells you. His comment makes you lightly laugh. You suggest how you should start the task given. “Yep, much smarter than what I was going to say.”
You laugh again, “I’m sure what you were going to say was not stupid, Ron.” You had him a few vials of liquids needed to craft this potion. He carefully takes them from your hands and you notice how he actively avoids touching his hands against yours as if they were poison. Your heart kind of sinks at this. Were you that intimidating to him? You start, “You know,” you grab a pair of gloves, “I don’t bite. I know other people in the school say otherwise, but I’m not that bad.”
Ron gives you a genuine smile and laughs, looking down as his feet. “I’m sure you don’t,” he tells you as you blush lightly. “I guess pretty girls scare me.” Your heart rate picks up at the compliment, gulping a little bit, not making eye contact, too scare to. This was so unlike yourself. Ron clears his throat, “Anyway, let’s start, shall we?”
Within thirty minutes, you and Ron have completed all of the assignments for today’s class. You still had thirty minutes left of class, but Slughorn comes over. “Everything looks right to me!” he exclaims with excitement. “Well done, Miss (Y/L/N) and Mr. Weasley! Since you’ve completed your work, I can dismiss you early from class!” 
“What? That’s rubbish!” yells Draco from the other side of the room. You stick your tongue out at him before grabbing your things and thanking Slughorn for the great class. 
You and Ron exit the class. “Job well done, indeed,” you laugh as you nudge Ron’s shoulder as he laughs. The two of you walk side by side down the hall. “Um, well, I guess I’ll see you around, Weasley.”
Starting to walk in the opposite direction, you hear Ron call, “Wait! Uh...” You turn around to see Ron behind you. “I have nothing to do for the rest of the day, and I was, um, do you wanna hang out by the Black Lake? I had snacks that I stole from the kitchen this morning.”
You cannot prevent the smile that forms across your lips. “Yeah, sounds fun.”
Ron’s lips form a cheeky grin. “Wicked.”
The two of you made your way to the Black Lake, making small talk here and there until you reached your destination. The both of you sat side by side on the grass as Ron handed you a bag of crisps from his backpack as you thank him for the snack. “So,” he starts, “this might be a weird question, but...why are you friends with people like Malfoy and Parkinson?”
You smile and lightly laugh at the question. “Draco and I are like siblings. He’s the brother I never had. When I got to Hogwarts, as hard as it may be to believe, I was really shy. I didn’t talk to many people and he took me under his wing. He helped me find my voice. I owe that to him. But that’s all that Draco and I are. Friends,” you stress, trying to express that you and Draco’s relationship was simply platonic. Ron nods. “Pansy on the other hand, she and I became friends because of Draco, but to be honest, she annoys me more than she does entertain me.”
This makes Ron laugh. “I thought I was the only one who found her dreadful,” he chuckles.
“What about you? Why are you friends with Harry and Hermione?” you ask him before munching on a chip.
Ron takes a deep breath in. “Like you said, Harry’s my brother. He gets me into deep shit, but he’s my brother.” You laugh at his passing joke, Ron looking at you out of the corner of his eye. “But seriously, Harry and I met on the train to Hogwarts. He and I have been inseparable since. Hermione, on the other hand, butt her way into Harry and I’s friendship. Again, she gets me into some deep shit, too, but here I am...The two of them are much braver than I am though, so I don’t quite understand why they think I’m a good addition to this team.”
You nudge his shoulder. “I disagree with that,” you speak truthfully. “You’re a Gryffindor! You’re like a lion,” you shimmy your shoulders, making him laugh.
“A little lion,” he retorts. 
“More of a lion than I am,” you counter, making him blush.
-------
More classes like this came along. You and Ron partnered up and finished your assignment for the day early, escaping class to hang out by the lake, eat snacks, and clown around. The more time you spent with Ron, the more comfortable you were with each other. But most of your interactions were limited to Potions class and your Blake Lake encounters. Other than that, you hung out with different people, spend your free time doing different things. This made you both cherish your private moments more. 
You sat by the Black Lake today, eating biscuits that your mom sent in a parcel to you. As you munched, you spoke, “The Yule Ball is coming up.” The mention of the Yule Ball makes the both of you tense. Neither of you had dates yet and you both secretly hoped the other wanted to go with each other. “You reckon you know who you want to ask?”
Ron munches on his biscuit quietly before swallowing. “Not really,” he lies through his teeth. I want to take you, Ron thinks. “What about you?” You shake your head no. I want to go with you, you think. “I’m sure you’ll have someone ask you, (Y/N). How could you not get a date? Look at you,” he tells you as you blush. 
You wanted to scream at him to ask you. That you wanted him to take you to the Yule Ball so you didn’t have to go with someone like Crabbe or Goyle. But you don’t. You just sit and finish your biscuit. “I think I’m gonna head back,” you confess, not really wanting to stay any longer with Ron no matter how much you actually wanted to capitalize on your time with him. 
As you rise, Ron watches you gather your things. You bloody idiot, just say it, he thinks to himself. Mustering up all of the confidence he has, Ron stands up and stops you. “(Y/N)?” he asks, stopping you from walking away from him. You look at the Weasley, waiting for him to say something. Anything. Ron takes a deep breath in and then says, “Go to the Yule Ball with me.”
Your heart flutters and the biggest smile appears on your face followed by beet red cheeks. Ron stares at you, relishing in how beautiful you look in this moment with kind eyes and rosy cheeks. “Okay. Yes,” you shake your head, making Ron smile wide.
“Brilliant,” he whispers, picking up his bag, walking back to the castle with you. “I’m glad you said yes.”
Nudging his shoulder, you tease, “Well, you didn’t make it a question, little lion.” Ron chuckles. “I would have said yes either way,” you admit.
-----
The Yule Ball rolled around and you were ball of nerves and excitement. You couldn’t wait to just go downstairs and see Ron and spend the evening with him. You looked at yourself in the mirror one last time, smoothing your hands over the satin crimson fabric of your dress. You smiled to yourself, you chose this dress mostly because of how beautiful it was, but also knowing it was the colors of Gryffindor. You wanted everyone to know who you were at the dance with. You were wearing these colors with pride tonight. 
Before you made your way to the ball, you met up with Draco. “Wow,” he claps as you walk towards him, you rolling your eyes. “You look stunning,” Draco tells you as you smile.
“You look fine,” you shrug as Draco teasingly slapping your shoulder. “I’m kidding, Malfoy, you look great.”
Draco offers you his arm as you both make your way to the hall where the Ball was. “I never asked you,” Draco says, “who was the lucky bloke who asked you?”
As you turn the corner to the hall, there Ron was, dressed in a black suit with a jacket that was a smidge too big on him. Probably a hand-me-down from Fred or George. Regardless, Ron looked handsome as ever. Your heart thumped out of your chest when you saw him. “Him,” you whisper breathlessly. 
Draco chuckles at first because he thinks you’re kidding. “You’re going with a Weasley?” he asks in disbelief. You ignore his snide comment, disjoining you from Draco, and you walk over to Ron. Draco turns to Zabini, “Did you know she was going with Weasley?” Zabini shakes his head. “What has gotten into her?”
Ron feels as if he may faint. You looked absolutely breathtaking in your dress of crimson, hair perfectly falling to frame your face. He felt like a fish out of water in his older brother’s old suit, but his thoughts were pushed aside when you approached him. “You are gorgeous,” he blurts, making you blush. “I can’t believe you’re my date,” he lightly laughs, grabbing your hand. “I’m the luckiest guy here.”
Smiling at the boy in front of you, you squeeze his hand. “I can’t believe you’re my date,” you confess. “I have the kindest, handsomest boy as my date to the Yule Ball.” Ron blushes a deep shade of red, almost matching your dress. “You want to go in, lion?” you call him his nickname. Ron nods and guides you inside to the ball. 
-----
The Yule Ball was fun for the first hour and a half. But soon enough you grew tired of dancing and jumping around. Ron looked over at you and spoke over the music, “You wanna get out of here?” You don’t even have to answer him, you just grab his hand and start making your way out. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he laughs. 
When you are outside of the hall, Ron tells you, “Give me one minute. I need to grab something from my room before we go. I’ll be right back.”
You watch him leave, a big smile on your face as you smooth out the material of your dress. This night felt nothing short of magical. Ron was a gentleman, making you laugh, dancing with you the whole night, making sure you were comfortable. He was perfect.
“You went to the ball with Weasley? (Y/N), you can do so much better,” Pansy laughs from behind you. “He’s a complete git.” Anger starts to rise in your chest. “You really could have anyone in this school and you chose the man who wears his brothers’ old clothes. He can barely stand up for himself, he has to let Granger fight his battles for him.”
“Will you shut it, Parkinson?” you snap. “Just because Draco didn’t ask you to the Yule Ball doesn’t mean you have to pick on everyone else’s dates because you are unhappy that you had to settle for Goyle. It’s not my fault that you get upset when people are happier than you. So how about this? Keep your opinions to yourself, because I can assure you no one wants to hear them. Not me, not Draco, no one.” Pansy’s face turns sheet white. “I like Ron. I think he’s brilliant. And I’m going to enjoy my night with him.”
The silence between you is deafening when you finish. Pansy just stares at you as you catch your breath from yelling at her. You hear someone clear their throat behind you. Spinning around, you see Ron behind you. You wished you could feel embarrassed right now, but you don’t. You just grab his hand and leave a shocked Pansy behind. “Merlin, remind me not to make you angry,” Ron diffuses the situation, brilliantly. You laugh at him before intertwining your fingers, leaving the Ball behind and escaping to your signature spot.
Draco leaves the hall and sees you leaving with Ron, hands clasped together. “Can you believe her?” Pansy asks Draco.
Draco just looks at Pansy. “I don’t care who she’s with. As long as she’s happy and they make her happy. That’s all you should care about too,” he speaks before walking away from Pansy with Crabbe and Goyle not too far behind him.
Soon, you and Ron arrive to Black Lake and sit beside each other on the grass in your ball attire, not caring if it gets dirty at this point. You look out at the lake as it shimmers in the moonlight. The night was beautiful. Just chilly. Ron immediately notices you shiver and without hesitation, he takes off his suit jacket and places it over your shoulders. “You don’t have to,” you insist.
“Yes, I do. Don’t want you to get sick now, do we?” Ron smiles at you, wrapping an arm behind you carefully as you lean into him. 
The two of you sit in a comfortable silence, you resting your head on his shoulder as he lays his head on yours. “What did you have to grab from your room?” you curiously ask him. 
You can feel Ron smile against your hair. “Reach into my jacket pocket. The left one.” You do so and pull out a small red rose. Its petals were lightly crushed from being pushed into his suit jacket pocket. You look up at Ron, eyebrows furrowed as if to say what’s this all about? “I wanted to get you a whole bouquet, but they wouldn’t have fit in my pocket,” he jokes as you laugh. “I like you, (Y/N). A lot. I like spending time with you and being around you. You make me happy. So, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my girlfriend?” 
His confidence is palpable. You’d been rubbing off on him. He must have been rubbing off on you because there is a deep shade of red on your cheeks, you feel almost unable to speak. You finally find the words and say, “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Weasley.”
Ron smiles big and just gawks at you. “You’re my girlfriend now?”
“I’m your girlfriend,” you repeat as he laughs. “And you’re my little lion now.”
The two of you just look at each other for a moment before he speaks, “I’m going to kiss you...if that’s okay.” You nod your head and close the gap in between you two. The kiss is gentle and his lips are soft against yours. He kisses you like he is afraid of breaking you. His hand cups your cheek, pulling you in closer. You smile lightly into the kiss before pulling away slowly. “Bloody hell,” he whispers, inches from your face. “I’m so glad that this went better than I expected,” he admits as you laugh at your boyfriend.
307 notes · View notes
Text
Delightful, chapter One (Javier Pena x reader)
Paring : Javier Peña x reader
Warnings : none
Author's note : I wanted to write an 'ennemies to lovers' with Frankie but he's so soft that didn't work so here we are.
------
It’s not that you hated Javier Peña (Jesus, you wondered how many women thought that very same sentence everyday).
You had met him one busy night during your first week on the job. He’d been polite, had even introduced himself and explained :
‘I’m a regular, might as well know me by name.’
He’d even asked for yours. But the moment your co-worker Carla had stepped behind the counter he had completely switched and had reduced her to a giggling mess in two minutes flat. She’d been putting a brave fight, though, she’d explained to you later. He’d been hitting on her for weeks but she’d resisted, afraid it would be a one night thing.
She had been wrong about that, because when she had finally given in, it had become a regular thing.
She had been wrong about that but had never stopped to ask herself if he’d wanted more than sex. When she’d asked him, though, she hadn’t liked the answer, not one bit. Except he hadn’t stopped coming in, even bringing some friends with him, some blonde dude who looked really American and a woman - his wife, probably.
Try moving on when the guy you wanted to get serious with keeps showing you at your workplace.
So, Carla, yeah, she’d lost ten pounds, taken the day shift, and taken to call you at three in the morning to cry (you guessed she didn’t have that many friends because you certainly weren’t friends with her but she called you anyway).
Which left you to work with Diego, and you couldn’t stand Diego.
So, maybe, you hated Javier Peña a tiny bit.
And there he was, sitting on a barstool, nursing his second whiskey. The place was mostly empty, so you couldn’t avoid noticing how he kept frowning at the liquid like there was something wrong with it. You didn’t ask, though. You always kept your interactions polite and to the point.
After a while, you felt yourself distracted by the music, your actions more a force of habit, automatisms without any real thoughts behind them. You were brought back to the present, though, when Peña asked Diego how Carla was. And Diego being Diego, answered, loud enough for you to wince :
‘Ah. Fucking awful, if you ask me. Got fucked up by some dude. Poor girl looks like shit, now. Shame because she’s fine and I’d fix her broken heart, if you know what I mean.’
Peña had the decency to look a bit remorseful but Diego, oh, Diego kept going :
‘I offered, once, but she looked down on me. Now, though ? I bet she regrets…’
You slapped him with a tablecloth and got real close into his personal space.
‘I swear if you finish that sentence I’m gonna make sure whatever’s down there can never get up again. You’re a pig, Diego. You talk that big talk but you probably can do shit in bed so stop. I don’t need to hear it.’
‘Cállate, gringa. That stick up your ass must be a real pain.’
And Peña, brave, nice, chivalrous Peña, had to speak up, of course :
‘The lady has a point. Carla was nice. Shit, she is nice. I wanted to check on her, I don’t need to hear you gloat because she wouldn’t let you get some. Use your fucking right hand if you need to, but I don’t need to hear that shit.’
Diego’s face lost all previous friendliness when he turned back to Peña.
‘Whatever, man. But you know, stepping in for the lady won’t get you to score with her.’
He stopped himself there, but you could tell that whatever was on the tip of his tongue would have been really unpleasant to hear. Diego left the counter and went to do whatever. You didn’t care.
You should have stepped away and gone back to whatever it was you were doing before but Peña was looking at you and you had to deal with stuff like that on a daily basis because Diego only ever talked about women and fucking them good and you had enough. So instead of choosing the smart option, you leaned in, hands on the counter, shoulders square, and explained :
‘I can handle myself. I don’t need you to do that, especially considering you’re the one that fucked Carla all up.’
‘Listen, I’m sorry about that…’
‘I’m not the one you should be saying that to.’
‘I don’t need to talk to her. There’s nothing to say. It was a misunderstanding.’
He looked frustrated now. And if he were somebody else - anybody else besides Diego - you’d stop giving him crap, because you got it. Sometimes, people get into things, get into sex and don’t stop thinking about the other’s expectations. The fact that Peña never took her to a fucking restaurant or shit should have been a warning in itself but he could have made himself clear from the very beginning. Could have said it was all about making his dick wet.
But he didn’t, and now you were stuck with Diego and annoying phone calls in the middle of the night. And you felt bad feeling that way about Carla, but you clearly hadn’t had time to really connect and you weren’t a free shrink.
