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nicknellie · 3 years

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For months I’ve been saying I’d write a fic where Alex starts counselling because this fandom is in desperate need of good therapy representation, and I’ve finally got around to it! This follows Alex deciding he wants to get therapy, having his first assessment, and having his first session. Most of it is pulled from my experiences so far, but bare in mind that not all therapists/organisations will function the way this one does. Also I’m very tired and I didn’t proofread so I’m sorry for any errors, I’ll fix them at another point.

TW: anxiety, therapy, mentions of depression, mentions of homophobia, mentions of OCD

The Right Decision

It was another one of those days where Alex felt exhausted from the moment he woke up. Not exhausted in that he needed to sleep longer (although admittedly that was probably a part of it), just exhausted because here was another day he had to get through, another challenge he had to overcome, another stressful sixteen hours of endless worries and things to do. Sometimes Alex felt like there was no escape, no rest, no pause in his life. He had to keep going no matter how drained he felt.

It was exhausting.

Everything felt like too much nowadays. Between going to school and sitting exams, playing with the band, and keeping up with his friends, Alex felt as if he had no time to breathe. He couldn’t slow down for longer than a moment or two before along came the next thing and the next barrage of anxieties that accompanied it. He couldn’t catch his breath, he couldn’t keep up, and it was dragging him down.

What he couldn’t understand was how nobody else seemed to feel quite as worried as him. He had always been more anxious than his friends, that was nothing new – but when everyone he knew had mostly the same stresses as him, it struck him as impossible that none of them seemed too overwhelmed. Perhaps every now and then Luke would complain about an exam at school or Reggie would mention that he was having trouble sleeping, but none of Alex’s friends ever mentioned weak legs, trouble breathing, clouded thoughts, needless panic that stemmed from nowhere, the feeling that nothing they did was really worth much at all.

Recently, Alex’s days had been muddled, his mind occupied with each new worry that he thought up. He was finding it hard to focus on much at all. He’d find his leg bouncing whenever he sat down or his fingers scratching at his knees, little repetitive movements that he wouldn’t notice until somebody pointed them out. He struggled sleeping at night, his mind racing at the speed of light, every nonsensical thought keeping him awake like the world’s most pessimistic firework display. When he was around his friends, his mind snagged on what they thought about him – he began acting the way he thought they wanted him to rather than the way he normally would have.

It felt like he was constantly pretending to be coping better than he was. If he carried on the way he was, he knew sooner or later he would break.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said that morning, sat on the opposite side of the sofa to Willie. He had stayed the night at Willie’s place, vastly preferring it to his own – his strained relationship with his parents wasn’t exactly doing him a world of good either.

“About what?” Willie asked, kicking their feet up onto the sofa and resting them in Alex’s lap.

The question was strangely hard to answer. Where was he even supposed to begin answering it?

“About me,” he ventured slowly. It seemed like a good start, he just wasn’t sure how to carry on.

“I think about you a lot too,” Willie said, beaming. “It’s one of my favourite pastimes.”

Normally, Alex might have blushed, but he was so caught up in his own head that the flirtatious nature of Willie’s comment flew right over his head.

Willie sat up, looking concerned. He took Alex’s hand in his own, dragging Alex down from his addled thoughts. “What’s going on, hotdog? What have you been thinking?”

“I’ve not been finding things easy recently,” Alex began. He hadn’t expected tears to fill his eyes so soon, and yet there they were. His voice wavered, his words interspersed with sniffles. Frustrated, he sighed and wiped roughly at his eyes with his sleeve, annoyed that this was all getting to him so easily. “I… I can’t explain it.”

Willie reached up and gently pulled Alex’s tight fists away from his eyes and instead wiped Alex’s tears away softly with his thumb. “Take your time,” they said. “It’s alright. I’m listening.”

“I just… I feel so nervous. All the time. About every little thing. And it feels like it’s getting worse. I don’t feel like myself anymore.”

One of the things Alex loved most about Willie was that he was never pushy. He always let Alex talk as and when he needed to, getting everything off his chest the way he wanted, even if it took hours. They did it now, just holding Alex’s hand, their eyes fixed on him attentively. From someone else, the unbroken eye contact might have just unnerved Alex even more, but from Willie it felt reassuring. He knew he was being listened to and heard – he knew he was safe.

“I want to get help,” he breathed. “I don’t want to carry on the way I am. It scares me.”

“If you want to get help, then that’s exactly what we’ll do,” Willie told him, threading their fingers together. “And Alex – it might not feel like it, but you’re so brave for telling me that. It can’t have been easy, but I’m proud of you for telling me instead of just struggling through by yourself.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea?” Alex asked apprehensively. Willie was always supportive of him, but it was such a drastic change from the way his parents treated him that sometimes he couldn’t help but check it was all real.

Willie smiled gently and cupped Alex’s cheek with his hand. His eyes fluttered shut and he leaned into the touch, so he couldn’t see Willie when they replied but he could hear the honestly in his voice. “I think it’ll be really helpful for you. And if it’s what you think you need then it’s worth trying no matter what.”

“Thank you,” Alex whispered, barely audible, throat clogged with suppressed sobs.

“Anything, Alex.”

The two of them spent hours researching different therapists and counsellors. Willie carried out extensive background checks on every one of them – at first Alex thought that maybe it was a bit much, but Willie was adamant that only the best would do, that he didn’t want anyone with a chequered past or a dodgy record.

Eventually they came across a charity that offered free counselling. The sessions would take place at the same time on the same day each week and they could go on for as long as Alex needed. He would be assigned the counsellor deemed most fit to treat him after completing an assessment, and the organisation appeared to have very good reviews and success rates.

“We don’t have to sign you up today,” Willie explained, “not if you think it’ll be too much too soon. But it’s worth keeping in mind that this place is probably a good one to go for.”

Alex thought for a moment before making his mind up. He knew himself – if he kept putting it off because he was nervous about it then he would never get around to doing it at all.

“Let’s do it now,” he said resolutely, trying to sound confident in the hopes that maybe he’d believe he wasn’t so nervous himself. “Get it out of the way. It’s now or never, right?”

Willie just kissed the top of his head and clicked the application button at the bottom of the webpage.

A week or so later, Alex received an email informing him of when his assessment would take place. It seemed like a very informal thing – someone from the charity would phone him, they’d have a casual chat where they would ask him about himself, and they’d offer him either a space on their waiting list or suggest somewhere else that might be able to help him better.

Despite how friendly and casual it all sounded, Alex couldn’t help but feel nervous. For one thing, he hated talking to strangers. He’d never been good at it and the whole idea made him feel sick with worry. Though, he supposed, that was why he was going through with this whole thing, to make that worry stop.

But the other issue was that it was a phone appointment. Inexplicably, one of the things guaranteed to cause Alex anxiety was phone calls. The thought of picking up the phone when somebody rang was enough to make his head spin and eyes water. Just the notion of it made him want to lock himself away in a lonely dark room and not come out until he felt he could breathe again. It was painfully ironic – he had to do the things that made him most anxious in order to get help with his anxiety.

When the time of the appointment came, Alex was sat on Willie’s bed by himself, staring at his phone, waiting for it to ring. Willie had kindly offered to be in the room with him, but Alex had declined. Even though Willie was the most supportive person in his life, having them in the room while he had his assessment would have made it a thousand times more difficult.

The phone rang and for a moment Alex considered just not picking up. Was it worth making himself even more worried over this? Maybe he could learn to cope with his anxiety alone instead of getting all worked up over receiving help. He’d managed just fine in the past.

But you’re not managing just fine right now, Alex, he reminded himself. Pick up the phone.

“Hello?” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice level.

“Hi,” came a voice on the other end. It was an airy, soft-spoken lady, and though Alex couldn’t see her he could imagine her sat in her office, surrounded by motivational posters and dreamcatchers, wearing far too many scarves. “My name is Elizabeth. I’m calling for your mental health assessment. I just need to confirm who I’m speaking to.”

“Alex Mercer,” he said, glad he could answer that first question right at the very least. And sure, maybe the other questions he would be asked didn’t have specific right or wrong answers, but he still felt as if he had something to prove with them. Here at least he knew what he was doing.

“And your age and date of birth please, Alex,” Elizabeth asked. He could hear the faint scratching of a pen on paper.

“I’m eighteen and my birthday is the first of August.”

A tiny voice in the back of his mind questioned him, but he pushed it away. He wasn’t going to overthink so quickly. He knew what his own birthday was.

“Great, thank you, Alex,” Elizabeth said. “So I’m just going to talk you through how this will work quickly, okay? I’ll try not to take too long with the whole assessment, I know sometimes talking on the phone or talking to strangers can be tricky. All that’s really going to happen is that we’ll have a little chat, I’ll ask you about your life and your mental health. Everything we say will be confidential, the only other person who’ll find out is the person we assign as your counsellor. All I need you to do is be as honest as possible when you answer the questions. Is that all okay?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. His throat felt tight with worry but he did his best to ignore it. Elizabeth sounded like a lovely lady and the whole point of this was that he would stop being anxious, or at least learn to manage it better. Maybe this bit was hard, but it would only get easier as time went on. “That’s alright.”

“Fantastic,” she said. “Okay, Alex, we’ll start with the most obvious question: why do you want to come to us for counselling?”

He told her what he had told Willie, just with fewer tears. He could feel them stinging the backs of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. His voice stayed level but only because he forced it too.

From then on, it seemed like fairly quickfire questions. Elizabeth didn’t linger on any one aspect of Alex’s life so long that it made Alex uncomfortable, as if she was just sizing him up rather than trying to properly inspect him.

“Who do you live with, Alex?”

“My parents and my little sister, but I don’t spend a lot of time at home.”

“Do you not get on with them?” she asked. Her tone made her sound curious rather than concerned and somehow that was a lot easier for Alex to respond to. She just wanted to know – she wasn’t worried about it.

“My little sister’s fine, but not my parents.”

“Where do you stay instead?”

“My boyfriend’s apartment.”

Pen scratching on paper again.

“How’s your relationship with your boyfriend?” Elizabeth asked.

It was one of the only questions Alex felt confident answering. “My relationship with Willie is the best thing in my life.”

He thought he could hear Elizabeth’s smile as she said, “I’m very glad to hear that, Alex.”

She asked him about his friendships and he told her that they were strong. When she asked who his best friend was he momentarily panicked because he didn’t know which of his friends to choose – they all meant the world to him in different ways – but settled on Carrie. He explained that he was in a band with most of his other friends and that it was one of the only things that made him feel relaxed.

Elizabeth asked about school and Alex told her about his exams, how the stress of them definitely wasn’t doing his mind any good. She asked about his grades and he told her that they were high but he worried about keeping them that way. She asked him if he was part of any clubs or teams and he said he was on the cross-country team but didn’t find much enjoyment in it anymore.

It was odd, he thought absently. As he spoke to Elizabeth, he not only found himself being open and honest with her but also with himself. Half the things he told her were things he hadn’t thought about until she brought them up, and realising that he worried about grades more than he’d thought and that he didn’t want to be on the running team was more of a surprise to him that it should have been. He noticed more and more things about himself as he went on, things he probably never would have realised otherwise, and it sparked a little flame of hope inside him that maybe this counselling was already being beneficial to him.

The assessment was over much more quickly than Alex had thought it would take. Elizabeth told him that she was happy to put him on the waiting list and that she would be in touch when a counsellor became available. After a friendly goodbye, Alex put the phone down and took a few minutes to collect himself before heading out into the living room of Willie’s apartment to tell him how well it had gone.

It was a month or two before Alex heard from the charity again. He got another email, this one telling him the time and location of his first appointment. He showed up on the day, Willie by his side, feeling the worst he’d felt in weeks.

“Hey,” Willie said gently as Alex just stared at the door, his stomach flipping at the thought of even pressing the intercom. “Just remember you’re doing this to help yourself. I believe in you, hotdog. You’ve got this.”

Alex pulled Willie into a brief hug, but disentangled himself quickly and pressed the intercom before his adrenaline disappeared and he had another chance to dwell on it.

“Hello,” came the voice of the receptionist inside. “How can I help?”

“My name is Alex Mercer, I’m here for my counselling session,” he said. He wasn’t sure how much of his sentence actually sounded like words, the entire thing having been rushed out on one breath, but the receptionist seemed to get it. The lock on the door clicked open.

“Come on in, you can sit in the waiting room and your counsellor will come and get you soon.”

Alex took a deep breath and pushed the door open, Willie following close behind him as the two of them walked into the building. The waiting room was on the left as soon as they walked in so they took their seats beside each other. There was hardly anyone else in there – the receptionist was sat behind the desk in the corner, there was a lady flicking through a magazine on the other side of the waiting room, and a young man was sat with a toddler, trying to keep the little boy still when clearly all he wanted to do was run around. The walls were covered in posters, most of them either with motivation quotes on them or symptoms of different mental health issues. Alex had to tear his eyes away from the anxiety one, his hands rubbing together in his lap restlessly.

They weren’t sat there for very long when a kind-looking man poked his head into the waiting room and scanned it. When his eyes landed on Alex and Willie, a small smile grew on his face.

“Alex Mercer?” he asked.

Alex stood up and wiped his sweaty hands down on his trousers. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Nice to meet you, Alex,” the man said. “I’m Graham, I’ll be your counsellor. Is this your boyfriend?”

“Yeah, this is Willie,” Alex said, gesturing vaguely in his direction.

“Hi,” they said, “great to meet you.”

“You too,” Graham said. “Alex, Willie can come in with you for a little bit if you think that would make you more comfortable, or he could stay here in the waiting room and it’ll just be you and I in there. Whatever you prefer.”

Alex cast a glance at Willie who just gave him a reassuring smile. Your call, their expression said, I’m here for you no matter what.

“I’d rather go in alone,” Alex decided.

Graham nodded, smiling genially. “That’s alright. If you’d like to follow me then.”

Sending one last look to Willie (who gave Alex a thumbs up and mouthed ‘you got this’), Alex followed Graham out of the waiting room, up a flight of stairs, and into a smaller room on the second floor. There was hardly anything in there but a desk with a laptop on it and two chairs positioned opposite each other, a coffee table between them with a lamp and a box of tissues on it. Graham sat down in one chair and gestured for Alex to sit in the other.

“Alright, Alex,” Graham said, donning his glasses and picking up a pen and paper. “How are you feeling about being here today?”

“I’m a little nervous,” Alex told him. “But you know… it’s something I’ve got to do, right?”

Graham nodded. “Looking at your assessment, I think you made the right decision in coming to us. I just want to briefly explain what will be happening in these sessions – I’m going to be doing CBT. Do you know what that is?”

Alex shook his head.

“CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy,” Graham explained. “As people, we have thoughts. Those thoughts influence our mood, which then influences our behaviour, which influences our thoughts. It’s a cycle. When our thoughts or our behaviours turn negative, it can lead to mental health problems like yours. What CBT aims to do is change the thought processes and behaviours that lead to things like your anxiety. With me so far?”

Alex nodded.

“We aren’t going to start that today,” Graham said. Alex breathed a sigh of relief and Graham chuckled at it, but not in a way that made Alex feel like he was being made fun of. “Today we’re just going to get to know each other a bit, we’ll go over the information I’ve got from your assessment in a little more detail, and then I’ve got a questionnaire for you to fill out. Sound good?”

“Good,” Alex said. Well, he supposed, getting one word out was better than none at all.

Graham pulled out a few sheets of paper and the two of them spent the next half hour or so going over the assessment Elizabeth had conducted. It was a lot more detailed, a lot more personal, and Alex needed to think about himself a lot more than he would have liked, but it was made easier by Graham’s easy-going personality and the fact that Alex’s knew it was all necessary. He wasn’t being judged for any of it, he was just helping Graham help him.

It just felt like a chat with a friend. When they talked about Alex’s parents and he explained they weren’t supporting of his sexuality, Graham said, “When I told my folks that I’m bisexual they had a similar reaction. I understand it – you’re not alone, Alex.”

And as he said that, Alex really felt it was true. He was understood here. He wasn’t alone.

They talked about Alex’s trouble sleeping, how he worried about the little things rather than anything really important, how he was a picky eater, and every detail that seemed insignificant but clearly meant something to Graham. It felt a little invasive, but the environment was comfortable, so Alex didn’t really mind sharing. It was ridiculously easy to say everything on his mind and so much more freeing than keeping his emotions bottled up like normal.

“Alright then,” Graham said eventually. “All I’ve got left is this questionnaire. It’ll take you through forty-seven questions and all of the answers give you a choice between always, often, sometimes, or never. Sometimes it’s quite obvious what the question is getting at – there’s one about repetitive routines that’s obviously about OCD – but I want you to answer as honestly as possible, don’t even think about what it might do to your results. Alright?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, “that’s fine.”

Graham led Alex through the questionnaire, selecting the answers on his laptop. Alex tried to answer quickly, not giving himself time to overthink it, but a few of the simplest ones stumped him. He’d never thought about how much he thought about death, he’d never paid any mind to his specific behaviours. But still, he answered as best he could and the questions were over relatively quickly.

“Looking at your results,” Graham said, pushing his glasses further up his nose and squinting at the laptop screen, “you answered most highly for general anxiety – you got twenty-nine for that. Then social anxiety, you got twenty. Depression and low mood, you got sixteen. For panic disorder you got fourteen, eleven for OCD, and five for separation anxiety. Does any of that surprise you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Alex told him, laughing at himself a little. It was exactly what he would have expected from himself – he wasn’t quite sure what the numbers really meant, but having general anxiety at the top wasn’t a shock to him.

“So what we’ll do each week from now on is fill out a smaller one of those, but it will be more focused on general anxiety, only eight or nine questions long. And we’ll start your CBT next week so these little questionnaires will be very helpful to track your progress. But that’s it for this week! You’re done, Alex, you made it!”

Alex felt himself smile. He’d done it. It hadn’t been nearly as difficult as he had thought it would be – it felt like there had been a weight lifted from his shoulders and he could breathe easily. His mind briefly wandered back to how anxious he’d been to even press the intercom outside; now he felt the lightest he’d been in as long as he could remember.

He and Graham said their goodbyes and Alex made his way back down to the waiting room to see get Willie. When he saw the bright smile Alex wore, Willie’s face lit up and he beamed.

“How was that?” they asked, immediately slipping his hand into Alex’s.

“Really good,” Alex told them. Willie’s face softened – there was a definite look of pride in their eyes and Alex knew it was for him. “I’m glad I’m doing this.”

Standing up on his tiptoes, Willie pressed a featherlight kiss to Alex’s cheek. “I’m glad. I’m proud of you, hotdog.”

“I’m proud of me too,” Alex said. For the first time in a very long while, he actually meant it.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @ace-bookworm @williexmercer @boggie-brainrot @itstiger720 @the-reckless-and-the-brave @that-one-newsie @bluedarkness @lookingthroughmirrors @tmp-jatp @salty-star @julieandthequeers @lmaohuh @sunnysbright @sylphrenas @callmeontheleyline

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floating-in-the-blue · 3 years

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Pretending to hate each other au Alex/Willie

Ngl, I had the hardest time figuring out why they would ever have to pretend to hate each other and this is as close as I got them to it. Hope you like it, darling!

Willie loved getting hugged by his boyfriend but when Alex practically flung himself into his arms, clinging so tightly to him that breathing would become an issue soon, and started mumbling “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” into his hair, he knew something was up.

It took a long moment for him to persuade Alex to let go and tell him what had happened and when he saw the anxiety in his face, he had to force himself not to crush Alex back against him and hold him in his arms until all his worries faded away, breathing be damned.

Alex’s fingers fiddled with the frayed hem of his jeans jacket, plucking at threads while he flicked his hair out of face and started talking, eyes never quite meeting Willie’s.

“Luke was going on about "Reckless” again. Apparently he had heard some girls at school talking about how pretty you guys are and he was all in a huff and said some means things about Bobby and the rest of your band and Reggie jumped onto the bandwagon, too, declaring that Luke is way prettier than all of you, and then they looked at me, all expectantly, and I panicked and ... and ... I said your hair is stupid!”

Willie burst out into giggles.

He felt bad about it a moment later though because Alex looked so anguished, especially when he whispered “I also said your giggles are stupid” almost tonelessly, all pale in the face.

“How could I say that?” Alex asked, horrified. “I love your hair! And your giggles! And ... oh God, I’m a horrible person! Saying horrible things about my perfect boyfriend and I don’t deserve you and you should probably break up with me right now. At least then I wouldn’t have to lie to my best friends anymore about being in love with the guitarist from Luke’s sworn enemy rival band and--”

He broke off abruptly as Willie pulled him into his arms. Willie placed a soft kiss to Alex’s jaw, pressing his face to Alex’s, happiness bubbling up inside of him.

“You’re in love with me?”

Alex froze in his embrace.

“Uh ...”

Willie laughed softly.

“I’m in love with you, too, hotdog.”

After another moment, Alex melted back into his arms, clinging tightly to him once more.

“I hate having to pretend to hate you,” he grumbled into Willie’s neck.

“I still think we should just tell them.”

Alex broke out of the hug, anxiety spiking again.

“Oh God. Luke would hate me so much! What if he throws me out of the band for unloyal conduct? Brand me as a traitor? They’re my only friends, Willie!”

“I’m pretty sure he would get over it. Your friendship is worth more to him than a petty rivalry, right?”

Alex’s face was still pale.

“You don’t know Luke! Dude is obsessed with music and this rivalry? He takes it seriously. And he’s stubborn like hell.”

“Hmm ... he does sound a lot like Bobby. You know? I still think if we just locked those two into a room, chances of them making out instead of fighting would be 50/50. Or ... maybe they’d fight first and then make out.”

“That is not funny!” Alex pressed out through gritted teeth.

Willie nudged Alex’s shoulder.

“Come on, it kinda is?”

But Alex just shook his head and Willie sighed.

“Alex ... this whole dating in secret thing is tearing you apart and I don’t want to lose you so the only solution I see is just telling them. If they love us, they’ll have to just deal with it. Because I’m not letting you go. Ever.”

Alex looked up at him.

“Promise?”

“I promise. And now come here and kiss me!”

It took about three weeks worth of further persuasion until Alex finally relented and accepted Willie’s plan of ‘just telling them.’ He was still convinced it would be a disaster and had uncomfortable mental throwbacks to the whole coming out to his parents shitshow but Willie had reminded him that it was always better to know whether people could accept you for who you are and who you date than worry about it. Alex absolutely hated that Willie was right.

He’d arranged to meet with him at the garage at a time when he could be sure Luke and Reggie would be already there.

Willie had proposed setting up a meeting with both bands present but Alex had been adamant that he could not handle being rejected by Willie’s bandmates and losing his best friends in one fell swoop. He hoped not having Bobby Wilson present as a reminder why he hated them would make Luke more lenient. It wasn’t much but it was all Alex could do.

Seeing Luke and Reggie goof around as he and Willie entered, seeing that moment of happiness, made everything worse when Luke spotted Willie and immediately frowned, growling “What’s he doing here?”

Then his gaze fell to Alex’s and Willie’s entwined hands.

Alex inhaled shakily and cleared his throat, clenching Willie’s fingers.

“Hey guys. This is Willie. We’re dating.”

That was all he managed but it sufficed to throw the room into chaos as both Luke and Reggie loudly exclaimed.

Alex wavered on the spot and was glad for Willie’s thumb rubbing calming circles on his skin.

“You’re dating him? He’s the guitarist from ‘Reckless!’“

“Yeah, I’m aware of it,” Alex pressed out through gritted teeth. “Why do you think I didn’t tell you earlier?”

Luke’s mouth hung open and Reggie didn’t look any less confused. Willie, however was remarkably relaxed. Alex couldn’t understand it but he was grateful.

Blinking away the phantom images of his parents trying to butt in, he gave the boys a moment to digest the news.

“Why?” Luke asked, sounding hurt more than angry and oh yes, that was definitely his mother right there, echoing Luke’s words, and Alex swallowed, a foul taste in his mouth.

“Because he makes me happy.”

He knew he sounded tired. Because he was. And all he wanted was to crawl into Willie’s arms. To have his goofy friends back. To be happy!

Reggie suddenly straightened up and marched over to Alex’s side, taking his hand.

“It was a fun game, all that rivalry stuff, but if it’s hurting Alex, I don’t want to play that anymore.”

Alex could have burst out into tears. Instead, he squeezed Reggie’s hand and Reggie squeezed right back.

