#SHE SAYS RIGHT THERE THAT SHES FALLING FOR CHERRY BALL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silvervioletvalentine · 1 year

Text

❣️lavender haze❣️

Pairing: Charles leclerc X single mom Cherrie!

Word count: 14k

Summary: in which it’s hard to hate someone who fits into your chaotic family perfectly.

Cherrie could only look at her assistant In absolute shock, mouth dropping open in disbelief as she looked around the now, mostly empty room to see if anybody else was hearing this bullshit.

Because surely she wasn't hearing what she thought she was hearing , there was absolutely no way.

Right?

She blinked quickly, hands pressed firmly to her hips as she shot her irritated glare over to the bane of her existence instead. Deciding to blame him instead, because there was no way that her sweet assistant and close friend . Was the one that had brought this hell upon her, no way.

Not when she and the rest of the whole fucking world knew how much she despised him. No way!

"What did you do?!" She snapped at Charles immediately before he could even think to breathe in her direction. Gritting her teeth when he slowly turned back around from where he had been trying to creep away out of the room, already knowing just how she was about to react.

He himself wasn't taking the news very well, but that was the difference between him and his teammate. He could calmly just go with the flow and nod along , Cherrie could not.

I mean, for fucks sake, her motto in life was get mad and get even! What the hell were their team thinking with this idea?! Were they trying to make sure that he would never have babies in the future? Because that was what was going to happen if he stood too close to a furious Cherrie right now!

He looked over at her in equal annoyance, huffing loudly. Immediately offended by her assumption that this whole idea was his fault! It was definitely not! He wasn't asking to be murdered by a insane, hot tempered , mouthy woman who had balls of steel. Just on her chest instead!

"I didn't do anything! Do you really think that I would willingly demand to spend more time that I need to with you?!" He snapped back at her , glaring at her hatefully. Easily falling into their usual nasty back and forth.

A game of who could last the longest in a battle of insults and shouting until one of them stormed off and cried themselves to sleep. And well, it definitely wasn't Cherrie , he'll tell you that much!

He didn't think he had ever even seen her shed a single tear! She didn't cry, she smacked the shit out of people instead. How on hells planet could they think that arranging for them to travel the whole week together was a good plan? Did they honestly think that the two of them were going to escape this little trip unscathed?

Charles would count it lucky if he made it out with both of his legs still attached! She was terrifying!

Angelina, Cherrie’s assistant and friend , was stood a little behind them as she rolled her eyes and groaned to herself in misery . Sick of the sight of the two teammates always arguing . Which was also the exact reason that their principal had suggested this little bonding trip in the first place, to try and help them to get along a little better.

Because it didn't look good for the team to have two drivers that couldn't go a minute without arguing and without Cherrie threatening him in some way or another.

A lot of people liked to say that Cherrie had gotten her hot temper and bad attitude from her dad, who was also a former world champion in his prime before he retired. He had a reputation of taking not shit and doing whatever the hell he wanted, including telling many a man who he simply didn't like , to fuck off before he made them.

The Ferrari team almost had horrific flashbacks the day that they watched his daughter turn to look at Charles, her new teammate at the time, with a look on her face that could kill even the strongest man.

Utterly furious because Charles had accidentally blocked her from passing him on the track, she had took it upon herself to let him know just how unhappy she was with him in that moment .

It had taken three members of their team to separate them when the screaming match and pointing accusing fingers at each other had begun , thus from that day on a nasty relationship between the two of them had been born.

Simply because of one missunderstanding , Charles now had to deal with a hot headed teammate who couldn't stand the sight of him at all. At first he had tried to apologise to her, tried to make things right between them. Because at the end of the day she was his teammate and he had honestly wanted to be friends, he had admired her since their karting days and always dreamed of working side by side with her like this.

But that had all went to shit the moment he felt his blood stir and skin prickle whenever she so even as much glanced at him. She got underneath his skin and suddenly he couldn't shut his mouth up.

It baffled the rest of the drivers and their friends , because Charles was not a confrontational man. He hated arguing and he didn't get into fights, didn't even argue with his own team when they were wrong. He was the more polite and calm one, the man that wouldn't even step on a fly.

So they could only watch in absolute disbelief as Charles snapped back at her all the time with childish and petty comments , knowing for a fact that Cherrie would want the last word between them. Sometimes they argued and bickered for hours and once Charles had even gotten into the passenger seat of her car just so they could continue arguing before they went go home.

He didn't know why he did it or why he just couldn't stop himself from stirring the pot and making their already tense and flammable relationships worse. He didn't understand why every time he saw her infuriatingly pretty face in front of him, he had to go over to her and bother her until she snapped at him to fuck off. starting yet another argument between them when Charles refused to fuck off like she demanded.

Was some of this tension and prolonged nastiness his fault? Maybe. A little bit. But she started it and now it was as though neither of them wanted it to end! Neither one of them would put their pride aside and just apologise to each other and move on.

And well, their team had enough of seeing them at each other's throats and put their plan in motion.

They were to spend a week together , handing them a camera and telling them to film a few pieces of their days together so they could show the fans that the two teammates didn't hate each other. (They did) and so they could put up this United and totally false front that everything was okay between them, that they totally didn't hear Cherrie regularly cuss him out over the radio at nearly every race.

And they totally didn't watch Charles deliberately mutter things that he knew would piss her off mid conference , smirking to himself when she would pause her talking just to glare over at him and tell him to 'say it again to her fucking face this time you prick!' Her words exactly.

Now both of them were stuck in a situation that neither of the two drivers wanted to be in. Both glaring at each other and both refusing to give in.

"You can't expect me to do this Angelina!" She turned to whine to her assistant instead, placing her hands over her heated cheeks stressfully.

"I'll kill him! And I'm too pretty for prison! Plus, do they even do vegan food in jail? I wouldn't last! Why are you doing this to me? Why?!" She groaned out in misery , genuinely feeling sick at the thought of travelling with Charles to her home too.

She didn't want him there! Didn't want him in a space that was just her own! Didn't want to give him anymore blackmail material.

Hell, she hasn't been home in a while, had she even cleaned the dishes before she left? What if angel's toys were still scattered around the floor? Charles would definitely fall over them and probably break his stupid ankle and then open his big , stupid mouth and blame her for it. He'd probably say she did it on purposes too!

And This was the first time in a two weeks that she was going to be able to see her baby again. She didn't want Charles there for it! Didn't want her baby to see the way that her mother was a little bit of a cunt whenever her teammate was around. That wasn't a very good influence for her to witness at all!

God! This couldn't get any worse!

Meanwhile , while Cherrie was having her little breakdown in the corner . Charles was stood leaning against the wall opposite her and rolling his eyes at her usual dramatics.

"You're being ridiculous! You're not gonna end up in prison.." he breathed out in annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to glare over at her.

Cherrie slowly lifted her head and squinted her eyes at him threateningly . "Really? Is that a challenge?" She hissed at him, taking a step towards him.

Charles cleared his throat and darted his eyes away from hers for a moment , a little bit intimidated. Like always. Because thoighbshe may have been pretty, she was scary as fuck when she wanted to be!

He just pursed his lips and didn't answer to her threat. Deciding to be the bigger person. And not at all because he was scared of her. Not at all! Just .. just preserving his voice and his energy for their trip. That's all.

Angelina sighed and shook her head at her friend "I'm sorry Cherrie but you'll just have to push through this and pretend that you like him for a week. I'm sure it'll be okay." She told her with a sympathetic pat to the back, both of them ignoring Charles offended look.

Cherrie paid her scowling teammate no mind. Instead she raked her fingers through her hair with a upset frown.

"I can't! I'm a terrible liar! The hatred will show on my face Angelina!" She whined again. Pouting like a child.

Charles had enough of her speaking about him like he wasn't even there. He scoffed and reached for her arm, dragging her along to the exit door with him to get this shit on the road .

The sooner they started their trip, the sooner it would end. With him, hopefully unharmed!

"That's enough! Let's go! We've got a three hour drive to Paris first! They've booked us some fancy hotel." He instructed her firmly , still dragging her cursing ass along.

Cherrie yanked her arm from his grip and gave his back a shove, nearly sending him flying into the nearest flower pot outside the doors.

She glared over her shoulder at her assistant who was just casually waving goodbye with a sly smile on her face as she watched the two of them shove at each other like little kids, refusing to let the other one out of the door first.

It took a minute but Cherrie managed to trip Charles up and quickly push past him, smirking smugly to herself as she glanced behind her to see her teammate glaring at her as he pulled himself away from the bush she had shoved him into.

"Keys!" She demanded to him, holding out her hand impatiently.

Charles looked at her like she was insane , scoffing loudly as he stomped past her over to his Ferrari. Hearing her quickened steps behind him as she repeated her demand again.

"No fucking way! You're not driving my car! I'm driving!" He argued . Getting into the drivers seat and looking at her through the passenger side window as she refused to get in.

Cherrie rose a eyebrow at him, titling her head. "I'm driving! I am not spending the next three and half hours fiddling my fucking thumbs Charles! Get out and pass me the keys now!" She snapped at him, not giving in.

Charles narrowed his eyes at her, gritting his teeth. "Get in! Stop being so stubborn! You're making this trip even longer!" He shouted at her, already feeling his blood boil just at the sight of her arrogant , stupidly pretty face trying to tell him what to do.

Let her drive his Ferrari? Was she mad? There was in hell that he was ever letting her behind the wheel of his precious car. No fucking way!

Cherrie put on the same face that she gave her toddler whenever she was doing something wrong , only scarier. Eyes hard and voice firm as she tapped her foot impatiently at him, eyes narrowing as she gritted out one last time.

"Give me the keys Charles. This is the last time I'm asking.." the warning in her voice was clear.

Charles averted his eyes from her glare, shivering slightly .

He swallowed. Christ that poor kid. He thought to himself . She had that pissed off mother stance to a T.

Charles dared to shake his head no "no! I'm driving! End of discussion!" He said.

Silence. Tense . Terrifying silence .

Then Charles slowly glanced over to her again and groaned loudly as he saw the look on her face, instantly caving in. He got out of the drivers seat with a loud , pissed off huff, practically throwing the keys at her as he got into the passenger seat of his own car in angered silence.

Cherrie just smugly smirked to herself as she got into the drivers seat with a pleased little sigh , turning on the engine as she glanced over at a pouting Charles in amusement.

He was refusing to even look at her. Mortified by how one hard stare from her had him crumbling like a nervous little boy. Christ. If his friends could see him now... He would never live it down.

They were already teasing him for the way he couldn't leave her alone. Already gave him shit for the way he would vocally go against her in public but do exactly as she demanded in private.

Now was no different.

Why is it always the prettiest ones that are the most batshit crazy ones? It really wasn't fair!

At first glance, you would assume that she could have been a fallen Angel with the Looks she had. Beautiful siren eyes and a button nose, sharp cheekbones and freckles that only ever appeared after a hour in the sun. Big, pouty lips that are permanently flushed a dark pink..

She was the most beautiful woman that Charles had ever seen. But he knew better now.

Because while she may have looked like his dream woman, she was actually the devil in disguise. And honestly she gave him more nightmares than she did dreams!

There was nothing scarier than a beautiful woman's wrath. She had the looks that could kill... literally!

They had been driving for a little over a hour in tense , horrific silence when Charles finally had enough.

Glancing away from the window , where he had been stubbornly facing for the last hour . And over to Cherrie instead , seeing her pursed lips and tense shoulders, he sighed loudly.

"You're driving too slow." He muttered to her moodily , arms crossed over his chest . Keeping his eyes on the side of her face, watching the way her eye twitched and jaw tightened when he spoke.

Smirking to himself where she tightened her fingers around the wheel in a death grip, inhaling deeply.

She didn't even look at him as she spoke lowly "I'm driving safely." She corrected him.

Charles groaned "you're driving like a old woman! You're gonna turn a three hour drive into a five hour one at this rate!" He complained. Exaggerating completely .

Because honestly, she was driving just fine and at a good pace. Charles was just bored and wanted to annoy her again. Not liking the silence that had settled between them, it made him uneasy.

Whereas bickering was a familiar thing between them and when she scoffed at his audacity, he could feel his own shoulders relaxing again.

"Shut up! Unlike you Charles, I have somebody waiting for me at home." She took a low blow at his constant singleness. "I have to be safe for Angel! I can't be a good mother if I'm a dead one!"

Ouch.

Charles took a deep breath and decided to look over her jab at his love life (it didn't exist. Not since he had met her. He chose not to think about why he couldn't even look at another woman or why she was all that was on his mind.)

Instead he looked at her a little curiously , still finding it hard to believe that the woman who often threatened to run him over with his own car was the same woman that was a mother to a adorable little two year old.

"I still can't believe that you have baby ." He admitted to her quietly , still remembering the pure shock he had felt when she took a year leave with a 'medical issue' only to return not even a year later with a cute little baby strapped to her.

Charles had thought he was dreaming when she walked into the Ferrari lounge with a baby. He had only been able to watch from afar as she casually talked to the mechanics as though nothing was strange at all.

Charles had been too scared to go over to her or even see the baby up close . Knowing how much she despised him had kept him away.

Instead he kept up with her life on Instagram . Seeing the cute pictures she posted of Angel all the time , and even ones of the two of them together at home . A completely different image to the tough, ice woman that he worked with.

It was hard for him to digest. Unable to put the two of them together as the same damn woman. It was just...weird . honestly.

Cherrie glanced over at him with a frown "what? Why not?" She muttered confused to what he was going on about.

Charles just shrugged a little "I mean .. I can't picture you being all soft and cuddly. Or playing dolls and braiding hair.. I only know you as someone that pulls hair out and kicks anyone who even try's to hug you.." he told her honestly, his cheeks flushing with colour for some reason .

Unable to meet her eyes for very long once he noticed the look she was giving him. Chewing on the inside of her cheek as she contemplated her answer , feeling a little weird talking to Charles about her life at all.

The two of them had never really just talked... all they did was argue. Cherrie didn't even think that she knew what his favourite colour was. And he didn't know hers either. They just weren't that close. Not like that at least.

"It's different when I'm at home. I leave work at work... plus Angel is my baby. She's everything to me. And I love her. So.. I don't know. I'm not some aggressive asshole all the time Charles.." she muttered not really knowing how to explain herself, awkwardly pulling at her necklace once she was finished speaking.

Charles slowly nodded his head, picking at a thread in his jeans as he glanced over to her again.

"I know but.." he trailed off as he caught the way the sun steamed through the window and highlighted her face. His breath catching in his throat for a moment.

He fumbled for the camera that their team had given them in his lap, quickly turning it on and pointing it in her direction . Filming her just as the light hit her perfectly .

Cherrie glanced at the camera with a frown . Giving him a startled look.

He flushed "we've got to film remember? Just- just thought we could start it now. To tell them what we're doing and we're we are going." He lied, stammering slight over his excuse.

Because there was no way in hell that Charles was going to admit that he wanted to capture how beautiful she looked driving with the sun beaming down on her perfectly. That was a secret he would keep forever.

Cherrie hummed in understanding, smiling at the camera as she realised that he was right. They needed to her some footage at least, otherwise their team would kill them.

"We're going to Paris for the night before heading down to mallory.." she told the camera as she concentrated back on the road .

Charles looked at her in confusion “mallory?"

She laughed a little "yeah. It's a smaller place on the outside of France. It's where I live . A very beautiful place , nice and quite." She told him before nodding to the tripod attached the car. "Put the camera on there, you need to be in the frame too!" She said.

Charles did as she said before leaning back in his seat, glancing between the camera and a humming Cherrie beside him. Fidgeting a little awkwardly in his seat.

"I've never heard of it. I always just assumed that you lived in Paris.. you're always here." He said to her, thinking about all the press photos and video he had seen of her in Paris. He just assumed it was because she lived there.

She shook her head , laughing a little. Missing the way his eyes dilated and his stare froze on her smiling lips as she laughed. Not used to seeing her do that around him.

His stomach fluttered and cheeks flushed as he quickly glanced away from her and back to the camera instead .

"No, no. I just have friends there. I like to party with them in Paris when I'm free. I do love it here but ..it's too busy and I'd never get any peace." She told him honestly , surprised at how easily it was to talk to him normally like this . It made her feel a little uneasy.

Charles hummed in understanding , hesitating before deciding to just ask her what he was thinking .

"Do you- have you thought about moving to Monaco? Most of the drivers have..."

Cherrie shook her head , looking over at him for a moment as she came to stop light . Meeting his eyes and noticing the way he was fidgeting with his sleeve, she relaxed a little in her seat.

Realising that she wasn't the only one that was nervous about spending so much time together.

"I have but.. my dad and mom live here and that's who Angel stays with while I'm racing. I don't just want to upheave her life and have so many changes while she's still so young." She admitted to him, facing the front again when the light went green.

He smiled a little "yeah I get it . Do-it must be hard then. Having to be away from her for so long.. you rarely bring her along to the races too.." he muttered more to himself but she still heard him. "At least.. I haven't seen her around. Unless you've been hiding her from me." He chuckled to make it seem like a joke.

Though there was a big part of him that thought that she just didn't want him meeting her baby, he wouldn't exactly be someone that she wanted in her private life was he?

He wondered why the thought of her going out of her way to avoid him stung so much. He should be used to it by now really.

He knew that she didn't like him. He didn't like her either .. I mean, not really. She got on his nerves and made him want to rip his hair out half the time.

So why did he even care that she didn't bring along her baby to their races and why he hadn't even been introduced. Why would she?

Despite his lighthearted tone, Cherrie caught the way he wouldn't look at her and noticed the darkening flush up his neck and cheeks.

She sighed, feeling guilty . Because she had, maybe a little bit , been avoiding him around the paddock when she was with Angel. She usually just stayed with one of the other drivers until she could go back to her hotel room with her baby and relax .

It wasn't malicious and she hadn't meant to leave him out like that. It was just that she didn't want her baby to witness the two of them arguing like they usually did. That wasn't the example that she wanted to set.

How was she supposed to advocate for kindness when she could bare give any to her own teammate? It was hypocritical.

And as she sat beside a nervous Charles, driving his own Ferrari after making him give her the keys. She felt a little bad.

Fucking hell. She groaned in her head.

"I do miss her and- I've only just recently been comfortable with taking her on a plane. She's nearly three soon and she's a little menace honestly.." she chuckled a little just at the thought of Angel , she was hard work that was for sure.

Charles eyes widened , inhaling deeply. "Wow! Nearly three already? Has it really been that long?" He exclaimed in shock. The years having only felt like months to him.

Had him and Cherrie really spent years arguing? Years! Plural? Fucking hell!

