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starshiningsirius · 3 years

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Our adorable little junior (Yandere Vice dorm heads x reader)

The dorm heads aren't open to compromise as much as the vice dorm heads who are more civil. Surprisingly I can't find any yandere fics with all the vice dorm heads simping for one darling. Despite them being more scary, manipulative, and having more husband material.

I thank @writer-akihiko for the inspiration I had in the middle of the night to bring you this.

Color coded speaking habits are based off dorm colors and what tumblr had, so keep that in mind.

💝💗HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 💗 💝

It all started with you wobbling through the courtyard only to bump into someone. They held on to your shoulders to keep you from falling to the floor immediately.

"Woah there! Y/n? What's up with you? You were weaving back and forth through the courtyardwith every step. Your not sick are you?" A slightly worried or rather maybe that was in your head to call it slight, maybe that was a illusion in your mixed up head.

You looked up to see a tuft of green hair with a pair of glasses that reflected golden eyes, and an unmistakable clover on his cheek.

"Ah Trey, no I was just studying for magical history a bit too late last night and now I'm --" Has Trey always felt this warm and soft? What ever the case it made him the perfect pillow as you slumped over toward him, which startled him for a second before he heard your soft snores and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Geez don't scare me like that, it's rather worrisome that you'd fall asleep like that out of nowhere." He held her up a bit more to have her leaning on him as support. He was able to see the calm sleeping expression you had on your face.

"Still so naive though, if it was any other guy how do you think they'd react to such a vulnerable girl in this situation." He had a faint blush on his cheeks as he pushed up his glasses and made his way to Heartsbyul with you in tow before lunch would be over.

Thankfully he made a few sweets yesterday giving you one would give you a bit more energy not to mention the look on your face that would light up would be worth it.

The next day Rook had approached you after classes. Before you could say any sort of greeting he dragged you off to Pomeifore without providing an explanation. When you both arrived tea was already made for some reason, and small treats like macaroons were set in the lounge.

"Mon chérie I heard from Rose Chevalier that your in need of some assistance in magical history, I could be of aid to you." She contemplated his words, wondering who he was talking about before immediately assumed Trey. That made sense as they were both in the science club.

The offer he made did sound very tempting, she needed as much help as she could get.

"Yes please I'll be in your care Rook-senpai!" That short phrase did send a few butterflies in his stomach.

She was just as cute as when she slept at night. He did take a few pictures without your knowledge and managed to distribute them out to the others but there were these other expressions he saved in his head that were exclusive for him to see.

The radiant smile and look of triumph you showed toward him when you understood the concept he told you about. It was much more lively, he couldn't choose what he liked more the vibrancy of your smile or the vulnerability of your sleeping expression. Either were just fine afterall you were such beautiful person one that could do anything and would still have shown its beauty in his eyes.

That ended another day for you.

The next had you struck with some bad luck. As your pocket had gained a hole in it. Whatever money you had for lunch had been lost too. If you traveled back to your dorm all the good stuff would be gone, but it would be better than starving so you left the cafeteria. On the way in the halls you saw Jade who inquired where you were off to when lunch just started.

You told him your dilemma and he told you to follow him. After walking all the way to Octanivelle in silence and entering the Mostro Lounge you thought if he was going to try and convince you to sign a contract, but he only asked you to sit at a booth and wait for him.

20 minutes into lunch and he came back with some food for you both.

"Ah, Jade you didn't have to do that! I can pay you back just tell me the cost and I'll-" He leaned over a little bit and held a finger to your lips with a closed eyed smile on his face.

"It's fine, why not enjoy the meal? I made it with your tastebuds in mind. Afterwards preferably after class I can sew up the hole you mentioned." He removed his finger, but it didn't stop your face from heating up and turning red to the tips of your ears.

The reaction was cute in Jade's eyes seeing you nod obediently and take bites of the food he made with an embarrassed expression. It was all too entertaining for him, such entertainment made his heart rate accelerate rapidly and he'd keep sneaking glances while he ate himself. For it was always wonderful to bask in your presence.

Yet another day came to an end and another began. It was on this day that you didn't have to worry about lunch either. Jamil handed to you a bento box. You thanked him with a big smile on your face.

Your bright smile radiated so much energy, it looked like you genuinely appreciated his effort he put into making this. Such a smile made him pull down his hoodie a bit more to hide his blush taking over his face.

"It's not anything impressive, but since you like it just ask and I'll have lunch prepared for us everyday. It's no trouble." For you was what he meant to say. If it meant seeing such an expression again it certainly would be well worth the effort.

"Thank you Jamil! Kalim always says your food is the best I can't wait to try it!" That caught him off guard, hearing his own heart pound and feeling his face rise in temperature he thanked the great seven he wore a hoodie.

He put it over his face and waved it off saying the same response he'd have for everyone else downplaying his own capabilities, but she eagerly denied it causing even more embarrassment on his part. God another thing Jamil couldn't stand about Kalim was when he ran his mouth.

* * *

That very same day that started with luck had dropped significantly and took an opposite turn to bad. The misfortune of bumping into a few Savanclaw students whom find simple reasons to get angry whether they started it or not.

Luckily before they could throw a punch they suddenly started fighting each other for some reason. From their conversation it didn't sound like they were in control of their bodies in the first place. As soon as it started they suddenly stopped and ran off with anger for one another after embarrassing themselves.

A voice came from behind her that startled her for a split second before she recognized it.

"You've got to be more careful, Savanclaw is the dorm to avoid picking a fight with, Y/n." Ruggie came from around the corner twisting his magical pen in between his fingertips before placing it in his pocket.

Before Ruggie could chastise his junior a bit more she ran up and hugged him.

"Thank you Ruggie! If there's anything you need then I'm at your service!" He didn't hug back. For one is was abrupt and when his mind actually processed feeling your warmth radiating off you on to him, his face flared up.

His ears twitched and he tried to occupy his mind with some other thought to preoccupy which only led him to recall your words.

'Anything? Doesn't she know that prey like her shouldn't just say whatever.' He wasn't denying the fact that the offer sounded so sweetly tempting to take her up on, but with the others taking their chances with you and him low on the food chain out of the five others he knew the risk wasn't worth it.

"No it's fine just watch yourself next time. I may not be here to help all the time."

How many times had a student helped you now?

The next morning Lilia had joined you.

The thing is while Lilia was regailing an enchanting tale of his past it kept you occupied in not noticing the five other pairs of eyes that had set themselves on watching mainly you. Whether it was them keeping an eye on their dorm heads, or on their way to their own class they kept their eyes trained for as long as they could before she left their sight.

Lilia had heard the details from Ruggie and out of all the vice heads he was the most free as the others were commanded to do things by their dorm heads or were their unofficial babysitters. Lilia of course was the strongest and most capable by far out of all six of them. So he had jumped at the chance of being able to brighten up your day with many of his travel stories.

Seemed like you were spending more time with the vice prefects more than usual. Though Savanaclaw had none Ruggie was pretty much the unofficial for it.

They were reliable, more so than their dorm heads at times, that could be said for mainly Jamil, Ruggie, and Lilia. But some had proved their skills far exceeded their position and it was known to other dorms as well, like Jade, Rook, and Trey.

But with all these people who adore one so much to the point of doing anything for her, it had to go bad at some point. Obsession festers for many reasons, like worry, denial, or paranoia.

In this case its deemed worry.

The very next day you were offering sweets you made yourself to the six of them to thank them for their aid the past couple of days. They were all so happy, nothing would damper their mood for the rest of day, knowing you appreciated how much effort they put in for you. Well of course it didn't last long it didn't matter who you went to see last, mainly either Jade or Jamil, or Rook too. They were the type to pay attention to the little things. Though this time they were a bit preoccupied with their own deeds. You had found Jamil last as you assumed he'd be busy with Kalim the majority of the day. He was in the kitchen as usual fixing tomorrow's lunch for Kalim and him, and her too.

He was happy to accept the treat until he noticed how you looked. You looked like you were spent. He noticed your smile, one they adored to the point of insanity looked forced. Not to mention it looked like you were wearing make up under your eyes, in which he assumed you were tired and had to hide your eye bags.

He tried to tap you on your forearm before you could go and leave, but when you froze and winced with a petrified look, that's when he began to notice something had been wrong than what he already had imagined. He was worried seeing as the state of your expression was slight fear, but it didn't look to be of him.

When he asked her to tell him what's wrong, you asked to first be brought in private to hear the dilemma. He decided his room would be best seeing as the desert of Scarabia at night got cold.

When they both entered she immediately broke down. Usually she always seemed so positive but this was the complete opposite. He tried comforting and coaxing you into telling him what happened, so he could eventually inform the others in their group chat and eventually you did. Though it made whatever self restraint he had held back within his life snap.

You told him of how yesterday a student came up and flirted with you. You politely disregarded him, but the student didn't get the memo. He had gripped your arm tight enough to cause a bruise. That's when you kneed him in his gut and once he let go, used your leg to make his head hit the floor with a blow to the neck, successfully knocking him unconscious. You ran back to your room after that without looking back. Then you thought back to all the good deeds recently the vice heads had done, and decided you'd haven't been showing enough appreciation toward them. That's why you gave him and the others treats.

He also interpreted that he had touched you where the bruise was located and given you slight PTSD in which he apologized for his earlier actions. You probably didn't get much sleep either. You told him it was fine since he was just trying to figure out what was wrong and that you were just caught off guard. No soon after you finished your statement did he ask to see the bruise in which you received.

Slowly you took off your blazer and uncovered the bandages located where your elbow was on the inner part where the skin was softer and bone was located. That made his heart stop to see the bruise you obtained. His thoughts ran rampant with the thought of what he would do to the person who did it. Surprisingly he was never usually angry for someone else's sake but you had made it that way.

He had to put on a front for you though and he told you to stay while he got a pack of ice to ease the swelling. While away walking through the halls of his dorm he was seething with rage. One would think if someone touched him it would be the end of that person's life when he released such anger.

He started to text in the chat where all the vice dorm heads would inform each other of their encounters and Y/n's problems to find solutions. He told them to gather in Scarabia at the fountain for an urgent situation pertaining to their favorite little junior on his phone, though he would have informed them through the chat, he was more focused on getting the ice pack. They agreed to meet up in said dorm that their junior was currently in to hear the details from him himself.

When he had finally made it back to his room he found the person of their obsession in question asleep on his bed with their blazer still in the same spot and legs dangling off the bed as to not have her shoes touch the covers. Hugging his hoodie as a pillow of sorts. He would have savored this sight if not for the tear streaks that were on your face and the prominent bruise in the same spot.

He gently placed the ice pack on her arm and brushed away the stray tears and streaks with his thumb. The sight was normal for him considering Rook had distributed sleeping pictures to all of them. This was realer than any picture though. Soft breaths rhythmic breaths and silky hair like an angel.Despite that you looked to be uncomfortable seeing as the arm you were using had to replace the other one that was bruised and probably hurt to bend. He softly sighed knowing he had to get ready as the others would arrive soon and that the situation would not be pretty for the misfortune planned that ignorant person who dared lay a finger on their favorite junior would receive.

When everyone had arrived in the meeting dorm all had sour moods to be called a bit late after set curfews in two of the dorms or just the time taking away from their leisure after taking care of tasks that came with their position.

"It seems we're all gathered here now, Monsieur Multi-Compétent why have you called us here in the late hours?" Rook had a smile on his face which was normal but he was intrigued and serious about the matter at hand.

"You mentioned it's urgent regarding to our little angelfish correct?" Jade as well had his usual smile, but the slightest glimpse in his eyes had a rather invited gaze.

"You sure you couldn't have just texted it to us, it woulda saved us the trouble of coming here." Ruggie grumbled.

"I know you all are busy, but tell me did you notice something off about her today?" Jamil inquired to the other five.

"Now that you mention it when she gave me the treats she made it seemed like she was off. I was focusing on some tasks Riddle gave me so I didn't think too much of it." Trey had thought back to hearing her call out to him in a lower tone of voice.

"She didn't seem too energetic either when she gave me mine either. Sebek was a bit of a handful so I couldn't pay attention as much as I liked to her and she said she had to go give out the others." Lilia remembers asking her to stay for a little longer but she put up a facade and said she had other things to do.

The others agreed on the same notion that today she lacked her usual energetic, positive, behavior. Since their dorm heads and first years put them through the wringer today they didn't have time to think much on it. Jamil was used to dealing with Kalim's mayhem and chaos since they were children and had learned to still be skeptic even if he was exhausted or at his wit's end.

"Exactly, seems as though someone laid their dirty fingers on her the day prior and now she's a bit broken down mentally." Jamil had informed them of the situation, fully going into depth and detail seeing their facial expressions change throughout the retelling.

"Right, now I know you all want to see her, I can do that but you've gotta be quiet. She fell asleep in my room because she wanted to talk in private. She and other dorm residents are asleep so try to keep noise to a minimum."

They all had no reservations about that. He guided them to his room in which he did have some irritation toward letting them in. Thankfully he hid the picture Rook gave him so she wouldn't see it unless she looked. Slowly opening the door to see the sleeping girl, they surrounded her unsuspecting figure. They examined her for a moment taking in the sight before noticing the tear streaks on her face and the ice pack placed near her elbow.

Seeing the ice pack on her arm Rook steadily removed it to give the others a glimpse of the injury. Some of them froze while others who usually weren't so expressive of true feelings like Lilia, Trey, and Jamil had a look of anger. The ones who were more prone to dirty methods and violence like Ruggie, Jade and Rook had a look of bloodlust for the person who dared to do such a thing, despite Jamil having already saw it.

They all exited the room and ventured to the common room, closer to the outside section.

"Such a poor unfortunate soul, he doesn't even know the enemies he made."

"How foolish of them to touch something that's ours."

"Oh Rose Chevalier, you've been rather silent, no objection to such acts?"

"Don't get me wrong I'm angry, Rook. It's not as if I can stop you all from doing something horrible to some idiot. Fights happen all the time at this school."

"I'm sure I could find the idiot in no time, it's much easier to catch unsuspecting prey!"

"Since you all have your 'plans' I'll go and make a potion to rid her of that unsightly injury that foo-, I mean so she won't have to feel anymore pain."

"Since that's all finished what do you all suppose we do about her?"

"We've got to keep a better eye on her."

"Yes that much is clear, but with all of us having to be so busy all at once, going about that is rather difficult."

"Especially since she's a lot more frail, if the student were a beastmen then she probably wouldn't have gotten away."

"I propose we reveal ourselves to our angelfish. She may not like it at first, but it's clear that unless we know where she is at all times then we can't ensure her safety."

"Whose dorm is best suited to keep her there?"

"I was going to offer up my own, I'm sure your dorm heads would condemn our act of unsavory deeds, but Azul is different of course. Just let me handle all the details."

"As expected of Monsieur Mastermind, fully equipped to handle the situation."

"While that is going on, Ruggie how about you bring that cretin to Diasomnia, I'd love to have a chat with him. Don't worry I'll make sure no one is nearby to hear his fate."

"Ah, okay. Better than bringing him to my dorm and having to clean up a mess."

"Oh how about you let me in on your conversation, Monsieur Curieux, and I'll bring a few things to aid in the clean up Monsieur Dandelion!"

"Trey I need a favor."

"Depends on what the favor is?"

"I heard you can change the taste of something with your unique magic. Can you cast a spell on the potion before she drinks it? She's already suffered enough a disgusting potion is an easy fix."

"That's nothing, too complicated. Hand it over to me when it's finished once it's done."

* * *

Screams could be heard within the bounds far away from Diasomnia. Near the edge of a cliff stood three people while another person was on the ground. Burned, bruised, and battered not to mention a few broken bones, and loss of some organs devoured. They were proud of what they did to say the least.

Ruggie had the most blood on him mainly around his mouth while Lilia had some on his hands, Rook had a blade coated in it and still managed to get some on him. The lifeless corpse on the ground was where the blood had originated from as they tossed it off the cliff.

Lilia had cast green flames in order to rid the evidence. It was easy for Rook to cast a spell to clean their clothes with. Now they just have to go meet up with the others.

* * *

Based off the decorum of the room, she could only assume she was in Octanivelle. That's where she had woken up, but she remembers Scarabia last. Soft covers on top of her were thrown off as she hurriedly looked around the room to see no one.

She tried to go toward the door and twist the knob only for it to not budge. Using magic as well didn't move the door an inch. Her pen was gone too, so she was limited without its usage. Not to mention first years only knew so much less you came from a country where magic usage was prominent like the Valley of Thorns then it was likely you weren't to know much before entering school.

She sighed and took a moment to sit back down on the bed she woke up on and think why she was brought here. The last person she saw was Jamil, and she was in his room last but that didn't spark anything as to how she ended up here. She hoped at least that Jamil was okay if she was here by force then he might have tried to stop the captors and got hurt in the process.

The door opened after about an hour she heard the key being inserted. It revealed Jade who stepped in the room with a smile and revealed five others who came in with Lilia slowly shutting the door back closed.

All of them she recognized were Vice dorm heads who she had spent time with the past couple of days. She didn't open her mouth yet still trying to piece things together, and the first to come to mind was that they brought her here. Connecting the dots over the past several days she spent time with them more than anyone, and they each seemed to know her problems or were curious about them.

She just couldn't understand why though. Nothing added up and when she glanced at each of them a nervous shiver came through her body.

She finally decided to speak.

"Why, .......... would you do something like this?

"Because prey like you, has to be protected."

"Such a sweet thing could easily be devoured."

"That's why your such delicate and fragile flower."

"Precious and meant to be protected like the most valuable treasure."

"Mon amour we do commend you for defending yourself but fret not,"

"Our dear little angelfish we'll fix all your problems so that you have no worries."

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mingoyeob-archive · 3 years

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1 and 50 with oc😊

under the oak tree drabble game ⚔️🌳 to make up for my delayed release of part 3 of under the oak tree i’ve decided to do a drabble game! send me a number + any of the characters from under the oak tree and i’ll write you a drabble :)

jsfejfkhw these keep ending up longer than intended but I'm doing this for you anon <3 thank you so much for requesting!

I'm still taking requests guys if you want to send some in! check out my tag 'drabble game' to see which ones I've already done :)

1. “I can’t believe I’m doing this” + 50. “You’re lucky I love you” - jjk x reader - word count: 1.6k

Being new to Uwhen meant knowing practically no one. You would think living in a castle full of knights and servants and maids meant you would always have someone to keep you company, but no. Your naturally soft spoken ways and tendency to distance yourself from crowds only pushed you to hole yourself up in your room or hide outside amongst the courtyard and stables. Namjoon must've noticed how lost and lonely you always looked (it was his job to look after the castle and its tenants after all) because after your umpteenth walk around the garden that day, he took it upon himself to assign you a task that would, hopefully, put you in better spirits.

“Here, take this.” A small travel and a pair of petite leather gloves was shoved in your direction, dwarfed by Namjoon's hands as he held them out to you. You reared your head back in surprise, eyes fleeting back and forth between the items and his expectant face, “What are these for?”

“For you!” he exclaimed, eyes brightening and face breaking out into a dimpled smile.

You let out a noise of confusion and quirked an eyebrow, finger pointing to your chest in question, “For...me? What do I need these for?” You had no idea what had got into the man, he barely ever talked to you, always busy dealing with some issue in the kitchen or trying to order supplies. It made you feel kind of guilty, that was all stuff you should’ve been doing as the Lady of the Castle, but your lack of education and inability to manage money correctly made the tasks nearly impossible.

Namjoon just cleared his throat, dropping his outstretched hands when you showed no signs of taking them from him. “Well I figured, since you look so dreadfully bored, perhaps picking up a hobby would make you feel better. I believe gardening is a great way to pass the time.”

So cautiously you had taken them. Not even your father expected you to do manual labor back at home, so this was unheard of, “I can't believe I’m doing this.” you said. Namjoon let out a snort at your words before proceeding to show you the areas around the castle that needed the most help, not that you needed him too as you had already walked them probably a hundred times over. But still, from that day forward, you woke up early to garden and after three years you had rehabilitated the garden, the areas around the stables, pruned the shrubs and even pulled up a nasty infestation of weeds that surrounded the cobblestone pathways. But with your husband Jungkook finally coming home you had begun to put off your to-do list in a last ditch attempt to try and get to know him better, which was easier said than done.

You often compared Jungkook to the stone wall that surrounded the castle, hard to get through and constantly surrounded in a grey monotonous mood. Your efforts to hold a conversation with him were typically met with one word answers or a measly grunt which you learned, depending on the tone, was either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Sometimes you couldn’t even tell if he was listening, which you could understand was hard since most of the times you caught him he was either in the middle of overseeing training or stuffing food in his mouth. Still, sometimes you wished he would take a second to hear you out; to want to get to know you as much as you wanted to know him.

So today you had decided to put a pause in your plan to discover your husband and instead went back to tackling your goal of finally fixing up the courtyard. There wasn’t really much to do in terms of the small area, the circular shape didn’t allow much except for a few benches and flower patches here and there. The most challenging part was the large oak tree that stood right in the middle surrounded by crinkled leaves and dying twigs. It was almost sad. Yoongi had told you the tree had been here as long as he can remember, probably a few hundred years.

“It didn’t always look like this, ya know. The old maids in the kitchen say it used to be the pride and joy of Uwhen. Hard to believe that now though.” His words had basically been a challenge, even if that hadn’t been his intention. By the end of this year, you were going to revive the tree no matter what it took.

And that was how Jungkook found you, covered in dirt and cutting at thick grass that surrounded the trunk of the tree. He was used to waking up in bed with your side empty, sheets neatly tucked and spot cold. But usually you would find your way to him by the middle of the day, telling him all about what you had spent doing around the castle, and even if he didn’t show it those times were the favorite part of his evening. Listening to your relaxing voice after a hard day of training with pestering young knights and sitting in war meetings was like being soothed by the softest melody. Oftentimes it left him speechless. How was he expected to compare your lovely stories to his boring responsibilities? He preferred listening to you rather than himself. You were probably only doing this out of pity anyway; why would you want to spend time with him when he so obviously made you uncomfortable judging by how tense and shaky you always were when in his presence.

The sound of his heavy boots crunching must’ve alerted you to his presence, your head whipping around and working fingers halting. Jungkook stood there awkwardly, embarrassed to have been caught staring at you so openly, “Sorry. I’ll leave.” he said, turning on his heel.

But the small giggle you let out in response had him stopping in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat, “Why would you leave? This is your castle and you’re free to roam wherever you please. Just pretend I’m not here, I’m just fixing up the tree a bit.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Way to sound like an asshole, Jungkook thought. The wide expression you had at his question had him internally scrambling to correct himself, “I mean...it’s obviously dead. Why waste your time?” You shook your head and pulled the dirty gloves off your fingers to place them on the ground, “Well it's not a waste of time to me. It’s actually pretty fun! Here,” you extended a hand out to him from your spot on the ground, beckoning him forward. “Would you like to try?”

“Me?” he quirked an eyebrow and pointed a finger to his chest. Talk about deja vu you thought amused and let out a giggle,“Yes you! Come on, I'll show you how.”

Jungkook just stared at you with his signature steely gaze and for a second you assumed he was going to walk away, uninterested in having to spend more time with you than necessary. But you watched in surprise when instead he proceeded over to you, taking your hand as he sat cautiously down next to you on the ground. He wondered if you could hear his heart beating hard in his chest at feeling how dainty and perfect your hand fit into his.

For the rest of the day the two of you spent time sitting in the dirt, you showing him the correct way to cut out the invasive roots to prevent them from growing back or how to properly plant the seeds to make sure the rain didn’t wash them away. And for once, Jungkook actually looked like he was listening, taking the time to ask questions when he didn’t completely understand why you had to do something a particular way. One question actually had you throwing your head back in laughter, ugly snorts and squeaky noises escaping your throat at how amused you were.

You always did hate your laugh, but for some reason Jungkook was mesmerized at how beautiful you looked, too caught up in how the sunlight framed your face just perfectly and how the rays hit the expanse of perfect skin down the column of your neck. He must’ve not been paying attention and got distracted while trying to cut something from the ground, because the next thing you know he was letting out a hiss and you heard the thump as he recoiled his hand effectively dropping the small shears. You jumped towards him in concern, reaching out to take his hand in yours to inspect the wound on his finger.

“Oh! Are you alright, Jungkook?!” You say and pull the digit up to your face, turning it to fully grasp how serious the cut was.

Jungkook hadn’t responded at first, heart warmed by how worried you seemed. Your face was so close to his he became distracted again, only realizing you had asked a question when you peeked up at him waiting for a response. He nodded, “Yes. I’m fine. Just a cut.”

You tsked, “I think we might need to wrap it. We can come back later to clean up but right now let's take you to wash this off, hmm?” You gave him a small smile of confirmation.

Jungkook didn’t say much else as you two got up off the ground, following you back towards the castle. When he finally did utter something from behind you, his words made you gasp, “You’re lucky I love you.”

#drabble game #bts #jungkook #jungkook x reader #bts drabble #jungkook drabble #jungkook fluff #bts fluff #under the oak tree #knight jungkook #bts x reaader

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blu-joons · 3 years

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DATING SEVENTEEN A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Boo Seungkwan

A ⇴ AFFECTION

Seungkwan is always affectionate around you, whenever he has the time to spend with you, he’ll make sure that he’s as close to you as possible and filling you up with as much love and attention that he can possibly give you.

B ⇴ BEFORE DATING

The two of you met on set as you were a part of the production crew on one of his variety shows. Quite soon after meeting you both bonded with one another and began to start eating meals and grabbing coffee together in between shoots so that you could get to know each other a little bit more still.

C ⇴ CONFESSION

As the last show came to an end, Seungkwan knew that he didn’t want to say goodbye to you as well as the programme. He invited you out to coffee, at your usual spot, once everything was finished, and decided to tell you exactly how he felt about you. He couldn’t bare the thought of you moving onto another programme without him, and definitely not seeing you around other idols without knowing that you were his.

D ⇴ DATES

Seungkwan loved walking and taking you out on new adventures as a part of your dates. Typically, you could be found exploring around the river and all of the side streets that went further out into the city. You’d usually find yourselves stopping in a cute café if you found one or browsing the rails of a small store finding pieces for outfits and for your home. The two of you could walk all day, but you know that as soon as you get home, you’ll be ordering takeout and tucking yourselves up in bed to soothe your aching muscles.

E ⇴ EXPERIENCE

Despite having never dated before, Seungkwan will be sure that he can face the world all by himself. Friends and family alike will try and offer up advice to him but falling in love will be something that he wants to do for himself without anyone else getting involved. He’s desperate to stand alone for once and not feel like he has to constantly rely on staff or the members around him this time around so that he can learn to fall for you alone, and also make sure that you trust in him and fall for him and not those around him.

F ⇴ FIGHTING

Seungkwan knows that disagreements can happen between couples, but when arguments start to get big, Seungkwan doesn’t really know how to handle himself. He’s quite sensitive, although he tries to disguise it, you can always tell when you reach the point of an argument where Seungkwan begins to struggle. He goes silent, stops arguing his point and just nods his head, pretending to listen to you when really, he isn’t. Closing himself seems like the only answer to him to try and work through an argument without raising his voice or risking making matters worse with you than they already seem to be.

G ⇴ GETTING TO KNOW HIS FAMILY

Having missed out on time with family before, Seungkwan and his family were keen to spend as much time together as possible as they got to know you. They wanted to make you feel as if you were a part of the family as soon as possible and so tried to organise as many times together as was possible for you both.

