#alex thought he’d found someone who loves him. the type of guy he said he wanted to bring home one day loves him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nojey · 3 years

Text

unnoticed

quackity / alex x streamer!reader

genre: fluff -> angst pronouns: they / them word count: 2.1k warning(s): cursing, suggestive jokes

synopsis: you had known alex since you started streaming but none of your viewers knew. you started getting closer and eventually you started streaming together but your viewers didn’t like that.

“(y/n)!” alex screamed into his phone after you answered the facetime call. “yes, my love?!” you screamed back. alex giggled and asked, “do you want to stream sometime soon? i mean like, we’ve known each other for a few months and we haven’t streamed together, i know you’re a fairly new streamer but i even asked dream if you could come onto the smp, and i have something planned- well karl and sapnap helped me plan it- but that’s not the point, the point is-” he rambled. “alex? are you asking me on a minecraft date?” you asked. “no! well, maybe, okay yeah. i’m asking you on a minecraft date.” he confirmed. “i’d love to go on a minecraft date with you, alex.” you said, blushing a bit.

truth is, you’ve had a crush on alex for a few months. when he first slid into your dms you didn’t really expect it, but it turned out to start a beautiful friendship. you always flirted with alex in hopes that he’d notice, but it never seemed like he did. he never retaliated back but little did you know, he was just too shy to.

“uh- okay great! tomorrow, at 3pm your time, stream it. we’re going to have a lot of fun. wear pajamas, or you know- just be comfortable okay?” he rushed. you laughed a bit and said, “yes alex, of course. bye now,” then smiled and hung up.

you immediately went tot twitter and started a thread: @(y/s/n): this weeks stream schedule (times are pst): @(y/s/n): tomorrow @ 3pm: minecraft date w/ someone i haven’t streamed with yet ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ↳ @ quackity: i wonder who this might be hmMmMMmm @(y/s/n): tuesday @ 1pm: i somehow got invited to an among us lobby w/ corpse, sykkuno, valkyrae, disguised toast, quarterjade, masayoshi, peterparktv, jacksepticeye, and ludwig ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ @(y/s/n): wednesday @ 1pm: if things don’t go well w/ person on monday- looking for a mc boyfriend! ↳ @ quackity: WELL THAT’S RUDE TO ASSUME THAT THINGS WONT GO WELL (Y/N) @(y/s/n): thursday @ 3pm: chitchat w/ nihachu !! @(y/s/n): friday @ 2pm: pummel party w/ ??

as soon as you tweeted all them out, you looked at replies and saw that quackity had replied to both monday and wednesday schedules. giggling to yourself, you replied back to him.

@(y/s/n): @ quackity way to make it obvious alex, if you wanna date me just say it (¬_¬) @(y/s/n): @ quackity how can you assume that it will go well alex (Ő-Ő) ↳ @ quackity: i just know (y/n)!!! truST ME!!!!

laughing once more, you plugged your phone into the charger and went to bed, excited for what alex had planned for you two tomorrow.

getting ready for the minecraft date was very nerve wracking. the only thing you could think about was whether alex considered this a real date or not. deep inside you hoped that this was a real one.

the ringing from your phone disrupted your thought. looking down on the screen you saw that the one person you were thinking of was calling you.

“hello?” you answered. “hi, (y/n), are you ready?” alex asked. “uh, yeah, i just- i just need to start my stream and introduce what we’re doing.” “okay, um- i’m going to send you a link to the dream smp discord server. join it and join vc 4.” he replied. “for sure, see you then.” you smiled. “see you.” he said and hung up.

“fuck,” you said and wiped your hands onto your pants. you definitely weren’t ready but still, joined the discord server and joined vc 4 then deafened. you set up your stream and hit go live.

“hey everyone! as you may know, if you follow my twitter, today i’m going on a minecraft date! uh no, no one knows who it is yet, but i have a feeling a LOT of you already know who it is.” you said, reading chat and wiggling your eyebrows.

“okay, i’m going to join the server and then share my screen when he’s standing in front of me.” you started playing some music so your viewers didn’t get bored while they waited for you to start.

once you were logged into the smp you privately messaged alex and asked him where he was. before he could answer you turned around to look at the walls you were surrounded by and screamed out after seeing quackity’s naked body behind you.

“chat, i’m okay, just got scared. um anyways, yeah.” you said and showed your screen, revealing the man himself. “quackity!” you screamed into your mic. “jesus christ, (y/n) we can save screaming my name for later.” he said in a suggestive voice. you then started punching him and after each punch you said, “stop. saying. suggestive. comments. we haven’t even started the date yet!” “okay, okay, okay! i’m literally going to die, (y/n) stop!!” he yelled out. you kept hitting him to see if he was lying but after the second punch quackity was slain by (y/mc/n) showed up in the chat.

ranboo: i see that the date is going well

you started laughing uncontrollably while alex was silent. “(y/n),” he said in a more serious voice. you hummed as he continued his sentence. “why did you kill me?” “i wanted to know if you were lying. was that a canon life? i think that should be a canon life.” you laughed. “no it wasn’t a fucking canon life. (y/n) you’re not even an official member of the smp!” he said. “i could be,” you said wiggling your eyebrows and crouching up and down. “anyways. follow me, i’m bringing you to where we’re having our date.” so you followed him and when you reached your destination you were at party park with karl and sapnap standing in front of you.

“hello boys. what are you doing here on our date. is this an amusement park date, quackity? i didn’t take you for that type of guy. it’s kind of cheesy.” you rambled. “no! this isn’t where our date is happening. jeez, have a little more faith in me (y/n).” he said, moving his minecraft character to look at you slowly and creepily. “well there wasn’t much to begin with,” you said, chuckling a bit. you heard karl and sapnap giggling to what you had said. “hey! take that back!” quackity said, punching your minecraft character. you audibly gasped and turned to look at karl and sapnap again. “you guys saw that right? he just hit me.” you said, faking shock. they both quickly nodded their heads. “i can’t believe you would hit me on our first date.” you said, turning to look at him this time. “you literally killed me!” he yelled out.

so this went on for about 30 more minutes till quackity explained to you that your date would pretty much be a minecraft manhunt with quackity, sapnap, and karl hunting you but you had to find something instead of defeating the enderdragon. if they killed you and they won, you owed alex a real date. no stream, just them.

“you’re going to hunt me for our first date?” you asked in disbelief. quackity then nodded his head up and down in a very fast motion. “mm cool,” you said as you punched him and ran away in a different direction.

it had been about 45 minutes and you killed karl and sapnap twice, but quackity had not been seen the whole time. but as you were running away from sapnap, quackity appeared in front of you and you faked trying to kill him, letting him just kill you because you wanted to go on that second date with him.

(y/mc/n) was slain by quackity ranboo: date still going really well, looks like you guys are really hitting it off!

“awe man, looks like i have to go on another date with quackity!” you said. sarcastically faking the disappointment. reading your chat for the first time this stream, it wasn’t your usual happy messages. instead they were filled with negativity.

i don’t see why quackity wants to go on a date with them why did dream let them on the smp?? there are so many other content creators who deserve to be on the smp way more than they do they’re so fucking annoying begging for attention much?

so you grew quiet and just listened to quackity end off his stream while you ended yours without saying anything. but once he finished saying goodbye to his stream, you immediately said bye to him.

“i’m gonna go now alex, thank you for the minecraft date. text me the details for the next. bye.” you rushed.

alex found it really weird that you had just left like that, you guys almost always stayed on call after he finished streaming for at least 3 hours just talking. but he let it slide, hoping it wasn’t something he had done.

you went onto twitter to update about your streaming schedule. @(y/s/n): looks like my stream schedule may be moving around because i’m going on a second date with @ quackity!

alex quickly went to go reply to it but gazed over the replies to your tweet and wasn’t very happy with them. you don’t deserve to go on another date with him you’re literally just using him for clout what an attention whore leave him alone already!

knowing that you barely ever got hate, he quickly called you instead. thinking very hard about what he was about to do. looking at your phone you saw that alex was facetiming you, you wiped your face from the tears that had fallen and sniffled, hoping you didn’t sound too congested.

“hello?” you said. “hey um, i have to tell you something.” he replied. the serious tone of his voice got you very nervous. was he about to confirm everything your chat had told you or even the tweets you just read? “i really like you, (y/n).” he said. you looked at your phone in surprise and he continued. “and i really don’t know if you feel the same way about me but i read the replies to your tweet and i know that you’re a pretty new streamer and i just don’t want you to already be getting hate because of me, you don’t deserve that. you’re an amazing person and i just, i don’t want to be the reason you’re getting hate. so i think it’d be best if we just laid off talking to each other for now.” “i like you too, alex.” you whispered. “but i respect your decision. goodbye for now?” you said, offering a smile to the screen he was displayed on. it looked like he was just as shocked as you when he told you how he felt. “uh, yeah. goodbye for now. don’t be a stranger (y/n).” you smiled once more and hung up.

as soon as you hung up you started crying again. you really liked alex, but maybe you didn’t show that well enough, because if you did, maybe you guys would’ve been together at this point.

the next day, you streamed normally with a faked high energy that nobody seemed to notice, this time not paying attention to your chat. deep inside you really just wanted to curl into a ball and sleep all your stresses away. it really sucked to find out the guy you’ve had a crush on liked you back but he decided to end whatever you guys had going on.

but your chat couldn’t know so you kept a fake facade on, hoping no one asked about him.

though to alex, it looked like you were so unbothered by him pretty much ending your friendship. he started slightly believing the tweets that mentioned how you were just using him for clout. but after really thinking about it, he realized, why would you have been friends with him months before, without any of your fans knowing if you really were just using him. so he scolded himself and went about his day.

you were ending your stream with a big smile, as soon as you hit that end streaming button that smile was gone. you changed into a hoodie and curled into your bed. you just looked up at your ceiling and started crying, you pretty much lost the guy you really liked. your feelings being unnoticed by the public eye.

1K notes · View notes

princessphilly · 3 years

Text

Word Count: 1975 (you know I start small then build up)

Tag list: @newlibrary , @luvsherleafs @spine-buster , @m00nlightdelights @lovethepreds @myhockeyworld87 @Defiant-mouse, @callllumhood @yzas-stuff , @stars-canucks @laurenairay @cutiesara23, @besthockeyfics @hockeyallthetime @tazerass , @markymarkstrom @letsgobaby, @himbos-on-ice @hockeywocs @bloodthedevil @nhlboyshavemyhart88 @whatishockey @dreamer1430 @shelbsatans

CW: people failing to be mean, some angst. We are still rated pg-13 but we will be hitting NC-17 soon.

Add me to the tag list!

It’s okay to admit that you are enough. It’s also okay to struggle with admitting that to yourself. At least, that’s what I learned when Meghan Markle still had her old blog, The Tig, up online before she became the Duchess of Sussex. Honestly, she’s one of my goals; her father is a trip and she’s managed to live well despite his issues. I’d like to be able to do whatever she did with my mom. - journal 9/2

“The man over there says thanks.”

Jamila looked at the waiter, confused. “Um, okay,” she questioned as she looked where the waiter was discreetly pointing. A tall, brown haired guy raised a whiskey neat in salute. Jamila gave him a tentative grin. After the waiter left, she hissed, “I didn’t send him a drink, Lisa! What the hell?”

Jamila had to admit he was attractive but not her usual type. Her type was the outdoorsy type, the kind who could fish, hunt, and actually be able to live off the land if society collapsed overnight. This guy… he looked like money and power, the kind to hire someone to take care of him.

After a moment, it became obvious what happened as Alyssa and Frances came back over. Jamila put on her best movie-star fake smile as those two came by. They were the worst kind of people; backstabbers who even when they got caught, still got away with it because they knew how to suck up to the people in power. Jamila knew exactly why they didn’t like her: she had enough fame left over that she didn’t need to be their friend to earn a good reputation in their phD program.

“Meet any nice guys,” Frances asked with a sly smirk on her face.

Jamila gave Lisa a sideways look as Alyssa said, “I mean, there’s Jonathan Toews, he’s single. I bet he’d be interested in a washed-up actress.”

“Hmmm, I have no idea who you are talking about,” Jamila honestly said.

Alyssa smirked as she replied, “He plays for the Blackhawks, Meena.”

Jamila grit her teeth as Alyssa used her first name. She hated when people used her first name, it brought up too many bad memories. Before she could reply, the attractive brown-haired guy was standing next to her with a faint grin on his face. “Um, hi,” Jamila said as Lisa, Alyssa, and Frances stared at him.

“I figured I’d say hi after you sent me that drink. I would have bought you one but I don’t know what you’re drinking and it wouldn’t be nice to assume. My name is Jonathan,” he said with a flirtatious wink.

Jamila hesitantly replied, “My name is Jamila and I’m just drinking merlot tonight.”

“Another glass,” Jonathan asked, his deep voice doing things to Jamila’s insides. She bit her lip as she looked at him, trying to decide if she wanted to encourage him or not.

“Sure.”

As he found a waiter, Jamila looked at Lisa. Lisa motioned to her phone and Jamila checked her screen. That’s jonathan toews, the guy those bitches were talking about. He plays hockey and is the captain of the blackhawks

Jamila texted back, what is hockey n y should i care

Then the waiter came with a fresh glass of merlot and Jonathan passed it to her. Jamila took a deep sip, loving the taste. Merlot was truly her favorite and they had a good house vintage. Jonathan asked, “Are you new to Chicago?”

“I’ve been here for a year. It’s alright,” Jamila replied. “This is my first time going out on the North Side though.”

Jonathan gave Jamila a slow smile and her breath caught. He definitely was attractive but not her usual type. He said, “Then that’s why we’ve never met til now. I would have definitely remembered such a beautiful woman if I saw you before.”

Jamila giggled. “That’s a good one. You get one point for that.”

“Just one point? Is it an assist or a goal?”

“Um,” Jamila stalled. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

The sly smile on Jonathan’s face turned into a wide smile. This girl was not only hot but he could tell that she was truly clueless about hockey. Tonight was a win-win for him. “I’m going to assume it’s a goal then.”

“Okay.” Jamila shrugged as she took another sip of her wine. “I’m still not completely impressed so you still need to work on it.”

Jonathan laughed, causing some people to turn towards them. Jamila caught Alyssa and Frances giving her the evil eye and she smirked. Reaching out a hand, she touched Jonathan’s upper arm. Jamila had no idea what hockey was but whatever it was, he definitely was built. Jamila turned slightly as she rubbed his arm, making sure that those two bitches could see that she was touching him.

“You like what you feel,” Jonathan asked, his voice slightly deeper with a sultry tone.

Unable to resist the bait, Jamila replied, “Of course,” licking her lips. There was no problem in flirting with him, she thought to herself as he smirked at her.

Jonathan’s eyes were on her lips. She had full lips, made for kissing. Jamila wasn’t his usual type but Jonathan didn’t have a problem with that. “There’s more that you can-,” he started before someone bellowed, “TAZER!”

Jamila whipped around towards the sound, annoyed to have been interrupted before her attention was caught by the kind of guy of her dreams. He was tall, auburn haired, and looked like a lumberjack. He was perfection and he came over to them.

“Duncs,” Jonathan called.

The lumberjack said, “Heyy Tazer.”

Jamila smiled. Maybe this whole drink mix-up thing was working out for her, she thought until she saw her LA friend, Shan, come up behind this Duncs guy. Shan’s brother Alex was with them, his ever present backwards cap covering his hair.

Jonathan loved Duncs as a brother but right now, he was annoyed and pissed. He had been close to sealing the deal but Jamila was now looking at Duncs like he was the last man on earth. Then Jamila gave him a brilliant smile and Jonathan suddenly realized that he was totally fucked.

“Hi,” Jamila purred, forgetting that her hand was still on Jonathan’s bicep. Duncan looked at that and raised an eyebrow at his captain. Jonathan gave him a glare and Duncan made a motion with his hands.

Before Duncan could reply, Shan yelled, “Jamillllaaa!! Long time no see!”

“Hi Shan,” Jamila drily replied, glad she used her preferred name instead of her first name. Shan was a fellow child actress, a Canadian who managed to get supporting roles at Disney over the years before transitioning to a character actress when she became an adult. Shan was the only one whose parents were actually on-set all of the time and paid attention to what was going on. Consequently, Shan was the only one who didn’t have substance abuse problems, etc. and the only one from her former shows that Jamila kept in contact with.

Jonathan looked at Shan and Jamila. “You two know each other?”

Shan drunkenly giggled as Alex closed his eyes. “We were both Disney kids back in the day.”

Jamila sardonically smiled. “Those were fun days.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex replied. “Shan’s got a role in one of the next Marvel movies so she decided to celebrate.”

“Congratulations,” Jamila sincerely stated. Getting a role in the MCU was a steady check and something to celebrate. Then Jonathan took a double take and looked at her and Jamila groaned. He bit one of his thin lips and then he smirked before putting a finger to his mouth. Jamila exhaled and gave him her biggest smile. He recognized her but he didn’t say anything. Jamila leaned over and whispered into Jonathan’s ear, “You just got a second point.”

“Then maybe you should let me have your number,” Jonathan purred into Jamila’s ear.

Jamila smirked, rolling her eyes but before she could respond, Shan slurred, “Wow, Jamila, you waste no time. You were just telling me yesterday that you didn’t know a damn thing about hockey and tonight, you’re talking with Captain Serious.”

Jonathan wanted to shake his teammate’s sister because Jamila shut down, pursing her lips.

Oblivious, Shan continued, “Now, you don’t have an excuse not to go with my brother to the bowling thing.”

Alex face-palmed as Jamila pinched the bridge of her nose. She had totally forgotten about that and of course, when Shan was drunk, she was loud and obnoxious.

Pasting her best fake smile on her face, Jamila said, “I think it’s time for me to go.”

“So soon,” Duncan teased.

Jamila smirked at him, looking him up and down. “I need my beauty rest and to not strangle my friend.”

Jonathan gritted his teeth as he watched Jamila eye his friend. Then she turned to him and blew him a kiss. “It was nice to meet you, Jonathan,” Jamila said, giving him a wink.

Jonathan smiled back and Jamila was taken aback for a moment. There was a promise in those dark brown eyes and she felt her body begin to respond. Then he licked his lips and for a moment, all Jamila could think about was maybe those lips on her body. Slightly shaking her head, Jamila waved her fingers before going to call an Uber. This was a night.

After getting home, Jamila tossed her bag onto her front table. She suddenly felt exhausted even though it was barely after 11:30pm. Walking into her living room, Jamila saw her other cell phone glowing. Picking it up, she cursed. There were fifteen messages and ten missed calls, all from Janine. The messages started off nice, asking how Jamila was doing to nasty, calling her all kinds of names for not picking up and giving her “mother” money.

Tossing the phone back onto the table, Jamila sighed. Getting a separate cell phone just for her mother’s calls was the best but it was draining just to look at it.

Janine Brown was a bit actress, stage-mother, and now two-bit manager. Janine had always wanted to be an actress, even when she was attending grad school at MIT for physics. There, she met Jayesh Vyas, a student earning a PhD in computer engineering. Within six months, they were married and expecting a child; after two years, they were divorced after pressure from Jayesh’s parents. Jayesh returned to India and Janine was stuck with an 11 month old baby with dimples made of gold.

By the time that Jamila could remember, she was in front of a camera. Her life as a child was in front of a camera; first as the adorable adopted child in Granger vs Granger, then the youngest kid in The Elliot Show as a young child. Then from age 12 to 17, Jamila starred as Jane Lee in the Disney show, Plain Jane. School was on set. Birthdays were celebrated on set. Everything revolved around a set year round until right after Jamila’s 17th birthday.

The aftermath of that birthday was a stay in rehab, a cancelled show, and living with her dad and stepmom full time in Atlanta.

Jamila promptly deleted all the messages and voicemails before going on online banking. After authorizing a transfer to Janine’s account, Jamila showered, put on pajamas, and grabbed her pink Lepidolite and pink quartz crystals. Sitting cross legged, Jamila worked to calm her anxiety so that she could have a restful night sleep.

But in her dreams, she tried to focus on a pair of blue eyes and a lumberjack look. However, she kept dreaming of a pair of deep obsidian brown eyes, a crooked smile, and a deep voice telling her everything he was going to do to her

128 notes · View notes

arcticfox007 · 3 years

Text

Suptober Day 1: Harvest

This is my first time doing Suptober and I probably won’t do every day (and am already a day late) but I thought it would be a good creativity boost and looking through all the other work it seemed like a lot of fun! Thanks to @winchester-reload for organizing this :)

Check it out on AO3!

Castiel hadn’t meant to overhear the conversation. He was supposed to be on break, but had volunteered to reset room 5 for the next patient because he knew his friend Alex had been in dire need of a break. Cas was only a volunteer, spending his junior year of college shadowing various medical professionals to get a better idea of what a career in medicine would really be like. When Alex had suggested shadowing one of the doctors she worked with, he’d readily agreed, knowing that his friend spoke highly of both Dr. Barnes and Dr. Fitzgerald.

He’d already spent the past few hours shadowing Dr. Fitzgerald (or Garth as he insisted on being called) and had seen enough to realize that Family Medicine was understaffed and struggling to do the best they could for their patients given the absurd constraints on their time. Garth was currently seeing a patient who didn’t want a stranger in the room, so the doctor had told Cas to grab some lunch. Cas had intended to do just that when he saw Alex making frantic phone calls at the front desk. When she’d hung up, she’d looked at the end of her rope, explaining to Can that one of the other nurses called out and she couldn’t find anyone to cover for them.

Which is how Cas ended up in room 5 wiping down the surfaces and pulling a new paper cover over the bed. Cas knew all about patient privacy, but really, the conversation easily carried into the room when the man who must be one of Dr. Barnes patients had decided to continue talking to her out in the hallway. The man had a compelling voice and by the time Cas realized he was eavesdropping it was too late to avoid it as leaving room 5 now would have only made the unsuspecting patient realize he’d been overheard.

“Um, and, I’m really sorry about this doc, but I probably can’t afford the bill for today’s services right away.”

“Dean, just call Meg like I told you. Our pharmacy here is amazing at finding co-pay cards for these types of medications.”

“I will talk to her, I swear. It’s just when we had to switch insurance plans the new one says the co-pay for that grade of medicine is $100 a dose. I’m honestly not sure I can make that work Dr. Barnes.”