Cherrie laughed loudly , nodding along to his shocked face. Agreeing with him in amusement.

"I knowwww! Don't even .." she shook her head with a grin "I can't believe it either. One day she was crawling and the next days running away at every chance she gets! You should see her... she does this thing we're she.." she giggled loudly mid sentence "she likes to hug people but.. I have to check her after. She once hugged max and when he was gone I found his wallet in her dungaree pocket!"

Charles gasped loudly, breaking into laughter at the thought of max being mugged by a toddler.

"Oh my god!" He giggled along with her , shaking his head in amusement . Grinning at her widely "you've raised a criminal! Should I be worried?" He joked not expecting that he would be meeting her anytime soon.

But he got a shock when Cherrie just smirked over at him . "Just make sure that you hide any money. She's got sticky fingers. You'll see what I mean tomorrow." She said casually as she pulled up to the valet or their hotel for the night.

Charles froze in shock, eyes widening as he looked at her in surprise. Heart flipping in his chest.

"I get to meet Angel?" He breathed out in disbelief. A twinge of excitement hitting him at the thought of finally meeting mini cherrie. Having spent so long just wondering what kind of kid she had.

Did she have her mother's attitude? Did she have her high pitched giggle? Did she have her smile?

There was so many things he wanted to know.

Cherrie just laughed lightly as they got out of the car, handing the keys to the valet as Charles hurried after her into the hotel.

"Yeah, of course. I'm getting her from my dads in the morning. I'm taking her to a few of the races with us. It's time she gets used to it a bit more." She told him simply , pulling him over to the reception to get their room key.

Charles could only stare at the floor to ceiling mirrors silently as she got their key, eyes trained on their reflection. Her arm was still hooked in his own as she talked to the woman behind the desk. Glancing over at him with a pretty smile as she showed him the key card happily .

They looked good together. Was all Charles could think to himself as he followed her to the elevator silently . Stuck in his own running thoughts.

Three years. Was all he could repeat in his head.

Time sure went by fast when you spent it pretending to hate someone.

By the time the sun went down and the stars started to glitter across the sky, the two of them had fallen into a strange silence. Both of them in the same room but thankfully with two different beds.

They had spent the last few hours making awkward small talk in front of the camera before Cherrie finally had enough of it and escaped out to the balcony with a bottle of wine instead.

Leaving Charles in the kitchen on his own as he put the camera up on one of the cabinets so that it was filming him , glancing over to the balcony one last time and getting a glimpse of Cherrie tucked up on a chair with a fluffy dressing gown wrapped around her, on the phone with somebody while she avoided him.

Pursing his lips he turned back around to look at the ingredients he had spread out onto the kitchen counter while looking for something to bake to busy himself with .

"I was going to make some cupcakes but-I Remembered that Cherrie is vegan and.." he gave a small helpless shrug as he read over the recipe on his phone again to make sure that he had everything right in front of him. "I don't know- I found this recipe but I don't know if it'll be any good. I don't really- I don't want to give her food poisoning or anything .. she'll definitely kill me if I do.." he muttered to the camera , stressed.

But then he sighed and gave another shrug , grabbing the ingredients and getting to work.

"But I'll try. And if they turn out shit then this never happened. She'll never know.. I think that-" he paused for a moment to mix the batter he was making together. Double checking the recipe on his phone again.

"They always say that the way to someone's heart is through food right? Like-I don't know.. maybe not with Cherrie." He wondered out loud, honestly forgetting for a moment that this footage was going to be posted on their account for the world to see.

He started to pour the batter into the cupcake tray that he had found . "She's picky though. I once watched her reject a guy just because he bought her flowers.." he smirked a little remembering that day.

He looked straight at the camera in amusement "she has hay fever. So not a very good idea.. she was pissed because she had told him that too. But apparently he didn't think she was serious.." he laughed "he didn't last more than a minute."

"Plus she's not a flowers girl. If I was going to turn up at her door for a first date I'd probably-" he laughed a little to himself, still in his own head as he put the cupcakes into the heated oven.

"I'd probably get her a bottle of raspberry vodka. She loves it.." he muttered before jumping up onto the counter to wait for them to cook, glancing over his shoulder to peer over at the balcony , watching as Cherrie gazed up to the sky with a peaceful look on her pretty face.

He sighed.

About half an hour later Cherrie wandered back inside once it got too chilly for her to sit comfortably in. Glancing around the room as she cautiously wandered into the kitchen to see what Charles was doing, feeling bad for just leaving him on his own when she knew that they were meant to be filming together.

But she just couldn't help it. Being so close to him and knowing that there was no one else around them, that the were going to be sharing the same room, twin beds only a few feet apart ..

It was overwhelming and she didn't know what to do or say. What did she say to man that she had spent the last few years of her life arguing with over petty things?

Just yesterday she had threatened to put laxatives in his drink after he had tripped her up on the way to a meeting. And now she was being forced to take him home with her and to get along with him to make everybody happy .. it was weird . She didn't know what to do.

She was so used to the arguing and insulting , the back and forth , the snide remarks and mean looks to each other.

How was she supposed to just be nice to him? She didn't know how to .

She awkwardly cleared her throat to get his attention , a small , tense smile on her lips as she watched him jump about a foot into the air with a girly scream.

"Holy shit!" He almost squealed in shock, panting as he placed his hand over his racing heart. Looking at her with wide eyes , having been so focused on icing the cakes that he hadn't heard her come in.

"Don't do that! You scared me!"

Cherrie huffed a laugh, tired and little tipsy from the wine she had drank on the balcony. She slowly walked over to him .

"What are you doing? What have you made?" She asked him curiously . Frowning at him when he suddenly stood in front of her and blocked her view of the counter .

His cheeks flushing as he quickly shook his head, not wanting her to witness his attempt at baking her something. It hasn't turned out like the recipe had said it would at all!

They were slightly burned and incredibly dense. Also strangely heavy.. he didn't know what he had done wrong but he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Cherrie anymore than he already had.

"Nothing! Nothing! Er-" he stammered for a lie, coming up with nothing.

Cherrie watched him nervously ruffle his hair, raising her eyebrow at him in curiosity. Trying to peek over his shoulder to see what had him so fidgety.

"It's obviously something Charles! Let me look!"

He shook his head rapidly "no!"

She groaned and shoved him aside, startling him enough that he moved .

She paused as she glanced down at the plate full of..some type of cake? It was honestly hard to tell. Half of them were white as paper and the other half were burnt. With mushy icing that was slipping down onto the plate in a sticky mess.

She glanced back at Charles, smiling a little to herself once she saw his red face. And The way he wouldn't look at her.

She laughed a little "you tried to make cupcakes?" She guessed. Picking one up cautiously as she tapped the rock hard top in amusement.

Charles peeked over at her anxiously bedore swallowing and shrugging a little. "Er- I made them for you." He muttered , looking away from her again.

Cherrie frowned "I can't have-" she started to tell him that she couldn't eat it but Charles quick cut her off .

"It's Vegan. Probably why it went so wrong." He mumbled , picking at his fingers as he looked stubbornly away from her. Not wanting to see her laugh at him.

But there was only silence as Cherrie looked at him in shock. Glancing back down at the fucked up cupcake with a strange feeling in her chest.

Any joke or insult about his terrible baking dying on her tongue as she swallowed. Feeling a rush of flattery that he had went out of her way to try and make her something like this , just because he wanted to.

No one had ever done that for her before.

So she nudged Charles shoulder gently to get his attention again, smiling at him a little when he cautiously looked back at her.

His eyes growing twice in size as he watch her bring the burnt cake up to her lips, his heart leaping in his throat as he flushed even deeper.

"You don't have to eat it! It's probably horrible! Honestly - I don't even know why-" he started to ramble , completely embarrassed.

But Cherrie just took a bite and chewed carefully, keeping her face neutral even when she got to a particularly weird and oddly salty part of the cake.

Did he mix the salt for the sugar? She wondered to herself , holding back a grimace as she swallowed it down.

She smiled at him, shaking her head gently. "It's not that bad! Really.. it's different ya know?" She told him positively , forcing the rest of the cupcake down just so she didn't have to see the upset look on his face anymore.

Charles brightened , looking at her hopefully. "Really? You like it?" He started to grin , his mood lightening as she smiled at him softly.

Nodding her head as she wiped the crumbs from her mouth, reaching for a bottle of water from the fridge before she choked on how dry it was.

"I do! It's really good. It tasted delicious. You did a good job!" She lied, patting his arm a little awkwardly . Not knowing how to be nice but she was trying. That counted as something right?

Charles flushed , laughing sheepishly as he scratched at his neck shyly.

"Thanks. You really like it?" He couldn't believe it, pride filling him when she picked up another one with a smile.

She swallowed "I do! I'm gonna take this one with me..I'm gonna call my dad to say goodnight and then go to sleep.." she told him quietly , planning to hide the cake in the bin in the bathroom when he was asleep.

Charles smiled at her and nodding in understanding.

“Yeah.. I'll just clean this up and then go to sleep too. We- are you- what time are we picking up angel tomorrow?" He hesitantly asked her.

Not sure if he was allowed to bring up her baby so casually .

But his nerves were for nothing because Cherrie just smiled and said "around ten. We're gonna have lunch with my parents though. Is that alright? We can film a little bit there..."

Charles exhaled shakily, slowly nodding his head. "Yeah. Yeah.. that's good. Goodnight Cherrie.." he muttered , smiling a little at her. Mind racing with thoughts of how their week would go.

As the two of them slowly pulled up at her parents house, Cherrie glanced over to see Charles nervously chewing at his lip as he eyed the front door as though something was going to jump out and attack him.

"You good?" She muttered to him as they got out of the car. Glancing at Charles a little worriedly when she heard him take deep breaths, clearly trying to calm himself down.

It was a little funny that flying around the track at unfathomable speeds didn't scare him. But meeting her parents and her toddler did.

Charles shook out his slightly shaky hands and nodded his head. Putting on a brave face as he hung back slightly behind her as she opened the door and casually walked into the house, motioning for him to follow her.

"Yeah.. is there anything I shouldn't say?" He murmured to her worriedly . I mean, her dad was a legend in f1. But apart from all of his championships he was also known for his hot headiness and bluntness. Just like his daughter.. it was obviously where she had gotten her attitude from.

He could only hope that her two year old wasn't as scary.

Cherrie just laughed and patted his back "he's really nice Charles. Don't overthink it. It's Angel you should worry about.." she muttered in amusement just before hurried steps could be heard coming there way.

Then a loud , excited shriek as a tiny body came flying her way. Cherrie easily bending down to lift Angel up into her arms and spinning her around, kissing all over the Squealing toddlers face.

"Mommy!" Angel gasped loudly with a large toothy grin , wiggling in her arms excitedly . "Mommy!"

Then her dad and mother came around the corner , both of them immediately pulling her into a quick hug as they all laughed at her baby's excitement now that she was home

"She's been talking about seeing the races nonstop." Her dad told her In amusement , proud that his granddaughter was so interested in it too.

Then he glanced beside her to see Charles nervously looking between them, not knowing what to do or say.

Cherries mom, Lola , smiled brightly at him. "Well hello! You must be Charles! Cherrie has told me a lot about you!" She told him , pulling him into a hug as well.

Charles winced "so nothing good then." He glanced at her dad uneasily.

He just snorted and glanced at him with a small

Smirk . "You'd be surprised." Was all he muttered, stopping sharply at the sound of Cherrie hissing at him to shut up.

Cheeks flushing when Charles looked at her confused, having expected her to bash him within an inch of his life to her parents.

Cherrie just cleared her throat and carefully placed Angel back down onto her feet, the toddler glancing up at Charles with big eyes, curiosity on her chubby face.

"Come on! I've got to finish making dinner but you guys head out into the garden!" Her mother ushered them out before demanding her dad to help her in the kitchen.

He did so but not before giving Charles another look, seeming confused at the sight of him.

He then looked at his daughter in amusement "no more blondes?" Was all he joked before quickly leaving the room before Cherrie could even mutter a word.

Charles looked at her confusion "what does he mean?"

She quickly shook her head. "Nothing! Come on!" She quickly left the hall and pulled Angel along to the garden. Charles following them.

Ten minutes later and Charles was sat crossed legged on the blanket that had been laid out on the grass, a plastic tiara on his head as he held onto a tiny teacup in his hand , blinking up at the toddler stood in front of him proudly.

Admiring her work on him, she tapped her little finger against her chin theatrically while Charles glanced behind him to see Cherrie happily sat at the patio table with her dad, not at all worried about her baby dragging Charles away. She had just shooed him off with a knowing smirk , amused at the way Charles had looked between the two of them in shock, amazed by just how Similar they were.

Both demanding and had no problem dragging him about .

Even now as he looked back to the two a half year old stood in front of him, he could only gaze at her in awe. His earlier questions answered.

She had cherries big eyes . The sea , the sky and the stars all one one. With the same cute dimples when she smiled and the same sassy attitude , not shy in her demands in the slightest.

"Mommy makes a better princess than you." Angel told him point blank. Looking unimpressed with him as he struggled to hold onto the tiny teacup properly , almost dropping it underneath her hard stare .

Shit. He smirked to himself a little in amusement. Of course her toddler was just as intimidating as Cherrie was . He really shouldn't have expected any different .

He rose his eyebrow at her, trying not to laugh at the way she was staring him down. An exact replica of her mother who also gave him the same look when he had done something she didn't approve of.

"I'd say you're mommy is more like the queen. Princesses follow orders and she does not." He told Angel seriously , adjusting the bright pink feathered scarf around his neck.

Angel had almost strangled him with it when she pushed him onto the grass and told him that she was going to make him look pretty.

Charles was almost sure that he had seen Cherrie take a photo of him, not doubt to blackmail him with later.

Angel titled her head, gasping loudly. "You're right! Queen mommy.. you're like.." she tapped her cheek again in thought , taking his words very seriously.

She looked him up and down with a scrunch of her tiny nose . "The person that serves her!" She grinned at him toothily.

Charles could only gape at her, insulted at being downgraded from a princess to a god damn servant

"Why can't I be the king?" He wanted to know, looking at her with a offended frown.

Angel just giggled mischievously, plopping down on the blanket in front of him. Dressed in a bright blue sparkly dress, her own crown sitting proudly on her head as she pretended to pour herself a drink from the plastic teapot.

"Cause' mommy doesn't need a king. She can do everything on her own! She told me that men are useless and that if you want something done right , you have to do it yourself!" She proudly informed him, happily snitching on her mother without a single bit of hesitation.

She was like a parrot and just like her mother, she had absolutely no filter at all.

Charles paused with the tiny teacup held in front of his mouth , looking at the toddler in amusement and curiosity.

Glancing back over his shoulder to see Cherrie laughing at something her dad had said , leaning over to him to show him something on her phone.

He watched the way her eyes scrunched up and her dimples deepened as she laughed happily, head thrown back and shoulders shaking as she slapped at her dads shoulder . The two of them giggling like little kids.

He felt his breath hitch at the sight of her smiling like that, quickly looking away with a slight flush to his face .

Nearly flinching as he met Angel's eyes dead on, the toddler already watching him with a grin on her chubby little face. Looking smug at having caught him gazing at her mother with his mouth dropped open.

Kill him now.

He cleared his throat a little "sometimes it's nice to have someone to help you though. Every king needs a queen by his side.." he muttered to her , holding out his plastic teacup for her to pour him another pretend drink .

Angel shook her head with a giggle "but every queen doesn't need a king! Mommy said that men just waste her time." She told him bluntly "I heard her telling grandma."

Charles chuckled, amused by her easily ratting her mother out. Knowing that he was the last person that she would want knowing her business.

But he was too scared to ask Cherrie anything, so he decided that he might as well as her toddler instead.

"Mommy's not had a boyfriend here then?" He asked her curiously, wondering how her being single was even possible.

She was one of the most beautiful women in the world, he had seen the way everyone's eyes were glued onto her figure whenever she walked into a room. She was sight to behold .

But Charles didn't think he had ever seen her even so much as glance twice at any of them. In fact , the last time he had seen pictures of her with another man was last summer. Some footballers In Paris , though he wasn't sure if it was any serious.

All he knew was that the photos of Cherrie sat on one of their laps on a yacht had made his stomach turn, and when she came back to the paddock , Charles had dialled up his annoyingness and bickered with her until she threatened to break all of fingernails off if he didn't leave her alone.

But he was the one sat in her parents backyard with her baby, playing princesses and having a pretend tea party . Not some arrogant footballer.

So who was really winning? He thought a little smugly to himself. Tapping his tiny teacup against Angel's gently .

Angel didn't even look at him as she answered, too focused on stuffing her face with fruit that cherries mom had given them.

"Nope but mommy has a lot of friends though." She mumbled around a mouthful of strawberry, holding out a piece of apple for him to take.

Charles glanced down at it with a small smile , taking it from her gently . Quickly eating it before squinting as the sun Beamed down into his eyes, obstructing his view for a moment.

He looked at the way Angel was squinting too, whining a little as she held up her tiny hand in front of her eyes. He quickly unhooked his sunglasses from his shirt and opened them open, leaning over the teapot to reach her.

He the gently slid his sunglasses over her eyes, laughing in amusement at the way they took over her whole face . She looked so cute.

"So no boyfriend then... that's good." He mumbled to himself , flinching a little in surprise when she leaned over and shove a strawberry into his mouth, almost choking him.

Angel looked at him confused as he started to splutter, quickly swallowing down the fruit and warily eyeing the next one that she picked up in her tiny hand.

"Why good?" She wanted to know, blinking at him expectantly.

Charles paused , flushing red. Having not even realised that he said it out loud.

He glanced behind him again, smiling a little as he caught cherries eyes on them.

Giving her a small wave and toasting his little teacup at her before looking back at Angel again, laughing nervously.

"I didn't say good." He lied.

Angel pulled a face at him "yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did! I'm telling mommy!" She threatened him with a naughty grin on her face , going to stand back up from the blanket.

Charles quickly grabbed her chubby little leg and pulled her back down. Shaking his head rapidly , eyes widening in disbelief.

"No! None of that! Don't tell her otherwise she'll kill

Me." He told her , panicked at the thought of her finding out that he was happy that she was single.

The thought of having to explain himself to her was mortifying and not something he wanted to do, at all.

Angel giggled mischievously, holding her hand out to him . "Okay. I want that bracelet then." She pointed at his beaded bracelet with a dolphin charm on it that he had gotten from a market in Greece.

Charles looked at the toddler in disbelief, was he being blackmailed for her silence?

