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glacecakes · 4 years

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Alchemy Lullaby (1/?)

Of all the changes that came with living in the castle, becoming a father was not one he anticipated. When Eugene encounters a small child suffering like he did, he gives them the opportunity to grow up the way he never did... helping them both heal. (AU where Varian is 4 and gets adopted by Eugene)

I've been thinkin about this for a lil bit, and then I met Saad who encouraged my dadgene desires and well, here we are. Also shoutout to @finnoky for an ADORABLE baby Varian design that I'm imagining in this scenario lol. Be warned there's brief child abuse, only like 2 sentences of it though. And while there will be angst in this fic that's likely gonna be the only outright abuse.

I'll be honest I have an idea for an overarching plot but this may just end up being a bunch of baby Varian dad Eugene oneshots. Whatever I'm feeling. We'll see.

Eugene grumbled, muttering to himself as he walked through the streets of Corona. That’s not to say that he didn’t enjoy it here, quiiiiite the opposite. Life with Rapunzel in the castle was a dream. In the past six months Eugene hasn’t needed nor wanted anything but only Rapunzel’s happiness. If she was happy, so was he. Unfortunately, that was something he had in common with Cassandra. It was the only thing they seemed to have in common, because he refused to relate himself to that ice queen any further.

The reason why he was muttering was because he had misplaced his favorite brush (though he suspected Cassandra stole it to mess with him), and hey, Eugene, since you’re going into town, can you run a few errands for me? Don’t worry it won’t take you long, just a few dozen shops to visit while me and Rapunzel have a nice relaxing day.

Cassandra totally stole it just to get him to do her chores. Total jerk move.

He’d managed to get most of the things on her list, the only thing left was food for the animals. Apples for Max, mostly. The horse was like a chainsaw, ripping through apples like an axe through wood. It was terrifying and intriguing at the same time.

Thankfully, Cassandra supplied him with the funds and a cart in order to buy all of this stuff.

“Two crates of apples, please.” Eugene mumbled, not looking directly at the seller, as he was deep in thought, mostly cursing Cassandra. The woman, short with wild red hair, easily hauled the apples into his cart without a word. He paid her, eyes trained on the cart, when he saw it.

The crate rumbled, apples moving ever so slightly. He was a seasoned thief, he knew what that meant.

In any other situation, Eugene probably wouldn’t have cared. It was likely only a few apples. But he was cranky, and he didn’t want to be here, and also had he really gotten that sloppy? He used to be Flynn Rider, now thieves were stealing from right under his nose! It was a matter of pride, more than anything else.

“Oi!” He called. He couldn’t see the thief, but he heard the telltale squeak of a guilty ruffian, and the pattering of footsteps.

“Watch my stuff?” He asked, and before he could get an answer, he bolted after the thief. His boots thundered against the pavement, following the sound of the footsteps. They were faint, whoever this thief was must be light on their feet and damn good at going unnoticed. He weaved through the crowd, unable to catch a proper glimpse. All Eugene could see was that the figure was small, or maybe they were crouching? And they were damn fast. Eugene nearly tripped over himself on multiple occasions trying to follow them. He was getting rusty. If Cassandra was here she’d laugh her ass off.

They turned into a narrow alleyway, and Eugene followed shortly after.

The walls were tall and imposing, casting a shadow on the otherwise sunny day. This part of the capital was on the poorer side, with rundown houses and boarded windows. He hasn’t been in here in a while, now that he lived in the castle. But he’d used this general area as a hideout in his youth. He knew this road was a deadend.

“Got you,” he muttered, stalking down the road. “And just who do you think you are, stealing from… me?”

His voice trailed off, and he stared at the scene in shock.

Standing before him was a child. An incredibly tiny, incredibly scared child.

The small boy backed up in fear, practically huddled in the corner. His gangly limbs trembled like a leaf in the wind. His wide blue eyes were misting with crocodile tears, a few dripping onto his tattered clothes. He reached up to brush his hair out of his face, revealing a single shock of blue hair amongst the jet black.

Eugene took a step forward, and the boy took a step back. He whimpered. The ex-convict held up his arms in surrender. “It’s ok,” He breathed, slowly kneeling down. The child regarded him with terror and a hint of intrigue. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” He picked up the apple, brushing the dirt off. It’s red sheen caught the kid’s attention. With how small the child was, he must be malnourished. Eugene’s hand opened, and the fruit slowly rolled back over to the boy. He eyed it before snatching it up and holding it close. He looked over at Eugene, an unspoken question glinting in his eyes. Eugene nodded, and the boy dug into the apple like a feral racoon. Juice spilled onto the dusty ground as he ate.

“Woah!” Eugene chuckled. “Slow down before you choke!” The little boy giggled.

That seemed to do the trick, as the fear slowly trickled from his eyes, being replaced with a childish joy. Eugene offered him a small smile, and he got a buck-toothed grin back.

“What’s your name, kid?”

The small child wiped his mouth with a tattered sleeve. “I’m Varian,” He said.

“Nice to meet you, Varian. How old are you?”

“I’m four and a half!”

Eugene raised an eyebrow, his smile dropping down to a concerned frown. Four and a half!? That was way too young to be by himself in the streets. He and Lance didn’t leave the orphanage until they were 12! Even that was too young! And before they left, they were definitely fed more than this. The boy was a stick! Why was he out here, left to the streets to survive or die? What pushed this child to steal to survive?

He cleared his throat. If he hadn’t, he probably would have started to cry. “It’s nice to meet you, Varian. Where... where’s your parents?”

Varian shrugged, digging his bare feet into the dirt. He was completely oblivious to Eugene’s mounting concern. “Dunno. Momma told me to wait here.”

Oh thank god, he just got separated from his mom. “When was that?” If it wasn’t too long ago, maybe his mom was among the crowd?

Varian hummed, deep in thought. “Uhh... the big lantern party.”

Never mind.

Eugene blinked, trying to comprehend. “The… the lantern festival. The one that was 6 months ago. That one?” Varian nodded. Eugene fell silent, completely shell-shocked by that revelation. Taking the silence as an invitation, Varian toddled over to Eugene.

“Sorry for taking an apple, I was just really hungry…” His r’s were slightly slurred, sounding more like a w. It was painfully cute. What kind of monster would ever abandon such a cute child? Big blue eyes gazed up at Eugene. “Are you mad?” he asked.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?”

Varian frowned, fear refilling his eyes. “Momma didn’t like it when I took the apples... I was just so hungry, and she had a buncha em in a big box, but she yelled at me.” His lips wobbled, lost in the memory.

Eugene grabbed his shoulders gently. “Hey hey,” he coaxed. “You shouldn’t take without asking, but if you’re hungry, all you gotta do is ask, ok?” He bit his lip. A small part of him really wanted to believe that he’d just gotten separated from his mom, that whoever he was, he was looking for Varian, but realistically… This poor kid was in the same boat as him. Thrown out into the world and told to get used to being alone.

What should he do? He can’t exactly take Varian back to the castle, can he?

...Can he?

No, he was still new to living in the castle. Maybe if he and Rapunzel were engaged, he could have gotten away with it. But Rapunzel wasn’t ready for marriage, so there was no doubt she wasn’t ready for this, either. Even if every atom in his body screamed to not let another child fall through the cracks like he did.

He sighed. “Varian,” the little boy looked up at him. “I….” how was he supposed to tell Varian? “Can I take you somewhere safe?”

Varian cocked his head, confused.

“You… you can’t stay here on the street, you need to be cared for, fed properly.” He added the last part to entice the kid. It did the trick, as Varian nodded.

“Will you be there?” He asked.

“N… no, but I can visit?” That soothed the screaming in his mind. He held out a hand for Varian to take.

Varian pondered his offer. “Do you promise?”

“Sure kid, I promise.”

A tiny hand slipped into his. Eugene couldn’t help but marvel at the size difference.

The two entered back into the crowded streets of Corona, and it was like a switch had flipped. Instead of only speaking a few words when asked, Varian babbled happily about anything and everything he could, from why he thought the sky was blue to a raccoon he saw the other day. He was a little chatterbox, even with his cheeks stuffed with the rest of the apple. Eugene wiped up the spare juice that fell from his lips, earning him a giggle. Even the people around them cooed at how adorable he was. How adorable they were together, as a family. It pained Eugene how nice that sounded.

At some point Eugene had lifted Varian onto his shoulders, letting him see everything Corona had to offer. The excited kicks to the face were worth it.

“I was listenin’ in on one of the schools, through the window,” Varian babbled. “Did you know the clouds are made of water? They’re made of puddles! After it rains, the puddles disappear back into the sky and then come back down again!”

“Oh really?”

“Yea! The mol...molecools…” The word was stuck on his tongue. The fact that he even knew the word was impressive, what else did the kid pick up? Orphanages don’t have the best education, he knew that first hand, all that intelligence would die there…

No, stop it Eugene. You cannot take him to the castle. Even if he is adorable, and smart, and just like him…

Suddenly, he felt violent smacks to the top of his head. Varian was bouncing up and down, practically screaming in excitement.

“Momma!” He yelled, squirming off of Eugene’s shoulders before he had the ability to process what just happened.

Eugene chased after him, bumping through the shoulders of passersby, until he finally spotted Varian tugging at the pant legs of the apple seller. Varian mentioned his mom had a lot of apples… oh no.

He raced up to the stand. His cart had, thankfully, been left untouched.

“Momma, Momma, Momma, I missed you!” Varian sang. “I waited for a while, but you never came back, and I had to take food, but I know you don’t like that, I just was suuupeer hungry…” He continued his excited babbling, completely unaware of the mounting dread Eugene felt.

The woman looked down on Varian, eyes narrowing. She seemed agitated, almost furious and even… disgusted. Eugene’s heart fractured and fell deep into the pits of his stomach.

Oh no. Please, no.

Those fractures lit on fire when she saw the woman kick Varian away. The small child slid into the street with a cry, and the woman turned back up to staring into the crowd as if nothing had happened.

As if she hadn’t just kicked her son.

Eugene moved to intervene, when little Varian, undeterred, waddled back up to his mother’s side. “I’m sorry, momma,” he mumbled. For what, Eugene had no idea. The man paid the child no mind. He didn’t even blink.

“Momma?” Varian tried again. “Momma, I’m sorry I made daddy go bye bye. Can we go home?”

Eugene’s fire was extinguished almost instantly, frost curling inside of him, up his throat. He was speechless.

So was Varian’s mother. She continued to ignore her son. Varian’s lip wobbled, and a single tear fell onto the dusty path. That was followed by more, and soon Varian was letting out hiccupping sobs.

That snapped Eugene into action. He walked up to the stand, acting completely nonchalant. He didn’t thank the woman for watching his cart, he’d never forgive a mother who abandoned her son. Wordlessly, he pushed the cart forward, scooping Varian up as he moved. Varian made no effort to fight back or protest, he simply curled into the man’s arms and cried.

“I’m so sorry,” Eugene whispered, leaning down and placing a kiss into inky black hair. Varian gripped onto Eugene ever so tighter.

To hell with what Rapunzel or Cassandra, or anyone else said. He would not let the same fate that befell him repeat.

Varian had a home, starting today.

#tangled #tangled the series #tts #tts varian #varian #tangled eugene #eugene fitzherbert #team awesome #tts eugene

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howdoyoudothedew · 4 years

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Another long SPN post

This time it’s notes from my WIPs. I never actually really wrote any of these, but tags and titles are included. Anyone can use these as starting points for a fanfic, have fun

Henry/Balthazar Summary: When Henry’s mentor, Benny, doesn’t return from the war Henry is saddened. He refuses to believe Benny died. Won’t even entertain it. On the way to find his missing mentor/father figure, he meets Balthazar. A strange man with a british accent and a habit of flirting with everyone, especially him. He finds Benny. He finds love. THen Balthazar tells him he’s from another time period and has to go. The last chapter is Balthazar saving Henry from Abaddon. Side note: Henry has blue eyes that Balthy apparently likes to wax poetic about Chapter One The day’s circled on his calendar. ‘Benny comes home’. That would be today. Or, it would’ve been. He had gotten the letter a week ago. ‘Benjamin Lafitte died in the war. We send our condolences.’ The letter, of course, wasn’t actually as cold and unfeeling as that. But it didn’t matter. Because it felt like that. It felt like someone had taken him and shoved him in an ice bath. He couldn’t believe the letter. He wouldn’t believe the letter. Benny had promised he’d live through this war. And if he had to find him, then by golly he’d find him. Even if he had to do it on his own. Henry snuck out of the bunker that night. A pack of food was the only thing he brought with him. That, and a picture of him and Benny. No one caught him on the way out. He knew the passages too well. He stole a bike from the garage, and left. There would be no note left in his absence. No trace of where he’d gone. Because if he’d left one, he worried that they’d try to find him. Find him and drag him back. But he couldn’t go back. Not now. Not without Benny. New section He’d been on the hunt for four days now. Had traveled from Lebanon, Kansas to Chattanooga, Tennessee and was slowly making his way to the Georgia coastline. His plan was to check coastal cities first. Then he’d work inwards till he covered all of the US. He only hoped Benny would return here and not go to another country. This is where he runs into Balthazar It’s when he’s asking a bartender if he’d ever seen Benny, while showing his picture Balthy comes up to him and says “Are you from around here, because you’re a perfect ten.”

