#I’ve been told I’m not allowed to stay home alone for a few days even though I’m 23 so I just. wtf at this point yknow. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eddiemunsons80sbaby · 5 months

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Never Say Never

Chapter 2

Pairing: SingleDad!StevexReader

Summary: You are a 32 year old single mother, raising your seven year old son on your own. After being widowed at 30 and going out on awful dates with disgusting men for the past month, you have decided that you're giving up. You already had your great love. One person can't possibly get lucky enough to have two in their lifetime. But then your son starts playing baseball and the coach might just change your mind about that.

No posting schedule.

18+ only for eventual smut

Word Count: 7.3K

“It seems to be just a case of the common cold,” you told the worried mother. “Dr. Wilson said she just needs rest and to make sure she drinks lots of fluids. She should be back to herself within a few days.”

“Thanks. I know I’m probably being silly rushing her in here but she kept waking up last night, crying, and I’m all alone. I’ve just been exhausted having to do everything on my own. It’s been so hard. And with her not feeling well, neither of us have gotten much sleep the last few days. My husband’s in the Air Force and he’s currently deployed and we don’t know when he’s going to get to come back home and my parents live three hundred miles away.”

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Let the feeling come. Acknowledge the feeling and then move forward. You closed your eyes for a moment, centering yourself, not letting this one burrow too far in before you forced it back. Maybe you weren't supposed to push them away but sometimes it was necessary. Like now. You couldn’t be the nurse who assured the nervous mother if you were busy trying to find three things to look at, smell, and move. It wasn’t reassuring to have your medical professional falling apart in front of you.

Pressing your index finger to your thumb, you allowed yourself to feel the sensation, to know you were here. You weren't back there. No one was waiting on the other side of the door to give you the news that would send a wrecking ball through the middle of your life, destroying and altering it forever. You were strong. You were handling it. You were moving forward. Opening your eyes, you put on your best smile.

“Of course. I can’t imagine how challenging that must be for you.” Actually, you could, but this was not the time or place to share your own story. This was the time to be an empathetic ear, to listen to your patient. It was not the time to unpack your own trauma or make this about yourself. “Please, no need to apologize. You call us whenever you need to. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

The mother thanked you, lifting her three year old into her arms. You directed her which way to go. Parents often got a bit turned around in this place, the hallways like a maze to the various exam rooms, like a figure eight. This practice was a thriving one, one that kept you very busy, your days packed with back-to-back appointments. But you preferred it that way. It made your days go faster.

After you finished college with your Bachelor’s of Science in nursing, you had immediately gotten a job at the local hospital. You'd loved it. The hours were long and you were exhausted all the time but it had been fast-paced and so rewarding. However, it had also been heartbreaking as some children who came into the hospital were there to stay and would never again leave. They would never get tucked into their own bed again, never run through their own backyard again, never sit on the floor of their living room on a Saturday morning eating cereal while watching cartoons again. The job had not just been physically exhausting but mentally and emotionally exhausting as well.

After you'd found out you were expecting Eli, Justin had suggested that maybe you needed something a bit more predictable. It would be hard for you to work twelve hour shifts with a baby at home. It would be even harder to watch children suffer, watch parents in the darkest moments of their lives, when you had a little one at home. You weren't sure how you could face that kind of heartbreak and then go home to your own child, hoping it never happened to you.

Still, you wouldn’t have given it up if it weren’t for Justin being in the military. With his job, he would often be gone for months at a time, leaving you alone. It hadn’t been a problem before but with your parents living across the country and his parents more than three hours away, you were limited when it came to help. So, you'd applied to the new local pediatrician's office, delighted when you got a call that same week, inviting you in for an interview.

You'd been there ever since, watching as Dr. Wilson’s practice grew. He was young, just a bit older than you, and new to the job but his warm demeanor and empathetic ear quickly had every mom in town bringing their child to him. It probably didn’t hurt that he was pretty damn good looking too.

“Hey Rita, I’m going to take my lunch if I don’t have any more patients for a bit,” you told your receptionist as you placed the child’s file into the cabinet.

“That’s fine. Your next appointment isn’t for an hour so you’re good. I’ll have Sarah handle anything that pops up while you’re out.”

“Thanks.”

You grabbed your lunch bag from the fridge and made your way out of the office, heading for the pond. When it was nice out, you always chose to eat your lunch out here, a little escape from the fluorescent lights and germs of the office. Finding a bench, you sat down, pulling out your bologna sandwich. It wasn’t your usual choice but it had simply felt easier to make two this morning instead of trying to come up with something else for yourself.

You pulled out your phone, dialing the number of the one person you'd been desperate to talk to after the events of yesterday. Janice was a photographer. She did great business and had multiple clients who came back to her again and again for family portraits, baby pictures, and senior photos. She worked from home, which also meant her hours were flexible and she was almost always available to take your calls. Sure enough, your best friend picked up after two rings.

“Are you sitting under your tree?”

You laughed, “How did you know?”

“Because it’s your lunchtime and that’s what you always do when the sun is shining. Are the geese around?”

“Yep. The five little babies are swimming with mom and dad. They’re so cute. Little brown fluffballs that look so soft and sweet. I just want to cuddle them.”

“I wouldn’t try it. Geese can be nasty.”

“You don’t have to tell me. Remember when Eli was two and he wanted to feed them and those two geese hissed and opened their wings wide when he got too close. We didn’t know they had a nest right there. I know they were just protecting their babies but that scared the shit out of me.”

“Well, Eli’s your baby. Of course you were scared,” Janice laughed. “Oh my god. That poor kid. He won’t go anywhere near them now. It cemented itself into his brain and gave him a complex. He’ll probably hate those feathered fiends for the rest of his life. So, how was his first baseball practice? Did he love it? Matt can’t wait to talk to him about it.”

“He did. He talked my ear off the whole way home. His best friend is on his team and his coach is the kid’s dad. He loves him and said he was so nice and fun. He’s really patient with the kids. When Eli missed the ball for the third time, he was so upset with himself. The coach was so sweet, giving him some pointers, and assuring him he could do it.”

“Oh…okay, hold on. Wait a minute. Why do you sound like that when you’re talking about his coach?”

“Like what?” you demanded.

“Like you did in high school when you used to talk about Josh.”

“What? No I don’t.”

“Yeah you do! You’re all gushy. You sound like a Disney princess about to break into song among the forest animals who are going to help you clean your home about the guy you just met in the woods.”

You snorted, “Oh please. No I don’t. I’m just glad that his coach is so kind since Eli is new at this.”

“Uh-huh…so, this coach isn’t cute?”

“I mean, yeah, he is…objectively speaking, most women would say he was very attractive.”

“Most women, huh? And what about you?”

“Yes, okay? Yes, I think he’s very attractive. Anyone with eyes would see that he is good-looking. You should have heard the moms at practice going on about his ass. Married moms basically saying they would cheat on their husbands for this guy. I swear, the housewives club is scary. But it’s just…he’s just Eli’s coach. His son is coming over to our house later today to play with Eli.”

Steve was attractive. Hell, he was possibly the most attractive man you'd ever laid eyes on and that made the guilt just twist in your stomach even harder. Justin had been the love of your life. How could you be so turned around by some guy you barely even knew? You'd spoken for all of three minutes. You didn’t know anything about him besides the fact that he coached kids baseball.

“Oh, is he now?”

“Janice, stop. Eli and Jeremiah have become best friends this year and Eli asked forever ago if he could come over and I completely forgot about it and it never happened. He asked again yesterday so I promised him I would set it up. That’s all it is.”

“And is his dad coming over to play too?”

You groaned, your hand coming to y our forehead, “Do you have to say it like that? And no he’s not. He has a work meeting. So, I’m kind of helping him out, I guess, but not really because I was going to invite the kid over anyway.”

“So, he’s just dropping him off and picking him up?”

“Well, he may have offered to grab a pizza on his way back to thank me for watching his kid. Which is completely unnecessary because I asked for him to come over before he ever told me about his meeting. I wouldn’t even have known I was babysitting for him if he wouldn’t have told me about it. I never would have expected him to hang around while our kids hung out.”

“Hmm, so you’re going to be having dinner with him, then?”

“And our kids,” you reminded her.

Janice had this all wrong. Of course she did. He was just being friendly. Your kids were friends and they wanted to spend time together. He’d said it himself, you were helping him out of a bind with childcare issues. That was all. He was just being nice and buying everybody dinner. Your sons were going to be there. It wasn’t like it was a date.

“Still. You know, I said maybe you could find a hot, single dad at practice and look at you, finding one on the first go! He is single, right?”

“I think so. He said his best friend was busy and he had no one else to watch Jeremiah. That would make me think the mom isn’t in the picture but I honestly have no idea. We barely talked because he had to start the practice.”

“Well, you should have plenty of time to talk tonight and get clarification on his status.”

“I don’t need clarification on his status. I told you, I’m done with all of that. I had Justin. There is no way I will ever find anything that can begin to compare with what we had.”

“You definitely won’t if you just throw in the towel. Come on, Aly. Would it really be so bad to just talk to him a bit? I’m not saying you have to jump his bones tonight. I mean, probably wouldn’t hurt. You haven’t been laid in two years, my friend. Your vagina could use some airing out. Clear all the cobwebs that have settled, you know?”

“Jesus, you are so foul,” you sighed, catching sight of a young family heading into the office. The dad had a little boy on his shoulders. He said something to the mom and she grinned, leaning up onto her toes to kiss him. The sight sent familiar pangs of the loss of what could have been, what should have been, through you.

“Maybe but you know I’m right. Anyway, if you’re going to be such a prude, then just talk to him. Be his friend. If your kids like each other that much, chances are this won’t be the only time you’re around each other. And then who knows?”

“Yeah…who knows…” you sighed, thinking you did know. The universe was never going to let you get that lucky twice. Something had to be wrong with this guy.

___________________________________________________________

You folded the towel from the dryer as you watched Jeremiah and Eli race around the backyard, dressed up in Eli’s superhero costumes. Your son had an entire bin of them. He was obsessed. Comic books and action figures covered the shelves in his bedroom. Eli had always loved superheroes but Matt, who was a self-proclaimed, very proud nerd, had gotten him into comics. Most of the items Eli now had came from Matt himself, stuff he’d kept since he was a kid.

You'd survived the drop-off, being cordial and friendly without giving off any signals that you were interested in anything more. At least, you thought you were. It was hard to concentrate when that man looked so damn good, standing there in gray slacks and a yellow sweater. When his cologne hit your olfactory nerves, a woodsy scent of sandalwood and pine, you had gripped the door frame, fighting back the swoon that was quickly coming on. But no, you were sure you kept things professional, just two parents in the midst of an exchange for a playdate.

Besides, you weren't even sure you were interested in anything more. You didn’t even know how to do more at this point. It had been so long since you'd spent real time with any man that wasn’t Justin or Matt. And even if Janice kept pushing you to move on, even if it had been two years, you weren't sure you were ready.

And you weren't sure if Eli would be ready. His therapist said he was doing well. He had adjusted as best as you could expect a child who’d lost his father to adjust. But did that mean he was ready to see his mom with a new guy? Was it fair to bring someone new into his life that could just disappear? What if you started something with someone and it ended badly and he lost another male figure and his best friend at the same time? Would he be so well adjusted then? He had settled into their routine, him and you against the world. You weren't sure you could change that on him.

He’d only been five when it happened but you had made sure that he’d never forgotten his daddy. A picture of him and Justin sat on his nightstand by his bed. It was one of your favorites, taken at the pumpkin farm when Eli was four. He held a giant pumpkin, looking so proud, when really Justin was holding the bottom of it for him, both of them beaming their matching smiles.

The two of you talked about him often, you sharing stories with him of you and Justin and him and Justin. Reminded him how much his daddy had loved him. You couldn’t allow him to forget. You couldn’t do that to Justin whose smile could have lit up the entire planet the first time he laid eyes on his son.

“Mommy! We’re hungry!” Eli yelled as he and Jeremiah came racing in the back door.

You glanced over at the clock, “Well, Jeremiah’s dad is bringing pizza and he should be here any minute. Do you think Superman and Batman can wait just a few minutes to eat?”

Eli groaned, dramatically tumbling down to the floor, “But fighting crime and saving the world is hard work. It makes us so hungry, mommy.”

“Okay…how about you two have some strawberries?” you offered, thinking it wouldn’t be too filling and it would get something good in their system before they loaded up on carbs and cheese.

“Strawberries!” Jeremiah’s eyes lit up. “They’re my favorite fruit. Daddy takes me strawberry picking every single year and we get a ton. My daddy makes strawberry jam and it’s so good on my toast.” His eyes went wide, shooting over to Eli. “Hey! I’ll ask my dad if you guys can come this year! It’s super fun. They have goats, cows, chickens, and ponies that you can ride!”

“Can we mommy?” Eli asked, turning those sweet blue eyes up at you.

“I…uh…I mean, strawberry picking around here isn’t for another month or so. But, maybe, I guess? I mean, if Eli’s daddy wants to take you too, that would be fine.”

“You can come too!” Jeremiah told you. “They have other stuff there like fancy soaps and stuff that they make. My mommy used to like those.”

“Oh, well, maybe…” you muttered as you busied yourself with getting out the strawberries. You ran them under water before working at slicing them onto a plate for the boys to share.

His mommy used to like those? So, she’d been around during his life, obviously. Enough for him to remember going strawberry picking with them. Unless, like Eli, he was repeating stories his dad had shared with him. Where was she now? Had she left? Had she died? You couldn’t very well ask a little boy. What if she had passed? You couldn’t bring up that pain for him.

“Did we ever go strawberry picking with daddy?” asked Eli as the boys sat down at the table, the plate of strawberries between them.

You swallowed, “No. We didn’t go strawberry picking but we used to go to the apple orchard every fall and daddy would put you up on his shoulders so you could get the apples. And we always went to the pumpkin farm too.”

“We still do that!”

“Yes we do,” you smiled as you washed your hands. You worked so hard to keep the traditions that you and Justin started alive. It was another way for you to remind your son how incredible the five short years he had with his dad was. You looked up when there was a knock at the door, drying your hands on a kitchen towel. “I bet that’s Jeremiah’s daddy with the pizza.”

Smoothing your hands over your hair, you inhaled deeply, reminding yourself that this was just two parents whose kids had become best friends getting to know each other. No pressure. No reason to be nervous. You were simply trying to be good parents.

Grabbing onto the door, you swung it open, only to feel like the entire world had turned upside down at the sight of Steve. There he stood in those slacks and that yellow sweater that looked so damn good on him. Not many people could pull off yellow but boy, he could. His right arm was raised, two pizza boxes balancing on his hand and a smile that could have outshone the sun on his face.

“Pizza, as promised,” he announced.

Gathering yourself, you returned his smile, “The boys will be very relieved. Superman and Batman have been battling the forces of evil all afternoon and they are wasting away to nothing.”

Steve’s cheeks hollowed out as he released a long, audible breath, “Can’t have that. How will they ever keep the city safe if we don’t recharge them with greasy pizza? But seriously, I hope he was good for you.”

“He was great,” you assured him. “Seriously.”

“Good. Thanks again. You were a real lifesaver.”

“No problem. I…”

“Daddy! Where’s the pizza!?” came Jeremiah’s whine from the kitchen, loud and impatient.

“Sorry. It’s right here.” Steve grinned, tossing you a wink that had you dazed, before making his way into the kitchen, plopping the boxes down in the middle of the table. “We can’t have Superman and Batman losing their strength. Have to keep them fed so they can keep the city safe. Are we currently in Gotham or Metropolis?”

“Daddy,” Jeremiah sighed, looking exasperated with his father. “Everyone knows both of those places are based on New York City. Then we can be there together.”

“Oh, sorry,” snorted Steve, sharing an amused look with you. “I am not as well versed in superhero lore as you.”

“I know. Uncle Dusty knows way more than you.”

“Of course he does because Uncle Dusty is so much cooler than your boring, old dad.” Steve rolled his eyes, pulling out the chair next to Jeremiah and having a seat.

“You have a brother?” you asked as you stretched your arm up to retrieve the plastic paper plate holders from the top shelf. Turning, your breath caught in your throat. Steve’s eyes were watching you, focused on your midsection, right where your sweater had ridden up when you'd reached for the plates. He quickly looked down at his son as you cleared your throat and set the holders and plates on the table.

“Uhh…no. I mean, not really,” he laughed. “Dustin isn’t actually my brother. I used to babysit him actually. I helped him out one day. There were some older kids picking on him and his friends at the park and I stepped in. Anyway, he went home and told his mom about this cool teenager and she tracked me down and asked if I’d be interested in babysitting. I think she really just wanted him to have a guy in his life. His dad died when he was young and he was an only child. Anyway, he was ten and I was sixteen and he just latched on like a leech and stuck. So…” He balanced his elbows on the table, hands facing up. “I guess he’s mine now. Him and Jere, here, are really close. Jere is into all the nerdy stuff that Dustin likes so Dustin is like his hero.”

“Uncle Dusty is amazing! He taught me how to make a homemade rocket,” Jeremiah told you, his smile so like his dad’s.

But his eyes were different, a beautiful blue like the color of the ocean on a sunny day. And his nose was rounded, a cute little button, the complete opposite of Steve’s which was longer and pointed, almost Romanesque. He must have gotten those features from his mom, which left you wondering where she was again.

