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#I can understand why Rosa teases him so much
hecalledme-jagi · 1 year
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Blizzardous Threads of Red in a nutshell
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sailorkamino · 1 year
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i saw that requests are open, so could i request your headcanons about the bad batch reacting to a unexpected love confession from their crush (the reader)? ❤️🥰
you confess [bad batch]
relationships: gn reader x bad batch
warnings: inexperienced clones, jealous cross, insecurities, some internalized ableism (echo)
a/n: my first bad batch request! thank you so much!
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crosshair
• cross will flirt with you all the time but when you confess he shut downs (like that brooklyn 99 episode where adrien is super flirty but when rosa asks him out he runs away)
• cross doesn't take your feelings seriously bc he doesn't see himself as lovable :(
• he rather keep you at a distance than be hurt when you eventually leave
• i think this fear is why he starts fights with regs, he rejects them before he can be rejected
• besides you're a liability, cross already has to keep his stupid siblings alive, he doesn't need another loved one distraction
• it might take seeing you flirt with someone else for him to admit his feelings
• i know that's low key toxic but so is crosshair so it works out
• within a second you're being pinned against the closest wall, long fingers squeezing your hips
echo
• echo's feelings are very obvious (he treats you like royalty ffs) but he never considers confessing
• his insecurities have convinced him that you could never feel the same way
• so when you do it feels too good to be true
• he's so expressive, you might as well just told him he'd won the lottery
• he doesn't understand why choose him when he has a million brothers with the same face and no baggage
• "because they're not you"
• you have to reassure him when it comes to his body
• "i like your prosthetics. they make me feel safe. like nothing can hurt me when i'm with you."
• your health/safety is echo's main priority so to hear you see him a protector >>>>
• thats when it becomes real for echo: the person of my dreams wants me
• he's instantly pulling you into him, kissing your check and showering you in mando'a compliments
hunter
• hunter first clocked your rapid heart beat around him as nerves
• does he intimidate you? he goes out of his way to be nice as possible but it keeps happening
• at this point he's concerned, he even brings it up to tech
• when he confronts you about your 'health issue' you're embarrassed but it's also funny as hell
• well since you've been called out you might as well shoot your shot
• "i'm love sick" "oh fuck is it treatable?"
• you can't help but laugh at your sweet, dumb, hunk
• "i want to date you, hunter"
• when he's silent you start to apologize but he quickly silences you with a kiss
• "oh sweetheart" he pants when you finally pull away
tech
• tech has a hard time understanding when someones serious vs joking
• so even if he does pick up on your flirting he might think you're kidding
• he's used to being teased by his brothers but no ones ever flirted with him
• when you confess you need to be very straight forwards
• "i like you romantically, tech" "...why?"
• he's not fishing for compliments, he genuinely wants to know your thought process
• tech, much like crosshair, is confused bc he doesn't see himself as boyfriend material
• in turn, he begans listing off everything he likes about you
• you actually have to cut him off because he won't stop-
• "i'm infatuated with you as well"
wrecker
• everyone knows about wrecker's feelings except for wrecker
• he's never had a crush before, or even a friend that's not a sibling, so he doesn't recognize the feeling
• but his crush is visible from space
• he considers you his best friend and wants to be with you all the time
• he will do anything for your attention (even share the good rations)
• when you first confess it goes over his head because you guys already have a really affectionate friendship
• "i like you" "aw i like you too" "no i mean i like you more than a friend" "like a best friend?" "no like i want to kiss you!"
• he stares at you in shock with those big puppy eyes, "you can kiss me. like all the time if you want"
• so you do
• he sweeps you off your feet and spins you around, almost knocking out poor tech who happens to walk by
• "TECH! WE'RE DATING!"
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ejzah · 10 months
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Since Densi decided not tell the team in the finale can you please write a fanfic where they finally reveal the news!
The One Where It’s Twins
***
Kensi rubbed her hand over her lower abdomen, over the slight bump there. It had appeared at 11 weeks and grown a tiny bit each week. For the past six weeks, it had been their little secret.
“You know, we don’t have to do this today,” Deeks said from beside her, reminding her that they still sat in the parking garage, inside his truck and probably had been for at least five minutes. “We can wait to tell everyone you’re pregnant.”
“This bump says otherwise.” She framed her stomach again, emphasizing the bulge.
“Nah. You were baggy shirt, carry a big bag and they’ll never notice. Works on TV all the time,” Deeks disagreed teasingly.
“And maybe I should wear a parka too.”
“Only if you get transferred to a really cold post.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Sighing, Kensi reached over to take Deeks’ hand. “No, it’s time. I can’t stay on limited field duty for much longer before someone starts asking questions. I guess I got used to it being just the three of us knowing and now it’s going to be the team, and my mom—”
“And my mom.”
Kensi huffed a soft laugh at his addition, sliding her hand up to cup his cheek. God, she loved him so much. Being pregnant, and all the new challenges it brought along, had only reinforced her affection for him.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a lot, and as much as I’m going to miss having this be our secret and sharing all of this with just you and Rosa, I’m also excited be at this stage. Our babies are going to have a lot of people who love them,” Kensi said, and Deeks squeezed her free hand.
“Yeah they will. Come one.”
***
Fortunately, everyone was already gathered on the bullpen, so they didn’t have to make a big production of it. They stopped, hands linked, between the two sets of desks, reminding Kensi of another time in their lives when they’d awkwardly announced they were moving in together.
The amount of progress they’d made since then was amazing.
Callen noticed them first, lifting his head with a teasing smirk. “Hey, I thought you guys were playing hooky. Sam and I leave for a couple weeks, and these guys think they can come in whenever they want.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Deeks apologized. “We had a couple things to discuss.” He shared a smile with Kensi, who just squeezed his hand in answer. “Um, actually we have something to share with you.”
He got four looks of concern, and quickly assured them. “It’s something good this time, I swear.”
Kensi offered Sam, who was sitting closest to her, a card sized envelope. Frowning, Sam untucked the flap, slipping out a picture. He studied it for several seconds, face inscrutable.
“Is this for real?” he asked finally, waving the sonogram in the air. “You’re pregnant?” Callen immediately leaned over his shoulder while Fatima and Rountree hurried closer.
“Yes,” Kensi confirmed, grinning like she did every time she thought of the life growing inside her.
“Oh my god! Congratulations, Kensi, Deeks. This explains why you’ve looked so radiant the last few months,” Fatima said happily.
“And the never ending food poisoning,” Rountree added in an undertone.
“Ah, on that note, I would like to formally state that I did not poison Kensi with my shawarma,” Deeks spoke up.
“He’s been very firm on that point. Though I suppose I understand since I was pretty nasty about the whole old takeout thing.” Kensi inclined her head.
“Congrats,” Rountree echoed Fatima. “So, how far along is Baby Deeks-Blye?”
“15 weeks,” Kensi answered, sharing a knowing look with Deeks. They were 99% certain about the night of conception.
“And actually, it’s babies,” Deeks corrected. “As in multiple.”
“Oh no. You guys are not having twins,” Sam said, shaking his head emphatically. “The world is not prepared for that amount of craziness.”
“He means congratulations,” Callen interpreted, reaching out to shake Deeks’ hand, and then gave in and offered each of them a one-armed hug.
“I’m joking. Not about the crazy part, but, I am happy for you guys. No one deserves it more,” Sam told them. He hugged Deeks, briefly squeezing the back of his neck affectionately and then tucked Kensi against his chest. “And they’re going to be two lucky kids to be born into a family like yours.”
“Thank you,” Deeks whispered. Kensi was too moved to do more than hug Sam more tightly.
***
A/N: In this scenario, Kensi and Deeks have not resigned or moved to different positions yet.
Stay tuned for a small part 2 tomorrow.
Thanks for the prompt!
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pearcinglyours · 2 years
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on artem’s 2nd personal story SSR “belle nuit d’amour”…
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A/N: this is just more of a rambling post than anything. card spoilers below!
image source: @yooneunji33 | story recording: 日和风物诗 | translations are mine!
like all other PS cards, the story revolves around a memory that touches on an "issue" in their relationship- in this one it's about not having to have clear boundaries between work and family life because it's natural for a partner to want to know everything that goes on in their s/o's life, good and bad etc.
to quote rosa, "even if the road's a little rocky, it's alright. we've (refers to artem's mom and fiancee) made the choice to love you, and we'll do whatever we have to do to deal with everything." which like. GIRL how do you always know what to say... i'm in shambles actually because artem wasn't even the one who told her about some issues he's been facing at work. he made up an excuse until she pestered him to know more info about it and SHE'S SO CUTE WHILE DOING IT just look at this.
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it also references a movie that people on bili have been speculating to be "the legend of 1900", but it's not explicitly stated in the card itself. most importantly it references a scene where the protagonist was able to use patterns of flashing light to find a way to land- which draws a parallel to artem's relationship with… basically everyone around him.
he's so worried that asking for help or talking about his problems to his loved ones is just merely burdening them. but implicitly i could understand that artem not outright telling rosa what was wrong and him seeming very out of place was even more of a "burden"??
THE ENDING OF THE CARD AND THE PHONE CALL THOUGH... deep breaths.
context: they're walking home from a dinner with their client and suddenly artem receives a message from his mother saying that she's at his house, and because they both don't want to let their mother wait they start running (it's mentioned that his house is very close by the place they're at)
here's the scene the PV lines were selected from:
Artem: "Initially, I thought I wanted to leave everything behind, but deep down in my heart I realised... that I was hoping for someone to find me. (...) it feels very liberating- like a part of my heart that has always been a deep slumber had just been gently touched by someone. (...) It's because of admiration we choose to not say anything. But because there's too much admiration for that person... I want to tell them everything no matter what. (...) Maybe it's a long process, but I hope that you'll always be my side and be that "listener" of mine.
eventually they had to stop at a traffic light (while still holding each other's hands and being in very close physical proximity with each other) until they saw someone waving at them from the other side of the street and this guy freezes. because of course he hasn't been displaying pda in front of his mother 😭 THE NARRATIVE IS SO FUNNY TOO it reads "the moments in which he's the most relaxed and "un-artem" of him was just completely exposed in front of his mother, and he was still tightly holding my hand"
and of course rosa teases him with "you're not someone who just started dating, so why's your face still so red?" "to a certain extent, letting your elders seeing you interact with your significant other casually is still a form of exposing "things you've once hidden"." CAN YOU SEE HOW HARD I CAN CRY…!! ? artem: "... you're right. i'll change this habit of mine" like HELLO? SIR.
and rosa asks if he's ever tried something... he asks what's that "something", but rosa told him outright that she's just asking the obvious. because in all the moments she's intimate with him, it's always in private places like their home theatre. so she tells him, "of course you've never kissed at a place like this..."
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*director's cut*
(literally. that's the end of the card 😭)
i think one thing worth mentioning is the way his mother was actually featured a considerable amount here, mainly because she wants to help her son and correct any past wrongs and misunderstandings she's had with him, and show him with her actions that she's willing to and is capable of helping him, i just really enjoy seeing their relationship because it really feels like a family reunion TT
the call at the end of the call was also very cute! just two almost married and almost 30 adults talking about how you can create rainbows when you spray water in a certain direction. i get SO sappy seeing that they can really be the truest version of themselves around each other.
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that’s all for now! i originally intended for this to be a twitter thread but honestly i think this is a bit too long to be digestible in thread format LOL if anyone else has also read this card i’d love to hear your opinions on it! i just couldn’t resist the wait because the illustration is so… so pretty.
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plays plays plays
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I am going to post about plays, starting with ones that are commercial-adjacent and getting weirder from there. The Inheritance's big gesture is 10 page monologues - it is a novelistic adaptation of a novel. Some people find the talking and talking and talking ingenuous or boring or cringe - some people like that there's a sneaky stylism under the seeming naivety. (It's been 30 years since this happened, how does he remember all this? How does he express it all so fluently? Does this kind of exactitude imply truth or an agenda?) Whether you like them or not, I think Lopez earns his ginormous monologues with his moment-to-moment mechanics. Or, if not earns them, he makes it clear they're a considered choice. He doesn't devolve responsibility for exposition of plot and character to his characters, letting them explain it all to us - his dialogue is fast, fun, informative, purposive. He doesn't have 6th-Season-of-a-Sitcom-itis, where two or three lines of dialogue serve as a short featureless runway to the monologue where a character states the emotional/narrative beat of the scene: -Hey Jake, have you filed those arrest reports yet? -Sorry Rosa, I haven't because I fell asleep at my desk because I'm sleeping badly because I'm worried if I'll be a good dad to me and Amy's baby, but maybe the fact that I'm worried about being a good dad means I'm fundamentally different to my bad dad? JOKE ABOUT HITCHCOCK AND SULLY BEING FAT AND EATING ALL THE TIME When Lopez switches into monologue it's a complement to mimetic realism - not a supplement. We're juggling two interesting perspectives, first person and third person, rather than collapsing one into the other because we're afraid it's not interesting enough on its own. This scene is an example. His characters sometimes talk for 10 pages, but look at how much Lopez can do in 2 pages of back-and-forth. Some interesting details: -Toby has 5 lines, 3 of which are 5 words or less. But look how much we learn about him from what others say, from the rhythm of when he interjects and why and to what end. -There are three major characters in this scene - Adam (Young Man 1), Eric, and Toby. This does not mean The Lads are inessential. Look at how their teasing spectation adds an element of performance to the interaction between Toby and Eric. Toby finds himself playing the world-weary writer dealing with a fan - even though that's not what's going on. Their presence makes him try to impress, and trying to impress makes him fall on his face. Adam/Young Man 1 finds himself cast as the tragic closet case/baby gay - even though that's not (entirely) what he is. But if he didn't have to prove he WASN'T a closeted superfan, he might not have showed them his book purchases - and then Toby and Eric wouldn't have gotten as good a sense of him, of who he is and where he is in life, and this scene wouldn't be the moment that sparks the relationships the play as a whole explores. The semi-public nature of the scene is what unlocks private intimacies later on.
-At that, look at the interestingly textured position Adam/Young Man 1 is in - he is active because he's come here to sort out a misunderstanding, but he's passive within the scene while these older gay men have fun teasing him. Look at how he says "I think you took my bag" and his next line after Toby has responded both begins and ends with "Accidentally." He came here to a private(ish) home but he's trying not to be confrontational. But look how he doesn't spare Toby's ego when Toby assumes he's a superfan - he comes right out with the fact that no, actually, you left your wallet in your bag. Look at how we can distinguish his situational/external shyness from his psychological/internal confidence - the situation's uncertain, but he isn't. Look at how our understanding of him shifts but preserves those two layers when we hear about his Big Bag O' Gay Books - maybe there IS an agenda in him coming to the home of an established gay writer, even if he isn't a superfan stalker. Maybe the broader situation of his life is uncertain, has him feeling a bit lost, even if he himself is confident in charting a path through it - by doing things like turning up at the home of these men who might be able to teach him a thing or two. Fuck, I Have To Be Gay Now, How Do I Do That - Better Find Some Mentors. Which, funnily enough, is what the whole play is about. Almost like Lopez did it on purpose or something?
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thenovelartist · 1 year
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Hello hope you’re having a lovely day ! Sorry if this a weird question but I started playing tears of Themis on and off after seeing you talk about and I’m hoping you could explain yours feelings on Luke a bit. Specifically how you like him. Not why, I certainly get why people love him( and I certainly love many characters like him), but how. Maybe I’m just not comprehending the story correctly but he was just planning on never talking to Rosa again before she ran into him, and I felt like the story didn’t provide enough resolution for me to read his actions as sweet not selfish. I’m just hoping reading others perspective will help me enjoy his character instead of feeling the urge to drag him to family therapy 😅
HI fellow ToT player!
Firstly, I would just like to make the comment that I'm pretty sure all the boys would benefit from family therapy? Or therapy in general... XD They got issues.
Teasing aside, back on track to answer your question ;)
I'd like to start by disclosing that I am one of the biggest fans of the childhood-friends-to-lovers trope ever, so Luke was kinda an instant favorite for me, and I'm willing to excuse/overlook some things due to my diehard love of that trope.