‘If you got nothing to say to her, then don’t come around asking about her.’ You spat.
Somewhere in the back of your mind, a tiny little voice mentioned that you were being a tiny bit unfair but it was a fleeting thought that you shoved right back where it belonged : in your trashcan of denial.
Peña downed his drink, then, and got up, slapping money on the counter and said, all sarcasm but, you found, no real bite behind it :
‘Thanks for a delightful evening, my lady.’
You watched him walk away. Yeah, it wasn’t that you hated him.
———
You could see the appeal, you admitted to yourself one evening when Peña was there, sitting down with Connie and her husband and another woman.
You hadn’t gotten the other man’s name but Connie had come to you, one night, more than slightly buzzed and had chatted your ear off as you were making the drinks. You’d found her endearing so you’d asked for her name.
There was no doubt that woman was getting into Peña’s bed and you hoped she wouldn’t end up like Carla, calling someone at three in the morning to sob about him. You hoped he’d taken his lesson and was straight with the women he had encounters with.
You could see the appeal, the moustache and the too-tight jeans, and the way he slightly touched her shoulder, the way he gave her all of his attention, the way he laughed, eyes crinkled and that fucking dimple.
It was a slow night, okay ? It was a slow night and you were bored.
‘Take a picture, it’ll last longer.’
You turned to see Emil smiling at you, and you playfully swatted his arm. He was a new addition to the team - and a welcome one, at that. Turned out that Diego had gotten into the habit of fucking women in the restroom and you had the privilege to catch him, once. What would have been a traumatizing experience became much more because your boss hadn’t caught the fact that you were going to the restroom and was following you to tell you something. So you’d seen Diego into action (and that was never going in the trashcan of denial, no matter how hard you tried to shove it in there), but your boss, Ricardo, had seen too.
So, no more Diego.
You were delighted.
Even more so when Ricardo had asked you to be part of the recruiting process. You had been surprised, at first, but he’d said :
‘I have three daughters, and I have two women who work for me, I don’t need men like Diego around.’
Very progressive, all in all. But you were glad.
Back to the moment, away from the image of Diego slamming into a woman (she had been faking, you knew, and telling him that right before he left had been awesome), you quipped back :
‘I don’t even like him, trust me, I’m just bored.’
And that was only partially false. You were bored, but not liking Peña was more of a force of habit than a real thing, now. Carla had found out she was pregnant - not his - so she had quit and, well, let’s just say you didn’t get angsty phone calls in the middle of the night anymore.
Peña walked right to the counter, then, and Emil, with what you’d just said, went to get the order but Peña was looking right at you and talking to you so you went with it. As you were handing the beers, you couldn’t help but ask :
‘She knows you’re gonna fuck her into oblivion but nothing more, right ?’
His eyebrows shot up, and the smirk on his face told you you’d just said the wrong thing.
‘That confident in my abilities, heh ?’
You shook your head and deflected :
‘You know why I said that.’
He put the booze down, at that, and actually sat at the counter.
‘How’s the baby ?’
You jumped in surprise, at that, because you didn’t know he knew and you’d never thought he would care. He picked up on that, too, because he scoffed :
‘Come on, I know you think I’m an asshole but Carla was good. She was nice. I keep tabs, that’s my job.’
‘Your job ?’ You couldn’t help but ask.
He played with one of the beers, then, thumb brushing one of the bottles up and down. You looked away, not liking one bit what was happening in your belly.
‘That’s a story for another time. When you like me, or at least tolerate me. I’ll get you there.’
He got up and walked away and you remembered
You hated Javier Peña.
It didn’t sound quite genuine anymore, and you were fooling no one, given the look Emil shot your way after that, but you held onto that anyway.
———
Your parents had never approved of you moving to Colombia because your Spanish is good, sweetheart, you don’t need to do that, you don’t need to make it perfect but you needed out so you’d gone anyway.
Now, though, sitting in a room in the DEA quarters, shaking, you weren’t so sure about your life choices.
You’d been getting home when you’d seen, turning a corner, a man pointing a gun at another, on his knees. You’d backed off immediately, you stupid brain not smart enough to get you to run away. You hadn’t seen anything, but you’d heard. And that had gotten you to the DEA.
You’d been stupid, really, because you’d heard the gunshot, you’d heard a car driving away but instead of taking a detour or something, you’d looked. And the man lying there with his brain all over the pavement was not going in the trashcan of denial anytime soon.
So, you were shaking, and the door opened and you flinched and then you saw
Javier fucking Peña
‘I guess that answers that question about your job, then.’ You joked, but he didn’t bite.
He kneeled right in front of you instead, hands everywhere, and that was comforting, but the flow of questions was a bit overwhelming too.
Did they see you ? Is there a chance they saw you ? Are you hurt ? Want some water ? Murphy, give me some fucking water right now !
You tried telling him you were fine (you weren’t) but he kept fussing.
They brought you some water, you answered some questions, and at the end, the very end, when it was just Peña and you, he spat :
‘I can’t believe you go home every night on foot. Don’t do that. Stop. I swear if I have to come get you every night …’
‘I’ll be fine. It’s fine. I’ll get someone.’
You were lying : you lived stupidly close to the bar, so it didn’t make sense to drive there. And even with what had happened, it still didn’t make sense to do it. So you lied.
Then you got a few days off, doctor’s orders, and when you came back to work, that first night, as you were ready to head back home on foot as always, Javier Peña was waiting outside the bar. Before you could say anything, before you could find a way out, he declared :
‘Get in the car. I’m taking you home.’
Chapter two
135 notes · View notes
imagine-loki · 3 years
Text
Stitching The Wounds, Chapter 9
TITLE: Stitching The Wounds CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 9 AUTHOR: fanficshiddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki and Kilgrave are Alphas and feel a spark with the same omega. RATING: M
It was an hour later and Loki returned home first. He grinned when he walked into the living room and found Leona watching TV, eating some popcorn and wearing his hoodie.
‘Hello my little omega.’ He purred and walked over to her.
She smiled at him as he sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug which surprised her a little. But she liked it.
He then cupped her chin and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, lingering for a moment which took her breath away. Her cheeks reddening.
‘Hi.’ She squeaked out.
‘You’re wearing my hoodie.’ Loki grinned, looking down at said hoodie.
‘Oh… Yeah, I forgot I still had it on. It’s really comfy.’ She said sheepishly and was about to take it off, but Loki stopped her.
‘You suit green. Don’t worry, you can wear my clothes whenever you wish.’ He winked at her and settled next to her, his arm around her. ‘What’s mine is yours, doll.’
She took a moment but then she leaned into him and relaxed under his arm, her head against his chest.
‘Have you had a good day?’ He asked quietly, rubbing her upper arm softly.
‘Mmmhmm. How was school?’
‘It was fine.’ Loki shrugged.
She turned her head to look at him, grinning. ‘I bet you’re a really strict teacher, right?’
Loki threw his head back, laughing.
‘Some would say that. But I am fair. There has to be a balance, it’s not just about teaching but connecting with them too. I think a lot of teachers forget that every student is a human being, all with their own problems and issues out with school. All with their own personality. Which can affect their work and way of learning. It’s about finding what works for each individual student. Being strict constantly isn’t the best way to teach, unless of course someone is just taking the piss, that’s when I can get stricter.’ Loki explained softly.
‘Mmm… That makes sense.’ She nodded. ‘I uh, was having a look around and I saw the box you have of gifts from students. It seems that you really made an impression with so many, so you must be a good teacher.’
‘Oh you were being nosey, were you?’ Loki raised an eyebrow but he smirked, giving her arm a squeeze.
‘I wanted to see what else I could find out about the two Alphas I’m living with.’ She said innocently, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
Loki chuckled. ‘I have had some wonderful students over the years.’
‘What age do you teach now? I noticed there was a bit of a mix by the looks of it.’ She asked.
‘Right now, ages around sixteen. So for some, it’s their last year of education. Others want to go on to College or University. Or stay on for another year or two. I did teach primary school pupils for a few years a while ago, they were around six and seven. A lot of fun, but incredibly hard work.’ He smiled fondly.
‘Were they scared of you?’ Leona asked with a smirk.
‘At first, they were terrified. But by the end of the first day they loved me and were all hugging me before leaving.’ He chuckled.
‘You do seem to have that vibe… You and Kilgrave both do, actually.’
‘What, scary?’ Loki raised an eyebrow.
‘Yeah. You are both Alphas and quite intimidating at first.’ Leona said honestly. ‘But I think you’re both just big softies really.’
Loki slid his hand down from her arm to her side, giving her a slight tickle, making her laugh. ‘Don’t tell other people that, it will ruin our reputation.’ He teased.
While Leona had meant what she said, she still knew they had a mean swing. And had proof of that. She didn’t doubt they would be able to keep her in line and give her a good challenge. But she knew she was safe with them. And that meant absolutely everything.
Kilgrave arrived home later when Loki and Leona were eating dinner. He greeted them, kissing Leona, then went upstairs to get changed.
Suddenly Loki and Leona both heard a loud wail come from upstairs. Leona couldn’t help herself from laughing. Loki looked across the table at her, an eyebrow up.
‘What did you do?’ He asked firmly.
She covered her mouth and tried to contain her laughter. ‘Me? Nothing…’ She said innocently, but Loki could tell she was far from innocent.
‘Stay here.’ He growled at her before heading upstairs to see what Kilgrave was so distraught over.
When he walked into Kilgrave’s room, he had to cover up his own laughter as he put his hand over his mouth.
Kilgrave had his drawers open and they were a mess. His hair was a mess too as he’d ran his hand through it so many times in the last minute in despair at the sight on front of him.
‘She is SO in trouble.’ Kilgrave snarled as he started re-organising the drawers.
‘Mate… I know this is a big deal for you.’ Loki started as he sat down on the end of his bed and watched. ‘But she doesn’t know, you can’t give her into trouble for pulling what she thought was a funny prank… And it kind of is.’ He grinned.
Kilgrave sighed in irritation and he took a few deep breaths before turning to face Loki, who quickly tried to put on a serious face. Kilgrave glared at him and clenched his jaw. He turned back to continue tidying first his boxers back into a neat order.
Loki couldn’t control himself while Kilgrave kept muttering under his breath, taking his time to organise everything and folding his socks together. Loki was almost pissing himself laughing at the situation. Kilgrave kept glaring at him over his shoulder.
‘We need to tell her.’ Loki said once he was able to calm himself down from laughing.
Kilgrave sighed and ran his hand through his hair again.
‘I was hoping we wouldn’t have to.’
‘Once you claim her, you know it’s only going to become more difficult. You’ve always been expecting this. If she knows, it will be for the best. Trust me.’ Loki said as he stood and patted him on the shoulder.
‘Fine… I’ll be down soon.’ He sighed.
Loki gave Leona a look and a smirk when he went back downstairs. She just giggled and put her plate away in the sink.
‘When Kilgrave comes down we need to talk to you.’ Loki said as he finished his dinner.
‘Oh? What about?’ Leona asked.
‘I think you know what about.’ Loki drawled.
Leona felt her ass tightening at the thought of possibly getting another spanking already.
But she knew it was something else, something serious, when Kilgrave came down and they all went into the living room to talk. Loki turned the TV off too.
Kilgrave narrowed his eyes at her briefly and shook his head. ‘That was quite the prank you pulled on me, pet.’ He growled. ‘It’s a good job you’re cute, or you’d be in serious trouble for doing that.’
Leona smirked but continued to try and look innocent. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’ She teased. ‘So what is it you need to talk to me about?’  
Kilgrave sighed and ran a hand down his face. ‘When I was younger, I really struggled with control issues. I used to struggle with not being in full control of everything and everyone. I received help with it when I was younger, which helped a lot. In a way, being a bit of a control freak helps with my job, but at the same time it can affect personal relationships and friendships. I am much better at controlling it than I used to be, but there are still times I struggle. We have suspected for a long time that when I get an omega it would become a bit more difficult to manage. Which is why Loki and I decided it was best to tell you.’
Leona was slightly stunned, she hadn’t expected that. But it did make sense. And she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach now for doing what she did to his drawers.
‘I… I’m sorry, for doing that. I wouldn’t have done it if I had known.’ She said and looked down at her hands in her lap, feeling genuinely bad.
‘No, it’s ok. Loki got a right kick out of it anyway.’ Kilgrave growled slightly and glared over at Loki, who started laughing again. Kilgrave leaned over and put his hand over Leona’s hands. ‘I’m not a bad person, I wouldn’t ever hurt you. I want you to know that. But there might be times where I seem like I am being too bossy or strict, but I can’t completely help it sometimes.’
‘If you ever feel like he is being unfair, such as this morning with not wanting you to go out alone, you can call him out on it.’ Loki said.
‘Yes, just tell me you think I am being unfair. And we can talk about it. Sometimes I just need someone to reason with me a little bit to see that I am overreacting.’ Kilgrave nodded.
‘And at least I am here too, which I think will help. As I will be able to keep him in line a little if he is being ridiculous. Or keep you in line if you are trying it on and being naughty.’ Loki winked at Leona, making her laugh a little.
‘I know you’d never hurt me. You’ve been nothing but kind to me.’ She smiled at Kilgrave. ‘I guess having me as your omega isn’t going to make things easy in regards to your control issues though.’
‘Don’t start with any of that, Leona.’ Loki growled in warning, knowing where she was going with it. ‘We don’t want to hear it.’
‘Loki’s right, we don’t want to hear it.’ Kilgrave said, giving her a look.
‘Alphas have a level of control over their omegas as it is, I’m hopeful that once we all settle in together everything will fall into place. But as we’ve said, if you feel Kilgrave is being unfair then just say something.’ Loki said.
‘I won’t be offended, as I know it’s an issue that might rear its ugly head at times.’ Kilgrave said honestly. ‘But I have never been violent… well, only to Alphas that deserve it… But I would never lay a finger on you in that way. I promise you that.’
‘I know you won’t.’ Leona said. ‘But uhm… am I going to be spanked for messing up your drawers?’
Loki and Kilgrave looked at one another then they both smirked.
‘No, you’re not.’ Kilgrave chuckled.
Leona tried to hide the fact she was slightly disappointed…
‘You didn’t know. And it was a damn good prank.’ Loki grinned. ‘One that I have thought about doing many times myself, but I know I’d get my head ripped off if I even dared to try it.’
‘You’re not cute like Leona is, so you most definitely wouldn’t get away with pulling a stunt like that.’ Kilgrave said as he glared at Loki, making Leona giggle.
‘I guess maybe having an omega might help.’ Leona said as she fiddled with her fingers. ‘As you will be able to focus on me. Maybe having some control over me, which you do, might help. As an outlet, in a way?’ She suggested.
Kilgrave and Loki smiled, realising she was right. It might be the opposite to what they originally thought and might help Kilgrave instead.
After their talk, the three of them snuggled on the sofa together. With Leona on Kilgrave’s lap and her legs draped over Loki’s. Kilgrave felt calmer now, and he was glad they told Leona about his issues. She didn’t seem worried at all, which relieved him.
Leona felt closer to them after today. It was weird, in a way. She felt like it made Kilgrave more human in a sense. That perhaps the two Alphas weren’t as perfect as they first seemed to be. Which actually made her even more comfortable. As she felt like she didn’t need to be perfect to impress them.
She could hopefully just be herself.
27 notes · View notes
ikleesfiction · 3 years
Text
Will you follow through if I fall for you?
Fandom : One Chicago Word count : 1,652 words Disclaimer
Previously on this fic : Part 1 🞂 Part 2 🞂 Part 3 🞂 Part 4 🞂 Part 5 🞂 Part 6 🞂 Part 7
Part 8
"Okay, you have passed all our tests. We can officially clear you now. Congratulations, Y/N!" your therapist informs you while you are sitting on the floor, panting, after pushing yourself hard.