“Yeah, and you almost burned the garage down. That thing singed the walls. I had to pull out the fire extinguisher,” Steve reminded his son, grabbing plates and placing them into the holders.

Eli’s eyes went wide, “You almost started a fire?”

“Only a little one but you should have seen the rocket. It zoomed around the garage and then flew out and went bang! It was so cool.”

“Yeah, real cool,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Daddy, did you get just cheese?” asked Jeremiah as Steve moved to open one of the boxes.

“Of course, kid. Do you think I’m new here?” He reached over, ruffling his son’s hair, causing Jeremiah to giggle and that familiar pain, the pain that reminded you of everything your son was missing out on, tightened around you once again. Steve looked up at you. “I got one cheese and one pepperoni. I figured those were safe bets since I don’t know what either of you like. Hope that’s okay?”

“I love cheese too!” Eli told him eagerly, grinning over at Steve. “And mommy usually gets bacon and pineapple for herself but she likes all pizza. Pizza is our favorite food. We have it every Friday and watch a movie.”

“Pineapple on pizza?” Steve questioned skeptically, that beautiful nose crinkling.

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it,” you teased with a laugh, pouring milk for the kids. “My husb…” You paused, swallowing hard before taking the seat between Steve and Eli. But why shouldn’t you talk about Justin? Steve had to know Eli didn’t arrive by immaculate conception. “My husband thought I was crazy too. He was more of a pepperoni and green onions kind of guy. But my roommate in college is the one who got me into it. She ordered it one night and I was skeptical too but the combination of sweet and savory is delicious.”

“I think I’ll just have to take your word on that one,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Fruit on pizza.” He looked over at the boys, one of those long, thick fingers swirling around by his ear. “Can you believe that? She’s nuts.”

Eli giggled as Steve plopped a piece of cheese on his plate, “My mommy can be crazy. Sometimes we do backward dinner.”

Steve’s lips pursed, head tilted, “Backward dinner? What’s that?”

“It’s where we have dessert first. So, we’ll have hot fudge sundaes and then we’ll have chicken nuggets and vegetables. It’s my favorite kind of dinner because I don’t have to eat all my vegetables before I get my dessert.”

“Oh, that does sound like a good deal because dessert is the best part of the meal,” Steve agreed with a nod.

“I mean, it’s only done sometimes as a special treat.” You didn’t know why you felt the need to justify yourself but you did. “I do make sure he eats healthy.”

Steve laughed, “I’m sure you do. Sometimes Jere Bear and I like to have ice cream for dinner, don’t we?”

“Yeah! My daddy used to work at Scoops Ahoy and they have the best ice cream! I always get a banana split and daddy gets the U.S.S. Butterscotch.”

“Mmm, the U.S.S. Butterscotch is my favorite,” you grinned. “Eli always gets the hot fudge sundae.”

“With extra fudge!” he added.

“Obviously,” Steve scoffed. “You can never have too much fudge.”

“So, how long ago was this when you worked at Scoops Ahoy?” you asked, picturing him in their little sailor outfit. You couldn’t deny that it gave you a little thrill of pleasure.

“Oh god, it’s been years now. I worked there right out of high school. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and when I couldn’t even get into community college, my father forced me to get a job. Said I needed to know what it was like to earn a working man’s wage.” He snorted harshly, leaving you with the impression that his relationship with his father wasn’t a particularly good one. “Anyway, I worked there for a couple years. That’s actually how I met my best friend, Robin.”

“And I assume you did figure out what you wanted to do with your life since you had a work meeting tonight?”

Steve took a large bite of his pizza, the slice folded up in his hand, “I’m a project manager for a construction company.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that job. What exactly do you do?”

“I oversee the building process, make sure everything is completed on time and within budget. I work with the architects and the engineers to develop plans, establish timelines for different phases to be complete, and calculate what labor and materials are going to cost. That’s what my meeting was about tonight actually. We just got a contract for a new subdivision they’re putting in off of Cherry. It’s a big job. We’re thinking it’s going to take about two years.”

“Wow, that’s a long time.”

“Not really when you consider we’re building around sixty new houses. It’s a good thing really, means my team will have plenty of work to do for a while. Steady income, you know? Nothing’s worse than having to lay someone off, knowing you’re possibly making their life impossible.”

“What’s laying off?” asked Eli.

“Well, when we don’t have enough work to do, then we don’t have the money to pay people. So, I have to tell them that we’re letting them go for a while. It’s not really getting fired because you hope you can call them back when there’s more work. They can apply to get money from the government but it’s not nearly as much as they make when they’re working. That can make it hard for them to feed their families and pay their bills.”

“That seems mean,” Eli commented. “Why do you do it?”

“I don’t want to do it. But when the money’s not there, we have no way to pay them. It happens a lot in the wintertime because there’s not as much building when the weather’s bad. That’s why this job is such a good thing because it will be steady work for the next two winters. I won’t have to worry and neither will my guys.”

“Well, that’s good. Did you have to go to school for that or like a trade school?” you inquired.

“No college. I don’t think I was ever made for college. I struggled through high school. Of course, that could have been because I was interested in everything else but high school. That’s why I’m so glad my kiddo here got his mom’s brains. She was an overachiever, still is. I actually started just like my guys, doing the construction part. I got interested in how the job runs and wound up getting my certification. And about four years ago, they promoted me to project manager.”

So Mom definitely wasn’t gone but then why did he need a babysitter? Maybe she was busy too? Or maybe she lived out of town and they shared custody? And this was none of your business. Why were you so interested in what the situation was with mom?

“Wow, that’s amazing. You must have really impressed them then. Going to college isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, anyway. I’ve told Eli, it all depends on what you want to do with your life. Some jobs don’t require college and they’re just as important. I mean, you build homes. You provide a space for families to start their lives and make memories. I think that’s pretty important work.”

A flush rose up along his neck, bright red against the yellow of his sweater. A small smile curved his lips as he tapped the table before looking up at you. The boys had long given up on your conversation, deeply entrenched in one of their own about the latest episode of X-men: Evolution.

“I mean, you work in a pediatrician’s office, right? You help sick kids. I think that might be just a bit more important than what I do. But thanks. What do you do in the office, anyway? Are you the doctor?”

You laughed, “No. That was far more schooling than I was interested in doing. I’m a nurse but honestly, we know just as much as they do. Experience is way more educational than sitting in some class, listening to someone talk about stuff. Sometimes, I think we might know more than the doctors do. But Dr. Wilson is great to work with. He’s not one of those guys that talks down to his nurses or acts like he’s superior because he’s got that M.D. after his name. I worked with plenty of misogynist ego-driven jerks when I worked at the hospital. They act like they’re royalty or something. Dr. Wilson actually trusts us and values our input. He makes us feel like a part of a team instead of a dictatorship.”

The conversation flowed easily, the boys jumping in here and there, all four of you laughing and smiling as you enjoyed your pizza. You could not deny the feeling of rightness in this moment, this moment that was everything you had ever wanted for your son. It was a picture perfect moment in time, this little dinner at your kitchen table full of warmth and laughter.

And no, you weren't insane. It wasn’t that you were looking at this as a family or that you were jumping ten steps ahead of just this pleasant evening. It was just nice to have a full table, to have it not be just you and Eli, to watch your son enjoying himself. He loved when Matt and Janice came for dinner but this was different. He had his best friend with him, the two boys sending each other into hysterics every thirty seconds.

For just this moment, this little slice of time, the weight had been lifted from your shoulders. The constant guilt that you weren't enough, that you could never be enough for your son. You could never be all of the things that he needed you to be. For just this moment, you thought maybe you didn’t have to be if you could surround him with people who provided everything he needed.

“Alright, kiddo, we should probably get heading home so you can take a shower before bed,” Steve announced around seven thirty, pushing back from the table and standing up. He gathered the paper plates, tossing them in the trash. “Did you want help cleaning up before we head out?”

You waved your hand dismissively, “Oh no. That’s not necessary. Just a quick wipe down of the holders and popping the cups in the dishwasher. It will only take a couple minutes.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, seriously. No big deal. Besides, you bought the dinner so the least I can do is the clean up.”

“Yes, but I brought the dinner to thank you for watching my kid.”

“Please. I offered to take him and having Jeremiah here saved me from having to wear the Superman cape and run around with Eli all evening. It was nice to just be an average human instead of a superhero tonight.”

“You’re a nurse,” Steve said with a soft smile, leaning into you, causing your heart to skip a beat. “Pretty sure you’re a superhero all the time.”

“Daddy, can Eli come to our house this weekend? Please? He really wants to meet Miles.”

“Miles?” you asked.

“It’s his dog!” Eli told you excitedly. “He wears capes too! Jeremiah said he can be my sidekick, Robin.”

"Which is silly because that's my Aunt Robin's name," Jeremiah added, "but the cape doesn't fit her so good so she's usually Catwoman because it's a mask and a tail."

Steve laughed, “Sure kid. He can come over. If it’s okay with his mom.”

“Fine with me,” you shrugged. Seeing the joy on your son’s face to get to spend time with his friend was all the reason you needed to readily agree. It definitely did not have to do with having the chance to see his dad again. No. That didn’t factor in at all.

“Okay, well, how about this?” Steve knelt down to his son’s level. “We’ve got baseball practice on Saturday until two. Why don’t we all go get ice cream afterward and then Jeremiah and his mom can come meet Miles afterward?”

“All of us?” you questioned, wondering if you'd heard him correctly.

He rose, head tilting forward, those eyes as warm as a chocolate chip cookie coming right out of the oven, and just as delicious. “Why not? I mean, if you have something else to do…”

“No. No, I don’t. I mean, that would be nice. We haven’t gotten ice cream yet since they opened. And I love dogs. Who doesn’t love dogs? Crazy people, right? So obviously meeting your dog would be fun. I just…I mean…yeah, okay.”

He appeared amused with you once again and you wished you could just pull the foot out of your mouth. It appeared to be permanently wedged there whenever he was around.

“Good. Maybe we can even have a sleepover.” Your breath caught as his mouth dropped open, eyes going wide, one of those hands running nervously through his hair, sweeping it to the side. “I mean the boys. The boys could have a sleepover. At my house. If you’re okay with that?”

Had he meant what you thought he meant? Had that just been an innocent mistake or was he as attracted to you as you were to him? Trying to let your son hang out with his friend was proving to be far more complicated than you thought it would be when you'd approached him on the baseball field.

“Yeah.” You weren't sure why. You hadn’t even let Eli stay the night anywhere before but there was just something about Steve that you trusted. “Eli would love that, honestly.”

“You’re gonna sleep at my house!” Jeremiah yelled, grabbing Eli’s hands, the two boys jumping around the kitchen.

“Obviously, they’re both okay with it,” Steve chuckled, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “So, we’ll see you Saturday at practice?”

“Yeah. Saturday.”

You said your goodbyes, the boys both still screeching, talking about how it was only two more sleeps until their sleepover. Steve gave you one last smile and a little finger wave before turning and taking his son’s hand, leading him to his Ford Explorer that was parked just behind your Prius.

“Mommy, are you and Jeremiah’s dad friends now too?”

“Kind of, I guess,” you shrugged.

“Cool because if you’re friends and want to play with each other all the time then me and Eli can play with each other all the time too!”

You gripped the door, closing it slowly behind you. Your son had no idea the implications of what he’d just said but you definitely did. Your entire body was vibrating with the implications of what he’d just said.

___________________________________________________________

“Daddy, when Eli spends the night can we make a fort like the one we made that one time where it was the whole living room? Remember? And we put up the Christmas lights inside and we put in our sleeping bags and pillows.”

Steve blinked, glancing up at his son in the rearview mirror. He’d completely missed everything that his kid had just said. The boy had been rambling from the moment they’d gotten in the car and he was having trouble focusing, his thoughts completely focused on the last hour of his day.

You had been consuming all of his brain space since you'd approached him yesterday on the baseball field. Yeah, you were gorgeous. He’d noticed that instantly. Who wouldn’t? But there was something else about you, something that wouldn’t let his brain rest, something that kept poking at him, telling him to do something about these feelings you were stirring up inside him.

And it had been so long since he’d had anything stirring inside of him. After him and Nancy had split four years ago, Steve had jumped right into another relationship. He struggled with being alone. According to Robin, it was his dysfunctional childhood. The little boy inside of him who never got the love he needed from his parents, constantly seeking it out in someone else.

According to Robin, that was why he’d married Nancy even though the two of them had been all wrong for each other. He clung to the first solid thing that had come along and refused to see any of the millions of little signs that it wasn’t working. Of course, that was according to Robin, his best friend who thought she knew more about the internal workings of his mind than he did.

He’d dated Stacy for a year, convinced himself that she was the one, told Robin he was thinking of proposing and his obnoxious friend had slapped him upside the head. To be fair, he probably needed a good jarring, something to knock some sense into him. Marrying Stacy would have led to him being twice divorced. She had been even worse for him than Nancy.

Not that there was anything wrong with Nance. No, she was amazing. She was smart, beautiful, kind, and an absolutely wonderful mother. Neither of them had ever cheated or hurt the other. They simply just weren’t a good fit. It seemed so obvious now when he could see how well her and Jonathan slid together, like two puzzle pieces locking into place perfectly.

He’d dated a few other women after Stacy, most recently Janet, a single mother that he met at the park last summer. They’d made it about four months before he saw it was going nowhere. She was clingy, pushing for them to move in together, and it was in that moment that he realized he could not see a future with her. The idea of waking up next to her every day was exhausting. He’d ended it and she had not taken it well, calling him every name in the book, very loudly, in the middle of the restaurant he’d taken her to to try to soften the blow.

Steve didn’t lack for options. It felt like the moms of this town were throwing themselves at him constantly, some of them not even single. But none of them fit. None of them made him feel that thing, that thing that Robin said was like the Big Bang, everything exploding and then rearranging into this perfect arrangement. She kept telling him it was called falling in love, not forcing in love. He needed to stop trying to make it happen and just let it come to him. Yeah, well, that was easy for her to see, the girl who’d found the right person in high school.

Was that what he was doing right now? Was he just trying to force something to be what he wanted? Your kids were friends. You'd approached him because you wanted to set up a time for your sons to be able to play. It could be that simple. You might not even be interested in him or in anything.

He knew your husband had died. Jere had told him that Eli’s dad was in heaven. But he didn’t know how and he didn’t know how long ago. Maybe you were still freshly grieving. You'd definitely struggled when you were talking about him tonight. If you were still in the midst of your grief, the last thing you needed was some guy trying to push you to go out with him sometime.

No, he probably needed to just take a step back. Cool it off. Yeah, you were beautiful and you seemed far more real than most of the women in this town who were interested in him. But if he tried to force something that wasn’t there, he wouldn’t be the only one to suffer. Jere would too because he would inevitably lose his best friend when things went south. He couldn’t do that to him.

“Daddy, are you even listening to me?” Jeremiah huffed from the backseat, breaking through Steve’s thoughts.

“I’m sorry buddy. What did you say?”

“I said can we make a big fort when Eli comes with the lights and our sleeping bags and stuff?”

“Oh yeah. Of course, bud. We can definitely do that. You want to make some s’mores too?”

“Yeah! And can we have popcorn and watch the new Scooby Doo movie too?”

“Absolutely!” Steve replied, grinning in the mirror. “And I can grill some hamburgers and hot dogs. We’ll make it the best sleepover ever, kid.”

His son’s smile stretched from ear to ear, reminding Steve why he very much needed to focus on his son’s happiness instead of his loneliness. No, he didn’t need to jump into another relationship with some woman he’d just met. He was just seeing things he wanted to see, trying to rearrange the pieces into the image he was so desperate for.

“Is Eli's mommy gonna sleepover too? Our fort will be big enough.”

“Uh, no buddy,” Steve answered. “She’s gonna come over and see Miles but she’s not staying.”

“Why not? Don’t you want a friend, daddy?”

Yeah, he did. More than his son could possibly know.

Chapter 3

Taglist: @katethetank

If you wanted to be added to the taglist, just let me know. 😊

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clxja16 · 1 year

Text

Since Day One

Part Three

Arthur Leclerc X Reader

Genre: childhood friends to lovers

Warnings: language

Word Count: 4K

Author’s Note: okay this is it, I don’t think I’m gonna do a part four. Unless idk if you guys absolutely beg for a part four. But yeah this is it. It is insane how many people like part two and asked for a part three. I was genuinely stunned, idk what to say guys. Thank you so much for showing this so much love. I’m sorry if this doesn’t live up to expectations, i felt like I made you guys wait long enough for it.

Part one, Part two

————————————

Charles and Arthur had to be in Austria before Thursday to prepare for the next race. You were adamant about not going, saying you did not prepare to be away from home for more than a week. That even staying in the UK for the weekend was setting you back in a multitude of things.

“You said you weren’t gonna stay away anymore,” Charles said. As all of them, Charles, Charlotte, Arthur, and Lorenzo, crammed into your hotel room before going to the airport.

“I’m not trying to stay away,” you said, shoving more things into your luggage, as Arthur and Charlotte deliberately unpacked things.

“Then why can’t you come to Austria with the rest of us?” Charles asked, crossing his arms.

“Because I did not plan to be in Austria,” you exclaimed. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to go, but Austria wasn’t in the original plan. “I’ll come to Monza.”

“What is it that you are really rushing back to Monaco for?” Charles looked you dead in the eye.