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Don't Make Bets With Love Goddesses Five chapters Alternative meeting, canon divergent, Gabriel is Loki, Aphro has her son arrow multiple people, but Gabe bypasses them all “You cheated!” “That never seemed to matter to you before, now how did I cheat?” “Eros shot Sam with an arrow!” “My son’s arrow never touched the Winchester.” Everyone has what the humans would call a ‘soulmate’, not everyone finds them and they're not always romantic. It looks like Gabe found his, though.

Chapter One Explains how Loki has messed around, yet has never fallen in love “I will never fall in love” the Norse god boasted. He was talking out of his ass, and Aphrodite knew it. Loki bets Aphrodite that he will never fall in love She accepts with a wicked twinkle in her eye Aphro has never been able to pass up bets, especially when they deal with love He was close once, with Kali, but it ultimately fell flat It didn’t even actually fall flat with Gabe, but with Kali who could sense his growing attachment and cut off their involvement before it could happen. They had made a promise to each other that their thing would remain ‘no strings attached’. Then years where nothing happens

Chapter Two Sam enters the scene He’s tall and handsome; funny, sarcastic, witty. And he’s one of the only people Gabe has ever met that won’t take his crap. That will see right through it. Gabriel vows right then and there that he won’t fall in love with Sam.

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Different Circumstances Summary: Where the first meeting isn't of a boy with demon blood and an archangel, hidden as a trickster god, disguised as a janitor. Nor is the second meeting, or the third, or even the fifth. Until suddenly it is and the world seems just that much more messed up. Six chapters Tags: Canon divergent, Canon universe, 5 + 1 format, fluff, angst

Chapter One High school Gabe is the ‘bad kid’ They bond over pranks, and Gabe teaches Sam a few tricks

Chapter Six Sam connects all the dots and realizes the few people he had met in his life, the ones other than Jess that he had clicked with on automatic, were all the same person. Where all the trickster, Loki the god of mischief, and Gabriel the messenger of God. He hadn’t even clicked with Jess as quickly as he had seemed to click with each and every version of Gabe he had met. And now he was gone.

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To Heal A Soul Summary: Castiel isn't the only angel who tried to save Sam Winchester from the Cage. But while Castiel got a body, the other found only a soul. Tiny and broken, frayed at the edges, yet still somehow alive curled up in the corner of the Cage. Gabe keeps and heals Sam’s soul until he feels that it could be replaced with minimum consequences, when he does replace it there is still a battle. Gabe can’t help him with this battle, none of Team Free Will can. Gabe's dog is Max Chapter One Gabe gets Sam’s soul, just his soul, from the Cage because he knows what’ll happen if he puts his soul back in his body after Lucifer had ripped it out Sam gets a different… form type thing. Like, I don’t know Gabe uses pagan magic to give Sam a body like his own Explains to Sam the situation

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Stacy’s Dad (Lafittz) Tags: help me for i know not what im doing, i love this song and had to do this though, babysitter!garth, single father!benny, female teen oc, benny is older than garth by a few years, dilf!Benny, Notes: I'm sorry for the dilf tag, but I thought of it and it was too funny to me to not include it. Garth’s turned twenty a day ago, and is babysitting Benny’s kid (she’s twelve, so it’s not exactly babysitting) Benny’s thirty (his wife and him had Stacy when they were eighteen, they married right out of high school) Garth asks Benny out, saying that he promised him when he was eleven he’d go out with him when he turned twenty Stacy and Garth go to the pool, where Benny may work as a lifeguard Or, Stacy met Garth during her freshman year and they hit it off immediately as friends But Stacy liked Garth, and when he met Stacy’s dad it was practically love at first sight. (Because he's mushy like that) Or Benny and Andrea had her at sixteen, and Benny was estatic. Sure, it was early and he wasn't sure if he was ready, but he'd be damned if he didn't try to be a good father.

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Scarecrow Summary: Remake where Cas is a “hunter” who Dean picks up on the way to ----, he's working the same case and they decide to pretend to be a couple to solve it. Also, instead of Meg, Sam runs into Gabriel because he picks him up on the road before he got to Meg. Sam’s part is inspired in part by the honeythief amv. Tags: s01e11 Scarecrow, rewrite, i tried, canon divergent, canon hopping, beginning unchanged, fake/pretend relationship, bonding(????) Dean picks up Cas either along the road (a parallel of their brothers) or at the food place he and Sammy split A man slid into the seat Sam had vacated, black hair Dean could only describe as bedroom hair, piercing blue eyes, and a trenchcoat. “So you're going after the missing couples, too?” The other couple isn't there, instead the people there immediately assume they're a couple Cas immediately goes with it and when Dean asks about it later he simply shrugs and explains that this job seemed to require some falsehood

---- Short ficlet where they find Narnia. “I thought you'd already been to Narnia given how deep inside the closet you are,” Gabriel joked.

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Sabriel Anniversary Sam: Gabriel, I figured we could go where I first fell in love with you. Gabriel: Sam, I'd rather not… Sam: Why not? Gabriel: I have bad memories there. Sam, in surprise: Bad memories? I mean , sure we tried to kill you Gabriel: Lucifer killed me. Sam: Oh… Oh! You were thinking Elysian Fields? I meant Crawford Hall! Gabriel: What? Sam nervously rubs the back of his neck while looking away: Yeah… Could never really get you out of my head after that. *looks back at him* Even when I really wanted to. ----

Everytime they find Gabriel again, Sam wants to ask Gabriel to help. He wants him to stay. Though he tells himself it's not for him, but the world. But then they leave him behind in that ring of holy fire. And he… dies. At the hands of Lucifer. Sam thinks that's it. But then he shows up again, only to save him and leave him. (But it wasn't just him- it was Castiel as well, he has to remind himself for the next few weeks till it sticks.) So this time Sam swallows everything down, and he tells himself it's okay. Gabriel would've never stayed. And that's fine. Then Gabriel's back again, and he finally agrees to be on their team. He finally agrees to simply stay, even if it isn't for him. So of course he has to die all over again. ----

A rebound. Gabriel knows that's exactly what this is. After knowing Sam for all these years, he can read him. Read him easier than he can read himself. Heck, he knew Jess and Sam’d date the second he saw them together. And just as he knew, a month later they were dating. So yeah, Gabriel knew how to read Sam and how he felt about others. Romantic feelings just weren't there for him. Sure, Sam sounded sincere. He truly believed he liked Gabriel, and Gabriel knew that. But he knew his best friend and he knew the feelings were just his body’s half-assed attempt at fixing whatever hole Jess had left him with that he refused to recognize.

“I'm not ready.” It's not a lie. Gabriel isn't ready to date anyone, even if he loves Sam with all his heart. But he refused to be a rebound. He told the girlfriend Sam has before Jess- Ruby- as much when she gave him her twisted blessing after Sam broke up with her. If Sam knew that's what he was looking for in Gabriel, it would crush him. The poor kid would feel terrible, and Gabriel knows it. That is something he won't allow. Sam deserved happiness, but it couldn't be with him. Not now. Maybe not ever.

---- Crime Cleaners crime scene cleaners sam and dean who get roped into something well above their paygrade by two particular Novaks, possible villain being Luci and Lilith, who is his 'queen' they definitely get help from their friend Bobby and the Novak's friends Charlie, Rowena, and Rowena's girlfriend, the coroner Billie Or, serial killers God and his Righteous Man, who are secretly Dean and Cas. Gabe and Sam are the ones trying to find them.

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John Winchester and Chuck Shurley meet the parents thing. John first meets Cas, and Dean explains that Cas is his husband. Then he meets Gabriel, Sam’s bondmate-husband- and an archangel. When he mentions how weird this is, Gabriel is the one who points out that “If you think it's weird that your son in laws are angels, just remember that their father in law is literally God.”

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Normal au, Gabriel shows up out of nowhere because he has to do a blood sugar test to check for diabetes or some shit and he just grabs Sam: “I need your blood.”

#supernatural #sabriel #destiel #laffitz #henthazar #spn prompts #spn fic ideas

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1dffexchange · 5 years

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A Tango at Sea

To: Alexandra @abwritesstuff

From: Lisa @tinyfelthat

Summary: Theodora "Teddy" Dawson is going on a singles' cruise to forget her ex-boyfriend, but she made a tiny typo when registering, and that could change everything.

“What do you mean there’s no reservation here for Theodora Dawson?!” I exclaimed, “I registered for this cruise a month ago. There’s no way I’m not on that list.”

“There’s a Theodore Dawson listed here,” the singles’ cruise check-in woman told me, “I’m not really supposed to give out other passengers’ information though.”

“Tell me,” I began, “Is Theodore Dawson’s birthdate May 7th, 1993?” She nodded, and I continued, “I obviously made a typo. Can I show you my driver’s license and my passport? Will that help?”

“Yes, we can try that,” she said.

“Okay, good, thanks,” I smiled at her now that she was being helpful, and reached into my bag for my things. “I can’t wait to get on this cruise and meet some men.” I handed her my passport and my license.

“Everything here matches up with Theodore Dawson’s information,” she said after a moment, “There’s just one issue.”

“Oh, no,” I sighed, “Am I not allowed on the cruise because of my stupid mistake?”

“No, that’s not it. You’ve been put in a suite with a man, and the only remaining room is an enormous downgrade from the package you paid for,” she told me.

“I’m fine to be in that suite. They’re pretty big, aren’t they?” I asked.

“Well, yes, but the man you’ve been put with may not appreciate it,” she said.

“It’ll be okay,” I said, taking my passport and license back, and grabbing my ticket off the printer, “Thanks for helping me.” I grabbed my suitcase and walked toward the ship before she could say anything else.

***

When I arrived at the suite, it was empty. My suitemate, whose name I had yet to learn, was either out, or hadn’t arrived yet. My hope was that he would miss the ship or he’d ask for the downgrade once he met me, and that I’d have this wonderful suite all to myself. There were two bedrooms, and they were of equal size, so I chose the one on the left, and set down my bags.

I wandered out to the balcony, and sat down on one of the lounge chairs, turning my face up to the sun. I sighed, enjoying the warm sun on my face, and then I heard the door to the suite open, followed by a thud, and a string of curse words.

“Hello!” I called out as I walked back in. His head whipped toward me at the sound of my voice, and I was stunned into silence by his attractiveness. I knew I’d seen him somewhere before, but I assumed it was just at check-in.

“Wow, Theodore is a quick worker, isn’t he?” he muttered.

“No, actually, I’m Theodora,” I said, “I made a typo when I was registering, and no one caught it until this morning.” I paused for a moment then added, “Please call me Teddy.”

“Wait, what?” he sputtered, “You’re my suitemate?”

“Yeah, I know. At least you’re getting a head start on the matchmaking process,” I laughed.

“Wait, what?” he said again. He stared at me for a solid thirty seconds, while I tried to process where I knew him from, and then it dawned on me. He looked like my ex-boyfriend. No, he didn’t. He looked like he was closely related to my ex. Finally, it all came together.

“You’re Niall Horan! You’re Max’s cousin! You guys are like, best friends!” I shouted, repulsed.

“Um, yeah, that’s my name, and my cousin’s name...I wouldn’t call him my best friend though,” he replied, obviously confused.

“I dated Max for three stupid years,” I told him, angrily, “He broke my heart two months ago, and after a month of wallowing, I booked this cruise so I could get over him.”

“You’re that Teddy. Ugh, I knew you looked oddly familiar,” he sounded disgusted. I flopped onto the couch in the common room of the suite.

“What has he told you about me?” I asked rather coldly.

“Not much,” Niall admitted, “besides complaining about your bitching. He also called you selfish and somehow also clingy.”

“Ugh, he would say those things,” I sighed. “Well, I’m going to go take a shower. I have a lot to talk to you about, so just stay in the suite, okay?” I got up from the couch, and gave Niall my best ‘don’t you dare move’ look.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he said, looking down at his phone. I was sure that he hadn’t listened to me. Oh, well. I’d confront him at some other point if he left.

***

During my shower, I thought about what I was going to do about Niall. The cruise was a week long, and I didn’t want to share a suite with him for an hour, let alone a week. As I continued to ponder the Niall situation, I found myself thinking about how attractive he was, instead of how much I loathed him and his stupid cousin. Then I realized what I was doing, and I stopped myself.