Now, to tackle the issue of Luke leaving Rosa and dropping contact and how I can reconcile that. I think I can understand where you come from if you're just reading the story itself and not invest in his personal story and some of his card stories. So to start, this is how I understand his past character arc (and disclaimer: I could be off the mark with some of this; I sometimes loose track of character arcs in long, drawn out games like this no matter how hard I try to remember them.) : Luke left to go to university at 16. He actually did keep in contact with Rosa for a time, but some months down the line, they slowly fell out of touch. I believe Luke was the first to stop responding, but this was because he'd been drafted into the NSB at that time. I think he fell into it by accident, getting involved in an incident that lead him to the bureau. By then, I understand the loss of contact on his side if he's busy with secret training and not wanting to worry Rosa about him OR not being able to contact her due to security reasons. So in my mind, it's sad, but I can give him a pass if this was the case.
And then we have his illness. I think the incident that caused his illness happened a year or more before he and Rosa reunited. It was a miracle he survived in the first place; he was the only one to ever survive this drug. However, learning that he was slowly dying destroyed him mentally, and that was the point he decided to never step foot into her life again because he couldn't come back only to die on her. I understand how Luke, who's generally really hard on himself and very protective of Rosa, he thinks that's selfless of him. Furthermore, I understand that because he's hard on himself and cares for Rosa, he thinks it would be selfish of him to reappear into her life only to confess "hey, I'm dying and won't survive past a few years." And this is also made worse by the fact he loves her to the point he wanted to marry her. He thought it would be selfish to confess, possibly have her fall in love with him, and marry him (just like he wanted) only to die a few years later. So he basically became Mr. Espresso Depresso bemoaning the fact he was dying and could never confess to Rosa because it would cause her too much pain.
Character-wise, I understand that, in his mind, he was trying to protect her from getting hurt and that he thought coming back into her life would hurt her. This was all exposed in his "Under the Milky Way" card story, where Luke confessed that he battled between what he perceived to be selfishness vs selflessness, and how in the end, his selfishness won out and he couldn't leave her again, even though he wanted to because he didn't want to hurt her. Now, do I admit Luke was being stupid and a little selfish here? Sure, to an extent. But upon understanding his character and how he's hard on himself and feels wholly responsible for... well, everything, this feels realistic and makes sense. I never really questioned it because it was finally these two communicating clearly instead of trying to assume they knew what the other wanted due to the fact they were childhood friends.
So here's the kicker: that accounts for... I'll be generous and say 4-5 years of those eight years. I will concede that there are 3 years that I cannot explain away fully. Unless he was literally traveling the world and couldn't contact Rosa due to security reasons, there's no reason he couldn't reach out to reconnect with her. There had to be points where he was back in Stellis and could reach out to her. Particularly since he was in love with her and building a ring that he could propose to her with! Did he think that she'd just wait for him? She wasn't the one in love like he was, so there was no communication there. And he just kinda dropped off the face of the earth and there was no way for her to contact him (and she tried) considering his job. If he loved her that much and wanted to marry her, then at what point was he gonna come back and woo her? I do not have answers to this. There's probably some answer in some card, but if there is, I either missed it or don't have that card.
However, in the end, does the fact this is a "childhood friends to lovers" trope that I ship with all my heart because I'm a sucker excuse all the questions I have of why Luke didn't reach out in the time he had?
Absolutely. XD
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ohthemis · 2 years
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headcanons for when rosa says to each boy he's like a brother to her 💀
tot boys when you tell him he’s like a brother to you
characters: all
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ARTEM WING
he’s definitely more shocked than anything. he thinks he’s been giving you strong hints already, but maybe he’ll just have to try harder!
artem is very shocked, and he he’s going to be a lot more expressive around you after that. but you have another thing coming when celestine finds out. flowers on the weekly, chocolates, more cases that require you to work with artem. celestine is figuratively pushing your faces and shouting “kiss”.
but celestine’s hard work aside, artem takes this very sincerely. he isn’t going to beat around the bush. maybe a few weeks after, he’ll simply pull you aside and tell you how he really feels. while it may have taken years of his life to muster up all that courage, he still pushes through with it.
he’s sincere and he’ll take what you give him. although, he’d definitely like it a lot more if you loved him too <3
“while, i do appreciate your intentions, you may have misunderstood me.”
“mr. wing?”
“i’ll make sure to be more upfront with you from now on. then, maybe you’ll understand my affections.”
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LUKE PEARCE
critical hit!! luke has never felt more attacked. kind of offended, but he saw it coming! you’ve known him all your life, after all. 
he’s come to terms with the fact that you thought of him as a brother at one point, but it’s a whole other thing for you to say it out loud!! although he may never recover from this, he’s not gonna let it beat him down too hard because if luke is anything, he’s resilient!!
 he’ll take you out to dates and he’ll call them dates, too. no more subtle luke, time to go all out!! although for a good while, he avoids going to places you two hung out around a lot when you were kids just in case itg makes him seem like more of a brother figure. 
to be honest, if you still don’t like him even after all that, he has no idea what he’s going to do.
“b-, brother? you see me as a brother figure?”
“luke..?”
“well, some things from our childhood have changed! tomorrow let’s go out! i’ll show you how i’ve grown up, so you have to be ready!”
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MARIUS VON HAGEN
asks you if you’re joking. he’s absolutely bewildered! how can his missy not see how whipped he is for them?!
tries to reason with you. unknowingly confesses to you, but if you can ignore how much he’s flirting with you already, i’m sure you can look past his mini confession. he’s trying to change your mind and make you take back your words. ( there’s no way you actually see him as a brother. right? right?! ) << marius
but after that, he makes a splendid recovery!! it’s insane how quick he can put his mind to something. what do you want? roses? chocolates? dates? a ticket to your favorite band’s concert? whatever it is, marius’ll provide it!! maybe now you can see how much he’s willing to spend on you. after all, he just likes you that much!
he’ll be very sulky, though. ( i mean, isn’t it obvious how much he likes you?! sigh, why’s it always gotta be him... ) << marius’ inner thoughts. 
“miss, you know i only call you 姐姐 to tease you right? i don’t actually see you as a sister!”
“marius, you-”
“this time i’ll definitely make you see how i feel!”
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VYN RICHTER
not that bothered, actually. he takes it as more of a challenge than anything. his composure doesn’t waver a single bit.
he’s more impressed on how oblivious you are than anything else, to be honest. you’re just so interesting!! i mean, who else could look past the obvious flirting other than you? but if you’re going to be this naive, then vyn will just have to up his game and meet you there halfway!! 
he’s not unreasonable, after all. if you ignore his past flirtings, then he’ll just have to bring in the real courting. he’s definitely pulling out all the stops though (not that you’d know, he’s still as calm and graceful as ever). he’s willing to compromise to win your heart over <3
although he is a bit shocked that you were able to turn a blind eye to his usual hints, he’ll make sure to show you how he really feels properly this time
“if that’s really how you feel, then i guess i have to be clearer with my intentions.”
“dr. richter..”
“there’s an event i’ve been invited to. would you like to come...as my date?”
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actualbird · 2 years
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which of the nxx boys can haggle?
wc: 1k
TIER 1: people who are sane and knowledgeable about purchasing
artem wing: can haggle but doesnt
artem knows how to haggle. hes seen his mother do it as he grew up and then he saw neil do it later on in his life and artem is a fast enough learner to understand how to do it himself.
however, when he was a child, his mother started giving him an allowance so he could learn how to manage finances. one day, he saw a snack he really wanted to buy with his own money but then it was Way Too Expensive. and so in the way all children do, hes like "why's it cost so much!" to which mrs. wing replies with "because of The Economy, baby."
and so artem decides to learn about The Economy and ends up with a pretty solid understanding of supply and demand, market trends, and other factors that go into the final price. he learns this all at AGE 10 and he decides that as long as all of these processes are done justly, the price is nothing to complain about ever.
and so he just doesnt haggle!!! but also, hes not somebody people wanna scam because fully grown artem wing at the supermarket exudes SUCH an intense and focused aura that stepping into that range surely deals immense psychic damage to anybody who has ill intent
-
luke pearce: can haggle and does
luke doesnt have to haggle. hes working so many fucking jobs (for fun?? for the benefit of satisfying his horrid urge to be a benefit for only other people???) and he does those jobs really damn well, so im sure hes got money!! but his personality just strikes me more as "if i can get it a lower price, i will, because it's a waste if you dont take that opportunity."
hes a pretty chill haggler tho. he'll smile and laugh and tease with the shop owner on how "i'll buy 3 more packs of these noodles if you bring the whole price down a bit, so technically, youre making more profit, yeah?" and honestly, his haggling works mostly because hes so earnest and charming and even if you do turn him down, he kinda just shrugs and goes "fair enough!" and buys what he was planning to buy anyway.
luke is unscammable tho. not bc of his vibes, mind you, cuz luke pearce's vibes (NOT agent raven's vibes, to be clear, thats a whole other animal) are vibes of a puppy that will apologize to YOU if you spill milk on his lap. hes got very kind vibes and that seems like a scammer's dream come true but nobody in stellis has the heart to scam him bc luke is often seen rummaging around trash cans or metal dumpsters
he is not dumpster diving for food. hes just curious if anybody threw out some cool appliances he can nab spare parts from or make into new gadgets. but stellis city doesnt know that. all they know is that the puppy boy who owns time's antiquities frequently sticks his head in the rubbish and theyre all collectively like "NOBODY SCAM HIM EVER, WE NEED TO PROTECT HIM"
-
TIER 2: i mean, it's one banana, rosa. what could it cost? 10 dollars?
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marius von hagen: cant haggle and doesnt
marius is self aware enough to know that hes obscenely rich and does NOT know jackshit about small money management. like, hes great with money in large amounts. he knows the best amount of money for investments and stocks and how to plan finances long term for businesses, so he knows how money works!!!
he just doesnt know how it works at a 7/11
which usually isnt a problem. marius isnt the one doing most of the purchasing, thats left to the house staff or vincent, buuuuut when hes hanging out with mc, just the two of them, hes atlas carrying the world on his shoulders in regards to purchases.
theres a 50/50 percent chance mc will save him when hes having trouble figuring out how much to pay. she mostly saves him when hes about to do something wayy too stupid (like trade his horrendously expensive watch for an ice cream cone, HE ALMOST DID THIS IN CANON in Marius SSR Fabulous Feast) but anything less than that and hes on his own
which tbh, marius doesnt mind. it seems to make her happy seeing him fumble and be out of his element and also this is never gonna affect his funds. so if hes getting overcharged, it's never a problem
this does however mean that marius von hagen, when hanging out with a certain lawyer, is PRIME SCAM MATERIAL.
all of stellis city is like "when u see rich boy with the girl, GET HIS ASS"
vyn richter: cant haggle but does
[spoilers] vyn is of a royal lineage. hes the son of a duke. im damn sure that for all of his early life when he was still living in svart, he never had to purchase a gosh dang thing because all of it was done by house staff.
however, once vyn leaves svart and goes to stellis, he does have to learn quickly, so now hes not COMPLETELY naive. still, i cant imagine vyn richter walking around in like, a wet market or a bodega/cornerstore. i think vyn gets all of his food purchases from very upscale farmer's markets and all his other purchases in similarly hoity toity establishments.
so he can buy things. but his reference for how much things cost is HORRIBLY SKEWED by his luxurious upscale tastes. bring him to a garage sale and he will not know the general price of anything. he cant haggle
yet he does anyway, so he can be IMPRESSIVE. which he wants to be so much to the point that self awareness briefly exits his brain.
he haggles only around mc so he can be impressive cool. and he succeeds at looking impressive cool!!! in contrast to luke who is the chillest haggler ever, vyn channels such unsettling haggling energy that sellers can do nothing but agree to his terms.
but his terms.
are bad.
because since he doesnt know what normal shit costs, he actually ends up haggling the price WAY FUCKING HIGHER THAN IT ORIGINALLY WAS
vyn, smugly presenting mc with a banana he had haggled to 5x the original price: for you, my lady :)
mc: //trying so hard to not burst into laughter
(nobody is scamming vyn, they wouldnt be brave enough to....vyn is just continually scamming HIMSELF.....)
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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years
Text
VALERIE - Part IX. (Harry Styles)
yall are gonna hate me for this but it needed to be done IM SORRY! also, i can’t believe valerie is ending this week, just one more part to go! can’twait to read your reactions and thoughts on this part, even though i know yall gonna be upset lmao
word count: 5.6k
SERIES MASTERPOST
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Some days it truly feels like the universe has plotted against you to make every possible thing go wrong. As if it wants to see just how much you can take before breaking, experiment how long it can dance on your nerves before you end up one of those crazy people who shout at random strangers on the bus for no actual reason.
Starting the day you overslept awfully leaving you only ten minutes before you had to leave. In your hurry you ended up putting on socks that do not match and you were forced to buy a sandwich on your way as breakfast, but you promised you wouldn’t buy packed sandwiches for a reason, this one tasted like it’s been sitting on the shelf for weeks. Maybe it really has been. 
You made it to work successfully, but then you realized that you’ve left your notebook at home, the one that had quite a lot of important information you need for your work, so you spent your first hour at work emailing different people for things you should now, explaining that you just left your notebook at home. Some didn’t really give a fuck and just answered you normally, but others didn’t shy away from commenting that you should be more responsible and careful.
This alone gave just the perfect foundation for the day. It was all downhill from then. Your boss loaded twice as much work on you than usually, everything with close deadlines, throwing even more anxiety into the mix as if you didn’t have enough already. 
You met up with Marcus at lunch, but that didn’t go as planned either. It’s been getting more and more frustrating with him, the two of you have already had at least five fights this week and it’s only wednesday. It seems like even the smallest things push you over the edge these days and you easily pick a fight over anything. It didn’t happen differently this time either and by the time you got back to the office you were fuming. Worst part is that you always have a hard time ending a fight and tend to continue it through texts, the same thing happened today as well.
Now it’s a few minutes past five and you’re getting ready to go home, get changed and head to family dinner since today is Valerie’s first birthday, but even on the bus you’re still furiously typing away on your phone, sending a reply to Marcus, wanting nothing more than to throw the device right ot the window.
At one point you decide you’ve had enough. Turning your phone off you sink it into the depth of your bag and just try to focus on breathing, because even the smallest things seem to be hard tasks in such an upsetting state of mind. 
These past few weeks things have taken an absurdly wrong turn between you and Marcus and you don’t know what to do about the whole situation. Every night you go to bed thinking that you should just let go of him, would do a favor for the both of you, but then that stupid little voice in the back of your mind tells you that if you break up with Marcus it’s game over for you, you’ll spend the rest of your life alone. It all ends up with you violently holding onto the pieces of what’s left from your relationship and you’ve been trying to figure out where it went wrong, but you have absolutely no idea. 
After you changed into a pair of light washed jeans, a bright orange sweater and your black leather jacket it’s time for you to leave, though you already know you’ll be late. With a sigh deep you decided to turn your phone back on when you were sitting in the Uber, immediately deleting the notifications about the messages Marcus left you and going straight for the few ones from Rosa, your mom and Harry. They all arrived not too long ago asking when you’d be arriving, so you quickly typed your sorry and told them you’re on your way, you just got caught up at work. For Harry, you add something else too:
“Save me a seat and order me a tequila.”
His response came quickly.
“Done. Both.”
You let out a chuckle seeing his message. He knows you too well.
Walking into the small restaurant you don’t have a hard time spotting your family, three tables have been pushed together to make enough room in the back, taking up the small, kind of separated area of the place. Rosa smiles widely when she spots you, Valerie standing on her thighs, hands on the table as she is trying to snatch one of the glasses away, but her dad is pushing it further from her grasp.
“Sorry for being late,” you huff out and take the seat right next to Harry who watches you with a smile. “Well hello there, birthday girl! You’re so big now!” you babble at Valerie who giggles at you before her attention is averted once again.
You feel Harry’s elbow poking your side and turning to him you see him nod at the two shots on the table.
“Oh, fantastic. You’re drinking too?”
“No, I’m driving. Both for you.”
“If I didn’t have such a shitty day I would question what kind of alcoholic you think I am, but I kinda need both,” you sigh, taking the first one and downing it faster than ever. From the corner of your eyes you see your mother’s disapproving look, but you decide to ignore it for now.
“Wanna talk about it?” Harry asks, eyebrows furrowed in worry, but you shake your head, the alcohol still burning your throat.
“Not now. Can you give me a lift home tho?”