“It’s not your job, you said you were able to work remotely,” Charlotte deduced.

“It’s not your parents, because they don’t require you to be home like before,” Lorenzo added, he always kept in close contact with your parents.

“It’s not a guy, because you just told me that the last guy fell through when you found out he was a Ferrari fan,” Arthur then added.

“It can’t be money, your job pays you more than enough to travel with us,” Charles said.

“You know, I have no clothes for the rest of the trip, nor a plane ticket to Austria like the rest of you,” you said, trying to give any excuse to not go to Austria, “not to mention I was planning on splurging on a trip for my parents and their anniversary, and I don’t think a last minute trip to Austria will fit in the budget.”

“I’ll cover you for Austria,” Lorenzo, Charles, and Arthur said in sync.

“We’ll cover your expenses for Austria y/n, we really want you to be there with us,” Lorenzo said.

“You’re not taking no for an answer huh?” You said, looking at the three Leclercs. All of them shaking their heads. “Let’s go to Austria then,” you sighed in defeat, as all of them cheered.

“Okay good, here is your ticket,” Lorenzo said, pulling the paperwork out of his pocket. You looked at Lorenzo absolutely dumbfounded, “when you showed up for Arthur's sprint race, I knew you would have to come to Austria with us, so I got the ticket then,” Lorenzo revealed.

You took the ticket from Lorenzo, waving it in his face, while saying “normal people don’t do this Lo,” then you looked at the other two brothers, “normal people don’t expect their friends to be able to drop everything and travel to a different country with them.”

Unfortunately for you, Lorenzo couldn’t get you on the same flight as the rest of them. You were leaving the UK the same day as them, but several hours later. Lorenzo and the rest of them will arrive in Austria, Tuesday afternoon, while you will arrive closer to Tuesday night. You really didn’t mind it all too much. The few hours alone will allow you to gather your thoughts. Or so you thought.

“Y/n,” you heard your name from across the airport. “Y/n,” it was Felipe Drugovich, “that is you.”

“Felipe,” you said, going to hug him, “it’s been a minute.”

“It has, how have you been? Are you coming to the races again?”

You smiled, you weren’t close with Felipe, but the two of you always had a friendly relationship. “I’ve been good, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to attend all the races, but I’ll definitely start coming again. What about you though, race winner”

“Only a couple,” Felipe smiled, he was always so humble.

“A couple? You have three feature race wins, and you’ve scored in almost all of the races,” you smiled.

“Not all, and you’ve kept up with us?”

“Just because I’m not attending the races, doesn’t mean I didn’t keep up with them.”

“Just surprised you kept up with F2, there isn’t a Leclerc in F2 at the moment,” Felipe joked, raising an eyebrow at you.

“There doesn’t need to be a Leclerc for me to keep up with something,” you took slight offense.

“I’m just saying the Leclerc princess was only focused on the Leclerc's last season,” Felipe said. You let his statement sit for a moment, and watched as Felipe realized what he called you. His face changed from cocky to shocked.

“The what?”

“You weren’t supposed to know that,” Felipe quickly corrected his mistake.

“Leclerc princess? Who is calling me that?”

Felipe sighed, knowing that he was going to have to explain now. “It was a joke between the F2 guys last season because you were only focused on the Leclercs and you were treated like a Princess by them,” Felipe revealed.

“Please don’t tell me that you guys actually thought that,” you were absolutely shocked. You knew the boys always took care of you at the races but you didn’t think you were being treated like a princess.

“Y/n, it’s fine,” Felipe said, trying to make amends. “Arthur them we’re taking care of their friend, we understand it.”

“I didn’t…”

“I promise we never called you that with malicious intent,” Felipe didn’t know if what he was saying was making the situation better or worse. “It was stupid Robert who started the joke because you rejected him, and Arthur told him off about it. I promise that nickname wasn’t made with vicious ideas.”

“When did Robert try to get with me?” You asked not recalling any moment when Robert tried to ask you out.

“Are you serious?” Felipe didn’t know what to say, everyone knew about Robert trying to get with you. “In Monaco, Robert asked if you wanted to get dinner after the race. You said that you had dinner plans with the Leclerc family and you would text him about getting dessert together, then you never texted him or spoke to him again. Then Arthur told Robert to stop bothering you.”

“I, I didn’t know he meant like a date. I actually had dinner plans already that night, Auntie Pa made food and Arthur kept bugging me that night, I must’ve completely forgotten about Robert.” You slapped your hands against your face, completely dumbfounded that you had forgotten about Robert. “I promise I never told Arthur to say anything.”

Felipe did nothing of the sorts to help you, just laughing at your recount of events. “It’s fine y/n, Robert has gotten over it, and Arthur wasn’t mean, he just told Robert to back off a little.”

“I feel terrible,” you said, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to apologize to Robert.

“Don’t even worry about it, princess,” Felipe teased further, causing you to blush further from embarrassment.

After checking into the hotel, and getting all of his stuff into the room, Arthur headed back to the airport to pick you up. He adamantly volunteered to pick you up, instead of sending a Uber for you, because he wanted a few minutes of you to himself. The drive from the airport to the hotel wasn't long but Arthur insisted he pick you up and he insisted on picking you up by himself.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Charles asked again.

“I’m sure, I’m just driving to the airport and back, I’ll be fine,” Arthur insisted.

“Text us when you got her,” Lorenzo said, before the two started back into the hotel.

Arthur wanted a few minutes alone with you because he didn’t want either of his brothers to be revealing any more information. When Lorenzo said ‘Arthur has a crush on you’ to you, Arthur felt his heart drop. He didn’t want you to reject him in front of his brothers. That would have been too much embarrassment for him. Instead you just said, ‘we’ll talk about it later, yeah?’ To which Arthur nodded, he had hoped that the drive back would be the perfect time to talk about it.

When Arthur got to the airport, he was still early, so he found a spot to park, and headed towards baggage claim to wait for you. He found you easily, you were talking to someone. As he made his way closer he noticed you were talking to Felipe. Felipe then grabbed your bag from the belt, while saying something that made you laugh. Arthur felt his heart stop for a moment, what did Felipe say to make you laugh like that? Was all he could think.

“I think your ride is here,” Felipe said, you followed his gaze to see Arthur standing there arms crossed. The sight of Arthur waiting for you, causing your smile to grow. You and Felipe end up being on the same flight, sitting right next to each other. “Still the Leclerc princess I see.”

“Shut up Felipe,” you blushed at the nickname that Felipe has been continually calling you the entire flight. “I’ll see you at the track,” you said, as you began to walk towards Arthur.

“See you then princess,” Felipe said, causing you to turn more red, blushing brighter. You were shaking your head at the nickname.

As you walked towards Arthur, you felt your smile get bigger. You tried to stop yourself from smiling, but you couldn’t contain it. You had to repeatedly remind yourself that Arthur still has a girlfriend. “Hi,” you said to Arthur.

Arthur hummed in acknowledgement, taking your bags from you. It wasn’t like him to be this silent. “Everything okay?” You asked.

“Didn’t know Felipe was on your flight,” Arthur huffed out, his tone causing you to stifle your giggle.

“Are you jealous Arthur?” You asked, beginning to tease. “Are you jealous that me and Felipe were on the same flight together, and sitting, and talking together the entire flight?” The opportunity to tease Arthur, has been few and far between in your friendship with him. Being around Charles and Lorenzo his entirely life, had built Arthur up. There was nothing that you could say that would bug him. So whenever you did find something to tease him about, you would take it and run.

Arthur didn’t give any answer to your teasing, silently putting your bags into the car. Arthur didn’t respond because he was actually jealous. Why did Felipe get to be with you and not him? Why did it have to be Felipe? Couldn’t it have been someone, anyone else next to you. When Lorenzo told Arthur, he bought you a plane ticket to Austria. Arthur begged Lorenzo to change his flight to be with you. Why did Felipe get to be on your flight and not him?

You teased Arthur the entire car ride to the hotel, when you finally pulled up to the front. Arthur put the car in park for the valet boys. However before you could open the door to get out, Arthur locked the doors, stopping you. You looked back at him slightly confused, and all Arthur said was “yes I am jealous.” He then unlocked the doors and got out before you.

You rushed out after Arthur, to see him already grabbing your bags. “Arthur,” you said to grab his attention. Arthur instead of answering you, turned to hand over the keys to the valet. He then walked past you carrying your bags. You followed after him, “you shouldn’t be jealous,” you said just loud enough for him to hear. Arthur didn’t say anything, continuing to remain silent, “after all Felipe isn’t the one I’m rooting for during the races, nor is he the person that I’m gonna be with this weekend.” You watched as your words curved a smirk onto Arthur’s face.

Arthur had brought you up to the room, “so mine and Lorenzo’s room is just a couple doors over, and Charles and Charlotte’s room is a few more doors down.”

“We’re all on one floor?” You asked as you began to unpack your limited clothing.

“Lorenzo booked all the rooms together, so they put it all on one floor,” Arthur said, trying to find the courage to continue the conversation. “Y/n, don’t you think we should talk?”

“Talk?” You knew exactly what Arthur meant, but you were hoping to avoid the conversation just a little longer, in hopes that maybe your feelings for him would go away in a few hours. “Talk about what?” You didn’t meet Arthur’s gaze, because you knew the moment you looked into his eyes, you would fold.

Arthur grabbed your arm, pulling you away from your luggage, “you know what we need to talk about.”

When you looked up at Arthur, his eyes looking hurt, “don’t you have a girlfriend.” You watched as Arthur’s face changed, first being confused, then realization.

“No,” Arthur said with relief, “I forgot to tell you, we broke up.”

“Arthur did you actually break up,” you turned back to your own unpacking, “you and her are always going on breaks and getting back together…”

“I promise,” Arthur said, jumping onto your bed to look at you, “we’re done, for real this time.”

You looked at home suspiciously not really believing it, “well just because you broke up with her, doesn’t mean you and I are just gonna become a thing.”

“Why not?” Arthur sat up confused.

“Because you know how bad that will look, that you just left your girlfriend and started dating someone new. Everyone will think you only left her because of me.”

“What does it matter what anyone else thinks?” Arthur asked, as he got off the bed, coming towards you. Taking your face in his hands.

“Arthur,” you spoke softly, pulling his hands away from your face, “it matters the most. I…”. You paused, unsure how to admit your feelings about the situation. “I love you Arthur, I will always love you, but…”

“But what?” And all over, Arthur became unable to read. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Maybe,” you pulled away completely, turning your back on Arthur, “I shouldn’t have come to Austria.”

“Fuck y/n,” Arthur shouted out, “what are you talking about not coming to Austria?” You turned back to look at Arthur, who was red in the face, “you said,” Arthur pointed his finger at you, his words laced with venom, “you weren’t gonna stay away and now that I tell you how I feel, you’re just gonna run away.”

“That’s not,” you started to shake your head viciously, “that’s not what I meant Arthur, I…”

“Then what is it?” Arthur shouted once more, “you say you love me, you said you weren’t gonna stay away but now you don’t want to be here with us, with me.”

“Arthur please,” you felt the tears rolling down your face. Arthur has never yelled at you before like he’s doing at this moment. “Stop yelling at me,” your words were whispers, that fell on deaf ears.

“I am in love with you y/n, and I have spent years thinking I will always be second to Charles,”

“You’re not second,” you couldn’t find it in yourself to speak louder. “Arthur, I am in love with you.”

“Then why don’t you want to be here, with me?” You could finally see the tears welled in Arthur’s eyes.

“I can’t,” you broke down in full sobs, “I can’t take your fans.” His fans, “I can’t take the constant bashing from people that don’t know me, I ran away because I couldn’t take it. I am weak and I am ashamed,” you wiped away your tears, staring at the floor instead of Arthur, “and I just can’t handle it like you or Charles or Charlotte, I want to.” You looked up back at Arthur, his features had softened, “I wish I could do it Arthur, I do. I want to be at every race, under every podium, to be with you, always, but I don’t think I can, I’m sorry.”

Arthur wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer than ever before. You began to sob, feeling ashamed that little comments from strangers messed you up this bad. You buried your face deeper into Arthur’s chest, feeling safety in his arms.

“Where is y/n?” Lorenzo asked Arthur, as he was in the middle of training.

“Not sure,” Arthur shrugged, as he continued on unbothered. Lorenzo looked a little confused, because Arthur was the one that took your absences the hardest among the three of them. Why wouldn’t he take it the hardest though?

Just a few moments later, Charles joined Arthur and Lorenzo. Whenever their, Charles and Arthur’s, race weekends aligned together, the two would train together to prepare for a race. “Where’s y/n?” Charles asked, as he scanned the room, thinking he would see you tucked away in a corner. Arthur, not verbally acknowledging the question, shrugged.

Now it was Charles’ turn to be confused. Charles missed having you around very much, and it meant a lot to him that you were there in Silverstone. However Charles knew it meant more to Arthur that you were there, than it did to him. Charles exchanged a look with Lorenzo, to which Lorenzo just shook his head and shrugged as well.

“She’s gonna be at the races though, right?” Charles tried to ask nonchalantly.

“She said she would be,” Arthur answered, even more nonchalant. Charles and Lorenzo exchanged another look, trying to determine if you and Arthur got into a fight or what.

You currently sat at lunch with Charlotte, while the boys were doing their training.

“So, did you and Arthur talk?” Charlotte asked, after your waiter dropped the appetizers.

“We did,” you smirked thinking back to your conversation with Arthur.

“Your smirk indicates it went well,” Charlotte's eyes widened in anticipation.

“Well,” you paused thinking further about the entire conversation, “it ended well.”

“Ended well? It started off bad?” Charlotte let out a little chuckle.

“Yeah,” you laughed out, “Arthur mentioned he broke up with his girlfriend.”

“Oh, but that was a long time coming already,'' Charlotte reasoned, as she began to pick away at the appetizers.

“I know that, I just didn’t want Arthur to think that just because he broke up with his girlfriend. I would just jump into a relationship with him. Not to mention how that would look.”

“So you and him are not together then?”

“Umm no, yes,” you chuckled some more.

“What happened in that hotel room?” Charlotte laughed, trying to understand what the two of you talked about. “Something not innocent?” Charlotte eyebrows raised, as she giggled some more.

“No no, nothing like that,” you quickly corrected with a laugh. “We just talked, talked about a lot of things. Tried to make him understand what I felt.”

“That’s good,” Charlotte reasoned, “you definitely need to communicate more.”

“Me and Arthur are going to try being in a relationship together, slowly though and privately.” You began to blush at the thought of Arthur and you, together.

“That’s very good,” Charlotte smiled, she smiled a proud smile at you. In a way, Charlotte felt relieved, she would never admit it though. Charlotte knew that Charles will always feel some type of love for you, but Charles would never betray his brothers. A very small part of Charlotte will forever be jealous, and worried about your relationship with Charles, however now you being with Arthur she can rest a little easier at night.

“I don’t know if Arthur told his brothers yet though”

“Why wouldn’t he tell them?” Charlotte asked, slightly confused. The three of them were three peas in a pod, always telling each other everything. Charles and Lorenzo would be the first people on Arthur list to tell anything to.

“I don’t know, when I told Arthur I wanted a more private relationship, he was fine with that, but he insisted on being the one to tell his brothers,” you said with a shrug, not really understanding Arthur’s reasoning.

“Well Charles knows nothing, when I told him about lunch today, he told me to figure out what’s going on between you and Arthur.” Charlotte said with a giggle, recalling Charles' words from this morning.

Later that night, after all the marketing duties, training, and media request, did Arthur finally return to the hotel. Lorenzo had told Arthur that he would be having dinner with some people about Arthur’s future, and that he wouldn’t return until later. Arthur made quick work of showering and getting into a comfy outfit, before leaving his hotel room, and going up a couple doors to your hotel room.

As soon as the first knock came, you opened the door for Arthur sporting the biggest smile you could manage. “Hi,” you smiled more, that Arthur could only chuckle at you.

“Hi,” Arthur smiled, back before walking into your room. “Miss me?”

“Always,” you said, as you pecked Arthur’s lips. Arthur wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer that every part of your body touched his, as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“You know, I love coming home to you,” Arthur whispered against your lips, before planting another small kiss against them.

“This isn’t home though, this is a hotel,” you smirked.

“Home is wherever you are.”

That night as you cuddled closer to Arthur, the two of you lay in the middle of the bed. Watching whatever movie sounded funny.

“You know,” you started off, thinking about everything you and Arthur talked about today, “when I said going slow with our relationship and keeping things private, I didn’t mean not telling your brothers.”

“I know,” Arthur smirked, “but I want them to sweat a little, they currently think we’re fighting.”

You furrowed your eyebrows looking at Arthur, “how do you know they think we’re fighting? Why do they think we’re fighting?”

“Because I know them, and I know they won’t ask directly what’s going on, they’re just gonna wait until I tell them”

“Are you punishing them for exposing you a few days ago?”

“Maybe,” Arthur chuckled, looking down at you cuddled into his side. “They deserve it, either way.”

You cuddled closer to Arthur, trying to soak up as much heat that was emitting off of him, as possible. “Thank you for respecting my wishes to keep our relationship private for now.” Ou spoke softly into Arthur’s chest, instead of to him.

You could feel the vibration from Arthur’s chuckle, “I’d do anything for you, anything to keep you by my side.”