They both knew it wasn’t a game to Luke. Luke, whose passion and stubborness were the driving force behind Sunset Curve’s success but also, frequently, stumbling blocks that made his life harder than it had to be.

Luke looked from Reggie to Alex to Willie and back again and Alex heard Reggie’s shaky breath and realised that he probably wasn‘t the only one with phantom parents in the room.

And then Luke’s shoulders slumped and he drew in a deep breath before walking over to Willie, giving him a once over and then extended his hand.

“Hi, I’m Luke. Nice to meet you.”

Willie’s sunshine smile broke through and he gripped Luke’s hand.

“Willie, hi.”

Alex and Reggie both sighed.

“Just so you know,” Luke said and crossed his arms, “your lead singer is still a dick.”

But Willie just laughed.

“Yeah, he can be. Sorry. You know, that night at the HGC, when he said those things about your band? I think that was just because you had the audacity to absolutely rock that place when we had a shit practice session that day and his parents were giving him grief again for being in a rock band.”

Luke deflated.

“Oh. Uhm ... okay.”

All was not forgiven, not in Luke Patterson’s mind, but Alex had a feeling that maybe he and Bobby would get along a lot better than he’d thought. Parental troubles were definitely something they could all bond over.

“So ... you staying for practice?”

Willie smiled brightly. “If you’ll have me?”

Luke just shrugged and turned, walking over to his guitar to tune it, but Alex’s heart was ready to burst. Apparently their friendship was more important to Luke than his rivalry with Reckless.

Then Reggie nudged his shoulder, drawing Alex’s attention back to him.

“Guess you don’t think his hair and giggle stupid after all, huh?”

Alex blushed while Reggie and Willie both laughed. And when Willie pressed a short kiss to his lips and murmured “rock my socks off” with a tender smile, before getting comfortable on the couch, Alex practically glided over to his drum kit.

#willex #alex mercer #willie nolastname #willie jatp #jatp fanfic #jatp #phantomfloat #my writing #best gay ghosts

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spine-buster · 3 years

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The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 35

A/N: Alright folks...here she is: the last chapter. To say that I love all of you so much and appreciate with my entire life every like, reblog, comment, tag comments, canon question, ask, etc. would be an understatement. You guys TRULY make my stories what they are and encourage me to write and post every single week. From the bottom of my heart, thank you thank you thank you ❤️

Like with all my stories, there will be epilogues for Aberdeen and Willy so we see into their future. I’m not sure how many I have planned -- probably three right now, thinking of four, depending on how I split things up.

After the epilogues are posted, I will be starting my new Brock Boeser mini-series “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. Stay tuned for a post date -- check my Masterlist for future reference.

Without further ado...

August 31st, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was looking into William’s eyes.

They were getting Korean walnut cakes from Hodo Kwaja. They were out in the open. Alone on Bloor Street West, in Little Korea, where no-one would recognize him. He convinced her. She couldn’t hold back anymore. She’d tried so hard and she’d succeeded for months – fuck, the better part of a year at this point – and now, she just wanted to have a date out in the open with her boyfriend instead of having to drive to some park on the lakeshore in Etobicoke to secretly hook up in his car.

“These better be good,” William said as he looked away briefly at the shop owner making a new batch of cakes behind the glass wall. Even though they were both wearing masks, Aberdeen could tell he was smirking. “When you say bean paste…”

“I promise you,” she stressed. “They’re amazing.”

“You wanna bring them to Christie Pitts after?” William asked, reaching for her hand.

Aberdeen nodded. This was the first time he’d reached for her hand in a public place. She’d always remember Hodo Kwaja as the place now. They could never close or tear this bakery down. “We can eat them under a tree or something.”

“Romantic.”

“I try to be,” she said. “Especially with my boyfriend.”

“Especially when we’re out in public.”

She crinkled her face. So did William. He pulled her into his body and wrapped an arm around her. They were silent for a few moments before William decided to speak again. “You should try calling Beth,” he whispered, his voice low. “You said Alec wouldn’t get back to you, but Beth might. She’d let you know whether or not they chose to publish the article.”

A shiver ran up Aberdeen’s spine. “Maybe I’ll email her or something,” she said. “Alec’s silence speaks volumes though. I don’t think—”

“Fuck that guy,” William interrupted. “Call Beth. Call her. Maybe she rooted for you.”

The shopkeeper handed Aberdeen the brown bag full of walnut cakes, and she paid for them. She grabbed at William’s hand and their fingers intertwined before leaving the shop. “I just think I would have known by now,” Aberdeen mused. “I mean, the new issue will hit newsstands soon. Usually they’d tell the writers.”

“Call her,” William urged. “You’ll never know if you don’t call.”

They walked down the street hand in hand. It was dusk outside, the hot and humid air of the city finally giving way to a nice breeze that cooled everything down. Aberdeen’s dress swayed back and forth as they walked towards Christie Pitts, switching subjects to the next bakery they should try. William made Aberdeen laugh recounting the story of how much Cam loved the Swedish pastries he brought the family during his surprise Christmas visit. Aberdeen’s heart swelled when William brought her hand up to his lips and kissed where the ring was – the ring he got her, which she’d been wearing ever since.

As they passed by all the different storefronts – most closed, saved for a few convenience stores or 24 hour laundromats – they both noticed a loading truck parked by the curb with two men going in and out of it, hauling new magazines and the next day’s newspapers into the shop. William made them stop. He watched them for a few seconds.

“What are you doing?” Aberdeen asked him.

“Excuse me, sir?” he ignored her, instead calling out to one of the men hauling in the newspapers. The man looked at him. “Are those next month’s magazine issues?”

“Of course they are.”

“William—”

“Do you have the new issue of Toronto Life?”

“William—”

“We’ve got everything in the truck, bud,” the other man said, setting down a huge stack of Vogue magazines all bundled together. “Either you wait or you jump in there yourself to get it.

William looked between the truck and the men. He let go of Aberdeen’s hand abruptly. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets. “William what are you doing?!” she asked as she watched him climb into the back of the loading truck.

“What do you think?!” he called back out. “It’ll be a good off-season workout finding the stack!”

“William!” she repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time.

“Oh! They’re right here! They’re covered but…” he trailed off. Aberdeen held her breath. He emerged hauling a giant wrapped stack – you couldn’t see anything besides the white paper covering it and the plastic ties tying them all together. He jumped off the back of the truck. The two men were just watching him. “You got scissors?” he asked them.

One of them handed him an exacto knife. William cut off the plastic zipties.

“William, stop,” Aberdeen pleaded. She wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready to know yet. She had to psych herself up for the inevitable disappointment of not seeing her name on the cover, not seeing her article anywhere in the magazine, and she wasn’t given ample time to do that. She knew William was being William – proud and spontaneous and excited on her behalf instead of riddled with anxiety and doubt and all the bad things one could be riddled by when their dream job was in their midst but definitely out of their grasp because of an asshole editor – but she needed time to process that she was going to be faced with a huge disappointment. She needed time to process that she would have to keep looking for a writing job.

William could hear the fear in her voice. He could sense her uncertainty and her anxiety about it all. He stood up from his crouching position. “Hey…” he said softly, taking a step towards her. He grabbed her hand again and held it in his. “Minskatt, don’t be nervous.”

“I need time to psyche myself up for not seeing my name on there,” she said. She felt her phone buzzing aggressively through her purse but she decided to ignore it. “It’s gonna hurt, Willy.”

He squeezed her hand tighter. “Are you listening?”

The question they’d always ask each other. “Yes.”

“Remember what you told me before and after the bubble? That no matter what happened, you’d love me no matter what?” he asked. Aberdeen nodded her head. “Whatever happens here…whether you got it or not…minskatt, I’ll love you no matter what.”

His words were so soothing. And as always, they were so simple, but so perfect. They immediately put her at ease despite all the anxiety she was feeling, that had rushed upon her within just minutes. She nodded her head slightly as she squeezed his hand back. “Can I open it?” he asked.

She nodded her head.

He crouched down again and ripped open the packaging. Aberdeen took a step forward and looked down to see the iconic red rectangle header. And then the headline.

The Bubble Diaries: Aberdeen Bloom explores the characters, stories, and all-too-real tribulations inside the NHL’s Eastern hub.

Aberdeen’s entire body jolted up, and she let out a short and quick scream as the bag of walnut cakes went flying.

Then she realized what this meant.

And she screamed at the top of her lungs.

William’s eyes lit up as he heard the shriek – the entire city heard the shriek. He watched as she started jumping up and down through more shrieks before he got up himself. Aberdeen jumped on him – just fully and completely jumped into and onto him – and he caught her expertly in his arms as she shrieked in his ear.

“They did it! THEY DID IT!” she screamed as he set her down. She bent down to pick up a copy of the magazine and shrieked again as she held it in front of her. Maybe this was a fever dream. Maybe she was delirious. Maybe the gratuitous walnut cake the bakery gave her to try before ordering was laced with some hallucinogenic and she was imagining things.

No. That was her name attached to the article. That was her name on the cover of Toronto Life magazine.

“You did it, minskatt,” William said as he reached up to her face to pull her mask down, planting a giant kiss on her lips. The energy was radiating off of her. She was a ball of sunshine, a star radiating energy bigger and better than anything in the universe. “You did it. I’m so proud of you.”

“I can’t believe it! I can’t – oh – oh my GOD Willy!” she was still shocked. “I—they—I’m published! I’M PUBLISHED!”

“Your name is on the cover of a damn magazine, minskatt!” he giggled.

“My name is on the cover of a damn magazine!” she repeated more emphatically, kissing him again. “I can’t – I – oh my God – oh my God my phone is…” she trailed off, feeling her phone buzzing violently from her purse again.

She pulled it out and saw Beth Zadakis’s name flash across the screen. She immediately picked up. “Beth!”

“Surprise,” she practically purred into the phone. “I’m assuming you saw it just posted on our website? Alec was overruled. He knew he would be. The way you wrote about the boys, Aberdeen…there’s no way we couldn’t publish it.”

“Thank you. Thank you,” she stressed, putting her hand over her heart. “From the bottom of my heart Beth, thank you.”

“You should celebrate, Aberdeen. We’ll discuss the logistics of your new position with Toronto Life later,” she said. “It’s not every day that a novice writer gets the lead cover story. Pop a bottle of champagne. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Aberdeen hung up. She looked into William’s eyes.

She did it.

***

September 4th, 2020

Aberdeen walked into the MLSE offices like she was going to work. Except she wasn’t.

Brendan had called her in for one last meeting. He didn’t say it would be their last, but both of them knew it would be their last. It was bittersweet, of course. Aberdeen had walked these halls for a year. She’d walked in on the team nearly naked on her first day. She’d tried to pick up a hockey bag and fell over. She’d taken countless calls from very important people she had no idea existed before this job. She’d gotten called out by her boss for being an idiot. She’d walked Niklas Lidstrom through the halls to impress her boss. She’d waited countless hours for jersey proofs. She’d made friends. She’d made enemies. She’d learned the game of hockey. She’d travelled countless miles up and down the steps and up and down the elevators to the ice, to the locker room, to the offices, and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

She ran into her summertime hookup in the elevator on her first day. She’d fallen in love with him in these hallways.

It all happened here.

When she approached the doors of Brendan’s office, and looked at her desk – well, now her former desk, she felt her heart flutter. This was it. She stepped into the doorway and saw him looking out his window. She knocked.

He turned around, giving her the proudest smile she’d probably ever received from a boss. She took off her mask so he could see her smiling too. “Hi Brendan.”

“Aberdeen. Sit,” he nodded towards the chairs. This was where she cried and told him she’d been sexually harassed in the kitchen. This was where he fired Ethan. This was where he’d bared his soul to her after the Leafs lost to a Zamboni driver. She took a seat.

“I’m so incredibly proud of you,” he said after looking at her for a few moments. “What you’ve been able to accomplish in a year is outstanding, Aberdeen.”

“I would be remiss if I didn’t thank you,” she began. “You had the biggest role to play in this by setting up that meeting in the first place. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for you.”

Brendan shook his head. “I didn’t write that article, Aberdeen. You did,” he said sternly. To think that he had the faith in her to put the meeting together in the first place, knowing she could pull it off, spoke volumes. He was definitely her most powerful supporter. “I keep reading and re-reading it and I find new things to admire every time.”

She smiled humbly. “Thanks.”

Brendan paused for a moment. “You know, Aberdeen…most people would have sold us out,” he said. She nodded her head, understanding what he was getting at. He knew – he knew the demands Alec put on her. Beth must have told him, because she certainly didn’t say a word about it. “It…it speaks absolute volumes to your character that they demanded that scoop for you but you refused to give it and instead relied on your talent to get you the job anyway.”

She nodded. She could read between the lines. “Thank you.”

“You’ve got some fucking guts on you, kid.”

They both giggled. “I guess being around some gutsy hockey players did me some good this year,” she joked.

“I’ll say,” he said. “All the boys know. They love it.”

“I know. I got texts from pretty much all of them. Travis sent me a picture of his dogs reading it too.”

“That last night in the bubble, when I told you that you were the soul of this team, I meant it,” he said. “And I don’t think…I don’t…well, I don’t think it was a big secret that William had a thing for you since that first day in the elevator. And I know…well, I think we’re all aware the feeling is mutual.”

Aberdeen gulped. She felt like she already died and got rigor mortis in that tiny amount of time. So they were going to go there. Brendan was bringing it up with absolutely no shame. On her last day. Last meeting. She looked him in the eye. “Am I safe to assume that nothing happened between the two of you in the year you were here?” Brendan asked.

She could do it right now.

Be honest.

She was leaving, after all.

And she had the job already.

She looked Brendan right in the eyes.

“No sir,” she shook her head. “I…it was clear to me at the beginning too, and…and the feelings did grow on my end as well, I will admit that.”

“So the feeling is mutual, then.”

“Yes sir.”

“And I’m also correct to assume that once you leave these doors and employed by Toronto Life, you two will get together?”

She was already lying to the man she respected most in this world; there was no use in lying even more. “Y—Yes. I—I…” she hesitated. She took a deep breath. “William waited for me, Brendan. He waited for me this entire time. I don’t want to make him wait any longer. I don’t want to wait any longer, either.”

Aberdeen didn’t know what she was expecting, but she definitely wasn’t expecting Brendan to smile. “Understandable,” he said. “I could see it at the Christmas party – William’s crush on you. And I kept wondering to myself if he ever…well, you know, acted on it. Told you, at least.”

“Didn’t need to tell me. It was pretty apparent,” she smiled slightly. “He wears his heart on his sleeve. Well, at least for me.”

Brendan nodded his head. There was a moment of silence between them. “You’re welcome here whenever you want,” he said. “In this office, in the arena, in the back – whenever. You’re family now, Aberdeen. And you’ll always be family. I’ll make it a clause in the contracts all the future presidents sign that Aberdeen Bloom can come in and do whatever she wants in this building.”

She giggled slightly. “Who are you kidding? You’ll be the president of this hockey club ‘till the day you die. Tanenbaum won’t let you leave. There won’t be any others.”

“Are you going to write my biography when it’s time?”

“If you let me.”

Brendan stood up from his chair. He extended his hand across his desk. Aberdeen hadn’t touched another human being since March 13th besides her family and William. She extended hers to shake his hand. “Aberdeen Bloom, my Etobicoke girl, it’s been a pleasure,” Brendan was proud, so proud of her.

“Brendan Shanahan, it’s been an honour,” she replied.

He side-stepped around his desk, and Aberdeen knew what was coming. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to leave the offices without one. It was another thing that she’d only given to her family members and to William since March 13th – a hug. But in that moment, she wrapped her arms around Brendan, and he wrapped his arms around her, and they hugged each other tightly. Aberdeen could smell his cologne. She heard him sniffle. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t start crying as well. “Thank you, Brendan,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

She sighed. When he let go of her, he kept his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her. “William’s coming to pick you up?” he asked. She smiled and nodded her head. “Jason’s around the building somewhere. For negotiations. You should find him. ��He’ll want to see you before you leave.”

Aberdeen nodded her head. “I’ll find him.”

She left his office, closing the door behind her. She felt a heavy feeling in her heart, knowing it would be the last time she’d exit Brendan’s office, no longer his executive assistant. Now, she was a writer at Toronto Life magazine. And before she could process that thought, she had to find Jason.

As she wandered through the building, popping into rooms and asking whoever she saw if they knew were Jason was, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and knew, like a sixth-sense, that it was William. She stopped walking so she could look at the message.

i like this one

He’d attached a quick video Aberdeen had taken the other night. The video couldn’t have been more than four of five seconds long. In the first second, the video showed hands being held, one hand dragging forward the other. In the second second, the camera panned upwards. In the third second, the video showed the back of a figure, with increasingly long blonde hair, broad shoulders, and a stupidly expensive designer t-shirt on with the CN Tower in the background at sunset. In the fourth second, the head turned, and the face smiled at whoever was behind the camera. It was all a bit blurry. It was all a bit fast.

It was William looking at her.

She promised him she’d post whatever he wanted to her Instagram feed once they could be official, and out in the open, not having to hide anything anymore. He wouldn’t dare post anything on his feed, so Aberdeen would. She understood why. Even now, even though they could be out in the open with their friends and family, with William’s teammates and Aberdeen’s extended friend circle, William wanted to keep their relationship out of the spotlight. Judging by what she’d gone through with the media and what she’d seen herself in the year she worked for the team, she understood completely.

She found the video in her own camera roll, editing the colour tones slightly before uploading it to her own Instagram feed with a simple caption: ❤️

She continued to look for Jason. And in looking for Jason, her phone kept going off. It was almost annoying, but she knew it was all the guys probably commenting something on the photo. After a particular string of constant notifications when she walked into the trainer’s room hoping to find Jason – which at this time last year would have been filled with shirtless, half-naked hockey players with their thighs and bulges out rolling on foam rollers, but was now empty – she couldn’t help but take her phone out again to see what the hell they were commenting.

@austonmatthews: FUCKING FINALLY

@travisdermott: awwwww s’cute

@tysonbarrie4: look at you lovebirds!

@rasmussandin: he likes lasagna!!!!! gotta make sure u learn how to make it

@1jackcampbell: you guys!!! What a bunch of beauties <3

@morganrielly: i second what @austonmatthews said

@buzzinb0831: YOU GUYS ARE THE CUTEST

@marner_93: finallyyyyyyyyyyy

@aleidacasillasandersen: Cute cute cute!

@kasperikapanen: cn tower…shocker

She couldn’t help but smile at them all. Especially Auston’s. That twerp.

Without warning, William’s name flashed across the screen for a phone call. She immediately picked up. “Hey.”

“Hi minskatt,” his voice was sing-songy. “Did you talk to Brendan?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking down at the floor.

“Was it bittersweet?”

“Mhm,” she nodded her head. “I know this is what I’ve dreamt of for the longest time, but I can’t picture myself not coming into this office every morning during the new season. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around it yet,” she admitted.

“I get it. It’s okay,” William said. “The team’s gonna miss you. Brendan’s gonna get a new assistant and he or she is gonna have some huge shoes to fill.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile. “He asked about us, you know.”

“He did?”

“He said it wasn’t a big secret that you had a thing for me since the first day in the elevator. He also said everyone is pretty much aware the feeling is mutual.”

“And?”

“And…he asked if anything had happened between the two of us.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Well I didn’t exactly tell Brendan fucking Shanahan that we randomly hooked up the night of my graduation. And I didn’t exactly tell him we’ve been secretly hooking up and in a relationship since January,” Aberdeen said. “But I told him the feeling was mutual, and that we’d both waited long enough, and the second I walked out of those doors I wasn’t going to make you wait anymore.”

“Okay…” she could hear William exhale. “Okay.”

“I lied to him, Will. I know. I lied to him about the last nine months. Hell, I’ve lied to everyone these past nine months about us being together. About our feelings, about your late-night visits to my hotel rooms and us hooking up. About loving you. About being with you. I’ve lied about everything. Everything.”

“We’ve lied to everyone about everything in the last nine months,” William corrected her sternly. “You’re not alone in this. You know that. We lied to everyone. We kept it a secret. But none of that matters, Aberdeen. What matters is that we get to be open about it now. That’s all that matters. That’s it.”

Aberdeen nodded her head. She knew he was right. She collected herself so she didn’t get emotional on the phone. God knows if she shed at least one tear and then found Jason, Jason would automatically be able to tell. “I just have to find Jason to say goodbye and then I’m out of here.”

“I’m actually already waiting outside, so take your time,” William said. “I’ll be here whenever. Take as long as you want.”

“I love you, William.”

“I love you too, minskatt. I’ll see you soon.”

Aberdeen locked her phone. She took another deep breath, replaying the conversation in her mind, before resolving to find Jason. She turned around to keep searching.

Only to find Jason standing a few feet behind her.

When she saw the look on his face, she knew immediately that he’d heard every single word of the conversation she’d just had. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. No – her heart dropped into the depths of hell. Her breath caught in her throat. She felt like her entire body was on fire. “Jason,” was all she could say.

“January,” was all he said.

Her hands began to shake. She reached out to him. “Jason—”

“Don’t,” his tone was harsh, and his entire arm flinched away from her. She tried to say something but nothing would come out. “Since January, Aberdeen? January?!”

“Jason, please—”

“I don’t – I – late night visits to hotel rooms?!” his voice kept rising as he verbally began to piece all the information together. “How – how could you?!”

“Jason, I can explain—”

“No! No you can’t explain! There’s nothing to explain in a situation like this! You lied to us! You lied to all of us!” he kept saying, his voice strained. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. He couldn’t believe the words that had come out of Aberdeen’s mouth. “Aberdeen, I went to bat for you time and time again. I looked out for you this entire fucking year and this is what you were doing behind my back? Hooking up with William Nylander?!”

“Ja—”

“You promised me, Aberdeen. You promised me that day that guy stalked you that there was nothing happening between the two of you. I took your word for it, Aberdeen. And William – William promised me nothing was going on that night you got stitches. And now you’re telling me this has been going on since January?!”

“Since the Night With the Blue and White,” she said, voice strained, tears welling in her eyes now. There was no use in lying to him. He was Jason Spezza. “The first time it happened was that night when I got home. When we got home. I can’t – I couldn’t…”

Jason was quiet, but she could hear how heavy he was breathing through his nose. She knew he was trying to calm himself down so he didn’t blow up at her. At this moment in time, though, she wasn’t so sure he’d be able to do it. “I can’t believe you’d do this to the team. To me. To Brendan,” he stressed. His voice was calm. Eerily calm. “I never want to speak to you again.”

Aberdeen’s cheeks flushed red with emotion almost instantly. No. It couldn’t end like this. It couldn’t. She tried reaching out to touch him again, but he flinched once more and took a few steps back to distance himself from him. “Jason—no—please—let me explain—”

His next words cut Aberdeen like a knife. He looked her dead in the eye. “I’ve never been more disappointed in you.”

A sob escaped her and she covered her mouth, but it was no use. Tears were streaming down her cheeks like Niagara Falls and her heart was sliced into a million pieces as she watched Jason turn around and walk out of the room, not bothering to look back at her.

What hurt most of all was that so much love goes into disappointment. Someone can still love you but be disappointed in you and that was infinitely, infinitely worse than someone hating you. It hurt so much more. Jason wasn’t wrong when he said he’d looked out for her this entire year. He wasn’t wrong when he said he’d went to bat for her this year. He’d done all those things out of love, because he cared for her, because he wanted to see her succeed in an environment that was, historically, not kind at all to young women. He’d done it to look out for her, to make sure she didn’t get hurt, to make sure she got where she wanted to go.

Jason Spezza was disappointed in her. And that hurt more than anything else.

Aberdeen sat down in the middle of the room and began sobbing.

***

William was scrolling through his phone when he noticed Aberdeen walking speedily towards his car. He unlocked the doors and slipped into the passenger seat, taking off her mask and throwing it onto the dashboard.

He immediately saw that her entire face was red, and her eyes were practically bloodshot. “What happened, minskatt?” he asked.

She looked like she was going to cry again. She turned her head towards him. “Jason overheard our conversation.”

William stopped breathing momentarily. “So he knows.”

She nodded her head, face scrunching up to stop tears from falling. “He said he never wants to speak to me again. And he said he’s never…he’s never been more disappointed in me.”

“Hey—hey, c’mere,” he said, grabbing her chin and leaning over the centre console to give her a loving kiss, feeling the tears stream down her face. He continued to kiss her for as long as he could. “It’s gonna be okay, minskatt. It’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not,” she shook her head vehemently. “It’s not going to be okay. It’s not.”