What the hell had Cherrie been teaching this kid?

"You're terrible. And here I thought that a girl called Angel would be sweet like one too.." he grumbled at her, smiling in amusement despite getting mugged by the nearly three year old.

He took off the bracelet and gently took ahold of her wrist , sliding it on and tightening it for her so it didn't slip off .

Angel just smiled smugly , giggling at him. "Mommy likes diamonds." Was all she told him before abruptly changing the subject and telling him that they were going to play hide and seek instead.

Leaving Charles to wonder what alternative universe he had stepped in where cherries daughter was hinting at him to buy her mother something expensive to get her to like him more.

Was this her toddlers way of giving him her approval?

Cherrie thought that she was dreaming as she sat beside Charles at the dining table , Angel sat beside him in her high chair. Having demanded that she be seated beside him, claiming him as her new best friend.

She didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry as she watched Charles fit in perfectly with her chaotic family , her dad who usually hated every guy that was even in the same room as her, now chatting away to Charles casually .

Her dad nodded at her with a smirk "I'm surprised that you got here in one peace. The last time I spoke to her she told me that she was going to leave you at the gas station ." He told Charles in amusement , ignoring his daughters warning glare.

Cherrie flushed while Charles just looked over at her with a grin, not at all surprised .

"I'm surprised too. She told me that she was going to run me over with my own car yesterday." He snitched on her to her parents without any hesitation .

Smirking to himself when her mother gasped loudly and looked disapprovingly at her scowling daughter who was sinking lower in her seat by the minute.

"Cherrie! What have I told you about threatening people!" She scolded her before looking at her husband with a tut "this is you're fault! You've taught her to scare men!"

Her dad just snorted and nodded his head proudly. "She knows exactly where to smack someone to knock them out. We don't have to worry about anybody hurting her."

Her mother sighed exasperatedly "no! Instead we have to worry about her being arrested for attempted murder instead !" She exclaimed .

Cherrie rolled her eyes, smiling a little as she watched her baby giggle , stuffing her face with carrots . Her heart melting as she watched Angel share them with Charles , passing him one every time she ate one too.

Feeling something in her soften as she watched Charles smile fondly at her daughter , reaching over with a napkin to wipe the ketchup from her chubby cheeks.

Looking away with a smile, she paused with her fork halfway to her mouth as she met her parents amused gaze already on her. Having caught her gazing at Charles with hearts in her eyes.

She flushed and stuffed her face with food so she didn't have to speak.

Her dad laughed "so Charles...are you single?" He bluntly asked him, reaching for his bottle of beer.

Cherrie looked at him, gritting her teeth in mortification at how obvious he was being .

Charles glanced at Cherrie beside him for a moment, smiling a little at the sight of her blushing and uncomfortably shifting in her seat.

He chuckled and looked at her father with a small grin on his face . Immediately taking a liking to him, he really wasn't as scary as he thought he would be.

More like a guy you'd meet in a biker bar, one that would take you underneath his wing as soon as you proved that you could throw a dart and down some whiskey without a flinch.

Charles couldn't do either of those things but judging by the lack of threats and smiles being sent his way, he had a feeling that her dad liked him anyways.

"Yes I am." He simply answered him.

Her dad hummed "Cherrie is single too." He told him casually , smirking at he look of embarrassment on her face .

"Dad!" She hissed at him, mortified.

He just laughed "what? You're the one that said you hated having such a cute teammate because-"

Cherrie almost squealed , quickly cutting him off. "That's enough! I didn't say that!" She lied, unable to look Charles in the eye.

Charles was smirking at her, feeling his confidence boost at the thought of her telling her dad that she thought he was cute.

He would have liked it if she had called him ridiculously handsome but he'd take cute. It was better than the usual names she called him.

He was about to tease her when his own smiled dropped as the toddler beside him opened her mouth and blurted out.

"Charles said he was happy that you're single mommy!"

Charles immediately looked at her in betrayal, flushing a bright red when her parents chuckled and her father looked at him with a amused smirk on his face.

"Oh my god.." he breathed out , mortified .

Cherrie frowned at him "what's that supposed to mean?! Do you think I can't get a boyfriend if I wanted one?!" She exclaimed, looking at him accusingly .

Her dad snorted , looking at them like he was watching his favourite show. Her mother just sighed at how her daughter immediately thought the worst.

Charles paled , looking at her with wide eyes. "Not at all! You could have a thousands boyfriends-!"

She gasped "so now you're calling me a whore?!"

Charles gaped at her, stammering. "No! I'm just saying that you could have anybody you wanted. You're .. ya know.." he waved his hand to her face , flustered .

Cherrie looked at him in confusion "I'm what?"

He waved his hands at her again, bright red as her father cackled like a madman opposite them. Her mother scolding him and telling him to stop, even though the amused smile on her lips was evident.

"Ya know... you're face!" He blurted out , unable to think straight under pressure.

Angel giggled "Charles said that you're a queen!"

Charles sighed loudly , looking at the toddler in absolute disbelief . He was never telling her anything ever again!

Cherrie softened, smiling at Charles as her mood did a full 180.

"I know I am." She said instead of a thank you. Her mother face palming .

Charles frowned at her "always humble." He muttered amused. There was silence as they all continued eating the food in front of them before

Cherrie side eyed him quietly "I don't want some random boyfriend." She mumbled after swallowing her bite of food down.

Charles glanced at her shyly , cheeks still a permanent red now. “I was just saying that you're .. very pretty and they you don't have to be single if you decided not to be." He murmured to her , scratching the side of his neck nervously. Barely able to look her in the eye.

Cherrie just smiled and looked away, both of them focusing back on their food with similar , flustered smiles on their faces.

Her dad just grinned and shook his head at the two drivers in front of him.

"I give it a few days.” He whispered to his wife smugly, knowing what a man in love looks like. Seeing the sneaky glances Charles kept giving his daughter when he thought nobody was looking.

Her mother sighed , smiling too. "But who will be the first to admit it?"

A few days later and the two drivers were heading to the airport to travel for their next race , having spent a couple of days at her home relaxing . And in such a short time it seemed like everything had changed.

The bickering hasn't of course. They still argued like a married couple over everything but no longer did it feel cruel and malicious . The tones of their voice going from anger to teasing, snide remarks accompanied by a teasing smirk instead.

Charles felt like he was living in his dreams. Having spent the last couple of days Cooped away with the two of them, getting to know Angel even more. The toddler having attached herself to his side the moment she met him and now Charles reached for her tiny hand without any hesitation as he pulled her out the car.

Holding onto her hand tightly as he glanced over at Cherrie behind them, she was rolling the both of their suitcases and had a backpack of angels things on her back too.

Scowling at the two of them , jealously. "I don't see why I have to be the one to carry everything while you get to hold my baby." She complained as they entered the airport, a private jet having been booked for them.

Charles just smirked smugly , picking the toddler up underneath her armpits and placing her on his hip instead. Not wanting to somehow lose her in the crowds or have her wandering off, having Quickly learnt that she was a runner after panicking for over ten minutes when they went to the beach the other day.

He had turned his back for one minute and she had taken off like a cheetah , running as fast as her little legs could take her down the beach while a panicked Charles ran after her, the toddler just giggling naughtily and refusing to stop until he caught up.

She was trouble . And liked to sress him out just like her mother. But one look at those eyes and adorable little chubby cheeks had him caving instantly.

She was a mini Cherrie and Charles could already feel himself growing irreversibly attached to her.

"I'm carrying the precious cargo Cherrie. The most important thing of all. That's a lot of pressure!" He grinned at her smugly , Angel giggling too just because he was.

He had also quickly learned that she was a copy cat. If he did something , she would copy him. If he said something , she would repeat it.

A hard lesson he had learned after yelling 'fuck!' Loudly after accidentally hitting his arm off the door handle . Not even a second matter , a naughty little voice had been screeching 'fuck!' Alongside him, making him freeze in his step and look at the giggling toddler in shock.

Thankfully Cherrie had been out at the time, he could only imagine the scolding that he would have gotten for teaching her kid how to swear on the very first day of them staying together.

But after another week of the three of them just hanging out and bonding, Charles thought that he was getting the hang of this new thing between them. The unspoken thing. The thing where they both pretended they nothing was going and they nothing had changed.

But everything had . Because a week ago , Cherrie had been threatening to break his legs. And now she made him breakfast in the morning and asked him if he had enough pillows at night.

Despite the blunt and uncaring tone she liked to use, the unbothered and uninterested facade she had didn't fool him in the slightest.

Because she smiled at him now. She laughed at his stupid jokes and let him pull her into casual hugs without complaining anymore.

She let him into her life and Charles couldn't be anymore happier. He got to see what she was like off the track , got to see that she wasn't this ice cold bitch that she claimed to be.

He had seen her sing lullaby's every night to Angel to get her to sleep. Had seen her in Just a T-shirt , stumbling to the kitchen during the night to get her fussy toddler a warm drink. He had seen her unguarded and just being herself.

And well , Charles didn't want their week to end. Afraid that the moment they arrived back to work, all of their progress and sweet moments would be erased. He didn't want that to happen. He liked this little routine that they had developed too much to go back now.

How could he when he had her toddler in his arms and Cherrie by his side , casually leaning on him as they went through security checks like a little family?

He smiled down at Angel as he carefully put her down onto her feet again, holding her hand instead as they boarded the plane.

"You want to sit by the window?" He asked her gently, running his fingers through her messy hair. Refusing to brush it and instead demanding him to put butterfly clips all over her curls instead.

Charles had spent half an hour that morning picking up different coloured clips and putting them in her hair carefully , while Cherrie napped on the couch.

She was Not a morning person at all, which he found a little ironic considering that her daughter had barged into his room at six a.m on the dot demanding that he go make her breakfast.

By the time Cherrie had woken up Charles had managed to change her into one of his smaller Ferrari shirts and some cute cotton dungarees that he had found in one of her drawers. With butterfly clips all over her messy hair and a beaming toothily smile being sent her way, Cherrie had only been able to look between the two of them in disbelief. Before simply signing and nodding her head to herself in defeat.

Everything had changed between them , there was no more denying it. She didn't want to anymore.

Seeing the sweet and patience way that Charles acted with her fussy toddler , always looking out for her and playing with her whenever she demanded it, she felt terrible for not giving him a chance to redeem himself sooner.

She hated that everyone else was right. He was a good guy. She had just been pretending that he wasn't to make her avoidance of him easier.

Because she wasn't good with feelings , never had been . Instead she had acted like a complete cunt to him instead.

Instead of telling him that she liked him , she had threatened to break his legs instead .

Maybe she should have talked to a therapist after all. Because they was not normal!

But that wasn't only her fault , Charles had been deliberately pressing her buttons and winding her up too! He went out of his way to annoy her and make her snap. Instead of getting her attention in a normal way, instead of simply asking her out on a date or just having a normal conversation with her, he goaded her into arguing with him instead.

Simply because he knew what a hot head she was and that there was no way she would walk away without having the last word. And honestly... she looked incredibly hot when she was angry and Charles was only a man.

He couldn't help it. Was it childish of him to argue with her just so that she continued to give him attention, even if it was the wrong kind? Yes.

But at the end of the day he couldn't change the past but he could change the future . Starting now.

Angel looked up at him with big eyes "with you!"

Charles chuckled , putting her in the window seat and buckling her in tightly. Making sure that she was safe before sliding into the seat beside her too.

He glanced over to see Cherrie getting a bottle of champagne from the crew , already pouring herself a glass as she lowered herself in the seat opposite him.

He smiled at her in amusement "it's not even dinner time." He said to her, Cherrie just scoffing.

"So? We're in a flying death trap . I can drink what I want." She muttered sipping on her glass before glancing over at her daughter with a smile .

"You okay Angel? You need anything?"

Angel shook her head , glancing at her mother with a smile . "No." Then she looked at Charles beside her and held out her hand expectantly.

He sighed , pulling out his phone and putting on the game that he had downloaded for her to play a few days ago. Handing her his phone with a chuckle.

"You need to say please Angel." He softly told her, pulling out a bag of fruit from her small backpack and passing it to her too.

Angel glanced at him for a moment , sighing when she saw the look he was giving her. Copying the same look that Cherrie gave him, a raise of the eyebrow and a purse of his lips had the toddler crumbling.

"Sorry. Thank you Charles." She mumbled to him, giving him a dimpled smile before looking back down at his phone again. Easily getting distracted.

Charles smiled proudly , looking over a gobsmacked Cherrie smugly .

"How the hell?" She frowned at him , amazed by how quickly he had gotten her to correct her manners. Something that she had been struggling to do .

Her daughter had the same attitude and stubbornness that she had, and getting her not to be a demanding little brat was difficult . But Charles made it look easy.

He just shrugged with a grin "I'm her favourite now. I'm taking her to the zoo next week. So she's on her best behaviour." He told her casually of their plan.

A Plan that she had no idea existed . Gaping at him in disbelief .

"What? You can't just take my baby to a zoo without telling me!" She looked at him like he was insane.

Charles just rolled his eyes at her playfully, pulling out a pre made sandwich from the bag as well and handing it over to her .

"You're coming with us obviously! She wants to see a sloth and a giraffe. She was telling me about them this morning while you were sleeping so I said I'd take her to the zoo." He explained to her simply before nodding at the sandwich he passed her .

"Eat that. You didn't have breakfast and Drinking on an empty stomach isn't a good a idea. We have dinner tonight with everyone remember?" He told her as the plane took off into the air.

He held out his hand for Angel to hold, the toddler squeezing his fingers tightly . Cuddling into his side tiredly , and closing her eyes .Charles gently stroked his fingers through her hair , carefully to avoid the clips on her head.

Cherrie looked at them silently , her heart doing flips in her chest as her face softened at the sight of them cuddled together. Admiring the way her baby had taken such a liking to him already , trusting him to keep her safe and comfortable enough to cuddle up to him like that.

She sighed and picked up the sandwich "okay. Thank you." Was all she mumbled , feeling overwhelmed with the sudden rush of feelings that she felt for him then. She swallowed thickly , unable to look away.

Charles just smiled at her , nudging her foot with his own gently. "Try and her some sleep. We have a long night ahead." He said to her softly , admiring how soft and pretty she looked in just a oversized sweatshirt and biker shorts .

Cherrie , for once in her life, did as he said . So did Angel too. Leaving Charles to snap a pick of the two sleeping peacefully with a grin on his face , heart feeling behind full.

This was how it was supposed to be.

Half an hour before they were supposed to go to dinner , Charles was leaned up against her doorframe with a sheepish expression on his face.

Cherrie glanced up from where she was sat in front of the mirror , putting the finishing touches to her makeup on. Raising her eyebrow at the sight of him, admiring the white button up shirt and blue jeans he was wearing. He looked good.

She inhaled deeply and shook those thoughts from her head quickly. “Did you drop her off with the babysitter?" She questioned him .

Charles having told her that he would drop Angel off for her while she got ready for their dinner at the fancy restaurant, all the drivers were going to be there.

Charles chewed on his lip, tapping his fingers against his wrist as he contemplated lying to her. But one look at her pretty face and he crumbled.

"Er- not - not exactly.." he hesitantly mumbled , fidgeting nervously. Unable to meet her confused gaze.

She paused with her lipstick in her hand , frowning at him. Immediately alarmed .

"What? What do you mean not really? Charles!" She exclaimed worriedly "we have to go soon! Where is she? What happened?!" She rushed out at him, ready to throttle him.

He just shrugged , a sheepish smile on his face . "She wanted to come with us.." he told her weakly as his defence.

Cherrie frowned "and you told her no right? This isn't the type of restaurant that you take kids too! All the drivers will be there!" She reminded him, looking at him , concerned .

Charles huffed "she's got your eyes Cherrie! The same damn pout too!" He exclaimed , frowning back at her like it was her fault and not his own for being unable to say no to her daughter.

Cherrie pulled a face "what the hell has my eyes got to do with this Charles?!" She stood up to her feet with alarm. Panicking.

He scoffed at her, waving his hands at her face with a scowl. "It's got everything to do with it! I can't say no to you and I can't say no to her either! She just blinked up at me with those big eyes and.." he threw his hands in the air frantically .

"I caved! This is your fault! Who gives you the right to look like that and then inherent those eyes to Angel too?!" He accuses her, stepping further into the room to be closer to her.

Cherrie placed her hands on her hips , eyes wide as she gaped at him in disbelief . Not knowing whether to be flattered or offended.

"How is you being a softy my fault?! I have normal eyes Charles! What are you going on about?!" She almost shouted at him in confusion , looking at his reddening cheeks in bewilderment.

He groaned loudly and shook his head rapidly "no you don't! you have the whole fucking sky in your eyes and you expect me to just act normal? I don't think so!" He shot back at her, poking her between said eyes like a child.

She slapped his hand away from her with a gasp "you're so weird! What is wrong with you?!" She snapped at him , flustered .

Charles just huffed and then reached forward to place his hands on either side of her jaw, swallowing her shocked gasp with his lips instead.

He kissed her hard and messily , their teeth clashing together as he pulled her close to him , desperate and heart beating in his throat as he kissed her like he should have done the whole damn time.

Cherrie melted into him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. Tilting her head to deepen the kiss as she threaded her fingers through his hair. Tugging on the soft strands until he was moaning against her mouth , clutching at her hip tightly .

His other hand shaking up to wind around the back of her neck as he twisted them around suddenly , shoving her down onto the bed and quickly following her down.

"Fuck!" He breathed out against her lips breathlessly as he briefly pulled away to breathe again, nudging his nose gently against her own as he looked down at her with dark eyes. Taking in her flushed face and swollen lopes, her pupils blown wide as she gazed up at him, speechless.

"I love you. Love you so fucking much." He admitted against her neck as he kissed down her soft skin, pulling her head back so he could attack her neck with his tongue and teeth.

Cherrie was wriggling around beneath him breathlessly , moaning as she wrapped her legs around his waist, her silky dress riding up her thighs as he straddled her, pressing their hips together firmly.

"You look so fucking beautiful.." he muttered against her lips as he started to slide his hand up her thigh , caressing the soft skin there .

He was about to reach her panties when the door burst open and slammed against the wall loudly , making the both of them freeze in shock.

Angel was stood there with a scowl on her chubby little face, huffing at them as she glared in announce at a frozen , red faced Charles that was still on top of her mother .

"You said you'd do my hair Charles! Get off mommy and help me now!" She exclaimed , stomping her foot at him impatiently.

Charles slowly lifted himself up from Cherrie, clearing his throat awkwardly as he straightened out his shirt and smoothed cherries dress back down over her thighs .