“Sure,” he nods, turning back to the conversation at the table. 
You somehow succeed in putting everything that happened today behind and just focus on the time spent with your family. It helps that seemingly Harry works hard all evening to tell you about random things, just occupying your thoughts as much as he can. It’s nice to relax a little and forget everything that’s been weighing down on your shoulders recently. 
“It’s so crazy she is one already,” you sigh when you and Harry are walking to his car.
“Right? It makes me feel incredibly old,” Harry huffs as he fishes his car keys out of his pocket.
“How old are you even?” you ask laughing, realizing you don’t even know how old he exactly is. There are quite a few things, small details you’ve just never gotten around to find out about Harry.
“I’m turning 27 in February. Wild, isn’t it?” he chuckles.
“Yeah, you’re basically a grandpa,” you tease him and he narrows his eyes at you, but you can’t miss the little smile hiding in the corners of his mouth. 
“That makes you a grandma, because you’re turning 25 in April, don’t you?”
“You know when my birthday is?” It takes you by surprise, you don’t remember ever telling him when your birthday is.
The two of you reach his car and he clears his throat unlocking it. Seems like he doesn’t really want to answer, but your burning gaze on him kind of forces him into it.
“Uh, I do. I wanted to meet up with Steven last year the day you had your birthday party, but he said he had plans already. Tried to lure him into cancelling, but he didn’t even want to share where he was going. Then he admitted that it was your birthday party, but you told him and Rosa not to even mention it to me so I don’t show up.”
Your stomach drops hearing his version of a story you’ve only known from your own point of view. You remember that you indeed told them not to tell Harry about it, but now it seems like such a hate crime, when in real life, it was still when the two of you hated each other with passion. 
“I’m… Harry I’m sorry. That was--”
“Don’t worry about it,” he smiles at you, starting the car. “We left it all behind, didn’t we?”
His smile seems genuine, but you still feel guilty for being such a bitch. It reminded you how much time and energy the two of you wasted for years hating each other when you could have been just like you are now. If only things happened in a different way…
Arriving at your building Harry parks the car and stops it. As the engine stops, the silence that’s been thickening the air just becomes even more obvious. He is waiting for you to say something about what’s gotten you so upset today, you know that, but you don’t feel like sitting around in his car.
“Want to come up for a little bit?” you ask and it’s a hidden message that you want to talk in the comfort of your own home. Luckily, Harry understands it right away and nodding he tells you to lead the way. 
You make some tea and the two of you sit on your couch, Harry is sitting sideways so he can see you while you bring your knees up to your chest, staring down at the mug in your hands.
“I had a fight with Marcus,” you quietly start.
“Oh.”
“And… it wasn’t the first time. We’ve been constantly fighting lately and I’m just… so tired of it.”
Saying it out loud for the first time, having someone listen to you brings you an odd sense of relief, and it doesn’t feel weird that you’re talking to Harry about all of it. He has proven himself to be a great listener.
“We’ve been fighting constantly, over the smallest things and my… my patience is running short, at this point.”
You’re talking slowly, carefully putting your thoughts into words, trying your best to interpret them for Harry after boiling them only in your own head for so long.
“I just… I have no idea what I should do.”
“It seems like the relationship is not making you happy anymore,” Harry softly speaks up and you have nothing to bring up against what he just said. “So why are you trying to continue it?”
You were expecting the question, you just knew he would ask it, but it still brings a painful, stinging sensation into your chest as you try to find the words to answer him. 
“Because…” you breath out and slowly turning your head, your eyes meet his gaze. “If I can’t make it work with him… then… who is it gonna be? There’s this voice in my head that keeps telling me, that he is literally my last choice, that if I mess this up it’s gonna be over for me.”
“Y/N, you know that’s not true,” Harry tells you tilting his head.
“Do I?” you chuckle bitterly, turning your gaze to the ceiling before you look back at him. “Because I don’t think I do. I’ve been literally feeling so miserable for weeks, yet I still can’t get me to move on, because I think I’m gonna die alone.”
“That’s not gonna happen, don’t say that. You’ll find the right person for you, you just… have to be patient.”
“But that’s the thing. I have lost my patience. I’m done, over it.” The tears form in your eyes in just a few seconds and the next thing you know is that you’re crying. “I’ve been trying so hard in my whole life, but somehow I always ended up… not being enough, or thrown away, stepped over, left behind. No matter what I did, I always ended up alone and I can’t help but notice a pattern in it. It has to be me, what else?”
“It’s not you, okay? You just had a few bad experiences.”
“Not a few,” you huff closing your eyes. “All of them are bad. I was… I was never enough for anyone and now that I found a guy that seemed to be just perfect… I’m ruining it.”
“I don’t think you’re ruining anything.”
“Then explain to me what’s happening, Harry!” you snap in despair and Harry stares back at you at a loss of words at first.
“Do you have feelings for him?” he then asks. You can’t answer right away and it tells him a lot.
“I… I’m not sure.”
“That sounded more like a no.”
“Okay, alright. No, I don’t. But… I could develop feelings eventually, couldn’t I?”
“That’s not how it works, Y/N. You can’t just torture yourself hoping that one day you wake up and you’ll be in love with him. It’s not gonna happen and you’re just wasting your time.”
“How do you know it’s not gonna happen? What makes you so sure of that I will not end up alone?”
Harry stays quiet, her green eyes are staring right into your soul and for a moment you forget about your misery. This man alone holds such a power over you, it’s starting to scare you.
“I know it, because… I know you. And I see you. You’re literally the funniest girl I know, so easy to talk with, you always know when to crack a joke and when you have to be serious. You have so much love for others, you care about your loved ones and you’re always there for your friends and family. You make it so easy for others to get comfortable around you and you make everyone feel safe around you.”
You listen to him intently, drinking up every word that leaves his lips. Harry looks down at his hands as he continues.
“And you’re beautiful. So fucking beautiful, it always baffles me when I see you.”
“What?” you breathe out.
“It’s the truth,” Harry chuckles lightly, he brushes his knuckles together nervously. “Every time you walk in, you just… make everyone turn their head at you, and I always wonder if you even notice that. The way you walk, your smile, your laugh, Y/N, you make every man go crazy about you.”
“You’re just saying that because you are trying to cheer me up,” you sniff, wiping a few more tears away from your eyes.
“I’m definitely not,” he chuckles and his eyes finally find yours. “I remember when we first met.”
“When you walked in on me changing,” you sigh, the memories living vividly in your mind.
“Yeah. I remember how… breathless I felt when I saw you standing there, your dress handing a little on your frame because of the zipper. I forgot my name for a moment. I offered to help with the zipper because I just… wanted to touch you in any kind of way. So I knew that you were real.”
“Harry…”
“I know this sounds made up, but I’m telling you, this is the truth. And I know I didn’t act like that for a long time, but I always thought that you were an amazing person and I know that any guy would be so lucky and incredibly happy to be with you. I hate the thought of you thinking otherwise of yourself, when you are literally such a delight and… just a gift to all of us. I don’t know what’s really been going on between you and Marcus, but if he can’t see your worth and can’t make you feel like you deserve… he is not worthy of your time.”
You feel your throat closing up, but you’re not sure Harry knows the reason behind it when the tears start rolling down your cheeks again. 
Because it might look like his words touched you and made you tear up, but in reality, a bittersweet feeling has taken completely over you. If this is how he thinks about you, why did he act like that when he had the chance to be with you? Why didn’t he want you to stay? What did you do that made him want to throw you out?
It’s a spiral straight down and you can’t stop yourself from falling. Harry has always been the biggest mystery of your life, and now you’re just even more sure it was something you did or said that made him want to run. 
He reaches out and easily scoops you into his arms and you let him hold you tight, face buried into his chest. You hold onto his shirt as the silent cries escape your lips. You want him to want you. You want him to mean all those things he just told you, but you just can’t seem to move on from the past even though you’ve agreed to forget about it. It keeps bugging you in the back of your mind that no matter what he says, you weren’t good enough to make him want to stay with you when he had the chance. 
***
It doesn’t get better after that night. Harry stayed until after midnight, made sure you got into bed and told you he’ll check in on you the next day. And so he did. 
You felt guilty for loading all of it on Harry, so you decided it was the last time you ever talked about Marcus or your love life in general with him. You easily made yourself believe that he didn’t really care about it and he just listened to you because he was trying to be nice. It seemed the best to just try and forget about it all. 
For a while you were contemplating breaking up with Marcus, but you didn’t have the strength to do it, telling yourself you have to give it another chance and some more patience. However it’s ending up to be quite draining, you gotta admit, but you are starting to get used to feeling numb every day.
Rosa invites you over, because she went through her closet and found some stuff she thought you’d like, so you head over not long after you get home from work. She mentioned that Harry would be over watching some kind of football game with Steven, so you are not surprised to see his car parking on their driveway.
“Hi guys!” you greet them when Rosa lets you in, the game is already on so they just wave in your way, intently watching the TV.
“Come on, I have everything in the bedroom,” Rosa nods in your way and you follow her upstairs. Valerie greets you with a loud shriek as you walk in, she is sitting in her crib, surrounded with a bunch of toys, seemingly having a great time.
“Hi there, Princess!” you coo at her, caressing her cheek before you sit on the edge of the bed that’s filled with piles of clothes. “What’s the big sorting?” you ask, grabbing a cardigan and taking a look at it.
“I just have way too much stuff, can’t fit new stuff into my wardrobe, so I needed to sort it all out.”
The two of you go through everything and just catch up while you try on what you like. At the end, you are just sitting on the bed playing with Valerie. You can tell there’s something Rosa wants to share, but she seems reserved about saying it out loud.
“So, the other day we were talking with Steven about how crazy it is that Val is over one year old,” she starts, eyes glued to the little girl, handing her another building block as Valerie works on… whatever it’s going to be when it's finished.
“Yeah, that’s what we talked about with Harry after her birthday dinner. Makes us feel old,” you chuckle.
“Exactly,” she sighs chuckling. “So then we talked about, maybe… having another kid sometime soon.”
You perk up and looking at Rosa you see the shy smile on her lips and you gasp, but she shakes her head.
“I’m not pregnant,” she assures you, but then adds: “Not yet.”
“Oh my God, so you’re trying for another baby?” you whisper, even though there’s no chance of the guys hearing the two of you. You can hear the sound of the TV up here, they have no clue what you’re talking about.
“I mean, it can take some time, so we thought we could… start now.”
“That’s fantastic!” you breathe out, truly happy for your sister. You just know Valerie will be such a good big sister. “Val, you want a baby sister or baby brother?” you ask her and she looks at you with a serious expression, holding out one of the blocks.
“Baba!” she exclaims.
“Yes, baba!” you chuckle. She’s been learning kind of real words lately and it won’t take too long before she’ll be bossing around everyone in the house.
When it’s getting late you pack the clothes you choose and head down to leave. The guys are still on the couch, but Harry’s head perks up when he hears your footsteps.
“You want me to give you a ride?”
“Um, I’m fine, don’t want to bother you while the game is on.”
“It’s ending in five. If you can wait a little it’s alright.”
“Okay,” you nod smiling so instead of going to the front door you stop in the kitchen to wait for Harry.
Rosa puts Valerie into her high chair and gets a banana for her while you check your phone just when Marcus calls you. Hesitantly, but you answer it.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Hi, just wanted to check in if the weekend is still on.”
“Uh, sure. It is.”
“Great. I’ll have to check again with my boss, but I think I’ll be able to pick you up.”
“Great. Talk to you later.”
“Bye, babe.”
The call ends and you find yourself facing a curious looking Rosa on the other side of the kitchen island.
“Marcus?” she asks and you nod. “How are things going?” You’ve only mentioned it to her that it’s been hard between the two of you, but you definitely didn’t go into details. Harry was the first and last person to hear the whole story.
“Um… neutral, I guess?”
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
“I know, but I’m just trying to figure it out. We are spending the weekend together, I hope it’ll help us to get a little more… settled? I guess, I don’t know,” you stammer, nervously fidgeting with your phone in your hands. 
“That’s nice, was it his idea?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s good to know that Marcus is making the right attempts to smooth things out.”
“Attempts?” Harry’s voice makes both of you look in his way as he stands at the door, seemingly confused about what he just heard. “You’re still with Marcus?”
“Harry, I…”
“No, don’t try to explain it. I thought I talked sense into you last time.” He is clearly pissed, not holding back how upset he is to get the news that you are still dating Marcus. But on the other hand you can also feel yourself getting angry how he tries to control your life.
“You did, but I never said I’ll break things off with him.”
“Well, it surely sounded like you made up your mind,” he huffs.
“Well, I didn’t,” you scoff, crossing your arms on your chest.
“What the fuck, Y/N! You can’t keep doing this to yourself!” he snaps gesturing in your way. “I thought we were over this!”
“We? What do you mean we?” you grimace and now you are raising your voice as well. “Harry, there’s no we! This is my relationship and it’s nice that you care, but you can’t tell me what to do!”
Harry is vivid. He needs everything in him not to burst right then and there and for a moment you think he’s gonna just explode. But when he speaks up again his voice is quiet, however you can feel all the anger and frustration behind it.
“Get in the car, we’re leaving.”
“What?”
“Get in the fucking car, Y/N!” he barks making you jump. Rosa and Steven, who arrived to the kitchen in the middle of this madness, are just watching the scene unfold, completely unable to even say a word.
Slowly, you slide off the stool and grabbing the bag filled with clothes you turn to Rosa.
“Thanks for… these,” you mumble before walking out, Harry following you right behind. 
Nothing is said as the two of you get into the car, Harry is clearly on the verge of anger outburst, but you’re pretty upset yourself. The drive back to your place is painfully quiet, but you can’t stop staring at his hands gripping the wheel. HIs fingers and knuckles are turning white from the way he is basically crushing the wheel in his hold. You wouldn’t be surprised if it had his grip’s imprint on it by the time you arrive to your building. 
“What the fuck, Y/N?” he snaps once the car is parked.
“Would you stop pretending like you have a saying in what I do?”
“I do have a saying in it! Because when you break again I’ll be the one picking you up from the ground!”
“Well, sorry it’s such an inconvenience to be my friend. But don’t worry, I won’t come to you again,” you snap back with a grimace and try to open the door, but it’s locked. “Let me out, Harry!”
“Fuck no, not until we talk about this,” he scoffs and it’s the last straw for you.
“There’s nothing to talk about! It’s none of your business, Harry! Stop pretending like you care!”
“I do care!” he shouts back so forcefully you are taken aback, sinking into your seat. “Of course I fucking care! How would I not?! I care about you so fucking much, how do you not see it?!”
At this point, you’re certain Harry has lost all self control and he is about to load he has been holding back out on you, while you’re just sitting there, staring at him completely speechless over how his whole being is filled with anger and fury.
“Stop fucking telling me that I don’t care when all I think about is you! Every damn day! I can’t fucking stop thinking about you, because every time my mind snaps right back to you when I’m trying to think about something else! Do you know how fucking painful it is?! See you fucking waste your time with that dickhead when I want to be with you?!”
Eyes widened you forget to even breathe as the words leave his lips and soon enough realization hits him hard about what he just said. His chest is violently waving, eyes staring straight ahead. Next time he speaks up the shouting is over, he is clearly shocked at his own behavior.
“Y/N, I-- what you told me last time, about ending up alone, that wasn’t the first time you told me all of that.”
“What?” you gasp.
“You broke down the same way at the wedding. Told me all about how you think you are just simply unlovable and will probably die alone.” His eyes snap down at his hands on his lap as he continues. “I was shocked how you’d ever think that way about yourself, because I was… I was already falling in love with you and I barely just met you that night. I couldn’t imagine what happened to you that made you believe that nonsense. I never felt like that with anyone else before and it was so fucking scary. Every time you looked at me or touched me, I could feel… the sparks. The fucking sparks, Y/N,” he lets out a bitter chuckle. “I never believed in that, but you made me feel that way. Then… one thing happened after the other and we were up in my room. I saw the way you looked at me, like I was your fucking everything and I have never experienced that. You fell asleep in my arms and I told myself that this is exactly how I want to spend the rest of my life.”
Tears roll down your cheeks as you listen in complete shock as Harry is still avoiding to look at you.
“I wanted to be the person who shows you how lovable and amazing you are, how worthy you are to be loved. Like I found my mission all of a sudden.”