After your initial disagreement with Arthur, the two of you talked more about the situation in Amsterdam last year. You talked about how the fans made you feel, how you thought staying away would be best for everyone, why you thought that as well. You made sure Arthur understood your viewpoint on the entire situation. Especially that you no longer felt safe being around any of them, because you thought whenever you were with them, you were on display for the world to judge.

Arthur spoke of how you made him feel, his disagreement with Charles, and just exactly how your interactions, although not meant to hurt him, did. Arthur made sure that you understood how he felt. He felt like you were staying away because that would be easier for Charles. Arthur thought that you cared more about how Charles felt rather than how he felt.

After the two of you talked extensively, did you guys begin to discuss your relationship. You finally admitted to having romantic feelings for Arthur, and that you wanted to be with him. Arthur admitted to always being in love with you, and just forever thinking that you loved Charles more than him. The two of you agreed that you would be in a relationship with each other, but that it would go slowly, and privately. Arthur was gonna do everything in his power to ensure you felt safe being around him. That you were no longer on display for the world to critique, that you were just the girl he’s in love with. And you had never been so in love.

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marie-swriting · 3 months

Text

The Slut Of Hawkins | And The Freak - Eddie Munson [2/2]

Stranger Things Masterlist

Part one

Part one - two (French version)

Summary : After months of loneliness because of your reputation being destroyed, Eddie Munson is there for you.

Warning : slutshaming, mention of bullying (reader and Eddie getting bullied) (talk to someone if you're being bullied!), mention of bad relationship with parents, quick mention of drug, trust issues, angst, maybe some grammatical mistakes as English is not my first language, tell me if you see some or if I missed any warnings.

Word count : 4.9k

Song inspiration : Bad Reputation by Shawn Mendes

Your detention is over, finally allowing you to run away from a prison to go to another. You bid goodbye to the teacher and leave the school building. The parking lot is empty save some cars.

You’re walking toward the exit when you hear a voice holding you back. Before you have the time to turn around the person is already in front of you, panting. Steve is in front of you, panting. You try to walk past him yet he holds you back.

“What do you want?” you ask, drily.

“I… I just wanted to know… How are you?”

“Because you care now? Leave me alone.” you retort, trying to leave again.

“Y/N, wait!”

“What?”

“I’m sorry for everything that happened.” Steve starts with guilty eyes. “I didn’t mean for things to go that bad.”

“And yet, you did nothing to stop it. And don’t you even dare say I’m wrong.”

“I went to the principal as soon as everything went down with Jessica. I tried to explain the situation, to defend you but he didn’t want to-”

“I stopped waiting for you to take my defence more than a month ago, Steve.” you cut him off, annoyed. “At first, I stupidly thought you’d be on my side, that you’d defend me and you know what you did the first time I was humiliated in front of everyone, including you? You turned around and left me alone. I stopped counting on you a long time ago, Steve.”

“I know I acted like a coward but I want to make amends. It’s been going on for too long.”

“You want some kind of medal for your sudden realisation? It’s too late, Steve! There’s nothing left to do.”

“Y/N, please. You meant a lot to me.”

“It doesn’t feel like it!” you scream, clenching your fists. “You know, one day you told me I’d always be your favourite love, well, I’m telling you, you will always be the one I regret. The beautiful three months we spent together aren’t worth all the pain and the bullying I’ve been receiving.” you say, angry tears in your eyes. “You made me feel more alone than I’ve ever been. You said you wanted to be someone better, you have a lot of work left to do. I sincerely hope you’ll be able to do better. Either way, I don’t want to see it. Now, leave me alone.”

“Please, give me a chance.” Steve begs, grabbing your arm.

You’re about to reply to Steve when a van stops next to you. You both don’t pay attention to it until Eddie Munson’s voice cuts off your conversation.

“Hey, everything alright here?”

“We’re just talking.” Steve informs Eddie.

“Very well. Y/N, I’m still bringing you home tonight, right?”

At Eddie’s question, your eyebrows furrowed. You never talked with Eddie about him bringing you home; actually you never talked with Eddie before. Looking at him more carefully, you understand he’s just offered you a way out from your conversation with Steve. You’re about to accept when Steve beats you to it.

“I can bring her home.”

“Y/N?” Eddie insists.

“I’m going home with Eddie. Stop talking to me, Steve.”

Before Steve can add something else, you get in Eddie’s van without looking back. Eddie starts driving as soon as you close the door. You stay silent for a few seconds while a tear runs down your cheek, Eddie leans toward the glove compartment and takes a tissue before giving it to you. You softly thank him and wipe your cheeks. Once Eddie considers he’s at a good distance from school, he stops and turns to you.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really, no. I’m gonna leave here, there’s a bus soon.” you say, taking your school bag at your feet. “I don’t want to cause you any problems, especially if you’re in a relationship.”

“Good thing I don’t have a girlfriend, then.” he smiles. “And even if I did, I don’t care what they say about you so I don’t mind bringing you home.”

“Thanks.” you say before giving him your address. “Can we wait for a bit before going home? I don’t want to go now.”

“Sure.”

Eddie gives you as much time as you need to get a grip on yourself when you tell him you feel better, he starts driving the car again. You both stay silent almost the whole way home, Eddie supposes you need it; however he wants to put on some music, he clears his throat to catch your attention.

“Do you mind if I put some music on, as a background sound?”

“Not at all, go ahead. It’s your car, you don’t have to ask me.”

“It’s just, you seem lost in your thoughts, I don’t want to interrupt you.” Eddie explains whilst putting on a tape and turning down the volume a little.

“Sorry, I’m not very good company tonight.”

“That’s not what I meant. I guess you had a long day.”

“Let’s not talk about it, let’s talk about you.” you cut him off, turning to him. “Why did you finish school this late? I’m not judging, it’s just I know you’re not a fan of school.”

“That’s the least you can say.” Eddie laughs. “We had a meeting with the Hellfire club, we finished late.”

“What is your club about?”

“According to people outside of Hellfire, we worship Satan. Officially, we play Dungeons and Dragons.”

“Is it some kind of board game?” you question, curious. Edide lightly laughs at your guess.

“It’s a roleplay game.”

“Oh okay. Tell me more.”

Eddie doesn’t need you to ask him twice to start rambling. Instantly, he becomes happy while explaining the universe, the different characters and some of his campaigns. Eddie is the one who does all the talking, your answers are shorts, yet you listen to him carefully.

When you’re finally at your home, he forces himself to stop talking. Eddie parks a bit before your house - to be sure he won’t get you in trouble with your parents as he says with a humorous tone. Your heart tightens at his comment, Eddie, just like you, is a victim of the spitefulness of teenagers your age. You glance at your house before grabbing your bag and turning to Eddie.

“Thank you.” you say before pausing. “For bringing me home and for defending me last time.”

“Well, it wasn’t very useful considering they didn’t listen to me.”

“Sure but you were the only one on my side so just know, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” Eddie genuinely replies.

“I’m not gonna bother you any longer.”

You leave Eddie’s van though before you can walk away, Eddie leans toward the car window from the passenger side and opens it.

“Y/N, wait! I noticed you never eat at the cafeteria for lunch. If you want, you’re welcome at the Hellfire table.” he invites you, warming your heart.

“It’s very nice but I don’t like eating at the cafeteria with others.”

“Well, just so you know, in the woods behind school, there’s a picnic table almost no one knows about. I eat there sometimes. We can eat there tomorrow.”

“I… I’ll think about it.” you promise with a small smile. “Good evening, Eddie.”

Eddie smiles back at you while you slowly walk to your front door. When Eddie is sure you’re home safe, he leaves your street, going back to the trailer park.

From that night on, Eddie pays more attention to you. Of course, he’s heard all their rumours and all the variants. Yet, Eddie is known for not blindly following what he’s told about someone else. It’s been a long time since he’s wanted to talk to you; he knows all too well how isolating having this kind of reputation can be. Nevertheless, he didn’t know how to start a conversation with you, after all, you had never really talked before until he came to your rescue the last time you talked with Steve.

After a week of analysis, Eddie’s noticed some of your defence mechanisms. The first one he noticed before he even talked with you is that you never eat with someone else - he has some ideas on where you might go hiding to eat. He also knows you always take the long way home to avoid everyone; no matter if it’s to go to class or to go home. He knows this whole situation doesn’t stop at school, it also happens in your own home. Eddie wants to give you some support like he would have liked to have the first time he got bullied.

It’s actually the reason why he decides to wait after your detention again. He wants to talk with you without having someone interrupting you or making you run away. As soon as you leave school, Eddie gets out of his van and makes you a sign. You frown before walking toward him, slightly embarrassed.

“Were… were you waiting for me?”

“I wanted to see if you need a drive home.” Eddie proposes.

“I take the bus. Last time was an exception, not that I didn’t appreciate by the way.”

“I know but I thought that maybe I could bring you home every day.” he explains, pointing at his van. “As your detention always finishes late. And I can even make some detours so you don’t have to go home right away.”

“Why?” you ask, on the lookout.

“I noticed-”

“No, why are you proposing?” you specify, interrupting him. “You seem nice but we don’t know each other, I don’t know why you’d want to bring me home when you could leave school earlier.”

“I just want to.” he replies with a genuine tone. “Plus, last time, you said you’d eat with me and I waited the whole afternoon for you which isn’t very nice so you kinda owe me.” he jokes, making you smile.

“I said I’d think about it, I never confirmed anything.”

“True and maybe you didn’t come because you had some homework to do or just because we don’t know each other that’s why I thought that by being your driver, we could become friends and maybe you’d be less hesitant at the idea of eating with someone.” Eddie admits, yet, you stay sceptical. “Y/N, I swear I’m being honest here, I’m not trying to trap you.” he adds, taking a step towards you. “If you don’t want to, I leave you alone. If you agree but then you change your mind, I leave you alone, too. I’m just offering my service, nothing more.”

You stare at Eddie, trying to decipher him. You know Eddie’s reputation and no matter what people say about him, the fact is, he’s one of the rare people from school who never put you down and the only one who defended you in front of everyone. You feel like he means his words. You have no reason to doubt, but you can’t help it. Your mind shows you every worst case scenario, trying to prove you this situation could get worse. However, your guts tells you to trust him for some reasons.

“Fine, I accept.”

At your answer, a big smile takes place on Eddie’s face then he runs to dramatically open the door of the passenger side. You laugh at his antics before getting in his van.

This time, on the way home you’re more talkative. You ask him some questions about Dungeons And Dragons before the conversation goes to more basic topics. You enjoy Eddie’s eccentric personality. He makes you laugh out loud, something you hadn’t done the past two months. You’re even disappointed when you see Eddie stopping in your street, you wish you could talk with him more. You thank him before leaving his van and going home with a genuine smile on your face.

During the following weeks, your friendship with Eddie is only composed of the conversations you two have when he brings you home. You know Eddie a bit better now and you have to admit, thanks to him, life at school is more enjoyable. You haven’t dared eating with him at the picnic table so far - that doesn’t mean you don’t want to, though.

Everytime he asks you, you want to accept, except you can’t help but think about what people could say about you if they saw you going to the woods with Eddie. A new rumour could start in a second. Things are finally calming down, you can’t risk going back to square one. Nevertheless, the more the time passes, the more you want to spend it with Eddie, therefore, on the day of your last detention, you finally decide to abandon the janitor's closet and walk to the woods. Eddie is already at the table, he’s started to eat his sandwich. The second he hears someone coming to him, he raises his head. Once he sees you, he gives up his sandwich and claps his hands.

“Ladies and gentlemen, she has come !” he says solemnly. “My God, I was afraid to eat all by myself once more.”

“Feels pathetic, right?” you laugh whilst Eddie invites you to sit down in front of him. “I thought that I refused your invitation too many times, I was afraid you’d refuse to bring me home in return.”

“Never.” Eddie affirms while you take out your lunch. “I like you too much to let you go.”

“So that’s your refuge when you don’t eat at the cafeteria?”

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?”

“More than the janitor’s closet.” you confirm.

“Is that where you usually eat?”

“At least, I run into no one.” you inform, starting to eat. “Eddie, can I ask you a question?” you ask after a pause.

“Tell me.”

“How do you do it? I mean, people have been saying awful things about you for years and I don’t feel like it’s hurting you. Maybe I’m wrong and you just hide it very well. Either way, I’d like to know.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you, at first, it was hard.” he confesses, avoiding your gaze. “I couldn’t stop thinking I must be the problem, if I weren’t like this maybe people wouldn’t say that. If I didn’t dress a certain way maybe they’d like me more.” Eddie adds, playing with his sandwich. “I spent the whole elementary school trying to find a reason, trying to find a way to be accepted until I realised they weren’t worth it.” he affirms, looking up at you. “I understood their opinions didn’t matter because they weren’t important to me. I understood I’d rather live like I wanted to rather than change myself and lose myself. At first, I felt alone until I met other outcasts like me. When people invent stories about you, it isolates you from the others and it creates damage; however the important thing to do is to be surrounded by the right people.”

“Beside you, I have no one.” you admit, sadly.

“Hellfire would be happy to have you.”

“Your friends don’t know me.”

“And I’m sure they’d like you if they did.”

“Maybe later.”

“Claiming back the insults they give you can help, too, you know.” Eddie specifies. “You can’t let their words hurt you. You have to create strength out of it. Now I can say I’m a freak and I’m proud of it.”

“Easier said than done.”

“I know, it’s an everyday work but you can do it.” Eddie encourages you, standing up to be next to you. “You have to take the strength away from these words. They hurt you because you think they’re negatives but if you make them something positive, they won’t have any more insults to tell you.”

“You’re not seriously suggesting that I say I’m slut and I’m proud of it?” you question, panicked.

“I don’t want you to say, I want you to yell it.” he corrects.

“You’re stupid.”

“Come on, do it.” Eddie orders, forcing you to stand up.

“I’m not gonna do it.” you retort, crossing your arms on your chest. “I’ve spent months trying to get rid of this label, I’m not gonna put it on myself.”

“You should do it, it’ll free you.”

“I’m still not convinced.”

“Do you trust me or not?” Eddie asks, determined.

“Yeah but-”

“Then do it.” Eddie interrupts, uncrossing your arms.

“I’m a slut and I’m proud.” you say without much conviction.

“Louder!”

“I’m a slut and I’m proud.” you repeat a bit louder.

“Again!”

“I’m a slut and I’m proud!” you finally scream.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Eddie yells while you smile because of his silliness. “Your smile is pretty by the way, you should show it more.”

Eddie means his words. He adores seeing you smile just like he loves hearing you laugh. By observing you these past few weeks, he quickly realised you usually keep a neutral expression - except the day you can’t hide your pain. He makes it his personal mission to give you back your smile. He wishes someone would have done the same for him when the bullying started. Eddie likes to think he makes your days a bit more bearable as well as your evenings when he brings you home.

The minute you leave your last detention, you hand back your essay on bullying to Mr. Kaminski with a big smile on your face. After a whole month, you’re finally free. You bid your teacher goodbye before running away from the place. As you walk through the corridor, your smile gets bigger when you think of what you’re going to say to Eddie about your last detention. Your turn in a new hallway where your locker is when you notice someone around it. Your smile fades and you trot towards the person, thinking you’ll find the one who is tagging your locker. At your surprise, you don’t find anyone from the basketball team nor Jessica but Eddie as he tries to scrub with a towel the insult which was written the day before.

“What are you doing?” you question, startling Eddie.

“My God, you scared me! I’m cleaning your locker. What do you think I’m doing?” he answers as if it was obvious whilst showing the towel in his hand.

“It’s very nice, I just didn’t ask you to do it.”

“I know.”

“You can stop, the janitor will take care of it tomorrow, as he always does.”

“You’ll wait a long time.” Eddie laughs as he keeps washing off.

“What do you mean?”

“The janitor is not the one who cleans these horrors off your locker. I do. And sometimes, I can also get rid of some notes that stick out.” Eddie informs, surprising you.

“Wh- why?”

“You don’t deserve to have your locker tagged.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to think I was doing this out of interest.”

Eddie looks into your eyes as he says his last sentence while your heart misses a beat. You didn’t know Eddie cared since the beginning. He’s always been kind to you and thanks to him, you’ve been feeling better. He’s one of the rare good things that’s happened to you; his friendship is precious to you. You don’t know what you would have become without him. You keep gazing at each other lovingly until Eddie clears his throat.

“I’m almost done. And no, you can’t help me.” he quickly adds as you were about to reply. “Wait for me in the van, I only need a few more minutes.”

Eddie’s keys in hands, you get closer to him and kiss his cheek before muttering ‘thank you’. Eddie’s heart jumps at this contact. He stupidly smiles while you leave the building.

After that day, you let your guard down, allowing yourself to fully trust Eddie. Besides your friendship going to the next level, you feel like this whole thing with Steve is behind you. You believe you can have some kind of normal life. At least, it’s the case at school, your parents aren’t over it, they keep talking about it and since they’ve discovered your friendship with Eddie - once again because of Miss. Johnson, your neighbour - it’s worse. Thankfully, Eddie’s support makes things easier.

As a consequence, you accept to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding the past three months: eating at the cafeteria. You feel ready to face the potential stare from the others - with Eddie’s support, obviously. Before walking through the cafeteria’s door, Eddie makes sure you’re okay before putting a hand on your back and inviting you to take the first step. At first, no one notices you which makes you sigh in relief. However, as soon as you arrive at the Hellfire table, some people start whispering whilst pointing at you. You ignore it while Eddie introduces you to his friend.