You grin widely, elated. "Thank you!!" With your phone in hand, you are so excited to share the good news with Jay.
"I will send my notes to your physical trainer in Amsterdam. That way, he can correctly maintain your fitness level." your therapist pats your shoulder and leaves.
Your heart suddenly dropped. How could you forget that you're leaving? What should you tell Jay now?
◢◤
Jay's cell phone rang on his desk when he went to the restroom. Hailey planned to answer it if it's related to the case they're working on. But when she sees your name on the screen, she lets it ring. The phone soon stops ringing. It only chirps one time after that.
"Your boo was calling," Hailey says, a bit miffed, to Jay. He grabs his phone to check it. "She gets that you're currently working, right?" Hailey continues as Jay scrolls on his phone. Ignoring his partner's comment, he immediately leaves the room.
Jay sees you standing on the sidewalk outside the 21st District. "This is a nice surprise," he walks toward you. "But unfortunately, I don't have much time to enjoy it," Jay continues with a warm hug.
"I know. That's why I bring lunch here, instead of asking you out. Maybe we can sit down somewhere quiet and have it together?" you hesitantly suggest.
Before Jay can answer, he hears Hailey coming out from the District. "Hey Halstead, let's go. We got a hit on our suspect!"
Jay gives you an apologetic look, "Sorry, I gotta go."
"Of course. I understand," you say even though your face doesn't betray the disappointment. "Here, take this. It's enough for two. You can share it with your partner," passing him the paper bag from your hand.
Jay accepts the bag and kisses you quickly. But you know each kiss now is counted. So you palm his cheek and give him a lingering kiss before dejectedly resting your forehead on his lips. Jay notices something feels wrong. He puts his hands on your face and looks at you in concern, "You okay?"
A horn is honking impatiently behind him. You clench your jaw, frustrated. "Go. Be safe, okay?" You tap his chest gently.
"I will," Jay answers instinctively. He then quickly goes to the car, where Hailey's already waiting.
◢◤
You have laid on the couch since you're back from The 21st District. The sun already sets, the room has darkened, but you're still not moving. Your thoughts are all over the place.
You jerk in surprise when you hear your phone vibrates angrily on the coffee table. You see Nick Kroes is calling. Nick is initially, and still is, Alex's manager. When you started to gain more recognition for your work at Alex's record label company, Pyramid, Nick then decided to take you under his management as well.
"Hey, Y/N. I heard the good news! It's been a long time coming, girl! Cannot wait to have you back here,"
"When do I have to leave?" you cut to the chase.
"How about next week?" Nick ponders.
"A week?" you stutter in disbelief.
"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't arrange it to be sooner," Nick misunderstands your upset.
"No, I mean... Can you give me a month?" you plead.
"You want to stay there for another month? I thought you'd be asking me to send you a plane tomorrow." Nick startles.
"Yeah. Just.. there's something I need to do. Please, Nick?", Your voice sounds desperately close to begging.
"Ah... I'm sorry, Y/N. We really need your help here. Two weeks is the maximum time I could give you," Nick ruefully tells you.
You close your eyes in resign. "Okay. I'll try to sort it out in two weeks."
"Thanks, Y/N. If you need anything else, just tell me, okay?" He says as he ends the call.
◢◤
It's already nearing midnight. Jay calls you even though he's not sure if you're still awake. The phone only rings twice before you pick up.
"Hey, love. You're not asleep yet?" Jay greets you.
"Nah, I can't sleep without knowing you're okay," you reply, which is a half-truth.
"I'm always okay. Well, most of the time." Jay chuckles. You smile but stay silent.
Taking a deep breath and ready to bite the bullet, you start to say, "Jay, I need to tell you.."
But you hear him speaks at the same time. "So, babe. I'm going to.. "
Both of you laugh nervously. "Okay, you start first," you decide.
"I need to go undercover soon. So I might be unreachable for quite some time," Jay informs you.
"Is it dangerous?" you faintly ask.
"A bit. But my people will keep an eye on me. I'll be fine." He tries to assure you.
"How long is it gonna take?" you feel more disheartened. Really, time is not your best friend right now.
"As long as needed. It might be a week or two. Hopefully not more", Jay tells you lightly.
You close your eyes, trying to contain your tears from falling. You only have two weeks before leaving Chicago. "That's long." your voice sounds shaky.
"Yeah. But it's my job, Y/N", Jay huffs.
"I know, I know. I understand," you say as calmly as you could while hiding your anguish at the same time.
But Jay doesn't feel console. "Do you? Because you sound uncertain about it. Did you just realized the consequences of dating me?"
"Hey, I don't wanna fight," you toughen your voice. "You're going to be away soon. I don't wanna us be mad at each other for a long time."
Jay stays silent, but you can hear his ragged breaths. "Please be careful, alright, Jay?" you continue.
"Yeah, I will," he promises. "Look, I gotta go to sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."
"Okay. Sleep tight. I love you," you murmur your goodbye. Jay hangs up the phone without saying anything else.
You slept restlessly through the night. The next morning, you wake up to two text messages from Jay.
I gave your number to Hailey. If anything happens to me, she'll call you. I'm sorry for snapping at you last night.
I'll try my best to come back to you soon. I love you
◢◤
Nearing your departure, you hang out at Molly's every night. Whenever your friends from Firehouse 51 are not on shift, you always have someone with you. But tonight, all of them are working. So you sit alone at the bar, with a glass of ice water in front of you.
"Mind if I sit here?" says someone on your left. You look to your side and find Will Halstead standing there.
"Dr. Halstead, Hi," you nod at him as he takes a seat.
"Just because the other Halstead isn't here doesn't mean you can keep calling me that, Y/N," Will jokes. You smile shyly.
"You just got off shift? How was your day?" you ask him. Will has heard from Jay about this before. How genuine and caring you are to your friend. Always asking simple, but thoughtful questions.
"It's great. Busy, but I'm glad I didn't lose anyone today. How was your day? How is the podcast going? I cannot wait for the next episode," Will says.
"You listened to my podcast?" you ask him, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, I did. Jay told me about it. It keeps me company on my way to work. I like the remix that you played in the last episode. Smokey Robinson's song? What's it called..." Will tries to recall.
"Tracks of My Tears?" you reply. You smile to yourself, remembering your first car ride with Jay.
"Ah yeah, did you make that remix?" Will asks.
"Oh, I wish I were. But no, that was a work of the great Avicii," you explain. "You really enjoy it?" you ask him, still with a hint of doubt.
"I do, yeah. We have a similar taste in music, I think. Unlike Jay, though. Bet the only reason he listens to it because he likes to hear your voice", Will mocks his brother. You burst out a laugh. "But I know he's proud of you and your work." Will continue after his laughter.
"Hmm, yeah. I'm proud of Jay and his work too. Even though, sometimes it sucks," you harshly tap your phone that sits peacefully on the bar table. It lits up after your touch. Will can see a picture of Jay making a ridiculous face on the screen.
"You heard anything from him yet?" you question him.
"Not from him, no. But I saw Burgess today at the hospital when she's interviewing a victim. Said Jay's fine. They think they could wrap the case in a few days." Will informs you.
"Good. That's good." you pause to sip on your water. "Hey Will, may I ask you a question about Jay?"
"Sure. Ask away." Will nods.
"Is Jay.." you falteringly begin. "When Jay's mad, is he a type who's holding grudges for a long time?"
"Well, depends on the person. If they are a criminal, absolutely. If they are someone he's close to, sure, sometimes he can be a stubborn asshole. But in the end, he always forgives them, especially if it's someone he loves," Will answers. "Why? You guys had a lover's quarrel?"
"Hmm, something like that," you vaguely answer.
"I say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Jay must've been impatient to go back to you." Will tries to comfort you.
You are so close to telling Will the truth. That, instead of thinking of a past quarrel, you're actually preparing for the upcoming storm. But in the end, you change your mind. "Thanks, Will." you just give him an unconvincing smile.
Next on this fic : Part 9
+x Taglist +x
@shipshipshipau @itsdesiree86 @thevelvetseries @annaallicce
74 notes · View notes
gaygryffindorgal · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Chapter 1: What Lies Ahead
Summary: A new year is starting at Hogwarts and Verna Malinda is entering her fifth year. She may have a little too much on her plate for the upcoming year though, because she’s been elected prefect...
Pairings: Eventual OC/Merula Snyde
Word Count: 2.5K
Warnings: Mild swearing
A/N: Matthew Luther belongs to @hphmmatthewluther
As this is a rewrite, some of the dialogue is from the game either directly, or modified to fit the new narrative.
If anyone is interested in being tagged to new upates, let me know!
(Verna was born in December 1972, so she was 13 during the autumn term of her 2nd year)
Previous / Next
Chapter 1: What Lies Ahead
Verna Malinda had been anxiously awaiting the beginning of her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, even with a detention of indeterminate length looming in front of her. She knew in her heart that this year was going to be important, and not just because of the O.W.L. examinations but because of the events of last June, and the chance of finding Jacob in the next vault. For Verna, summers had, for the past four years, felt like an inescapable limbo. Every year she longed to be back at Hogwarts, delving into the mystery of the Cursed Vaults. This year, however, she had been elected as a prefect to her great surprise. She hadn’t really considered prefectdom as something to aspire to, because all her time was spent either breaking the rules or planning to break them. Was it really appropriate for a Hogwarts prefect to be serving detention? Mysterious were the ways of Professor Dumbledore.
~
As the Hogwarts Express whistled as a signal for departure, Verna waved to her father from the train’s window and then turned to her friend, Rowan Khanna, the one out of the two of them who should’ve been the prefect. Rowan pushed their glasses up their nose and smiled.
“What is it?”
“I ought to go find Charlie,” Verna said as the train picked up speed. She’d been feeling all kinds of weird about talking to Rowan ever since she got the letter proclaiming her prefect. It had been Rowan’s ambition to claim that spot ever since year one, and somehow Verna had managed it even though she hadn’t even tried.
“Alright, I’ll find Ben. We’ll hold a spot for you, if you get a moment to come sit with us,” Rowan replied and the two headed their separate ways. So far it didn’t seem like Rowan was holding Verna’s election as a prefect against her. Even in their letters, Rowan had only seemed supportive and proud. They had been friends since first year, and Verna hadn’t exactly stolen Rowan’s spot on purpose. In fact, she was fairly certain she had entirely too much on her plate for this year even without being a prefect.
~
Once Verna located Charlie Weasley, Gryffindor’s resident Dragon-enthusiast and Quidditch hero, and as it happened, her fellow prefect, the two of them headed to the special carriage meant for prefects and the Head Boy and Girl.
“What in Merlin’s name possessed Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall to make you and I prefects?” asked Charlie, sounding genuinely confused, although in his defence, it was truly baffling.
“I have a theory that it’s to make us so busy we won’t have time to do any curse-breaking,” Verna reasoned.
“Bill’s a prefect and he’s had plenty of time,” Charlie argued but then added: “Though maybe that’s why he became the Head Boy… Wow, actually you might be right.”
“Thanks Chaz,” Verna laughed as the two entered the prefect carriage. It was already quite packed with new and old prefects, as well as Bill and the Head Girl, Ella Higgs.
“Are we late because I had to wait for you…?” Charlie whispered and Verna shushed him as Ella and Bill started to congratulate them on their achievement. Verna locked eyes with a certain Slytherin student across the carriage. Apparently Merula Snyde had also become a prefect. Verna should’ve expected as much. Her hair looked tousled as usual, but she had elected to sport a dark eye-makeup, which somehow made the purple of her eyes look even more prominent. Merula gave her a look of loathing and then promptly ignored her. Verna’s mood sunk.
“Hi Verna!” came a greeting from among the other fifth-year prefects. It was Matthew Luther, a Ravenclaw chaser who had given Verna a run for her galleons last quidditch season. Verna was pleased to see not only complete arseholes had become prefects.
“Hey!” Verna replied, taking her place among the others.
“Hi Luther,” Charlie whispered, smiling.
“Nice to see you two made it as prefects.”
Verna was about to answer but was quickly silenced by Bill who very deliberately raised his voice and started his introduction to the wonderful world of prefectdom, looking at the three of them meaningfully.
~
After nearly an hour of instruction, Bill and Ella bade them pleasant journey and reminded them of their job to patrol the corridors in regular intervals. After that, many returned to their friends or settled down in the prefects’ carriage. Bill walked up to Verna and Charlie.
“Congrats on becoming a prefect Verna!” he said and slapped her arm for good measure.
“Thanks, I’ll be sure to be as responsible as you, William.”
Bill laughed and Charlie rolled his eyes.
“Well, I for one think you two will do just fine,” added Bill.
“If you say so…” Charlie mused. “Should we find Rowan and Ben?” he asked Verna.
“Yeah, see you later Bill!”
“Remember to patrol the corridors! And don’t abuse your power!” Bill called after them as Verna and Charlie headed back to find the compartment their friends were sitting in.
“I don’t think he actually has as much faith in us as he lets on…” Charlie said.
“Yeah, probably not. After all he lives with you, and I’m the one who roped him into this curse-breaking stuff in the first place.”
“Yeah, at the ripe old age of 13.” reminded Charlie. Verna was really starting to doubt Professor Dumbledore’s judgement.
~
Rowan and Ben had found a carriage and reserved spots for them. The two seemed in good spirits and Verna felt much more relaxed. If Rowan was on her side, then everything was going to be okay. Even Ben seemed to be okay, even after he was used to attack Verna under the imperius curse last year.
“How was it?” asked Ben as Verna and Charlie took their seats. He glanced quickly at Rowan, who nodded encouragingly. Verna figured Rowan and Ben had been discussing the incident before she and Charlie arrived. The food trolley had passed ages ago, so Verna nicked a treacle tart from Rowan who gave her an exasperated but amused look.
“Pretty standard stuff, honestly. They explained everything we were told in the briefing about prefects at the end of last year,” explained Charlie.
“Who else was elected?” Rowan inquired.
“Oh you’ll never guess Slytherin’s-“
“Merula,” Rowan said before Charlie could finish.
“Yeah, and she seemed right pleased about it too, I bet she’s gonna have a blast abusing her position,” Verna grumbled. She really was not looking forward to yet another thing to compete over with Merula.
“Not if we abuse our position first,” Charlie said, grinning.
“No,” Rowan admonished them when they saw Verna’s matching grin.
“I’ll disown you both if you sink to her level.”
Both Charlie and Verna stopped grinning.
“Sorry Rowan,” Verna said bashfully. “We’ll try our best to make you proud.”
Rowan groaned in mock-annoyance, and all four of them laughed at the absurdity of the notion of Charlie and Verna as prefects. Even Ben. Verna’s hopes for the year were rejuvenated a little.
~
The rest of the journey went by in a relatively normal manner. Verna and Charlie patrolled the corridors every now and then but didn’t face any incidents. Tonks gave them both grief about becoming prefects though, and loudly announced that this is why she had trust issues. Verna couldn’t exactly blame her, they had after, pulled pranks together in the past and prefects had a well-earned reputation of being spoilsports. After sunset, the train arrived at the Hogsmeade Station and Charlie and Verna were again required to perform their new duties. Verna hadn’t really thought about how small the first years looked until they all filed out of the train and followed Hagrid to the boats. It wasn’t that long ago she had been in their shoes, completely terrified and anxious to start looking for her brother. Jacob. The thought stung like a wasp. It had taken four years and she was no closer to finding him as she was to finding the next cursed vault. Jacob had always been there to protect her and help her and what good was she, if she couldn’t do the same for him?
~
The Great Hall was all decked out for the Welcome Feast when they entered. Verna always felt a sense of belonging at the sight of Hogwarts, but it was also always mixed with something like dread. This year instead of Professor Dumbledore, it was Professor McGonagall taking the podium to hold the traditional speech after the Sorting. Apparently, the Headmaster was on an errand outside of Hogwarts. They were also going to have a new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts, which at this point surprised no one. The new DADA professor did surprise Verna, though. It was Madam Rakepick, the curse breaker Dumbledore had hired to investigate the vaults last year. Rakepick turned her eyes to Verna and something passed across her features, but Verna couldn’t place the expression. Then, just as fast as it had arrived, it passed, and McGonagall bid everyone dig in their food.