“Then what the fuck happened in the morning?” you ask choking out the words. Harry finally turns to face you and you see his watery eyes. He was crying.
“You fell asleep and I was just watching you… and I realized that… sooner or later I would do something to hurt you. Because that’s what I always do and I didn’t want that. You didn’t deserve that, but I just knew I won’t be able to give you what you wanted and needed. And you told me all about how you just want to be loved and… I didn’t want to disappoint you in any way.”
He rubs his eyes turning back to look straight ahead and you see his lips tremble before he speaks up again. 
“I said all those stuff so you’d have a reason to hate me and you wouldn’t try to stay with me.”
“This is literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” you chuckle bitterly as the tears keep rolling down your cheeks. “Do you have any idea how fucking horrible I felt after that? I felt so ashamed for fucking weeks, Harry!”
“I-I know. I mean, I figured.”
“You made me feel unwanted and dirty, it took me so long to build my confidence back and be able to think of myself as more than just some used rug that was thrown out!”
Harry sits there in complete silence and just lets you load everything out on him, because he knows that’s what he deserves. He has tried to punish himself in so many different ways for what he did to you, but he knew he had to face you someday. Now the time has come and he is done trying to run away from the consequences of his actions in the past.
“I was blaming myself all this time, thinking that I must have done something wrong, when in reality it was you! It was fucking you!”
“I know, I’m so sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean it to end like this.”
“You didn’t mean it to end like this?” you snap. “You literally continued to treat me like shit for years! If it wasn’t for Valerie, you’d still be a complete dick to me! And what was your intention with this now, huh? Why did you tell me all of this now?!”
“Because I couldn’t stop… seeing you be so unhappy with someone who clearly doesn’t deserve you in any way. I’m selfish and I realized that I made a mistake, but I now know what I should have done, because…” He finally turns to face you again, you see a tear roll down his cheek as he takes a deep breath before continuing. “I love you. I love you, Y/N, and I’m fucking done pretending like I don’t.”
You stare back at him, breath caught in your throat and it’s the breaking point. You reach over to his side and unlock the doors so you can open yours and you jump out of the car wanting to get as far away from him as possible. He can’t just throw all of this on you after everything the two of you went through, that’s not how it works. Does he even mean it? How are you supposed to believe him after years of hatred?
You try to get inside the building, but he is quick to catch up with you, he grabs your upper arm and pulls back, but you yank his hold away. 
“Where are you going?!” he snaps towering above you.
“Home. And don’t fucking touch me!”
“But I literally just told you I love you, you’re not gonna say anything about that?”
At first you plan on not even answering, you make your way towards the door, but then you change your mind. Turning around you unload on him once again.
“You don’t have the right to tell me you love me! Not after all the shit I took from you! How am I supposed to believe it when you literally made me feel like shit for all these years, saying the meanest stuff to me every damn time we met! I was avoiding you like the plague because I can’t even count how many times you made me cry calling me names and treating me so fucking horrible! No, you are not just gonna waltz in here, tell me that I have to break up with my boyfriend because you’ve been in love with me all along. I don’t fucking believe you, Harry. So stay the fuck away from me,” you tell him and push your way inside. This time he doesn’t follow.
By the time you reach your front you’re sobbing, barely seeing from your own tears. With shaking hands you unlock the door and get inside shutting the door behind you before you collapse on the floor. 
Harry lives in delusion if he thinks he can just unload all of this on you and make everything right magically. Not after more than three years of the shit you took from him. How are you supposed to believe that he is telling the truth? If he loved you all along, how could he treat you like that? That’s not what love should feel like. All those countless times when you came home after seeing him and you couldn’t help but cry after some of his meanest comments… and now he is trying to make you believe he did it all to protect you from him? Bullshit.
It doesn’t work like that and now he is gonna have to face the consequences of his actions. 
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gloryofluv · 3 years
Text
Technique and Precision
There's a difference between the two but they go hand in hand. However, what if someone feels the tendrils of jealousy over something as simple as recipes and late nights?
Vyn x Rosa
3 or 4 parts.
Rosa was reviewing the cases before the meeting as Vyn and Marius were chatting. Luke slumped down next to her and seemed only half committed to his review. Somehow she could sense he wanted to ask her something. Likely in the way his head cocked to the side like a puppy.
The interesting structure of five people with intricate connections to each other. Learning the ebbs and flows of their personalities and possible complications. However, Rosa had a bit of a jump when it came to Luke, and knowing enough about his past reactions gave her warning as to what he was approaching.
“Hey, Rosa,” Luke hummed. “Why didn’t you answer my call last night? I wanted to be sure you were alright and getting sleep for your trial this week.”
Rosa exhaled and set her tablet on her lap before glancing at him. “Well, I was reviewing the case with Artem. We were doing so over dinner.”
“Dinner? You ordered out that late?” Luke questioned.
“No, I didn’t,” she laughed while her head swayed. “Artem came over and cooked while I was busy digging through evidence.”
Rosa didn’t notice the other two making their way over while holding their conversation. She just stared at Luke, who was scowling. Apparently, through his rigid posture, there was something disagreeable about this? “He cooked for you? At your place?”
“Well, yes,” Rosa groaned while waving her hand in a circle in front of her. “Artem is a spectacular cook. He taught me just last week the proper way to treat pork before cooking it.”
“So this is routine. You both cook together?” Luke inquired.
She brushed back her hair from her shoulder and breathed. “Yes, Luke. We work together, and he’s been teaching me proper techniques to cook, so I’m not completely horrible at it.”
“Who would have thought Artem knew to cook and serve justice,” Marius snickered as he collapsed in his seat. “The eighth wonder of the world.”
Vyn sat down and reached for his tablet. He didn’t speak nor participate in the conversation. However, there was a lack of light in his eyes. It darkened his expression and made the serene man pointedly inquisitive.
“I mean, he is excellent at it. I know I’m not the best cook, but he’s been patient,” Rosa laughed.
“You are a bit bland in cooking,” Luke teased with a smirk. “Not that that’s a bad thing!”
Marius lifted his hand and teetered it. “It depends.”
Rosa rolled her eyes. “You’re just jealous that I’m learning to cook correctly, and you are not.”
“I don’t need to cook,” he snorted.
“Well, it’s an excellent way for us to have downtime during after-hours work on a case,” Rosa huffed.
“I’m sure it is,” Marius smiled.
Rosa’s cheeks darkened as she glowered. “Don’t you dare taunt me, Mr. Von Hagen.”
“So, how often do you cook with Artem?” Luke asked and scrunched his nose. “Every time you say you’re working late at home?”
“No! I mean, sometimes, but not all the time,” Rosa groaned.
Artem walked into the NXX Headquarters and pocketed his phone. “My apologies for my tardiness. I had to respond to an inquiry about a case.”
“We were just talking about your dinner dates,” Marius chuckled.
“Dinner dates?” Artem scowled as his shoulders squared. “Is there something I’m unaware of?” His question was neutral, but the color on his cheeks betrayed him.
“Don’t listen to him. He’s being a jerk because we cook together, and he doesn’t know how,” Rosa voiced.
Artem shifted and gestured to Rosa. “Well, you are becoming a better cook.”
“All because of your ease with instruction,” she smiled while bouncing her head.
“You’re not difficult to teach. You understand the process when you’re not nervous,” He responded.
Vyn set down his tablet. “If you’re not as terse with her, she tends to flourish.”
“She does. We’ve covered six recipes so far,” Artem responded as he pivoted toward the psychiatrist with his arms crossed.
Vyn gazed up at Artem and adjusted his glasses. “Impressive, but I am curious as to how much time that took to decide what to teach Rosa.”
“If you’re insinuating something, Vyn, I’d appreciate you just state it instead of verbal sparring,” Artem responded with thin lips.
“I understand the effort it takes to gather recipes and ingredients to instruct someone. With your lack of time with work, I’m curious as to how you fit such in without intense consideration,” Vyn voiced with the hint of a smile.
“Now, both of you,” Rosa huffed as her cheeks darkened. “We aren’t here to argue over who cooks better.”
“Well, I don’t cook well, but I can have my chef teach you, Rosa,” Marius teased with a wink.
Luke groaned and shook his head. “Why not just go to a culinary class. We could do that easily.”
“Guys, come on, can we just get back to work and not analyze the fact that I asked Artem to teach me to better my technique?” Rosa moaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“That’s applicable. As long as Mr. Wing can find his chair,” Vyn hummed.
Artem shook his head as he paced over to the empty seat. “Over cooking.”
“No, not over cooking. It’s actions I’m noting, not instruction,” Vyn responded.
Rosa was glancing between them and tilted her head. What exactly was going on? She could ask, but there was a thick tension. No, it’s best to head to work instead of focusing on the unknown source of the issue. Work just made more sense.
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peralta-guaranteed · 3 years
Note
hc of jake and amy hand holding before dating (i’m convinced they did a few times before they ever dated) and also in the beginning of their relationship + getting teased by the squad 🥰
(this has definitely turned out far more emotional than you’d probably thought, anon, but I don’t make the rules when it comes to fic inspiration)
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Amy Santiago is sitting in a booth at Shaw’s, laughing at something one of her friends has said, and she feels a warm hand slip into hers under the table. Jake Peralta is laughing next to her, too, but then he’s also smiling at her only, and his hand wrapped around hers squeezes three times. It hits her like a brick to the face, those three little squeezes. She finally understands them.
-*-
He’s lying in a hospital bed, and Amy thinks she’s never seen something more unsettling than a quiet Jake Peralta. The only sound in the room is the beeping of some monitors he’s hooked up to, and the only movement is his chest rising slow and steady. Something it didn’t do about two hours ago, when she was kneeling over him in some alley and screaming while the medics finally arrived and brought him back. It was a fairly ‘minor’ injury in the end, one bullet wound that the doctor’s had to close up, but it had hit some sort of vein that was important and that lost a lot of blood and that stopped his heart for the few moments she remembers stretching like hours in her mind. She doesn’t remember much else, especially not the medic’s or doctor’s explanations. They’d taken her along in the ambulance, because she was his partner, and she was allowed to sit in the hospital room he was recovering in now, because she was his emergency contact, too. She could’ve been nothing after today. Because the bullet from that gun wasn’t aimed at Jake before he pushed her to the side.
Amy looks down at her hands, folded in her lap, pinching each other to remind her she’s awake, she’s here, and so is Jake. Not awake, but here. Still here. They’re squeaky clean, her hands, because she’s spent a good fifteen minutes in the hospital public toilets scrubbing them free of his blood after he was rushed into surgery and she was left behind, alone in the waiting room, her sensible grey pantsuit coloured red all over her arms. She had a list of things to do in her head - contact Captain McGintley to follow the chain of command, and Terry so something would actually get done. Figure out how and who can transport Peralta home and take care of him, if he gets to go home. (He will. He has to. She will take him.) Call Rosa to find out if they booked the perp properly, and that they add assault with a deadly weapon to his rep sheet (not murder, although that’s what he did, that’s what happened). But she couldn’t do any of that, because she was still shaking, her heart was still racing, and all she could see was his blood on her hands, warm and sticky and dark and drying into a rotten brown shade already. So she washed them clean, and then scrubbed some more, and some more, until she felt as red and raw as the wound in his chest had looked in the ambulance when they got his shirt off. (The jacket of her suit is rotting away in the toilet trashcan now, and she’s shivering ever so slightly in only her short-sleeved blouse, but it is clean and there is not a hint of Jake’s injury anywhere anymore, except in his gaunt cheekbones and the pale colour of his face, and the silence of the room.) His hand twitches while she’s staring at her own, and if it’s instinct or reflex of whatever that makes her reach out and grab it immediately, she doesn’t care. His hand is warm under hers, and it twitches again and then wraps its fingers around her and holds her, steady and calm. He blinks awake, a little disoriented, but then he focuses on her and - smiles.
“You’re okay.” He says, and that’s what breaks her in the end.
She doesn’t outright sob or anything, but she does let her head drop so her hair is hiding her face, hiding the tears he doesn’t need to see first thing after waking up from literal death. She feels his hand pull on her to make her look at him, though, and she can’t deny him, even if her tear-streaked face is probably not a good view.
“Hey, no- don’t-” He rasps, his voice still coming back, “I’m okay too.”
She laughs through her tears, a short little snort, but it helps calm her down - and him too, it seems, because he smiles again.
“You’re far more than just okay, Peralta.” She smiles back, and feels his hand tighten around hers, three little, but distinct squeezes.
-*-
She shouldn’t feel this nervous. She’s a cop, a detective. A good one. She’s done this before, and it’s never been nice, but it’s always something she’s gotten through.
But she fears tomorrow’s court date more than anything else in her life right now, which is why she’s trying to drown the thought of it at Shaw’s. The hangover will probably not be helpful with her witness statement that could possibly make or break this ruling, but her panic demands more alcohol. However, the next beer she orders at the bar is intercepted by a larger, more calloused hand than hers.
“Alright, Santiago, that last one was your sixth, and I really don’t need to deal with Seven Drink Amy tonight.” Jake says as he settles down next to her, hands the beer over to Rosa, who leaves them alone at the bar before Amy can whine and complain.
“I need that drink, Jake. It’s my only friend right now.” 
“We both know that’s just Six Drink Sadmy speaking.” He pats her arm as she spreads out over the slightly sticky bartop and whines some more.
“You’re worried about tomorrow.” He continues, reading her thoughts like he sometimes does, which is such an annoying thing he can do. His hand is still on her arm. “You don’t have to be.”
“That girl’s entire life is at stake. And the gang boss is going to kill me and her if he gets off-”
“He’s not going to get off. Not if you tell them exactly what you told the lawyers taking your written statement.”
“Says you.”
“Says Sofia.” There’s a weight to those words that hits her stomach, and it’s only partially the fact that a damn defense attorney is on her side. The other part of why those words from the woman Jake started dating just recently hurt her, she doesn’t want to think about. “Look, I’m gonna drive you home, you’re gonna take a hot shower to detox, then you’re gonna get your perfect 8 hours of sleep, show up at court tomorrow in your best, darkest pant suit, and rock this like you rock everything else.” His hand has wandered down her arm to her hand, now, flips it over to hold it, and it’s pure coincidence that their fingers spread and interlock, surely. “Okay?” He asks one more time, and she sighs.
“Teddy can pick me up-”
“Teddy’s at that conference, remember.”
Oh, right. Something that had been lost to memory between drink three and four, the fact that her boyfriend had booked himself into a seminar the week the court date was announced. It’s a really good one, he’d said, if she wasn’t already busy he would’ve asked her to join, too. Already busy. Regular Amy doesn’t get punchy a lot, and maybe it’s her closeness to Seven Drink Amy right now that makes her want to knock him out for that, but she felt that way when she helped him pack his luggage two days ago too, and she was stonecold sober then.
“Okay.” She nods and tries to get off of the barstool, wobbles quite heavily. “Take me home, Peralta.”
He snorts a laugh and obviously swallows down some sort of joke as he pulls her into a standing position, their hands still locked together. She thinks she imagines it at first, but even after she’s sobered up the next day, she remembers those three short, tight, almost painful squeezes before he let go and steered her to his car.
She doesn’t have much time to think about it, or about how she basically held hands with her best friend while both of their partners were out of town, either. Or how he helped her into her apartment and waited until she was showered and had downed some water and aspirin before tucking her into bed. She can’t think about any of that, because she has to get ready for court.
And when she sits down in the witness’ chair, the gang boss on the bench before her staring her down with murder in his eyes, she notices a set of dress blues in the otherwise thin crowd of people who were allowed in to watch the trial. Three rows down, Jake gives her a silent thumbs up when their eyes meet, and she feels the phantom of his hand again, squeezing hers three times before she begins to speak.
-*-
They’re gonna die. She’s certain. They’re gonna die in here, in this cramped little closet, wedged between some industrial shelving and a broken down sink.
Jake had pulled her in and locked the door behind him, squished her against the wall and himself against the door, and killed the radio on her shoulder as well as his own. The last thing they’d heard crackling through it was “four officers down”. Someone had fallen behind her when she ran for safety, and for a second she thought it had been Jake. That he was standing here now, almost pressed against her in the tight space she would usually panic in, that she could feel his erratic breath on her ear, his racing heart under her hands, was pretty much the only comfort she had left.