Lunch goes smoothly until Jessica and her friends walk by you.

“Wow, the slut and the freak, they’re a good fit for each other! She’s probably with him out of interest, if you know what I mean.” she says whilst bringing an imaginary joint to her lips.

You don’t pay attention to it, knowing all too well it’d be a waste of your time to face them. Furthermore, you don’t want to go back to detention once more. You focus back on what Eddie is saying about his last campaign, listening in silence. During the whole time, you stay silent, not understanding half of their references. The few ones you get are thanks to Eddie who’s introduced you to Star Wars and some other universes he likes.

“Are you gonna be there for the next Hellfire session?” Josh asks you.

“Oh, huh, I don’t think so. I’ve never played DnD.”

“You should come.” another person from the club replies.

“See, I told you they would like you to come.” Eddie says with a satisfied smile.

“I’ll think about it then.”

“Let’s talk about you.” Nick starts. “Is it true what people say? I gotta admit I don’t know how you could have dated Harrington. This guy is superficial and according to what Eddie told us, you’re totally different from him so I don’t see why you’d want to steal him from Nancy. Besides, even about Nancy, I…”

You don’t let Nick finish his sentence before trotting out of the cafeteria. You’re tearing up as you go through different corridors, not knowing where you want to go. Eddie goes after you, not without glaring at his friend. Eddie screams your name while he runs behind you but you don’t listen to him. You get closer to the school exit when Eddit catches you. He puts his hands on your shoulder before standing in front of you.

“Let me go, Eddie.” you order, getting out of his grip.

Eddie raises his hands to show he doesn’t want to hurt you. He keeps a good distance from you before talking.

“Don’t listen to what he said. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“It’s not about what he said.” you specify. “He said nothing wrong technically. It just shows that even if the rumours aren’t spreading as much, everyone still thinks about it. Your friends talk about it, people point at me, even my parents still talk about it ! And now that we hang together, I’m afraid they’ll talk about you, too.”

“You know I don’t care what they say.” Eddie reassures you.

“I do! You had to face this for too long and I don’t want to be the reason you receive new insults. Besides, until everyone forgets all about it, they’ll always find a reason to call me a slut again. New rumours are probably already spreading thanks to Jessica.”

“Don’t listen to her. You remember what we talked about, you’re a slut and you’re proud of it so we don’t care about her.”

“I care.” you retort, firmly. “She almost ruined my school year and my relationship with my parents is at its lowest since our fight. And now, they know we’re friends and they start criticising me again. I felt like everything was going fine but now, it still seems so fragile, as if everything could go back to what it used to be in an instant.”

“It won’t be the case.” Eddie promises you, getting closer to you. “Plus, you’re not alone. You got me.”

“Why do you insist so much? We didn’t even know each other before all of this.”

“It’s true and at first, I wanted to talk to you to be sure you weren’t going through all of this alone but now, I care about you. I like you a lot and-”

“That’s what you say now until the day you’ll be fed up with all of this.” you interrupt him, having a flashback from your relationship with Steve.

“Y/N, I mean it when I say I don’t care what they say about you. I know they gave you a bad reputation because of your relationship. They don’t know what you’ve been through and Steve didn’t know how to be here for you but I’m not like him. You probably have some issue trusting me but have some faith in me when I say I’m not like them and that I like you a lot.” he affirms, putting his hand on your cheek. “You know I only follow my own rules and I’ll need more than a few rumours to make me run away.”

“I-”

“I know you’re scared to be hurt again and it’s okay.” he cuts you off, “but I promise you, I will always be by your side and trust me when I tell you I could be the one to treat you right, unlike the others, I know you’re an amazing girl and I don’t want to lose my chance. You mean a lot to me and I’m not gonna let you slip through my fingers because of some brainless teenagers.” Eddie says and you take a step back. “Don’t push me away because you’re scared. Don’t let go because of this reason. You can’t let them dictate your life anymore.”

“I thought I was ready but I’m not.” you inform, going backward. “Sorry, Eddie.”

And on those words, you leave school. You don’t care if you have some classes left, you need to get away. You need to take a step back from this whole situation. Eddie lets you go with a heavy heart, understanding your reasons.

The following day, you avoid Eddie like the plague, you know you got scared and the way you pushed Eddie away isn’t fair, considering everything he’s done for you but you can’t help it. Everything went downhill without a warning last time and you never want to go through this again so you preferred to run away before it could get worse.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean you’re not hurting. You miss Eddie. You knew you cared about him though before avoiding him, you didn’t know just how much. You have to stop yourself from running to him; you just want to be in his protective arms like the time you brokedown the first time you came to his place. You need him more than you imagined. And this feeling of missing him doesn’t get better when you discover a note in your locker. At first, you think about throwing it away, fearing another insult except you recognise Eddie’s handwriting. Your heart tightening, you open it and read it:

“Y/N,

I know why you pushed me away but please, think about it before isolating yourself once more. You know it’s not good. I’m here for you and I always will be, even if you only talk to me in thirty years. You mean a lot to me so I will always be by your side during the good and the hard times, especially during the hard ones.

I miss my friend. I miss your laugh. I miss your smile. I need my friend. All I need is you.

Please, don’t cut me out of your life because you’re scared of getting hurt or what people might say about me. I just want you, I don’t care about them.

Eddie”

After ignoring him for more than a week, you can’t stay away from Eddie any longer, you miss your friend too much. Eddie’s little note worked on you, though you try to deny it at first.

While you’re leaving school, you see Eddie close to his van talking to a Hellfire member. You watch him from afar, searching for what you want to tell him. The second you think you know what to say, you start walking toward him as you keep your eyes on his figure. You’re only a few metres away when his friends leave, allowing Eddie to notice you; he smiles as soon as he sees you. Eddie is about to talk to you when you put your hands on his cheeks and press your lips on his. Eddie is stunned at first then he kisses you back, enjoying your touch. You can hear some people talking around you but you don’t pay attention, only deepening the kiss. Eddie feels his heart exploding as he realises that for the first time in a while, you do something you want without caring what people might say about you. Eddie hands go from your hips to your cheeks, bringing you closer to him. Once you’re out of breath, you regretfully break the kiss, you have an idiotic smile on your face as you take in the moment.

“I don’t care what they say either. I just want you and that’s all that matters.” you affirm. “They can talk all they want, as long as I have you, I don’t care.”

Part one

Stranger Things Masterlist

#marie swriting in english #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things #eddie munson angst #eddie munson x you #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x y/n #stranger things x y/n #stranger things x you #Spotify

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w1ldthoughts · 5 months

Text

(Not so) Happy Birthday Part II

A/n: thank you all so much for your patience I hope this was worth the wait!

Part I

“Are you serious?” You heard a groaning voice behind you, belonging to your friend Jade who you’d been staying with. “How many times are you going to watch A Star Is Born? It’s getting concerning.”

You let out a small laugh, digging into what was your second popcorn bowl of the day. “I’m going to keep watching it until they live happily ever after. Or until I feel less bad about where my life is headed.” She sits down next to you and lets you rest your head on her shoulder while you desperately try not to cry for the second time today. The first week after the breakup you allowed yourself several meltdowns a day, the next week just one and this week you were really trying to keep it together as much as humanly possible. Needless to say, with your movie selections and inability to turn the camera or microphone on during your work meetings on Zoom in case you did get overwhelmed, things weren’t looking good.

“Do you think I made a mistake? Maybe I shouldn’t have pulled the trigger so fast and heard him out?”

Jade’s sigh gave you the answer you weren’t wanting to hear, but told you everything you needed to know. “Look, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. But I am going to tell you that you are going to have to go over there and grab your stuff. You can’t just live in my clothes for the rest of your life. This depressive state cannot last forever.”

“Fine,” you sigh. “I’ll text him now and make sure I’m only there when he’s at the facility.”

The next morning you found yourself in a very familiar place. Everything was spotless like no one even lived there. But the place was full of some of your most fond memories. The spot in front of the fridge where you kissed Justin for the first time. The couch where you spent many nights watching movies or looking for missing cards from a Settlers of Catan game that had Justin flipping the board over when Patrick beat him. So much time spent in the bedroom you were standing in now, where all of your things remained exactly where you’d left them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t pack your stuff. I really wanted to—make it easier for you but, that just made it more real that you were really gone.”

Of course he came home just for this.

The sound of his voice should have startled you but it brought you peace instead, it was a sad form of validation to see and hear that he was also struggling. “Is that why you haven’t slept in your bed?” You ask, finally feeling brave enough to turn and face him. He looked good, tired but good.

He lets out a dry chuckle. “You really don’t miss a thing do you? I’ve been sleeping in the guest room near the office. Didn’t feel right being here alone. But I understand why you left. And I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am y/n.”

“Well… are you sorry enough to help me pack up all of this stuff?” Under the guise of your humor, he could tell this was the very last thing you wanted to do so he just nodded and got to work.

The next few hours were spent packing and loading things into your car, every box held a piece of him in it. He held the last one in his hands and stopped you as you grabbed your keys.

“I want to be the man you deserve. And I promise I’m working on it.”

You motion for him to put the box on the floor and he does so immediately, gladly welcoming your body into his arms. This is where you wanted to be for all of eternity, without worrying about the real world and ignoring your intuition and just letting your heart cloud what your brain has been yelling at you since you walked away from him. You pulled away from the hug and looked up at him, running your fingers through his hair and watching him melt into your touch. This is your home, this is the man you love. So why in the world would you walk away from it? Letting out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding, the distance between you two became nonexistent and all you could think about was giving into this moment and letting it all go. You closed your eyes and felt him inch closer and closer to your face.

And then you remembered everything that went wrong.

“Justin, I’m so sorry. I can’t.” You pulled away from him. “I need you to show me you’re trying. The best apology is changed behavior. As embarrassing as it is to admit, part of me will always belong to you and I need you to either match my energy or I need to move on because I can’t keep living like this. I’m not going to.” You picked up the box yourself and walked as fast as you could back to your car and drove away without a second glance. If this was going to work, he was going to have to earn you back.

“Should I throw her a makeup birthday party?”

Keenan and Derwin both look at each other and shake their heads. “Her birthday was like a month ago bro, a little cake and some flowers isn’t gonna do shit for you now.”

“How am I going to show her how much I care about her?”

Derwin places a hand on his shoulder, “you gotta dig deep, Herbo. Think about what the fight was about and deal with the problem head on. And be honest with her…and yourself.”

“Aye…that was deep man. I didn’t know you had all that in the drafts.” The wide receiver nods at his teammate. “But forreal Herb, do what you gotta do to get your lady back man. You got a good one, make sure she knows that.”

“No you’re right. We gotta beat Denver first and then I can figure out what to do after that. Thank you guys.”

Keenan stands up to dap him up before they head to practice. “You know we got you brother.”

He had to admit the protection had been pretty shaky all game. The quarterback felt rushed and had little to no time in the pocket before getting hit and the receivers had been struggling heavily with drops the last few weeks. The offense had just not been rolling in the way he hoped and their playoff window was closing quickly. On 2nd and 7 he threw a zip pass to Donald Parham over the middle for a first down, bracing himself for impact as Zach Allen, the Broncos’ 285 pound defensive end, came running at him. Their bodies got tangled up on the way down and somewhere in the fold his index finger got stuck as the rest of his body continued its descent to the turf. Something was off and he knew it but continued to play until the drive was over. The trainers looked him over on the sidelines and decided it would be best to take him back into the locker room for an x-ray.

Meanwhile, you had it been able to resist turning on the game, having watched everything unfold. But this time all you could do was sit in anticipation instead of going straight to the tunnel and speak with the staff. You’d been here before. You've seen this. He’d broken another finger just weeks earlier against Las Vegas but they’d just thrown a shit ton of tape on it and he went right back in. But this was his throwing hand, his money maker and admittedly, it had you worried. You opted to send him a quick text letting him know you hoped everything was okay, even if your gut was telling you it wasn’t.

Justin slammed his helmet down looking at the x-ray results and threw a hoodie on to head back out onto the field and cheer on his guys. The physical pain in his finger paled in comparison to how he was feeling mentally. He’s let down his teammates, his guys. The coaches. The fans. All these people that were counting on him were going to be disappointed. With four weeks left in the season he knew it was a long shot to try and play again. But that wasn’t going to stop him from doing everything in his power to try to be ready until the doctors gave him the official word that he couldn’t. After the game was over and he headed to the locker room to change, he shot you a text back that he was fine and headed to his post game presser.

You know that feeling when you don’t even remember going to sleep until you open your eyes and question your entire existence? Yeah that’s what was happening to you now. The knock on the door startled you out of a sleep you didn’t even mean to take and you sleepily stood up from your seat on Jade’s couch and opened the door.

The man on the other side of it had you thinking you might still be asleep. But there he really was, hand heavily taped and in a splint. At least his hair was finally dry. “I’m so sorry for coming by so late, is Jade asleep? Were you?”

“She’s out with some guy tonight and you’re fine. What are you doing here, what’s going on?”

You step aside to let him in and close the door behind him. “I lied to you earlier. And then I realized that I was making the same mistakes that got us in this mess so I got an Uber and wanted to finally be honest. With you.”

“Justin what are you—what do you mean?”

“I’m not fine,” he states with a shaky sigh. “I signed this big contract in the offseason and was on top of the world. This is my team, you know? I’m the guy. They trusted me with all this money and I don’t even know if I deserve it anymore. I let them down and now I’m not even sure I’ll get to play with these guys again this year. And I don’t even know why my first instinct is always to tell you that I’m okay. Maybe I’m trying to spare your feelings and not burden you with this ‘whoa is me’ attitude but I do want to tell you everything. I—I trust you with my life, I just haven’t been acting like it. You’re the only one I want to tell everything to and I haven’t been treating you like my partner and I’m sorry for letting it get this bad.”

You swallowed the lump forming in your throat before speaking. “Justin I need to tell you something and I need you to listen to everything I’m about to say.” He nods and waits for you to continue. “You. Deserve. Everything. Okay? I mean god this team is probably winless without you. You’ve willed them to be competitive ALL year and somehow along the way you’ve been convinced that this is your fault. It’s not you. You are NOT the problem. If anything babe, you’re the fucking standard. You set records, you are who everyone compares their quarterback to and you know why? Because you have rallied those guys and they believe in you. Your organization believes in you. I believe in you.”

“Thank you for saying that,” he whispers, desperately trying to keep the tears at bay. “And I know I can’t erase the past or what I did but you’re everything I could ever want. Much more than I’ve ever asked for. And I fucked up the best thing I had. There isn’t a moment that I don’t think about it. Maybe…we could start over? Not forget any of the mistakes that were made along the way but learn from them. Clean slate, so I can earn your trust back.”

He waits for you to respond, the silence quickly killing his confidence. Maybe he really had lost you for good. You look down at the floor in sadness, still unsure about if this one conversation was enough to change the course of your relationship. Justin doesn’t wait any longer, kissing you on the forehead and walking out the front door. The quarterback sat in the Uber with a heavy sigh, trying to come to terms with the chaos of his professional and personal life. A few hours later when he couldn’t sleep in anticipation of his doctor’s appointment in a few hours, there was a knock at the door.

“I’m so sorry to bother you this late but I just couldn’t shake this feeling that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. Oh I’m sorry I didn’t even introduce myself, I’m y/n.”

Justin’s smile takes over his face, dimple in full display. “It’s nice to meet you y/n, I’m Justin.”

Maybe, just maybe…what started with the worst birthday of your life could be a really funny story to tell your grandkids someday.

#Justin Herbert #justin herbert imagine #justin herbert x reader #justin herbert angst

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wouldpollyapprove · 2 years

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Preference: Getting Into An Accident

Summary: How characters from Law & Order: SVU would react if you got into an accident.

Characters: Amanda Rollins, Sonny Carisi, Elliot Stabler, Nick Amaro, Olivia Benson, Fin Tutuola, Rafael Barba

Warnings: mention of an accident

A/n: It’s been ages since I’ve written a preference. They are one of those things that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love them, I really do, but there comes a point when I’m halfway through them that I get bored and don’t want to do it anymore. But I did enjoy this b/c I love these characters and I came up with this idea on my own, so obviously I want to write this.

Masterlist

Amanda Rollins:

Amanda was in shock when she found out about your accident. Once she got off the phone, she quickly grabbed her coat and headed to the hospital. She was by your side as much as she could be. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she’d bring you food and watch movies with you. She’d suggest all the movies her mom would put on for her when she was sick as a kid. When you’d get out of the hospital, she would come stay with you for a few days to help you out. She wouldn’t be allowed in your kitchen, the woman can’t cook, so you’d both eat a lot of take out or she’d get Sonny to come by and make dinner.

Sonny Carisi:

He would be so worried. Sonny would stay by your side as much as he could and when he couldn’t he’d be pacing the waiting room or praying in the hospital chapel. When he’d be with you, he’d try to raise your spirits as much as possible. He’d bring you sweets and he’d even have his mother make you one of the soups she always made for him when ever he’d be hurt or sick. When you’d be discharged, he would help you around your house, cleaning, cooking, doing whatever you needed. He would also be a mother hen and refuse to let you doing anything that might irritate your stitches.