“Yes it will. He’ll get over it.”

“No he won’t,” she was steadfast. “He hates me William, and he never wants to speak to me again and he’s disappointed in me. He’s not gonna just get over me lying to him for the past nine months.”

“We lied to him,” William clarified for her again, like he did on the phone. “We lied. He’ll be madder at me than you. He’ll get over it. It’s going to be okay.”

Aberdeen shook her head. She wanted to believe him – she really did, but her mind was all over the place right now. “But what if it’s not?” she asked.

“Are you listening?” he asked.

She visibly calmed down at the question. “Yes.”

“It’s going to be okay because I love you, minskatt. Because we love each other.”

She nodded her head. He loved her. She knew he loved her, and that he would for the rest of their lives. And she’d love him too. That brought her more solace than anything. “I love you too, William.”

He gave her one last, long, lingering kiss before he put the car in drive. He fiddled with his phone to start the music, the opening notes of “Quitting You” by the Arkells playing through the speakers. He grabbed Aberdeen’s hand and held it in his enormous one, bringing to his lips and kissing it tenderly and holding it against his heart momentarily before settling it on his lap. She looked out the window at 50 Bay Street, saying goodbye.

She looked at William. The man she loved.

196 notes · View notes

averykedavra · 3 years

Note

If you’re feeling up for it could you please do 3. “You’re not hurting me, you’re not heavy. I’ve got you, love.” With Roman and Janus. Thank you!!

(Wow, you all really like roceit, huh? This is my sole prompt for today as I caught up on homework instead, but I’ll be back tomorrow, if canon doesn’t break me)

Words: 3981

“Okay,” Janus said. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” Roman flinched and pulled at his apron. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Hold on a second,” Janus told the customer in front of him, who opened their mouth to ask a question. Janus made a zip it gesture before pushing off the counter and dragging Roman into the storage closet. The door automatically closed, and Janus kicked the wedge into the gap before it slammed.

Hidden among racks of coffee beans, Roman seemed to relax. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward to kiss Janus quickly on the lips.

“You okay?” Roman asked when he pulled away. “You look stressed.”

“Of course I am, I’m on barista duty.” Janus glanced at the door. He could hear the customers babbling, but if this was an emergency, they would survive without a dead-eyed barista to hand them coffee. “What’s wrong?”

“What, do I need an excuse to see my boyfriend?” Roman placed a hand on his chest in mock hurt. “I love you!”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Janus said, though he allowed himself to preen at the affection. “You’re harried and there’s coffee all over your apron. And you’re supposed to be lifting boxes. What happened?”

Roman sighed and deflated like an old balloon. “The shadow demons are holding the place hostage again.”

“Again?” Janus groaned. “What is that, three times this month?”

“Yep.” Roman popped the p.

Janus sighed and glanced at his feet. “What do they want this time?”

“Dunno, but I can assume the usual.” Roman waved a hand. “Annihilation and destruction and blood to drench the floors, et cetera et cetera.”

“Great. This shift was too quiet.” Janus untied his ponytail and retied it, pulling all the strands taut. “Any casualties so far?”

“The coffee machine stopped working again.”

“Those bastards.”

“I’ve been telling you to get an exorcist,” Roman said. “Honey, this is just going to keep happening.”

“Am I in charge? No! Ask Patton, whenever he actually shows up.” Janus rolled his eyes. “Besides, exorcists are scam artists and religious nuts.”

“We have demons,” Roman pointed out. “You can believe in shadow demons, but not in exorcists?”

Janus rolled his eyes again. “That’d be a large chunk of the budget. If it matters to you so much, ask Patton.”

Roman huffed. “I’d much rather talk to you! Because I like you!”

“Sap.” Janus glanced at the door again. “We’d better hurry. What’s the details of this one?”

“Runes on the basement wall. Can’t decipher them. Virgil’s guarding the door to make sure nothing escapes.”

“Runes. Should be easy.” Janus wiped his hands on his apron and wished he’d made himself a shot of espresso. Saving the coffee shop was always easier while buzzed on caffeine. “Lead the way, darling.”

“Gladly!” Roman grabbed his hand, kissed it, and pulled Janus out of the storage room. They passed a clamoring crowd of customers, and Janus soaked in the final glimpse of sunlight. It was a busy day. All the more reason to solve this problem before it threatened any customers--they didn’t need another one-star Yelp review.

Of course, they could just move. Or, probably more reasonably, burn the cursed place to the ground and stab the ashes. No good could come from a shop so deeply filled with shadow demons. But Patton insisted--through email, the few times he actually responded--that the place had value to the community. Janus doubted that, but he wasn’t paid enough to object.

Capitalism. The only reason he took this job. It had seemed too good to be true that they were hiring without any previous experience. And, as Janus feared, it was.

Still, perhaps it would be good for his resume. Worked as manager-by-default at Spirit Cafe. Practiced at taking orders from no one, fighting shadow spirits, bartering for the life of an unlucky intern, and making espresso.

“Capitalism,” Janus complained as Roman led him downstairs.

“Yes, love, I know.”

The basement was two levels--the first was called the ‘chocolate factory,’ and the second, ‘spider hell.’ Roman had named the first in a burst of whimsy after rereading the Willy Wonka book. The second was self-explanatory. The second was also home to most of the demons.

When Janus passed the few employees around, they gave him a do we have to evacuate look. He responded with a don’t think so, keep toiling for the man look. Roman gave them all a perky thumbs up.

The second set of stairs were too greasy to make out their color. It was old legend that the posters and artwork grew older the farther you went--the cafe on the top floor was fresh and bright, and the chocolate factory was decorated with motivational posters that were splattered with coffee. Spider hell was devoid of intact decorations. Just old photos with faded edges, a few outdated certificates of health, and torn motivational posters.

For example, the poster on the door to spider hell. It had a kitten image, and was probably supposed to say Hang in there! The bottom was torn off. It just said Hang.

Roman opened the door and bowed dramatically. Janus sighed, kissed Roman’s cheek, and entered spider hell.

The hallway itself was clean, if a bit too reminiscent of fluorescent middle school halls. Most of the doors didn’t open. Janus kicked one as he passed, and the narrow window glinted back at him. Door, door, old bathroom with moths around the lights, door, mysterious graffiti--

Virgil, who breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the door to the boiler room. His apron was tied around his waist like a sweater. Behind him were several wooden rods, a few floorboards, and balled-up motivational posters, all jammed against the door to keep it locked.

“You’ve been busy,” Roman said. “Is that a folding chair?”

“I had to be careful!” Virgil pressed closer to the door. “I’m too young to die! I was gonna steal some metal from the pipes, but Janus would have been mad.”

“Correct,” Janus agreed. “We’re going to deal with this situation, alright? You can go cover for me upstairs--we need another barista.”

“I can leave?” Virgil whooped. “Oh, thank fuck, I’m gonna get the hell out of here. Have fun.”

“We will!” Roman said.

Virgil saluted them, then raced down the hallway. “Gonna expect a pay raise for all this!”

“Take it up with Patton,” Janus yelled.

“Don’t blame things on your imaginary friend!”

“He’s not--”

The door slammed behind Virgil. Janus turned to Roman petulantly. “He’s not imaginary. I’ve seen him. Once.”

“Sure,” Roman said.

“Ugh.” Janus rolled his eyes. “Why do I keep you two around?”

“Well, Virgil’s the coffee machine whisperer! And I’m devilishly handsome.” Roman winked at him. “You can’t resist, dearest.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Janus turned to the door. “In we go?”

“Into the breach, dear boyfriend.”

It took several minutes to pull the obstacles off the door. Virgil had managed to pound nails into the doorframe, probably in sheer panic, and Roman kept pausing to nurse splinters. Janus pried the folding chair from the door, tore off the posters, and kissed Roman’s hand when he asked. Finally, the door was clear enough for Janus to force it open.

An unwritten rule at the coffee shop was to keep flashlights everywhere. Behind every door, on every table, and in every pocket. Janus pulled his own out of his apron. Roman did the same.

At first, the boiler room looked normal. The huffing pipes, tossing steam into the corners, and the grimy concrete floor. Then Janus’ flashlight skidded onto the wall, and the beam illuminated a series of runes burned into the plaster. Each letter was about the size of Janus’ head, and the edges were rough, like they’d been clawed there.

“No blood,” Janus noticed. “They’re losing their touch.”

“I’m assuming that’s a message.” Roman walked forward and squinted at it. “Can you make anything out?”

Janus tried to put the squiggles into some kind of order. It looked like a few dozen letters, but he couldn’t be sure, because they blended into each other and made his head hurt. “I have no idea what that says.”

“Darn.” Roman folded his arms and flickered his flashlight on the runes like a strobe light. They did not magically coalesce into something coherent. “Logan’s not here, right?”

“He’s off-shift.” Janus thought for a second before pulling out his phone. “I’ll text him.”

“What if he’s busy?”

“The customer is always right, and always comes first,” Janus said while unlocking his phone. “Customers don’t want to die. He can spare a moment for us. And I’m his manager-by-default, so he has to do what I say.”

“Fair,” Roman said, giving Janus the you’re very cute when you’re in charge smile.

Janus would have teased him about that, if they had time. Instead, he just shot Logan a text. Can you decode something?

Half a minute passed.

This is important, Janus texted.

Ten more seconds with no response.

I will fire you, Janus texted. We’re all going to die, Janus texted. This is an emergency, Janus texted. Our deaths will be on your conscience if you keep ignoring me, Janus texted.

“Maybe he just hasn’t seen the texts,” Roman pointed out, leaning over Janus’ shoulder.

Answer me or I swear I’ll fucking find you, Janus texted.

“Dearest,” Roman said.

“What?”

Before Roman could say something endearingly naive about ‘compassion’ or whatever, Janus’ phone buzzed.

What do you need? Logan had texted back.

Janus held up his phone and took a picture of the runes. Fortunately, they showed up on camera. The picture still mysteriously corrupted mid-message, but when Janus re-sent it, Logan sent back a thumbs up.

What does it say? Janus asked.

Logan typed for several seconds. Finally, Janus received a small wall of text. He skimmed it, closed his eyes, and opened his eyes again.

“That’s not English,” Roman said hesitantly. “I’m not losing it. That’s not English, right?”

“I think it’s Catalan.” Janus sighed and thumbed out a response. That wasn’t English, try again.

Apologies, Logan responded. I’ll try again.

Janus waited impatiently, watching the small white dots as Logan texted. Roman dropped a kiss to his forehead for no apparent reason. Janus did his best not to blush.

Finally, Logan sent a small paragraph, followed by English?

Yes, good job. Thank you.

No problem. Stop texting me more than once or I will block you.

How dare you, I am your manager.

No response. Janus resolved to discreetly spill coffee on Logan’s shirt on their next shared shift.

“What’d he say?” Roman asked, impatiently jumping from foot to foot.

Janus skimmed the paragraph. “It looks like a riddle. ‘What walks on two legs--’”

“Human,” Roman interrupted. “Oh, that’s an easy one!”

Janus shook his head. “‘What walks on two legs in the air, eight legs on the ground, and more legs the longer you look?’”

For a second, they were both quiet.

“That’s not a human,” Roman finally said, a bit weakly.

“Humans don’t tend to gain limbs, you’re correct.” Janus let out a breath. “Analogy or not, human is not the answer.”

“Then what is it?” Roman turned to the wall again. The letters dripped like burns down the wall. “We--I’m assuming they want us to solve the riddle.”

“Yeah.”

“Why a riddle?”

“Sometimes you get bored,” Janus said. “I get it.”

Roman looked incredulously at him.

“The bigger question is what happens if we don’t guess it,” Janus continued, tapping his fingers on his phone. “Definitely something good.”

“And how much time do we have?”

As if by agreement, they both looked back at the door. It had slammed shut. The only light were their flashlights, illuminating the hulking boiler and the dustiest corners of spider hell. No spiders yet, but it was only a matter of time. Janus could almost hear them rustling.

“That’s not going to open,” Roman said, his voice pitched up. “Is it?”

“Only one way to make sure.” Janus strode over to the door and tugged on the handle. It was like tugging on a concrete wall. “Congratulations, you win a prize.”

“Wonderful,” Roman exclaimed. “Fabulous! We’re trapped here!”

Janus stepped back and rammed his shoulder into the door. The only thing he achieved was shoulder pain.

“I’m gonna call someone.” Roman pulled out his phone. The blue light trembled over his face. “Get us out of here.”

“We haven’t solved the riddle yet!” Janus protested, giving up on the locked door. “Solve it, and we leave, and the shop won’t be in danger.”

“I’d rather be alive, thanks!”

“Coward,” Janus murmured, scanning the room for immediate threats, and finding nothing but shadows and cobwebs. That didn’t mean nothing was there. It just meant they still had time. “We have to keep the shop from burning down, it’s the bare minimum of our jobs.”

Roman ran a hand through his hair. “And what’s it to us? I hate this job, and so do you.”

“Patton would fire me if I didn’t--”

“So get fired!” Roman burst out in frustration. “Let this place go up in smoke, I don’t care!”

“There are people in here! We need their money!” Janus waved his hands around. “Capitalism!”

That made Roman snicker, which made the tension settle, which made Janus smile back.

“You can leave if you’d like,” Janus allowed after a moment. “If you can find a way out. I can try to solve the riddle on my own.”

“What? No! We’re in this together.” Roman grinned at him. “If my boyfriend is stubborn enough to face down shadow demons like an idiot, I’m going to be an idiot with him.”

“Charming,” Janus said sarcastically, to avoid saying something extremely sappy. “You truly know how to treat a man.”

“I do!” Roman smiled wider and gestured at the runes. “A very smart man who will definitely solve this riddle!”

Janus nodded and turned back to the wall of runes.

Two legs in the air, and eight legs on the ground. It must be an analogy, like the original riddle, but what could air and ground represent? Imagination and reality? Or perhaps the legs were the metaphorical parts--

“Go Janus!” Roman cheered quietly from behind him.

“What?”

“I’m encouraging you!” Roman made jazz hands. “Solve it! You can do it, dear!”

Janus snickered and rolled his eyes.

“Go Janus,” Roman whispered.

Janus tried to focus on the riddle again.

Maybe he should research it. Logan clearly didn’t have an answer, or he probably would have included it with his text, but Logan was still a good problem-solver. Janus should have asked what language it was in. Janus should have confirmed the translation. Janus should have given Virgil a backup plan.

There was no use psyching himself out, though. This was another routine afternoon. He’d come out victorious a dozen times before, and there was no reason he wouldn’t keep up the streak.

Two legs in the air, eight legs on the ground, and more legs the longer he looked.

Janus looked harder.

And he saw legs. And hands, and claws scratching at the cement.

Oh, yay, just what he’d wanted! It must be his birthday.

“Roman,” Janus said slowly. “Do you see that too?”

“What?”

“Look very closely.”

A long pause. Then a loud “Fuck!”

“You see it?”

“Hard to miss now,” Roman said, wide-eyed. “What is that?”

Slowly, and steadily, the runes were crumbling. The burns were melting deeper into the wall. And from the holes, shadows climbed out--or maybe it was just the holes themselves, deepening and tearing, turning the world inside out.

“Fun,” Janus said, wishing he’d taken his chance to get the hell out of here while he still could. “This is very, very fun.”

“We should probably solve that riddle,” Roman said.

“Oh, really?” Janus clutched his flashlight tighter. The beam glanced off the shadows like light on oil. “I would have never guessed.”

Two legs in air, eight legs on the ground, more legs and hands and eyes glistening with oil--

The next few seconds were a blur. Something lunged, Janus’ flashlight winked out, and Roman’s clattered to the ground. A cold rope-hand-something curled around his ankle, and Roman’s hand grabbed his.

“Where’s my--” Roman’s voice was panicked. “Shit, okay, the flashlight’s by the boiler--”

“Okay,” Janus said quietly, trying to kick away the cold cloud-hand-whatever it was. “I can’t see the runes anymore.”

“They’re basically falling apart as we speak. You remember the riddle, right?”

“Two, eight, far too many.” Janus swallowed and tried to think. The cold around his ankle was growing warm, too, like frostbite so icy it burned. “Two, eight--”

His ankle was wrenched in a direction it wasn’t supposed to.

Janus heard a wet snap.

And oh, he knew that feeling. Too sudden and complete to hurt. Too much hurt to even comprehend, as if he could feel the pain coming, but not enough time to brace himself. Not nearly enough time.

Red-hot pain, jolting up his bones, from his broken fucking ankle.

He might have screamed. His knees buckled, and someone--Roman--caught him halfway to the floor. Everything was dark. Something red flashed in his vision. Janus could barely breathe without pain tearing at his lungs, but he tried, breathe in and out and wait for the world to stop spinning.

“Hey, whoa, okay, okay,” Roman was murmuring. “What happened? What--”

Janus opened his mouth to explain. All that escaped was a small whimper. If Janus was in less pain, he would have been embarrassed.

“Okay, okay, love, it’s okay.” A hand brushed Janus’ hair out of his face. “Keep breathing. Calm down. It’s okay.”

“Ankle,” Janus forced out. His limbs felt like jelly. “Fucking ankle, gonna fucking--”

“Yes, yes, you’ll get your revenge.” Roman’s voice was achingly soft, and it made Janus relax a bit. “I can lower you to the ground so you don’t have to put weight on it--”

“No,” Janus complained, rather enjoying the feeling of Roman’s arms around him. “Pretty sure we wanna be able to run--”

“You can’t run anyway.”

“Capitalism,” Janus mumbled. “Hate it.”

“Me too, love.”

Something scraped at Janus’ shoulder, something that felt uncomfortably like teeth. He stifled a yelp.

“Oh, that was something.” Roman’s harried tone told Janus he’d felt it, too. “Where is my flashlight--I can’t see anything--”

“Riddle,” Janus reminded him.

“Right,” Roman said. “Right, right, you know what? I’m gonna call someone! I’m gonna call someone.”

“Mm.”

A pause and several rustles. The pain was dulling to a manageable low roar. Janus felt something brush his hand and he swatted at it. Maybe they’d break his other ankle next. Maybe they’d work through him limb by limb, like a game of Hangman.

“Fuck off,” Janus told the darkness.

“Phone’s not--” Roman swore. “Phone’s not working. Of course.”

“Riddle.”

“Right.”

“Riddle,” Janus repeated. Two legs, eight legs, lots of legs. Maybe it didn’t have an answer and they were just messing with him. Maybe he’d answer it and die anyway. That would be a shame, dying with his boyfriend, especially because letting everyone in the building perish was definitely a health code violation.

Roman whacked at something. “Away, foul fiends!”

Janus tested his ankle. He couldn’t even bring himself to move it.

Wonderful. He couldn’t solve a three-line riddle, and he was going to die like a fool in the shadows of spider hell--

Wait.

“Two legs,” Janus said. His voice rasped. “Two legs in the air, when it’s falling on a thread--oh, I hate you.”

“What?” Roman asked.

“And eight legs on the ground, and more legs the longer you look.” Janus laughed. “That’s fair enough.”

Something brushed against his back, feeling like scales.

“Spiders,” Janus said. “That’s the answer! Are you happy now? It’s spiders, leave us alone!”

For one horrifying second, one throb of his ankle, nothing happened.

And then the flashlight at Janus’ feet turned on.

Spider hell looked the same as it always did. Empty walls, a boiler choking on steam, and Roman’s flashlight rolling in the dust. Roman grabbed Janus’, leaned over, and grabbed his own.

“What--” Roman looked around. “Did you--solve it?”

“I think--” Janus slipped a bit in Roman’s arms.

“You did it!” Roman laughed in relief. “You did it, you absolute genius--”

Janus looked up at his boyfriend. Even through the haze of pain, he looked exceedingly adorable. Janus leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the lips. “Don’t flatter me.”

“But darling, it’s so easy!” Roman adjusted Janus in his arms. “Does your ankle hurt?”

“Take a guess.”

“We’ll have to find you a doctor,” Roman said, pulling him forward. “Out of the basement first, though, before another villainous creature decides to use as afternoon entertainment.”

“Or the spiders find us,” Janus agreed. He tried to shift his weight onto his good foot, but he could barely move without his head spinning. “Ow.”

“Just stay put! I’ll carry you!”

“No.”

“I’ll assist you,” Roman amended. “Lean on me, and I’ll walk you upstairs, okay?”

Janus shifted in Roman’s arms. “Am I hurting you? I’m heavy.”

“You’re not hurting me, you’re not heavy.” Roman pressed a kiss to Janus’ head and led him to the door. He kicked it, and it opened. “I’ve got you, love. I’m escorting the brave savior of the coffee shop!”

“I’m manager by default,” Janus said, wrapping an arm around Roman’s waist. Just to hold himself up, of course. No other reason. “It’s my job.”

“You do a great job of it!”

“Someone has to.” Janus clung to Roman’s side as he led them up the stairs. The poster told him to Hang. Janus filled in the other two words, and hung in there.

“I think it’s broken,” Janus said as Roman half-carried him up the stairs. “This is humiliating. Also, expensive.”

“We’ll figure it out, people get hurt, it happens.” Roman paused on one landing. “I’m just happy it wasn’t anything worse.”

“Still the worst injury so far,” Janus said ruefully. “Give me employee of the month.”

Roman smiled and pulled him up the final stairs. “I’ll ask Patton.”

When they burst dramatically through the doors into the cafe, Virgil breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re not dead!”

“Not for lack of trying, no.” Janus eased himself onto a chair and took a deep breath. The cafe was bursting with people and lights, all the customers completely unaware that they’d just escaped their demise. Janus envied them. “The situation is taken care of, you can relax.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said. “Uh--you okay?”

“He’s taking the rest of the day off,” Roman said before Janus could explain. “Broken ankle. I’m going to rest with him at home, then he’ll take a trip to the clinic.”

“I’ll what?” Janus repeated. “I have a shift--”

“You’re the manager,” Roman pointed out. “Give yourself a free day.”

“The cafe’s busy! I’d leave us short-staffed!”

“You can’t walk.”

“Capitalism!”

“Self-care!” Roman folded his arms. “Virgil, can you cover for Janus as he goes home?”

“Uh--” Virgil looked between them. Janus expected him to say no. “‘Course! I bet I can grab Logan for an emergency shift, too.”

“No, you can’t,” Janus said mockingly as Virgil pulled out his phone. “He’s a bastard and won’t--”

Virgil’s phone buzzed. “He’ll be here in five.”

“Wh--” Janus blinked. “How did you--”

“He just doesn’t like you.” Virgil smirked at him. “Go rest, Jan, we’ll cover your ass.”

“You heard him!” Roman held out a hand. “Come on, love, let’s have a break. The coffee shop won’t burn down while you’re gone, and if it does, Patton can handle it.”

Janus wasn’t sure about that one. Maybe he would return to a burned shell of a building. Or several dead bodies.

But Virgil and Logan knew what to do. And an afternoon with his boyfriend didn’t sound too bad.

“Fine,” Janus said. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Give me a prompt, and I’ll write a short drabble!

#roceit #roman sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #averywrites #asks and answers #anon #yes i had way too much fun with this au why do u ask #yes this is too long why do u ask #yes i need sleep why do u ask #crap forgot warnings #tw injury #tw death mention #tw spiders #coffee shop au #supernatural au

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tmp-jatp · 3 years

Text

we keep him alive

a response to this post by @thedeathdeelers

read on AO3

“You’ll have the sorts of abilities very few other ghosts get to have, very few indeed. The kind of abilities only I have the power to grant you. You’ll get to go and complete that unfinished business you left on this earth when you died. Tie up all the loose ends, and all that. And when you finish and your time is up, you’ll come back to me. Do we have a deal?”

“Wh-what’s the catch?” Reggie’s eyes practically glow in the dim light. They’re wide. His face never looks so young as it does whenever he’s scared.

“A clever one, you. In payment for me allowing you to complete that which you never got a chance to do in your time allotted, in payment for borrowed time, you shall serve my needs for a proportional amount of time. I’ll give you enough time to complete all it is you still need to do, don’t worry about that. You’ll just return to me at the end of it.”

“Service like what?” Alex prompts.

“Oh, nevermind that, that’s for later. What you need to consider now is whether this is worth it to you. Do you want to live your dreams? Find love? Find a true, complete family, a home? More than that measly ragtag band of brothers you three formed. Something real and more? Something alive? Is it worth it for you to have all you ever wanted and more, in return for a few short years of afterlife with me? Come on, boys, it’s an offer you can’t refuse.”