She wonders how long it’ll last.
The mission had been an absolute bust. They had expected a gang. They had not expected a well-armed mafia. And now officers were wounded, or dead, and they couldn’t use their radio to find out anything, for fear of being discovered. She can hear gunshots and shouts from further away, and it’s only her paranoia that make them sound as if they're getting closer, but Jake is listening just as intently. Amy thinks of Rosa and Charles, who were on the other side of the building. She thinks of Terry, who’s probably trying to reach any of them by radio from his station in the surveillance van. She thinks of Holt, and can’t see where he might be right now, still next to Terry or commanding whatever backup might be coming in or-
She feels Jake’s hand wrap around hers, still pressed against his chest, and realises that she’s been hyperventilating. If she gets any louder, she’ll give away their position. His forehead against hers is cold, colder than he usually is, clammy with sweat, but the simple pressure of it helps her focus. She can hear him breathe deep, slow, exaggerated, and understands that he’s doing it for her. He probably thinks she’s having a panic attack because of her claustrophobia, or maybe all things at the moment combined. He’s not that far off. She breathes with him, feels the air from their exhales swirl between the few spaces were they don’t connect. There aren’t many. If she looks up, she could kiss him. She’s not quite that sure that she’s going to die in here anymore, but she would definitely hate herself if she did and never found out what that felt like, or if her last kiss on Earth was really from Teddy the night before they broke up. But when she moves her head, she meets his eyes instead, pupils blown wide in the darkness around them. He looks scared and terrified, and his heart under their combined hands is still racing, and the last thing he needs is for Amy to confuse him before they go out in a hail of bullets, action-movie-style, which he’d probably love if it wasn’t so real right now. She wants to say something, anything to calm him down, but she can’t speak, and not just because there are footsteps approaching outside their door.
She feels his hand tighten around hers, three times, faster than before. And then he pulls her into a close hug when the door behind his back opens to reveal blinding light, and she realises he’s shielding her, has been ever since he pushed her first into this storage space. He only lets go when they both hear Terry’s voice, and the Captain’s, the first telling them they are safe, the second immediately trying to update them on the situation with the SWAT team. He holds her hand a second longer than the rest of her, and the three squeezes that follow are far softer and slower than the ones before.
-*-
Amy Santiago and Jake Peralta are sitting in a booth at Shaw’s, laughing at something one of their friends has said, and she feels his hand slip into hers under the table. For only a split second, she’s tempted to pull her hand away. It’s still so new and shaky and unsure, their whole thing, yet at the same time it isn’t. It’s been growing for so long, between them and around them, it feels like it’s always been there. But the rest of the squad is still pulling excited faces whenever they get a little closer, Charles still squeals at every mention of their ‘evenings together’, and Rosa has rolled her eyes so hard she almost strained a muscle the first time she heard Amy refer to Jake as ‘babe’ in front of her. It’s all a little bit embarrassing, and sometimes she wishes they’d stuck to just one of their rules, of not telling anyone until they figure it out. But then she wonders, what was there left to figure out? She was with Jake, and she wanted to be with Jake, and deep down, she could see none of that change at any point in time. Forever, possibly.
Charles is still talking, riding the wave of getting their laugh, but then Jake’s smiling at her only, and his hand wrapped around hers squeezes three times. It hits her like a brick to the face, those three little squeezes. She finally understands them. She remembers them from before, from tense moments and situations of fear, from where he’s been there for her at the worst parts. Holding on tight and feeling the three little bursts of pressure, only wondering a long time later if he did it on purpose, or if it was some sort of reflex.
She feels it again now, and she can finally hear it.
I. Squeeze. Love. Squeeze. You. Squeeze.
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damselofblueroses · 3 years
Text
The Name of the Rose
Summary: Your study-buddy Doh Kyungsoo comes with you for a long-awaited trip to Tokyo, Japan. There is a tension between you, however both of you decided to build a friendship instead of a relationship.
Content: Unestablished relationship, AU, Hurt/Comfort, Anger, Slight Violence, Emotional Complications and Healing.
Warnings: Well, the story contains NSFW/Smut, please minors do not continue.
Note: This story was inspired by D.O.’s album, Empathy, the album of 2021 in my opinion. It is an ongoing mini project, I planned to write it as a one-shot when I started, however I realized there are a lot to say about Empathy Era and I cannot stop shut my mouth, or prevent myself from writing… So, here we go.
Second chapter, the Hunter and the Goddess is out :)
Word Count: 3.6k
Chapter 1: The Hunter and the Gazelle
Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.
You were excited.
No, it was not the correct word to be used. You were hyperactive, more than your usual self, and God knows that everyone could testify on how hectic your personality was. According to your family and very close friends, you were a walking catastrophe, funny but a fucking tease and potentially dangerous for environment.
And now, as you had been waiting for your flight, you could not manage to even stay still. Your hands were everywhere, you proved yourself again by dismantling your tote bag as poor thing was on your lap and you were playing with it unconsciously.
“Enough.” you heard your companion’s baritone voice tone. “If you will continue like this, you have to buy your belongings again in Japan. Do you have that much money?”
He reached to you and took the bag from your lap. For a second, his fingers brushed your thighs, and you lost your concentration during that fucking second.
Focus! you told yourself.
“I can always lend some money from you.” you cocked one of your eyebrows. “What? Will you bare me from some bucks?”
“Yes.” he was always plain and simple. On the contrary of you. “Unless if it is not a necessary. I am not a guy of sharing.”
What type of guy you are, can you give me a demonstration?
Your trip to Japan made you very excited, but you had to confess at least to yourself in the depts of your mind. What made you frenzied was the presence of your companion.
Doh Kyungsoo.
Your long-term study-buddy. Actually, he was more than a study-buddy, he was a kind of your comfort zone, even though you never express your opinions about him. You have known each other for almost 7 years since the last year of bachelor. Both of you continued your ways in academic world and you were currently being Ph.D. candidates.
To be honest, he never lose his impacts on you. You had a sweet spot for him since almost the beginning of your friendship which made him more than a study-buddy. It did not mean that you were restraining yourself from having dates time to time, but all of them were ended up with the same result.
They were clever and handsome guys, but they were not Doh Kyungsoo.
Sometimes you could not help but wonder, how it would be if you did not meet him as a friend? Could you two manage having a relationship as your best friend, Baekhyun, supported like a bloody zealot? Or one of you would give up as your brother, Jongdae, always believed?
“Hey!” you heard Kyungsoo’s voice and jumped off from the bench. “Come back to your senses or we are going to miss the plane.”
“And you are going to take its money from me.” your murmured inside of your mouth but obliged to what he said by starting to walk. He was generally quiet during flights, but you knew his mouth will not be shut when you will visit the restaurants he wanted to try.
He does not come for Tokyo, he comes for fucking eels, octopuses, or crabs. Kyungsoo and his appetite.
“Naturally.” he approved your words on money, but there was a ghost of smile on his lips. “Since you are the one who became a sleeping beauty.”
Do you think I am beautiful?
This was another problem you had. With Kyungsoo, you were so relaxed, and you felt extremely safe, so you did not need to control yourself as you generally did. Of course, it was a good omen for your friendship, as much as you were sure Kyungsoo never lied to you, it was also a disadvantage on your part, because sometimes you wanted to ask some questions that should be remained in silence.
“If we would be fairy tales,” you smirked. “I would be Belle while you are the Beast.”
“Fine by me.” he shrugged his shoulder. “He is a very good guy. I am happy for Belle; she understands the assignment. You would not most probably.”
“Sweetheart, you are slow to catch the signs.” you playfully smacked his shoulder when you reached to the control point. You thought he would be annoyed, but he stopped and seriously gazed at you. You shivered and wondered why he was looking at you like he wanted to say something.
“What?” you inhaled.
“Since when I am slow to catch the signs?” he pressed on every word of his sentence, and to your dismay he used that voice tone, almost a whisper but goddamn strong. “Give me an example.”
You shuttered down, and this was the last problem you had with Kyungsoo, he was the only one who could make your brain stop working especially in times when the occasion calls for full-speed devilish progress. You just stared at him and shrugged your shoulder.
“Eh Soo,” you murmured. “You missed a lot of beautiful girls, right?”
Your response was so weak even to your ears. If Chanyeol, number two best friend of you, could hear your words, he would burst into laughs by hitting everyone beside him. You could imagine Junmyeon’s disgusted face as a plus.
“I did not miss anyone, my dear.” he chuckled. “Let me rephrase, anyone I want just one exception, but exceptions do not ruin the calculation in your famous mindset.”
When he chuckles, you can feel your blood tension rocks your body. His heart shaped lips does something to you, and you do not want to name it.
“Exceptions run the world, Doh.” you tried to push him to elaborate his words a little bit more. “Who is that lucky girl who run away from you?”
“That’s my secret.” he smirked and put his hand onto your waist in order to led you the controller lady. “Show your passport, I do not want to wait here forever.”
Who was the girl he mentioned? You could not help but started to feel anxious, how much you tried to press your instincts and feelings, whenever he mentioned a girl, there would be a dire need of crying in the pit of your stomach. You took a deep breathe and followed his instruction. While you were walking into the inside of plane, you struggled with the sudden sadness. You wanted to tear that off yourself, so you reminded yourself the splendid trip ahead you. You found your place and processed to sit down.
“May I help?” Kyungsoo asked you but he already fetched your belongings and placed them correctly. You smiled to him and sat down.
How could you meet someone like him? He was a little bit grumpy sometimes, a person who could give unexpected reactions, but he was reliable, kind, lovely and always thoughtful of his environment. You did not want to lose him. You never want to lose him, on the contrary, you want to keep him in your life until the very end. You could not think a life without Kyungsoo, you always desire him to stay your side.
You were pretty sad, you had to admit, and there was regret. You were regretful on your decision to not go further with him, you wished you could be braver and tell him about your feelings for him. How much you were confused because of him, how many days and nights you spent sleepless because of him. To make the things more complicated, you had zero idea about how he would be responded your confession if you pull yourself together and manage to do. For once, you heard his cousin Minseok talked about you by saying you were very important for Kyungsoo, however you did not know in which extent you were important for him.
You two were always closed to each other, you spent almost 3 or 4 days together, you were living in the same campus, your departments were close to each other. He was a huge part of your life, that’s one of the reasons why you were hopelessly trying to conceal your inappropriate feelings for Kyungsoo. The idea of losing his extremely valuable presence was the only scenario could make you sob.
“Am I the only one who is very uncomfortable?” he whispered to your ear and made your stomach twisted. You could kill him for this, but he was not aware of how he affected you. “You are deadly silent.”
“No, I am just thinking.” you run away from him like an Olympic athlete. “About the trip. I am very excited.”
“If you are,” he flinched your forehead. “You have to talk non-stop. You are silent when something bothers you, what are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing, Soo.” you found a smile from somewhere and presented to him. “You know I never find the chance of visiting Japan; I am really overwhelmed.”
“So, speak to me.” he grunted. “Do not act like I am not here.”
“Okey, okey.” you raised your hands to air. “Sorry for that.”
“I start to feel like I am disturbing you.” he turned his head to the Name of the Rosethat he was reading. Umberto Eco, he had a taste for everything of course. “I asked you twice if you are okey with going to Japan with me.”
You could laugh if you were not so tense since he mentioned girls.
“And I told you this is okey, Soo.” you pinched his upper arm. “You are a good companion for trips.”
“Only for trips?” he asked. What the fuck was wrong with Kyungsoo today? He was behaving weird, and his questions made you more baffled. “I thought I am good companion for everything.”
You bit your lips in order to send back the sudden answer you wanted to give. Instead of declaring your ignorance about his performance on everything, you refined your words.
“You are a good friend, Soo and sorry for making you feel unwanted. I am happy you are coming with me.”
“Hm.” he hummed but he did not look like he was satisfied with your answer. You decided to not think about what the heck he wanted to hear, you also turned to your book that you were supposed to read since the departure. At least Pavese helped you to collect your mind till the plane landed in Narita Airport. He helped you while you two took a cab for the way, he was acting like his usual self, so you accused yourself because of searching hidden messages in his questions. You were such an idiot.
“I will be seeing you at dinner.” he waved his hand when you finished the registration process of the hotel you would be staying for the week. You were in front of the elevator. Both of you already decided to take a nap before dinner when you were planning the trip, so you approved his words and took your keys.
“See you.” you smiled and walked to your room. When you opened the door, your smile widened, the room is so light and minimalistic as you really liked. There was no crowded furniture, crazy designs, or unnecessary modifications. The walls were light blue, the furniture was white, and all looked very harmonious. There were plants and flowers, you immediately run to the flowers as you loved them more than anything else. The hotel staff managed to place even Sakura blossoms into the room that made your heart flattered and smoothed your nerves.
And there was only one blue rose, which was your favourite flower in the world. Just one, between a bouquet of daisies and it looked magnificent. You leaned to smell it while smiling as a little freak. You did not have to see your face; you knew how you looked like. Chanyeol always said that when you see a blue rose, you lost your shit. Another creature made you drunk in happiness was white butterflies. You had a sweet spot for blue roses and white butterflies.
And for Kyungsoo.
You grunted to yourself in your mind, and you headed to the bathroom by tapping your feet to the ground harshly. You were done with your obsession with Kyungsoo, it became something out of control, and you were tired of yourself at this point.
You had to live your goddamn life, you had to stop fucking fantasizing about your study-buddy.
You stripped out from your clothes and jumped into the shower. Cold water helped you to take the control of yourself, both as physical and emotional. You were okey, you were in bloody Japan as you always wanted, and you were going to fucking enjoy it. After shower, you threw yourself into the bed, tucked yourself inside the blanket and set the alarm for one hour later.
After one hour, you were swearing at yourself with your very glorious vocabulary because the only thing you did was fantasizing about Doh Kyungsoo.
“Did you rest?” he asked to you while you were leaving the hotel. You held your growl inside. “Did you take a nap?”
“I did not sleep but I leaned down for a while, so it was good. You?”
“I slept like a baby. It was very interesting when you think I am more like an insomniac.”
“I guess, your insomnia is rubbing on me.” you grumbled. “Where are we going now?”
“Eh, at least something about me can rub on you.” he rolled his eyes, your chin was dropped due to his response. “There is a tiny noodle restaurant in Ebisu, but they are very famous. We are going to there.”
“Okey.” you nod and walked beside of him.
“You look very pretty.” he turned to you. “That dress looked very good on you.”
You instantly took a look on your navy, long dress. It was very comfortable, but also elegant and your fashion freak cousin persuaded you the colour and style gave you a
“Thank you.” you replied. “Sehun chose this for me, you know he is the chef kiss when it comes to fashion.”
“He did well.” he smiled. “How is Sehun by the way, I did not see him since ages. Did he come back from France?”
“No.” you pouted. You really missed your noisy cousin. “He just came to visit for a week, then came back to school. I am not sure if he will come back to be honest, he got some important invitations from European universities.”
“Very good.” Kyungsoo’s face was lit up. He was proud of Sehun. “I know you miss him, but he has a bright career ahead of him.”
“Yes, I know.” you also smiled. Thinking about your successful but extremely playful cousin made you happy. “I just worry about him.”
“Stop babying him.” Kyungsoo punched your arm as half serious half joke. “How old is he, 27?”
“Yeah.” you laughed. “I know I baby him very much, but we all do, Kyungsoo.”
“You are just one year older than Sehun.” he smirked. “Who is going to baby you?”
“Chanyeol.” you exhaled. Kyungsoo looked at you for a second, then both of you burst into laughs because it was well known that you also took care of Chanyeol and Baekhyun as well as Sehun. “Jokes aside, I am a strong and big girl, Kyungsoo, I do not need someone babying me.”
“Maybe you can start looking for a sugar daddy to baby you?” he cocked his eyebrows to you. “Before it is going to be too late?”
“Actually, I had some candidates in my pocket.” you devilishly beamed to him. “You have no idea.”
“Beg your pardon?” his face suddenly transformed from joy to deadpanned seriousness, and his smile was disappeared immediately. “I was joking.”
“I was not.” you blinked your eye. “Some people really proposed to me.”
“For being your sugar daddy?”
“I know I am very little in your eyes, Kyungsoo” you took a deep breathe before continuing. “But here the breaking news: some people could find me attractive.”
