#we got back from the wedding and my wife and her bff went out

[banditthewriter]

Good luck for the wedding from hell. Hope you don't suffer too much from the sunflowers. Do wear the love is love bracelet. It's not an insult to anyone. If they wish to be insulted, that's their choice.

So do tell how everything goes.

The wedding wasn't that bad. Like, I'll be honest, it was nice. We got there early to set up and while CN did some heavy lifting, I went into the little tent with my sister for about an hour and helped her get ready and helped my nephews get ready. A lot of our extended family came up and were all happy to see me which felt nice. A few were like "when are you and your man going to get married?" And I'm just like..."uh, two years ago?" My sister's bff and maid of honor asked my brother and his wife when they were getting married and they both said "uh, ten years ago?" lmao so you see how much my sister talks about her family.

The sunflowers weren't too bad. CN moved the ones at our table so I didn't have to deal with them. And when I fixed my sister's hair I made sure not to touch the sunflower detail there. And my aunt who I love so much came over with a cupcake that she had "deflowered" for me lol. Cause the first thing she said when she gave me a hug was "oh god, and you hate sunflowers" which made me laugh.

So I got to see some family which I haven't seen in years and years. And it was nice getting to see my sister. She was anxious and ready for it all to be over I think. I mean, I was the same way and I just did a courthouse thing.

And! While my dad walked my sister down the aisle and everyone was using their phones to film that, I used my phone to film her husband (and technically my nephews because they were standing up there with him) and getting to see their reactions to seeing her? Her husband was teary eyed and in awe and the boys were both teary eyed. It was just...a sweet moment. I'm going to send that to her when they are back from their "honeymoon"

So. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting (although the actual ceremony...we prayed like 4 times and the pastor who is her husband's grandfather and very old school and said something about how they have to put God first and their relationship second and then themselves last...oof) but I sat with my sister in law and my brother and and CN so we just tried not to laugh.

OH yea! My stepmom made the seating arrangements and was trying to have CN sit further back during the ceremony but I pointed out that my sister in law was going to be there so CN should be too. My sister said she'd always intended for us to be seated together but my stepmom has a habit of taking things over and she "forgot" that I was married.

But. Yea. Not too bad. It was hot and long and exhausting and I'm in pain. We have our nephews because my mom was going to watch them tonight but I knew she wasn't feeling good and the boys are emotional so CN said we should take them for tonight and she can have them tomorrow night. So I'm gonna go make sure the hoodlums haven't ended my husband because I can't hear him, just the two of them cackling lol

[ketso]

Episode 18

The last year has been crazy. I don't even know where to start. Let's start with that social climbing uncouth hoodrat, Khosi. That bitch joined a reality show because well, she's Khosi. She started talking shit about us and trust me when I say she went in on Thuli's and Tee-le's relationship. Tee-le ended up opening a case against her and the show itself so she got fired and the show had to publicly apologize to every person who was mentioned on that show because of Khosi. From there, she kinda just vanished from the face of the earth and no one misses her, babes.

Tee-le and Thuli welcomed their baby girl after hours of labour, but a very safe delivery. She is so gorgeous. Her name is Khumo Serame. Thuli is also Mrs Thuli Serame now. Tee-le paid lobola then they went to Home Affairs and signed because Thuli did not want to be a pregnant bride. Now we are all waiting for her to lose weight so we can attend this wedding.

Tee-le's mother moved in with Tee-le and Thuli when Thuli was about to deliver Khumo. That obviously didn't work. Home girl came into that house with a plan. She thought Khumo was her child and treated Thuli like her makoti incubator. After Khumo was born, she became worse and Tee-le disappointed big time. He didn't put his mom in her place. Tee-le came home after a world cup final where they had lost and found his house missing his wife and daughter. His mom said that Thuli went to the shops, but had been gone for a while. Tee-le gave me a call to find out if Thuli and Khumo were with me. I told him they went back to Mpumalanga and if he has any plans of bringing them back, his mom has to go.

He went to Mpumalanga and has not been back since.

Paula - oh my friend. She welcomed a Mrs Tloung number two. Paula has not been taking Nomzamo's arrival very well. It's not even because Nomzamo is a bad person. She really isn't. She's a surgeon who minds her own business and loves the hell out of her son and Leruo. There are clearly other things that are happening and have probably happened that Paula hasn't told me because today, she is headed to a psychiatric clinic for admission. I am driving her there because she doesn't want Leruo anywhere near her.

She hasn't said much since I picked her up, dropped her kids off at her mother's place, and now we are about twenty minutes away from this clinic that she will be at. The clinic is in South Africa.

I don't say much to her neither because I also have my own issues. Shack and I haven't been great. I found out from Khosi on her reality show that Shack has a mistress. In fact, that mistress was on that damn show and was Khosi's BFF on the show. Her name is Litha. Litha and Shack have been together for years, they even have a daughter together. So much for me being the most spoiled wife, right? I have kicked Shack out of my house and the only thing we now talk about are our boys.

The boys definitely miss having him at home, but I am so hurt and so disappointed that I cannot bring myself to talking to him. He has even resorted to asking Thuli to talk to me, but Thuli also tells him shit. Good!

My phone rings. It's Thuli. I answer via the Bluetooth answering option.

"Hey babe", me.

"Hey gorgeous. Where are you guys?" She asks.

"We are about ten minutes away", I say.

"Okay, I'm already here waiting for you guys. Do you me to get us something to eat while I wait?" She says.

This girl. Even Paula is blown away.

"You came to see me off too?" Paula.

"Of course I did. We are friends, right?" Thuli.

Paula is moved, deeply so.

"Thanks so much, T", Paula.

Even Thuli sounds like she wants to cry.

"Where's the baby and Tee-le?" I ask. I mean, she did drive from another province. Paula will be admitted in Gauteng.

"They are at home. Tee-le is staying with her and my mom. Don't worry, she's sorted. Paula, what do you want to eat before you go into hibernation?" Thuli.

All three of us laugh at the hibernation part.

"Spur ribs and Buffalo wings, please", Paula says.

"Okay cool. Let me quickly get us some then I will get back. Maybe I'll even find you guys here already", Thuli. She is the one who made us fall in love with Spur by the way.

"We will wait for you before we go in", I say.

Paula agrees.

"Cool. See you now now", Thuli.

...

It has been a little over a year since I buried my daughter. Today, I am at home at her graveyard with a bunch of people to unveil her tombstone. Phathudi and I did this together. Our beautiful Phatsima is no more and we still cannot come to terms with it.

Yaya tried to be there for me, but Ndalo, his wife, would hear none of it. She even threatened me at some point and demanded that Yaya never speaks to me again. Just like that, I have never heard from Yaya ever again. I heard that Ndalo is pregnant. Good for them I suppose. But that girl is an absolute bitch. I hate her.

Nomzamo is here though. She is here with Leruo. I like her better than Paula. She makes Leruo so human. Paula is out of people's reach. She appears to be bigger than most people and wishes to not be found amongst commoners. Zamo is so different. She lives to serve people. She involves Leruo in that. They arrived in Bethlehem two days ago. Leruo has been in blue overalls and has been working, slaughtering and drinking water. He doesn't touch alcohol whatsoever.

Zamo has been in the kitchen cooking and cleaning about, she was cooking outside where all the drunk aunts are. She didn't even look down upon them. She entertained them, danced with them, shared in their jokes and served them, treating them as elders. I don't even do that. My aunts love her.

We are now headed back to the house. Zamo stayed at the house to ensure that food and drinks are ready for when we come back from the graveyard. Leruo was here though, at the graveyard. He looks extremely handsome. People look at him and see a celebrity. He only has eyes for Nomzamo though.

We arrive and Nomzamo finds Leruo first. She has a plate and some juice in her hands. They find a chair. Leruo sits down and Zamo sits on top of him. They look so good together. Zamo has the plate on her one hand and he is eating off it. They seem to be in a deep conversation that's making them both really upset. They kiss then Zamo makes her way to where I am standing.

"Hey mama", she greets me.

"Thanks for everything, my love", I say.

"Anytime, my angel." She says.

Her smile - priceless.

"Listen love, we have to go. Something urgent has come up that we need to go and attend to", she says.

"I completely understand, babe", I say.

"Okay gorgeous. But call me when you are back in Tholoana Kingdom and let's do lunch just to check in and catch up, yeah?" Her.

"Definitely", I say.

She runs to Leruo. They hold hands and jog to their car together.

I wonder what's going on.

...

We have to pack today and drive back to Tholoana Kingdom this evening. Now that Tee-le has retired from soccer, he is going into business full time and putting all his focus on life after soccer. He has interviews upon interviews lined up and he has deals ready for him to arrive and seal.

I am excited, but nervous to go back to Tholoana Kingdom. Tee-le's mother practically drove me out of Tholoana Kingdom. I lied to my mom and said I needed her help because I am a first-time mom. Well, it's not entirely a lie. I do need her. I just left out that my mother-in-law became an absolute nightmare overnight and my husband simply let her. I'm not sure if I've forgiven Tee-le for that. We need to talk. This shit can never happen again. Next time, I'll tell my mother and my brother that I'm actually mad at him and he will not be allowed to even stay at my home.

"Good morning", he says as he wakes up and finds me already breastfeeding our daughter, Khumo.

"Morning", me.

He gets up and kisses my cheek. He can sense that I'm not 100% present in his romance. He gets out of bed and stretches his body. He wears a t-shirt and longer pants then makes his way to the toilet. He comes back as I try to make Khumo burp. The house is still asleep. He closes the door and sits on the side of the bed, next to me.

"Are we good?" He asks me.

"No Tee-le, we are not good. I don't want to have issues with your mother, but she was out of line. You clearly saw nothing wrong with it because you just let her drive me out of our house", I tell him.

"Baby, she was really trying to help." He says.

I'm actually going to make Tee-le go back to Tholoana Kingdom alone.

"I know that she can get a bit much, but she means well", he keeps saying.

"Remoletile, please don't drive me crazy. What about treating me like shit is her meaning well? What about forgetting that I am Khumo's mother is her meaning well? She lived to piss me off and you saw it. I even told you about it." I say.

He is quiet.

"Maybe you should go back to Tholoana Kingdom by yourself." I say.

He looks at me like he wants to cry.

"Baby, the two of you are my family. Do you think I wanted to come here and stay in your mother's house? This was uncomfortable for me. I couldn't even fuck you to ease the discomfort. But I'm here because I love you. I'm here because you come first. I'm here because you are my family", he says.

I chuckle. I can't help it. I can imagine how uncomfortable this has been for him. Shame man. He smiles. He can see that he is winning.

"Let’s go home, my love. Please baby. Mama has gone back to Sebokeng. It will just be the three of us. With everything going on with our friends right now, we have a lot to be thankful for. I don't want us to compromise what we have over some dumb shit that's not even worth us arguing. Please baby. I don't want to be away from you and Khumo", he says.

Okay, he's got me. Ja no, between the drama with Renay and Paula, I have a lot to be thankful for. I'd take a crazy mother-in-law over an unfaithful husband any day.

"How are they?" He asks me. He is slick this one. Now, he's removing the attention off him? I see him, but I answer his question.

I shake my head then say, "Renay is hurt. She loves Shack. Not being with him does not make her happy, but she is so hurt and embarrassed by all of this. I don't know if she will get over this. Paula yena... Leruo wasn't even there to see her off to the psychiatric centre. That was just the last straw for her. I think she is going to file for a divorce." I say.

"Divorce baby?" Him, truly hurt.

"Does he deserve any less? He clearly doesn't love her", I say.

"Don’t say that. The Tloung family is deep within polygamy. Paula knew that when she married Leruo. He loves more than one woman. It doesn't mean he loves her less", Tee-le says.

"Then why is he never there for her and with her anymore?" Me.

"He is still adjusting to the changes in his life and this polygamy thing. He doesn't have years of experience like his dad. He will get it right eventually", he says.

"And while he figures it out, Paula must just suffer and deal with it?" Me.

"I think divorce is a bit extreme. They can still fix this", he says.

"At what expense? Paula's mental health?" Me.

He is quiet.

He takes Khumo from me and holds her. He draws me closer to him and cuddles me too.

"It will never be us, right? Promise me that it will never be us. Divorce? You and I are forever", he says.

"That’s my wish too, my love. But it will take both of us to make sure that we get to forever together. We both have a part to play. I'm prepared to play mine", I say.

"And I promise you baby, I will play mine." He says.

"Start with putting your mom in her place", I say.

He laughs. I chuckle too, but I'm serious.

"Come baby, let's get ready to hit the road. I don't want us to leave too late." I say.

We kiss and get the day started.

…

It's been a crazy year. Somewhere along the way, I missed my injection date by a week. I had to take a pregnancy test before getting the injection and I found out that I was pregnant. Khanyisa was the first person I told. I did not know if I were ready to be a mother as yet. I sat with the secrecy of this pregnancy for two months. Khanyisa and I then told Kazi and she dealt with my dad as far as bringing him up to speed. Surprisingly, my dad took it very well. He was so happy, he shocked us all. I think seeing him that happy made me want to keep the baby. That night, I told Rea about the pregnancy. He had paid lobola before we even went for our first scan. At our first scan, we learned that we were having twins. IMAGINE!

We then had our traditional weddings. It was so beautiful. I still look at our pictures and am filled with so much excitement. Khanyisa was obviously my maid-of-honour. There's no question about that. Mohato was his best man. There's a massive A0 photograph of Rea, Mohato, Khanyi and I in the living room of our home. My dad has come a long way, I tell you. The royal family is very excited as well about our union and it's nice.

I gave birth to my twins last month. My parents let us come stay with them to help us with the kids. Even Rea is living here, guys. It's been a positive year for the most part. On the downside, Kazi's dad - our grandfather - passed away. He was sick very briefly then he just passed.

A kiss brings me out of thoughts. I smile at him.

"What are you thinking about?" He asks me as he sits on a couch next to me. We are in my bedroom. Mohau, one of our twins, is fast asleep. Mulalo is very much awake. He just refuses to sleep. We gave one twin a SeSotho name and the other a TshiVenda name. We made the decision together and we stuck with it - though his family protested against Mulalo. He stuck up for me and defended me. They are both Mohales, so I don't know what the issue is. Mohau means mercy and Mulalo means peace. I hope they'll grow up to be this way.

"Just how much our lives have changed in this past year", I say.

"It's been crazy. But I wouldn't trade it in for anything." He says.

"Do you think today will go well?" He asks me.

I'm also very nervous. His family is coming to see the twins today. They'll be meeting them for the first time. The twins are a month old now. I gave birth in South Africa because we knew that we'd want to be here with my family when the twins were born. The Mohales haven't forgiven me for that decision, but I'm comforted that they will be on my turf today and I know I can trust Kazi to defend me to the end of the world.

"We will get through it, babe." I say.

There's a knock on my bedroom door.

"Come in", Rea says.

Khanyisa walks in.

"He's still sleeping?" She's asking about Mohau.

Rea laughs.

"Yes, he's still sleeping." I say.

"Well, he has to wake up. The Mohales are here. So, can I take him?" She says.

Rea and I look at each other.

Khanyi realises that we are nervous. She then says, "It's going well so far downstairs. They are not fighting. Kazi is making them tea and papa is quite pleasant. Zari is also here and she's pacing around the kitchen with Kazi and I."

We nod our heads.

"So, I'm taking Mohau. Papa is still in the main bedroom with Mulalo. I'm going to get that twin too." She says.

We nod our heads.

She comes in and takes Mohau. But Mohau just loves his sleep. There could be a bomb and he will still sleep. The one who hates sleep is our daughter, Mulalo. She will cry her lungs out when she feels sleepy. This one just sleeps shame.

Khanyi takes Mohau then leaves our room.

We look at each, take a deep breath, hold hands and make our way downstairs.

Kazi (in her black jeans, black plain t-shirt, black loafer) is looking HOT! She is dressed super simple, but she looks so nice. Papa is also here wearing black tracksuit pants, a white t-shirt and his sleepers. Rea is wearing tracksuit pants as well and a black t-shirt. He wears sleepers too. Khanyi and I are wearing dresses and sleepers. Today is just a chilled day for us. Kazi cooked PROPER! There is a whole buffet set up on the patio. I hope this doesn't get awkward.

Rea and I greet everyone that is here with hugs and handshakes. Morena brought his first wife with him - mofomahadi. She probably bullied the other two into staying in their places. You'd swear they don't exist. The only person who speaks to them is morena. The only person who sees them in their capacity as his wives and mothers to his other children is morena. I've only met them once and we were delivering something at their houses. Mofomahadi kept them away from our wedding.

Mme Remo is also here. She's nice. I like her the most. I actually chat to her more. She's the one I sent pictures of the twins to. So we hug the longest and we even chat a bit. Khanyi likes her too. Khanyi gives Mohau to her. Papa gave Mulalo to morena because he really doesn't like Ntate Khotso.

Mme Remo, after greeting and chatting to sleeping Mohau - I don't know how this boy is still sleeping in such noise... maybe I must take him to a doctor and make sure that everything is okay - she hands Mohau to Ntate Khotso. Ntate Khotso receives Mohau so nicely... getting emotional almost. We all look at morena and HRH Khotso bond with the twins. Mohato is also moved at the sight before him, holding onto Zari's hand. I hope they are planning for one at least.

Morena and HRH speak to my boys, reciting their clan names. Mme-mofomahadi Kea walks in. I didn't know she came too. She briefly greets us all, then she goes to her sons. She hugs Rea and I, congratulating us, then focuses on the twins I birthed. She sits down. Morena and HRH Khotso give her the babies. Now she also recites the clan names to them. Mohau is finally awake.

"You've done well", she says to Rea and I. Rea holds me. I just smile.

Kazi and papa are hugging each other and are smiling from ear to ear.

"They are perfect", Morena says.

"That means you need to stop making babies now. You are a grandfather", mofomahadi says. Only she would say that.

We all kinda chuckle. I mean, why would she say that in front of everyone? She carries too much resentment everywhere she goes. She's bullied the other two wives enough. Now she wants to bully morena too?

"I hope Reahile and Rofhiwa are not too much trouble, Mr and Mrs Ramaru", Mme-mofomahadi says.

"Not at all. We love having a full house", Kazi says.

Mme-mofomahadi nods her head then says, "You've done well, Fikile. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Mme-mofomahadi", Kazi says.

Papa is scratching his head and HRH Khotso is staring at Kazi longer than he should.

"When are you guys coming to Tholoana Kingdom? We need to introduce the twins to the Mohale ancestors", Morena says.

"We were thinking when they turn three months old", Rea says.

"Why? Isn't it bad enough that their cords fell here and not at the royal house? These are Mohale children", Morena.

"We didn't bury them here", Rea says.

"We are not planning on burying them at all." Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy... even papa and Kazi.

"What are you going to do with it?" Morena asks me.

I don't want to answer them now.

"Rofhiwa, we bury cords in our tradition. As a Mohale bride, you are expected to adhere to that. These twins are Mohale twins. They'll be buried with mine and Khotso's cords." He says.

"But Rea's and Mo's cords are not buried there and there's nothing wrong with them", I say.

Morena wants to beat me up! But it's my father who intervenes instead, embarrassing me and says, "Rofhiwa! Your father-in-law asked you a question. What are you going to do with the cords?"

I mumble, "We were going to frame it".

"ROFHIWA! WA PENGA?! Where have you ever seen that happen?!" My dad is shouting now.

"Thomas, Hai bo." Kazi.

Papa turns around and looks at Morena and HRH Khotso. Then he asks them, "When do you need them in Tholoana Kingdom to conclude all your rituals?"

"Yesterday!" Morena says.

"They'll leave with you when you leave tonight", papa.

"Papa!" Me.

"You are a married woman, Rofhiwa! If you don't know what that means, tell me now so I can return all the Mohale cows back to their kraal and teach you what being married means!"

I suddenly feel like crying.

Why isn't Rea saying anything?! I look at him and he's not even looking at me. His family seems impressed with Papa.

"Can we all make our way to the patio to have lunch?" Kazi says.

"Thank you. Can I help you with anything?" Mme Remo offers.

"Just the drinks, thanks. You can follow me to the kitchen", Kazi.

Mofomahadi rolls her eyes.

...

We arrived at the royal house last night. I came with Fifi for support. I come here so often that I know my way around here. And I usually come with Fifi because shame, she doesn't know how to do a lot of things. So, I do them with gogo Kea. I find her to be the coolest person in this house - her and Mme-Remo. But I generally get along with everyone.

It's 5am and I'm up with staff around here. There's a lot of staff shame. Mulalo's cry woke me up. That child hates sleep. Yoh.

So, I'm feeding her her bottle now as I sit in the TV room.

"I heard you were in the Kingdom", a text comes through my phone.

Who told this fool that I'm here? It's probably Mohale. He's very forward that one, him and his boyfriend. Yes, he’s very gay.

I don't reply to the text.

He decides to phone me.

I'm not going to pick up the phone. He needs to leave me alone and attend a lecture.

He calls me again then I just switch off my phone.

I help Mulalo burp then she and I hang out.

At 7am, we are all having breakfast. Morena has Mulalo with him and HRH Khotso has Mohau with him. I'm helping Fifi serve everyone at the table. The table is nice and festive. Even Fifi is smiling a lot more today. She was very depressed when we were driving here.

"Khanyisa, Khabane is looking for you. He says you are not responding to his messages and your phone is off." Mohale says.

Everyone at the table keeps quiet and looks at me, ready to laugh.

"Tell him to read between the lines. I'm not interested." I say.

Everyone bursts into laughter.

"Look, he's phoning me now", Mohale says mid-laughter.

"Why did you tell him I'm here? And I know it's you that told him", I say. I'm also giggling.

"Why don't you like him? He's a nice guy", Rena says.

"I'm not interested in him. He's not my type." I say.

"Yooooooooohhhhh!" Everyone says then laughs harder.

I'm also laughing.

Fifi and I finally sit down and eat.

"Khanyi, what's your type? Khabane already has a business - a petrol station - and he's in school. So, you'll be set for the rest of your life", Tholoana says.

Moloko brings his plate to me. This is his way of asking me to feed him. I like him. He's a cutie and we vibe. He's six years old and generally acts like a big boy. But everyone says he becomes a baby all over again when I'm around. I take his plate, put him on my lap and feed him while I eat. I catch HRH Khotso smiling at us.

I answer Tholoana and say, "The fact that that's the one thing I must know about him before I get to know anything else about him makes him uninteresting to me. I'm not fazed by his money. I don't care for it. I have money too. I'm not a prostitute for money. I need to know who he is outside of his flashy car, flashy apartment and money drip. I've known this guy for three years now and that's still all I know about him - and that he's a stalker because I have no idea how he has my number."

Everyone nods their head while really taking in what I'm saying. Mofomahadi is glued to her cellphone. She's not participating in this convo at all.

"You have a good head on your shoulders. Maboko and Tebza will definitely love you for Khabane. But also, I can see why Khabane is so into you. There's a lot of Tebza in you." HRH Khotso says.

"Sis'Tebza is a really nice lady. I like her a lot. Ruri is also all that and more. Khabane must give himself a chance before I give him a chance. If all he sees is money when he looks into the mirror, then he can stay away from me thanks. He must use that money to buy a personality."

"Yoooooooooooohhhhhhh!" Laughter again.

But I actually mean it.

"What time are we doing the ceremony?" Mofomahadi asks.

"Tomorrow morning before sunrise", Mme-mofomahadi says.

"Rofhiwa, have you and Rea been abstaining?" Mofomahadi asks.

Rea coughs. Morena and HRH Khotso giggle.

"Excuse me?" Fifi.

"You can't make mqombothi if you've been having sex." Mofomahadi. Must she be so –

"Khanyisa will help me", Fifi says.

Now we all know they've been having sex. They better not make another child. In case they haven’t noticed, their kids come in twos.

Mofomahadi shakes her head at them.

"Khanyisa and I will make it. I don't know why you are shaking your head at a married woman. It's not like you and Remo have been abstaining neither", Mme-mofomahadi my fighter!

Then there was silence. Why isn't anyone saying, "Yooooooooooooohhhhhh!"?

I'm in the pantry starting the mqombothi. That's where Mme-mofomahadi and I always make it. Fifi and the twins are sleeping. She hasn't been feeling well today, so I told her to sleep. I have her back. I'm here for her anyway and for as long as I'm here, her duties are fulfilled. I face-timed with Kazi and papa earlier today. I was with Fifi. They say they miss us. Papa just misses the twins. I joked and said I'll make him a grandchild too and THE LOOK HE GAVE ME!

"You are stunning, you know that?" The fool creeps up on me.

I don't even look at him. I carry on with what I'm doing.

"I missed class to come and see you. Are you really not going to talk to me?" He says.

I can feel him smiling like the fool he is. I refuse to look at him and I'll tell you why... he's a good-looking man. He smells soooooo good! He is deliciously tall. His hair is a locked afro that fades - almost like Thingo. He's a man - a fine one too. But I don't need him to know that I think that. He wreaks of entitlement and he comes across as a guy who thinks he can buy as many girls as he wants. So even if I start dating him, it will not be on his terms. Besides, Kazi promised me umemulo if I'm still a virgin at twenty-one. I have four years to go. I'm imagining all that money being given to me for being intombi-nto! No man is worth me risking cash money like that.

"Khanyi", he has his hand on my shoulder now.

"Please don't touch me", I say.

"Can you please look at me then so we can talk?" He says.

"I have to finish lo mqombothi. I don't think the Mohale ancestors would appreciate you distracting me while I'm making them their traditional beer", I say.

He actually laughs.

And angihlekisi njani...

"Fine... I'll wait for you." He says.

Mxm!

I've just finished making umqombothi. Gogo Kea is helping me take the bucket to the ancestors’ rondavel. Staff would help, but this one is for the family only. I guess I'm recognized as one of them because I do it all the time and it still brews. They see me.

Mohato and Reahile see gogo and I struggling with this massive bucket and they come take it from us. It takes two of them to carry it there.

"Khanyi, please go with Khabane to get some grass mats?" Gogo says.

I look at her. I feel like she's setting me up. She catches on and she starts laughing. Then she says, "He's a good boy, hle. Just give him a chance - even if it's just to be your friend."

I just roll my eyes.

Khabane is driving and I'm sitting in his passenger seat. He drives a white Jeep Grand Cherokee. It has black leather interior. It's nice. He's wearing black Adidas tracksuit pants, a black Adidas t-shirt and slops with socks. Thingo dresses like this sometimes.