Giving her a sheepish smile , his face resembling a tomato as she slowly got off the bed as well. Looking at her daughter in shock.

Then she looked at what her toddler was wearing and sighed.

She had on a big Cinderella dress , a tiara on her head and on her tiny feet she had some plastic , fluffy , glittery heels on. Alongside a diamond necklace and clip on earrings. Looking like a little diva , she even had a mini handbag hooked onto her elbow!

Cherrie slowly turned to look at a guilty looking Charles , not doubt the culprit of her little makeover.

"Charles... why does she look like she's going to a ball? Where did she even get this stuff! And is that a real diamond necklace she's wearing?!" She almost screeched in disbelief.

More concerned with her toddlers control over Charles than she was about him admitting her love for her .

Charles just shrugged and walked over to Angel, gently lifting off her tiara so he could sort out her messy hair like he had promised her he would when he took her out shopping instead of taking her to the babysitters.

"She wanted to dress like a princess. And it's only one diamond.. I got you a matching one too look!" He then casually took out another diamond necklace from his pocket, proudly showing it to her.

She just blinked at him in disbelief "oh my god. You're insane." She muttered before looking at her baby again. Smiling despite herself as she stroked her soft curls behind her ear, Angel looking incredibly smug of herself for having Charles wrapped around her little finger so quickly.

"You look beautiful baby. But I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to come-"

Charles cut her off , moving her hair behind her neck as he casually clipped the necklace around her neck and adjusted it between her breasts. Stepping back and admiring how perfect it looked against her soft skin, smiling her her in awe.

"She's coming. She wants to try the steak.. and this restaurant does the best steak in the world." He said, caressing the back of her head gently before pulling away with a kiss to her cheek.

Then he walked over to the two year old and took ahold of her hand. Leading her back out of the bedroom as she babbled away to him about what type of hairstyle she wanted him to do.

Charles having been watching YouTube videos all morning to learn how to do it for her , he was feeling pretty confident in his braiding skills now.

He put Angel on the couch and told her to sit still while he got the hairbrush . Quickly running back into the bedroom and giving a stunned Cherrie , who hasn't moved an inch, a shy grin.

He wrapped his arm around the back of her neck and pulled her closer to him again, looking into her widened eyes bashfully.

"Do you Er- the feelings mutual right? You love me too?" He needed to know, having been interrupted

before Cherrie could even reply to his sudden declaration of love .

Cherrie looked at him quietly for a moment, before hearing Angels high pitched voice call for him again.

Seeing the way Charles laughed softly as he called over to her that he would only be a minute , having all the patience in the world for her.

She softened and let out a sigh , leaning forward and giving him a slow , long kiss. His eyes still fluttered close as she gently pulled away and patted his bright red cheeks gently , grinning at him fondly .

"Yeah I love you. Kind of hard not to." She simply told him. Laughing at the way his eyes shot open and he immediately beamed at her, even clapping his hands Together in front of him excitedly.

He grinned at her happily , heart pounding out of his chest in glee . "Yeah?"

She nodded with a breathless laugh "yeah. I love you and I think she loves you too." She motioned towards a inpatient toddler who was stood at the door again with her little hands on her hips, huffing at Charles to hurry up and make her look like a princess.

Charles felt like he could cry. He sniffled a little , pulling away with a overwhelmed laugh. Picking Angel up and swinging her around happily, the toddler screeching and giggling hysterically as he tickled her.

"Good job I love her too then! Come on! Let's go do your hair.." he said to Angel with a grin, practically bouncing on his feet with pure happiness as he skipped out of the room in a daze.

Cherrie stood in the middle of the room with a grin, shaking her head in amusement and fondness when a second of silence went by before Charles loud voice echoed down the hall to her again.

"I seriously love you Cherrie! I can't wait to get to annoy you for the rest of my life!" He shouted down the hall, Angel sat on the chair in front of him as he he gently ran the brush through her hair.

Passing the toddler his phone , he told her quietly "call pierre. We need to tell him that your mommy loves me now! He's not going to believe this!" He told her excitedly.

Angel doing exactly as he said , holding up the phone that was bigger than her own face up to her ear with a giggle as she heard a French voice echo down the line .

"My mommy loves Charles and now they're going to be king and queen!" She said down the phone, looking up to Charles for approval .

He gave her a proud thumbs up before continuing to braid her hair, sighing blissfully to himself .Laughing as he heard Pierre gasp and demand an explanation.

He then turned his head and winked over at Cherrie who was watching the two of them with amusement written across her face . Rolling her eyes at him playfully.

"Great. I have two kids to look after now.." she joked unbothered by a hysterical pierre shouting down the phone for Charles to tell him how the hell he had managed to bag the hottest woman in the world.

Her two year old happily telling him all the details , despite not knowing who the hell she was even talking to.

But as she looked at the chaos that surrounded and to Charles beaming smile , she sighed happily.

This was how it was supposed to be. Just she and Charles and her baby.

Who would have thought that the pain in her ass would turn out to be the love of her life?

And just like that, in a week, she had gained a best friend and a boyfriend too.

And Charles had gained his own little , dream family. It only took him years of getting on her nerves for this to happen.

He had done the impossible. And he couldn’t feel any smugger if he tried.

He had his dream girl now. And her little, sassy mini me. His life couldn't get any better than this!

#f1 imagine #charles leclerc imagine #Charles leclerc fic #formula one imagine #f1 fic #f1 oneshot #formula 1 imagine #charles leclerc oneshot

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atinylittlepain · 8 months

Text

No Surrender

no outbreak!joel miller x fem!reader

Hungry Hearts masterlist

wordcount | 2K

warnings | smut, angst, the usual

a/n | a short but sweet epilogue to this treat of a story. thank you to everyone who has followed along with joel and cherry <3

................................

“Strike!”

“That’s alright, Els! Shake it off, babe, you got this!”

“C’mon, kid, just like we practiced. All in the hips.” Before she steps back up to bat, Ellie shoots a rather pointed look their way, her shoulders rising and falling with a huff.

“Shut up, please.” Cherry laughs while Joel grumbles, not too surprised by the kid’s abrasive command, though still a little taken aback.

“At least we got a please out of her.” Joel nods, only half paying attention to Cherry’s quip as he watches the next pitch, a ball that Ellie doesn’t bite at, smart. Their team needs a strong hit, Sarah on third and another runner on second, two outs and all tied up.

“Strike two!”

“Oh, c’mon now, that was way inside.” He mumbles it just loud enough that the parents sitting in front of them on the bleachers turn over their shoulder to stare at him, Cherry offering them an apologetic smile before turning her attention to him.

“Joel, don’t start. Do you want a repeat of last week?” Last week, both Ellie and Sarah wouldn’t talk to them the whole car ride home from the fields after he and Cherry both got asked to wait in the parking lot when they got a little too heated with the ump about Ellie’s contested slide into third.

“I blame you for that one.” Cherry’s face screws up, her hand that had been resting on his thigh laying a mean squeeze that makes him laugh.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you’re the one that started it.”

“Well, you’re the one that finished it, Miller.” Somehow, even after a year, they’re still disgusting for each other. At least that’s what Sarah calls it, Ellie usually agreeing with a grimace and a fake gag. But they’re too busy on the field right now to comment on the smacking kiss Joel steals from Cherry, her frown going slack before crooking into half a grin.

“How could I not, Cher? That ump was calling my woman’s judgment into question.”

“Your woman, huh?” A quick flush of heat in his cheeks when she says it like that, all simpering low. His cheeks smart with his grin.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“How very paleolithic of you.” Before he can jostle her a little for her snark, the crack of a bat hitting a ball pulls their attention back to the field. Both of them are instantly on their feet when they see the perfect zip of Ellie’s hit. Yeah, maybe a little obnoxious, the way they alternate between cheering Sarah on into home and yelling for Ellie to steal second. But it is their girls, after all.

…

Not that he would go around admitting this to anyone, but Joel has gotten pretty good at cooking tofu. Two pans on the stove, one with chicken and one with the aforementioned protein, he stirs while Cherry chops up veggies for the tacos beside him.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed that all the boxes we just brought over were only Sarah’s.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m all ready to go. The movers are coming on, what? Wednesday?” She stops chopping, shooting him an exasperated look.

“Monday, Joel, the movers are going to be at your house at nine sharp on Monday. Which, by the way, is two days from now.”

“Right, I knew that.” She huffs, a murmured uh-huh as she goes back to chopping. Honestly, he’s not sure why she’s so worried about it. Over the course of the last year, it’s just been one big and slow move-in to the point that one evening last week when he and Sarah actually were at their house, he found himself without a toothbrush, having made a permanent home for it on Cherry’s bathroom sink. Really, the movers are just for the few big things they’ve still yet to haul over. Sarah’s bed, which is going to go in what was the guest room in Cherry’s house, walls now painted purple after a quick weekend project and ready for its new purpose. A couch and a flatscreen that’s going in the basement, and yes, he’s already looking forward to football season. And his bookshelf, an open wall in Cherry’s room for its new home, though she’s been adamant that anything with her name on it needs to go in a box somewhere that she can’t see it. Writers, he muses, never without their quirks.

“Phone’s ringing, Cher.” And it never seems to stop. He swears he could hear it ringing from across town with how used to that sound he has gotten. But she’s been putting it on silent more often these days, and right now, she waves her hand in her phone’s vague direction, a despondent little sound in the back of her throat.

“I’m not answering that, it’s the fucking weekend and I just sent in the first draft to her. And anyways, she’s gonna be in town next weekend, did I tell you that?” She has, probably ten times, but he doesn’t tell her that, just nods, giving her hip a squeeze as he reaches around her for the spatula.

“What’s her name again?”

“Maria. And I was thinking, you know, maybe you could invite Tommy over for dinner the same night that she’s visiting.” Her words slant a little with her hardly-contained grin, and he finally pieces together why she’s been mentioning her editor’s visit so frequently to him.

“Oh yeah, you were just thinking, huh?” He hooks his arm around her waist, the end of his words getting pressed into the shell of her ear as she squirms in his hold, trying to bite back her smile.

“I’m just saying. She’s thinking about moving to Austin.”

“Is there a big publishing business in Austin?”

“No, she wants to give that whole remote thing a go. The wonders of modern technology and all that. I tried that new Skype thing out last week for an interview though and it gave me the biggest headache ever. I doubt that’ll last very long.” He hums, letting Cherry go to finish cooking the food on the stove.

“I’ll invite him over, Cher, but I ain’t gonna promise you that he won’t make a fool of himself. She’s probably way out of his league.”

“Hmm, we’ll see. I think someone a little more serious would be good for him.”

He’s used to this now. He might even take it for granted. All the ways that they have configured their lives around each other. Lucky, he thinks, that Ellie and Sarah get along like they do. Lucky that Sarah likes her and Ellie tolerates him, though he thinks the kid’s not giving him enough credit when she says that with a dramatic sigh. Lucky too that two decades felt like nothing compared to all the good they get to have together now.

A family, he thinks, because what else would he call it? Hers and his sitting down at the table on their back porch for dinner. And yes, it’s theirs now, or as good as, even though the movers are still two days away.

Sarah and Ellie talk about their class schedules for the new school year. Lord help them all, sophomores in high school. Apparently he said that thought out loud because Ellie screws up her face at him around a bite of taco.

“Well, what were y’all like in high school?”

“Oh my god, Els, did you just say y’all?” Cherry can barely get the question out behind her laugh, and Ellie rolls her eyes so hard Joel thinks they might get stuck like that.

“Hey, she’s just practicing the local customs. But I’m also curious, for the record, about what you two were like in high school.” Ellie nods along to Sarah’s addition, already a team, he thinks. Again, lord help them all.

“Well, your dad had a bit of a reputation on campus for getting into trouble.”

“Hey, I was never as bad as Tommy.” He puts all of his energy into the look he gives Cherry, pleading for her to not take this where he thinks she’s taking it. She just grins over the rim of her glass. Sarah and Ellie meanwhile, seem rapt to hear more.

“Maybe so, but I’m guessing you haven’t told Sarah about what you did at homecoming in eighty-three?”

“Oh Jesus no, and I’m not going to, and neither are you, thank you very much.” Sarah and Ellie take up a chorus of boos at that, Cherry shrugging her shoulders at him, though he doesn’t let her smugness off easy, squeezing her thigh beneath the table as he gets a story of his own ready for takeoff.

“You had a reputation of your own, didn’t you, Cher?” Her face falls just as his lifts with his grin, looking at the girls again, their attention recaptured.

“This one right here was something of a heartbreaker. Wouldn’t give the time of day to any of the poor boys that trailed after her. Little did they know she was actually a grade A nerd.” A cheap shot maybe, Cherry shoving at his shoulder as Ellie snorts at her mom, enough for him to be pretty pleased with himself.

“I’ll have you know that I wasn’t giving any of them the time of day because I wasn’t interested in any of those poor boys you’re talking about.”

“No? Not even Mikey Donahue?” Cherry scoffs, a wave of her hand, forget it.

“Especially not Mikey Donahue.”

“That right?” “Mmhmm.”

“And how’d that work out for you, Cher?”

“I’d say it worked out pretty well, at least in the end.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh god, they’re being disgusting again, that’s our cue to leave.” He doesn’t pay Sarah’s gripe any mind, nor Ellie’s groan of my eyes, it burns! By the time the sliding door of the porch closes behind their girls, he’s already leaning in for a second kiss that Cherry meets with a soft hum.

“You better not tell them about homecoming in eighty-three.” Her brow crooks, nails scratching lightly at his scruff where her hand is settled along his jaw.

“Or else what?” He sighs, like he’s really considering his options, another squeeze to her thigh before he answers.

“Or else I’ll tell them about the time you peed your pants in Sunday school.” Her smile simmers, her ankle hooking around his, a little tug for him to scooch his chair closer to hers.

“Hmm, I think homecoming in eighty-three is still worse.”

“I was trying to be generous, Cher. I could tell them about the time you got sent to the principal’s office for telling Maureen Henderson to shove her nail file up her—” Cherry gasps, quick to clamp her palm over his mouth, though she jerks her hand away when he starts to laugh.

“I never liked her.”

“No, you sure didn’t.”

“She liked you though.” It’s silent for a moment, Cherry’s smile sliding into something a little more shy as Joel leans into her side, trying to catch her downturned gaze.

“That’s not jealousy I’m detecting is it?” The heel of her palm shoves into his chest with a huff, but he doesn’t budge, just crowds in closer, his arm curling around her shoulders.

“Uh, considering I’m the one you’re breathing your pickled jalapeno breath on right now, no, I am not jealous of Maureen Henderson.”

“I didn’t really care for her either.” That gets a smile out of her, the slightest curl of it enough for his to split even wider.

“No?”

“Nah, I was waiting on someone else anyways.” She leans back to get a better look at him, doing that now familiar thing of pressing two of her fingers into the patch in his scruff, always right there.

“Hmm, how’d that work out for you?”

“Pretty damn good, at least in the end.” That gets him another kiss, Cherry just as quickly flitting out of his hold to start cleaning up the table after dinner, another routine he’s happy to settle into with her.

Yes, maybe it’s strange, still awkward at times, figuring out how this family fits together. Yes, maybe there’s still hurt, two decades worth of it to answer to, to soothe in each other. But he knows that this is theirs, movers be damned. It’s always been theirs. And yes, maybe he also knows that there’s a small velvet box tucked into what is now his sock drawer up in their bedroom. He thinks he knows what her answer will be to that velvet box tucked into his sock drawer.

...............................

taglist: @spookyxsam @libbylou223 @angel-in-beskar @starstruckunknown-princess @casa-boiardi @tieronecrush @swiftispunk @beskarandblasters @trulybetty @amanitacowboy @pr0ximamidnight @wannab-urs @jksprincess10 @suzmagine @everything-isfucked @lanabobana @kittenlittle24 @sarap-77 @officerrrfriendly @val-srz @bitchwitch1981 @redwoodsanddaffodils @themothersmercy @romanarose @lost-inhawkins @youcancallmeelle @hollywoodcaligirl @harryleatherfit @fifia-writes @brighttears @lokanda @hardlystrictlystarwars @sarahxxo3 @harriedandharassed @anoverwhelmingdin

#joel miller fanfiction #joel miller #joel miller x reader #tlou #tlou fanfiction #joel miller angst #joel miller fluff #the last of us #joel miller au #joel miller series #joel miller story #joel miller fic

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powderblueblood · 6 months

Note

STEVE HARRINGTON X MILLION DOLLAR MAN !!!!

( idk if that’s what you meant 😭 pls delete if it’s not <3 )

send me 🎵+ character name and i’ll write a lil blurb inspired by a song from their playlist (you can also request songs and i will do my level best. god is a dj and i'm god)

▶ MILLION DOLLAR MAN - LANA DEL REY

you've got the world, but baby at what price? or how falling in love with notorious conman steve harrington began your career as a fence of stolen jewelry.

an: @stveharringtn cherry how the fuck did you know that i've been sitting on a conman!steve au for what feels like a hundred thousand years. PERFECT SONG PERFECT CHOICE lets begin i hope you like it

warnings: my blatant obsession with the oceans eleven cinematic universe and pathological need to create a heist au out of EVERYTHING. and CUSSING IS IN THIS TOO.

word count: 2.5k

MIAMI BEACH, 1990

“Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned safe?”

“I don’t trust a safe. I don’t trust me, I don’t trust you, and I most definitely don’t trust a safe.”

Dustin Henderson dangerously toes the edge of squawking, but he doesn’t know any better. At this point in his career as a thief, he doesn’t understand that when Steve Harrington says he doesn’t trust anyone, it’s not dismissive. It’s simply a missive, a fact of life. Everyone’s got knives, everyone’s got backs. Stands to reason that someone’s going to thrust and someone is going to get stabbed.

Steve likes to take all the necessary precautions.

He doesn’t trust anyone.

“But her you trust?”

Robin Buckley’s tone is hard. Robin Buckley is the only person that Steve could imagine himself trusting, and even so, they keep each other at an imperceptible arm’s length. To the outside world, they’re bosom buddies, best friends eating dirt together. But they both understand the business that they’re in.

They keep their knives sharp.

They take all the necessary precautions.

So why the fuck is Steve bringing an outsider into the ring.

“I never said that.” Steve grabs a coaster and pointedly puts it where Robin might next aim her beer bottle, dripping with incriminating condensation. All over his agarwood coffee table.

“It was inferred.” Robin pointedly puts the bottle down– to the far left of the coaster. Fuck you.

“I don’t see how that’s my problem.” Fuck you right back.