“I understand, but you need this medicine Dean. Your RA will flare right back up without it. If that happens you eventually won’t be able to work at all. Even skipping doses is ill-advised, letting the inflammation persist could eventually cause permanent damage to your joints.”

“I get it doc, I do, but $400 a month? It’s basically choosing between eating and my ability to move without pain.”

“Dean, just talk to Meg. We will figure something out. At least promise me you’ll take the Humira every other week. I know it didn’t manage your symptoms well at the lower dose before, but it was still better than letting the RA go untreated.”

Dean must have responded to Dr. Barnes in some way Castiel couldn’t hear, because after a few moments the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, fading as they moved towards the front desk. Cas hurried out of room 5, the trash bag hanging unnoticed from his wrist. His heartbeat sped up as he worried that he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of “Dean” before he left the office. Cas didn’t really know what he was planning on doing, just that he couldn’t stand the thought of this man resigning himself to pain all because the healthcare industry was such an awful mess that it would burden someone with choosing food over medicine. Something about the way Dean had sounded reminded him so much of his sister, Anna, right before she had left Castiel forever. That feeling drew Cas forward to meet a man he didn’t know. Cas couldn’t solve Dean’s money problems, Cas couldn’t force the government to change how healthcare was run in the country, Cas couldn’t even make Dean’s medical issues any better – but he could meet this man and maybe make him smile for a moment. Maybe, if he was brave enough, he could offer him some sort of friendship so maybe he would have one more person to help him through his struggles. Cas had been too young to understand how alone Anna must have felt but he knew more about it now. Helping people like Anna was what had drawn Cas to medicine in the first place.

Turning the corner Cas was startled to see what could only be a 6-foot flannel-wearing freckled god. The man was Hollywood beautiful and for a moment Cas forgot what had brought him rushing around the corner in the first place. The sound of Alex pointedly snapping her fingers brought Castiel back to reality as he broke of his inappropriate staring. He felt his skin heat up rapidly as he blushed.

“Did you finish room 5, Castiel?” Alex stared at him expectantly. Silently, Cas handed over the trash bag and muttered something about taking his lunch break outside. Too embarrassed by his very obvious admiration of the man that must have been Dean, Cas didn’t think he could talk to him in front of Alex. He rushed out the front door in the hopes that the autumn air would help him pull himself together. He didn’t know why he’d felt so compelled to talk to a man who’s private and very personal conversation he’d overheard. He was almost glad that his humiliating gawking had saved him from speaking to the guy. After all, what would he have said anyway? The air alone wasn’t helping Castiel’s composure, so he began pacing in front of the building.

“I mean how do you go up to a stranger and tell them they aren’t alone and that good things do happen? It’s not like it wouldn’t embarrass the guy to know I overheard him talking about his money problems…” Cas froze as he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

“Uh, hey man. I actually came out to ask you something else, but I think this just got awkward.” Cas took a deep breath already knowing it was Dean standing behind him. Cas’ habit of muttering to himself when anxious had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion, but never quite as badly as this felt. Sadly, his fervent wish to turn invisible on the spot was being ignored by the universe and he found himself staring into striking green eyes while wondering how he could possibly salvage this situation.

“H-hello Dean. I’m Castiel, and I can’t apologize enough for overhearing your conversation with Dr. Barnes. I swear it wasn’t intentional, I was cleaning out the room you were standing near and – “

“Whoa, hold up buddy. I’m not mad or anything. I mean, it wouldn’t be my topic of choice to start chatting up the hot new guy at my doctor’s office, but you clearly work in healthcare, I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing from lots of folks.” Cas’ brain froze a bit when Dean referred to him as hot, but then it caught up with what he was actually saying.

“Er, actually I’m just shadowing Dr. Garth for the day, but yes, I have heard stories like yours. My sister, Anna, went through something similar. That’s why I wanted to say something to you but wasn’t sure what. Then I actually saw you and, well, you saw. I’m not really good with subtlety. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.” Dean threw his head back with a barking laugh and Cas found himself staring at the beautiful man yet again.

“Having someone like you checking me out definitely doesn’t make me uncomfortable. If it makes you feel better, I came out hoping to ask if you’d be interested in going to the Harvest Festival tonight. I have to work for a bit at my store’s booth but if you were free around 7, I’d love to talk with you more. Even if it’s just whatever you wanted to talk to me about before.” Dean smiled flirtatiously at Cas, and there was no way to resist that.

“Yes, I’d love to! Where should I meet you?”

They exchanged information quickly, and parted ways with matching smiles. Cas would get his chance to tell Dean how his sister gave up her fight with cancer because she knew her treatments were bankrupting the family. He’d tell him how he’d was hoping to be a doctor himself one day to maybe help someone else like Anna win their fight despite the shitty healthcare system. He’d also tell Dean that he’d chased him down the hall because he’d desperately wanted to tell him that maybe they were strangers, but that he hoped Dean didn’t give up and that he’d be willing to be there for him if having a friend would help.

Now though, Cas thought maybe he’d already made Dean’s day a bit brighter, and he looked forward to getting to know the handsome man better. Maybe his impulse to offer his friendship to a stranger wasn’t as insane as it first seemed, and if Castiel was reading things right perhaps friendship wasn’t the only thing they had to offer one another.

#suptober21 #arcticfox007writes #Destiel #Destiel fanfic #castiel #dean winchester #supernatural fic #yeah I know I barely worked in the prompt #my bad

36 notes · View notes

ashesandhalefire · 3 years

Text

i know, you know

alex, michael, and a lonely hearts club gone slightly awry.

inspired by @malex-cupid day one and three themes: wooing my way into your heart and valentine’s day.

“Okay, here’s a nightmare scenario,” Michael says as he eases back down onto the couch with another slice of pizza in his hand. He crosses his ankles on the coffee table and bites the tip off. Alex raises an eyebrow expectantly, drawing a sip from his beer, and Michael nods. After a rough swallow, he wipes the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “I once hooked up with a girl on February thirteenth. Totally lost track of the date.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “That’s not a nightmare scenario for someone like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Michael takes another bite of his pizza and tries to talk around a mouthful of cheese, face twisted with playful indignation. “Someone like me?”

Alex leans his head against the back of the couch and says, “Charming people never end up in nightmare scenarios because they can, by default, charm their way out of anything.”

Brow furrowing, Michael wrinkles his nose. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called charming in my life. A few other choice words, sure, but not charming.”

“Well, I guess my perspective is a little different from the sheriff’s department. In my experience, you have a tendency to be very good at saying the right thing.” Alex wiggles his left foot where it sits, tucked beneath the center cushion on the couch, and rubs distractedly at his right knee. The knot in his sweatpants jostles close to Michael’s hip.

Entirely by accident, he’s significantly more dressed-down than Michael is in his slim jeans and crisply colored flannel. Neither piece of Michael’s outfit has the well-worn softness of his usual wardrobe, none of the torn seams or threadbare elbows, but the top two buttons of his shirt are undone like always and the collar hangs wide against his clavicle. Alex tries not to let his eyes linger.

As he chews through another bite, Michael stares back at him, and the gaze feels heavy enough that Alex turns away. “And, please, you’re sitting on my couch, watching my television, drinking my beer, and eating my pizza. If that’s not the direct result of charm, what is it?”

“Dumb luck,” Michael says. Amusement glints in his eyes as he licks his lips. “Besides, this whole lonely hearts club thing was your idea.”

“Yeah, but it was originally a party of one.”

Alex had quickly opted out, making his answer a polite but firm no, when Kyle mentioned the flier on the Crashdown’s front door that advertised the latest Wild Pony cash-grab attempt, but that hadn’t prevented him from running face-first into Isobel’s advertising efforts all over town for the next week and a half. General buzz at the post office and hospital implied that her reputation for event planning had drummed up some genuine interest from the locals, and that in and of itself cemented his plan for the weekend as pizza, beer, and whatever cable had to offer. His plan had, at no point, included running into Michael in the candy aisle at RiteAid at three o’clock in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day.

With an armful of personal care items marked with discount stickers, Michael had taken one look at the prescription envelope in Alex’s right hand and the box of chocolates in his left and said, “Got a hot date?”

“No,” Alex had said, wishing he’d chosen to put on something neater than his faded sweatpants. Michael rarely looked presentable by general standards, but he always looked good. “Just chronic pain and a sweet tooth.”

“You should come back tomorrow,” Michael had suggested. “Better sales after the holiday.”

“True, but then I won’t have anything to eat tonight.”

Michael had visibly perked, even though his face stayed neutral. “You’re not going to the singles night thing at the Pony? I thought Valenti would have roped you in for sure.”

“No.” Fleetingly, Alex had considered the idea of wandering through the crowded bar, equally decorated in distasteful neon and garish party store hearts, and trying to pick which of the Pony’s regular stock might like to have his drink bought by an openly gay veteran with one leg while his friends watch from the sidelines of their depressingly stable relationships. “There’s not enough booze in the world.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Michael had laughed. He hadn’t quite met Alex’s eye as they both carefully side-stepped the rest of the conversation. Alex had stopped paying attention, so he wasn’t sure if Michael had retaken to running up a tab yet. “Is is completely pissed at me, but I told her there was no way in hell.”

Alex had swallowed. “Got a hot date?”

“Totally,” Michael had said. He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. “I think you’ve met him.”

In retrospect, Alex blames the rest of the conversation on the fact that he’s been unshakably in love with Michael since he was seventeen. For the better part of a month, he’s been trying to work up the courage to throw out a line. But they exist in a strange no-man’s-land of casual acquaintanceship that borders on friendship and romance simultaneously, and Alex hasn’t quite found the right way out yet.

“If you don’t have plans tonight, you could swing by.” Michael, already at the end of the aisle when Alex called after him, had looked mildly startled when he turned around. “We can get pizza. Or something. Whatever goes with beer.”

“Everything goes with beer in my world.”

“It’ll be a lonely hearts club type of thing,” Alex had said, primarily for the deniability.

Michael had cocked his head. His eyes drifted lower and lower until they paused and climbed back up Alex’s body at a crawl. “Are you lonely?”

“I had a nose ring, remember?” Alex had clutched the prescription bag in his fist with a crunch and forced himself to laugh, even as bashful panic squeezed at his throat. “You don’t end up with a nose ring and Danger posters on your walls at seventeen unless you’re deeply lonely.”

A slow smile had stretched across Michael’s face, and he ducked his head like it was too private to share with the open aisle. When he looked up again, he wrinkled his nose to help steady his armful of bottles with a nudge of his telekinesis. “I’ll see you at six, then. Pizza and beer.”

Now, Michael breaks a wayward string of cheese away from his last bite and asks, “You want me to go home? Leave you to your pity party?”

“No. I’m enjoying the company. I think it’s because you’re so charming.”

Michael laughs. “You’re so full of shit.”

“Fine, don’t believe me. But hooking up with a girl who was looking for a hookup on the day before Valentine’s Day is not a nightmare scenario.”

“Alright,” Michael says, nudging Alex’s bent knee, “so give me a better example.”

“Uh, pizza and beer with a guy that never learned how to chew with his mouth closed?”

Michael tears into the crust of his slice and says, muffled by food, “I’ll leave anytime. Just say the word.”

Alex pulls his foot out from under the couch cushion and rolls his heel into the side of Michael’s thigh. “Don’t be disgusting!”

Mashing his teeth, Michael chews with his mouth open for another two bites and then relents. He drops a hot palm into the exposed skin of Alex’s ankle, holding it in place, and Alex manages not to react until Michael strokes his thumb into the hollow beside his Achilles tendon.

“I need a refill. Do you want another beer?” he asks, pulling his leg away and turning to plant his foot on the floor. He bends down to grope beneath the couch for his crutch.

“Yeah, I’ll take another one.” Michael stands, taking his empty bottle in hand, and says, “I’ll get it. I know my way around the fridge.”

As he shuffles between the couch and the coffee table, he drops a hand onto Alex’s left shoulder and squeezes. The touch is gone almost as soon as it starts, but Alex still lets out an audible squeak on his next exhale.

Being touch-starved is hardly new, but it makes him feel like an especially pathetic rescue cat when his body shivers at the barest graze. Twice it happened when Kyle leaned over to look at his laptop and put a hand on his back while they worked on the salvaged hard drives together, and Alex had barely been able to hide the heated flush in his cheeks. It’s more humiliating with Michael, somehow, because Michael has always been exactly the same. He’s always turned into Alex’s touch with eagerness, always looked for the most contact he could find. Something about touch between them turning casual and unaffecting on his end while Alex is gasping like an Austen heroine is especially unsettling.

He takes three deep breaths, holding the air in his chest and releasing through pursed lips, and then Michael squeezes between the end table and the chair with two beers. He twists the tops off with a twitch of his nose, and Alex watches the bent metal land on the coffee table with a ding.

“Show off,” he says as Michael hands him a bottle. Their fingers brush against the glass. “You’ve never fought with a jar of pasta sauce in your life.”

Michael eases back down onto the couch, snagging the last garlic knot from the crimped tinfoil on the coffee table on the way, and says, “Rubber band trick works wonders. Not that I’ve ever needed it.”

“Smug bastard.”

Alex watches the bob of Michael's throat as he takes a long draw from his beer.

“Oh, here. Almost forgot.” Michael pops the rest of the garlic knot into his mouth and lifts his hips off the couch to give himself room to root around his pocket. After a moment of tugging, he tosses something across the couch. It lands on Alex’s thigh. “For your sweet tooth.”

Alex stares down at the packet of SweeTARTS heart candies, emblazoned with the same sentimental phrases as classic conversation hearts. “These are sour.”

“Well, yeah, but aren’t those the ones you like?”

Fingers toying with the crimped edges of the paper wrapping, Alex nods.

“Then Happy Valentine’s Day.” Michael sucks a spot of oil and garlic from his thumb. “I had to go to, like, four different CVS stores to find them.”

“Thank you,” Alex says. “You didn’t— I didn’t get you anything.”

Michael shrugs. “You paid for dinner. Least I could do was pick up some candy.”

Darkness creeps up on them while they trade sarcastic commentary about the fake detective comedy marathon they found on a higher cable channel. The lone bulb still on over the sink casts a warm yellow glow across the kitchen and dining room, and the living room flickers between dark and light as the scenes change on the television.

Alex glances down at Michael, who has made himself comfortable with one leg dangling off the edge of the couch and the other curled up against the arm. His head rests on a pillow that he laid atop Alex’s right leg, and he has Alex’s left leg stretched out in front of his chest to keep it from blocking his view.

The shift was gradual: he slumped sideways and curled his legs up; he leaned on his elbow and tried to stretch out; he whined about his neck and grabbed the pillow off the floor, checking that it wouldn’t bother Alex’s knee if he put pressure on it; and he grabbed Alex’s left leg by the ankle to straighten it out while complaining that he couldn’t see. And now Alex’s shin is pinned beneath Michael’s palm, feeling the rise and fall of Michael’s chest whenever he chuckles at one of the jokes.

They’ve spent hours together, rolling around in Michael’s cot and the back of his truck and motel beds, but Alex isn’t sure they’ve ever been more intimate. Quiet stillness has always been difficult for them to come by, and he can barely remember the last time they spent an afternoon together without some sense of doom hanging over their heads. They’ve certainly never laid on a couch together for four hours.

Michael shifts, rolling onto his side, and his hand drifts down towards the top of Alex’s foot. The calluses on his palm catch against the weave of his sock, and Alex listens to the faint scratch of material without breathing. After a moment, Michael’s fingers slip beneath the elastic at the bottom of his sweatpants, and he strokes absently at the ball of Alex’s ankle.

The fears and the doubts are as present as they’ve been for the last few weeks. All of their baggage is exactly the same.

Alex winds one of Michael’s curls around his finger, and he feels the stutter in his breathing.

With empirical evidence like that, he has to be brave.

He mutes the television and says, “I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Michael glances up. “Is this…new information? Should we be celebrating?”

“No, I mean—” Alex swallows. “I don’t have to go out tomorrow, so if you stay over afterwards, we can talk.”

Michael stares at him. “After what?”

Alex shrugs, but his eyes linger pointedly on Michael’s mouth.

“Oh,” Michael says. He turns onto his stomach slowly, like he thinks moving too quickly will turn Alex skittish, and then he eases up onto his knees between Alex's legs. Carefully, he pushes the pillow on Alex’s lap out of the way and onto the floor. “Yeah. Yeah, I could stay over. Afterwards.”

Light from the silent television flickers against the side of his face, and Alex reaches for the loose collars of his shirt. Michael bends pliantly, anchoring his hands beside Alex’s shoulders on the arm of the couch, and lowers himself until their noses brush. Then, he hesitates. He nuzzles against Alex’s cheek, rolls their foreheads together, and sighs out a laugh.

Alex giggles back, a nervous sound he has no control over, and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing. I just— I don’t wanna screw up. This has been a no-fly zone for weeks.”

“It really hasn’t.”

“It really has. I have the bruised ego to prove it.”

A missing piece slots into place in Alex’s chest, loosening every ounce of tension left in his body, and he sags down against the couch cushions. He takes a moment to look up at Michael, at the vulnerable pinch of anxiety that crinkles the corners of his eyes, and then he reaches up to smooth his thumb over the crest of Michael’s cheeks. The wrinkles worsen, so he tows Michael in by his hips and shakes his head. “No. No, you’re— you’re cleared to land.”

“That’s not— ” Michael blinks, and then says, affectionately, “Oh, fuck you.”

He laughs, deep in his chest, and finally presses his mouth to Alex’s. Alex surges into the kiss, letting it linger until the smile splitting across his lips forces Michael to pull back. He tries again, but Alex can’t relax his grin, so, for a moment, they just breathe, silhouetted in the dark.

Then, Michael says, “No regretting it tomorrow?”

Alex shakes his head. “No.”

“No nightmare scenario? No backslide with my ex?”

“No.”

“No… I scratched my itch, now get out of my house?”

“No!”

“Okay, good. Good. Because I’m playing for keeps this time.” He settles his weight between Alex’s thighs, and Alex is struck suddenly with the realization of how easy it is to be happy, how earned it feels after all this time.

They kiss, lazy and unhurried, until the cable box starts to idle in the background and leaves them in a nearly pitch black room. The last three buttons of Michael’s shirt come undone under Alex’s fingertips, and Michael’s unshaved jaw scrapes his mouth almost raw.

“Next year,” he mumbles against Alex’s cheek in a moment of reprieve, “I’m gonna fill this house with roses.”

Distractedly, Alex hooks his heel around the back of Michael’s calf and says, “If you somehow have a quarter of a million dollars to waste on that many flowers next year, we will not still be living in this house.”

Michael’s whole body jolts.

“We?” he teases gleefully, and he digs his fingertips into the soft back of Alex’s knee. “Did you just forget we don’t have a joint bank account? Oh, fuck, you really do like me.”

A hot flush rises in Alex’s cheeks as he squirms. “I like your fake money.”

“I think you mean our fake money.”

Alex laughs. “I fucking hate you.” He turns away, and Michael bends down to kiss the exposed line of his neck.

“You don’t,” he says between nips. “You really don’t.”

“No,” Alex agrees. “I really don’t.”

#michael x alex #malex #malex fic #malexcupid21 #roswell new mexico #alright it's DONE it's out of me so now i can read all the other ones lol #it's been a long while since i posted fic but!!! i kind of need them back together ASAP #my fic

121 notes · View notes

clean-bands-dirty-stories · 3 years

Text

Drive By ~ L.P. (Part 1)

A/n: I have a discord I’m part of! I’m gonna add it to every jatp fic I have, so you’ll get updated links as I post or if you just ask because I don’t know how to do permalinks lol. Have fun reading!

Word Count: 5300+

MASTERLIST

"What are you smiling so widely about?" The teasing question came from Luke and was directed at Alex, who had come into the room blushing with a smile wide and bright enough to outshine the artificial lighting.

"Nothing," Alex dismissed, hopping down from the piano he'd manifested on top of. "Willie just answered a lot of questions and now I feel a lot better about what's going on." They'd just gotten done talking about Julie joining the band and how Alex had met a new ghost friend on his walk.

Reggie's eyebrows came together and he reached out, catching Alex's wrist with both of his hands to still the boy. "What's that?" In dark ink, almost like a tattoo, words were set into the base of Alex's wrist. "I didn't know you had a tattoo, and why does it say 'I think you dinged my board'?"

Alex ripped his arm away from Reggie, but the damage had already been done. As Alex looked over at Luke, he could see in the guitarists' eyes what was about to happen. "You found your soulmate?" Luke asked, a slightly bitter tone already in his voice. His nose was scrunched up a little. Not in hate or disgust per say, but edging toward those emotions. Like he was ready for Willie to be a total jerk or hurt Alex.

"Yeah," Alex slowly admitted. Reggie shot Alex an apologetic look but Alex just shook his head. Reggie hadn't done anything wrong. Normally it would even be a good thing, like when Julie had spent hours talking to him about Flynn and how happy she was that Flynn had been her soulmate. Luke wasn't Julie though. Before Luke could go off like he was getting ready to, Alex stood up to his full height, determination setting in his eyes. "And you know what? I'm glad I did. Willie is really great, and it's nothing like they used to say soulmates were. It isn't forced or weird or magically easy. I don't feel addicted to him. It wasn't even like we were flirting with each other or anything. It was really chill and nice, and he was funny and easy going and listened to what I had to say and understood my feelings and helped me. He's a good guy."

Luke was suddenly very interested in his guitar. "I'm happy for you." His tone didn't support his words.

It was hard, because Alex knew that any other time Luke WOULD have been incredibly happy for him. He'd have wanted to know every detail and have hyped him up and been excited and invested in the story like he always was. Luke would have been more than happy to tease and laugh and be so, so very happy for him just like he said. He'd have smiled and hugged Alex, because he knew how hard this had been for Alex. How he'd always thought he'd die without ever really falling in love and then he DID and now despite everything he has answers and a cute boy who's interested in him and a promising relationship waiting to bloom.

But Luke wasn't, and it was all due to the fact that Luke had a soulmate once and swore them off ever since. Sometimes... Sometimes Alex wished Luke had never met Y/n.