"Your car is nice", I say just to initiate conversation.

"Thank you." He says.

I look out the window.

"So, you think I don't have a personality and all there is to me is money?"

MOHALE!!!! He's worse than umakhelwane ohamb'ethuth' indaba! Ha!

"I feel like I don't know you outside of the money that you flaunt everywhere." I say.

"Why don't you ask me what you want to know instead of saying that my money makes you disinterested in me?"

"Mohale talks too much, let me just put that out there", I say.

He seems offended.

"And you are right, I should've said something and I didn't. I'm sorry."

"Thank you for your apology."

I nod my head and look out the window.

"So, what do you want to know about me?" He asks me.

"Let's start with... what do the first thirty days in a relationship with you typically look like for a girl?" I ask.

"Is this an interview? What kind of a question is that?"

I roll my eyes.

Then he says, "A relationship with you would be different to a relationship I've had with any other person."

"Why?"

"Because you are you. I'd want you purely laughing and smiling for the first ten days - no compromise in that. Then on day eleven, I'd take you to the apartment that my parents first bought together. That's where I was conceived, that's where their relationship was truly tested and that's where they decided to fix things after eight years of being apart and choose each other all over again. I'd want us to buy that apartment together from them just so it could be where we go when we need to be reminded to choose each other because the world has got the better of us."

"Just because it worked for your parents it doesn't mean it will work for us. Those are their memories, not ours."

"You are right. But their story inspires me. It's the kind of story that happens once in a lifetime... enchanted almost. The energy in there is just perfect. I don't know how to explain it... but I'd be reminded in there of what's important when it comes to love."

I nod my head.

"Then on day fifteen, I'd take you on a date. It would be a five-day date that would be dedicated to me unveiling myself to you. Day twenty to twenty-five, I'd ask you to take me on a date that would give me an opportunity to get to know you better. By day thirty, I'd be introducing you to my parents." He says.

"You introduce all your girlfriends to your parents?"

"Have you met my mother and my sister? Teboho Seete and Ruri Seete would have me dumped in five minutes."

I actually laugh at this.

His cellphone rings.

"Can I take this?" He asks me. How polite.

"Sure", I say.

He answers his phone using the hands-free option.

"Mama".

"Bane, where are you?"

"Driving to town. Koko-Kea sent us to get grass mats."

"Us?"

"I'm with Khanyisa."

She giggles. I wonder.

"Are we on speaker?" The dad asks.

"Yep. And we can hear you laughing." Khabane says.

Now they laugh.

"Listen Monna, I need you to go fetch a tent from the warehouse and pitch it at the royal house for tomorrow. Your mom and I are on our way there with Ruri. You'll find us there." The dad.

"Okay sure."

"The tent has to be up before sunset." The dad.

"We'll hurry up with the grass mats. I promise." Khabane.

"Okay. If you get stuck, tell us." The dad.

"I will, pops. Shup."

"Sho."

Ja neh.

...

"Nyakallo! Atile! Come downstairs, please!" I yell for my kids to come downstairs where I am. I've just packed their bags and their father should be here to fetch them any time.

My five-year-old son and my four year old daughter come running down the stairs. They are so beautiful. They are the best part of my life. Honestly.

They hug me and I embrace the both of them.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask them.

"Yes." Atile says. He's my boy.

"Nyakallo? Are you good, mama?" I ask my daughter.

"Yes." She says.

"Good. You guys know that I'm your best friend, right? And if anything is wrong, you talk to me. Right?" I say.

They nod their heads.

"So, daddy is coming to pick you guys up. You remember that you guys have to go and welcome your nephew and niece?"

They giggle.

"Do you like being an Auntie and an uncle?" I ask them. They laugh. This is too wild for them.

"But you'll also see all your brothers and sister", I say.

They seem excited.

I'm Ona's second wife. My name is Sonia Mohale. I'm a businesswoman... a force really. Maybe that's why Thabi hates me so much. Compared to her, I'm actually a catch and Ona did not cheat on her with me by mistake. I own a technology business that consults for private companies and the government.

Ona and I met and vibed. Obviously, there was sex involved and that's how Atile came about. Thabi tried to keep me a secret but failed to keep her husband coming home in the process. Then Nyakallo happened and the bitch was forced to not keep me a secret anymore. Besides, she wasn't popping kids for him. Someone else had to. Then she "allowed" Ona to marry me.

But I knew who Ona was from day one. When he married his third wife, Setati, I wasn't as touched as Thabi was. She almost lost her mind. Setati is always in and out of psychiatric hospitals and she allows Thabi to bully the shit out of her. She's actually a housewife. If we were friends, I'd tell her to get a life and not make Ona her whole life. That's one way to not let Thabi get to you.

"Daddy!" My kids yell and I know Ona is here.

He catches them and plays with them, embracing them. He's a great dad. He loves his kids and I love that about him.

Then he comes to me. He kisses me and we hug.

"Hello baby", he greets me.

"Hello handsome. How are you?"

"I'm good. I'm picking all of you up."

I look at him. Is he crazy? Thabi and I do not belong in the same space.

"You have to be there. These are your grandsons too." He says and I cannot help but burst into laughter.

He laughs too.

"Tell me, what about Setati? Will she be there?"

He nods his head.

"You really want all that drama this weekend for our grandkids? You know Thabi will flip."

"I've spoken to her. She'll be on her best behaviour." He says.

"HELLLOOOOO!!!" My girl walks through the door and yells.

"Auntieee!!!" My babies receive her well.

"Hello my babies", she says.

She walks into the TV room and finds Ona and I chilling.

"Hey guys", she says.

"Where's Legoa?" Ona asks her.

"Really? Say hello first. She's Letlali, not Zithu's plus one." I say.

Tlali greets us and hugs us.

"I'm here to fetch you, babe. I know you need back up for the royal house tomorrow." She says.

I pull a face.

"Please tell her that she has to be there. She doesn't want to go", Ona says.

"I'm here for you, girl. You know that she's not talking to me anymore neither", Tlali says.

"Because of me?" I ask.

"Yeah. She thinks I hooked the two of you up", she says.

"What?!" Ona.

"She knows that you and I have been friends for a while. So instead of being loyal to her, I helped her man cheat. That's her narrative of what happened."

"That’s crazy. Baby, you need to get your wife. She's out of control."

Ona is just quiet.

...

The ceremony went well this morning. There were no signs of the Mohales being upset with anyone. In fact, it rained. It's still raining. So, it's blessings upon blessings and we are thankful.

I'm now in the pantry washing animal intestines.

Rofhiwa's mother joins me. Her name is Fikile, I believe.

I know her from the business sphere of life. She's a beast in the game and her husband is a real one. Ona and I could easily be a Thomas and Fikile Ramaru... but there's Thabi and Setati.

"Hello", she greets me with a smile.

"Hello granny." I say.

"You mean glammy honey", she says.

We laugh.

"Why are you here by yourself?" She asks me.

"I'm avoiding the queen at all costs." I say.

"She is a bit hectic. But I guess dealing with her as a sister-wife is a whole new different ball game." She says as she rolls up her sleeves and starts helping me with these intestines.

"I don't really pay her any mind. I just stay away and mind the business that pays me. Thabi is not it."

She just laughs.

"Is being here weird for you?" I ask her. I don't know how else to ask it.

But she's not even offended. She just says, "I've had great times in this house. But I've also had the times and moments that made me walk away and never look back. I'm thankful for all those times though, because I wouldn't have what I have right now if it weren't for the good and the bad times."

That's beautiful.

"I want to be able to say that about Ona one day." I say.

"You married him", she says.

"Yeah. But if I'm being honest, it was more to piss off Thabi than anything else."

She laughs and I laugh too.

"I don't know, man. He's great, truly he is. He's an amazing father. He is a great lover. Being loved by Ona Mohale is a priceless experience. But I want to be able to do that out loud. I don't want to be hidden and only love him out loud when Thabi permits me to do so. I want to be proud of being his wife and show him off as my husband and the father of my kids. He's not the king to me. He's my husband. With the way that things are, I feel so robbed of love with a man that's truly for me." I say.

"You should've thought about that before you opened your legs for a married man", Thabi. Where did she come from?

Fikile immediately leaves what she's doing and stands between us, pushing me back and away from Thabi because she seems slightly drunk. She's crazy when she’s sober. What more when she's drunk?

"You gossip about me now? I didn't take a husband from you. You are the one that disrespected me and fucked my husband. Where do you get off saying that I'm robbing you of real love? Bitch, you gave him kids when I couldn't. And you wouldn't stop. It was one bastard child after another, knowing very well that Ona would never turn his back on his kids. You seduced him with your thighs and lured him with kids. I'm the one who has to deal with the shame that led him to you concubine with the shame that came from yours and Setati's existence in our lives. And I'm the one that robbed you?!"

Now people are here and they are watching this. Including Ona.

"You don't get to talk about me, bitch! I'll fucken kill you! We both know he don't fuck you 24/7 so he ain't protecting you 24/7."

When she's drunk, she speaks like an American Gangster.

"Keep my name out your fucken mouth, bitch! I'm not just the first wife around here, I'm your queen! Figuratively and literally! I'll more than just banish you! If you don't know your place, I'll remove you from this place all together!"

"Thabi, stop this!" Ona.

"HAI! VOKOF WENA! You are the one that has disrespected me the most. You fetched businesswoman of the year because she had babies, then you fetched crazy Setati who'll probably kill herself any day from now. A man like you drives a woman like that crazy. And you still fucked her and married her? Look at me, Ona! Look at me! I'm a catch! I'm a fucken surgeon! I'm gorgeous. I actually come from a royal family. Of all these bitches you've dragged into this house just because they could make you babies, I'm the one you shouldn't disrespect because I make you the king that you are! I hide your shit that shames the Mohale name. I mother all of your babies no matter how I feel about their mothers. And just do a damn good job at a government level. I'm the best PR you'll ever have and you know it! But I'm rendered disrespect-able just because I'm not a professional baby-making machine?"

There's silence.

I'm officially embarrassed.

She drinks her wine from the bottle then walks out of the kitchen yelling, "Leng tlwayela masepa lo na boMohale! But hey... All hail to you, those of you who are born to the Mohale name."

"Are you okay?" Fikile asks me.

"Please excuse me", I say.

As I charge outside, Ona tries to stop me.

"Sonia-

"No, fuck you! You let that bitch disrespect me like that? In front of everyone here? Seriously?"

"Baby-

"Onaleruna Mohale, don't you EVER bring me around that drunk skank that cannot control her drinking EVER AGAIN!"

I take my kids and just leave this damn place.

FUCK!

[descendantofthesparrow]

Encore - Part of your world - Harry Hook x Reader - Part 25 - The Wedding - FINALE

The Wedding

=

You took a deep breath, staring at the calendar on your apartment wall. A very particular date circled in red

May 22nd - Wedding day~!

Today was the day…you would be getting married to Harry Hook, the love of your life. You squealed and jumped around your room, eyes catching onto your dress hanging off your door. You giggled to yourself and grabbed the dress, holding it to your chest and dancing around your room, closing your eyes and imagining Harry dancing along with you as you had your first dance as husband and wife.

“Someone’s excited~” you stopped and turned to face your door, seeing your aunt, (BFF name), Jazzy, Lily, and Emma standing there, fond smiles on their faces. Tonks stepped into the room and pulled you into a hug, your friends joining it soon after “You ready for today?” Tonks asked, smiling as you nodded against her rapidly, the girls pulling back and moving around the room to grab your makeup and other things you would need today, like your shoes, dress, snack bag, and vows.

You glanced at the clock, the time reading 10 am. The wedding started at 4 so you had a good 6 hours before everything happened. But everything you needed that wasn’t at your apartment was in the captain's quarters on your new ship, Harry was getting ready in a different cabin to prevent the ‘seeing the bride before the wedding’ thing.

“We all ready?” your friends and aunt nodded, their necklaces, which had been charmed by Uma to temporarily have the same properties as your necklace, shining for a moment. “Then let's go”

You took your key and stuck it into your doorknob's lock, turning it and opening the portal. You opened the door and stepped through, the girls following after you a moment later.

Tonks gasped a bit setting down the cake she had been holding on the table and spinning around “Wow~!! This-this is yours!?” you beamed and nodded, taking the dress from Jazzy and hanging it off the closet door.

As your friends admired the room and talked amongst each other, Uma stepped into the room, sharing a smile with you and turning to talk with Tonks, gesturing towards the cake.

Tonks nodded and Uma turned back towards the door, calling for Gil, who entered a moment later and took the cake. Not before greeting you cheerfully though. You laughed to yourself and looked at Uma, she already had her teal dress on, her hair curled to perfection and make-up on point, her usual shell necklace seeming to shine with polish.

“You ready girl?” Uma asked, walking up to you and tossing her arm over your shoulder, smirking as you nodded rapidly.

“Hell yeah, I've been waiting for this day for almost a year~” you hummed, unable to keep the smile off your face. “My cheeks hurt from smiling so much but I can't stop!” Uma chuckled, rubbing your shoulder and nodding towards the door.

“Harry’s been a nervous wreck all morning, he’s worried somethings gonna go wrong in preventing him marrying you today, but I shoved a paper bag in his hand and told him to breath, Ben and Harriet are with him right now to prevent him from trying to see you early and any nervous breakdown stuff” you laughed a bit as Uma’s long explanation and shook your head.

“That’s adorable” you chuckled, opening your arms a bit as CJ and smee twins ran into the room, CJ slamming into your side as the twins latched to your legs and hips. “Hello you three, what's up?”

CJ opened her mouth in an attempt to speak when Harriet yelled her name from outside the room. CJ pouted and squeezed your waist, dragging her feet as she walked back out to the main deck.

“Was-was that CJ??” Emma asked, stepping towards you and staring wide-eyed at the door where CJ had gone through “She looks so different than the animated show”

“Everyone does, but didn’t you see her yesterday at the rehearsal?” Emma shrugged and you laughed, patting the Smee twins back and nodding at the small table that had been set up with multiple chairs “You two sit down while we get ready, you’ll have to leave when we get dressed though” they nodded and raced to sit down, Uma taking your snack bag and grabbing some (f/s) for them, setting it down to distract them as Uma and Jazzy sat you down at the vanity and started to work on your hair and makeup, your aunt checking over the dress and making sure it was clean and ready to wear.

You attempted to turn to look at the door as Evie entered but Uma turned you forward again “Don’t move, I don’t wanna stab you with bobby pins” she muttered, continuing to mess with your hair to get it into the style you had chosen for your wedding.

“Okay okay” you laughed, looking at Evie through the mirror as she appeared behind Uma, smiling at your reflection. “Hi Evie~”

“Hi (y/n)~” she sang back, going to work on your hair to help Uma as Jazzy got your makeup ready to use “You ready for today?”

“As I'll ever be” nerves had started to buzz, sending butterflies throughout your body “I just want to be married to him already, and now I gotta wait like six hours to say ‘I do” Evie and Uma laughed, Evie patting your shoulders gently.

“I’m sure the hours will go by quickly, and before you put on your dress you need to look at the main deck décor, Harry went to go look at the reception hall so he’ll be off-ship for a small bit.” You nodded gently against Uma’s amble fingers, pinning your hair and styling expertly.

“Gil took the cake to the reception hall too, so everything is set up there, FG will be here about two hours before the ceremony, guests will arrive about an hour before and then~” Evie leaned down, wrapping her arms around your shoulders and pressing her cheek into yours “You’re married to Harry~”

“I’m gonna be honest, I never thought I’d see the day” Uma laughed, smirking as you and Evie looked at her with raised brows “to see Harry get married, he’s always been someone that everyone thought he would grow up without anyone, too rowdy, too rough, too wild spirited to be ‘tied down to anyone” Umas smile turned sad “then again, we all thought love was something worthless, weak…I’m glad you came into our lives (y/n), you taught us, especially Harry, that love is a strength, and one of the greatest things a person can know” you sniffed, quickly rubbing away the tears burning at your eyes and twisting around in your seat to hug Uma tightly.

“Aww” your friends, aunt, and Evie cooed, turning away as Uma gave them a look. You squeezed Uma and pulled back, giving her a watery smile.

“Thank you” you whispered, laughing as Uma wiped away the tear rolling down your cheek.

“No, thank you”  Uma patted your head and twisted you back around “Okay, enough sappy shit let's get you ready to get married to Harry!”

“Hey, that rhymed!” Emma cheered,  setting up mirrors on the table for the bridesmaids to get their hair and make-up ready.

“Let's do this!” you laughed as the girls cheered and got to work, putting on make-up and doing their hair as Uma continued to get you ready.

-

“Harry, breathe” Harry glared at Harriet as he paced around the cabin he had been in for the past hour, (y/n) was in the captain's quarters, getting ready for their wedding and all he wanted to do was burst in there and smother her in affection.

But no one would let him as apparently, seeing the bride before the official reveal meant bad luck, and Harry didn’t want any of that for their marriage. “Harry really” Ben grabbed Harry's shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile “you have nothing to be nervous about, Uma made sure the weather will be perfect the entire day, (y/n) loves you to death, you love her to death, everything is ready. This day is going to go great” Harry took a couple of deep breaths and slowly nodded, giving Ben a small smirk.

“Thanks, beasty boy” he mumbled, rolling his neck and stepping in front of the standing mirror, grabbing his cravat and tying it around his neck, Harriet and Ben talking in the background. He smoothed down the front of his black with red trim vest, corrected his sleeve cuffs, and took another deep breath.

He glanced at the clock, closing his eyes a bit and groaning.

12 pm.

Four hours left.

-

Dizzy and Celia rocked on their heels, waiting inside the captain's quarters as the ceremony drew closer. “Okay, guys!” Evie clapped her hands, drawing the attention of the bridesmaids and groomsmen/best maid. “You know the order and drill, Emma you'll walk out with Jay, Carlos with Jazzy, Ben with Lily, Gil with (BFF name), Harriet with Uma, and CJ you’ll be walking with the twins! Celia, Dizzy!” the two looked directly at Evie “You’ll be walking out just before (y/n) and Tonks, laying the petals on the pathway towards Harry before (y/n) takes her walk, okay?” they both nodded, Celia giving Evie a thumbs up. “Awesome~ okay!!! It's time~!! (y/n)-oh, my goodness~!!”

Everyone gasped and went silent as you stepped out from behind the changing screen in the corner of the room, the dress had been just as beautiful as when you last put it on, but now it was joined by your veil that gently flowed behind your head down to your waist, your hair elegantly pulled into (preferred hairstyle for wedding stuff), your face was painted with light yet alluring makeup, lips a softer red than your natural lips and shimmery (e/s/c) accenting your eyes with a curling wing finishing it off.

“Oh, my, evil” Uma gasped holding her hands to her chest as she stared at you wide-eyed, Evie walking up to you and looking over your dress to check for any makeup stains. “You look amazing (y/n)!”

“Thank you” you whispered, trying to keep the tears from ruining your make-up, laughing as Evie came to the rescue with her handkerchief. “Thank you” Evie smiled at you, pulling back and looking towards the door as the music began to play.

“Okay! It's go time! Go go go!” the groomsmen and bridesmaids all got into a line, Evie opening the door and letting them through, smiling as she spotted Harry staring directly at her, adjusting his shirt collar slightly as the wedding party made their way down the isle.

CJ grabbed onto the twins, one on each side of her as she walked out next. Evie smiled at you one last time and walked out of the room, quickly going to sit down with Mal and Jane as Celia and Dizzy skipped out into the isle, laying down the petals as a pathway for you to Harry.

Mal nodded at Harry to Evie, Evie cooing as she saw Harry's teary eyes filled with excitement and nervousness. “So cute” Evie whispered, gasping and turning as the wedding march began to play, the captains quarters door opening, and Evie heard Harry’s breath stop as you and your aunt stepped out.

The sun that was beginning to set illuminated you beautifully, your face set in a soft watery smile as you looked to Harry, who was crying. He wiped the tears streaming down his face, a bright smile on his lips as he looked at you. Harriet bumped his arm and handed him a tissue, Harry quickly drying his face and tossing it back at her.

Tonks kissed your cheek and held out your hand to Harry, who stepped towards you and eagerly took it, drawing you closer to him and taking a deep breath “Yeh…yeh look beautiful” Harry whispered, taking your other hand as you handed your bouquet to Uma.

“Thank you, you look very handsome” you whispered back, lifting one of your hands to rub your thumb against the red fabric of his black and red tailcoat. And it was the truth, Harry laughed a bit and wiped another tear off his cheek, FG smiling brightly as you both turned to her.

“Are we ready?” she asked gently, nodding as you and Harry looked at each other softly “Then let's begin” FG opened her book and smiled at the crowd, her eyes sparkling with Joy “Today we celebrate the union of (y/n) (l/n) and Harry Hook, on behalf of the bride and groom, thank you for joining us. By your presence, you celebrate with them the love they have discovered in each other, and you support their decision to commit themselves to a lifelong relationship.

Marriage is a bond to be entered into only after considerable thought and reflection. By making this commitment today, (y/n) and Harry’s relationship will become stronger, better, and deeper.

Today, (y/n) and Harry demonstrate their devotion to each other by dedicating themselves to a life together and they show their respect for each other. By setting forth to honor the vows they have created today, their lives, which began on separate paths, will be joined as one.”

You could feel the tears burn in your eyes as FG spoke, laughing quietly as Harry blinked away his own tears, hands clutching tightly onto yours. You looked to the side a bit, feeling another pair of eyes on you, and smiled as you saw Persephone and Hades, sitting at the back and watching the wedding. She had never quite explained why she was so invested in your relationship, but you never really bothered to question it either, just happy to be with Harry.

“Deep abiding affection, the magical and compelling shared impulse that makes us seek each other’s company, is among the greatest gifts of the human experience.” FG’s voice came back into focus as you looked back at Harry, reaching up and cupping his cheek as tears continued to streak down his face, wiping them away with your thumb, you heard some of the crowd coo as you did so, Harriet once again offering a tissue.

“Any of us who has been fortunate enough to find and express the kind of loving devotion that we are celebrating here today knows that it is an awesome and beautiful thing.

At this time, I would like to share 3 suggestions with the both of you:

My first suggestion is this:

Be constantly grateful for this precious person who has chosen to make a life with you.

My second suggestion is this:

Be generous with compliments.  Be attentive and helpful. The world can be a tough place and any of us can be subject to rough handling.  Each of you can, by your tenderness toward each other, kind words and thoughtful actions, make your marriage and your home an uplifting refuge.

Last, but perhaps most importantly:

Make truth the unfailing bedrock of your lives together. A happy, loving marriage is built on trust and respect. That trust and respect can only be sustained if you are both deeply committed to always being open and truthful in every exchange no matter how small.

My hope for you is this:

That you have many long years to delight in each other’s company, to feel gratitude for your great fortune in having found each other.

To a make home together that is at once sheltering and welcoming, to each do meaningful, productive work at home and in the world and to love and be loved by the friends and family who have come here today to support you”

FG smiled, letting you and Harry face her before she continued “(y/n) (l/n), do you take Harry to be your lawfully wedded husband, and travel the rest of life’s road with him? Will you love him, laugh with him, comfort him, honor and protect him, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?” you rapidly nodded, squeezing Harry's hands, giving him a bright smile as your voice wavered.

“I do” FG nodded, looking to Harry as he sniffed and quickly rubbed his face as you gently laughed.

“Harry Hook, do you take (y/n) (l/n) to be your lawfully wedded wife and travel the rest of life’s road with her? Will you love her, laugh with her, comfort her, honor and protect her, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”

“I do” Harry's voice cracked as he spoke, making the crowd laugh quietly and coo again as he nodded along with his words, taking a wobbly breath as you tilted your head and smiled at him.

FG nodded again, looking down at her book before looking up again “And now, they shall say their vows, I've been told you’ve written your own?” you and Harry nodded “All right then, who would like to go first?” “ I will” you spoke up, taking back one of your hands and sticking them into the dress pockets, Harry gasping a bit in excitement

“Pockets~” he cheered quietly, biting his lip as you grinned back at him.

“Pockets~” you cheered back, opening the paper with your vows and taking a deep breath. “Three years ago, I fell into this world…literally” the crowd laughed, Bonnie and Desiree clapping a bit “and the one thing I didn’t expect was to see you, but I knew the moment I saw you that it was going to grow into something, but I didn’t know then that it would be love.” You bit your lip as Harry sobbed lightly, bringing up his free hand and wiping his cheek “I grew up thinking I would never find someone for me, I thought I would end up alone with twelve cats and fifteen dogs” Harry snorted at that, biting his lip “but that all changed when I saw you for the first time. And I knew that I was going to be by your side for the rest of my life, either as your friend or as your lover. I have never felt a deeper love for anyone else in my life, you are my sadness and my joy, but most of all you are my love. I promise to always protect you and your sisters, I promise to always love and cherish you, I promise to eat any leftover Brussels sprouts that Harriet makes you eat” Harry laughed, Harriet behind him rolling her eyes “I promise to always be there for you, and I promise to love you from now to the end of time, and just a little bit more”

You let out a small coo as you looked at Harry, who was softly sobbing and attempting to wipe away the tears that were streaming down his cheeks again. “Fuck” he mumbled, laughing as Harriet patted his back. “My turn I guess?” you and FG nodded, Harry taking your hand again as he took out his vows from his pockets.

“um, when-when I met yeh” Harry's voice cracked as he started, laughing a bit as you reached towards his face and wiped another tear away “I didn’t know I would love yeh this much, I didn’t know how much I would come ta care about yeh, but I’m so damn happy yeh came into meh life, and I know that I would be in a very different situation and I would be a different person without yeh. Yeh protected meh from meh father and so many other people who tried to hurt meh, yeh accepted my sisters and friends as yer own family even before we got together, yeh have been by my side since before we even really knew each other, and when-and when yeh stayed up with me all night when I had one of my nightmares, that was when I knew I loved yeh. But-but”

Harry sniffed, wiping another set of tears away as his voice cracked “I dinne know how much I loved yeh, until I lost yeh for almost two years, I-I love yeh so much that I was in physical pain when yeh were gone, and I could only breathe again when I saw yer face again for the first time” you gasped for breath as tears almost spilled from your eyes, but Uma quickly handed you a tissue and you saved your makeup, you let out a breathy laugh and looked back at Harry, giving him a blinding smile.