“I know why he’s not using a safe,” Eddie Munson crows from the near background, wiping ash from his face. Eddie Munson, munitions expert. Eddie Munson, expert in blowing up any conversation within a three mile radius. Detonation test, by the way, that’s why his face is covered in shit.

Steve holds out a hand–stop right where you are–before he can reach the agarwood table.

“Because he’s–” and proceeds to make that finger in hole gesture that doesn’t crack a single smile in the room. Not even Dustin Henderson’s, mostly due to the fact that it’s happening behind his head. “Because he’s fucking her.”

“It’s not that,” Steve and Robin say in unison, with Steve’s eyes narrowed on Eddie and Robin’s eyes trained unmercifully on Steve.

It’s not that. They’re right. It’s worse.

There’s something psychosexual about the game of tennis. The grunting, the tiny little skirts, the whacking of balls. The amount of money rich people love to spend on it. There’s something evil here, and you’ve committed yourself to a summer of trying to figure it out.

Well, half-committed. Your real commitment is making enough tips to make a dent in your looming student loans. Post-graduation, a friend had given you a hot tip about private tennis clubs in Miami. They use hundos like napkins there, girl. Go get your piece.

Your nana lives in Miami. Lived. She’s dead now, three months. You’re living in her condo now– technically in a seniors complex, assisted living type of thing, but it’s okay. It’s quiet. The people chat and force you to play bocce ball sometimes, the only sport you understand.

Tennis, you don’t understand, other than the fact that these people have more money than they know what to do with and they’re all too repressed to grunt in the privacy of their own homes.

After a time or two taking drink orders and bringing their rackets for in-house repair, they all blend into the same amorphous blob– the white outfits-on-white people effect does not help. They tip you in enormous digits, confident that you’ll remember them and treat them right, but you don’t have that skill. Some of your co-workers do, but you don’t.

So, you notice when someone stands out.

You smell him before you see him, and you know how that sounds, but bare with–

The thickening, insistent incense smell of patchouli. Rainwater. Dust. Lemon.

When you turn from your place behind the bar, fetching your eighth double vodka soda in what seems like as many minutes for another bleach-blond man in his mid-forties, he’s leaning with one elegant elbow propped on the marble top. Sunglasses push over a shock of brown hair, streaked with blonde from the Florida sunshine.

“Macallan, buddy. Up.” But he’s not talking to you. He’s talking to the bartender, Trent, the picture of incompetence. Trent nods to him, smiling broadly, but that flattens into a hard line as he turns toward the bar.

This guy politely turns his head, eyes glossing right over you. But you are just staring a bullet hole right though him, and you can’t help it. He’s magnetic. He’s dressed in a light blue linen suit, a far cry from the tennis uniforms or the hollering Versace shirts every other man in the place seems to be wearing. The slope of his shoulders suggest something… provincial.

He’s not a city boy– man. This is a man.

You hear a clatter to your immediate right and see Trent pouring a finger of Chivas into a tumbler.

“Oh, Trent, that’s not–”

He passes it off to the linen gentleman, this Miami cowboy, with a serene smile. Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a Chivas and a Macallan, but you would.

And you bet he would too.

He departs in a cloud of the same heavenly scent he’d arrived in, heading courtside to watch trust fund kids fumble over backhands.

“Trent,” you say, reaching for the correct bottle and a fresh tumbler. “Meet Macallan. For next time, okay?”

The blond kid just shrugs at you. “All that shit tastes the same to me.”

To you.

You linger near the arm of his chair before speaking, suddenly able to hear your pulse in your ears. Up close, you can see moles dotting the hand holding the errant glass of Chivas. A big hand too, it seems to dwarf the crystal.

“Excuse me,” you say, as steady as you can manage. It’s not very steady. You wish you would’ve thought to check your makeup before you made a beeline out here, but time, you couldn’t help but feel, was of the essence.

He looks up at you over his sunglasses and you think your knees might buckle.

Eyes like a dark wood. Inviting you in. The kind of eyes that don’t look through you.

Christ, people had been looking through you all summer, but it didn’t matter now.

“Is that the Macallan?” he mumbles conspiratorially.

You just– nod, uniform-required ponytail bouncing.

“I’ll trade you,” he says, about to pass off the glass of Chivas, but then he pauses. Takes you in, surveying you in a way that makes you blush, “if you can finish this one with me.”

“Um…”

“Is that allowed?” he asks, “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

Trouble be damned. The hell with trouble. Not only is your reputation as a little worker bee here untarnished, you can’t not sit with him.

“I’m due a break, actually.”

“So I’ll trade you. Sit down, get comfortable. Give me the scoop on these tennis brats.”

He leans in to take the glass of Macallan from you, to pass off the glass of Chivas, and he brushes your hand. You experience the full entirely of a cliche, feeling electricity thrum under your skin– but then he passes a fingertip over the ring finger of your right hand.

“That’s a pretty piece,” he hums, “Princess, right?”

For a second, you falter. Princess? Me? But it’s the ring he’s referring to– the yellow diamond engagement ring that once belonged to your nana.

“Close!” you say, twisting the band on your finger in an act of self-consciousness. “Carré cut. Less pricey than a princess.”

“But just as pretty.”

“And more rare, actually.”

“Huh,” he says, and you smooth your skirt out with one hand, taking the seat nearest him. Enveloping yourself in the cloud of him. “Rarer than a princess.”

From the court, a headband-wearing pre-teen in dazzling whites hollers fuck you, Mommy! Fuck you and your fucking bullshit topspin! I fucking hate this place!

“I’ll drink to that.”

NEW YORK CITY, 1995

The car door slams behind Dustin Henderson, raindrops rolling from the brim of his baseball cap. It’s late November and a freezing rain has descended upon the Diamond District.

Steve had at least hoped he might see sunshine when he got out of the joint.

From the wheel, he cranes his neck to the back seat where Dustin sits, wiping the dripping water from the hat’s beak. His Thinking Cap. He’s had that thing since he was a kid and has somehow managed to keep it in immaculate condition. Dustin loves details. Dustin also loves risk. Which is why he’s the only man for this recon job.

“Tell me,” Steve says, tone as level as he can possibly keep it.

“She is way hotter than I remember.”

“Dustin.”

“Miami always makes people less hot. I think it’s the heat,” the kid chuckles, an obvious attempt at lightening a tense mood. See, they weren’t supposed to be here. They weren’t supposed to be looking for you. Robin hadn’t said don’t go looking for her, but that more or less should have been in the terms of Steve’s release from Sing Sing.

“Dustin.”

“She’s in there, just like you said she’d be in there. It’s a white room and it’s got every kind of goddamn sparkler you could think of. Three layers of security. Three. What kind of jewelry store you ever been to that’s got three layers of security?”

A detail like that would make a less accomplished thief sweat. But Dustin and Steve share a knowing smile.

“A jewelry store selling stolen jewelry.”

“Exactly,” Dustin nods. “I thought she’d be front-of-house, but she’s got her own office. Tucked away in the corner. Appointment only.”

“Any availability?”

The younger man smirks. “For me or for you?”

Buddy’s is the last place in midtown you can get a decent drink and not be surrounded by throngs of yuppies.

You know this, because you tend to date the yuppies in the throng.

This is the one place that seems to be universally avoided by the trader set– it’s too dark and wooden in here, no brutalist architecture to make them feel at home while they rail lines of coke off their girlfriend’s compact mirrors.

At Buddy’s, there’s a pianist that’s been propping up the corner for the last half century, minimum. A carpet that’s never been shampooed spreads across the floor and the mahogany is dented in all the places the light doesn’t hit. You can smoke indoors. Everything Happens to Me by Chet Baker will play, and everything feels like it’s going to be alright. At least until happy hour ends.

You have a regular seat by the bar, a vantage point for people-watching. A gin martini, hold the vermouth, sits waiting for you by the time you arrive. On an average Thursday, you spend a couple of hours drinking three of these in an act of decompression from the violent fluorescent lighting of your workplace. From peering through a looking glass, examining the way light refracts through gemstones.

From moving cargo that isn’t yours to move.

This Thursday has been no different.

You drag a finger along the condensation of your martini glass, it’s perfect conical shape a welcome weight in your hand.

Your hair is piled up on top of your head, and you wear your reading glasses, and though you are beautiful, no one bothers you. Nothing bothers you.

Until you hear a sound you haven’t heard in years.

Tapping, against the bartop. One, one. Two, two. Three, three. Nerves. It was the only time you could ever tell that he was nervous.

“Macallan, buddy. Up.”

Fucker.

He knew you by every single detail about you, let’s get that straight.

He is entirely sure that in a room of a thousand clones of you, he would be able to pick out the real one, just from your minute sigh. From the way your one shoulder always slopes. From curl at the base of your neck.

From the way you play with your grandmother’s Carré cut diamond, still sitting pretty on your right hand.

He positions himself a number of seats away from you, from the seat that he’s been watching you sit at for a couple of nights in a row now. He does not approach you directly.

Partially to see if you’ll still remember him.

Steve is still vain, in his ways. He wants a spotlight shone on him.

He only ever remembers the warmth of yours.

He orders the same drink he ordered that day you met at the tennis club, the same way. He even hopes the bartender will mistake the Chivas for the Macallan and you’ll have to climb over the bar and charmingly correct him. But Antoine, as he’s heard you call him, has been behind this bar longer than Saint Peter at the pearly gates, so there’s no fear of that.

You don’t react right away, and he doesn’t expect you to. He savors it, in fact, the opportunity to slyly watch you. Even if you’re seething. Even if you’re seething, you’re seething like a goddess might seethe. Horrifying and beautiful, all at once. The definite end of him.

Then, the lack of attention you’re showing him stretches on a beat too long.

“Excuse me,” he says from his spots a couple of seats down, “Can you do me a favor?”

You don’t respond. This doesn’t stop him. Never has.

“You mind tasting this for me?” Steve pushes the glass toward you, sending it sliding down the bar. You catch it with your right hand, yellow diamond catching in the light. A cut like that has never sparkled until you’ve worn it. “You think that’s Macallan or Chivas? Be honest.”

Steve’s fingers flex unconsciously as you lift the glass. Tilt it toward your lips. Still making no eye contact. But you don’t sip.

“I think you should be in prison,” you say into the crystal tumbler and place it back on the bar top. “Why the fuck are you not in prison.”

Steve closes the space between you, taking in that powdery perfume you’re still wearing after all this time. Candied violets. He settles into the beside you and props his palm under his chin.

“Why are you selling stolen jewelry.”

He sees you tense for a brief moment, then release. Like you knew he’d say that, like you should have seen that coming. Because you know him, and you always see him coming. Other than Robin, you’re the only one that ever has.

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second.”

“So that when some bastard in a bad linen suit asks me to hold on to some stolen jewelry, I’ll at least know how much it’s worth.”

A beat. You stare Steve down with such naked disdain that his heart twists in his chest. You hate him, and he sees that, and with all the evidence stacked up against you, he should hate you too. But that wasn’t what bit him.

“That suit wasn’t bad, Princess.”

#powder room talk #stveharringtn #s. harrington by powder #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x f!reader #heist au #conman!steve you will live forever unlike danny ocean who is apparently dead.#stranger things fic #published by powder #blurbs #clear cut

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gintrinsic-writing · 11 months

Text

The brown paper bag was small and nondescript. It crinkled in Legend’s fist.

“So?” Sky asked quietly. “What did the doctor say?”

“It’s not bad,” Legend answered with a shrug. He sounded calm despite the tension in his shoulders. Sky was immediately on edge.

“Meaning?”

“I’m deficient in vitamin B.”

“And?”

“That’s it,” Legend assured him. “Everything else checked out.”

“Everything? Because Hyrule said—”

“I know what he said, I was there,” Legend muttered dryly. “It’s hard to forget words like ‘degenerative neuropathy’ when you’re falling asleep.”

Sky winced. “Sorry.”

Legend waved his apology aside. “Don’t be. The doctor mentioned similar possibilities, but no, it’s just a vitamin issue.”

It sounded almost too good to be true. “And that can cause…?”

“The tingling, numbness and tiredness?” Legend snorted. “Apparently.”

Sky slouched forward in relief. “Thank Hylia.” They’d been so worried the past few weeks. Legend already dealt with chronic pain issues, but lately he’d been having sensory problems even when sitting, standing, or holding a weapon. Sky had been the one to suggest that they stop in a city to find someone trained in modern medicine when potions hadn’t improved anything. “I take it there’s a medication?” he asked, nodding to the brown paper bag.

Some of the tension returned to Legend’s shoulders. “Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Legend.”

“Sky.” Legend mimicked his tone.

“What’s the issue? Does it taste bad?”

Legend turned the bag over and dumped its contents on one of the inn’s beds. Sky spotted several small vials and syringes. “It’s a monthly injection, since my gut apparently isn’t absorbing vitamins properly.”

“Oh. Is that… bad?”

“Of course not,” Legend said quickly. “It’ll take two seconds. It’s more of a minor inconvenience than anything else.”

Sky pursed his lips. “Do you want me to give you the first one?”

This time, Legend blushed. “No. It’s just a needle. I’ve had much worse.”

“I know.”

“I know you know,” Legend griped, still blushing. He suddenly reached over to fill one of the syringes. The liquid was a pleasant cherry red. When he lifted one side of his tunic to expose his hip, Sky glanced away to be polite. Seconds passed, and Sky waited…

And waited.

Legend abruptly giggled, and Sky glanced up just in time to see him slap his free hand over his mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Don’t look!” Legend blurted.

Sky immediately glanced away again. “Are you sure…?”

“I’m,” Legend stopped to giggle once more. “F-fine!” He cleared his throat, though his voice remained just shy of laughter. “I’m fine. It’s just a needle. I’m. fine.”

“You’re fine,” Sky repeated pleasantly.

“It’s just a needle.”

“Right, you said that.”

Legend laughed. “In my leg.”

“Yes...”

“This is my leg.”

“Goddess, Legend, are you sure you don’t want me to do it?” Sky asked, finally looking over.

Legend’s cheeks were flushed pink, and his expression kept ping-ponging between a frown and a nervous grin. The needle hovered just millimeters over his skin. “No! I’m doing it!”

Sky raised his hands slowly. “Okay, how about—Don’t do it blind!”

“Too late!” Legend exclaimed, staring at an ugly portrait on the wall as he jabbed the needle into his hip. He sighed in relief as soon as it was done, then calmly glanced down as he finished sliding the hub against his skin. After drawing back on the syringe to make sure he wasn’t in a vessel, he injected himself and withdrew the needle. “Din’s fiery balls,” he grumbled. “That sucked.”

Sky felt like he had whiplash. “She doesn't—You—”

“Glad that’s done with,” Legend said as if he hadn't made the entire experience as dramatic as possible. He capped the used needle and set it aside. “Where are the others? Is there a plan for dinner yet?”

Sky shook his head at him. “Why did you look away?”

“That was my leg.”

“Yes,” Sky groaned, “so you said.”

“I just can’t watch it go in. Gives me the heebs,” Legend told him seriously. “Once the needle’s broken through the skin, I’m good.”

“Just… let one of us inject you next month.”

“That sounds worse.”

“But then you don’t have to watch,” Sky pointed out.

“Yeah, true…”

“You’re not going to let us, are you?”

“No chance in hell,” Legend confirmed with a nod.

#they say Write What You Know so i'm writing about all the times i've nervous giggled before giving myself vit b injections #it's so humbling #needles #lu legend #lu sky #wolfwarden if you're reading this i literally chose sky for you #lu fic #linked universe #gintrinsic writing

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strawhatsoraya · 2 years

Note

Would you write top Usopp? I’d rlly love to see that! Maybe a shy dense reader (she) that he’s been flirting with until he finally went “y’know what? Fuck it” and just kisses her! Or anything you’d have in mind! (I love angst with happy ending, soo 👀 👉👈)

(Lil vent: I only ever see ppl writing him as a bottom and, while I don’t judge, I just rlly don’t/ can’t see that. Yeah, he’s anxious and can be a scaredy-cat, but he’s grown and when it matters he’s super brave and confident. I feel like ppl babyfy him a lot… so I’d love to see a top Usopp being all the confident and flirty for once! It’s kinda unfair how they babyfy him so much… anyway! I’m so sorry abt this impromptu vent!! Ik it was stupid, I just been thinking abt this a whole lot! Sorry again)

Anon, I love your beautiful mind. Your wish is my command, because your wish is also my wish. We are of one mind right now. I have written some Usopp for you, with some angst, and fluff, and some smut, and guess what? He's not a bottom! So there's that.

(I refuse to accept as Usopp as bottom so you and I can stand together on this hill. I'll make room. Usopp is courageous, and trustworthy. He knows how skilled he is, and isn't shy at all in my opinion! He just gets scared and honestly rightfully so! The situations they get into are absolutely bonkers. Not everyone is as fearless as Luffy. Never worry about ranting to me!! We can rant together)

hehe ANYWAY here is the fic. I could rant for three more paragraphs if you let me. Please enjoy the Usopp meal kiss kiss xoxo

Bullseye

USOPP X FEM READER | AFAB NO PRONOUNS | NSFW

WORD COUNT: 1.7k (I could have easily written another 1k but thought i should stop while i was ahead)

A (BADLY WRITTEN) SUMMARY: Usopp doesn't understand why y/n can't just grasp the concept of him being into her??? So he makes a move because life is short.

There wasn’t a target in all the seas that he couldn’t hit. No matter how far, no matter how fast. That was the guarantee. His legacy. Sniper King, Usopp the legend of East Blue.

However, with you, it was like flinging cotton balls as ammunition; not enough force, always falling too short, nothing stuck.

It was true that you always laughed at his jokes, crinkling your button nose, chubby cheeks partially concealing your eyes. It was true that whenever he called your name, you whipped your head in his direction, never ignored him; not even once. It was true that sometimes he’d brush the back of his hand against yours, and sometimes–maybe once or twice, your pinkies had entwined as silence fell between you; an understanding of shaky possibilities.

It was also true that you never once answered truthfully when he asked you if you had a crush. Did he know them? It was also true that he called you pretty, funny, amazing and you had taken it all in stride with a quiet laugh, stating that he was too kind; too sweet.

He wanted to be more than sweet. He wanted to be enticing, alluring. He wanted you to see him and feel fire wrap itself around your legs, and over your hips until you were consumed by nothing but thoughts of him. He wanted you to dream of him the way he dreamed of you at night; dream of his lips the way he dreamed of yours–their taste, their shape, the way his name would tumble out in an imaginary ecstasy.