“You will not have sex with your ex-boyfriend’s cousin,” I told myself sternly in the steamy mirror as I got out of the shower. “No matter how attractive he is. He’s probably not interested anyway.”

“Ah, but he is!” I heard from the hallway outside the bathroom. “He probably wants it more than you do, Teddy,” Niall added.

“How the fuck did you hear me?” I spat, wrapping myself in a robe and my hair in a towel, then opening the door. “Were you listening to my whole shower?”

“Nope,” he said. “I just happened to walk by at the perfect moment.”

“I don’t believe you!” I said, standing up on my tiptoes and poking him in the chest. “I think you’re a sick, perverted…”

Niall cut me off, kissing me hungrily, wildly. I started to kiss him back, then thought better of it and pulled back just far enough to slap him in the face.

“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing his cheek.

“What do you think it was for? Don’t do that again,” I warned.

I stomped off to get dressed, leaving him staring at my door.

***

An hour or so later, freshly dressed and made up, I wandered out of the suite, in search of food. I was staring at a map of the ship near the elevator bank, when someone bumped into me.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” I said, turning around. I went slack-jawed. Standing before me was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Handsome wasn’t the right word, he was definitely beautiful. Soft green eyes, curly brown hair, and plump pink lips? I could have died there and then from his beauty. Instead I extended my hand to him and said, “Theodora Dawson. Please call me Teddy.”

He took my hand and shook it. “Harry Styles. Pleased to meet you.” He smiled at me and dimples appeared. God, the man was beautiful. “I was just about to go find some lunch. Join me?”

“Sure,” I agreed, as my stomach growled quite loudly and unattractively. “I’m starving.”

Harry chuckled. “Let’s go find some food.”

We walked along, chatting about this and that. I learned that he was twenty four, and that he had a twin sister named Michelle and that the two of them were inseparable as children, and that she was now married with her first child on the way.

“Wow,” I said. “So are you two still close?”

“Yeah, kind of,” he shrugged, “She’s been busy with her husband and they’ve been going crazy with preparations for their baby. They still haven’t decided on a name, and she’s due in three weeks. I keep joking that they’re going to have to call her Frank Junior.” I snickered, and he laughed a little too. “At least someone other than me thinks that’s funny. I told Frank and Michelle and they just glared at me like I had offended them to their cores..”

“How rude of them,” I laughed again. “No really, that’s funny. But maybe don’t joke about it to people who are stressed out about becoming parents to a baby girl for the first time.”

“Maybe,” he said, then pointed. “Oh, look! We found the buffet.”

“Finally!” I exclaimed. “Fair warning, I’ll probably eat like three plates. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning.”

“That’s fine by me,” Harry replied. “I like a woman who can eat half her weight at a buffet.” He winked at me. “I’ll meet you back here with some food and we can find ourselves a table after, all right?”

“Sounds good,” I agreed, and went to pile a tray full of food. On my second trip back to the table, carefully balancing a packed tray of desserts, I slipped on a wet spot, but someone caught me before I hit the floor. The food was not so lucky.

“Careful!” someone said. I looked up and saw Niall’s face. He was the one who’d caught me. I angrily shrugged my way out of his embrace, and stomped back over to the table where Harry sat waiting for me.

“Sorry the dessert didn’t make it,” I said, sliding into my seat and covering my face with shame.

“No big deal,” Harry said, prying my hands from my face. “You’re lucky that guy caught you. You might’ve injured yourself.”

“No, I’m not. Niall’s an asshole,” I told him. When I saw him staring at me blankly, I added, “He’s my ex-boyfriend’s cousin.”

“Oh,” he said. “You know, just because someone’s related to your ex, doesn’t mean that they’re a terrible person also.”

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “But Niall is also Max’s best friend. And you don’t know Max, but he was the definition of bad boyfriend. He cheated on me with my sister before my sister met him officially. He knew who she was through me, but she didn’t know who he was and it was this whole big mess.”

“Sorry that happened,” Harry put his hand over mine sympathetically. “My last ex-girlfriend was…” he paused for a little while, obviously trying to come up with the right word. “She was… Let’s just say she was a piece of work that needed a lot of help. Help that I was not the right person to give to her.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Let’s not talk about exes. Let’s go find something silly to do instead.”

“Okay,” he agreed quickly. He pulled out a copy of the ship’s itinerary. “There are tango lessons at 1:30 on deck 8. Maybe we could try that?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’m a great dancer. I took ballroom lessons as a kid. Lead the way.”

***

“Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow,” the tango instructor said as she and the other professional showed us the steps. “Now partner off and show me if you can do what I’ve just shown you, one pair at a time.”

Harry and I looked at each other, and I shrugged. This was going to go terribly; I could tell from his face that he was nervous, and I reached over and patted his hand reassuringly. “You’ll be fine,” I said. “I’m sure you’re not the only beginning dancer here.”

Somehow, it turned out I was wrong. There was only one dancer as bad as Harry, and she’d partnered with Niall, who had showed up about five minutes after we did. The instructor approached us, and said, “Do you mind switching partners? I like to place beginners with beginners, and more advanced dancers together. However, you will need to show your skills with your new partner before we can continue.” I looked at Harry pleadingly, but he didn’t see me, and instead gratefully agreed to the switch. I scowled at Niall as he came over, and he had an equally sour look on his face.

“Don’t even think about any funny business while we’re dancing,” I growled at Niall while he took his place on the floor with me.

The music came on, and we started to tango. It seemed as though we had done it a thousand times before. I closed my eyes as Niall began more complicated steps. I was sure he was expecting me not to know what to do, but the moves I’d learned as a child came flooding back and instinct took over. I opened my eyes as the song ended and we stopped dancing, but then Niall kissed me again, this time sweet and slow, clearly as lost in the moment as I was. I melted into the kiss, clutching at Niall’s shirt, until I realized exactly who I was kissing, and then I backed away cautiously, aware that the rest of the class was watching. They were all staring at us, dreamy-eyed. Everyone except Harry, who was glaring at Niall. I was just glad that Harry had only seen him from afar at the buffet. I was hopeful that he wouldn’t recognize him, and thankfully, blessedly, he didn’t. That being said, he still stalked over to us after his clumsy attempt at a tango and the end of the lesson.

“I thought I said no funny business,” I hissed at Niall while Harry made his way through the crowd of people.

“You said, ‘while we’re dancing’ if you don’t remember. I kissed you after the dance was complete,” he replied calmly and coolly.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said, “I’m going to go find Harry.”

“His name’s Harry?” Niall asked.

“Yes,” I said, curtly. “Why?”

“No reason,” he said. “Just wanted to know. See you in the suite!”

He waved at me, and walked away cheerfully. I stood there for a moment, fuming, disgusted with myself for kissing Niall back, when Harry finally returned.

“What do you want to do now?” he asked me.

“I was thinking about just finding a deck chair and sunbathing for a bit,” I said. “Probably should change into a bathing suit though. Don’t want to get too warm.”

“Oh,” Harry said. “I was thinking about maybe trying one of the other activities. But I could join you sunbathing, if you’d like.”

“That’s okay Harry. I think I’d like some me time,” I smiled at him. “Maybe I’ll see you at dinner?”

“Sure,” he grinned at me. “Meet me at the restaurant entrance at say… 6:45?”

“Sounds perfect,” I said.

He pecked me on the lips with one last smile, and walked away.

***

I had thoroughly enjoyed my sunbathing time. I’d decided to use the balcony of the suite instead of going out to one of the public decks, because I’d been interacting with people all day, and needed a little time to myself. I knew I’d be seeing Harry later, and I wanted to be recharged and refreshed. However, I miscalculated how long it would take me to get from the suite to the ship’s restaurant, and I was running miserably late.

I had no way of contacting Harry aside from calling the operator to get his room, so I hoped he didn’t think he was being stood up. When I got to the restaurant at 6:55, he was nowhere to be found.

“Shit, he probably thought I decided to ditch him,” I cursed to myself.

I figured I’d hope for the best. “Table for two please,” I told the hostess. “I’m waiting for someone.”

“Of course,” she replied. “This way.”

The restaurant was full of people, some very clearly on first dates (as it still was just the first night of the cruise), some sitting in big groups trying to get to know one another, and there were a few stragglers sitting at tables by themselves. I noticed Niall sitting alone out of the corner of my eye, and thought it odd. I thought that by this point he would already be sitting in the middle of a gaggle of women, all fawning over him. I guessed I had misjudged him. But before I looked away, a woman walked over to his table and started obviously and obnoxiously flirting with him. I could tell from across the room that even Niall was uncomfortable with how obvious she was being, and from the short amount of time I’d spent with him, he didn’t seem to be the type to be uncomfortable with anything. He’d already kissed me twice, and it was only the first day of the cruise. There was no way this woman was actually making him uncomfortable. However, watching him, he seemed to be getting more and more twitchy and awkward. I decided to take a gamble, and walked over to his table.

“Oh, Niall! I was just looking for you!” I said as brightly as I could, kissing him on the cheek and sitting down across from him. “The hostess pointed me this way, but I was having trouble finding you.” The woman turned to stare at me.

“You have a date?” She asked Niall. “Why didn’t you tell me that? You’ve made me look like a fool!” She stormed off, muttering the whole way about how much of a waste of time men can be.

“You didn’t have to rescue me, Teddy,” Niall said softly.

“Yes, I did,” I said, reaching over to pat his hand. I saw Harry in the restaurant’s entrance, and we locked eyes. I quickly retracted my hand from Niall’s, but it was too late. Harry had seen. He said something to the hostess, who nodded, and smiled sadly at him.

“Oh, fuck,” I cursed at myself again. “I… fuck… I’ve really screwed this up, haven’t I?”

“What’s up, Teddy?” Niall looked at me concernedly.

“No, it’s nothing,” I started to say, but then the hostess approached the table.

“Ms. Dawson?” she asked, and I nodded. “Mr. Styles called down to say he wasn’t feeling well, and that he hoped he could see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for the message.”

“Aha!” Niall exclaimed as soon as she was out of earshot. “You fucked up, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Please don’t rub it in. I really liked the guy.” I put my face in my hands, but Niall pried them away.

“Look, you’ll make it up to him tomorrow,” Niall said. “For now you can have dinner with me. I’m not such a bad guy, I promise.”

“Yes, but you are Max’s cousin-slash-friend. That automatically puts you in my bad books,” I said. “And also you’ve kissed me twice now, and we barely know each other. I’m not really much for making out with guys I don’t know well, but I have to tell you, you’re a surprisingly good kisser. Especially in comparison with your cousin.”

“Thanks…?” Niall said awkwardly. “You’re not a bad kisser yourself. And don’t tell me Max taught you to kiss like that. I’ve seen the guy kiss, and he likes to literally suck face.” I laughed loudly at this, throwing my head back, earning stares and glares from people at other tables.

“Oh my god, that’s so true,” I said. “Sometimes after a long kiss from Max, my lips literally hurt from the suction.” It was Niall’s turn to laugh now.

“I know you think we’re best friends, but we’re really not. We’re the same age, and we just kind of latched onto each other at family reunions, you know?” Niall said. “And I know he broke your heart, but that doesn’t make him a bad guy.”

“Yes, but cheating on me with my sister before my sister knew he was my boyfriend does,” I interrupted. “I forgave that one, because it was early on in the relationship, but he cheated on me several more times after that. And after I decided I would give him one last shot, he told me that one of the women he had cheated on me with was pregnant, and that he was leaving me for her so that he could help with the baby. That was two months ago, and I couldn’t do anything but wallow for a whole month after.”

“Oh, wow,” he sounded shocked. “I mean, I know Max is a jerk. He did shitty stuff to me all the time. But this is like next level shithead kind of stuff.”

I smiled sadly. “I’m really glad it’s over though, you know? He was an asshole to me enough times. I should’ve ended it a long time before it was actually over, and I should’ve had the guts to end it myself. Well, anyway, you never told me why you decided to go on a singles’ cruise.”

“Me?” Niall asked. “I just wanted to meet some new women. I’ve seen most of what there is to see in my hometown, and none of it is to my liking, so I decided to branch out, see women from all across the country.”

I cackled at this. “And you met me again! Ha!”

“Yeah, well. You’re not from my hometown, now, are you, Teddy?”

“No, but I did date your cousin, Niall. Don’t you think that’s a little weird?”

“Eh,” he shrugged, “I’ve done worse than a woman like you.”

Just then our waiter finally approached the table, super apologetic about us having to wait for him for so long. We gave our food and drink orders to him, and he rushed off to put them in the system.

“What do you mean when you say you’ve done worse than a woman like me?” I asked Niall forcefully as soon as the waiter was out of earshot.