“I-I never thought I could feel so much for a person…as yeh…and-and I just desperately need yeh ta take care of meh because I’m a mess all the time” you laughed, squeezing Harry's free hand as you stepped slightly closer to him, staring into his bright ocean blue eyes. “I-I wrote a whole thing” he nodded down to the paper he was holding, the crowd laughing a bit as he crumbled it up and shoved it back in his pocket “But it's long and repetitive”

He took your other hand, giving you that smile that you oh so dearly loved of his “and ultimately, I just want ta promise yeh that I will love you forever…I will always show yeh affection, I will always be happy ta see yeh no matter how hard the day was, I will always be sad ta leave yeh when I have ta do first mate stuff fer Uma” Uma chuckled behind you, dabbing her eyes with a tissue “I will always care for yeh, if yeh are sick or hurt. I will always celebrate you and celebrate with yeh when yeh are happy. And most importantly, I promise ta be yer best friend…because yeh are my best friend” Carlos smacked Gil when he made a small noise, Gil laughing a bit as he did so. “And all of these things are promises I have ta make, but I have no intention of ever not making. Because I love yeh so much and I’ll never stop.”

You took a wobbly breath, squeezing his hands again and looking to FG, who was dabbing her eyes quickly. “Ah yes, of course, the rings?” Skipper and Sterling stepped forward, both holding a small red box in their hands. You took the box from Sterling while Harry took the box from Skipper, Harry patting Skipper's head before the two joined their father in the crowd.

“Now” FG started, turning to Harry “Harry, repeat after me;” he nodded, taking the ring out of the box and cradling your left hand, the golden band shining against the sun. “ With this ring”

“With this ring” Harry repeated softly, staring into your eyes, smiling as he slid the ring onto your finger.

“I am giving you my promise,”

“I am giving yeh meh promise,”

“to always love you,”

“ta always love yeh,”

“cherish you,”

“Cherish yeh,”

“honor you and comfort you.”

“honor yeh an’ comfort yeh”

“ I promise that I will love you”

“I promise that I will love yeh”

“and keep my heart open to you”

“an’ keep meh ‘eart open ta yeh”

“All the days of my life.”

“All tha’ days of meh life.”

FG nodded, turning to you and you repeated the same words to Harry, sliding the golden band onto his ring finger, intertwining your fingers as you did.

“(y/n) and Harry, we have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage. In the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today, and in accordance with the laws of the state of Auradon it is my honor and delight to declare you henceforth to be husband and wife.” You beamed at Harry, jumping in place slightly as your favorite part was only a moment away “You may now kiss the bride” you grabbed the lapels of Harry's tailcoat and pulled him into you, sealing your marriage with a passionate kiss, Harry's arms wrapping around your waist and picking you up off your feet as the wedding party stood and cheered, some of the crew popping off confetti poppers.

FG beamed as you and Harry pulled apart, stopping for a moment to stare into each other's eyes “Everyone~!” FG called out, clapping her hands together as you and Harry faced the crowd “May I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Hook!”

-

An hour later, everyone sat in the reception hall, you and Harry sitting in the middle of the table at the front as your main wedding party surrounded you, Harriet on Harry’s left as Uma sat to your right, the Smee twins enjoying their macaroni and cheese as they ate dinner with their dad. Dizzy and Celia sat with Evie as they ate their chicken and potatoes, Mal chatting away to Evie as they sipped at their sparkling cider.

Harriet tapped against her glass with a knife and stood, giving an awkward grin as she did as everyone turned to look at her “Uh, I was told it's time for the best maid and maid of honor speeches so I guess I’ll get it over with?” Harry shook his head fondly, wrapping his arm around your waist and leaning against you, bumping his head into yours as the hall went silent to prepare to listen to Harriet.

Harriet took a deep breath and looked to you and Harry “I don’t have a big fancy speech all written down so Im’ma just go for it…so when as we were growing up, I was basically Harry and CJ’s mom, I took care of them the best I could and hoped they didn’t die when they went out to cause whatever chaos they had decided on, the first time I stopped worrying about Harry was when he made friends with Uma, because other than (y/n) and I, she is the only person who can ever tell Harry what to do and he’ll actually listen” Harry rolled his eyes at that, the party laughing along.

“But there was always a part of me that was scared for Harry, that something would hurt him…that part disappeared when I met you after the incident, when uncle Smee told me someone from Uma’s crew had destroyed my father and his crew all on her own, and saved Harry from him. When I met you after that day, I had expected someone cold, someone who had only saved Harry from my father for personal gain…but I was wrong” Harriet gave you a soft smile, tears brimming at the edge of her eyes

“you were someone that- while you hadn’t known him for very long, -that deeply cared about my brother, and I could see that as soon as I saw you. And as you and Harry started to be together more often than not, I saw him grow from the little shit that always bothered me, to the young man who I am so proud of” Harry sniffed and wiped away a tear, looking up at his sister with a watery smile “Thanks to you, my brother is still around today and I’m so glad you’re the one he fell in love with, you are everything I ever wanted for him and I am proud of you both” Harriet raised her glass a bit, the wedding party following her lead “I wish you an eternity of love and happiness, to Harry and (y/n)”

“To Harry and (y/n)!” Everyone drank from their glass as Harry stood and wrapped his sister in a hug, burying his face in her neck as she rubbed his back.

“Thank yeh” he whispered against her neck, laughing as she pulled back and kissed his cheek, something which she hadn’t done since they were kids.

“Thank you” she whispered back, the two sitting down as Uma stood with her glass.

“Dunno how I’m gonna top that but!” the crowd laughed again, Uma smiling as you squeezed her hand and grinned up at her. “Um…I guess I’ll start with this, (y/n).” she looked down at you, taking a deep breath “When Harry first dragged you into the chip shop to join the crew, I honestly didn’t think much of you, even after Harry told me you outran the Gaston twins, and then when you stole Gaston’s prize trophy the next day” you glanced at Ben, snickering at the shocked look on his face “When you arrived, I had no idea how much of an impact you would have on us” she gestured to her, Gil, and Harry, then the crew.

“But I knew how important you would become to us when you came back from the Jolly Rodger after dealing with James Hook for Harry, and I’m really glad you came into our lives, especially Harry’s because, without you, I don’t think any of us would be the people we are today. Then as the months went by, and I saw Harry fall in love with you, it wasn’t until you told me where you were truly from that I saw you truly loved him back, willing to hurt yourself to protect his feelings, which still, that was stupid as fuck and I have no regrets from yelling at you about it” you snorted and rolled your eyes, hitting Umas elbow gently as she smirked at you.

“And I feel like I've already talked too long so I’ll end it with, I’m glad you and Harry are together and I love you both, and I’m so happy for you” she raised her glass, the wedding party following her lead as they did Harriets “to Harry and (y/n)!”

“To Harry and (y/n)!!”

As Uma sat down you leaned over to wrap her in a hug, Harry doing the same and wrapping his arms around both you and Uma. “I love you” Uma whispered, grinning as you and Harry whispered it back.

Soon it was time for your first dance as husband and wife, Harry leading you out to the dance floor as the orchestra that Ben hired for you got ready. The reception hall went quiet as Harry's hand rested gently on the small of your back, a small gasp escaping you as he smirked.

-I’m going to describe this as best I can but in case I don’t clearly do so, watch this as you read or just watch to get the dance/music for the first dance-

The music began to play, and Harry started to sway you side to side, then he turned, spinning the both of you around, your back facing the crowd as he looked directly at you. “They’re all looking at you” you whispered teasingly, unable to keep the smile off your face as Harry gave you that flirtatious smirk of his.

“Believe me love, they’re all lookin’ at yeh” he pulled you towards him, stepping to the side as you turned slightly and stood at his side, his other hand resting on your back again. Since you had first seen the movie, the 2015 Cinderella, you had wanted the ballroom dance to be your first wedding dance, and Harry had listened. And he was doing all you had imagined and more, having practiced the dance over and over even when you weren’t available to do so.

He pushed you back in front of him, this time his hand going under your arm, pushing it up and down in time with the music, your quiet laughter making his smirk turn to a wide grin, watching you fondly as you enjoyed your first dance.

On the fourth push, he pushed your arm over your head, leading it to a spin from you and leading your arm to rest on his chest, his hand resting in yours as your fingers caressed his face. He pushed you back out, your dress flaring as you spun before going back to him, your arm switching to the other side of his chest.

He pushed you out one last time, now holding out his arm as you spun and grabbed it, walking the two of you in a small circle as you spun in time with the cadence of the music. You spun again and grabbed the front of his arm this time, laughing quietly as he winked at you.

He gently pushed you out to spin again, your dress flaring perfectly as you linked hands and pulled each other in, your arms above your head. You did that once more before Harry pulled you into him, one arm resting on your upper back while the other held your hand. You laughed, letting your head fall back as Harry danced you around in a small circle. The world had seemed to fade away as you danced, you and Harry being the only two in the room, your hearts and soul in sync as you swayed to the music and each other.

Harry pulled away ever so slightly, grabbing onto your hand and guiding you as you spun from one side to the other, he did that three times before pulling you back into him, your back to his chest as one hand rested on your waist while the other intertwined with your hand.

Harry spun you back around, you once again facing him as he lead you around the dance floor, the guests gasping in awe as your dress flared around you and shimmered under the spotlights. Harry spun you as the music flared, laughing at the small breathless gasp that erupted from you.

He gently grabbed your hip, pulling you onto him slightly as he lifted you and spun around, your dress flaring again as he did so. You laughed again as Harry pulled you into his lift side and dipped you ever so slightly, then joining your hands again as you spun. He released your hands, the two of you spinning away from each other for a moment then joining hands again, then spinning once more.

Harry caught your hand and upper back and started to dance you around the room. as you reached some of the guests, he grabbed your waist with one of his hands and lifted you in the air away from them, smiling at the laughter that spilled from your lips. He pulled you into the middle of the dance floor, spinning both of you around as he grabbed your hips and lifted you into the air as he spun, unable to keep his smile and laughter at bay as you gasped in shock and excitement.

He set you back down on the floor, your faces only inches away from each other as he spun the both of you around one last time, grabbing your hand and waist and dipping you slowly as the music came to an end. You both were out of breath as the violins played their last note, Harry taking your hand and pressing a soft kiss to your knuckles as he bowed to you, you laughed and lowered your head.

The hall burst into applause, the world fading back to normal as you and Harry excited your private little world.

Ben motioned the orchestra again as the applause died down, and they began to play fast-paced music for everyone to dance to, the guests flooding the dance floor as you and Harry joined hands again to dance.

-

A few hours later, the cake was cut, the dances were danced, the food was eaten, and you and Harry were all reception partied out. The crew and many of the vks had wished to continue to party the night out, so you and Harry gave them the green light to continue having fun as you walked out of the reception hall. Harry had driven you back to the ship by the ‘just married’ Mercedes Ben had gifted you for today. He pulled up to the docks and turned off the car, running to the other side and helping you out, holding much of your dress in one hand as you carried your heels.

You let out a small sigh as you stepped onto the main deck, the crew had cleaned it after your photos were taken and you and Harry had left for the reception hall so it was almost as if a wedding hadn’t taken place on the main deck.

Harry let your dress fall as you tugged the skirt away from him gently, kissing your cheek as you leaned into him “What a day” you whispered, setting down your heels and walking towards the front of the ship near the bow, leaning against the rails that faced the ocean. The sun had long since set, the moon slowly rising high in the sky as stars decorated the black of night.

Harry joined you a moment later, wrapping one arm around you as the other leaned on the rail, his hand only niches from yours as you both stared at the stars. “We’re married” Harry laughed quietly, knocking his head into yours gently as you pushed into him, closing your eyes “hard ta believe it really happened, it’s been wha’? three years since we met then almos’ a year since I proposed ta yeh?” you hummed against him, nodding.

“Yeah, it's been a while” you laughed, pulling back slightly and pressing a kiss to his jaw. “but I’m glad it happened”

“Me too” Harry hummed, pulling you closer to his side, kissing your forehead. “I love yeh”

“I love you too”

You both went silent, listening to the waves crashing against the ship and shore, just enjoying each other's company.

You pulled away from Harry slightly and looked behind you, feeling another presence on the ship. You smiled, seeing Persephone smiling at you. Harry turned, nodding in greeting to her. “Congratulations,” she hummed, looking up at the stars “what are you two going to do now?”

“Dunno” you answered simply, leaning against Harry again and closing your eyes, enjoying the warmth seeping from him to you. “All up in the air right now” “Any plans for children?” you snickered as Harry froze and shook your head.

“Not at the moment, again it's just…All up in the air” Harry hummed at that, looking out towards the ocean as he rubbed your back.

“…Question” Harry started, looking to Persephone, who tilted her head “Why-why are yeh so invested in our relationship?” Persephone paused at that, pursing her lips. “If I had to be honest? I’m not really sure, but when (y/n) landed in our world I got attached to her for one reason or another. It might be because the ember is why you are here in the first place?” your brows rose at that, tilting your head.

“The-the ember? Like Hades ember? How?” Persephone nodded, crossing her arms as she looked back toward Auradon city.

“well, you do know about the crack deep below the isle, right? The one that was very close to my husband's lair on the isle?” you nodded, Harry raising his brow, completely lost.

“I’ll explain later” you whispered, gesturing for Persephone to continue.

“Well, the crack allows magic to seep in, and the ember is a part of Hades powers, and he can control and guide souls, and I suppose some magic slipped in and affected the ember. The ember found your soul and then connected it with Harrys, and it realized you are soulmates and sought to bring the two of you together, and because it couldn’t take Harry and bring him to your world, it would take much more magic to do that, it took you and brought you here” you stared at Persephone for a moment before sighing.

“Soooo the ember is wha’ brought us together?” Harry guessed, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his side again.

“That’s the gist of it, it’s also why the ember brought you back on the bridge after Uma dropped it, it had full access to its powers and again, sought to bring you and Harry back together…plus I manipulated it a bit to transport you here” Persephone laughed a bit at the last couple words, giving an awkward smile.

“Thank you” you laughed, and you were genuinely thanking her, because without her influence you and Harry might have never been able to meet or get married.

“You’re welcome…now I think I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone, and again, congratulations” you and Harry waved her off as she disappeared in a cloud of pastel green and pink smoke.

You and Harry smiled at each other, Harry leaning in to press a soft kiss to your lips before pulling away, both of you turning to look at the moon.

“So what are our plans fer the future?” Harry quietly asked, moving his hand to intertwine with yours.

“Well,” you started, pursing your lips as you glanced along the ocean, seeing some mermaids in the distance. “we could explore the world, or stay in Auradon, we could have kids soon or we can wait, or just not have any.”

Harry laughed, bringing up your hand and kissing your palm “Well, I’m up fer anything with yeh as long as I can be a part of yer world”

“Oh, Harry” you cooed, gently taking your hand from his and cupping his cheeks, smiling at him. “You are my world”

Harry gave you a teary-eyed smile, his eyes closing as you leaned in and kissed him.

Now we can walk

Now we can run

Now we can stay all day in the sun

Just you and me

Forever be

Part of your world

-The End~-

Wow…wow its-its actually finished…the original part of your world has been fully written. Almost 3 years of writing has come to a close, I started this in October 2018 and finished in May 2021, it has been 2 years and 7 months since I first posted the first part of this series, and honestly, it's weird to look back and see how much my writing has improved.

Well, this is the end of our journey, Harry and (y/n)s story is finished, this is open-ended so if you want to have kids with Harry you can, if not then you don’t, if you want to travel the world with Harry or not, it's all up to you, it's your story now. (that doesn’t mean you can continue writing the story just imagine it okay *yes I had to write that, some people would take the ending and decide to write their own continuation without my consent and I didn’t want to risk it*)

Again I am planning on revising and rewriting the first two parts of this series (Part of your world and Reprise) and then rewrite the first 15 parts of Encore cuz I feel like I need to so the old writing can catch up with the new writing. But ill be holding off on that until I finish Rewrite-POYW, which if you didn’t know is an AU of this fic that I have been writing since last year, and it's ongoing at the moment. The mini-series is being posted and written right now and it leads up to D3, which will be posted in August.

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange @lunanight2012​

@daughter-of-the-stars11​ @musicarose​ @random-thoughts-003​

@remembered-license​ @rintheemolion​ @verboetoperee​

@imtryingthisout​ @thecaptainsgingersnap​ @jatp-rules-my-life​

#Descendents #descendants #disney descendants #harry hook descendants #harry hook #harry hook x reader #harry hook imagine #encore #part of your world #reprise #wedding chapter #the finale #last chapter

[lizzy-williams]

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 (𝟏/𝟑)

★ Warnings: None (for now)

★ Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cry85KUzzU

Turning Page by Sleeping at Last

((YES, I know it’s the wedding song from Twilight but it’s really wholesome so suck it up, dammit.))

masterlist 

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐓 of the mirror, and although you looked stunning, you felt as if you were about to pass out. This was the day you had been anxiously waiting for since the day Colson proposed, and you couldn’t help but feel nervous. 

He had proposed before he went on tour for his Tickets to My Downfall tour, and you facetimed every night. You two loved each other more than anything. And although it was challenging wrangling all the boys into their groomsmen suits and picking out the right shade of fucking flower arrangements, it paid off, and you knew that everything was going to be perfect. 

You were practically shaking in your heels as you turned your body slightly, looking at the cutouts of the dress that was on your sides. Your hair was made to perfection, your makeup amazingly orchestrated to make you one of the most beautiful brides these people had ever seen. 

Your best friend wrapped their arm around your shoulder, resting their head on the other, smiling at the reflection. 

“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” you breathed, obviously on the verge of a panic attack. 

“Girl, don’t let the press intimidate you. their just a bunch of dorks with cameras. Besides, we know your beautiful face is going to be all over the front of their magazines. People wish they were you. You got this. I’ll be there the whole time,” your bff’s words spilled out like word vomit. 

You smiled gratefully at them as you looked at yourself some more, “You know, I do look pretty smokin’ though,” you laughed. 

“That’s the spirit.”

“God, I’m excited to see his face...and Casie walk down the isle with her little fancy dress... I have a present for her you know.” you admitted. 

“Ooo, spill,” your friend anxiously responded. 

“I just got her a necklace. Just a symbol of promise. I wanna be a good step mom. I don’t wanna be like my parents. Kells is a good dad, and he set the bar pretty high as far as a kick-ass parent goes,” you sighed. 

“She loves you, you know that. You’re like... one of her best friends.” 

Your friend wasn’t lying. You and Casie were close and you connected quickly. You had the same interests, not to mention you were a real challenge for her in Mario Kart. 

You suddenly heard a knock at the door, scaring the daylights out of you. You turned around and behind the door was one of your brides maids, peeking in. 

“Hey, it’s time.” she said softly. 

You flashed your best friend an anxious look, flashing her a panicked smile. You fixed your veil, praying it looked okay. 

“Girl, you are going to do amazing. You got everything down,” they started to walk towards the door, and just before they walked out, they turned towards you, “See you at the alter.”

So there you were, standing face to face with the doors you were supposed to walk out of to marry the man you had loved more than you’ve loved anyone before. You two were made to each other. You wanted this. You both did. 

Just as practiced, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen walked down, and I smiled as I saw all my friends, watching the people go by. 

And then came Casie, one of the most beautiful flower girls you had ever seen. Although she was reluctant to wear the dress, she looked amazing, little ‘awe’s and ‘ohh’s coming from the audience, the cameras flashing like crazy. 

Alright. Now or never. This was it. Your time to shine. You weren’t going to have anyone walk you down the isle. You knew damn good and well you could do that yourself. 

As you turned the corner, you saw everyone stood up, music playing as you made eye contact with the people watching you walk, your head held high. 

And the look on Colson’s face said everything you needed to know. He looked at you as if you were the only girl in the world, and his eyes lingered all over you. His eyes met yours, and you gave a shy smile, glancing down at your feet. 

Everyone was smiling at you. You felt so special, so wanted. You were now standing in front of Colson, the two of you finally face to face. 

And the priest began to speak. His part went quickly, but then it got to the vows. You had stayed up several nights, thinking of how you could fit all your feelings into the words you wanted to say; a promise to always be there. 

You took a deep breath, smiling. 

“Colson, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you the moment you introduced me to your beautiful daughter. I always thought that a love like this was only something known in PG-13 romantic comedies and stories. But now, standing in front of all of my friends and family, I’m confident that I love you more than anything. You make me feel human, even when I make mistakes, even if I get discouraged, you’re always there to make me happier. You make me a better person and I can’t wait to grow old with you, experiencing all that life has to offer. I love you Colson Baker.” you were now wiping tears away from your eyes as Colson’s hands held yours, the same reaction coming from him. 

You then turned to Casie, giving a smile. “And Casie. I know that you hate the mushy sensitive stuff, you were like me when I was your age. But I promise to be one of your best friends, and to be there for you as a step mom. And I promise to love your dad deeply for as long as I live. You and your father mean so much to me, and I can’t wait to be accepted into your family.” you then reached into your bouquet, pulling out a small box and opening it, taking out the necklace and putting it on her, a smile lighting up her face. 

It was a token; a symbol to show her that you weren’t going anywhere. 

Colson was as happy as he could ever be, his face beaming, tears of joy already slipping down his cheeks. When you turned back to him, you gave a compassionate grin, wiping away his tears. 

He took a deep breath in, trying to pull himself together, taking out a small notecard from the pocket of his suit, unfolding it, his eyes meeting yours. 

“Hey baby. I never thought that I would get married, especially to someone so beautiful as you. You make my life better in so many ways, you inspire me to keep going. You love me for me, not caring about past mistakes or misunderstandings. And although I can be stubborn, you are the only one can see me, and truly see me. Without the records labels or the money or the fame. You were able to dig deep and uncover a part of myself I thought had died a long time ago. Before you, I didn’t know what I was doing for my future. But after you, I couldn’t wait for the next moment with you. I can’t wait to see what happens with us. I love you so so much baby, and nothing will ever change that.” 

Your hands were once again in yours, the tears now non-stop from you, happiness bubbling over like boiling water in a pot. You couldn’t contain it. You had never felt so happy, so ready, for life. His thumb absentmindedly glided over the backs of your hands in comfort.

“The rings?” the priest asked, Casie stepping up, at the bottom of her flower basket was a red velvet box, holding both rings. 

Colson took out your ring and you took out his. You gently took his ring finger, putting on the ring you knew he wouldn’t take off. Then it was your turn. Colson took your hand, and lifted it to his lips, placing a tender kiss on the back of it, before slipping the ring on your small fingers, the size of his hand obviously way bigger than yours. The rings fit perfectly on both of your fingers. 

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.” the priest announced, pausing tauntingly, know Colson wanted to kiss you so badly, “You may kiss the bride.”

Colson grabbed you and it was like the whole world stopped. This was your first kiss as a married couple, and it was like an otherworldly experience. It was like you were floating, you were so happy. It was a total serotonin overload, Colson’s arms gripping tightly onto your waist as he kissed you like he never would again. 

You pulled back, your senses just now taking in the fact that everyone had been clapping. You gave your biggest smile, Colson holding up your arm with his, “NOW LET’S PARTY LIKE FUCKIN ROCKSTARS!!”

((I’m updating Famished soon so calm ur tits lol))

#mgk #mgk x reader #colson baker #colson baker x reader #machine gun kelly smut #mgk smut #series #fanfic #concert for aliens #tickets to my downfall #hotel diablo #general admission #lace up #fanfiction #wedding #hee hee #rookxx #slimxx #dubxx #bazexx

[miniwolfsbane]

Sims 4 Adventures

Soooo I decided to stir up some MAJOR DRAMA in my game, which isn’t something I usually do. Usually it’s have a sim, get them married, pop out kids, onto the next generation.

I’ve talked about Riley and her 10 kids before. Well, Melody Grace (I think the 3rd oldest in 5 sets of twins) fell hard for Maxwell Milton, who was Riley’s mom’s (Jamie) BFF back when this whole family started.  Maxwell is starting out to be an actor and is non-committal, because I think something went wrong in raising him, he’s the black sheep of 5 and selfish. (I didn’t have the gumption to give him the self-absorbed trait!)

So, they have a cheap, whirlwind wedding at a “Vegas” bar. (I had one picked out from the gallery, but couldn’t remember the name, but it’ll be there for Max’s other weddings!)  Maxwell just thinks he’s in love (because I said so), but he doesn’t have the manhood to commit to any woman and just wants woohoo for the first time. (I have all my sims get married.) So, they have “Unprotected woohoo” and waddyaknow, she pregantay!!

So, as they’re both exhausted by this point, I let them sleep and have them fight the next day. They divorce, BUT Melody Grace had feelings for him until they went in the red. I was hoping for otherwise, holding the candle for her first love. The night before I had the sweet idea of her moving back in with Mommy, daddy and her brothers, inspired by a Kelsey LP. So, sent her packing that way and she let her parents know her problems and the big news.

Then, for good measure, sent daddy Enrique off to kick the living crap out of Maxwell for ruining his baby girl’s life. XD And he won both fights, but the guy is built like a brick chicken house. (And let me say, he spends a lot of time in his sleep pants shirtless of his own volition and I don’t mind!)

The pregnancy flew by and Samantha June (yes, weird name but Riley is a hippie and no doubt all the kids inherited some of her weird) was welcomed into the world somewhere between 3:35-5 am sims time. Of course Riley went with her as dad is a selfish bum who will have no contact with his bio kid if I have anything to say about it.

But anyway, the sweetest thing was after I had Mels call up her twin Harmony Light, (They were living together before this insanity, as are all my twins because it’s easier.), she came over the next day and the day after that. And somewhere in there, after Mels vented, Harmony shared an inside Joke with her. Legit, all the sweetest thing I have ever seen in Sims 4!! IDK if she was just there for the support (Is the game that intuitive??) or if she missed her (probably?), but it was nice she came to visit and wanted to cheer up her sister in her time of need!

And before all that, the oldest daughter had to get married, and the 5th youngest daughter got engaged after Mels got pregnant. I tried to have everyone over, hubbys and boyfriends for a big family powwow to talk about the drama, but it didn’t quite work out. One daughter didn’t show up and neither did oldest daughters new husband. Speaking of, the game threw me the BIGGEST curveball and it turned out Moonchild’s (oldest) new hubby Daichi has a teenage son!!!!!! I was moving him in with my other sim, thinking they were brothers or something, then saw it. Oh no, baby, you’re moving in with your dad and soon-to-be step mom who’s barely older than you and I’m sorry! His name is Kengo. Funny part is, Daichi looks white, Kengo is Asian, but Daichi has an Asian last name. So I’m thinking he might be half Korean or Japanese or something. The first wife definitely was. (This is all on console, mind you, so no mods. I’m sure they were created by some loving developer, but I never imagined one of my sims would marry a townie with a kid in tow. I’m sure she’ll treat him like her own.)