Elliot Stabler:

He would be super stressed out once he learned you had gotten into an accident. He definitely wouldn’t leave the nurses alone if you were in surgry, just trying to find out what was going on, if you were going to okay, anything at all. He would never leave your bedside, sleeping in the chair next to you no matter how many how many people told him to go home and sleep. Olivia would eventually bring him a change of clothes. When you’d be discharged, he would insist that you stay at his place and recover there. There was no use putting up a fight, so you’d do it. Elliot would wait on you hand and foot, bringing you food, books, drinks, anything you wanted. You’d tease him for it, but you loved how caring he was.

Nick Amaro:

Nick would be much like Elliot expect his mother would also be there. His main thing would be that he wouldn’t want you to be left alone, especially if you were really hurt. If he couldn’t be there he would make sure his mom was. He would also give you more freedom than Elliot. He would make sure you didn’t over do it and that you got plenty of rest, but as soon as you’d tell him to back off or let you do something, he would. He would hate it the whole time, but he knew better than to argue with you. He’d just stand back, giving you a soft glare, but worrying the whole time.

Olivia Benson:

Olivia wouldn’t know what to do. Whether she admits it or not, she likes having control over thing and not knowing what’s going on while the doctors are taking care of you would drive her crazy. She would be so loving, though, once she was able to see you. She’d make sure you’re all comfortable and if you were cold, she’d bring you a blanket. She would definitely bring food and drinks that you liked and anything else you’d want from you house. When you’d be able to go home, she’d help you as much as she could. She’d clean for you and cook or out take out, whatever you preferred. She would also encourage you to follow your doctor’s orders and would take you to follow up appointments if you had any.

Fin Tutuola:

Fin wouldn’t be the best at caring for you, but he would be so worried when no one was telling him anything. If he is anything, it’s steady, constant. He would always be there, day and night. He wouldn’t know what to say, but he would bring you anything you asked for and watch the doctors with hawk eyes. When you’d get to go home, he’d insist on driving you and helping you with whatever you’d need. But you but a stop to that once he offered to cook for you because you knew better than to let him in your kitchen.

Rafael Barba:

While he would act calm once he’d gotten the call that you were in the hospital, he would beat himself up over the fact that you were alone and that he wasn’t there for you. He would race to the hospital to be by your side and listen carefully to whatever the doctors told the two of you. But as soon as you’d be on your way home, he would tell you what his mother or grandmother would do in that situation. He’d be a walking medicine book of all these traditional “cures” that he’d suggest you try. And if you didn’t believe him, he’d tell you about all the times they worked for him and, if you still didn’t believe him, he’d have you talk to his mom.

*~~*~~*

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#law and order svu #law and order svu imagine #olivia benson #olivia benson x reader #amanda rollins #rafael barba #rafael barba x reader #sonny carisi #sonny carisi x reader #elliot stabler #elliot stabler x reader #nick amaro #nick amaro x reader #fin tutuola #fin tutuola x reader

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idontplaytrack · 29 days

Text

Kissin’ U

Jos Cleary-Lopez x fem! reader

Warnings: SMUT, MDNI. dom!Jos / sub! reader + switch dynamics, fingering & oral(both receiving), use of Jos’ powers, pain kink, masturbation(reader)

In which, Jos experiments with using her Power during sex and finds out reader likes pain

Requested? Yes/No

I personally find this quite poorly written, but I’m tired so this isn’t proofread yet, either🤫 p.s. the song doesn’t match the vibe exactly but the album name made me chuckle- figured it was a nice coincidence😂

You knew Jos had powers — all the girls over the age of twelve got them, no matter where in the world they were…you were no exception. When The Power first came into play, it was really hard to get used to, and control. Now, the worldwide freak out over this new organ’s blown over and there was finally some peace in your lives. You were over at Jos’ for the weekend since your family wasn’t home, and things got heated fast. The minute you got there, it was apparent that she could not keep her hands off you. Her kisses alone were longing, her touch lingers on your skin just a tad longer than her usual display of affection. The dead giveaway? That would be how you could feel the Power giving you little zaps as her hand trailed all over your back. You could feel them through your dress. There was no denying you wanted her either…you’d been thinking of her since before she even called you to come over. How her kisses felt against your lips, how she knew exactly where to touch you to make you fold, how she felt when she was fucking you with her fingers and her tongue that would make you giddy and see stars. How…you’d always feel little jolts of electricity from her finger tips whenever she got more aroused. That, you absolutely enjoyed, but haven’t told her before. You weren’t sure how she’d react to it.

Gentle kisses have officially turned into a handsy make out session as she eases you onto her bed. Butterflies swarmed in your chest along with the excitement you were feeling from seeing Jos so eager. “I’ve missed you.” Jos began, caressing your left cheek with her index finger as she lays down beside you.

“How’d you convince your parents to let you stay home alone while they headed up to the cabin?” You asked with a chuckle, gazing right into her eyes.

“I just told my Mom I needed a few days to myself after…everything. She said she understood and just let me. Once my Mom agrees, my Dad can’t really say no, anyway, so-” Jos explains as she brushes the hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear before pressing a kiss to you lips. You hummed in response, kissing her back and sticking your tongue into her mouth slightly as a silent request to kick things up a notch. Jos allows it, letting out a soft moan that gets swallowed by the kiss. The kisses steadily became sloppier by the minute before her mouth leaves your lips and started to roam all over your jaw, and neck. Jos tugs at the bottom your dress and asks if she could take it off. You told her to, and she doesn’t wait a single second to act on your request. Tossing your dress aside, she squeezes your breast causing a yelp to fall from your lips and break away from the kiss briefly. But she hungrily attacked you with a deep kiss, pushing her knee up against the juncture between your thighs and she feels the growing wet spot. Her fingers hooked the hem of your underwear and slides it off smoothly, “You ready, baby?”

You nodded, desperation in your eyes as she peels herself off of you. “We’re gonna try something a little different today.” She asked softly. You obliged, watching her closely for any clues in her facial expression.

“I…want you to touch yourself until you’re so, so wet and ready for me. For me to take you, okay?” Jos cups your cheek, then her index finger traces your jaw and ends up titling your chin.

“Okay.” You could barely get your reply out before she crashes her lips onto yours. Then, she gets herself comfortable sitting right between your thighs to watch you.

“You can’t touch me. Just yourself first.” She reminded, biting onto lower lip.

You whined, taking in a sharp breath as you contemplated your next move, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden. Her eyes softened the moment she saw that look on your face, “Hey, hey. Baby, look at me. Look at me, okay? It’s just us here…no one’s gonna hear you but me.”

You nodded, the familiar rush of heat returns to your body when you heard her assurance. Following that was the growing ache in your cunt after Jos decides to kiss you to help you relax again, boldly kneading your breast in the midst. Eventually you felt a spark on your breast, which elicits a cry from you. She stops moving her hand, asking if you were okay. “Yeah, keep doing that.” Those words as good as flew out from your mouth, with your mind being clouded with arousal.

Her look of bewilderment was brief, but she did as you told her to after hearing you whimper over and over with each little zap. “You like that?” She chuckles, breath fanning against a sensitive spot in the crook of your neck.

————

“Mm.” An incoherent mumble was the response she got, “I do, I do.” She holds your nipple between her fingers and gave it a pinch, knowing exactly how you’d react. You moaned, your hand traveled down south, beginning to rub your clit slowly. Each gesture allows Jos to hear a whimper that she was thoroughly enjoying, making herself wet in the process. She needed you too, and you knew it. But, she wanted you to touch yourself first and you hadn’t forgotten that.

“Come on, baby.” Jos bit her lower lip as she watched you excitedly, “Fuck yourself with your fingers. I know you want that.”

She was right, that’s what you would’ve done if you were home alone. But you weren’t- you were here, with Jos. After a few minutes, she’d replaced your fingers with her own, having you use them on yourself, unable to fight her desire any longer. She groans lowly, feeling how wet you were, watching a string of slick drip onto her sheets slowly starting to form a small puddle beneath yourself.

“Yeah, keep going.” She bites back another groan, “So hot, baby. You’re mine, aren’t you?”

You resisted reaching out to grab her face to kiss her. But you weren’t complaining because she used her free hand to grip your thigh, purposely sending a zap in your sensitive spot she knew you had. She feels you tightening around her, so she removes her fingers from you, using her mouth in place of them. But not before she climbs onto you, her ass now in your face allowing you the access.

Immediately, high-pitched moans replace your yelps and whimpers. It made her giddy, and proud that she could do that to you with such ease. It was a telltale sign you were close, but what was really aiding you was the fact that she’d been using the Power on you. As her tongue circled your clit and licked your folds expertly, you feel her hands roamed your bare ass, sending those electric shocks through it with each time she paused her movements— her fingertips seem to have zapped every inch of your body already. And you were trying not to seem like a pathetic little slut moaning every second of the way.

“I want to hear you. I want to hear how I make you feel, y/n.” Her breath fanned against your throbbing cunt, making you seethe. “I love hearing you moan for me, princess.”

That was like a cue for you, to let her hear what she wants to hear from you. Of course, her tongue had just picked up its pace…your vision blurs and you start to see stars, and the coil in your core tightens, and tightens until you couldn’t deny it anymore. She says you couldn’t come yet, but you were already so near tears. The ache keeps growing as you tried to ignore the need, your fingers used as the distraction that was pumping in and out of Jos as she continues eating you out. Her noises of approval weren’t helping the fact that she way delaying and denying your orgasm.

You begged her for your release. She doesn’t say a thing, but does the one thing she always does that makes you come: Two fingers aggressively poking at your g-spot over and over until you couldn’t take it and let go, through your cries of her name in an unending string.

You hear her chuckle through the loud sound of heartbeat pounding in your ears. Her tongue doesn’t stop, helping you ride out your high gently and cleaning you up at the same time. But the action has proven itself on multiple occasions that it results in the opposite. She’s had her fun with you, and as usual, it was now your turn. You gathered some of her slick before adding a third finger, she groans, gripping onto your legs. Little jolts of electricity were unintentionally sent through your calves, causing you to get startled. However, you remember your task at hand and resumed your motions. Jos nearly fell flat onto you as her body practically convulsed during her orgasm, her juices coated your fingers and you lapped them up like it was dessert.

“Okay, yeah. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That’s good.” She curses.

You were extra sensitive after such an intense climax that with a few flicks of her tongue, you’d came again. Now satisfied, Jos slowly helped you sit up. She kisses you, letting you taste yourself inevitably. “You did so well for me, princess.” She cups your cheeks with both hands.

You laugh breathless, “You taste so sweet, Jos. I could eat you out for hours.”

Her shock at your bold comment was quickly taken over by pure glee. She chuckles, “I like this side of you. It should come out more often.”

#auli’i cravalho #jos cleary-lopez #fem reader #female reader #x reader #reader insert #lgbtqia #wlw #queer #smut #fanfic #amazon #Spotify #steamy #amazon prime #the power amazon prime

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chaotic-super · 1 year

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The Vampire Woman - Chapter 11

Read The Vampire Woman on Ao3 here!

Kara doesn’t stick around L-Corp for long after that, she stays until the elevators are back up and running so she can grab her notebook from in the lab where she’d forgotten it earlier but that’s about it.

Jess joins her, escorting her because she isn’t allowed to wander the building alone, but she doesn’t mind the company at all, in fact, Jess and her are definitely becoming fast friends, especially with all the help she’s gotten from her in the past few days.

“Thank you, Jess.”

“What for?”

“For helping me when I had a panic attack in the safe room.”

Jess smiles at her with the softest of looks across her face. “Kara, some things you don’t have to thank people for.”

“Well, I’m thanking you anyway.”

Jess shrugs. “Well, thanks for your thanks and you’re very welcome, although I know you’d do the same for me, you seemed to be doing the same for Lena when the alarms were going off, I saw you helping her.”

“I might not be her biggest fan but I’m not a monster and I don’t want her to get hurt or be in pain. I think there is a good side to her, I’ve seen it, I just can’t predict when the less nice side of her is on its way out.” Kara leans against the rail in the elevator, her eyes locked on the descending numbers above the door.

Jess nods. “I know.” The elevator slows to a stop, jerking slightly as they do so and the doors slide open. “Now, let’s find your notepad so you can get home and relax.”

“I don’t know how much relaxing I’ll be able to do but I will certainly be trying to relax, maybe I’ll have a bubble bath and start one of the dozen or so books I have on my shelf that I’ve been meaning to read but never get around to actually touching.” Kara half laughs, a cute little smile directed over at Jess.

“Well, it’s the trying that counts, right?” Jess asks, frowning a little as her eyes glaze over the floor, searching for the notepad that Kara dropped. “Where is it?”

Kara tilts her head, eyes lingering on the spot she was sure it was in, before flitting off across the rest of the room to try and locate it.

“Would someone have moved it?”

“Maybe, if it was in the middle of the floor then someone might have picked it up.” Jess rationalises.

A little more searching is fruitful, the notebook is sat all the way across the room, in one of the sinks, thankfully empty and dry.

“Do people here normally keep notebooks in sinks?” Kara questions, picking it up and inspecting it for damage.

“Not that I know of but anything is possible. The sink it was in has been on the maintenance request list for a couple of weeks now but we’re waiting for our usual maintenance guy to come back off of vacation to have it fixed because Lena doesn’t trust anyone else down here.”

Kara snorts. “Right, ok. I guess I should just be glad that it is broken.” She flips through the pages, and nothing seems to be amiss. “Everything is still here so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Good, ready to head back up?”

“Yep, I’ll give you a call tomorrow to arrange another day so we can finish what we started when everything happened, there’s nothing quite like vandalism to ruin a good day.”

Jess nods solemnly, “you can say that again.”

Kara practically falls onto her couch when she gets back to her loft, back to the safety of her own space.

“Oh, what a day.” She mumbles to herself, letting her bones turn to jelly as she becomes one with the soft couch cushions.

Her eyes close and she just basks in the peace of being at home after she’s spent all day slightly on edge and then completely over the edge and then back to being on edge again.

After a few minutes, she decides to actually follow through with what she told Jess she was planning on doing and heads to the bathroom to start running herself a bubble bath.

Her tub is small, tiny actually, but even with her knees bent so she can fit inside it, it’s still pretty relaxing and it’s pretty deep so she can’t really complain about it.

It’s not often she decides to use her tub, usually in too much of a rush to do anything other than have a quick shower before work or before plans with friends so it’s nice to indulge a little every now and again.

She fills the tub up and climbs in it, forgoing a book and just bringing her phone with her so she can answer some emails and browse some social media while soaking in the bubbles.

There isn’t anything too interesting waiting for her but she does have a text from Ms Grant demanding that she report on the fire alarm incident that happened over at L-Corp. There’s no point in her questioning how she knows about that because she’s The Queen of All Media, of course she knows.

Kara hesitates for a moment, shooting back a quick reply that she would bring it up at her next meeting with Lena and that she has great material for better articles.

Flipping away from Ms Grant’s contact, she heads over to Alex’s, pressing the call button before bringing the phone up to her ear and listening to the soft ringing as she waits for her sister to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Oh hey, stranger, good day at work?”

“Interesting, some vandals broke into L-Corp while I was there interviewing the CEO and they started a fire so we had to go hide in a safe room down in the lab.”

“So you have had an interesting day then?”

“That’s an understatement. I’m home now though so I’m just relaxing now and I’m going to stick Netflix on soon so everything is alright now.”

“Good, I’m on my way home now and my day has been majorly boring. Are we doing a sister night this week?”

“Yes, I’m in desperate need. Can you do Friday?”

“Yep, I have to go though so I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah, I love you.”

“Love you, bye.”

“Bye.”

Kara looks down at the screen, ending the call and just staring at it for a few moments, unsure of what to do now.

She taps her fingers against the screen before opening up Instagram and searching for Lena, not finding anything other than an account that is very obviously run by L-Corp’s PR department because it’s completely devoid of any kind of personality and if there’s one thing Kara can’t criticize Lena for, it’s a lack of personality.

“You really are a mystery,” Kara whispers as she scrolls through the posts, looking further back just in case there is anything that might indicate that Lena used to run the account herself but there’s nothing to be found, the first post dating back to L-Corp’s grand opening and that’s about it, nothing personal.

She gives up on that fairly quickly, changing over to search for Jess, who is much easier to find but since her profile is private, she has to request to follow her, which she does so. She’ll have to wait to stalk through her profile.

Even surrounded by bubbles, a nice warm bath and the lovely smell of the muscle soak she added, Kara just can’t seem to settle, her feet twitching and her hands tapping against the side of the bath impatiently for a solid minute before giving up and fishing to the bottom of the tub to pull out the plug before heaving herself up and wrapping a towel around her.

She wanders out of the bathroom, pulling her hair tie out and releasing her hair from the confines of the messy bun she forced it into before she went for her bath, letting it now drape around her shoulders in a messy wave.

Kara heads right for her dresser and pulls out some comfy sweats to change into, set on forcing herself to settle in front of some random cheesy movie or a boring documentary, just anything that she can turn her brain off to and leave on in the background to chase away the silence without her feeling guilty about missing it.

She drops her sweats on the bed and turns around, hands gripping the top of her towel as she is about to release it and let it sail to the floor but the clearing of a throat stops her.

Her blood runs cold.

Not again.

“Lena, what the hell?” Kara gasps out, stumbling back and clutching her towel to her body tighter.