Night after night, he struggled with himself. He’d run scenarios in his mind, wondering what else he could do, what else he could say. It bothered him enough to go to Sanji, risking humiliation. Sanji had laughed, before clapping one hand on his shoulder. Some people are like flowers, he had said as they shared a glass of wine. Sometimes they need a little extra push, a little bit more care, before they can bloom.

Usopp wanted to see you bloom. He wanted your petals to open up, to reveal the tender pink inside, like cherry trees in spring. He wanted to be the breeze that shakes your branches, scattering the essence of you everywhere to carry it with him wherever he went.

He smelled you in the ocean breeze as you stood on the deck, observing the sea as you often did. You turn to him and smile, hand outstretched to him. He doesn’t have the strength to deny you. He walks towards you, heart hammering loudly between his ribs. It seeks to escape, to run away from the scene. Usopp brings a hand up to calm it, he rubs a quick circle over his chest. He murmurs a quiet promise to himself. Today, he wouldn’t let you escape. Today, he’d make you understand.

You both look out at the ocean, watch the sun sink lower into the horizon. Orange ink spills in the skies, washes away and blends in with dusty blue.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” you ask him, tilting your head up at him. He looks down at you with lips slightly parted. As if he couldn’t breathe enough. His dark brown eyes, deep and soulful, watch you and it feels as if he sees deeper than skin; deeper than flesh, sinews and bone. You swallow, trying to ignore the steady increase in body heat.

“Yeah,” he says, tearing his eyes away from you with the last shred of his will. He places an elbow on the railing of the Thousand Sunny to glance at the sunset casually. It was beautiful for sure, but the sight of your skin glowing was far more than that; far more than words he could ever utter.

He should, though, shouldn’t he?

He swallows the nerves, they tangle in his throat. He hears you talking about something or the other; more than likely whatever shenanigans Luffy had gotten up to that day. He laughs just at the thought of it, your story barely registering. All he could do was stare at your moving lips, the way the corners of your mouth would curl up, the tiny flash of white teeth; he remembers at the most inopportune moment, he is aware, of his last dream where you sank your teeth into his shoulders to keep from crying out.

His hands shake, he feels pleasurable heat at the bottom of his belly. If he didn’t hold you tonight, if he didn’t kiss you until he was out of breath, he was as good as dead. He says your name, cutting off your speech. You blink at him, wondering when he had become so rude. You don’t get the chance to question him. His mouth is on yours, tightly pressed as one arm wraps around your waist. He pulls you in closer, fingers clutching at the fabric of your shirt; desperate to keep you close. His other hand buries in your hair, grabbing handfuls of it, bringing your mouth closer to his.

You feel your body freeze, adrenaline shooting bullseyes at every nerve. Bang, Bang, Bang! And at the source of the hit, warmth blooms; ink on paper, spreading heated fingers over your skin.

He presses his tongue against your bottom lip, and feels the chapped skin. It doesn’t bother him. He just thinks he should kiss you more properly; tenderly, to make up for it. He has you in his embrace, tongue pushing past your lips. He claims yours for the taking, moaning softly as he sucks on it. When you come up for air, you are breathless; a small shiver rattles your senses.

“I like you so much,” he confesses against the baby hairs on your temple. He kisses your cheeks, brushes his plush lips against the shell of one ear. “I want you.” You don’t trust yourself to answer. Your legs feel weak, so you clasp fistfuls of his vest. He looks down at you through his curly lashes, his ragged breathing splashing against your mouth. He takes your silence as an answer, and envelopes your small hand in his large one to lead you away from the deck.

It is fortune’s grace that you meet no one on the way to his bedroom. He pushes the door open with too much force, and it slams against the opposing wall. The noise startles you, so he apologizes quickly as he closes it, ears heating up with embarrassment.

He tries to forget his slip up by pulling you into his embrace again, kissing you with abandon. You were in his room; you, the elusive you. It was more than he could have ever hoped. He had dreamed, yes, time and time again but those were fantasy; a cheap copy of the real you. His imagination could not compare to the softness of the inside of your mouth, the meatiness of your hips that he gripped tightly enough to bruise. You whimper as he bites on your bottom lip, tugs on it with a strength you didn’t know he possessed.

Your tongue is in his mouth again when he picks you up by the ass, long brown fingers digging into your glutes. You moan, arms wrapping around his neck as you both fall back on the bed. His weight on your body is arousing. You can’t get past the idea of how domineering it feels, as if he could pin you down and you’d be too weak to resist. He was an incredible marksman. You knew this, but wondered if he was a mind reader as well. His fingers wrap around your wrists, and he pins them over your head, his free hand snaking under your shirt, pressing flat against your belly at an excruciatingly slow pace. His callouses palms, the roughness of his skin makes you shiver.

“Usopp,” you breathe, barely able to utter the syllables. Your legs move despite your will, rubbing together as if that would stop the slickness in your panties from spreading. You don't have the courage to ask for it, so you blush instead. The sight of you biting your lip, sinking in your shoulders as if you wanted to hide shouldn’t entice him; it shouldn’t make the throbbing erection in his pants any more worse but it does. He feels it twitch, feels the need to force you to look at him. So he leaves your skin alone to grab your chin between thumb and index finger. He pulls your chin upwards, watches you until you make eye contact.

You can barely stand to look at him. Sweat drops cling to his cinnamon skin, and as your fingers twitch you remember how warm he always feels. A heat floods your belly, oozing downwards. You feel yourself become wetter the longer he stares at you.

“I want you to look at me,” he says as he lets go of your chin. His hand travels down the center of your breasts, fingers dancing lightly over your belly. Your breathing comes in short bursts; soft pants filling up the empty room. “Make sure you keep looking at me.”

His fingers brush along the inside of your thighs. You feel them ease under the skirt. You try not to close your eyes, they flutter briefly as he finds your heated cunt. You mutter something unintelligible, maybe his name? He doesn’t quite catch it but it makes him smile to see you falling apart so easily. He discovers the elastic of your panties with two fingers, pushes it aside to gently play with your wet folds.

You’re tethered to his gaze; dark, warm and hypnotizing. You lose yourself, sink into it, as if drowning at the deep end of a pool. Was breathing even necessary when his fingers so easily slipped inside of you? You cry out at the feel of them curving; searching. You bite your lip, before you gasp, panting. He never stops watching you, even as he picks up the pace, taking the hint from your moving hips. You were art in motion; a cascade of colors; a mixed medium of sound and touch. He was a mere consumer, delirious; his only desire was to have whatever you could possibly give him.

You cry out his name, and he feels a wish fulfilled. He buries his face in your neck, his curls brushing your cheek.

“Perfect,” he mumbled against your neck, nipping the skin he found until little purple bruises showed up. He feels like an imposter. He wishes he could leave something better; the shape slightly different, anything to add to your beauty. “You’re so perfect.” Your moans ignite his passion, your fingers are under his shirt, running sharp nails down his back. “Let’s not stop here. Give me more. I want more.”

#usopp x you #usopp x reader #usopp x y/n #usopp #usopp smut #one piece smut #one piece x reader #one piece x you #one piece x y/n #fic request #for the cummunity!

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revasserium · 1 year

Note

Hello sweets

How are you? I really hope you are doing well!

Can you please if I'm not bothering you have number 8 with Wakatoshi?

reqs are open :)

8. larger than fiction

ushijima; 1,283 words; fluff, one-sided love, but it's literally not angst. just trust me on this one lol.

when you think of superheroes, you do not think of him.

you do not think of the way his raw strength and power might be a blessing from the gods. you do not think of how his absolute trust and knowledge in his own abilities might be thrust upon him by some careless divinity. you do not think he was chosen or birthed into this world with his one purpose already pressed into the curves of his body, the lines of his hands.

“uwah… wakatoshi-kun is really blessed, isn’t he?”

you blink, looking up from your sideways phone, propped up on your desk, playing the newest mv of the latest boyband debut.

“he is?”

this time, its your friend who blinks back at you, stuttering.

“you… you don’t think so?”

you quirk your lips, eyes sliding back to the mv, where a boy with cherry lips and fire-engine hair is winking at the camera.

“no. not really,” you say, taking a long sip of your half-finished strawberry milk, thinking back to the events of the past summer.

b-bam! thump-thump-thump. b-bam!

“out,” you say, squinting at the place where the ball had landed, just a hair’s-breath beyond the line. by the time you look back up, he is already standing back, another ball in his hands.

“one more,” he says, as he tosses, his heels rocking back for a second before he takes his first step, and then another. you watch as he jumps, his entire body a defiance, a motion against the pull of the earth, the laws of gravity — he reaches up with a hand drawn behind his head and when he swings it forward to meet the falling arc of the ball, you swear the earth beneath you shudders.

b-bam!

ushijima lets out a breath, looking up at you from the other side of the fluttering net, and you wonder briefly if you were to map out all the different parts of him onto a gridded scale, parse him out into perfect squares, which bits might be the ones that contain all that strength, all that perseverance. and then, you laugh to yourself, nodding as you shoot him a thumbs up to signal — good, this last one was good.

he smiles, nods, and walks back to the baseline.

what a stupid question, you think, because the answer is, and has always been, obvious —

all of him.

in the hallway, the bell rings.

“ah… isn’t it a little sad?”

“what, that that volleyball-idiot ushiwaka doesn’t even realize that the prettiest girl in our year is in love with him?”

“yeah… i mean, really — how thick can he be? poor girl.”

you finish your strawberry milk and click off your phone.

“nee — you wanna come watch a movie with us tonight?”

you flash your well-meaning friend a smile, but you shake your head.

“sorry. i’ve got plans.”

b-bam! thump-thump-thump. b-bam!

“again,” he says, already picking up another ball.

outside, the sun has long since set, and the moon and stars have shed their cloaks of silver-kissed clouds. the night is deep and dark and laden with the sweet promises of youth — out there, teenagers just like you are laughing, eating popsicles, trading texts, watching movies, chatting about the latest manga updates, but here, it’s just you and him and one more ball.

briefly, you think of the walk home later, of how he’ll diligently walk on the outside of the sidewalk, of how he’ll watch to make sure you close the door before he’ll turn and leave. you think of how the following morning, he’ll be there at 7:45am right on the dot, and how he’ll bow to your mom as she thanks him for taking care of you.

b-bam! thump-thump-thump. b-bam!

“and… that’s one hundred!” you say, smiling wide as you reach out to pick up the scattered volleyballs around you, tossing them at him one at a time, watching as he diligently returns each to the large blue ball-bin with a dig. the ones he misses, he picks up to toss back to you, so he can try again.

“thanks,” he says, when the two of you have finished locking up the gymnasium, turning towards the main road where the bus stop is. out here, girls giggle in pastel pleated skirts, lips glittering with strawberry-flavored gloss. out here, boys gather in clusters to hype each other up before shoving one of them towards a group of giggling girls. out here, the summer ebbs and flows, crests and crashes against the jagged reefs of oncoming adulthood, and ushijima walks beside you, one hand on his sports bag, the other tucked into his jersey pocket.

“no problem,” you say, as you get to your front door and he stills to wait for you to walk away. you grin, waving a hand over your shoulder, “same time tomorrow?”

“un.”

you do not turn to check if he’s still watching.

months later, when they lose to karasuno, you don’t tell him you’re sorry, or that he did the best he could.

because both of you know that his strength and power comes not from the gods, but from uncountable hours of condition-training, and that his absolute trust and knowledge of his own abilities comes not from divinity, but from an entire lifetime of trying and failing, and trying again until failure is no longer a word in his dictionary.

because neither of you think that he was chosen for this, because you know that this is the choice, and that he is the maker. and that every morning, he wakes up to make it, again, and again, and again.

because he is not a superhero, so this losing is not a tragedy.

because he is not a superhero, and this is just one more tally on the calluses and tick-marks that mar his hands from the number of times he’s fallen and gotten back up again to find that you were right there by his side.

“tonight,” he says on the bus-ride back to school, where goshiki is sniffling next to a perplexed tendou, where shirabu is methodically un-taping each of his fingers, he turns to you with a steady, hard-lined look in his eyes.

“we practice a hundred more spikes.”

you nod, leaning against the back of your seat with a soft smile.

“alright,” you say, you don’t need to look to know that he’s smiling too.

“thank you,” he says, when, after some unnamable hours of spike-practice, you’re finally locking up for the day.

“yeah, of course,” you say.

“you… you’re my best friend,” he says. on your usual walk home, the main street is quiet for once, because it’s so damn late. you wonder if your parents will be worried, but then again, they know who you’re with, so they’ve no reason to be anyway.

“yeah,” you say, “i know.”

you turn to find him looking at you, and you wonder if you were to parse yourself into perfect squares, which bits of you ushijima would be most afraid of losing. and the answer comes, obvious, as the stars that shine bright in the night —

all of you.

because he is not a superhero, and you have never needed anyone’s saving.

because he is just a boy, who’s first and only love is the sport he plays. and you’re just a girl, who wouldn’t have him any other way.

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themotherofhorses · 10 months

Note

I loved your writing, and I had always thought you were a talented writer. Your handmaid series was one of my favorite Aemond series on this site. But I will not lie, I’m a bit disappointed at how easily you seem to abandon your work and followers. So many people have been anxiously awaiting the next part, which you constantly teased, only to receive a lousy “Sorry, I’m not in the right mindset” explanation for your sudden absence? Yikes. That feels like a slap in the face to your followers.

hi anon!

okay so i debated whether to answer this, and i mean i thought about it for HOURS. like pacing-in-the-kitchen + chewing on my nails + having a lil tummy ache.

yeah, maybe that “i’m not in the right mindset” explanation wasn’t the best, and at this point, i rlly don’t have anything left to lose so here is the raw and ugly truth:

(tw// mentions of depression, suicidal thoughts, and an eating disorder below.)

if you didn’t know, i was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in the fall of 2020, along with depression and anxiety. i’ve been in recovery since then.

however, these past several weeks, i unfortunately relapsed back into my ed, and i began experiencing my heavy depression episodes. i’ve had a talk with my family, and i’ve been trying to regain my focus and strength, but its been so fucking difficult as hell.

that is why i haven’t been writing. it is so incredibly hard to find the motivation to write when you just wanna …. yknow …. die? or not exactly die but more curl up in a ball and cry your eyes out until there is nothing left inside you. fanfic writing became a strong and favorite coping mechanism of mine, and it has been so heartbreaking to feel that passion/motivation slowly die away. that is the main reason why i have decided to take a step back from writing and posting and being active on this blog.

i love my fanfics and i love all my readers. y’all have been an unexpected but greatly appreciated light in my life. y’all have genuinely given me a reason for living, as silly as that might sound.

so pls pls PLS (with a cherry on top) believe me when i say that i never mean to abandon y’all. i’m still here! i’m just trying to find myself again — and when i do, i’ll return to give y’all the best smutty fics i can whip up hehe.

to end things on a positive note, here is a picture of my sadie <33 she’s helping in keeping her momma afloat in these shitty waters.

#vic talks #personal

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creepling · 2 years

Note

the idea of klitz falling for a girl that joined the tripod literally MURDERS ME. he’s so protective and sweet oh my god <klitz3

no bc you’re SO RIGHT it’d be the cutest thing ever!! i have some headcanons for it like-

she/they pronouns used!! (non-descriptive nsfw, just eli being eli)

the reader would be smart and a nerd like the tri-pod, but a big ball of sunshine.

always saying hi to klitz in class, which just makes him freeze and blush so bad.

matthew would keep reminding klitz to ask her on a date.

“she’s totally into you, man. ask her out”

then eli just makes it gross

“yeah klitz, pop that cherry!”

but klitz doesn’t have typical wet dreams about you, he fantasises about being romantic with you. taking you on a date, sweeping you off your feet

it’s cheesy but you become the first person he has fallen in love with.

he’s so blinded by his attraction for you that he doesn’t notice the massive crush you have on him

you’ll ask him anything just to have a conversation with him. you hate playing dumb, but sometimes you’ll ask him answers to test questions (that you already know) just to talk to him.

“hey tim, do you know the answer to question eleven?”

klitz willingly tells you, stumbling over his words due to nerves. then he realizes....

“wait, how come you’re asking? didn’t you get an A in this class last semester?”

oh shit, he caught you red handed.

“i mean- yeah. but it’s getting harder to understand, you know?” you say, slowly covering the correct answer you already wrote down.

you weren’t really considered part of the tri-pod until you volunteered to help with eli’s film project.

he kinda weirded you out at first, but once he cooled down on the smut jokes you found him funny.

you helped out matthew with his ‘lady troubles’, reminding him that women actually have feelings and are not just objects.

you still got really nervous around klitz, but your nerves began to decrease the more you got to know him.

then a silly classroom crush began to become something more.

it was klitz’s idea to involve you more, much to eli and matthew’s dismay (“no girls! they’re just trouble!”)

you joined in with their study sessions and movie nights and the more you hung out with them, the more they began to view you as a new friend.

since they were oblivious teenage boys, they asked you a lot of questions about girls.

eli: “so... girls bleed from their butt?”

“what? no they don’t! it’s the vagina.”

matthew: “that’s so stupid, eli! jeez, even i knew that”

klitz was always in the side lines in these situations, laughing at their stupidity.

one day you guys were sitting on the couch watching a movie. you were next to klitz, your hands by your side.

since it was a three sitter, you were all pretty tight in together. klitz dazzled a crimson blush on his cheeks as his leg brushed up against yours.

he spotted your hand, how close to was to his.

you could feel his stare, concealing a smile as you figured out what he desperately wanted to do.

teasing his flustered state, you edged your fingers towards his and rested them on top. the warmth of your hand surprised him, his eyes looking at you like a deer caught in headlights.

you stared back gently, the soft, subtle smile on your face melting klitz in a heartbeat.

ever since you held his hand during movie night, klitz couldn’t get you off his mind.

he wanted to ask you on a date, but his insecurities got the best of him.

he felt ugly, disgusting. he thought he didn’t deserve you. if a popular guy or jock ever noticed your presence, they’d snatch you up in a heartbeat.

“i don’t deserve them” is what he thought.

when he asked eli if he was ugly, he mentioned your name.