“I mean what I say,” he said. “You’re beautiful and intelligent, and you’re also not nearly as terrible as Max made you sound.”

“How he could ever make me sound like the bad egg in our relationship is beyond me,” I sighed, putting my face in my hands again.

Niall pulled my hands away from my face and tilted my chin up. “You are not a bad egg,” he said simply and sweetly.

I blushed at this. “You’re a real smooth talker, you know that?”

He smiled and sat up a little bit straighter. “I pride myself on that. It got me out of so much trouble when I was a kid. I always blamed whatever it was on my little brother, and nine times out of ten, they believed me.”

“You’re such a shit,” I laughed.

***

An hour and a half later, after a delicious and satisfying meal, Niall and I were strolling along the deck towards our suite, when I saw Harry again, this time from far away. He hadn’t noticed me, but that was because he was with another woman. She was tall with beautiful, long black hair. They were coming our way, and I didn’t want to deal with an awkward conversation, so I pushed Niall into the nearest doorway and kissed him fiercely. This seemed to surprise him, but he started reciprocating quickly.

After about thirty seconds, I trailed kisses down his jaw, and whispered in his ear, “Are they gone?”

“Who?” he asked, panting a little.

“Brown-haired guy and a tall woman with long black hair,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said, leaning out of our doorway and into the hall, “I think so. Why?”

“The brown-haired guy was my ‘Mr. Styles,’ and I wanted to avoid awkward conversation,” I said.

“Oh,” he replied, “I thought you wanted to kiss me.” He sounded a little sad.

“It was the best way of keeping my face out of view that I could think of,” I said. “Sorry if I caught you off guard, or if I made you think anything was going to happen between us tonight.”

“Nah,” he waved me off. “I knew nothing was going to happen tonight. I’m just an optimist, and I’m hoping for the best with a beautiful woman like you, Teddy.”

“Don’t make me hit you again,” I said, walking away.

“Again?” he asked. “When did you hit me…? Oh, that’s right.”

“I won’t hesitate to do it again if you continue annoying me,” I said.

“Yeah, okay, I’m sure you will.” I smacked him on the back of the head with the clutch I’d brought to dinner.

“Do you want to try again?” I smirked at him, as he rubbed the spot where I’d hit him.

“Okay,” he said, “I’m sorry. I won’t annoy you again for the rest of the cruise.”

***

That night, as I lay in my bed trying to fall asleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about Niall’s lips. Harry’s plump ones drifted into my subconscious briefly as I remembered the peck he’d given me before we’d parted in the afternoon, but Niall was the main focus of my thoughts. The first time he’d kissed me, it was almost instinctive for me to kiss him back, but then I’d slapped him. The second time, it was an ‘in the moment’ kind of thing, but wow that had been a damn good kiss. And the time I initiated it, it was almost instinctive for him to kiss me back. That had to mean something, right?

The suite had a kitchenette and a living room, and I went out into that common space after tossing and turning for a solid hour at least. I was hoping I could find something to soothe my mind, like milk, a good TV show, or maybe even both. What I was not expecting was to see Niall pacing the living room.

“Hey,” I said softly, and he just about jumped out of his skin.

“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t see you come in.”

“It’s okay Niall, I was just looking to make some hot milk or watch something on the TV or whatever, you know?”

“Do you want to watch a movie with me?” he asked.

“Sure. Nothing scary though, okay? I want to be able to sleep after this,” I said with a shaky laugh.

“Yeah, okay, come here and sit with me.” Niall sat down on the couch and patted the space next to him. “We can even watch a romcom if you want to, Teddy. Your choice.”

The ship had free wifi, so I logged into my Netflix account, and we spent a few minutes deciding between watching a straight-up comedy movie or a romcom, but then we spotted Shrek and our decision was made for us.

***

I woke the next morning to bright sunshine through opened blinds, and it took me a minute to realize I was not in my bed at home, but on the couch of the suite, on the cruise. I sat up, and a blanket fell off of me. Huh, Niall must’ve gotten one for me. My eyes focused on a note on the coffee table.

Teddy,

I went to get some breakfast. Don’t go anywhere, because I’m bringing something back for you.

-Niall

P.S. You snore.

P.P.S. But it’s a cute snore, I promise.

I smiled at the last line, and then got up and picked out some clothes for the day, humming to myself. I got in the shower, and turned my music up, singing along loudly.

When I turned off the shower water, I could hear another voice, presumably Niall’s, singing along with the same music I was playing. He had a nice voice, not quite musician caliber, but with some training… I was losing it. I did not want to think about good qualities of my ex-boyfriend’s cousin, even if I had spent a pleasant evening and night with him. I was not going to have sex with him, I told myself, this time in my head, because after yesterday, I wasn’t going to take the chance of him hearing me.

“Hey, sleepyhead!” he called from outside the bathroom, “I got you a chocolate chip croissant from the breakfast buffet, and some iced coffee. I don’t know how you like your coffee, so I brought a little of everything that can go into coffee. I hope that’s okay.” I didn’t respond right away, because I was processing the thoughtful gesture. “Oh, and I also got you some fruit salad. I put it all on the counter in the kitchenette,” he added.

I opened the bathroom door, and before Niall could say or do anything else, I kissed him. It was a slow, careful kiss, but Niall reciprocated immediately, just as cautiously.

“I… You…” I was stumbling over my words as we separated. “I, um, uh, you getting me breakfast was so sweet, Niall. Especially because you got some of my favorite breakfast foods. You didn’t have to do any of that,” I finally said.

“But I wanted to,” he said simply. “I like you Teddy. You’re funny, you’re smart, and you’re attractive.”

“You… what?” I was shocked. “I’m your cousin’s ex-girlfriend. Wouldn’t that be, you know, awkward?”

“Nah,” Niall said. “Max is a dick. He never deserved you. I liked you when I met you as Max’s girlfriend, but I didn’t do anything then because you were dating him.”

“That makes you a lot more of a gentleman than your cousin,” I sighed, hanging my head. “Why were you so repulsed by me when you first realized it was me if you liked me so much?”

“Well, I’d heard lots of shitty things about you from Max,” It was Niall’s turn to sigh, “I don’t know why I believed him. He’s so stupid to have cheated on you. You’re a lot better of a person than he is.”

“Thanks,” I said, “But that’s not such a high bar.” I laughed at my own little joke, and then my stomach audibly growled. “I should probably eat some of that food you brought me.”

“Yeah, let’s go sit, and we can eat,” he said. “I didn’t know how soon you’d be up, so I brought mine back too.”

We moved to the couch. Niall had put all the food out on the coffee table, and we ate and joked with each other. By the end of the meal, I remembered Harry.

“Oh, shit! I should really call Harry,” I said, getting up.

“Why?” Niall asked.

“To let him down gently. I don’t want him to see us and fly into a jealous rage, you know?”

“We’re on a singles’ cruise, and it’s only the second day out of seven,” he said. “Let’s explore our options a little before we decide to get all couple-y.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed. “If neither of us is happy with anything we find today, we’ll spend the rest of the cruise together. Shake on it?” I put out my hand, and he shook it. “I’m going to go call Harry from the suite phone. Don’t bother me, okay?” He nodded. I grabbed the phone, and dialed the ship’s front desk.

“You’ve reached the front desk. How can I help you?” a male voice asked pleasantly.

“Is it possible to contact someone’s room through you?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “To whom would you like to speak?”

“Harry Styles,” I replied.

“One moment,” I heard the clacking of a keyboard and then, “Mr. Styles is in room 642. To dial his room, input his room number, followed by the star key.”

“Great, thanks!” I said.

“You’re very welcome. Have a nice day.”

I put down the phone and ran my fingers through my hair. I was nervous to call Harry, but I resolved to myself that I was going to do it anyway. Quickly, before that feeling faded away, I picked up the phone and dialed 642*. It rang for a moment before Harry answered, and I worried that he was away from his room and that the phone call was useless.

“Hello?” Harry asked tentatively.

“Hi, Harry. It’s Teddy Dawson. I feel terrible about last night. Would you like to go for a swim with me?” I bit my lip nervously. I was torn between hoping he’d say yes and hoping he’d say no. Then I asked myself why I wanted him to say no, and I realized that I liked Niall more than I thought.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, bringing me out of my weird thoughts. “I’ll meet you at the big pool in like 15-20 minutes?”

“Why don’t I come down to your room and we’ll walk over together?” I suggested.

“Yeah, sure,” he repeated. “See you in a few?”

“Okay. Be there in 10,” I said, and hung up. “Hey, Niall?” I called. He came out into the common space wearing gym clothes, and I stared a little. “I’m going to the pool with Harry.” I smiled triumphantly.

“Okay…?” he said, drawing out the word. “Doesn’t bother me. I’ll see you later then,” he added with a wink.

“What’s that supposed to… never mind. See you later,” I huffed. I went to change into my bikini and coverup, and by the time I returned to the common space, he was gone.

***

“Put some sunscreen on my back, Harry?” I asked, when we were at the pool.

“Sure,” he said. “Give me the bottle.” I passed it to him, and he put a blob on my back and started rubbing it in.

“Oh, that feels nice,” I said. “Cold, but nice.”

I heard him mumble something behind me and I turned my head to look at him. He just smiled and winked at me.

“I’m glad you called me today, Teddy. I called the front desk and they told me there was no Theodora Dawson on the ship. Did you give me a fake name?” Harry asked.

“Nah,” I said, “I made a typo on the form. I’m officially entered as Theodore Dawson, though I think they should probably correct that. I’ll call down there later.”

“Oh,” he sounded surprised. “Does that mean…?”

“Does that mean what?” I asked him.

“Does that mean you’re in a room with… with a… man?” he asked.

“Yes, but I’m in one of the big suites. There are two bedrooms. We’ve hardly interacted,” I lied.

“Maybe you should try to get a different room?” he suggested. “I doubt you want a male suitemate.”

“I don’t mind,” I said. “Really, I don’t. And besides, when I asked at check-in, the only room that was available was an extreme downgrade. That was what they told me, anyway.”

“You really,” Harry paused. “You really don’t mind?”

“I really don’t mind,” I confirmed. “Besides, I’ve barely seen the guy.” I doubled down on my lie. “I’m not even sure what his name is.”

“Oh,” he sounded relieved. “Okay.”

We spent a few moments in silence while I finished putting sunscreen all over myself and waited for it to soak in. “Do you want to get in the water?” I asked.

“Sure,” Harry said, pulling his T-shirt over his head. I looked at the male specimen in front of me. He had a lot of tattoos, some that I’d noticed earlier and some that I was just seeing now with his shirt off, and some of them looked really stupid, I had to admit, while others were just… wow. He took off, and jumped into the deep end, while I waded down the steps in the shallow end, trying to acclimate to the temperature of the water. He swam over to me and splashed me.

“The water’s freezing, Harry!” I exclaimed.

“Jumping in gets your body adjusted to the water temperature much faster,” he shrugged. “I’m used to it now. Get out of the water and do what I did.” He smiled widely, dimples showing, and I couldn’t resist agreeing to do it. So when I got to the edge of the pool, I did what any other childish adult would do and did a cannonball into the water, managing to splash a lot of people, including Harry. Some of them glared at me, and others seemed indifferent, but Harry was grinning at me as I swam to the shallow end.

“Good cannonball?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“Good? Great!” he said. He walked me backwards through the water, until I was trapped between him and the wall. “I like you Teddy,” he said, and then leaned in and kissed me.

The kiss wasn’t at all like the kisses I’d gotten from Niall. It was gentle and sweet and altogether a good kiss, but it was lacking the kind of passion I’d experienced when kissing Niall. Harry was a good kisser, but I wasn’t feeling anything, so I broke the kiss fairly short.

“Is something wrong?” Harry asked, as I leaned back.

“No, I mean, yes. I don’t know,” I said shakily. “I was kissed by somebody else at the tango lesson yesterday. I know you saw. I met him yesterday morning, and I think he followed us to the tango class. I didn’t like him at first, but I rescued him from an obnoxious flirter last night at dinner, and I ended up eating with him because you, um, weren’t feeling well. And he seems to be a great guy, actually.”

“Oh,” Harry said, stepping back from me. “I, um, don’t know what to say, really.”

“Look,” I continued as if Harry hadn’t said anything. “I’m sorry if you feel like I led you on, but I saw you last night as I was walking back from dinner, and you were with another woman, and there are plenty of other women on this cruise to be interested in. So please don’t get hung up on me.”

“Okay,” he said. “Thanks for your honesty, but I wasn’t with anyone else last night. I went to bed early and woke up starving at like 3 in the morning, so I went down to the 24-hour buffet. I’m not sure who you saw, but it wasn’t me.”

“Really?” I gasped. “Oh. Oh, shit. I did something I should not have done.”