It had been a good performance, and Luke was tired. He wanted to go back to the studio and burn off the rest of his performance high with lots of snacks and a good movie, right beside his best friends, like they did after every performance. Before that though, they drank lots of water so they could drive home without passing out. It had happened once and Reggie had sprained arm. He'd sat out the next performance and they all made a rule to be more careful about self care so it wouldn't happen again. They would have just canceled the gig but Reggie would have killed them. They did learn however they hated not performing with everyone present, so here they were.

Because they were just performing at a little bar on a slow night, there weren't many people around. They also weren't a big enough band to perform at somewhere they could get a real bad stage, so they all just sat on the bar, sipping on water so they wouldn't hurt their stomachs. Luke had thrown up once and it was another lesson they'd taken to heart.

As the guys were refueling, a girl approached them. Her smile was wide and she took the open seat next to Luke. Alex had been sitting there but he'd gotten up to use the bathroom. "Hi," she greeted. Her cheek rested on her hand and her eyes sparkled.

Bobby was immediately returning a flirty, "Why hello." He'd always been more of a charmer than the others. Luke was a close second, but Bobby did it more often than he did because Luke didn't like what usually happened when you flirted with someone.

The girl ignored Bobby though, turning to the lead singer, who currently far too busy shoving his face full of food to pay attention to her. 'Hey, slow down or you'll get a stomach ache," Reggie reminded.

Luke nodded and then swallowed, breathing for a few seconds before going to take another, smaller bite. He paused when the girl cleared her throat. "Uh, hi," he said hesitantly, only now registering she'd been talking to him. For some reason.

Her smile grew when he greeted her. "You're Luke, right?" She leaned against the counter, draping herself in an odd way.

Despite how much he hated when people did this, he wasn't thick enough to not know when it was happening. He wiped his mouth, offering an awkward smile. "Uh yeah. What's your name?"

"You can call me anything you like," the girl responded evenly. Her bright hair moved fluidly as she twirled it around her finger. She was pretty, Luke could admit that. Her eyes were a bright blue, and her clothes were a nice silver, which went well with her deep tan.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't interested. "I'd prefer to just call you your name if that's okay with you."

Her eyebrow arched in surprise. She seemed like the type of girl who dealt with people like Bobby or Reggie. People who were into her and didn't often say no when offered the chance. She was attractive, and probably popular. Luke just... didn't want what she did, and what she wanted was getting more clear by the second. Before she could make some comment that would probably make him feel even more awkward, he slipped off the stool and began to move away from his friends, using it as an excuse to dismiss the girl. She only followed after. "Oh come on," she drawled. "You're hot. I'm hot. We'll have lots of fun. I promise I'll be worth your time." She stepped in front of him, stopping his path and hooking her finger into his collar, pulling him closer to her.

Luke felt panic begin to rise. He'd never had someone come onto him this strong before. Usually they backed off pretty quickly after he made it clear he wasn't interested. What could he say to her to make her lose interest that would make sense without offending her? He didn't want to be mean but... he was the last person to sleep around, even after Alex who was gay in a world that hated people like him. A world that demanded him to keep it secret. HE was more sexually active than Luke was. To say, Luke wasn't. "Listen..." he began slowly, feeling his nervousness twist his gut. His friends had told him so many times that it was okay he didn't want to be with people like Reggie and Bobby did, the same way that Alex didn't want to be with girls like that. It was fine. Yet, every time he had to face it in a situation with someone who might not be so forgiving, he felt the weight of the world on his chest. Not all people were like Alex, Bobby, and Reggie.

"Darling, you're breathtaking." The low purr came from a new body. A hand touched Luke's arm with the most gentle pressure, just enough to nudge Luke backward so the new person could pay attention to the girl. All Luke saw was hair and broad shoulders, but he was distracted suddenly by a weird tingling where the person had touched him. A guy, he realized. "I can't believe there's anyone here that can't see how absolutely beautiful you are." The man rose a hand to brush the girl's cheek with a thumb. Her shining eyes turned to him, taking in his charm in gulps. The man's arm moved to go around her shoulders as he tucked her into his side, burying his nose in her hair to leave a little kiss on her forehead. "What do you say we ditch this poor soul who's so obviously blind and have some fun of our own?"

The girl blushed. "Oh definitely."

An odd feeling went through Luke when the guy made eye contact with him and winked. He turned away from the couple as they began to walk away, hurrying back to his seat. He sat down, trying to get the guy's face out of his head. He'd never been exactly blind to how attractive some people were, but usually it was easy to ignore or forget. This guy... his mind was packed with this guy. Everything about him that Luke had seen in those short moments before he'd left. How he'd smiled at Luke with a look that said he knew Luke had been trying to get out of the situation. Almost like a little 'you're welcome'. And if he was honest, he was thankful.

"Hey, what's that?" Reggie grabbed Luke's shoulder, stilling him so he could get a better look.

"What?" Luke looked over, but he could only see the tip of something inked on his shoulder. It was just out of view for him to see any better.

Bobby moved over then, a smirk growing on his face as his eyes widened. "That's a soulmate mark."

There was a tension between the three boys for a second. Everyone knew that soulmates were a huge taboo, but with all the things between them that were taboo, it was kind of thrilling too. Bobby shrugged off his jacket, offering it to Luke. "Probably a good idea," Luke agreed, putting the jacket on and covering the mark. Even if all of them were cool about it, other people might not be. He could get it tattooed over later or something.

Three full days and no one had stopped talking about Alex and Willie. Willie seemed really cool and Luke was easing up a bit, but when the conversation turned that way he found himself usually drawing away, focusing on cleaning his guitar or writing more lyrics. Today he was fiddling around with a melody quietly, a pencil in his mouth and his lyric journal on the floor next to him. He absently rose a hand to tug at the collar of his shirt. He'd never really gotten used to how high the collar went, or the feeling of fabric against his shoulders. He had always worn cut off sleeves, but had changed it after...

He felt suddenly ill.

"You know we still have some of your old shirts," Alex comments casually. "Most of them are cut off actually. You could wear one of those instead." He spoke with a soft voice, and Luke looked over to see Julie and Reggie going off about Flynn. Of course Alex wasn't one to call Luke out in front of anyone else, but he'd still had to check just in case.

Luke's eyes fell back to the song he was sort of writing. "No it's fine. The sleeves cover... my shoulder."

Alex didn't have to ask, but there was something in his expression. "You know you don't have to hide it here," the blonde reminded gently. "Julie and I have our marks too, and-"

"I know," Luke cut off. "I just... don't want her to ask about it." His eyes flickered to Julie before moving away again.

This time Alex nodded and let it drop. "What song are you working on?" Luke smiled, appreciating his friend more than ever. Luke didn't get to respond though because Reggie began to come over. He was holding Julie's glass of water, thrilled by the fact that he wasn't dropping it.... He tripped though, spilling the water all over Luke's shirt.

"Crap!" Reggie hissed, his eyes widening with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Luke."

Laughing it off, Luke rolled his eyes as he moved to his feet, putting his guitar down. "It's fine Reg." He pulled out another shirt, pushing down the way he wanted to glare at it as he pulled off the wet shirt to change into the new, dry one.

Julie's eyes went wide. "You have a tattoo?"

Luke suddenly froze. He tossed the wet shirt by his other stuff, forcing himself to move to cover his midrift again. "No, I don't."

Alex made an expression between pained and amused. "Guess there goes keeping Julie from asking," he mumbled quietly.

As if on que, Julie asked, "What is it?"

Now, Luke could have lied. But he hadn't, and he didn't want to. He hated lying, especially to bandmates. "It's a soulmate mark. It appeared the first time my soulmate touched me." He pulled his shirt the rest of the way down, covering the mark. Without even thinking about it, he tugged at the sleeve. He'd never worn sleeves before using them to cover his mark. He'd always passed it off as a tattoo, but when the mark had just turned into a bad reminder, he'd started covering it up for himself.

Julie didn't pick up on the tone of his voice though. He had played it casual, so he didn't blame her, especially as she rushed up to him with shining eyes and a wide smile. "Wait what? You have a soulmate? How come you never told me?"

"Because I HAD a soulmate," Luke answered softly, offering a small smile in response to her enthusiasm. It turned a little bitter when he continued, "I don't. Anymore."

Suddenly Julie looked really guilty. "Luke, I-"

"It's okay," he dismissed quickly. "That's just why I don't usually engage in soulmate conversations." He forced his smile to brighten. "Now, where were we?" Seeing his urgency, the others shared looks before moving the conversation onward. They talked about soulmates around him a lot less after that.

Hey, wait!" Luke's eyes had caught the guy that had saved him earlier as he moved through the crowd. Luke picked up his pace, reaching out to catch the guy's arm. Suddenly they were looking at each other straight on. Luke was a little shorter, but he was a little shorter than most people so it wasn't new. "Sorry, I just wanted to thank you for earlier." He felt his body heat up under the stranger's gaze. "I... thought you would have left."

A smile rose to the stranger's face. "I don't exactly require a lot of space to handle business." When Luke drew back, the man ducked his head. "Sorry I didn't mean to be vulgar, I'm just used to people... anyway." He shook his head. "You don't have to thank me. Not everyone likes to get attention like that from people, and I have no issue stepping in when it's required." His fingers tapped against his leg, his demeanor a lot different from the flirty, confident front he'd put on earlier.

Luke swallowed, trying to pull himself together. "Uh... what's your name?"

The guy's shoulders sagged, as if he was disappointed by the question. "Y/n. Yours?"

"Luke," Luke responded. "Listen, I was just wondering-"

"Look," Y/n began, a sudden tiredness coming into his features. "I get that you're not into girls and that's fine, but I've already had sex tonight and I'm really not in the mood to-"

"What?" Luke's face screwed up in confusion. "I don't want to do that. With anyone, let alone you. I... I'm into girl. And guys. But- I- That's not why I-" His face burned hotter. "Listen." He reached forward, grabbing Y/n's palm. He turned it up, to reveal what he was so hoping would be there. A mark, in the shape of a rose. It looked a lot like a tattoo, just without any color. The details were outlined in black ink - even the thorns on the stems. He felt thrilled when he saw it, angling his body to show the exact same mark on his shoulder. "I know we all grew up on the same stories. But I thought... maybe we could get a drink? Talk? I'm the first one of my friends to get a mark and I'd hate to lose the chance to act on it." He shuffled nervously, ready for rejection.

By the look on Y/n's face, it might be harsher than he wanted to face. Y/n surprised him though with a gentle, "I don't think you want me. I- I know we're soulmates, and this has nothing to do with you being a guy, or the whole weird thing most people have with soulmate bonds. I just... I'm not the best person. People don't usually stick around for long."

There was something in what Y/n said that pulled at Luke. "Maybe I could change that. I'm planning on sticking around for a while. How about you?"

Hope of the kind Luke had never seen before filled Y/n's eyes and Luke was rocked breathless by the sight. "You promise?"

"On my life," Luke swore. "At least give me one date to prove I'm not a total waste of time."

Y/n grinned. "You have one date." Luke pumped his fist and Y/n laughed. "Now what did you have in mind?"

Luke plopped next to Julie on the couch, concern already on his face. "Are you okay?" He asked softly, slowly reaching out to rub her arm. Alex was on the other side of her, laying on his chest. The two had gotten really close in all their talk about soulmates but when Alex had shot him a plea for help, Luke had been plenty willing to jump in.

"Yeah," Julie sides, picking up her head. "Flynn and I just got in a fight. It was dumb, I just... Someone made a comment asking about 'my boyfriend' after the performance yesterday. Claiming we were together. They were talking about you." She sighed and Luke felt like he was the worst person to get involved in this, but one look from Alex made him stay where he was. "I told them you weren't my boyfriend, and the conversation moved on. She was a little annoyed that I didn't mention she was my girlfriend, I guess? And then went off about how you're into me or something?" She shook her head.

Luke's eyes went wide. "Wait what?"

"I know!" Julie gushed. "I tried to defend you, because we all know that's kind of just how you are with everyone. I mean people also think you're dating Reggie and that's not true..." Suddenly her head tilted. "Is it?"

Despite the tense feeling of the situation, Luke laughed. "Uh, no." Then he considered it, and tilted his head in thought. "I mean, not that I'd pass up the chance if it came. Just-"

Seeing him struggling, Julie supplied, "Your soulmate?" Luke hesitated before sighing and nodding. "When did you..."

"Not long before the night we died, actually. A month max? Time started to kind of blur as things got more intense and trying to get over a break up and stuff." He shrugged.

Julie nodded. "That makes sense." She hesitated, but finally asked, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course, but... what was she like?"

That made Luke smile. "He."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He laughed. "Yeah, really. Uh, I mean it was actually Alex who helped me come to terms with that whole me being attracted to dudes thing." He shook his head. "Anyway-"

Julie chuckled. She calmed, her eyes settling on Luke with a gentle curiosity. "What was he like?"

Immediately Luke remembered a time when things were amazing. When life had seemed truly good since he'd run away from home. "He was... like, a light. In a really dark part of my life, he came to me like sunlight in the morning? You know when the nights really dark and the clouds cover the stars and the moon just isn't enough and then the sun rises and it's almost a relief? It's like that. I had enough before him, but after... It was like everything I needed - everything I'd ever wanted or dreamed about or thought of - it was just right there. A whole person made of my dreams." He got a sort of dreamy smile on his face. "He was always so warm and soft. He used to... trace it." He rose his hand so his fingers ghosted over the mark on his shoulder. "When he did, it sort of tingled. Like this warm sensation that rippled across my skin. It always did that when he touched it. I usually did it more though. I'd hold his hand in my lap and just like stroke the mark. Cause his was on his hand, below his thumb. He used to call me his flower because of it." A bubbly laugh rolled from him and Alex and Reggie looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't seen Luke like this since...

Julie's eyes were very soft. "He sounds amazing."

"He is." Luke's smile suddenly faded, slowly. His fingers grazed the rose again. "He dances like I play music. He was really good at it. All kinds of dancing actually. He used to slow dance with me all the time. Just pulling me close when it was just us and swaying back and forth. He did actual dancing too, but I loved slow dancing with him the most. If he was feeling really restless he would HOARD spray paint and sneak out. The next day we'd wake up with some street art of our band. It's how we did most of our advertising back then. No one could ever pin it on us because we didn't do it, and no one knew me and Y/n were..." Suddenly Julie realized why Luke looked so sad while talking about something that was obviously such a happy time. "I mean, two guys are soulmates in a world where both soulmates and anything nonheteronormative is demonized? I was trying to make a band that was gonna get really popular and do a lot of incredible things and we couldn't even DREAM of being caught together, let alone going public. Girls would still flirt with me all the time, and I got distracted really easily with practices and writing music." He shrugged. "I always thought that soulmates were... different, I guess. I learned my lesson." He stood, putting his guitar down. "I'm done for today. I'll see you guys later." He walked out and Julie almost went after him, but Alex shot her a look.

"Well that went well," Julie mumbled, sitting down again and rubbing her face.

Alex sighed. "About how well it always goes." He shook his head. "But anyway. How about we figure out how to get you back on Flynn's good side?" He winked and Julie managed to actually smile. Luke hadn't had luck with soulmates, but she had. The past was the past. It was time to enjoy the now, until Luke was ready to really talk about it.

Luke wasn't sure what he had walked in on, but it was obviously something he wasn't supposed to have. When he opened the garage door, the muffled sounds of an argument trying to be hushed died out immediately and of all people, Reggie and Y/n were the ones who stepped away from each other to break out of whatever heated exchange they'd been having.

Since Y/n and Luke had started... whatever it was they were, Y/n and Reggie had become like best friends. At first Luke had been a little jealous, but at the end of the day he was just glad that his two favorite people had someone when he was busy as he so often was. Bobby and Alex were important to him of course, but Y/n was his soulmate and he and Reggie had known each other the longest. Sometimes he felt like there was a disconnect between him and Alex; the same with Bobby. He and Reggie were always on the same wavelength though. Even when Reggie missed something, he always got the idea or figured it out after a second. He was slower to do so when it came to the others. Y/n was the same way, as if he was just an extension of Luke's body. Rather than an echoed return, it was just one fluid motion. He and Reggie bounced off each other and built; he and Y/n slowly grew together, feeding off a constant wave of energy. Reggie and Y/n were like a game of hot potato, where the potato got hotter each time they threw it. They had that same gaining effect, but not an echo or a constant, just a little bit of energy from each until it was overflowing. The three of them were kind of unstoppable and anytime they could all hang out, it was the most fun any of them had ever had.

That didn't seem to be the case right now.

Y/n snagged his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. "Hey." His voice was strained, and all of his muscles seemed to be tense. He couldn't focus directly on Luke, his eyes constantly drifting to the door. He wanted to book it.

Luke caught Y/n's shoulder, his eyes full of concern. His eyes drifted between the boy trying to run and the one still in the studio, retreating to the furthest corner - seeming just as desperate to escape. "Wait what's happening here?" Luke asked. "You guys never fight." When they didn't answer, he pressed, "Come on, maybe I can help. Friends argue all the time; it's not a good idea to leave on a bad note."

Despite how odd it was, he did not miss at how the two flinched at the word 'friends'.

Finally, someone spoke. "It doesn't matter, dear." Y/n didn't relax, and the small smile he managed onto his face was so forced it was painful to look at. Luke went to argue, but Y/n rose a hand and caressed his cheek and Luke got distracted for a second - just long enough for Y/n to add, "Just some talking between friends." The word came out harder than the others. Friends. Luke was even more confused. "It was stupid to argue about. Some people just have their minds set, and that's it."

Luke's eyebrows came together, eyes moving between Y/n and Reggie. "You know you guys could... tell me, right?"

"Of course," Y/n reassured. "We just..." He sighed. His walls fell and Luke relaxed, knowing whatever was about to come out of his mouth would be genuine. "Can we just not talk about it please? It's something we need to deal with."

That was understandable. Luke could let it go for now.

Luke was glad he couldn't dream anymore. It had taken him a while to figure out he could go to sleep. He didn't tire like he used to, and usually any exhaustion he felt faded pretty quickly if he just sat down and relaxed for a few minutes. He had been nervous the first time he'd fallen into what he now considered sleep, and had woken up pretty quickly. But then he realized he'd been out for half an hour and he hadn't had any dreams. Not like when he had when he was alive.

Y/n wasn't in his dreams now that he was dead.

If he was being honest though, in the very back of his brain, he did miss it. He missed going to sleep knowing that he would be lulled all night by imaginary arms, dreaming of a life he yearned for. A life he missed. A relationship he so regretted losing.

Without the dreams, he started to imagine. Just out of nowhere, if he wasn't engaged in something important, he might just sort of... zone out. And he would think. Think about what things used to be like when Y/n was still around. What life might have been like if Luke had been better. Just, in general. They'd never even called each other boyfriends. The title had never been used, and Luke knew it was because their relationship didn't deserve that. They cuddled sometimes and kissed sometimes and knew each other well, but Y/n had never been Luke's first priority. Of course his music was important but...

The night they'd... broken up? No, that was for people who dated. It was more of just a parting of ways. They'd argued and then Y/n had walked out and like an idiot, Luke had let him. He hadn't gone after Y/n, or tried to fix it after. He'd just lost himself in music and the thrill of being so close to fame and victory. It hadn’t been until he was dead and had realized he’d missed twenty-five YEARS that he even thought about Y/n again.

And now he couldn’t STOP thinking about Y/n. How wonderful and special their time together had been and how much Luke absolutely didn’t deserve it. How he had ruined everything and just let it be ruined. He had been too ashamed to go looking for Y/n because he knew it would only bring him pain. Seeing him with someone else - or even worse, still alone - it would kill him. Again.

What really sucked is that Luke was back to exactly where he’d been when he was alive, after Y/n had left. He was distracting himself with music and work and shutting everyone else out and refusing to talk about it or acknowledge it or anything, and WANTING to go back and fix it but being far, far too terrified to. The result was that Y/n was just always on his mind, more prominent than ever, because now he had so much more guilt. So much more pain, watching all his friends be happy and in love. It was all so much harder to ignore.

Maybe that was why he saw Y/n across the street as they stood outside Bobby’s house, Julie telling them off for going after Bobby and holding onto the past when there was so much in the present to focus on.

Luke suddenly couldn’t hear a single thing Julie was saying.

He stepped past her, eyes wide and heart racing. He had forgotten how beautiful Y/n was. Maybe it was a weird word to use for a guy but... GOD it fit.

The weird thing was that Y/n wasn’t a day older than the last time Luke had seen him. So for a second he thought that maybe he was just imagining it. But the longer he looked, the more clear Y/n became. He wasn’t looking at Luke. His eyes were focused on Bobby’s house, anger twisting his features. And then someone passed him, a woman and her child, and they walked right through Y/n and the small child, a little girl, jumped, eyes wide as Y/n seemed to become clear to her. She dropped her toy and Y/n ran to pick it up and hand it back to her, a soft smile on his face. She took it back with a look of awe and then hugged her little toy close, a huge smile on her face.

She said something to her mom and Luke didn’t know how but he HEARD it.

“Mommy! Mommy! The angel helped me!”

Luke took another step forward. “Y/n?” He only whispered it. He was sure the others hadn’t even heard it, let alone Y/n from all that distance away. But he looked anyway, as if answering to his name, and his and Luke’s eyes locked.

Behind him, someone gasped and someone else shouted in a voice flooded with concern.

Then Y/n disappeared, and with him, Luke felt his heart shatter all over again.

213 notes · View notes

ptersparkers · 4 years

Text

her brother’s girlfriend

summary: sarah cameron happens to be in love with her brother’s girlfriend.

warnings: none, i think? and typos, probably.

notes: someone requested this and i was like.....ok yes this is a very interesting concept! i’m also really glad you guys want more sarah content because i love her. also in my head the pogues are 17-18 because i cANNOT deal with 15 year olds being as ripped as rudy and chase bye

i’m aware sarah’s mom being this nice is not canon but it is in my universe ok

add yourself to my taglist!

Sarah Cameron was laying on her stomach with her phone in her hand when she heard your laugh from the hallway outside of her room. She spent the morning trying to combat the heat of the North Carolina sun and found a spot in her room situated in front of her window on the second floor that provided a draft of wind. She let her eyes close for a brief second, enjoying the spot with her arm propped up against the cold side of the newly turned pillow.

She heard your voice from outside of her door in the long hallway. Your laugh had echoed through her mind and she snapped her eyes open, her head looking at the white door that was the only barrier between you and her. She could hear her brother’s voice accompanied by an equally loud laugh and Sarah couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the thought of her brother being the one to make you laugh.