“We are not talk about usual dates or men.” he held your arm and turned you to himself. “If you receive this kind of proposes, you have to tell me.”
“Next time, I will report you so we can decide who is going to be my sugar daddy.” you poked his ribs while he burrowed his eyebrows and radiated a strong sense of discontent. “Come on Kyungsoo, I am not going to say yes to this type of proposes, what do you think about me?”
“We are always joking about this issue,” he looked like he was cursing beneath his breath. “But when it comes to you and Baekhyun, I always suspect if you are serious or not.”
“Sugar daddy is a joke.” you hissed. “Of course, it is a joke, I have no interest in having a sugar daddy.”
“What about the proposes? Are they real?”
“Well, they are.” you murmured. Suddenly, you felt like the table was turned and you just played your ace card too early. You felt like Kyungsoo’s eyes investigated your soul to the bits.
“How many?”
“Three.” you gave up. “One from faculty, two from outside.”
“Unethical son of bitches.” he lowly cursed and caught you off guard because he generally preferred to use more polite words, even if he was cursing. “Keep them away from yourself.”
“Oh really?” you teased him by hoping to break the strange tension between you and managed to put a little smile on his face.
“Stop mocking me.” he warned you but now he was smiling widely. His mouth became a heart again, this time you averted your eyes from his face.
“Who I am to dare mocking you?” you squeaked but it was fake.
“Oh, you mock me more than even that walking noisy machine Baekhyun.” he flicked his hand. “We have to stop at this station, Ebisu Garden Place is on the way.”
He put his hand onto your waist again, and you felt like electrocuted again. Every time he touched you, and unfortunately, he sporadically did, you felt like you are dying for more. More what? You were not sure what you really wanted from Kyungsoo, but you were certain on you were desperate for more of him.
More of him.
The bus was crowded, Kyungsoo led you to a little corner, and stayed in front of you. He could be a little bit protective when it came to crowded places since you were clumsy, he generally insisted to keep you close to himself in order to catch you, if you would lose your balance, so you did not surprise when he held your wrist.
What made your heart to do a perfect all kill type of somersault was his next move, his fingers did not stop on your wrist, on the contrary they moved into your palm and grasped your hand tightly. You raised your eyes to him, he never hold your hand, never ever.
“I want to be sure.” he whispered by catching your question before you ask. “Since both of us do not know the way, and the bus is full of passengers, this is more secure.”
“Ah.” This was the best of you at the moment. You quickly realized what the heck you said but Kyungsoo sometimes can be quicker than you.
“Why? Are you unsatisfied with the reason?” His dark brown eyes were shining, his perfume smelled fucking good and the proximity between your faces did not help you.
“Why should I be?” you had to be back to play as soon as possible. “I grant you the chance of holding my hand, that’s count as charity.”
He looked at your hand for a moment, and you saw a smile formed on his lips and instead of a sarcastic reply as you expected, his eyes shaped like a crescent and shined as the fucking moon itself during a cloudless, navy night.
“Thank you, your highness.” he genuinely smiled. “May I continue to hold your hand?”
“Why?” the tone of your question was full of surprise, sounded exceptionally strange.
“Because I want to feel you.” he simply answered, and he squeezed your hand a little bit more. “For once let me feel you by my side.”
You knew that your eyes blown up, your mind was playing some tricky and dangerous games with you, you lost your shit, and you were sure about you finally made yourself mad because of your platonic interest in Kyungsoo, but even if God himself would appear in the bus in order to stop you, that would be a fruitless attempt.
You held Kyungsoo’s hand.
If he wanted to feel you by his side, you could not refuse.
You never refuse Kyungsoo.
How could you?
He was the protagonist of your secret dreams, fantasies and your goddam powerful imagination.
He was your gazelle and you were chasing him since the first day you met.
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janetbrown711 · 4 years
Text
Apple White didn’t have a clue what to think
First, she had pleaded to Raven for forgiveness after freeing her mom- the fricking Evil Queen- from her mirror prison, then they had some fruit for dinner and the next thing Apple knew, she was passed out. Then, she heard a voice that sounded so familiar and yet so distant, then something press against her lips, but... nothing. She returned back into her darkness. Moments later however, she heard another voice, far more clearer though she couldn’t make out what it was saying. It was smooth like silk and sweet as honey. Apple felt like the voice could ramble on and on for hours and she could lay here, half conscious for hours. Then, someone kissed her. It was warm, and sweet, and well- magical. 
Apple sat up, feeling instantly revived. She looked up and saw quite the floral arrangement around her. She spoke:
“What happened?” She looked around at all of her friends who were cheering happily. “Did Daring wake me up?” She batted her eyes and smiled at the prince. Immediately everyone’s faces fell. Apple glanced at Darling, who was right next to her, but neither of them said anything. Apple continued to look for someone who was going to answer, but noticed Raven was missing. After that, she rallied the troops, got on their dragons, and together they all stopped the Evil Queen. 
Apple was happy she had redeemed herself, but it seemed no body was talking to her about who kissed her, not even Daring; he couldn’t even look her in the eyes anymore. Whenever she’d try to slip it in to a conversation, Raven, Briar, and Goldie all quickly changed the subject. All she wanted was an honest answer. She was starting to not even care if it was Daring anymore, heck, she’d be willing to accept it was Dexter or even Sparrow at this point; the question was egging at her constantly to the point where her grades were starting to slip, which was most unlike her. 
One thing that she did notice in her Damsel in Distressing class was that Darling Charming had stopped talking to her. Instead, she chatted with Rosabella and Raven, which made sense, they were her two closest friends, but Apple felt something rise within herself she had never felt before. It was a burning sensation in her chest whenever she saw her laugh at one of Rosa’s jokes or when she whispered something in Raven’s ear. Apple didn’t have a clue what it was; she had never felt anything like it before. 
So... Great.
New emotions, friends who wouldn’t give her a clear answer about anything, and an even unclearer destiny than when Raven had decided against hers. 
Apple’s inner funk had gotten so bad she had hardly noticed when it started to snow outside in the middle of summer. It was nice to have a break from classes of course, but she couldn’t find it within herself to watch as Duchess and Justine show off their ice dancing skills. Instead, she sat at one of the outside tables and drank warm apple cider (you’d think she’d have a thing against apples after being poisoned by one but you’d be wrong, she loved them). She sat there sipping tiredly, and got so lost in thought she hadn’t noticed the person sitting next to her until they spoke. 
“Hey Apple, how’re you doing?” It was Darling Charming. Apple nearly fell out of her seat in surprise. 
“H-hi Darling. Wh-what’s up?” Apple cursed herself internally, not expecting to be that surprised by her presence. Darling’s laugh relaxed her. 
“I noticed you sitting alone and thought you might like some company,” She said sweetly. 
“You’re too kind,” Apple felt her face flush, which caused her to look away. 
“It’s really nothing,” Darling said, slight concern in her voice. Apple went back to sipping her cider in silence. Neither said a word, though they kept glancing at each other and sometimes making eye contact, which Apple would break instantly. 
Darling sighed. “Look Apple... I’m afraid I haven’t- none of us, really- been forward with you. We haven’t told you who kissed you because we were afraid how you’d react,” she explained. 
“And what good has that done me? I’ve practically driven myself as mad as a hatter trying to figure it out,” Apple groaned before gasping and covering her mouth. “I’m sorry- that was so rude, I’m-”
“No, no. Don’t be sorry Apple, it’s okay,” Darling smiled softly and touched her hands and brought them down. Apple felt her face flush again. The princess could only nod. 
“We know how important your destiny is to you, we just- we didn’t want to hurt you... But I can see now that it’s clear we failed,” Darling sighed and looked away. It became clear to Apple that ‘we’ was becoming a loose term. 
“Look, if it was Sparrow Hood, I’ll accept it with time but-”
“It was me, Apple.”
Apple blinked. 
“I’m sorry- did you say-”
“It was me.” Darling looked Apple in the eyes. 
“I-i... I don’t understand, y-you’re a princess, you take Damsel-in-Distressing with me” Apple looked away. “I-i need to sit down.”
“Apple, you are sitting,” Darling put a hand on her shoulder, before realizing what she was doing and pulled away. 
“I’m sorry, I should give you space- I should’ve let Raven do it,” Darling cursed herself. 
“No, no. It’s... I want you to stay,” Apple said. Darling blinked. 
“Anything you need,” Darling said and Apple felt her heart skip a beat. Apple went back to her cider. 
“S-so it was you? You kissed me and... it worked?” She said. Darling nodded. 
“I don’t know why but, I just got this... feeling inside- like... like it was destiny,” She said. 
“I think I felt that too,” Apple nodded. 
“You did? How?” Darling tilted her head a little. 
“I don’t know how, but I could tell when you were close- I got this feeling in my chest and I could hear a voice- your voice- and it just... it felt... right,” Apple said. Darling smiled a little. 
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt that way,” Darling scratched the back of her neck. Apple laughed a little, marveling at how the swave and daring Darling Charming could ever be such a nervous flirt. Darling had been such a tease and playful spirit at the Dragon Games that seeing her like this made her chuckle. 
“So... what does this mean?” Apple asked. “We might be- we probably are... destined for each other. I don’t think this has ever happened before,” Apple said, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. 
“There’s never been a blonde Snow White before either,” Darling shrugged, which made Apple chuckle. 
“That is true,” She nodded. She looked at Darling, and began noticing little things she hadn’t before; the way her nose scrunched when she was thinking, the way her blue eyes always looked so sharp and intense, her expertly done makeup that made even Apple a little jealous, and the little dimple on her left cheek. 
“You’re really beautiful Darling,” Apple said. Darling looked back at her. 
“You’re quite the same, Apple.” The way Darling said her name felt much more special and different than the thousands of times she had heard it before. It was like it meant something to her- which it clearly did: it was destiny.
Destiny. 
Apple was destined to be with Darling. 
Apple liked... girls. 
“Does Daring know?” Apple asked, not wanting to fully delve into that quite yet. “I-i feel like I’ve given him the short end of the stick here.”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself, it’s not something you can change,” Darling rested a hand on Apple’s shoulder again. “Besides, I wouldn’t be worried. He’s been hanging out with Rosabella a lot since you two have been split. I think he’ll be fine,” Darling said. 
“That’s good, he deserves someone nice like her,” Apple sipped her cider. 
“I always had a feeling you two weren’t destined. Daring was always so- I don’t know how to put this nicely... full of himself? It makes sense he’s now being drawn to Rosabella,” Darling said. “I love him and all, he is my older brother after all, but I think he could definitely learn a thing or two from her.”
Apple nodded. “I-i guess looking back I sorta knew it too. I mean, I never once felt anything between us. There’s always been so much social pressure for us to get together and yet we never have. It makes so much sense looking back,” Apple chuckled. 
“Life’s funny that way,” Darling laughed along. “Hindsight is 20/20 after all.” Apple nodded. 
“Yeah...” Apple said. Looking back, she had noticed her lack of connection with Daring, but she also noticed other connections. There were so many friendships in the past she was now starting to question. Briar, Ashlyn, Raven... at one point or another as she looked back now she could almost see how maybe she had thought there had been a little more than she originally thought, especially with Briar. 
“You having one of those ‘oh shoot- did I have a crush on all of my childhood best friends’ moments?” Darling elbowed her. “Because if so, that’s quite relatable. I’ve known I’ve liked girls since I was thirteen and I’m still realizing every day.”
“You got me there,” Apple laughed. 
“Just relax, take your time to digest it all. I know it isn’t exactly how you planned out your whole future, but... I still hope you can be happy with it,” Darling said. 
“Thanks Darling,” Apple smiled softly. Now, it was Darling’s turn to return the favor of looking into her eyes and examining her face. Apple felt herself blush.
“You have beautiful eyes,” Darling said. She was pretty sure she had said that before, but the way Darling’s intense blue eyes were looking at her so delicately and somehow so softly had Apple not even caring. 
“Thank you...” Apple felt herself leaning in. “You’re too kind.”
“I could never be too kind,” Darling smiled a little, leaning in too. 
“You’re too charming then,” Apple smirked. 
“That’s the family legacy for you, damsels falling at our heels,” Darling leaned in even more and the two princesses shared another sweet, tender, and all around magical kiss in the snow on a magical summer afternoon.
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wonder-kid-pugh · 3 years
Text
The Bet (Kelley O'Hara x reader) part 1
Okay I wrote this ages ago but when I tried to post it, it was too long for a single post and then forgot about it. So I'm going to break it up into 2 parts. Hope you enjoy!!!
Kelley's Pov
"Cmon O'Hara! Your late!" Coach Ellis shouts as I jog onto the field for morning practice. I caught up to the rest of the team and started doing the warm up with them, "Sorry Coach!" "Pipe down and run your lap" she shouts back before going back to her notebook.
I run alongside Alex and Allie which the later of which sniggers at me, "Too busy shagging to make it to practice on time?" I just shrug with a smug grin and keep jogging. "Do you even know her name?" Alex asks raising an eyebrow at me. I open my mouth before closing it again and try to think, "R...Riley? Rosa? Rachel! It was Rachel!"
Alex rolls her eyes, "You stop shoving your tongue down her mouth long enough to ask her?" "Don't get snippy with me just cause Serv can't put out to satisfy your needs" I tease and step out of her reach as she goes to smack me. "Are you ever going to stop sleeping around?" Christen asks from in front of us. I snort, "Why would I want too?"
We finish out the lap and start to stretch, "Beside I can't help it it they throw themselves at me". Christen scrunches her face at me, "Your disgusting". But I just shrug while Mal turns to us, "Did you hear about the new girl?" The some of the others nod while they tilt their heads at the young forward. "What new girl?" Alex asks as she stretches her quad.
Mal just shrugs, "I don't know just hear there was a new girl joining today". Christen hums, "Yeah I'm supposed to show her around after practice".  I smirk, "Is she hot?" Christen scoffs, "I haven't met her yet". I give her a cheeky grin, "Well if she's hot can you send her my way". She glares at me, "I'm not helping you add another girl to your list of conquests". I just smirk at the forward, "Fine either it's going to end up with me and her in between the sheets".
"Her and I" Becky corrects as she walks past. Christen looks shocked at our captain, "Don't encourage her!" But the captain shrugs, "I've learned a long time ago to not get involved in Kelley's sex life". I stick out my tongue at Christen who narrows her eyes at me. But Becky crosses her arms giving me a look, "But it doesn't mean I approve of your lifestyle choices".
I stop teasing Christen and look at Becky who gives me a stern look, "I don't like it but I'm not going to tell you what to do. All I'm saying is one day it's going to come back and bite you in the ass and you'll have to accept that".
I watch as Becky walks off to the drill coach has set up as I can't help but think of what she said.
"One day it's going to come back and bite you in the ass and you'll have to accept that"
But I shake my head forgetting it as I follow them to the drill. I respect Becky a lot. She's a great captain and an even better person. But there's no way she knows that for certain.
Right?
...............
I sigh as the bell rings signalling the end of history as I walk out of the class with Tobin, Allie, Alex and Ash, "God I thought he was never going to shut up". Ash nods stretching her arms up over her head, "Yeah. Collins never learns how to shut up. Should we be concerned with how excited he gets talking about the Holocaust?"
But I don't answer instead my attention turns to a girl walking down the hall. She was looking down at what I presume is her timetable as she looks at the numbers on the doors no doubt trying to find her class. She was drop dead gorgeous but as she bit the corner of her lip trying to figure out where she is- holy fuck did that do things to me.
But before I could make a move one of the football players saddle up to her with a sultry smile, "Hey your new. Need help?" She looks him up and down raising an eyebrow at him but before she can reject him I slide up beside her throwing my arm around her shoulders, "Sorry Jacobs she's with me". All I can see is him glaring at me before I wheel her away from him down the hall a bit.
"Thanks" she breathes out, "I was just trying to find my class I didn't exactly want him to get the wrong idea. I owe you one". I wiggle my eyebrows at her, "Well we can call it even if you give me your number". But my smile drops as I see her scoff and mumble something under her breath, "What?" But she just shakes her head, "Look thanks for the save but I didn't escape one flirtatious jackass only to end up with another one".