“What’s that?” Harry said. “Actually, never mind. I’ll be seeing you around?”

“Yeah,” I said. I climbed out of the pool, gathered my things and went back to the suite.

***

After another quick shower to wash off the chlorine and sunscreen, I was watching a stupid Netflix original romcom when I heard Niall return to the suite. The door closed, and I heard a distinctly female voice, followed by a laugh from Niall. I turned off the TV and snuck into my room, leaving the door slightly open so that I could eavesdrop. I knew that it wasn’t the best idea, but I wanted to know if Niall had the same kind of guilty conscience being with someone else. I wanted to see if he was more like Max than I had been led to believe.

“This suite is really nice!” said the female voice.

“Thanks, Val,” Niall said. “I’m sharing it, though. Couldn’t afford a private suite. That shit’s too expensive. My roommate must be out.” I heard the smile in his voice at the last part.

“Ooh!” she squealed. “Let’s watch a movie. The regular rooms don’t have TVs, and I heard that the suites have free access to wifi.”

“Yeah, we do,” Niall said. “Looks like Teddy is still logged into Netflix.” There was a pause.

“Your roommate sure does have a lot of romcoms on their watch list.” she said. “And it says ‘continue watching’ for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Are you sure he’s not gay…?”

“Yeah, I’m sure my roommate’s not gay,” Niall laughed.

“How can you be sure?” Val said. “Some of them are really good at concealing it. Believe me. My ex-boyfriend swore to me that he wasn’t gay until the day I caught him in our bed with another man, and he still says that. He claims he’s bisexual or some shit like that.”

“Wait,” Niall sounded taken aback. “You don’t believe that people can be bisexual?”

“No!” she shouted. “Pick men or women. You don’t get to be attracted to everyone.”

I let out a cackle, and then clapped my hands over my mouth. I hoped neither of them had heard me.

“Wow, okay,” Niall now sounded disgusted, but he had a touch of amusement in his voice too. “I’m going to ask you to leave now, Valerie.”

“Why?” she whined. “We were just getting to know each other.”

“Leave. Please,” he said, and I heard him get up and open the door for her. He closed it heavily once she was gone. “I know you’re here Teddy.” I stayed silent for a moment, but then the door to my room opened.

“Hi?” I said tentatively.

“I can’t believe you were eavesdropping on me,” he shook his head.

“And I can’t believe you were about to use my Netflix account,” I mocked his disappointment.

He stepped closer to me. “I didn’t like her very much. She was too whiny, and she also wasn’t you. I was going to pick a bad sci-fi movie to get rid of her,” he told me.

“I love bad sci-fi movies. You could’ve at least invited me to join you,” I laughed.

“That would’ve gotten rid of her a little too quickly, I think,” Niall said, taking another step toward me. The backs of my knees hit the bed, and I fell back onto it, but I sat up quickly.

He sat next to me. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he told me, and I started to nod, but he captured my lips with his before my head could complete the motion. The kiss started out fairly innocently, but turned hot and heavy seconds later. After a moment, Niall pulled away, breathing hard. “I wasn’t going to do anything with anyone. I just really wanted to give you a chance to break things off nicely with that Styles guy.”

“Oh, Niall,” I sighed. “I really like you.” I recaptured his lips.

He separated us again. “I like you too, Teddy. I like you a lot.” He kissed me again. “Do you want to go out when this cruise is over?”

I smiled into our kiss. “Yes, Niall, I will go out with you.”

#1dff #exchanges

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micycle--wheeler · 6 years

Text

It Always Gets Stranger

Mike’s family is going to Maine for the summer. Sometimes, things take a turn for the worst.

CHAPTER 6

read on ao3

read chapter 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5

words: 2162

warnings: homophobic / racial slurs (Henry Bowers, basically)

BEN Hanscom was a patient person. If anyone was to describe him, that was the word to use.

But when his yearlong friend, Richie Tozier, showed up at the quarry an entire hour late with six more people than expected, Ben’s patience was being tested.

“What the hell, Richie?” was Eddie Kaspbrak’s greeting to the boy, and he smiled sarcastically, showing off his slightly over-large incisors.

“Well ya see Eds, I was busy sayin’ goodbye to your mom and I lost track of the time-”

“Beep beep, Richie,” Eddie and his group of friends chorused, used to the antics of their trashmouth friend.

“What’s with the entourage?” Stan asked from his spot on a nearby rock, which he had taken to sitting on for the last half hour of waiting. The group of silent kids behind Richie shuffled, and Ben watched as a kid with wildly curly hair exchanged glances with a tall black boy.

Said boy spoke up, seeming to take leadership. “We’re friends of Mike, Richie’s cousin.” The boy motioned to another, who looked very much like Richie.

“Well, friends and cousins of Richie, welcome!” Beverly said from next to Bill, flashing a smile toward them. A couple of the strangers reciprocated, the curly haired kid and a girl with brown hair just as wild.

The air fell silent after that as everyone yook in the faces of new, and Ben did as well. There was also a girl with vivid red hair that could rival Bev’s, the long tresses pulled back into a ponytail. Next to the boy who looked like Richie (Mike, Ben was proud to remember) stood a kid with round eyes and a wary smile, his hair framing his face in a flattering way. A bird chirped and Stan’s head turned to the sound.

Surprisingly, Bill was the person to break the awkward silence. He motioned to the redhead’s shirt and asked, “Y-you like Eh-Eh-Elvis?”

She seemed to ignore his obvious stutter. “Yeah, I love him. You too?”

“Oh, I c-can never s-s-st-s-stop lis-listening to h-h-hi-him! The Losers ah-are always ann-an-annoyed at me,” He beamed. “Oh, and I d-d-do-don’t buh-buh-believe I caught your nuh-nuh-name.” She opened her mouth to speak as the curly kid beat her to it.

“She’s Max. I’m Dustin. And did you just call your friends ‘losers?’” Ben noted that some of his teeth seemed to be missing, and he had a slight lisp.

“It’s what we call ourselves,” Ben spoke up, and he felt slightly uncomfortable with so many new pairs of eyes focused on him. “The bullies called us ‘Losers,’ so we took the name as our own.”

“Original,” Max spoke up. “Our bullies just call us—”

Richie cleared his throat loudly, not in a way to get something out of it, but to draw attention to himself. “Uh, hello? Less chatty-chatty, more swimmy-swimmy? Come on fuckers, we’re losing daylight!” Richie strode over to the side of the cliff before anyone could point out to him that they had hours to swim.

“Wait, you’re gonna jump off of that?” Mike spoke up, a shake to his voice. He exchanged glances with Dustin and the unnamed girl, and Ben sensed that they had a story to tell from it.

“What’s wrong, Micycle, ‘fraid of heights?” Then he said quieter, “If he shits himself, it’ll be hilarious.”

“No, I’m not! I just… um… it’s a long story,” Mike defended himself.

“Probably about the diving board to the public pool, amiright?”

“Shut up, Richie. Not the time.” Eddie rolled his eyes.

Bill put a reassuring touch to Mike’s arm. “Do-don’t worry, Muh-Mih-Mike, we’ve all done it be-before. It’s perfectly safe.”

“But—”

“It’ll be fine, Mike. See? Watch.” Max pushed past Richie and took a large leap into the water. Everyone ran to watch her fall, and she let out a “Woo!” as she disrupted the water with a satisfyingly large splash.

“Holy shit!” Richie exclaimed. “That was really hot. Is she single?” Richie cringed away as Lucas punched him in the arm. The unnamed girl shook her head and jumped after Max. “Holy shit, is she single?”

“Beep-fucking-beep, asshole.”

“Aw, come on, Eds. I’m just asking a question you all know you wanted answered.”

Stan shook his head, the curls bouncing along. “Weren’t you hung up on Eddie’s mother ten minutes ago?”

“The past is in the past, Stan-the-Man.”

Ben looked at the others. “Wanna jump?”

Dustin grinned, his cheeks pulled up and his eyes crinkling. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Everyone’s feet left rock and flew through the air into the water, multiple cries of “Holy shit!” and “Woo-hoo!” being shouted into the air.

Ben did a head count, and, coming up two short, he looked back up at the cliff.

Two tiny figures stood, and Ben could see the dark hair and pale skin even from a height like that.

Richie and Mike seemed to be arguing, hands waving and voices carrying down the cliff, although Ben couldn’t decipher what they were saying. Ben saw hands connect a chest, and one of them came flailing down the cliff with a strangled “I’M GONNA KILL YOU, RICHARD!” The second figure followed, and Max gargled on water as she let out a laugh when Mike hit the water.

…

Lots of water-splashing and chicken-fighting ensued after that, and the twelve kids took to lounging on the rocks as they dried off and music from Richie’s boombox filled the air.

“So… what brings you guys to Derry?”

Stan had known about Richie’s family situation, as he had complained to them over and over since he’d gotten the news. He (and the rest of the Losers) had no idea as to why they had come.

“My mom,” Mike had spoken up. “She wanted to visit her sister and my entire family was dragged along.”

“Yeah, and we didn’t want him to be alone all summer,” Lucas elaborated.

“Sorry Rich,” Bev turned to the boy with magnified eyes, “if you have to leave for the summer, we’re ditching you.” Richie glared and everyone cracked a smile.

The air fell silent again, save the boombox blasting one of Richie’s many mixtapes.

“Is it true that Derry has twice the average amount of deaths than the national average?” Dustin burst out randomly, as if he was waiting to pop the question all day. The losers’ heads turned to Ben, knowing he was the library feel out of all of them.

“No, actually. It's six times.” Dustin's eyes widened, like a little kid that got what they wanted for Christmas.

“Totally tubular,” he smiled at Lucas and Max, although nobody else seemed to get the joke.

…

On the walk back, Eddie has a feeling of something being… off. When he asked Bev, she just shrugged, saying, “You always feel like something's off, Ed. I bet it's nothing,” and she pushed his shoulder in a sisterly manner.

“She really think shes gonna come outta that school?” Eddie turned at Stan's voice, his gaze fixed on a lone woman sitting on the steps of the empty school, hopping up peeking through the doors as if waiting for someone who was late.

“What? Who’s ‘she?’” the short boy, Eddie learned who was named Will, wondered.

“Betty Ripsom,” Beverly said to him. “She went missing a few weeks ago. That's her mom over there.”

“It's as if she’s been locked in a janitor’s closet for the last few weeks,” Eddie muttered, looking at the mother who was hiding on to a nonexistent thread of hope that her daughter was lost at school, that's all.

“Do you think they're actually gonna find her?” Stan spoke aloud to the silent group.

“Sure,” Richie started, and Eddie prepared himself for an offensive comment. “In a ditch, all decomposed, covered in worms and maggots and smelling like Eddie's mom's underwear.” Richie motioned to Eddie, who shivered at the idea.

“Shut up, this is freaking disgusting.” Eddie shook his head to rid himself of the image, filled with millions of deadly bacteria.

“She's not dead, she’s mm-meh-missing,” Bill said defensively, glaring at the bespectacled boy.

“Sorry, Bill,” Richie apologized, his extra-large eyes seeming to come into focus as he adjusted his glasses. “She's missing.”

Eddie was surprised. The only other times he'd heard Richie apologize was once to the principal for selling candy from his locker (after his mother forced him to), and once to a streetlight that he thought was a person after he ran into it. It was a thing of Richie's: he just didn't apologize to things because he usually didn't feel sorry.

But of course, Bill was always sort of treated a little like glass since what happened in October… Eddie still remembered the phone call and how Bill had to hand the phone to his mother because he was stuttering so badly.

“They’ll find her,” the curly-haired girl said, and Eddie was startled to realize this was the first time he’d heard her speak. She had a soft voice, and it reminded Eddie of a warm cabin in the woods that he had never been to before. She spoke with a sort of certainty to her voice that made it sound like she knew Betty personally, and had seen her. It was quite calming.

“Should we tell her about the shoe?” Ben was still staring at the mother, who glanced at the group before turning back to the school.

“What shoe? Did you guys find something?” Lucas asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“W-we were in the ss-sew-sewers yesterday,” Bill explained. “Looking f-for…” he took a deep breath, “no one.”

“‘Looking for no one.’ Wow, that’s not sinister sounding at all.” The redheaded Max shook her head as Lucas nudged her in the arm. She sighed. “Sorry.”

“Is that how you guys spend your summer?” Dustin asked, crunching down a granola bar that Eddie didn’t know how he got. “Inside of sewers?”

Richie was silent for a heartbeat before, “Beats spending it inside of your mother. Ohhh.” He raised his arm for a high-five to Stan, who grabbed it and yanked it down.

“Woah,” Mike said, looking at something Eddie couldn’t see, “Nice car.”

They all turned, spotting a blue Trans Am, and Eddie’s face paled. “W-we should get outta here.”