H ⇴ HOME

Whilst Seungkwan enjoyed living in the dorm, he was so busy, that time there was limited. Over time he found himself spending more time at your place anyway, and so once you both felt like you’d hit that stage in your relationship, Seungkwan soon moved into your place so that he could spend a lot more time with you too.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

You were actually the first to say, ‘I love you,’ after Seungkwan managed to find the time to support you at an important event at work. When he first looked at his schedule, he was busy, but he wanted to be there to support you and surprise you, and so he managed to clear his books and surprise you so much that it led to your admission.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

The other members are definitely guilty at times of trying to trigger the jealousy inside of Seungkwan, but he knows exactly how to give them all grief too. If one of them dares, try to make him jealous then he’ll play his usual game of imitating them and mocking them until they decide to stop. Seungkwan knows that he can handle himself around the members, but with others, he’s a little more sensitive. He’ll pull you away from a situation if he can feel himself getting jealous as he knows those are the times that usually make you uncomfortable too.

K ⇴ KIDS

Just being able to find the time to talk about children feels like a challenge for the two of you sometimes and having them definitely feels like it’s a little way into the future just yet. Seungkwan was ambitions and enjoying his work, whilst he was young, he was open with you that he wanted to enjoy his time on the stage, and then when things with the group began to settle down and the members began to rotate more, then the two of you could start looking quicker at starting a family and settling down too.

L ⇴ LAUGHTER

Seungkwan’s another member who is typically relied upon to keep the mood going within the group, and with you too. He works hard to make you smile and keep you happy, that’s all he ever wants for you. He’ll definitely love to imitate his other members when you’re around as he knows that that habit of his especially is one that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. He can pick up on your low moods in a second and will tirelessly until he finds out both what has caused you to feel so low and also what he can do to make sure that you’re smiling again and not stressing about whatever seems to be bothering you.

M ⇴ MISSING

He definitely struggles when he’s away from you on tour, at least during filming and recording he knows that he’ll be heading home to you but heading back to an empty hotel room just doesn’t feel the same. Seungkwan misses your company the most, having someone to talk to and offload to, someone who understands him a little differently to how the members understand him. He’ll also miss you a lot if his ankle ever plays up whilst he’s on the road, you usually know all of the solutions to help him, so when you’re not there to try and ease some of that pain for him he finds it incredibly frustrating to go through all alone.

N ⇴ NICKNAMES

His nicknames tend to work off of your expressions and how he reads them, so if you look at him cutely, then he’ll call you ‘cutie,’ or ‘adorable.’ Similarly, if you’re pouting, then ‘pouty’ will be his name for you.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Seungkwan is obsessed with your hold, he finds it incredibly reassuring to feel your arms around him and know that he has you right by his side.

P ⇴ PDA

Being affectionate in public isn’t something that Seungkwan is a huge fan of, it usually sends him quite shy when he knows that someone else is watching the two of you. He knows there’s an expectation on his shoulders as an idol so he never wants to do anything publicly that could risk either of you getting into harm.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

He always asks you how you are, even if there’s miles, or hours, between you both, Seungkwan cares a lot and so he’ll always ask you how you’re feeling, and if you lie, he’ll ask again and again until you’re finally honest with him.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

His memory for dates is incredible, and so he’ll have a whole calendar dedicated to all the dates that mean something special to you so that he can always make sure he remembers them. Somehow, he knows your parent’s birthday, anniversary, the day you started your new job, you could ask him about anything, and he’d be able to give it a good go. He also hopes it proves to you, and your family, how much he cares too.

S ⇴ SEX

Seungkwan makes sure to care for you implicitly whenever he’s intimate with yours, he has a strong heart and a strong will to do right by you and make sure that your needs are always put before any of his. The two of you tend to switch roles quite often, sometimes Seungkwan will be happy to dominate, other times he prefers to sub, especially if he’s tired and let you be the one to pull the strings and take control of the situation.

T ⇴ TEXTS

Whenever he has a moment in between schedules he’ll be sure to send you a text. Even if it’s only a brief message, he’ll hang on anxiously until he gets a response from you and knows that you’re looking after yourself.

U ⇴ UNIVERSE

The best thing about being in a relationship as far as Seungkwan is concerned is the attention that he gets from it. He loves knowing that he constantly has your eyes on him and your ears listening to every word that he says.

V ⇴ VACATION

You always hung onto the story that he told you about being the only member not able to go home one time, and so when the chance came for the two of you to take a trip, you were desperate to organise to take him home and give him the time to spend with his family rather than going away all alone.

W ⇴ WHINING

If he doesn’t have your attention, then he’ll sure let you know that he wants it by whining and fussing until you give him what he wants from you.

X ⇴ XXXXX

You love to kiss his cheeks more than anywhere else on his body, you can always see his blushed cheeks when you pull away from him and know that you’ve got him wrapped around your little finger. Seungkwan will also love to kiss your cheeks because he can attack them from any angle and take you by surprise. But he knows that despite how much you love to tease him about his cheeks, your blush is always darker than his.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his reason to smile, he loved having you around to brighten up his life.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Seungkwan likes to sleep close to you, and usually be able to feel the rise and fall of your chest. He’ll try to follow the pattern so that he can sleep comfortably beside you and relax himself within your company.

---

Masterlist

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imagineabrighterworld · 3 years

Text

Nothin’ On You // Sero x Shy!Reader

A/N: Kinda long! But I owe Sero for taking so long on finishing this! Hope you like it! ^^

The first time you meet is for a school project

In middle school he was the cool guy that got along with pretty much everyone. At first you would hide away, which was easy with a quirk like yours. You would turn translucent and mute according to your mood, so every time you tried to muster up the courage to talk to him when he passed you by in the halls, you would completely disappear. It was a game of chance to see who was paired with who when the fated project came up, but when you were paired with Sero you almost entirely disappeared off of the face of the earth. You begin to wonder if you could escape class without being noticed when he makes his way over and plops down in the seat next to you.

"Name's Hanta Sero, what's yours?"

Your face flushes, body turning translucent for a split second before you take his hand and shake it. "It's..." Your voice fails you. Of course it had to happen now. Your quirk just had to be a two-in-one kind of deal.

Lifting a finger, you scribble your name down on a loose piece of paper and offer it to him.

He looks at the scrap of paper with curiosity. “Cute name.” He looks back to you. “Is that your quirk? The..?” He motions to his body and mouth.

You nod sagely.

He beams. "Nice to meet you."

The tension in your shoulders lessen. Grabbing your textbook and one of your notebooks made for this type of situation, you write down several questions before pointing to the textbook pages.

He reads each message, surprisingly more patient with your quirk than others. Some expected you to push past it or get over your shyness, but he went with it. It made you feel.. valid. Like your quirk wasn't a burden.

“Sounds like we'll be having a few all nighters on this one, Mr. Takeshi expects waaay too much of us if he wants this done in a week.” Sero looks at you curiously. “What do you think? We could do it at one of those 24/7 cafes nearby.”

Feeling yourself relaxing, you realize you've returned to being opaque as you nod in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."

His smile brightens. "Hey, your voice is pretty cute too chica!"

This time you're glad you disappear from sight, hands covering your mouth as he laughs heartily.

The project was an odd success

After your initial shock and shyness of being paired up with Sero, you both were a rather successful couple when it came to academics. You split the work equally and helped each other when either of you needed it. While he wasn't always the brightest, he always managed to put a smile on your face when you were studying long into the night, when your eyelids grew too heavy and your will to study lessened. When the day of the presentation came and you both took to the front of the class, it was his support that kept you from disappearing out of fright. However, now that it was over, you were surprised he still wanted to hang out with you, even if it wasn't required anymore.

“Oi, chiquita bonita! Over here!” Sero waves to you from across the classroom. He was sitting in his normal spot with his usual clique, and normally you didn't mix with them. They seemed nice, but it was always awkward when you joined him. You felt like they only tolerated you because of him.

Gathering your items, you shuffle out of your desk space and join him, blushing slightly as he scoots his seat to the side to make space for you right next to him. You could feel the burning stares of the girls surrounding him. You held on though, focusing on staying opaque, knowing he would try getting to the bottom of why you were nervous. Oh if only he knew how hated you were by his clique of girls.

“We did pretty good on the presentation didn't we?” He asks while draping an arm across the back of your chair, his body completely at ease. “Even the cabrón was impressed.”

You smack him lightly on the back of his head. You didn't know a lot of spanish, if at all, but you picked up some slang from the boy next to you. “Don't be mean Hanta, he's not all that bad.”

The girls’ hiss at your action, but Sero only laughs and tugs you closer under his arm. “Lo siento cariño. I'm sorry, but it's not my fault he has a stick up there.” He gestures upward with his middle finger.

You knew if you tried speaking, your voice would have fizzled out like a drop of water on a hot stove.

After the project you two were nearly inseparable, everyone knew you and Sero were an item (even if you both didn't see it)

“Dios mio! What did we do to earn this princesa?”

You turn around to the source of the voice, pausing on decorating the stage of the auditorium. It was Sero, you could tell immediately by his voice, but what you didn't understand was the context of his words. What was he talking about?

The confusion must have shown on your face as he moves closer and climbs onto the stage, walking up to you until he was by your side. “You're all dolled up. What's the occasion?” He holds you by the shoulders and peers behind you as well, earning a pinch on his cheek.

“It's the dance this week, remember? But the play is before, so we have to set up so it's all ready for the night. That means dress rehearsals too.” You were a part of the theatre group, an odd choice for someone who disappears when they get stage fright, but you were heavily invested in what you did. It was a passion you indulged.

“Aye, yeah I forgot about that.” Sero rubs his neck and looks at the ground, deep in thought. At least for two minutes. After the two minutes he peeks at you with a mischievous grin. ”Wanna go to the dance with me?”

To your credit, you manage to stay opaque while your heart beats wildly in its cage. “Thats a dumb way of asking me out.” You mutter while sliding down from the stage, nearly cutting yourself on one of the loose planks.

“¡Cuidado!” He holds his arms out, ready to help you down. “I don't want my date to get hurt you know?”

“I can still dance in a cast.” You brush off his concern with a rare smile. Crushes aside, you appreciated his friendship and concern.

“The fuck is this, Romeo and Juliet? Get a room!” A classmate yells from the lighting stage, laughing when you flip them the bird.

Sero joins in the laughter, leaving soon after apologizing to your classmate. Said classmate meets you in front of the stage, arms crossed and looking back and forth between you and the now closed auditorium door.

“So are you guys dating now?”

“No, we're just friends.” You rub your neck, feeling the translucency crawl up your neck. But it couldn't wipe away the smile on your face.

You gravitate towards each other

Stretching your arms in front of you, you twist your body to the right and sigh as you feel a pop. You didn't particularly like gym class but it was nice to get a good stretch.

Looking around at the field in front of you, you wave at the occasional friendly face. You had friends in this class, which made it even more bearable.

"Hola princesa!"

Sero?

Turning around you grin at the familiar face. You run to the fence blocking you in, gripping it as you watch your friend run to you. He holds your hand through the fence, a normal occurance and a habit you've grown fond of.

"What are you doing here?" You question while turning your hand in order to squeeze his, heart fluttering when you see the small tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"Just here to say hi. My next class is in E block." He peers over your shoulder. You were about the same height, somewhere around 5'4, so you relished being able to see him eye to eye (mostly) while it lasted. He grew a bit over the break of your first year. "Playing anything?"

"Volleyball." You shiver. "I'm team captain, but I suck at it." Who would you pick? Would you actually be a good leader? You feel your voice leave you as you begin to rival that of an onion skin, growing more and more invisible.

A small pinch on the back of your hand pulls you back to reality. Sero waggles a finger, tisking at you. "Don't sweat it, you'll do great." He squeezes your hand before backing up, walking backwards as he heads to class. "Just breathe princesa!"

"Got it." You whisper to yourself, waving to him as you watch him enter the building across from you.

Sadly by the end of your second year, he had grown taller, leaving you craning your neck to look at him.

When he entered U.A. you still cheered him on

Graduating middle school was tough when you split off into different schools. You knew you would keep in contact, but it was so much harder to spend time together when you didnt attend the same schools. Still, with each video chat and phone call, with each text, you showered him with all your love and support. He wanted to be a hero, and you were happy to support him with that dream!

You: Saw you on the tv, you were amazing!

Sero: thanks 😙 still lost tho 😅😅😁😁

You: Yeaaah🤔 but you still looked really cool! Still, didn't realize you were strong enough to pull that Todoroki guy that way 🧐

Sero: Im just full of surprises princesa 😘

Sero mentioned you often to his friends

You were mentioned in at least one conversation a day, it didn't matter the context, you just sort of popped up. What could he say, he loved you! You were his go to for support and someone he truly valued. Plus you weren't crazy like his classmates.

“You keep talking about her but we've never actually seen her.” Mina leans forward on her palm as she sips at her milk tea. “You're not lying about her are you?” She wiggles her eyebrows, eliciting a laugh from Sero.

“Course she's real.”

Kirishima lays his head on the table of the booth they were at, looking at Sero with confusion. “Got proof? It’s not manly to lie to your friends bro.” Sure he believed in his friend, but after a year of just hearing about a special girl, it was hard to keep believing without some form of proof.

Sero holds up a finger as he pulls out his phone. Placing it flat on the table, he pushes the power button and watches his friends faces light up as they view his lock screen. It was a picture of you.

“Woah! Who's the hot chick?” Kaminari asks excitedly as he returns from the bathroom. “Is she single?”

Sero powers off his phone before smacking a piece of tape on his friend’s mouth, surprisingly feeling a twinge of anger at his words. You were his best friend! He had to protect you!

On the inside he knew his anger was from deeper feelings, but for now it was just from the fact that he may need to defend your innocence from his own schoolmate. You were so shy, he knew Kaminari’s flirting would be too much for you.

“Yeah, no cabrón. She's taken.”

You were there for his graduation

Needless to say, you were at his graduation! It was difficult to find him amidst the crowds of families wanting to take pictures of their children and siblings, and even some heroes wanting to say their goodbyes! You were absolutely bombarded and neigh invisible after overthinking the whole thing, so when you finally found him you were stunned into invisibility when his friends jumped you.

“Ohmygodohmygodit'sactuallyyouuuuuu!” Mina screams as she pulls you into her, squeezing the life out of you before you can get a breath out.

The boys were much gentler, but just as excited. Especially Kaminari.

“Hey it’s the hot girl- more like the gone girl, what's happening?” He questions as you disappear from sight, your voice completely AWOL.

Sero smacks his face as he curses his friends out. “Chingues! Give my girl some space hijos de perras!”

Mina gives you enough space to breathe but holds you much like one would a hostage. For a hero course student, you believed that she would have done very well as a villain.

“Nope! We get to meet this girl of yours, Tape Boy!” She looks down at you, squinting to try making out where your face would be, unknowingly glaring directly at you. “He talks about you almost nonstop yet you haven't visited us at all, how unfair is that?” Mina grins.

You come into focus, your voice a mere squeak as you brush some hair out of your face. “A little? I should've visited..” You introduce yourself to his cadre, your name stumbling off your lips.

“Hot and shy? What a cutie!” Kaminari hugs you from your available side where Mina wasn't holding you in a headlock.

A whip of tape smacks the blonde and sends him reeling back to Sero who holds him in a similar hold Mina was holding you.

Your friend ruffles Kaminari's hair in a somewhat violent manner, grinning at him with threatening eyes. "Go easy on her cabrón. She's not used to so many people doting on her."

They were doting on you? You tilt your head and look at Mina who was still examining you. "I don't think I deserve to be doted on, that's not what's going on here right?"

"Of course not, but you and I are gonna have some girl time while the boys get us a spot at a restaurant! You're gonna tell us all about how you and Tape Boy here met!" She chirps excitedly, pulling Bakugou in with her free arm as he tries escaping past her.

You feel a drop of sweat as you accept your fate, watching Bakugou attempt to wrangle his way to freedom. "Sure, sounds nice."

Sero made it rather big as a hero, see, he wasn't the strongest hero but he was very popular

He had always been popular, so it made sense to you when his ranking kept going up and up until he was in the high twenties. You knew he was good at what he did, being a source of smiles even in dark times, but it always brightened your day when you heard your coworkers mention him in passing.

“Have you heard about the hero Cellophane yet?”

“Yeah! I think I saw him around yesterday. He was eating soba with Shoto.”

You look backwards to see the faces of your junior coworkers. They were in a different department than you, but you enjoyed chatting with them every now and then. Mostly when it came to heroes as you had somewhat of an insiders look.

Had you forgotten to mention you were friends with Sero- Cellophane?

You debated whether to tell them over tea one day until you heard their next words.

“He’s kind of hot isn't he?”

... Maybe you would keep the secret to yourself.

As a hero he makes time to drop into your life, sometimes randomly

What else was to be said? Really?

A blur flashes by your face, causing you to yelp in shock, stepping back and nearly falling onto the unforgiving pavement. Luckily, said blur created a swing of tape just in time to catch you, pulling you forward and bringing you into his arms.

“Lo siento mi corazón! I didn't mean to make you fall.” Sero grins at you, his arm wrapped securely around your waist. He definitely meant to make you fall, you could see the mischief behind his eyes.

“As if Hanta.” You pinch him on the cheek, a smile coming to your face when he whines. “Look I’m happy to see you but I've got to get to work on time today, no funny business.”

“No funny business?” He repeats after you, rubbing his chin in thought. “Then I guess I’ll have to escort you to make sure you get to work on time.”

Your eyes widen as you feel his hold grow tighter and more secure as he holds you flush against him. Oh no. “Wait Sero-!”

And just like that, you were in the air, swinging from building to building with him propelling you both forward. You attempt to scream at him but your voice is lost along the way as you hear the clicking of cameras.

Oh god they were taking pictures.

“Niña don't worry! We’re almost there!”

Luckily for you, you were never caught on camera. So your quirk did have some uses.

The media was sure he had a partner

The photos really ended up getting him in hot water as every interview he did, the topic of romance was brought up. Fans would notice he would avoid the topic of love, but on his social media he would constantly mention a girl. No one knew who this girl was, but fans and news stations were determined to wring it out of him.

Once the red light of the on-air button was out, the reporter in front of Sero swiftly covers the mic pinned to her lapel and scoots to the edge of her seat. Sero watches in quiet amusement as the whole station becomes silent. Weird. But he knew why they grew quiet so fast. They wanted information, and if even the news anchor waiting for his time to come up stopped his boisterous laughter, it must've been important.

“Off the record. Do you have a secret sweetheart stashed away somewhere Cellophane?”

Oh. This again.

He stretches his arms in front of him as he runs through his normal excuses and dodges for this question. All still viable and working, but.. Maybe he could give a little hint. The media was on his ass about this after those photos were taken of him and his girl, so it was only right to clear the air right?

“Turn on the cameras. I’ll give this to you.”

You were crushed when he admitted he did have a sweetheart (of sorts) and even more so when the media suspected it to be the Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl

The media did end up getting a bit of info out of him and when you heard about this special girl your heart couldn't help but crack under the thought of him distancing himself from you to be with her. You treasured your friendship with him, romantic or not, you didn't want it to end. Because of this fear, you are the one who starts to close yourself off.

“Chiquita, what's wrong?” Sero follows you as you make your way to the kitchen, a bowl of chocolate coated pretzels in your arms. “Are you sick? I can stop by the pharmacy for you.”

“N-No, its okay. I'm not sick..” You back up when you see his arm stretched outward, flinching when the back of his hand meets your forehead.

He hums. “No fever.”

You push past him, abandoning the bowl of chocolatey treats on the counter. You felt yourself becoming frustrated. Not with him, but with yourself. His opinion meant the world to you- he was your best friend! And you were letting this relationship of his get to you. How petty could you be? He did nothing wrong. In fact, you should be happy for him, finally dating his high school sweetheart.

But the thought of him dating Invisible Girl- the irony of him dating an invisible girl- was just too much for your heart to take at the moment.

You had no way to take out this frustration. So it was reflected onto him.

“Cariño-”

“Please!” You slam your hands on the counter, voice fading in and out as you hide your face in the collar of your turtleneck. “Please.. Just go.”

The apartment was quiet, filled with only your ragged breathing as you hold in your rampant emotions. When he leaves with a silent goodbye, you're unsure if the breaking sound surrounding you is just in your head or if something truly reached into you and tore your heart to pieces.

He makes it very clear who that sweetheart is

Finally, he announces just who captured his heart. It was live on a jumbo screen, playing as you were out getting “groceries” for the nights dinner.

The hollow feeling in your chest wasn't easing, and it definitely wasn't made any better when you saw the Stealth Hero on the television next to her team. Though your calves were certainly doing better with how much speed walking you would do when you passed by convenience stores with tabloids lining their windows, photos of Sero and Invisible Girl on the front.

Work went by dreadfully slow, and lunch went by just as uneventfully as usual. You ignored the chatter of your coworkers, uninterested in what they had to say.

After the report came out, no one was talking about the top heroes anymore. They all were focused on the potential lovers and what other secret admiring the heroes had in their ranks. If other heroes were hiding their own affairs. If the popular Cellophane could hide his romance, maybe someone like Deku or Shoto could be too.

“We’re going out for drinks later, want to come with?” Your junior asks as she slings her purse strap over her shoulder. “Jin is paying~”

You respond with a polite smile. “No thanks. I’m going straight home.”

- - -

Going straight home was the plan, but in the end you had to make a quick trip to the nearest grocery store for dinner. Something quick, as you didn't have the energy to make something complicated.

Which meant you ended up buying only instant ramen.

It was on your way back, crossing a busy sector when the sound of your friend on the jumbo screen caught your attention.

“She's my corazón. Mi vida.”

You look up at the screen, stopping in your tracks.

Sero was blushing, a shy smile on his face, but his eyes were lit up with joy. You heart pulses rapidly in your chest, a blush creeping up your cheeks. You had never seen him so flustered, it was always the other way around.

“I’ve loved her since middle school. I never wanted to drag her into this, so I never confirmed her name- but its not Invisible Girl!” He amends quickly, looking at the reporter with a knowing look. He wags his finger, his infamous cocky smile replacing the twitterpated look from earlier.

“Sure, she has a similar quirk, which is how those photos came to be.” He leans back in his chair.

“You want to know her name right? I guess it wouldn't hurt to say. I’ve kept it hidden for so long, but here it is.”

And then he said it.

He said your name.

Looking directly at the screen, he smiles gently, eyes full of the warmth you've been craving ever since you were paired for that project years ago.

“Ella es mi tesoro. She is my treasure.”

Extra:

Racing home, you're not surprised when you find the lights on in your apartment. In fact, it only spurs you forward.

Yanking open the unlocked door, you drop your groceries and launch yourself into Sero’s arms as he held them open for a hug.

He was sweaty from rushing from the news station to your apartment, but neither of you were concerned about it as you laugh. You laugh at the tape still clinging to his clothes, you laugh at the ramen spilling out of your grocery bags, you laugh at your tears.

You laugh at how long it took for you both to finally admit how much you loved each other.

“Mi corazón.” He pulls back from the hug and cups your cheek, looking at you with love softened eyes. “I love you.”

Tears brim your eyes.

You speak in the clearest voice you've ever spoken in. Skin bright and flushed pink.

“I love you too.”

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karlnapity · 3 years

Text

Welcome Home, Theseus.

Chapter 1: This is a Politics Game. [Quackity]

(warnings: yelling, emeto, rather graphic descriptions of alcohol withdrawal)

“Is this going to be a continuous issue?”

It’s a spur of the moment decision. Quackity isn’t even sure he’s going to say anything until it’s out of his mouth, but the small amount of regret isn’t enough to stop him. He clears his throat, stands his ground, and continues with, “The whole drinking thing, I mean.”

Schlatt looks up at him from his desk, swirling the drink in his glass. His eyes are glassy. “What are you talking about?”

Quackity sighs. He grabs the bottle from the desk, and Schlatt scrambles to sit up, already reaching. “This has gotta stop.”

“The fuck do you mean?” Schlatt asks. Quackity can see the slight panic in his eyes, drawn to the bottle in Quackity’s grasp.

“This isn’t healthy!” Quackity exclaims, voice already raising. Why can’t Schlatt see? “You can’t hardly get through a day without being drunk off your ass, and I’m sick of it! Everyone here is. You need to stop.”

Schlatt seems to stop for a moment before his temper rises and he stands, wavering on his feet. “It’s not any of your fucking business how I enjoy my time, Quackity. Give me the fucking bottle and get out if you want any of this shit to get done.” He gestures widely at the mess of paperwork on the desk.

“No!” Quackity yells. He knows their voices must be loud enough to be heard through the walls of the office, and part of him tells him to quiet down, to maintain some sort of their privacy, but he can’t stop, not now. “This is fucking ridiculous. I’ll take this, and then you can get some fucking work done for once.”

Schlatt’s eyes flick quickly between the bottle and his face. His hands are shaking, and whether it’s in anger or because of how fucking drunk he is, it doesn’t really matter.

“Fine. Fucking fine. Shut the fuck up and get out of my face.” He sits back down and rustles through the papers.

And Quackity leaves. He throws the bottle in the nearest trash can he can find. Tubbo catches his eye, and he inclines his head. Tubbo’s face pinches, and he moves on.

Quackity swallows. The shine is wearing off, and all that’s left is a fumbling drunk. He goes home.

It’s the next morning, and Quackity knows it’s gonna be a bad day.

Fundy is leaving the White House when he enters, and his expression is tight. When he catches Quackity’s eyes he shakes his head, just barely.

It’s only confirmed when he gets inside and can hear yelling. Unsurprisingly, it comes from Schlatt’s office, and with a preparatory sigh he makes his way towards the room. When he reaches the doorway, he’s faced with Schlatt standing over Tubbo.

Schlatt is by no means a tall man, but he holds power over a room like no one else Quackity has ever met, especially when he’s angry. And he is livid.

“Schlatt? Tubbo? What’s going on?” He asks, hoping to draw attention away from Tubbo, who’s wincing away from where Schlatt’s in his face.

“Did you have something to do with this?” Schlatt asks, immediately distracted. He’s shaking like a leaf, and Quackity doesn’t think it’s just anger. He storms towards Quackity and grabs his arm.

He’s sweating. Quackity gently pries his fingers from his arm. “Schlatt? What are you fucking talking about?”

“The fucking drinks!” Schlatt yells, like that explains anything. He starts pacing. “You two- you were plotting this- do you know how fucking expensive that shit was? Fucking idiots!”

Oh. He glances towards Tubbo, who nods slightly. They’d been trying for weeks to get to Schlatt’s desk to throw away his stash of bottles, each attempt with minimal success. Seems it had finally paid off. Quackity gives him a small smile in thanks, but he can only tear his eyes from the president for a second.

“Okay, okay, okay,” he murmurs, half to himself and half to the others in the room. “Listen, just- just sit down, okay?”

Schlatt is still trembling, but after a second he does what he asks and sits at his desk. He puts his face in his hands.

“Are you okay?” Tubbo asks, looking worried.

“Fucking obviously not!” Schlatt yells, slamming a hand on his desk. When Tubbo flinches, he pulls back, running his hands through his hair. “I’m- I can’t fucking handle this, I- I need a fucking drink, you don’t understand.”

Quackity frowns, catching Tubbo’s eye. They’re in for a long day.

Eventually they’re able to convince Schlatt to take the day off. He looks like shit. Soon after the shaking starts, he puts his head down on his desk and refuses to move. Quackity does what he does best and starts talking and doesn’t stop, sharing everything and anything he can think of, doing his absolute best to distract. Tubbo bustles around, organizing the piles of paperwork. He brings glasses upon glasses of water, as well as a trash can when the vomiting starts. They help him peel off his blazer and tie, helping him get as comfortable as he can through the pain.