My eyes widen slightly at her bluntness before trying to recompose myself, "Now why do you think that?" "Because I know what your like. Your all the same. There's always one". "One what?" I ask again trying to understand where she's going. She waves her hand up and down motioning to me, "A player. Has a different girl every few days. Thinks they're god's gift to the world and have have any girl at their beck and call".
I try and keep the smirk off my face as I tilt my head at her, "Why do you think that's me?" She raises an eyebrow at me while she deadpans, "Cause you didn't even asking for my name before you started trying to get into my pants. Besides there's always one like you at every school".
I take a step closer to her with a grin, "Oh honey I promise, you haven't met anyone like me before". To my surprise she puts her finger on my nose and pushes my face away from hers, "Hmm I'm sure. Now excuse but I have to go to class. I'm sure you can find another girl to bang".
And with that she walks down the hallway without even looking back at me. "Don't you need help finding your class?" I shout after her but she waves her hand not sparing me a glance, "I'll find it".
I let out a puff of air as I watch her walk away from me slightly stunned. Even when I hear Allie's cackle I can't seem to pull my eyes away from her retreating figure, "Hahaha Wormie got rejected bad". Ash wraps her arm around me, "So how does it feel to know that not every available girl wants you?" But I ignore them, "Don't worry she'll come around soon". Alex shakes her head, "I don't think so Wormie. I think you've met your match here". But I shake my head, "She will fall for me". Ash smirks, "Wanna bet?"
I finally look at her with a glint in my eye, "What do you have it mind?" "There's no way you can get her before the end of championship" Ash challenges. I smirk at her, "Your on". I look down the hallway where she disappeared,
"She's mine".
.............
I lean up again the lockers with a charming smile plastered on my face, "Hello again". She rolls her eyes as she takes books out of her locker, "Hello O'Hara". I grin, "I don't remember telling you my name". She slams her locker door shut, "Your reputation proceeds you obviously". I lick my lips at that.
That's going to make my job slightly harder
I wiggle my eyebrows at her, "All good things I hope". She raises an eyebrow at me, "Depends on who you ask?" I look at her, "Who did you ask?" But she can't answer as someone calls behind her, "Hey Belle!" She looks behind her and smiles at the forward, "Hey Chris!" She returns the smile before her eyes land on me, "What are you up too Kels?" I shrug, "Just trying to welcome the new student to our wonderful school".
Christen hums obviously not impressed before turning back to the new girl, "What's your next class?" She takes out her phone and checks it quickly before answering, "Uh Calc with Mr James?" I immediately grin, "So do I. I can take you". She once again rolls her eyes while christen gives her what I could only say was a sympathy look, "Sure I'll meet you after for lunch". She sighs but nods before Christen walks away to her next class.
"Ready to go?" I ask but she just sighs and nods, "Let's go O'Hara". I start walking towards our class her barely looking at me, "Why do you hate me so much?" She shrugs, "I don't hate you, I just don't like people like you. I've barely been here a week and I've already heard all about you". "Okay that's fair. But you've only heard about me from other people. You haven't actually given me the chance to really get to know me. How you do know it's true?"
She stops right as we reach the class and turns to me, "That's true. Another thing that's true is your literally saying this to me wearing a leather jacket. What is your motorcycle in the shop?" She runs her hand through her hair before looking me straight in the eye, "It isn't just the fact that you are the perfect image of your stereotypical player. It's also the fact you wear it like a badge of honour. You love the fact that people see you as that and that girls stumble over themselves to get your attention. I'm sorry but I'm not interested in being another name to your already long list of girls you've bedded. I will say that whatever girl that finally gets you to settle down will deserve an award and I hope you find her in the future".
With that she leaves me there standing in the doorway as she turns on her heel and walks into class and introduces herself to the teacher. And as much as I would like to say her words affected me.
I was too focused on how blue her eyes were
.............
"Ladies I would like to introduce you to our new midfielder, Belle Rose" Coach Ellis says as Belle smiles at us but it soon falters when she sees me. "Get a quick stretch going because after we're going into th beep test!" Ellis shouts only for us to groan but start stretching knowing it's only going to be worst if we keep moaning.
"Funny how we keep running into each other" I joke as I walk over to her as she stretches out. She gives me her signature eye roll, "Or maybe I have a stalker?" I grin as I swing my leg, "You wish Princess". She scoffs, "Oh wow that's so original. I've never heard that one before". "I mean you kinda teed it up with your name" I laugh. She snorts, "Yeah my parents had a funny sense of humour". "Well if your beauty where's your beast?" I ask wiggling my eyebrows at her. "Anyone but you" she answers simply before walking away but I'm quick to follow.
"You really not going to give me a chance?" I sigh. "Nope" she says popping the p. "How about a little wager then?" I try again. Thankfully this gets her attention as she turns and quirks an eyebrow at me, "What are you up too O'Hara?" I smirk, "If I can outlast you in the beep test, you have to go on a date with me?" I see most of the team turns and watches us as she thinks drumming her fingers against her bicep, "Wow you really that desperate that you have to challenge me to a race?" The team laugh while I just focus on her as she tilts her head at me, "What's in it for me?" I shrug, "What do you want?" She licks her lips before smirking, "If I win, you have to go a month without sleeping with someone".
All the youngin's ohhhhh but I ignore them and hold out my hand, "Your on". She shakes my hand, "Let's see what you've got O'Hara". "You got it Princess" I wink but she scoffs and walks over to Christen calling over her shoulder, "Good luck beast".
Belle's Pov
"Are you sure about this Belle? I know you have never seen Kelley play before but she's the fastest on the team and always lasts the longest on the beep test" Christen frowns as I shake out my arms and legs. I grin, "Don't worry Pressy. Your forgetting you haven't seen me either. I got this". She sighs, "I hope your right. Kelley is my friend but she leaves a trail of heartbreak in her wake and I don't want to you be another victim of her ways".
I smile, "I appreciate that Chris. I'm glad I have a friend like you looking out for me". She smiles and gives me a side hug, "Anytime". We all line up for the beep test and Kelley makes sure that she's on the other side of me with Mal on the other. We start off with the easy levels. Obviously the goalkeepers were the first to go followed then by the defenders, Kelley being the only one left. The higher up we go the more people drop until it's just Kelley, Christen, Alex, Mal and I left.
Kelley makes it her mission to keep making comments in my ear. Teasing and trying to psyche me out. But I just shrug her off and focus on the running. Soon the other 3 drop leaving only Kelley and I. "I'll give you this. Not many people can keep pace with me" Kelley breathes out. I shrug and wink at her, "You should be worried about keeping up with me". She huffs out a laugh before another beep sounds and we're off running again. We go another few rounds and we're both breathing heavy now. "Just drop so we can both be done with this" Kelley huffs out with a cough but I shake my head with a similar huff, "No way. There's no way I'm stopping until I win".
Again the all too familiar beep comes too soon as we're forced to run again. We both make the line with barely a second but this time you could see that Kelley was struggling as she goes into a coughing fit. I frown as the defender hunches over in a coughing fit and doesn't stop. It gets so intense that she drops to her knees still hacking. I kneel beside her the beep test is completely forgotten as I take her wrists in my hands. She lifts her head as I raise her hands above her head looking into her eyes. "Just take some deep breathes. In the nose out the mouth". She nods slightly as she follows me instructions.
It was only then did I realise how close we really were. My faces scan over her face as her eyes close. Although I would never admit it out loud to her. She was beautiful. She had the looks. Her defined features paired with her sharp jawline would have anyone in awe. Then the millions of freckles scattered across her face only made her more adorable.
But Christ her eyes
When her hazel eyes opened and peered back at me. My breathing almost hitched. The way her eyes just pulled everything together was incredible.
Who knew hazel could be so pretty?
No words were spoken as we both tried to gain our breath back. But our little bubble was interrupted by the rest of the team. "You okay Kels?" Alex ask standing over her friend who nods giving her a thumbs up. It's only then I realise I'm still holding her hands in mine as I quickly drop them and stand up beside Christen who hands me a water bottle, "You good?" I nod before taking a drink.
"Okay while Kelley and Belle catch their breath the rest of you will move onto the next drill" Ellis explains as the rest of the team nod and head over to the drill. Coach turns to us, "You good O'Hara?" She just nods slightly but coach doesn't look convinced, "Sit out for a bit and if your feelings better you can join in. Don't push yourself. Same with you Rose". We both nod before coach walks over to the team and start the drill.
We both just sit in the bench for a little while just taking a breather as we watch the girls before Kelley speaks up, "You could have won". I just turn and look at her as she continues, "You could have kept going and won the bet". I just shrug, "Winning a bet shouldn't come at the expense of someone else". I furrow my eyebrows as I swear I see her flinch slightly before looking down but I ignore it. But it's quickly forgotten about as she gives me a teasing smile, "If I was there any longer I might have needed mouth to mouth".
I groan loudly, "Do you ever stop?" She shrugs with a small smile, "Sorry". I shake my head as I look at the team and see it's a defenders Vs attackers drill and nudge her foot with mine and nod my head towards them, "Cmon O'Hara time for me to show you up in the drill". I start walking over but I heard her scoff behind me before following.
"Not likely Princess"
..............
"Cmon baby you we can have some more fun this weekend. I've got the house all to myself" some girl smirks as she places her hand on Kelley's arm. I roll my eyes but I tilt my head as I see she shrug her off, "Sorry can't". It's obvious that I'm not the only one that's surprised as the girl looks taken back, "Why?" But she just shrugs, "Just can't".
But this doesn't detour her as she once again goes in close to Kelley gliding her hand down her chest to her torso, "Cmon you've never turned down an offer before. Besides we both had fun the last time". I slam my locker shut and houst my bag over my shoulder as I walk over to them, "Kels cmon we have to get to class". She nods before detaching herself from the girl who just narrows her eyes at me, "We were talking". I shrug giving her a bored look, "Not anymore". She scoffs but looks at Kelley, "So this weekend?"
Kelley genuinely looks annoyed for second so I decide to step in, "She can't". Both of them look at me, one in anger the other in confusion. "And why not?" The girl challenges crossing her arms. I lean into Kelley and nudge her side, "We have plans right?" I hold Kelley's stare as she catches on and wraps an arm around my shoulders, "Yup we have plans. Sorry Rachel". "It's Reagan" she glares at us while I try to hold back a snort. "Sorry" Kelley says as she wheels us away and towards our next class.
"Thanks" she breathes out as we make our way through the sea of people. "As much as your a pain in my ass. Your still my teammate and it looked like you needed some help" I say. She smiles, "I appreciate it". "Can I ask you a question?" I ask. "Shoot" she nods. I look at her out of the corner of my eye as we keep walking, "Why did you say no?" She looks at me as I continue, "I mean from my knowledge you never turn down something like that".
She licks her lips before she shrugs, "It was apart of the deal". I furrow my eyebrows at her, "What deal?" She grins, "The deal we made at training. About the beep test". "But I didn't win" I say. She shrugs, "Neither did I. That's why I'm also taking you out on a date this weekend". I give her a blank face, "Seriously?" She smirks, "Deadly. Neither of us won but both of us lost so we both do the forfeit".
I sigh, "I suppose that makes sense. And I'm guessing your not going to let me out of it either". She shake her head, "Nope!" I toss my head back and groan, "Fine. One date and then you leave me alone". She pumps her fist while I can't help but giggle at her child like behaviour as we continue on the way to class.
All the way I didn't realise her arm was still wrapped around me.
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shannendoherty-fans · 3 years
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People, November 9, 1992
Nobody's Pussycat
By Tom Gliatto. Photos by Neal Preston.
Ever Outspoken, Shannen Doherty Defends Family Values, Her Turf on Beverly Hills, 90210—and Her Rowdy Reputation in Hollywood.
THERE ARE TWO ISSUES TO BE CLEARED UP HERE. Both of them are dear to the heart of Shannen Doherty, 21-year-old star of Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210, the Aaron Spelling high school hit that is now in its third season, one in which Doherty's character, Brenda Walsh—who might be described as Gidget with attitude—will break up with that lean-hipped rebel, Dylan (Luke Perry). First issue: Why has Doherty—alone among 90210 costars and teen idols Perry, Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris and Brian Austin Green—come to be regarded as "difficult"? Like, is she, in contrast to the feisty but fairly civilized Brenda, one of those women who rhyme with rich? Is she, as the tabloids have gleefully reported, impossible on the set? Is she a prima donna? Also: After hours, does she party too much? And where was she being driven, in those recent tabloid photos, by rapper Marky Mark?
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Second issue: What has become of the youngest of her dogs, a rottweiler named Jake? Doherty has arrived home, at her three-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, expecting to find golden retriever Sally gone (her dad was going to slop by to take her to the vet's), but now only black Lab Penelope is here to greet her. And why is there blood around the hack patio? Unnerved, Doherty phones her parents. No luck. She calls the vet. Gets the machine. Perhaps this is not the ideal moment for Doherty to sit down with a visitor and size up that delicate first issue. She chooses an armless chair in the living room and takes out a cigarette. She smiles, but it is not a happy smile, and her fingers shake as the match reaches the cigarette. "Yeah," she says, exhaling smoke with her sigh, "you've really caught me on a good day."
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"People think I'm a bitch," she says with a shrug. "There was a group of four girls at Torrance High, when; we film the show, and they walked by and said, 'Oh, what a bitch!' You can walk away from that, but you really want to turn around and say, 'Why?' " She can give you a couple of whys, actually. "The tabloids make up stuff," she says. "Somebody will call [the tabs] up and say, They're yelling at each other on the [90210] set,' and they will turn around and make it 10 times worse," Doherty says. And maybe, she reasons, the tabloids pick on her. specifically, because "I'm a strong woman. There are still some people out there who can't deal with that."
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Aaron Spelling, whose company produces 90210, describes her as "the best young actress I've seen in a long time," and has no problem with Doherty or her manner. "She is a very honest person who wears her emotions on her sleeve," he says. "If you ask her a direct question, she'll give you a direct answer." For instance, Doherty isn't afraid to tell friend, costar and daughter-of-the-boss Tori Spelling if she's wearing the wrong blouse. "Of all my friends, Shannen is the really honest one," says Tori, one of the few 90210ers who talked about her. Doherty's comments are "all meant in the best way," she adds. "But I can see [her reputation] hurts her feelings a bit." If so, Doherty is not about to expose her wounded heart in public. And why should she? Her image hasn't hurt her endorsement power (she does ads for Gitano jeans). "I'm not saying I don't have my moments of bitchiness," Doherty says, not defensively at all, "because everybody has them. But it's never for no reason. I think that life is short, you should live it and be happy. I've always been a ballsy kid," she adds. "I know it pisses some people off, but isn't the end result much better?"
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In fact, Doherty, who won her first series role when she was 11 (she played Jenny Wilder on Little House: A New Beginning), thinks her "bitch" reputation started with 1989's cull black-comedy movie Heathers (in which she was one of the three nasty title teens). Doherty says she let a behind-the-cameras player on that film know, in no uncertain terms, that she didn't approve of an extramarital affair he was conducting with an extra. "It was the first time I actually saw somebody take advantage of the extras," she says. "He knew I disliked him, and he was the first person to call me a bitch." In the past year, though, she also earned the enmity of prince of sarcasm Dennis Miller when she appeared on his short-lived talk show and embarrassed him by teasing him for not being at ease. (Her photo, tacked up backstage, was subsequently defaced with a devil's horn and goatee.) And would Peter Duchow, who produced her recent TV movie Obsessed, like to work with Doherty again? "How much are you going to pay me?" he asks. He notes that she was late to the set several times ("Professionals," he says, "make an absolute effort to be on time") but then clarifies: "Like a lot of talented people, she has mood swings. Hers are perhaps a lot more exaggerated than others. And any 21-year-old is difficult to work with. She has to learn some lessons that everybody has to learn." Then there was the headline-grabbing flap at this year's Emmys show. The day before the ceremony, Doherty dropped out of presenting an award with John Stamos of Full House and 90210 costar Jennie Garth. "She was a colossal pain in the ass," says Walter Miller, who produced and directed the program. There have been numerous explanations of that pain. Initially a spokesperson said that she was suffering from bronchitis. Miller, who refers to Doherty as "a barracuda," thinks she was unhappy that Garth was given the opening line of Emmy dialogue—even though Doherty would have announced the winning name. But Doherty says she was upset that the entire 90210 cast was not given tickets to the ceremonies. "I just said, "This is ridiculous, our cast can't go,' " she explains. " 'I just don't understand that.' " Doherty's manager, Mike Gursey, says he yanked her from the telecast because "tiny" promises about her role, including what category she would present in, went unfulfilled.