“Why, Kaspbrak?” a sneering voice spoke. “’Fraid you’ll go missing too?” Eddie turned around, spotting Henry Bowers standing just a few feet in front of the group. How he managed to sneak up on them, Eddie had no idea, and he sometimes wondered if he had the ability to teleport.

Riche let out a choking sound as the back of his shirt was yanked backwards, and he fell spectacularly into Stan, where they both landed on the ground with an almighty “oof.”

A large belch sounded right next to Eddie’s ear, and he cringed away from the sound and the hot breath, gagging as the boy, Belch Huggins, let out a big laugh.

“Knew he was a bottom,” Patrick said as Richie tried to get up off of Stan, and Victor Criss, another one of Henry’s goons, pushed him back down. Patrick kicked Stan in the arm. “Fuckin’ flamer!”

“And who have we here?” Henry said, looking toward Lucas, who had a scowl set on his face. Eddie wouldn’t put it past him that he would punch Henry if he had the chance. “You seem far from home, dontcha, Midnight?”

“Eat shit.”

“Oh, you think you’re all high ‘n’ mighty, don’t ya?” Henry said in that menacing voice of his. “Newsflash, kid: you don’t belong here. Stay out of this town. Or you’ll deserve what’s comin’ for ya.”

“Hmm, what else’ve we got here?” Victor seemed to have snuck up behind Max, and he had a handful of her hair in his fingers. She yanked herself away from him, turning around and stepping on his toes.

“Leave her alone!” Dustin said angrily. Henry’s gaze turned to him, and Dustin’s bravery seemed to melt.

“You seem to be missin’ a couple ’a teeth there, Curly. Shut up if you don’t want to lose some more.”

“Ss-sss-sshut it, Bowers!” Bill said angrily, his mouth seeming to not agree with his words as he spit them out. Henry turned around slowly, that threatening look back in his eyes.

“You suh-suh-say somethin’, Buh-Buh-Buh-Billy?” he strode over to the boy until they were inches apart. “Yeh got a free ride this year ‘cause ‘a your little brother. Ride’s over, Denbrough.”

Eddie knew he was going to do something horrible like he always did, but a police cruiser had rode down the street, slowing down while going by the kids. His father, Eddie thought to himself.

“This summer’s gonna be a hurt train. For you and your faggot friends.” He walked away and toward Belch Huggins’ car, but not before licking his hand and wiping it on Bill’s face.

The kids all watched them ride off.

“Wish he’d go missing,” Richie commented.