Schlatt, surprisingly, doesn’t complain for too long. Quackity’s not sure if it’s because he realizes what they’re trying to do or if it’s only because he feels too sick to continue, but either way it’s welcome. He just listens to Quackity talk and lets him rub his back.

Tubbo places the last paper on a pile and sighs, leaning back on his chair. “Done! Hopefully that’ll make it easier for you once you feel better.”

“Thanks, Tubbo,” Quackity says, for too many reasons to name. Tubbo brightens and grins.

“Thanks,” comes a mutter from where Schlatt still has his face in his arms. He sits up and starts sipping on a glass of water. Quackity pulls back a bit, both to give him room and in case he’s sick again.

Tubbo’s face pinches. “Are you feeling a bit better?”

“I feel like I’m fucking dying,” Schlatt deadpans, looking it. “I hate this.”

“Alcohol withdrawal isn’t a fucking joke, Schlatt,” Quackity exclaims, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk.

“I’m not a goddamn alcoholic,” he mutters, chugging the rest of the glass. Quackity scoffs.

“In what world? This is the most sober I’ve seen you in fucking months and you look dead!”

“Whatever,” he grumbles, rubbing his face.

“No, I think this is a good time to have this conversation,” Tubbo says placatingly, leaning forward in his chair. “Schlatt, what’s led to this? Is it just ‘cause of stress?”

Schlatt shrugs, then winces it when it exacerbates his head. “Been like this for a while, but being fucking president hasn’t helped anything.”

Quackity nods. “It was still a bit concerning when we first met.”

Schlatt grimaces. “Yeah, whatever. It was still fun, then.”

“Why’d you start?” Tubbo asks.

“None of your business,” he mutters. He reaches for the empty glass, as if expecting it to be full of something else, but retracts his hand when he remembers. Tubbo notices and goes to fill it again. Schlatt nods to him.

He sighs, long and breathy. “Listen, I know this isn’t working. I know that. But I don’t know how… I…”

He wrings his hands. For once, he actually looks out of his element. Quackity grabs his hand.

“I’ll do my best to help, but you’ve got to work with me, ok?”

A small smile. “Fine. But if you’re nice to me for even a couple more minutes I might have to punch you in the face.”

It only gets a little easier. Schlatt and Quackity have always been a volatile pair, always bickering and teasing even when they first met. It only ever started to hurt after the inauguration.

After all, they spend the most time together. And that is what leads to tonight’s discovery.

They aren’t doing much of anything. For once they’ve escaped the stuffy office and they’re walking around Manburg under the guise of keeping track of the goings-on, but it’s more to get Schlatt out of the White House more than anything.

Schlatt is more lucid than he’s been since Quackity promised to help him, just a little tipsy, and he’s in a strangely bright mood. It reminds him of when they first met and Quackity still looked up to him as a distant figure.

He’s telling him stories of previous servers, and Quackity is laughing, and he looks away for a moment.

And Schlatt screams.

It’s more of a pained yelp than anything, but it has Quackity turning around, startled and concerned. Schlatt is on the ground, holding his leg. His eyes are shut in pain, and breathes leave in his mouth in pained gasps.

Quackity sits beside him, hand hesitantly placed on his shoulder. When Schlatt doesn’t pull away he leans closer.

“Are you ok?” He asks worriedly. “What happened?”

“Just fell,” he murmurs, opening his eyes slowly. “It just happens sometimes. My legs give out, or some shit.”

Quackity balks. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“Piss off,” Schlatt snaps, then shakes his head. “Sorry. But it’s fine, it’s happened forever.”

“Do you know why?” Quackity asks. He settles beside him, accepting that this is going to be a conversation.

Schlatt sighs. He fidgets with his fingers, a nervous motion he does when he’s upset. Eventually he says, “I’ve been sick for a long time.”

Quackity opens his mouth to ask more, but he’s gotten Schlatt started, now. He stares at the grass as he talks.

“I don’t really know what it is. Everything just hurts. It’s something to do with the whole hybrid thing, some fuckery in the genes.” He sighs. “Has a lot to do with the… drinking shit.”

Quackity blinks. Jokes about the man being sick weren’t uncommon, but he’d only ever considered it in reference to his drinking, never once thinking there might be something else contributing.

It must be showing on his face because Schlatt slaps the back of his head playfully. “Don’t look so upset, it’s not your body failing or whatever the fuck.”

Quackity can’t help but chuckle and stands, helping Schlatt to his feet. He stumbles a bit but keeps his balance.

“How many more serious conversations are we gonna have to have before I can start joking about being a stripper again?” He asks, hooking his arm in Schlatt’s. The man laughs so hard he almost falls over again, and he knows they’re gonna be ok.

Quackity prefers when they can yell. He prefers when he can be angry, when Schlatt has the energy to scream, when they can pretend there’s still anything there.

It’s better than this. Schlatt hasn’t moved in approximately five minutes, and Quackity knows because he can’t help but keep checking the clock. He was slumped over his desk when Quackity came in, one empty bottle and one still half full tipped over next to him.

Quackity wants to yell. He wants to be able to tell him to fuck off, even if it hurts the other. He doesn’t like this.

Schlatt is a loud man. He used to be more, back when they first met. He commanded a room with a bellowing laugh and cutting remarks and Quackity wanted to be him. He's way too quiet, now.

Quackity wants to shout at him, make him confront how he’s ruined his country and his life and everyone else’s, but he can’t, because Schlatt is passed out at his desk and can’t form a sentence when he isn’t.

So he throws away the bottles even if he wants to down what’s left himself and cleans up the desk and runs a hand through his fiancé’s sweaty hair and watches the clock and does not cry.

Fuck, he knows this isn’t easy, he knows that Schlatt has been trying lately, and it shows in the way that they haven’t had to yell lately, but it only it makes this so much more devastating.

Schlatt stirs. He blinks blearily but doesn’t make any moves to raise his head from the desk. His voice is slurred when he says Quackity’s name, barely intelligible, and Quackity shushes him, just continuing to run a hand through his hair.

“Just rest, you’ll feel like shit if you try to sober up now,” he says quietly. Schlatt’s eyes slide closed again, and Quackity watches him sleep for a second longer.

He sighs. He wants to shout, and he wants to make Schlatt hurt for all the hurt he’s caused him, but he won’t. Because they made a promise, and he will follow through.

Quackity leans over the railing of the balcony of the White House, staring out at the sky. The stars look especially pretty tonight, and he says as much to the man next to him.

Schlatt snorts. Quackity wait for him to make a joke, but he only nods his head in agreement.

Quackity watches him. He’s got a small smile on his face, and he looks relaxed in a way Quackity can rarely associate with him, in a way that isn’t either carefully calculated or messy. His jacket and tie are undone, left in his office when Quackity dragged him up here.

He looks… happy.

“What are you staring at?” He asks, grinning.

Quackity chuckles and leans against his side, only barely. “You.”

A snort. “Can’t keep your mind off me, huh?”

He elbows him gently. “You know it.” He pulls away, looks at him a bit more seriously. “I’m proud of you.”

Schlatt smiles, but it turns a bit sadder. “Quackity, things aren’t exactly being handled well.”

“That’s just as much Wilbur’s fault,” he says, voice hardening. “Let me be happy for you, alright?”

Schlatt holds up his hands. His tone turns a bit more genuine. “I appreciate it. I do. Thank you.”

Quackity pulls him into a one-armed hug, much as Schlatt squawks indignantly. “Hell yeah, that’s the spirit! Politics can wait ‘til morning, ok?”

“If only,” Schlatt says wistfully, prying himself away and chuckling. He smoothes down his shirt, though it doesn’t do much.

They stand in silence for a bit, both unsure what to say. Eventually, Schlatt clears his throat, coughing a bit. He says,

“Do you regret running alongside me?”

Quackity bites his lip, thinking. “In the beginning? Yeah.”

Schlatt nods, looking resigned.

“But now? No, I don’t.” Schlatt looks to him, surprised.

“I haven’t done a good job,” he starts, but Quackity cuts him off.

“I know. But… I don’t think any of us could really do any better. We’re all kinds of fucked up. Who would you have preferred? Wilbur? Fundy? Much as I love the kid, I think we all know that wouldn’t have gone well. I doubt I coulda done any better than you. None of this shit was ever gonna go well.” He sighs. “But you’re trying really fucking hard, and we can all see that. We can still fix it.”

Schlatt stares at him for a minute, then turns to the country in front of them. He sighs. “The stars are fucking pretty tonight.”

#personal #dream smp #dsmp #lmanburg #lmanberg #l'manberg #l'manburg #jschlatt #quackity #mcyt #tubbo

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sparklingpax · 3 years

Note

Oh the forgetting to follow is one whole mood, srsly

It was actually peas, I forgot we were out of broccoli

You're making perfect sense, am sorry ur brain is a crisp toasty homework fritter

Im v v sleepy currently, so, A Thought (EDIT: A Thought that's quickly getting a much higher word count than I bargained for)

Any of the Team Prime humans might end up on a long road trip with Optimus for Episode Plot Reasons (ground bridge who, maybe it's temporarily broken), and especially if it was a kid they couldn't just check into a hotel at night because Wait, Who's In Charge Of You, Small Child, Do You Need Help?? But if you wanted to make the concept with an adult you could just say they couldn't do it because Soundwave might be able to find them in the hotel's database or something, or more likely they just didn't want to pull up to a hotel/motel in a semitruck because that's a recipe for ending up as a story on the internet

Either way, Optimus ends up pulling into a truck stop for the night, and the human gets to experience falling asleep inside a Transformer, which is probably a trip but is also Incredibly Cozy because that's a very powerful living being who also probably loves them very much (even if he doesnt always say it the usual way) and it is like being Held Gently

Jack would just fall asleep quickly because he's a Tired Teenager and Optimus' engine has a rumbling purr like an enormous cat would and it's Very Relaxing also even though he'd hide it, he would maybe get a little emotional because it really is like being held and he misses being a little kid ok

Miko would chat with Optimus like it's a sleepover because she's constantly got an energy level like she had a cup of coffee and she forgets that giant robots need to sleep too (maybe she actually bought coffee at whatever gas station she picked up her supper from and Optimus couldn't exactly tell her no, only Please Don't Spill That, Miko) and OP ends up laughing so hard at her memes/puns that he accidentally wakes up the actual trucker a few parking spaces over and there is a moment of Panic at their almost-blown cover before the trucker falls back asleep and they go back to laughing more quietly

Raf would probably be fairly quiet, but would alternately be insomniac-ing on his phone or just staring at the roof of the cab for so long that Optimus asks if anything's wrong and scares the crap out of the poor kid because he forgot he was in a car-person for a minute okay im sorry Optimus also yes I'm fine, yes, definitely, I can sleep anytime I want to I swear, no you dont have to turn the radio on....okay actually that's kinda nice.....are you...humming?? No wait don't stop that's really nice actually thank you

June Darby would probably drift into a very meaningful conversation with him about responsibility and parenthood and personal identity in relation to those things, leaving both of them somehow comforted and melancholy at the same time, looking up at the stars together

Fowler... probably awkward silence for a while, ngl. He can't quit overthinking about how he's actually trying to sleep inside a living person and that's weird and also it's kind of uncomfortable to realize that he has no idea how to interact with the Autobots in the absence of some kind of mission to drive the conversation/set the tone/give him something to ground himself. I do feel like they'd both loosen up with each other a lot after a while, particularly if the road trip lasted a few days. Not sure what they'd talk about, though... what are some interests they might share? Or things they could discuss? The fact that the kids are getting into the habit of talking him into bringing pizza, maybe-- "Are you feeding them, Prime? Do they get enough food at home??" "I once expressed a similar concern to Nurse Darby, but she assured me that human children consume large amounts of fuel to account for their rapidly changing frames, and that their caregivers do take this into account as far as she knows." "Well, yeah, kids are always hungry I guess. I can't keep feeding them pizza, though, that's not healthy." "It isn't? Why not?" "Well y'see, when foods are processed to a certain point, they become less nutrient-rich, and--" They spend a bit longer than they'd bargained for on the Wikipedia pages for different parts of the human body, and Fowler is Rather Grumpy the next morning because he went down an internet rabbit hole with a 30-foot metal man instead of sleeping like normal people do. (He brightens up when he gets his morning coffee, but this ask is already way long enough)

AAAHHH OK THAT GOT AWAY FROM ME SJFJFJG I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

I’M SORRY THAT THIS IS SUCH A SHORT RESPONSE BUT OMFG PRIMES ABOVE I LOVE THIS WHOLE IDEA AND SCENARIO. I CAN SEE IT HAPPENING SO CLEARLY HSDHSDJSF HH

THANK YOU FOR THIS AA >//w//<

:DD

-Kuni~

#this made my morning #uwu #<3 #kuni talks #kuni answers #asks #nice things #:3

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havenoffandoms · 3 years

Text

Sweeter Than You (Eskel/Lambert, Modern AU)

Based on Kashimalin’s 50 Types of Kisses prompt list.

Prompt: "A kiss that tastes of the food/dessert they are eating."

Pairing: Eskel/Lambert

Content Warning: Modern AU (lawyer Lambert, baker Eskel), implied sexual content at the end of the chapter (nothing graphic)

Read on AO3.

Lambert has had the shittiest day at work.

First, he got stuck in downtown Novigrad traffic even though his traffic app told him that the roads were all clear, which in turn made him late for his 9am meeting. Real professional, great first impression. His client was understanding about the situation, but Lambert hates being late, especially when he’s trying to score new clients for his firm. The meeting went well despite his tardiness, and Lambert is convinced he’ll get the case settled in no time, but his day just kept getting shittier and shittier. He ended up spilling hot coffee on his brand new suit and the only spare he kept at the office was slightly too snug when he put it on. Great, he apparently put on weight, too. That has to be Eskel’s fault, what with all the treats he bakes for Lambert at the weekend.

If the day wasn’t bad enough, Lambert’s car broke down on his way to lunch with an important client. It took the tow-truck a whole hour to get to him, which meant that Lambert had to cancel on his client and lose out on a potential settlement agreement. To add insult to injury, the sandwich Lambert ended up buying from a nearby bakery tasted of ass. Though admittedly Lambert’s taste buds have considerably developed since he started dating Eskel, because the man is a literal genius in the kitchen. Lambert can’t eat generic sandwiches anymore without comparing them to Eskel’s creations.

When the tow-truck finally showed up, Lambert decided to call time of death on this generally miserable day. He called his secretary and told her to clear his diary for the day, which he knew that Essi would pull off. She’s hands down the best secretary in the whole of Novigrad, in Lambert’s eyes anyway, and well worth the considerable salary he pays her each month. After calling Essi, Lambert hailed down a taxi only to find that he left his wallet in his car, which was now being towed away to the nearest garage. Great. Just fantastic.

Fuck this shit, fuck his car, fuck his job, and fuck the entire universe.

Lambert just starts walking without a clear destination in mind. His suit is too tight and uncomfortable, but he can’t bring himself to care as he tries to work off the anxious energy bubbling in his chest. He wants to scream, or punch something, whatever yields the most satisfaction. Why is the world against him today? What did he do to deserve this? Lambert considers dialling Eskel, but he knows that his boyfriend won’t be able to hear the phone if he’s at work.

Oh, wait a second.

Lambert looks around for the first time since storming off and he quickly realises that he’s not actually too far away from Eskel’s shop. The thought brightens his mood a little - if Lambert’s not able to go home and hide away from the world, at least he can spend the afternoon helping his boyfriend out in the bakery. Or just wait until Eskel has a minute to spare so Lambert can hug out all his frustrations in the backroom… or do other things in Eskel’s office. With a renewed spring in his step, Lambert makes haste towards Eskel’s shop.

It doesn't take long for him to reach Lil Titbits, a quaint-looking shop just off the main street of Novigrad's business centre. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but Lambert knows just how hard Eskel worked to make the inside of his shop as inviting and cosy as humanly possible. As soon as Lambert steps inside the bakery, the heavenly smell of warm baked bread and freshly made coffee invades his nostrils. If he closes his eyes, he can almost pretend like he’s stepping inside his and Eskel’s home rather than his boyfriend’s shop.

The little bell above the door chimes loudly, announcing his presence. Lambert instantly notices that the place is quiet - which is not unusual for a Wednesday afternoon, when most of Eskel’s customers are still either at work or at school. Lambert notices an elderly couple sitting in the booth by the window, enjoying a generous slice of lemon-meringue pie - oh fuck, Lambert loves Eskel’s lemon-meringue pies - between themselves. Lambert can’t fathom why anyone would share a slice of pie that good, especially since Eskel’s creations are by far the best fucking thing Lambert’s ever tasted. People are weird.

Apart from those two customers, the place is empty. It doesn’t take long for Eskel to appear behind the counter, wearing his favourite apron, the one that reads “They Call Me Darth Baker” written in a white font on the black fabric. Geralt, Eskel’s brother, bought him that apron for Christmas, but Lambert never thought Eskel would actually wear it at work, for every customer to see, but that’s Eskel for you. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about what people think of him. Lambert has always admired that about him.

“Hey babe,” Eskel greets him, his smile bright enough to rival the moon, stars, and the fucking sun. The deep baritone of his boyfriend’s voice washes over Lambert in calming waves. “Bit early for you to be here. Everything alright?”

Lambert’s legs move of their own volition, and before he knows it, he’s behind the counter burying himself in the warmth and safety of Eskel’s arms. “I am now,” he breathes, his tone just on that side of pouty, before rubbing his cheek against Eskel’s nerdy apron. He doesn’t give a shit if the customers at the back of the shop see them, nor does he care if he ends up with flour in his beard. He needs this, needs to feel Eskel close, because today’s been a shitty day and the only person who can make it better is his boyfriend.

“Oh sweetheart, what’s up?” Eskel asks, his voice soft and reassuring like he’s talking to a spooked animal. Lambert only tightens his hold around Eskel, not ready to break the sweetness of the moment by reminiscing about his not-so-good-very-bad day. “Wanna move through to the kitchen?”

That, in fact, sounds like a great fucking idea. Lambert almost whines when Eskel pulls away from him, but the urge quickly fades when Eskel laces their fingers together and drags Lambert through the back by the hand. Once they have regained a semblance of privacy, Lambert lets Eskel pull him into another soul-crushing hug.

“I hate everything. And everyone. Well no, not everyone. I don’t hate you.”

“Mmh, good to know,” Eskel rumbles, sounding amused, “what happened, puppy?”

Lambert buries deeper in Eskel’s embrace as he replies, his words slightly muffled by the fabric of Eskel’s apron.

“Got stuck in traffic this morning, then was late for my meeting, spilt coffee on my suit, my car broke down, I missed lunch with a potential client who’s worth a buttload of money, and I’m getting fat,” Lambert ends, his tone decidedly whiny when he’s reminded of just how snug his emergency suit feels. Damn Eskel and his ridiculously good treats.

“Naw, hell Lamb,” Eskel shifts and grabs something resting on the working surface behind him. When Lambert looks up, he sees Eskel holding what looks to be a lemon and white chocolate muffin inches away from Lambert’s face. “Open up! My baking always cheers you up.”

“Your baking is the reason why I’m getting fat!” Lambert grouses half-heartedly, his tongue poking out from between his lips to lick at the buttercream frosting covering the top of the muffin. “Mmmh, white chocolate! I knew it.”

“Was gonna save it for you to celebrate your new client. Guess it can also be used as a consolatory muffin,” Eskel brings the treat closer to Lambert’s lips and offers a small, encouraging smile, “c’mon, take a bite. I promise you’ll feel better.”

Lambert can’t resist Eskel’s pretty eyes anyway, so he happily lets his boyfriend feed him the muffin. Lambert takes a huge chunk out, the white chocolate and lemon flavours exploding on his tongue pulling an appreciative moan. Lambert’s eyes flutter shut as he savours his morsel, and when he opens them again, he sees Eskel’s smile has widened into a pleased grin.

“Good?” he asks, like there’s any fucking doubt about how good his muffin tastes.

“As always,” Lambert whispers in response, snatching the muffin out of Eskel’s hand and stuffing what’s left of it in his mouth. Eskel levels him with an unimpressed look, clicking his tongue in disapproval at his boyfriend’s actions.

“You’re gonna choke one of these days,” Eskel tells him, trying not to laugh as Lambert tries to chew around the massive bite in his mouth, “look at your lil hamster cheeks. Adorable.”

Lambert glares - the full effect of his scowl is probably lost on Eskel, though, with how Lambert is still struggling to swallow his treat - but the intention is there. Eskel shakes his head fondly before leaning in and catching Lambert’s lips in a chaste kiss which probably tastes sweet and lemony, but Eskel doesn’t seem to mind the taste of his dessert on Lambert’s lips. It takes Lambert a little while to swallow the food in his mouth, but when he does, he puckers his lips in a silent request for more of Eskel’s sweet kisses.

“Yes?” Eskel teases, raising one eyebrow, “can I help you?”

Lambert’s lower lip juts out into a sad pout at those words, an action that pulls a warm chuckle from deep within Eskel’s chest. He takes pity on Lambert and pulls him impossibly closer to his firm body, rubbing his nose against Lambert’s in a tender gesture. Lambert’s hands come to rest on Eskel’s hips, where he squeezes the soft flesh of his boyfriend’s puppy fat. Gods, but he loves absolutely everything about Eskel.

“Can you close the shop early today and take me home?” Lambert asks, voice barely above a whisper, as he stretches up to capture Eskel’s mouth in a demanding kiss that leaves very little as to which kind of activity Lambert has in mind for their evening together. His hand squeezes Eskel’s hip more firmly, pulling a needy whine from his boyfriend in response.

“Minx,” Eskel growls under his breath, punctuating his statement with a final kiss, “I’ll see what I can do.”

As Eskel walks away, Lambert doesn’t miss the way his boyfriend has to readjust his pants which are now tenting at the front. Lambert leans back against the worktop of Eskel’s baking table, and first undoes the buttons of his suit jacket, then the top three buttons of his shirt. He, unlike Eskel, isn’t trying to hide the visible bulge forming in his far too tight pants, dammit.

“You do what you have to do, sweetheart,” Lambert speaks in a sultry tone, the irritation brought on by a rather shitty start to the day long forgotten when he meets Eskel’s lust-blown eyes, “I’ll be right here, looking like a goddamn snack for you the whole time.”

Eskel curses under his breath, pointedly looking away from Lambert.

“Bastard. You just wait until we get home,” Eskel threatens half-heartedly before leaving the kitchen to empty the showcases and store the pastries in the refrigerators on the main shop floor. Lambert feels positively giddy with anticipation at the thought of how him and Eskel will spend the rest of the evening.

Lambert’s day, in spite of everything, doesn’t seem so shitty in the end, not when he’s got Eskel to come home to.

#the witcher #eskel the witcher #the witcher eskel #eskel #the witcher lambert #lambert the witcher #lambert #lambert x eskel #eskel x lambert #lambert/eskel #eskel/lambert #lambskel #modern AU #baker Eskel #lawyer Lambert #havenwrites #fluff #kiss prompts

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soberqueerinthewild · 4 years

Text

You square all the corners, I straighten the curves

Five times Buck and Eddie pretend they’re dating (and one time they don’t)

Have some fake-dating fluff for the holidays! Since I wanted to skip the angst, this is set next Christmas, giving everyone a chance for some therapy. Anyways! I intended for this to be a ridiculous ficlet, but it kind of got out of hand once I decided to make it a 5+1 and it ended up being over 11k somehow. Thanks to @seeaddywrite for letting me whine a lot when the last few parts refused to write themselves and for reading to make sure it didn’t suck. Thanks to @jumbled-nonsense, @chamblerstara, and @christchex for yelling at me to finish when I asked for some motivation this morning.

***

The first time it happens (well the second, if he’s being technical), it’s by accident. It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the kickoff day of the firehouse’s annual Holiday Assistance Program. Every year, they put up holiday decorations on the first day it's socially acceptable, and have a small event with cider and cocoa to encourage members of the community to sign up to participate in the program, to either give or receive meals and gifts during the holiday season. It’s his second year on supervisory duty, manning the sign-up table. Last year, Bobby assigned it to him as a punishment. Well, he actually didn’t say that, he said it was just that Buck was, “so good with kids,” and “did such a great job with Halloween.” Last year, Buck was willing to do just about anything to get back in the good graces of his team. It had ended up being a fun day though, since Bobby and Eddie let Christopher be his assistant. He didn’t realize it was going to be a yearly commitment, but there are worse ways to spend his day than watching Christopher in a Santa hat charm pretty much every person that set foot in the firehouse for the event.

Really, Buck would be having an awesome time, if not for the fact that he’s been hit on rather aggressively at least a dozen times so far today. There was a time when this would’ve been a highlight for Buck, rather than a detractor, but he isn’t that person anymore and doesn’t have any desire to be. But though some things have changed, namely his desire to fuck any woman who looks his way, some things haven’t and he’s still a people-pleaser by nature. He hates not being able to give people what they want, despises when he feels like he’s let someone down, or not lived up to what they expect him to be. It’s one of the reasons why the lawsuit was so brutal on him last year. Seeing the look of disappointment on Bobby’s face, on Eddie’s, had nearly killed him. And though of course it’s worse when it’s someone he cares about, Buck still feels shitty about disappointing even strangers, so rejection is hard for him. When he was Buck 1.0 he managed by, well, making it clear he was only looking for a one time thing and then basically not rejecting anyone. Then he was with Abby, and then Ali. Turning someone down because of a girlfriend softened the blow. People respected and understood that, knew it wasn’t about them in particular. Now he has no such crutch to fall back on, and so he turns into a stuttering mess, and has been doing what he can to avoid and deflect all day.

The woman talking with him now, he thinks her name is Emilia, is particularly tenacious. He’s tried to redirect her a dozen times, trying to get her to fill out one of the two forms, or to buy one of the stations calendars. When that hadn’t worked, he’d left the table to get Christopher a snack, even though he ate thirty minutes ago and didn’t really need one, but she was still there waiting when he returned. Now, she’s got a tight grip on his bicep and is batting her eyelashes coquettishly. Every sentence she utters is laced with innuendo, and Buck can tell she’s working her way up to asking him out, and he breaks out in a sweat as he struggles to think of a gentle way to let her down. He recognizes the lonely glint in her eyes. The holidays can be a difficult time for people. They have been hard for him in the past, particularly the years Maddie was with Doug. Growing up, he and Maddie hadn’t had many happy holiday memories, but they had each other. The years she was out of touch, he tended to skip holidays all together, or tag along with friends, which didn’t quite quell the loneliness. Now that he has Maddie again and the 118, particularly Eddie and Christopher, he’s felt more like he has a place where he belongs. If Emilia feels even a fraction of the loneliness he felt in the past, he doesn’t want to pile on with a cruel rejection. He may not want what she’s offering, but he also doesn’t want to hurt her feelings.

He thinks he might be saved when the part of the squad that is actually working today returns from a call. Emilia glances over as the team disembarks, and Buck holds out hope that maybe she’ll set her sights on someone else, but she stays put, taking one step closer so she’s practically on top of him again. With the table behind him and Christopher next to him, he doesn’t have a lot of space to maneuver. He’s considering yelling to one of the team hoping they’ll see his distress and rescue him, when Christopher beats him to the punch, shouting, “Daddy!” gleefully the second Eddie clambers down from the truck. As Eddie makes his way towards them, Buck’s breath catches as he notices the gash on Eddie’s forehead. He hates to think of Eddie getting hurt on a call, especially when Buck wasn’t there to watch his back. When Eddie swoops Christopher up into his arms, Buck can’t stop himself from reaching out to graze the cut. Eddie covers Buck’s hand with his own, removing it gently from his face.