Luke, Reggie, and Alex exchange nervous glances. An entire conversation elapses in a moment through their eyes.

Then Luke takes the lead. He reaches his hand out to shake. He grasps it and they shake, solidifying their deal. After Luke, so do Alex and Reggie.

Their wrists sting, and they look down to see a stain across the skin on the inside of each of their wrists: Three equal lines, arranged in a formation where they reach out from the middle to the points of an equilateral triangle. The dark marks are clearly visible even in the lacking light, etched black against their pale and suddenly clammy skin.

“One more thing, boys. When the time comes, if you are touching anyone but each other, they will be brought back as well, to help pay your debt to me. It’s a way I can get my time returned to me at a quicker rate. Because you know, time is valuable.” He laughs. “You probably know that better now than you ever did while you were alive.

“And how will we know when the time comes?” Luke asks.

“You will know.”

“You know, you don’t seem so wise, for the Wise Man. You’re just a broker for the desperate.”

“Do you want to repeat that, Alexander?”

Alex gulps. His jaw stays clenched. All three of them, probably all four of them know that even though he may just be a ‘broker for the desperate’, they were nothing if not desperate.

“You’ve already made your deal with me. Now it’s time for me to fill my part of it, before you fill yours.”

~~~

The time is coming. Luke can feel it. His mark, his stamp, tattoo, brand, whatever, has been pulsing for months, throbbing for weeks, aching for days, searing for hours. At regular intervals, the pain comes over him for an instant. He’s dealt with it the entire time he’s been here, like a second slower heartbeat in his wrist. A constant reminder that every minute they spent here was borrowed. He grimaces and grips his wrist tightly with his opposite hand. Elsewhere, Reggie and Alex surely hiss through their teeth in tandem with Luke.

Julie is there. Julie is always there. As soon as Luke’s muscles aren’t tensed anymore, he digs his nose even deeper into the skin of her neck and they hold each other tight. Neither wants to ever let go, even though they both know a goodbye is inevitable – and fast approaching.

They’re in the studio, because where else would they ever be? It’s a far cry from how it looked six years ago when they first arrived. The walls are plastered with posters advertising Julie and the Phantoms playing at various venues all across America. The plants have been changed out multiple times in the years Luke has “lived” here. Yet some things also always stayed the same: the pink dahlia curtains on the windows and the knitted throw blanket on the couch. This is home.

The others are spending their final moments with those they found during their second chance. They’ll have forever with each other, but only now with these. Willie. Ray. Carlos. Luke doesn’t blame them for spending every last second with those they’ve come to love most. Isn’t that exactly what he’s doing too?

Except-

The others don’t know yet, what Luke did.

“Please, let me take it from them. You said debts can transfer onto others, so they can transfer onto me. I’ll serve triple the time. I’ll do it.”

Luke winces again but he tries to hide it. Julie notices. Julie always notices. She squeezes her arms around his torso once and starts rubbing her hands up and down his back. She would whisper sweet nothings in his ear if only they could trick themselves into believing nothing was something.

He hears her sniffle. Luke leans back, loosening his arms around her waist. Her hair is a mess but his is even worse. Her eyes are shining but she’s doing her best to keep herself together for Luke. As if, if only she were strong enough, she could bear the weight of both their pain. He swipes away a stray tear on her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

They’re grieving prematurely, because they know there’ll be no opportunity after.

Luke’s mark pulses twice, quickly.

A warning.

Time’s almost up.

Luke pulls away from Julie, and she tries to cling to him.

“Please, Luke-”

“It’s time, Julie. I can’t- You know what’ll happen, if- if we stay like this. I can’t.”

She clings harder. “It’s worth it. To me. It’s worth it.” She’s pleading with him, and his heart shatters. She should never have to plead with anyone. She’s Julie Molina. This shouldn’t be happening to her.

“Not to me, it isn’t. I couldn’t live with myself if you came too.”

Three pulses.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.” Her voice breaks and her lips are curling outwards.

He takes a deep breath in and can feel his own eyes threatening to overflow. At once they pull back together in the center of the room. She digs her face into his chest and he envelopes her in his arms. They hold each other tighter than ever before, and Luke can’t bear the thought of trying to let go again.

Four pulses.

Luke buries his face in the hair on the top of her head and presses his lips to her scalp. She turns her head so her cheek is pressed against him and he squeezes his eyes shut.

“Julie, I need you to listen to me,” Luke murmurs against her head. His voice is muffled, but amid only the sounds of their two hearts beating, it’s impossible to miss. “It’s going to be okay after I leave. You’re going to be okay.”

She shakes her head – whether that’s a denial that he’ll leave or a denial that she’ll be okay, he can’t tell.

Three pulses. It’s a countdown now.

“Yes, you will,” he insists. “I’ll still be here, in you. Just like your mom, Julie. She’s alive in you.”

“That’s different, Luke.”

“It’s no different at all.”

He reaches around behind his back for her hands and finds them, clutching to the fabric of his shirt. Gently he eases her fingers free and grips her hands in his. He brings them back around to be held between them, forcing space to open up between the two.

Two pulses.

“Luke, please,” she pleads again. “Please, no.”

Luke rubs his thumbs over the back of Julie’s knuckles. They’re white with how hard she’s trying to hold to him. She’s always been his anchor, but today she can’t be anymore. He won’t let it happen.

She brings him in one final time and this time they meet at their lips, in a kiss that doesn’t say nearly everything that is left to be said. Luke knows she’s trying to keep him there long enough that the deadline will pass with them together as one. He keeps one hand intertwined with hers down at their waists, but he draws her other hand up so she can caress his face one more time, the way she always liked to do. His own hand rests on top of hers there.

One pulse.

Now or never.

Luke breaks off the kiss and once again Julie has tears escaping her eyes. “Luke, no,” she makes one last bid to stop him or change his mind. “Let me come, too.”

Luke uses their joined hands to push her away as he feels heat begin to build in his wrist. She stumbles and falls backwards onto the sofa, and he takes three large steps backwards.

He meets her eyes just after she swipes at them with her sleeve. “Keep me alive, yeah?”

“Luke!” Julie calls his name in an anguished cry that haunts him from the moment he hears it. It’s worth it to keep her safe.

The heat rises and rises in his wrist, from a searing red to a white-hot all-consuming pain coursing through his every vein. A scream rips from his throat. He keeps moving away even as his vision begins tunneling, anything to keep her from reaching him before he goes.

The fire burns him up from the inside out, feeling like a constant electrocution of the highest current going through every single pore. His vision tunnels more and more, until everything is black.

And then the pain is gone, and it takes a moment for his cry to melt away, too. He opens his eyes – he didn’t know they’d been squeezed shut tight – and sees that dim dark room he hasn’t seen for six years.

“Welcome back.”

The doors to the studio slam open and Julie startles from her stupor trance. Her eyes widen when they land on Reggie and Alex.

“How are you still here?”

“Where is he?” Alex demands.

Julie shakes her head. She wants the anguish back. She wants the grief back. This numbness is too much. “He- he’s gone. He left. I- I thought you two did too.”

Alex storms through the small space, checking behind large furniture and pounding the bathroom door open as if to make sure Julie wasn’t lying.

“We thought we’d be gone, too,” Reggie explains. “We don’t know what happened.”

Alex returns. “He’s not here,” he growls. “We were supposed to go back, it was supposed to be all three of us. Damn bastard took our place!” Alex slams his fist against the wall.

Julie gapes. “He could do that?”

Alex throws his hands up and paces back along the floor. With Alex’s back to them, Reggie answers.

“Maybe? We think so? I don’t know, it wasn’t really clear.”

“So is he just...gone?” Julie doesn’t like how small her voice sounds. Reggie’s face and Alex’s body say everything. Yes.

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Alex poses to the room.

Julie takes a shaky breath. “We keep him alive.”

taglist: @futurearchaeologyprof @beethovensbitxh @ace-bookworm @queenmolina @molinashimbos @star-astro @sunset-sweeerve @bluefirewrites @reggieshamster @blush-and-books @smolfangirl @thedeathdeelers @williexmercer @thesunsetcurvephantom @russsianspy @fanfics-she-wrote @pink-flame @angelofarts @chickwiththepurpleguitar @hey-there-juliet @tonightthestarsalign

#tmp writes #what a fun exercise to get back into writing #angst #idk what kind of au this is it's just some idea #melody and words #juke

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noonmutter · 3 years

Text

Introductions

Daily Writing Challenge 2021 Day 12: Ball/Gravestone

"It's gonna be a quiet meetin'. They're not...th' most talkative people, these days."

"No, I know, love, of course. I absolutely still want to do this. You're so brave for this and I'm so proud of you."

Leon couldn't hold in a chuckle at that. Valarin's open, whole-hearted support of him for what was, admittedly, a trip that Leon had made dozens of times by now was all but impossible to ignore. The reassurance wasn’t necessary, but he wasn’t about to ruin Val’s fun. He simply set a hand on his wee love's shoulder to momentarily silence him, and bent to kiss his forehead.

"Thank you, love. It's okay. I'm not gonna collapse, it's just...a li'l tense, sometimes. Bringin' somebody new..." He let himself trail off as he inspected the kit they'd brought with them. Valarin had brought the supplies for their lunch, and he'd brought a bag of gardening tools, along with a couple bouquets of marigolds at Val's insistence. Asking about the marigolds had opened up the floodgates, not that he minded; listening to Valarin get himself going about something he was passionate about was one of Leon’s favorite things.

"The marigolds are traditionally very important! You see, the land of the living can be confusing and difficult to navigate for spirits. We try to help them by providing strong sensory things to guide them. The marigolds have a strong smell, but I think their color is quite strong too! And the candles are a little lighthouse..."

The flowers had been a bit of a trick to avoid crushing once they'd left the road that would've led them across the border into Stranglethorn, but they'd managed. He still wasn't sure if mum and dad would actually like the marigolds, but he understood the importance of it being this specific kind of flower, now. It was both like and unlike the little ceremonies the Gilnean was familiar with.

"This is such a lovely area, too. I’m honestly so excited to see where your parents rest. I’ve not really seen many human gravesites. I’m interested to see how similar they are. I’d like to learn about Gilnean customs regarding it. I know that the Day of the Dead is more widespread now, so I’m sure your parents will enjoy the offerings all the same. And--Hey, are you doing okay? You’ve been a little quiet."

Leon paused, then gave a short shake of his head. "Just tryna make sure we don't get lost, hey?" It was a lame excuse for letting his mind wander, but Val let it pass, since they were tromping through an awful lot of dense foliage. Valarin was aware there was a moonwell not all that far from where they wandered, and though there was a ceasefire, it was still Alliance territory and he was still visibly not a night elf. The tension wasn't really there like it'd been during their trip to Aerie Peak, though; they were alone and nowhere near a proper settlement.

He almost asked another question before Leon stopped, pointed at a small cluster of bright purple blooms hugging the forest floor, and said, "We're 'ere." It was hard not to get excited all over again, but he wanted to be respectful of Leon's feelings, so he kept himself from squeaking and simply gave Leon his best 'I'm here for you' smile. Leon answered it with another kiss on his forehead. Val liked those kisses, even if they were usually Leon filling in a silence when he couldn't figure out what to say.

He watched Leon pull a ton of vines and push a ton of branches aside like a very sturdy set of curtains, and after a moment, rushed to assist. Together, they opened up a relatively worn footpath to a small clearing. Val couldn't help but gasp softly at the sight; it seemed like every square inch of the ground was covered in lilacs! Little purple flowers were everywhere, and the scent was almost overwhelming. Butterflies fluttered from blossom to blossom in every direction, and small clouds of them seemed to erupt every time he or Leon took a step. He found himself tiptoeing to try and avoid crushing anything almost immediately.

"Oh, Light, it's absolutely beautiful, Leon. You did this?" The thought was enough to bring tears to his eyes, but he tried not to let it, at least not yet. He knew he'd do plenty of crying before the day was out and he'd really rather not start again so soon. It was a little embarrassing, even if Leon said it wasn't. Just focus on not snagging your pants on anything, Valarin…

"Well, I mean, th' flowers did it on their own, mostly... flowers do tha'..." Leon looked sheepish as he deflected praise, "All I did was plant a couple an' leave 'em be. Lilacs 're 'ardy, easy thin's. Part o' why mum liked 'em so much." The Gilnean made his way carefully but quickly through the dense growth, well used to the path he took and not worrying overmuch about whether he was stomping flowers or butterflies; the flowers were going to be cut back anyway, and the butterflies were quicker than he was. Reaching the apparent edge of the clearing, Leon bent to set his hand on a particularly tall lilac bush, then abruptly tore away a few branches to reveal the carved wooden grave marker underneath it.

It was not a professional job, this marker, but it had definitely been a work of diligence and a high degree of effort. It was sanded down to a nearly glasslike smoothness, and it would probably shine like it once it was cleaned up. The uneven top edge of it suggested it had originally been a chunk of driftwood, but it’d been stained so dark that it was hard to be sure. Valarin was privately glad he’d gotten better at reading Common lettering; hand-carved stuff like this was a little tricky. “Bettany Marie Ambroce” caught a bit of light and practically glowed.

“Right. ‘Ere we are, then.”

“Oh, Leon,” Valarin said, “This is so lovely. This is your mother?” He knelt down beside the wood and brushed his fingertips over the lettering. “Hello, Missus Ambroce. I’m happy to meet you.”

“Yeah.” Leon didn’t really know how else to answer, but felt like that was woefully insufficient. “This’s mum.” Okay that was almost less helpful. He brushed his fingers along the lettering in much the same way Valarin had, mulling over a few things before he settled on a simple, “...You r’member Val’rin, right? I’ve talked about ‘im b’fore…” He risked a glance at his little love, offering a weak smile. “Only th’ good stuff, though. Promise.”

“It better have been!” Val flashed a playful grin and tossed his hair. “I am a perfect angel, after all.”

Chuckling, Leon set down the bag of tools and took out a pair of hedge trimmers, offering them to Valarin. “I’ll take care o’ th’ bigger messes, you clear out th’ stuff all over th’ ground, okay?”

“Wait, are we doing this entire clearing?”

“Course. Otherwise th’ lilacs’ll grow way too far an’ get completely outta control. It’s already bad enough cuz I waited longer’n I should’ve, I norm’ly come by ev’ry month or so.”

Valarin looked out across the small expanse of purple with a tiny bit less wonderment than he had the first time. This was a bit more work than he’d realized, but, he had to admit to himself, Leon had warned him. And he was bound and determined to help, regardless, so! Nothing for it but to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Leon had to restrain himself from grinning at the look of almost militant determination that Val got before he started clipping away.

“Cheer up, at least y’ don’t ‘ave t’ make it look pretty, too, hey?” He waggled his own pair of much smaller clippers, and gestured toward the high-piled bushes covering the pair of markers. “I’ll prune these down an’ then we’ll both tackle th’ rest of ‘em. It only takes about an hour if there’s two of us.”

“Isn’t this a bit much?”

“‘Ow d’you mean?”

“Well I’m going to end up killing most of these by cutting them back all…all willy-nilly, aren’t I?”

“Sure, but tha’s kinna th’ point. They can’t all keep growin’ or they’ll overtake more’n th’ forest kin afford, see? S’why I come back an’ clean it up at all. Can’t just plant whatever, wherever, or it throws th’ ‘ole balance outta whack. I’d be a worse druid than I already am if I just planted a bush an’ left it.”

“You are not a bad druid!”

Laughing, Leon pruned away, and Valarin attacked the rest of the lilacs with gusto.

Once they were roughly halfway through the clearing as a whole, Leon mercifully called for a break. Valarin was not at all accustomed to Leon in work mode, at least not like this; he knew the man could get lost in his leatherwork for hours, but that wasn’t quite so physically demanding as this. It was impressive, if a bit exhausting to keep up with.

They both sat down with a satisfied sigh, and Leon stretched his legs in the much more visible grass by the cleaned-up gravestones. Once properly polished, the lettering on both gleamed like it had been painted with gold:

Bettany Marie Ambroce Beloved wife and mother I’ll take it from here

Graeme Iain Ambroce Beloved husband and father I’ve got this

“Dad would’ve liked you, y’know.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Anybody ‘o kin keep up with an Ambroce’s bullshit is worth keepin’ an eye on, somethin’ like that.” Leon chuckled with a subdued smile, thinking back on various times when he’d heard that. Naturally, Graeme had been talking about his own wife, but still. It had merit. “‘Especially th’ wee ones.’ Mum was about yer ‘eight, I think.”

Valarin’s ears went back just a little. “I’m not that wee.” After a moment, though, he let himself chuckle, too. “Although I suppose it’s still a compliment. You said he was a mountain, anyway.”

That made Leon laugh, and he threw his arms out wide. “Oh yeah, an absolute fuckin’ behemoth, was dad. ‘E wrestled with steer at th’ yearly fairs, sometimes, an’...”

As much as Leon enjoyed listening to Valarin give impromptu dissertations, Valarin loved listening to Leon tell stories of his family and his home. Knowing that he’d never get to see either of them the way his boyfriend did, he clung to every word to try his best to imagine it, and let the farmboy ramble as long as he was willing to. He only dared to interrupt long enough to break out their picnic, which thankfully didn’t stop the flood at all.

Once they’d eaten and Leon had run out of tales to tell--some of which Valarin was sure had to be at least exaggerated, if not totally made up, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out which ones--they’d gotten back to work. It was almost agony to start over again, since they’d had enough time for their hands to start hurting. That only seemed to spur them to get done quicker so that they were able to put the tools away after what felt like no time at all.

While Leon was raking the detritus into a corner of the clearing, Valarin set to work by the markers.

First, Valarin set up a small collapsible bed tray in front of the markers themselves, and covered it with a white cloth. He set out a few candles and arranged the marigolds all around what would become their ofrenda. Upon the tray he left portions of the favored foods they had brought; raspberry tarts, beef pasties, fried taters, all sorts of things. Though they had no pictures of the deceased--Leon couldn’t bring himself to risk losing the only image he had of his entire family--it was the thought that counted for this.

Obviously, Leon wanted to help, but he also didn’t want to do things wrong (despite Valarin’s many and constant reminders that there was no wrong way to arrange an ofrenda), so he hung back until it was almost finished. At Valarin’s urging, Leon took up a long match, and they each lit a candle at the same time, one for each parent. Finally, a small bundle of marigold petals was pressed into Leon’s hands, and he awkwardly scattered them in a rough line from the ofrenda to the graves themselves. Valarin had already made one out of the clearing itself, and with Leon’s contribution, there was a complete path.

When he returned to Val’s side, Val immediately curled both arms around his waist and tugged him down till they were both seated in the grass before the ofrenda. There, Val could finally get the cuddles he so cherished. Leon smiled softly and dragged the insistent thing into his lap, the better to hug him close and rest his chin on top of Val’s head.

“So… what ‘appens now?”

“Now, you tell me more stories about them, and cuddle me, and I’ll tell you stories about mine, and cuddle you.”

“All night?”

“All night.”

“I think I kin do tha’.”

Though they couldn’t leave everything behind, the next morning, a pair of marigold-and-lilac wreaths hung from the wooden gravestones.

( @daily-writing-challenge @valarin-sunstorm )

#my writing #leon #valarin #valeon #mum and dad #collab #writing valarin in full Explain Mode is HARD so the mun helped :D #dwc

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luke-patterson-owns-my-soul · 3 years

Text

Scratch My Back...

Luke Patterson x Reader

Title: Scratch my Back…

Words: 1241

Summary: Y/N and Luke’s secret relationship gets found out.

Requested: Anon Request for Reggie or Alex finding out about Luke and their sister after they’re intimate and leave marks TW: Mentions of sex, mild swearing Author’s notes: I hope this is what you wanted, dear Anon. I hope I did your request justice. Characters have been aged up.

Kissing you on the lips, Luke crawled out of your bed and walked across your room picking up his discarded clothes. You can’t help but watch him as he moves, the muscles shifting under his tan skin as he pulls his jeans on.

“Do you have to go?” you ask, not wanting him to leave you alone. He never stayed over, not wanting to get caught by your family. You knew it wasn’t anything personal, but it still hurt every time he got dressed and climbed out of your bedroom window with a kiss and a smile.

“I’m sorry, babe, but you know I can’t stay.” He leaned over the bed and kissed you deeply. “Have you seen my shirt?” As he turned to look around your room you can’t help but burst out laughing.

“It’s hanging off my lamp.” You tell him, not mentioning the four scratches on his back. He’ll find out about them soon enough.

Once Luke’s dressed, he crawls onto your bed and kisses you again. This one could easily turn into more, and he groans when he pulls away.

“I love you.” He whispers as he locks his eyes on yours before escaping out of your bedroom window. Minutes after he leaves, Reggie sticks his head around your door.

“Why aren’t you ready? The show starts in an hour.” Your brother hated being late for anything. The venue for tonight’s gig was less than twenty minutes away by car, he needn’t have worried.

“Give me 5 and I’ll meet you down in the car.” You threw your car keys over to Reggie, waiting until he left the room before climbing out of bed to grab a quick shower.

It was almost fifteen minutes by the time you were dressed and had your make-up done. You rushed down to your car, where Reggie’s tapping his fingers against the dash.

“We are gonna be so late, Y/N. And I’ll be blaming you.” He snapped as you climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Reg, when have I ever let you down?” Starting the engine, you pull away from your house, a delicious ache still invading your body.

_____________________________♥♥♥________________________________

As expected, you and Reggie arrived with plenty of time to spare. Alex had already set up his drumkit and was chatting with his boyfriend, Willie and Bobby while Luke was on stage checking over his amp. He caught your eye and flashed you a wink without anyone seeing before carrying on. You busied yourself with setting up the merch table near the bar.

As you were the only one old enough to drink, you bought the guys some soda and yourself a beer. Once it was time for them to head backstage to get ready, you settled yourself in for a night of crowd watching. It never bothered you seeing girls fawn over Luke. He was twenty, gorgeous, and crazy talented, but you were the one he wanted screaming his name. It was just a shame you had to sneak around to do it.

Although you were a year older then Reggie, he’d banned his friends from ever dating you back in high school. It had pissed you off, especially when you realized you had feelings for Luke. So, for the past year, the two of you had been meeting up in secret. The excitement had been such a turn on at first, but now it was draining for the both of you. More than anything, you wanted to be able to go out in public with the man you loved without offending your brother.

Feeling irritated, you decided to head backstage to see if you could grab five minutes with Luke, maybe they could sneak off somewhere so she could give him a few good luck kisses before he went on stage.

“What the fuck are those on your back?” you could hear Reggie laughing from the dressing room they’d been given by the venue. You stopped outside the door so you could eavesdrop.

“What?” Luke’s voice was laced with confusion, making you giggle silently.

“You have some wicked scratches on your back. Wait… have you got a little side thing that you’ve been keeping a secret from us?” Bobby joined in the conversation. Trust him to make it sound so crass, but you couldn’t blame him really.

To prevent Luke having to lie outright, you knocked on the door before slipping inside.

“Ten minutes, guys.” You grinned at the four of them, trying not to make eye contact with Luke who was smirking at you. You knew he was going to get his own back at some point, but would rather it didn’t happen in front of your brother and his friends.

“Thanks, Y/N. Alex smiled at you as you tied your hair up into a messy topknot. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Luke’s eyes widen.

“Wait, sis. What’s that?” Reggie walked over to you, his eyes glued to the side of your neck. Without thinking, you lift your hand and wince when you touch your neck. Automatically, your eyes lift to look at Luke who has the balls to grin at you.

“Is that a hickey?” Alex asks, leaning in for a closer look. “Girl, you’ve been marked.” He laughs. As he moves away from you, he notices what’s passing silently between you and Luke and you hear him utter ‘oh shit’ under his breath before he and Bobby excuse themselves to head out of the room.

“Uh…” is all you manage to say while Reggie squints at you.

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.” He comments, blissfully ignorant. “Bit of a coincidence that both…” He trails off, suddenly looking at you and Luke.

“Reg…” You start to speak, but he holds a hand up to cut you off.

“Not you. Him.”

You watch as Luke covers his body with another shirt and take a deep breath before turning to one of his best friends.

“Reggie… it just happened.”

“What, you tripped, and your dick landed in my sister? Try again asshole.”

“Reg, it wasn’t like that, and although you’re pissed, I know you know that.” Luke stands next to you and takes hold of your hand, raising it to kiss the back of your knuckles. “But all I can say is that I love her, with all my being. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, which is why we kept it quiet at first. Then it just got harder to come clean the longer it went on.”