“He’s probably the one doing it,” Eddie said thoughtfully.

~~~

@cactus-byers

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queen-of-deans-booty · 7 years

Text

Folsom Prison Blues- Part 1

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,024

Warnings: Typical Supernatural violence, language, angst, minor character death, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. If you’re a junkie for this sort of thing, then a tag list is the right thing for you! If you want to be a Queen, I’ll add you to that list too! Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

You’ve stuck around with the Winchesters for a while now so you knew them like the back of your hand. You knew what they were going to do when they were going to do it or what they might say to a smart ass comment you made.

You knew every little detail about them since you’ve lived with them for so long.

Never, in all your years of living with them did you know that Dean would ever do this. You thought he was smarter than this and yes, he was trying to do one of John’s friends a favor since this man helped John when they were in the Marines but this was so stupid.

This could mean the end of your life if even one single, tiny detail went wrong and then your life was over. You still thought of a future with Dean and that may never happen because his dumbass couldn’t think of another way to do this.

But you trusted him and if he says he knew what he was doing, then you believed him. Sam, on the other hand, wasn’t so on board with this idea as you would have liked.

This was dumb and stupid and it may cost you your life but you were going through it just like with any other job. Except with other jobs, you knew how to stay hidden and this was putting you out in the open.

“Sweetheart, go ahead. You know what to do.” Dean said, looking at you. You sighed and got on your knees, taking your lock pit out, opening the locked door in seconds. You got up and walked inside the building, looking at Dean who held a flashlight and a map of the place.

You were breaking into an Anthropology museum because this was the only way, according to Dean, that you would get to the case you were searching for.

“Come on, it’s this way.” Dean said, taking the lead. You looked at Sam worriedly but followed Dean.

“I hate this plan, Dean.” Sam said for the billionth time.

“Yeah, I got that the first ten times I heard it.” Dean said, rolling his eyes.

“Dean, I love and trust you but I’m with Sam on this one. One wrong move and our lives are over, do you understand that?” You said, walking around the corner with them, walking right through the silent alarm.

That is what Dean wanted.

“Yeah, I get this but this is the only way to do this and we have someone on the inside to help us. Don’t worry about it, we are going to be fine.” Dean said, walking into a room with a bunch of glass exhibitions. Sam sighed and unlocked one of the cases, carefully taking out a decorated axe from the case.

Dean moved to another case and unlocked it, taking out a hooked dagger. You watched and sighed, going over to another case and taking out some kind of object. You didn’t care what it was, all you needed was your fingerprints on it.

An outside noise is what made you and the brother snap your head up in the direction of it.

“Show time.” Dean muttered, placing the dagger down. You and Sam did the same and you sighed, leaving with the brothers. You rushed to the exit of the place and when you turned a corner, you were met with two policemen.

“Freeze!” The first cop said, pointing his gun at you three. You turned around to go the other way but two more policemen were there, blocking your way.

“Don’t move!” Another cop said. Dean took your hand and he took you and Sam down another hallway but there was another pair of cops that blocked your way.

“I said freeze!” One of the cops said.

“Hold it right there!!”

“Put your hands on your heads! Get down on your knees! Now!” One of the cops yelled. You looked at Dean with worried eyes but he winked at you before doing as he was told. You looked at Sam and he held the same look you had before complying. You sighed and got on your knees, putting your hands on your head.

Three cops walked to you three and handcuffed you, helping you stand up. Dean smiled slightly but you were very worried about this plan. You had a role to play once you got inside the prison and you knew Deacon would help you but you were still worried.

The cops took you to the station, setting you up to take your mugshots. Sam went first, standing in front of mugshot board, holding a sign that had the town and his case number on it. Sam didn’t look happy at all as they took his picture from all angles.

Damn, you knew he was tall but he reached to about 6’5. That man only got taller with age, honestly.

Dean was next and his sign said the same thing but had a different case number on it. He reached to about 6’3 on the board and you shook your head. Damn those Winchester genes. Dean was grinning as he was being set up and he looked into the camera.

“I call this one, the Blue Steel.” Dean said, pursing his lips, arching his right eyebrow and posed for the camera. You couldn’t help but smile at this because even in jail, he would be a pain in the ass. The photographer took his mugshot from all angles as well, ushering him to the side so you could do yours.

“Wait, who looks better, me or Nick Nolte?” Dean asked with a grin.

“Shut up.” The photographer said, bringing you in. You sighed and held your own board, looking into the camera. If you were going to do this, may as well have a little fun with it. You sighed and smiled brightly for the camera as it took your picture.

“Yeah, that’s my girl.” You heard Dean say.

“Dude, seriously?” Sam said, glaring at his older brother. You got your picture taken from all angles before getting back in line with the brothers.

“Alright, time to go.” The cops who entered the room said, cuffing your hands behind your back, leading you to the interrogation room. You got your own separate ones and you sighed as the cops cuffed your wrists to the table.

They left, leaving you in there by yourself. You sighed and closed your eyes, praying this would go alright. You started praying a few hunts ago when you met the Trickster because when you met him, you knew something was different about him.

A little while later, the door opened and a black man walked in wearing a suit with a cop. The cop smirked at you and you bit your lip, not saying a word.

“Not speaking, are we?” The suit asked.

“I’ll answer any questions you have, assuming they aren’t arrogant and stupid.” You bit out, looking at the two men.

“So, we’re going to do this the hard way, are we?” The black man asked, sitting across from you.

“In my personal opinion, I find the hard way the more fun way.” You said, smirking as you leaned back.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Y/N,” The man said. Your smirk was lost and your eyes widened. How did he knew your name like he knew you before? “I’m Special Agent Victor Henriksen. This is my partner, Special Agent Reidy.”

“Henriksen? Not the Milwaukee Agent Henriksen?” You asked. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen. You knew that doing this would get you in big trouble. You were going to kick Dean’s ass for this when you got out. Hopefully.

“Live and in person.” Henriksen said, pulling out a picture of you and the Winchesters at the bank robbery in Milwaukee. “Nice shot. You can hang that up in your cell at Super Max.”

“You know, you’re shorter than I thought you’d be. And heavier. You like to eat a lot of cheeseburgers, don’t you?” You said, trying to get on his nerves. It seemed to be working because he glared at you.

“Oh yeah, joke around. Try and cover up how concerned you are,” He said to you. He turned to his partner and looked at him. “Read her the charges.”

“Well, we got mail fraud, credit card fraud, grave desecration...” Reidy started off.

“Skip to the good ones.” Henriksen said, looking at you. You never took your eyes off him.

“Armed robbery, kidnapping and, oh, three counts of first-degree murder.”

“And after Milwaukee, you and those Winchesters are now suspects in a murder case. I’d say for you three, "screwed to hell" is a major understatement.” Henriksen said.

“Well, you have to have hope, right?”

“See? That’s what I kept thinking as I was searching for your asses all over hell and gone. John taught you guys well about how to cover up your tracks and after Milwaukee, the way you just disappeared. I went near nuts trying to find you.” Henriksen said, leaning closer to you.

“Well, you found us.”

“Right, and after all of that, you get tripped up on a motion detector. That’s a pretty rookie move. I was surprised to say the least. But you’re not going anywhere. I’m on your ass like glue now.”

“And you thought after knowing how good we are at covering our tracks, we just messed up on a tripwire? Have you thought that maybe we wanted to get caught? You know, as handsome as you are, maybe try wearing my ass as a hat. I think that might be more comfortable than glue. Less sticky.” You said with a smirk. He was pissed now and was about to say something when the door opened.

A woman walked inside holding a briefcase.

“Y/N Y/L/N?” She asked.

“You’re looking at her.” You said with a smile.

“And you are?” Henriksen asked.

“Mara Daniels, Public Defender’s office,” She said, shaking your hand that was still cuffed to the table. “I’ve been assigned you and the Winchester’s cases.”

“Great.” You said, looking at Henriksen.

“Are you Henriksen?” She asked.

“Yeah, and we’re not quite done here.” He said, not looking at you.

“Ah, yeah, you are. In fact, if you don’t mind, I would like to meet with my clients. Privately.” She said with a smile. You looked at Henriksen and winked at him.

“Don’t forget to wash your head after this. Don’t want to look like a shit head, now do we?” You said as he glared at you when he left. As he left, Sam and Dean walked into the room and you straightened up and looked worried suddenly.

They sat down next to you and you looked at Dean, not knowing if they knew about Henriksen or not. But when you looked at Sam, you knew they knew. You were in deep shit now.

“It’s nice to meet you three.” She said, sitting across from you three.

“I wish it were under better circumstances.” You said, leaning back in your chair.

“Trust me, I do as well. But, unfortunately, your arraignment on the breaking and entering charge won’t be until Tuesday.” She said.

“And they’ll keep us in the county jail?” Dean asked, only caring about that. It was part of the plan to be there.

“That right.”

“Green River Count Detention Center?” Sam asked, trying to clarify.

“Yes, and considering the charges you’re facing, no judge in his right mind is going to grant you bail.” She said, looking at the three of you.

“We assumed that.” You said with a scoff.

“Extradition papers have already been filed from five separate states, Missouri and Wisconsin being the biggest concern: the bank robbery and the murder raps.”

“How long can we stall extradition?” Sam asked, knowing what he was talking about.

“A week, maybe less.” She said. You sighed and looked at Dean who nodded at you. You looked at Sam and he gave you a worried look but nodded. If you were going to do this, may as well do it right.

The Queens:

@maddieburcham1 @ginamsmith @mogaruke @whit85-blog @inlovewithbja @spn67-sister @kdfrqqg @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @roxyspearing @supercalifragilistic26 @mishamigose @cobrakai1967 @essie1876 @wishedworld @crispychrissy @laqueus-ludovicus @nostalgic-uncertainty @jerk-bitch-and-an-angel @potterhead1265 @starswirlblitz @untitled39887 @ta-n-ja @deans-fallen-angel-boy @scarletluvscas @notnaturalanahi @tahbehonest @stay-in--place @dreaminofdean @posiemax @donnaintx @mikey1822 @alexandriajanae4 @li-ssu @just-another-winchester @obsessivecompulsivespn @emoryhemsworth @newtospnfandom @mizzezm @goldenolaf25 @jessikared97 @wh1sp3r1ng-impala @charliebradbury1104 @queen-of-moons-peace-out-bitches @becs-bunker

The Dean Beans:

@akshi8278 @mega-mrs-dean-winchester @winchesterandpie @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @carribear31 @tacklesackles @oreosatmidnight @not-naturalfangirl @missselinakitty @iam-a-cutiepie @kristendansmith @milo-winchester-4ever @jensenackesl @codyshany316 @pheonyxstorm @helllonearth @juniorhuntersam @pouterpufftrain @ruprecht0420 @shut-ur-face-and-get-in-the-car @carriemichelle2012 @aubreystilinski

Series Rewrite Junkies:

@helllonearth @amyisabellal @deanwnchstr @caseykitten6 @quixoticcat @supernaturalblogging @notmoose45 @crowleysminion @mina22 @tahbehonest @hadleymcallister2177 @destielsangels @spnhybrid @oreosatmidnight @valerieshubin @seninjakitey @flyonlittlewinchester @aubreystilinski @rocketqueeens @emilygracespellins @earthtokace

@thing-you-do-with-that-thing

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singingwordwright · 7 years

Link

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Shadowhunters (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Maryse Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Characters: Alec Lightwood, Maryse Lightwood Additional Tags: Angst, Introspection, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood

Summary: Maryse and Alec both have their reasons for haunting the halls of the Institute late at night. Perhaps between the two of them, they can figure what to do next.

Notes: This fic doesn't really focus on Alec's pain over his separation from Magnus. While it's certainly there, he has more pressing issues to deal with first.

This work is unbetaed.

Nothing on the 3D display of Manhattan had changed in minutes, perhaps hours, and yet Alec stood hunched over it as though if he stared long enough, it would reveal to him the secrets of the universe. The Ops center was quiet--the patrols were either out looking for Valentine and his son, or they had reported in and retired for the night--and Maryse almost hated to disturb Alec’s concentration, except that his study of the display looked less like concentration and more like self-flagellation.

“Coffee?” she murmured, holding up the spare mug she carried. Alec startled, blinking rapidly.

“Thanks.” He sounded like someone had scraped a rusty file along his vocal cords. He cleared his throat and accepted the mug, testing the temperature with a tentative sip as his eyes drifted back to the map. “You checking on Max?”

Maryse shook her head, grimacing. “Taking a short break before returning to the infirmary. I’m sure I’ll be treated to a tirade in the morning about how he’s too old to be fussed over, but I can’t bring myself to leave for long.”

Alec’s head dropped, his chin nearly touching his chest as his shoulders rose and fell with a long, slow breath. “It was a close call.”

“It was.” Maryse blinked. Once. Twice. Three times, until the treacherous burning in her eyes dissipated. “This family has had too many of those the past couple months.”

Alec said nothing, and that silence said everything. Most of the Lightwoods’ recent near-misses, Maryse had learned about from afar, long past any opportunity to help. Alec had been in the thick of them.

To be honest, she wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Take a short walk with me,” she invited, tipping her head in the direction of one of the corridors branching off the Ops center.

“I can’t.” Alec swept his hand toward the projection display. “I need to--”

Yes, Maryse knew what he felt the need to do all too well. It was a tendency he’d learned while he was practically still at her breast.

“It won’t tell you anything it hasn’t been telling you for hours, Alec. Let’s get some air.”

He sighed and nodded, cradling his mug between his hands as they turned their backs on the Ops center. His shoulders remained hunched, bent under an old, invisible weight she only now realized he’d hadn’t been carrying the last couple times she’d seen him.

“When you were a toddler,” she remarked as he fell in beside her, his long strides considerately shortened. “Not long after the Circle fell, there were several months months where you were utterly inconsolable if I wasn’t with you non-stop. You were probably picking up on all the tension and anxiety from me and your father. I was quite pregnant with Isabelle, and virtually under house arrest while the Clave decided what to do with those of us who had defected from the Circle, so it certainly was no hardship to spend every hour with you.”

A sideways glance caught the tiniest, feeblest curve of Alec’s lips, a far cry from the sweet, unguarded smile she’d hoped to coax from him. ”But in that time, I had a chance to do a lot of thinking, about where everything went wrong, about what I could have done differently. I went over the same information in my head again, and again, and again, looking for signs I might have missed that we were doing the wrong thing, following the wrong path. How did I not see that the brave, heroic boy we’d admired and emulated since we were children had grown up to be a madman? Even if I’d come up with any answers, it wouldn’t have helped or changed anything. But that process of driving myself mad looking for them was my way of punishing myself for the choices I made.”

“You think that’s what I’m doing tonight?”

“You really think that map you’ve been staring at for hours is going to tell you where Valentine and his son are?” Maryse stopped at the elevator and pushed the up button. Alec was silent as the doors slid open and then shut behind them once they’d stepped inside. Maryse took them to the top floor, with its access to the roof.

Alec always went for high, open spaces when he needed solace.

After what happened at the party preceding Max’s rune ceremony, that knowledge filled her with more than a little unease. But she took him to the roof anyway, because this, too, he’d picked up from her. Many of those months she’d spent with his tiny arms around her neck, clinging to her like a limpet day in and day out, had been spent on the balcony of her rooms in their estate in Idris, and later here at the Institute.

Alec set his mug on the ledge of the parapet and braced his hands beside it, gripping the masonry in a white-knuckled grasp.

“I’ve been in charge of this Institute for less than two weeks and I haven’t done a single thing right in that entire time,” he said tonelessly.

“You’ve done more in two weeks than your father and I ever attempted in nearly twenty years.” That had been deliberate, of course. Any interference with the Downworld in those days would have looked as though they intended to continue Valentine’s work, and she and Robert hadn’t wanted to risk that. But she remained silent on that point. The reasons didn’t matter now.

“I let Valentine escape. I let thing he created waltz in and out of the Institute, treated him like a trusted advisor, put him in charge of security. I nearly got Max killed…”

Maryse grabbed his arm, pulled her around to face him. “Alec, that isn’t your fault. You couldn’t possibly have known. He even fooled Aline Penhallow into believing he was her cousin.”

His eyes flashed in the omnipresent glow of the city lights, the muscle in his jaw flexing. “I promised the Downworld factions complete transparency, then reneged on that pledge the second it was more convenient to stay silent than tell the truth. If they break with the Clave, that’s on me. I was the one who proved to them that they can never trust us.”

“The Clave.” Maryse sneered, bitterly enough to wrench Alec out of his spiral of self-recrimination. “Do you want to know why I left Idris?”

He gave her a bemused frown. “I assumed it was because of Dad.”

Maryse shook her head. “Not in the way you probably assume. I left because my voice was being drowned out. I couldn’t accomplish anything more there. Since the moment we realized the Soul Sword was missing, the Clave has been preparing for war with the Downworld. They’re convinced it’s inevitable.” She pressed her lips tightly together, then plunged ahead. “Some of them are even eager for it. There are too many who seem to have forgotten the horrors of the Circle uprising, or are too young to really remember. They would rather war with the Downworld than confront the evil being perpetrated by Valentine. It’s easier to convince themselves the Downworld is at fault, that the Accords are untenable, and that Valentine was right all along.”

Alec’s mouth dropped open, his face growing paler in the dark. “Are you saying some of them might want to ally with Valentine?”

“I certainly hope not. I’ve heard mutterings from a few who were thinking along those lines, but I don’t think the Clave has completely lost all reason yet. Still, if it comes down to a choice between a truce with Valentine and fighting a war on two fronts, especially against the Seelies? I really can’t say which way the Clave would go.”

“Oh, God.” Alec reached blindly for the parapet and knocked his mug off the ledge. It smashed against the ground four stories below with a muted crunch.

“That’s why I was so in favor of your Downworld cabinet.” Maryse smiled softly in memory of the pride she’d felt that night. “I had hoped if anyone could forestall the conflict, it would be you and Magnus.”

Alec frowned at her. “You don’t even like Magnus.”