“I’m ok,” Eddie says softly. “It’s superficial, no big deal.” He tries and fails to look annoyed at Buck’s fussing, but fondness seeps through. Buck knows Eddie appreciates that Buck worries, just like Buck appreciates when Eddie worries about him.

“Can’t trust anyone to look out for you when I’m not there.”

“Well, try to stay on Bobby’s good side then, so you don’t keep getting stuck doing shit like this.”

Before Buck can retort, Christopher interrupts, “Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom.” Eddie drops Buck’s hand, which Buck hadn’t even realized he was still holding, and they both turn their attention to Christopher.

Now that he feels assured Eddie’s ok, he realizes Emilia is still looking at him expectantly, and he remembers he was looking for a diversion, and thinks this might be the perfect one. “I can take him, Eddie, if you’ve got to debrief from the call.”

Eddie must miss the desperate look in his eye, because he just claps Buck’s shoulder and replies, “Nah, I’ll take him. We’ll both be back in a few and I’ll hang out with you both until we get called out again.” Buck’s mood is slightly lifted, since these days nothing seems to brighten his spirits more than having Eddie and Christopher nearby, but it doesn’t help out with his current situation. With a sigh, he turns back to Emilia, expecting her to sidle closer again, and resume her flirtation, but to his surprise she’s taken a few steps back, and has a wistful, rather than heated, look in her eyes as she watches Eddie and Christopher leave.

“I’m sorry.” She looks embarrassed and a little shy all of the sudden, such a difference from the boldness from a few minutes before. “I didn’t realize that you were with someone.” Buck wrinkles his nose in confusion, not following her words at first. She continues, “You have a beautiful family.” He follows her gaze to Eddie and Christopher’s retreating forms as realization hits. She thinks he and Eddie are together, and Christopher’s their son, just like that elf woman had two years ago. He nearly opens his mouth to correct her, when he realizes this is a perfect out. She doesn’t look pissed or hurt, just a little melancholy.

There’s no harm in letting her think they’re together, so rather than deny it, he just smiles and says instead, “Thank you. I’m a lucky guy.” It doesn’t feel like a lie rolling off his tongue. She may be imagining their relationship a little differently than the reality, but he feels like Eddie and Chris are his family, and he does feel lucky to have them. Emilia quickly fills out a volunteer form as Buck had been trying to get her to do for the past 15 minutes, and walks off, pausing briefly to say a few words to Eddie as he’s on his way back with Chris, before walking out to the street. Once she’s outside Buck heaves a sigh of relief, hoping that’s the end of his awkward interactions for the day.

Apparently that’s not to be as Eddie returns to the table with a confused look on his face. “Buck, why did that women just apologize to me for accidentally hitting on my boyfriend?”

Buck drops his head into his hands and groans. The universe cannot give him a fucking break. When he drags his gaze back to Eddie, Eddie is still looking at him expectantly, and Buck realizes he’s not going to let it go, so he has no choice but to try to explain and hope Eddie isn’t weirded out.

“That woman, her name’s Emilia, I think, umm she was, I guess, flirting with me. Pretty aggressively actually —“

“She was touching his arm a lot!” Christopher pipes up helpfully.

“—and I was trying to figure out a way to let her down nicely when you showed up. I think she had it in her head that I was Christopher’s father, so when he called you dad, she made some assumptions. She thought we were together, and backed off. And well, I kind of let her...” He waits anxiously for Eddie’s reaction, searching his face for any signs of discomfort. He looks surprised for a minute before barking out a laugh.

“Wait, so you were too chicken to turn down a woman so you pretended we were dating? That’s one way to do it I guess.”

Buck laughs a little too, though he’s a bit defensive about the chicken comment and oddly offended that Eddie seems to find the idea that they could be dating so ludicrous. Does Eddie think Buck’s not attractive enough to date? He’s not sure where that thought came from, but is clear it’s not one he should say out loud, so instead he explains, “First of all, she assumed, I just didn’t correct her. And I don’t like hurting people, it’s hard for me!”

Eddie’s gaze softens. “Yeah, I know it is. You’re a good guy.” He pauses for a moment before asking hesitantly, “Why were you looking for a way to turn her down anyways? I know you haven’t dated in a while, and she seemed cute enough. And obviously interested.”

“That’s not enough for me anymore.” Buck answers honestly. “I’m looking for something more than that. Someone I can actually connect with, and that’s not what she was angling for. I want something that’s actually real.” Buck’s suddenly struck by how true that is. He’s exhausted by the prospect of dating and meeting lots of different women. He’s content to wait until he finds something that feels meaningful.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Well, feel free to use me as an excuse to escape the women who are just looking for Buck 1.0.” Buck gets the sense that Eddie’s joking, but he thinks he really may do just that.

The second time Buck and Eddie pretend they’re dating (Buck’s decided the first time two years ago doesn’t count since Eddie doesn’t know it happened), it’s on purpose, but it isn’t even Buck’s idea. They’re out for Chimney’s birthday, and he’s insisted they go to the bar where he and Maddie like to do karaoke. It’s crowded and loud, and the moment he steps through the door, he wants to walk back out. It’s been months since he’s been in a place like this, and he finds he doesn’t miss it. He spends most of his free nights these days with watching movies with Eddie and Christopher, or quiet dinners in with Chimney and Maddie, or Bobby and Athena. Cringing, he recalls the time he was in this bar, shortly after he finally accepted things were over with Abby, and he had sex in the bathroom with Taylor Kelly. It’s not a fond memory.

He spots Chimney and Maddie on stage of course, wanting to kick off the festivities with their sickeningly cute routine. He doesn’t think anyone else yet from the 118 is here yet. Bobby and Hen were both planning to come in after they checked in at home. Eddie texted a few minutes ago that he’d dropped Chris off at a sleepover and was headed this way, but as Buck scans the bar, he doesn’t see Eddie’s tall familiar figure. He does see someone else though and lets out an involuntary groan. Of fucking course. As though the mere thought summoned the devil herself, Taylor Kelly is suddenly standing in front of him.

She’s as attractive as ever, gazing up at him through long eyelashes, and flashing the same teasing smirk that had Buck stumbling after her into the bathroom against his better judgment two years before. But strangely it has no effect on him now. Rather than feeling lust pooling in the pit of his stomach, all he feels is a vague sense of nausea, thinking about how he’d nearly reverted to his old ways with Taylor. He may have only had one aborted therapy session in his life, but he’s smart enough to see that his Buck 1.0 actions were motivated by a desperate attempt to find connection and affection, something that was severely lacking in the Buckley household growing up. Though he was always chasing after it, Buck never knew what to do when he had it, so he hadn’t ever stuck with anyone for longer than a few days until Abby. Seeing Taylor now, he’s reminded of the desolation he’d felt in the days after he finally accepted it was over. Even though by that time, he’d built something more for himself, more community and support, it had been hard for him to see that, to trust that the 118 and even his sister would stick around for him, when even Abby hadn’t. They’re not pleasant memories and not ones he wants to revisit tonight, after a long shift and while he’s feeling a little melancholy as he always does around the holidays.

But either Taylor’s not reading the cues of discomfort he’s throwing off or she doesn’t care. She takes a step closer, twirling her hair around one finger, and offers to buy him a drink and “reminisce about old times.” The familiar dread about rejecting someone creeps in before he remembers that this is the same girl who threw him out of her news van half-dressed. She’s probably the one woman where he doesn’t have to feel bad or worry about her feelings. She certainly never worried about his. He opens his mouth to decline the offer, but before he can, he feels an arm wrap around his back and a hand settle on his hip. He knows before he even looks up that it’s Eddie, as tension he didn’t realize he was holding leaves his body, replaced by the sense of calm that Eddie’s warm, steadying presence always seems to give him.

For a minute he’s a little confused as to what’s going on. He and Eddie are generally tactile friends; they hug pretty often, Buck has been known to throw an arm around Eddie’s shoulder when the situation calls for it (and honestly recently, whenever he feels like it, which seems to be more and more these days.) Eddie has a tendency to grip Buck’s shoulder to bring his focus back to Eddie when Buck’s anxiety is spiraling, but even for them, an arm around the waist is, well, the word that comes to mind is intimate. What’s stranger still is that while it should feel weird, it doesn’t. The gesture feels possessive in a way, and Buck finds he kind of likes it.

As Eddie reaches out a hand to greet Taylor and reminds her they’ve met before, the edge in his voice and the arch of one of Taylor’s perfectly shaped eyebrows finally clues Buck in to what’s going on here. Eddie is rescuing him, just as he’d done unwittingly at the firehouse a few days ago. It’s so sweet that Buck can’t help but grin fondly at Eddie, which, he realizes belatedly, probably helps sell the relationship. It seems to convince Taylor anyways.

“Oh, I see. So this is a thing now?” She gives them both an appraising once over, and Buck wills himself not to blush at her scrutiny, instead choosing to drop his arm around Eddie’s shoulder. “I always thought you didn’t like me much,” she gestures towards Eddie, “I guess I see why now. You know, though,” she says thoughtfully, the heated look returning to her eyes. “There doesn’t have to be animosity between us. I don’t mind sharing if you don’t.”

Buck nearly swallows his tongue when he catches her meaning, and he feels his whole body heat. A threesome with Taylor Kelly is not appealing to him at all, but the sudden flash that goes through his mind of what it might be like for him and Eddie...well it does confusing things to him, so he banishes the thought, as Eddie shoots Taylor a sharp glare that has her throwing her hands up in capitulation. “Ok, relax. I was just kidding.” She winks at them both before turning on her heel and flouncing away. Buck could swear he hears her mutter “kind of” under her breath as she walks away, but he can’t be sure. He wonders briefly what it says that Taylor, who has a little more context than Emilia, has no problem believing instantly that he and Eddie were together. But whatever the reason, he’s just glad to have her gone.

There’s no reason now for them to keep their arms around each other, but the affection feels nice after the day he’s had, so Buck knows he’s not going to be the one to pull away. He might not be ready to examine too closely why he craves Eddie’s nearness lately, but he’s also not going to turn it down when it’s offered.

He realizes he should probably actually say something to Eddie rather than stand here in silence enjoying the way Eddie’s body feels pressed against his. “Well that was effective...again.” He laughs to himself as he recalls the initial look of shock on Taylor’s face before she schooled her features to her typical cocky smirk.

“Well you seemed like you could use an out.” Eddie replies, returning his smile, before his expression morphs to one of uncertainty, as he drops his arm from where it’s still curled around Buck’s waist. Buck follows suit, missing Eddie’s warmth the minute he takes a step away. “You did want an out, right? I didn’t just cockblock you?” Eddie asks worriedly, blushing like he’s never said the word cock out loud before. Unbidden, Buck’s brain floods with thoughts of other situations in which he might use that word. He shakes his head trying to knock out the inappropriate thoughts that seem uncontrollable today. He recognizes that he probably should consider why these thoughts are plaguing him, but this is not the time or place, especially when they’ll be joined by other members of the team soon.

He tries to keep his expression neutral as he responds to Eddie’s question. “No, I definitely wanted an out. I told you, I’m not about that anymore. She always kind of made me feel like shit, you know? And, even when I was attracted to her, I didn’t like her. She’s not a very good person, and I think we bring out the worst in each other. I want to be with someone I like, who I respect, who respects me, you know?” And he does want that, even if he feels exhausted at the prospect of trying to find it at this point.

“I hope you find that, Evan, I do,” Eddie responds sincerely, though a shadow Buck can’t quite interpret passes over his face. Maybe grief over Shannon still, or maybe he’s just uncomfortable because despite their closeness they don’t tend to confide in each other much about their love lives.

Aside from a few conversations about Shannon when Eddie was trying to make things work with her before her death, and Eddie’s teasing about Buck’s “invisible girlfriend” when he wasn’t ready to let go of Abby, they don’t tend to talk about women with each other. He’s never really wanted to ask about Eddie’s dating life, if he even has one right now. It’s been nearly 18 months since Shannon died and Buck doesn’t think Eddie’s been on even one date. And Eddie hadn’t ever seemed eager to discuss Buck’s relationships either. He hasn’t really had one in over a year, since things ended with Ali. He’s had a few dates here and there since then, but nothing with even a hint of a future. But Eddie never bugs him about it, like Maddie and Chim constantly are. He doesn’t even participate much in the razzing Buck gets from other members of the team when women hit on him during calls either. It’s an absence he hadn’t thought about much in the past, but now he wonders if there is a meaning behind it. He’ll add that to his list of strange things to contemplate about their friendship at a later date.

But for now, he catches sight of Chim and Maddie headed their way after another successful karaoke duet. As Eddie follows him to the table Chimney and Maddie have snagged, his outlook on the night is brighter, the noise and the crowd feel a little bit more manageable. It might not be his ideal night anymore, but Taylor hasn’t reappeared, his sister is here, his best friend is by his side, and the rest of the 118 squad is on their way, so he thinks it just may end up an enjoyable night.

The third time, Buck swears he’s just returning the favor. It’s Harry’s birthday party, and everyone who isn’t working has been invited along with their families. Buck, Eddie, and Christopher arrive together, since Buck crashed on their couch last night, a common occurrence lately. As they enter the backyard, Christopher makes a beeline for swing set.

Eddie, his hands full of the presents they brought for Harry, as well as a few snacks Athena asked them to pick up, nudges Buck, “Hey, will you get him set up over there and make sure he doesn’t kill himself trying to keep up with the bigger kids while I figure out where Athena wants this stuff?”

Buck is more than happy to comply. He loves feeling useful. When he’s feeling low sometimes he worries that Eddie invites him over so often out of pity for him, knowing he doesn’t have that much going on, but times like this, he feels like he can actually be helpful to Eddie, give him an extra set of hands, and ease his burden as a single parent just a little bit. Plus, any minute he gets with Christopher is a good one in his book.

He sets Christopher up on the swing, pushing him slowly until May offers to take over. She adores Chris, and is always careful and gentle with him so Buck acquiesces, taking a minute to look around for Eddie, who hasn’t made his way over to them yet. It seems he’s been waylaid by a woman, probably the mom of one of Harry’s friends, near the gift table. It’s hard to tell from where Buck’s standing, but Buck is pretty sure she’s got her hand on his arm, and is standing closer than is usually socially acceptable. His focus narrows the place where the woman’s hand meets Eddie’s arm, and he has an irrational desire to stalk over there and remove it. That, he tells himself, would be inappropriate, and he doesn’t actually want to cause a scene in front of Bobby and Athena’s friends. He’s contemplating his options when Eddie glances his way, and though it’s hard to tell from a distance, Buck swears Eddie gives him a desperate look. At the very least, he doesn’t look happy to be the object of this woman’s attention, which gives Buck a more subtle idea for how to make the woman back off. Really, he’s just returning the favor after Eddie’s helped him out a few times. His motives are pure and if it lines up with what Buck wants to do anyways, well so much the better.

Decision made, he asks May to watch Christopher for a few minutes, and marches across the lawn. Before giving himself a chance to think better of it, he drapes an arm over Eddie’s shoulder and reaches out a hand to introduce himself, not caring that he interrupts the woman mid-sentence. She shakes his hand warily, introduces herself as Sonia, and asks, “Do you two work together?” while her gaze ping pongs between Buck and Eddie, seemingly trying to discern their relationship.

Apparently, the arm over the shoulder isn’t enough to telegraph a romantic relationship, or this woman is particularly oblivious, so on impulse, Buck replies, “Among other things,” and presses a kiss to the side of Eddie’s head. Eddie stills at the contact, and at first he thinks he may have gone too far, but after a moment Eddie relaxes into him. Buck continues, “Christopher’s looking for you, when you’ve got a minute.” Eddie nods at him and makes his excuses, looking, Buck notices, a little glassy eyed and out of sorts as he makes his way over the play structure. Buck turns back to Sonia and flashes his biggest smile, “Sorry to steal him away.” He’s pretty sure she can tell he’s not sorry at all, but she just smiles thinly back at him before scampering away, looking a little disappointed and embarrassed.

Buck’s feeling pretty pleased with himself, when it suddenly occurs to him that he and Eddie engaged in that little display in the middle of a backyard full of all their coworkers. He spins around to see if any of his team members are nearby, but the only one who might have witnessed the events is Michael, who is standing over by the table stacking presents. Buck nearly convinces himself that Michael didn’t see anything, when Michael catches his eye, smirks knowingly at him, and sends him a wink before resuming his task. Buck doesn’t know Michael well, but he has a feeling he can count on his discretion about whatever he thinks he knows. Which is a relief, because he’s not sure he’s ready to explain why he and Eddie have been pretending to date over the last two weeks. He knows rationally that they’d probably find it hilarious, and any teasing would be lighthearted, but it feels private, like it’s something he wants to keep just for himself. Besides, Eddie doesn’t handle the teasing as well as he does, and Buck worries if Eddie gets too embarrassed, he‘ll pull away, which is the last thing Buck wants. Buck admits he’s enjoyed the closeness and intimacy he feels with Eddie in the moments when they’ve been pretending to be a couple.

The truth is, Buck is starting to realize that he enjoys any time he gets to spend with Eddie more than just about anything else. Even with this party, he hadn’t been much looking forward to it, until Eddie confirmed he and Christopher would be attending. It’s not that he doesn’t like spending time with other members of the 118 and their families, but sometimes he can’t help but envy that they have loving partners and children, while he doesn’t. Because the fact is, he wants kids, even though the thought of parenthood is always a little scary for him. He never had any good parental role models growing up, but still he knows with a bone deep certainty that he wants a family of his own. But knowing he wants it, and getting it are two different things. He can’t find a woman he wants to go on a date with, much less settle down and have kids with. And it’s not that he doesn’t meet women. He does. And not all of them are like Emilia and Taylor, looking just for a fling. In the last year, he’s met at least a dozen women who seemed nice, and like they’d be open to dating, to taking things slow, and trying to build something real. At first, after his relationship with Ali ended, he was preoccupied with his recovery, with getting his job back, and then reingratiating himself to the 118. But even he has to admit, things have been stable for a while and there’s no good reason for him not to be dating more. Except every time he thinks about asking someone out, instead of being excited by the idea of a date, he finds his mind wandering to what Eddie and Christopher might be doing that day, and feeling disappointed by the idea that they might want to come over or have him over and Buck would have to turn them down if he’d committed a date. He never has that envious feeling when he’s with Christopher and Eddie, maybe because he never feels on the outside looking in when he’s with them. And he never gets sick of them, in fact every time he walks out their door, he’s looking forward to the next time he can see them again. He’s started to wonder what it means that there hasn’t been a woman he’s met in ages where the prospect of a date with her sounds better than a movie night with his best friend and his son.

Well, actually, Buck has a sneaking suspicion that maybe he does know what it means, and it’s getting harder and harder to ignore. It feels like if he acknowledges these feelings, they might get stronger, to the point where he’ll actually have to do something about them, and he’s kind of at a loss for what that might be. He’s never been in this position before. And it’s not just that Eddie’s the first man he’s been cognizant of crushing on, (In retrospect, he’s pretty sure he had a thing for his high school Spanish teacher, one of his coworkers from the bar he worked at when he first got to LA, and possibly a few others), it’s more that he’s never had feelings for someone he was friends with. With Abby, yes, they got to know each other before jumping into bed together, an important step for him, but they both knew that’s where they were headed, that they were working towards a romantic relationship. With Eddie, they have such a strong friendship, and it feels like if Eddie doesn’t reciprocate, he could lose that.

He thinks of those awful months last year with the lawsuit, and the brief silent treatment that followed, and how hard it was for both of them, and he’s not sure it’s worth the risk, especially when these feelings are so confusing, even to Buck himself. Plus, it’s not just Eddie he stands to lose if things fall apart, but Christopher too, and Buck’s just not sure he could survive that. He usually attacks things head on, but the stakes here are so high that for once he’s exerting some caution. So he hasn’t said anything to Eddie, hasn’t actually said anything to anyone. But considering his visceral reaction to watching someone flirt with Eddie, and the fact that he can’t stop replaying the moment where his lips touched the side of Eddie’s head over and over in his mind, Buck doesn’t think he’ll be able to hide how he feels for much longer. But he can today at least, he thinks, as he rejoins Christopher and Eddie. He resolves to enjoy the afternoon, enjoy feeling like part of a family, because even if he doesn’t have everything he wants from Eddie, what he does have is pretty damn good.

The fourth time it happens, Buck’s not really sure what’s going on. They’re at Christopher’s parent-teacher night about a week-and-a-half before Christmas. Buck was so touched when Christopher asked if he would come that he nearly cried. He’s only been to Chris’s school a few times to pick him up, and hasn’t had a chance to explore, and he’s amazed at how beautiful the campus is, and how dedicated the teachers seem. They’ve toured the individual classrooms, and now are in the gym where the kids’ science projects from the recent science fair are on display, so the parents can look at the projects and mingle with the teachers before leaving for the night. Eddie stops to chat with woman Buck believes to be Christopher’s art teacher. Chris soon gets bored of the conversation and drags Buck away to look at the projects, while Eddie stays behind. Christopher excitedly explains his project to Buck, and Buck can’t believe he’s lucky enough that this kid wants him around. Christopher decides he wants a picture of him, Buck, and Eddie in front of his project, and Buck can tell Christopher’s flagging a little, so he encourages him to sit for a minute, while he runs to the other side of the gym to grab Eddie.

Eddie’s still deep in conversation about the PTA and doesn’t notice Buck approach, so he touches his hand to Eddie’s lower back to alert him to Buck’s presence without interrupting. Eddie leans into the touch, and smiles at him while finishing his thought. When there’s a pause in the conversation he asks, “What’s up, is Chris ok?” But there’s no real urgency in his tone, Eddie knows if Chris wasn’t ok, Buck wouldn’t be politely waiting for the conversation to finish.

“Oh yeah, he’s fine. Just wants a picture of the three of us with his science project whenever you’re done here.” Buck turns his attention back to the teacher Eddie was speaking to. “So sorry to interrupt, there’s no rush really, we can wait a few minutes if you need to wrap up here.” He realizes she probably has no idea who he is or why he’s here, and he can’t really think of a succinct way to explain that wouldn’t sound weird. Most kids don’t bring their dad’s best friend to parent-teacher night, so he settles for just giving his name.

To his surprise, the teacher’s eyes light up in recognition. “Oh, you’re Buck? I’m Mya. Well, Ms. Soto to the kids. Christopher talks about you all the time. It’s great to put a face to the name! I mean Christopher’s artwork is pretty good, but I’m still not sure I’d have been able to pick you out of a lineup based on his drawings.” Before Buck has time to melt too much over the fact that Christophe draws pictures that include him, she continues, addressing Eddie now. “You know, Mr. Diaz, I’m impressed with the way you’ve handled everything since Chris’s mother passed. I know so many students who have never warmed to their parents new partners even after a divorce, much less a parental death. The fact that Christopher and Buck are so close is really a credit to you and the ways you’ve helped him with his grief. It’s a credit to both of you, really.”

Buck feels momentarily touched at the sentiment, before realizing that Eddie’s going to correct her any minute. They aren’t actually together, and here, there’s no reason to pretend. He can’t deny the fact that he wishes it were real, wishes he could wrap his arm around Eddie any time he wanted, not just when one of them is trying to let a woman down easy. Wishes he were going home with them tonight, instead of to his empty apartment. But it isn’t real, and even though it shouldn’t, Buck knows that hearing Eddie say it is going to hurt.

He braces himself to hear the denial, but instead, Eddie just smiles and says, “Thank you, that’s really nice to hear.” He glances over to where Christopher is sitting by the science projects, head on his hands, nearly falling asleep at the table. Eddie smiles softly, a smile Buck knows is reserved for Christopher, though Buck has been lucky enough to have it thrown his way a time or two as well.

Mya follows his gaze. “I’ll let you two get back to Chris before he falls asleep over there. Nice to talk with your both.”

As she walks away, Buck remains rooted to the spot. Why had Eddie let Mya assume they were dating? There was no reason to do it, and Buck can think of a few complications that could arise from Christopher’s teachers thinking they were a couple, like mentioning it in front of Christopher and confusing him, or mentioning it to Eddie’s aunt who sometimes does pick ups, or God forbid, Carla, who would think it was hilarious, but would never ever let it go. And he can’t think of any reasons for Eddie not to correct her, unless, the optimistic part of his brain pipes up, maybe the thought of denying it hurt Eddie the same way it hurt Buck. As he’s come to accept that what he feels for Eddie is more than friendship, he’s tried not to let himself hope that Eddie could feel the same way. They’ve had a few moments, sure, but as far as he knows, Eddie is straight, and he’s never given any overt indication that he wants more than friendship, but maybe this is his subtle way of testing the waters, and he’s waiting to see how Buck reacts.

It’s not until Eddie tugs gently on his arm that he remembers that they are supposed to be making their way over to Chris, but before they join him, Buck decides he has to ask. He covers Eddie’s hand with his, and Eddie stills, looking at him quizzically. “Hey, how come you didn’t correct her? No reason to pretend here, is there?” Buck’s heart speeds up, unsure of exactly what he’s hoping Eddie will say.

Eddie blushes, and looks down at the floor. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“I don’t. Not at all. I just wondered if I missed something.”

“Oh...umm…” Buck’s not sure he’s ever heard Eddie stumble over his words like this before. It is, he finds, completely adorable. “Well, I’ve gotten a flirtatious vibe from her in the past. Since she’s Christopher’s teacher, and I have to see her again, I thought it might be awkward, so letting her assume was the easiest thing to do.” Buck looks over at Mya dubiously. He hadn’t picked up on anything at all flirtatious in the conversation with Eddie, and he’s pretty sure he remembers Christopher saying that Ms. Soto has a wife, so he’s having some trouble believing that what Eddie says is true. Either he’s really bad at judging when someone’s flirting with him, which, well, Buck guesses he might be, or he’s lying. When he looks back at Eddie he’s still avoiding Buck’s gaze.

The traitorous part of his heart where he holds onto hope wants to think Eddie’s lying, and just clinging on to any excuse to pretend, but he tries to temper it. Either way, Buck’s getting what he wants, at least for right now, and he’s not about to waste the opportunity. Instead of challenging Eddie, he pulls Eddie’s hand from his arm, but instead of dropping it, he laces their fingers together. When Eddie looks searchingly at him, he shoots him his most winning smile. “Well, we’ve gotta sell it, right? Just in case she looks over here.” Eddie doesn’t argue, just tightens his grip on Buck’s fingers and leads the way over to Christopher. Buck doesn’t let go of Eddie’s hand for the rest of the night.

The fifth time Buck and Eddie pretend to be dating, it’s premeditated. It’s less than a week before Christmas when Eddie approaches him nervously while Buck is cleaning the rig after a call. Since parent-teacher night Buck swears something has shifted between them. Or maybe it’s just Buck’s perception that’s shifted. Outwardly, nothing has changed. They spend most days together, either at work or at Eddie’s house, but every word they speak to each other feels more significant somehow, like there’s so much more they aren’t saying. Every time their arms graze it feels electric, and Buck feels a loss each time they move away from each other. He finds himself reaching unthinkingly for Eddie’s hand when they’re walking side by side, or sitting on the couch together, and at times he’s barely been able to yank his hand away before Eddie notices.