There was a knock on your door that pulled Sarah out of her thoughts.

“Come in,” she said awkwardly, quickly turning her phone on to look busy. You opened the door and she looked at you and saw tan lines and a bathing suit that made her mouth water.

“Hi,” you said softly, smiling at her. You had one hand on her doorknob and had stepped in only far enough to peek inside her bedroom. “Do you have that shirt I gave you last week?” Sarah snapped out of her thoughts

“Oh, yeah! I washed it last night, hope you don’t mind. I know you said it didn’t matter but Kie pushed me into the river,” Sarah said, fetching the black shirt that had been fitting perfectly folded on her nightstand. She handed it to you and you tilted your head, keeping that grin on your face.

“You’re an angel,” you said dramatically. “Well I hope Kiara pushing you into the river was worth it.”

Sarah laughed shyly. “We were just messing around and she pushed me a little too hard. I think someone has a video of it.”

“You’ll have to send it to me,” you said. There was a brief pause when you heard Rafe calling your name. “Anyway, I’ll probably be swinging by later tonight for dinner. Your mom invited me this morning and she said something about salmon?”

“She’s excited about cooking the salmon she got off of the mainland,” Sarah explained. She leaned on the wall next to you and crossed her arms lazily across her chest. “I think she bought a little too much but I’m happy that you’re coming over.”

“Babe?” Sarah heard Rafe call from out of her bedroom. You had turned around and nodded towards him.

“I’ll see you later,” Sarah said, her lips forming a thin line. You winked and bade her a goodbye and Sarah closed her door, sighing in frustration.

Her infatuation with you started when you had come home from college last summer. It was your first year gone and she hadn’t paid much attention to you from various parties on Figure Eight and around the island until she had seen you in her living room, sitting on the living room couch on the seat closest to the front door. You had stood up and offered your hand for her to shake, introducing yourself as Rafe’s girlfriend. It was odd that she had never heard of you before nor had she ever seen you, but her thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when Rafe had sauntered downstairs and pressed a kiss to your lips.

It turns out you were a Kook but had never bothered to attend events thrown by the rich families until you had dated Rafe. She began to see you more often and had taken up a liking to striking up a conversation with you whenever Rafe wasn’t by your side. You had the best sense of humor and fashion sense, she decided. You didn’t give a shit about your status on some small island that you’d eventually leave and Sarah decided she’d be the same way. She accredits your personality rubbing off on her for being more open to becoming friends with Kiara again, and subsequently, the Pogues.

When she asked you about your opinions on The Cut and everyone who lived there, all you did was shrug. At this time, she had been dating Topper for a few months and her opinions were clouded by his constant degrading comments about the people who lived on The Cut and she felt as if she couldn’t express a differing opinion without hearing the end of it.

“I don’t care about titles,” you said, taking a sip of the drink you were fostering. “People are people and they never asked to be born with or without something they can’t control.”

“But you’re a Kook,” Sarah retorted.

“I guess,” you said. “But I never bothered to come to these things before dating Rafe.”

That much, Sarah knew, was true. She also had you to thank when it came to Rafe’s relationship with her friends; you had chewed him out in front of John B. and JJ when he had made a degrading comment about the Pogue lifestyle and didn’t care that you were speaking your mind to your boyfriend. All Sarah could remember was Rafe’s dumbfounded face and his silent nod, looking between the Pogues and you before walking away as you had raised your eyebrow, challenging him to change your mind.

Sarah could also remember JJ’s slow clap when you had followed Rafe out of The Cut and John B’s starry eyes. It was no secret that both boys had grown a small infatuation with a Kook Princess who had a mouth on her and used it for good. Ever since that afternoon, Rafe hadn’t dared say anything to the Pogues when he was on The Cut.

That was the first time Sarah had felt a strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach. It was realizing that you didn’t just control Rafe, but you were able to get through to him and make him listen to your voice.

And Sarah swore that she’d grow to have a spine like you did.

When the sky grew dark, Sarah heard your car park in front of her house and saw dressed in a linen blouse with a few buttons popped open, black slacks, and comfortable oxfords. You looked more mature than the Kooks on the island and her heart was racing, beating against her chest. Before Sarah walked downstairs, she had slipped on a pair of white sneakers and buttoned her plaid tapered pants, looking in the mirror as she put on a second coat of lip gloss.

As she walked out the door, she groaned in frustration and closed it, looking at herself with dissatisfaction. The baby yellow shirt she wore didn’t make her happy with her outfit and she wanted to change it in hopes of impressing you with her fashion sense. Sarah pulled out a large white button down and settled for that, mimicking your outfit but popping open two buttons and tucking it into her pants.

“Ward couldn’t be here tonight,” her mother said when Sarah made her downstairs. “He says hello.”

“That’s okay,” you said with a smile. “I know I’ll see him some time soon.” You saw Sarah standing her mother and motioned for her to come closer to which she followed. Sarah fixed her hair anxiously and stood beside the older woman, waving at you.

“Hey,” you said coolly. “Long time no see.” She could hear you teasing her in your voice.

“I’ve been bored since you left,” she said, scrunching her nose.

“Why don’t you two hang out for a bit? Rafe called me earlier and said he’d be a little late because he has a flat tire.”

“I hope he’s okay,” Sarah said sympathetically.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” her mother said, waving her off. “Anyway, I’m going to go back to the kitchen and finish preparing dinner. Why don’t you two go up to Sarah’s room and hang out for a bit? I’ll call you down when the food’s ready.”

You nodded and said your thanks and Sarah led you to her room, trying to keep the blush on her cheeks from surfacing. Her room was much tidier now; she had taken the liberty to clean it up after you left when she realized she had a pile of dirty clothing in the corner of her room and some books sprawled out across her floor. They were all in their place now. Sarah made sure to fix her bed just in case you were in her room again and she thanked herself for not being lazy earlier.

“Your room’s so cute,” you said, looking at the pictures on her wall and nightstand. “It’s so...you.”

“Thanks,” she said, sitting awkwardly on the edge of her bed, not knowing what to do other than stare at you while you looked around her room. “I try to make this space feel like home as much as possible.”

“That’s how I feel,” you said. “I have a dorm back in college and I brought some stuff that reminded me of the island. I didn’t want to feel like I was sleeping in a stranger’s bed.”

“I thought your parents wanted you to stay in an apartment,” Sarah said, turning her head.

You laughed. “Nah, I wanted the college experience. My roommate was a girl named Alex. Cool chick. She moved from South Korea halfway through high school and decided to stay in America for college.”

“College sounds much better than this.”

“It is,” you said without a beat. “I like the independence and the freedom to study what I want to study. The college parties are great but I think it’s a little too much for me.”

“You don’t go?”

You shook your head. “Not really. I’m more of a wine and dine type of girl.”

“Sometimes I feel like I only go to parties because all of my friends are,” Sarah confessed. You stopped sifting through her clothing and looked at her.

“You don’t have that many opportunities here,” you said. “I mean, I never really went to parties anyway but I realized that when I left for college. Do what you want, Sarah. Sit at home and eat some popcorn or go out and get drunk. As long as it makes you happy.”

Sarah sat there, dumbfounded as you resumed looking at her closet. She hadn’t thought about how her voice was suppressed by Topper, her parents, Rafe, and the other Pogues. Sarah felt as if she had tried so hard being two different people when she was with the Pogues or the Kooks and, if she was admitting it, Sarah was getting tired of pleasing two different groups of people.

“You have cute clothes,” you said, pulling out a blouse to look at. “I’d raid your closet if you let me.”

“You can,” Sarah said too quickly. “Borrow clothes, I mean.”

“I mean, it’s only fair if I let you borrow my clothes.”

Sarah laughed. “Oh! I forgot, Kie texted me the video of when I fell into the river.”

You put the hanger back in her closet and sat next to Sarah while she looked for her message chain with Kiara. She turned up her volume and played the video. While you were watching at the small screen, Sarah couldn’t help but be hyper aware about your thigh pressed against hers and your hair tickling the side of her face. Sarah had cursed herself silently, remembering that she hadn’t done much to her hair other than wash and dry it.

“That was hilarious,” you said with a laugh. “But yeah, maybe it was a good thing that you washed my shirt.”

“I don’t know what to do with my hair,” Sarah said abruptly, suddenly a little self conscious about her appearance. “I always wear it down or in a ponytail.”

You stood up and Sarah’s eyes followed you. You walked to her makeup desk with a large mirror and sifted through her products, taking a few items and bringing it to her bed.

“I like this spray,” you said, praying the liquid onto her roots. “It’s good for beach waves and to contain frizz. You just need a little bit.” If Sarah was being honest, she enjoyed your fingers playing and tugging on her hair. “You could just, um,” you said, not knowing how to explain it. You ran your fingers through her hair just enough to push it all to the back and so that the front of her hair was voluminous and elegant. You grabbed her yellow hand held mirror and gave it to her.

“I look like you,” Sarah said with a small smile.

“I also like to put my hair half up and half down or in a bun with a few strands framing my face. But it’s all about decorating your hair with clips if you’re lazy.”

“I’m always lazy.”

You looked at Sarah with a smile and she swore that moment had lasted for a lifetime. It wasn’t until her mother knocked on your door and opened it that pulled her out of her thoughts and brought her back to reality.

“Food’s ready! Sarah, you look gorgeous,” she said, taking note of her hair that had changed since the last time she saw her mother.

“Thanks, mom,” she said sheepishly. “Give us a second to clean up and we’ll be downstairs.”

Sarah moved hastily and tried not to trip over her own two feet when she put the hair products back in their place. She could feel you watching her and chose not to meet your gaze when she walked past you to head downstairs.

Her dining room was split into two - the room with a large table that was always decorated minimally and a smaller table meant for intimate moments, like this one. There were four plates set on the table and you sat in front of her mother. Sarah had to consciously make the choice to sit next to her mom, forgetting that Rafe was coming over until she saw the fourth plate.

“This looks great, Mrs. Cameron,” you said as she began to serve you a piece of the salmon. “It smells fantastic.”

“I know your mother loves to cook and I’ve gotten a few tips over the years. I have her to thank, really.”

As the conversation between you and her mother continued, Sarah couldn’t help but think how you were the perfect girl to bring home. Her mother loved you and begged for Rafe to bring you over more often when you were home from college. Her father thought you were a model girlfriend, though Sarah was sure you played the tamer version of yourself around him. You were everything she could’ve asked for and she couldn’t help but feel happy at the thought of you staying in her life for the long run.

“I’m home,” Sarah heard Rafe say as he approached the table. She watched as you turned around and smiled while Rafe leaned down to press a kiss to your cheek. She shifted in her seat awkwardly and felt a burst of jealousy within her. Sarah tried not to think about you for the rest of the dinner but that was hard to do whenever she saw Rafe kiss the back of your hand.

It was going to be a long night.

***

“Yo, Cameron,” JJ yelled as Sarah turned around. She was in the midst of grabbing a water bottle when she heard the blond call her name. “How’s Y/N doing?”

“Fine,” she called back, walking back to the group. “She’s going back to school next week so she’s spending time with Rafe before going back.”

“Haven’t seen her in a while,” JJ replied. “Actually since summer when she talked Rafe’s ear off.” Sarah smiled at the memory.

“They spent the weekend together and they’re coming back this afternoon, I think.”

“Spending the weekend together, huh?” JJ asked suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows. Sarah gagged internally, trying not to think about you and Rafe intimately. Instead, Sarah made a disgusted expression to which JJ laughed.

“Are we talking about Y/N?” John B. asked when he climbed onto the boat.

“She’s going back to school next week,” Sarah explained once again.

“Dang, wish we could hang out again but I guess I wouldn’t want to be caught with high schoolers if I’m in college.”

Sarah knew John B. didn’t mean anything bad by his comment, but she felt insecure. Did you hang out with her because you were Rafe’s little sister? Did you pity her for hanging out with the Pogues, who were around Sarah’s age?

“Where are Pope and Kie?” Sarah asked.

“Bringing food from her house,” John B. explained. “They’ll be here in twenty.”

“God, I’m starving.”

“Isn’t that Y/N?” JJ asked, pointing afar. Sarah turned and took off her sunglasses and put in on her head, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to identify you. But it didn’t take that much effort. She’d recognize you anywhere. Sarah pulled her phone from her back pocket and texted you to come say hello, hoping you’d hear her silent plea. The trio watched as you checked your phone and stopped abruptly, changing your direction and walking towards the boat.

“I can’t believe she’s actually coming here,” JJ said, laughing to himself. He sat with his hands behind his head.

“You act like she’s some celebrity,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

“She kinda is. No one bats and eye when she walks The Cut or Figure Eight,” JJ said, shrugging. “Plus, John B. gets flustered whenever she’s around and that never happens.”

Sarah didn’t have time to process what JJ had said because you approached the docked boat, standing on the wooden floor. Sarah looked at you - you wore an orange bikini that highlighted your tan nicely and carried a towel. She did a double take behind her sunglasses, looking at your extremely short shorts and gulped when you looked at her.

“Mind if I join?”

“N-Not at all,” she said, stepping aside for you to climb in.

Sarah could see John B’s cheeks turn a shade of pink when you winked at both boys who were sitting next to one another. JJ sat up straighter and John B. stood up, offering you a bottle of water or some sunscreen that he had remembered to bring. She watched as you turned around to place your towel on the boat and as the two teenage boys watched as your shorts rode up your thighs, leaving their mouthes slightly ajar. She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath.

“Sarah, come sit next to me,” you said, pulling her out of her daydreams. The towel was big enough for two people to sit on and she tried not to stutter and trip over herself. “So tell me, boys, what have you been up to since the last time I saw you?”

“Oh, you know,” said JJ, “just messing around and trying not to fight your boyfriend.”

“He hasn’t been bothering us,” John B. cut in, shoving JJ.

“Good,” you said, leaning back on your elbows.

“I guess nothing’s been that exciting around here,” said John B. “Just trying to pass time before summer comes.”

“I can’t wait to relax again,” you said, sighing. “Midterms kicked my ass and spring break is almost over, so it’s back to stressing out again.”

“Look at you, college girl,” JJ teased.

If there was one thing Sarah loved about you, it was your ability to read people past first impressions. JJ had always been an interesting case for you because you could tell he was a rambunctious soul that cared deeply for his friends and used humor as a coping mechanism. You didn’t know what that was, nor did you try to pry, but there was always an unspoken support you had for JJ. You had confided in Sarah once in the previous year about if JJ was okay and had asked her all these questions that, if she didn’t know any better, would make her assume you had a thing for him. But you were just aware of people, especially the ones who put other people first.

“You’d do well in college,” you said, looking at JJ.

“I have no brain cells,” he said, laughing at his own joke.

You shrugged. “I just think you’re introspective and have a lot to say. JJ didn’t say anything. Sarah could tell he was flustered and couldn’t come up with a coherent response, but you didn’t pay any mind and started a new conversation.

Sarah thought you were so effortlessly cool. You had a “go with the flow” personality but knew when it was time to be mature. You were everything she wanted to be - never caring about what others said about you and doing whatever you wanted if it made you happy. You invested in your future and Sarah wanted to do the same.

“Sarah?” you asked, nudging her side.

“Huh?” she said, looking at you.

You chuckled. “I asked if you wanted to come back to your house with me. I’m meeting Rafe later on tonight and I could give you a ride back home.”

“Oh,” Sarah said, clearing her voice. “No, that’s okay. I’m gonna be hanging out with John B. and JJ until later tonight.”

“Suit yourself,” you said as you stood up. “Mind bringing the towel on your way back?”

Sarah shook your head. “Not at all.”

“Thanks,” you said as you put your sunglasses back on. “See you later, boys!” You waved goodbye and the trio watched you walk away until you disappeared among a small crowd.

“Sarah,” John B. said softly. Her attention turned to the tan boy who stood with a soft expression on his face.

“What?” she asked.

“You like her,” JJ said with a smirk from where he sat.

“N-No I don’t,” Sarah said. “She’s dating my brother.”

“You can still like who he’s dating.” Sarah was quiet.

“We don’t love you any less,” John B. said. Quite frankly, Sarah hadn’t given any thought to her sexuality or what to label it. She just knew she liked you.

“But seriously,” JJ said, pushing himself up from his spot. “Y/N or not, you know we love you, right?”

Sarah felt like a weight was taken off of her shoulders. There was the fear of people knowing she liked her brother’s girlfriend, but also the fear that people knew she had romantic feelings towards girls. She hadn’t thought about how her friends would take to that other than knowing that you were a little older than the rest of them.

“Yeah,” Sarah said softly, a tear slipping from her eye. John B. didn’t miss a beat and pulled her into his chest where she left a few tears splash her already rosy cheeks.

***

It was the night before you were leaving to go back to school after spring break and you had stopped by her house to spend a few hours with her family and say goodbye before going back to your house. Sarah was the only person in the house when you knocked on the door, but you were happy to stick around for a little while.

“It’ll be weird when you go home,” Sarah admitted. “It’s quiet when you’re gone.”

“I’ll be back before you know it,” you said, mocking her pout. “It’s only two months. Plus, you can always FaceTime me.”

“I know,” she said, taking step towards you. “It’s just not the same.”

“I think you’re too mature to still be on this island,” you said. “You’ve got this itch for real life and the Outer Banks isn’t giving you any of that.”

“It’s like you took the words right out of my mouth.”

“You’re like me,” you said, sighing. “There’s a lot of things out there for you but you just have to take the first step.”

Sarah was quiet. All she could do was stare at you, perfectly imperfect. You had opted to forego makeup and wore moisturizer and perfume that Sarah could recognize easily. Your wore distressed jeans, white sneakers, and a random shirt you had found that wasn’t in the laundry and left your hair flow behind you without real thought about how you looked. It was nice to see someone who lived on Figure Eight that didn’t care about how they appeared to other people living on this side of the island.

“What are you thinking?” you asked. Sarah realized she hadn’t said anything.

“Nothing,” she said quickly.

“Your pretty head was somewhere else for a minute,” you teased. You walked forward and ran your hands through her hair before resting them on her neck. Sarah gulped, debating on whether or not she should keep her feelings to herself or not.

“You mean a lot to me,” she began. “You, uh, you make Rafe really happy and that makes me really happy.” It took a moment, but you smiled softly at the blonde in front of you. Sarah relished in the feeling of your thumbs stroking her cheeks and waited for you to reply.

“You’re special, Sarah Cameron. You’ll be just fine.”

You leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek but it was dangerously close to the corner of her mouth. Sarah closed her eyes when you let your lips linger for a brief moment before pulling yourself away and waving goodbye, heading outside.

Sarah Cameron had looked at the space you had occupied and watched the ghost you left behind disappear into her memory. She didn’t know much, but she knew you believed in her. And that was enough.

***

i thrive off of feedback and commentary so pls feed my ego

***

taglist:

@princessdolan @ashyramblings-ficrecs @fanficscuziranout @caswinchester2000 @jellyfishbeansontoast @karleeluv @briannarto @pogue-h @hyluas @angelic-ashleyaileen @mfmaddyperez.

^ tumblr isn’t letting me @ certain urls and that makes me #frustrated.

#sarah cameron x reader #outer banks x reader #obx x reader #jj maybank x reader #outer banks #obx #sarah cameron blurbs #sarah cameron imagines #sarah cameron #my writing #her brother's girlfriend

611 notes · View notes

amanda-glassen · 3 years

Text

The Wonder Years: Part 10

While getting ready for her first school dance, twelve-year-old Olivia starts a path toward discovering who she is truly meant to be. Parts 1-8 can be found under the the tag #alex and liv: the wonder years

Olivia clinged to her mom just like she did when she was five and her mom wrapped her arms around her and dried her tears as she always did, but nothing about that hug felt the same. She had grown up and so had her mom. Serena wasn’t a twenty-six-year old graduate student in a tiny apartment near campus. The apartment they had at the time was far from luxurious and Olivia remembered her grandma and grandpa had offered to pay for her to live somewhere nicer, but her mom wouldn’t budge. For the first time in her life she wasn’t going to depend on her parents’ money and Olivia had never seen her mom happier. While her mom was holding her, Olivia wished she could close her eyes and be transported back to that apartment where she and her mom sang silly little songs together and her art projects were displayed anywhere she wanted them to be.

But there was no going back no matter how tightly she closed her eyes.

“Mom, I have to tell you something.” Olivia didn’t know what she should start with. Her dad? Kissing Alex? But neither seemed right. “Do you love Jamie?”

She felt her mom’s finger playfully tap her nose just as she did when she was little. “That’s not telling me something, Olliegator, but, yes, I do love her and she loves me, too. I know it’s always been just the two of us, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t bring anyone into your life unless I knew they were going to be in it for the long run. You’re my priority, Ollie, and I’ve always said whenever I decide to get serious with someone, my main concern is how he or she would treat you.”

“Mom, Jamie is the only person you’ve ever dated as long as I’ve been on this planet.”

“Okay, smart guy,” her mom said as she started to tickle her.

“Mom!” Olivia shrieked, trying to squirm away from her tickles. “I give up! I give up!”

“Your laughter will always be my favorite sound,” her mom told her and, although they were meant to make Olivia feel loved, her words cut deep when she remembered the real reasons she was crying.

Olivia decided to sit up on the bed and her mom followed suit. “Mom, I’m glad you have Jamie. I like her and her advice worked. I got kissed tonight.”

“I know you did.”

“Are you mad?”

“I’m not naive, Olivia,” her mom said as she fixed a few strands of Olivia’s hair that was no longer being held in place by the pomade. “I knew you having a girlfriend would mean you’d eventually kiss her. I just want to make sure you’re kissing a girl and being kissed because you want to be and not because you feel like you have to. I also want you to never make Alex feel like she has to kiss if she doesn’t want to.”

“I wanted to,” Olivia insisted. “So did Alex. I was nervous at first, but now it’s all I can think about.”

Wrong answer, Olivia thought as she felt her mom squeeze her tight. “I’m not ready for this. No girl should be kissing my little Ollie Koalie yet, maybe in ten years.”

“And no woman should be kissing my mom,” Olivia retorted. “But even if someone is gonna be kissing my mom, I’m glad that someone is Jamie. And, Mom?”

“Yes, Olliegator?”