~
After the feast, as Verna and Charlie were getting ready to herd all the new Gryffindors (including Bill and Charlie’s little brother Percy) to their common room, Penny walked up to them, looking excited.
“Hey!” she beamed and tailing behind her was a small blonde girl who looked very much like Penny. “How was your summer?”
“Oh, you know, researching advanced curses, eagerly awaiting for my detention this year, the usual” Verna joked.
“I worked on my extra credit stuff for Professor Kettleburn,” Charlie said. “And hung out with my siblings. Fred and George have gotten it into their heads they wanna be the best quidditch players in the world and I have to be their coach.”
“That sounds really nice! We need to catch up more later, I just wanted to introduce you two to my sister, Beatrice,” Penny exclaimed, and the younger girl waved her hand at them.
“Hi,” she said, rather excitably.
“Hi Beatrice, I’m Verna and this is Charlie.”
Next to her Charlie smiled wide and shook Beatrice’s hand. It seemed to Verna that she appreciated being treated like a grown-up.
“Figured you were Penny’s sister when they called Haywood during the Sorting,” Charlie said.
Beatrice nodded. “And now we’re both in Hufflepuff! I was hoping for it, but I would’ve been happy with Gryffindor too.”
“Bea is… sort of a fan of yours,” Penny explained looking at Verna. “She’s always asking me to tell her stories of my adventures with the famous curse-breaker Verna Malinda.”
“Now I can join you!” Beatrice said. “To find your brother and the cursed vaults.”
This, admittedly, took Verna by surprise. She glanced at Penny who, by the look on her face, had not expected this either.
“Bea…” Penny whispered.
“I mean it, I want to help,” Beatrice insisted.
“Well… Maybe you can help with some small things, but I’ll be honest with you, it’s really dangerous stuff,” Verna told the young witch and hoped that was the end of it. No such luck.
“You investigated the cursed ice when you were just first-years,” Beatrice protested.
“That’s… true…” Penny admitted but didn’t look happy about it.
“And Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who when he was just a baby!”
“She has a point, you know,” Charlie cut in.
“Knock it off, Weasley. There’ll be plenty of time for death-defying adventures when you’re older Bea, for now you can just show Verna what you made for her,” Penny said with a glare at Charlie, who seemed vaguely apologetic.
With only a little complaining, Beatrice presented Verna with a yellow, self-made puffskein toy. It was extremely cute, and the gesture made Verna wonder how much Penny had exaggerated her stories.
“Thank you, Beatrice, this is super cool,” she said as she inspected the stuffed animal. After that, she was served to a story about shaving the Haywoods’ pet puffskein every week for the hairs to make the toy, after which Penny had clearly had her fill, because she whisked Beatrice away and Charlie arched an eyebrow. “Wow, they really do just keep getting smaller.”
~
Up in the Gryffindor Tower, the young students were excited but obviously tired, so Verna kept her introduction short and let them explore on their own or just go to bed. After that, the two new prefects made their way to their favourite corner of the common room. The couch there was already occupied by Rowan and Ben.
“Hey guys,” said Ben meekly behind his new Charms textbook.
Charlie squished into the vacant spot between Rowan and the armrest, while Verna sat on the floor, not bothering to drag the nearest chair closer.
“I think I’m going to possibly have a mental breakdown this year,” she mused. “I mean I still have to find my brother, do normal homework, play Quidditch, study for O.W.L.s, and now be a prefect.”
“If you had started studying for the O.W.L.s first year like I told you, you wouldn’t be in this situation,” Rowan simply said. It’s not like they were wrong, but Verna still rolled her eyes.
“Literally no one else but you does that, Rowan” Charlie jumped into her defence, which Verna appreciated. She fist bumped Charlie over Rowan’s lap.
“You two are impossible,” Rowan said warmly and turned to look at Ben. Verna followed their gaze and noticed Ben looked distinctly uncomfortable. Well, more than usual.
“Ben…” she started.
“I just wanna say I’m sorry,” Ben blurted out. “I know you already said it’s fine last year, but I don’t think it’s fine. I’m too easy a target to use against you, and I don’t think you should include me in your plans anymore.”
Verna stared at him for a moment, trying to find words. Any one of her friends could’ve been used as a pawn by a dark wizard. After all, they were only students up against adult wizards.
“Ben, I get it. I’d probably feel the same way if it was me in your shoes right now, because it easily could be. You’re not weak for losing against an adult.”
Ben bit his lip nervously. “But I-“
“We need you. You’re one of my best friends and nobody blames you for what happened,” Verna countered before Ben could form a proper argument.
“In the train you lot acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary when everything is!” he slumped against the couch and let the textbook fall into his lap. “I’m going to bed.”
With that, Ben got up and disappeared into the boys’ dormitory, his friends’ pleas falling on deaf ears. Verna looked at Charlie and Rowan.
“Maybe he just needs some more time…” Charlie mused.
“I think I was too harsh on him last year,” Rowan said. “I apologized though. In the train. We had a whole chat about it.”
“I’m glad,” Verna said with a smile. It hadn’t felt right, when Ben and Rowan weren’t on speaking terms.
“He just hasn’t had the easiest time at Hogwarts,” Rowan continued. “And all this business with the vaults… I think it has us all on edge.”
“Understatement of the year…” muttered Charlie.
“Well… It’s only the first day of it, we’ll have plenty of time to make more understatements,” said Rowan gloomily.
25 notes · View notes
eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years
Text
Request (from this post):
@ebbster2012 suggested: Modern 3zun where Nie Mingjue or Lan Xichen head hunts Meng Yao from his dad’s company. Seducing him away with competence, respect, and sex appeal. (Also posted to Ao3)
I’ll make the disclaimer again that corporate stuff is very much outside of my area of expertise so I’m sorry if I didn’t go into as much detail as the prompt deserves 😅 I genuinely had to google what head hunting was to make sure I was thinking of the right thing. But anyway, hope you like it, thanks for the prompt! ^_^
--
“Incredible work as always, A-Yao,” Lan Xichen praises, suffusing his voice with as much warmth as he’s capable of - and he’s capable of quite a bit. It’s difficult to make Jin Guangyao blush, he’s discovered over the years of their acquaintance, but not impossible. Never impossible.
“Lan-gege is too kind,” Jin Guangyao replies with a sweet smile and Lan Xichen has to admit defeat - his punishment for making his companion blush is to be made to blush in return - a punishment he'll happily submit to. As soon as Jin Guangyao breaks out the dimples and wide, limpid eyes he’s done for. He distracts himself long enough to become more composed by straightening out the papers Jin Guangyao had brought for him despite the fact that they’re already neatly arranged in their perfectly labelled folder.
When he feels he can talk again without embarrassing himself, he says, “There’s no such thing as too kind, and I’m certainly not being too kind now. The work you do for us is invaluable, I hope you know how much I appreciate you.”
“Yes, Lan-gege, you tell me every time we have these meetings.” Jin Guangyao’s amusement is palpable but all Lan Xichen does to show he hears the teasing is offer him his usual soft smile.
“And I shall continue to tell you every single time I’m grateful for what you do.”
“It’s my job, you don’t have to thank me.”
“Mm. May I ask a somewhat unprofessional question?”
“Of course.”
“Does Nie Mingjue thank you as well?”
That question earns him a new expression - pursed lips and narrowed eyes as Jin Guangyao no doubt thinks about how to answer him.
“May I ask why you want to know?”
Lan Xichen raises his hands in surrender with another smile that seems to thaw some of the cold calculation in that gaze.
“I know you also do business with him, I want to make sure he’s treating you properly.”
Jin Guangyao dimples a smile at him and Lan Xichen is, as always, instantly charmed nearly into forgetting what they were talking about in the first place.
“Lan-gege is so considerate, so thoughtful. My interactions with Nie Mingjue are satisfactory. Is there anything else today, Mr Lan?”
The abrupt switch to a much more professional tone for the last question leaves Lan Xichen blinking slightly in surprise but he recovers quickly with a hum and another smile. He smiles at everyone (a lot, Nie Mingjue has told him multiple times that he finds it weird) but Jin Guangyao gets his own special smiles.
“Only what I always end with. We’re looking for -“
“A new head of your financial department, yes Lan-gege,” Jin Guangyao cuts in with another demure smile. He pairs it with an absolutely devastating doe-eyed glance through his lashes that makes Lan Xichen feel a touch too warm under the collar of his shirt - a familiar sensation when dealing with Jin Guangyao and his charms. “And I will say as I always do that I’m not currently looking for a change but I’ll keep it in mind should I ever need to.”
“Alright, then I suppose that’s all for this week. Unless you have anything else?”
“I actually do have something - it’s..equally unprofessional.”
“Oh? Please, feel free.”
Lan Xichen stays seated when Jin Guangyao stands but gestures for him not to get up with him. He stays still as the man steps around his desk to lean the backs of his thighs against the edge, hands linked in front of his hips as he smiles that charming smile again. This close, without the desk as a barrier between them, he’s practically intoxicating.
“Nie da-ge includes dinner invitations with his attempts to recruit me. Lan-gege will have to try a little harder,” he says with a sweet smile and Lan Xichen laughs - that is to say he closes his eyes and smiles with a slight shake of his head.
He opens his eyes again when he hears Jin Guangyao move but he otherwise stays still as the man runs one delicate hand along his shoulder, across his chest, and up the side of his neck to cup his cheek and turn his head towards him. They lock eyes and Lan Xichen knows that if he were standing his knees would be weak as Jin Guangyao smirks down at him.
“I’ll see you next week,” Jin Guangyao says breezily with a couple of pats to his cheek and then he’s gone, leaving behind nothing more than the faintest hint of his cologne in the air and the lingering feeling of his hand on Lan Xichen’s cheek.
Lan Xichen sits there in the quiet for a few long moments, just breathing slowly and reveling in the contentment and satisfaction that always sings through him during and after a meeting with Jin Guangyao. After 10 minutes or so of that, though, he pulls his phone from its drawer in his desk to open up his text thread with Nie Mingjue.
Me:
You invite A-Yao out to dinner,
Mingjue? That’s cheating!
The response comes right away, much to Lan Xichen’s amusement.
Mingjue:
It’s not cheating, it’s perfectly standard procedure
to include an invitation for a meal with offers of
recruitment interviews. We said no asking him
out on dates, we didn’t say no business-
oriented, completely professional meals that just
happen to be at very nice restaurants.
Me:
It’s supposed to be lunch! Cheating, Mingjue,
so shameless. And you didn’t tell me :(
Unfair advantages are definitely cheating!
Mingjue:
How did you even find out, by the way?
Me:
A-Yao just told me before he left my office.
Does he ever accept?
Mingjue:
Every time.
Me:
And he still won’t let you recruit him?
Mingjue:
Nope.
Me:
Interesting.
Well I suppose the only thing for it is to
also start inviting him on outings that are
definitely not dates. It’s only fair.
Mingjue:
Hey. Do you ever get the feeling that
he’s just playing with us?
Me:
Perhaps. Is that a bad thing? If you don’t
like it you can bow out now and
I certainly won’t judge you, Mingjue.
Mingjue:
Nice try, Xichen.
Me:
Worth a shot. He has his meeting with
you tomorrow, right?
Mingjue:
He does, and I’m going to offer to take him out to
that new upscale Vietnamese place Huaisang likes.
Me:
I’ll make sure to choose somewhere else for
my dinner with him, then.
Mingjue:
Do you think he’ll ever actually leave Jin Guangshan?
We already know the man’s a conniving motherfucker.
What if he’s done something to make sure A-Yao doesn’t
ever go anywhere else?
Me:
Then we’ll just have to keep trying, and continue
making sure he knows we appreciate him.
Mingjue:
Oh alright fine. Kidnapping him is
out of the question though?
Me:
Unfortunately so.
Mingjue:
Damn. He ever give you that look through his eyelashes
that makes you want to bundle him up and
hold him for at least a few hours?
Me:
Yes.
Frequently.
Mingjue:
See?! He’s not playing fair either! Nice dinners are the
least I can do after he looks at me like that.
Me:
I have to concede that point. I also need to
return to work, unfortunately.
Mingjue:
Alright, I’ll see you tonight. Take-out
sushi for dinner?
Me:
Sounds lovely.
Lan Xichen sighs to himself and returns the phone to the drawer with a sardonic little smile on his lips. Trust Nie Mingjue to bully his way through the rules of their little game and do what he wants to do anyway. Well - if he’s going to hit on Jin Guangyao then Lan Xichen is going to stop being quite so reticent with his own attempts. Besides, if one of them wins this bet then they both win, technically, as the ultimate goal is to get Jin Guangyao somewhere he’s properly valued and treated well - it doesn’t really matter which company he ends up choosing.
In the end, though, he doesn’t choose either of them. Or - perhaps a slightly more accurate way to put it is that he chooses both of them, just not in any way they could have anticipated.
Lan Xichen claims that he technically won the bet because Jin Guangyao came to him first with the plans to start his own financial company and asked the Lan corporation to be his first major client. Nie Mingjue claims that he won because he had been the one to suggest the company in the first place over one of his and Jin Guangyao’s weekly dinners. Jin Guangyao claims he beat them both because he foiled their plans to steal him into either one of their companies, because it was his idea to use the money from successfully suing his father to fund it, and because he picked up two boyfriends out of the deal without having to worry about creating a headache for either the Nie or Lan corporations’ HR team to deal with.
“A-Yao makes a good point, Mingjue,” Lan Xichen sighs when Jin Guangyao finishes stating as much, practically radiating smug satisfaction, and Nie Mingjue’s grumpy, nonverbal acquiescence is really its own reward.
“Don’t grunt, da-ge, I haven’t worn you out that much yet tonight. Use your words,” Jin Guangyao chastises and Lan Xichen just barely lifts his head to watch him swat at Nie Mingjue’s bare hip.
“A-Yao makes a good point,” Nie Mingjue dutifully parrots around a yawn and Lan Xichen hides his laugh in the crook of Jin Guangyao’s neck.
“Mm.” Jin Guangyao sounds ridiculously satisfied with himself as he slides his arms around the two men laying in bed on either side of him. “Perfect.”
20 notes · View notes
Text
Doubt
Tumblr media
This was requested by: Anon !
Request: could i request where the reader and george both have a crush on each other but the reader thinks shes not good enough for him and when he confesses she gets her feelings hurt because she thinks its a prank to be mean and runs off and george finds her and tells her he's honest and its cute and happy? :)
*
Note: I’m finally home from Norway!! I can return to my regular computer to writen on. So I can upload more often. So yeah, yay!
*
Warnings: none
Pairing: George Weasley x reader
Words: 2k
If you’d like to request something please head over to my other blog, https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ronaldandremuslover and I’ll try and fix it for you !
~ ~ ~ ~
"Sure, just tell Snape to shove it up where the sun doesn't shine and walk away. I bet you he'll let you off without homework then." Fred said, taking a big bite out of his chicken thigh.
"Yeah, because he's hexed you into the beyond." George finished.
You exhaled, dramatically. "I just want to relax, you know. It's our last year. We should enjoy it, taking it all in."
George snorted, his lips curled into a pretty grin. "We've been here for seven years. What more is there to take in?"
Shrugging, you took a gulp of your pumpkin juice. You looked around the great hall, watched the students. "There are so many people who I don't know here."
"Yeah 'cuz here's hundreds - if not thousands - of people here, Y/N." Fred said.
Your last year at Hogwarts. It felt incredibly strange. After this, you'd have to apply for a job. It was like being thrown into an abyss; completely unknown and scary. There were only three months left, and you felt stressed, apprehensive and uncertain. Of course, there was some excitement mixed in there. But you'd have to leave your friends... and him.