And at times he thinks Eddie feels something too. Eddie seems goes out of his way to touch him at times, putting his hands on Buck’s hips to maneuver around him in the kitchen, or pressing into his side on the couch. Sometimes Buck catches Eddie staring at him, a soft look on his face. He flushes when their eyes meet and turns away. Those are the times, Buck is convinced Eddie might feel the same way. But other times, he feels Eddie jerk away quickly from a hug, adding a bro-ish back-slap for good measure, when Buck was hoping the hug might linger. Times when Eddie peppers his language with the word “friend” so much that Buck worries his feelings are beginning to show and Eddie’s trying to subtlety convey that he’s not interested in anything beyond friendship.

And Buck loves their friendship, but the scary truth is, he knows he wants more from Eddie. Though it isn’t what he thought his future would look like, he can no longer imagine a future without Eddie. At first he thought this just meant that he and Eddie would be best friends, the kind that stay in each other’s lives forever, but when he thinks about a future for Eddie that includes some faceless woman, it feels so wrong. He feels overwhelming jealousy at this imaginary woman, who would get to have moments with Eddie and Christopher that he would miss. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to be Eddie’s friend, he doesn’t want to be Christopher’s “fun uncle Buck.” He wants a permanent place in their lives. He wants them to be partners, in every sense of the word. He just has to figure out how to make it happen.

Every time Eddie takes a pause before he speaks, Buck hopes maybe he’ll make a confession of his own, or give Buck a clue as to the way forward, but so far he hasn’t. Now Eddie stands in front of him, looking nervous, and Buck’s heart beats faster in anticipation foolishly hoping this will be the moment where things will change.

“So, I need a favor.”

Hmm not exactly a promising start, but Buck’s answer is automatic. “Of course, anything.”

“My aunt is throwing a holiday party tomorrow night and she made sure to specify that it’s adults only. That Christopher isn’t invited.”

Buck doesn’t understand Eddie’s nervousness in asking for a babysitting help. He’s done it for him 100 times before. “And you want me to watch him? You know I will.”

“No, Carla’s watching him that’s not the problem.” Eddie takes a long deep breath in, like he’s stealing himself, and Buck wishes he’d just spit it out, the anticipation is killing him. “Well, it was weird, them not wanting me to bring Chris, so I got a little suspicious and finally got my Abuela to admit that my aunt’s trying to set me up with someone.”

Buck’s smile drops as he contemplates Eddie on a date to a family party, when all Buck has to look forward to is a night of Netflix and takeout. He hates her already, this nameless woman. He realizes maybe Eddie’s waiting for him to respond. “Hmm, a setup huh? How do you feel about that?”

Eddie gives him a strange look, like the answer should be obvious. “Not looking to be set up, obviously, but my family, well, they aren’t that good at hearing no. So this is where that favor comes in.”

Buck’s so relieved that Eddie sounds horrified at the idea of a set up, that he’d forgotten that Eddie was trying to ask him something. “Whatever you need.”

“Maybe you should wait until you hear it. Because in the moment, I was a little flustered? I guess? Terrified more like it, contemplating spending a night trying to make small talk with some stranger that thinks I want to date them, so somehow I ended up telling my abuela that I was seeing someone. And then she insisted that I bring them to the party, and I’m pretty sure I said yes. So what do you say of another evening of pretending to date?”

Well, it might not be everything he hoped Eddie would say, but a night spent together with an excuse to touch Eddie as often as he wants sounds pretty good to Buck. He agrees immediately before realizing that there might be a small flaw in this plan. “Wait, so I’m completely happy to do it, but won’t it end up causing more issues with your family? Won’t you showing up with a guy as your date make them ask a lot of questions?”

Eddie looks at him confused. “Why? My family knows I’m bisexual.”

Buck thinks his brain must have short circuited because there’s no way Eddie just said what he thinks he said. Because if Eddie was going to tell Buck he was bisexual, he wouldn’t just drop it into conversation so casually right? He definitely misheard him. “Wait, what?”

“I’m out to my family. In fact, I may have already told them you’re the one I was bringing as my date. They’ve always been fine with it.”

Ok. So he didn’t mishear. Eddie is bisexual. And out. Just not to Buck. “How come you never told me that?”

Eddie’s brow wrinkles again. “That I’m bisexual? You knew that...didn’t you?”

“Nope. Pretty sure I would’ve remembered something like that.” If he’d known Eddie was into men as well as women, he’d likely have figured out his own feelings a lot sooner.

“But...I mean my aunt asked if we were dating the first time she met you. And I’ve talked to you about my ex-boyfriend before.”

“What, I don’t remember that at all. Are you sure she asked that? And what ex-boyfriend?”

“Alex? I dated him before Shannon. I know I’ve talked about him.”

“Oh. Umm I thought Alex was a woman.” Truthfully, Buck hadn’t listened too closely when Eddie mentioned exes, which wasn’t often, since he didn’t like thinking about it. It’s entirely possible he missed a pronoun or two.

Eddie’s confusion shifts to worry and doubt. “Uh, well, surprise? It’s not a problem for you is it? I’d understand if you’d rather not come to the party now. I guess...I just...I thought you knew is all.”

“No, no, no. Of course it’s not a problem.” Buck trips over his words trying to reassure Eddie. A part of him wants to add that he’s bisexual too. He’d been planning to tell him basically that at some point, but hearing Eddie use the label so confidently and talk about having had a relationship with a man, he suddenly worries he doesn’t have the same claim to the word. He knows intellectually that he doesn’t need to have sex with a man to be bisexual, but this revelation has put him off balance and his head is spinning too much to make any decisions other than assuring Eddie he still wants to be his date—his fake date to this party. “I’d be insulted if you brought anyone else. I’m so there.” He smiles brightly at Eddie, hoping he can’t sense any of the uncertainty he’s feeling.

Eddie smiles back at him, weakly, and Buck senses this conversation has thrown him for a loop as well. Buck bumps Eddie’s shoulder with his own. “This is gonna be awesome. Christmas with your fam, I can’t wait.”

***

As Buck gets ready for the party, he’s more nervous than he’s ever been for a real date in his life. Even more than his first one with Abby, which given how that turned out, doesn’t bode well for him. All day his mood has swung wildly between hope and gloom about his chances with Eddie since learning about Eddie’s bisexuality. On the one hand, having confirmation that Eddie is into guys is good news, but Buck had kind of thought that maybe Eddie liked him but hadn’t made a move because, like Buck, having feelings for men was new to him, and he was grappling with his sexuality. That obviously isn’t the case, so Buck is left to think that Eddie sees him as just a friend and that’s why he has never tried to make a move. Except...well there are moments where Buck swears he sees something in Eddie’s eyes, a softness that’s only there when he looks at Buck and Christopher. And Buck’s pretty sure that Eddie was lying about Christopher’s teacher hitting on him last week, which would mean that Eddie didn’t have any real reason not to disabuse her of the notion that he and Eddie were dating, but instead he’d chosen to hold Buck’s hand all night. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?

By the time the doorbell rings, he’s dressed, but no less confused. But he has a whole night ahead of him with Eddie and he’s not going to waste it. Maybe after tonight he’ll have some clarity. He just has to not do anything stupid. But as he opens the door, and sees Eddie standing there in a button down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his forearms, a part of the body he had no idea he was drawn to until this moment, he knows the likelihood of getting through this night without making a fool out of himself is slim.

He manages to greet Eddie and make it to the car without any embarrassing incidents. They pull up to Eddie’s aunt’s house, Eddie walks around the car and opens his door, holding his hand out to Buck. Buck’s breath catches at how much he wants. Wants to hold Eddie’s hand, wants to feel his arm around him, wants this to be a real date, wants a relationship, wants a future. As he grabs Eddie’s hand and let’s him pull him out of the car, Buck makes a decision that they will have that future. He’s Evan Buckley, and he goes after the things he wants. He starts by lacing his fingers through Eddie’s, like he’s been longing to do since parent teacher night, and revels in the quick squeeze Eddie gives his hand as they walk up the path. He’s still unsure about what Eddie feels, but if Eddie doesn’t think of him as boyfriend material, well Buck has tonight to show him what kind of boyfriend he can be.

***

It turns out being Eddie’s boyfriend is pretty easy. Basically Buck just allows himself to do everything he’s been wanting to do, but consciously and subconsciously holding himself back from, because they don’t fit into the confines of a friendship. He’s always attuned to Eddie, from the years of working together and friendship, so it’s easy to play the doting boyfriend, filling his drink as soon as it’s empty, making sure to snag extra sweet potatoes for him when they come out, noticing Eddie’s caught in conversation with his abuela and might not get any before they’re gone, pulling him out of a conversation with his uncle when he notices the muscle in Eddie’s jaw working overtime, the way it does just before his patience snaps. And of course, he takes every possible opportunity to touch Eddie, twining their hands together when walking from the living room to the dining room, looping an arm around Eddie’s waist and putting his head on Eddie’s shoulder when making small talk, putting a hand on his thigh when they sit next to each other on the couch. Though Eddie gives him a few bemused glances, he plays along, pulling Buck closer to him when the moment calls for it, thanking him for the food and drinks with a soft smile and a wink.

The act definitely works on Eddie’s family, who, just as Eddie had claimed, have no problem with Eddie bringing a man as his date. They welcome Buck into their home with open arms and cluck about how cute he and Eddie are, and how they’ve been wanting Eddie to bring someone home for ages. More than one person pulls him aside to say they’ve never seen Eddie so happy. And it does seem like it’s true. He’s smiling easier and looks more relaxed than Buck’s seen him around anyone other than him and Christopher. Buck’s rarely been happier either. It’s odd because when he was with Abby, Buck felt like he was playing a part. Trying to prove he was mature enough, serious enough. He always worried that if he relaxed and was himself, she’d decide he was wasn’t what she was looking for, which she’d done in the end anyways. But tonight, even though technically they are putting on an act, Buck’s never felt more like himself. It’s just so easy, and Buck can only hope that someday Eddie sees it too, how good they could be for each other.

The nights winding down, and they start making the rounds to say goodbye, so Eddie can relieve Carla. As they’re saying goodbye to Eddie’s cousin, Buck sees Eddie’s abuela gesturing for them to come to her on the other side of the living room. They’ve already said goodbye to her, so Buck’s not sure what she wants or why she and Eddie’s aunt are giggling to each other, but Buck’s already learned that in this family, you do what Abuela tells you to do, so he tugs Eddie in her direction.

“Abuela, what do you need?” Eddie asks, dropping a kiss on her cheek. “You know we’d love to stay, but Christopher’s waiting on me.

“I know, I know. I’m just so happy that you finally brought Evan to visit with us. You must bring him back with you the next time you come.”

Buck smiles and says sincerely, “Of course, I’d love to come back anytime you’ll have me.” He hopes like hell he can keep that promise.

She smiles sweetly at him, before casting her gaze on Eddie. “Before you go, just one more hug.”

Eddie obliges, but eyes her suspiciously. Buck now notices her smile seems a little bit too innocent, and his aunt is still trying to hide giggles behind her hand.

Buck’s not sure exactly what’s going on, but he’s a little wary even as Eddie steers him towards the front door, a hand on his lower back. As they are about to pass through the entryway, Abuela’s voice calls out, “Eddie! Stop.” Eddie stops in his tracks, and Buck looks back to see her pointing at something above their heads. A mix of anticipation and dread flood through him because he has a feeling he knows what she’s pointing at, and if Eddie really doesn’t have any feelings beyond friendship for Buck, this is going to be awkward as fuck. A quick glance up confirms his suspicions: yup, mistletoe. He and Eddie seem to make the realization at the same time and their eyes meet. Buck’s not sure exactly what Eddie will see in his eyes, but hopes he’s not looking too eager. Because honestly, after this night, really after the last few weeks, Buck wants Eddie’s lips on him anyway he can. Eddie looks...conflicted, though, and the last thing he wants is to force Eddie into something he’s uncomfortable with, even if a rejection will crush him.

Abuela’s voice breaks through his reverie. “Mijo, you know how important holiday traditions are to me.” Her tone is a little teasing, but he still wouldn’t disobey her if he was in Eddie’s shoes.

Eddie seems to be thinking the same thing, and quirks a questioning eyebrow at Buck, seeking permission. Buck nods in a way he hopes is subtle, though he can’t be sure as he’s overcome by nerves. As much as he feels certain he wants nothing more than to kiss Eddie, he’s suddenly not sure he wants their first kiss, his first kiss with a guy, to be for show in front of Eddie’s entire family.

But as Eddie slides a hand gently down his jaw, until it settles at the back of his neck, everything else floats away, until he can’t see anything but Eddie. His heart threatens to beat out of his chest when Eddie moves towards him, and lays a gentle kiss to his cheek. It’s just a brief press of lips, but Buck’s entire body lights up. He doesn’t even have it in him to feel disappointed by the cheek kiss, not when Eddie pulls back slightly and looks at Buck with such warmth, like Buck is the only one he can see too. For a minute Buck considers pulling Eddie back in, kissing him for real, but the moment already feels like enough. He’s pretty certain he sees all the confirmation he needs in Eddie’s eyes, but this is too important to gamble on. When he kisses Eddie for the first time, he doesn’t want there to be any doubt about his intentions.

“Oh alright, good enough. I guess you always were a bit shy.” Abuela’s well meaning tease breaks the moment, and Eddie’s hand drops from his neck, though Buck doesn’t let it go far, grabbing his hand again as he has all night. “You boys can go on home now. Give Christopher a hug from us.”

They’re quiet on the way back to Buck’s apartment. Eddie looks deep in thought and Buck’s still flying high from the whole night, how warm and right it felt, that he doesn’t want to say anything that might break the spell.

He’s surprised and pleased when instead of dropping him off, Eddie parks and insists on walking him up to the door of his apartment. They linger briefly there and Buck wonders if they are just going to stare at each other in silence for an eternity.

When Eddie speaks, its with an uncharacteristic nervousness. “Thank you, you were the best date I could’ve asked for.” The barest hint of a smile crosses his face, but he’s not speaking in the joking tone Buck might expect given the statement.

“Of course. It was easy.” He means that in the best possible way. It was easy and fun. Showing him everything that a relationship could be between them.

“So, I’m taking Christopher to see Santa tomorrow night. Do you want to come?”

His answer is immediate. “I’d love to.” He smiles widely, anticipation at another night with Eddie thrumming through him. The night really couldn’t get more perfect, except it does, when Eddie leans up and presses a kiss to his cheek, here in Buck’s entryway, no mistletoe, no nosy relatives, just the two of them.

The stars are out, the night is crisp, and Christopher is bouncing with excitement, and fifteen minutes in, it’s already Buck’s best date ever. Because Buck has decided, this is a date. And if Eddie doesn’t know it now, Buck’s going to make sure he does, by the end of the night. Because all of this is getting ridiculous. They are perfect for each other, Buck knows it and he’s pretty sure Eddie does too, and all they need to do is get out of their own way.

“Daddy, is it time to see Santa yet?” Buck smiles fondly at Christopher, thinking for the millionth time how lucky he is that he gets to be a part of his life and knowing he wants to be with him every day.

“Yeah buddy, let’s go.”

As they leave Christopher in line, insistent as always that he wants to do it himself, Buck recognizes the elf they saw here two Christmases ago. His laugh at the memory draws her attention and she looks at them both, eyes narrowing slightly as if trying to place them. She looks to the line at Christopher and back to them, before her face brightens in recognition.

“Oh, it’s you guys!!” Buck can’t help but smile at her, matching her enthusiasm, though he knows this conversation will probably be confusing for Eddie. “You guys were here last year, or was it two years ago, maybe? Gosh the Christmases all blend together.”

Eddie looks doubtful. “You remember us? You must see thousands of people in this job.”

“Yeah, but you guys stuck with me. Your son is so adorable and you guys just look at him like he’s your whole world. You look at each other that way, too. It’s just nice to see, and I’m so glad to know you all are still together and in love as ever. Gives me hope, you know?” She smiles mistily at them.

Before Eddie can speak, Buck grins at her, and just like he did two years ago, on an impulse he didn’t understand then, but does now, he simply says, “Thank you.” He takes this as the sign he’s been waiting for. He grabs Eddie’s arm to drag him to the fountain, tucked a bit away, where they can still see Christopher, who is about 10 kids from the front of the line, but are removed from the crowd.

“What was that about?” The question doesn’t sound annoyed or even bewildered. There’s hope and anticipation there, the same kind Buck feels buzzing through his veins. This is the moment when something is either going to happen or it’s not. Either way, he had to know. His thoughts are going a million miles an hour as he tries to figure out the right words to use, how to convey what he feels, what he wants. Eddie takes his silence as confusion and clarifies. “Who are we pretending for here, Evan?”

“Who’s pretending?” Buck takes a brief moment to send up a prayer that he’s not reading the heat that flickers in Eddie’s eyes wrong, as he takes Eddie’s face into his hands, pausing long enough to give Eddie a chance to back away if he wants to, before he presses their lips together. Buck had intended the kiss to be short. Just the answer to a question. He’d planned to kiss Eddie because he just had to know what it would be like, and then planned to back off, gauge Eddie’s reaction, and talk, but that option flies out the window the minute their lips touch because Buck can no longer think about what’s sensible, he can’t think about anything at all, except Eddie’s mouth beneath his. He leans into this kiss, sliding one hand into Eddie’s hair to pull him closer. And suddenly Eddie is kissing him back and there’s no hesitation or tentativeness in the way his mouth opens up under Buck’s. Eddie quickly takes control of the kiss, licking into Buck’s mouth, his hands gripping Buck’s hips and pulling them flush against his own, drawing a low groan from the back of Buck’s throat, as sparks ignite from every point their bodies are in contact.

As lack of oxygen forces them to pull apart, Buck whimpers at the loss. As soon as he gasps in a breath, he leans forward once more, planning to capture Eddie’s mouth again. He can’t believe how much time they wasted when they could have been doing this, but weren’t. Now that they have he never wants to stop. But though Buck’s lust addled brain probably would’ve pushed Eddie against the nearest flat surface, and kissed him until they both forgot their own names, Eddie’s always been the sensible one, and he interferes with Buck’s plan, stilling Buck’s movement with a gentle hand to the chest.

Buck forgets to be mad when he sees the tenderness and want in Eddie’s eyes, as he brushes one more soft kiss to Buck’s lips pulling back. As normal functions return to his brain and he remembers their surroundings he’s forced to admit that this isn’t an appropriate place to get carried away the way he wants to. Besides, they probably should talk.

“So…” Buck ventures. “No more pretending, right?”

Eddie laughs. “No more. Good thing, too. I’m not sure how many more opportunities for fake dating I could make up.”

“Make up? Which ones did you make up?”

“Just the last two.”

“So your family wasn’t trying to set you up?” Buck asks incredulously.

“Not exactly. They were giving me a hard time begging me to bring you. They’ve been convinced for a while that there’s something between us. That you know, I was…”Eddie blushes, something Buck thinks he’ll never stop finding adorable.

“Super into me?” Buck shoots Eddie his best cocky grin, before his features slide back into the lovesick expression he’s sure he’s been wearing all night. “Obviously the feeling is mutual. But why didn’t you just tell me? Ask me out for real? We wouldn’t have had to do any of this pretend stuff.”

“I wasn’t sure you were into guys at all, let alone me. I thought you knew I was bisexual, and that I’d signaled my interest in you pretty clearly. I figured if you were into men and into me, well, the ball was in your court. I wasn’t really sure what was going on with the fake dating stuff, but thought maybe you were trying to figure out your own feelings, and I’d just wait to see where you wanted to take things. It wasn’t until the other day when I discovered you were oblivious as hell and didn’t even know I was bisexual, that I realized maybe you might need more overt signals.”

Buck feels like Eddie also could’ve just kissed him at any point over the last month or really over the last two years and that might’ve been easier than all this, but everything they’ve been through has led them to this point, and he can’t bring himself to regret a second of it. But he doesn’t have time for misunderstandings and he thinks they might both be oblivious idiots so to be on the safe side he thinks he should spell it out. “So to be clear, we are together now. Dating, boyfriends? Right? Just to avoid any more confusion.”

Eddie laughs, which is quickly becoming Buck’s favorite sound in the world, kisses him firmly once more, and agrees. “Right. Now come on, boyfriend, we better not miss Chris’s pictures with Santa.”

Buck winds his arm around Eddie’s waist, and as they watch Chris babble animatedly in Santa’s ear before smiling wide for the camera, he realizes he can’t think of a single thing he’d ask Santa for right now. With Eddie and Christopher by his side, it feels like every fervent wish he’s ever made, for connection, belonging, for family, has already come true.

#buddie fic #911fox fic #so much fluff #fake dating ridiculousness #buddie #5+1 fic #it kind of got away from me #i just wanted some holiday trope-y fun #soberqueerinthewild

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ladyideal · 4 years

Text

Only You 2/2

Pairing: leonard mccoy x reader

Word Count: 2861

Warning: Angst, but fluff at the end, couple swear words

Summary: You fend off an attack from the Romulans after reaching the ship. Two weeks later you found the time to cry to Nyota and Chris, then Jim later on. Jim being Jim, went to speak with Bones to see what was really going on. He later convinces Leonard to talk with you over some bourbon. With what’s left of his bravery, Leonard seeks you out at the bar, admits that he was wrong, and that he would very much like to have a chance with you. You accepted his apology with a kiss.

A/n: So hooray, I wrote this up in quite a short time. It’s looked over, but any typos you see are of my own. This is the end of the 2 parter, might make it a three if I get any interest. However to those that celebrate, Happy Valentine’s Day. To those that don’t, have a wonderful weekend and remember chocolates are on sale the day after Valentine’s. Lyrics are the second half of the first verse of The Fields of Gold by Sting.

(gif credit to owner)

Part 1 is here

It had been about two weeks since that gala, and two weeks since you last spoke, or even seen leonard around the ship. Unusual not having him around, but you and Leonard avoided each other as much as possible. You only went down for lunch, while he only went to the mess hall for dinner, ensuring that you and him never saw each other, unless it was required to do so.

For both you, the doctor, and pretty much everyone on board, the last two weeks were crazy. Halfway through the first week, the ship was intercepted by Romulans, forcing you to put on a constant yellow alert.

As the tension rose between the Romulan captain and yourself, all talks came crashing down when the Romulans attacked first. Oh no, you didn’t have the time to think over your heartbreak. The crew didn’t need Y/N the lover at the moment, they needed Captain Y/N. Switching immediately to red alert, you pushed away your emotions and your tears, for the safety of the crew.

That was how the rest of the weeks were like. It was only near the end of the two weeks when the Romulans left in a fury, when you finally relaxed the red alert and the klaxons finally stopped blaring for once.

Thankfully, there wasn't much damage to the ship itself. A couple of scratches and dents here and there, but nothing you couldn’t fix at the next Federation outpost. You’d briefed Command immediately, going over detailed events that’d transpired like a dutiful Captain would.

It was only then that you had the chance to relax again, and figure out how to salvage what’s left of your friendship with Leonard. You spent a night with Nyota and Christine, crying your eyes out and telling the entire story from top to finish. Both sympathized with you, while the latter promising to make the doctor’s life a lot harder for breaking your heart.

While you appreciated the efforts, you told her not to, stating that you were still interested in keeping a friendship with Leonard.

“It’s going to take time, Y/N,” Nyota mentioned, finishing her glass of alcohol.

“We’ve been avoiding each other as much as possible,” You mumbled into your empty glass.

“We know,” Your two best friends replied in unison.

“And of course the Romulans didn’t quite help it either.”

The two promised that they would be with you, no matter what. You thanked them profusely for their support. However, even Jim had tried needling the story out of you the day after you and Leonard returned back from the gala.

You shook him off a few times, saying that everything was okay and you and Leonard needed some time away from the other. Jim has called bullshit, and said that something must have happened in order for his two best friends to not even look at each other.

It took a few days after the Romulans’ attacks, a lot of convincing and bribery, and five glasses of tequila for you to spill the beans again.

“At the end, he told me that he enjoyed spending the last couple hours of in his arms. For a moment, he could indulge in his dream of having me, of I think possibly dating me, and just enjoying the time with me,” You hiccuped, knowing that you were way beyond buzzed at this point.

“He told you all of this and then apologized and then left?” Jim sat in the booth across from you, deciding that you had enough alcohol for the night.

“There’s not much I could have said. He told me that he was too old for him, that he has Joanna, and that nobody would want, and I quote, a bitter soul like me,” You continued as though you didn’t hear a single word that Jim said. “It’s all excuses, I know that.”

“But it still hurts,” Jim finished your sentence for you, pushing the glass of water into your hands.

You nodded, shakily gulping your water down. “I don’t know what to do, Jim. It’s going to be weird to be friends again with him. I’ve crossed that line of friendship, and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to be friends again.”

“Do you want to?” Jim held your watery gaze.

“Want to what?” You frowned, observing how his baby blue eyes softened throughout the night.

“Want Bones to just be your friend or would you rather have something more?” he emphasized.

“I-Jim-I well, he already said no,” You shook your head. “If I had it my way, yes, I want to date him. I don’t care that he’s seven years my senior, that he has a daughter who’s already turning thirteen this year, that he’s divorced, or that he’s even a damn talented doctor. Everything makes him who he is today.”

You cleared your throat. “And I might sound selfish but he’s the person that never fails to make me happy when I’m around him.”

Jim nodded sagely a few times. “I understand. It’ll all turn out the way it should.”

You thanked him for his support during the hard times, appreciating that he still had a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen to. However, Jim had other plans. There was no way in hell would he let his two closest friends split. If there anything Jim could do, was to get to the bottom of things, and figure out a plan.

Listening to your story, all he had to do was to speak with Bones.

“Bones! There you are,” Jim strode into the CMO’s office without a knock.

“What do you want, Jim? I’m a little busy at the moment,” Leonard scowled up at his best friend.

“I brought some of the good stuff with me. Want to share?” Jim continued, as though the doctor’s unamusement didn’t do anything to affect his mood. He held up a bottle of bourbon.

“Since you’re already here,” Leonard pulled away from his desk, and opened his lowest level drawer for some glasses.

Popping the bottle open, Jim generously poured each cup with a healthy slug of the cool amber liquid.

“The Romulans sure weren’t happy with us,” Jim snorted after a moment of enjoying the alcohol.

“They did send a number of injured crew down,” The doctor spoke.

“It was to be expected,” The blonde continued, pouring himself another glass when he was done.

“Jim,” The doctor hesitated. “I’m turned in my resignation letter to the Captain. I think I’m done here.”

His best friend choked on his alcohol, completely taken back by the words. “You want to do what?” He sputtered out, feeling the burn go down the wrong pipe.

“After what happened with Y/N two weeks ago, I just can’t do this anymore, Jim,” Leonard continued, sparing a glance at the other.

“And what exactly happened? Y/N was all excited having you go down to the Gala together like an actual date,” Kirk asked.

“Nothing. We had fun. We danced together.” He paused, weighing his words. “I got to have her in my arms just for those short couple hours. Then she confessed saying that she liked me, and I just couldn’t.”

“Bones.”

“Jim, I know what you’re going to say, so don’t even start,” Leonard poured himself another generous amount.

“Bones, you don’t even know what I was going to say,” Jim frowned. “But what’s stopping you? You clearly like the girl back, and hell, I’ve seen the two of you together. She comes into the room, and you brighten up. You can’t deny those feelings, Bones.”

“Yes I can!” The doctor abruptly stood up, surprising the blonde once more. “You know this, Jim. My divorce with Joce is the reason why I’m out here in the middle of nowhere with you. I can’t do this whole dating thing again, not after what Jocelyn has done. I’m nothing but a bitter broken soul, Jim. I can’t let that happen again.”