Olivia returned her mom’s embrace. “I think you and I finally figured out this whole mushy love stuff.”

“I think we did, baby,” her mom responded, giving her a kiss on the temple.

Serena’s perfume smelled a little more expensive than it did when Olivia was five, but she was still sleeping in the same style of camisole and her skin was just as soft. Her hugs still feel the same.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?”

“Remember how you said I could always talk to you about anything?” Olivia pulled away from her mom’s embrace so she could look her in the eyes. “I’m twelve now and that’s almost a teenager. I think I’m old enough to know about my dad.”

Serena leaned her head back against the wall. She wiped under her eyes with her fingers and Olivia didn’t know if it was because she was stalling for time or she was trying not to cry. “What do you want to know about him?”

“What’s his name?”

“Emerson,” Serena said matter-of-factly. One fact about him checks out.

“Where did you meet?”

“Columbia.” Fact number two checks out.

“Was he your boyfriend? Did you love him? Mom, just tell me,” Olivia pleaded.

She noticed her mom bite her lip and her eyes started to water. “Olivia, the reason I never told you about him isn’t because I want to keep secrets from you. It hurts me to talk about him but, you’re right, you’re old enough to know who he is. He was my best friend.” Another fact about him checks out.

“What was he like?” Olivia asked, torn between wanting to get information and not wanting her mom to be upset.

“He was a frat boy,” Serena half-smiled. “There were three types of frat boys back when I was in school－jocks, arrogant rich boys, and the class clowns. Emerson was definitely the latter. I had never met anyone like him before. He was the first friend I made when I started school and we did everything together. There weren’t any feelings involved the first two years or maybe there were and we just didn’t acknowledge them.”

“You had to have acknowledged them in your junior year. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. If you didn’t fall in love with him, I wouldn’t exist.”

“Yeah, Olliegator. If I hadn't fallen in love with him, you wouldn’t be here.” Her mom sniffling and the change in her tone of voice was more than enough for Olivia to know that her story wasn’t going to be some cute college love story like the kind in an indie movie, but she didn’t want her mom to stop.

“Was he your boyfriend?”

“Yes!” Serena said in an angry tone of voice that startled Olivia. “Ollie, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Yes, he was my boyfriend. I was so in love with him even if he was the most chaotic dumbass I had ever met. He’d do anything to make me laugh. In the spring semester of my junior year, I got a C on one of my midterms. I had never gotten anything less than an A- and I thought my life was over. When I told him what happened, he bought me a cake and came over a couple of hours later. He lit a candle and started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ but changed the words to ‘Happy First C.’” Her mom had begun smiling uncontrollably and, although she wasn’t finished with her story, Olivia already knew that she wanted to tell her dad all about how her mom had told her the story of the cake and how much she was smiling when she told it.

“So, what happened next?”

“He said, ‘You didn’t fail, Serena. A C is average even if there’s nothing average about you.’ And that’s when I kissed him. He asked me to be his girlfriend right then and there. We finished off that chocolate cake and had a frosting fight to celebrate. I had fallen in love for the very first time. My heart was set on marrying him someday and then everything just...changed.”

“What changed? Was it because you got pregnant with me?” Olivia asked glumly. “ Why couldn’t we be a family?”

“Olivia,” Serena reached out and grabbed her hand. “I loved you from the moment I found out I was pregnant with you. It wasn't me being pregnant that changed everything. What changed everything is what happened the night I actually got pregnant with you.”

“What happened that night?”

“Olivia, sweetheart, I’m going to need you to stop. It hurts me to talk about what happened and I don’t think you’re ready to know.”

“No!” Olivia insisted. “I deserve to know what happened. You’re my mom and he’s my dad and I deserve to know why we’re not a family.”

Her mom gritted her teeth and tried to calm down. “Olivia, please stop.”

“I’m not going to stop until you tell me,” Olivia clinged to her.

“Get off of me!” Her mom yelled out as she forcefully broke away from Olivia. Serena shifted to the other side of the bed and, as her eyes were tightly shut, Olivia could have sworn she heard her mutter ‘Get off of me’ under her breath in repetition.

When Jamie entered the room to check on them, her mom pushed by her without saying a single word. They heard the front door slam a few seconds later and Olivia was surprised Jamie was staying with her instead of following her mom.

“Can I hug you?” she asked Olivia as she sat down on the bed next to her.

Olivia just nodded before clinging to her the same way she clinged to her mom just moments before. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make my mom cry. Is she going to be okay?”

Jamie affectionately rubbed Olivia’s back, hoping to reassure her. “Your mom just needs some time, Ollie. Something happened to her that she doesn’t like to talk about because it hurts her a lot. All we can do right now is give her some time and when she’s ready you and I are going to give her all the love and support that she needs. Do you think you can do that?”

“I can do that,” Olivia responded, although for the first time she was afraid to go near her mom after how forceful she had been with her and how much her wrist still hurt from where her mom grabbed her and pushed her away.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” It was a lie and she knew that Jamie could see through it. Jamie was strong and Olivia felt safe in her arms, but she missed her mom’s cuddles and kisses, so she decided to get off the bed and look out the window. Her mom was standing on the front steps with her uncle Kyle, crying into his sweatshirt. From her fourth floor window, Serena looked so small and helpless and Olivia had to stop herself from running outside to comfort her. Mommy, what did he do?

#cabenson #alex and liv: the wonder years #baby cabenson #olivia benson #serena benson

12 notes · View notes

callboxkat · 3 years

Text

Second Chances: Virgil’s No Good, Awful, Very Bad Week

Author’s note: Thank you everyone for your patience on this! I’m so sorry I didn’t get this out as quickly as I intended. I hope you enjoy it :)

Summary: Things had really begun to snowball for Virgil in the past week or so. And he was reaching his breaking point.

It had started with those stupid nails.

Warnings: Food mentions, rude customers, arguing

Word Count: 4735

Second Chances Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

...

Virgil had been having a time of it lately. Seemingly everything that could possibly wrong was going wrong, and he desperately needed a me day. He was going to lose it, at this rate.

His new coworker had finally settled in enough to start being actually helpful, rather than slowing everything down and doubling the number of irate customers Virgil had to juggle, and had maybe turned out to actually not be a jerk, and things had been looking up. But of course, Virgil’s life couldn’t have that, and here he was. Things had really begun to snowball in the past week or so. And he was reaching his breaking point.

It had started with those stupid nails.

…

“Are you freaking kidding me,” Virgil groaned.

There was a nail in his tire. A nail, in his tire. The end of it glinted slightly in the weak sunlight, the rest completely embedded in the tire of his car.

He’d had a feeling about what he’d fine, as the low pressure warning had come on and he’d pulled onto the side of the road, although he’d hoped otherwise. This was the third time this had happened in as many months. Virgil swore someone was seeding his driveway with them.

“Great. Just great.” Virgil fished his phone out of his pocket, glanced at the time—he was definitely going to be late for work, since he wasn’t about to let his car sit in the parking lot and leak air from the tire all morning—and dialed Thomas’s number. Apparently, he and Roman would get to start today’s shift alone.

Rain began to fall, pattering the street. Even more perfect. Virgil cast one more glare at the offending tire before he got back in his car. He slammed the door just as the line picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey T, uh… were you going to go in today?”

“I wasn’t,” Thomas admitted. “Why, do you need me to?”

“Well, I was on my way to the café, but you’ll never guess what I just found in my tire.”

There was a sympathetic groan on the other end of the line. “Oh, no.”

“Yep.”

“But you just got that fixed.”

“Yep.”

“…Are you sure it’s not just a pebble?”

Virgil laughed. “Thomas, I think I know how to tell a nail head from a pebble. If I didn’t before, I sure should now.”

“That’s true.”

“So, uh, hopefully I shouldn’t be too long, but….”

“No, don’t worry about it. Do what you’ve got to do. I’ll go make sure Roman’s not by himself.”

“Yeah. Um, tell Princey I said hi, I guess. And that if he messes anything up while I’m gone, I’m gonna take his name tag and make him wear my Myrtle one.”

“…You don’t have a Myrtle nametag?”

“I’ll make one, then.”

Thomas snorted. “Alright.” He knew Virgil was joking. Which he was. Mostly.

Getting a nail in his tire sucked; but of course, it if were only the nail that he had to deal with, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Virgil could handle a minor inconvenience. A few minor inconveniences. But things only got worse from there.

…

“Medium chai latte with two cherries,” the woman standing in front of the register said, not looking up from her phone.

“Sure,” Virgil said. They typed in the order, then told her the price. The cherries seemed a little odd, as did the specific request for exactly two of them, but they’d put together some pretty strange orders. And it wasn’t exactly difficult to throw in a couple of cherries. It wasn’t a very expensive drink.

The woman frowned anyway and finally looked up from her phone, clearly unhappy. “But the sign says the chai latte is only—"

THUMP! The loud interruption was accompanied by a gasp and a splash. Virgil spun around, their heart immediately racing. There was a yelp from the side—probably Roman.

“Oh, goodness gracious,” Thomas sighed, one hand on the counter, looking down at the mess he’d made. He’d dropped a gallon of milk—which had been nearly full, from the look of it, and which either hadn’t had a cap, or had lost it when the jug fell, hitting the ground hard. It had, of course, tipped onto its side. Now, milk was spreading across the floor, and there were splashes of it across the bottom of the cabinets and their clothes.

Roman, the only one of the three spared from the splatter, quickly set down the pair of drinks he’d just finished before he could drop them. A bit of coffee dripped down the side of one of the cups. His eyes were wide as he looked from the splattered milk on the floor, to Thomas by the counter, to Virgil at the register.

Virgil also took a second to take in the scene, then noticed the damp feeling at the ankles of their leggings. They looked down, and their still frantic heart managed to sink as they took in their skirt. It was new, ankle length, with beading and embroidered skulls. They’d worn it with a stylishly ripped long sleeve shirt under their uniform shirt, as well as a studded choker with a dangling storm cloud pendant, which had been a birthday gift from Thomas. They were also wearing a they/them pin that they’d gotten from Roman, who’d shown up one day with a set of three pins, looking both very nervous and very pleased with himself. Virgil had still been able to see where the clearance sticker had been torn off—not that they were judging saving a little money. Virgil was 100% sure that the gift was Roman’s attempt to help himself, since apparently the name tags were too subtle. Virgil thought it was kind of hilarious—and maybe a little sweet (maybe)—so they wore the pins.

They had loved the look, minus the Sanders Café shirt; and wearing it had really brightened having to go to work so early in the morning; but now the ensemble was rather soured by the milk dripping from the skirt’s hem and splashed across their shoes. They stepped back to avoid the spreading puddle, as if it mattered at that point.

“Huh,” they said, still trying to get their heart rate to calm down.

Thomas sighed as if in agreement. A few people in line either groaned or snickered, depending on how impatient they were feeling on that particular day, but most weren’t that rude. One person whispered to their friend, “Should we go somewhere else?”

Roman, meanwhile, looked like he was waiting for someone to start yelling. He was eyeing the closet where the cleaning supplies were, but he couldn’t get to it without marching through the milk, and he was visibly hesitating. Probably didn’t want to ruin his shoes. Virgil might have been annoyed, but Roman was the only one who hadn’t already gotten milk on them, so they couldn’t really blame him.

Their gaze drifted to Thomas’s hand on the counter, and how much weight he was putting on it, and the fact that Thomas had also made no move to clean up the spill.

“I’ve got this,” Virgil said, leaving the register and the crowd behind it. A soccer mom who was waiting for her drink made a snide comment about professionalism. Virgil decided her drink was getting made last.

“Thanks,” Thomas said. He watched as Virgil righted the jug and picked it up. The side of the jug had cracked, and they quickly moved to hold the jug at an angle to avoid too much more spilling—not that there was all that much left. It continued to drip as they carried it to the sink and set it down. Then, they went to get a mop. Thomas was feigning casualness as Virgil went, clearly preferring to look a bit like a jerk than anything else in front of the customers, who probably assumed he was just a manager taking advantage of the lower ranking employee by forcing them to clean up his mess. Virgil wasn’t going to do anything to ruin that image if that was the one he preferred, although they did keep an eye on Thomas as they started to clean up the spill.

Roman slowly turned back to what he’d been doing, wiping off the side of one of the drinks and sliding the both towards the waiting crowd. He grabbed one of the café’s popular double chocolate cheesecake slices, put it on a plate, and added it to the grouping on the counter before calling the customers’ names.

After a few seconds, Thomas straightened and walked to the register, and sat down on the stool. Chatter resumed a more usual tone in the café, although Virgil did notice a few people taking pictures of the spill.

Thomas smiled brightly at Ms. Chai Latte with Two Cherries. “Sorry about the wait! Let’s see, one chai latte, with two added cherries. That’ll be—”

The woman was already waving her credit card in his direction. “I know, I know. Here.”

Finally, the spill was cleaned up, and Virgil went to put away the mop. They snagged a bag of chips from the display and tossed them to Thomas on their way. And for the rest of their shift, they desperately tried to ignore the milk still stubbornly set into their skirt and leggings.

…

“Sorry,” Virgil said dully, not actually sorry at all, “Would you mind repeating that again?”

The young man grinned and repeated his very, very long order, speaking fast in a way that could only be on purpose. Virgil was pretty sure the order was different this time than the first. They cast a glance at the camera phone the guy was holding up, which was recording the entire thing, as if this was somehow the thrilling content the entire internet was looking for.

“One more time,” they said. “Please,” they added, because their boss would want them to.

The guy chuckled. “A little slow, huh…” he squinted at their shirt “…Alex, are we?”

Virgil only blinked at him.

He repeated the order. He definitely changed it again, but at least he slowed down this time. Slightly. Virgil typed it in, flashed a customer-service smile that didn’t reach their eyes, and went to make the order, taking a copy of the receipt. Roman was technically meant to fill the orders, but no one else was in the café besides a pair of teens waiting for their drinks. And based on the look the other barista cast Virgil, he had no idea where to start with this guy’s order anyway, even if he wasn’t already busy. Everything the man had ordered was ridiculous and often contradictory, like an “americano” with milk and whipped cream, to start. Most of the drinks had about ten customizations each that made their drinkability questionable at best. The order was rounded out by two relatively normal cappuccinos, identical except that one was decaf, and three-quarters of a cookie (he was being charged for the full cookie). It wasn’t a cheap bill, but that didn’t seem to be a concern.

The man filmed Virgil work, making dumb comments and laughing, and calling out various things that he thought that the barista had forgotten even though they hadn’t, or saying that they hadn’t added enough sprinkles or cherries or syrup, or whatever he could think of. Virgil only checked the receipt and kept going.

When the customer clearly didn’t get the reaction he wanted from any of that nonsense, he instead started berating Virgil’s appearance, saying he hadn’t known he was at some kind of freak raccoon zoo.

Roman looked annoyed at that and opened his mouth to respond, but Virgil shook their head. “Don’t, Princey,” they said in a low voice.

Roman hadn’t looked happy, but he had dropped it, instead heading over to the register, so that he could help the newly arriving customers who would otherwise be stuck waiting.

Finally, the monstrous order was done, and Virgil placed each cup on a tray. Two trays, actually. The drinks didn’t all fit on one. They set the dumb three-quarters cookie the customer had ordered on top of the lid of one of the cups.

“Which one’s the full caff cappuccino?” he asked. “You know, with—”

He went on to list all of the specifications it had, which Virgil tuned out because they didn’t care. They calmly pointed at one of the cups.

The guy grinned, took that drink off of the tray, and set it to the side. Then he did his best to fit everything else on one tray, putting his phone in a chest pocket so he could keep filming. He wasn’t going to win any awards for cinematography. Maybe he didn’t have any friends to film for him. It wouldn’t be a surprise.

The man picked up his overflowing tray of drinks, and then he dumped the entire thing in the trash.

Some of the drinks hit the edges of the trash can’s opening, spilling over the sides; but most of the man’s order ended up firmly in the trash. Everything Virgil had spent the past… he didn’t even know how long putting together. The two teenagers in the cafe looked up from their table, their jaws falling open like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Roman looked even more horrified, but as angry as they were, Virgil simply blinked and turned to the drink the guy had set aside. “Oh, wait. Yeah. Sorry, that one’s actually the decaf.”

The wannabe internet star, who’d been watching their reactions smugly, paused. His face went blank with surprise, then contorted in rage. He turned off his camera phone and stormed out of the café without his drink.

Virgil counted to five, to reset, and let out a long, weary sigh. There weren’t many customers who were that horrible, but they were always a pain to deal with on the rare occasion they did show up. They turned to the small line that had collected during the show, held up by how long the one pointless order had taken. “If you all wouldn’t mind, please use the trash can on the other side of the café until further notice.” They pointed at the other trash can. They’d clean up the other once the line was gone, or make Roman do it.

Speaking of Roman, the other barista was still staring at the trashcan full of wasted drinks. Probably his first encounter with someone like that.

“Next customer,” Virgil called.

“He didn’t even… try any of them,” Roman said quietly. He looked down at the solitary, ridiculous drink left on the counter, and picked it up.

Virgil sighed. “Yeah. He was just here to make a mess for views, or whatever. Don’t worry about it. You can just throw that one away, too—we can’t sell it; and I doubt he’s coming back.” They turned and smiled at the customer before them. “So sorry about the wait. What can I get for you?”

They focused on taking the customer’s order, then turned to Roman, only to see that he hadn’t moved, still standing with the abandoned drink. He looked angry.

“Roman?”

“I’m taking my break,” Roman said. Still holding the drink, he left the prep area, walking stiffly towards the back of the café.

Great.

Virgil watched him go, shrugged, and went to make the order herself. She handed the drink off, then paused to switch the pins on her shirt before heading back to the register.

Some time later, once the café’s line was empty and the trash can had been cleaned up, Virgil walked to the break room and leaned on the doorframe. Roman was in there, sitting on the sofa, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and looking at the floor. The drink he’d taken from the counter sat on a table, half finished.

“You drank it?”

“It was the most normal drink he ordered,” Roman said, not looking up. “And he barely touched it.”

“Yeah, but… it’s decaf.”

Roman huffed, but he didn’t actually seem amused.

“What’s up, Princey?”

Roman shook his head.

“Come on, humor me. I don’t have time to needle it out of you. Someone’s supposed to be out front.”

Roman shook his head, glanced at Virgil, and looked away again. “It’s just a big waste, okay? What that guy did. I don’t—” He shook his head. “People shouldn’t do that.”

“No,” Virgil agreed, still confused about why a few drinks mattered so much to Roman. He wasn’t the one to waste so much time putting them together, and the guy had paid for them. “They shouldn’t.”

Roman took in a shaky breath and sat up, still looking away. “Sorry, just… go back out front. I’ll join you in a second.”

“…Okay.” Virgil hesitated, glancing him up and down, but she did leave.

Roman came back soon after, but he kept acting weird for the rest of their shift.

When she got home that afternoon, Virgil wanted nothing more than to take a long nap and watch some bad television, but someone had backed into her mailbox, and she got to deal with that instead.

…

The next day, the fridge died.

The freaking. Fridge. Died. They had just gotten a milk delivery!

Virgil and Thomas were stuck with a dead fridge and a crowd of customers who weren’t exactly going to leave and give them space to figure out what to do. At least they knew roughly when it had stopped working, since Virgil had checked it when he got to the café, and they’d noticed something was wrong soon after.

Thomas went to the back to make some calls about getting the fridge fixed, and Virgil went on as normal, since they had some time before this really became a problem.

He tried not to think about it too much—at least, not until Thomas returned, looking annoyed and exasperated.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “That’s the earliest they can come look at it.”

“Everything will go bad way before then,” Virgil pointed out, arching an eyebrow. “The milk.”

“Yep.”

“So? What are we going to do?”

“Bradley told me we could figure that out. He doesn’t care.”

“Um, okay, well….”

Thomas shrugged. “Clearance sale?”

They ended up selling everything that required refrigeration for half of the regular price. Some of the less popular items, or items they had a lot of, were even further discounted. The first few customers to find this out were simply pleasantly surprised to hear the prices. Some of them added more to their orders, since they might as well.

And then, news spread, which created a new problem. Soon, the line was out the door, the café filled with customers clamoring for their discount coffee and pastry fix.

This rush, naturally, created more problems. Many of the customers seemed to be under the impression that everything was half price, and Virgil had the joyous task of dealing with many customers who were angry that their plain black coffee or chocolate chip cookies were full price, and who were unimpressed by Virgil’s suggestion that they make their americano a cappuccino or a latte if they were that set on paying less.

Thomas and Virgil were pushing out orders as fast as they could, and still it seemed like half the shop was filled with people clamoring to get their orders filled.

Mass hysteria rose when the café ran out of the popular double chocolate cheesecake. Virgil was beginning to contemplate simply closing the café for the day, cutting their losses, and hoping he wouldn’t get fired for doing so. Possibly the only reason he didn’t do that was remembering Roman’s reaction to a few (well… relatively few) drinks getting thrown away.

At one point, Thomas pulled Virgil aside. “I might need to go home,” he very reluctantly admitted. “This is… a lot. Would that be okay? I don’t want to leave you alone with all this.”

Virgil bit his lip. “Okay. Just… hold on a minute. Stay on the register. I’ll see if anyone else can come.”

Virgil pulled out his phone (which he was allowed to have in his apron pocket, at least as far as he cared) and stepped away from the crowded front of the café, retreating to the back room. He tapped his painted nails against the black, purple-rhinestone-studded phone case, thinking. Talyn and Joan would both be in class, so they weren’t an option. And he didn’t like most of the other baristas. Really, there was only one option.

Virgil selected Roman’s contact, and waited. He’d have preferred to just text—he hated phone calls—but he couldn’t be sure that a text would get Roman’s attention; and that cheap phone of his probably took forever to type on, anyway.

“Hey, Virgil,” Roman said. “What’s up? It’s my day off, isn’t it?” There was a shuffling noise, like he was scrambling to check that he hadn’t gotten the date wrong.

“Yeah—yeah, I know it is. Sorry, but, uh… we kind of have an emergency going on here, and we really need you to come in if you can. The fridge died this morning, so Thomas and I are trying to sell everything we can before it goes bad, and it’s getting crazy. And he’s not feeling well, so it’d just be me here… and—and it won’t like you’ll be losing your day off this week, since I doubt we’ll be able to open tomorrow with no fridge or supplies or anything. It’ll only be a couple of hours.” After that, they’d have to throw everything out.