Now I’m trying to plan Lambs wedding to Rahul Chopra in my head. Wish we had more wedding stuff, but that’s the breaks. And it’s lol-worthy her full name will be Lamb Chopra! (Like Lamb chop? So corny!)

#the sims 4 #what's happening in my game #Riley Holt

[iraniq]

All the Time

Fandom: Star Wars

* characters belong to Disney * * Millicent the cat belongs to Pablo Hidalgo *

p.s. i started writin is as a joke, from a fun conversation with my bff/sis, but now is huge, and I am posting this xD

Staring: Me as the main persona + bonus guest star in chapter 2

----------------------------------------------------

chapter 1 

Being in an arranged marriage was bad enough already, meaning whatever was left of our royal side was gone long time ago... I was gonna marry a politician to prevent ongoing civil war to turn into a slaughter of my people.

He was middle aged, fat, nasty man... Rotting in his soul... But that was the way! I was doing this for my people. I had accepted my fate... Till that day came...

The big ship in the sky... They reminded me of the Stardestroyers from the past, but weren't. That was the First Order. They had come.

Me, as an owner of the title "princess" only by the respect for my family, had to be there at the first meeting. So was my betrothed. Such an abhorrent creature.

We only saw an elderly man with gray hair, pissed at the world, a younger one walking behind him, obviously displeased with us all, and several white armored ones. Dora, my maid, yelled almost falling to her knees. The Sun Child!

She came from a small moon nearby our planet, where ginger people were considered emissaries of God.

It has been 4 days since we saw them again. The big ship was in the sky, only smaller ones come and go, and most of our politicians were in the big city hall, negotiating.

Tonight our new "friends" were invited to celebrate the Last Summer Day. We celebrated the last days of the summer sun as life giving, now the sun would be an observer, old saying goes, if you wish upon the midday sun and the sunset is orange red, your wish will be granted.

Dora's people came, over floating not as usual for the Sun, but to see the ginger commander. Who wasn't fond of the attention, or the people at all, and after the required toasts left for good.

I tried not to pay much attention to them. Their presence made me uneasy, and quite anxious.

The next day at lunch, my parents were asked to meet with our guests. Dora was way too odd, holding my hand all day, when I finally asked her what's all about she explained.

-       You don't know my Lady, yesterday morning the First Order generals were finally getting your planet to sign with them, the politicians and the royals agreed. But last night when drunk your husband...

-       He is not my husband! - I protested and got off the couch. Dora cleared her throat and continued.

-       He got killed.

-       What?

-       Yes, what I heard was, that he said something, disrespectful, or offending, and they killed him.

-       That's...

-       I am so sorry my Lady... - Dora offered me a hug.

-       That's amazing! - I yelled. - I don't have to marry that gross old man now! - I clapped my hands, but Dora's face was still sad.

-       What is it? What do you know?

-       You will instead, marry the General...

I said nothing. Just ran off.

Cried all night, with no luck. My faith has just gotten worse. Married to the nasty politician I was gonna be still home and respected by my people.... There on that ship, where I assume I'd be taken. I would be just a girl, they took, as a bonus to the contract they just made.

Two days later, that I spend trying not to cry, because I had to maintain a happy face for the wedding, as my social status required, my heart was beyond broken. I knew what kind of a person the politician was, was told how to maintain his anger outbursts, knew when to not engage a conversation at all. Even knew what his favorite dish was. Now, this unknown General, might be anyone, and by the looks of him, he will totally be cruel one.

Dora had requested to come with me after I go to the ship. She was 7 years older than me, and was my maid, and a dear friend since I was a child. She refused to leave my side. So at least I'd have her!

The old caste throne room was decorated in silver, and the autumn blooming roses on the walls gave it a magical touch. I could barely see my yet another horrible future husband. Standing there in the distance, too military still, with hands behind his back and with these ridiculous pointy eared hats. I looked away, at my feet, of fear of tears.

When I arrived in front of him, he cleared his throat and through the bridal veil I saw he removed his leather gloves. He had these small gentle hands. The shock I felt, when upon raising my veil, I saw the ginger one standing in front of me. That caught me so off guard I actually smiled. He awkwardly mimicked me, and the wedding began. After the ceremony, we were at the old castle's garden halls to party.

I was too anxious around all people congratulating me, I was happy my already husband wasn't the old grandpa, but I still married a monster.

I excused myself and left in the gardens.

-       May I join you? - carrot boy said, I nodded.

We waked in awkward silence for a while, then he spoke.

-       I heard you planted most of the flowers here. - I nodded - Unusual for a princess.

-       I am a princess only by respect, the last royal was my grandfather. We were still called such in his honor. Also I like gardening.

-       They look good.

-       Thank you.

-       If I may ask, why is half the castle in ruins?

-       You missed that info?

-       We came to your plant with a work proposal, asking why the caste of the royal family is mostly ruins, didn't seemed as a nice conversation starter.

-       True... – I smiled, but hurried to look away, so carrot boy won’t see me – The previous royals, not of our bloodline I'd like to note, were like slave owners, cruel and greedy. There was a civil war, they were killed. Half the population moved several cities south, made parliament and all, here monarchy stayed, and my granddad was a benevolent king. Now we are the face and the parliament rules. The castle is destroyed since back then. I was trying to make it look better with the flowers and all.

-       Why is there an ongoing civil war then?

-       Well … - I cleared my throat – Our people don’t care about the nature, polute a lot, this affects the South, they tried to reason, but not much happened.

-       Now? After you did not marry anyone from the South, what will happen?

-       I don’t know … - I looked away, I wasn’t ready to think about that now, I married a monster, and might not even managed to change a thing.

-       You plant the ivy roses...

-       Yes.

He nodded and that was as much as we spoke. He seemed to be way too prepared on that matter. I am guessing their work proposal involved a history lesson too.

Same night, we slept in the far sides of the huge bed. The only moment he touched me was when we were supposed to kiss, and we did, was so awkward, and when he helped me unbuttoning my dress. The rest of the time his hands were in gloves and he barely touched anything. I imagine the ships must be sterile. Otherwise they all will die of fly in days.

Early next morning my luggage was loaded in one of the shuttles and we left. The ship would be in the orbit of my planet several more hours, but I already missed home.

As I got the rather good surprise, I ain't wifing the old pervert rapist, carrot boy was quite pretty I can't lie, he was also a General and the ship that we would be in, was his to command. Dora was 2 steps behind me, as usual, my faithful shadow. I made her swear to me not to react on him, so she could stay. General Hux, as his name was, didn't want any attention at all. He was perfectionist workaholic, by his attitude towards me, I was guessing he wasn't ask consent about that marriage also. So I might be safe, as career was more important for him, than a family.

As we boarded the big cruiser and the shuttle door barely open I heard him speak over the door asking reports. One big silver solider and 2 white ones started talking one after another. They walked towards somewhere.

Me and Dora were escorted to his room and were noted not to walk around the ship on our own.

One pleasant surprise was that the carrot general had a carrot cat, big and fluffy. Her collar said "Millicent" and I befriended her rather fast. Dora almost fainted when I trashed his room, opening every drawer.

-       Who folds their socks?

-       My Lady... - she sat at the big leather canapé, and the cat jumped in her lap, asking attention.

-       He is my husband now, I ain't doing anything wrong, also I just look... The OCD will smell it if I touch something, anyway. Do you want me to spray me one of his perfumes?

Dora almost fainted, my remark and the knock on the door finished her. My presence was asked. I let her in the room. She was too startled to go. So I was walked by the white armor.

I met my husband in a rather larger corridor. He nodded, so did I. No ridiculous pointy ear hat anymore. That's better. His hair was crazy carrot, slicked back, even his eyebrows were orange and his eyelashes. The light was going through and from a specific angle looked like they were glowing. Now I know why Dora's people adore them so much.

I had seen a ginger person once, I was 10 and wasn't allowed to stay in.

A sudden loud thud was heard, the door on our right opened and a person walked out. A girl. Tall, skinny, long blond hair, wavy at the ends, emerald long green dress and black leather cape...ish thingy. She muttered something angrily and vanished.

After her another person went out. Definitely male, although he had a mask on his face. Large dressed all in black with a cape. General Hux introduced him as Lord Ren.

But who was the girl? Maybe, I wasn't the only one forced into marriage. Maybe, she could be my friend after all!

------------------------------------------------

@diyunho @lovermrjokerr @darthjokerisyourfather

#star wars #star wars fandom #star wars fanfic #the first order #general hux #armitage hux #millicent the cat #Kylo Ren

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

have you ever dressed up for halloween or for like a costume party? what's your favorite thing you've worn? do you like wearing jewelry? do you listen to podcasts?what's an interesting historical event you know a little about? when do you feel the most comfortable? do you have any piercings or tattoos? Are there any you'd like to get? what's one thing you're proud of?

Wow, All in huh??? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

1) Have I ever dressed up for halloween or for a costume party? NNNNNNNNOT REALLY. I wasn’t allowed to do Halloween after the age of like. Five? Because my parents got MORE religious than they’d already been and they decided halloween was evil. And then as an adult I didn’t have a lot of local friends or money so... not really most of the time. BUT! There was ONE YEAR when I was in my mid-20s, that my wife and I went to a Halloween party with some local friends. She was Death of the Endless, we dyed her hair black, I did her eye makeup, there was a cardboard-covered-in-tinfoil ankh necklace and everything. I that year dressed up as Delirium to go with her. I bought fishnets that I tore a couple holes in, had some clompy boots, bought a skirt and shirt at the thrift store, and dyed my hair... like Half of it was red, half of it was just random spots of bleached, blue, and green. (I actually went to a job interview the next day and frantically reassured the interviewer that I was bleaching my hair and dying it a more natural color later that week) It was very fun as a costume tho. OH tho last year for halloween I loaned my wife a purple dress I sewed for myself and we got her some white tights and a white scarf, and I dug out my purple henley and and jeans some bandaids for my face and fingers, and we went as Hawkeye for Halloween. She was Kate Bishop and I was Clint Barton. That was probably my favorite even tho it was so low-effort. 1.5) On its own line, I think this “what’s the fave you’ve worn” was meant to be about the costumes, which I answered above, but IN GENERAL the thing I’ve worn that’s my favorite has been

Do I like wearing jewelry? I do like wearing jewelry! I need to get new earrings bc the ones I had got lost, but I used to always wear like, small gauge horseshoe earrings with the balls that screw onto the ends? I just lost the balls on the ends. I also wear a necklace every day. And I used to have a wedding band but I don’t have one that fits currently and it drives me NUTS bc even years without it I feel  like I should have a ring on that finger.

Do I listen to podcasts? I listen to podcasts off and on! Mostly MBMBAM, The Magnus Archives, The Penumbra Podcast, and Faculty of Horror. We relisten to early WtNV to sleep sometimes, and I keep meaning to catch up on TAZ, but that’s not active yet.

What’s an interesting historical event I know something about? ...Gosh that’s hard. Like, I know some stuff about historical eras or cultures but EVENTS??? Hmmm... I. Fuck. I abruptly cannot think of ANY HISTORICAL EVENT AT ALL. I’m a fucking History Major this is embarrassing. Uh okay so... I can’t think of anything. I’m so sorry. XD

When do I feel most comfortable? When I’m curled up in bed and have Birdie pressed against my back with her arm around my waist. Bonus points for literally any of our other partners in bed as well, but that happens so rarely. :(

Do I have any piercings or tattoos? I DO! Piercings are easiest. I have my left lobe pierced 3 times (though all but the first might be closed) and my right 2 times (tho ditto), and the upper shell of my left ear once (but again, closed). TATTOOS gosh, ok I have, in chronological order: a) a sort of cross between a cross and a peace sign on the inside of my left ankle. I got it when I was 18 and still a Good Christian Girl, my church bff designed it, it stood for peace in Christ, and the only thing stopping me from trying to get a coverup is the fact that it’s REALLY heavy/thick black work, and the location which was really painful. b) the kanji 天使 (which translates to “angel”) on my right inner forearm, over self harm scars specifically. I got this when I was 19 and back living with my bigoted conservative family and suicidal and trying to remind myself that I was loved. I also picked it out of a book and was lucky that book had the right kanji tbh, but I picked it bc my parents wouldn’t be able to read it, and it meant “angel” which was Birdie’s pet name for me at the time, and she was living across the country from me. If I could go back, I would get a different angel-themed tattoo in the same place, but at least I have the proper kanji for it if I’m going to have an ill-advised Japanese tattoo. c) a little curled ivy tramp stamp I picked out of a book in a little tattoo shop on St. Mark’s Place in NYC at like 2am, do NOT ask, it was dumb. Thankfully easier to work into a larger piece if I ever have the money for a back piece. d) text that is now near-illegible (due to the delicate nature of the script and the time since I got it) on the back of my left shoulder. It says “the universe has been waiting for me” in Birdie’s handwriting. It’s a line from Donna Noble’s last episode of Doctor Who, and I had FEELINGS. e) text on the inside of my left wrist that says “alive or dead, the truth won’t rest.” specifically in courier new. It’s a quote from @seananmcguire​‘s book FEED, and Birdie has a matching tattoo on her wrist as well. f) A tattoo of Coyote and the Sun, with color, on the outer side of my right calf. It’s the only colored Tattoo I have. I plan to get a semi-matching tattoo on my left calf that is El-Ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inle doing sort of a yin-yang esque circle chasing each other. it’s a Trickster thing, tying animals commonly considered  to be Tricksters with stuff that is meaningful to me. Coyotes have always been important to me, I grew up in Arizona there were always coyotes about and I always loved them, and then Watership Down was a surprise true love of a book when I was a teen.

Are there any piercings/tattoos I’d like to get? Piercings not so much. Maybe an eyebrow one day idk. Tattoos tho, goddamn, I’ve got SO MANY PLANS. I want to get text tattoos - either part of a larger text-heavy design or separately - of “It’s chaos, be kind”, “You are not obligated to complete the work, neither are you free to abandon it”, and “Do good recklessly”. Other quotes I’m sure but those three specifically. Obviously the Watership Down/Rabbit the Trickster tattoo I mentioned. Also a design from one of the tattoos on one of the guards of the Pazyriyk ice maiden. Also ngl I kinda want to get the sigils for witcher signs on the backs of my fingers. Some people get “THUG LYFE” or “FUCK YOU”, I get “I WILL FUCK YOU UP (in symbolic form)” XD

What’s one thing I’m proud of? The fact that I’m alive. ...Seriously, I’m quite proud of that, I’ve had some shit years in my life, and I’ve nearly not made it more than once. I’m proud as HELL that I’m here. I’m proud that I’m in college. I’m proud that I’m writing again.

Thank you for all these questions! So many, lmao, but I loved it, thank you. ^_^

#askbox meme #ASK ME ANYTHING ON ANON! #Anonymous #audience with the gods

[dreamescapeswriting]

BTS Reaction ||Stopping His Wedding [Part 2] [BFF Series]

Seokjin:

“Namjoon I don’t want to hear it.” You yelled down the phone, it was 3 am, you’d woken up with a headache and your eyes were hurting from crying so much. You’d gone straight home after leaving the church and locked yourself away in your room, turning off your phone so no one could wake you up, you just wanted to deal with whatever consequences it had for you, later. You’d switched your phone on to try and order a late-night take out when you noticed you had 22 missed calls from Namjoon, a couple of texts from the rest of the boys and you were being tagged in a lot of news articles on Twitter, you ignored it all going to order a pizza when Namjoon rang through again,

“I’m not calling you to yell at you, I need your help.” You frowned sitting up in the bed and looking around your room for some clothes to change into.

“What’s wrong?” You questioned, yawning a little as you went to take some leggings and an oversized hoodie from your wardrobe,

“Just come to Benson’s bar, need your help.” With that, he hung up and you were left with a dial tone and more questions than answers, you grumbled heading down the stairs and getting your car keys from the coffee table, you’d thrown them there when you came in before.

(X)

You arrived at the bar, Jungkook greeted you at the door bringing you in and pointing at Jin who was sitting at the bar alone with a shot glass in his hand.

“Need your help, he won’t move and he’s being angry with everyone.” You stared at Jungkook, did he not know what happened at the church, did no-one except Namjoon, you and Jin know. You looked at Namjoon who looked as though he was about to burst, he was angry as well, but you put that down to you and not Jin who was drunk.

“Fine.” You mumbled going over to the bar and sitting down next to Jin, the boys all walked away, leaving you alone to calm him down.

“Come on Jin, let’s get you home and into bed.” You whispered taking the shot glass that had just been topped up, you pushed it far away and he continued staring forward at the wall behind the bar.

“Jin, come on, you have a wife to get home to.” You whispered, the words hurting you more to say than you thought they would, he let out a deep scoff and you frowned at him.

“No, I don’t…I didn’t go through with it. We didn’t get married.” You gulped as he turned to face you, Jin had never looked this mad at you before and you weren’t scared of him, but the look in his eyes made you feel like he wanted to hurt you.

“Then let’s get you back to the dorms where you can sleep this off.” He nodded and you got up from the barstool, throwing one of his arms around you and stumbling him out towards where your car was parked.

(X)

You’d gotten him back to the dorms safely, put him into bed and then went to ask Namjoon if you could sleep on the sofa until early morning, you didn’t want to drive home because of how tired you were, he agreed. As long as you were out before Jin woke up to find you there, you understood why you’d just destroyed his wedding. That was two hours ago, you’d been sat on the sofa wide awake ever since, you couldn’t help but think this was the last time you were going to see any of them again, you couldn’t go back to being friends with any of them after all of this, it was the end.

“Y/N?” You turned around to see Jin standing in the doorway of the living room, he was dressed in his RJ pyjama’s and was rubbing his head, clearly the two hours of sleep he’d had sobered him up.

“I was just leaving.” You rushed off the sofa and towards the front door but he took hold of your wrist, you stared forward, not wanting to look at him until you heard a quiet sob leave his mouth.

“Jin, look I’m sure if you go back to her, she’ll take you back…just say you were nervous.” But when you turned around to look at him he was shaking his head.

“I don’t want her back.” You stayed silent, you didn’t know how to respond to him, only a few hours ago he was telling you how much he loved her and would never let her go.

“I want you…It’s always been you.” Again you said nothing, he could still be drunk.

“Say something Y/N. It’s you, it’s always you. I’ll choose you over anybody.” He leant forward to try and kiss you but you stepped backwards, your back hitting the front door as you did so.

“Jin, you’re still drunk, you’re upset, you don’t mean anything you’re saying.” You spoke out, Jin shook his head, coming closer to you again, you were trapped now. Nowhere else to go.

“I mean every word…I wanted to tell you before but whenever I tried to pluck up the courage I would just think of how it would ruin our friendship.” He locked your hands together and left a small kiss on the top of your hand, tears welled up in your eyes at everything he was saying to you.

“When you admitted it earlier in the church, I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do, Namjoon told me to follow my heart and I did. I knew I couldn’t marry her when I still loved you, God I’ve loved you for so long and I just didn’t tell you.” Maybe that’s why Namjoon wasn’t mad at you, he didn’t just cancel it because of what you said and felt, it was because he felt the same way.

“Jin…I don’t think it’s a good idea, you’ve just ended a relationship we should wa-” He cut you off but attaching his lips to your own, all thoughts and worries left your head, the only thing that was important right now was kissing Jin back, you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him down closer to you.

“I’ll wait…but I want to take you out. On a real date, just the two of us.” You nodded, his forehead leaning against your forehead, you were panting out of breath from the kiss and he smiled softly.

“Now, me and RJ need a cuddle. So come on.” He whispered, taking your hand in his and walking back towards his bedroom.

Yoongi:

You sat down on the plane and let out a huge deep breath, your head was spinning and you felt sick, you couldn’t tell if that was because of nerves from being on a plane or if it was because you just admitted your true feelings to Yoongi in front of him.

“We’ll be taking off shortly, please remain seated and keep your seatbelt secure.” You closed your eyes, wanting to just sleep the entire plane ride away, Hoseok had planned for you to go to Italy for the week, you’d always talked about wanting to go sightseeing there and there was the perfect little village for you, he’d organised everything. You felt the chair shift a little but you kept your eyes closed, Yoongi was right, everything about an airport made you nervous and you needed him there to hold your hand, why did you think this was a good idea. You felt your heart begin to race as the plane started up, going down the runway and starting to pick up speed.

“This is about the time where I make you look at me and not let go of my hand.” Your eyes shot open to see Yoongi sitting next to you, he took hold of your hand and looked into your eyes.

“How many times have I told you to close the curtain as well, looking at it makes you more nervous.” He leant across you and pulled down the shade over the window and noticed your breathing was weird.

“Breathe it’s just a small runway, we’ll be up and in the air in no time.” You were staring at him for a few seconds before you shook your head, trying to rub your eyes as if you were imagining him sitting next to you but he squeezed your hand tightly.

“I’m right here, it’ll be a smooth journey, we can watch a movie together until we get there.” You were about to say something when a stewardess came past giving you both some drinks.

“Yoongi what the fuck?” You whisper yelled at him, not wanting to disturb anyone else who was on the plane with you all, he sipped on his drink and looked at you, your hands were still locked together on the armrest.

“I told you, you can’t fly alone.” You took your hand away from him and put your drink down, folding your arms across your chest.

“I was doing fine on my own.” You grumbled, he chuckled taking your hand again and rubbing it with his thumb.

“No you weren’t, you looked like you were about ready to jump off the plane.” You ignored him, not wanting to hear him laugh at you.

“What are you doing here anyway, don’t you have a girlfriend to go and marry.” He sighed, he looked at you and then down to the drink in his hand.

“This is me, running away with you.”

(X)

The plane ride was awkward at first, filled with nothing but uncomfortable silence, you didn’t know how to respond to the running away comment so you didn’t. You just switched on a movie and tried to concentrate on that instead of how fast your heart was beating because Yoongi had his arm wrapped around you, or when you fell asleep, only to wake up to Yoongi asleep on you, whimpering in his sleep and saying your name over and over again. You didn’t know how to act in this situation, you didn’t know if this was his way of telling you he loved you back or if he was just wanting to get away from the stress of all the wedding things.

“She’s gone.” He whispered to you, you frowned, you thought he was asleep but you were wrong, he opened his eyes to look at you.

“After you left, I…I went home to pack to follow you here, without a second thought. I followed you out here because fuck it took me so long to realise this but I love you too.” He was staring down into your eyes now and you were staring up into his, he took both of your hands in his and kissed the knuckles.

“I told her I couldn’t marry her when I still had feelings for someone else, she left. I left. Hobi is the only one who knows I’m here. I had to follow you, I couldn’t let you get away from me.” He tucked some hair behind your ear and cupped your face in his hand, running his thumb along your skin and smiling as you began to blush.

“Yoongi, I don’t want you to regret choosing me over her,” You whispered back, he leaned into you and closed his eyes, you did the same,

“I won’t regret anything,” He whispered before kissing you on the lips, you wanted to crawl onto his lip and keep kissing him until the plane landed in Italy until you were back on the ground where you could kiss him some more.

“Italy it is then.” He said with a smile, running his hand through your hair as you leant your head on his shoulder, you showed him the plans you had made for yourself beforehand, showing him the different places you wanted to visit.

Hoseok:

Articles were all over the place, some claiming to know what happened inside the shop after you left, others claiming that the wedding was being called off for different reasons. The number one reason being you, you tried to stay off your phone as much as you could, your twitter was deactivated because you couldn’t stand being tagged in any more comments or articles about the whole thing. Some fans were being supportive to you while others were yelling at you in all Caps for ruining what would have been the perfect wedding. You even had some of Hoseok’s celebrity friends tweeting about you but not directly, everyone knew about your crush now. You couldn’t leave the house without being followed by paparazzi, you couldn’t go into work because people would just come in to question you as if you were on trial for something, you weren’t. You told Hobi to forget everything you said, you didn’t think he would cancel his wedding because of a stupid crush you had on him, it’s not what you wanted. You wanted your best friend to be the ball of sunshine he always was, but from articles, you had seen he wasn’t like that anymore. He’d done a VLive to explain about the wedding and he looked tired, bags under his eyes, his eyes a bright red colour and he was dressed in a baggy shirt and sweatpants, which looked like they hadn’t been washed in a couple of days, fans were trying to cheer him up but he was having none of it. That led to more hate about how you’d ruined the sunshine, broken the sun and it was no longer able to shine. You felt bad enough as it was without everyone yelling at you for it, you ended up turning off your phone and not wanting to turn back on again.

(X)

It was around 4 am when you heard banging coming from your front door, you groaned rolling over in the bed to see the time when you noticed it was 4 am you grumbled. Maybe fans had finally found out where you lived and were coming to give you a piece of their mind in person, you stumbled out of bed going to check through the window but you couldn’t see anyone around, or any cars. You sighed going down the stairs to check through the peephole, standing there in the same baggy shirt and sweatpants was Hobi, he was shivering and banging on the door.

“Hobi?” You questioned, unlocking the door and letting him inside, you rushed to go and get him a blanket so he wouldn’t freeze to death and then shut the front door, placing him in front of the fire.

“You’re going to catch a cold, what are you doing here? Where are the boys?” You questioned, starting up the fireplace and waiting for it to warm him up

“You’re in my hoodie.” He whispered staring at you, you were. You were dressed in nothing but one of his hoodies, a green one with the word Fents written on the front of it, it was the one you always wore when you were sad and he knew it, you were dressed in only that and some shorts to lounge in.

“Force of habit, I’ll go change.” You said back to him but he pulled you down onto the ground with him, you were sitting next to him in front of the fire,

“You only wear it when you’re sad.”  He said wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you closer to him, he forced your head to lean on his shoulder and your breath hitched in your throat.

“Hobi…” He shook his head and pulled your face to look at him in the eyes.

“Let me go first,” You nodded and he pulled away, turning so he was sitting right in front of you now.

“I was mad at first…in the shop, but I was mad at myself, not you…When I finally heard you say it out loud I just-” He stopped to look at you in the eyes, you looked as though you were about to cry right in front of him.