Him. His stupid crooked grin and red hair. His fantastically absurd witticism. His amazingly freckled face and his crazy long, attractive fingers. His crazed character and his wonder jokes. His sexy voice. His stupid tall and lanky figure that you loved so much. His dumb but famous swagger when he walked.
You'd miss him the most.
Of course, you would still be... friends. But you wouldn't see him as often and not in the same way. It'd be radically different. You knew that there would come a time where you had to grow up. Become an adult. A responsible adult. But with him - with George - you rarely felt older than twelve again. The things you'd do together were often childish and honestly quite lame, but it made you feel alive and purely happy.
He made you happy.
"-Y/N?"
Leaving Hogwarts felt foreign. Waking up without your friends around you. Not having to go to class or eat in a giant hall with hundreds of other people together. Or having stupid fights with another house or pull insane pranks that could potentially put you in detention. But that was the thrill. The thrill of Hogwarts. You never knew what would happen.
"Y/N?"
"Y-yes-yeah-yes-what?" You said with a start. Looking around yourself, as if you were surprised to find yourself in the great hall.
Fred looked at you with a funny smile. "Whatchu thinkin' 'bout?"
"Nothing." You faltered.
"Are you sure?" It was George.
Nodding, you smiled at him. "I'm sure."
George looked you up and down, looking uncertain. But he merely laughed a little and pointed a finger at you.
"You're funny."
"Thanks, means a lot when it comes from you."
He smirked.
It made your heart skip an extra beat.
~ ~ ~ ~
The book you were reading was not nearly as interesting as Fred and George. The twins were playing wizards chess. Fred was losing miserably. His constant grunts of displeasure and his head in his hands were a wonderful sight. George was often the one to get beat at wizards chess by Fred. It felt nice to watch the tables turn once and awhile.
"How's it going over there?" You called from your position at the very comfortable sofa.
Fred didn't say anything, George however beamed at you.
"It's going fantastic."
Putting the book aside, you strode over to the small table in the corner by the window that they were seated at. George was playing with the black chess pieces.
Trying not to laugh, you said, "Fred, not looking too good here, huh?"
"Hmph."
You and George exchanged a look, both smiling from ear to ear.
"How about this," George said, "if I win, you'll have to kiss me. If I lose, I'll have to deal with the shame."
You froze. You were used to his teasing. He would usually throw some funny comments your way, but you would always play them off. He didn't mean any of them. He was only joking. George liked to play with you. He just didn't know how much it hurt when he did these things.
"Right, Hermano." You tried to sound casual.
Fred moved his queen and suddenly George got pulled into the game again. So you retreated to your seat at the sofa again and picked up your book. But you couldn't concentrate. What if he did win? Would he actually kiss you then? Or would he only laugh at your face? Was it bad that you didn't want him to win now? Or did you want him to win, solely so you could possibly get one kiss that doesn't mean anything?
~ ~ ~ ~
It only took another half an hour before you heard a shout of victory. You looked up from you barely read book. As you feared, George won. Now what?
"Well, good match, brother." Fred said, reaching out to shake his brother's hand, who was currently doing a lame but cute victory dance.
"About time." George said, probably more to himself than anyone else.
Sitting awkwardly in the sofa waiting for something to happen, you said nothing. But George's sly grin from across the room made you even more nervous.
"Still up for it, Y/N?" He asked, standing up from his chair.
You tried to play it off, like every other trick he plays on you. "You sure you won? You didn't cheat?"
George shook his head, smiling. "All real, all raw. Now, are you still up for it?"
He sounded genuine when he asked you. Like he was actually expecting it. Did he mean it? Did he want you to kiss him?
"Are you still up for it?" You said trying fish out if he did mean it.
"I'm game." He said quickly.
A bit too quickly.
Okay, so he did want a kiss.
You stood up and walked up to him. He was beaming and it made you want to hug him and never let go. But you had a horrible feeling this was only a joke. A cruel joke that George would pull on you, not knowing how much it would truly hurt.
Stopping when he was in front of you, you tried to smile. You didn't say anything. You just stood on your toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
A kiss on the cheek.
A kiss on the bloody cheek.
George looked like a question mark. But he didn't say anything. He gave you a smile, not a real smile, his lips were pulled to a thin line but curved up at the ends a bit.
"Well done." You offered, lamely.
He just nodded. "Thanks. I think I'll turn in. Coming, Fred?"
Fred, who has been sitting by the table and watching this whole ordeal play out, looked bothered. A bit annoyed. He's probably a sore loser.
"In a minute. You go, though."
His twin waved them goodbye and said goodnight and descended up the staircase to the boy's dormitory.
You stood in place for a moment, cringing at what had just happened. But you broke out of it and plopped down on the sofa, defeated. You ran your hands over your face and groaned loudly. What. the. hell.
You felt someone sitting down next to you, so you turned to see Fred who looked none too happy.
"I'm sorry you lost. You seem rather distraught."
"I'm not distraught. I'm annoyed. And not over the fact that I just lost to my brother. But because you are too dim to see that he fancy's you."
"Uh-"
"Can't you tell? Like for real? After everything he does for you? Everything he says to you? Just the way that he looks at you?" Fred ranted, his hands waving all over the place.
Dumbfounded, you stared at him. One word travelled across your mind. Just one.
What.
Was Fred lying? Did George like you in the same way that you liked him? And how could you not see it?
Now, as you sat next to Fred, it started to make sense. Fred was right. Everything George has done for you, and you still couldn't see it.
He had invited you to his family home, invited you to dinner at Hogsmeade, bought you flowers at random, made you tea whenever you're sick and stay by your side. Listening to you while you rambled on about your favourite band, helping you out with insecurities and doubts. Always telling you how beautiful you look, complimenting you at things you're bad at, holding your hand whenever you're scared, finding excuses to touch your hair. And lastly, asking for a kiss.
Even when he had asked you for a kiss, you had doubted yourself. How could you have been so foolish?
"Oh shit." You blurted out, your eyes widening.
Fred nodded slowly, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. "Ah, I see you finally see what all of us other sees every single day."
"How do I fix this?"
"There's nothing to fix, dear friend. He'll try again tomorrow. Like he has done for at least two years now." Fred said calmly. "And this time, actually respond to the hints."
He got up from the sofa and started to head to the stairs that lead up to the boy's dormitory.
You heard his footsteps fade as he walked up the stairs. Leaving you bewildered at your new discovery.
~ ~ ~ ~
You saw him turning a corner that leads to the boy's lavatories. You hurriedly said goodbye to your friends and ran after him, your heart beating fast.
He had just stepped inside when you reached the door. You hoped to all of the gods above that no other than George was in there. And with that, you opened the door and stepped inside.
"George?" You asked, quietly.
"What the-" George cut off when he saw you. "What're you doing in here?"
"I never thought George Weasley would look so shocked to see me breaking the rules. I thought it was common by know." You looked at him, astonished that he likes you.
He chuckled. "I never took you for a perv, though."
His handsome smile brought you to the subject that you had wanted to talk to him about. So you took a big, deep breath and prepared your silly and probably very cheesy speech.
"George..."
He waited, his eyebrows raised. But when you didn't continue he looked at you, confused.
"...Yes?"
Talking about your feelings suddenly felt more nerve-racking than you had thought. And your thoughts on explaining to him that you like him was terrifying. So you felt like the best way to express yourself was to just show him.
Walking slowly and looking at him with big, nervous eyes, you reached him and gently put your hands on each side of his face and tenderly claimed his lips with yours. Your hands remained on his face, your thumb brushing his cheek softly.
He was tense for only a second before he relaxed and put one arm on your lower back, and one on the back of your head.
When it was over - which felt too soon - both of you slowly pulled away from each other. For a moment, you just looked at him, and he looked back at you, seemingly lost in your eyes. His lips were starting to curl into a sly smile. Here it comes.
"That was nice." He said, laughing a little.
You couldn't help but laugh a little yourself. It was a bit funny, was it not? You had just had your first kiss with George Weasley in the boy's lavatories. But for some really odd and peculiar reason, it felt right. It sort described your whole situation.
Plain strange.
"It was." You responded, shocked at your own braveness.
"Would you mind if we do it again, sometime?" George didn't seem ashamed or shy to ask you, which made you feel a lot less nervous as well.
"I wouldn't mind at all."
He nodded his head, looking satisfied. Not breaking his character, he said, "Not to ruin the moment but I have to take a dump."
Laughing, you put your hands up. "I'm leaving."
"I'll see you later." He said.
You walked out and started to head to the Gryffindor common room.
Oh, how you couldn't wait to tell Fred.
161 notes · View notes
that-rock-chick · 3 years
Text
Love Bites
Love sucks. That's pretty much common knowledge. Combine that with addiction, money, fame, and childhood trauma and you've got a recipe for disaster.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Same shit, different fucking day.
Don't ask me how I'm balancing six days a week at my job and band practice three to four days a week, because I truly have no fucking idea. I tried college but once the band formed, I cut that out of my schedule completely.
It's been about a months since the argument with Gwen and Tiffany went down and our band hasn't practiced. I tried to be sympathetic for the longest time, but it's beyond ridiculous now. Veronica, Tiffany, and I have been wanting to do band stuff but Gwen refuses because she's mad that Tiffany is dating a man SHE broke up with. It's not like Tiffany did it intentionally, and the fact that she's letting her own personal stuff interfere with our band is really pissing me off.
We've all got shit going on, but Gwen loves being a drama queen. Veronica has suggested kicking her out of the band a few times and Tiffany has echoed the same sentiment, but I don't think my patience has thinned to that extent just yet.
But it's getting there.
Young musicans aren't hard to come by, but finding someone who fits the band's sound as perfectly as Gwen's adds on a large layer of difficulty that I'm not prepared for. We'd have to start all over, teach our new singer the songs, establish chemistry...it seems exhausting and more trouble than it's worth, at least for the time being.
"Hey Julie." Dylan greeted me as I walked past, something he does whenever we work together. Sometimes it ends up being the best part of my day.
As the day progresses, I find myself smiling a lot more than I usually do. Customers are easier to deal with and a large amount of them were actually friendly. It created a light-hearted atmosphere in the restaurant that we don't get too often, unfortunately. The time seemed to fly by.
"Good luck Dylan." I said goodbye and walked out of the front door. Dylan was always there a hour before I arrived, and an hour before I left. The rest of the staff is pretty cool, but Dylan is the only one I'd consider to be a friend of mine. He's essentially the less musically inclined male version of me.
I head to our rehearsal space for the second time this week. I've extended the invitation to Gwen, as if she needs an invitation to show up to her own fucking band's rehearsal. If she doesn't show up tonight, she's out. Our time is just as important as hers and we're all tired of it being wasted.
I'm usually the first person to show up, but some days that isn't the case, like today.
"Hey." Gwen says shyly.
I give her a blank stare and proceeded to put my things down on a table nearby.
"Nice of you to finally decided to show up." I stated plainly.
"Look, I know I've missed a lot of practice and I totally understand the three of you being pissed at me, but can you please take one second to see this from my perspective?"
I couldn't help but scoff at what was coming out of Gwen's mouth. Has she seriously taken an objective look at the situation and came to the conclusion that she has a leg to stand on.
"Okay fine. You broke up with a guy, he moved onto Tiffany, you were so jealous that he wasn't falling you around like a lost puppy, and you took it out on Tiffany."
Gwen rolled her eyes but before she could speak, Tiffany and Veronica entered the room. Anger was written all over Tiffany's face, while Veronica seemed to be as cool as a cucumber.
That's one thing I've always liked about Veronica. She can keep her cool in some pretty tough situations. That's not all there is to like about her, though. She's utterly gorgeous. Her dark skin and hair that was almost always styled in an afro were truly beautiful features that I couldn't help but admire. She's beautiful, smart, talented, and has an amazing personality. She's the full package.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Tiffany wasted no time begining the screaming match we all knew was about to go down.
"We're in the same band." Gwen managed to maintain her regular tone of voice, but if I know Tiff like I think I do, and trust me, I do, she'll keep going until she sets Gwen off and then everything will go up in flames.
"Clearly the band hasn't been very high on your list of priorities for the past four weeks. Finally make time in your schedule for us, princess?" Tiffany was speaking with her genuine emotions, but part of her wanted to get a reaction out of Gwen. She knows how Gwen feels about being called "princess".
Gwen looks like she wants to say something to Tiffany that would no doubt escalate the situation even further, but she takes a deep breath and regains her composure.
"I'm sorry, okay? For everything. Julie was right, I should've maintained my professionalism above all else...and I shouldn't have put some guy over you and our friendship."
The three of us looked at Gwen semi-shocked. That girl never apologizes for anything. Instead of responding, Tiffany tells Veronica and I that she's stepping out for a smoke.
I'm not sure if we should discuss things further or let bygones be bygones, but it's not exactly my place to make that call.
Tiffany returns just as I finshed tuning my guitar and walked up to Gwen. If I didn't know Tiffany, I'd say she was going to punch Gwen in the face with the speed she was moving.
"That whole situation was fucked up, but I know how hard it is for you to apologize to people, so I forgive you." Tiffany pulls Gwen in for a hug and for the first time in awhile, things seem okay between the four of us.
"I would like to reiterate that Gwendolyn said I was right." I smiled proudly.
"Yeah, don't get used to hearing that from me."
It was nice while it lasted, at least.
Band practice turned out to be super productive, and it hasn't been that way in a long time. We got a lot of work done today and hopefully we can keep this up for awhile. We spent about 7 hours in our rehearsal space and it felt more like 5 minutes. Time really does fly when you're surrounded by positivity.
The girls and I said our goodbyes and parted ways for the night. Tiffany had mentioned that we haven't seen each other this past month like we usually do. Of course I feel bad about that, she's been my best friend for so long. But I've been spending a lot of time with the Guns N' Roses boys...Axl in particular can be a persuasive little shit when he wants to be. I've already told the guys that Tiffany's birthday is this weekend and they can't keep monopolizing my time. I need more feminine energy!
"Julie!" I hear someone call out. I recognize the voice as soon as it hits my ears.
"Hey Slash, what's up?"
Minus Izzy, I'm becoming pretty close with the members of Guns N' Roses. I just wish that man wasn't so goddamn illusive.
Slash and I walk and talk. Clearly he's decided we're hanging out tonight. I don't mind it much since Tiffany's going out with Victor tonight, Gwen is visiting her parents, and Veronica is doing god knows what, like always. So even if I wanted to make plans with someone, it's not like I had anyone else anyway.
"I don't think anyone's at the house, besides Izzy." From the way he phrased his sentence, it was a clear indication that Slash had no interest in staying at the "Hell House" with Izzy, he usually opted to spend his nights the same way he spent his days: completely wasted. It didn't matter if it was alcohol or heroin, if it got him high, he'd take it.
But this isn't about Slash. I want to see Izzy...I might have a slight obsession with a man who has never even said a single word to me, but I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous. There's something about him that keeps me drawn to him and I'm determined to figure out what it is. No matter how long it takes me.
"Then let's go to the house."
Before Slash can process what I said so he could say no, I grab him by the arm and run as fast as I possibly can while dragging a grown man behind me. It only takes about 15 seconds of running before I realized, Slash in tow or not, I'm very out of shape. I'm running out of breath, determined to get to the band's house. I'll be wheezing all the way down Sunset Boulevard and trying to convince myself it's worth it by the time we get there. But knowing me, it won't.
We enter the house and lo and behold...
Izzy isn't there. Despite me struggling to breathe, the look of defeat plasters my face and Slash starts laughing his ass off.
"Izzy's out working, I just wanted to see how you'd react. Sure didn't think you'd go runnin to our house, though." Slash manages to get out through his fit of hysterical laughter.
"Slash! Why the hell would you do that?"