Roman paused.

“…Please?”

“Wow, you must really be desperate if you’re saying ‘please’.”

Virgil scoffed, but before he could say anything, Roman continued, “Yeah, of course I’ll come in. One sec, I’ll see if I can get a ride.” Roman seemed to freeze, as if he’d misspoken “Uhh—my car’s—it’s in the shop.”

“…Yeah, sure.” That was an obvious lie, but it was neither any of his business nor anything he particularly cared about, especially at that moment. Virgil heard a scuffing noise, then footsteps, then a muffled conversation. Virgil paced the back room impatiently.

“Alright, I’m on my way. Give me like ten minutes, maybe fifteen.”

Virgil heaved a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

He went out to tell Thomas, who agreed to stay until Roman arrived, although he wasn’t sure how helpful he’d be.

And then a disgruntled guest threw a drink, because apparently it was taking too long to get their wife’s order. Virgil was really going to need a self-care day after the week he was having. Or two. Or ten.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to leave,” Thomas said from the register, looking unimpressed with the display.

“Sure, ma’am, whatever you say,” the customer said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Thomas frowned.

“Bye,” Virgil said pointedly.

Both customers looked annoyed, but thankfully, they did leave. The next several customers were overly nice, as if trying to make up for them. Virgil was not opposed to that, or to the substantial tips a few of them left.

Just under fifteen minutes later, Roman arrived. Another young man came in with him. Virgil assumed that he was a customer at first, but he looked around the café, grinning, chatting with Roman in a clearly familiar way.

“Wow, Roman,” Virgil heard, “is it always this busy?”

Roman laughed. “No, Pat. This is a little… unusual.”

“Oh, that’s good. It looks like a Black Friday sale in here.”

“That’s accurate,” Thomas commented, looking amused, as they came closer. He was sitting on the stool from the register, no longer taking orders—Virgil had been doing that for a while now. He started to get up, leaning on the counter to talk to Roman. “Thanks for coming in. Virge and I really appreciate it.”

Roman waved him off. “It’s fine, I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Still, thanks,” Thomas repeated. He waved at Virgil, then left the prep area, starting to untie the knot of his apron.

Virgil set down another cluster of drinks and pastries, and called the names on the orders even as hands appeared from the crowd to snatch them. Hopefully they were the right people, but if not, well… not his problem. “Who’s this?” Virgil asked, coming closer to Roman.

“Oh, Virgil, this is Patton. He gave me a ride. He’s, uh….”

“I’m his roommate,” Patton said, smiling. “And a friend.”

“Yeah,” said Roman. “Thanks, Pat. You can go home if you want.”

“Okay. Just text me when I should pick you up!” He smiled at Virgil, then glanced around at the crowded café. “Well, I won’t keep you, but it’s nice to meet you, kiddo.”

“Nice to meet you,” Virgil agreed.

The young man hugged Roman before he left, and then the baristas turned to face the mob.

By the time their clock ran out, very little was left to throw away. Still, Virgil could tell it pained Roman when they had to announce to everyone that the café was closing, and even more so when they threw out what was left. There wasn’t much to do about it, though, which Roman understood.

After their disaster of a morning came to a close, Virgil threw his apron at the hook on the wall in the wall. He missed, and the apron fell to the ground. “At least we get tomorrow off, right?” he sighed.

(Of course, this was before he knew that Bradley would ask him to be there when the repair worker came to look at the fridge)

…

Virgil watched a movie in bed that afternoon, but she burned her popcorn, which happened to be the last in the box; and she wasn’t exactly willing to go out and buy a new one at that moment. And the neighbor’s kids seemed to be having some kind of screaming competition.

She wasn’t having a great week.

…

The next afternoon, after dealing with the fridge situation at the café, Virgil finally got to go home and properly relax. No more nails in his tires, no more angry or entitled customers, and no more neighbors backing into his mailbox.

He had barely closed the front door before he was kicking off his shoes and yanking off his Sanders Café shirt (Why had he worn it, when the café wasn’t even open? The best he could figure was some kind of horrible autopilot.) He put his head back and let out a cry of pent-up frustration.

The week was over. It was finally time for some self-care, before he lost it completely.

He put on his softest pajama pants and was about to flop on the couch to watch The Office when the doorbell rang. He would have ignored it, but it rang again. Virgil threw a pillow in the door’s direction. It fell to the floor. The doorbell rang again.

Reluctantly, Virgil got up and went to answer it, and give whoever stood there a piece of his mind. “What,” he groaned, only to cut himself off when he saw who stood there. “…Oh. Hi, Thomas.”

“Hi,” Thomas said. He held up a case in one hand and smiled. “I brought drinks.”

Strawberry lemonade—Virgil’s favorite.

Virgil leaned on the doorframe and looked at Thomas appraisingly. “…You like The Office, right?” he asked.

Thomas laughed. “Storm Cloud, I introduced you to The Office.”

“Hm.” Virgil stepped back to let him in, cracking a grin. “Fair point.”

They watched a few too many episodes of The Office before Thomas went home, and by then, Virgil was feeling a lot better. Still, once he was alone, Virgil treated himself to a nice soak in the tub (in swim trunks and t-shirt) with a wine glass full of his finest purple Gatorade. He even set out candles (the battery-powered kind), put on some relaxing music, and used a swirling galaxy bath bomb that he’d been saving. A book Thomas had recommended sat on a little table by the tub, along with his cellphone in case it didn’t turn out as to be as good as his friend claimed.

Once everything was ready, Virgil sank into the bath, Gatorade in hand, surrounded by a swirling galaxy, ready to let the stress melt away

It was a nice way to end a very, very sucky week.

39 notes · View notes

not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

100% Professional (Six)

MASTERLIST

*******************

“So what, he flaked out on your date?” Gwen took a loud swallow from her over sized coffee thermos and smacked her lips. “Why are you so bent out of shape, you’ve never had someone cancel a date before?”

“No.” Peter said shortly. “I’ve never had someone cancel a date before. People like dating me, they always show up.”

“Mmm. Bite me.” Gwen retorted. “Well, welcome to the club of rejection, it happens to all of us, even blonde haired stunners like myself.”

“Your hair is pink right now.” Peter pointed out and Gwen replied, “Which is the only reason why my own date got canceled last week.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t because you showed up with a stack of flyers to hand out about the evils of Hammer Tech?”

“I might have come on a little strong.” the pretty girl agreed. “I suppose protesting mega corporations isn’t everybody’s idea of a good time.”

“No, probably not.” Peter slumped into his chair and propped his feet up onto the table. “What am I going to do, Gwen?”

“Oh my god, you’re really upset about this!” Gwen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Pete! I thought you were just cranky cos you didn’t get laid! You really like this guy, don’t you?”

“I told you that.”

“Well yeah, but you like everyone.” she said flatly. “Plus, he’s a client so when you said you liked him and that his muscles made you cream a little---”

“GWEN!”

“--I assumed you were just talking from a professionally horny standpoint, not from a real interest standpoint!” she cried. “I mean, damn Pete! You can’t date clients! If word gets out that you’re that kinda massage therapist, I dunno if you’ll lose your current clients or gain a whole bunch of very sketchy new ones, but either way? You definitely crossed a line.”

“I know.” he muttered. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“I’m pretty sure you could have helped yourself.” She countered. “All you had to do was be professional, Pete. Work with the guy, take his money and leave again. How difficult is that? You could have definitely not tried to get in his pants.”

“Gwen--”

“No, listen.” Gwen put her coffee down and pinned Peter with a look. “I heard what you said before about how you didn’t expect the attraction and how it’s so easy to be with him and how you guys sorta fell into each other and how you text all the time and he makes you laugh and all that. But tell me something. Have you stopped and thought for one second how hard this is on him?”

“I--”

“You tell me how easy it is for you and that’s why you want to pursue it.” She interrupted. “But your shocking lack of professionalism aside, have you even considered how difficult this is for Wade. Just once?”

“Um.” Peter hesitated. “...no? He said he felt it too so I thought it was okay.”

“You told me Wade has to live up high because traffic noise gives him panic attacks.” Gwen recounted and Peter’s face fell. “That he had to get raging drunk just to get through the first massage and then had an actual breakdown when you gave him that weighted blanket. Does that sound like a person who could dress up and stroll downtown for a date with you? Just because Wade's comfortable in his own space and over text messages doesn’t mean he can do it all outside, you know.”

“I didn’t think about that.”

“For all you know, he’s NOT comfortable in his own space.” she continued. “He could be pretending so it’s not weird for you. Do you know what he does right after you leave? Does he have to take a shower, have to meditate or medicate? Is he basically paralyzed for a few hours until his anxiety settles down?”

“...things are tough with Flash.” Peter realized. “That’s why you’re so in tune to everything right now.”

Gwen nodded miserably, her jaw clenching, and Peter whispered, “I should stop by and see him.”

“Flash doesn’t want you to stop by and see him.” She denied. “He doesn't even want me to come by. My fiancee came home from over deployment and can’t even be in the same room as me most days because I remind him of how good things used to be and how different it all is now. Remember how we were going to get married when he came home? The first time I tried to kiss him hello, Flash panicked and didn’t come out of his room for like, three days.”

“I remember.” Peter’s lips pulled down into a frown. Flash had been so hoo-rah about going and being a hero and now he was nothing like he’d used to be, shutting out the love of his life Gwen, his oldest friends Harry and MJ and even Peter, who had been his roommate through all four years of boarding school and their first year of college. “I-- I remember.”

“So you know what I did?” Gwen shrugged as if it still didn’t break her heart. “I decided to be Flash's friend because that's the only way I’m able to be part of his life. I try to take on disgusting billionaires, try to date to fend off the loneliness but end up scaring them away because let’s face it, I’m intense, and then I spend as much time with Flash as I can. Sometimes that means we talk, sometimes that means I sit clear on the other side of the couch and watch him watch a movie. I'm his friend."

“You’re trying to tell me I need to be content with being Wade’s friend." Peter blew out a deep breath. "Like if I want to stay a part of his life, I have to respect the boundaries he has, even if they are boundaries that seem like they come out of no where."

“Don’t make everything about you, Pete, I’m trying to tell you that if I don’t get laid soon I’ll actually die.” Gwen retorted and smacked Peter’s feet off the table. “But also yeah, if you want to be around Wade, you’re going to have to settle for friends. Obviously you both thought Wade was ready for more, and obviously he isn't. Back off, bud. Be his friend or leave him alone. Quit complaining about your hurt feelings and try to realize Wade probably hates himself right now for what he considers a failure. Not going on a date with you? He probably thinks its a failure. Stop bitching and have some compassion.”

“I hate your advice.” Peter reached over and took Gwen’s hand, smiling when she squeezed at it. “But I'm pretty sure I needed to hear it, so thank you. And I’m sorry about Flash. I’m sorry that the reason you know all this is cos you’re living through it.”

“I'm sorry about Flash too.” Gwen cleared her throat and blinked away a few tears. “And this therapy session will cost you one bagel and another cup of coffee, so get to it. I don’t hand out all this advice for free, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Peter pulled out his wallet and headed towards the front of the coffee shop. “Love you, Gwen.”

“Yeah.” she said absentmindedly, going right back to her book. “I'm real swell."

***************

Benefits of group therapy. Wade typed into the search bar on his computer. Local group therapy for veterans. How long until therapy starts working? How long after trauma is therapy useless?

He took a gulp of a drink that was way more whiskey than it was Coke and searched, What qualifies as trauma? How long will I have panic attacks?

And then with his breath catching and vision blurring with tears: How long before I feel normal again? Do people with PTSD ever date again?

His phone buzzed and Wade picked it up without thinking, swiped the screen without looking, sure it was going to be a reminder of meds or a confirmation text from tomorrow’s physical therapy appointment.

From Peter: I’m not going anywhere, Wade. I’m not going to bother you, but if you need me, I’m here and if you want to talk or need some of my Grade A humour to distract you for a minute, I’m here for that too.

From Peter: I’ll let you make the first move though, I don’t want to intrude or push like… boundaries? I don’t expect anything from you, but know that I’ll be happy to hear from you all the same.

Wade blinked down at the message, then up at the current screen on his computer, scrolling down until he found an article he’d only skimmed earlier: How to be there for someone with PTSD. Tip one was to reassure the person that you were there but didn’t expect anything, that you would respect their boundaries and needs but also would grant them their distance.

Peter had obviously read a similar article or pamphlet and even though the text read a little stiff, it was clear Peter was trying and it made Wade’s heart hurt in a very real way that even after everything, Peter was still trying.

He didn’t text Peter back though.

Instead Wade put his phone away and went back to looking up group therapy locations and reading anonymous reviews about different therapists.

He’d gone to therapy after his injury, he’d even gone to a psychiatrist, he’d gone to a hypnotist for the nightmares and about every other ‘-ist’ out there but it apparently wasn’t working, he apparently needed something more because living like this wasn’t working anymore.

There was a group specifically for injured veterans, former soldiers whose entire lives had been changed by a moment overseas, and Wade clicked through that website to until he found a time and a location and the suggestion that he “click the attending box partly so Sam knows how many cupcakes to bring, partly to set it as a personal goal for yourself!”

“I’m doing this for the cupcakes.” Wade muttered as he checked the box. “Only for the cupcakes.”

….and with one more glance at his phone, “And maybe for Pete.”

*******************

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER!

*******************

@ships-galore @ceealaina @izziebladez @cwar1864 @hausoffro @tonystarkisanangel @multishippinglife @girlnic @iam93percentstardust @paranormalmoonlight5 @igotloki @moosette05 @wayward-student-philosopher @kaz-brekkers-gloves @atomicfandombomb @1fuckingshitup69 @agentlokii @livewire28 @tulipsnbigcats @kimstark @alex-stark-rogers @bibbarnes @heeeyitskay @goindownshipping @quietgayguy @nanita90a @justaniche

@chiby-chan @thanossucks @i-am-worth-it-25 @dan4thefam

#ncts fics #spideypool

93 notes · View notes

imagine-that-100 · 4 years

Text

Holiday | Part 11 |

Description of Part 1: Alex Turner x Reader (Female) | You’ve been friends with Alex Turner and the other boys from Arctic Monkeys since you were 13. You never for a second thought that Alex would release a song about you though. From late night phone calls and almost constant texting and teasing, you’ve managed to stay close with him over the years. When a pact is established and a holiday is arranged, life seems to be treating you very well. But a month in LA will either make or break you.

Word Count: 10.3K

A/N: Okay so this series is going to run for a lot more weeks. May even be more than 15 parts at this rate so I hope you all don’t mind. I’m still loving writing it up and I hope you’re all still enjoying the story. Btw idk who made the second picture I’ve used here but I honestly found it in my camera roll yesterday and couldn’t not use it. Taglists are always open. Thank you for reading x

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

| MASTERLIST IN BIO |

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I’m starting to regret my decision to come back home. It’s fucking freezing Al x

You’d returned back home just over a week ago and you and Alex had barely been out of contact with each other.

Back home the weather was polar opposite to what it was over in LA. It was cold, wet, and windy and the view of Sheffield didn’t really have the same effect as the stunning view that LA had to offer.

But there was something relaxing about going back home to your normal surroundings.

Well I told you not to leave xx

You couldn’t help but grin at his message when it came through.

He did try and persuade you not to leave and you really did want to stay. But you had to get back to work and look into moving.

Alex knew that you loved your job despite it stressing you out a lot of the time and he did feel selfish asking you to stay in LA with him. But at the same time, he knew you’d get a lot more opportunities over there with him and he knew you would smash it in America just like you’d done back home.

You’d agreed that you were obviously going to try the long-distance stuff for a while until plans were made. And yeah of course you were missing him, but you’d lived without him for a long time before now.

You would make it work. You were both open and honest with each other and as long as that stayed the case, nothing could go wrong.

You’d liked each other for too long to just let distance ruin it.

You reply to your boyfriend quickly, just half-heartedly defending yourself.

It’s not like I wanted to leave you, but the flight was booked. And you know I’m not one to waste money xx

Alex chuckled at that; You really were set in your ways once something had been arranged. He loved but hated that about you.

He just wanted you all to himself. After staying with him for the month and becoming as close as you had, he found his house so empty without you.

He was always finding any excuse to either phone or text you. Alex still wasn’t used to it being okay for him to be texting you every chance he could.

In his mind, since you’d gone back home, you were still his best friend that he’d harboured feelings for, for such a long time. He found that he had to remind himself that it was different now, and he could ring you whenever he wanted to.

He texted you back as he lay himself down on his bed and hugged the pillow that still smelled of you as he replied to you.

No, I know you’re stubborn xx

You gasped out loud when that came through, which caused Y/B/F to look over at you.

She’d been so funny when she came and picked you up from the airport. You’d hugged each other for a solid two minutes; You had missed her so much.

You found it funny as well when as soon as you released each other from the hug, she was very quick to ask you about Alex. You wouldn’t change her for the world though.

You were so used to spending your days with her like you’d done for the first week of your holiday with Alex. Just happily coexisting together yet having the best time when talking about whatever came to mind.

“What’s he saying now?” She grinned at you from her spot on the sofa.

You weren’t offended by what he’d said because you knew it was true. But of course, over text you’d pretend to be the slightest bit offended by it.

“He just called me stubborn” You tell her with a smile on your face.

Every time you talked about him you couldn’t help but smile. But that applied to before he was your boyfriend too.

You’d been caught many a time grinning like a lunatic at your phone and Alex had been the cause of it.

Y/B/F giggled at that and shrugged her shoulders, “He’s not wrong, is he?”

You faked a gasp at her too and shook your head.

“You’re meant to be my best friend and defend me” You scoff.

“Can’t defend what’s true” Y/B/F said before turning her attention back to the TV.

You shake your head and start typing out your reply.

Rudeeee! Y/B/F even agreed with you. You’re both nasty xx

He didn’t even give it a second before he started typing his reply. You saw the speech bubble appear instantly.

Well, great minds. What can I say? Got myself a stubborn girlfriend and she’s got a stubborn best friend x

You just grin as you respond to him.

Right this is just bullying at this point, think you should come and warm me up to apologise x

You were sat on the sofa feeling so cold. You had on fluffy pyjamas and a massive fluffy blanket. Yet you were still cold.

You’d obviously acclimatised to LA’s temperature as by the end of the holiday you didn’t find yourself getting as cold as you had initially. However, that could have also been down to Alex making you all hot and bothered all the time.

His next message came through quickly:

You’d enjoy that wouldn’t you? xx

You couldn’t help but smile and bite down on your bottom lip as you replied to that. Just because his idea of warming you up was teasing you for a long while before eventually having sex.

I really would xx

You send to him, but then immediately add:

And you would too x

You were certain Alex loved teasing you about as much as he loved making music. If not more.

He was so good at it as well.

You don’t know whether it was the fact that you’d teased each other on the phone for years and never done anything about it, but he’d certainly made a good start for making up for lost time.

Just thinking about it was making you get a bit excited, so you tried to stop thinking about it. But Alex’s reply came through and those thoughts about him didn’t stray far out of your mind.

I really really would xx

You quickly type out your reply with a grin on your face.

You finish that album and you’ll see me before you know it xx

He’d offered to come back home with you, which you half wanted to take him up on. But you knew that songs needed to be finished for the album and eventually the EP that was going to come out after it.

Your man was a busy guy.

He needed to get creative and you knew he couldn’t do that properly from over here. So that was when you’d both agreed that after most things were done for the songs and the promotion pictures and the aesthetics for the album were done, he’d come over.

It’s nearly done. Can’t wait for you to listen to it xx

That made you smile reading that. You couldn’t wait to hear it completely finished either.

But you had no doubt that whatever him and Miles thought would be finished soon, would eventually be changed or they would write another song or two in the window after Christmas that they had to make final changes to it.

You vaguely remember them telling you that the final deadline before the vinyl needed to start being pressed was the end of January. It was the first week of August now and you had no doubt the creative duo would create something else magical in that time.

Neither can I x

Was the reply that you sent before you started watching the rerun of Gavin and Stacy that was showing on your TV screen.

The banter mixed with drama that you were watching on the TV grabbed your attention more than you thought it would. Meaning that you didn’t see that Alex sent you another message through straight away.

You only notice it 10 minutes later when the episode ends. You pick up your phone and see another message from him that came through a while ago.

You open it quickly to see what he was saying.

Please tell me we’re still on for later??? Xxx

You couldn’t help but grin at that.

There he was referring to the little arrangement that you’d made because Y/B/F was going out for the night and you were planning on having phone sex again.

Since you’d been home, you’d done it a few times and it was quite fun.

Yeah, you’d sexted people before, but you’d never actually had proper phone sex with someone before last week. And as it turned out you were both pretty good at it.

Alex knew just what to say to get you worked up and you’d always been good at teasing him with your words over past few the years. Except back then it wasn’t as filthy as it had been the past week.

You guessed he’d got good at it because he spent his life on the road, travelling from place to place. But you were glad he’d had his practice at it because he was a fucking god at dirty talk now.

As if his singing voice didn’t already do it for you, him saying the dirtiest things to you down the phone just made him ten times better.

Even during sex with him before you left LA, he’d said some things that made the experience ten times better than it already was. You don’t think you’d ever forget it.

The morning of the day you were due to go home was one of the times he’d talked dirty during sex properly. He was being rough with you which just made the things he was saying even better.

So, when you left, he’d sent a reminder of himself home with you.

You could feel the ghost of his fingertips running over your body every time your clothes moved slightly. And it was like you could feel him inside you every time you adjusted yourself in your seat on the long flight home.

He’d left you sore. Obviously wanting you to feel him for as long as possible after you parted ways.

Knowing that you wouldn’t be able to be like that with each other for a while definitely made it better.

And that was such a good fuck, you couldn’t even lie. You’d enjoyed every second of it.

Unfortunately though, it just left you longing for him.

But you guessed it made the phone sex you had when you got home, all the more interesting because you could still feel the ghost of his lips and his hands on your skin already.

You felt like you could still feel him inside you. Which made the first experience on the phone better to say the least.

When you thought back to it, you’d literally had so much good sex the last 2 weeks you’d spent with him in LA.

One of the most memorable times was just as few days before you left. It was when you’d received an early birthday present that you weren’t expecting.