“When we first met, you were shy…You were this cute girl who laughed quietly at my dumb jokes, hid behind your hair whenever you would smile because I drew attention to you…You thought I didn’t see it but I did…I do, I see it all, and what you don’t know is sometimes, I make dumb jokes and draw attention to you just to see your response.” You were letting a few tears roll down your cheeks now as he explained his feelings for you,

“I was mad at myself because I hid my feelings for you for so long, even though deep down I knew you loved me too. The moment I heard you say you liked me, I wanted to stop everything, I didn’t want to marry her, I wanted you.” You didn’t know how to say anything to him so you just grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss, you’d been wanting to kiss him for so long and it was everything you ever imagined, he put his arms around your waist, pulling you onto his lap as you made out in front of the fireplace, neither of you caring about anything else but one another at that moment.

Namjoon:

The next day you woke up with a pounding headache, your room seemed as though it was spinning and everything was heightened, the lights were brighter than they should have been and every sound that was made, made it sound as though it was coming through a giant speaker right next to your ear. So when there was a repeated knocking on your front door you wanted to scream for whoever it was to go away, you wanted to be left alone to your thoughts about Namjoon’s speech again, he’d told you he loved you, that he really loved you all along and that he thought you were in love with Jimin, a part of you hoped he would remember everything you spoke about the night before, but he was in such a state you were sure he wouldn’t remember the kiss you shared or the speech you had on the doorstep together. You walked down the stairs and opened the front door, Namjoon was standing there holding a suitcase and looking at you, he was wearing jeans and an oversized hoodie, panting a little with beads of sweat on his forehead.

“Joonie?” You questioned, your handover suddenly the last thing on your mind as he pushed through your front door and began walking around your house.

“Where is it?” He questioned rooting through some drawers in your living room and then sprinting up the stairs, you ran after him as he rushed through your bedroom drawers.

“Joonie what are you looking for?” He looked at you and smiled, he came over to you and cupped your face to look up at him, he ran his thumb under your eye, you had tear stains all over your cheeks.

“Fuck, I love it when you say my name like that.” You were a blushing mess, he moved away from you going back to the drawers again and searching through them. Clearly, he remembered everything you had talked about the night before,

“Passport, where is it?” You walked over to the wardrobe and opened the top drawer, pulling it out, he snatched it from your hand and then told you to grab a suitcase.

“Joonie, slow down. What’s going on?” He turned to face you and stopped in his tracks, he realised he hadn’t told you anything yet.

“After you told me last night that you loved me…I couldn’t sleep, I sobered up and I called everything off, I couldn’t marry her, knowing that we both love each other. So we’re going away, me and you. We’re going to take a break away till everything calms down, the paparazzi will be all over it so we need to leave, I just want it to be us for a little while.” He began going through your wardrobe for clothes and you stayed still, he’d called off his wedding and was planning to run away with you.

“Joonie. Sit down and just think this through okay.” You pleaded you sat on your bed, trying to calm your racing thoughts, he noticed you and came over, dropping to his knees in front of you and looking into your eyes.

“I’m going to make a bad decision and I want you to just let it happen, no matter how much you hate it.” It was true, you hated it when he made dumb decisions because he would never think them through properly.

“Have you really thought about it Joon?” He nodded wiping the tear that had come from your eyes.

“Fine…Where are we going?” You whispered, getting up from the bed and going over to the wardrobe, he watched you for a couple of minutes while you searched through clothes,

“Somewhere Hot, we can relax on the beach.” He said coming in behind you, he bent down and wrapped his arms around your waist and putting his head in your neck, leaving small kisses along the skin that was exposed to him, you stopped searching and leant back into his embrace.

“Never let me go.” You whispered to him, he nodded, with that you span around in his arms and kissed, pulling him down closer to you.

Jimin:

Tears filled your eyes as you drove down the back roads back to the dorms, you wanted to hurry up and get out, he was mad. So mad that he was swearing at you, you were speeding through the back roads, you know you shouldn’t be but you just wanted to hurry up and get it over with, you didn’t want to risk anyone coming to see you at the dorms, a crying mess after your best friend yelled at you in a church parking lot.

“Now let’s slow it down with a love song.” The radio announced, you shut it off and continued driving, coming up to a sharp bend and turning when a car on the other side of the road came speeding around the corner at the same time, your body was thrown forward against the steering wheel, then against the side window, your head hitting first and causing you to blackout.

(X)

“You didn’t need to call him.” You said to the nurse who had told you Jimin was on his way to the hospital, it was the last thing you wanted after crashing his car and confessing to him, but he was the only emergency contact in your phone so you knew she was only doing her job, you got off the bed trying to change into your clothes but you realised they’d cut you out of the dress because you broke your arm and leg,

“Fuck.” You whimpered getting back into the bed and wanting to hide away, you heard Jimin yelling down the hall, he was looking for you. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He came into the room, his shirt was untucked, his bow tie was around his neck and he was sweating a lot.

“I’ll buy you a new car.” You said to him, turning to look away at the wall but he was by your side in a second, his hand holding your unbroken arm.

“I leave you alone for five minutes and this happens.” You looked back at him, tears were running down his cheeks as he looked at you, you frowned, looking down at his hand, there was no ring. So you’d stopped him getting married because you got into a dumb car accident.

“I’m sorry I stopped you getting married…Go, I’m fine. I told her not to call you and that I was fine.” You said looking at the nurse who was looking through the glass window into your room, he frowned shaking his head at you.

“What are you talking about?” You nodded at his hand and he looked down to wear your gaze landed.

“I wasn’t going to marry her after that confession.” You frowned again, confused.

“But you yelled at me…told me to pack my shit up, you were mad at me Jimin.” You reminded him, he sat down on the chair next to your bed and shook his head, his hand not leaving yours for even a second.

“I was going to meet you back there once I call things off…I was mad because you confessed so close to the day.” You didn’t say anything, maybe you hit your head too hard in the accident and he wasn’t actually in front of you and you were hallucinating him sitting there in front of you.

“Say something then.” You shook your head at him, a small smile was on his lips.

“You called off the wedding…because I admitted I liked you?” He nodded.

“I love you too…I wished you told me sooner, but I guess things happen.” Jungkook was now stood outside of the window holding his thumbs up at you, you scoffed and shook your head.

“Stupid Rom-Coms.” You murmured to yourself, Jimin looked at you with a raised eyebrow

“Jungkook…Made me watch those stupid romantic films, telling me to confess all of the time.” He sat up straight and looked at Jungkook who was still in the window.

“Funny…told me to confess as well.” You both stared at Jungkook and his eyes widened before he ran off.

“Little brat couldn’t have just told us we both liked one another to make this smoother.” You whispered throwing your head back against the pillow behind you.

“He’s young, still thinks romantic films are real. He’ll learn.” You scoffed and rolled your head to make eye contact with him again.

“I will buy you a new car though, I’m assuming it’s totalled…I sort of blacked out once I hit my head.” You said to him, he nodded but smiled at you.

“Insurance will cover it, you can pay me back by going on a date with me."

Taehyung:

You went home after he said not to leave him, you got into a cab and went home, with him following behind in another taxi, it was a race to your front door, you stood inside and his foot stood in the gap so you couldn’t close it all the way,

"Please don’t lock the door on me.” You wanted to cry out, you had to shut the door. You couldn’t do this now, he was getting married. He couldn’t look at you like that or speak to you how he was. It wasn’t fair, it was only going to mess with your head all over again.

“Tae please.” You whimpered out, tears rolling down your cheeks as you looked at him, his eyes were filled with tears as well, he pushed the door open and closed it behind him, you were facing away from him, tears rolling down your cheeks.

“Look at me.” You turned to look at him and he ran his hand through your hair and resting it on your shoulder as if to stop you from moving away from him.

“I love you, holy shit I love you.” He repeated to you, you shook your head, pushing away from him and going into the living room, you loved him too but you didn’t need to hear that now.

“Tae you’re getting married, you can’t say this sort of stuff. You’re just drunk.”  You went to go and get him a glass of water, hopefully, to help sober him up so he would realise what he was saying to you.

(X)

“Wake up,” You groaned rolling over on the floor to see Tae sitting up on the sofa, he’d fallen asleep on the sofa and you slept on the floor so he wouldn’t be alone all night, you knew how much he hated sleeping alone but you also knew that cuddling wasn’t an option, you would lay in his arm and never want to leave again,

“I made breakfast.” He said looking at the pancakes he had on the coffee table, you sat up and took a sip of the mug of coffee that was also on the table.

“I meant it though, every word. I love you Y/N.” You almost choked on the coffee that was in your mouth, you spat it back into the mug and stared at him.

“You remember your confession then?” You questioned, he nodded and stared at you, waiting for you to say something back to him, you put the mug down and turned to face him, taking a deep breath.

“I love you too Tae but…you have a fiancé…she’s waiting to marry you.” He pulled you up onto the sofa and into his arms, rubbing his hands on your arms, you shivered at the contact with him.

“I’ll talk things over with her, call the wedding off…I won’t marry her. Not when I know I love you and you love me, It wouldn’t be fair to her.” He went to lean in to kiss you but you put your fingers on his lips to stop him.

“It wouldn’t be fair to her to kiss me right now either.” You stated, he pouted behind you lips but you stayed strong, getting off his lap and looking at him.

“If you’re serious about this…We…You and I can wait, I’ll always be here.” You whispered taking his hand in yours and kissing his hand, you wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with him and kiss him all day but not until he was single.

“I love you.” He whispered, kissing your hand this time, you smiled softly and looked down at your outfit, you were still dressed in the dress from the night before.

“I’m going to get changed and have a shower, you better tell the boys where you are before they all start worrying.” You whispered, leaving the living room. As soon as you were inside the bathroom you let out a shaky breath and leant against the wall, was this all really happening.

Jungkook:

“We object.” He yelled, pushing you down the aisle, everyone was turning to look at you and Jungkook’s eyes were on you right away, he looked pissed off at the fact that you were here. Jimin took your hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance, all eyes were on you. Jungkook’s fiancé glaring at you as you stood there with your brother and friend.

"Are you sure you want to do this Y/N?” She asked in a warning tone, Namjoon nodded at you and you nodded at her.

“I am.” She smirked at you and then looked over at one of her bridesmaids,

“So why do you object then?” She asked, coming down from the altar and walking over to you, Jungkook was still stood in silence staring at you all.

“She’s cheating on you Kookie,” Jimin answered, his fiancé stared at Jimin with an evil glare and then turned back to Jungkook with a sad tone in her voice now.

“Baby, you know I would never do that. They’re lying to you.” You looked at Jungkook and he stared back at you, he knew when you were lying. He could tell instantly whenever you lied to him, he glanced at Jimin and he went to continue with his sentence but Jungkook snapped.

“Enough. Y/n…With me now.” You were pushed over to him by Jimin while his fiancé was yelling at him to stop, Jungkook took your wrist in his grasp and pulled you into one of the back changing rooms, shutting and locking the door behind him, his back was to you and you sighed.

“I wanted to tell you Kookie but she…She has all this stuff on me and I didn’t think I could tell you without ruining everything.” He turned around slowly to look at you, then silently sat down in one of the leather chairs in the room.

“She’s cheating on me? How long?” You looked at him and then over at the door as she banged against it.

“About six months…she told me if I ever told you she’d show you and everyone else my diaries from when we first met.” You admitted, still standing away from him as you admitted it all to him.

“What does she have on you?” You bit down on your lip, not wanting to admit it to him.

“Well?” You looked down at the floor, nervous about having to tell him it or he wouldn’t believe you,

“That I’ve loved you since the moment we met…That I’d had a secret crush on you forever.” He stared at you, you could feel his eyes burning into the side of your head, you looked back at him and he was softly smiling at you.

“Love me?” You nodded and then he looked at the door.

“You could have told me everything the moment you knew what she was doing…” You shook your head, thinking of Namjoon and your friendship with Jungkook.

“I didn’t want to lose you as a friend.” He sighed leaning back against the chair, he held out his hand and you took it in your own.

“You wouldn’t have lost me as a friend, you would have gained me as a boyfriend.” You groaned at him being cheesy in this situation, you just wanted to crawl into his arms but his fiancé was still screaming on the outside of the door.

“Jimin has proof that she’s cheating…I’m not making anything up.” He looked up at you and rubbed his fingers along your knuckles.

“I know when you’re lying…I know you too well to know you wouldn’t lie about something like this…Give me ten minutes with her, then we can leave and we can sort this between the two of us.” He whispered, kissing your lips and going to the door

#bts #bts x reader #bts imagine #bts imagines #bts x you #bts x y/n #bts reaction #bts reactions #seokjin x reader #seokjin smut #jin x reader #jin smut #yoongi x reader #yoongi smut #suga x reader #suga smut #hoseok x reader #hoseok smut #jhope x reader #jhope smut #namjoon x reader #namjoon smut #rm x reader #rm smut #taehyung x reader #taehyung smut #jimin x reader #jimin smut #jungkook x reader #jungkook smut

[desperationandgin]

The Beat My Heart Skips (Market Price One-Shot)

Rating: General Audiences

Also Read On: Ao3

Summary: Jamie attempts to surprise his pregnant wife with the foods she craves.

A/N: From a prompt @smashing-teacups​ sent me like 8 months ago! This is also my dear BFF’s very BELATED birthday fic. ilu so much <3

I adjusted a little but I hope the spirit of the prompt lives on!

The Beat My Heart Skips

++

The texts from Claire had started at two in the afternoon while he was at Lallybroch, deep in planning the next few weekends’ worth of farmer’s market details.

Burgers for dinner? 😘

He’d replied he would pick them up from her newly-declared favorite place for burgers, and promised chips to go along with them. A half-hour later, the next message arrived.

thinking more about the pork rolls we had the other night.

He’d replied:

Instead of the burgers?

Think so. Sorry. Baby’s picky  🤷‍♀️

It made him smile, swiping to the home screen only to see the latest in his growing collection of photos featuring Claire’s belly. The bump was only clearly visible when she was unclothed, but it was there, a swelling proof of life, and he’d found he could stare, stroke, and murmur to that growing roundness for hours on end. He’d finally responded with a quick dinna fash and assumed that would be the end of it.

He was wrong. The next messages had come in rapid succession, mildly alarming until he could read them.

I think pizza would be better

Remember the burritos we had at Mazama?

Jamie, I don’t know what your child wants…

Kebabs??

Would you like to contribute an idea?

Thumb hovering over the phone, he’d tried to decide if he should pick one thing from her list, or offer something completely different. He’d decided, in the end, to go with a solid favorite.

Thai noodles, Sassenach?

The three telltale bubbles had appeared, then dropped, then appeared again before another text came through from his wife.

That sounds good too.

It was the ‘too’ that convinced him of what needed to be done.

You only need to be prepared with an appetite when I’m home. 5p. No later.

Now, he’s sitting in the passenger seat of his sister’s mini-van while Jenny drives.

“How many places is it, total?” she asks, glancing over.

Scrolling on his phone, he counts aloud. “Six. No, seven. I need more ice cream.”

“Alright, weel, we have to be strategic about it. Ice cream last, obviously. Then I’ll just drop ye back at yours and both of ye can come over tomorrow for Sunday supper. We’ll finish the plannin’ then, ye get your car, all done.”

Jamie looks over at his sister, impressed. “Thought it all out, have ye?”

“If you take a pregnant woman hot, fresh food that’s been left to steam in its containers only tae go soft and damp, she’ll throw it at yer heid. Trust me.”

He snorts. “Should I ask Ian?”

“He’ll no’ bring me soggy chips again, I’ll tell ye that much.” Jenny pats her own very round belly. “Learned wi’ the last bairn.”

Suitably impressed (and making mental notes he never knew he needed), they make a plan beginning with pizza and ending with a very quick stop inside a corner shop for two containers of Neapolitan. By 4:45, Jamie’s outside of his home, hands loaded with takeout bags. Leaning down into the open car window, he holds up his bounty.

“Thank ye, truly. I owe ye, Jen.”

She waves him off. “Ye’ll babysit soon enough.” Her face softens, though, and she meets his gaze. “Da would be proud. Mam, too.”

Lowering his head, Jamie swallows, but when he looks up again, there’s a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I always hope, but hearing it from you, especially, is important.”

“Why me?” she asks as he steps back.

“On account of ye bein’ the wee ball-buster in the family,” he teases fondly, thanking her again before watching her drive safely away. Juggling bags and keys, Jamie lets himself into the house, calling out.

“Sassenach?”

“In here,” she calls from the living room, and he ducks into the kitchen.

“Stay there, I have a surprise for ye. And dinnae try to peek, ye’re no’ verra sneaky anyway,” he says in return. As he sets everything up along their counter, buffet style, he can hear her moving about.

“I assume this surprise is in regards to food,” she deducts.

“Always kent ye should ha’ been a detective,” Jamie smirks, able to hear her huff from the other room. “I’m almost done, ye can bide a second longer.”

“One,” she says pointedly. “Your child is starving.”

“I’ve noticed ye tend to refer to the bairn only as mine when ye cannae make your mind up about something.”

Her voice is closer when she speaks. “That’s because you’re stubborn,” Claire retorts, standing directly out of sight.

“Oh, am I the only one?” he asks as he finishes by propping the pizza open. “I always thought ye were a relatively patient woman, Sassenach, until I got ye wi’ child.”

“I am bloody patient! It’s the only reason I haven’t stepped foot into the kitchen to throttle you yet.”

He can’t help but laugh silently for a moment, drawing it out a few seconds longer before finally poking his head around the corner only to come face to face with her. “Alright, a nighean. Ye can come in.” Stepping aside, he watches as she enters, taking in the sight of her realizing what she’s seeing.

“I figured we could make a good go of it, and now we have plenty for tomorrow,” Jamie explains.

Claire stares at the bounty in front of her in stunned silence before looking up at her husband. “You went to all of these places?”

“Aye. Well, me and Jen. Ian was home and she was desperate to get out of the house for a bit anyway. So she drove me around, and now you and the bairn have whatever ye’d like. Including more ice cream.”

Too moved for a moment to say anything, she simply blinks at Jamie, afraid to open her mouth because she’s sure she’ll cry.

A good thing, then, that he knows to step forward, reaching out to rest his hands at her hips. “I wanted ye to have whatever you wanted, Sassenach.”

That does it: the flood gates open (because hell if she has any control over her hormones anymore) and she finds herself cradled to his chest. “I cannot believe you,” she mumbles into his shirt affectionately, arms looping around his waist.

“I do try to keep ye guessin’,” he murmurs into her hair, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

“Do you also plan on helping me eat all of this?” She pulls back after placing a soft kiss to his chest before getting a plate and trying to decide what to attack first.

“Oh, aye, I’ll be eating plenty. I’ve been eying a burrito since we picked them up,” he promises, having no intention of letting his wife eat alone. Pointing out the different varieties as she picks and chooses, he loads a plate for himself and takes it to the living room, settling with her leaning against the arm of the sofa sideways, legs across his lap.

Bringing a forkful of noodles to her mouth, she pauses to look at him. “Thank you, Jamie. For indulging me.”

Balancing his plate with one hand, the other squeezes her calf. “I figured if ye’re going through all the trouble of making a person, Sassenach, the least I can do is feed ye what ye want.”

When she smiles, it’s as though his entire soul flares with warmth, and it’s difficult to take his eyes from her.

Which is why he sees it the instant all color drains from her face. What happens next requires zero communication as she sits up, he takes her plate, and her legs swing from his lap. Within thirty seconds, she’s in their bathroom bending over the toilet, vomiting. Wincing in sympathy, Jamie simply stares for a moment at the two plates full of uneaten supper in his hands.

Putting the dishes on the coffee table, he rises and makes his way to the bathroom to join her, reaching out to hold her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry, a nighean.” Jamie’s always very aware that he’s the one who did this to her anytime she’s miserable, and it makes him regret being quite so boastful about it.

When her stomach finally calms, he stands with her and leans against the doorframe as she rinses with the mouthwash that is now a permanent fixture on the countertop instead of tucked away in the medicine cabinet.

And then he watches as she begins to cry, confusion making his forehead furrow, wondering what this new mood swing is and how to handle it. Reaching out for her, he doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her in an attempt to soothe as he rubs her back. “Dinna weep, lass,” he murmurs, more concerned as she clings to him tightly.

“Fuck, Jamie,” she manages, sniffling when she finally pulls back, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand.

“Likely no’ right now,” he tries to tease gently as he lifts a hand to stroke her cheek.

She doesn’t even react, simply chooses to ignore him and move on even as tears brim on her lashline. “I can’t eat any of that food right now.”

“I realized it soon as ye got up from the couch,” he points out, kissing her forehead.

“But you went to...Christ, how many places was it?” she asks as new guilt washes over her in an irrational wave. “And Jenny was with you,” she laments.

He doesn’t know how to fix this, exactly, and so he simply guides her by the hand to their bedroom to avoid the smell of various foods in the front of the house.

“Mo nighean donn, why would Jenny be put out? She’s been pregnant a dozen times, she kens how it goes,” Jamie points out gently.

“It was so thoughtful of you. I wanted to be able to enjoy your effort,” Claire admits as his arms encircle her.

“Ye still can when ye feel like eating. All of it will still be there, Sassenach. Doesna matter if we eat it this evening or tomorrow.”

“You aren’t annoyed?” she asks, knowing the answer but needing to hear it.

“Only at yer hormones, but no’ at you,” he promises with a kiss to her knuckles, over her wedding ring.

“Well, I’m annoyed at my hormones too,” Claire exhales, recovered now from the bout of tears but not the nausea as she lies down on the bed properly. “When your aunt called, she said being sick all the time is the sign of a boy.”

“Should ask Jen, she might have some light to shed on it, havin’ had both,” Jamie suggests as he lays propped on his side and pushes his hand under her shirt to lightly stroke her stomach.

Closing her eyes, she concentrates on the feel of his touch rather than the vertigo. “Do you want to find out what we’re having, or let it be a surprise?”

His fingers still for a moment before continuing as he ponders her question. “I never considered it. Does it matter to ye, for decorating and buying things?”

“Not particularly. There aren’t very many things that can truly be left a surprise in life.” She can’t help smiling at the idea of it, of not knowing until their child is in their arms.

The look on her face makes it clear her mind is set, and Jamie drops a kiss to her abdomen. “We’ll leave it a mystery then, Sassenach.”

“We’ll have to pick a name for either scenario,” she points out, taking deep breaths in and exhaling slowly as she wills away her symptoms. When Jamie doesn’t respond right away, she cracks one eye open only to find him lost in thought. A hand lands in his hair, gently scratching his scalp. “Where’d you go?”

He makes a soft noise in the back of his throat. “I’m here,” he promises with another kiss. “I was only thinking...if it’d be alright wi’ ye...we could name the bairn after my da.” When he chances a glance up at her, his eyes are suspiciously damp.

If ever there is a key to getting her nausea to dissipate, it’s the sight of her husband’s vulnerability. Her hand shifts from his hair down his face to cradle his cheek. “Brian,” she murmurs, nodding her agreement. “And if it’s a girl?”

He’s quiet, ghosting his lips across her skin now, trying to will her hormones to settle for a while.

“Hmm. Weel, there’s always, simply, Brianna,” Jamie suggests.

Claire tries it on her tongue, adding a second name. “Brianna Ellen Fraser. Or Brian Henry Fraser. What do you think?”

Scooting up on the bed now, he pulls his wife close, needing to kiss her ring again, to say a silent prayer for the love of this woman. “That ye’d honor my parents that way, Claire-” It makes him more emotional than he would have ever imagined, the way his wife’s heart shows itself.

“I thought, since we’re having - what was it, ten by your last count? - since we’re having ten children, the second could be named after my parents,” she suggests, knowing it will happen now that she’s said it.

“It’ll no’ be ten if ye feel like this every time,” he says with equal parts concern and frustration that his wife simply can’t eat when she’d like.

“Jamie,” she murmurs, gliding her thumb across his jaw. “This amount of illness is normal. And it’s getting somewhat better. Today was unfortunate,” she allows, a hint of apology in her tone.

“Dinna fash, Sassenach,” he assures her as he sits up, leaning down to drop a kiss to her forehead before finally standing. “Now we have plenty for breakfast and lunch. If ye dinna mind noodles before ten in the morning.”

She chuckles, the waves of nausea somewhat less turbulent. “If my stomach can manage, then so will I.” But she already knows the noodles will never make it to morning. She’ll be awake at three in the morning, eating when her hunger finally kicks in.

“I’ll go and put everything away, then we’ll see if ye’ll do wi’ a bit of light reading,” he offers. He’ll also quickly eat while he isn’t in front of her.

“Reading in bed?”

“Aye, I’ll no’ make ye move,” he promises, reaching out to cradle her cheek before stepping back.

“Then you’ll know where to find me when you return,” she says lightly with a small, fond smile.

“Which is exactly where I want ye to be, incidentally.”

She chuckles, waving playfully at him to go. “I’m looking forward to reading your next pick.”

Before he can make it out of the room, she calls him back.

“Aye?”

She takes a moment to look him over, still in his jeans and button-down from the day, curls askew and his scruff just past its normal length.

“I’m very madly in love with you, you know.”

When he smiles he ducks his head, and the way his ears turn bright red makes her want to laugh in sheer delight of him.

“That’s verra good, Sassenach. On account of I happen to be mad wi’ love for ye myself.”

“You’d better go, before you say something very Jamie Fraser and make me cry,” she warns with a more playful smile at the end.

He can’t help doubling back, this time to kiss the soft round apple of Claire’s cheek before nuzzling it with the tip of his nose.

“I’ll bring ye back a ginger ale.”

When he finally leaves her to rest, Jamie puts everything away in record time - except for the noodles. He places them in a separate container and sets it in the fridge with a sticky note on top.

For the bairn xx

#outlander #jamie x claire #jamie fraser #claire fraser #outlander fic #my fic #market price

[bittysvalentines]

My Best Friend’s Breakup

From: @missweber

To: @pwoops

Tags: Snowy/Tater, Snowy/OFC, background Zimbits, background Parswoops, friends to lovers, fluff, mild angst, accidental marriage, deliberate marriage

Summary: Everyone says that Snowy and his girlfriend are perfect together. This bothers Tater, which makes sense given the crush he has on his best friend. But he’s not the only one who is disturbed by how perfect everyone says Snowy’s girlfriend is. (This is in the same verse as ‘Fourteen Weddings and a Kerfuffle,’ but can be read as a stand-alone story.’)

Alexei wasn’t sure if he loved or hated Family Skate.