“Do you truly believe that will happen with Y/N?” Jim pressed.

There was silence from the other end of the room.

“You know as well as I do that Y/N is a forever kind of person,” The blonde continued. “Not the one night kind.”

“Jim, I-.”

“Bones, what’s really stopping you from dating Y/N? All the reasons you’ve given me up to this point are just bullshit excuses. You know better.”

The doctor stopped his pacing, and plopped back down on his couch, placing his head in his hands.

“You know what I’m afraid of,” The brunette finally spoke up after a long period of silence.

“I don’t,” Jim answered, earning himself a glare.

“I’m afraid of messing it all up, of disappointing myself and Y/N just because of the prospect of a better what if, of not getting it right, of forgetting dates, of breaking promises, of it ending up in divorce again like what Joce did,” Leonard spoke, a voice barely above a whisper. “I wouldn’t know what to do if it all happens again. It’s just all going to be lovey dovey again. When the bad time starts, I work, Y/N works, and we don’t spend time together. We fight, and then end up breaking up.”

All reasonable and just statements, Jim agreed. Yet, he never knew his best friend to be a quitter, not after all he’d endured.

“So you’re just going to live with your decision now, understanding full well that you’ll end up regretting not trying, not giving you and Y/N a chance that you deserve. Y/N could be the one that you’d never thought you wanted,” The blonde said. “Bones, are you really going to let an opportunity like that just pass by?”

The doctor said nothing, so Jim continued. “I see how you look at her when others check Y/N out. I know what you’re going through when someone else tries to get a date with Y/N. I know that you’re in love, Bones, but love is always risky. You are vulnerable to them, and they are vulnerable to you, because it’s based on trust.”

“The question is are you giving up on yourself when there is a second chance of love just staring right in front of you?”

Leonard groaned, placing his empty glass aside. “What am I supposed to do, Jim? I’ve messed it all up. Y/N must hate me now.”

“Y/N doesn’t hate you. There’s not an ounce of hate there,” Jim smiled inwardly, congratulating himself. “Go, Y/N is probably still down at the bar at this hour, been a regular nowadays.”

Another pause before the doctor stood up. “Alright, I’ll go have a talk.” He stopped at the door. “And don't touch anything.”

“You can thank me by naming your firstborn after me!” Jim called out before the doors shut.

Job well done.

Quickly downing the last of his glass, he placed both glasses in the sink, and swiftly followed after his best friend.

Leonard hurried down to the bar, desperately hoping that you were still there. It was approaching midnight, and he wasn’t sure if you were still awake. Scanning the bar, he noticed Nyota and Chris huddled together.

He strode over, and within minutes, he’d gained the attention of both ladies, who raised their eyebrows at him. You sat opposite from them, your back to Leonard, so you didn’t immediately notice his presence.

“Y/N, Nyota, Chris,” He greeted quietly.

You turned around, a little surprised to see the good doctor there.

Oh, Leonard,” You responded, as the other two merely nodded to his greeting. Leonard had noticed the slight tremble of your lower lip.

“Y/N, I was wondering if we could have a talk,” He looked around. “Maybe at a more private place.”

You glanced back at the two others in response. Nyota gave you a shrug, while Chris shook her head no. Well. You didn’t have much else to lose, so you agreed.

“Um, how about the officer’s lounge? No one’s there at this hour,” You suggested, getting to your feet. Chris merely looked at you as though you’d gone crazy, but you shrugged in return.

“I’ll pick the tab up tonight, Y/N,” Nyota called.

“Thanks!”

You tossed and turned over what Leonard could possibly want to speak with you about. Did he want to be friends? Did he not want to be friends? Did he want to resign? No, he would’ve told you that in front of Nyota and Chris, so it couldn’t be that. Thankfully the lounge wasn’t far.

“A drink, Leonard?” You offered when you and Leonard arrived.

“No thank you. I’ve had my share of liquid courage already,” He answered.

“Oookay,” You turned back to filling up two glasses of water for you and him. “So what do you want to talk about?”

Leonard turning down alcohol hardly ever happened. Whatever it was that he needed to speak his mind, must be important for him.

“Y/N, I”ve realized that I made a fool out of myself, that I didn’t know what I was seeing right in my face,” He started, watching you still at the topic on hand. “I know that I’ve made a mess of things between us, but understand that it wasn’t my intention to do so.”

He paused, but seeing you had nothing to say, he plowed on.

“When I held you in my arms that night, it was my greatest joy to call you mine even if it was for just a few hours. I know you wanted more, and I did too. But I was scared, afraid that I would let you down and disappoint you, me, us. That night in front of your quarters, I wanted to kiss you right then and there, But I let my past cloud my judgement and I ran. I ran because that’s what I did after Jocelyn took everything I had dear to me, to be up here in this unforgiving void. I thought that this was it, that there was nothing left for me but space and Jim. You, however, changed my mind. You brighten up my day each time I see you, make things better than I’d ever imagined. And I know I made a mistake, that I broke your heart running off like that. I swear to you, each and every day, that I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”

You stared at him, your glass of water forgotten on the countertop.

“A-are you sure you don’t want a drink?” You stuttered out, unsure of what to say.

“Darlin’, I got my water, but no thank you.”

You strode closer to him, as you tried to gather your thoughts. There was still hurt in your eyes, something that Leonard could obviously tell, but you flickered your gaze hopefully up at him. “You promise?”

“I promise,” He echoed, eyes flickering down from your eyes to your lips.

You were quicker than he was, as you pulled him down for your first, desperate kiss with him. His lips happily crashed against yours, obliging you with the kiss that you and him both needed. Jim leaned against the entrance of the lounge, grinning at the sight of his two best friends together once more. Without a sound, he left you and Leonard be. As the night came to an end, you and Leonard parted ways to your respective quarters with the promise of more.

Laying in bed, you stared up at the ceiling with a giddy grin across your face. It’d been a hard three weeks apart, but it was necessary. With that, you started your usual morning routine. Reaching the Bridge, you promised Nyota to clue her in at all that’d transpired before sitting down in your chair. Your PADD had been beeping at you throughout the night, but you’d thought nothing of it till now. Intrigued, you opened the screen up, only to find a resignation letter flashing at you.

“I’ll be back in ten,” You hurried down to the medbay in a panic.

“Leonard, a word?’ You huffed out, striding into his office without a warning.

“Good morning sweetheart, what brings you in so early?” Leonard looked up from his PADD, worry etched in his face.

“My PADD has been beeping all night and up till now, I didn’t check what it was,” You trailed off, hoping he’d understand what you were implying.

It took the doctor a minute to understand. “I, yes. I might have sent that letter in on an impulse last night before I got a chance to speak with you,” He looked slightly embarrassed.

“Sooo safe to say that I can delete it? I haven’t forwarded it to Command yet,” You peered up at him when he rounded the corner.

“Of course,” He framed the side of your head with his fingers, and kissed you.

“You are all I need.”

“So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold.”

@mournthewicked (If you want to be tagged in future Star Trek tags, please let me know)

#valentine's day #less angst #more fluff #leonard mccoy #leonard bones mccoy #bones mccoy #leonard mccoy x reader #bones x reader

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w-k-smith · 4 years

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Once again, tumblr has hidden the version of this post that has links. (Clearly, weird fan fic where ghosts eat candy bars is just *too radical* for this website.) This story is also available on AO3, under the username w_k_smith.

Chapter Two is here of “Don’t Go to the Netherworld!”

In this chapter, Beetlejuice and Lydia make their way through Saturn, but are waylaid by Zagnuts, a boy band, and all the obstacles the desert otherworld has to offer.

Chapter One: “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” (6/19/20) Chapter Two: “Worm Welcome” (07/03/20) Chapter Three: “Ghost to Ghost” (upcoming) Chapter Four: “To Beetle or not to Beetle?” (upcoming)

Warning: This story contains depictions of, references to, and discussion of topics like suicide, untimely death, abuse, and body horror - you know, like the musical does (though this probably has more). Know your boundaries, and stay safe.

New chapter under keep reading!

“I don’t understand,” Lydia said, as they crossed from the midnight of the administrative area, toward the hot afternoon of Saturn, through the twilight in between. “What’s Saturn? Are we going to the planet…somehow?”

“Nope. Totally unrelated, and don’t ask me who named it. Saturn is the part of the Netherworld that acts as a trap for ghosts who get out of line, like if you try to leave the house you’re haunting, or jump the line in processing like someone I could mention. Going through processing would only take a couple steps, but Saturn is an anti-shortcut from the feverish nightmares of M.C. Escher. It’s a giant desert, and it’s full of sandworms. Those are snake monsters that eat ghosts. Foreshadowing?” he muttered to himself.

“This is so weird,” Lydia muttered. “I love it.”

She didn’t seem like she was being sarcastic. Maybe hanging around her wasn’t going to be too terrible.

Unfortunately, he saw trouble ahead.

“Keep your head down,” he whispered to Lydia. “Look dead. Deader than that. And don’t sneeze! Dead people never sneeze!”

“What?”

“Hello, Beetlejuice,” said five tenor voices in unison. A cluster of expressionless young white men was drifting through the shadows toward him and Lydia. The boys had died in their late teens and very early twenties, long enough ago that two of them sported frosted tips. They were dressed just differently enough to be distinguishable from one another, in dated pants and t-shirts with no personality.

“Hey, Boy Inferno,” he grunted.

“What are you doing out here?” they asked. They all floated six inches off the ground, in a formation reminiscent of migrating ducks.

He rolled his eyes. “Just running an errand for Juno. Miss Argentina find that living intruder yet?”

“Not that we’ve heard. Who’s your friend?”

“New hire. Juno wants her on border patrol. Her name’s Lydia, and she’s boring. Kids these days, you know, they think eyeliner and TikTok counts as personality. But them’s the rules: if you add to the work, you have to help out.”

“Do you want to hear the introduction song, Lydia?”

Geez, they didn’t back off easy. “Save that for people who’ve committed genocide or worse.”

“We were talking to Lydia.”

At his elbow, Lydia scratched the end of her nose. Boy Inferno caught the gesture, and as one, cocked their heads.

“What did you die of…?” they asked her.

“Um, I don’t want to talk about it,” Lydia said, which was the wrong thing. All newlydeads ever wanted to do was blather on about how they’d bitten it.

“OK, you got me!” He stepped between Lydia and the boys. “This isn’t an approved mission to Saturn. We were actually trying to, ah, hide out from Juno for a while. She is in a mood today, I tell ya. Just impossible. She wants me to take a statement from all the recently deceased who were in line when the alarm went off, and then pinch each of them really, really hard to see if they still have nerve endings. I’d rather swallow my own toenails. Remember that time Juno made me swallow my own toenails? You were there for that, weren’t you? So be a hive-minded pal and help me stay on the DL. This one already threatened to tattle if I didn’t show her my good hiding spot.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

Boy Inferno blinked.

“Alright, then,” they said, and each voice sounded suspicious. But they drifted back toward the administrative area.

Lydia stared as they went. “Who are those guys?”

“Boy Inferno is a dead boy band. They didn’t have enough brains or personality to be individuals when they were a living boy band, and when their tour bus crashed, the situation got worse.”

“Yikes. And speaking of yikes, what were you saying about sandworms? Are they going to eat us?”

He waggled one hand back and forth, and started walking. “Eh. It’s probably OK. You’re alive, so they��ll leave you alone. I’m half-ghost, half-demon, which confuses them more than anything. We’ll be fine if we don’t run into a sandworm that’s pissed off or starving.” They were crossing into Saturn proper. The terrain changed from dark gravel to rolling sand dunes dotted with twisted rock formations. Wooden doors hovered here and there, from three feet off the ground to 20 stories high. There was the light and warmth of a yellow sun, but if you turned in every direction, you would never see a sun or any other stars in the royal blue sky.

“Huh. Now I kind of want to meet a sandworm...” Lydia said, looking around like one was going to pop out from behind a dune.

“Yup. That’s definitely foreshadowing.”

“So…what’s it like? Being half-demon? How does that, um, happen?”

He waved his hands to turn them into sock puppets – one red and bearing a vague resemblance to Juno, the other a grey blob and as good a representation as he’d ever had of his father. “Hello, children!” he said in a screechy voice. “Let’s talk about the occult birds and bees. When a demon woman tolerates a living human male very much…”

She shoved him. “I know that, gross! I’m ace, but not completely ignorant. I just wondered if you were ever alive.”

He put his hands back to normal. “Uh-huh. I was alive. Looooong time ago, though. Long enough that we didn’t pay much attention to what year it was, and only bathed twice a lifetime, and drank beer instead of water. Hm. Or maybe that was all just me. Anyway, Juno only had me to see what would happen if you mixed demon magic with ghost abilities. Turns out, you get yours truly. She hated the result, and I never got any little siblings to chase around. But it’s fine with the just the two of us; my mom has this sweet thing she says to me every day: ‘I wish you had never been born.’ I think it’s a Swedish pet name.”

“How did you die?” Lydia asked.

“I asked a bunch of annoying questions that weren’t any of my business and someone stabbed me.”

“Ha ha,” she deadpanned. “How far is it, anyway?” she asked, shading her eyes. “I don’t see anything…”

“Distance doesn’t really work like that here, and we could move way, way faster if we were both dead. But it’s pretty damn far.”

She sighed.

He had to give Lydia Deetz this: she was a trooper. She was wearing a dress, and boots that were very much not made for walking, but she kept moving, eyes forward, not a single complaint. When her stomach growled like an angry guard dog, she held her head high and acted like she didn’t notice.

“OK, time for a break!” he said.

“No!” she said. “We have to keep going.”

“If you keep going like this, you’re going to collapse, and then you’ll die, and a sandworm will eat you, and that’s my whole day gone. Sit down.”

“I don’t need to.”

She was going to give him grey hairs, she really was. He shook one hand like he was shooing a fly, and she stumbled backwards until she sat on the closest rock.

Lydia’s eyes bugged. “What am I – what are you –?”

“You’ve never been possessed before?”

She stood back up. He waved his hand again, and she sat.

“No, keep it up,” he said. “This is fun.”

He flicked his fingers, and her expression brightened.

“Beetlejuice, you’re my role model!” she said, in a tone much more chipper than any that had ever come out of her mouth, he was sure. He released her.

Lydia’s face soured like old milk mixed with lemon juice, and she made the fingers-down-the-throat gesture. “I’ll sit for five minutes. Don’t do that again.”

“I always knew I’d make a great babysitter!” He settled on the other side of the rock. He folded his hands over his stomach, figuring he’d take a nap if she stayed quiet.

She didn’t. “My mom would love all this,” Lydia said. “Her favorite holiday was Halloween. We’d make our own haunted houses in the garage – but in the summer, when no one in the neighborhood was expecting it. She liked the weird stuff in the world. Or – she likes the weird stuff in the world. She doesn’t just avoid it, like most people do. Like my dad does. I think she’ll like you, even.”

He wanted to make a face at the idea of a well-adjusted person liking him (though it was a nice feeling, deep in his black heart), but Lydia couldn’t see him, so it would be wasted effort.

She was quiet for a while, and he thought he was free to drift off to sleep.

“Um…do you have any food?” she asked.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a handful of Zagnuts. He tossed the kid two. “Here ya go.”

“Why so many Zagnuts?” Lydia asked. “They’re good, but I didn’t think people ate these anymore.”

“It’s the only candy in the vending machines in the Netherworld.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because everything around here is at a baseline of low-grade crappiness. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Are you really supposed to spend eternity here when you die?” she asked, in a muffled way that told him she’d bitten off half a candy bar at once. “It seems like it should either be a whole lot better or a whole lot worse.”

“You aren’t supposed to spend eternity here; that’s the point,” he said. He popped a Zagnut into his mouth, and swallowed it wrapper and all. “You have to move on, eventually.”

“To what?”

“Do I look like a priest? Or a philosopher? Or a TV psychic?”

“The last one, a little. A bad one. The kind who gets tricked by reporters to help contact their dead kid, but it turns out the kid is really alive and just in the next booth over in the Denny’s.”

“Touché. The point is, nobody around here knows. You hang around the administrative area until you’re ready to go into the miserable nothingness of the Abyss, and then you swirl around in the Abyss until…I dunno, something else happens. Maybe you just stay in the Abyss forever. I don’t plan on finding out anytime soon.”

“Is that where my mom is?”

“Yup. If she didn’t come running when you first came through the door, she’s definitely gone through security. Don’t worry, though. You poke your head into the Abyss and shout her name a few times, and she’ll come right out.”

He lied easily. He always had.

“I’m just surprised she hasn’t tried to contact us,” Lydia said. “I guess she must be confused, because we moved and everything. My dad dragged me out to Connecticut, away from New York and all our friends and family, to work on this stupid gated community project he has in mind. And he took my annoying life coach with us. She’s friendly and positive, and keeps trying to make me fill out a star chart. I don’t know why he thinks she’s helping me. It’s not like there aren’t actual therapists in Connecticut. I don’t get it.”

He chewed another Zagnut for a beat, waiting to see if she was making a joke. Then he broke the news. “Your dad is boinking the life coach.”

“What?!” she said. She whirled around the rock to sit right next to him. “How can you know that?”

“Um, because I’m an adult with a brain.” He grabbed the top of his head and lifted his skull to show his grey matter.

“He isn’t…Dad’s not…” She slumped. “He’s totally sleeping with her.”

“Totally,” he agreed.

“How could he do that? Mom’s only been dead a few months. Well…when he sees Mom – if he just talks to her again – he’ll understand what an ass he’s been.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, non-committedly.

“How much farther do we have?” she asked.

“Long enough to aaaaaaalmost make you give up and collapse in despair.”

She groaned.

For a second, he thought her groan was superhumanly long and loud, and he prepared to be impressed. Then he noticed the ground was shaking.

“Looks like it’s our unlucky day!” he said. “Run!”

They both got to their feet, and made it about five steps before the sand exploded to their left. A sandworm rose from the earth, its black-and-white stripes blurring into grey. At the peak of its jump, its inner head came out of its mouth, eyes glaring, jaw snapping.

It dove back down toward them.

He dodged one way, and Lydia dodged the other. The spray of sand blocked out everything, and when it all cleared, the sandworm had risen from the ground again, undulating in and out of the dunes. Lydia stood in place, looking all around. But it was hard to know where to run when you were being attacked by a sandworm.

The sandworm’s chomping heads came out of the ground an arm’s length from Lydia. She yelled, and punched it in the closest eye.

The heads hissed and thrashed, knocking Lydia down. The sandworm dove down, and the sand around them whirled and roiled, until he felt like he was standing in boiling dirt.

When the sandworm rose again, it accidentally scooped up Lydia. She showed a little more survival instinct than she had before, and clung to the sandworm’s back.

“Knock it off!” he heard her say. She nudged the sandworm with her left boot, and the sandworm turned to the right. But it had had enough of its passenger, and whipped its body to throw Lydia like a beanbag.

She shrieked as she fell through the air. He stretched his legs, about 20 feet, and caught her.

As he dragged her back to the ground, he braced himself for another attack by the sandworm. Maybe if he transformed into something big and scary, showed some lionfish spines or extra limbs, the worm would leave them alone. Getting swallowed would be no good. Not only did he usually try to avoid getting eaten, but sandworms’ digested prey just wound up back in processing…after a wait of at least a decade or so.

The sandworm jumped over their heads, dove into the ground, and kept going. Its writhing body upset every dune it plowed through, but it didn’t double back.

He wasn’t going to look a gift worm in the mouth.

“And don’t come back!” he yelled. “G’on, git! Git!”

Lydia jumped out of his arms. “That was awesome! I thought I was going to die, but it was awesome.”

He was more tired than he’d been in a while. He was tired like Juno had been screaming at him for hours. Also, there was a lot of sand in his shoes. “You did OK But why the hell did you try to punch it in the face?”

She didn’t look ashamed in the slightest. “I thought it would be like avoiding a shark attack. That’s what the Discovery guy said during Shark Week: punch the shark hard in the eye so it leaves you alone.”

“Since when has punching something made it leave you alone?” he asked. “That has never worked when I’ve tried it with people.”

“Because then the shark – or the sandworm – thinks you’re too much of a threat and it ignores you. I made it go away, didn’t I?’

“I seriously doubt you’re what made it leave, Karate Kid. If a sandworm had its multiple hearts set on eating us, it would take more than your mechanical bull riding skills to dissuade it. I don’t know – I’m not so sure it was all that interested in us.”

“If it wasn’t going for us, why did it come over here?”

“I said I don’t know! I’m not a sandworm scientist.”

“Your hair is changing color,” she said, pointing at his head.

“Can you blame me? I’m pretty pissed off right now.”

She brightened. “It changes color with your mood?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I touch it?”

He grunted, and tilted his head. She patted some strands on the right side of his head, which were dark green at the tips, but probably working their way to red. The cocoon the caterpillar had made behind his ear popped open, and a death’s-head hawkmoth shot into the air and planted itself on Lydia’s nose.

“Augh!” she yelped, and fell right on her ass. He doubled over laughing while she tried to get back up with dignity.

“You’ve taken things too far this time, Beetlejuice!”

Once, just once, he’d like to go 48 hours without hearing those words shouted at him.

He turned to see Miss Argentina stomping up a sand dune, clipboard in hand, sash askew, which meant she was really really really upset.

“What have I done this time?” he asked, resigned.

“What have you done this time?” Miss Argentina pointed at Lydia. “Let’s start with child endangerment! And the fact that your disappearance has about given Juno apoplexy.”

“Ah, she loves me.”

“No! She just knows that if she hasn’t heard from you in twelve hours, it means you’re up to something! And that means the rest of us suffer! I’m just glad she gave me clearance to go to Saturn to look for your sorry, sagging ass, so at least I was able shoo a sandworm away from some newlydeads. I have a sneaking suspicion you bear some responsibility for that, too?”

“OK, that is both not fair and completely true,” he said. “And I’ll have you know I’m doing a good deed. I’m guiding this one around the Netherworld.” He jerked his head at Lydia.

“And why, in the name of all that is sacred, would you consider that a good idea?”

“Um…” He faltered. He may have been able to fudge a few details with Lydia, but Miss Argentina had been around long enough to know how the Abyss worked.

“Newlydeads…” Lydia said. “That must have been what attracted the sandworm. It wasn’t coming for us after all.”

“Why did you drag newlydeads with you?” he asked, happy to change the subject. “What, did you need help shouting at me? Anger backup singers?”

“Of course not.” Miss Argentina frowned. “But – that’s a good idea.” She clicked her pen, and scribbled on her clipboard. “I am actually writing that down. If Boy Inferno is free…”

“Excuse me!” came a woman’s voice from the bottom on the dune. “I’m so sorry – could you wait just a minute?”

“It’s very hard to walk on sand!” came a sexy, nasal male voice from the same direction.

“These newlydeads have a problem, you see,” said Miss Argentina, her voice icy. But something was wrong – she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was fixed on Lydia. “Apparently, a living person used their Handbook without permission.”

Lydia became interested in the horizon. “Huh. That’s weird.”

Miss Argentina jabbed a finger in Lydia’s face. “Oh, don’t even try that on me, living girl. I am not in the mood today.”

“Whoof! We made it.” The newlydead couple crested the dune…and he was smitten.

The woman was white, a pretty blonde, in a green wrap dress and suburban-mom-at-the-nice-grocery-store boots. Her companion was a beautiful Desi man, with light brown skin and a lock of black hair hanging over his forehead that he immediately wanted to run his fingers through.

“Oooooh…” he said. “Hello, sexy…”

Lydia looked at him with a scientific expression. “Which one?”

“The Trader Joe’s guardian angels over here. Not that Miss A isn’t pretty easy on the eyes herself, but she’s a friend of Ellen, know what I mean? A patron of U-Haul. An adopter of shelter cats. Wrong tree, is what I’m saying. But she loves me platonically.”

“She doesn’t,” Miss Argentina said.

The couple pushed past him and bent over Lydia.

“Oh, thank goodness!” the woman said.

“Lydia!” said the man. “I’m so glad we found you. We were worried sick!”

“Adam, Barbara?” Lydia said. “What…what are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to go to the Netherworld.”

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice fanfiction #beetlejuice the musical #lydia deetz #fan fiction

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malereader-inserts · 5 years

Text

Andante, Andante | Ch. III

“Missed me?” Peter asked with a toothy grin as you scoffed, looking at the time on your watch, “How coincidental that you’re in Denny’s at-“

“I live in Queen’s, you muppet, I didn’t go looking for you,”

Word Count: 2,033

A/n: I had to cut the last part of this to the next chapter or it would have been too long and I want you guys to be wondering what is coming on the development of their relationship.

< Previous | Next >

Peter went home back to Queens that evening, as did you. You went back home to the city of New York. Greeting your little siblings and kissing your mother’s cheek whilst your dad ruffles your hair.

You pretended that you didn’t see Peter smile more that day after getting morning coffee, and you definitely pretended not to hear Tony whining about “Pete is being extra happy and he won’t tell me why.”

Peter pretends he doesn’t notice your relax shoulders, and softer features that day as if you were exhausted, granted he did wake you up at four in the morning to watch the sunrise.

“So,” Natasha greets you with a teasing voice, “Peter.”

“We’re not friends,” You stated, as she puts her hands up in defence.

“Never said you were,” Natasha points out as you give her narrowed eyes, “A lot of aggression for an eighteen-year-old boy.”

“Shut up,” You mumbled as you give her a side-eye, “Doesn’t prove anything.”

Natasha squeezes your cheek as you grumble, unamused, crossing your arms over your chest and there it was again the scowl finding home on your face.

“Would it kill you if you showed some softness?” She asked, teasing as you looked at her.

“Yes.”

She grins at you anyway as she gives you a hug, for a Russian spy she would do anything that makes you even slightly uncomfortable as you lock your jaw.

“I will shock you,” You grumbled, not afraid to use your powers against her as she raised her hands to show you that they were no longer upon you, “Thank you.”

Natasha shakes her head, bidding your goodbye when you return home. You stay a week away from everyone else, spending time with family. Your family is who you keep dear to your heart, you wanted to spend as much time as possible before your mother and father send your siblings to summer camp, they take up as many shifts to provide for their children - and you left alone.

You tried offering them your superhero money that you earn for each mission you do, but your parents refuse, that money should provide for you. For you to reach the stars, you made it big, kid, and they’re so damn proud of you.

Peter had been summoned by his aunt to spend time with her, not that he complained, he loved Aunt May to bits because she was so caring and ready to help him. Still, she was a terrible cook and when it hit two in the morning, Peter was sure May was asleep, he decided to go out for some food.

“Be right back! - PP!” Peter stuck the yellow post-it note on the fridge, making sure it was held by a magnet just in case.

Peter grabs his jacket and quickly moves through Queens with ease. Then, a scent had hit his nose, Denny’s, the weird goodness of food. His stomach grumbles louder and louder as he follows the food scent closer.

Despite the late hour, as Peter walks in, he noticed that he wasn’t alone. He could spot an elderly lady, devouring an ice cream sundae with a happy smile on her face, a group of students, all of them obviously in a rather cheerful mood. As he grabs his order, he noticed a familiar mop of hair.

Peter tries to convince himself that he isn’t just missing you from not seeing you for almost a week, but he didn’t want to be that person to slide into a booth thinking it was you, to turn out it wasn’t.

And, yet his feet started to walk in your direction. He had spotted your familiar purple and white windbreaker - he’s heard from Barton that you really like that windbreaker.

With ease, he slides in to see you, your eyes widen to see him.