��i really like her, eli. in fact, i think i love them. i can’t get them out my head. but she’s so pretty and i’m so . . . ugly. once high school is over, she’ll go to college and forget about me, go for someone way more attractive. what if i ask her out and she just laughs in my face?”

when eli got it through to him that he was talking bullshit, it gave klitz the confidence to ask you out.

klitz: “you won’t be mad, would you? y’know ‘girls are trouble’ and all.”

eli: “nah, man. she’s cool, she’s one of us now. we’re the tetrapod now!”

the perfect time to ask you out was prom. klitz still went ahead with the film plan, but he also wanted it to be a special time with you.

if you accepted him, that is.

the day before he came to your house. you invited him into your bedroom and sat on the bed.

klitz began to get nervous again. his doubts flooding back in his thoughts. but he reassured himself. tetrapod, he thought, we’re a tetrapod now.

klitz began to ramble on, vomiting out his thoughts, “ok so i have been meaning to tell you this for a while but i’ve never had the courage. i really like you. i have ever since i first seen you in chemistry class. you’re the most beautiful person i have ever seen and i want to ask you out- yeah- so uh- would you wanna go to prom with me?”

he knew he could have worded it better, but the smile forming on your face made him aware that he did something right.

you didn’t hold yourself back any longer, you got up from the bed and immediately connected your lips with klitz’s. he froze in surprise until the warmth of your lips and the euphoria from the kiss eased him. your arms wrapped around his neck, you pulled him closer, his hands resting on your waist.

once you pulled away the smile came back to your face. “i thought you’d never ask.”

it surprised him to know you liked him back. he thought he was dreaming. but it felt real, you felt real. the reality of the situation astonished him, but also made his dreams come true.

“you sure you don’t want to go to prom with danielle’s porn buddies?” you teased.

klitz immediately shook his head, “i’d pick you in a heartbeat.”

#klitz x reader #klitz headcanon #klitz girl next door #tim klitz #paul dano #danonation #edward nashton x reader #the riddler x reader #headcanons #the girl next door

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athousandmorningss · 4 months

Text

I'm a free man/freer than I've ever been.

It's January, & I'm not tired I'd written.

Google photos shows me a picture from a year ago and I'm moved to marvel at then to now.

I'm trying to find new ways to move my body. C. and I fumble and laugh through a barre class that leaves me sore for two days afterwards. I try a spin class that leaves me wobbly-legged and grinning on the walk home in the fog. I lob a ten pound ball at pins for five hours straight and improve my game. J and I hole up in a dive bar with a ping pong ball table between us, my smile wide and eager from a well-earned win. I bike for miles, hike, stretch, lift.

Feb. 1 is the one year anniversary of asking for a divorce. I'm thinking about forgiveness. I'm thinking about the eight hour conversation with Y in which he finally owned the abuse. I presented you with a version of myself that I never fully realized, he'd said. I'm thinking about the specificity of the apologies-how they hinted at genuine self-reflection, but how this seemed to fall apart when he learned I'm going on dates with someone. How the anger and passive aggressiveness and meanness came out again. His I have concerns about what you're doing indicating a still present desire to control. The audacity.

And yet: I want to believe in forgiveness. Maybe I need to forgive him in order to forgive myself. I unintentionally found Myisha Cherry's Failures of Forgiveness at the library, and am moved when I read "forgiveness also aims at release, relief, and reconciliation for the victim. why should victims abandon these goals in order to focus on what the offender learns or doesn't learn? why must forgivers be both survivors and teachers?" (p. 37). I shuffle through anger and forgiveness in equal measures, I cannot land on one. I'm not supposed to.

Lover calls at two AM post concert and bar crawl. Later I tell him I don't want him to do that: that I want our time together to be deliberate and sober. Choose me when you're not drunk is what I'm trying to say. When together, we kiss for hours: our mouths eating and eating at each other, spit combined and shared, hands all over. It's so easy, even boring, to be desired and yet: he's healing that hurting part of me that wants to be kissed over and over and over 'til dizzy. To be taken slowly, in a way my ex-husband never did.

Over dinner with j, i ask for her take on what my next move should be. should i be paying my loans off? should i be saving a shit ton of money? and oh, this city's alright, but i want to get the fuck out of here. I can't do all three at once. She reminds me that the cheap living affords me the upcoming trip and concert to Austin, the loosely planned road-trip to California, the xyz.

I feel a stirring kind of restlessness, but can't help but wonder if this is a callback to y's claim that my life won't be adventurous without him. Or that my life is smooth and steady for the first time in decades, and maybe I attribute this smoothness to boredom.

I learn that my drug-addicted sister is homeless. I almost empty my saving's account to get her into rehab. She enters rehab and leaves two days later. On the phone, she ends the five? ten? year silence between us and says I love you. I delete the threads and block my eldest sister, again. You have to act like your sister's don't exist my hairdresser, whom I hug and talk with for hours while in the chair, says. And yeah. I do.

My hair's red now. That feels right. Do you want to go hiking in the morning C asks. I want to have a galentine's day dinner at my place, when are you free I send to the group chat. I'm turning 38 this year. I'm plagued by survivor's guilt. I'm thinking about the ocean. I'm trying, I'm trying, I swear to god I'm trying.

#love ethics #writing

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silvervioletvalentine · 1 year

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🦋Better late than never !🦋

Pairing: Lance Stroll X Cherrie!

Word count: 8k

Summary: in which they’re best friends. They’re in love . And it’s better late than never to finally admit their feelings. A plan secretly made by a mischievous three year old too.

Lance walked into his best friends home casually, not bothering to ring the doorbell as he let himself in with the key he had. Humming a song underneath his breath as he kicked off his shoes , making a point to place them neatly by the door with the other hundred pair of shoes that she had there . Not taking any chances this time around .

Having leaned his lesson the hard way about keeping his shoes on while walking around her home , which had either marble flooring or bright white fluffy carpet everywhere. Just asking to be ruined with the dirt and mud from the bottom of his shoes.

He had thought that Cherrie was about to actually strangle him when he had accidentally gotten mud on her brand new carpet, days after she had it fitted, after stupidly forgetting to take off his shoes at the door . The number one rule in her home.

Let's just say that he wasn't forgetting to do that again anytime soon.

She was scary as fuck when she was pissed off, absolutely beautiful but deadly. She Had a tongue like a razor blade and her words like a switch blade knife. He wasn't risking getting his ass handed to him again.

Not on such a beautiful , sunny day.

He was just happy to be home and able to see his best friend and her little mini me again. He had missed them while he was away racing and the FaceTime calls and endless texts just weren't enough for him. It wasn't the same as them being there in front of him in person , he missed seeing cherries stunning smile up close and he had missed her little toddlers sass as well . He really had.

When Cherrie had found out that she was pregnant in what felt like so long ago now , you would have thought that it was the end of the world judging by her reaction to the sudden news .

She had arrived at his doorstep while sobbing hysterically as she cried loudly about how she was never going to be able to be a supermodel now , that her life was ruined and that she was never going to be able to live her life and have fun again. She had been a real bad mess, hysterical of the thought of not being able to party and drink till she passed out again anymore.

She was always the life of the party, the fun one. The one that would try anything at least once, the one that Lance had to run around after to make sure that she didn't end up in too much trouble again . to make sure that she got home safely after one too many times of finding her passed out in somebody's garden or bathtub.

Lance had kind of already been used to looking after a child seeing as Cherrie behaved like one half of the time herself , so he wasn't too worried at all. Well, maybe a little bit but not as much as she was.

He had been there for her , always , and that wasn't going to stop just because she had made a dumb mistake and gotten herself knocked up by some random Italian guy while they were on holiday together.

He was just a little bit upset that her first experience of having a child was going to be like this. He knew that she had always wanted to be get married and fall in love before she had a baby. She had told him once that she didn't want her baby to come from a broken family , that she didn't want to have to raise a child alone.

He was certain that was the reason why she had been so hysterical that night that she found out that she was pregnant , like all of her worst nightmares had come true.

Which was why Lance had promised her that she wasn't going to have to do this alone, she had him and he wasn't going anywhere , anytime soon.

How could he? He was in love with her and planned to, sometimes in the future when he grew some balls, tell her how he felt and hope that she felt the same.

Just- not yet. He was still too scared to ruin what they had right now. Their friendship was perfect to him, easy and comfortable , and the thought of losing her if she didn't feel the same way made him want to be physically sick.

So instead he waited and just continued to show her that he would be there for her. Determined to show her that not every man was going to let her down, hoping that maybe along the way that she would notice that he loved her from the way he treated her.

That she would see that he was a fool in love just from the way he couldn't go a day without even hearing her voice , he couldn't sleep without calling to say goodnight. Her voice was the first thing he heard in the morning and the last thing he heard at night and he wanted to keep it that way forever .

Only it might have been more than wishful thinking on his part because as much as Lance loved her, Cherrie wasn't the brightest spark around. Not that she was dumb , she really wasn't. She was just...oblivious. Completely oblivious to people's feelings and how she could affect them by just being herself . She was magnetic.

Lance had once watched her pat a guy on the back after he told her that he loved her at a party, smiling at him kindly and telling him 'thank you! That's so sweet!' Before casually walking away to get herself another drink. Leaving the poor guy crushed while Lance had awkwardly patted his shoulder and told him to join the club. There was a long list of guys that she had accidentally broken the hearts of with her obliviousness. Including him.

Because honestly , he had been more than crushed when she had told him that she was pregnant with some Italian guy that she couldn't even remember the name of. Never mind what he looked like.

But overtime that pain had faded away because he had been there with her through her whole pregnancy. He had held her hair back through all the morning sickness. Bought her all the mint and ginger in the world to help. He had went to every single appointment with her and had his own copy of her ultrasound in his Wallet, he had cried his heart out when they were told that she was going to have a little girl . The thought of Cherrie having a mini Cherrie was too much for him to take in.

He had been there when Luna was born at two o'clock on the morning , getting to cut her cord and pass her to a exhausted Cherrie with tears of joy in his eyes. He had fell in love all over again that night. Little Luna was a exact replica of her mother , same bright eyes and button nose , same pouty lips and a thick head of hair. She had been the most cutest baby that he had ever seen and he proudly let anyone who would listen to him know that they had the best baby in the world.

He had been there through it all with her and along the way it had become their new normal , Lance secretly thought of them as his own little family. He had been right there beside Cherrie , always , watching as Luna grew up from this whiny little baby and into this sassy little three year old , nearly four now too.

He treated her like she was his own daughter , silently taking the roll of a father without them even discussing it. It just all fell so easily into place for them, it felt natural. At least to him it did.

Luna of course knew that he wasn't her biological father but she didn't care, she loved him just as much and every time he came back home he was bombarded with a screaming toddler excitedly screeching his name.

Now was no different . He laughed as he heard her little feet sprinting down the stairs to reach him, dropping his bag carelessly to the side as he walked over to the bottom of the staircase to catch her.

"What have we told you about running on the stairs Luna?!" He exclaimed in worry as she threw herself into his arms without any hesitation. Little arms squeezed tightly around his neck as she giggled happily, beaming at him brightly.

"Lance! I saw you on the tv! You were soooooo fast!" She gushed to him excitedly, she was his biggest fan.

Lance chuckled as he moved her so that she was comfortable in his arms , smiling at the sight of the three year old wearing a glittery princess dress, the tiara sat crookedly on her little head. He had bought her that costume and every other single one she owned too.

"Yeah? You had fun this week with mommy?" He asked her as he took her into the ridiculously large front room and carefully dropped her onto the velvet couch . Putting on the tv and switching to put on spongebob for her, knowing that it was her favourite thing to watch right now.

A few weeks ago she had been obsessed with watching frozen none stop. Lance was just happy that he didn't have to listen to that shit anymore, he was certain that he could speak fluent frozen now. He knew every line and every lyric to the songs because Luna had forced him to watch it with her almost every night , it had been driving him more than a little insane.

Ironically enough , Cherrie always happened to be busy at that time she put it on . Leaving him alone with her daughter with a apologetic grin while he glared after her in Annoyance.

She was so lucky that he loved her because if he was forced to hear that movie one more fucking time... he was going to scream.

But thankfully for him Luna had seen him watching sponge-bob one morning after breakfast and decided to watch it with him too. She loved Lance and she was determined to copy everything he did. If he said he liked something then suddenly she did too.

It was adorable and worked in their favour when they needed her to do something that she normally wouldn't like. Like eating her vegetables. All it took was for Lance to have a plate full of them and the next thing they knew she would demand a plate of them too. Top tier parenting if he said so.

The three year old hummed as she tapped her little fake heels that she was wearing together happily , looking at him with a big grin on her chubby face.

"Yes, but mommy wouldn't let me get another princess dress." She complained to him, looking at him with big puppy eyes, knowing for a fact that he would buy her whatever she wanted with a bat of her big bambi eyes .

She always went running to him whenever she didn't get her own way, knowing fully well that Lance could never say no to her. Despite Cherrie scolding him for spoiling her all the time, he would just counter back that he spoiled Cherrie just as much and that would shut her up quickly . Because it was true.

He was a sucker for the both of them.

Lance had more money than sense and he enjoyed spending it on them. Liked to see them smile with joy and excitement whenever he brought home a new gift or surprise. Cherrie liked diamonds and her toddler liked anything princess related. He never came home without something for them, it was his version of flowers he supposed.

He used to always buy Cherrie a boutique of flowers but then she had Luna who apparently had hay fever now and couldn't even sniff a flower without sneezing. So he got her expensive jewellery instead. It made her just as happy , that was all that mattered to him.

And if he secretly swapped little luna’s plastic jewellery with read gold and silver , well , it was nobody’s business really. He just didn’t want her delicate skin to turn green. He wanted the both of them in diamonds and gold . Was that so bad?

He wanted to give them both the world. But diamonds and princess gowns would have to do for now.

"Maybe it's because your closet is full of them." He told the unhappy toddler matter of factly. They were going to have to turn one of the spare rooms into her own walk in closet soon at this rate.

Luna huffed at him, holding out her hand with a expectant look on her face. "Pocket money." She said impatiently .

Lance laughed loudly at that , looking at the toddler in pure amusement . He hadn't even been there for five minutes and she was already trying to mug him.

"Were you good for mommy while I was gone?" That was the deal. If she behaves herself and wasn't naughty , he would give her pocket money to spend at the mall.

He knew that he would give her it whether she had been good or not but still, it was good for him to try and act parental. As though the three year old didn't have him wrapped tightly around her tiny finger. Just like her mother.

Luna nodded her head rapidly , making a gimme motion with her fingers impatiently. "Yes I was! Promise!" She shouted with a toothy grin.

Lance just sighed and dug his hand into his pocket to pull out his Wallet. "Where is mommy anyways?" He asked her as he pulled out a twenty and handed it to her.

She giggled and hugged the money to her chest happily. "She's in the kitchen eating with her headphones on. She told me not to bother her until she's finished." She repeated her mother's instructions to him quickly. Already losing interest in him as her eyes went back to the tv, giggling loudly at something spongebob did on the screen.

His eyebrow rose in amusement at how Cherrie behaved. She always did this. She told him that she liked to eat her food while listening to music, that it gave her a whole different experience when dining in.

He just thought that she was antisocial and dramatic , having a baby hadn't changed her at all. She was still the same drama queen that she had always been, and he loved it.

She was so out of his league and he knew it. She was beyond beautiful and had been brought up with the finer things in life. A beautiful , rich and confident girl that wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. She walked around with her head held high, long hair always perfectly curled and nails always painted a different colour each week.

She could talk to anyone without any anxiety , another reason why he had always taken her as his plus one to events. He wasn't the social type, he preferred to stay in and not have to talk to people that he didn't know. When she was by his side he knew that could relax and let her do the talking, she had a big mouth and could speak enough for the both of them, and also knowing that she could easily control a conversation and get him out of one just as quick.

They were complete opposites that way. She was a social butterfly who loved partying and meeting new people . He was anti social and only talked to his small circle of friends and he absolutely hated parties , he only ever went to them just to make Cherrie happy.

He was quiet. She was a loudmouth without any filter. He was there by her side to slap his hand over her mouth whenever she was about to get herself into trouble by saying something that she really shouldn't. While she was there to make sure that he got out of his shell a little , making sure that he enjoyed himself even if it wasn't his scene.

She was rash and careless. Lance was an over thinker who planned everything down to a single letter. He kept them safe and Alive, while Cherrie kept him entertained. Their holidays were only ever planned by him now because he knew that if he let her take over, they would end up lost in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back home.

They were opposites but they balanced eachother out. It worked so well between them and Lance wanted this chaotic , dramatic , sarcastic and beautiful woman for the rest of his life.

"Taylor swift?" Was the first thing he said to her as he walked into the kitchen to check in on her, smiling to himself at the sight of her sat ontop of the dining table with her legs crossed. Large sonny headphones over her head as she chewed on a burrito happily.

She gasped and quickly pulled her headphones down from her ears. Beaming at him happily as she held out her arms for a hug.

"Lance! You're home! I've missed you a fuck ton!" She exclaimed loudly as he stepped into her arms and hugged her right.

Burying his face into her neck with a content sigh, letting his eyes fall shut for a moment as he sunk into her embrace . Inhaling her sweet perfume and relaxing against her , having missed her more than she would ever know know.

"God that was too long without you guys." He complained to her. Pulling away to see her face but still keeping his arms wrapped around her waist, admiring her perfectly styled hair and glowing skin.

"You need to come with me next time. Luna would love being there." He muttered to her, squeezing her waist gently as he smiled at her.

Cherrie laughed a little, running her fingers through his hair to fix it for him. Making him sigh in pleasure as she lightly scratched her nails against his scalp the way she knew he liked it.

"Maybe. I'm just scared that as soon as she sees you in that car she's going to tell me that she wants to be a driver too." She told him seriously , admiring his pretty face with a small smile. She then hugged him again just because she could.

He laughed , grinning down at her in amusement.

“Is that so bad?" He wondered.

Cherrie looked at him like he was insane , pulling a face at him. "My heart can only take so much Lance! I'm already going grey every time I see you on the track. I couldn't cope if I had to worry about her too!" She exclaimed . Frowning at him.

Lances face softened at her words , his heart squeezing in his chest. He knew that she wasn't the most emotional of people so to hear her verbally express that she worried for him was nice to hear.

She was always so blunt and acted like she didn't care but he knew that she did. Maybe not about anybody else but she did for him and Luna , they were the only people in the world that she would literally die for.

She liked to laugh off her feelings with jokes instead , hating being vulnerable with anybody , and rarely could they ever have a serious conversation without her getting uncomfortable and making up some stupid joke just to change the subject.

That was just the way she was and Lance had learned to see her love for him through other ways instead.

Like how she always hugged him whenever he was close, not letting go until she was ready to, no matter who they were around .

He felt it in the way she made him his favourite meals without him even asking her to. It was the way that she always kept her fridge stocked up with his favourited drinks and food .

It was the way she filled up his car with gas whenever she knew that he had a long journey ahead of him. Making sure that he had everything he needed while he was asleep.

It was the way she set up a simulator in her spare room for him. The way she constantly praised him even when a race hadn't gone the way he hoped, she was always there to tell him how proud of him she was.