“Hang on, how long have you two been a thing?” His voice was less angry and hurt, but you could still see something in his eyes. Letting go of Luke’s hand you pulled your brother into a hug.

“Reg, I adore you. You’re the best little brother I could ever have asked for, but you can’t control my life. Me and Luke are a thing, a serious thing, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to get used to it.”

“How long, Y/N?”

“A year or so.” You waited for him to explode.

“Well, that explains so much.” With a grin, he turns to Luke. “Break her heart, I’ll smash up your favorite guitar.”

With a wink in your direction, Reggie left the room.

“Well, that went better than expected.” Luke gathered you in his arms and kissed you deeply.

For once, you didn’t have to hide, and it felt amazing.

Tagging:

@dream-a-little-bigger-x @calamitykaty @crybabyddl @morganayennefertyrell @lovesanimals @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve @echocharm17618 @kinda-really-lost @n0wornever

#jatp #jatp fic #luke patterson fic #Luke Patterson Imagine #Luke Patterson x Reader #Mich writes fic

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littlemissaddict · 3 years

Text

Kiss Me Quick - Bobby x Reader

A/n: Just a quick note before you read, anything in italics is a flashback and anything in bold is song lyrics.

----

She was quiet as she made her way down the side of the house to the garage that the boys had rather successfully turned into a makeshift studio and she was greeted by the sound of her boyfriend’s voice drifting out of the open door. She didn’t recognise the song so she guessed that it must be a new one that he was working on and when she peaked around the door she saw him, guitar in his lap and songbook open on the coffee table in front of him. She also noticed that he was alone which was better for her as their relationship was a secret on account of her brother being friends with the band and he’d made it very clear from the moment that she had met the band that she was off limits.

Not that she let that stop her. After she had gotten to know the boys more she found herself falling for Bobby. Sure he was known to be a bit of a flirt but his passion for music, his protectiveness for those he cared about and his calming nature are what drew her to him. The fact that he was very good looking as well made it even harder for her not to fall for him. At first he was reluctant to act on any of the advances that she made towards him so as not to cause trouble between his friends but eventually he couldn’t ignore the tension between the two of them.

It had happened after one of their gigs, she had snuck backstage after the show as she usually did to give them her praises on another good performance and they were making their way out of their allocated room.

“Y/n” Reggie exclaimed happily as soon as he saw her heading down the hallway towards them.

“How’d we do?” Luke asked, knowing the answer which was always the same but he asked nonetheless.

“Great as always” she beamed, meeting Luke halfway with a high five and ruffling Reggie’s hair causing him to let out a huff as he pushed her hands away before he fussed with his hair styling it back how it’d been before.

After that they’d acknowledged that she was on her own as usually both her and her brother would make their way backstage to hype the boys up, “Oh yeah, he was getting a round of drinks in and I think Willie was helping him” she replied, sending a wink to Alex, who at the mention of Willie’s name failed to hide the growing smile on his face as he and the boys hurried off to meet up with them.

She was about to follow when she felt a hand on her arm tugging her into the room that they had just left and when the door had closed behind them she fixed her gaze on Bobby, looking at him curiously as he ran a careful hand through his hair, glancing back at the door behind him as if to make sure no one was eavesdropping. When he was satisfied that there was no one there he turned back around.

“I know I made a promise to your brother but I tried and failed, I can’t keep pretending I don’t feel something for you especially when I know that you feel the same” he confesses, taking a step towards her and reaching a hand towards her to cup her cheek, his thumb stoking gently over the soft skin as he tilts her head so that she’s looking up at him.

Y/n can hardly believe the words she’d heard, surely this must be a dream because there is no way she’d ever thought she would hear those words come out of his mouth, until he’s pulling her closer and pressing his lips softly against hers. The kiss is chaste and over before she really has a chance to process what happened but she can feel her body responding, melting against his.

“It will have to be secret but I’m willing to try if you are” she responds, finding her voice again and when he nods in answer she hopes that he’ll pull her in for another kiss but instead he clears his throat, telling her that they should go find the others before they come looking. She agrees, knowing that he’s right.

The sound of a car door closing somewhere on the street behind her is enough for her to realise she’s been peeking into the door to the garage for the past five minutes and that if she’d been caught it would have looked very suspicious. She shakes off the embarrassment of what could have been and makes her way into the studio where Bobby is still unaware of her presence so she takes a moment to listen to the lyrics of the song he’s working on, this time without getting distracted.

Nobody's looking right now, Ain't no time for messing around, But it won't take a minute, Baby come kiss me quick

She smiles, remembering all the times Bobby’s asked her for a quick kiss before a show when the boys weren’t around and it gives her an idea. She looks around quickly to make sure that their alone, although she’s certain they are but she’s nothing if not careful, and leans forward to press a kiss to Bobby’s cheek making his movements falter as he jerks his head to look at her, his panicked look softening when he realises it’s just her.

“I like it, is it new?”

“Yeah, not that the band will probably ever play it” he tells her leaving her confused, “it’s not rock enough for Luke and we can’t have your brother asking who it’s about” he clarifies.

“I guess you have a point” she nods solemnly before perking up, “could I hear it?”

“It’s not finished yet but maybe you could help me” he suggests, moving the guitar off his lap and pulling her down in its place. He chuckles when she complains that she doesn’t know anything about song writing, “I know baby but you can help with the inspiration for it” he mumbles pressing a few light kisses to her jaw feeling the vibrations of the hum that follows.

While he’s distracted, peppering kisses on any bit of skin that he can reach without them moving, she takes a hold of his song book, her eyes scanning the page at the mostly fragmented lyrics littering the pages. On one side was the part he was singing when she’d come in, it was written out neatly which didn’t match the rest of the words so she guessed that part he had settled on and was happy with. The other side of the page was harder to read with scribbled words that he’d jotted down quickly to avoid forgetting and her eyes lingered on the words written at the very bottom of the page.

Put your lips right here, Then your body will follow

The words themselves were enough to bring heat rising to her cheeks as she remembered how he’d said the exact words to her after they shared their first proper kiss. He’d pulled away from her but it was if she was chasing him as her body followed his trying to get the kiss back, she’d been embarrassed but he’d indulged her with more kisses which lead to them making out only to be nearly caught by the boys. Clearly he’d been writing this song for a while.

“Bobby” she gasped when she felt his lips suck as a particularly sensitive spot on her neck and she knew she’d have a mark to cover but it didn’t stop her from shifting in his lap until she was straddling his legs. The song completely forgotten as she pressed her lips to his and he hummed, finally getting to kiss her properly as he reached for her waist holding him against her as if she was going to go anywhere when he was kissing back like that.

She didn’t know how long they had been kissing for only that it must have been a while as someone clearing their throat in the doorway caused them to pull apart quickly and stare wide eyed in the direction of the noise, knowing their secret was out.

“Alex-I”

“This is not what it looks like”

They were quick to defend their actions but Alex just shook his head at them “Really because it looks like you were making out on the couch” he muses as they hang their heads not sure how to dispute it because that’s exactly what they were doing. “I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything but you better sort yourselves out because I doubt Luke or Reggie will be able to keep their mouths shut about this if they see you” he points out making his way over to his drum kit.

“I should probably go” she sighs, getting up from Bobby’s lap and leaving him with one last kiss before walking over to Alex, “thank you” she says giving him a quick hug but he waves her off.

“Yeah, yeah but if your brother finds out I won’t deny it” he warns as she leaves, just narrowly missing bumping into a confused Luke and Reggie who only caught Alex’s last words. She doesn’t stop to explain, just leaves them with a wave as she makes her way home, cursing herself for not being more careful.

---

Taglist: @90ssunsetcurve @lovesanimals @lilostif16

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #bobby wilson #jatp bobby #bobby x reader #bobby wilson x reader #luke patterson #jatp luke #Reggie Peters #jatp reggie #Alex Mercer #jatp alex #jatp willie #sunset curve

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ericsonclan · 3 years

Text

Pirate Island

Summary: The Ericson pirates travel uncharted seas, unsure when they will find land, when suddenly Willy spots an island.

Word Count: 7292

Read on A03:

Louis tilted his head back and let the warm sun pierce his skin as he took a deep breath. The smell of the sea, there was really nothing like it. It symbolized the endless potential of adventure. Today, Louis was sure, would be an adventure. It always was with the Ericson pirates whether that be through the many shenanigans on Ol’ Kickass or when they arrived at a port town.

Louis glanced out towards the sea; he hoped they’d find some sort of port town soon - their produce wouldn’t last much longer. Not only would that lose them precious ducats that they could spend on important things like sea shanties but it would also make the lower deck reek. The smell would linger for days and soon they would forget about all the dirt and grime they had on themselves and be overwhelmed by how it smelled like fruity death down there.

With a deep sigh Louis walked back towards the ship’s wheel where Marlon stood. His best friend’s eyes were focused ahead, his stance solid and his shoulders set. He was sure to ensure it was smooth sailing as long as he was in charge. He was so focused in fact that it wasn’t until Louis strolled up the stairs along with Rosie that Marlon even glanced over. Once he did, a warm smile appeared on his lips. “Hey there, Lou,” Marlon’s smile faltered when he saw the look deep within Louis’ eyes that he was trying to hide beneath a smile. “What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Nothing, just thought I’d check on my first mate! I even brought the ever so lovely Rosie!” Louis gestured to the pitbull who barked happily. Trotting over, Rosie began to claw at Marlon’s leg for some attention. With a small chuckle Marlon obliged and gave some pats to the pitbull along with some scratches behind the ear. But soon the blond pirate’s focus returned to the sea.

“I’ve known you long enough, Lou. You don’t have to hide anything from me,” Marlon gently turned the wheel left to guide the ship away from a pile of rocks a fair distance away.

Louis looked surprised by his friend’s words for a second but his smile soon returned. “Damn, I thought I could pull a fast one on you,” He leaned on the rail in front of the ship’s wheel.

“Have you ever been able to pull a fast one on me?” Marlon gave a grin that made Louis chuckle.

“I don’t know, maybe when we were ten,” Louis turned his body around and glanced up at the upper deck of the ship. Brody was working on fixing the riggings along with Mitch. Every so often the two would hold hands for a moment before slipping them away from each other. It was obvious based on their giddy expressions and being overwhelmed by the smallest thing that this was the first serious relationship either of them had had.

The captain’s eyes continued to wander and paused when he saw Clementine happily sparring with AJ. Both of them were absolutely exhilarated by the chance to spar together. It was clear from the soft thwack that appeared every few seconds from their wooden swords colliding and the confident auras that both of them radiated. Both of them were trying to use smack talk to get the upperhand in the fight by throwing the other off their game. Neither of them were any good at it but they didn’t seem to mind and the rest of the crew seemed to enjoy the unique insults they were hurling each other’s way.

While the two of them were caught up in the joy of sparring together, Prisha and Aasim were busy gushing over things only the two of them seemed to care for out of the whole crew: cartography. Both of them spoke animatedly as Aasim held out a map, showing his friend the vast seas they had yet to explore. The pair were especially thrilled to head out towards the northwestern seas next. Soon the two of them passed Ruby and Tenn who were busy making sure medical supplies were set. The redheaded pirate spoke clearly and concisely as a wide smile pulled on her lips, happy to have an apprentice of sorts in terms of healing. Tenn mirrored Ruby’s smile although his smile was quieter as he nodded along to her lessons.

Louis took a deep breath and glanced back at Marlon. “Our produce is about to go bad and while the crew seems happy, I bet all of them want a break from Ol’ Kickass,”

Marlon nodded along to those words. “Yeah, it would probably be best if we found a port town to aim for and spend a few days there,”

“Yeah. I just remembered, last time I talked with Aasim he said we were heading into uncharted seas. I told him that that's where the adventure was waiting and didn’t think twice,” Louis lightly laughed at his own choice as he spun his pirate hat in his hands before placing it back on his head.

“Don’t go kicking yourself, Lou. I’m sure we’ll find land soon enough,” Marlon smiled reassuringly. Louis returned it, although his smile seemed less genuine.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Louis sighed and turned his focus on Rosie as his friend continued to steer the ship.

As luck would have it Marlon did turn out to be right. After half a day more of sailing Willy called out from the crow’s nest that Violet was squished in as well, clearly there because of Willy’s incessant begging.

“Marlon, we got a weird-looking island far out on the starboard side of the ship!” Willy cupped his hands, creating such volume that both Violet and Garbage seemed to be hissing at its force.

“Knowing Willy it's probably another island filled with squirrels,” Marlon sighed as he looked over at Louis.

“I don’t know, Squirrel Island was kind of fun,” Louis offered and noticed Marlon’s frown.

“Those squirrels were little terrors,” Marlon took a deep breath then called back to Willy.

“Alright, I’ll steer the ship towards there! Keep an eye out if it looks dangerous!”

“Aye, aye!’ Willy gave a toothy grin then went back to his story he was sharing with Violet while he held Garbage in his arms. Marlon and Louis shared a look then chuckled before Marlon set course for the island.

Soon with Louis’ instructions, Willy and Violet’s mixed directions and the teamwork of the crew they arrived at an island. From one glance it was clear this was no ordinary island. Palm trees grew everywhere around the entrance surrounded by white sands and rocky shores where dark blue waters crashed against a shipwreck that stood out proudly. On the shipwreck were nearly a dozen skeletons, all dressed as privateers with their deep blue coats and special hats. It was made in the sort of mocking way that made it obvious that those kinds weren’t welcome here.

Erupting from above the palm trees was a large cream-colored building where a black flag with crossbones and a skull flew proudly. This was pirate land. That became even more abundantly clear when the rowdy sounds of pirates filled the air as Ol’ Kickass anchored right by the docks. After making sure the anchor was placed and the sails were safely secured the crew gathered around Louis.

“Alright, crew! Here’s what we’re going to do. Prisha, Aasim, and Omar will go sell our wares along with me. The rest of you get a gist of the rules of this place but as of now, no fighting and no adventuring. Today is just a chore day,”

Those words made Willy and AJ groan loudly.

“I know, I know, boring,” Louis shook his head sadly.

“I think chore day is actually fun,” Aasim mumbled and readjusted his cravat in annoyance.

“But we gotta make sure this place is safe enough for us to rest for a few days and our fruit is this close to stinking up the place,” Louis held his fingers barely a hair’s breadth together. Everyone seemed to agree with their captain’s words and soon they were off doing their respective tasks. Louis led the way after he stole at least a dozen kisses from Clementine. Prisha, Omar and Aasim followed behind him. Ruby, Tenn and Brody headed out to search for medical supplies and as for the rest of them, save for Violet and Mitch who stayed behind to guard the ship while having spitting contests, they went searching around for any information they could get on this piratey island.

It was a fairly straightforward day. With Louis’ charm, Omar’s calmness and Prisha and Aasim’s ferocious need to barter they got great deals on their wares. Ruby, Brody and Tenn were able to find thread and needles as well as other medical supplies and alcohol that was sure to clean any kind of wound. Violet won the spitting contest which turned Mitch into the grumpiest pirate amongst the crew that day and as for the rest of them, they learned a few things about this island. It was an island where only pirates were allowed and there were no rules besides those that pirates abided by.

When the crew all returned to Ol’ Kickass they discussed whether to stay or not and after some long debate they decided to go for it. The news seemed to make Willy and AJ particularly happy. The two young pirates were beyond excited to go adventuring tomorrow, while listening to the words and rules of the older pirates of course.

Soon the night melted into a new day and the crew was ready to go exploring. Willy gave a mighty pirate call, swinging from one of the ropes and landing harshly onto the docks.

“Willy, don’t break anything!” Violet called out to the rambunctious pirate.

“Yeah! Not without me!” Mitch grinned at Willy and the glint in their eyes made it clear they wanted to find something explosively fun to do.

“Just don’t blow up part of the ship again,” Brody walked forward and stood beside Mitch.

“I won’t,” Mitch grumbled then added in a quieter voice, “I promise,” His fingers reached out for Brody’s and they soon intertwined.

“Good,” Brody smiled up at her love before pressing a kiss to his cheek which made it turn bright red.

“Damn, I didn’t know we had lobsters on our ship,” Louis teased Mitch, his arms wrapped around Clementine.

“Whatever,” Mitch flipped off the captain as he walked off the ship with his love but soon received some scolding from Brody for his action. It didn’t take long for the two of them to move past it though and soon they were lost in the excitement of exploring the island and their new relationship.

Louis hugged Clementine a bit tighter then planted a kiss on her cheek with a loud ‘mwuah’ sound. “Shall we go, m’lady? I think adventure and fun awaits!” He smiled at Clementine who immediately returned it.

“An adventure with you? Sounds perfect,” Clementine pressed a kiss to one of Louis’ hands which made him grow flustered. He couldn’t focus on it long though as Clementine held his hand and led the way off the ship.

“Ready, my treasure?” Aasim asked Ruby as his thumb brushed against the top of hers.

“I sure am! I heard from Marlon yesterday that he’d heard some pirates talk about a tavern that has the most divine dinners,” Ruby swung their joined hands as they casually strolled down the dock.

“Well then I will make sure you get the best food on all of this island,” Aasim stole a soft kiss from Ruby and the two were quickly in the middle of the pack. Behind them was Marlon who gave Rosie a special treat in thanks for her staying behind as watch before jogging forward to talk with Omar. AJ was behind them, talking animatedly with Tenn about how many cool pirate things they could draw here when suddenly Louis scooped up AJ.

“Wanna have a better view, little dude?” Louis placed AJ on his shoulders then handed up his pirate hat for the youngest pirate to wear.

“Yeah! This is awesome!” AJ shot out his hands and almost lost his balance but soon regained it by grabbing Louis’ dreads. “Oops, did I do a bad?”

Louis shook his head, only in part to shake off the pain of his dreads being yanked on. “Nope, little man. It’s all good,” He gave a thumbs up then returned his hand into Clementine’s.

Prisha and Violet led the back of the pack, casually talking about what they looked forward to doing on this island knowing that there was no risk of guards or privateers getting them. Both of them seemed absolutely lost in each other’s eyes when suddenly Garbage’s frantic hissing made them look back to see the pirate possum scampering forward. After a minute Garbage had successfully found Willy again and crawled up on his shoulder, leaving a few scratch marks along the way. Willy didn’t seem to mind though and eagerly chatted about his potential adventures with his favorite pirate pet.

The crew all walked happily together, quickly getting hit with the sounds of sea shanties which made the captain’s eyes sparkle with joy and he excitedly spoke to Clementine and AJ. The sea shanties that they were hearing along this particular stretch of the island all seemed to center around alcohol. A set of three pirates were singing All for Me Grog while a group of five across the way were belting out Whisky Johnny O’ .

“We definitely gotta pick up some sea shanties here!” Louis beamed over at Clementine who smiled and gave his hand a small squeeze.

“Sounds good to me,”

As the group continued forward they reached the inner workings of the island where life and chaos were happily coinciding. Pirates of all genders were flirting amongst each other, trying to impress others with their feats of strength while other pirates seemed to be itching for a fight and decided to pick it with the closest pirate they could find. The Ericson pirates steered clear of those types of pirates but were still enjoying their time there.

All of them were happy to finally be back on land, especially a piece of land that didn’t have people out for their heads. Their footsteps were lost amongst the lively sounds of life around them when suddenly Louis’ ears perked up when he heard the wonderful harmony of a hurdy gurdy, flute and some sort of percussion instruments. As he led the way he saw that the three pirate musicians were happily playing a tune so that any pirate could dance in the square to their heart’s content.

“Oh! We have to do this!” Louis ran forward with Clementine along with AJ on his shoulders. The captain soon took the center of the square while the majority of his crew watched. Placing AJ down, Louis did a quick bow with his hat. “M’lady, would you do this captain the honor of a dance?” Louis’ eyes looked up into Clementine’s eyes with a playful love within them. Before Clementine had a chance to say yes, AJ had grabbed her hands and pulled her towards him.

“I wanna dance with Clem first!” AJ smiled over at Louis who returned it. Within seconds AJ was spinning around with Clementine happily.

“Oh no! Whoever will I dance with now?” Louis placed the captain’s hat dramatically over his heart and waited until the music began to swell. With a mischievous grin he dashed over and grabbed Aasim’s hands. “I pick you!”

“Wait a minute!” Aasim protested but it was too late; he was thrown into the dance circle where Louis danced and spun him around.

“It’s time to let loose and dance, captain’s orders!” Louis teasingly told his crew who all waited to see who would make the next move. Prisha smiled over softly at Violet and was about to ask for a dance when Willy suddenly snagged her one good arm.

“Come on, Prisha! Let's dance!” Willy gave a toothy grin and Prisha couldn’t help but agree. Soon Willy was leading the way, dancing in his unique style as Prisha’s light laughter filled the air. Garbage bounced around on top of his head, fearfully hissing before the young pirate stopped abruptly. “You too, Mitch! Dance!”

“No fucking way!” Mitch waved a hand and tried to act cool when suddenly Brody pushed him into the circle. He gave a frown but soon was swept up in the dance circle.

“Let’s boogie!” Ruby grabbed Omar’s hands with a laugh and pulled him into the circle. The two danced around, kicking their feet together and laughing as the lively, heartwarming song ensued. The music continued for some time when all of a sudden Marlon began to clap to the beat and quickly got Brody to join the dance circle.

“Wanna dance, Vi?” Tenn looked up at Violet who gave a soft smile and a shrug.

“Sure,” Violet held Tenn’s hand and the two quietly joined.

Different members of the Ericson pirates began to clap to the beat as they danced in a circle, kicking feet with their partners before hooking arms and switching. Ruby and Brody laughed as they danced together, both on a mission to steal back their loves while Prisha kept trying to reach Violet but every time she got close Willy surprised her with another dance.

As the song reached its last section the different couples were determined and moved at a faster pace, working with their dance partners to reunite with their loves. Twirling around and using light footwork the couples got back together one by one and spun around again and again until the song stopped and the Ericson pirates all stood in the center. The crew caught their breaths, their chest heaving as their smiles grew. Moments like this together were absolutely priceless and they couldn’t wait to make more memories on this island.

After the dance, Willy quickly got distracted by having a palm tree climbing contest with AJ. Both of them threw large declarations that they were the best climbers before trying their best to prove it. Meanwhile Ruby and Aasim were happily sharing a quiet moment together off to the side as Aasim spoke words of affection and poetry to his fiery love. Prisha and Violet were sitting side by side sharing a few soft kisses. Violet then proceeded to place her head on Prisha’s shoulder. The taller pirate pressed a kiss to the top of her love’s head then rested her head on top of hers. Prisha looked out and watched in amusement as Mitch and Clementine were getting competitive.

“I can kick way more pirate ass than you!” Clementine stood up and got close to Mitch who looked shocked for a moment but a competitive grin soon pulled on his lips.

“Ha! Maybe when I’m eighty you’ll finally kick more ass than me!” Mitch smirked when he saw how annoyed Clementine was getting.

“Oh yeah? Let’s make a bet. Whoever can get the most ducats from pirate duels wins!” Clementine quickly spit in her hand and held it out. Mitch laughed and spat in his hand, slamming it into Clementine’s and giving it a firm shake.

“Deal. Winner gets all the ducats won,”

“Deal,”

“You got this, Clem!” Louis appeared from behind Clementine and surprised her with a kiss. That seemed to melt away the intimidating exterior of the pirate who soon returned the affection.

“Good luck, Mitch,” Brody gave her love a quick kiss on the cheek. Mitch grew incredibly flustered at that and Clementine saw her chance.

“Ready, set, go!” Clementine was off like a shot, already on her way to her first duel.