“Missed me?” Peter asked with a toothy grin as you scoffed, looking at the time on your watch, “How coincidental that you’re in Denny’s at-“

“I live in Queen’s, you muppet, I didn’t go looking for you,” you grumbled, rubbing your eyes, “Didn’t take you for a cocky little shit, Parker, and anyways you’re the one storming up in my booth seems like you’re the one who missed me”

I am, you good looking idiot, Peter thought affectionately before he processed your words.

“Wait,” Peter pauses, grinning that you were finally opening up, “You live here? In Queens?”

You narrowed your eyes towards him, “I live like two blocks away, Parker, you better not start stalking me home.”

You point a fry at him before taking a bite into it. Your shoulders were tense, your right elbow resting upon the table as your left arm rested itself, you swiped your fry into your chosen condiment as Peter enjoys the silence between the two of you.

“Why are you even up at this time?” You asked, Peter mid stops the chewing of his pancakes, “Don’t tell me you’re already trying to get ahead of your science nerds for college.”

Peter says no words as you shake your head, Peter looking downright embarrassed. Red cheeks as he looks down at his food, biting his lip as you jeered.

“You are something else, dude,” You mused out, shaking your head, “That’s brilliant.”

You laughed, actually laughed, and Peter couldn’t help but snap his head up towards you to see how you threw your head back, your eyes shut and a big fat smile on your face.

“You amuse me too much, Parker,” You finally calmed down, shaking your head.

“Hi,” A worker, who was obviously sleep-deprived, greeted, “Can I just say you two are so cute!”

“Uh,” Peter stutters, “We’re not-uh, you know...”

“Fuck off,” You grumbled, “We aren’t even friends, acquaintances at best.”

The worker looked apprehensive, obviously taken aback with your cold tone. They understood why the pair of you two worked, opposite attracts they say, you like to claim there is nothing to attract.

“What are you still doing here?” You asked with a jab as Peter smacks your arm, looking at you in disapproval, “Sorry, that was uncalled for, just fuck off.”

The worker frowns, walking away as you look at Peter, “No wonder Wanda doesn’t like you.”

“What do you mean?” You asked at a higher octave, “I’m lovely.”

“A lovely piece of shit.”

The two of you share a glance before snorting into laughter. Peter brightens the fact he was able to make you laugh again as your eyes sparkle when you started to calm down. Then silence overcomes the two of you, as you finish your fries and Peter almost eat up all his food.

“You know this is the perfect opportunity to know each other.”

“I think it’s past our bedtime,” You pointed out, tapping your watch, “It’s quarter to three, maybe next time.” You slide out the booth and nodded, “See you around, buddy.”

Peter smiles to himself as you walk away, he watches you open the door and pull your coat closer to you as you leave in the opposite direction of his home. You called him buddy, he hopes that you mean it affectionately.

It’s not like he was looking for you, it just happened.

Tonight the streets weren’t as empty as they had been the night before – it was Friday and people were either going home from one club or another or were on their way to the next bar or getting some food.

Peter played with the thought of going back to Denny’s, but a quick glimpse inside told him that you weren’t there that night. So, instead of going in, he craved that fresh air - Peter walks down to find himself entering IHOP. He might as well get some French Toast in addition to the coffee that he so desperately needed.

Before anyone could come and lead him to a table, Peter scans the building to see you already looking at him, with a questioning stare, almost in disbelief and in humour. Peter makes his way there to you, standing at the end of the booth.

“I thought I told you not to stalk me,” There was evidence of clear amusement.

Peter smiles, shrugging his shoulder, “I’ll admit, I did look in Denny’s to see if you were there again.”

“So, you are missing me,” You accused him, as you motioned him to sit which he gladly accepts thankful you hadn’t rejected his presence.

“Truthfully,” Peter starts as you stare at him, “I don’t take you for an IHOP person.”

“I like the french toast,” You shrugged, at ease with his presence, “I like to switch places up, I’m always up late.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“You’re really pushing it,” You said with furrowed eyebrows, just as Peter was about to apologise, “I like that.”

You carefully give him a look before looking down, missing the bright smile you thrust upon Peter. You looked up at him as he munches happily on his french toast.

“So,” Peter started, relaxing as you leaned back in your seat, “Last night you agreed that I get to know you more.”

“I am a man of my word,” You nodded, vaguely remembering last night at first when you woke up that morning you thought it was some realistic dream.

“Well, I want to know more about your power,” Peter said straight up, tilting his head, “Everyone knows I’m ˢᵖᶦᵈᵉʳᵐᵃⁿ.” He whispers the last part as you looked at him with amusement.

“Alright, well, as you know I was struck by lightning and you know I’m good friends with Thor.”

Peter nods, “You work with electricity, not like The Flash or whatever?”

“The Flash?”

“DC comics?” You shake your head, unfamiliar with it, “Dude, you’re so uncultured.”

You pretend that doesn’t offend you in any way, “Continuing, I can manipulate electricity and then there are subcategories of it. So, I can do electricity manipulation at will and send different levels of shock. It is like the surface of what I can do.”

Peter nods, wanting to know more as he itches closer towards the table, “So, with electricity manipulation, you can do like attacks?”

You nodded, “Yup, plus electrical construction, meaning I can create tools, objects, weapons, armour out of electricity, but only I can use them or Thor and Tony if he has the right material. So, I can hit people with an electric blast but also make an electric shield to protect myself.”

“That’s so cool!” Peter shouts as some people cast their eyes towards your table, “Is that I saw you all decked out with electric armour last time?”

“Oh, well, I needed protection and my suit broke,” You shrugged, “My suit is build ti withstand all the currents I make, I guess it got outdated. I guess that’s mostly my power, I can advance it if I wanted.”

“Like to what?”

Peter looks at you with wide eyes like a puppy, curious, you couldn’t help but melt into his curiosity.

“I’ve heard that I could do something called Electrolytic Blood manipulation? I think it’s too advanced for me and I like what I have,” You shrugged, snapping your fingers as he sees the small spark created at the friction, “But, everyone in the team is begging me to earn electric flight.”

“All this talk is making you sound like a pokemon,” Peter says and you consider it for a moment as a grin stretched out on your face.

“I guess it does, Parker,” You nodded, agreeing with a small laughter as you hugged yourself, “you better finish up, your aunt won’t like to see you not in bed.”

“What about you?”

“I’m off, buddy,” You say, tapping on your smartwatch, “Almost three am, gotta dash before we get too carried away.”

“See you around?”

Peter watch you stand up as he stuffs the last of his french toast, you shrugged and send him a wink.

“Dunno, depends on how good your spidey senses are.”

Peter accepts your challenge silently, knowing you were making a jest him stalking you. He doesn’t push it past you because he knows you’re already softening.

After all, he’s got you to laugh two nights in a row.

Tagged: @locke-writes @yesthetrashbin @blackirisposts @idwithoutthesuperego @screamingmuffinsunite @fifi550 @vydante @batfam16 @kpopchangedmylifesstuff @chaotictyler @delphicillusion @daeshaunex2 @spideylovin @lewi-black @hey-cigasrette @vances-violets

Wanna be tagged for the next parts, message me! I just tagged the people who responded their interest, want your name off, again, just message me!

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x male!reader #andante andante #x male reader #Avengers #avengers imagine

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fromcrossroadstoking · 4 years

Text

Liebgott and the Accident

Part 6 of Welcome to the 5061st

Tags: @gottapenny @itisjustmethistime @indigosandviolets @scarecrowmax

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

August 3rd, 0900

When Liebgott received his draft letter, he had pictured himself with a gun in his hand, fighting his way through mud, defending the lives of his fellow soldiers, and sleeping in foxholes.

Skip forward about a year and here he was, washing down the back of the ambulance that he drove.

He dumped another bucket of water, rinsing away the last of the soap and blood.

The ambulance needed a cleaning almost daily and it was Liebgott`s least favorite part of his job. There was something deeply unsettling about seeing blood pooled on the floor and sometimes even splattered on the walls.

Hopping out of the back of the ambulance, Liebgott began putting away the cleaning supplies, humming quietly to himself as he worked.

"What song is that?"

"What?" Liebgott turned to look at Sisk who was busy working on the jeep currently parked next to Liebgott`s ambulance.

"The song you're humming? What is it?"

"Oh, nothin'. Just a tune I made up," Liebgott shrugged nonchalantly and placed the jug of soap back up on the shelf. Turning back around, he headed over to the jeep, hopped up in one of the seats and rested his feet on the dash.

"This gonna be up and runnin' anytime soon?"

Sisk looked up from where he was working on the engine, rubbing the back of his neck, which was becoming increasingly sore.

"Hope so."

Sisk suddenly froze as his eyes spotted something a few feet away, huddled against the wall of their makeshift vehicle bay.

"Hey, isn't that Mr. Scruffy?"

Liebgott craned his neck to look where Sisk was pointing.

"Hey! Yeah!" Liebgott jumped out of the jeep and made his way over to the bunny.

"Don`t scare it Lieb. Luz will lose it if Mr. Scruffy runs off for good."

Liebgott crouched down as low as possible and held out his hand as he slowly moved forward, making cooing sounds. The bunny didn't come any closer but it didn't run away either, so Liebgott figured that was something.

"Hey," Liebgott spoke loud enough for Sisk to hear but low enough to not startle Mr. Scruffy, "Get me a box or somethin' to put him in." There was a quiet shuffling sound as Sisk found a crate and brought it over.

By now, Liebgott was mere inches from the bunny and decided it was high time to strike. He reached out as fast as he could, grabbed Mr. Scruffy, hurriedly put him in the crate, and placed a piece of scrap wood on top to keep him inside. Liebgott straightened back up, a proud smile on his face, "Am I good or what?"

Just then, Roe appeared in the opening to the vehicle bay.

"Hey Doc," Liebgott nodded in greeting, "What can we help you with?"

"Either of you seen Mr. Scruffy? We cant find him anywhere and Luz is gettin' real worried." Roe`s brow was furrowed with concern, the look accentuated by the dark rings under his eyes. Liebgott couldn't help but note that Roe, who just got out of an eighteen hour shift in the OR, was giving up precious sleep to help Luz look for his bunny.

Maybe me and Grant ain`t the only ones around here...

"Well, it`s your lucky day, Doc! I just happened to catch Mr. Scruffy right before you came in," Liebgott picked up the crate and handed it over to Roe, "All yours!"

Roe`s face lit up like a kid at Christmas, "Thanks, Liebgott. I owe you one." And with that Roe turned and hurried off to reunite Luz with his beloved pet.

August 7th, 1500

The rain hadn't stopped in days. Neither had the wounded. Liebgott lost count of how many trips he made between the line and the 5061st. He was exhausted to his core.

Which probably explained why, when meeting up with Grant in their usual spot, he fell asleep just as Grant began to trail kisses down his throat. Grant sighed, grabbed their blanket, and covered the two of them up as he laid down next to Lieb on their makeshift bed. Curling himself around Lieb, he figured he might as well get some rest too.

August 8th, 2200

It was pitch black out and the rain was coming down hard. The visibility was some of the worst it had ever been as Liebgott tried his best to drive quickly back to the 5061st. He could hear the cries of pain from the back of the ambulance, which made him push the ambulance to speeds that probably weren't the safest under these conditions.

The ambulance rattled as it flew down the winding dirt road. Liebgott was squinting, trying to see what was up ahead through the downpour.

Just a few more minutes and we`ll have made it.

There was small feeling of relief, knowing that he was so close to making it back, but just as he felt himself relax just the tiniest bit, he lost control of the ambulance.

August 9th, 1400

When Liebgott woke up, he was laying in a hospital bed. It took a moment for his senses to come back and for his mind to kick back in gear.

"Well, it`s about time."

Liebgott turned his head and his eyes landed on Grant, perched in a seat next to his bed.

"The fuck happened?"

"You crashed. Right in to a tree."

"Oh." As that night slowly came back to him, something caught in his throat, "The guys in the back? They okay?"

"Yeah, Lieb. They're fine. You weren't far from camp. Close enough that Lip heard the crash. Docs were there in an instant."

Liebgott felt immediately relieved and said a silent prayer of thanks.

August 12th, 1000

Although not seriously injured, Liebgott was still laid up in the hospital for a few days. Thankfully, Grant kept him company, spending all his free time sitting in the hospital by Liebgott`s side. They talked, played cards and dice, and read comics. Truth be told, Liebgott was actually rather enjoying the monopoly he currently held on Grant`s time.

When Grant wasn't there (he did still have duties to attend to after all) Liebgott spent the majority of his time people watching. He had never really spent time in the hospital before, he usually just dropped wounded off and took off again, so it was interesting to watch how the whole thing worked.

Roe and Spina seemed to be the favorite docs by far. Speirs was just a bit too intimidating to be a people person and his bedside manner needed some serious work. But Liebgott wasn't going to be the one to tell him that.

The patients themselves were an interesting mix. Some were in far better spirits than others. The patient to Liebgott`s immediate right was definitely part of the latter group. The docs could barely even get him to eat. But honestly, it was better than being next to the cheery son of a bitch a few beds down who kept singing to “brighten everyone`s moods”.

There had been someone on Liebgott`s other side only for about a day before the other man was shipped off to Tokyo General. Since then, Grant usually plopped himself down in that bed when he came to visit.

Luz also seemed to visit quite a bit, which was interesting since he wasn't a part of the medical staff or visiting a patient. Out of boredom, Liebgott started keeping a running tally in his head of how many times Luz dropped by the hospital.

As Luz made his third trip of the day, Liebgott called out, "Hey Luz! You forget where your office was?"

"Ha ha, Lieb. Just need to see Roe about some paperwork, you know, because I have a job to do, unlike some of us who get to hang out in bed all day." Luz grinned as he made the friendly jab at Liebgott.

"Fuck you Luz. Don`t be jealous that I get to spend all day with Doc." Liebgott smirked as he winked at Luz. Luz flipped him off and went on his way to find Roe.

August 15th, 0800

Liebgott could not have been happier the day he was finally allowed out of the hospital. Or he was happy. Until he saw his ambulance.

"Oh fuck. Shit. Fuck."

"Yeah, sorry Lieb, I`m not going to be able to fix that. New one is on the way though," Sisk gave Liebgott an apologetic smile.

"What am I supposed to drive until then?!"

Sisk shrugged, "You're out of commission. Think of it as a little vacation I guess."

August 19th, 1300

Liebgott did his best to enjoy his "little vacation" but he ended up so bored he could practically feel his brain melting. So when his shiny new ambulance arrived Liebgott was over the moon happy.

Well, ok, it wasn't exactly shiny and it was definitely not new, but in Liebgott`s eyes at that moment it was the best damn thing he had ever seen.

"Congrats, Lieb. Just be a little more careful this time, yeah?" Grant reached over and gave Liebgott`s hand a quick squeeze, letting go before anyone could notice.

"Yeah, yeah," Liebgott gave Grant a reassuring smile, "Don`t worry, I`m a great driver! It was just one little accident!"

Grant rolled his eyes and Liebgott bumped his shoulder against Grant`s.

Liebgott couldn't wait to get back behind the wheel.

#Welcome to the 5061st #joe liebgott #band of brothers #band of brothers fanfiction #band of brothers fanfic #i wrote a thing

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cheshiresense · 5 years

Note

in the ura + ichi time travel au kaien was (understandably) concerned that ichigo suddenly started hanging out with kisuke. what would kaien's opinion of ichigo and aizen hanging out be, though? since aizen was a generally well liked person back then and all that. would kaien see aizen as a good influence on ichigo or do you think he would be more reserved about it?

@yoshifics @bewarethemandragora @runeofluna @selenedreamwalker @hypnos28 @verticallychallengedintrovert @fandommaniac2401 @lovingempress @cynthia-of-the-wallflowers @shadowsofmoonracer @pairp @warriorofbooks @charlottedabookworm @lyra689 @sheyrenawyrsabane @sora-the-empress @xadriannax @yumeniai @arrysa @lirial89-fanfiction @skysong246 @caiahat @grimreaper19 @arosethornbyanyothername @mtkiseki @kaminoko-x @nesskyru @tatarako @parklena42 @zibeth-a @aerdnanocte @timegrenades @healingmichiko @shiko-rae @soraofmelody @fandoms-make-the-world-go-round @north-peach @yannilicious @wolfsrainrules @franticchanges @tremendouslyminiaturequeen @nesomoxian @snowspine @helix-security @ciesste @skyrel @moon6shadow-main @naramyon @presumenothing @miralifox @nonbinary-hawke @dejunco @yuzukimist @raz-ia @13oddballbooks @soundofwonderland @ryuutsuki-kun @alyss-spazz-penedo @jaryushu @lolibat @echonekochan

…I accidentally shoehorned Shinji into this whoops.

Anyway, you mean in the Aizen&Ichigo time travel verse right? Hmm well I know I dropped several hints in SP of Kaien (and a few others) knowing that there was something not-good up with Aizen, but canonically speaking, literally nobody except Shinji ever suspected him, so I think in this verse, I’m going to go with Kaien being one of the many who think that Aizen is just a reliable Shinigami and a generally upstanding guy. He doesn’t hero-worship him like the younger/lower-ranking Shinigami but he respects Aizen as a fellow lieutenant and the Fifth was really lucky to manage nabbing him for their squad.

So here, Kaien couldn’t prevent Ichigo from joining the Twelfth under that Very Suspicious Character Urahara (and he soon learns the impossibility that is trying to prevent Ichigo from doing anything he sets his mind to), so he’s relieved when word gets around that even after graduation, Ichigo still spends time with that Fifth Division lieutenant/part-time teacher because it means he has some regular Good Influence in his life. The Soul King knows Ichigo doesn’t spend much time with anyone else, doesn’t seem to have any close friends from his year in the Academy either or even just squadmates he can grab drinks with, so Kaien’s glad his cousin has at least one person he seems to like enough to hang out with, even if a friendship between a fresh graduate and a lieutenant is rather odd. Aizen doesn’t seem to mind either, which is also a bit of a shock because for all that the man has a reputation for helping students and subordinates alike, Kaien’s never heard of him spending time outside of work and teaching spars and classes with one. And as far as Kaien knows, he doesn’t think Aizen has any friends he hangs out with either. He’s polite and relatively friendly when he speaks to any of his colleagues, but it’s always work work work for that man. Kaien doesn’t know how he does it.

Still, he appreciates the time Aizen is taking out of his schedule these days to meet up with Ichigo for meals. On occasion, they can even be seen walking together back to their respective divisions. It’s odd, but it’s also pretty clear they’re friends, and so of course, when New Year’s swings around, Kaien wastes no time extending an invitation to Aizen as well to attend the Shibas’ annual celebrations.

He’s not surprised when Aizen - politely - turns him down. He seems that kind of guy. So Kaien moves on to Plan B - he goes to Ichigo, expounds on the elaborate festivities that will be taking place at the party, waxes poetic about how disappointed everyone will be if Ichigo can’t come, and then drops an offhand mention of how he’d tried to invite Ichigo’s friend Aizen too just so Ichigo would have someone he knew with him, not to mention Aizen doesn’t seem to have anyone to celebrate with anyway, but the lieutenant had turned him down.

Ichigo is fuming and scowling and looks about two seconds away from depriving the Thirteenth of their lieutenant, and Kaien very carefully does not show his glee as Ichigo shouts, “We’re not friends!”, looking appalled for some reason, before storming off, and Kaien can feel his reiatsu signature heading directly for the Fifth Division compound.

Mission accomplished.

(“And I should attend this function with you because…?” Aizen enquires, raising a delicately skeptical eyebrow.

Ichigo glowers at everything. “Well I’m not going alone. Kaien said they’re gonna be partying all night. I’m not suffering through that on my own!”

“Then turn the invitation down.”

“I can’t do that! Kuukaku apparently already told everyone I’ll be going, and Kaien said the kids are all looking forward to meeting me properly!”

Aizen’s other eyebrow joins his first, and he could not look more judgemental if he tried. “That still does not explain why I have to go. The fact that you are a pushover for small children is entirely your own fault.”

Ichigo reminds himself that he cannot actually reach across the table and strangle the bastard, no matter how much he wants to. He tries changing tactics instead. “Come on, it’s not like you have anything to do anyway-”

“On the contrary, I have a new book I wish to-”

“-and Kaien told me he invited you too so obviously you’ll also be expected to show up, and I’m not gonna quit badgering you about it until you agree!”

Aizen’s brow crinkles ever so slightly at the mention of Kaien. “Hm, well-played,” He murmurs, but before Ichigo can ask what he means, he continues smoothly, “I have already turned him down, so your argument is invalid. No one will be expecting me, and even if they will be, unlike you,” He beams like the super creepy virtuous Shinigami almost everyone thinks he is, which never fails to make Ichigo cringe. “I do not care in the slightest.”

Ichigo twitches before crossing his arms so that he’s less tempted to do something rash. “Well too bad! You still owe me for being evil and stalker-y, so suck it up and pick out a nice outfit because you’re going even if I have to drag you there!”

Aizen sighs long-sufferingly. “Exactly how long do you plan on trying to hold that over my head, Ichigo-kun?”

“Forever,” Ichigo retorts. “Now are you coming or are we gonna throw down over this?”

Aizen levels a flat look on him. Ichigo glares back. The two of them remain in stubborn silence for several minutes, and eventually it’s Ichigo who cracks because Aizen is a heartless monster with unrepentant stalker tendencies.

“Fine,” Ichigo huffs. “How ‘bout I show you a reishi trick I figured out recently?” Something like interest sparks in Aizen’s eyes. So predicable. “I’ve been experimenting. It’s not something I ever saw Yhwach or any of his minions do, or even Ishida or his dad, so it’s probably not something you know. But only if you come with me to the party. I’ll show you afterewards.”

Aizen watches him for a moment longer before a smirk curls at one corner of his mouth. “You’re learning.” Then he sighs, way too dramatically in Ichigo’s opinion. “Very well, but if it is something I already know, then you’ll owe me three months of manual labour in the form of paperwork. Agreed?”

Ichigo makes a face. “What? No way! One month at most.”

“Two.”

“One and one week and no more, asshole. I swear to god I am not above kicking your extortioning ass across Seireitei if you try to up that! Besides, I’m pretty sure you don’t know what I’ll be showing you anyway so it’s a pointless bargain.”

Aizen looks amused now. “Then it should hardly matter.”

Ichigo scowls. “It’s the principle of the matter. Well?”

Aizen inclines his head. “I agree to these terms. What time is this celebration?”

Ichigo grins, triumphant.)

Kaien cackles like a supervillain when he gets - very grudging - confirmation that both Ichigo and Aizen would be attending the New Year celebrations at the Shiba compound.

Fast forward a few weeks and Shinji narrowly avoids spraying tea all over Ukitake when Kaien strides back in to the dining hall and announces his cousin and Aizen Sousuke’s presence, both of whom enter behind the clan head, one with a scowl, the other with a cordial smile. They get seated between Kaien and Kuukaku, across from Shinji, Kyouraku, and Ukitake, and for a moment, Shinji’s gaze meet his lieutenant’s.

“Good evening, Taichou,” Aizen greets him, mild as milk, but even though his expression is perfectly calm, there’s something about it anyway that makes Shinji think he’s probably laughing on the inside.

“Sou-chan, what a surprise,” Shinji sighs and goes about refilling his cup. He needs way more sake than what’s on the table to survive the rest of this night.

They don’t really talk for the rest of the party. They’ve never really had casual conversations before. Even Shinji’s regular teasing when it comes to Aizen is at least partly to try and get a rise out of his frustratingly secretive lieutenant. And as long as Shinji’s known him, Aizen’s never really been one for celebrations. He attends captain/lieutenant functions when it’s required of him, and even then he only stays just long enough that it wouldn’t be rude when he excuses himself. He never goes out for drinks or meals, and he definitely never goes out with anyone just for fun.

Until Shiba Ichigo of course. Shinji still doesn’t know how those two work.

But, he soon realizes, the party is a perfect excuse to subtly observe them in a public setting, and that brightens his mood exponentially.

And what he observes…

It’s… odd, their interactions, which Shinji already knew from glimpses of them at the Fifth. But that was a work setting, and this isn’t, and that apparently makes a lot of difference. Or maybe it’s just that they’ve gotten closer since the last time Shinji saw them.

Even at the more casual captain/lieutenant get-togethers, Shinji recalls, Aizen stayed on the sidelines, in the background. He spoke when spoken to, and he kept any conversation going effortlessly, never dominating and always making the other party feel like he was interested in whatever topic they’d struck up even though Shinji is certain that couldn’t be farther from the truth. But he never really engaged other people of his own volition, and no matter how polite, it always felt - at least to Shinji - that he couldn’t wait to leave and get away from the annoyances that kept him from attending to whatever it was he was doing behind Shinji’s back.

He doesn’t do that here, doesn’t stay on the outside. Or rather, Ichigo won’t let him. When Kaien drags Ichigo into a conversation, Ichigo drags Aizen right along wtih him, and that wouldn’t be so jarring, but then some of the younger Shiba children shyly sidle up and ask to play tag with their newest cousin, and Ichigo folds like wet paper and agrees, but he also invites Aizen, who protests and is promptly ignored, and Shinji is treated to the mind-boggling sight of Aizen awkwardly - as awkward as Shinji’s ever seen him - playing tag with a bunch of children.

Surely he’s woken up in a parallel universe without realizing earlier?

Then there’s the fireworks display, and Ichigo drags Aizen off to show him how to set off a bunch of them. There’s desserts passed around, and Ichigo looks positively mournful when he’s too slow to get any of the kagami mochi before they’re all gone. Shinji almost chokes on his own taiyaki when Aizen visibly smirks at Ichigo, even taunting the kid with his own dessert, but after a round of mocking and scowl-pouting, the man also sighs before shoving his own plate of mochi at Ichigo and snags Ichigo’s leftover dango instead. Ichigo immediately brightens, and although his scowl never leaves his face, he somehow looks years younger with how ridiculously happy he is about a simple dessert.

And when even Aizen looks like he can’t take anymore socializing after the twelfth time someone accosts him for chitchat, Ichigo whisks him off somewhere, and Shinji doesn’t see them again until he catches their silhouettes on the roof as the night sky lights up with Kuukaku’s personal fireworks finale.

It’s… odd. Shinji can’t really find any other word for it, and by the time he takes his leave, the interactions he’s seen weigh on him more than he’s comfortable with.

These days, it feels like the Aizen Sousuke he’s always known was a completely different man from this one. Then of course, when he’s not interacting with Ichigo, he’s exactly like the man Shinji’s always known - polite and friendly and so utterly fake that it makes Shinji wonder if his colleagues are all brain-dead for not noticing.

Aizen looks at the world like he’s above it all, or maybe like he’s simply indifferent to everything, Shinigami and the Gotei and Soul Society alike.

But he looks at Ichigo like he’s actually seeing a person, and that perhaps is the biggest reason why Shinji cannot reconcile the two versions of his lieutenant.

He’s never known Aizen Sousuke to care about anyone. And Shinji’s not certain what to do about it now that he does.

Unbeknownst to Shinji, Kaien observes them too, and unlike Shinji, he likes what he sees. It’s odd, yes - Shinigami fresh out of school and even just lower-ranked ones in general simply don’t interact with their higher-ups in so familiar a manner. But Ichigo’s always been odd all on his own, and they’re not even part of the same division so nobody can call favouritism anyway, and so long as Ichigo’s fine with it, that’s all Kaien cares about.