You kicked the large door to Alex’s house closed as your hands were now full of the massive parcel that had just been delivered to his door.

“Alex, what have you been ordering?” You giggle as you walk back to the lounge with it in your arms.

It was huge, yet it was quite light. You were so curious as to what was inside.

The PR packages that he always seemed to receive didn’t look like what was currently in your hands. The PR ones were usually vinyl and he’d got 5 a few days previous.

You were lowkey jealous. You wanted free vinyl.

“I’ve not ordered anything” Alex tells you with furrowed eyebrows, looking at the size of the box you were bringing in.

“Well, you have because this his huge and it has your name on it” You say as you hand it over to him.

“I’m intrigued now” You tell him as you sit yourself down in your spot.

Even Miles, who was sat next to Alex on the other settee, looked like he wanted to know.

He sat forward off the edge of the sofa and told his best mate, “Open it”

“Alright” Alex says and starts picking at the tape that was holding the box together.

He gets the box open pretty fast and you divide your attention between Alex and the final of the season of Hell’s Kitchen that you’d been watching on the trip.

Your eyes were more focused on the TV when Alex got the box open, so you’d initially missed his eyes go wide. A smirk immediately rose to his face.

Alex paused though before saying anything and looks from the box up to you and to the box again. You note that he was being weird in your peripherals though, so you turn your attention back towards him.

You couldn’t see that the box contained because he’d lifted up the sides of it that shelled the contents from yours and Miles view. You just keep your eyes on him after that.

Alex seems to think about whatever the box contains for another second before he looks back to you and try not to smile when he asks, “What have you been ordering?”

Your eyebrows furrow at that.

“What do you mean? I don’t even know your address; How could I have ordered anything?” You ask with confusion written all over your face.

You didn’t even know what part of LA you were in, except an expensive part. He’d kept his address a secret from you so you could enjoy the surprise of his house when you initially got here.

And you’d had no reason to need his address. He’d been driving you around and when you went out, you’d gone out with him or Breana, so they knew directions and addresses.

“Are you sure?” Alex asks you a smile making its way onto his lips.

“Yeah I swear down” You tell him completely confused as to why he thought it was something to do with you. You need to know, “Why? What’s in the box?”

Alex then moves some tissue paper out of the way and pulls out something you weren’t expecting.

Your eyes go wide and your jaw drops when Alex pulls two bras out of the box and holds them up to show you.

“What the fuck? Who are those for?” Your eyes go wide.

They were beautiful.

One red with black lace running over it making it look very sexy and the other was dark royal blue. The latter was currently your favourite.

“I don’t know I haven’t ordered anything” Alex tells you with eyes just as wide.

“Throw me one” You tell him.

They looked too close in size to the other ones you had, you had to check the label.

Alex then throws the black and red lacey looking bra to you and you check the label on it immediately. It was your size and it was the exact same shape as the ones you liked.

“What the fuck” You giggle.

“Have you been checking my bra size?” You grin up at your boyfriend.

“I haven’t ordered this, I swear to god” Alex shakes his head at you, going a little red at the mere suggestion that this was his doing.

You believe what he tells you but then you look back to the label and tell him, “Well whoever has knows my bra size... So if it’s not you, then who is it?”

Miles then let’s out a chuckle and both you and Alex turn to him. Your face falls into a completely unamused expression before you start on him.

“Miles if you have been looking through my underwear, I will actually fucking murder you right now” You tell him sternly.

He just shakes his head and continues his chucking. You give him a look that makes him quickly shut up though and start telling the truth.

“No, it wasn’t me. I just gave who it was the address so she could treat her best friend’s boyfriend” Miles looks between the both of you with the biggest and cheekiest smile.

You jaw falls open.

“You’re joking?” You giggle as a grin spreads across your face.

Miles shakes his head at you, “No”

“I fucking adore Y/B/F” Alex expresses in a loud voice before you hear him move more tissue paper out of the box.

“You better get her on the phone right now because I need to thank her” He tells you and when he looks back up, he’s beaming.

You ask, “What else is in there?”

“What isn’t in here?” Alex asks rhetorically before he starts revealing the boxes content.

Alex first shows you some handcuffs that he’s hooked around his finger to bring up out of the box. You press your lips together when he raises his eyebrows at you suggestively before putting them back then puts the handcuffs on the sofa before he pulls out a leather whip.

You’re jaw hangs open as Alex just keeps pulling out item after item.

Bondage tape.

Leather buckle cuffs.

The dark blue bra, with a thong to match, as well as the one to match the bra you still had a hold of.

There are also 2 sets of suspenders and stockings to match. The stockings had Alex grinning for days.

You’d yet to wear your knee socks for him, but you knew the stockings would work just as well.

After that, Alex looks at you grinning and you have to pick up your jaw from the ground. Once you gulp taking in all the new items that sat next to Alex, you look to Miles.

Miles is grinning at you like a madman and you want to give him a medal for sending Y/B/F the address. You were so fucking excited and so fucking relieved that Y/B/F knew your sizes and what you liked.

“Miles” You get his attention, your mouth a little dry. “I’m going to politely ask you to go home”

Miles bursts out laughing before he stands himself up.

“Already on my way” He says raising his hands signifying that there was no harm done.

He turns to leave saying, “Have fun guys” but then he remembers something.

“Oh, before I forget…” Miles starts.

“Y/N, she said that she wants to see pictures of you in them” He tells you, which makes you giggle before he turns towards your boyfriend.

“And she said that you’re not allowed to rip any material, Alex” Miles tells him which makes Alex say, “No promises” under his breath.

You giggle and stand up when Miles again turns to leave.

You shout after him but can’t tear your eyes away from all your new treats, “Miles as a thanks, she does really good phone sex. Just ask her for a repeat of when we went to Barcelona. You’ll get top quality treatment”

You can’t help but run your fingers over all the different material that lay beside Alex.

“Thanks Y/N/N” You hear Miles shout before the eventual thud of the door shutting behind him.

You let your fingers run over the material of the royal blue bra and ask your boyfriend without even looking at him, ”What colour do you want?”

When he doesn’t reply for a few seconds, that’s when your gaze breaks from your new items to look at him.

Alex looks in debate with himself. But you’re getting impatient.

“Alex, we have all day tomorrow for me to roam about in the other one. Pick a colour now” You hurry him on.

A colour stumbles from his mouth, “Blue”

“Right” You say as you collect all the blue lingerie in your arms before you practically run up the stairs.

“Wait for me” You hear Alex shout as he throws the empty box out of his lap.

You shout back to him before running to his room, “No. You get the other stuff and wait on the bed. You’re getting a full show Love”

And suddenly, Alex was running.

~*~*~*~

You sat by the pool the following afternoon happily reading a book that Alex had suggested.

It was actually really interesting, and you were glad that he knew you so well. You were enjoying it just as he knew you would.

You were that enthralled with the story going on in your book that you didn’t care when Alex disappeared upstairs an hour ago, and you didn’t even hear Matt and Miles just walk in.

The lovers in the story were just discovering their suppressed feelings for each other when your boyfriend’s best friends sat down either side of you on the comfy seats that resided on the patio outside.

They made you jump as you weren’t expecting them at all.   

“Oh hey” You smile as you look at them either side of you.

Matt sat down on your left and Miles sat on your right. Both didn’t repeat a greeting though, they each lifted up one of your arms causing you to abandon your book on your lap and lose your page.

You look at them both really confused as they seem to then start to inspect your wrists.

“What are you doing?” You ask them, completely confused.

Matt decides to tell you, “Looking for cuff marks… Miles informed me what was sent”

You see a little smirk appear on his face and you can’t help but grin.

“Oh yeah, it was good” You say as you watch them inspecting your skin.

Matt chuckles at your confirmation, but Miles is the one that takes up your attention next.

“Can’t have been that good if you don’t have any marks on your wrists… You would have been thrashing against them and got some marks if he’d of done his job properly” Miles says before they both let you have your hands back.

You pick your book back up and quickly find your page again.

Before you get back into the book though you can’t help but tell them with a smirk on your lips, “What makes you think I was wearing them?”

You hear them both gasp as you carry on reading your book. You don’t give them any other information than that but then your boyfriend walks outside to join you all.

“You alright?” Alex greets his mates as he sits himself down on the chair opposite you all.

You look to the boys you left stunned and see their jaws still agape and their gazes were now fixed to Alex’s wrists. You couldn’t help but smile looking at the tiny bruises that had been left there from last night’s activities.

“Fuck, mate, you had a good night, didn’t ya?” Miles laughs gesturing to Alex’s wrists.

You press your lips together to try and hide your smile, pretending to still be invested into your book. You hear Alex’s low chuckle and see him rub his wrist in your peripherals.

“It was certainly memorable” Alex says looking between his friends.

You just laughed before returning to your book.

The memory of that made you grin. You really did have your fun with those new toys.

You look back to the text message on your phone. In truth, you couldn’t wait.

You just hoped that you had the flat to yourself.

You look towards Y/B/F who was flicking through the TV channels to find something else to watch.

“Are you still going to your Mum’s later?” You ask her.

She nods at you and you can’t help but grin. You reply to your boyfriend:

Most definitely Mr Turner x

~*~*~*~*~*~

Mid-August shouldn’t be this bad.

You shouldn’t be lay in bed tossing and turning all night attempting to get to sleep. You were failing miserably because you were freezing from the cold air.

You should be able to sleep in any condition but since you’d got home, turned 29 and didn’t have your boyfriend sleeping beside you anymore, getting some rest had proved difficult.

You were getting old.

You had no clue why, but you could never slip easily into unconsciousness. You don’t know why Alex had made such a big difference on holiday, but you were glad he had.

Despite him sorting your sleeping pattern over there though, the jet lag mixed with the temperature change from back in the UK, resulted in that going out of the window immediately.

As you tried to sleep you thought of your boyfriend who you hadn’t seen now in almost 3 weeks. You just curled yourself up into a ball and stuffed your hands under your blanket and duvet after seeing that the clock read 02:57am.

After a few minutes of trying not to think about why Alex hadn’t replied to your goodnight text you finally felt yourself becoming tired. You were slipping away from reality when you felt the chill that ran over your skin disappear.

Just when you were slipping into your long-awaited slumber, you heard the door to your room open. You didn’t give it much thought because you knew Y/B/F sometimes had these really bad reoccurring nightmares and sometimes just needed the presence of someone else to calm her nerves after one.

The fact that you’d been living together for 5 years meant that you’d shared a bed with her many a time. You were used to it by now and you didn’t mind at all. You just shuffled over to your side of the bed and let her have some more room.

After the door closed and you heard some shuffling, you felt the covers being lifted behind you. You paid her no attention and tried to get yourself to sleep.

You felt her settle beside you and you quickly relaxed again.

However, your best friend liked to be annoying as fuck.

You feel her poke you in your side and you ignore her the first time knowing she’s just sometimes annoying seeing if your awake.

But when she does it again though you sigh, “What do you want Y/B/F?”

“She said you’d think it was her” A male voice that you knew all too well chuckled behind you.

Your eyes snapped open and you turned yourself around immediately. You were so thankful that your eyes had adjusted to the darkness so you could see that you weren’t imagining your boyfriend lying beside you.

“Alex” You just about managed to get out before your lips found his.

You literally pounced on the man, your hands had captured his face and you plastered as many kisses on his lips as you could. You’d never been a doting girlfriend, but Alex was different.

You didn’t see him all the time. He lived in a different country and you hadn’t seen him for 3 long weeks.

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle at the amount of times you kissed him. He’d missed you so much.

If you weren’t doing this now, he sure as hell would be doing the exact same thing to you.

“What are you doing here?!” You asked with a big grin on your face when you finally pulled away.

Alex chuckled hearing the excitement in your voice.

You could see he had messy hair and he looked really tired. But you would never not want to see those brown eyes looking back at you.

“Wanted to see you so I booked a flight” He smiles at you. “Y/B/F let me in… I wanted to surprise you” Alex tells you.

“You are actually the cutest person in the whole world. I swear to god”

“Only for you” He smiles, and you can’t help but grab his face again and kiss him.

Alex chuckles into the kiss and he savours every second. God he’d missed you more than he thought was possible.

He thought he’d missed you the years he’d been separated from his best friend. But the weeks away from his girlfriend had been agony after wishing you were his for so long.

So as soon as the album looked marginally complete, he booked a flight.

“How are you so cold?” Alex asks when he pulled away. His hands come up and covers your hands that cupped his face.

“Because my flat’s a fucking joke and since coming back, I can’t get warm” You tell him.

And with a grin you add, “And, you’ve not been here to warm me up”

“Well I’m here now” Alex’s grin matches yours and he pulls you by your waist to his body.

“Come on let’s go sleep, I’m knackered” Alex says, and you nod.

You snuggle yourself into his neck and hug him towards you.

You breathe in his scent and immediately feel yourself relax.

“God, I’ve missed you so much” You say before you kiss his neck.

You feel him wrap his arms around you and stroke your hair before kissing the top of your head.

“I’ve missed you too”

~*~*~*~

You woke up the next morning probably the warmest you’d ever been in your flat. And for the briefest of moments you’d forgot why.

That was until you attempted to roll yourself around to avoid light from the window and find you can’t. A chest against your back and an arm around your waist blocks you from doing so.

That’s when you take a moment and smile, feeling so happy that you’re trapped in Alex’s arms. You rested your hand over his and softly rubbed your thumb across the back of his hand.

It wasn’t an attempt to wake him up at all. It was just something you’d got into a habit of doing when you were back in LA, trapped in his arms, and hoped it would get him to move slightly so you could get up.

However, when you felt Alex stir behind you, you knew he was waking up. You gave him a minute to come back to reality before you spoke to him.

“I half thought that I dreamt you showing up” You grin when you feel his arm tighten around you.

“Believe it sweetheart” Alex says in his gruff morning voice.

You smile when he starts kissing your neck and he says, “I’m right here”

“I’ve missed you too much” You said before you turned around in his grip.

“It was pretty painful, I won’t lie” Alex tells you and before you can stop him, he’s pressed his lips against yours.

You kiss him back but before you can become too attached to his lips, he’s moved them so they trace down your jaw and onto your neck.

Your fingers find his hair and knot themselves in it to try and assure he doesn’t stop. You’ve missed waking up to this.

You’ve missed his lips on yours. You’ve missed his lips on your skin.

You missed him a lot.

Pathetic really after only 3 weeks apart, but that didn’t mean what you felt wasn’t real.

And the way he was making you feel right now was only a part of it. Just him being near you made you relax, and last night you’d had the best night’s sleep since you got back.

As his lips found that peace of skin just above your collarbone, he focused his attention there until you were quietly whining for him. You had to keep it down here.

You knew just how thin the walls were.

You feel Alex move his hand slip under your top and find your skin and as his hand moves up your body, your top does too. You know that he knows you don’t have a bra on underneath as you never did when you went to sleep.

So, you’re not surprised when you can feel him grinning against your skin in-between kissing it.

As his hands get higher, his lips get lower until your top covers the skin that he wants to kiss. That is when he detaches himself from your skin and looks at the material he wants removing.

“I was wondering where this went” Alex smirked looking at the logo that was on the top that you wore.

The blue letters that read ‘Triumph’ above the Union Jack were now just about as faded as the flag itself. You knew it was an old top of his and you may have borrowed it from him without asking.

“Something to remember you by?” You tried to defend yourself, but it sounded more like you were asking yourself if it was a good enough excuse.

Alex chuckled at that before removing the item of clothing from you all together. You helped him out and sat up a bit, so it was easier for him to take off.

“I’ll make you remember me a completely different way, love” Alex smirked at you before throwing the material to the floor.

You giggle before he attaches his lips to yours again and at the same time, he takes a handful of your right breast. The pleasure mixed with the tiniest hint of pain when he pinches your nipple has you moaning into his mouth and you craving him like you never had before.

Especially when his mouth finds your left breast and he starts playfully biting that one.

It felt like it had been forever.

But forever seemed like it was going to last a little longer when banging on your door started.

Alex practically jumped away from you when Y/B/F started pounding her fists against your bedroom door. You were just used to it by now though.

That was how she woke you up when you were either about to be late for work, or bored and she wanted your company. And considering the fact it was Sunday today, the latter seemed to be the reason why you were being disturbed.

When it sounded like she was about to enter the room Alex hugged you into him in an attempt to keep your decency from her, which you found awfully adorable. Bless the poor man.

She’d probably seen your boobs more times than he had.

“Up up and away you two” You hear Y/B/F shout over her banging on your bedroom door.

“Busy afternoon ahead... Get yourselves up. You can shag when you come back later before I get home” She says once she stops banging.

You can’t help but giggle at her knowing exactly what was about to happen in your room. You hug yourself into Alex some more even though you knew she wasn’t going to come in at this point.

If she was going to do that, she’d have come in initially.

“Get your sexy arse out here” You hear her shout and her begin to walk away.

But then Y/B/F realises her mistake.

She walks back to your door and shouts though it, “Shit, forgot to specify… Y/N, sexy arse, out here, now”

You can’t help but laugh loudly at that. You look at your boyfriend and see that he looks half offended despite him full well knowing she was referring to you.

“Don’t pout” You laugh, “You’ve got a sexy arse too”

Alex then gives you a look as if he didn’t believe you at all. Which was the biggest lie he could have come up with.

Back at his you were always slapping his arse when he left a room and you’d always try and squeeze it every chance you got. Even just looking at it was pleasing on the eye.

“Don’t look at me like I’m lying. We’ve chatted about your arse more than is healthy” You tell him of yours and Y/B/F’s previous conversations.

He’s about to reply again but Y/B/F interrupts.

“Alex, you’ve got a sexy arse too, but I don’t know how jealous Y/N gets about you yet so…” She trails off.

You giggle, “See”

“You gunna get jealous?” Alex grins, raising his eyebrow at you.

You shrug, “Depends how friendly you get with her…”

“But considering you won’t even let me get out of bed, I don’t think I’ve got much to worry about” You say attempting to get up but you’re not able to succeed.

Once Alex eventually lets you go, you get yourself up and dressed before heading into the bathroom to freshen yourself up. All whilst Alex was finding his toothbrush and clothes from his suitcase.

You didn’t see Y/B/F on your way to the bathroom, so you guessed she’d just nipped back to her bedroom for a minute. After telling Alex that the bathroom was free, you decided to go check on her.

You push the door to her room open and you’re greeted with the view of your best friend sat on her bed tapping away on her laptop. You see a grin come to her face, but she doesn’t look at you.

You ask, “Breakfast?”

“It’s half eleven but sure. I’ll have a bacon butty please” Y/B/F tells you and you giggle.

You don’t bother closing her bedroom door as you walk towards the kitchen. You knew she’d follow you out soon enough.

You had a decent sized flat.

One that had two bedrooms and a separate bathroom that you both shared. The kitchen and lounge was all an open plan design, that just had a small dining table that was rarely used in between both areas.

Once you’ve put the bacon under the grill, you feel hands find your hips and a kiss being placed on the back of your head. You can’t help but smile.

You turn yourself around and abandon whatever task you were doing. You lean up to quickly kiss the messy haired brunette in front of you.

You share the little kiss before you hear movement from the lounge. You separate before Y/B/F could ruin another moment between you.

“Morningggg” She grins at the both of you.

“You know, you’re just as good of a cockblock as Miles” You tell her separating yourself from Alex to check on the food.

“Ah it seems we’re meant to be then doesn’t it?” Y/B/F laughs, leaning against the small kitchen island that separates the both of you.

Alex adds, “He’s certainly excited to meet you”

“I’m very excited to meet him” She giggles.

“It’s nice to meet you properly after all the little conversations I overheard the past few years” Alex tells her.

Y/B/F smiles and nods, “Yeah it’s nice to see you with a barrier between us with me one side of it and you on stage”

“You could have come to see us with Y/N, you know?” Alex says, but you just laugh and shake your head.

“After the high of attending one of your gigs, absolutely not” You say before you stand in front of Y/B/F on the opposing side of the island.

“Yeah to be fair, I do go a little animalistic at your gigs” Y/B/F can’t even defend herself which makes you and Alex laugh.

It’s at that point though, that you feel Alex hands travel around your waist and make their way under the baggy jumper that you were wearing.

Black jeans and an oversized maroon jumper that hung off your shoulder was the way you dressed yourself today. It was pouring down with rain outside, so you thought it best to keep yourself warm.

As soon as Alex’s hands found your skin though, you let out a hiss of surprise. His hands were freezing cold.

Then again you weren’t really surprised as he was dressed in blue jeans and a short sleeved white top that didn’t look like it conserved any warmth at all.

“You’re meant to be my portable heater, why are you so cold?” You ask him when you stand so your back is against his chest.

“That’s punny” Y/B/F smirked at you and you chuckled at her joke, before tilting your head back to look at your boyfriend.

He still had his freezing hands around your stomach as he hugged you into his chest.

Alex, not missing his song reference, looked down at you and said, “Well you can be mine now… The one time that you’re warmer than me”

“Alex” You pout and lean your head back on his shoulder.

You cover his hands with your own and attempt to move them but his grip on you is firm.

Alex chuckles down at you and places a kiss or two on your neck before he kisses your cheek. You let out a giggle too and rub his hands instead, in an attempt to warm him up a bit.

Y/B/F stands opposite the both of you and smiles looking at how happy her best friend looked in that moment. She was so happy you were finally happy.

However, she can’t help herself from saying, “You two are already sickeningly cute”

“Not the jealous type at all are you” You smirk back.

Y/B/F smiles back and shakes your head at your joke. She knows exactly what you were getting at.

“Don’t worry” She smiles, “I won’t slap you or try to attack you”

You giggle at her and lean back into Alex’s chest. You were both so sad, yet you’d been making the same shitty music jokes for years.

“Is this all you two do all day? Reference me songs?” Alex asked from behind you and you could just imagine the amused grin on his face.

You watched as your best friend pressed her lips together and tried to hide her humour from Alex. You, however, just started laughing and told him the truth, “Yeah, pretty much”

“You’re both saddos” Alex chuckled down your ear before he lent down and placed a kiss on your cheek.

“Yeah we are” You admitted, leaning back into him a bit more.

“Do I get a hug and a kiss on the cheek for being a saddo too? Or have you just got your favourite?” Your best friend attempted with a grin.

You chuckled at her attempting to shoot her shot.