“Hey, wait! Fuck! That was cheap!” Mitch yelled and sprinted off with an angry cry as he tried to find his first opponent.

The competition lasted for quite some time and after a while Clementine and Mitch both collapsed onto the ground.

“I won, you little-” Clementine wheezed. “Shit,”

“”Fu-” Mitch gasped for air “Ck!”

The rest of the crew gathered around giving congratulations to both of them while Clementine flaunted her ducats and immediately bragged about how she'd spend them: half on dates and half on a new badass blade. A few minutes passed and the crew all decided to go grab some food at the local tavern. Clementine tried to get up but immediately felt her legs turned to jelly.

“Don’t worry, my darling!” Louis swept her up and carried her bridal style. “I’ll carry you!”

“Louis! Wait!” Clementine grew flustered but it was too late. Soon the others followed them with Mitch and Brody leading the back.

“I think you were pretty badass,” Brody gave Mitch’s hand a small squeeze. Those words made him smile and he immediately wrapped her up in a hug before pulling away quickly.

“It was no big deal,” The taller pirate tried to play it cool but Brody could see how much the words meant to him.

It didn’t take long for them to find the tavern where they supposedly had amazing food. Louis went about ordering the drinks and meals while the rest of them secured a few tables. Once they sat down Marlon noticed the wanted posters on the walls, placed there as a sign of pride for all the chaos the pirate captains and their crews had caused. Amongst them were pictures of all the Ericson pirates drawn in the usual inaccurate fashion.

“Wow, that Louis one is super accurate,” Violet commented, drawing the crews’ eyes to the wanted post which displayed Louis with a large evil smile and what looked to be a giant spider as his hair.

“Hey! I don’t look like that!” Louis huffed. “My hair looks even more spider-like in person,” Louis rolled with the joke and soon the others found the other wanted posters and pointed each out. Marlon’s looked like he had giant spikes on his head while Omar’s looked like he didn’t have any eyes. Willy’s wanted poster had him looking like a small gremlin pirate which the whole crew including him agreed was accurate.

Before they could spot all of the posters and talk about them though the food had arrived. Steaming plates of the finest seafood were brought before them along with fresh rolls. As AJ grabbed a roll he tore it open, revealing the soft, white, fluffy bread. Grabbing some butter he slathered it on the roll. The butter melted in an instant, soaking into the bread and enhancing its flavor.

While Willy and AJ chowed down on the rolls the rest dug into their seafood. The freshness of it was apparent in every bit as the flaky fish melted in their mouths. The crab was a particularly delicious choice as its subtle flavor tempted the palate to eat more and more. Garbage was just as happy with her food of choice: a simple apple that Willy had sliced for her. The possum licked the apple with happy hisses. Their time in the tavern was a simple joy. The crew talked, ate and drank happily without a care in the world when suddenly the tavern doors burst open.

In walked a man of alarming height. His outfit and demeanor made it clear he was the captain of his crew who all entered with wicked laughs, telling tales that left bad tastes in the Ericson pirates’ mouths. Behind them all was a curvy girl of average height. Her brown eyes peered from below her short black hair and seemed to hold a world of kindness in them. Kindness that was clearly not given to her as she struggled to carry around the crew’s treasure for seemingly no other reason than as a show of their wealth. The girl placed down the treasure and nearly fell over, a large bead of sweat trickling down her face.

“Wench! Get us drinks! Or else you may wish you sank with that ship that we saved your sorry hide from!” the captain shouted and his men laughed. The girl nodded and soon left to get the rum. The Ericson pirates watched on, all of them feeling their emotions roil due to the injustice they were seeing. The girl soon appeared back with drinks and the pirates heartily drank.

“Perhaps she can dance for us!” one of the pirates suggested and the others cheered in agreement.

The girl stood frozen in her spot, her hands by her side slowly curling into fists. “No,”

Her soft voice made the pirates glance her way.

“What do you mean no, girlie?” The captain spoke in a low tone. In an instant he grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward. “I spared your life! Out of the entire ship only you lived, so show some fucking gratitiude or else,” His voice was filled with warning.

Violet felt her stomach twist. While she couldn’t see clearly she was sure what the implications of those words meant. The other members of the crew soon noticed some bruises on the girl’s arms; the anger in their hearts grew.

The captain chuckled and pulled her chin towards his. The pirate’s breath reek of old fish and alcohol. “I hate being disagreed with.”

All of the Ericson pirates wanted to stop this, to make a move and get that girl away from this awful crew. Violet’s fists curled tightly but she wasn’t the first to make a move. Instead that honor went to Ruby who slammed her tankard down onto the table hard, causing a thin hairline crack to appear along the side of it.

“Get your filthy hands off of her,” Ruby warned and the captain as well as his men looked over her way.

“Hmm? Something to say, wench? Care to join her as one of my servants?” The captain held a twisted smile on his lips. “You two match well,”

“How dare-”

Aasim was cut short as Ruby slammed her fist on the table, her eyes burning with anger. “I’d rather make you eat your teeth!”

Ruby’s words made the captain frown before he burst out in laughter. “What a fiery wench you are! Alright, I’ll humor you with an arm wrestling competition. If I win, you apologize to me and if you win-”

“I’m fine with the satisfaction of kicking your ass,” Ruby strode forward, looking small in comparison to the captain of this crew. His crew laughed in amusement and before any of the Ericson pirates could say otherwise Ruby was seated at a table across from the captain. Rolling up her sleeve, she positioned her arm and soon the captain did the same. Once they were all set one of the captain’s crew counted down.

As soon as the countdown was done Ruby’s eyes took on a threatening glint and with all her strength she slammed down the man’s hand. That action alone would be impressive but the fiery short redheaded pirate had gone a step further. Her strength had set the man off his center, causing him to tumble over with the force of the move and crash into a chair, smashing it to pieces. Both crews stood there in shock until Mitch spoke up.

“Fuck yeah! Fuck ‘em up, Ruby!” Mitch pumped his fist in the air.

“You little bitch!” The pirate captain coughed as he rose. With a mighty swing he tried to hit Ruby but she dodged it.

The fiery pirate curled her fist and sent it crashing into the captain’s stomach. “Better be ready, I’m about to whoop your ass!” Ruby slammed her fist into her open palm. Aasim felt himself at a loss for words as he stared at his love in all her glory. She was amazing.

This wasn’t a funny joke or game anymore. The opposing crew soon charged to take down the pirate that had made their captain look bad.

“You won’t touch her!” Aasim charged forward and swung his fist, breaking teeth and sending a pirate flying back.

All bets were off now and soon the tavern erupted into chaos. Pirates charged at the table with mighty cries. Mitch and Marlon shared a smile and lifted up their tankards. Clinking them together, they downed their drinks then used the empty tankards to smash in their enemies’ faces.

“This is what you get for being shit!” Marlon slammed his tankard once more into a pirate’s face.

Prisha backstepped, dancing around a pirate’s attack before she unsheathed her blade. Using the hilt of the sword, she jabbed it into the man’s gut repeatedly before proceeding to knock him out as he keeled over, her sword’s hilt colliding with his face and smashing his nose.

Violet stood on the table to get away from all the chaos of the tavern and have a decent chance at fighting. It wasn’t longer until an opponent arrived. Cautiously Violet dodged attack after attack until she grabbed a chair and with a heavy hit shattered it into pieces on top of the pirate’s body. Prisha was in absolute awe of her love’s strength and Violet looked over with a proud smile when suddenly she noticed a pirate sneaking up on Prisha.

“Prisha!” Violet called out and gave a signal to Prisha. Prisha immediately held out her arm and wrapped it around Violet as she landed. With a secure hold on Violet, Prisha swung her love to her side where Violet proceeded to knock out the enemy with her foot. After Prisha placed Violet down the two shared a quick smile then continued their fight.

AJ, Willy and Tenn worked together, tag teaming pirates left and right. With harsh punches from AJ to their weak spots in between the legs, brutal foot stompings by Tenn and slingshot attacks from Willy, any pirates who faced them were doomed. That was before accounting for the ferocious Garbage who hissed as she scampered about, crawling up pant legs and biting down on the enemies’ noses. Omar used the plates on the table as makeshift weapons, weakening the enemies with kicks before breaking dinnerware over their heads.

“I’ll pay for all the plates I break!” Omar called out to the tavern owner who was still processing what was happening.

The girl was overwhelmed by the sudden chaos but that didn’t stop her from getting some good punches in, knocking out a few of the pirates that had made her life hell. She was about to lash out again when Louis pulled her out of harm’s way at the last second.

“That was close!’ Louis smiled at the girl. “I’m Louis, and you are?”

“Nurgul,” the girl gave a soft smile. “Thanks,”

“Think nothing of it! Just an ordinary day for the Ericson pirates!” Louis grinned then used his sword to cut a tankard in half that was aimed for Nurgul’s head. “Hey! Don’t be an asshat!” Louis proceeded to beat the pirate who’d thrown the tankard in a swordfight then kick his butt into a nearby barrel. He gave a smile back at Nurgul then looked over to see Clementine weaving through an enemy pirate’s attacks, outmaneuvering him then using her peg leg to crush his toes. When the pirate cried out Clementine grabbed a bottle and harshly cracked it against his head, knocking him out.

“Whoa,” Louis whispered. An instant later he joined his love in fighting off the remaining enemies.

Brody dodged an attack then another before grabbing the man by the collar. With a harsh jab her knee collided with his crotch. The auburn pirate refused to give him a moment to recover and with a heavy slam she crushed his face into a table, cracking it slightly.

Mitch gave an impressed whistle. Brody may have called him a badass earlier but that move right there made it clear that she had him tied in that regard. He swore his love for her grew in that moment but he couldn’t stay in the moment long because all of a sudden another attack came his way. Mitch was about to counter when the booming voice of the tavern owner made everyone stop.

“Alrighty! That's enough, you scurvy dogs!” The tavern owner stood in between the captain and Ruby right before they were about to exchange blows, blocking both of them. “I won’t have you go and ruin my tavern anymore! In fact, one of you sorry lots is gonna have to pay for all the damage that was caused!” The tavern owner looked over at the Ericson pirates then at the other crew. “We’re gonna settle this the way we always do here on this great island. Get ready, ye about to have a pirate duel!”

The captain of the crew gave a hearty laugh. “I’m fine with that! In fact, I challenge your captain!” He pointed at Mitch who gave a scowl his way. “A fight to the death, winner gets to skip out on paying for this fine mess and gets the lass of their choosing from the opposite side,”

“You have a deal!” Louis’ voice rang out across the tavern as he stood on a table, his hands on his hips. “Except it won’t be a fight to the death, not on my end,” His eyes were level with the captain’s and his jaw firm. He was obviously still upset about how they had been treating Nurgul and on a battle high from the tavern fight. “When I win, you’re gonna regret ever treating Nurgul badly!”

“Who?” The captain scrunched his nose. “That don’t matter, what I’m confused about is that you out of all your crew is the captain. Are you pulling me leg?” He glanced back at the Ericson crew and saw that they were all upset by his accusation against Louis. He was their captain after all. The captain paused for a moment, his eyes glancing over at the wall of wanted posters. “Well, sink me! You lot are the Ericson pirates!” He began to laugh, holding his sides. “I suppose you have a bit more fire in ya than me and the other crews thought you did. Still, you’re a bunch of lily-livered wannabes who claim to be pirates when you all haven’t even done half the things a pirate should do,”

“We do the right thing. We follow our own pirate law,” Louis stared down at the man.

“Is that so? Well then I hope that my blade doesn’t rust from cowardly blood when I gut ya tomorrow,” The captain laughed then harshly pulled Nurgul forward, urging her to lead the way. “Till tomorrow, ‘captain’!” The captain gave a mocking, obscene gesture then left.

“Louis!” Clementine hurried forward and looked up at her love. “What are you doing?”

“The right thing,” Louis met his love’s gaze and Clementine could see he wouldn’t budge on this decision. There was only one thing to be done.

Clementine and the rest of the crew worked to make sure Louis was the best equipped and well-trained he could be for tomorrow’s duel. The sunlight bled through the sky at a rapid pace and before they knew it night was upon them that soon shed away when the sun rose once more. Hopefully all their work had been enough.

As they made their way to the dueling pit they heard the overwhelming cheers of pirates heartily drinking grog as they waited to see the bloodshed of the fight. The crew was soon guided over to an area for viewing. As they passed they noticed Nurgul standing at the sidelines of the fighting pit. Louis was left alone at the entrance of the arena with Clementine. His eyes focused on the tiny crabs that scattered about the soiled sands of the pit, mindless to all the noise around them.

“Louis, be careful,” Clementine held her love’s hand and tried to get him to look at her.

Louis remained silent for a moment. “Everyone is continuing on me so I gotta be. Can’t be the normal screw up that I am. One wrong step...” His voice faltered out as he continued to look off into the distance.

“Louis, you’re not a screw up. You’re a great captain and fighter. You’ll win,”

Those words made Louis glance over his love’s way. “I don’t know about that,” He took a deep breath and turned to face Clementine. “Alright, I need you to slap me. One good slap to make sure I can focus,” He tried to stand strong in front of her, his eyes pressed shut but every few seconds he’d peek out at Clementine, his head unconsciously flinching backwards. Clementine stood there, knowing that she wouldn’t hit him but she wasn’t sure what the right choice was. After a moment she decided to go with her heart. Getting up on her tiptoes and wrapping her hand behind his head she captured his lips in a soft kiss. Louis seemed surprised by this before his shoulders relaxed and he melted into the kiss, if only for a moment.

The dreadlocked captain pulled back from the kiss, his eyes filled with shock. “I... can’t tell if I feel more focused or less,” His lips pulled into a smile that Clementine immediately mirrored. The pair stood there, becoming lost in each other’s eyes when suddenly the announcer called for the two pirates to get in the pit. Louis was about to step forward when he felt Clementine’s hand grab his.

“I believe in you. So does AJ and so do the rest of the crew. There’s a reason you’re our captain and it's for choices like this,” Clementine gave a smile, hoping that it would find its way to Louis.

Louis returned the smile then kissed the top of her hand softly. “I gotta prove you and the others right then,” He slowly slipped his hand free of Clementine’s and stepped forward into the sunny arena where his ears were pierced with the cries and cheering of the pirate crowd.

Louis tried to show his charisma and held up his blade with a big smile. He rotated in a circle, catching the eyes of all the different sections of the crowd until he saw his crew. He could tell they were nervous but he also noticed the trust and belief in their eyes. He would win today.

After a moment or two the duel was set to begin. The signal was given and the captain of the other crew unsheathed his double shell guard cutlass. Not waiting a moment he slashed it down towards Louis’ face. Louis immediately lifted up his rapier, blocking the attack and causing the sound of metal colliding to ring throughout the arena.

“Let’s see how long you’re gonna last before you end up as shark bait,” The captain kicked up dirt, aiming it directly at Louis’ face. The young pirate coughed sharply and tried to regain his sight when suddenly he felt something slashing against his back. The cold feeling of metal slid across his back once more and Louis dodged a third strike before proceeding to block a fourth. His hand held up his blade as the captain smirked down at him. “Not long at all I’d wager,”

Louis felt his nerves rising but he knew that if he let them consume him he’d wind up dead. Studying the man’s legs he noticed that he was heavily favoring his right one. So Louis decided to take a page from his love’s book and with a mighty kick he forced his opponent off balance. Using the moment of uncertainty Louis hooked his blade with his opponent’s and with a well-timed twist forced the man to disarm. His cutlass flew through the air and landed in the sand beside Louis.

“Don’t count me out just yet,” Louis pointed the sword at his throat but the captain soon slapped it away and elbowed Louis deep in his gut. The young pirate gasped loudly, a thread of saliva falling from his lips and onto the dirt. He tumbled to the ground, dirt flying up the air and clouding the pit.

The captain laughed loudly and leaned over to pick up his blade when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left foot. Looking down, he saw Louis’ rapier embedded there.

“You’re not keeping that girl and you’re not gonna get any of my crew!” Louis grabbed the sides of the man’s head and headbutted it sharply. The action stunned the man but it also made Louis’ head ring. He couldn’t let that stop him from focusing on this fight though. With a wild cry Louis took his blade out of the man’s foot and used the hilt of his sword to pummel the man’s chest. Each hit brought him one step closer to winning and each made his opponent weaker. His hilt soon found its way to the bridge of the captain’s nose and with a mighty slam Louis shattered the man’s nose. The captain’s head swayed with the movement, his eyes stinging with tears due to the hit as blood slipped down his face.

“You little brat! I’ll be sure to send you to Davy Jones’ Locker myself!” he yelled, dodging an attack and sweeping up his sword. He immediately sliced his cutlass through the air, his blade colliding with Louis’ rapier. The two pressed their entire body weight into their blades, their feet digging into the dirt and sliding with the force. Neither of them were willing to lose an inch in this attack.

The captain once again tried to kick dirt into Louis’ face but the younger pirate danced around the attack. The sudden movement caused the man to slip forward and Louis decided to use some of the techniques he had tried to pick up from his crew. Aiming for the spot that Violet usually did with her iron knuckle studded gloves, he dug his fist into his opponent’s chest, cracking a rib. Soon he backstepped, changing towards Marlon’s stance of being well balanced with defense and offense, but leaned into a sturdy defense like Brody held. He carefully studied the captain’s movements, wanting to spot his weaknesses and exploit them the way that Aasim always did during his fights.

It took some time, precious time in which Louis worried his energy would flag and fail him, but at last he spotted the pattern the captain fought in. Louis cautiously backstepped, taking a page from Omar’s patient fighting style. He slowly dodged and parried each strike until he saw the shift in the man’s right leg. Not wanting to miss the moment, Louis feigned an attack, forcing the man to put all of his strength into a counterattack that would miss before he kicked out the man’s right leg once more and sent the hilt of his rapier crashing against the side of his head. With a loud thud the captain collapsed onto the ground. The pirate crowd grew silent as Louis’ chest heaved until suddenly a proud voice started to cheer.

“WOOO! That’s our captain!” AJ cheered, doing his signature happy dance. His sudden outburst made the other members of the crew cheer and holler, filling the entire arena with the overwhelming volume of their voices.

Louis took a shaky breath then grinned at his crew, thrusting his arm that held the rapier into the air. The action gained more cheers as the pirate audience applauded a fight well won. Louis’ eyes were entirely focused on his crew though, noticing how happy and proud they were of him. He returned their kindness with a bright smile then looked over towards Nurgul. “You’re free,”

7 notes · View notes

stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

Text

with you [chapter 7]

Summary: Clementine pops the question, Louis has nightmares, Violet can’t let go of the past, Mitch doesn’t know how to handle gross feelings, Ruby’s a goddamn sweetheart, Willy doesn’t ever remember to knock, Aasim can’t dance, and James is here, too.

Nothing like a wedding to bring this family together.

Note: Apparently one o’clock in the morning is when my brain wants to write and actually do stuff now. Hooray.

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7

Read on: AO3

---

The window's open.

Louis slips in and out of darkness, stuck between a dreamless calm and a waking reality. Cool air drifts in through the cracked window, brushing against the bare skin of his arm. A grumble bubbles up his throat as he pulls the blanket closer to his chin.

It's not the morning chill or the golden glow flowing in through the parted curtains that wakes him up, though.

A gentle hand shakes his shoulder.

A familiar presence looms over-- he can feel it even in his drowsy state.

Nothing dangerous, of course. Otherwise, he'd be bolting out of bed in a blind search for Chairles.

He rolls over onto his side, eyes too heavy to open.

"Louis?"

The hand grasps his shoulder again, this time shaking a little harder. His grogginess worsens. It’s as if someone poured wet cement into his bones. He reaches out over the empty spot next to him in search of Clementine’s warmth, inhaling the morning air and letting it out with a groan.

The hand shakes him again, harder this time, so he grabs and holds it.

"U-uh-"

Louis buries his face in his pillow, his voice coming out muffled, groggy, "Darling, come back to bed."

"Louis!"

His nose smashes against the mattress.

"Ow! Hey!"

He's ready to complain about such a rude awakening until he realizes whose hand he's still holding.

The room is awkwardly silent until Louis mumbles, "You're not Clementine."

"No," Aasim pulls free and hits Louis with the pillow, "no, I'm not."

Louis snatches the pillow back, fluffing and tucking it under his head with a heavy sigh. "How long have you been watching me sleep?" he yawns. "I didn't take you for the creeper type."

"I wasn't watching you sleep," Aasim rolls his eyes. "I came to wake you up. We're going hunting."

"Hunting?"

Well, that’s the first he's heard of this.

He and Aasim usually go hunting every few days, and they just went the day before. Louis props himself on his elbows to peer up at him with a dull expression. Another yawn builds in his throat.

"You must have your days mixed up," he says. "Mitch and Willy go today. We're not supposed to go ‘til tomorrow, so we can all go back to bed now. Goodnight."

"No, it’s our turn," Aasim says quickly. "We gotta go now. James was out there earlier and he saw a deer."

A...

A what?

"A deer?" Louis perks a brow. "Sure it wasn't just a big possum? Or a walker on all fours? Maybe even a bunch of bunnies standing on each other's shoulders?"

"He's pretty damn sure it was a deer," Aasim insists, spreading the window curtains farther apart. More light floods in, causing Louis to wince as his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness. He yanks the blanket fully over his head, curling up.

"He's already out there tracking it,” Aasim grabs Louis’ coat from off the desk chair and tosses it to him, “so we gotta move fast if we want any chance of hunting it. We also have to check the traps and make sure the fishing shack is still secure."

"A deer?" Louis presses again from beneath the blanket. "Like, a real deer? Like Bambi?”

“Bambi was a cartoon.”

Aasim jerks the blanket off, dropping it to the floor far from Louis’s reach.

“You know what I mean,” Louis sighs, squinting back up at him. “We've never seen a deer out there, like, ever. Not even at the beginning."

"Well, James just saw one, so... Get up and get ready. We're leaving soon.”

Aasim scratches at his chin, turning to gaze about the room, searching for something.

Louis swings his legs over the side of the bed and stretches out his arms, groaning in satisfaction as the muscles loosen.

“How soon is ‘soon’?”

“As soon as you put your boots on.”

Louis lets out an exaggerated groan.

This definitely isn’t what he had planned for this morning.

He planned on waking up to Clementine sleeping peacefully beside him, happier and more content than she was last night.

It’s been a long time since he’s seen her so physically upset.

He knows Clementine well enough by now. He knows that she still holds in most of those awful feelings. Whenever something upsets her, or even after she has a nightmare of her own, her face defaults to a stoic expression. Whether she does it out of habit, or because she doesn’t want him or anyone else to worry, or some concoction of both, he’s not entirely sure.

She has enough room within her to bottle it up. She has the strength to hold it in.

Hee wishes he was more like that.

Sometimes, he felt he was bursting at the seams.

And there she always was, trying to sew him back together.

Seeing her like that… shit, it’s one of the most hopeless feelings when all you can do is hold someone without the power to heal their pain.

Louis squeezes his eyes shut, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I talked to Violet…”

Violet.

Shit, what could’ve possibly brought that on?

He hadn’t asked, even though he wanted to. God, he really wanted to. He’s so desperate to know... why now? Did it just happen, or has it been weighing heavier in her mind again? What was it about? Why didn’t she tell him?

He didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, though, so he left it alone. She would tell him when she was ready.

And, Violet…

He can’t imagine how she must be feeling right now.

He watches Aasim as he paces over to AJ’s desk, stopping to look over the several drawings hanging on the wall.

Louis really doesn’t want to go hunting.

He already had his morning planned out.

First, he’d wake up and kiss Clementine before her watch. Or, if she already left, go find her and then kiss her.

It’s sort of a rule he has. While Louis was never one for strict rules or planning, he does have certain things that have to be done. Kissing Clementine every day is one of those rules.

Okay, maybe it’s not considered a rule, per se.

But, he made sure to kiss her every morning, and whenever one of them left to go hunting or scavenging or on watch without the other, and every night before bed. It didn’t have to be a crazy, passionate kiss. Sometimes, just a little peck on the cheek was enough.

It made him feel better, even if he knows it’s his subconscious telling him, “Kiss her! It might be your last chance! Death is always watching you, Louis!”

A lovely thought, as usual.

After he kissed her, he’d ask her if she was feeling any better, or if she wanted to talk about it. Whether she would or not, he didn’t know.