“You’re right. I never did.” Maryse straightened her shoulders, staring out over the city with her hands clasped tightly together before her. “We clashed a number of times, and not just when your father and I were running the Institute.”

“When you were still in the Circle,” Alec said tonelessly.

“Yes. Exactly. I’m ashamed to admit that Magnus has been far more gracious to me than I’ve deserved, all things considered.” She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. “You know, when I heard about Valentine’s attack on the Institute, I wasn’t afraid at first. Somehow I just knew that you and Isabelle and Jace were all right. But then I learned what Valentine had done to all those Downworlders, and I was terrified. For Magnus Bane, of all people. Because I knew if you were fighting for your life, surely he wouldn’t be far away. And I knew what it would do to you if he were killed.”

Alec’s breath hitched sharply, his face crumpling for a split second before he got it under control. He turned back to stare into the night again, giving her only his stony profile.

“Suddenly, I could see so clearly. All the reasons for my antagonism toward him stemmed from things that I really should have left behind me twenty years ago, when I turned my back on the Circle. My petty resentments had forced you to choose between your family and your heart, and I swore I’d never do that to you again.” She swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Whatever you choose from here on out, Alec, I will stand behind you. I want you to know that.”

Alec’s head bobbed once, but he stood beside her in rigid silence for a long moment.

“If it comes to war, I can’t stand on the opposite side of the battlefield from him,” he said finally, the words so ragged it seemed they must be grating in his throat. “Even if it means dereliction of duty, going against the Clave. I won’t. I won’t be Aldertree, convincing myself years from now that it was always inevitable that I’d have his blood on my hands. I won’t do it.”

“I’m sure Jace and Isabelle will support you in that, and Clary Fairchild as well. And me, of course.” Maryse drew her shoulders back and made her tone brisk. The commander’s tone she’d perfected over her decades running the Institute. “But if you’re going to prevent things reaching that point, you probably only have a few more hours before the Downworld factions reach some sort of consensus. Figuring that out is certainly a better use of your time than staring at a map that isn’t going to tell you anything. Isn’t it?”

Galvanized, Alec shoved back from the parapet, a focused scowl already settling on his face. “Right. First thing we need to do is get patrols on the shores of Lake Lyn. Clary’s certain it’s the Mortal Mirror. We can’t take the risk of Valentine figuring that out.”

“I wouldn’t tell the Clave that, if I were you.”

Alec nodded grimly. “Agreed. There have been too many leaks already.”

“I believe Lucian ran with one of the feral werewolf packs in the Brocelind Forest for a short while, after he was turned. If anyone could get word through to their alphas, it would be him. They’d make excellent guards if someone could convince them it’s in their best interest.”

“Right.” Alec’s long strides carried him quickly toward the door, but he pivoted suddenly to brush a brusque kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Mom,” he murmured, then strode away.

BUY ME A CUP OF COFFEE!!

#shadowhunters #alec #maryse #fanfic #my fics #midnight oil

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years

Text

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 19

(aka the royalty AU story)

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18] [AO3]

Kim knew perfectly well that he should go back home to his own kingdom in the spring holidays. His parents had constantly been sending him letters telling him that they were expecting him back, that things were better and safer inside the kingdom, maybe that way he would behave himself and not go “fraternizing with the enemy” …

But he didn’t want to go home. He was worried that if he did, he would never be allowed to come back to school. His parents had been subtly hinting that they were just planning on making him stay in Lê Chiến and not let him return.

Why? He was learning so much at school, and he had been improving in leaps and bounds! Not just with his grades, but everything. He knew he was a much nicer person now than he had been back in September. He knew so much more about other kingdoms, about how ruling a country worked, so many things he hadn’t known before that his parents had never taught him.

His friends were here, too. He didn’t want to leave them behind. Of course he would have to someday, that much was obvious, but he had expected to have a whole three years at this school. It wasn’t fair to be forced to leave before he had even been here for a year yet!

So that was why, despite knowing he would get into so much trouble for it, he accepted Alix’s invitation to go and stay in her kingdom for the holidays. Well, maybe it also had something to do with him really wanting to get to fly in an aeroplane. And also see her kingdom, since he had heard about how cool it was. And getting to spend more time with her, which was always a good thing…

They went by ocean liner to the same port city that Kim had caught the maglev train from last time when going to Max’s kingdom, but this time instead of heading to the train station, they went to the airport. This one was even bigger and sleeker than the one back in Kanté had been, with more planes visible through all the giant windows everywhere.

“What happens if it rains?” Kim asked, as they were being led down a metallic looking corridor to the plane.

“Literally nothing,” she replied. “A bit of rain is not gonna stop a plane from flying.”

“Really? What if there’s a storm?”

“Well, I guess you’d just fly around the storm…”

“What would happen if the plane got struck by lightning?”

“I don’t know, dude, I’m not Max. Just ask him this stuff. We’ve got telephones back at the palace, you can call him up.”

That just seemed so weird. Max would be so far away, in a completely different country, and yet it would be so easy to just talk to him whenever? Wow, modern technology really was something else.

This plane was a different one to the one he had looked in before, since this one was only for passengers, not cargo. The interior still looked similar, with comfortable seats, round windows and overhead cabins to store things in.

Kim sat next to the window so he could look outside. As soon as the plane started moving he pressed his face right up against the window, not wanting to miss a thing. What would it look like, being so high up in the air?

The plane slowly moved onto the runway, then suddenly accelerated fast enough that everything looked like a blur, with the engines roaring loudly. Within a few seconds it was lifting off into the air.

“THIS IS SO COOL, LOOK AT THAT BUILDING IT LOOKS TINY – HEY WE JUST PASSED A CLOUD I THINK – wait you can just fly through clouds? Oh yeah of course they’re just water… HEY THOSE HOUSES DOWN THERE LOOK LIKE TOYS OR SOMETHING–”

“It’s cool, isn’t it?” Alix chuckled.

“Yes!” Kim just couldn’t take his eyes off the scenery below him. “And you’re just used to all this?”

“Nah, you can’t really get used to it. I still think planes are awesome and I’ve been flying on them my whole life.”

“That’s it, I need aeroplanes in my country. First thing I do when I become ruler is build an airport.”

For the rest of the flight, Kim refused to take his eyes off the window for even a second. Halfway through a trolley came through the plane, offering food and drink, but he ignored it completely. The scenery, being at such a height and looking down at everything the way a bird would… it was too good to miss.

The landing was just as incredible as the take-off had been, and Kim felt reluctant to leave. At least he would get the chance to fly again when going back to school in a few weeks. He found himself looking forward to it a lot.

From the VIP lounge of this airport, Alix called up her brother on her sceptre. “Hey Jalil, can you come and pick us up from the airport? Me and Kim have just landed. The human, I mean, not the snake. Well yeah the snake’s here too. Both Kims.”

“What? You said you were arriving tomorrow!”

“I know, I know, I told dad that because I knew he’d send some giant entourage to get me from the airport and just… no. I’m not dealing with that. You know I hate the press and bodyguards and stuff, it’s bloody annoying. Just please get over here and pick us up.”

“You didn’t even tell him that Kim’s going to be here too…”

“Well I kinda did? It’s not my fault if he just happened to assume I was talking about my pet snake, is it? And he can’t just send Kim back home now, not when he’s an esteemed guest. A foreign prince.”

“Alix, you are going to be in so much trouble, you know that? But fine, I’ll be there soon. Just stay put and don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m gonna go surf the conveyor belts like a skateboard,” she said quickly, then hung up immediately, grinning. She turned to Kim and said, “I’m not really gonna do that, he’ll just drive here quicker if he’s worried.”

“You really didn’t tell your family I’m gonna be staying here?” Kim asked her. “Wouldn’t they need to prepare?”

“They’re always prepared for guests. But at short notice they won’t have anything planned for you, so they’ll just have to get me to show you around instead. Which means they’ll have to cancel all my plans, so I don’t have to do boring pharaoh stuff. It’s a win for both of us.”

“But your brother said you’ll be in trouble.”

“I’m always in trouble,” she sighed. “Anyway, want me to teach you how to use a telephone while we’re waiting? We could call up Max.”

“Yes please!”

Jalil soon arrived to pick them up, driving a very clean, modern-looking car. The staff at the airport helped put the luggage into the back, then they set off.

“So, this is what desert looks like,” Kim said, staring out of the window again. “It looks way less sandy than I thought.”

“There’s sandy desert here too, trust me,” Alix said. “It’s just mostly rocky though.”

“That’s amazing… So does it just, not rain at all?”

“Not much.”

“Wow! Back in Lê Chiến it rains all the time, we’ve even got a whole rainy season and everything. This is so interesting, seriously, I can’t wait to see more of this place…”

“You might not get to,” Jalil said, not taking his eyes off the road in front of him. “Knowing our dad, Alix will be grounded and there’ll be no one to show you around.”

“What about you?”

“I’m busy with my university course, thank you very much.”

“I won’t be grounded,” Alix said. “Dad can’t do that, not when we have a royal foreign guest staying with us. The most he can do is give me a curfew or something. Which I can easily ignore, and you know it.”

“Yes, there’s no point giving you any rules, is there? You’ll just break them.”

“Exactly. Speaking of breaking rules, can you let me drive? Kim doesn’t believe that I can so I want to–”

“No, you’re not driving! Not only are you not old enough, last time you almost killed us, I’m not going through that again!”

“Fine…”

The scenery outside was still rocky and desert-like, but buildings were staring to pop up on the sides of the road. Soon enough a city was visible, with huge skyscrapers reaching up higher than Kim had thought buildings could even go. Unlike the ones in Kanté, these ones were all sorts of interesting shapes. Some were cylindrical, others looked more like towers, and one even appeared to be twisting round as it climbed through the sky. There were patches of green growing up the walls, like little farms being grown right there in the city.

The palace, however, was actually a little way out from the city, in a much quieter area. Every road around here was beautifully created, with rows of palm trees growing down the sides of the streets, huge pearly mansions being the most prominent buildings around, fountains on every corner.

“Every single house here looks royal,” Kim muttered.

“Nah, it’s just a fairly rich area,” Alix replied. “The streets are pretty good for skating down though…”

“You’re not allowed to skate down these streets!” Jalil snapped.

“I know, I know, I’m just saying!”

The car soon reached a heavily guarded gate, and was let through after a quick identity check into the palace grounds. Here there really was grass – a giant green field of it, full of carefully planted flowers being watered by some kind of automatic sprinkler system. The palace itself loomed large up ahead, a massive building with countless floors and arches and turrets. It was even bigger than Max’s palace – in fact, it was probably the largest building Kim had ever seen.

A huge door in the side of the building opened up into a room full of cars, where they parked and got out while some servants took their luggage.

“I have no idea what the proper protocol would be now for introducing Kim to the court,” Jalil said, “but I suppose that you should…”

“Oh who cares?” said Alix. “Where’s dad, I’ll introduce him to Kim and then show Kim a guest room and that’ll be fine, right?”

“It’s dinnertime already, Alix. You two should probably go straight to the dining hall and hope dad isn’t too annoyed by your rather… sudden, informal appearance.”

“Dinnertime already? Ugh, I forgot about time zone differences. Fine, I guess we’ll get this over with. Come on, Kim.”

Kim followed Alix down a maze of very lush, carpeted corridors. All along the walls there were portraits, displays of weapons, dazzlingly multicoloured glass windows, screens with hologram displays, bowls of flowers… It was even more lavish than the corridors at school, which had seemed to be over the top.

Alix stopped in front of a large door. “Okay Kim, since it’s dinnertime and we’re late my dad will already be in here and uh… Just be polite. It’ll be fine. Like, use all that boring royal stuff we’ve learnt at school. Bowing and looking down and whatever. Use ‘Your Excellency’ I think, I’m pretty sure that’s the one Max uses. Don’t worry, you won’t be in trouble, you’re a guest. It’ll be me who gets it.”

Royal stuff? He was very out of practise with that, since no one at school tended to bother with the formalities when everyone saw each other every day anyway.

“Alix wait–”

She opened the door without waiting and walked in. Kim quickly followed. The dining hall was much like most of the other ones he had seen in his life, with a long table that had more seats than were in use. The difference was that the table seemed to be made of… what was that stuff called again? Plastic?

Alix’s father was sitting at the table, almost having finished his meal. He had plastic glasses too – was plastic very commonly used in this kingdom? In any case, he barely even looked surprised when he saw Alix enter the room, just somewhat disappointed.

“Hey dad, I’m back,” Alix said.

“I can see that. You would have done well to let me know the exact date you were going to return to the country, though, so that I could have made official arrangements.”

“I didn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“And yet you brought along a guest. Who you should probably introduce, considering that you didn’t bother to have someone announce your entrance when you came in here, like you should have.”

Alix rolled her eyes. “Fine. This is His Royal Highness Prince Kim of Lê Chiến, he’s in my class at school and he’ll be staying here for the spring holidays. So you should probably clear out my schedule so that I can have the time to show around this esteemed guest and make sure his visit is worthwhile.”

“Indeed. I should have known you would do something like this. Anyway, don’t consider this as having been a proper introduction. I expect to see you and your friend tomorrow morning in the throne room, in your full royal garb, to introduce him properly to the full court. Is that clear?”

“Yes, fine, whatever.”

“Good.” Having finished his dinner, he stood up and walked out of the room. A servant quickly came forward to clear up.

“Yeah, he’s not happy,” Alix muttered. “So anyway Kim, what do you want to eat? Looks like there’s a buffet so just pick what you like, or we could always go down to the kitchens and order stuff directly…”

“Is your dad always that formal about everything?” Kim asked. Even his parents were formal, but they wouldn’t tell Kim off for simply walking into a room without having someone announce him, or introducing them to someone unconventionally.

“Yep, pretty much. I told you I never get to do what I want here at home. Anyway, seriously, are you fine with this buffet?”

He looked at the table, not really recognizing any of the food, but surely it must taste good considering how cool everything in this kingdom seemed to be. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Good, let’s have dinner then.”

Later that evening, Kim was shown to his room by one of the servants. Not only did it have a giant four-poster bed in it, but it had a refrigerator, stereo, ceiling fan, magnetic dartboard, microwave, and a strange thing in the corner than turned out to be a remote-controlled air conditioning system. Perfect! He turned it on straightaway, since the temperature here in this kingdom seemed to be so warm even though it was evening.

The next morning he was “formally introduced” to everyone, in the official throne room. It was boring and involved a lot of bowing and shaking hands with people whose names he forgot within a few minutes, not to mention the press that stood there with cameras and notebooks, documenting the news about this visiting foreign prince.

It felt so strange compared to how casual everything had been back in Max’s kingdom – but then again, Max was just a prince. Alix was a pharaoh, the actual monarch of her country. It made sense that everything would be a lot more stringent for her.

It was already lunchtime by the time that was finished, so now he had to deal with a boring official lunch with everyone in the dining hall. This was getting tedious already – how did Alix deal with this all the time? Did she just never get any time to herself?

After lunch he was finally allowed to explore this wing of the palace or do what he wanted without interference, and Alix’s afternoon schedule had been cancelled so that she could show him around.

“Thank goodness that’s over,” she said, taking off her headdress as they walked back towards her room, planning to go get the snake before doing something else. “Boring, isn’t it? That’s pretty much what things are always like for me.”

“How do you even cope?”

“By using up all my free time doing stuff I probably shouldn’t. Anyway, since we actually have some time off, I could take you sightseeing in the city. My dad would want us to have strict guards but I know a way to sneak out, I could steal Jalil’s car keys and drive us there myself, and then–”

Jalil himself appeared behind them so suddenly it was almost as if he had sneaked up on them. “What did you just say about my car keys?”

“I said I was gonna steal them and then sneak out to the city. I do it all the time, dude.”

“I know you do.” He put his hands on his hips. “But I’m not going to let you endanger yourself this time, especially not your friend too. If you’re going out to the city without guards then I’m going with you.”

“What? I thought you were busy with uni stuff!”

“I can spare some time for looking after my little sister, you know.”

“No way, we’ll just stay here instead, then!”

“I think it would still be a good idea for me to supervise you.”

“Jalil, I’m 16. I don’t need a freaking babysitter.”

“Oh really? Because if Kim is as irresponsible as most of your phone conversations with me suggest he is, then I’m not leaving you two idiots alone to run around causing chaos freely.”

“We’re not irresponsible, sheesh. Have a little faith in me! Anyway, do you know where my hang-glider is?”

“Why do you want your hang-glider?”

“I was thinking I could go up to the north wing tower and–”

“And jump off, and probably die,” Jalil said, folding his arms. “Because last time you used that hang-glider it broke, remember? I’m not telling you where it is. Knowing you, you won’t even wear a helmet.”

“Alright, fine! What are me and Kim supposed to do then? Play Monopoly? Play darts? Because both of those will probably end in murder.”

Jalil sighed. “I wish Max was here, I’d trust you if he was there to make sure you’re not going to do something completely idiotic…”

“Wait, I have an idea.” Alix turned to Kim. “Dude, have you ever heard an electric guitar?”

Kim shook his head. “No, I mean I’ve heard guitars obviously, but what’s an electric one?”

“Oh man, I so have to show you! Come on!” Grabbing his arm, she pulled him down the corridor.

“That’s a much better idea, but don’t electrocute anyone!” Jalil called to them, before walking off in the other direction.

#i'm crying because max isn't in this one... i am too attached to him #(he's in the next chapter tho so that's okay)#i accidentally made alix such a little brat whoops how does jalil even deal with her #god i love the kubdel siblings so much i wish they were in the show more #royalty au #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #le chien kim #alix kubdel #jalil kubdel #*cries again because no max*#random stuff #the misadventures of prince kim #aish writes

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