It was the way she made sure to let Luna FaceTime him every night to talk to him, knowing how much he missed the there year old when he was gone . So used to having her attached to him like a baby koala that he could barely cope without her sass and without her nonsense ramblings .

It was The way that she squeezed his hand three times in the back of a taxi . The way she smiled at him without even saying a thing.

He could read between the lines and Cherrie didn't have to tell him that she loved him because he just knew that she did. He could feel it and that was everything.

"You don't have to worry about me Cher." He muttered to her with flushed cheeks. A shy smile tugging at his lips, unable to look away from her. She was just so beautiful and Lance was just grateful to be there with her then.

She was everything to him.

Cherrie scoffed lowly , narrowing her eyes at him "er- yes I do. I could literally not live without you lance. If anything ever happened to you... I'd go mad. You're my best friend." She stated matter of factly. Unashamed.

He looked at her in amazement , touched . "Trust me I know how you feel." He told her simply "if anything ever happened to you or to Luna then I wouldn't be able to cope with it. So we're gonna have to make sure that nothing ever happens to any of us alright?"

She nodded in agreement , smiling as she jumped off the counter top to land on her feet.

"Exactly. Ride or die am I right?" She teased him while holding out her fist to him happily.

He laughed as he fist bumped her, ruffling her hair just to annoy her . Giggling to himself as she kicked him in his ass in retaliation as he walked past her.

"What have I said about touching my hair!" She complained. Quickly following him back into the living room. Leaning down to kiss the top of Luna’s head, her daughters focus never leaving the tv.

Lance threw himself down on the loveseat and got comfortable. Watching her lazily as she pulled out her phone and started typing , absentmindedly picking up a few toys that were scattered around the floor as well.

He looked at her curiously, wondering who she was texting . "do anything fun while i was gone?" He asked her. Yawning.

Cherrie just shook her head no , eyes still down to her phone distracted.

“Not really. Just the usual." She muttered not really paying attention .

Luna's giggle got his attention as he looked over to see the three year old mischievously looking at her

Mum.

He rose a brow at her in amusement, wondering what she was giggling like that for. As though she knew something that he didn’t.

"what's that look for?" He whispered to her.

Luna giggled again, grinning naughtily "mommy has a boyfriend." She said casually as though it didn't completely ruin his mood right there and then.

Cherries head snapped up from her phone as soon as she heard her daughters words, eyes widening in embarrassment as she looked at her scoldingly.

"Luna! I already told you-" she started to speak only for Lance to cut her off.

He looked at her in disbelief , heart dropping to the bottom of his stomach at the thought of her with somebody else.

Oh my god. He had only been gone two weeks. Was that long enough for her to fall in love with someone who wasn't him?!

"Boyfriend? You didn't mention a new boyfriend to Me." He stated with a frown, trying not to lose his shit right there and then , crossing his arms over his chest as he sat tensely in the chair. No longer relaxed.

Cherrie rolled her eyes , shaking her head at the both of them. "I don't. It wasn't serious. Just a blind date that Miranda set me up with." She told him quietly , fiddling with her fingers as she waited for his reaction.

He scoffed "Miranda? Oh yeah cause she knows all about good guys doesn't she? How many times has her fiancé cheated on her now? Six?!" He exclaimed moodily. All of his earlier happiness gone , just like that.

She looked at him with a frown , hands on her hips as she tried to not shout at him. Then she looked over to her mischievous daughter and pointed over to the stairs sternly .

"Go play with your dolls Luna please." She instructed her firmly . Not wanting to argue with Lance in front of her.

Luckily Luna knew when to listen to her and quickly scurried off up the stairs to her playroom without any fuss. Still giggling to herself like shit stirrer she was. Cherrie waited to hear her door slam shut before speaking up again.

"I don't know why you're so upset. You're the one that was joking around about me turning into a Virgin again!" She reminded him in annoyance.

He looked at her in disbelief "yeah! As a joke! I wasn't telling you to go out with some random guy Cherrie! Who even was he?!" His voice rose as he felt his heart break in two.

Though he knew that he should have expected this to happen sooner of later he supposed. Was this his karma for not telling her how he felt for all these years? Cause it sucked and he honestly felt a little sick at the thought of her finding someone new to love. That was supposed to be his job! Not some random , stupid guy!

Cherrie looked down at him with a scowl , not happy to hear the judgmental tone in his voice.

"He's called Jake and actually he wasn't that bad-"

He laughed humourlessly "oh I bet. You like him so much that Luna apparently knows about him too?" He gritted his teeth. Not knowing who to be more pissed off at. Cherrie for letting Luna see this guy or himself for never telling her how he felt .

She glared at him , shifting uncomfortably on her heels. Regretting putting them on now. She had been hoping that maybe they could go out for a nice dinner to celebrate him being back home. But apparently not.

"That was an accident. She saw him dropping me off at my parents because my car broke down. That's all." She told him, annoyed .

Lance wanted to scream . He looked at her blanky and shook his head .

“You're forgetting that I know you Cherrie. Why didn't you tell me? We speak every night and not once did you mention some guy. Or going out on a date." He snapped at her. Hating being caught so off guard like this .

He wasn't prepared for this and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. God. This was a nightmare. All of his worst ones coming true.

She groaned loudly at him "because I knew you would react like this! You never like the guys I hook up with! Even when we were younger!" She accused him, getting just as pissed off as he was.

He felt his face pale, stomach sinking. He swallowed thickly . "You slept with him?" It came out weaker than he intended . But he truly felt sick at the thought of her with somebody else. Trying not to burst into tears right there and then.

She froze for a moment . Her hesitation was enough of a answer for him making him bury his face into his hands with a loud groan of misery. Grimacing deeply like he was in physical pain.

"Fucking hell." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly "I can't believe this." He breathed out shakily , no longer able to look at her .

Cherrie felt her chest tighten , clutching at the necklace around her neck as she felt guilt weigh heavily down on her even though she had every right to do what she did.

He wasn't her boyfriend . She was aloud to hookup with other people. So why did she feel so bad?

She inhaled deeply and tried to stay calm, reminding herself that she hasn't done anything wrong. Lance didn't like her like that. He had never once even showed a interest in her romantically . She was allowed to move on. She had to.

She couldn't just be in love with her best friend forever . That wasn't healthy. Especially when he didn't feel the same way.

Because if he did he would have told her by now. They had been friends for years and spent almost everyday together . He had helped her raise her baby for nearly four years. There was no way that he would ever return her feelings , he never said a single thing.

"I don't know why you're acting like this. I'm allowed To have sex Lance. It's completely natural! And I was safe if that's what you're worried about!" She scoffed defensively "I'm on the pill and I used condoms-"

He frowned even louder , shoving a pillow over his face in misery. "Fucking hell! That's not- that's not the point! These guys only want to use you Cherrie-"

She rolled her eyes at him , irritated , huffing moodily . "I know. I wanted them to use me. I was using them too! It's no strings attached. We match , we meet up. Have a few drinks and a good fuck . That's all. It's not serious-"

He threw the pillow off of his face and sat up quickly , narrowing his eyes at her , getting more upset by the minute .

"Are you telling me that this has been a regular thing? You've been meeting up with strange men and hooking up with them? And you never once told me?! When did you even have the time to do this?!" He shouted at her . Getting up to his feet and running his shaking fingers through his hair in pure frustration .

Blinking back his tears as he realised then that this was all his fault . If he had just manned up and told her how he felt. Maybe then she wouldn't have had to run off and sleep with strangers to be satisfied.

He felt sick.

Cherrie looked at him with a frown, clutching her hands by her sides as she noticed how upset he was getting. His eyes were glossy and he couldn't even look her in her eyes anymore , his lips were pursed tightly and cheeks flushed a angry red .

"I- not that often . Only on Saturdays." She muttered. Regret filling her body quickly , wishing then that she hadn't even entertained those men at all. It wasn’t worth this reaction from Lance.

But she was just so tired of pining after a man that had never made a single move on her. Sick of feeling like shit as she wondered why Lance couldn't see her in the same way she had always saw him.

And she missed him when he was away. And she also missed the way that things used to be when she was younger. She used to love partying , drinking and hooking up with strangers who she didn't even know the name of. She had felt so confident and free back then. She just wanted to feel that way again.

And honestly.. she had been sexually frustrated for a long time now . She had went two years without sex and suddenly she was snapping at her friends and colleagues for no reason, constantly tense and wound up tight over everything.

Miranda had recognised the signs and told her to hop onto tinder to 'de-stress for a night.'

So horny , tired and fed up with pining over her best friend, she did just that.

When Lance was away she met up with a cute guy and had a amazing , long night of sex. And if they were lucky , some morning sex too. It was casual and it was easy and after it was done she finally felt relaxed again , knowing that she hadn't changed.

Men still wanted her. Lance might not have but they did. She was still hot. Still had all the right moves and guys still lusted over her . It helped boost her declining confidence and it became a quick (bad) habit .

A Saturday night fuckfest that no one needed to know about as far as she was concerned.

She should have known that Lance would find out in the end . She just wasn't expecting him to react so badly , looking as though he was going to cry.

What the hell was going on?!

"Every Saturday?! So when I'm qualifying , you're out there sucking some random guys dick?!" He couldn't believe it. Looking at her in betrayal.

Fed up with his judgmental attitude , she simply shrugged her shoulders and snapped back. "Yes I am. I'm having fun. Something that I'm allowed to do." She then stomped her way out of the room and to the downstairs guest room instead.

Lance quickly followed her and slammed the door shut behind him, glaring at her angrily. Heart racing in his chest.

"It's not just you anymore though is it?! You have Luna to think about now . You can't just bring some random guys in and out of her life. She needs stability." He snapped at her, furious with his own frustration too .

He felt so stupid . Knowing that all of this could have been avoided if he had just told the truth.

Cherrie glared back at him furiously “I know what I'm doing! I don't bring them back here Lance! I’m not stupid!"

He let out a cold laugh "well it feels like you are! You really can't be this dense Cherrie! There's no way they you don't know." He spat , clutching at his hair desperately .

She looked at him, offended. "Don't know what?! That you're a dickhead who's jealous of me fucking other guys?!" She shouted back at him. Fed up with arguing with him now. She had always hated it when they fought. It only ever left her feeling sick afterwords.

He took a step closer to her and shook his head in disbelief , eyes never leaving her own.

“And why the hell do you think I get so jealous Cherrie?" His heart raced in his chest in both panic and understanding knowing that he couldn't keep lying to her any longer like this .

For his own hearts sake , he had to tell her. This was a horrifying wake up call if he had ever seen one.

She paused at that. Eyeing him warily while he impatiently waited for her to catch on.

She inhaled Shakily , chewing on the inside of her cheek nervously as he continued to glare down at her Unhappily .

"I don't- what?" She didn't know what he was going on about. Not wanting to get her own hopes up anymore. Her heart could only take so much.

Lance let out a long and hard sigh , his shoulders sagging in defeat as he swallowed thickly and told her bluntly "I love you Cherrie. That's why it hurts so much to know that you've been seeking out guys that aren't me." His words weren't any higher than a whisper .

But he might as well have shouted them at her with the way that she froze up, eyes widening in disbelief.

"What?" She breathed out shakily , eyes flickering between his own quickly. Trying to find a lie. All she could see was the truth .

“Oh my god. But you-you never said anything!" She cried out suddenly , feeling sick with guilt and anger. So many years wasted when they could have been together , a perfect little family.

Lance sniffled , guilt crossing his own face as he watched tears fill her own eyes. Looking back at him like she had seen a ghost.

He took another step closer to her and gently took ahold of her arms, pulling her closer to him desperately .

"I know . I was scared. I was going to tell you but each time I tried to- I always chickened out. I mean -" he shook his head to himself "you're way out of my league Cherrie! I don't want to mess up our friendship if you didn't feel the same way!"

She slapped his chest, hard, at that. Making him wince at the sting , looking down at her in shock as she let out a loud, frustrated shriek .

"But I did Lance! I loved you! Always! I only went to those other guys because I was sick and tired of waiting around for something to happen between us when it never did!" She cried . More than Upset now.

Lance could only look down at her in astonishment , stomach sinking quickly .

“You did? You loved me too?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

She just looked at him in disbelief , heart pounding in her chest as she realised that the both of them had been so wrong for so long.

Both of them in love with each other and both of them assuming that the other one just didn't return those feelings.

Idiots! They were both idiots!

"Of course I did! How could I not?!" She shouted at him, running her hands through her hair in frustration as she began to pace back and forth across the room angrily .

"You were the only person who ever stayed. You were my best friend! You stayed with me through my pregnancy! You stayed with me through all my Hormonal tantrums and stupid crying fits when we couldn't find my favourite ice cream!" She sniffled, roughly wiping away the tears from her eyes, bottom lip trembling .

Lance stood in front of her with a pale face , his lips parted in pure shock. Unable to believe what an idiot he had been .

"Then when- then when Luna was born you…you stayed. You always fucking stayed! You woke up during the night to feed her when I was too tired. You treated her like she was your own and her first word-" she hiccuped , crying heavily now as she finally raised her head and looked him straight in his eyes.

"Her first word was 'Love!' Because you always used to tell her how much you loved her over and over again. And I was so fucking pathetic for being jealous of my own baby because all I wanted-" she inhaled deeply as she tried to stop crying, needing him to know that he wasn't the only one that fell in love too.

"-All I wanted was for you to tell me the same thing. I just wanted to hear you say that you loved me too." It came out more like a trembling whisper , finally coming to a stand still in front of the man that she so desperately loved.

For a long moment Lance didn't know what to say, his throat running dry and the lump in his throat becoming painful as he looked at her silently, filled with nothing but a sour mixture of regret, guilt and hope.

He inhaled deeply and slowly walked over to her till they were toe to toe, licking his dry lips as he wondered how the hell he could fix this mess that he had created .

He gently pushed her hair away from her tear stained cheeks and sighed, cupping her face in the palm of his hands as he wiped away her tears with a quiet sniffle.

"I am so sorry. I should have told you that I loved you the very moment that I knew..you're all that I've ever wanted." He whispered to her , swallowing. "I was just a coward. So blinded by my own fear to realise that you - that you loved me too." He said still unable to believe that she returned his feelings too .

All these years he had wasted by being so afraid...

Cherrie clutched at his wrists as he ran soothing circles over her cheekbones softly , his teary eyes never leaving her own as their hearts raced against each other as though it was a race.

And as she looked into his eyes , felt the trembling of his fingers against her skin and the guilt that covered his face. She felt her anger fade away. Just like that.

Because she knew Lance. He was her best friend for a reason After all . And she knew that he would never have tried to lead her on deliberately, he would never have any ill intentions towards anybody .

This was the same guy that had cried during toy story , the same guy that had made them have a little funeral in her garden after he had accidentally stepped on an moth that Luna had called ‘pretty’. He couldn't even hurt a fly.

All he had ever done was make her life easier for her. He had done everything that he could to make sure that she and Luna had the best life possible. He spoiled the both of them rotten and would proudly show off photos of the three of them to his friends. So proud of his little family even if she didn't know it then.

She knew then that he hadn't meant to hurt her. Hadn't meant to make her cry. All he had ever done was love her in silence . That was his only mistake, not telling her sooner.

He loved her. He was in love with her. He was her best friend . That was never going to change and who better to fall in love with than the man that knew her life no other?

The man that had immediately stepped up to be a father figure to her baby without her even needing to say a thing. He had just automatically done it because he loved the both of them, they were clearly meant to be. Their family and friends were right after all.

She realised that now. And what did her friend always say ... better late than never right?

So she let her tears dry and she let a smile arise on her lips , lances eyes never leaving her own as he patiently waited for her to tell him what she was thinking about . What she was feeling.

She just whispered the truth "I'm so in love with you." Slowly wrapping her arms around his neck as she pulled him closer to her, till they were breathing in each other's love. Heart beats in sync. Always.

Lance felt the weight slowly lift from his shoulders , his eyebrow raising as he shyly smiled back at her, hope lighting up his once saddened features. Gently placing his hands on her hips , their noses gently nudging together.

"Yeah?" He breathed out , swallowing. "You-can we give this a try? Start over?" He almost pleaded.

Cherrie just laughed softly and shook her head fondly. "We don't need to start over Lance. I've loved you for half of my life. I'll love you till the end of it too." She promised him. Smiling affectionately as she washed his face flush red at her words, a flustered giggle escaping him as he squeezed her to him with a happy sigh escaping his lips.

"The first day that I met you I told myself that I was going to marry you someday." He confessed to her shyly . Falling into her embrace with ease.

"Still feel that way about me now?" She teased , gently tugging at the hair on the nape of his neck, watching him sag against her with a content sigh.

Instead of answering the obvious 'I do' he just closed the gap between them and kissed her instead.

Tilting her back gently till her head rested in the crook of his arm as he kissed he like should have kissed her all those years ago. A soft moan escaping her lips as she pulled him closer by his neck and deepened the kiss, slowly patting his lips with her tongue as they held onto each other tightly . Neither one wanting to let go.

So lost in each other that neither one of them heard the little mischievous giggle of a three year old as she peeked into the room with a smug, toothy grin on her chubby face. Eyes lighting up in joy as she watched her two favourite people in the entire world kiss each other like the prince and princess did in her favourite movies.

She squealed to herself in excitement , bouncing on the balls of her feet in joy as she hissed a happy "yesssssss!" Before quickly running away again to tell the rest of her stuffed animals that her plan had worked.

Even the toddler had seen that they were in love and Luna had been determined to make her mommy marry Lance so that they could be a proper family together now. Just like the movies.

And she could be a perfect princess at their wedding. She couldn't wait to demand Lance to buy her a new, big sparkly gown to wear and a new tiara too.

She squeezed her unicorn to her chest tightly with a beam of happiness on her face "daddy loves mommy!" She told the stuffed animal in delight. Having been calling Lance her daddy to her all of her nursery friends and teddy bears for a long time now.

And Luna couldn't wait to call him daddy to his face too now . They could be a perfect family.

The three year old smiled brightly to herself and wondered out loud 'I wonder if he will take us to Disneyland now.' Because priority's .

Knowing fully well that the toddler always got what she wanted . She wanted Lance and her mommy to be together. She got it.

She wanted to go to Disneyland with them, she would get it.

She had never been happier.

And neither had the best friends turned lovers in the other room, still lost in each other’s love as they stumbled to the bed after Lance had locked the door behind them. Their home filling with nothing but love and hope for the future now that she knew.

She and Luna were his home. He wanted this forever.

It was better late than never right?

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