Family Skate meant skating with his friends and not having coaches yell at him or some asshole on the other team pick a fight with him. And there was always lots of food. That part, he loved.

What he didn’t love was always showing up alone, with no wife, no girlfriend.

Or no boyfriend, which was an intriguing new way to feel alone.

He tried to be subtle about watching Zimmboni with his little B over by the boards, talking and laughing with Carrie and Snowy…

…and Laurel.

Another thing Alexei hated about Family Skate was that it made him dislike a woman who truly didn’t deserve it. But how could he not dislike Snowy’s girlfriend?

Without his notice or his permission, Alexei’s feelings towards Snowy had turned into something that wasn’t just friendship. It was probably inevitable, given how Snowy was his best friend and a very, very handsome man as well. 

Given that Alexei enjoyed men as much as he enjoyed women, he had been doomed from the start.

For the sake of his heart, Alexei had long ago accepted that nothing would come of his crush and he would enjoy the friendship for what it was. And what it was, was the best kind of friendship a man could hope for.

As for that little touch of melancholy that it would never be more than friendship? It eventually settled into something almost pleasurable, like the soreness after a hard workout, or the burn of vodka searing down his throat.

This was very Russian of him, he decided smugly.

Again, he glided past the little group by the boards, past Zimmboni’s hand on B’s back, past Snowy standing close to Laurel, past Laurel saying something about ‘anniversary.’ 

This time, the jolt of melancholy wasn’t remotely pleasurable.

Everyone said it was only a matter of time before Snowy proposed. Laurel was a sweet girl, a perfect hockey girlfriend who would be a perfect hockey wife. 

Marty had even started a betting pool about when Snowy would propose, and Alexei had been grumpy enough to put money on them breaking up before Easter, just to be an ass. 

His best friend was going to get married and Alexei would just have to learn to live with that and with the fact he had thrown good money away purely out of spite.

* * * 

Dustin sank into the oversized, overstuffed, and over-engineered chair with a groan. Tater’s new recliner wasn’t at all to his taste, what with the red leather and the cup holder, but he would be the first to admit that the vintage Bauhaus furniture in his own apartment was more suited to a fit of ennui than a wallow in self-pity.

“Breakups fucking suck,” he whined.

Tater made a sympathetic noise that abruptly morphed into a huh? 

Dustin side-eyed him and got a puzzled look in return. 

“I thought you break up with her?” Tater asked.

Another groan. Tater’s recliner welcomed him further into its womb-like depths. It was even uglier than Zimmermann’s god-awful running shoes, but damn it was comfortable. 

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck, because it’s not like I still don’t care about her, y’know?”

Tater grumbled with frustration, probably over Dustin’s tangle of negatives. 

Dustin took pity on him. “I broke her heart, and I feel like the worst person in the whole fucking world right now, okay? And Marty’s gonna slit my throat, because Gabby and Laurel are BFFs, and argh!” He screamed into his hands.

In so many ways, Laurel was perfect. Everyone said they were perfect together. She was hot, smart, funny, fun in bed, thoughtful, able to cope with all the bullshit that went with dating a hockey player…

“I made a big fucking mistake, didn’t I?” 

Thirdy had all but ordered him to lock that down, kid, at Family Skate two weeks ago. He had been weirdly insistent that the end of the regular season would be an awesome time to propose, but that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was that afterwards, things started going a bit… sideways with Laurel. Not bad. Just…

Sometimes, looking at something from a new angle made it look like a completely different thing.

Tater let out the long, rumbling hmmm that meant he was putting concepts together, taking them apart, and carefully reassembling them in a different language. 

While Tater pondered, Dustin thought about begging Laurel to take him back. He could say he was freaked out by the pressure of trying to secure a playoffs spot, and did something impulsive. She would take him back, right?

The certainty that she would knotted up his stomach more than he expected.

Tater got up and went to the kitchen. “This need pie,” he announced. 

Next came the crinkling of foil and the clink of plates being placed on the counter.

“B make blueberry pie, just for me.” Tater called from the kitchen. “When he hear about Laurel, he say I should share.”

The knot in Dustin’s stomach unfurled and bloomed into warmth. “I get Bittle pie? Aw, man, you really do love me.”

A long pause. An exasperated sigh.

“I only share little piece.” 

A few minutes later, Tater came back with two generous slices of pie, warmed up and garnished with a dab of sour cream. 

The first time Tater had served pie with sour cream, Dustin assumed it was a mistake, and that Tater meant to get whipped cream but read the packaging wrong. 

“Is not mistake,” Tater had retorted, testy at being corrected. “You see.”

The combination of hot, sweet fruit and cold, tangy sour cream was a revelation. In retrospect, it should have been obvious how perfect they’d be together.

Tater draped a napkin over Dustin’s lap with a flourish, then handed him the pie. Both plate and napkin were bright and fussy, like something Tater’s babushka might have bought. 

Again, not to Dustin’s taste, but you couldn’t serve sympathy pie on minimalist matte-black plates.

“Now we talk,” Tater said. “You sad because Laurel sad, yes?”

He nodded. He saw events play out as if they’d just happened. The expectant, eager look on Laurel’s face when he said he needed to talk to her, the way her smile just shattered when he said he didn’t want anything long-term, the sound she had made. The sudden nausea when he realized that their anniversary was in three days and she had been expecting will you marry me and not it’s not you it’s me.

“Yeah. Like I said, worst person in the world.” He pointed at himself with his fork. He might not want to spend the rest of his life with Laurel, but he still liked her. Loved her, even if not enough for forever. And he had hurt her. Badly.

“Imagine something for me,” Tater said after a minute, unusually serious. He leaned in and put a hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “Imagine she not sad at all. Okay, maybe little bit sad, but she say ‘You are right, Snowy. We should break up. Now I move to Vancouver and meet someone new.’ How you feel now?”

He thought. He thought about not having her around to go on dates with, to sleep with, to be around, to have fun with. She checked all the right boxes. 

She was the perfect girlfriend—

—for someone else. 

“I feel…”

Underneath the guilt and sadness, he felt the same peace he felt when he first realized he could just end things. He felt the absence of a dread that grew each time someone said something about how perfect they were together, or about locking that down.

He felt relief at avoiding something that was starting to seem inevitable.

Other things became clearer as well.

For example, how fucked up was it that he got more of a cozy domesticity fix from his best friend than he ever had from his girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend.

“I feel like I did the right thing.” 

Laurel could begin moving on instead of waiting for a proposal that would never come or that would turn into a disaster of a marriage. She could find someone who wanted to be with her forever.

“But I still feel like shit for breaking her heart. I wish I could fix that.”

“See? You good person.” Tater punctuated this with a sharp nod. “Not worst in world.”

“You’re a good friend, Tates. The best.” He sighed. “I guess marriage just isn’t my thing.”

Tater went silent and pensive for a moment. Probably thinking about his own lack of relationship success. At least that made two of them, now.

Dustin turned the chair’s massage settings from ‘Meditative Waves’ to ‘Angry Swedish Nurse.’ He deserved it, after all this emotional shit.

“No. I lied. I’m gonna marry this chair.”

Tater tsked. “No. You need time. You just break up, remember?” 

Dustin laughed. If it was shaky, he would blame the massage setting. “Where’d you get this thing anyway? And why?”

Tater muttered something vague about impulse buys and winning lots of money on some stupid bet, then showed Dustin how to turn on the seat warmer.

He could stay here forever.

Funny how that thought didn’t fill him with dread.

* * *

Alexei spent more time at B and Zimmboni’s place in the days after winning the Cup than he did at his own. It wasn’t exactly intentional, but Zimmboni had a couch that was long enough for him to stretch out his bad leg, and B loved having someone to fuss over. Besides, his apartment was just two floors down so he could go there any time he wanted. 

In theory.

“I’m surprised you aren’t spending more time with Snowy,” B said. It sounded like a question. Zimmboni shot him a look.

B ignored that and handed Alexei a slice of pecan pie. It had taken some coaching on B’s part, but Alexei could finally pronounce ‘pecan’ correctly. He would have to find an excuse to drop it into an interview at some point.

“Snowy live in building two blocks over, not two floors up,” he said between bites of pie. “And his furniture not comfortable.” He sketched out the shape of one of Snowy’s chairs in mid-air. It looked more like a geometry exercise than something you could sit in. “All metal and edges and… yuck!”

It was a reason, but it wasn’t the only reason.

“I see,” B said brightly. “And here I was all worried that something was wrong between you two.”

“Wrong? Nothing wrong! Why you think something wrong?”

It wasn’t really a lie if things were only wrong in his own head, right? Once he stopped dreaming about kissing Snowy after winning the Cup the way Zimmboni had kissed B, everything would be fine. Right?

“Oh, no reason,” B said, voice like sugar. “Just… you two normally spend all your free time together, but instead you’re here.”

Alexei smiled and held out his now-empty plate for a refill. “No. Everything fine!”

B took the plate, but did not head back to the kitchen. He looked down at Alexei. 

“Normally, I would never, ever be deliberately rude to a guest, especially an injured guest who knows how to properly appreciate a good slice of pie, or a half-dozen biscuits with gravy, or a whole pound of bacon, but you’ve got me wondering, hon—what’s Russian for ‘cock-blocking’?”

“Jesus, Bits…” Zimmboni groaned, but he was also laughing. “It’s not that we don’t love you Tater—”

“—but a little alone time would be kind of nice. Listen. Whyn’t you come up for breakfast tomorrow? You and Snowy both. I’ll make those blueberry pancakes you like so much.”

Before Tater could do anything but nod, B was on the phone with Snowy. “If you want to come over and retrieve your favorite Russian, that pie I promised is all ready for you… Mmm-hmm… Blackberry with crumb topping… Right… See you soon!” He hung up and his smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, showing that any irritation he had felt had melted away. “I think he’s missed you, the past few days.” 

It took less time than it should for Snowy to get to Zimmboni’s place. Maybe he was already on his way over when B called, and Alexei didn’t know what to do with that idea.

Maybe Snowy didn’t know, either, because instead of coming right in when B opened the door for him, he just stood there for a moment. 

“Hey, Tater,” he said, strangely quiet. B ignored any awkwardness, and handed Snowy a pie box before dragging Zimmboni down the hall towards the bedroom. Neither he nor Snowy said anything until they heard a door being shut firmly.

“Sorry if I’ve kind of been avoiding you the past couple days,” Snowy said. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it all out of order. “I had to get my head around a couple of things.”

“I understand.” The daydream about kissing Snowy started up in the back of his mind. He had no idea how to stop it playing. Also, hadn’t he been the one avoiding Snowy? “Is okay, now?”

Snowy nodded sharply. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about things since I broke up with Laurel, and also since…” He nodded down the hallway. It was quiet for now, but it wouldn’t be much longer. “Things have changed, or no… it’s not that they’ve changed. I’m just seeing them differently. Anyhow, I’m not making a whole lot of sense, so let me just get to it—can I take you out to dinner?”

Alexei looked at Snowy. At the way Snowy looked at him. “That sound like date,” he said cautiously.

“It can be.” Snowy paused, so nervous it broke Alexei’s heart. “If you want, that is.”

“I do. I do want. For long, long time.”

* * *

Two years later, or at least close enough to the two-year-anniversary of being more-than-friends, Dustin and Tater woke up in a Las Vegas hotel room that made Tater’s apartment look starkly minimalist by comparison.

Tater frowned at the ring on his left hand. Dustin had a matching one. “Not again…” Tater groaned.

“Viva Las Vegas,” Dustin muttered. It was about time he got accidentally married in Vegas, like so many other Falcs had. Tater had been through it twice already with Parson and Seguin (they really needed to not have the NHL awards in Vegas). “So, you know what to do about this?” 

“Da. We take care of before practice, easy-peasy.” 

Or not so easy-peasy, as it happened. The Aces’ lawyer, a fussy, grumpy little man, glared at them through big, round spectacles as he explained why—given that they freely admitted to engaging in intimate relations over the past two years—a nice, speedy annulment was not an option.

“It will have to be a divorce, which will take longer, which means more of my time that will be billed to the Falconers. Most teams have it set up so the fees can be deducted from your paycheck. Please note that I bill five hundred dollars hourly, and that—”

“No,” Dustin blurted out. In the silence that followed, he wondered what the hell had possessed him.

“No?” The lawyer’s gaze could have impaled butterflies to a mounting board. 

“No?” Tater just looked confused. And also a little sad. “But you always say you not want marriage, nyet? Is why you break up with Laurel. So we divorce.”

“Yeah, you’re right. No! Not about the divorce!” he said quickly, before Tater could look any more sad. “I mean about Laurel and why I broke up with her.”

The lawyer cleared his throat. “While these soap opera dramatics are entertaining, gentlemen, I do have other business today…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, it took me a couple of years, but I finally figured it out.”

Tater raised an eyebrow. He looked as if he didn’t trust himself to speak. 

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be married. What I didn’t want was to be married to someone who isn’t my best friend. Who isn’t you.”

Tater’s smile started small, then bloomed across his face. He turned to the lawyer. “Never mind! We go!”

“Yes, yes, fine.” He shooed them off with a flick of his fingers. “Congratulations and so on, but please refrain from any celebratory fornication until you are off the premises.”

They hurried out past the line of other happy couples waiting to have their marriages annulled. Tater paused to fist-bump Bogrov, his good buddy on the Aces, who apparently had accidentally married one of the linesmen instead of his girlfriend. They also nodded hello to Marty and Guy, and said they’d tell the coach they might be a little late to practice.

“So, when do you want to tell the guys?” Dustin asked. 

Tater looked guilty. “I already tell them about accidental marriage.”

“What?!” 

“Not that we decide we stay married,” Tater hurried to explained, “but Parson tell Zimmboni about tradition Aces have—”

They entered the locker room just then, and Dustin learned the hard way that the Aces glitter-bombed players who got drunk-married for the first time.

He was still finding glitter in awkward places later that night, when he and most of the other Falcs were at Kent Parson and Jeff Troy’s place for a sudden but not-so-accidental wedding.

He enjoyed the ceremony, even though both grooms had crashed his net a total of four times during last night’s game and they were all in the middle of the goddamn Stanley Cup Finals. He would always remember how for a few blissful hours under the desert sky, it didn’t matter that they’d played a vicious game last night and would play another one tomorrow night. 

What he would remember most of all, though, was the way Parson and Troy couldn’t stop gazing into each other’s eyes as they recited their vows. It left him awestruck and reaching for Tater’s hand. From the way Tater squeezed his hand in return, Dustin knew he felt it, too. 

If that’s how he and Tater looked at each other, then why the hell had they taken so long to get their act together?

“Wanna join in?” he whispered to Tater. A number of other couples were taking advantage of Nevada’s marriage laws and the presence of an ordained Elvis impersonator to tie the knot or to renew their vows. “It kind of sucks that our friends weren’t at our first wedding, huh?”

Dustin wasn’t sure what he expected when Tater told the group that they were staying married and renewing their vows. Congratulations, for sure. Also chirping. Marty might take in and dole out cash as people collected and paid off wagers on their wedding. There might even be tears.

What he was not expecting was slack-jawed silence followed by “Wait, WHAT?”

“Uh, I don’t see what’s so surprising, guys. We’ve been dating for like two y—”

“You’re dating?!”

“TWO YEARS??”

As for poor Jack, he looked like someone had shorted his circuits.

“I think we forget to tell them,” Tater whispered.

“Whoops?”

The only one not surprised was Bitty, who gave the rest of the Falcs a gentle bless your hearts before turning back to him and Tater. 

“I think what they all meant to say is ‘congratulations.’ I don’t know why they’re so surprised. After all, anyone can see that the two of you are perfect together,” Bitty said. 

Other people had said that to him once, and it had felt like a life sentence. Now, though, it felt like freedom.

“Yeah,” he said. Dustin leaned up to peck his husband on the cheek. “It just took some of us longer to see that than others.”

#snowytater #bv2020 #bitty's valentines #omgcp fandom #omg check please!

[alj4890]

Prompt Request/Rachel Green Quotes Prompt

(Thomas Hunt x OC*Amanda) with the prompt: "If you like looking at butts so much, why don't you go look in a mirror?" As requested by @krsnlove

(Thomas x Amanda) taken from my storyline of And Then I Met You.

A/N Here you go bff 🤣 I think I found a way to incorporate the prompt.

@lxaah11​​  @alleksa16​​  @penguininapinktuxedo​​  @blackcoffee85​  @stopforamoment​    @hopefulmoonobject​    @krsnlove​    @annekebbphotography​     @cora-nova  @hopelessromantic1352​  . @sunflowergirl05​  @desireepow-1986​ @greywitchyshots​  @lilyofchoices​  @emceesynonymroll​  @dr-nancy-house​  @aworldoffandoms​  @ab1901​    @lolablackwrites​    @flyawayboo​  @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​  . @trappedinfandoms​  @kate-mckenzie​

Masterlist

Posterior Problems

"Welcome back everyone." Jimmy said, smiling into the camera. "Our first guest tonight is a member of Hollywood's royalty. Seriously, the guy's got a title and everything." He pauses for the laughter. "Please welcome, Thomas Hunt!"

Thomas steps out from behind the curtain and raises his hand toward the audience while making his way to his chair. "Thank you." He says.

"Good to have you back.” Jimmy's smile grows. ”You've had quite a year." 

"I have." Thomas agreed. 

"First off: your film, The Devil's Siren, is coming out on blu ray this Friday. I saw it three times in theaters and, wow. My head is still reeling from all the twists and turns."

"My wife and I enjoy Alfred Hitchcock's films." Thomas explained. "This film was, in a way, an homage to his works."

Jimmy grinned. "Speaking of your wife, congratulations on becoming a father again."

Thomas truly smiled. "Thank you. Elizabeth and Ian are nearly six months old. Life is never dull around the house."

"Your daughter, Kathleen, is she enjoying being a big sister?" Jimmy asked.

"She is." Thomas said proudly. "She's always ready to help Amanda and I with them." His smile turned tender. "The twins smile and laugh everytime they hear her voice."

"I bet." Jimmy glanced down at his notes. "You and your duchess also have a pretty big milestone coming up in a few weeks, right?"

"Yes." Thomas answered. "Amanda and I will be celebrating our ten year wedding anniversary."

"Wow." Jimmy muttered. "That's practically twenty-seven years in Hollywood time."

Thomas chuckled. "Yes, well, I was fortunate to find the perfect woman. She makes it seem like no time at all has passed."

"And there goes the audience." Jimmy teases when all the aww's and clapping occurred. "I know you and your duchess have  the type of romantic relationship that draws envy from everyone else, but there had to be a moment this past decade where you were like the rest of us. You had to have had a fight over something stupid." Jimmy grinned. "Just yesterday, my wife and I argued over the brand name on the bag of coffee we had in the pantry. I'm still in the doghouse over it."

"Well," Thomas averted his eyes and softly smiled. "We have had a few arguments. No two people living together can avoid those occurring, especially in the beginning of a marriage." A particular fight was brought to mind. "I suppose there was one that escalated quickly into the realm of the ridiculous."

************

Eight and a half years earlier...

"I'll be there." Thomas repeated. "Hopefully we can get through it quickly. Between the two of us, we should find the right replacement."

He walked into the kitchen while ending the call.

Amanda looked up from removing cookies from the oven. "What's going on?"

Thomas reached over and took one of the cookies on the cooling rack. "That was Ryan. He's panicking over his first directorial endeavor." He took a bite and sat down on one of the bar stools. "I'm going to meet him at the studio and help him with casting."

"I thought he already had the actors lined up for the film." Amanda said, while preparing another tray of peanut butter cookies.

"He does." Thomas reached for another one. "One of the actor's doubles had to leave for family reasons."

Amanda's lips trembled with laughter. "Ryan’s nervous over recasting a stunt double?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No. He's nervous about replacing the posterior double for Haley Brown."

Amanda paused. "You're going to go help him pick out a woman's bottom?"

Thomas nodded, oblivious to the anger flaring to life in the woman standing two feet away. "It will probably take a few hours, but I'm certain we will find the right one."

"You're going to spend hours looking at women's naked butts?" She choked out.

He looked up, recognizing the tonal difference in her voice. "I'm not going to ogle them. I am helping find a replacement for Haley's love scene. Her contract states that she only uses body doubles and--"

"And naturally Ryan can't do it alone." Amanda's eyes narrowed. "So he called in an expert? Is that it?"

His own narrowed back. "I am not an expert on women's anatomy, but I am in the field of directing."

She rolled her eyes. "Ah yes. How could I ever forget that I have married the greatest in the land?"

That stung. Thomas stood up. "I'm not discussing this anymore if you are going to revert to childish insults."

"Oh no!" Amanda mocked. "Surely you won't deny me the pleasure to hear more of your nude viewing plans?" She placed the back of her hand over her forehead. "Whatever shall I do without such stimulating conversation?"

"You're being ridiculous." He muttered, trying to keep a tight reign on his temper.

"I suppose being a former underwear model does give one an insider’s look into the world of posteriors." Amanda continued, ignoring his grumbling commentary.

Thomas folded his arms and glared at her. "Are you finished so that we can discuss this like adults?"

"Are you really going to go and assist in this search for the perfect rear?" Amanda countered.

"Yes." He snapped. "I am."

"So you don't care that I prefer my husband to not look at any other woman's naked body?" Amanda asked, feeling very vulnerable at the moment.

"I'm not going with the intention of becoming aroused. I'm going to help cast a woman to stand in at the appropriate moments in a film that I'm not even directing!" He yelled.

Amanda slammed the oven door closed. "Fine!" She stormed out of the kitchen and began to go upstairs.

"Where are you going?!" He followed after her.

"Upstairs!" She looked down over the banister at him. "I don't feel like being around you at the moment."

"We are settling this!" He picked up his pace and made it just into the bedroom before she had a chance to lock him out.

"We are? How lovely." Amanda sat down on the bed. "I do so love the times you lecture me into giving in to your way of thinking."

Thomas opened his mouth and then shut it, realizing he was about to launch into a speech. "You know that some movies have these type of scenes and I have had to cast both men and women for nudity."

"I've seen your movies and am well aware of what you have done." Amanda mumbled. "But that was all before we were married."

"Chances are that I will have other films in the future that require showing a person at their most vulnerable." He softened his tone. "Nothing conveys that better to a viewer than--"

"I'm feeling exceptionally vulnerable right now without the need of someone unclothed." Amanda snapped.

Thomas ran his hands over his face. "I can't fight against your absurd jealousy. You know I love and desire only you. I'm going tomorrow strictly to be an assistant to Ryan's artistic--"

"Will you stop making yourself out as some sort of martyr on the altar of cinema?!" Amanda flopped back on the pillows. "I'm sick of hearing it."

"Then I won't disturb you anymore tonight." Thomas was barely keeping a lid on the rage that had built up at her accusations and dismissal of his logical explanations. He gathered his pajamas and and went to one of the guest rooms.

"If you like looking at butts so much, why don't you go look in a mirror?" Amanda yelled out before he slammed the door. "Because you are being such an ass right now!"

Thomas tossed and turned that night, unable to rid himself of his anger. He couldn't believe that the woman he had bragged on to everyone about being so supportive of his craft had become this--this--unreasonable wife.

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and softly groaned. It was only two in the morning.

He went downstairs, completely frustrated with the effect Amanda had on him. Her happiness brought out his own and now her unhappiness made him completely miserable. Was this what marriage truly did to someone?

He paused when he walked into the kitchen. Amanda was sitting at the counter with a plate of cookies.

Their eyes met before both looked away in embarrassment.

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck, unsure how to approach her. He cut his eyes to her while opening the fridge and watched as she dipped a cookie in her glass of milk.

Her hand was shaking.

He took the milk out, poured himself a glass, and approached her.

"Mind if I join you?"

She continued to look down at her plate. "I don't mind."

He sat down on the stool beside hers and took one of the cookies.

Awkward silence filled the room.

Amanda bit her bottom lip and then spoke up. "I'm sorry I made so little about you being a director. I am very proud with how accomplished you are."

His tense shoulders eased. "Thank you." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if this part of my job upsets you." He turned toward her. "I usually have my assistant director handle these type of situations. Ryan's been using Holly for that, but she's out of town visiting her family and he can't postpone filming."

Thomas gently brushed her hair back behind her shoulder so he could see her profile better. "That's why I've been asked and am planning to go."

Amanda sighed. "I can't pretend I'm happy about this...but I won't continue to fight with you over it."

Thomas leaned closer to her. "You have nothing to be worried about."

She finally looked up at him. "I hope I don't." She got up and threw her half eaten cookie away.

The next morning Thomas closely observed Amanda. She wasn't acting like her normal self. She was a naturally quiet person, but today she was subdued. Not quite depressed, yet she was much more somber than normal. Her smiles were brief and didn't quite reach her eyes as she listened to him.

This was driving him crazier than her anger.

"What are your plans today?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Perhaps tonight, we could go out to dinner, if you would like." He tried to coax her into smiling.

"Perhaps." She mumbled, picking at her eggs. She stood up from the table and tossed her barely touched breakfast in the trash.

Thomas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Why don't we plan a trip somewhere, just the two of us for a week or so? We can go wherever you want."

"I guess we could." She said while rinsing her plate. She forced a smile and left the kitchen.

He followed her. "Would you rather stay in tonight? I could pick us up some takeout and we--"

"Whatever you want." She said going upstairs. "I honestly don't have a preference."

He gripped the banister and watched her disappear into the bedroom.

A few moments later, she stepped out in her bathing suit. She hesistated halfway down the stairs. Thomas was sitting on the bottom step, holding his head in his hands.

"Thomas, what's the--" she nearly fell backwards at his sudden movement.

He grabbed her and yanked her into a heated kiss. She was at first passive but then her arms wrapped around him. His mouth slanted over hers, deepening the kiss, hoping to hear the usual soft moan from her.

It didn't come.

He lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. There was no hardness nor was there any tender softening that usually occurred when he kissed her.

The mantle clock chimed the hour, drawing her attention away from him. "You better go if you're to meet Ryan." She tried to smile. "I'll see you later."

He cupped her face and gently kissed her lips. She leaned in closer to his sweet touch, closing her eyes.

He pressed his forehead against hers and promised he wouldn't be gone long.

She nodded and walked with him to the door. "Good lu--." She grimaced. "I honestly don't know what to say with this particular search."

His lips firmed in a thin line. Her attempt to being kind about this was eating at him. He grumbled a thank you and got into his car.