"Because I know you like him. I got the confirmation I needed. Just wait until I tell Duff!" Slash heads for the stairs, but I grab his arm before he starts his ascent.
"You cannot tell Duff." I tell him seriously.
"He can't tell Duff what?" Duff appears from the kitchen
"And why are you out of breath? And why are you holding Slash's arm?"
"She totally likes Izzy, dude. I told her that he was here and she dragged me through the streets. We almost got hit by like, 5 cars."
My shocked face slowly twists into a look of confusion as Duff rolls his eyes, pulls out his wallet, and hands Slash a 20 dollar bill.
"Dude, you guys bet on whether I liked Izzy or not?" I was part shocked, part confused, and part mortified that my crush on Izzy was that obvious. Izzy seems like a smart man, so I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of him knowing and not talking to me because I'm a weird chick who likes him without even knowing anything about him.
"Yeah, and now I'm out 20 bucks because you can't control your goddamn hormones." Duff says in mock frustration. I ignore his joke as the overthinking sets in further.
"Does...does he know?"
"Nah. The man's pretty oblivious, plus he doesn't pay much attention to anything except drugs, work, and music. It's fine." Duff reassures me.
Then Izzy walks in. The three of us get quiet when he shuts the door behind him. He looked at the guys then looks me up and down. He then looks back up at my face like he's done several times before, but this time he doesn't look away when our eyes meet, not immediately, at least. I feel my heart start beating a mile a minute at the momentary eye contact and feel myself longing for it again when it breaks.
He nods his head and walks up the stairs. I guess his first words to me will have to wait another day.
"What does Izzy do for work?" I ask, to no one in particular.
"He's a drug dealer." Duff replies nonchalantly.
I don't know how to respond to that, so I don't. Slash and Duff have their own conversation and I find myself wondering what kind of person Izzy is. I don't know what to think. All I know is he's a damn good musician, an equally gifted writer, and a drug dealer.
Who the hell is Izzy Stradlin?
8 notes · View notes
princess-rosie · 3 years
Text
Underneath The Spotlight- A Sanders Sides Fic
Taglist: @sophiexteresa
Chapter 11- Logan Berry: Dancer, Organiser, Techie... Boyfriend?
(Read chapter 1 here!)
(Read here on ao3!)
Warnings for this chapter: mild curse word
A/N: did anyone order Logince??? Also, I love how this chapter came out, I hope you do too :D
Harrison and Bailey were the two techies stationed at stage left of the theatre where the show was taking place, however their distinct personalities had earned them the nicknames Heart and Brain. The two had become inseparable throughout their time managing the theatre lighting and made a great team, Brain making sure every performer could be seen and Heart adding the symbolism and meanings to the lighting designs. Heart loved his job and was awed at getting such a close view of every performance that came and went from their theatre. Earlier in the show, during the ballroom dance, Heart had been watching the routine with curiosity.
“Brain, hey Brain!” he whispered, nudging his partner.
Brain sighed. “Yes, Heart?” they asked, turning to him.
“Look, look! That little guy in light blue, with the freckles and glasses! The really short one!”
“I see, yes.”
“Look how he looks at his partner. Brain, he’s in loooooveee!!!”
“I do see the signs, yes,” Brain replied. “How he never takes his eyes off of him, and the smiling and blushing. However his partner, the one in yellow, is probably doing it even more.”
“OH MY GOSH, YOU’RE SO RIGHT!”
“Heart, keep your voice down!”
“Sorry... but I totally see what you mean! Those two are absolutely smitten, it’s so cute! Oooohhh, let’s see if we can spot any other couples!”
“Over there, those two,” Brain said immediately. “Both really tall, one in red, one in dark blue.”
“Oh my gosh yeeessss!! They’re both such good dancers as well! It’s almost like they’re trying to impress each other. They make such a perfect couple, Brain!”
The other gave a small smile.
“Oh and look, over there! Green and purple, green and purple!”
“Ah yes, although their dancing skills are more... lacking, shall one say?”
Heart nudged them lightly. “Don’t be mean! They don’t have to be perfect dancers, but you can see they’re supporting each other and both trying their best. I bet they really take care of each other.”
Brain moved closer to their partner. “Like I take care of you?”
“Braiiiinnnnn! Not nowwww!” Heart whined, blushing.
“I apologise. Let’s leave the romancing to them, shall we?” they said, gesturing to the three waltzing couples.
Back at the current stage in the show, well into the second half, Logan and Roman were waiting in the wings for the tap dance, containing Logan’s big solo. His tap solos were fast, furious and one missed beat could ruin the whole thing. However he always seemed to execute them perfectly, captivating every single audience member with his rhythmic and technical precision.
“Are you nervous?”
“Slightly, although thanks to your talk earlier I now have no doubt that I am capable of doing this.”
“That’s the spirit, Lo! You’re gonna do amazing! And don’t forget I’ll be supporting you all the way.”
“Thank you Roman...”
The lights came up and the music began, signalling the start of the routine. The main part of the dance went well, everyone putting in their all with the technique and performance, delivering a great routine. Towards the end, all the other dancers retired to the back of the stage, ready for Logan’s solo.
“You can do this Logan,” he swore he heard Remus say
“Show everyone how great you are!” Patton’s voice came in his head.
“You got this, you nerd,” Virgil seemed to tell him.
“You are a fantastic dancer, never doubt yourself,” Janus’ voice said.
“Logan... I love you,” were the final words Logan heard from Roman.
They were all right. He could do this. Step... prepare... five, six, seven, eight-
The rest of the dancers watched with pride as Logan began his tap solo, most of them barely following the moves he seemed to be doing at hyper-speed. Logan did move after move perfectly in time, never once missing a beat, tapping out an extremely fast and complex rhythm with his shoes. The audience watched, in awe... they weren’t the only ones. Roman stood, watching his boyfriend, mesmerised...
“God, I love that tap-dancing nerd...”
There was little time to marvel over Logan’s skills after the routine, as most of the dancers had another routine soon, Roman almost immediately. After his very intense solo, Logan took a walk around backstage in order to catch his breath back a bit. While wandering around stage left, he overheard a couple of the techies talking.
“Oh no, Brain, it looks like the centre-stage spotlight is broken!” the shorter of the two techies said.
The other, taller techie winced. “That is the spotlight we need for the next dance, the best dancer in the school is performing a solo. What will we do?”
“I dunno, Brain, maybe we could try-“
Logan pondered. The best dancer in the school... they must be talking about Roman. Logan recalled his boyfriend did indeed have a solo as part of the next routine, and the broken spotlight would bring him even more unneeded stress. Logan himself had some tech skills. He sighed- it was worth a shot. He approached the techies, the tap shoes he was still wearing tapping against the floor.
“Salutations,” he said. “I overheard that the two of you were having an issue?”
“Aren’t you one of the dancers?” the taller techie (Brain?) asked.
“Indeed I am, however I thought I may be able to assist you with the broken spotlight problem.”
“I dunno, I mean we’re really not supposed to let performers use the lighting unit, let alone kids...” said the smaller techie Logan believed to be called Heart.
“I am sixteen, there is no need to belittle me or act like I don’t know anything.”
“Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to belittle you or anything! I just don’t think there’s anything any of us can do about this.”
“I agree,” said Brain. “The dancer will just have to dance without his spotlight.”
That made Logan livid. He knew full well that Roman, his boyfriend, deserved only the best. He was a stunning dancer and deserved to perform under the most flattering conditions, so everyone could see just how amazing he was. And if no one else could provide that for him, Logan was more than willing to take it into his own hands.
“Look, okay? We have a few minutes until the spotlight is needed, and I don’t need to be onstage for a while now. I think you’ll find that it is very much possible, and that I will be fixing this spotlight.”
He stamped his tap shoe on the floor in determination, making Heart jump and cower behind his partner. Even Brain took a step back, in shock.
“He’s being scary! It’s like those really demanding people from the posh ballet school all over again! Brain, do something!”
Brain shrugged.
“I trust the guy. Go ahead and see what you can do, umm...”
“Logan. Logan Berry.”
“I think you can fix it, Logan,” Brain said.
“Me too, I believe in you!” Heart chirped.
The problem was relatively simple. Logan had it fixed within a few minutes, and the techies did not do well at hiding their shock.
“Wow... you actually fixed it,” Brain said, looking over the lighting unit then giving Logan an impressed glance.
“Oh my goodness you did it!” Heart half-squealed. “Logan you are so clever and kind and skilful and selfless and helpful and smart and you saved our butts and you-“
Just as Heart looked as if he were about to lurch forwards and hug Logan, Brain placed a calming hand on their partner’s shoulder.
“Heart. Calm. Remember to be professional.”
“Sorrryyyy,” Heart shrank back, a blush dusting his freckled face.
Logan smiled. “You are very welcome.... I should probably return to my dressing room now. I don’t doubt that some catastrophe may have occurred in my absence.”
Brain chuckled. “My sincere thanks, Logan, we couldn’t have done this without you.”
Logan smiled, one of his rare, genuine, not just plastered on for a performance smiles. “You are most welcome.”
Roman was already dashing out of the dressing room when Logan returned. He stumbled towards him and frantically placed his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders.
“Logan! I heard about some trouble with lighting, is everything ok back there?”
“Yes, do not worry, everything is fine now,” Logan replied, however his words did not have their desired calming effect.
Roman immediately frowned. “What do you mean ‘now’?”
“Oh, there was a small trouble regarding a spotlight for the next dance, but I managed to fix it, nothing major really. I merely examined the lighting unit, I spotted the issue and it was quite simple so I recalibrated the...” Logan’s words tailed off as he took in the look on his boyfriend’s face. “...wh-what’s the matter?”
“Logan... you did all that so I could have my spotlight?”
“Well, of course... because I love you-“
Logan was immediately cut off by Roman throwing his arms around him, holding him tight as he seemed to fight back tears.
“Thank you. Logan... you didn’t have to do that... I... has anyone ever told you how incredible you are?”
No words were necessary, as they both held each other tight, forgetting for a moment the chaos ensuing around them, as everything melted away into-
“ROMAN! So that’s where you’ve been!” Emile Picani once again thrust his head through the backstage door, this time looking even more infuriated than the last. “You’re literally on right now, we’ve had to stall the music for you! Get your ass in here now!”
Logan and Roman exchanged a shocked glance. If Emile swears at you, you know you’re in for it. Roman began sprinting towards the stage without a word. Logan was left stunned, with more confidence than he could remember having in a long time. He stood there, grinning like an idiot for a good few seconds until Remus approached him, mockingly wiggling his eyebrows.
“Jeez, dude, stop simping for my bother,” he said, causing Logan to blush bright red and snap back into his usual serious manner.
“Remus, cut it out,” he snapped. “You should be getting ready, we all have the big group number soon, where’s everyone else?”
Remus gestured awkwardly inside the dressing room. “Comforting Patton,” he whispered. Logan suddenly remembered the bold red mark he had put on Patton’s column of the spreadsheet, the seemingly impossible feat his childhood friend had been anxious about for months. He sighed.
“Then I suggest we join them...”
Next chapter
15 notes · View notes
skysybil · 4 years
Text
Penumbra Superlatives: Most Likely To Be A Dark Matters NPC
The people demanded it, and I am indeed a magnanimous conspiracy theory machine, so here is my incredibly ridiculous reasoning behind my “who is in the dark matters simulation and who is fake” ranking, found here. Thank you to my partner for listening to me yell about this for 24 hours straight now. Man, I am gonna look like an idiot if this isn’t a Dark Matters induced simulation or dream in the end with how all-in I’ve been going with this.
Also, if you guys ever want me to lay out every fucking tiny detail I’ve seen that I think points to it being a simulation, I’ll do that too. Please validate me.
This is insanely long, it’s like two to three paragraphs for every member of the space family. This is kind of shameful, I almost feel bad. I’ll be your best friend forever if you read it all. Also, I’m putting it below the cut for everyone’s sanity. Anyway, let’s go lesbians, let’s go!
First, in the “definitely an active participant” category: Rrrrrita!
I’ll admit, it’s genuinely really hard to tell what discrepancies in the story are suspicious simulation details and what is just Rita being a particularly unreliable narrator. However, my first general point towards Rita being an active participant/player/whatever you want to call it is the fact that we’re experiencing this through her perspective! I think it would be really cool to tell the story from the perspective of a caricature puppeted by Dark Matters, but I feel like it would be way more obvious in gaps in her thinking patterns if she was fake. Honestly, I personally think it would be impossible to run it from the perspective of one of these NPCs (as i’m calling them) anyway, because... you know, they probably don’t have much in the way of thoughts in the first place. 
Plus, out of everyone in the group, she is most likely to be plucked out of a group of criminals by Dark Matters to recruit. Sasha knows her (or at least knows of her) and how good she is at her job. I’m sure she’s got a target on her back as someone that’s too powerful (seriously, I pray for the universe the day Rita realizes just how quickly she could take over the world--see: my THEIA Rita AU that i came up with this morning which I might post about later), but I’m also pretty sure killing Rita would be seen as a wasted opportunity. This could just be another test, just like Day That Wouldn’t Die but in an even more controlled environment. The perfect trap, the perfect test--hopefully for perfect results. And with how she tends to get caught up in glamour and drama or get distracted so easily, she’s one of the easiest members of the group to trick into not questioning the little discrepancies that comes from living in a lie.
---
Next, Vespa. Love of my life and the only other member of the Carte Blanche crew that I’m almost totally sure is sharing space in this simulation.
She’s in a similar position that she’s a valuable asset for Dark Matters to try and take on--especially if they can use her past debts as blackmail or something along those lines. She’s a damn good assassin and they tend to specialize in making people disappear. Why wouldn’t they seize the opportunity to test her and see if she could truly work for them? Dark Matters also seems to lack an ethical core, to say the least, and if they consider her past trauma and her illness to be an issue, I’m sure they wouldn’t be against trying to “fix” her in their horribly scummy ways just so she could be a better killer for their organization. It could also be related to her skills as a doctor with the crew, to be fair--while Rita is off building robots and trying to break into a super secret base, Vespa is repairing the entire medical wing, an incredibly suspicious task when apparently enough of the ship survived that Rita’s computers are okay, the entire crew is unscathed, and the Ruby isn’t a warped hunk of metal.
Though she is also very likely to be nabbed by Dark Matters as an opportunity, the main condemning thing against Vespa being an NPC is the conversation we overhear with Buddy. No one else knows that Vespa considered or decided on leaving the crew. We can’t say that’s a part of Rita’s mind affecting the simulation around her because Rita doesn’t know, and it’s not information that could be hacked, either. It was just in her mind. Unless Dark Matters has their hands on new mind reading technology (oh god, not this shit again), there’s no way that the scene with Vespa and Buddy could exist unless Vespa is also inhabiting the simulation. Every scene they choose to include is deliberate. To rule Vespa out of the plan, all it would’ve taken was likely just Vespa being her normal defensive self. Why would they include a scene with a look into that vulnerability if it didn’t matter?
Speaking of the Vespa and Buddy scene--but why would Vespa snap at Rita that badly if she’s real, you might ask. You’re right, Vespa is aggressive but not that aggressive normally, and it stood out in the few interactions we saw. In Vespa’s defense, if she is participating in this simulation, she is understandably freaked the fuck out. Vespa spends every day of her life hyperaware of what might be real and what might be fake around her. She’s most likely to figure out that something is very wrong first simply because of that trait. How much of her mind is Dark Matters manipulating? Would DM have to simulate her hallucinations, or would that come naturally along with her mind being stuck in this simulation? I imagine that for every discrepancy we’ve picked up on, she’s picked up on six--but she no longer has the explanation of it being a hallucination. I imagine it’s frustrating and terrifying for her. I’d be on edge, too!
---
Moving into our next category: “probably in the simulation”, with our only candidate Buddy.