He sees everything Shinji does tonight, and it lifts a weight from his shoulders. He’d been worried about his long-lost cousin, uncomfortable amongst family, and too strong to make friends easily at the Academy. Depending on Urahara to look out for his newest subordinate is laughable at best, and Kaien knows better than anyone that Shibas aren’t meant to be isolated. Ichigo’s introverted and a private person in general, but he’s not so different when it comes down to it. At the very least, he doesn’t seem as stressed compared to the first several months he first came into Kaien’s life, and Kaien doesn’t think he’s wrong when he contributes part of that to the Fifth Division lieutenant.

And Aizen too… well, it’s harder to tell with him. But he treats Ichigo like a friend, occasionally indulgent in a way that’s actually not unlike the way Kaien would treat a younger sibling himself, and that’s something Kaien’s never seen Aizen do with anyone else. Sure, he indulges students when they want his attention, and lower-ranked Shinigami when they want his advice, but there’s always a line in the sand with them, one he never toes. He makes himself approachable and likeable with them, and half of them go away nursing crushes.

He’s not like that with Ichigo. He doesn’t make himself anything, as far as Kaien can see. No gentle smiles anywhere. Mostly just smirks that borderline nasty, but flashes of exasperated fondness too. He’s just himself, and Ichigo takes it in stride, and maybe that’s why they’re friends.

It’s odd. But Kaien can’t complain when Ichigo’s happier these days, and he makes a mental note himself to catch Aizen later and tell him he’s welcome back to the Shiba compound anytime.

#myscrap #ichigo & aizen time travel verse #aizen sousuke #kurosaki ichigo #shiba kaien #hirako shinji #bleach #anonymous #msg #Headcanon

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fallen029 · 4 years

Text

Infirmary Blues

He was in a foul mood.

The Thunder Legion all thought it to be directed towards them.

"As well it should be," Freed scolded the other two though, truly, his words cut himself more to the core than it did either of them. "It is the fault of no other than ours that Laxus is...that he is..."

Going to be okay, Mirajane and Kinana had assured them all, in the upstairs infirmary, where he'd been taken upon arriving back from his ill fated misadventure with his very loyal followers. Wendy came up as well, to tentatively test out some of her medical related magic, but honestly, there wasn't much anyone can do for Laxus.

"You need rest," Wendy offered softly to which the slayer growled, rather deeply, scaring the poor girl and getting the condemnation of most his guild mates. But Laxus hardly cared for them. For any of them.

But when he shoved up to hobble down the stairs from the second floor and then, hopefully, make it back to his apartment, his grandfather put a stop to that. The slight man ordered Laxus to rest up his leg, at least for the night, and to allow Mirajane and Kinana to tend to his bandages. Then he clapped Wendy on the shoulder, thanked her for all her hard work, and went back downstairs to resume nap- err, meditating atop the bar.

Yes.

Meditating.

The injuries really weren't that graphic and hardly anything of concern for the slayer, but he did have numerous ailments and though he wanted to defy the old man, Mirajane had brought him over something to drink only moments before and wow, why was it suddenly so dark? Were his eyes closed?

Oh.

Fucking she-devil.

After adequately sedating the grouch, Mirajane only instructed the others to let themselves be looked over. Though the trio refuted claims of being injured at all, Mirajane still made them go downstairs to have Wendy look them over, leaving Laxus alone to rest.

The next time the most volatile slayer awoke it was dark and the guildhall felt still for once. Not like any way Laxus typically experienced it. He was groggy still, as he blinked thick sleep from his eyes, and slightly confused as to his surroundings. All it took was one attempt at moving his legs and oh, yeah, fuck, he got all fucked up out on a job, huh?

"Easy, dragon," he heard from the doorway where, at the sound of his waking, someone was coming up from the downstairs. "I didn't give you anything for the pain."

"I don't fucking need something for the pain," he grumbled as Mirajane, who fucking else, came in with her dumb smile and stupid blue eyes and he hated it. He fucking hated it. There they were, assumably all alone in the hall for once, with one another for once, and he was too fucking angry at anything that moved to put any on the woman. "I need to go home."

"You need to check your tone," was all she ordered right back, her bubbly one absent at the lack of other's present. He imagined this was the one she used to keep two younger siblings in line all those years it was on the three of them.

The three of them.

"How are we alone?" he grumbled as, letting his eyes slip shut once more, he only fell back into the bed. The only magical power he felt at the moment belonged to the woman and, as she went over to one of the cabinets and began to pull out an assortment of items, it was the absence of three others that he felt the most severely.

"It took some doing," Mirajane admitted. "For one, Wendy felt like she'd failed, since you barked at her and wanted to stick around and prove herself-"

"I didn't...bark at the kid."

"Well, dragons don't bark, so I guess you must have...roared?"

"Mirajane-"

"You were rude," she told him bluntly then, ruse dropped. "She's trying very hard to fill Porlyusica's shoes and it doesn't help when you act that way." But then, as she turned to face him, it was with a sigh on her lips. "Kinana wasn't easy to get rid of either though. She didn't wanna leave me alone with you, since you were in such a mood. And your grandfather felt the same way. But I only assured them that I actually needed to be alone, because it's the only way that I can handle handle arithmetic and someone really does need to go over the budget for the year and… Then Lisanna wanted to stay up here and deal with you, while I stayed downstairs and dealt with that, but luckily Lucy… Lucy knows that we're… I told her, before about… So she convinced Lisanna to go hang out with her and Cana tonight, because they're going to-"

"Where," he finally cut her off, opening his eyes to meet hers when she arrived at the side of his cot, "are the Thunder Legion?"

"You scared them off."

"No way."

"They think," Mira told him and her tone was different now, not an out right dressing down, but rather the implication of one, "that it's their fault that you're injured."

"Bullshit."

"Watch your mouth."

"Mirajane-"

"You're the one that told them that. Or at least that's what Freed told me. He, Evergreen, and Bickslow are very upset."

"'bout what?" he grumbled then. "I'm hardly even injured."

She only shrugged. "You tell me."

Without much prodding, he sat up then, to allow the woman to begin unraveling the gauze adorning his chest. Not looking at her, he only said, "I wasn't upset with them."

"You got carried in her by Freed and Bickslow cursing and-"

"I was upset," he cut her off, "with myself. I was angry at myself. I'm the one that should have gotten the job done. It was my fault. I'm the S-Class wizard. I have to be the one on top of my game. And I fucked it up."

Silence hung over them then, as Mira set to work checking and taking care of his wounds while Laxus brooded silently now, in better check of his emotions with the passage of time. Eventually though, as Mirajane motioned for him to sit on the edge of the bed, so she could look at his knee, he let out a long sigh.

"Is it bad?"

"Just bruised. I had ice on it earlier for you." Looking up at him then as she bent before him, she asked, "What happened?"

"Don't you know?"

"I know what they said. But I'd like to hear what you have to say."

Instead of answering then, Laxus look passed her, glaring over at an empty cot as he said, "I'm hungry."

"That stinks."

"Mirajane-"

"The kitchen is closed, Lax."

His glare turned to her then. "I thought that you were supposed to be taking care of me?"

"Oh, dragon, hush. You know I'm going to make you something."

"How should I know that?"

"Don't get an attitude with me." Rising once more, she put a hand on her hip and raised a finger to wag in his face. As Laxus only blink, she added, "I'm not like your friends; I won't sit around feeling awful just to make you feel better. You had a bad job. It happens. Getting all down on yourself won't make it any better."

His gaze was downright smoldering now and neither said much to the other before she disappeared out of the infirmary, off to fix him something quick to eat, no doubt. Laxus only took to crossing his arms over his chest, disgruntled and now severely put out. If his knee wasn't fucking killing him so badly, he might have hobbled on back to his apartment.

And…

If Mira wasn't there to take care of him.

Even upset with one another, he knew where his bread was buttered.

Quite literally in this situation.

He was in no better mood when Mirajane returned with his plate and she only sighed some, as she sat it in his lap with a kiss to the cheek. He grunted something close to a thanks, perhaps, but just as quickly, she disappeared out of the room once more and honestly, he thought she'd just let him stew himself back to sleep. She actually seemed worried about the budget or whatever. More so than him at least.

And it wasn't like he thought he deserved her concern. He'd been injured far worse over the years. Even in the past one in which they'd begun tentatively dating under their guild's nose, he'd experienced far worse.

But this felt different somehow for some reason and though he knew there was no way she could place it exactly, certainly knew it himself.

"I know you're not always in the mood for it, but I thought that this might brighten your mood a bit. Or at leas help you drift off, after your meal." Mirajane smiled at him, when she came back into the room, her guitar in one hand. "Only if you want, I mean."

This got a shrug from the man and some more grunting, while Mirajane only smiled easily, all slights forgiven. Just like that. Taking a seat on the cot beside his, she took to strumming and humming and Laxus didn't want to admit it.

Everything was always so hard to admit for him.

Even things that he reconciled with, he liked to only admit to himself and just himself, where he could slowly forget about them as they were buried beneath new and more concerning revelations about himself.

But that's not how things were supposed to be anymore. At least that's what Mirajane told him, when they'd lie together in bed at night. It was just as rare for her, she told him, that she felt this way about someone.

"So open," she'd say as she stroked his chest and Laxus hated it, but…

It was just too easy to talk to her.

About everything.

They didn't get to spend much time together, less, even, than if they weren't actively attempting to hide their relationship. But when they were together, he just felt…

Mira was nice. And sweet. Which was actually hard to get used to. But she was also understanding of the many woes of a high class wizard as well as the typical childhood trauma that seemed mostly customary with being a Fairy Tail mage. It was easy to tell her about things he'd rather not let out because Mira got it.

Really, she did.

And even when she didn't, well, she had things that she couldn't tell others too easily either. What she really thought about all the drunks and drama up at the hall, how underappreciated she felt at times and under utilized.

Their connection never felt forced and, as he sat on the cot that very late night, he eventually found himself letting out a long breath he didn't realize he was harboring.

"I'm supposed to look out for them," he told her softly as Mirajane only continued to play and home, though her eyes did lift up to stare over at him. "Freed can hold his own, of course, and Ever and Bickslow are plenty strong, but… When things go to shit, it's on me. I shouldn't have gone off on my own. That's what I did. I went off to track a guy on my own and left them to handle something that was above their pay grade. I took them out on an S-Class job and just left them, to deal with something on their own. And by the time I got back to them, things were just… I could have gone on. You know. Finished things. But they were getting away and Freed was worried about some of my wounds and I just… Caring about other people's so fucking hard."

Her eyes drifted slowly away and, as her humming stopped, her strumming continued around her words.

"You know," she told him softly, "I did go on a pretty bad S-Class job myself. Once."

And Laxus paled.

"M-Mirajane, I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, dragon." Then she sighed. "Now, I guess it really is okay. Considering everything. But… You love them like I love my siblings, you know? Don't you?"

Snorting that time, his pale flesh turned more into a flush as he muttered, "I dunno about that."

"I do."

"Mira-"

"You did what you had to do," she told him simply then. "To protect your friends. Your best friends." That time, her hum was more mocking as she added, "Your only friends."

"You're a crummy nurse."

"And you need to stop sulking." Her strumming stopped then as she spoke to him truthfully. "You know as well as I do that sometimes you retreat and come back to something later. Once you're all healed up, you're going to go back out on that job and finish it. Aren't you? I've never known my dragon to be a quitter."

"I'm not one."

"Then get better and get back out there. You whiner."

That time he only rolled his eyes while Mirajane grinned over at him fully.

"It's hard being the older sibling," she assured him. "Looking out for everyone. It never gets easier. It just… You get used to it."

But Laxus was tired, so tired, of many things. Including on dwelling on the (extremely recent) past. Eyes drooping shut then, he remarked, "I always thought staying the night with you here, all alone, in the hall would be different."

"Different?"

"That we'd fuck," he told her with the same bluntness she'd told him to stop being such a drag, but with much more vulgarity. And with that, Mirajane was jumping up, a frown on her face, to go retrieve his plate and, finally, get back to work on that budget issue.

"Go to sleep, dragon," she offered simply as she left him alone with his thoughts. "You gotta get strong again, don't you? So you can show out for your friends? Not to mention apologize to them in the morning."

He didn't verbalize it (he was practically snoozing once more anyways), but yeah. He did.

#Miraxus #Mirajane Strauss #Laxus Dreyar #Laxus #Mirajane #Mira #Fairy Tail #Fanfiction

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breanime · 5 years

Text

Rewrite the Stars (Part Three)

This part is a little long, but I hope you enjoy it. We finally get to meet Adeline (who I know you’re all gonna LOVE)! Comments are appreciated! (Also, that gif if totally how Caspian looks at the reader)

*gif not mine*

You woke up before dawn and headed down to the port. You personally made sure Adeline Clearwater’s rooms were in perfect order. You also spent a few hours to double check the sails, stock rooms, and spent some time polishing the wood on the hull. It was like you were operating on instinct rather than actual thought or consciousness. You waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. If Lord Drinian was surprised to see you, he didn’t show it. Reepicheep raised an eyebrow as he approached you, standing on a ledge of the ship.

He sighed. “Another restless night, dear one?”

You shrugged. “I’m fine.” Both of you looked up when you heard a horn sound close by.

Caspian’s carriage was pulling up, surrounded by your fellow kingsguard. You should have been a part of his escort, but you figured your efforts were better served at the dock. You watched, silent and still, as Caspian stepped out of the carriage. His hair was pulled back and he was wearing a burgundy shirt that flapped in the breeze and a pair of dark slacks. He held his hand out and helped a woman in a gorgeous gold dress out of the carriage. She bowed her thanks and stepped back. He then helped another woman out—and it dawned on you that it was Lady Clearwater in the golden dress, which meant the other one was…

…Adeline Clearwater was wearing a light blue dress that was far too puffy to make maneuvering on a boat easy, and some very high glass heels. She was effortlessly beautiful, with thick red hair that fell down her back in curls and big blue eyes. She sent Caspian a dazzling smile as he spoke with her mother. She didn’t walk so much as float, and you couldn’t take your eyes off of her—although you were partly staring to avoid having to look at Caspian.

“I hope these next few days go by quickly,” Reep said under his breath next to you, “I don’t fancy having to play delivery-boy.”

“Few days?” You turned to him. “This voyage should take at least a few weeks, Reep.”

“The voyage, yes,” he answered, “but we are to drop Lady Clearwater off before we really get into our course. She is going to her uncle’s island for a visit.”

Hm. “So she isn’t staying long? Or—is King Caspian leaving with her?” You asked.

“We’re just dropping her off,” Reepicheep replied, “This is just an excuse for her to spend more time with the lad.”

You nodded, taking what Reep said in silence. “I’m going below deck,” you said, slinging a pack of rope over your shoulder.

Reep made an affirmative noise, and you moved to get away from Caspian and Adeline when you heard a feminine voice say: “A woman?”

You turned to see Caspian walking Adeline up the steps and onto the ship. He had her hand tucked into his arm, and she was smiling, wide-eyed as she looked over at you. Truly, they were a stunning couple.

“This is Lady Y/N,” Caspian said, staring over at you, “She is a part of my kingsguard and a gifted sailor.”

You stared at Adeline. Were you supposed to bow or kiss her hand? “Good morning, Lady Clearwater,” you said, trying not to sound too awkward.

“Oh, please,” she smiled sweetly, “call me Adeline. I don’t even let my own servants call me Lady Clearwater.”

You tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace. Her own servants, huh? So what did that make you? “Yes, well, your rooms are all ready, Lady… Adeline. I hope they are to your liking.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” Caspian said. You still wouldn’t look at him. It hurt too much.

“Could you be a dear and bring my things to my room?” Adeline asked you. She looked up at Caspian with hearts in her eyes. “This is my first time sailing so far away. I fear I may have brought too much. I may have to make use of your rooms, Caspian.”

You had absolutely no desire in unpacking that sentence or unpacking her things. “I’m going below deck,” you announced, turning and practically running away before anyone could say anything to you. You felt Caspian’s eyes on your back, but made an effort not to turn back to confirm the validity of that feeling.

You spent the rest of the morning avoiding Adeline and Caspian. You made sure to be on the other side of the ship when you set sail and busied yourself with helping the men as the day went on. It was a beautiful day to sail, but the sun and soft sound of the waves hitting the hull did nothing to brighten your mood. You went about the motions, fulfilled your duties, but you didn’t feel the same sense of pride or accomplishment in it that you usually did. Instead, you felt lonely and hollow. You were the one who’d made the decision to reject Caspian—more than once—and you knew that your reasons were valid, but… Seeing him with Adeline on his arm had been far more painful than you’d imagined it would be. How could you stomach seeing that for the next few days? Or even worse: the next few years if Caspian decided to take her as his wife, his queen…

…you barely slept a wink that night.

You woke up early the next day, tired and sad, and made your way to the deck. Hardly anyone else was up, and no one seemed to be in a talking mood, which you were grateful for. You stood off to the side and stared out into the ocean. The water looked warm and inviting. The waves lapped against the side of the ship and you closed your eyes, letting the sound calm you. Before you knew it, you had made this your morning habit. Every day you woke up early and stared out into the sea.

You loved the ocean. You loved being a part of the Kingsguard. You loved… Caspian. But you loved him too much to let him lower himself by being with you; a commoner, a nobody. He deserved better. If you had been born a noblewoman, a princess, someone of worth, you would be with him in a heartbeat. But you weren’t, and so you couldn’t. You wanted to, so badly, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Every day you watched Caspian with Adeline, and every day you thought: now this is what a Queen looks like. You tried to spend as little time as possible around either of them, but of course, you still had to work with Caspian. You kept your interactions with him brief, and tried only to speak with him on professional, official terms. It was hard, and lonely, and Reepicheep kept giving you a strange look—but it was something. Adeline was almost always in view of Caspian; standing beside him as he addressed the crew, smiling up at him as he unfurled the sail, a yard away as he consulted the maps—but Caspian didn’t seem to be paying her much attention. You almost felt sorry for the girl. Almost. Reepicheep was fond of complaining about the fact that she was constantly giving orders. (“Does she think we’re soldiers or staff?” He’d mutter one morning after she’d asked him to grab her cloak from her rooms.) Caspian, for his part, wasn’t a big fan of that habit of hers either, as you’d learned.

“Y/N,” Adeline had said, leaning back from her seat at the table, “Could you fetch me another drink?”

You had just gotten in from fixing an issue with the hull, which meant you were wet and tired and had only come in to grab something to eat when she’d accosted you.

“That is not her job,” Caspian had said, frowning over at Adeline. His voice was firm and you could see the tick of irritation in the set of his jaw.

“Oh,” Adeline floundered, “yes, no, of course not,” she tucked a strand of crimson hair behind her ear and smiled wide, “I was just wondering—”

“—You look exhausted, Y/N,” Caspian said, standing up and pulling out his chair, “Please, sit, have something to eat.” He ushered you into his seat with a smile. You were proud when you just sat without swooning.

“Thank you, my King,” you’d said, voice low and a small smile on your face. Adeline had muttered something under her breath, but you had been too distracted by Caspian’s dark eyes on you to pay her any attention. He had seated himself on the other side of you and watched you, smiling, as you ate from his plate. It had been a strangely intimate moment—even though there had been other people in the room—but it had also been…familiar, and natural. Caspian had started asking you about the waters, which led to you asking him about his favorite part of the voyage so far, which led to him asking you about your favorite part, which became an hour-long discussion. You hadn’t even noticed that some of the others had left the table as you and Caspian talked for what felt like the first time in forever. It was nice, being able to talk with him—you had missed your friend. You had been so engrossed in the conversation that you hadn’t even noticed Adeline leave the table with a huff… but you did notice the huge grin on Reepicheep’s face as he got up and followed her out.

Things had started to fall into a routine after that. You still woke up before anyone else to stare out into the sea, and you still kept a distance between yourself and the King, but you allowed yourself to talk with him, and laugh with him, and bask in the warmth of his smile… You decided to soak it all up while you can.

It was another solitary morning for you as you looked out into the sea, thinking of what you wanted but could never have. You heard Caspian’s voice in your head, telling you those three words, sounding so earnest, so true… But even though Caspian said he wanted to be with you, he was still naïve when it came to the workings of the world. He was the King, he had been born into nobility and status and power, he was favored by Aslan and close with the Kings and Queens of Old—how could he understand that life was not a fairy tale when his practically was since birth?

“Y/N?”

You opened your eyes, but didn’t turn around when you heard Caspian’s voice. You could see a small mass of land surrounded by the light blue waves of the ocean.

“Y/N, are you alright?” You both heard and felt him take a step closer to you.

“There’s an island over there,” you said, looking straight ahead, “It wasn’t on any of our maps.”

Caspian was standing beside you now, and you both looked into the distance. He took out his telescope and peered into it. “So there is,” he handed you the tool and you looked through it as he spoke, “Do you think it’s dangerous?”

You couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on your face. “I hope so.”

Caspian turned to you and grinned. His smile was brighter and more beautiful than any sunrise in Narnia could ever hope to be. “I suppose it would be negligent of us not to go and explore it,” he pocketed the telescope when you handed it back to him, “And put it on the map, of course.”

“Of course,” you agreed, “So should I gather the boys?”

“Actually,” he flexed his hands at his sides, “I think it would be better if we just take a small group.”

You shrugged. “You, me, Reep,” you counted on your fingers, “maybe Silas and Duke. Oh—and Lady Adeline will probably want to come.”

Caspian grimaced. “Yes, she… she probably will.” He cleared his throat. “Y/N, you and I haven’t been able to really talk since—”

“—It’s better that way,” you forced yourself to smile, “I’ll get the boys together,” you tapped on the ledge and stepped back.

“Y/N,” Caspian said, wrapping a hand around your wrist, “Please.” You licked your lips as you turned to him, taking in his wide, dark eyes as he stared at you. “Please.”

You should have moved out of his grip, you should have walked away, but you couldn’t. It had felt like forever since you’d last felt his touch. You couldn’t move—you didn’t want to move. “Please what?” You whispered.

“I don’t want to marry Adeline Clearwater,” he said, eyes boring into yours, “I don’t want to be with her.”

You tried to push the spark of joy that came through you down. You had to be the logical one here. “It’s only been a few days,” you said carefully, “You’re just getting cabin fever.”

“I’ve spent months on the sea with you,” he said back, “and I never got tired of being near you. If anything,” he flexed the hand that wasn’t on your wrist, “If anything, I wanted to be closer to you.”

“You asked her to come here,” you reminded him.

“I only did that because I thought I had no other choice,” he said, shaking his head, “You made it quite clear that you don’t feel the same way about me as I feel about you.”

“I never said that,” you hissed, stepping closer to Caspian, “I said that it wouldn’t work, I said that I could never be with you—”

“—Because I’m the King—”

“—yes, exactly,” you ripped your wrist from his grip, “Look at me, Caspian,” you stepped back and watched his eyes trail over your form, “and then look at Adeline. Can’t you see the difference?”

“Of course I can,” he said softly. You felt your eyes burn. “The difference is that I love you.”

You shook your head slowly, feeling your heart ache with the weight of your love for this man. “Then listen to me,” you commanded him gently, “I…It was never my intention to make you feel unloved Caspian, I don’t want to hurt you,” you sighed, “Because I do love you. I…I have probably loved you for a long time now. But it’s because I love you that I have to step away from you. You are the King, Caspian, the greatest King Narnia has ever seen. Being with me would only drag you down, and I could never allow that.” You wrapped your arms around yourself and took a breath. He was staring at you with wet eyes, and every part of you wanted to pull him into your arms, to take his pain away. But you couldn’t. “You are meant for greatness, Caspian, and I won’t get in the way of that.”

“I was meant for you,” he said, “You’re my destiny, Y/N.”

You closed your eyes, swallowing back the tears. How many times would you have to have this conversation? How many times would you have to break both your hearts?

“Caspian!” You both looked up at Adeline’s voice. She was wearing yet another one of her gorgeous, impractical dresses that was flapping around beautifully in the morning wind. “Why, you’re up early.” She turned a brilliant smile to you. “And Y/N! Good morning.”

You heard Caspian sigh behind you as you discreetly wiped at your eyes. “Good morning,” you said back.

“Caspian,” she chirped, nearly tackling him as she forced her hands around his arm, “I was thinking perhaps you and I could take breakfast in the Captain’s quarters this morning,” she batted her eyes up at him and you felt sick, “just you and I.”

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible,” Caspian said, his voice clear and strong, “Y/N and I are going to explore that island in the distance,” he pointed over his shoulder, “and we really need to be going.” He stepped out of her grasp and held his arm out to you. “Shall we inform Reepicheep of our plans, Y/N?” He smiled softly.

You nodded, taking his arm, and let him lead you away to find Reep. When you turned to glance back at Adeline, she was glaring at you. She was a pretty woman, but you had never seen such an ugly expression on anyone’s face before in your life.

Reepicheep and Lord Drinian were quite pleased with your discovery of the island and decided to send a small group of six to explore it. Caspian, yourself, Reep, two brothers named Nip and Kip, and Lady Adeline gathered small kits and hopped in one of the rafts to sail towards the island. You could have cut the tension with one of Reepicheep’s little knives; Caspian was staring, unabashedly, at you while Adeline was alternating between staring sadly at him or glaring over at you, while you were just trying to row the damn boat while Nip was trying to boast about his first sword fight and Kip rolled his eyes, and Reep was smirking over at you, enjoying the show.

You were relieved when you reached the island. Your legs ached from being in the raft and you were glad to put a little distance between yourself and the others in your party.

“You know, Lady Y/N,” Nip said, sliding over to your side, “I’ve never met a woman like you before.”

“I’m sure you have, Nip,” you said back drily as you looked around the island. There was a small forest that you were itching to go explore.

“But I truly haven’t,” he went on, “I mean, for a woman to be as skilled with a sword as you, and to be such a fine sailor, and—quite frankly—be as beautiful as you are—”

You laughed in his face. What was he talking about? “I’m not the only woman who knows how to wield a sword you know,” you shook your head, “and I won’t be the last.”

“All the same,” he said, grinning over at you, “you certainly are the best lookin’ sailor I’ve ever seen, if you don’t mind me sayin’…”

You laughed again. Nip was barely even a teenager, but he was much more confident and social than his brother. Of course—that didn’t mean his advances would get him anywhere, but you did find his antics amusing. “And how many sailors have you seen, Nip?” You teased.

“Y/N,” Caspian called you, voice deep in the open air on the island. He was glaring when you turned to look at him. “You and I will check the island,” his dark eyes turned to Nip, who visibly shrank beside you, “Nip, you and your brother will set up the camp on the beach.”

“Yes, my King,” Nip said, nearly tripping over his feet as he ran away from you and over to his brother, who was laughing at him.

“And I shall accompany you as well,” Adeline was holding up her skirts as she tried to walk over to where Caspian stood. Her heels were sinking in the sand. “Won’t I, Caspian dear?”

You, Caspian, and Reep all did a communal flinch at her words, but Reep was the one to speak. “The King has asked that you remain on the beach, with Kip, Nip, and myself to ensure your safety.”

You looked over at Caspian, who simply slung his pack over his shoulder. Adeline’s mouth was open in shock when you turned back to look at her. “Oh,” she said, blinking with a blank smile on her face, “But, wouldn’t I be safer with you, Caspian?”

“I think it’s best you stay here,” Caspian answered her, “Y/N and I will be back before dark.” He turned back to you and inclined his head towards the treeline. “Shall we?”

You nodded. “Yes,” you turned back to Reep—who was clearly holding in a laugh, “We won’t be long, Reepicheep,” you warned him.

He only laughed in response.

****************************************************************************************

Things are gonna get spicy on the island! As always, you lovely folks know I’m easily influenced to write more/faster by comments! Thanks for reading!

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