At the studio he sat across from Ryan in a conference room. The table was filled with photographs of various women.

His irritation was growing at his inability to look at them. Each time he tried, his mind brought up the image of Amanda's vulnerable eyes.

"What do you think?" Ryan asked.

"What?" Thomas asked abruptly. "Oh, er, whichever you think."

"I think we'll have these three come in to audition." Ryan held up the pictures. "Then--"

"It sounds like you have this well in hand." Thomas stood up, accidentally knocking his chair over. "I need to go take care of something."

"I thought you were going to help me make the final decision." Ryan's brow furrowed as Thomas fumbled with his chair.

Thomas grit his teeth. "To be a true director, you must be willing to make all the tough decisions on your own." He walked towards the door. "I have no doubt that you are capable of making this one without any comments I make."

"Thanks for coming." Ryan yelled out. He was even more perplexed than before with Thomas's hasty exit.

On the way home, Thomas tried continuously to call Amanda. Each time it rang with no answer, made the guilt and worry gnaw at his stomach. By the time he pulled into the garage, he felt ill.

He called out for her as soon as he entered the house. He glanced out the window and saw her floating in the pool.

Thomas felt slightly better at now knowing she wasn't purposely avoiding his phone calls. He hurried upstairs to change before joining her.

Amanda looked up and nearly rolled off her float when his shadow fell over her. "You're back? Already?"

"I am." He pulled his shirt off and dove into the pool.

He resurfaced beside her. He pulled her off her float and held her close. "I told Ryan to be the director and make the decision himself."

"Thomas." Amanda lowered her head. "I didn't mean for you to--"

"I know." He murmered, kissing her. "I couldn't stand the thought of you being unhappy with something that I didn't have to do."

"It was wrong of me to do that to you." She wound her arms around his neck.

"I think I can make certain concessions for the one I love especially since she has made so many for me." He pulled her closer. "Your happiness takes precedence over everything else."

"I can't believe how I acted." Amanda's arms dropped. "You're being so kind after all I said and the names I called you," she lowered her head. "I don't know why you put up with me."

"Stop talking bad about my wife." He ordered.

She laughed and shook her head, causing him to feel that inner warmth only she brought him return. Her smile was tender as she hugged him. "Thank you."

Thomas felt all his earlier frustration disappear in seeing her happy once more. She pulled his head down and kissed him, making him forget everything with her touch.

#thomas hunt x amanda #choices thomas hunt #thomas hunt x oc #rcd thomas hunt #thomas hunt #rachel green prompts #and then i met you

[krsnlove]

Happy Moments Collection

A/N: To fulfill a couple prompts from @alj4890​. For you, bff! A couple months late--oops. 

Pairing: Elliott McKingley [OC] x Amanda Bridgerton [bff’s OC] x Maxwell Beaumont

You can catch up here with these two crazies and their journey!

DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S POWDER ROOM

Amanda closes her eyes for the third time, hoping with every fiber in her body she was seeing things. It happened all the time.

Especially with the accidental self-injuries she has caused through the years. The consequences were bound to show at some point in her life, right?

Right, she answered her own question, eyes still closed.

Double-vision. Of course.  

That’s all it was.

She took another deep breath and slowly exhaled before finally opening her eyes.

DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S BEDROOM

Olivia sat back in the cushioned armchair with her latest copy of Knives Illustrated. An activity she normally enjoyed in the comfort of her own home if Amanda hadn’t asked for help.

Even then, there was a small chance she would have come.

But the opportunity to help Amanda in pulling off an April Fool’s joke on her fiancé was too good to pass up. After keeping their engagement a secret, she was all too willing to have a laugh at the expense of her best friend’s future husband.

Olivia stood from her seat and approached the powder room door.

“Hello?! There are only a number of ways one can pee on a stick, Amanda! It shouldn’t take this long!,” she impatiently calls through the door.

Olivia shook her head in disappointment.

She had tried to dissuade Amanda away from the world’s most cliché April Fool’s prank of the fake pregnancy with better suggestions such as lighting Elliott’s hair on fire or filling his briefcase with a firecracker. Much to her dismay, Amanda had turned down some of her best ideas.  

“I’d still like to marry him in one piece when this is over,” Amanda had told her.

The Scarlett Duchess went back to her seat and tried her hardest to focus on her magazine as she kept an eye on the powder room door. Maybe she should have stayed home after all, she thought with a bored sigh.

OTHER SIDE OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S BEDROOM DOOR

“Seriously, breathe louder Maxwell. That’s great!,” Drake hissed.

Maxwell put his hands up and mouthed a silent Sorry.

Shaking his head in irritation, Drake turns back to the door and puts his ear against it once more.

A few moments pass as he attempts to listen for Amanda or Olivia’s voice.

“Do you hear anything?,” Maxwell whispered.

Drake pressed his ear closer, ignoring the question.

“Drake?,” Maxwell stuck his finger into his side, poking him. “Do you hear anything?”

“Yupp.”

“Really? Is it Amanda? What is she saying?!,” he asks in an excited whisper.

“It’s not Amanda.”

“Oh,” Maxwell said with a hint of disappointment. “What’s Olivia saying then?”

“It’s not Olivia either.”

Drake looked back to a confused Maxwell.

“Then who is—.”

“It’s you Maxwell! Shut up!,” he bit out.

Maxwell grimaced, mouthing another silent apology before running his two fingers across his lips in a zipping motion.

DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S BEDROOM

Olivia perched herself against the bay window of Amanda’s bedroom, her arms folded across her chest in a serious look of contemplation.

Amanda, who finally emerged from the powder room a few minutes ago, continued to pace nervously around the room.

“So you…,” Olivia asked.

“Yeah.”

“But you didn’t…”

“Nope.”

“Which means you’re…”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you had…”

“No.”

“And Elliott doesn’t…”

“No clue,” Amanda answered as she finally stopped pacing and sat herself onto the bedroom floor. “Elliott...I haven’t even…”. Her breaths became short and rushed at the thought of him.

Olivia walked over and crouched beside Amanda, using the magazine in hand to fan over her.

“‘Liv...Elliott. He doesn’t...we just got engaged...and now…,” she closes her eyes in hopes for a moment of respite from the spinning room.

The two friends sit in silence for a few moments. Olivia kept herself busy with continuing the fanning motions with the magazine while Amanda stared blankly at the opposite end of the room.

Olivia’s voice is first to break through the quietness.

“Didn’t I warn you about shopping for a wedding dress while--”. She doesn’t finish her sentence, a pillow in her face prevents her from doing so.

LATER THAT NIGHT

“I’m out Beaumont.”

“What? Why?!,” Maxwell asks as he packs the last of his climbing equipment into a bag.

Drake notices the desperate look in his friend’s eyes drawing him in once again.

“Damn it Maxwell!,” he groaned. “You have to stop!”

“Stop what?,” Maxwell stopped to look up at his friend.

“Maxwell, they’re engaged.”

“Yeah. I know that.”

“You’re acting like you don’t,” Drake gestures towards the bag in his hand. “Think about it. You’re going to climb up to her bedroom window and hope to get her alone and talk with her.”

Maxwell looks at the bag in his hand, contemplating Drake’s words.

“Earlier we were creeping around her house like we were strangers.”

“In my defense, you said you’d help me find out.”

“Maxwell I meant I’d ask her face to face. Not have my ear against her door like an idiot.”

“I just need to see her--”.

“No,” Drake shook his head in defeat. “This isn’t something someone does just to see another person. This is crazy.”

Drake breathed a heavy sigh into the cool air of the night, taking in Maxwell’s tired features. He almost wasn’t recognizable, not since Amanda’s engagement had been announced. He hated to admit when Olivia was right but the desperate look in Maxwell’s eyes tonight was enough of a confirmation.

“She loves him, Maxwell,” he echoes Olivia’s reminder from the past several months. “They’re in love. Don’t complicate this for her. She deserves that much from you.”

THE DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S BALCONY

Thoughts of the impending future race through her mind. She isn’t sure if the nausea gnawing at her was from the endless thoughts or…

She closes her eyes for a brief moment, pushing the thought away.

“Hey, you.”

She turns to the familiar voice, her stomach fluttering even before she sees him.  

Her eyes are greeted with his familiar 6’4 figure leaning against the balcony door, dressed in a crisp gray suit that highlighted his ice-blue eyes.

“Hi,” Amanda breathed a quiet sigh of relief at seeing him. Somehow the queasy feeling went away but had shifted into something more intense. Almost a peaceful feeling.

“Would you believe Winston almost had me wait downstairs for you?,” his tone was light and playful. That confident smirk on his lips that came easily to him, the same one that had been her undoing since that first night, only increased the butterflies--at least she hoped it was that--in the pit of her stomach.

“He isn’t wrong. A proper lady wouldn’t take a gentleman caller to her bedroom,” she was somehow able to think of something to say. “Think of the scandal we would cause.”

“Lucky for you,” Elliott walked towards her, “I enjoy a good scandal,” the grin on his face never fails to weaken Amanda’s senses.  

His hands slide around her waist, pulling her close. Elliott breathes in her scent before sighing contentedly. His lips graze past her own while softly kissing the line of her jaw until his mouth is inches from her ear.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

Amanda felt a shiver down her spine at the intimacy. A frequent sensation she had become familiar with since beginning a relationship with Elliott.

“How...much...longer?,” he asks between the trail of kisses he begins from her ear down to her neck.  

“...Hmm?,” Amanda tries her hardest to focus on words as her eyes close in concentration.

“Wedding,” Elliott answered in between kisses. “You. Wife. Me. Husband. Us.”

Her eyes shoot open at the last word, suddenly remembering the day’s events.

Pushing away from a confused Elliott, she faces the view of her balcony with her back to him.

“Amanda?”

She doesn’t answer but the feeling of his arms come from behind her and pulls her to him, his hands settle across her chest before he places a kiss on her temple.

“What are you thinking about?,” his chin rests on the top of her head, looking out at the same view from the balcony.

She hesitates for a moment before answering, praying for courage and hoping it’ll be found within the next few moments. Until finally...

“Do you ever...you know, think about the future?,” the words begin to spill out.

OUTSIDE OF THE DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S HOME

It was a known fact, Maxwell reassured himself as he tightened the harness, couples tend to think alike after some time. It was the only reasonable explanation why Drake had said what he had tonight.

The sound of the serene night filled his ears, complete with crickets and the ominous silence that would follow when one was alone.

He focused his thoughts on happier things as he looked up onto the familiar balcony. Thoughts of Amanda. And his plans once she saw him in her bedroom.

There was little chance Amanda’s longtime butler, Winston, would allow him in at this time of the night, leaving him little choice but to climb up to her room. Clearly she would come to the same conclusion when she found him waiting for her.

BACK ON THE BALCONY

Amanda nervously chewed on the bottom of her lip as she waited for the man she had fallen in love with to speak. Anything, she thought with desperation, was better than this awkward silence.

“Please say something…,” she begged.

She wasn’t sure what his reaction would be but the faraway look in his eyes she had seen once turning to face him wasn’t in the realm of possibilities. Stomping off in a fury or even yelling out in denial was one of the many scenarios she had played in her mind but not this, the deafening silence that was beginning to grow unpleasant.

“Elliott…,” she stares down at her hand still tucked into his in a now loose, almost lazy grip. As if all would be well if they were to separate in that very moment. The thought brings with it a stinging pain in her chest as she fights the urge to cry. She shook her hand free , breaking him from his own trance.

“It’s been a long night,” she turned away. “You should probably get some sleep. We can talk about it later.”

Despite her best effort, Amanda touches her fingers at the wetness of her cheeks, angry at herself. She could have at least waited until Elliott had left but her damned emotions had taken over. She barely is able to resist the urge to break into a sprint away from him, away from this conversation. Just away, she thought desperately, trying to create a larger distance between them.

“Stop!,” Amanda looks back at the sound of Elliott’s outburst, and then down at his hand gripping her wrist.

“Leave Elliott,” she said using her best authoritative voice.

“No.” He gently pulls her to him and Amanda finds herself being dragged into his sphere of his influence. One where she could never think straight, where her senses were robbed by his touch alone.

She doesn’t fight it though. How can she?

In a swift movement, Amanda’s eyes lock onto his chest. Not yet wanting to look into his face. Afraid of what she would find, most likely rejection, if she somehow mustered enough courage to do so. She had never been so grateful for their height difference until right now.

His large hands hold her shoulders and he closes the space between them, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Look at me,” he whispered. She shook her head, knowing how weak she was in that moment. She couldn’t trust herself around him right now.

“Please.”

She stilled at hearing the vulnerability in his voice. It was an odd sound. One that didn’t belong and was all wrong for the man standing before her. Elliott McKingley was many things and insecure is definitely not one.

Curious if his face showed it, she slowly begins to tilt her head up when his hands cradle the sides of her face and she feels Elliott press the gentlest kiss on her lips. And then another one. And another. And before either one can stop themselves, Elliott’s hands drop down to her waist crushing her to him and she wraps her arms around his neck when the kisses become more frequent and urgent.

A FEW FEET AWAY ON SAME BALCONY

It dawned on Maxwell in that moment that maybe this wasn’t his most clever idea. He glances over the ledge of the balcony before pulling himself back to the safety of the vine wall. It wasn’t too far of a drop if, he gulped at the thought, he happened to misstep and fall to his impending doom.

Hopefully it might be a broken leg instead of death? Concussion? And then, he thought with glee, Amanda would volunteer to nurse him back to health.

Maybe she’d fall in love with him in the process. It always happened in the movies. He would be the grouchy, injured climber and she would be the clumsy yet kind caretaker. Maxwell moved to finish the climb up to her balcony with renewed hope, not too concerned with falling as he was before.

BACK ON THE BALCONY

“I love you,” Elliott whispered into her lips. He pulls out his phone from inside his jacket. “If we hurry we can be married by morning,” he says as he sends off a few texts.

“..Married?”

Elliott looked up from his phone as if she had two heads.

“Yes. Marriage,” he said carefully as if he were explaining the concept for the umpteenth time. “We’ve checked off the k-i-s-s-i-n-g part, I’ve lost count actually on how many times to be honest. Not that I’m complaining of course,” he winked at her.

She blushed at his words.

“And I think I made myself quite clear when I practically shouted from the rooftops of New York City and Cordonia and everywhere else in between how much I love you, so the love part has been checked off for quite some time.”

The familiar nursery rhyme, the one Elliott had taught her, the one he would sing to her, began to play in her mind.

She could hear his voice, soft and smooth, floating through her...

...Elliott and Amanda kissing in the tree...first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby...

She snapped her attention to him, his gaze solely fixated on her. As if she mattered more than anything, or anyone else, in the world.

“And now,” Elliott put his phone away, “you went ahead and skipped to the ending.” She felt her knees go weak at the tenderness of his voice.

She cleared her throat wanting to have some sense in this moment, realizing what he was insinuating. “Me?! May I remind you, it takes two people for this,” she gestured to her stomach, “to happen.”

“Tomato. Tohmahtoe.”

She shoved his shoulder earning a chuckle from him and despite her best effort, Amanda laughed.  

“So you’re not leaving?”

Elliott stilled.

“If this is your idea of sexy talk…,” he asked dubiously.

Amanda rolled her eyes. “You weren’t saying anything, Elliott. What was I supposed to know?”

Elliott considered her words for a brief moment. The same deafening silence, and all its negativity, came back to her and she impatiently turned away from him, making her way back to her room.

Just as she had been grateful for their height difference a few minutes ago, she now despised it. His long gait was quick to cut her off before she could create some distance between them.

“You’re supposed to know,” Elliott took her hands in his, “up to that point, meeting you was one of the happiest moments of my life.”

“What a sad life you must have lived,” she arched a brow as his lips grazed her knuckle.

“The saddest,” he slowly shook his head as his mind raced through memories of his life before this woman changed everything for him.

“You’re also supposed to know that I was, am, still and will be forever in love with you. The most important part of all this is that you feel the same way...that was the happiest moment in my sad little life.”

“Did I say that?,” she fought the smile coming to her and failed horribly.

He pressed another kiss on her knuckle. “I believe the words you used were “utterly and hopelessly in love”.”

“I remember it differently,” her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Details,” he shrugged. “Besides, this is my memory, not yours. You can go later. Now, where were we?”

“The happiest moments of your sad life.”

“Of course. Next, you then agreed to be my wife and I thought no. That...that was the happiest moment of my life.”

He presses a kiss to her ring finger just above his ring. A sight that still brought him excitement and serenity all at once.

“How could I say no? You practically begged me,” she teased.

“Excuse me. I don’t beg, Amanda. I just happen to know my audience really well,” he winked. “Every single curve,” he added for good measure just to see her blush again, which she willingly obliged.

She looks away from him, not sure what else there was to say. The man was still very much in love with her. It felt surreal to be this happy she thought.

Elliott’s finger lifts under her chin, turning her to look up at him.

“Until a few minutes ago, I thought I had enough happy moments in my collection. More than I could hope for. More than a man like me deserved. But then…”.

Elliott’s eyes look over her, as if he was committing her face to memory for the first time. That same flutter in her stomach had started up again and the air, despite the crisp breeze of the night, had suddenly gone warm.

“I love you, Amanda,” he finally spoke, with an intensity she had never heard in his voice before. “I treasure the happy moments I have because of you. The past ones and now,” he looked down to her still flat stomach, “the future ones too.”

“But please,” he hesitated a moment before placing a kiss on the inside of her palm. “Don’t make me wait another second without you as my wife.” And then in a low almost begging voice, “Please?”.

“You want to be married in the morning?!,” she tried to keep the panic out of her voice. “What about the plans we’ve already set for the wedding?”

He shrugged. “I don’t mind marrying you twice unless you mind fainting twice when you see me in my tux.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Just in love,” he corrected.

“Your father doesn’t know the difference,” she looked down speaking to her stomach. It felt strange and maybe even silly, speaking to a human being that wasn’t born yet somehow, standing there with her future husband and father of her child, it felt right.

“So, are my ladies in accord with the plans?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Ladies?”

“It’s a girl,” he said with such adoration Amanda felt her heart burst at the love in his eyes.

“My girls,” Elliott moved to sweep her off her feet as he carried her bridal style, “will be well taken care of. I will be there every step of the way, Amanda. The lamaze classes, the late night feedings, maybe a few diaper changes…”.

“Maybe a few?,” she wrapped her hands around his neck, resting her head against his chest, as he made his way out of her bedroom down to the car waiting for them out front.

“Sshh. You’re spoiling my plans. We’ll have to get the nursery going, I got some ideas for that by the way. I know how to pinterest, too. What else? Oh, yes. The baby shower. If you don’t mind I’d like to have two. One here and the other in--are you listening to me?”

She wiped the tears running down her cheeks, wondering what she did to deserve a man as caring, thoughtful, and sweet as the one beside her.

“Yes, I’m listening. Just ready to be Mrs. Elliott McKingley already.”

His hand came up to cradle her cheek, a look of total adoration in his eyes.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t come with any noble titles or fortunes. Might have to settle for me as your personal driver. Every now and then you’ll have to attend boring company parties. Although, if you’re good, I might be able to get you out of them,” the playing smirk on his lips again.

“Are you sure?”, she countered. “You’ll have to deal with ball gowns and frustrating noblemen. And a pregnant and moody woman for the next nine months. Probably even after nine months. Even if you’re good, you can’t get out of it.”

Elliott let out a laugh at her words, shaking his head.

“I’m sure. Remember? I’m crazy. You said so yourself.”

“In love,” she corrected him before pulling him to her in a fervent kiss.

BACK ON THE BALCONY/INSIDE DUCHESS OF ST. ORELLA’S BEDROOM

Maxwell took a few tentative steps, eyeing his surroundings, as he quickly made his way to Amanda’s bed.

It was empty, her bedroom, that much he could tell.

He looked around once more before settling down on her bed, putting his feet up and leaned back onto the numerous pillows.

He’s waited this long to tell her. What was a few more minutes?

#Amanda bridgerton #Maxwell beaumont #choices maxwell #oc's everywhere #Maxwell x Amanda x elliott #Amanda x elliott

[its-ashleyreads]

FInished: 05/05/2020

Love at First Like by Hannah Orenstein

Rating:  ★★★★★

Okay, so to preface this review I feel like I need to say that I don’t typically rate romance novels highly. Not because I believe that they aren’t deserving of high ratings but more often than not there is some problematic element that I just don’t jive with. That being said, this book definitely had a problematic element to it but it was dealt with in such a way that enhanced the characters and their development instead of being problematic for the sake of shock value.

Also, just a warning that I had a LOT of thoughts on this book so the review is quite lengthy. I’ll put little headers on each paragraph so if you’re only interested in thoughts on certain aspects you can scroll down and find them easily.

Summary

“Love at First Like” by Hannah Orenstein, is about Eliza, a 20-something jewellery store owner in New York who sells happily ever afters but can’t seem to find her own. One night after a train wreck of a first date she scrolls through Instagram and finds out that her ex-boyfriend, who said he wasn’t the type to settle down, has gotten engaged. Eliza does what everyone does after finding out their ex has moved on, she gets drunk. After drinking through the better part of a bottle of whiskey Eliza thinks it’s a good idea to go into the jewellery store, she co-owns with her sister and take pictures of engagement rings on her finger.

The next morning, she realises that in her drunkenness she accidentally posted one of the photos on Instagram and her 100K followers now believe that she’s engaged. Her first instinct is to take the photo down but after seeing the influx of sales, at a time when the business sorely needs them, she decides to milk it a little longer. With so many questions surrounding who she’s engaged to and no man in sight, Eliza and her best friend Carmen, decide to hold an audition of sorts for someone to play the groom-to-be. The audition turns out to be a complete bust but shortly after Eliza meets Blake. Blake is everything a girl like Eliza wants, he’s attractive, charming, and he owns a men’s luxury watch company; they’re a match made in heaven. They start dating because this is someone who Eliza can really see herself settling down with, but she hasn’t told him that she’s fake engaged, or that she’s planning to stage a fake wedding to drum up even more sales for her business. Throughout the book Eliza struggles with whether to tell Blake the truth, or risk losing him for good.

 Review *Contains Spoilers*

Eliza

When I first picked up this book it was in one of those 3 for £10 sales and I needed a third. The premise sounded ridiculous and unrealistic and I thought it would just be an easy read that I rolled my eyes at, like most chick-lit. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I thought this was going to be a 1/5 but somehow, I’m giving it a gold star and a 5 out of fucking 5.

The main character, Eliza, is not someone I totally relate to, in fact her impulsivity is one of the qualities I hate most in anyone. As a dedicated planner and organiser, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves, but despite that I actually really liked Eliza’s character. Her bad/irresponsible choices in the beginning mostly just seem like a way to get the plot moving but I can still see how her character got to the place to make those choices. We’re given just enough backstory to understand how much her jewellery store, Brooklyn Jewels, means to her and how she would do anything to keep it from going under. Which is why when sales go up after the accidental engagement photo, I totally understand why she didn’t delete it, even if I don’t agree with it.

Secondary Characters/Friendships

I also absolutely loved that side characters like Carmen, Sophie and Raj all got to be real, fleshed out characters. Often, I find that secondary characters, in romance especially, don’t really get to have arcs or personalities other than whatever stereotype or trope they’re based on. Carmen in particular I thought was really well done. When we’re first introduced to her I thought she was just going to be a fun BFF that serves up one-liners to get laughs. Yes, Carmen can be a funny character at times, but that’s not who she is. Despite us only having small glimpses into this character, as we only see her through Eliza, Orenstein uses Eliza’s history with Carmen to show us how she’s evolved over the years in her career goals particularly. The second encounter we have with Carmen is almost entirely centred on her and her idea of an app that she wants to launch, where Eliza intones that previously “[Carmen] said she’d rather do excellent work for a company and collect a steady paycheck. [Eliza] never thought she'd strike out on her own.” (60) The rest of this encounter is spent with Eliza offering to provide business advice and support to Carmen as she knows how hard starting a business can be.

I absolutely adore Eliza and Carmen’s friendship because it doesn’t revolve around Eliza and her boy trouble. Their friendship is a two-way street where they lift each other up when they doubt themselves, like when Carmen was nervous about making a presentation to investors and Eliza went through it with her until she’d perfected it. And they ground each other when they’re becoming too idealistic, like when Eliza keeps stringing Blake along and Carmen reminds Eliza that he’s a person with real feelings who doesn’t deserve to be played with. Their friendship is so authentic and true to real life experience that I honestly want another book about just the two of them living it up in NYC.

Eliza as a friend in general, I found was quite refreshing. In a lot of romance the heroine tends to be quite selfish and shitty towards their friends, if they have any at all, but Eliza hit the perfect balance of caring for her friends and caring for herself; not being a martyr, but also not being greedy. I loved how excited she got about her friends lives and achievements, and how when she saw that Raj, a web engineer, was bar-tending between gigs she hooked him up with Carmen who was in need of exactly what he had to offer. I also like how it was mentioned that Carmen paid Raj because I think sometimes things like that get reduced to a friend doing another friend a favour, instead of the fact that Raj is a trained professional and deserves to be paid for his time and expertise.

Sophie

However, someone who did not deserve to get paid, was fucking Sophie. Let me clarify, Sophie deserved to be paid for the work she did at Brooklyn Jewels, but she did NOT deserve a $15K bonus right as their business was going through a tough time financially. This made me unreasonably angry, I had a full freaking meltdown because it was so ridiculous to me that she would even ask and even more so that Eliza said YES. Sophie needed the money to go through IVF treatments because she and her wife wanted to have a baby, fair enough. I personally don’t believe in going through that kind of treatment when there are so many kids in the world without families but whatever, to each their own. But what really irked me was the fact that Sophie, who is in her early thirties, had already attempted this method of conception and it didn’t work. So, she was willing to take a gamble with money that was greatly needed to help keep their business afloat because she couldn’t just wait a fucking year or two. Not to mention the fact that if she did get pregnant and has this baby only for her business to fail, then she wouldn’t have a steady income, health insurance, maternity pay and she would have also screwed her sister out of her dream. Luckily everything works out for the best, Sophie gets pregnant and Eliza saves Brooklyn Jewels, but it so very easily could have destroyed multiple lives. The fact that Sophie is meant to be perceived as the ‘responsible’ sister astounds me. When Eliza was trying to save their business by offering solutions Sophie kept shooting every idea down and her only contribution to that conversation was that she wanted to fire their only employee who got paid shit-all anyway. Honestly, I could write a fucking essay on why I hated Sophie but I guess I’ll settle for a really long paragraph.