Next, he’d grab two plates of breakfast and head over to Violet’s room. If she answered, they’d eat together. If she didn’t answer or let him in, she’d at least have food waiting for her. Then, he’d find Tenn to keep an eye on her, make sure she ate.

However, it seems that Aasim’s determined to foil those plans all in the name of some deer James supposedly saw.

Seriously, a deer?

Louis tries to rub the drowsiness from his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. Aasim might as well have said, “Hey! Leprechauns are frolicking in the woods! Quick! Let’s go get their gold!”

Well, okay, maybe a deer is more plausible than a leprechaun.

But, still.

When Aasim notices Louis’s lack of movement and vacant stare, he crosses his arms and shoots him a stern look.

“Now, dude.”

Louis scratches the back of his neck as he hangs his head. “Do you really need me to go?” he asks. “I mean, it’s not like we need three people tracking a deer that may or may not be a figment of James’ imagination.”

“It’s not a figment of his imagination,” Aasim insists. “Will you just put your boots on? We’re wasting daylight.”

“You’re awfully pushy this morning.”

“No, I just-” Aasim stops, looking away. "I want that deer, okay?"

Louis studies him for a moment as he pulls on his jacket, trying to understand the stress prominent in his features.

"Dude, if you're so worried about the deer, just go without me-"

"No! No, you- I-uh, " Aasim presses his mouth into a thin line. His eyes dart around at the floor. He wears a taut expression that Louis recognizes. It's one that Aasim usually has when he's jotting down the day's events and he can't figure out how to word something.

Louis gets off the bed, hands on his hips and head cocked curiously.

"You okay?"

"You have to come with me," Aasim says slowly. He scratches at his scruffy chin and looks towards to door, saying, “We need three people to carry it back when we get it.”

“I doubt it. Two people’s enough.”

“No, three people are needed to safely carry it.”

“James’ strong. Honestly, the dude could probably drag it back here himself. You don’t need me there.”

Then, Aasim blurts out, "I-I don't want to be alone with James.”

Louis almost laughs.

"What?"

"Uh-” Aasim stutters, “Yeah, he makes me nervous, okay? You guys are friends. If you go, he'll have someone to talk to and I won't have to worry about him."

“Are you serious? I thought you two got along. You talk to him every time he’s here. Hell, don’t you always eat together, too?”

“That- that doesn’t mean anything. Will you just put your damn boots on, already?” Aasim finds his boots on the floor and kicks them towards him. “Why do you always have to be so damn difficult? Just once, can you do what I ask with no questions asked?”

Louis opens his mouth to speak, but then promptly shuts it.

Something’s weird.

Aasim’s being weird.

He never argues this much. Usually, by now he would’ve thrown his hands up, stomped out and left him behind, grumbling about what a pain in the ass he is.

But, there Aasim stood, moving about the room impatiently, still waiting for him.

Louis slips on his boots, keeping an eye on the other boy, and begins slowly lacing them up.

Aasim picks up the small venus fly trap on the desk and pokes it, causing it to steadily close its mouth. He’s so forcefully fixated on the plant that Louis is convinced something’s up.

Louis has known him for a long time, and he knows that Aasim avoids eye contact and becomes defensive due to three things: when someone brings up the delta, when he’s lying about something, or when someone confronts him about his crush on-

Louis’ mouth falls agape.

Oh.

“He makes you nervous, huh?” Louis asks, hopping to his feet.

Aasim almost drops the plant, but luckily, he catches it. “Yeah, so what?”

“Why?”

“Uh?”

“Why does he make you nervous?” Louis repeats, drawing out each word. “I mean, aside from the whole wearing another dude’s face and hanging out with his walker friends.”

Aasim’s lips part as though he’s ready to speak, but it seems he’s stuck. He moves his hands about as if somehow that’ll help him articulate the words he’s looking for. In the end, he gives an agitated sigh and heads towards the exit, saying, “Just drop it and let’s go.”

However, Louis is quick to stride ahead and shut the door, pressing his back against it and raising his brow suggestively at him.

“Not so fast!”

“Dude, really?”

Louis smirks.

“I see you, Aasim.”

“What?” Aasim scowls. “Get out of the way. Clem’s gonna be pissed we haven’t left yet.”

Louis grins brightly. He ignores Aasim’s protests, reaching out to grasp his shoulder, saying, “It’s finally happened. Our poor Aasim, the fool forever trapped within the realms of unrequited love-”

“Uh, what?”

“-has finally moved on from dear, sweet Ruby-”

“No-”

“-and onto the ever so mysterious-”

“No, no-”

“-handsome James!”

“Oh my god…” Aasim rubs his eyes, fingers curling over his face in irritation. “Oh my god, you’re so stupid.”

“Ah, James,” Louis disregards the insult, continuing, “Gotta say, I did not see that one coming. Never thought I’d see the day you give up on sweet Ruby. She’ll be devastated. Oh Ruby, don’t know what you got until it’s gone. ”

“I don’t have a crush on James, you idiot.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I never had a crush on Ruby.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t-didn’t!”

“Uh-huh.”

Aasim inhales sharply through his nose. “I swear, it’s like you strive to piss me off!”

Louis holds his hands up defensively, saying, “No, I hear you, dude. I just don’t believe you. You can’t look me in the eye and say with a straight face that you never had a crush on Ruby.”

Aasim rubs his palms over his jacket before crossing his arms, not saying a word.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Louis continues, “Ruby’s a sweet girl- well, sweet until pushed otherwise. And James is really cool underneath that walker getup. In fact, I dare say you two would be pretty damn adorable--”

Aasim holds up his hand inches away from Louis’ face. “I’m gonna stop you right there before you say any more stupid shit,” he says sternly. “I don’t like James.”

“If that’s true, then why’re you being so weird?” asks Louis. “Hmmm?”

“Look,” Aasim sighs. “We could stand here all day arguing about this stupid shit, but the longer we do that, the farther that deer gets, and the longer James is stuck out there waiting for us by himself. Clementine is counting on both of us to go out there and track it, so can you please just take this seriously for once?”

“Who says I’m not being serious?”

Aasim shoots him a look.

“Okay, fine,” he sighs. He pushes away from the door. “You really believe he saw a deer out there?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“And so does Clem?”

“Why else would she send me to wake your ass up?” Aasim asks, glancing back down at the floor.

Well, so much for morning plans. He’d have to shorten his list and make it quick.

“Just answer me this last question,” Louis says with a wide grin. “How long have you liked James?”

“I’m not playing this game with you.”

“What game? You wanted me to be serious, so here I am! Being serious! How long? Details, my friend!”

“I don’t-” Aasim groans, rubbing his hands harshly over his face and through his hair.

Alright, that’s enough teasing, he thinks. Louis would ask him about it again later when Aasim isn’t so flustered or preoccupied with thoughts of a prancing deer.

“Okay, okay, let’s go get Bambi. But before that, can I at least do my morning business first?” he asks. “Or am I gonna have to hold it the whole time?”

“Fine,” Aasim sighs, relieved, “just hurry up. Meet you at the gates.”

And with that, Aasim rushes out the door.

Louis shakes his head with a small smile. What an interesting development, he thinks. Aasim and James… Louis frowns. Now that he thinks about it, that might make things complicated if his theory about Mitch and James is-- … It’s probably nothing. He’s thinking about it too much.

With Chairles in his possession and a set determination, Louis leaves the bedroom, ready to complete his morning plans in the short amount of time given.

---

From down the hall, Louis can hear the sound of glass shards scraping against the wooden floors. His gut tightens.

Violet’s door is wide open.

Uneasy, apprehensive to continue, he comes to a stop.

Violet never leaves her door open, not even a crack. Whether she’s alone or not, she always makes sure her door is shut and locked. There’s been plenty of times where he’d gone to see her and after she let him in, she’d almost push him out of the way to slam the lock shut.

He’d asked her about it the first time it happened. She hadn’t answered him. She was too ashamed to, so she pretended not to hear the question.

He didn’t say any more about it. If it made her feel better- safer, more secure- then he wouldn’t argue. He’s gotten in the habit of locking it himself every time he comes to visit just so she doesn’t panic.

Eventually, he does peek into the room.

But, he doesn’t find Violet.

No, he’s alarmed to find Mitch bent down on the floor with a dustpan and a small, broken broom, cautiously sweeping up shattered glass bits. There’s a small bag next to him with a wooden frame protruding from it. Clear concentration knits his brows and his lips move as if silently mumbling to himself.

Louis’ eyes narrow. He tries to wrap his head around just what he’s seeing.

Think of the devil, and the devil will appear... Or something to that effect.

When he moves closer, right into the door frame, Mitch doesn’t seem to notice, even when he clears his throat.

So, he speaks.

“Hey, Mitch,” he says, loud and flat.

Mitch jerks back, losing his balance, hissing out, “Jesus motherfucking-!” He drops the dustpan to help steady himself, letting glass slip out onto the floor again. He scrambles to his feet, cheeks flushing a furious red, but his glare dies when he sees it’s Louis standing there. He grows tense, unmoving, with eyes wide like a small child just caught sneaking around where they weren’t supposed to.

The two stare at each other for many seconds before Mitch points at him.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Funny,” Louis scoffs, pushing his jacket back to place his hands on his hips firmly, “I was about to say the same thing.”

“I, uh-” Mitch straightens out, looking down at the broom in his hand and the glass on the floor before peering back up at him. “Shouldn’t you be out hunting?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Louis frowns. He approaches the other boy, asking, “What are you doing here? Where’s Vi?”

“She’s with Tenn,” Mitch says. “Spent the night in his room after she, uh,” he motions down to the broken glass, “flipped out.”

Concern tightens in his throat. The panic must be clear on his face, because Mitch shakes his head and explains, “She did it after their talk.” He kneels back down and starts sweeping again. “Clem told’ja about that, I assume?”

“Yeah,” he says slowly. “And, how do you know about it, exactly?”

“I was keeping watch. Made sure Violet didn’t do anything.” Mitch dumps the glass bits into the small bag before motioning towards the desk. “She didn’t, at least not while Clem was here. She smashed this after we were leaving. I left the picture over there.”

Louis hesitates, but steps around Mitch, wary of the remaining glass bits. As he approaches the desk, he notices that her water bottle is tipped over onto its side, empty. What’s worse, is he can see it’s completely dry, like it hasn’t been used in a long time. He stands it up, moving it right next to her journal.

He remembers when Aasim gave that to her. It wasn’t bound like a real book, but Aasim had gathered some thicker paper from the basement and had Ruby sew it together into a makeshift book. It even had a cover, drawn by Tenn.

Aasim gave it to her after the delta, said that writing was easier than talking. He gave her a bunch of pencils and pens, too, but he can’t spot any lying around. Louis doesn’t know if she really writes in it, though he hopes she does. Anything to help, anything to release a little bit of that pain.

Louis considered it once. But trying to write down his feelings only frustrated him. Instead, he turned to Clementine and music for solace.

He glances away from the journal and to the photo laying at the bottom corner of the desk.

Violet, Minerva, and Sophie, all together, all smiling.

He can’t help but grin, even if there’s no joy in it.

The photo’s covered in scratches, from the glass, no doubt. But, the faces are still clear.

Minerva.

The real Minnie.

Not the husk that pointed her crossbow at him, who tried to kill Clementine and take them all away to that sick hellhole.

As he stares at her face, her long hair and sincere eyes, he wishes that’s the only way he could remember her; happy, radiant, beautiful.

Fuck, he couldn’t even remember her laugh, or how charming her singing was.

She used to always laugh at his stupid jokes, at his silly voices and silly songs. Even when no one else would, she’d take pity on him and laugh.

They’d sing together in their downtime, too. They’d sing until Violet threw her head back, groaning out that he was ruining the song. So, he’d shut up and just play the piano, and Minerva would sing.

Louis thinks that’s when it happened.

When Violet first fell in love.

That’s why she always told him to shut up. Something in Minerva’s voice brought her comfort, gave her some sense of purpose.

He can remember Violet sitting there, watching both of them, and when Minerva sang to her, it was like he didn’t exist anymore. He was just there for background noise, a mere puppet to set the mood and a witness to what was blossoming.

It was beautiful.

Violet was beautiful.

He’d told her that shortly after she and Minerva became official, told her how happy he was for her. She punched him in the shoulder and called him stupid.

Minerva had agreed with him, though.

God, the way they looked at each other.

“I killed her.”

But, the memories of her glazed over expression, her washed out, gaunt face overshadow those fond times now.

Minerva...

“I killed her.”

Sophie.

“I killed her.”

Poor, poor Sophie.

He has to squeeze his eyes shut and bite his lip to stop his quivering chin. He’s not about to cry here, especially not in front of Mitch. He swallows the lump forming in his throat and breathes in, and out. He places the picture in the desk drawer.

“She wasn’t hurt, right?” Louis asks, attempting to hide the tremble in his voice. “By the glass?”

“Not that I could see. Didn’t see any blood anywhere.”

Well, at least she’s physically still intact. That doesn’t make him any less worried, though.

Mitch’s eyes dart all around the floor, looking for any shards he might’ve missed. He turns on his heels to grab his bag again.

“Clem told you?” Louis asks. “That she was gonna talk to her?”

“Yeah.”

Louis knows Clementine and Mitch had some sort of understanding with each other, but of all the people he thought she would’ve turned to when it came to talking to Violet, he didn’t put Mitch too high on the list.

“Why?”

“Uh,” Mitch stops sweeping. “Why what?”

“Why’d she tell you?” Louis asks. “She could’ve come to me.”

Mitch tenses. “I-I don’t fucking know, dude!” he exclaims far too loudly. As he continues, his speech becomes quicker, more defensive, “She just said it and I told her it was a shit idea but no, she just had to come and poke the bear right in the fucking eye and when you do that you get your hand bitten off and so I said I’d come with her and make sure her hand doesn’t get bitten off- shit I didn’t actually say it like that but I said, ‘don’t do it,’ and she was all, ‘I’m doing it,’ and-”

“Okay, okay,” Louis interrupts, overwhelmed by the outburst. “I get the idea. But why are you here now?”

Straightens himself out again, leaving the broom and dustpan on the floor to tie up the bag. “She wasn’t gonna clean it up,” he mumbles. “Hey, shouldn’t you be hunting? Aasim’s gonna kick your ass if you don’t get moving. We need that deer.”

Again, with the hunting thing.

“Yeah, yeah, the deer,” he sighs. “I’m going. I just wanted to check up on Vi first.”

“Doubt she wants to see anybody. Better off going straight to Aasim. Like right now.”

“I will,” Louis crosses his arms, “as soon as I see you out.”

Mitch eyes him questioningly before it dawns on him.

“Oh, right. Fair enough.”

He leaves the broken broom and dustpan in the corner of the room and scopes out the floor one last time. “Tell her not to break any glass shit next time. It’s a pain in the ass to clean up.”

Louis doesn’t bother responding. Mitch is already out the door anyway, leaving him alone in the emptiness of Violet’s room.

---

It’s chillier this morning. While the sun is still bright in the sky, there are more clouds floating about, all various shades of gray. Maybe not dark enough to worry about rain at the moment, but they still pass over the sun and bring a coolness over the school.

Louis tugs on the collar of his jacket, covering up a bit. Upon looking around, he’s a little surprised to only see Tenn sitting at his usual table, holding a board with a piece of paper taped on it in his lap, and Aasim pacing in front of the gates. He can faintly see Clementine and AJ up on watch.

No Ruby, no Willy, no Omar.

Even Rosie isn’t outside.

Odd.

But, he shrugs it off. He didn’t think he was late enough to miss breakfast, but that does bring up another concern.

Ignoring Aasim for a moment, figuring he can wait just a little bit longer, Louis makes his way towards Tenn.

There’s a line up of old bottles, some broken, some filled with a gross looking grey liquid. The board rests comfortably in Tenn’s lap. He’s focused on his drawing, his eyes constantly darting up to stare at the bottles before going back to copy it onto paper.

“Hey, Tenn,” Louis greets.

The boy looks back at him, eyes wide and blinking rapidly. “Oh, hi, Louis,” he says.

“What’cha drawing today?” Louis asks enthusiastically, peering over his shoulder.

Tenn sheepishly sets the board on the table, careful not to knock anything over. Several drawings of bottles fill up the page, all a little wobbly or disproportionate.

“James said I need practice drawing from life more, but,” Tenn sighs, “bottles are hard.”

“Yeah, but it looks like you’re getting the hang of it.” Louis points to a sketch in the right corner. “I like this one. It looks real enough to drink out of!”

A small, timid smile spreads across the young boy’s face. “Really?”

“Totally,” Louis gives an encouraging grin. “Wait until James sees these. He’s gonna be floored at how good you’re getting. Oh!” Louis pats his shoulder. “By the way, that one you did of me looks amazing on our wall.”

“You-you hung it up?”

“Of course I did!”

Tenn looks away to hide his diffident smile. “Thanks, Louis…”

“Of course,” Louis grins. He moves around and takes a seat next to him with a sigh, his usual grin replaced with a more serious look. “Hey,” he lowers his voice, “how’s Vi doing?”

Tenn sets his pencil down, keeping his eyes locked on his hands. “She’s okay. She slept in my room last night.”

“I heard,” Louis scratches at his chin thoughtfully, “but, she’s okay? Well, as okay as she can be?”

“I think so,” Tenn says. “She-...she cried a lot, but she’s stopped, so...”

Shit.

“Did she get any sleep?”

“A little. She’s still in bed. She told me I didn’t have to wait for her.”

“Did she eat anything?”

“I brought her some breakfast,” he nods, “and she ate a little.”

Relief washes over him.

“Good,” he says. “That’s good. Keep an eye on her, okay? I would go check on her myself but it seems I’m needed elsewhere.”

Tenn goes back to his drawing, pulling the board back into his lap, saying, “Uhm, aren’t you and Aasim-”

“Going hunting, yes, to capture that magical deer prancing in the woods.” Louis stands up again, giving Tenn one last pat on the back. “Her water bottle’s in her room. When you take a break, would you fill it up and bring it to her?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Louis smiles warmly. “Keep up the good work.”

He waves good-bye to the young boy, but still strays away from the gates. He knows Aasim can see him, and it’s only a matter of time before he stomps over and drags him out by his ear.

There’s just one more thing he has to do.

Approaching the post where they take turns on watch, Louis calls up, “Clementine?”

At first, he doesn’t get a response. Then, AJ leans over and smiles down at him, excitedly waving. “Hi, Louis!”

“Hey, little man!” he laughs. “Clem up there?”

“Yeah!”

Clementine appears beside him, giving AJ a set of binoculars. Louis steps back, watching her climb down.

He’s pleased to see her smiling.

In fact, he dare say she’s glowing this morning.

She hurries over to him and slips into his open arms. Her cold nose brushes his skin when she leans up and pecks him on the lips.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he grins. He opens his jacket up more, pulling her close and wrapping it around her as much as possible. “You’re freezing.”

“Been out here a few hours,” she sighs, melting into his touch, soaking up his warmth. “I expected to see you a lot sooner. Aasim’s been waiting.”

“Ah, yes, so we can hunt this famous deer everyone’s so obsessed with,” he says, “He was ready to drag me out of bed by my feet this morning. I think I can actually feel him glaring at us right now.” He peeks over Clementine’s head nonchalantly, and sure enough, Aasim is staring at the couple, exasperated.

“Believe me, I heard all about it,” Clementine pulls back with a stern look. “You shouldn’t give him such a hard time.”

“Yeah, I know. He just makes it too easy sometimes. Anyway,” Louis leans forward to kiss her cheek. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay before I took off.”

She hums against his chest, mumbling, “I’m a lot better, actually. All things considered. It’s… a good day.”

“It’s a cold day.”

“It’s not that cold.”

“Your nose is about to fall off.”

“So dramatic.”

Louis chuckles, pulling back to rub warmth into her arms before stopping to hold her hands.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Later,” she says. “You have a deer to hunt.”

“I’d happily cancel to make time for you.”

“Nice try, but no.”

“Ugh.”

He’s getting pretty tired of hearing about this deer.

“Don’t pout. Think about how much a whole deer could feed us.”

“Not much, because I’m, like, eighty percent sure Bambi doesn’t really exist.”

“Louis.”

“Okay, ninety percent.”

She shakes her head, trying to hide her smile. She playfully smacks his chest. “Just go. You two have kept James waiting long enough. We’ll talk later, okay? I promise.”

Louis doesn’t let her hands go.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asks.

“Yes.”

He studies her face for any sign of unease but finds that she’s still smiling up at him.

When she notices his hesitation, she tugs on his hand.

“Are you okay?”

He’s quiet as he says, “I went to check on her. She wasn’t in her room.”

Clementine doesn’t say anything, but her grip on his hands tightens.

“I did find Mitch cleaning up glass. That was pretty weird.”

Her eyes flutter shut as she lowers her head. “The picture…”

“Yeah,” he nods, “Tenn promised to keep an eye on her today. Try not to think about it too much. And if she does come out, well... ”

“I know.”

He doesn’t say any more about it. Her promise to talk about it when he gets back is enough assurance for him.

“Louis!” Aasim calls from the gates. “Let’s go!”

Louis shakes his head and forces a cheerful smile. “Best not keep poor Aasim waiting. He’s gonna need a shoulder to cry on when we don’t find that deer.”

Clementine rolls his eyes. “And here I thought you were the optimist.”

“Optimist, sure. Delusional? Not as much as you’d think.”

“Just don’t give Aasim such a hard time,” she says, quirking a knowing brow. “I hear he’s had a rough morning already.”

“I won’t,” he promises. “I have a feeling that he won’t hesitate to shoot at me today if I push the wrong button.”

Clementine’s fingers brush against his cheek before she pulls him down. Their lips press comfortably together as a pleased sigh escapes her. They savor the moment, reluctant to pull away. It takes him a second to recover, a second before he can open his eyes again.

God, she is glowing today.

And he’s just standing there, smiling and chuckling like a fool.

She turns away to hide the pretty blush blossoming on her cheeks, hitting his chest again.

“Go.”

“Fine.”

Louis goes to the gates, turning to wave good-bye to her. He’s still grinning when he meets Aasim, who shakes his head and gives an exaggerated eye roll before pushing through the gates.

Louis isn’t too far behind.

41 notes · View notes

jesus-otaku · 3 years

Text

Title: Peculiar Familiarity (part 6)

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Pairing: Marichat

Word count: 2241

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

A long-overdue update for a giveaway prize for @kwiibi-blog. I feel so bad about this just sitting in my folder for so long. (I typed this part up like 2 years ago during the time I was away from Tumblr and completely neglected to post it.) I really hope the long wait has been worth it.

I mentioned this when updating the fic on AO3 so I’ll mention it here as well: I am no longer nearly as active in the ML fandom as I used to be. There is so much fandom salt and drama that it has been hard to find the same initial joy I had for creating ML content. Most of my writing lately has been for original projects rather than fanfic. But because I hate leaving things incomplete, and I think everyone reading my fics deserves to get the endings they’ve waited for, I am trying very hard to regain my lost motivation. My goal is to at least wrap up the multi-part fics I started, even if I don’t necessarily write the other fics I originally had planned. Any questions about this can be directed to my ask box!

“Something about Marinette was off tonight. Something beyond the mess of deciding whose hand he was going to kiss.”

________________________

“You've been keeping secrets from me, Princess,” Chat Noir sang as he dropped through the trapdoor into Marinette's room.

She whirled away from her desk to look up at him, and her face was white as a sheet. “S-secrets? What secrets?” Her lips were twitching up in an attempt at a smile, but it was very obviously fake. “I—I'm not keeping any secrets, don't be silly! I mean, why would I not have told you that I was—I mean—that is, if I was—I mean—nope, no secrets here!” She broke into nervous laughter. “None whatsoever.” Then, hesitantly, she asked, “Why do you say that?”

Chat was a little taken aback. That was a much more…intense reaction than he had been expecting. He climbed down the loft ladder to join her at her desk. Leaning on the desk with one hand, he replied, “You never told me you and Ladybug were in touch with each other.”

Marinette gaped at him. It must not have been what she had thought he was going to say, because some of the color slowly started to return to her face. “That's—I—you never asked.”

“No,” he agreed, “but when you said I should talk to Ladybug about the whole hand-kissing thing, that—you could have just told her yourself.” It would have spared him a lot of embarrassment, that was for sure.

She fidgeted uncomfortably. “I think it was better that she heard it from you,” she replied. “Otherwise it might have made it seem like you were avoiding her.”

He hesitated. She did have a point there. And embarrassment or not, his conversation with Ladybug had cleared up a miscommunication he hadn't even realized they'd been having. “Still,” he said, “you could have at least said something.”

“You never asked,” Marinette countered. She leaned forward, propping her hands on her knees. “So, um, what did I—I mean, Ladybug say? About the hand-kissing thing, that is?”

Chat gave her a thumbs up with a smile. “She gave it the all-clear. Hand kisses are now exclusively yours, Princess.”

She grinned back at him. “Lucky me. But that wasn't exactly what I meant.”

He frowned in confusion. “What?”

“I never said you had to ask her permission,” she pointed out. She folded her hands in her lap. “I just said you needed to tell her you were going to stop kissing her hand. Did she say anything about you stopping?”

Great. Not only was Ladybug going to kill him by asking about his relationship with Marinette, now Marinette was going to kill him by asking about his relationship with Ladybug. He was so, so doomed. “She said I didn't have to,” he answered slowly, watching her to see her reaction. “She would have been okay with me kissing both your hand and hers. But I didn't want to do that to you after saying I would make it a you-and-me thing only.”