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Having offended the gods of Hollywood, though, the young "barracuda" arrived in tears al a luncheon the day of the Emmys, reports Aaron Spelling, "afraid even one would be mad at her." If so, it was a rare display of public insecurity from a young woman who, says her father, Tom, 48, "has always been self-assured." Shannen was born in Memphis, the younger of two children (her brother, Sean, 25, is a USC law student) and, on her mother Rosa's side, the latest in a long line of Southern Baptists. Shannen's conservative upbringing may have something to do with her public displeasure over 90210's Brenda's losing her virginity last year ("We have a whole cast that is sexually active," she complained in one interview); her disgust with that unnamed. womanizing Heathers crew member; and her August appearance at that feast of family values, the Republican National Convention, at which she led the Pledge of Allegiance. ("I don't think Clinton would be any different than Bush," says Doherty, a Jack Kemp supporter, "except maybe he'd do a hell of a lot worse.") Growing up in the male-dominated South, though, had its drawbacks. "I saw how women were treated," she says, "and I wasn't going to be treated like that." In fact, she seems to have a Scarlett O'Hara, I'll-never-go-hungry-again tenacity, developed after her family moved to the comfortable Palos Verdes neighborhood of Los Angeles when she was 6. Her father had bought a trucking firm, but within a few years the business collapsed. "Shannen has seen both sides of the coin," says her dad, now a mortgage consultant. "We lived in a prestigious area, with an ocean view. Then we had the rug pulled out from under us. There was a time when the doorbell would ring and it might be the utility man there to cut off the power." The experience seared Doherty. "People think, 'She's sitting up there in a nice house and has money,' " Shannen says of herself, suddenly irritated. "Somebody said that to me last night, and I got really pissed off. My parents went from having money to having nothing, to eating rice every single day."
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As Tom Doherty's company was sinking, his daughter was getting into another business—acting. Initially, Shannen tagged along when Sean tried out for a church production. In short order, she went on to play Sneezy the dwarf in Snow White, also at church ("I hammed it up"), and by age 10 she was doing commercials for Pepsi. Her big break came in 1982, when she did a voice for the animated feature The Secret of NIMH. Then Michael Landon hired her for Little House. "That show changed my life," says Doherty. "Michael Landon was the one who said to me, 'Always slick up for yourself. Never let anybody walk all over you. Be a strong woman.' " The principal of the Baptist school she attended after her stint on Little House paid the price for Landon's advice. "I hated that school," says Doherty, her voice turning sharp again. "It was very repressed. They thought that dancing was evil, and I disagreed. I organized a big dance, and the principal called me in. He wasn't pleased. He had his Bible out there on his desk and told me how God would punish me. I flipped through his Bible and found references to people dancing and rejoicing. I said to him, 'It clearly shows they danced and rejoiced. Just what the f—is wrong with you?' " Her father had reservations about Shannen and show business, but he supported her in her fight at the school, which she left alter a year. She finished her studies at the Lycée Français, a private school in L.A. (by then, the family was back on its feet financially). "Shannen believed in something," says her dad, who didn't know beforehand about the prohibition on happy feet. "She did nothing wrong." The family was less approving when she left home at 18 and moved in with a 31-year-old boyfriend (who had told her he was 28). "I wanted so much to be on my own," she says now. "I wanted to prove I could do things myself". But the boy friend turned out to be involved with drugs. "And I tried drugs and drinking," says Doherty softly. "I was drinking up a storm. Cocaine was something that I tried and didn't really like. It was more the lifestyle I was into. Every single night I was out clubbing and drinking. It was a bad scene." This went on, she estimates, for six months and ended—with a shock—the night her boy-friend struck her. "I just remember one slap across the lace." she says, "and I was out of there." She went across the street to a convenience store, phoned her parents and went home. She has since bought and moved into her own place, but remains close lo her parents. She was there for her father in 1983 and again in 1990 when he suffered strokes (his right side is now slightly paralyzed). "She has done the single most important thing lo help my recovery," he says. "She makes me laugh." It was in 1986. while playing Kris Witherspoon on her second NBC series, Our House, that Doherty first caught the attention of an influential member of the viewing audience named Tori Spelling. Tori also liked Doherty in Heathers and recommended her to her father. Doherty got the 90210 job on a Wednesday, started work on a Monday, and now she's so famous she needs a dog to protect her when she goes jogging.
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(The dogs! What about those dogs? Every time the phone rings, Doherty hops up and runs off to answer, only to return with a look of dejection—no news.) Doherty doesn't deny that she may have earned her reputation for being tough in the early days of 90210. "I always stood up for the right causes, but I don't think I was always diplomatic," she says. "But recently I have learned lo be diplomatic." That hasn't prevented the occasional on-set misunderstanding—like the time recently when the day's shoot ran past midnight and Doherty announced (with the producers' permission, she says) that it was time to go home. She suspects Jennie Garth may have resented that show of authority. "I don't think Jennie was very happy," she says. At any rate, she adds, their friendship has suffered—and the Emmy business didn't help. "There's some weird tension there," she says. "We haven't really talked about what happened. But Jennie is a great girl, and this is something that can be worked on." There are no complaints from Jason Priestley, who plays Doherty's brother, Brandon. "All of the stories about Shannen are so blown out of proportion," he says. "She's a very intelligent young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind. I really enjoy working with her. We have a good relationship on-and offscreen."
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For the past year, Doherty's primary offscreen relationship has been with Chris Foufas, 25, a Chicago-based real estate manager. They met through a friend of Foufas's (in fact, she was dating the friend at the time). They announced their engagement earlier this year, but now it has been called off. "He is a wonderful man whom I love very much," says Doherty, "but I'm 21, and it's not exactly the right time to gel married. Friendship has taken over the romance.' " Marriage hasn't been completely ruled out, she says. And "if he goes out with another girl, it's [only] because he's bored." Now as to the famous night on the town with Marky Mark. Doherty maintains that they were not on a date—it was just a friendly foursome that included 90210 costars Green and Spelling. Someday, Doherty may have her own rock-and-roll groupies to distract her. A big fan of U2, Guns N' Roses and Pearl Jam (she would love to meet lead singer Eddie Vedder), she enjoys toying with the idea of having her own band. The basic career plan, of course, is to land some movie roles alter 90210, but Doherty says, "I gel into these modes of sitting in my house writing poetry that could be converted into songs."
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She pauses to light another cigarette and inhales, turning her head toward the sound of a car door slamming and the scuttle of approaching paws. Sally comes bounding in, and Tom Doherty enters carrying Jake, the dog's back paws wrapped in bandages. Shannen's father explains that when he arrived to take Sally to the vet, he found Jake in the pool. The pup had fallen in and was frantically clawing the pool trying to get out. "He looks so funny," Shannen says. "I'm so relieved!" She pats him on the head, and he regards her contentedly. You will never hear a bad word from Jake about Shannen Doherty.
*** 💜♀️International Women's Day♀️💜
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amyscascadingtabs · 3 years
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expecto patronum
Post-The Fugitive. Jake and Amy talk Harry Potter, patronuses, and love.
✨read on ao3  ✨ 
“Hey, babe, I’m home!”
The door makes a distinctive clicking noise behind Jake as he locks it. It’s only one of the many sounds he’s getting used to; his new home is full of them, and they’ve become much more noticeable now that he’s here every day. He’s known his way around this apartment for a long time, but living there, permanently, is different. It’s a good kind of different, though. 
“In here!” Amy shouts from her – from their – bedroom, and Jake hurries to hang up his jacket and bag before going to greet his girlfriend. 
    He’s coming home late tonight. A questioning at work dragged over after a surprise confession, and as exciting as those are, Jake’s bitter over missing dinner and Property Brothers with Amy. He half hadn't expected her to be awake still, but once he was finally free to text her that he was on his way home, she replied straight away to tell him she'd be waiting. Rosa had teased him about how wide he’d been smiling, but Jake hadn’t found it in him to care. 
Amy’s laying on her stomach in bed with a thick book leaned against the pillow, resting her chin against one hand as she reads and holding up the cover with her other. Jake recognizes the book; it’s Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book in the Harry Potter series. He was reading it himself a few weeks ago.
“Ah, Harry Potter. Good choice.”
Amy closes the book against her index finger and looks up at him. “Yeah, you inspired me. How was work?”
“We got a confession,” he grins. “It was dope. Guy just started rambling, pretty much told us his whole life story for some reason, and now we have him. I even got to call the victim’s mom, tell her the news.”
“Sounds like a good day, then.”
“Yeah. Missed seeing you, though.”
“You see me all the time, babe. We live and work together.”
“I know, so it makes me feel even weirder when I don't!”
Amy laughs, letting out that adorable chortling sound he only ever hears when they're alone. Then she looks back to her book, scooching closer to her preferred side of the bed, and Jake takes that as an instruction to change into pajamas so he can join her. 
Any regular night, he would probably have taken time to shower and brush his teeth first, but it's been a long day. He simply undresses instead, smirking as he notices Amy’s subtle side glance when he takes off his shirt. This, these small moments of appreciation between them, is yet another one of the parts he loves most about sharing a life with her – it’s nearly midnight, he’s exhausted and he remembers Amy mentioning starting her period, so sex is almost guaranteed to be off the table – but she still makes him feel attractive, makes him feel confident and wanted. He never realized how much that being an equal exchange meant to him before their relationship.
   “So,” he asks her, “where are you up to in the book, then?”
“Almost finished the whole thing,” she says, looking very proud of herself. “I’m at the time-turner chapter. Harry thinks he saw his dad cast a patronus from the other side of the lake, but then he realizes just saw himself.” 
“Man, that part was so sad.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah!” Jake huffs, crawling underneath the covers. “I just… felt for him, you know? He wishes he could meet his parents, just once, even if he knows it's impossible. He wants this family he never had.”
“It makes you realize how in the end, he's just a kid. A brave kid, but a kid.”
“A kid in desperate need of therapy.”
“Amen,” says Amy, flipping a page. “Hogwarts mental health services do seem to be severely lacking. Did you know the dementors were inspired by the author’s own experiences with depression, by the way?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Dark creatures with the power to bring out all the worst memories in your head, making you feel like you’ll never be happy again. Like you can’t even remember what it’s like. And the only way to defeat them is to hold onto the very happiest moments of your life and create a shield out of them.”
“Kind of deep for a kid's book,” Jake reflects, and Amy nods. 
“Maybe. But it's not pushed on them, either. It's a way for them to understand, without knowing that they're understanding. I always loved that about the Harry Potter books,” she says, a sudden dreamy look in her eyes. “They're just… intelligent.”
   Jake means to agree with her, but then his body remembers he's been at work for the entire day, and out comes an embarrassingly big yawn that makes Amy laugh. 
“Long day? I can read to you if you want.”
“Dreamgirl,” he mumbles. Amy rolls her eyes, but then she reaches out to pull him closer, her left hand running through his hair as she holds the book with her right, and he can see her smiling.
   Jake's not sure how long she's reading for. He loses track of time, but frankly, he doesn’t mind. Amy's reading voice is low, peaceful enough to relax him but varied enough to entice him at the same time. Her fingers keep brushing through his curls as she reads, tracing soft circles on his scalp. He listens to her read the part where Harry and Hermione fly on Buckbeak to rescue Sirius, and it doesn't matter that he read the book himself just a few weeks ago, because he could listen to her voice forever.
   He gets to do that now, he realizes, because they live together now. It may only have been a week, and not completely without its challenges, but it already feels like one of the best decisions of his life. Even though they were spending almost every night together before as well, there’s something special about coming home and Amy already being there. Not because they’ve made specific plans for her to be, but because that’s the norm, because home is the same place for the two of them now. There’s something intimate about getting to share a routine with her, working out a system for who gets the bathroom when in the morning, adding stuff onto the same grocery list. Even seeing his t-shirts next to hers in the dresser puts a smile on his face in the morning. It feels grown-up, and it feels stable, and it feels right. 
    He wonders sometimes if he could have imagined this the night she knocked on his door to tell him screw light and breezy. Honestly, he probably could have, even if he was too proud to admit it to himself in the beginning. But after a year and a half of dating, of which six excruciating months were spent apart (and hopefully no more will ever be, he thinks), Jake couldn’t care less about pride. He loves Amy Santiago, and he wants to spend all the time he can with her, give her everything and share his life with her for as long as she’ll let him. That, if anything, makes him proud. In any case, it’s like he said that first night undercover as Johnny and Dora – there’s really no one else’s opinion he cares about more than hers. 
    Amy finishes the chapter, reaching for a bookmark before putting the book on her nightstand.
“There,” she laughs. “That’s your goodnight story.”
“Mm, one more chapter.”
“Mm, no. It’s late, babe.”
“I have a question,” he says then, knowing it’ll garner her attention and give him some more treasured quality time before they really have to go to sleep. Amy raises an eyebrow and shakes her head lovingly at him, but then she nods. “Harry’s patronus is a stag, right? Like his dad’s animagus form. And in the fifth book, Hermione has an otter, and Ron some kind of dog.”
“A Jack Russell terrier. Yeah, why?”
“How is your patronus determined? Like… how does it know?”
“It’s supposed to reflect your innermost personality,” she answers, not missing a beat. “It represents something about you that makes you who you are. Something that gives you strength, I would say. So for Harry, that would be the thought of his parents fighting for him.”
“I like that,” Jake says. “A lot of things in that universe are just grossly poetic though, aren't they?”
This makes Amy chuckle. “Very true.”
“What do you think yours would be?”
“Oh. Hmm.” She presses her lips together. “I don't know. What do you think?”
“We could find out,” He grins, reaching for his phone. “I’m sure there's a BuzzFeed quiz.”
      He's right – and although Amy rolls her eyes at him at first, they end up having a laugh at the quiz, picking the options they think best suit the other one and shrugging when the results suggest Amy’s would be a horse, and Jake’s a stag.
“The descriptions are pretty accurate, though,” Amy says, reading from Jake’s phone. “Brave and fearless, and your greatest asset is your ability to love. Sometimes you get a bit hot-headed and impatient –” Jake fake-gasps. “– but your friends are your source of peace, getting you through the good and bad.”
“I still think it should be a ninja turtle,” he mutters. “But yours is true, too. Loyal, smart, underrated badass.”
“It just gave us the same patronuses as Harry and Ginny.” Amy smiles. “They do get together later, so I guess that works.”
“Spoilers! I haven’t gotten to that part yet!”
“Oh, come on, it’s really obvious.” She kisses the pouting grimace off of his face. “Different question. What memory would you use to cast your patronus?”
“I have thought about that,” he confesses, blushing. “It’s a three-way tie. The first time you told me you loved me. That evening when you stood outside my door and told me you wanted to be with me, for reals. Maybe even our first date, after the bet. All of those, together… I think they’d make a damn good patronus.”
“Wow.” Amy almost looks taken aback, like she wasn’t expecting that moment of sincerity. “I’m surprised you didn’t just say the first time we had sex or something.”
“Would you have wanted me to say that? Wait, is that yours? Santiago –”
“Oh my god, obviously not –”
“Obviously? Wow, hurtful, much –”
“Just let me finish!”
“Title of –”
“Stop!” Amy’s shaking with laughter, holding her hand on top of his mouth just for a second. “Stop, stop. What I meant to say was that it’s the same for me. That’s what I’d think of, too.”
“Even the bet? Even though you lost?”
“Yes, babe. Even though I lost.”
“So it wouldn’t be the first time we had sex, then.”
She smirks. “We’ve had better since.”
Then she leans over him, and her lips are on his, insistent but soft at once. His heartbeat’s speeding by the time she pulls away, and it satisfies him to see that her face is a little flushed, too. 
“For the record,” Jake mumbles as she rests her head on his chest after, “this, right here – would also work for a damn good patronus.”
“Oh, yeah. No dementor would stand a chance.”
“Mm. You’re a nerd, but I love you.”
“I love you, too. Goodnight, babe.”
“Goodnight,” he whispers, wrapping his arms around her and allowing himself a brief moment to revel in the feeling that’s started growing in him recently.
Forever, this could be forever.
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