Love Interests

The problematic element in this book was definitely the ridiculously elaborate plot for Eliza to lure Blake into marriage to cover her fuck-up. As I was reading I marked three places where Eliza could have told Blake the truth in an organic way so that it wasn’t just like she was dropping a bomb on him. Despite my frustration with Eliza, her internal monologue again, made me understand why she wasn’t doing things how I wanted her to. Although, even though I understand her reasoning, it still doesn’t make what she did to Blake right, and I absolutely love how he couldn’t trust her again and that they didn’t get back together. I hate the ‘love concurs all’ trope and I’m glad that the author showed how Blake, who was clearly way more in love with Eliza than vice versa, couldn’t get past the fact that she used and lied to him. Part of me wishes that was how the romance in this book ended, with no happily ever after, maybe Raj pretending to be her fiancé to save Brooklyn Jewels, but no happy couple at the end.

The other part of me feels all warm and fuzzy because Raj and Eliza are unbelievably cute together. Orenstein could have fucked this romance up so hard, especially because it comes in so late in the story and Eliza was (kind of) on the rebound. But she takes the readers thoughts of, ‘Did Eliza really not notice her feelings for Raj until now?’ and ‘Is Raj just second place because Blake dumped her?’ and turns them into questions Raj uses to stand up for himself. Raj has clearly liked Eliza since they first met and I loved that he was willing to fight for what he believed he deserved. Raj and Eliza have such great chemistry as characters, but they were ultimately their own people who made their own choices, even after getting together. The way Orenstein wrote both Blake and Raj was a breath of fresh air. To see two male characters not being aggressive, but still standing up for themselves and not blindly bowing down to what the female love interest wanted, was something I don’t think I’ve ever read before. I think that comes from the fact that yes, Eliza is the heroine of this story but it’s not just about her. Like, I could tell while reading from Eliza’s point of view that there were other things going on in this world that just didn’t include her. So, while she was our main character, she wasn’t the main character of the world she was living in.

Representation

One of the things I loved most about this book was the casual representation. This was the truest to life representation I’ve seen in a romance novel thus far. Orenstein doesn’t make a big deal about her minority characters because they’re not minority characters, they’re characters who happen to be minorities. This book isn’t about race or LGBTQ+ rights so there’s no real need to dwell on those things, but she does acknowledge those parts of her characters in small ways throughout. This is how more fiction should be, because the more we normalize diversity in the media we consume, the less we’ll think of minority groups as ‘other’ (or so I hope).

Rating

Ultimately this book was not perfect. I definitely had problems with it (mostly named Sophie) but it was a fun read from beginning to end with some thought provoking themes which will stick with me for a while yet. Honestly, this book could have been complete garbage, but Orenstein’s writing and character development made me connect to almost every character (except for Sophie of course). I can’t wait to read her other works. 5/5. Brava!

#ashley reviews #hannah orenstein #love at first like #romance #contemporary romance #book review #5/5

[theworldofotps]

Forever and Always

Pairing: Fergal Devitt x Reader Word Count: 1,460 Description: Fergal will love (y/n) forever and always no matter what happens. -It's kinda sad af so like angst. Idk I just wrote if you don't wanna be sad don't read t.

Song based one shot, the song is Forever and Always By Parachute.

I did, however, switch it to it being y/n instead of Fergal because I couldn't bring myself to do 'that' to my baby so yeah. I know I said I had other works coming and I do but I just wanted to post cause I'm stuck on this Elias piece.

_____________

Tag list:

@writtingrose @biforbecky2belts @sjwrites22 @detectiveramen @sassymox @demonkingsangel @the-beastslayers-queen @thewrestlingwarehouse @reigns420 @sassyspacedust @burnitbalor @new-zealand-chic

Lemme know if you wanna be added.

______________

Fergal sits at the table sipping the cup of coffee he made while waiting for (y/n) to come home from work. He had the day off and they had planned to spend the evening together relaxing maybe watch a few movies. Glancing at the clock he sees it's going on eight she should have been home over an hour ago. Looking at his phone to see if there are any missed messages or calls he decides to ring up her best friend since they work together. 

"Hello, (y/bff/n) speaking."

"Hi, uh it's Fergal."

"It's so nice to hear from you, (y/n) was just telling me earlier you were home for a few days."

"That I am, I was wondering if she went home with ya she isn't back yet and I know she got off at six-thirty."

"No, she's not with me I haven't seen her or spoke with her since I got off at four."

"Oh alright, I was just a bit worried she usually calls if she's going to be late."

"The boss might have had an emergency and needed her maybe you should give her cellphone a call."

"Thanks, I'll do that and have her text you when she gets home."

Hanging up he presses the speed dial button confused on why it goes straight to voicemail.

"Hello love, it's me I was wondering where ya were since you haven't made it home yet. Give me a call when you get this so I know you're alright. I love you."

Ending the call Fergal looks out the window at the snow-covered ground it was crazy to still see snow and almost be the end of March. He was more than ready for springtime and new that (y/n)  was ready for it too. When the phone rings he rushes back to the table picking it up hoping to hear his fiancee's voice.

"Hello?"

"Is this Fergal Devitt?"

"Yes, it is who am I speaking with?"

"This is officer Trenton I was asked to call you and have you come to the hospital it's involves your fiancee."

"What's wrong?"

"Something has happened and the doctor said you should come right now. I can't say much else right at the moment I'm sorry sir."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

Hanging up once more Fergal slips on his things asking his neighbor to give him a ride to the hospital. Sitting in the passenger seat Fergal can't help but let his mind drift back to December when he finally asked her to be his wife.

~

"Feg where on earth are we going?"

"Don't worry love you'll see in a moment."

Smiling as she grips his hand to keep from tripping Fergal guides her to the large fountain, the Christmas lights on it shining brightly.

"Okay, when I tell ya too open yer eyes."

"Got it."

Releasing her hand Fergal gets on one knee thankful someone had cleared off the sidewalk so his pants wouldn't get wet on the concrete.

"Open your eyes, my love."

(Y/n) opens her eyes glancing around before noticing Fergal on one knee a beautiful ring sat in a black velvet box in his hand.

"(Y/n) you have made me the happiest man alive I don't think it's possible for anyone to match what I feel for ya love. You are the brightest thing in my life right next to my family I want you forever and always. I want to love you through all the good and every bad as well as the ugly. Despite being seperated by weeks of traveling I want you to know that at the end of the day I'm still yours. I wanna grow old together with you if possible have a family of our own. I want you forever, for always and I promise to love you no matter what. So (y/f/n) (y/l/n) will you marry me?"

Wiping the tears from her eyes (y/n) nods saying a soft yes Fergal grins sliding the ring on her slightly trembling hand. Standing he pulls her close pressing a kiss kiss to her lips as she smiles back to him whispering forever and always against his lips.

~

"We're here please let me know what's going on I'll be in the waiting room."

"Thank you I appreciate it."

Walking in the entrance Fergal goes right to the front desk wringing his hands nervously.

"I'm here about (Y/f/n) (Y/l/n) the police told me to show up."

"Yes sir follow me."

Following behind the nurse she gets a doctor who shakes his hand the two leading him down what felt like a million halls. This place is more like a maze than a hospital he just wanted to get to his woman. He tries to listen as they tell him about an accident someone slid on a patch of black ice ramming her car down an embankment which flipped it before hitting a tree. Fergal feels his heart drop he couldn't seem to focus on what they were saying they sounded so far away. Stopping in front of the door the doctor gives him a pat on the shoulder walking away trying to keep a straight face he steps in the room.

"Fergal."

Sitting next to her bed he tries his hardest not to look at all the wires covering her body the cuts on her face. Taking her only uninjured hand in his he holds it tightly as he carefully pushes some hair from her eyes.

"Baby I'm so sorry."

Clearing his throat he places a kiss to the back of her hand as she takes a shallow breath looking at him.

"It wasn't your fault they say they say it was a sheet of black ice."

(Y/n) whispers wincing Fergal tries to distract her talking about the kids they're gonna have and how good life will be for them.

"At least at least two kids?"

"Mhm baby at least two or more if you want."

"Can we get a house in Ireland near your parents?"

"If that's what you want my love, of course, we can."

"On a hillside one with a great view where we can stay forever."

Fergal tries to hold the tears back as she lets out a small groan of pain shakily licking her lips

"We'll grow old together yeah?"

"Yes we will."

"I want you to promise me no matter what happens whether we're rich or we end up poor that we'll still love each other forever and always."

"I promise you and I promise I am going to love you for the rest of my existence."

Fergal sits up when he gets an idea calling for a nurse to come in he leans down so Fergal can whisper in his ear. He asks them to bring the chaplain up before asking the couple next door who's husband just got out of leg surgery to borrow their wedding rings. A small group of people stand near the bed to witness as the chaplain reads a few verses. Fergal cracks a small joke about (y/n) having to wait to enjoy their honeymoon the group laughs a little as tears fall down their cheeks. This was the kind of thing that they thought would only happen in a story they never thought they would see it in real life. Fergal slips the ring on her finger as he clears his throat to say the few short words he knew would mean the world to the two of them.

"(Y/n) I love you now you have me forever and always through the good and the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together and I want you to always remember whether happy or sad or whatever we'll still love each other no matter what."

Tears stream down his face as he finishes the vows the beeping on her heart monitor getting too slow. Y/n's voice is almost too low for Fergal to hear as she says her vows him helping her slip the ring on his hand then giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I..love you forever...forever and always.. Please.. just remember.. even if I'm not there... I'll always love you.. forever and always.."

--------

So this song rips my heart up.

#wwe #fergal devitt x reader #fergal devitt one shot #fergal devitt #wwe one shot #angst #sad #might need a tissue idk

[goddessnemain]

So I Got Drunk...

So I got drunk on Saturday night. It was a buddies' birthday party. We started off at his place- he and his wife made a killer spread of food to munch on before everyone headed out to a local brewery. He had friends come in from out of town, most of them were fairly nice, the women were a little catty, but I’ve come to expect that from city women. Thankfully a couple of our local mutual friends showed up shortly after I did, which helped make me a lot more comfortable instead of being in a house full of people I’d never met with the exception of my buddy and his wife. Nice group of people though. 

Between a couple drinks and a couple shots of mushroom tea, by the time everyone was ready to leave for the local brewery, I was in a good mood. I wasn’t drunk but I was a little tingly and feeling okay. So when they all went to the brewery, I took that opportunity to go home, shower, change my clothes. My roommate was nice enough to give me a ride to the pub so my truck didn’t drink too much and have to have another sleepover. 

The band at the pub was good. Of course, they were good, they play in there every few months, though this time it was only two members of the band and not the full band, they made it work and they were great. 

The night itself in the pub was like most Saturday nights when there's a band. We laughed, we joked, we played pool. We enjoyed the music, and it was fun. I yapped with a couple friends, I yapped a bit with the out of towners, the women pretty much stuck to themselves and made no effort to talk to me. It didn’t bother me, I didn’t want to talk to them anyway. I don’t do snarky, and they were definitely snarky. One of them was a local woman, who, upon learning who I was when we were at the house, became very judgemental. When you live in a small town, people know your name, they recognize your last name, and they make assumptions. It turned out that this woman knows my bro, she taught his son at one point, and the judgment flowed from her in thick waves. She wasn’t very nice to me once she found out who I was and who I’m related too. Jeez lady, I can’t pick who my parents birth, leave your judgments at the door and judge me for who I am and not some preconceived notion.

When the majority of us left the pub just after 1am, we all headed back to the house. One of the out of towners kept putting his arm around me, which I didn't like. I had a couple more drinks at the house, strong drinks. My good buddy mixed them and he mixes drinks two ways: the ‘normal’ way and his way, and his way consists of more than the standard ‘two fingers’ of liquor. I like his drinks more. So, the birthday boy passes out, half the group passes out. Lightweights. A few people from the group had left the pub at midnight headed back to the house. Pitiful. So I wound up drinking with a couple of them out of towners- a couple of the guys, and one of them, to my dismay, was the creeper who kept touching me, my good buddy and his younger brother. Eventually, when some other guy started hitting on me, the creeper sauntered off for a while before coming back. And then he’d saunter off again. My good buddies younger brother tried to convince me to get into the hot tub with him. Sorry man, no bathing suit, no bra, and thong undies mean no hot tub for me. He was pretty insistent but he didn’t get his way. He was saying something about “if you don’t get what I’m trying to tell you by now then you’re not going to get it”. Bud, you were wearing a wedding ring. I may have questionable antics once in a while, but a wedding ring is a gigantic “hands off” red flag, and a line I don’t cross. 

Eventually, it came down to three of us: the creeper, the guy that had been hitting on me, and myself. The creeper was still sauntering off and then coming back, sauntering off and coming back. The other guy was nice. Truth be told, I don’t remember much of what we talked about, but he wasn’t pushy, he wasn’t rude. and was just an enjoyable conversation, huddled around a fire. We chatted about our siblings, he told me about his job, I showed him a video on my phone of one of my kiddo’s accomplishments that I’m really proud of. I only live 3 1/2 blocks and across a highway from my buddies place, so I didn’t have far to walk home. Of course, it had snowed 7 inches in 8 hours and walking in all that fresh, unshoveled snow in my heels was not my idea of a good time, but I made it home. The guy I’d been chatting with had repeatedly tried to insist he walk me home, and after I repeatedly insisted I could make the journey on my own did he finally drop it. I got the vibe he wanted to walk me home to see if once we got here he could come in and ‘warm up’ and that’s why I was so insistent that I could walk my own damn self home. I could have been way wrong, he does have 3 older sisters and it could be just the way he is, but still. Besides, my brain was elsewhere.

And here’s the very dumb thing I did when I was drunk:

If you guessed I text the drummer at 3am you would be right.

I’d done so well! It had been 9 days since I had sent him any texts that had contained any actual words, and even then that text had been just thanking him for checking in on me- he knew I’d been having a rough few days- and 8 days since I sent him a text with a couple of emoji. I hadn’t replied to him at all. My theory had been if I could get through a week of not replying, I would be golden. And I made it through that week. His face didn’t stare at me every time I opened my Facebook messenger, he was far enough down the list I didn’t see his face anymore. He hadn’t been texting me- it had been 6 days since I’d gotten a text or a phone call, I thought maybe he’d ‘gotten the hint’ if that's what I was trying to do. I’d posted a selfie to Facebook right before I’d left for the pub. I can count on one hand the number of posts I have that he’s ever ‘liked’. Two. Exactly two posts. One in October that had said something about “Whisky Wednesdays” and that damn selfie I posted on Saturday night before I went to the pub. So, as you can imagine, it came as quite a shock when I saw his name on the list of people who had ‘liked’ my photo. So, between all the whisky I’d had, the mushroom tea, a bit of pot, still missing him even though I shouldn’t, and then seeing his name on that list, my brain was spinning. My feelings were spinning. My drunk brain combined with my wild BPD emotions and my phone was in my hand.

Text 1: I’ve spent the better part of a week trying my damnedest to not text you. And here I am, drunk, texting you. Why? Because I miss your stupid face and your stupid texts and your stupid calls. And I miss you and I shouldn’t miss you but I do.

Text 2: Why do I miss you? (My BFF) contributes it to being stupid. I think it’s because, well, I wish I could put it into words that someone would understand because I don’t even understand it.

Text 3: It’s bloody stupid. I’ve written about it. I’ve written you a ‘goodbye’ letter but apparently, it hasn’t stuck in my stupid brain because here I am drunk telling you that I miss you and I wish I could see you and that I care too much and you care too little and it breaks my heart and

Text 4: And I slightly hate myself for this shit

And then I called him when I was walking home...

Text 5: And I can’t even bring myself to let someone take me home. Or bring them home. Because it feels a bit wrong. And it shouldn’t because we know it doesn’t for you so what the fuck is wrong with me

Text 6, sent 24 hours later: I need to apologize. I never should have said those things regardless of my state of mind at the time. It was not fair to you to have to read the things I said, nor was it okay in any way or form for you to have to experience my drunken behavior. I’m sorry. I was unfair to you and I feel terrible about the things I said.

He’s read all the messages. If I remember correctly, he’d read the first 4 by 4am Saturday night (or Sunday morning if that's how you look at it) and the 5th at 6:15am Sunday morning. He’s not replied. I was only half honest in my apology- I am sorry for the things I said, and I shouldn’t have said them, not to him anyway. And he shouldn’t have had to be on the receiving end of my drunken anger and rambling, no one should have. I’m not sorry I said the things I said. I don’t feel bad about it. I shouldn’t have told him that I still miss him. I know he checks my Facebook page, he looks at the things I post, he’s told me flat out that he does. And sure, I’ve posted numerous things that were directed at him, and he knows that. I think he knows that I miss him and he definitely knows that I still care. I didn’t have to tell him. If I’m being honest right this minute, I said all those things to make him feel a little bad, to make him miss me, or in the hopes the things I said would make him feel a little bad and in hopes they would make him miss me a little too. Pitiful, I’m well aware, but I can’t take it back, and I can’t change it, all I can do now is own it and move on from it.

And start all over at day 1.

#my drummer #my drummer boy #my dear drummer #drunk #i got drunk #drunk texts #still heartbroken #starting over #its not getting easier #i think about him #the guy from the party

[reject-princess97]

Spencer Reid 2 (Part 1)

I awoke to a feeling of soft hands stroking from my cheek down my arm to my hand.

"Y/N baby, you gotta get up, we have work soon." Spencer whispered in my ear. I smiled up at him softly as I opened my eyes to see him smiling down at me.

"Morning wife." He smiled looked down at me.

"Morning husband." I grinned as I stretched my arms to the side of me.

"I've left you a towel and fresh underwear in the bathroom for after your shower. Your new cardigan, the one you bought in Vegas this weekend, is hung on the back of the door."  Spencer informed me as he handed me a glass of water.

"You're really getting off to a great start in our marriage huh?" I chuckled as I climbed out of bed ad drank the water.

"Well, we did only get married on Saturday. We've only been married 36 hours and I would hate for you to change your mind so soon after marrying me." He joked as he pulled out a clean sweater vest and tie.

"I would never leave you Dr Reid, my little heart couldn't take it." I played along as I walked over and pecked his cheek before walking to the bathroom to grab my shower.

My shower was peaceful, my thoughts consisted mostly of how on Thursday, I was just plain old Y/F/N Y/L/N, Spencer was my loving boyfriend who I worked with in the FBI. On Friday he proposed in Vegas, on a trip to see is mother. Then on Saturday, I we stood at an alter in a small 24 hour chapel in Vegas, in front of a wedding officiant, a few other couples waiting to marry and Spencer's mother, who was the reason we married so soon.

After my shower I dried my hair, pulled it into a high pony tail, I did my make up which looked as natural as possible except a little colour to on my lips, a bright red. I then changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, a white shirt and a black skinny tie. I then pulled on my red cardigan I had Spencer had set out for me. I slipped on my black converse and walked to the living room where I found Spencer making coffee.

"Spencer?" I called over to him as I grabbed my bag and slipped a couple files inside.

"Yes Wife." He grinned back over to me.

"Should I wear my glasses or contacts today?" I asked as I attached my gun to my belt and put my badge in my back pocket.

Spencer turned and walked over, passing me my coffee and kissing my head.

"Honestly babe, wear whatever you feel comfortable in, but I do love it when you wear your glasses." U chuckled as he grabbed his own bag.

"Glasses it is then." I smiled as I slid my glasses up my face and smiled at my grinning husband who watched. "Now, let's go." I ordered. I grabbed my bad and slung it over my shoulder and picked up my book.

"Come my little book worm." he joked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door.

The drive to work was spent how it usually was, my reading my book out loud to Spencer who mouthed along with what I was saying. I had messed up a few times and this worried Spencer a little as I was usually an excellent reader. He placed his hand over my knee and I stopped.

"Are you OK?" he asked, taking his eyes off the road briefly to look at me.

"I'm fine Spence, just a little worried about how they team will react to our...weekend activities." I smiled at him as I placed the book on my lap.

"The team will be happy for us...well except maybe Garcia." He chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, she's gonna kill us." I predicted, my face serious except for the hint of a smile.

"Oh, yeah of course." He agreed as he pulled into the parking lot of our building and shutting off the car. "Listen, 38 hours of marriage, we had a good run, I love you and if there really is an after life, I'll see you around." He smirked.

"you joke about it know, but when she goes all psycho killer on us, I blame you." I told him as he turned to face me. He only chuckled as he lint over, kissed my lips and then climbed out of the car.

"OK, well, Dr Reid, are you ready to introduce the team to your wife?" I asked him as I walked around the car to meet him.

"Yes Mrs Reid, I am." He smiled, taking my hand and leading me into the elevator which will take us to the right floor.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, our wedding was so spare of the moment that we hadn't told our team, who are our very close friends and I was a little nervous about telling them, because what if they didn't understand and got upset. As we got closer my nerves got worse and Spencer knew it too.

"Hey, listen, if they get upset and angry then hey, who cares, as long as we're both happy." He smiled, tightening his grip on my hands a little before bringing our hands to his lips, placing a soft kiss. "We just go in there and act as if nothing is different, if and when somebody notices we'll explain." He offered and I nodded smiling up at him.

"You're so smart, who would have thought I'd marry someone so smart." I joked as we exited the elevator on to our floor.

"I did, now I have to go grab some more coffee, you want?" He asked as he held the door to the bull pen open.#

"No thank you, but some water would be great." I smiled, he nodded and made his way to the break room while I took his and my bag to our desks.

Once at my desk, I switched my computer on, took off my badge and gun and placed them in my top desk draw, then I pulled out a framed photo of the team and I, a small plush unicorn I had gotten from Henry on my last birthday and my very fuzzy purple pen, given to me by Penelope. I placed them all on my desk. I closed the top draw and pulled open the bottom draw and pulled out three jars, each filled with a different candy and my case files from a previous case i needed to finish.

"You know, that morning routine of yours is getting longer and longer." I girlish voice spoke, making me jump a little. I looked up to see Penelope Garcia, my quirky BFF.

"Penny G, my ever amazing queen of quirky, how was your weekend?" I asked as I finished placing my last few items out on my desk.

I listened as she went into a detailed account of her latest date, while I sorted my desk. I reached over and put my purple pen in the correct pen pot, the one closest to Penny. That was when she stopped mid sentence and gasped. I looked up to see what was wrong but her eyes were fixed on my hand in front of her, still holding the pen.

"Penny?" I asked as she grabbed my hand, making me drop my pen and pulled it closer to her face.

"What's this?" I asked as she pointed at my hand that held my beautiful silver diamond ring and a simple silver wedding band.

"A ring." I squeaked out.

"There's two rings on this finger." She pointed out and I nodded, suddenly shy

"I know."

"So that means...." She began but I interrupted her and nodded. "You got married?"

"Yeah"

"When?" She asked finally allowing my hand back.

"On Saturday, Spencer proposed and we figured why wait, we went to a chapel with his mum and we go married." I told her, my eyes fixed on her face, trying to gauge her reaction. To my surprise she let out a squeal and pulled me in to a hug.

"I can not believe this!" She squealed loudly.

"What can't we believe this morning baby girl?" The voice of Derek Morgan interrupted Penelope's squealing. He placed his things on his desk and wondered over.

"Well take a look at Y/N and see if you notice anything." She smiled pointing at me.

Morgan nodded and quickly turned his attention on me for what seemed like a while before he shrugged.

"I don't see anything different." He stated.

"What's going on?" I heard JJ ask as she appeared next to Penny.

"Something's up with Y/N and I have to figure out whats it is but I don't see anything different." Morgan explained a little stressed out with the situation. I looked over at JJ and smiled, making a point to straighten my tie with my left hand, JJ smiled and she too let out an excited squeal.

"No way!" She screeched.

"What way?" Morgan asked clearly confused.

"When?" JJ asked ignoring Morgan who continued watching.

"Saturday, but he asked me on Friday night at dinner with his mum." I grinned .

"Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on!" Morgan yelled clearly frustrated, as Spencer walked up behind me and placed a bottle of water on my desk and placed his hand on my shoulder.

I grabbed his hand with my left, making it very clear as I hinted to Morgan who's eyes widened as he FINALLY caught sight of the silver rings that sat on Spencer and I's hands.

"You guys got married?" He blurted out making everyone laugh.

"Woah, nothing gets passed you huh Morgan?" I teased as I shook my head.

"So, this happened this weekend?" He asked and I nodded, "So you guys just decided to get married?"

"Not exactly, Spencer Proposed on Friday at dinner and on Saturday we started talking and Spence said the wedding would have to be soon because he wanted his mum there and with her getting sicker we figured why wait..." I explained and Spencer picked up where I left off.

"We talked it over and decided we'd get married in Vegas. so we signed mum out of the hospital for a few hours and we drove to a small chapel and we said 'I do', now I get to spend my life with this amazing woman." Spencer smiled as he kissed the top of my head. "After we took mum out for dinner and the next morning we flew home." He finished.

"I'm really happy for you both, honestly, I am, I just wish we could have been there." JJ smiled as she hugged Spencer and I.

"Well, that's good because you can." Spencer grinned at out team who just looked at him like he was crazy.

"How, did you finally invent a time machine so we can all go back and pretty boy?" Morgan joked.

"No, we just figured, I still want the whole big white wedding with friends and family, so we married in Vegas with Spencer's mum and we're gonna do it all properly with all of you guys because who else would we want to celebrate this huge mile stone with." I told them and they all let out a cheer.

"And you want me to plan it...I'm on it!" PG interrupted making is all laugh.

"We wasn't gonna ask you that, but if you want to plan our wedding, you do you Penny G." I chuckled.

"Yassssss!" Penny cheered. Rossi and Hotch came wondering over, a little confused.

"So what's got Garcia all happy this morning?" Rossi asked as they reached us.

"Well, Y/N and Spence got married this weekend." JJ answered. Rossi let out a low chuckled and smiled over at Reid and I.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we sorta got married in Vegas." I smiled.

"Well congratulations my dear." Rossi grinned as he pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks Rossi."

"But, there going to do the whole 'big white wedding' with us and get this, I get to plan it." Garcia clapped happily as she kissed both Reid and I's cheek before she ran off.

"Well, that sound's great." Hotch added. “and congratulations you two." He smiled. "Now, everyone, get to work." He chuckled before walking off, Rossi following behind him.

#dr spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #imagines #criminal minds imagine #2