All of the color had returned to Marinette's face now, and if it hadn't been for the fact she had been so white just a minute ago, he would have thought he saw a dusting of pink on her cheeks. He quashed it instead as the act of an overactive, hopeful imagination. She'd been so pale that the natural flush of her face probably just looked overly pinkish by comparison. “Thank you,” she mumbled. A little clearer, she added, “It means a lot, you know. That you would change your dynamic with Ladybug just for me.”

Feeling suddenly very embarrassed, Chat looked around the room at just about everything except for Marinette. His eyes locked with the little black stuffed cat that perched on the shelf above her desk. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “You don't have to thank me for anything. It's not like things are going to change between me and Ladybug, not really.” But then he remembered that odd look of resignation that had been in Ladybug's eyes last night, and he had to wonder if things wouldn't change even the tiniest bit. She'd almost seemed upset.

As if she could read his mind, Marinette asked, “Are you sure about that? We—You two seem pretty close.”

“We're still going to be friends,” he replied, hating that word—friends—just a little less than he would have expected to. His friendship with his lady had always come first, no matter how badly he wanted to be something more. That priority had somehow become clearer the more time he had spent with Marinette. He waved a hand dismissively, as if her concern were a minor one. “A little thing like kissing your hand won't change that.” Oh, but that look in Ladybug's eyes last night…

A tiny smile made its way onto her face. “Ladybug is really lucky to have a friend like you. I would've been a lot more worried about things changing than you are.”

He braced his baton against the floor and leaned forward on it. “Maybe you can put in a good word for me, then, Princess. Since you're friends with her, too.” God, what was coming out of his mouth? He was going to be the end of himself, pursuing a conversation like this. But still, he couldn't stop himself from continuing. “I'm sure if you sing my praises, she'll reconsider my romantic advances.”

The statement startled a laugh out of her. “Okay, I take it back,” she giggled. “She's lucky, but she's not that lucky.”

Well, ouch.

Even though he knew Marinette meant it only in good fun, and that she would never intentionally say something to hurt someone else—out of all the people he'd met, she was one of the most well-attuned to preventing akuma attacks—her reply stung. So much so that his heart may as well have physically ached. The amusement he'd allowed to creep onto his face was gone in an instant. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Her expression dropped into horror. Had she not realized what she was saying? “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like that—I was just—you're great, but—um, you and Ladybug are—we're—I mean—ugh, I don't know what I mean anymore.” She buried her face in her hands, and there was a definite pink tinge to her cheeks now beneath her fingers.

Something about Marinette was off tonight. Something beyond the mess of deciding whose hand he was going to kiss. He was stunned it had taken him this long to realize it. Chat Noir tucked away his baton and went to kneel in front of her chair.

“Hey, Princess,” he coaxed softly. She peeked out at him from between her fingers. That much, at least, was encouraging. “What's wrong? Forget about me and Ladybug for a second. Did something happen?”

Her eyes scanned his; for what, he wasn't sure. Slowly, her hands slipped away from her face, and she set them back in her lap. She sighed as if resigning herself to something. Her gaze dropped to the floor between the two of them. “It's just—well, I have this…friend. And he's a great friend, don't get me wrong,” she added hastily, before he could have even thought to comment. “I'd trust him with anything, no matter what.”

“But…?” he prompted. There was obviously a “but” coming.

She gave a halfhearted sort of shrug. “I don't know. It just feels like things are…weird between us right now.” Her eyes were still glued on the floor as she began twisting her fingers around each other in her lap. “Like he's…I don't know, distant?”

He hoped she wasn't talking about him as Adrien. He'd done his damnedest to get closer to her, to make her feel more comfortable around him, to see at least some inkling of the way she acted around Chat in her interactions with Adrien. Those attempts had so far only ended in more pronounced stammering and occasional awkward laughter. It wouldn't have entirely surprised him if she was referring to him as Adrien.

He just really, really didn't want to be the one she was referring to.

Marinette seemed to take his pensive, anxious silence as a sign to continue, because she kept talking. Almost like she couldn't stop herself. “And I guess I just can't help wondering if maybe there's something that I did, or if there's something else going on in his life that I don't know about, or if he's just sick of hanging out with me.”

Chat took one of her hands in his before she could wring her fingers white. Her eyes finally snapped up to meet his again. “If he's sick of hanging out with you, then he's an idiot,” he said, with far more feeling than he had originally intended to put into his sentence. “You're amazing, Marinette. Anyone would be lucky to call you their friend.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “I know I am.”

That tiny little smile made its way back onto her face, just enough to lift the corners of her lips out of miserable worry. So gently that he almost thought he imagined it, she squeezed his hand back. “Thanks, Chat Noir.”

Kneeling there with her hand in his, he almost kissed her hand before coming to his senses and shooting her a wink instead. Even with both her and Ladybug's permission, he couldn't just go around kissing her hand willy-nilly. “Anytime. It's a knight's sworn duty to protect his princess, even from her own self-doubt.” The comment made her smile spread wider, and the weight of worry lifted from his chest.

And it was strange, how much this reminded him of another time, with another girl, begging her to believe in him and in herself when she hadn't thought she could be enough.

Then Marinette was getting to her feet, her hand was sliding away from his, and the moment of familiarity was gone. “So,” she said, “are you up for being walloped at Ultimate Mecha Strike 3 tonight?”

He wanted to say yes so very badly. Wanted to prove that he'd meant what he'd said, that anyone who didn't want to hang out with her was an idiot. But curse it all, he had a photo shoot tomorrow morning at eight and he would never hear the end of it from his father if he showed up at his photo shoot with anything less than a full night's rest.

“I wish I could stay,” he said, trying to infuse as much regret into the words as possible. Her smile still dropped. He cursed the name of photo shoots everywhere in his head. “Unfortunately, I have a prior engagement with my bed. I've got someplace I have to be early tomorrow, and I need my cat nap or I'll never make it through the day.”

Her nose scrunched up in distaste at the prospect of getting up early during a weekend. “On a Saturday?” she asked incredulously. “That just sounds like some form of torture.”

Chat grinned. At least they were of the same mind on that point. “It probably will be, but a commitment is a commitment. I'm a cat of my word.” He stood and began to back his way towards the ladder to the trapdoor. “I can come back tomorrow night,” he added hopefully. He didn't usually visit two nights in a row, but since this visit was so short, maybe… “And you could wallop me then.”

“Bring plenty of fighting spirit, because I've been practicing,” she replied, smiling once again. He was struck for the hundredth time by how very familiar the teasing tone of her voice was, and not because he had heard it from her so often now as Chat. When he took another step back towards the ladder, she asked, “Aren't you forgetting something, Chat Noir?” Her smile had turned impish.

It took him an embarrassingly long moment of staring to realize what she was referring to. By the time he had put two and two together, she had already stepped closer to him and offered her hand. “Oh. Right. How foolish of me.” He took her hand in his and couldn't help marveling at how well their hands fit together. Almost exactly like his and Ladybug's did.

But Marinette wouldn't push him away from the gesture, not tonight and not in the future. That wasn't who the two of them were together. Marinette wasn't Ladybug, and he was a little bit of a different Chat Noir when he was with her. Not as flirty, not as hopeful, not as self-aggrandizing.

If he thought about it, maybe he as Chat Noir acted the way he wished he as Adrien could act with Marinette.

Minus the hand-kissing, of course.

He pressed his lips to her hand, lingering just a moment longer than was really necessary. Her skin was warm beneath his touch, and there was the faintest scent of the bakery clinging to her. It almost made him not want to pull away.

He did still have to get up early in the morning, though, so he forced himself to straighten and release her hand. She had already agreed that he could come back tomorrow. This was only goodbye for a day. He'd survived longer than that without her before. Chat swept her a bow. “Until tomorrow, Princess.”

Her smile spread into that glimmer of sunlight that had nearly made his heart stop last time. It almost made his heart stop again now. “Until tomorrow, Chat Noir. And thank you.”

#drabble #drabble prize #kwiibi-blog #miraculous ladybug #marichat #otp #miraculous fanfic #peculiar familiarity

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wonkasmissstarshine · 3 years

Text

The Chocolatier’s Rose {Willy Wonka x OC} Ch.35

GIFs not mine. Credit go to owners.

Summary: Charlie and Jenny sleepover at Rose and Willy’s for the night. And once the children are asleep, Rose and Willy have a bit of fun.

A/N: Another chapter with smut in it. This time, it’s a handjob.

Tagging: @holdmeicant @willymywonkers @sleepiesapphicxoxo @frozenhuntress67

Lucy took Jenny home to pack a bag for the night, and then she took her right back to the factory. Rose and Charlie both waited outside for her. Jenny excitedly ran up to both of them, and gave them big hugs. After, she turned to her sister and gave her a hug.

"Now, Jenny, you be good alright?" Lucy told her sister. "And you do whatever Rose and Willy ask you to do, okay?"

"I will" Jenny promised.

"And if anything is wrong, please tell them. If you get the nightmares again--"

"I will tell them" Jenny assured her.

Lucy smiled and hugged her. "Oh, I hope you have fun tonight! Now, I need to talk with Rose, alright?" Jenny nodded and went over to go stand by Charlie. Rose stepped forward so Lucy could talk to her. "Rose, this is Jenny's first time spending the night away from home"

"Don't worry, Lucy" Rose said, placing her hand on her shoulder. "We'll make sure Jenny is comfortable"

"Good" Lucy nodded. "But there is something you need to know" She let out a shaky breath. "It's about our parents..." Rose wasn't blind to see the tears swelling in Lucy's eyes. "There was an accident. It was their anniversary trip, and they took a trip to Spain..."

"Lucy, you don't have to..."

"No, no. I need to tell you" Lucy continued. "They spent two weeks there. Mom called the night before they were to fly home, said she and dad really missed us and that they couldn't wait to see us again. Jenny and I got up real early the morning they were supposed to come home. Made them a special breakfast. Then, that's when the news report came on. A plane had exploded. It was the plane they were on..."

Rose just stared at Lucy, trying to process what she had just told her. After a moment of silence, Rose finally said something. "I'm so sorry that happened, Lucy"

Lucy smiled a strained smile. "It took Jenny months to accept the fact that they were gone. Every night, she'd come crying to me, asking when mommy and daddy were coming home. I didn't know what else to tell her, except "Soon. They'd be home soon" Then I always felt guilty because I didn't take the time to grieve. But, I couldn't, because I needed to be there for Jenny"

At that point, Lucy broke down into tears, and Rose brought her into a tight hug. "It's okay, Lucy" The two friends stayed like that for a few minutes.

"Thank you, Rose" Lucy said, calming down from her tears. "We've both accepted the fact that they're gone, but Jenny gets nightmares sometimes. If she does get them, there's a song that makes her feel better. It's one mom used to sing us to sleep with"

"Tell me the song, and I'll sing it as many times as I need to" Rose said.

Lucy smiled, relieved knowing that her sister will be in good care tonight.

******

Charlie and Jenny followed after Rose. They stopped when they reached the closed door of a room. Jenny looked up to read what the name was.

"Rose Garden" Jenny said the name. "Is this room named after you, Rose?"

"Not just named, but Willy made it because of me" Rose explained. She looked down to her brother. "Charlie, I don't think I've shown you this room yet, have I?"

"Not yet" Charlie said. "But I'm very excited to see it"

Rose opened the door to the room, and the three of them walked inside. There was no stopping the gasps of amazement that came from the two children.

"It's beautiful!" Charlie said.

"It's truly amazing!" Jenny added. She was quick to notice the house. "Is that the house where you and Willy live?"

"It is" Rose said with a smile. "It's small but that's how we like it"

"How did you even move two houses into the factory?" Jenny asked curiously.

"That's still something I wonder about every day"

"Me too" Charlie agreed.

"Come, come" Rose urged. She walked in front, and Charlie and Jenny followed close behind her. "Let's get inside" They went inside the house and Rose immediately called out for her fiancé. "Willy, my love! We're here!"

Willy emerged from the bedroom. "Oh, goody! I was getting kind of lonely" Immediately, he went to Rose and wrapped his arms around her and leaned in for a kiss.

Rose let out a giggle as she put her finger to his lips. "Cocoa bean! Not in front of Charlie and Jenny"

"Sorry, starshine" Willy said, copying her giggle before nuzzling into her neck. "I just get carried away with you"

"It's okay" Rose said before pressing a kiss to his cheek. She turned to face her brother and her friend. "Now, does anyone want hot chocolate?"

Jenny nodded and grinned. "Yes please!"

"With little marshmallows and whipped cream?" Charlie suggested.

"Would you have it with anything else?" Rose said, and Charlie smiled at that. "Alrighty! Four cups of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and whipped cream coming up!" Rose turned on her heel and made her way to the kitchen. "Willy, would you please show our guests where they will be sleeping tonight?"

"Absolutely" Willy said. He then waved for Charlie and Jenny to follow him. "Come on!" The three of them walked off as Rose began making the hot chocolate.

******

The four of them were having quite the fun night. They played some games and even built a fort made out pillows and sheets. The four of them sat inside it, passing around a flashlight as they took turns telling a story. It was Rose's turn and she was finishing up the scary story she was telling.

"That's when the man turned around, and he realized that he was alone the entire time" Rose told as eerily as she could.

"Wow, Rosie" Charlie said. "That was a really scary story"

"I hope I didn't scare anyone too much" Rose said. She held out the flashlight, ready to pass it on. "Who wants to go next?"

"Mr Wonka" Jenny piped up. "I want to hear how you fell in love with Rose"

Willy grinned, glancing over to Rose. "Of course I'll tell that story" Rose returned his smile, giving him the flashlight. "I've never said this before, not even to you, starshine, but I've actually seen you before the tour"

Rose's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You have?"

Willy nodded before admitting shyly. "I always saw you and Charlie walk by the factory every day. I always saw you two stop and look. I couldn't help but always look at you, Rose, whenever you and Charlie came by. I didn't love you at that point, but I remember my stomach always feeling funny whenever I saw you"

"Did it feel like butterflies fluttering?" Jenny asked, leaning forward with interest. She was really liking this story so far.

"That's exactly what it felt like!" Willy exclaimed. "I still get those butterflies whenever I look at you, starshine" He took Rose's hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "Anyways, where was I?" He paused to remember his place in the story. "Oh yeah! I even started memorizing what time of the day you two would stop by, just so I could see you. It was the one thing I looked forward to every day. Then came the day where I decided to send out the Golden Tickets. I sent them out with the intention of finding an heir, but I also sent them out in hopes I could meet you. I hoped that you and Charlie would find it"

"And we did!" Charlie said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I couldn't tell you how happy I was when I saw you!" Willy said. Even though he was telling this story to everyone, his gaze remained on Rose. "You were even more beautiful up close. I wanted nothing more than to spend the entire day with you by my side. But I was also afraid that you wouldn't like me"

Rose giggled as she placed her hand on his cheek. "Well, I did like you, cocoa bean. I liked you the moment I laid eyes on you"

Willy smiled, placing his hand overtop of hers. "I couldn't stop myself from falling for you. And then when Charlie won, I was happier than I had ever been. It meant I would be able to see you everyday, and not just from a distance" Willy's smile then dropped. "Then I made a mistake. Everything I said about family and not letting yours move into the factory. I saw the way you looked at me, and it hurt. When you called me Mr Wonka, instead of Willy like you had that whole day, it hurt

"When you weren't here, it felt so empty without you. I couldn't even make my chocolate or candy right because I missed you so much. I had a therapy session with my Oompa-Loompa therapist, and I told him about you. That's when I pieced it together. Why I was feeling so lonely. Why my candy was tasting so terrible. I realized that I loved you, and I was heartbroken because you weren't in the factory with me. So that's when I decided I should find and talk to Charlie"

"And then you saved me from marrying someone who I would never love as much as I love you" Rose said.

"That was a wonderful story, Mr Wonka" Jenny said. She suddenly got a sullen look on her face, but it didn't last long as her smile returned. "Can I tell one now?"

Willy gave the flashlight to Jenny. "What story are you going to tell us?" He asked her.

"Well, I never really talk about them anymore, not even with Lucy" Jenny started. Rose immediately knew that she meant her parents. "But, I think I want to talk about them with you. My parents were wonderful and I don't remember them enough like I should"

Charlie placed a comforting hand on Jenny's shoulder. "We'd like to hear about them, Jenny. That is, if you feel comfortable telling us about them"

"Thank you" She said quietly. And with that, Jenny started sharing all the happy memories that she had of her parents.

******

Everyone agreed that it was time for bed. Rose was in the extra bedroom with Charlie and Jenny, making sure that they were all tucked in. Charlie and Jenny were squeezed together on the one bed, but neither of them minded.

"Remember, if you two need anything, don't be afraid to wake Willy and I, okay?" Rose said.

"Thank you, Rosie, but I think we'll be okay" Charlie said.

"Yeah" Jenny nodded, agreeing with Charlie. "We'll be okay"

Rose smiled at the both of them. She pulled the covers up to their chins, and kissed them both on the forehead. "Goodnight you two" She said. Rose was just about to walk out the door when she stopped and turned on her heel. "How about I sing a goodnight song?"

Charlie grinned and his eyes lit up. He missed having Rose sing him to sleep. "I'd like that" He said.

"Me too" Jenny said. "Charlie says you have an angel's voice"

Rose sat on the bed, thinking of a song to sing them. Then, she remembered what Lucy told her. About the special song their mom would use to sing Lucy and Jenny to sleep.

Once there was a way

To get back homeward

Once there was a way

To get back home

Sleep, pretty darlings

Do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers

Fill your eyes

Smiles await you when you rise

Sleep pretty darlings

Do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

Once there was a way

To get back homeward

Once there was a way

To get back home

Sleep, pretty darlings

Do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

And that's all it took for Charlie and Jenny to fall into a peaceful slumber. As quietly as she could, Rose got up off of the bed and she tiptoed out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her.

******

Rose made her way to her own bedroom. When she got there, she expected Willy to already be in his pajamas and waiting for her in bed. What she wasn't expecting, was to walk in and find him without a shirt on.

"Cocoa bean!" She squeaked. That caused Willy to jump in surprise, and turn to look at the girl. Rose was blushing furiously and she was covering her eyes. "I-I didn't know you were still getting changed. I can leave and give you some privacy--"

"Starshine, it's okay" Willy said, giggling at her shyness. He found it cute. He stepped closer to her. He grabbed the hand that she was using to cover her eyes, and he moved it, lacing his fingers with hers.

"Are you sure?" Rose said, her voice quiet.

"Of course I am" Willy's voice also grew quiet.

Rose bit her lip as she let her eyes trail over every inch of bare skin she could see. He wasn't overly muscular but it surprised Rose of how fit he was. "Can I touch you?"

"Go ahead, truffle"

He let go of her hand that he was still holding. Rose reached out and placed both of her hands on his chest. She let her hands linger for a moment. Then she began moving her hands. She moved them along his shoulders and his arms. She took a moment to feel his biceps.

"You're so gorgeous, cocoa bean" Rose said in a breath.

"Yeah?" Willy rasped. He was enjoying the feeling of her fingers dancing along his skin. His gaze never left her. He took notice of the way that her chest was heaving up and down. And the way she was biting at her lip was too enticing.

"So, so beautiful" Rose hummed. She trailed her fingers back over along his chest and then down his stomach. She also tilted her chin up and started pressing kisses along his jaw.

"T-truffle" Willy's eyes fluttered closed, his lips parted open and a noise escaped. Have you ever heard Willy Wonka moan? Because that was the most beautiful noise that ever came to Rose’s ears.

He didn't want her to stop. He really didn't. He just wanted her to keep kissing him and keep touching him. Still, there were two children sound asleep in the other room. He didn’t want to risk them hearing anything and accidentally walking in on them.

But he could ignore the way he was straining against his pants. He couldn’t ignore the aching for Rose to touch him.

Rose had finally reached his pants. She noticed the bulge in his pants. She bit her lip, palming his hard cock through his pants. Willy let out a shaky breath. “Oh, cocoa bean” Rose cooed to him, smirking as her lips brushed against his ear. “Did I do this to you?”

“Y-yes” Willy cried. He bucked against her hand, desperate for her touch.

“Do you want me to touch you, cocoa bean?” Rose purred, her hands already on his belt. “Want me to make you feel good like you made me feel yesterday?”

“Please, truffle” He said, taking Rose’s face in his hands and giving her a kiss. “I want you to make me feel good”

Rose unbuckled his belt, the clinking of the metal echoing in the room. It also made her shiver with anticipation. This would be the first cock she would ever see. Once the belt was off, she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Rose pulled his pants down his legs and she was surprised to find that he hadn’t been wearing any kind of underwear.

Willy hissed when his cock sprang free. He heard Rose gasp and he gave her a look of concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just...” Rose couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. He was bigger than she was expecting. His tip was red and precum was leaking out of his slit. Honestly, his cock looked so hard that it looked like he was hurting. “You’re so big, Willy”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah. Remember yesterday when you put your fingers inside me?” Willy nodded. How could he forget that? The noises she was making, the way she was writhing, how pretty her face looked when she came. “Well, when you put this inside me,” Rose wrapped her hand around his cock, making Willy let out a shaky breath. “It’s gonna feel so good”

She started stroking him, and his head fell backwards, letting out a moan. “Oh, truffle. T-that feels so exquisite” If this is what her hand felt like around him, he could only imagine what her honeypot would feel like.

“Yeah?” Rose let her thumb brush over his tip. Willy visibly shuddered at that. It was evident to Rose that he was extremely sensitive. And so she had to wonder. “Have you ever been touched like this Willy?”

“N-no” Willy answered, shaking his head. “No one’s ever touched me like this before. I haven’t even touched myself. You’re the first one”

That turned her on so much. Knowing that she was the first to touch him in such an intimate way. Rose continued to pump her hand along the length of his cock, speeding up the movement of her hand.

Moans wouldn’t stop spilling out of Willy’s mouth. This felt so good. He never wanted her to stop. Especially now that he felt a foreign sensation bubbling in the pit of his stomach. “R-Rose, something’s happening. Please...please, don’t stop”

“I won’t stop, cocoa bean” Rose promised him, burying her face into his shoulder. She kissed at the bare skin. “I want you to feel as good as you made me feel yesterday”

Something was about to happen, and Willy could feel it. His breathing was becoming more ragged, his stomach was twitching, his legs were shaking, and his balls were tightening. “Truffle, I don’t know what’s happening but it feels so good! I...I... Oh, my pretty truffle!”

Willy’s head fell back and he cried out in euphoric pleasure as he spurt his cum into Rose’s hand. “Rose, that...ah... feels so good” She let him fuck her hand as he rode out his high. She could still feeling him cumming on her hand. Once he was done, Rose let go of him and looked at her hand. Willy had cum quite a bit, as her hand was just coated in the white and sticky substance.

Willy also noticed the state of Rose’s hand, and he immediately felt ashamed. “Oh, I made a mess! I’m so sorry, starshine”

“No, no, cocoa bean. It’s okay” Rose sweetly told him. Using her clean hand, she reached up and stroked his cheek. “You just came, that’s all. That’s what happens when someone makes you feel really good”

“Like when all of your special honey gushed out of your honeypot?” Willy asked, an innocent smile creeping on his face.

“Exactly like that” Rose said, smiling at the fact that he just called her cunt a honeypot. It was cute and honestly kind of hot at the same time. She brought her dirtied hand closer to her face. “That must’ve felt good, cocoa bean. Look how much you came for me”

“I see that look in your eyes, truffle” Willy said, watching her intently with a smirk. “You want to taste it, don’t you? Go on, then. Lick it all off and tell me how I taste”

Looking him right in the eye, Rose proceeded to lick off all of Willy’s cum from her hand. She moaned at the taste. His cum tasted so sweet, but there was a hint of saltiness to it. She loved it. “Mmm, cocoa bean. You taste so good”

#willy wonka x oc #willy wonka x reader #willy wonka #rose bucket #my oc #rose and willy #the chocolatier's rose #ns//fw

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