Lena holds her hands up, trying to look as non-threatening as she can. “I’m sorry, I knocked and you didn’t answer, I wouldn’t have come in if it wasn’t an emergency, I promise.”

Kara stares at her wide-eyed. “I was only at L-Corp a couple of hours ago, what could have possibly happened in that time that means that you feel the need to show up in my apartment…again?”

“Can we sit?”

“You just let yourself into my apartment, I’m practically naked and you want to sit?” Kara’s voice is so high-pitched at this point that it squeaks as she talks.

Lena’s eyes widen a fraction and Kara doesn’t miss the subtle motion of her eyes as they flicker down her body quickly before meeting her eyes again. “I’m sorry, you get dressed and then we can talk, I’ll make sure nothing happens in the meantime.”

“What does that mean? Why would something happen? Lena, this doesn’t make sense!” Kara’s heart is pounding in her chest and she can hear her blood rushing in her ears.

“Kara, calm down. Everything is ok for now, get dressed and then come and sit down.” Lena takes a step closer, hands still outstretched and when she’s in reaching distance, she just barely touches Kara’s shoulders, just enough to turn her around and push her towards the bathroom, stopping once she’s inside to grab the sweats Kara already put on the bed and pushing them into her arms.

Once Kara has taken them, Lena closes the door softly and turns her back to it, looking out over the loft with criticizing eyes, searching for anything that doesn’t fit.

There’s nothing that seems out of place but she stands on guard nonetheless, both listening out and watching out for any changes around them.

Kara opens the door a minute later and almost walks into Lena’s back, not expecting her to be right outside the door. “Lena, I need to know what’s happening.”

“I need you to come with me now.”

“No, you need to tell me what’s going on.”

Kara can see the internal panic as Lena flails, not sure what the best thing to do in this situation is. She stutters for a moment, none of the usual cool and emotionally distant spiel she usually pulls out at the moment.

“Ok, I’ll just give you the rundown and then we have to go.”

Kara folds her arms, feeling more confident now that she’s had a moment to collect herself. “No, I’ll decide if I’m going anywhere, just tell me.”

“I recognised the people that vandalised L-Corp today, they work for vampires, and not the nice kind. The kind that kill humans for fun.”

Kara’s newfound confidence wains slightly, and she swallows harshly before she asks her next question, “and why does that have anything to do with me?”

Lena’s eyes flicker to the floor before they meet hers again. “Your notebook. Jess told me that it moved, it was in the sink. I watched the CCTV for the lab to see who moved it because I had a bad feeling about it. It was an employee of mine, a new hire, they took photos of all the pages, tossed it in the sink and then turned the tap on, they ran away so fast that they didn’t notice that the sink is broken.”

“So, they have the vampire-related questions I wrote down. That’s nothing particularly hard-hitting, is it? Why would they even do that?”

“Vampires don’t like me because I don’t live the way they do. They live in obscurity and live to feed and kill. I like to have a purpose and I don’t kill. They hate that and will do whatever it takes to bring me down just because they don’t like the way I live and they will take anyone with a connection to me down too just to make it hurt.” Lena’s voice cracks and there’s a hint of moisture in her eyes indicating that she might cry.

Kara takes a moment, wandering a few steps away and turning her back to Lena so she can think. “These people would come after me just because they know that I know you’re a vampire? That’s enough of a connection for them?”

“I think so.” Lena nods. “Let me take you back to L-Corp, just for the night, it’s safe there and it will give me a chance to gauge whether or not you’re in danger and be able to increase the security of your apartment so no vampires can enter without your permission.”

Kara doesn’t say anything, just grabs her phone and her charger before she jams her feet into some sneakers. Lena takes that as a yes and waits beside the front door for her, watching her closely, afraid of what can happen.

“Stay close to me. I have a car waiting out front and we’re going to get into it and we’re going to do it fast. If something happens, get inside and lock the doors, if you have to, drive straight to L-Corp and pull up right out front. I have Jess waiting for us alongside some trusted security guards who will get you inside.” Lena waits for Kara to mumble her understanding before opening the front door and standing right at Kara’s side as she locks it behind them.

Lena clasps onto Kara’s arm gently, keeping her close and directing her to the stairwell, keeping a keen ear out for anything she might be able to hear.

“Keep going, we’re almost there.” Lena mumbles as the entrance to the building comes into view and then they’re outside and just as Lena said, a sleek black car is parked right outside.

It’s not far, just a few paces away and the car flashes as Lena unlocks it with her key. Kara’s rushing and Lena’s rushing with her.

Out of the corners of her eyes, Kara can see movement, dark whizzing shapes around them that are too vague for her to pin onto anything in particular. She can feel the malice and aggression they’re radiating though and it’s terrifying.

Lena yanks the car door open and shoves her inside, shoving her own body inside right after, but not before baring her sharp teeth out into the air, a warning for the evil lurking.

Kara is taken aback by the speed of Lena’s movements, her arms but blurs as she locks the doors and starts the engine, foot slamming onto the gas pedal and sending them off.

Sat inside the confines of the car, Kara feels protected, after all, it is a metal box on wheels, but looking out of the window as they speed up the street she can see the shadows following them.

“They’re still there!” Kara grips onto the handle beside the door and uses her free hand to grip onto her seatbelt, bracing herself for something bad.

“I know, I’m getting us out of here.” Lena tries to sound calm but her voice betrays her, the panic too strong to be hidden.

It’s as Kara is watching the fast movements of the shadows that it finally clicks for Kara. These are vampires and if these vampires can move this fast, so can Lena, but she’s here with her because she came to get her to keep her safe and she barely dares to think of what would have happened if Lena didn’t come to get her.

Lena takes the backroads and keeps her foot pressed on the gas, not watching the speedometer and planning for the tickets she’ll be getting already. The further they get, the more shadows they lose. There were a lot of them to start with, ones on both sides of the car, and now Kara can only see a couple on her side but there might be more she can’t make out.

Lena has to slow to take a corner and one of the remaining shadows takes advantage of the chance of pace, a hand smashes through the passenger side window and grabs onto Kara’s wrist before she even has a chance to react, but Lena does.

Whilst still driving, Lena manages to pry the hand off of Kara’s wrist before the vampire manages to lock its fingers fully around it, gripping the digits and snapping them back, breaking them with multiple horrible cracking sounds.

Kara is frozen in shock and fear, her body not listening to her any more, she’s just completely frozen. Lena tries to check on her but she doesn’t respond, her body quaking in her seat.

“Kara, are you ok?”

Lena can’t dwell on her for too long, she still has to get them back to L-Corp and there is one more vampire to lose and it’s a fast one.

It’s as they turn onto the final stretch that Lena knows what to do. The road is empty and there’s no one around. The vampire is right behind the car so she does something she’s seen in movies hundreds of times: she slams on the brakes and lets the vampire career right into the back of the car, thumping over the top of it and into the road in front of them. Then, she floors it, ignoring the sickening thud as they drive right over it.

Lena can see from one look at Kara that there’s only one way for them to get into L-Corp quickly so she doesn’t waste a second screeching up outside of the building, abandoning the car and lifting Kara out of it bridal style, using her speed to get them through the doors.

“Lock it down now!” She yells to the guards, happy with the speed and urgency they display in following their orders.

Read 6 more chapters of The Vampire Woman early on Patreon here!

#cw supergirl #supercorp endgame #supercorp #supergirl #kara leaned in #kara x lena #kara danvers #kara zor el #lena luthor #supercorp fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #vampire lena luthor #vampire!lena #vampire au #lesbian fiction #wlw #chaotic super

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starset21 · 8 months

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Even Though I'm Leaving //oneshot

Summery: Little blurb that follows Tom Kazansky's daughter from when she was a child, to her flying planes of her own, and finally to her father passing away. Based on the song even though I’m leaving by Luke Combs

Warnings: allusions to death, military inaccuracies

word count: 797

// “Daddy, I’m afraid. Can’t you stay a little while?” a young Emersyn asked grabbing for her father’s hand. “There’s monsters right outside.” Tom Kazansky chuckled quietly leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Emi, I promise you there’s not, it was just a bad dream,” he whispered. “Daddy, please don't go, I don't wanna be alone, the second that you're gone they're gonna know!” she exclaims, tears running down her cheeks now. One of the few people able to make the Iceman melt was melting him. “Just 'cause I'm leavin', it doesn’t mean that I won't be right by your side, my darling girl. What do I tell you when I’m off helping people?” he asks her. “That when I need you and I can't see you in the middle of the night, to close my eyes and say a prayer. That even though you’re leaving, you’re not going anywhere,” she says quietly. “Exactly that,” Tom praises. Emi’s lip quivers a little bit but the tears stop. “Can you stay a little bit longer Daddy? Just until I fall asleep.” Tom nodded and adjusted the blankets so they were back around her. “What if I have Athena come lay on the floor next to you?” he asks. Athena’s their 3-year-old Belgian malinois who usually sleeps in Tom and Sarah’s room. Emi nods. Tom smiles softly. “I have to leave to get her though, is that ok?” he asks her and Emi nods again, pulling her stuffed bear closer to her. Tom turned off her big light, allowing her nightlight to come on, and left her room quietly. He went and got Athena and when he returned back to little Emi’s room she was already back asleep. He had Athena lay at the foot of her bed and he kissed her forehead one more time before heading back to bed himself.

// “Dad, I'm going to be late, I’m supposed to be boarding the ship now,” a now 24-year-old Emersyn tells her father, the Admiral Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky. “I know, I know, but I’m the admiral, they aren’t leaving without you,” he says. “I’m pretty sure that's an abuse of power, I’ve already been accused of nepotism,” she huffs, acting tough even though this is her first official assignment and she was a little scared. He parked his truck and got out as she grabbed her seabags. “Lieutenant Kazansky,” he called out as she was halfway to the end of the boarding line. “Yes, Admiral?” she called back. “You’re forgetting something,” he yelled, and a confused Emersyn hurried back over to her father. “What am I forgetting?” she asked and Tom gave her a look, opening his arms. Emi dropped her bags and hurried into his arms. He hugged her close and told her this. “Just 'cause you're leavin', It doesn’t mean that I won't be right by your side. When you need me and you can't see me in the middle of the night, just close your eyes and say a prayer, it's okay, I know you're scared. I might be here, but I'll always be right there.” he said pointing to her heart. “Even though you're leavin', I’m not going anywhere. I’m proud of you Kasper.” Emi nodded into his chest, trying her best not to cry. “I love you dad,” she told him before they both let go and she picked up her seabags again. Tom Kazansky watched her walk on board and then waited on the docks until he could no longer see the ship.

// Lieutenant Commander Emersyn ‘Kasper’ Kazansky sat at her father’s bedside, biting her lip to keep from crying again. She hadn’t been called for the mission like her husband but she had been called home to San Diego. The doctors had told them there would likely only be a few more days left and that last day had come. Her siblings and mother had decided to give her a few moments alone now. She bowed her head and held her father’s hand whispering, “Daddy, I'm afraid, won't you stay a little while? I never thought I'd see the day I had to say goodbye. Daddy, please don't go, I can't do this on my own. There's no way that I can walk this road alone.” Emi let out a choked sob as she could almost hear the words he would have told her. “Just 'cause I'm leavin', it don't mean that I won't be right by your side, when you need me and you can't see me in the middle of the night. Just close your eyes and say a prayer, It's okay, girl, I ain't scared, I won't be here, but I'll always be right there. Even though I'm leavin', I ain't goin' nowhere.”

#top gun maverick #tom kazansky #starset writes #top gun fandom #tom iceman kazansky #Spotify

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imabeautifulbutterfly · 2 years

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The Gym Membership - Part 13 (Echo)

Summary: Echo sees how everyone’s handling the situation with Tech and Kamarie; tries to keep his mind occupied.

A/N: Hello Lovelies,

Thought you would have to wait for awhile for the new instalment, SURPRISE!

Haven’t really flushed out Echo’s part yet, but I’m thinking it’ll probably be around the three to four part mark, and then there will be Crosshair and finally an Epilogue with Omega.

Hopefully you all will love how this story is progressing.

Love oo, and thank you for showing this series so much love.

Warnings: Mentions of illness, the effects of illness, flirting, kissing, fluff, wedding discussions, I think that’s it, if I miss any warnings, please let me know.

AO3 Link | Words: 4,882 | PREVIOUS - -> NEXT

Gym Membership Master List | Main Master List

“Where’s Kamarie?” Echo glanced from his brother to the empty seat beside, he had gotten used to seeing it filled by Kamarie’s smiling radiating presence. However, lately she seemed to be having less and less energy.

“Still sleeping, she had a bad night” came Tech’s answer, his face solemn as his eyes focused on the cup of coffee in his hands.

Seeing how much it was affecting Tech, how much Kamarie was suffering broke Echo’s heart. He knew she was having a rough time of things lately, but to hear it was getting worse and more consistent really weighed on him.

“Sorry vod, I can just imagine how difficult this is for the both of you. Do you wanna stay home with her today? I know the guys won’t mind. Pretty sure we can handle a few things, plus I can ask Zaina to step in for you, since it’s her day off. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Tech simply shook his head, “No, it’s okay thanks. She wants me to go to work.”

Echo nodded, “Is that what you want?”

“No”

“Why not try to convince her?”

“I did, but she was adamant”

“You mean she wants alone time”

“No. I think …” Tech’s hands rested against the table clenching against themselves, “I think she’s finding it harder than she realized to deal with her weakening body, and having someone she loves beside her, especially, when there’s nothing anyone can do.”

“What about that nanite stuff you told me?”

“As you know I’m started assisting the engineer, she has been working with, these past three weeks. It unfortunately took a while to gain his trust but they finally relented and allowed me to help, after weeks of us asking unceasingly, but …” Tech leaned with resignation in his chair, “it …” his throat bobbed up and down, he cleared his throat fighting back the tears that kept wanting to surface, “after careful evaluation and analysis, we determined the nanites won’t be ready. At least, not for how soon she would need them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly as I’ve stated. Even if we skipped a thousand safety checks - which she … we would never do, the nanites to combat cancer won’t be ready for at least two years, and that would be for basic testing, not even complex testing on distinguishing the difference between masses of cancer cells and organ components.”

“She could hold out” Echo took the seat beside Tech, hoping his presence alone would encourage and strengthen his brother, “you never know. She’s one strong, determined and incredible woman, she may be able to hold out longer than you think. You may give her the strength to hold on.”

“I hope so. I really do. I don’t think …” Tech felt his throat tightening, he cleared it once again, fighting back the wave of emotion that wanted to erupt, “having her living here for the past four months have been amazing. Something I never imagined would be possible for me, and I want to be able to enjoy more days with her” a tear slipped down his cheek, as quickly as it escaped, Tech was ready to wipe away the evidence of his turmoil.

Echo made sure not to bring it up, Tech was never one to be very open with his emotions, and he certainly wasn’t going to make him feel uncomfortable by pointing it out now.

“How about you just stay home Tech. As you say, you want more days with her, so take advantage of the days you do have, because as you and I both know things are going to get harder for the both of you. So stay and help her. I’ll let the guys know.” Echo stood from the table patting Tech’s shoulder before he grabbed his keys and headed to the Gym.

Tech didn’t fight Echo, despite how annoyed Kamarie may have been when she woke up and realized he was still there, he knew deep down she would’ve been happy to have him by her side, even if it was just to hold her hand.

- - - - - - - - - - -

“Man I knew she was having a hard time lately, just didn’t realize how bad it got” Zai commented after hearing the morning conversation Echo had with Tech. She glanced over to Hunter, who looked as though he was going through his own emotional upheaval, he held on to her hand, tightening his grip, reinforcing within himself she was there beside him.

Mel and Zaina both leaned against the juice bar, “We should go and see if there’s anything we can do for her.” Mel had been by to see her a few times, but every time Kamarie had kept the visit brief, now she understood why.

Zaina nodded, “I’m off today, I’ll stop by and check in on her”

Mel nodded as she paced back and forth a bit, “Excuse me guys, I need to talk to Wrecker for a second.”

Echo glanced over to Zai, with a questioning look, she simply shrugged not knowing the answer to his silent question. Well if she was going to have a convo with Wrecker, he was going to have a convo with his vod “I’m gonna talk to Crosshair, be back in a minute, Zaina would you mind looking after the front desk from me” Zai nodded as she watched Echo take off.

Everyone was all a little downhearted after learning how far Kamarie’s illness was advancing and affecting her, even Tech’s handling of the situation was leaving everyone with a sadness in their hearts. Their concern for Kamarie and Tech took over any other considerations they had going on in their lives at the moment.

However, despite the sadness and the pain he knew everyone felt, Echo knew it was the right thing to tell everyone, for Tech and Kamarie’s sake they all need to rally for the two of them.

“Hey Cross” Echo took the seat in front of his older brother’s desk, picking up a paper clip and twirling it in his hand.

“What’s up Echo?” Cross asked without looking up from writing up his notes on his last patient.

“Do you mind if I just sit here for a while?”

Crosshair stopped his paperwork and looked at Echo, it was unlike him to just come in and sit with him for no reason, if he was here something must be really bothering him “What’s wrong?”

Echo’s hands fidgeted with the sweats covering his lower prosthetics, ever since he came back from the war, Cross seemed to be the only one to provide him the greatest comfort, aside from Tech. Maybe it’s because he had this calming presence when he looked after his brothers, constantly by their side no matter how crazy they got, usually because Crosshair undoubtedly did something crazier.