Buddy is my question mark character. We barely interacted with her this episode. From what I can tell, most of what we saw from her seems in character, and she had some wicked fucking lines. I’m sorry, I refuse to give Dark Matters credit for the line “If you imagine all that could go wrong, all you’ve done is drag yourself through a thousand disasters. And even in the worst-case scenario, you will only need to live through one.” Because it genuinely made me feel better in real life, goddammit.
Buddy is mostly in this category for lack of evidence, both with the lack of interaction and with how Rita kind of glazed over the family meeting with her distractions. So, it’s hard to say. I’d love to hear others’ theories on Buddy’s place in this.
---
Now, we cross the threshold into those that are probably not in the simulation, or are acting incredibly suspicious: the “on thin fucking ice” category. First, Peter. 
Can this bastard decide on his personality for two whole minutes so I can get a handle on the little intricacies of the new Ransom persona? No? Goddammit. It’s hard to tell how much of the way he acted was genuinely suspicious and how much of it is the mask he’s put on for Peter Ransom. While he’s adopted the old name, he hasn’t adopted his old personality, so it’s near impossible to get good points of comparison on this new view. We’ve seen inside his head with this persona, sure, but we can’t compare the way he spoke and acted in his head with how he holds himself in front of Rita--he’s always going to choose his level of vulnerability based off of the least trusted person in the room. He’s not to that place with Rita yet. He’s going to have walls and facades up that he won’t have in front of Juno, or in front of himself. He can’t make it easy on him.
But that does not mean I can’t be suspicious of him, because I am. Fuck you, Nureyev, I’m still coming for you. Mainly, I’m squinting at his reaction to Rita’s plans and his lack of reaction to her openly talking about the two of them in an established relationship. We know damn well that Peter and Juno are not at that place yet. Why, do you ask? Because I trust that Sophie and Kevin wouldn’t take that moment from us. We’ve had three and a half years of slowburn buildup on Jupeter! We would not skip from “tentatively talking and trying to learn communication through ‘’’’’’poetry’’’’’’ and shit” to “established lovey dovey relationship” without being let in on it. I doubt Peter would let comments like the ones Rita made really slide in front of Juno--after all, the last time he admitted he was in love, Juno fucking left, and I bet there’s a lot of reluctance or trauma surrounding that. Yet he let it slide anyway.
Still, because Peter is a wild card, there’s still a possibility that his non-reaction was a defense mechanism or part of the Ransom facade (after all, he had to pretend he was in better standing with Juno than he actually was at first to keep his place in the family). The most suspicious thing he did in that conversation, in my opinion, was agree not to let anyone else know about the plan. He knows damn well that he is on thin ice with everyone in the crew except for Juno and Rita. Trust is in short supply for him and keeping his position in the family is incredibly important to him, both so he can find a way to pay off his debts and so he can pursue this shaky relationship he’s started to piece back together with Juno. Yet he hops right in with barely any pushback when it comes to keeping this Incredibly Vital And Important Plan a complete secret. Plus, you know, he supposedly couldn’t even stand, yet walked all the way to the computer cave. Sure, maybe Juno carried him, but I’d fully expect something like Juno picking him up to be a joke written into the script. I feel like it was deliberately left out.
Still, the only real glimpse of Peter that Dark Matters has ever had was of Rex Glass, and Peter definitely isn’t acting like his Rex persona, so how would they really know to get his personality around the Aurinko family to where it is? I suppose that could be attributed to Rita, Vespa, and/or Buddy shaping the simulation around them.
Tl;dr on the Peter section: He’s almost definitely an NPC but nothing is certain with a man whose entire sense of self is based off of an elaborate web of lies and inconsistencies.
---
Also probably an NPC, but I’m not sure, thus on thin fucking ice: Jet.
You cannot tell me for one fucking second that Jet doesn’t know the Ruby 7 inside and out. That car is his baby. He’s torn the car apart and repaired it more than anyone else, and you’re telling me he doesn’t understand the core functions of the car--the engine, the fuel tank? No fucking way. I don’t have 3.5 paragraphs of speculation for Jet, I’m just so hung up on the fucking car thing. His personality fits well, which is the one string I’m holding onto that makes him maybe possibly an actual human being, but I feel like Dark Matters fucked up by trying to fill in the blanks on the Ruby 7. That’s where I think the issue comes from--the reason there’s a part in the Ruby that Jet doesn’t understand is because DM doesn’t know how the Ruby works, and they tried to put in what they imagined could power it or fuzz over the details. But I will cry if the Ruby was actually destroyed in the crash, there’s no recovering from that.
---
And finally, if you’ve made it this far and not left after whispering to yourself holy shit, she’s insane, she’s absolutely insane, how much does this woman talk, we have the final category: unfortunately an NPC. And holy shit, is Juno 100% not in this simulation or being almost entirely puppeted by Dark Matters.
I genuinely can’t get into all my reasoning behind Juno being a puppet here without going on forever and doubling the length of this post, and I’ve put you through so much already. But every inch of Juno is suspicious, down to his tone of voice. Look, I’m happy to see him happy. But it just seems like a jump--just like as I discussed in the Peter section with the Jupeter relationship. It feels like we skipped something, or missed something. This is my theory: Juno has been crafted based off of how Sasha Wire knew him when she saw him last. He doesn’t have reactions that are quite right to the computers, to Peter, to anyone, really. Everything felt just a little off--until he got frustrated. Then he became more realistically Juno. I think this might be because Sasha is basing a comfortable and happy Juno (the one she assumes he must be around the people on the ship, especially Peter if she knows they’re romantically involved) off of the Juno she interacted with when they were younger, which is just off in comparison to the Juno we know now. She can build a more three dimensional Juno in the situations she’s familiar with, like a bored Juno, a frustrated Juno, or an angry Juno. She’s got the one-liners down, I’ll give her that.
I’m also just in general not surprised if Sasha is just keeping him separate from the rest of them. Possibly to try and talk him out of the family, get him untangled from the Dark Matters mess? Plus, he’s incredibly perceptive, and might be considered a risk to the simulation if he was in it. 
Also, the out-of-universe evidence: I am 100% convinced that the reason the episode script came out late is because it had to be edited to remove some of the directions, possibly suspicious things like “too cheery”. Specifically, I think one of Juno’s significant directions is missing. It’s hard to put exactly what kind of direction is missing into words because I don’t know anything about script writing, but I just... I have a feeling. Trust me on this. I’ve seen other people on Twitter talk about it too, I’m not the only one. I stand by it.
---
Anyway, since I want to keep my Juno-specific speculation as short as possible, that’s all, folks. If you stayed this long, genuinely I love you so much and I would give my life for you, message me or mention it in the tags that you made it all the way and maybe we could be mutuals or friends!! I love to ramble about this kind of thing. Follow me for more aimless speculation, hopefully not 2.5k words next time. If you have any questions or other stuff to discuss also mention it and I might post about it later!
Update: If you’re interested in the simulation theory, here’s the link to a post I just made laying out all my conspiracy theory evidence for it.
96 notes · View notes
ollieofthebeholder · 3 years
Text
leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Also on AO3
Chapter 11: Sasha
They all jump at the sound of the recorder clicking off. Tim sits up straighter and rubs his hands together.
“Well!” he says in what Sasha can tell is a falsely cheerful voice. “I think that’s enough earth-shattering revelations for one night. Who wants that whiskey now?”
“I refuse to get drunk around you again,” Sasha says. It’s a pathetic attempt at their usual banter, but it does get a genuine smirk out of Tim, complete with that unfairly attractive dimple.
Jon exhales heavily. He pulls off his glasses with one hand and rubs at his eyes with the other. “I should…probably get going.”
“The hell you will,” Tim says immediately. “Look at you. If I let you out the door, you’ll fall asleep at the wheel and die before you get to the end of the block. You’re staying the night.”
“Tim, while I appreciate the offer—”
“Nope, not interested in the rest of that sentence. The only thing keeping you upright is the arm of the sofa and the starch in your underpants.”
“And the stick jammed up my ass, no doubt?” Jon raises an eyebrow.
Tim grins. “See? You’re so tired you’re actually joking around with me. Stay the night, and tomorrow we can get answers out of them first thing.” He stands up without waiting for an answer. “One of you can take the sofa, the other one can have the love seat. Unless you want to build a blanket fort on the floor, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave Martin out. We’ll let the old folks fight over the bed.”
“Old folks?” Jon Prime repeats indignantly. He shoots an obviously exaggerated glare at Martin Prime, who isn’t even bothering to hide his snickers. “We don’t look that bad.”
Tim laughs. He’s the only one that doesn’t seem that tired, really. “Come on, you two. I’ll show you where the bedroom is.”
Jon Prime gets to his feet, then hesitates and glances at Martin Prime. Sasha wonders how blind Martin Prime actually is, because he seems to respond to that look; he hesitantly reaches out in Jon Prime’s direction. Jon Prime takes his arm without further comment, and Sasha watches Martin Prime’s shoulders slump in evident relief before the two of them quietly wish the rest of them goodnight and follow Tim down the hall.
Sasha watches them for a moment, then glances at Jon and Martin, who are both avoiding looking at one another. She decides to give them a little space and go gather up the spare blankets and pillows. They probably both need a minute or two to process what they just heard.
Truthfully, Sasha’s not sure what she thinks of it either. She’s impressed that Martin Prime isn’t passively rolling over and taking whatever Jon Prime dishes out, and she’s a little bit in awe of his strength. Could she have survived two weeks alone and blind, let alone in the Archives? That feeling of being watched is creepy enough when she can look over her shoulder and confirm nobody’s actually there; she can’t imagine what it would be like if she didn’t have that option. It must be terrifying, but Martin Prime hasn’t shown it.
She’s also—there’s no denying it—curious as all get-out. She kind of wants to interrogate Martin Prime, find out how he lost his eyesight, if it’s total vision loss or partial, if he thinks it’s temporary or permanent. What it’s like being blind in general, what it’s like trying to maneuver around the Archives blind. How he plans to deal with it if it is permanent.
As she passes the door of Tim’s bedroom, which is ajar, she hears Martin Prime say, evidently mid-sentence, “—put you to any trouble.”
Sasha slows her steps and hovers outside the door, eavesdropping shamelessly. It’s always been one of her fatal flaws, that urge to snoop and spy and pluck secrets out of thin air. It’s part of what drew her to the Magnus Institute over any of the other research or archival jobs she could have taken, the other part being that most of the others would have required her to go too far from London. She hasn’t said anything about that to any of the others, about why she’s so keen to stay in the city. For all she loves ferreting out things about those around her, she’s always been close-mouthed about her own secrets.
“It’s no trouble at all,” Tim says. “Like I said, we were planning to spend the night in the Archives anyway, and I don’t think we’d all have fit on that cot in the back room. My floor’s a lot more comfortable.”
“Yes, but we don’t want to turn you out of your room.” Jon Prime sounds uncertain and exhausted.
“I offered. Look. Martin’s probably going to be asleep before I get back out to the living room, he looks exhausted. And I don’t think the rest of us want to leave him alone right now.” Tim sighs. “Where did we all sleep when we did this before?”
“Hmm?” Sasha isn’t sure which one of the Primes makes that noise.
“You said this happened a lot earlier than it did for you guys, right? If we want to keep an eye on each other like this now, I bet it was even worse two months down the line. Did somebody else put us all up or what?”
There’s a short pause before Martin Prime says, “No, we—we all sort of went our separate ways.”
“Wait, seriously?” Tim sounds genuinely shocked. “No, that’s—if you were hurt—”
“I wasn’t, though. I was the only one who came out of it unhurt.”
“Physically, anyway,” Jon Prime says. “We were all a bit…it was rough for a while there.”
“All the more reason we should have stayed together, then,” Tim says. “Whose idea was it not to?”
“I think we were all just…tired,” Martin Prime says slowly. “You—our Tim, I mean—he was in quarantine for a while, so he just wanted to go home, and Sasha…she wasn’t herself.”
Somebody makes a noise that might be a laugh, but Sasha isn’t getting the joke. Tim has an audible frown in his voice when he speaks again. “And you? What did you do? Go back to the place you’d last seen when you were being toyed with by six thousand worms wrapped in a trench coat and pretend that the idea of sleeping there alone didn’t bother you, then spend the night lying in bed staring up at the ceiling and jumping at every single sound?”
Martin Prime doesn’t answer for a moment. Finally, he says, so quietly Sasha has to move closer to hear properly, “You know, nobody ever actually asked me about that?”
“You know, that doesn’t really answer the question.”
“Martin?” Jon Prime’s voice is soft and laden with concern.
Martin Prime sighs heavily. “No. I went back to the place I’d last seen when I was being toyed with by six thousand worms wrapped in a trench coat and found out that I’d missed the deadline to renew my lease, then spent the night in a waiting room at St. Pancras pretending I had an early-morning train and reading through rental notices.”
Sasha presses a hand to her mouth to keep from swearing out loud. Tim does enough of that for both of them. “When was the lease up?”
“Mid-April sometime? Mrs. Mattson is…I’d been living there for years, but she’s not a sentimentalist. Once that deadline passed, she found a new tenant and arranged to have the place cleared out.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Jon Prime’s voice sounds ragged.
“It never really came up,” Martin Prime says, sounding a bit tired himself. “By the time I saw you again, I’d found a new place anyway, and I just…nobody ever asked me why I moved and it seemed easier not to say anything. There was kind of a lot going on.”
“All right, I—I suppose that’s fair, but…” Jon Prime trails off.
Sasha hears Tim take a deep breath. “Right, well, we’ll do better than that for our Martin, don’t worry. Maybe you can help us convince him he deserves it. Anyway, you two look like you’re about ready to drop, so I’ll let you get some sleep and finish grilling you tomorrow. Bathroom’s right across the hall if you need it.”
“Thank you, Tim,” Jon Prime says softly. “I mean it.”
“Hey, what are friends for?”
Sasha hurriedly steps away from the door and moves to the linen closet at the end of the hallway. A moment or two later, Tim joins her. “Need a hand?”
“I just thought I’d get the spare blankets and pillows,” Sasha says. “You know, so it feels a little more like we’re really sleeping. How were you planning to handle that in the Archives, by the way?”
Tim has the grace to look sheepish. “Okay, so it was an impulse. Sue me. We’d have probably ended up in a pile on the floor or something.”
“I suppose there are worse ways to sleep than in a cuddle pile with my two best friends.” Sasha nudges Tim, who laughs. “Like…alone, on a cot in the Archives.”
“I still can’t believe we let him do that for so long. We are horrible friends.” Tim glances over his shoulder, his expression suddenly pinched. Sasha wonders if she should admit that she heard his whole conversation with the Primes, but decides, on the balance, nah. “I mean, Jon I understand, he was still pretending he hated us.”
Sasha snorts and pulls out an armful of soft things. “Not very well.”
It at least brings a smile back to Tim’s face. “Well, I mean, you and I already knew it was an act. It’s just Martin who probably didn’t know.”
“Martin would have quit if he really thought Jon didn’t like him,” Sasha says, although she’s not altogether sure that’s true. Between the fact that he falsified most of his credentials to get the job at the Institute to begin with and the fact that he’s the sole support for a chronically ill mother, he probably would have put up with a lot worse than a boss that hated him. “Or at least asked to be transferred back to the library.”
“What, and leave us to the mercies of the Archives?” Tim grins. “C’mon, grab the spare pillows and let’s go make everybody comfortable.”
True to Tim’s prediction, Martin has fallen asleep by the time they get back into the living room, although in a way that doesn’t make it seem like he’s under very deep, or at least that he’s not comfortable enough to stay asleep easily. Jon is kneeling on the floor in front of him, carefully working his shoes off his feet. He looks up when they come in, obviously flustered and embarrassed. “I didn’t notice he’d dropped off until a minute ago,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sasha isn’t surprised, considering he was avoiding making eye contact, but she doesn’t say that out loud. “I mean, it’s been a long day, and he’s probably in a lot of pain.”
Tim dumps his load on the coffee table. “Here, you get the lever and I’ll ease the back down so he doesn’t fall too hard. Don’t want to wake him, but sitting upright all night isn’t going to help him.”
Sasha wonders, as she sets down her own burden, how much of this is Tim trying to atone for what their counterparts did to Martin Prime and how much of it is him genuinely worrying about their Martin, but she’s not going to ask because that would mean revealing she was eavesdropping. Instead, she selects a pillow and blanket and starts setting them up on the love seat while she watches Tim and Jon try to ease the footrest out and the back to a reclining position without jostling Martin awake. He must be really tired, though, because although his face screws up briefly and he makes a soft sound, he doesn’t otherwise react. Once he’s lying down, Jon leans over and carefully slides Martin’s glasses off of his face, then folds them and sets them on the end table between the recliner and the sofa.
He turns around, presumably to get a blanket, and starts when he sees Sasha making up a bed. “Here, you don’t have to—you’re taller than I am, you should—”
“Only by a bit,” Sasha interrupts. “Two or three inches isn’t going to make that much of a difference, and I sleep curled up anyway.” She also sleeps like the dead, and judging by the way Tim and Jon are fussing over Martin without making it obvious, she guesses they’re more concerned about Martin than she is. Which isn’t to say that she isn’t worried about him, only that she’s a bit more detached from the situation, for whatever reason. If anything happens to Martin in the middle of the night, she won’t wake up and hear it, and they’re more likely to jump up to do something about it anyway, so there’s no reason for her to stay near him. She doesn’t say that out loud, though.
“I…” Jon hesitates, then glances back at Martin, and his face softens in a way Sasha pretends not to notice so she won’t be tempted to pick at it. “All right. T-Tim, are you sure—”
“Yep. The floor and I are good friends. I’ve done a lot of camping and backpacking and the like, so I’m used to it.” Tim grins. “Pick a pillow and a blanket.”
Jon looks over the offerings on the table, then selects a faded patchwork quilt and unfolds it carefully. Somehow, Sasha isn’t surprised when he drapes it over Martin and tucks him in gently, almost tenderly, before turning back and taking another blanket along with a pillow. The blanket, to Sasha’s eye, looks as if it’s made of fiberglass and horsehair, but Jon runs his fingers over the pattern almost reverently. “Where did you find this?”
“California, I think,” Tim answers. “Maybe Mexico. My grandparents left me a bit of a legacy when they died, with the stipulation that I use it for a gap year in ‘the mountains’. It was that vague. I think my folks expected me to pick the Alps or the Pyrenees, maybe the Sierra Morena if I felt like being different. Something close to home, anyway. But I thought, hey, when am I ever going to get a chance like this again? Spent my whole last year of school planning and budgeting, and two days after graduation I was off to America. The start of the Pacific Crest Trail is right on the border with Mexico, and there was a market there, people selling handcrafts and the like. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra blanket. I was right, too.”
“Does it mean something to you, Jon?” Sasha asks, curious. “The pattern, I mean?” She’s seen people trace the lines of relics and books like that when touching something that looks familiar but isn’t, and there’s an oddly thoughtful look on Jon’s face.
“Sort of?” Jon looks up. He truly does look tired, which is odd, considering he wasn’t the one running from worms. “I—my mother’s sister married an American. Well, he was Mexican-American. My cousin had a blanket like this on his guest bed, he said his grandmother made it for him.”
Tim begins making up a bed on the floor with the remaining blankets. He does so with a practiced ease that tells Sasha he truly has done this plenty of times before. “You’ve been to America, then? Or does your cousin live over here?”
“No, he’s in New Mexico. Or he was the last time we spoke. It’s been a few years.” Jon bends over and begins untying his shoes. “I didn’t—exactly take a gap year, but I did take some time off and go to visit him. He and his parents, or at least my aunt, used to come over and visit for a week or two every summer, so I thought I’d repay him by returning the visit. Ended up staying through to the end of the year.”
“Didn’t make it to New Mexico when I was there.” Tim turns to Sasha. “How ‘bout you, Sash? Ever been to America?”
Sasha shakes her head. “Closest I’ve come was getting to go onto one of their military bases in Ansbach. My family was on holiday in Germany and a boy asked me if I’d be his date to a holiday party. Evidently I was the only girl his age who spoke English he ran into who wasn’t already going with someone else.”
“We’ll all have to go sometime,” Tim says. “Close the Archives down for a couple weeks, the four of us can fly over and do the tourist thing.”
“I doubt Elias would go for that,” Jon says dryly, straightening up. “I barely was able to convince him to let us have a day or two off while the cleaning crews come in and get rid of the worm carcasses. Unless we manage to somehow convince him we’re doing research and that I need all of you with me, he’d likely insist at least one of us stay back.”
“Then we’ll sneak off,” Tim declares. “Leave the Institute on a Friday night, promise to see him Monday. Slip away under the cover of darkness, take a taxi to the airport, buy tickets under assumed names and catch a midnight flight. By the time he realizes we’re not coming in on Monday, we’ll be well dug in somewhere in America. He’ll never think to look for us there.”
“And then we’ll get fired the minute we set foot back in the Institute,” Sasha says.
“Nah, not us. Who’d take our place? Especially now? He’d have to hire from the outside and lie about the conditions. Worst we’ll have to endure is a lecture. ‘I am sorely disappointed in all of you, leaving the Archives in such a state and going on holiday. We won’t discuss this further, but I will have to refuse any further time off requests you make for the remainder of the year.’”
Sasha presses a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles. “Shh, you’ll wake Martin.”
“What do you say, Boss?” Tim asks, undeterred. “Team Archives in America? Debunking ghosts and solving mysteries? Rent a technicolor cargo van and adopt a Great Dane?”
The corners of Jon’s mouth twitch upwards in a smile. “Actually, the idea of going on a trip with the three of you is, strangely enough, not an altogether unwelcome one. God knows I haven’t taken a holiday in ages.”
“Your enthusiasm is boundless,” Tim says dryly. He kicks off his shoes and sits down on the blanket nest he’s built. “Hey, maybe the Primes will cover for us. They can pretend to be you and Martin and just Sasha and I can take the time off.”
“I think it’s a bit obvious they’re not us. Especially now.” Jon looks over at Martin. “I—I am sorry. I should have been there. I should have…it should have been me. Not any of you.”
Tim sighs, the smirk melting off his face. “Well, according to your counterparts, Martin was the only one who didn’t get…wormed the first time, so maybe you not being there means fewer people got hurt.”
“While I’m not ungrateful that you and Sasha weren’t hurt, Tim, it doesn’t make me feel any better for not…being there to help. Not even knowing.”
“Yeah, well…it was spur of the moment, sort of. And I deliberately didn’t tell you. Figured you wouldn’t…I don’t know, want to stay? Encourage us to stay? I mean, like you told Martin, it is still technically where we work, even if he was living there for a while.”
Jon looks pained. “I…in truth, I probably wouldn’t have wanted you all to stay, but not…Elias thought I was overreacting anyway, having Martin living there. I’d have probably come up with some ridiculous reason why you shouldn’t stay, but really it would have boiled down to the fear that if Elias found out we were all staying, he might order Martin out, and I—I thought that would put him in danger.”
“Well, if you believe what Martin Prime apparently told him, he wasn’t really what she was after,” Sasha points out. The last couple of words are swallowed by a yawn.
“I don’t know what I believe, Sasha.” Jon sighs heavily and takes off his glasses. “Let’s…table this discussion for the morning, shall we?”
“Sounds good. Tomorrow, then.” Tim yawns and burrows into his blankets.
Sasha curls up on the love seat. She figures she’ll lie there until she’s sure the others are asleep, then get up and do some investigating on her laptop, but to her mild surprise, she drifts off almost as soon as her eyes close.
11 notes · View notes
rudemaidenswrite · 4 years
Text
Jelly Beans
Cable x Reader
By: @pusantheamazonian                  not beta'd
Summary: You're in town visiting and helping out at your brother's bar. Your adorableness wins Cable.
Tumblr media
Spotting Wade. You walk behind the bar, carrying two items in hand. A large Mason jar filled to the brim and clipboard with paper that you tied a pen to.
“Well boys can I interest you in the guessing jar? Write your name and guess on the paper and at the end of the night I'll say who won.” Smiling at Wade and his new friend. 
“Ooh what are we guessing and winning?” Wade giggles leaning in. Like always Wade demands your entire attention. His friend turns and ignores you. 
“Well to liven things up, you’re guessing how many jelly beans are in this jar. You win the jelly beans and a free drink.” Setting the items down you begin leaning on the counter. Mirroring Wade’s actions.
“I love jelly beans! Gimmie gimmie gimmie!” Wade demands. “Ooohh!” He quickly writes down his guess and nudges his friend. “Cable you want to get in on this?”
“What the fuck do you want?” Griping he turns. Grumpy is as grumpy does. The friend Cable seems to have a permanent scowl plastered to his face. In all honesty he’s not bad looking, the rugged look he’s going for actually complements his scowl.
“A guessing jar! Y/N’s giving away a free drink and jelly beans to the winner.” Wade’s excitement is quickly turning out to be annoying. 
“A guessing jar?” He looks suspiciously at you.
“Yes, though I’ve only had a few people guess. I’m thinking about adding another freebie. I don't know maybe two free drinks instead of one.”
“Don't be giving away the bar.” Weasel shouts from the end. Of course giving away free drinks is what he hears. 
“I'm not.” Yelling back. 
"What kind of jelly beans?" Cable refocuses you with that odd question.
"It's a mixture of Starburst Original Jelly Beans, Jelly Belly Classic and Just Born Jelly Beans." You're surprised that someone actually asked what kind of jelly beans.
“Stop chit chatting, you’re supposed to be helping.” Weasel places a clean towel on your shoulder. Hinting to go wipe up some tables. 
“Put a sock in it. I'm talking to Wade and Cable.” Annoyed. He does this with every man that you talk to since you arrived.
“That's not working.” Cable sends him a glare. “Uh.. just make sure to do your job.” Obviously scared he walks away. 
“Shit I should keep you. Mama was the only one who could scare him like that.” You’re floored by Cable’s ability. You knew Weasel was a scaredy cat but geez that’s just sad. He’s the bar owner, the patrons should be scared of him.  
“Mama?” Cable’s question makes a slight lull in conversation. Before Wade slaps himself in the head. 
“Right! Y/N meet Cable, this is the handsome brute I now work with. Cable this fine, bubbly young number is Y/N, Weasel’s little sister.” Wade takes lead in the introductions. 
“Sister?”
“Yeah but I'm not a scaredy cat like him.” Nodding you stick part of the towel in your back pocket.
“So what brings you to town?” Wade insists on knowing.
“Just visiting. Came to see if he was still alive. Wondering if any of the patrons had made him more stupid.”
“I doubt that, Wade's here.” Cable chuckles hiding a smile. 
“Oh I definitely like you.” Holding back a snort. You plan to make him your new buddy.
“He is single.” Wade sings causing Cable to groan.
“Wade you know you’re not supposed to be gossiping.” Playfully swatting him on the shoulder.
“But it’s so fun!” Whining he pouts the best he can. 
“Wade.. Hey!” You see a fight about to break out. Grabbing an empty bottle you whirl it at the wall behind the miscreants. The shattering glass makes them look at you. “Boothe, Sacco. Quit that shit or outside!” You glare like an angry mother who has snapped.
“And the lady saves the fortress once again.” Wade cheers.
“That’s the third time this week.” Sighing you are done with Boothe and Sacco’s shit. 
“Did they bet on each other?” Cable tilts back to look at the board.
“No but I'm secretly hoping it’s unrequited love for each other.” Chuckling you place two freebie beers on the counter for the two. 
“A hopeless romantic.” Cable mumbles.
“Yeah, I'm something like that.” 
“384." Cable shoves the clipboard back at you.
“Thank you.” You're slightly confused by Cable. He said the correct number but wrote down the wrong number. Why would he do that? Does he want Wade to win? It would be easier to just give them to him unless he doesn't want it to be a pity gift. Then that's good friendship goals. 
The night goes slowly. Wade's done runoff somewhere, probably trying to score. Cable hasn't moved from the bar. Only a dozen more people have entered your contest but that's because Wade annoyed them with it. 
But you keep finding yourself drifting back to Cable. His glares don't bother you. You bet he's a softy deep down. Most everyone here is, you just have to get through their walls. 
"So how'd you meet Wade?" You place a fresh beer in front of him. Leaning on the bar with your elbows. 
"Crossed paths during a job."
"Ah then let me guess. He was annoying and sarcastic, driving you crazy. But in his annoyingness he helped you complete your job. Not necessarily the way you wanted to."
"Basically."
"Yup sounds like Wade. He's always doing that. Got a good heart but his methods are weird." Nodding you remember all the weird things he has had you do. 
"Super weird."
"Has he bored you to death about his love life or lack of a love life?" 
"That's possible?"
"Yeah so I suggest whatever you do don't mention Captain America, Wade's get a serious crush on him. It'll be word vomiting for days."
"Ugh." The face he makes is of pure disgust but there is some fondness to it. 
"Frankly I think it would be best if Wade and Spiderman hooked up. They already got this flirty fighting friendship."
"Is he the one Wade calls Baby boy?"
"Yup!"
"Wait wait wait!" Wade runs into the counter interrupting the conversation. "Give me the clipboard. I want to change my answer. I was discussing the jelly beans contest with the author. Now I know the correct answer!"
"Okay but only this once." You're hesitant but you know the voices have been talking to him again. It's best to go with it when the voices start. Well for the most part. He quickly scribbles his new number and disappears again. "Oh Wade."
"If you know so much about him why don't you date him?" Cable follows your sight and worried face to Wade’s retreating form. 
"Ew no. What we got is platonic besides he's like my brother and that is gross." Shaking in disgust you give cable a look. 
He laughs this time. An actual laugh, a shoulder shaking laugh. It's a deep rich sounding rumble, it's nice. It'd be nice if you could hear it every day. 
"You have a nice laugh."
"What?"
Pause. Rewind. You can't believe you said that out loud. Embarrassed you stutter trying to cover up what you just said. "I-I mean graph. No staff. No! Half. Fuck!" Closing your mouth all you can do is awkwardly stare. Trying not to blush.
"Aren't you sunshine and rainbows." Obviously teasing you with a genuine smile. You can't handle it. 
"I-I'm going to see if anyone else wants to enter the contest."
"I'll be here." Winking he takes a sip. 
"O-okay." 
Picking your items up you stumble away and pretend to talk to people about the contest. Constantly looking back at Cable without it looking like you're staring. You are unsuccessful in both quests. Last call comes and it's time to announce the winner. Standing on the bar you gather everyone’s attention.
“Listen up! The few of you who entered in the jelly bean contest, I have our winner. Our winner is Wade. With an exact guess of 384 jelly beans.” There are groans all over the bar. Hopping down from the bar, people start filling out. Cornering Wade you set the jar in front of him. “What drink do you want?” 
“Sorry but terminator and me got a job.” Wade pats Cable’s shoulder. “I’ll take the drink next time Y/N.” 
“Okay.”
“Later doll.” Grinning Cable stands. My god you didn't realize how tall and buff he really was. This causes you to blush again. 
“Ooh! Y/N’s got a new nickname.”
Before you can respond, Cable has already hit him. Shoving him towards the door.
“Rude!” Wade sounds like an old lady. 
“You two have fun. I'm here all week.” You wave goodbye. 
“See ya.” Nodding Cable walks to the door before returning. Leaning in close he whispers in your ear. This close you can feel the heat from his body, smell of liquor and...gun grease? For being older he’s fine.
“Can’t forget his jelly beans.” Grabbing the jar he smirks his way outside. Making sure to give you a wink. While you are processing what just happened.
He left you hot and flustered, your body was ready. How in the world did this happen? Pelvic sorcery for the win. Damn. You know who you’ll be thinking about tonight.
196 notes · View notes