Either way, having Cross there to comfort him, however minimal, made Echo miss his twin a little less. It had been years since he lost Fives but on days like this, on days when his emotions felt like they were going to drown him, it made him miss Fives terribly.

He sighed “Kamarie’s not doing well. Every day she’s getting weaker.”

“How’s Tech doing?”

“As well as can be expected, this morning he was having a hard time”

“That’s not what’s troubling you though, is it?”

Echo leaned back and looked up to the ceiling, “No. It isn’t. As sad as I feel for them, I can’t help thinking about when Wrecker was in the hospital and regardless of how much I wanted to help, there was absolutely nothing I could do to help him. I mean it was bad enough he was injured, dealing with the burn and the loss of his eye, but especially after what that woman did to him, breaking up with him when he was recouping. It killed me to see and to hear him in so much pain and I couldn’t do anything.”

“Hear?”

He let out a sigh, this was something he never told anyone but with Cross at least with this, “I never told you guys this, but at night I could hear Wrecker crying, mumbling that woman’s name. Whenever, I asked him what was wrong, he simply pretended to be sleeping.”

“That’s rough”

“Seeing him like that, knowing I couldn’t help him broke my heart, and I just can’t help think about Kamarie and Tech’s situation and wonder if I could ever be as tough as Tech. I was by Wrecker’s side for a few weeks and it nearly killed me, and as much as I love Wrecker, it’s not the same as watching the person you love dying in your arms for months on end.”

“First, need I remind you, you were a patient and injured along with Wrecker. What exactly did you think you were going to be able to do? Secondly, you did help him, you convinced the doctors to move you to the same room as his, and because of that you were able to be there by his side when we couldn’t, despite the fact you were in pain, and dealing with your own injuries. Thirdly, Echo” Crosshair shifted in his seat, making sure to look his brother in the eyes, “You are by far the strongest out of all of us. I think if it was the love of your life, I have no doubt you’d move heaven and earth to be beside them.”

“Do you think I’ll ever feel that way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think I’ll ever meet someone I could look at as the love of my life? For that matter, do you think you’ll ever meet someone to make you feel that way?”

Crossshair tapped his fingers against the desk, “I have no doubt you’ll find someone Echo, good things happen to good people.”

Echo shifted his head to look at his brother, “What about you?”

He glanced from Echo to the paperwork on his desk, this was a discussion Crosshair didn’t want to have, it was a thought, a past, he had pushed to the furthest point in his mind. It was a memory he didn’t want to think about, “You know Echo, I have to get back to work, and I think it’s almost time for you to head to your physio.”

Echo simply nodded, there was no point trying to drag it out of Cross. He always suspected Cross had something in his past, something he didn’t exactly want to discuss or more specifically someone he didn’t want to think about. However, Echo was a patient man and he could wait him out, he simply stood waved goodbye and headed out.

- - - - - - - - - -

Echo sat in his car, parked in front of his physio, he couldn’t help wonder if there was anything he could do to help Kamarie and Tech. Maybe he could cook for them tonight, or maybe he could help out in some way.

You: Hey Tech, I’m about to heading in for my physio, afterwards I’m gonna pass by the store, do you or Kamarie need anything? I was thinking of making dinner tonight for us, but if you guys have something planned already I can work around that?

Tech: Thanks vod. Kamarie hasn’t felt well all day, I’m happy I followed your advice and remained at home. With respect to dinner, we haven’t discussed it as yet. If you could pick up some anti-nausea medicine, that would be helpful.

You: Sure, I’ll make us something for dinner when I get home, anything else?

Tech: Should anything else come to mind, I’ll inform you as soon as possible.

You: Sounds good, how’s Kamarie? You said she hasn’t felt well all day.

Tech: She has not been able to stop vomiting all morning, which aggravates her coughing, leading her to have difficulty breathing. She’s currently resting with the oxygen tank we got from her doctor.

You: Is it helping?

Tech: She’s no longer wheezing, allowing her to be able to rest, which at least is beneficial. She may be too weak to come down to dinner to eat.

You: That’s okay, she can have it in bed. Maybe I’ll make some soup, something light, and won’t make her feel queasy, but still satisfying. I think I still have some of the recipes you guys used when I was first recovering.

Tech: Thank you vod, I can cook for us though, you’ll be exhausted once you come back from physio.

You: You’ve been taking care of Kamarie all day, let me do this for you guys.

Tech: I know there’s no point in arguing with you.

You: Good. Aside from the nausea meds, are you sure you don’t need anything else? Or anything else you need me to do.

Tech: Nope. Just the meds. Trust me, vod, you’ve done more than enough. Thank you. Ttyl.

- - - - - - - - - -

“Echo”

He blinked a few times, before he realized he was sitting in his physio’s office, “Hmmm? Sorry, what did you say?”

“Welcome back to the living, you okay?”

He let out a sigh, nodding, he kept racking his brain, there had to be something else he could do, something they could all do for Tech and Kamarie. They were coming up on six months soon, maybe they could do a little anniversary dinner, if she was up for it, something easy that they all could easily reschedule, if she couldn’t meet up.

He glanced up to see his doctor just sitting there, eyeing him, waiting for him to open up. As much as he went there for help with his prosthetics, he’d become a friend and somewhat of a therapist for Echo, “Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just … my brother, Tech, he started dating this woman about six months ago, and they’re … it’s hard pressed to find a more perfect couple. It’s as though they’re made for each other.”

“That sounds amazing”

“It is. I’ super happy for him” Echo chuckled, thinking as to how his life turned out, he moved out of Hunter’s place for Zai, only to move in with Tech, who’d ended up finding himself the woman of his dreams and living with the two of them.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“She’s really sick, and every day she’s getting worse”

“I’m sorry to hear that, what’s wrong with her?”

“Cancer”

“Is she on any treatment?”

Echo simply shook his head, “Umm … no, she … they told her there wasn’t anything more they could do.”

“I’m sorry, Echo.”

“It’s okay, Azi. I just … my heart breaks for Tech, he’s never had the best of luck when it comes to women. The first time he really fell in love, it … anyways, that’s …”

“Echo, can I ask, are you interested in Kamarie?”

“What! No. I mean she’s lovely but definitely not.”

“Okay. It just sounds like you’re maybe … a tad jealous, no doubt the situation is quite upsetting and very sad, but you seem jealous regardless”

Echo rubbed his head, was he jealous? He most certainly didn’t have feelings for Kamarie, she was beautiful, funny, and kind, but that’s as far as his feelings for her went. Since the first time he met her, he always looked at her as a sister, never anything more. No, he definitely wasn’t jealous of Tech because of Kamarie, “Don’t know what to tell you, but I’m definitely not interested in Kamarie.”

“Is that the only reason you could be jealous of Tech?”

“What other reason could there be?”

Azi simply shrugged, he wasn’t going to tell Echo, this was something he needed to figure out for himself. “Maybe it’s something you have to think about, anyway let’s discuss what you want to work on now with the new prosthetics”

“My brother’s getting married”

“The one with the girlfriend”

“Not Hunter, Wrecker. I want to be able to dance at the wedding. I used to be really good, but I haven’t tried anything like that since the first time I was outfitted with prosthetics.”

“Hmm, I think it’s definitely possible, let me see” Doctor Azi pulled out a referral sheet, “There’s a dancing instructor that’s quite good, she actually coaches Paralympic dancers. I’ll set up an appointment for you, once it’s set up, I’ll send you the information.”

“Thanks”

“Of course. Now, how are you feeling with the new prosthetics? Any issues or problems?”

“None, everything feels really good actually.”

“It’s been a few months with the new prosthetics, compared to the old ones have you noticed a difference?”

“Definitely, my movements are smoother. I feel as though my actions have become second nature again.”

“That’s fantastic and after such a short period of time. Alright let’s get you doing your exercises, and then we’ll book your next follow-up”

“Sounds good”

- - - - - - - - -

“I got the nausea medication” Echo shifted the basket in his hand, while he was double checking with Tech what else they needed, “my physiotherapist said ginger is also good for nausea, and I still have some of the herbal tea my doctor recommended for when I was having trouble with my stomach last year. I forgot to tell you earlier. I just remembered when I was talking with my physiotherapist”

“Thanks, Echo. Also, despite my numerous objections, your offer to cook and almost physically restraining her, Kamarie succeeded in making dinner for us this evening”

“She made dinner?”

“As I said despite my numerous objections and attempts to quell her ambitious desire, yes, she made dinner.”

“I’ll make sure to eat plenty and tell her it’s delicious.”

“Thanks, vod. I have no doubt she will greatly appreciate your effort, especially, since it took her a great deal of effort just to make dinner.”

“Then I will even pick up flowers for her”

“She will appreciate it even more.”

“See you soon”

Echo shifted from the aisle, his vision focused on the basket in his hand, as he did his best to make sure the bottle of cashew milk he had wasn’t tipping over on to his grapes.

When his step was impeded by something small and sturdy, it jostled the basket, nearly throwing him off balance, he reached out to steady himself. In that instant, he closed his eyes, when he opened them again, he was looking into a pair of eyes wide with shock and holding on to him for dear life. He could feel his heart beating faster than it had in a long time, as the most soft and pleasant scent of orchids with a hint of coconut filled his nostrils. About a million thoughts ran through his mind, and at the same time there wasn’t a single thought as he looked at those eyes.

“Are … are you okay?”

He shifted his hand feeling something soft underneath his fingers, the fabric was gentle, smooth, and shifting slightly, as the person in front of him took in a shuddering breath, “Yeah, sorry.”

Her hand tightened against his chest, as she fought against gravity that seemed especially determined to make her fall on her butt, and embarrass her in front of this man.

“It was my fault” Echo did his best to keep them both steady and up; he shifted a little so it felt less awkward trying to hold them both up.

“No. I was on my phone and not paying attention.”

“I was busy fiddling with my basket, I should’ve been paying attention, but I was trying to save my grapes”

She smirked as she looked from his eyes to the basket, “At least they know your effort was not in vain” my eyes found his again, “even if they did get squished”

“Huh?” Echo glanced over to see the cashew milk lying on top of the grapes squishing them, “Well that’s disappointing”

Echo looked back at the woman in front of him, the shock expression on her face shifted till she started giggling the sound of her voice was something completely unexpected, it was loud and jovial, full of life, and not dainty in any shape or form. “Okay so you’re sorry, I’m sorry. We’re all sorry right, and the grapes died, despite the brave battle they fought.”

Echo chuckled his hand tightening on her waist, “Well I am sorry, and yes they did die a warrior’s death.”

She couldn’t help feeling relaxed and absolutely comfortable with the man in front of her regardless of the fact he was a complete stranger, “It’s not everyday I get to bump into such a handsome stranger, and at the grocery store who has a clever sense of humour.”

He felt a tapping against his chest, he glanced down to realize they had been standing this close to one another for the past five minutes, he let her waist go, stepping back, she shifted till she found her balance as well. Echo’s face felt heated from how close they had been for the past few minutes, “Sorry, didn’t mean to …” he motioned with his hands to their predicament.

“Chivalrous and polite, let me guess married with kids?”

“Is that always case?”

“Usually, either that or their gay” Her phone beeped loudly breaking the tension between the two of them, Echo glanced down to the phone in her hand, she looked letting out a sigh, “Sorry this is one of my kids”

“One of them?” Echo smirked, this woman is definitely interesting.

“Yeah, I train some.”

“Oh?”

The phone kept ringing, “Sorry, I gotta get this”

“No worries, it was a pleasure to meet you. Take care of yourself” he nodded to the woman, as she smiled while she answered the phone. She hesitated for a minute before she walked off.

It was only when he was in the car heading home, did he realize he never got her name or even her number.

If Cross had been there with him, there would’ve definitely have been teasing all the way home, restless shaming from Cross, and more than likely he would have been the one ending up with a date at the end of those few minutes.

His hand twitched against the steering wheel, even though he felt the leather under his fingers he wished it was still her shirt, and the heat from her body seeping into his hand.

He shook his head, chastising himself out loud, “Come on Echo! Stop being a creep! You just met the woman. Get it together. If it’s meant to be you’ll run into her again.” As he drove, he couldn’t help remembering the day and time he ran into her at the grocery store.

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

Wrecker sat there cradling Iris in his arms, as he looked at Mel. He hadn’t said much, since Mel told him her idea for their wedding. He couldn’t help smile at her, he thought for sure he was in love with her when he first met her. He was fairly certain about his feelings when she told him she was pregnant, only to realize he had fallen more in love. He was convinced how deep his feelings were, when he saw how she took Omega under her wing, and he knew he’d never leave her side when he saw how she doted on their own daughter, but what she proposed made him want to be by her side for all of their life, their daughter’s life, and any future grandchildren’s, if he could he wanted eternity with her. He never imagined he’d fall even deeper in love with her at that moment.

He took in a deep breath, doing his best not to jostle his sleeping angel.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” His voice was low, barely above a whisper last thing he wanted to do was to wake his ad’ika. He watched his little girl wriggle closer to him. He’d noticed lately whenever he spoke, she always ended up clinging closer to him. He watched as a little smile appeared on her lips, and her tiny hand gripped on to his shirt for life itself.

“She clearly loves her daddy” Mel reached forward trailing her finger over her daughter’s head.

“You still haven’t answered mesh’la”

Mel let out a sigh, “Cyare, I am sure. I wouldn’t have suggested it, if I wasn’t sure. You know me well enough, to know that.”

“True, but you have to remember if we do this, there’s no going back. We can’t change our minds last minute”

“I know. I am fully prepared to do this.”

They both looked at their daughter, Mel shifted till she sat beside Wrecker, leaning into his side, her hand resting on his arm that held Iris, he shifted his arm wrapping it around her. Holding her close to his side, Wrecker looked at Mel, her warm eyes, her pleasant smile, it all made him realize how lucky he was to have her there, he smirked as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“You’re amazing, cyar’ika. You know that?”

“I’m amazing because you are incredibly patient with me, support me and my crazy ideas. However, are you okay with what I suggested?”

“Absolutely. I think it’s a brilliant suggestion and an incredibly thoughtful one.”

Mel rested her head on his shoulder, “You know you are just as amazing” she breathed in his scent, he smelled of baby shampoo, cedar, and a slight hint of her own grapefruit lotion.

“Meh. You came up with the idea.”

“And you are willingly supporting it.”

“How about we just agree, we are both amazing; and our little ad’ika is absolutely incredible.”

“Agreed” Mel reached up and placed a gentle and delicate kiss on Wrecker’s lips, he took the chance to deepen the kiss as best he could without trying to jostle Iris. Mel pulled back, smirking at his pouting face, “We can continue that particular discussion later on tonight, once the little one is in her crib.”

“I’m going to hold you to that”

“Have I ever gone back on my word?”

He simply chuckled as he pressed his forehead against hers.

Mel took in a deep breath, grateful she had Wrecker and Iris in her life, indebted to whoever thought she was worthy enough to have such an amazing man and the most beautiful little girl by her side.

She shifted till her head found his shoulder again, “Do you think everyone will be on board with our suggestion?”

Wrecker nodded against her head, “I think once we tell everyone, they’ll be quick to rally behind the idea.”

“Should we keep it a surprise for them or tell them?"

“Hmmm that’s a good question, on the one hand we can guarantee they’ll be there. After all, he is one of the groomsmen, and she is one of the bridesmaids.”

“Not to mention they’re family”

He chuckled against her head, “Good point, mesh’la. However, Tech should know just in case Kamarie isn’t feeling well”

“True.”

Mel focused on their daughter, “Okay how about this? We keep it a surprise until we have everything ready, then as a backup if it doesn’t work because either they don’t want to go along with the offer or she’s feeling too sick we can simply go back to plan A.”

“Agreed, although, I think we won’t have to worry. I do believe, my younger brother may have been planning something already.”

“Really?”

“Well Tech was asking me about your ring, how I knew you would like it, was there some special insight I had? Whether you came with me to get the ring or did you perhaps pick it out prior to me going to pick up the ring? You know him, he had a million and one questions.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him. So, what did you tell him?” Mel smirked as she looked at her ring, thinking back to the day they were in the hospital room, and Wrecker got down on his knee to ask her, Iris asleep beside them.

“Simple, I told him when I looked at the ring, I just knew. The moment I held the ring in my hand, I imagined offering it to you. Getting down on one knee, telling you everything I wanted to tell you, and I could see your face, your reaction, and I just knew.”

Mel shifted her head, pulling back to look at him, a smile gracing her face, “You never told me - you know me so well love.” She placed her forehead against his, “I love you”

“I know. I love you too”

She smirked, as she felt him shift placing the gentlest kiss on her forehead, readjusting till her head rested on his shoulder again, “What did he say, when you told him?”

“Not much actually, he just simply nodded, and went back to his phone.”

“Well maybe we should talk to Tech and Kamarie first then, but after we find out if Tech has got the ring.”

“Perfect. He gets the ring, we give him a wedding.”

“So when do you wanna get married?”

“Well since we’re going to have a simple ceremony, how about as soon as those two agree to take over our wedding?”

Mel nodded against Wrecker’s shoulder as the idea of being his wife sooner than they anticipated crossed her mind, making her smile from ear to ear. Imagining their life with Iris and any other future children.

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