At the same time that you said, “Absolutely not”, Alex said “Of course you do” which made you scoff in jest as he let go of you.

You stand there completely abandoned, watching as he walks around the island towards Y/B/F, who’s got a shit eating grin on her face. She couldn’t contain her grin when his arms around her after giving her a kiss on the cheek.

She let out a little squeak as she hugged him back and because she was enjoying herself, she started swaying herself and Alex side to side to prolong the hug. Whilst this was happening, she was grinning at you like she’d stolen him from you for good, and Alex started chuckling at her being excited and probably at your unamused face too.

You obviously weren’t bothered by it at all. It was funny to watch her, but it was more amusing to pretend that you were jealous.

You raised your eyebrows at the both of them with a hint of a smile on your lips and they both laughed at you as they released each other from the hug.

Alex then threw his arm around Y/B/F’s shoulders and they both stood there looking at you with big smiles on their faces. Alex’s obviously loving your fake jealously and Y/B/F probably just because it was the best day of her life.

The amount of times you’d both gone on about how good looking he was, would probably scare him away from the both of you. When you watched various concerts together or even just saw a picture of him on Instagram or Twitter, you would both fangirl for days.

You just had the privilege of actually being his friend. And now his girlfriend.

“I see how it is” You nod trying not to grin, but you were failing completely.

Alex grins at you and you shake your head at him.

“I’m not warming you up now” You chuckle as you fold your arms.

Alex then pouted at you as your best friend giggled at your reaction. You just ignored him and started getting your breakfast ready.

“By the way, I have a bone to pick with you” You hear Y/B/F tell Alex.

You laugh already knowing what’s about to come.

“Why? What’ve I done?” Alex asks.

She looks up at him and says, “You didn’t let her bring home the stuff I got her. I’m sorry, like I know you told her it was incentive to go back, but I wanted to see her in it too”

Alex apologises, “I’m sorry”

“You didn’t even take any pictures and send them me” Y/B/F makes her disappointment clear.

“I’ve got pictures, if she’ll let you see” Alex

You see that he’d looking to you for confirmation before he takes his phone out and you nod.

As you start plating up the food you say, “Yeah she can see. She’s seen my nudes so I don’t think a sexy pic will do her any harm”

Alex scoffs, “You’ve not even sent me nudes”

“We have FaceTime for that, my love” You say as you plate up your own bacon butty and head to the settee.

On the way past, you tell them to help themselves and you settle yourself down before you start eating your perfectly made breakfast.

Not even a minute later though, Y/B/F comes and sits down beside you with her butty in hand, leaving Alex to sit on the sofa opposite the both of you.

You note that she’s now got Alex’s phone in her hand and you have a peak at the pictures yourself.

You’d obviously been a bit too occupied at the time to see if the pictures came out any good.

“Fucking hell I chose well, didn’t I?” Y/B/F says once she’s finished a mouthful of her food.

You lean your head down on her shoulder and nod. A smile gracing your face as you finishing eating your butty.

“I don’t even really know you, but from that alone, I fucking love you” Alex tells her, as he draws his attention away from his food and the TV for a moment.

She fans her face with her hand and you and Alex laugh when she jokingly says, “Alex Turner loves me”

You giggle at her and you see that Alex just shakes his head and pays attention to the TV again.

“Nah I’m being serious though Y/N/N, you look fucking stunning” Y/B/F tells you and you sit up a bit to kiss her cheek as a thank you.

After you grin and send your silent appreciations to each other, she says to Alex, “I hope you told her that”

“I told her a lot of things” Alex says but his gaze is fixed on the TV.

You knew he wasn��t really paying attention to either of you, so you decided to disclose some more information to your best friend.

“Before I sat on his face” You then whispered into her ear.

She burst into giggles at that and shoves your shoulder, “Lucky bitch” She says under her breath.

You both just giggle for a while as you inspect the pictures that Alex took of you in both sets she got you. It really was such a thoughtful early birthday present from her.

Once you’d both had a real good look, Y/B/F locked his phone and reached over the coffee table that rested between both settees and gave him his phone back.

“Bet they went straight in the Wank Bank right Alex?” She asks him as he takes the device from her.

You chuckled at her smirk that was on her face and at the fact Alex definitely wasn’t expecting her to say that. Despite that, he recovered sort of well.

Alex chuckled and you could see a hint of red grace his cheeks before he looked to you and smirked a bit. He found the confidence to say, “Yeah. Just glad I don’t have to get them from her Instagram anymore”

Your jaw dropped a bit at that. You didn’t know he had any of your Instagram pictures on his phone.

Especially for that.

You’d never thought about it. Though you guessed it was just the same as if you didn’t want to use your memory of him, you could just Google his same and you had an endless stream of pictures that you could pleasure yourself looking at.

You were pretty lucky in that respect.

“Which ones?” You had to ask.

Alex said, “That doesn’t matter” before he stands himself up and announces, “I’m just going to get a towel then I’m going for a shower”

You both quite literally ignore him though, trying to think of pictures from your Instagram he would have saved on his phone. It ends up being a little manhunt for the both of you.

You both end up getting your phones out and stalking your own account.

“Definitely the one I took of you on the beach when we went to Barcelona” Y/B/F says.

You nod and show her the image on your phone. Y/B/F had taken the photo of you in a bar when you went up to Manchester. You were sat on a barstool and you’d just flicked your hair out of your face.

You were subtly posing as if you weren’t obviously having a little photoshoot. You had black jeans on and a very lacy white bodysuit.

Your boobs were pushed together nicely in the picture and you now knew that Alex really liked your boobs, so it was a fair bet to guess that he had this picture on his phone.

“Maybe the one of our night out in Manchester?” You say.

She nods and grins at you, “Yeah definitely. You look sexy as fuck”

“Oh, shush you” You giggle and you both go back to looking through your Instagram.

A minute later, Y/B/F seemed to make a break though, “Oh we’re missing the obvious one”

“Why? What?” You ask her, trying to look at her phone, but she’d turned it away from you.

She shows you her phone as she says, “The iconic ‘I’d never have stopped you getting hold of the sweet spot by the scruff of my knee socks”

“Oh definitely” You giggle.

“Yeah, I do really like that one to be fair” You both heard Alex say behind you.

You both turned to look at him as you giggled at what he said.

You see that he’s walked out of your room with just his towel around his waist and his eyes were fixed on you. Yours and Y/B/F’s, however, were fixed on his shirtless body.

And you’d be lying if you said that you didn’t like what you saw.

“I’d appreciate a live recreation of it, if I’m honest” Alex grinned at you with suggestive eyebrows.

“Maybe if you’re lucky” You shrug as if it isn’t a big deal.

Alex can see in your eyes though, that you’re very amused by his suggestion and you’ll more than likely come up with a fancy way of completing that task. Much like you putting on your little show for him when Y/B/F bought you the lingerie.

Alex winks at you before disappearing off into the bathroom.

You just knew that he would hate your shower with the whole of his heart. Compared to his, it was utter shit.

“Hope you enjoy your shower” You call after him before you turn back towards your phone.

When you do turn back though, you see that Y/B/F’s eyes are literally fixed to where Alex had just been stood. Her mouth hanging open slightly and eyes wide.

“Stop drooling at my boyfriend” You shove her shoulder and you both start laughing.

About 15 minutes later you’ve gone back into your room and you’re sat at your desk checking your work email whilst listening to Bad Blood by Bastille. You didn’t hear Alex come back into the room as your door was already open, but you heard the door close behind him.

You don’t look round as you were quickly typing out an email to one of your colleagues. However, you did feel his presence behind you a minute later.

“Okay, I understand why you loved my shower so much now” Alex says as he leans down and kisses your cheek.

You couldn’t help but laugh.

~*~*~*~

Every Sunday since you could remember was always the day you had a roast dinner. And that was no exception even now you were 29.

Since you’d moved out of your Mum and Dad’s house almost 7 years ago, your mum had insisted that you always return home for her Sunday Roast. And most of the time you never failed to do so.

Sometimes though, like the past few weeks since you’d got back home, you would have to skip on your Mum’s glorious cooking because work. Or that was the excuse you gave anyway.

But the real reason was because of how insufferable you found your sister and her fiancé.

It was needless to say you didn’t like your sister at all, and probably hadn’t since you were 15. What sibling actually did like her younger sister at that age though?

Especially when she started trying to hang around with your friends when they came around because they were “only two years older” than her, as she would say.

You disliked her then, but you loathed her now.

The same couldn’t be said for your older brother though. You absolutely adored him despite him being 5 years older than you, and you adored the little family he’d created too.

You had only seen your parents and your brother on your birthday briefly before they were all ushered out of your flat by Y/B/F because she was taking you out for the day. Which was really lovely because you hadn’t expected it at all.

However, that meant that you didn’t end up telling them any new information about what took place on your holiday or anything about Alex. They weren’t the very techy type, so you doubted they had seen anything online about the two of you.

But you couldn’t wait to tell her today.

So, you’d come to her house around two hours earlier than you usually did on Sunday’s so you could have your catch up with your Mum and your Dad away from prying ears.

You were currently stood outside of your childhood home battling the wind and rain as you waited for your Mum to answer the door. And you actually couldn’t contain your smile when you saw her though the frosted glass on the front door.

When she opens the door, you are greeted with the biggest smile.

“Hey Mum” You grin back at her.

She beams at you and ushers you inside, “Hey honey, come in”

You do so quickly, wanting to escape the weather and take your coat off immediately and hang it over the bannister at the bottom of the stairs. Something you’d always done, whenever you entered your old house.

“How was your holiday?” She asks you as she gives you a hug.

You give her a tight squeeze as you tell her, “Yeah it was really good, thank you”

Once you separate from each other your Mum heads towards the kitchen and you follow close behind her.

“Come on, tell me everything… I wanna know everything. What did you get up to?” Y/M/N asks like a typical Mum.

Looks like story time was coming sooner rather than later.

You ended up telling her about all the days in the pool at both Alex’s and Matt’s house. You told her about going to the studio with Alex and Miles, the beach and about the party.

You told her how amazing Alex’s house and about the weather, which she of course wanted to know. You loved your Mum with the whole of your heart, you wouldn’t replace her for the world

But, bless her, she did want to know some weird details and see every single picture you’d taken whilst away.

After telling her what she wanted to know, you then decide it was probably time to tell her about your relationship status. And who’d changed it.

“So, I’ve got some news” You tell her from the dining room table that resided in the large kitchen.

You did love your childhood house, and you always felt really blessed that you had a big house to grow up in.

The kitchen units were on the edge of the room and there was no island leaving a lot of room spare, so that was when your parents decided to move the large wooden dining table into the kitchen.

You liked the practical idea of it, as whenever you were tasked with washing up as a child, you didn’t have to move plates from one room to another to wash them.

What once was your dining room had been converted into a back lounge, which you had found memories in with all your friends growing up. Yes, those memories included ones of you, Alex, Matt, and Jamie among other friends.

The real lounge area was one where you had many happy memories of various birthdays and Christmas’ though. There was a lot of space in that room, with a 3-seater and a 2-seater sofa opposing each other and two armchairs (one for your mum and one for your dad).

And of course, you still had your bedrooms each upstairs. You really did have a lovely house growing up and you’d had a lovely childhood.

“What is it?” Your Mum asks you as she continues to prepare your dinner.

“I’m sort of going out with Alex now” You tell her and watch for her reaction.

You watch as she turns to you, abandoning what she was doing and smiled.

However, your Mum felt the need to double check, “Turner?”

You giggle and nod, which causes a toothy grin to break out on her face.

“Aw hunny, I’m so happy for you” Your Mum says as she comes over to hug you.

You give her the biggest hug back. You loved how joyful that news seemed to make her. She even started rocking you from side to side in your seat as she continued to prolong the hug.

“Really?” You ask her as your arms loosen slightly from around her neck.

She lets go of you and sits on the chair just beside you, “Yes of course I am. You liked him so much when you were younger and he’s such a lovely young man”

While she says that, she takes your hands into hers and she gives them a tight squeeze. You loved how supportive she was of you.

“Awh Mum” You can’t help but grin at her.

She was just too lovely. Especially when she wanted her details.

“Tell me everything. Was it a properly holiday romance?” She cooed with a big grin on her face.

“Erm, yeah, sort of. Well you know I fancied him anyway…” You say, because it was true.

You may have hidden it pretty well from Alex at the time, but your Mum definitely knew all those years back. Your entire family did.

And you’d always been teased about it, but you were true to yourself and never denied it. You just attempted to shrug it off and take it on the chin.

You carry on telling your Mum, “But we just got closer I guess, and he asked me out and I said yes… And we just had such a great time together whilst I was over there”

You literally couldn’t get the smile off of your face as you were telling her though, which made your Mum so happy to see her daughter like that.

“Awh that’s so sweet” Your Mum tells you.

“I know” You smile but then your smile falters and your Mum notices.

“There’s a but isn’t there” She looks at you a bit worried.

“Yeah, well no, but yeah” You sadly smile.

If you were going to tell her about the relationship, you had to be honest with her about how everything was going to happen. And about the change in living arrangements.

Your Mum looks worried when she asks, “What is it?”

You take a deep breath before you drop the bomb, “He asked me to stay with him in LA”

“Right okay, and what did you say?” She asks and didn’t even bat an eyelid.

She didn’t seem fussed. Something that you were not expecting at all.

You half thought she would beg you to stay.

“I came home didn’t I Mum?… I can’t just stay over there without even talking to you or Dad first” You tell her.

“Y/N, sweetheart…” She starts, “If he makes you happy, run for it”

You can’t help but smile when she points out, “I would follow your dad anywhere and I did, didn’t I?... I followed him to Manchester, and I followed him here too”

You can feel a lump forming in your throat and a few tears form in your eyes.

“Yeah, but I won’t see you every week Mum” You smile, but you air out your worries to her.

Yeah you may not see her all the time. But there was some comfort in knowing she was only a 20-minute drive away from you if you needed her.

“Oh hunny, we can chat on the phone. It’s just the same. You have to make yourself happy and if anyone is going to do that it was always going to be little Alex Turner”

“He’s not so little anymore mum” You chuckle as you wipe away the tear that fell down your face before you give her a hug.

She laughs too, “I don’t doubt that he isn’t”

You compose yourself before you let go of her. Savouring the comfort that a hug from your Mum brought you.

And after that, you knew you’d be fine wherever you ended up with Alex.

Whether it be in Sheffield, LA, or anywhere around the world, you knew that as long as you had him, a piece of home would always be with you.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Taglist: @the-girl-before @murderousginger @minigranger @turnertable @bastillewolf @slothgiirl @billskarsgard-is-gorgeous @watashi-no-namae-wo-yonde @fookingsummertime @marvel-avengers01 @shibuikelsi @toolateformcrtooearlytoleaveemo @gretavanbobatea @chocolatecig @iamnotjesha @rachaeljayne15 @edgythought @when-the-darkness-comes @angelicnobody @marveious @liviasaugusta @boysinskirts @musicmania100 @he4rtbre4khotel @innocte @beckauhhh @whoknowswhatimeant @tony-starks-ego @bettyschwallocksyee @tobarmaidswhodontcount @elektranxtchiios @alexsvacuumcleaner @cornerstqne @halfofwhatisayismeaningless @juicebox-baby @yousuck-marina @nrldswita @dot-writes @skullag @arctic-bloe

Other parts can be found in Masterlist in bio x

200 notes · View notes

skateboardtotheheart · 3 years

Text

Alex vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

hello, everyone! i’ve been working on a fic titled “Alex vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda” for quite a long while, and i’m finally biting the bullet and posting the first chapter. this fic is based on the novel "Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli! it will be very closely based on the book, as well as some things from the movie "Love, Simon", and you may find dialogue or details that you recognize from either version of Becky Albertalli's story! i have no rights to the novel/movie or the JATP characters depicted in this fic. that said, there are a lot of details that are changed, and you'll be able to spot those really easily. this fic will be crossposted to my AO3 and can be located HERE.

like i said, this fic has been a long time coming, and there is tons and tons i have planned for it. here on tumblr, i will be posting things like extra details, bonus content, and maybe some sneak previews! for now, let’s get into the fic!

SUMMARY: Alex Mercer is just like everyone else- only he has one huge ass secret. Nobody knows that he's gay, not even his closest friends and bandmates Luke, Reggie, and Julie. The only time he's ever mentioned it to someone, it was in an anonymous email chain with Ghost, another Los Feliz High School student. Alex can't risk coming out to anyone, but when his emails fall into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into a spotlight. Suddenly an already stressful junior year is all that more complicated as he juggles everyday drama, the school's annual band competition, blackmail, and trying not to lose his shot with the best guy he's ever met.

READ CHAPTER ONE BELOW THE CUT

Everything about this conversation is so out of the box of normal that I barely even register what's happening. Of course I'm the type of person who can't tell when this- something so crazy and awful and stressful and honest to God what the hell is happening- is going on. In my defense, Caleb Covington has never spoken to me before. I had no reason to assume that the first time he did, it would be to blackmail me.

We're taking a water break in the bleachers when Caleb saunters over. No greeting, no introduction- just words to send my entire junior year of high school spinning on its head.

"I read your email."

I swallow my water. "What?"

Caleb raises an eyebrow at me, and there's no other way to describe it but menacing. It's funny looking back on it all; I'd always heard Caleb was a really nice guy.

"I was in the library. And I read your email."

"You read my email?"

"Not on purpose. You really should have logged out of Gmail."

There's nothing I can do but stare at him, dumbfounded. What in the name of David Bowie is happening right now?

Caleb, thankfully, stops towering over me and takes a seat in the bleachers, a foot or so away. To anyone else, it might look like we're friends. To me, it feels like I can't breathe.

"Why the fake name?" Caleb asks, and my entire soul screams a wish that he would stop being so casual about this.

I want to tell him that the point of a fake name is to keep people like Caleb Covington from knowing my secret. Way to freaking go, Alex. He must have seen me sitting at the computer like the monumental dumbass I am.

"Would it interest you to know my cousin is gay?"

"Um. No, Caleb. It really wouldn't."

He still has his eyebrow raised and a small smirk on his face. If I focus hard enough- kind of impossible right now- I can picture Luke punching it right off his face.

"What do you want Caleb?"

This is the longest five minute water break of my life.

"Look, Mercer, I don't have a problem with it. It's not a big deal."

Yes, it really is. It's a huge monster of a deal. This is the biggest disaster since Luke slammed his fingers in a door and couldn't play his guitar.

"But. . ." Caleb drags out, and I can feel my leg bouncing quicker by the second. "It's pretty clear to me that you'd rather keep it all hush, hush."

I mean. Yeah. Kind of. The coming out thing doesn't scare me that much. Except it does. Because if people know then my parents will know and if my parents know then my whole family will know and if my whole family knows then I've become like a living, gay, everyone-finds-out version of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, and I'd rather die than have that happen. So maybe the coming out thing does scare me. But the biggest problem if people found out?

Ghost.

I have absolutely no idea what it would mean for Ghost if Caleb was going to tell anyone. The thing about Ghost is he's a pretty private person. I bet he wouldn't forget to log out of his email so people like Caleb Covington wouldn't see it. I bet there's a good chance he'll never forgive me if he finds out about this. So really, I have absolutely no freaking clue what would happen to Ghost- to us.

And I'm still sitting in these stupid gym bleachers, the pink hydroflask Reggie bought me limp in my hand, desperately wishing Carrie would call an end to this godforsaken water break. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with Caleb right now. Why couldn't anyone else have logged into Gmail after me? Why was I so impatient to see if Ghost had emailed me back that I used the freaking school computers? Why did this stupid school insist on blocking the wireless so I had had no choice but to use the school computers? But it had been one of those days where I couldn't even wait to get out of dance practice to check my phone in my car.

I'd emailed Ghost this morning, and it had been a pretty big email. I was desperate to know if he'd emailed back.

I must have been just staring at Caleb for a while because he cocked his head at me and said, "Don't worry, Mercer. I'm not going to show anyone."

I take a relieved breath. Then my hydroflask finally slips from my fingers as I freeze, and the sound echoes through the gym. I don't even look at the rest of the dancers when their laughs break out.

"Show anyone?" I ask.

Caleb leans in a little bit, smirk wider on his face. I feel sick.

"Did you- oh my god, did you screenshot my emails?"

"Yes, see, I wanted to talk to you about that."

"You took a fucking screenshot?" I hiss out, thankful I'd put my stuff farther away from the rest of the dance team today.

Caleb has the audacity to roll his eyes. "I've heard you're in a band with-"

"What the fuck does that have to do with- Let's go back to how you screenshot my email."

"Or you can shut up and listen to what I have to say."

Something about the way Caleb's gaze catches you, it's hard to do anything but what he says. Fuck.

"I believe we may be in a position to help each other out."

Jesus Christ, what 18 year old talks like this?

"Why the hell would I do anything for you?"

It's a stupid question, I realize as he stares at me calmly. Calmly. Like this isn't the end of my life. Whatever he wants right now, it'll be in exchange. I do this, and he doesn't broadcast my private emails with Ghost to the entire student body.

All this time and I really thought Caleb was supposed to be this nice guy. Fuck me.

"You're going to make me do whatever you want?"

Caleb tsk'd like the condescending bastard he clearly is. "Well, now. I'm not making you do anything."

"But if I don't help you, you'll what? Post my emails on the fucking tumblr?"

LosFelizSecrets. The bane of every Los Feliz student's existence. Ground zero for more gossip than anyone in their right mind knows what to do with. A school of almost 3,000 kids but if it's on the tumblr, most people know within a day. A complete and utter hellscape disguised as a blog.

When Caleb stays quiet, I speak again. "What do you want from me, Caleb?"

He sneers.

"Music of the Night."

Once again, I'm stuck staring at him. Music of the Night? That's what this is about?

"Your band is signed up, as is mine. The HGC lost to Dirty Candy last year, and I will not lose again this year."

Music of the Night is this competition Los Feliz holds every year as part of the music program. At the end of the year, there's this huge concert held at the Orpheum theatre in Hollywood. At the beginning of the school year, anyone can sign up. Then each band has 4 months to perform at school events, outside gigs and parties, and whenever they have an opportunity, really. During winter break, the student body votes on who the headliner of the concert will be. Last year, the headliner was Dirty Candy. Because they won last year, they're out of the running this year and are in charge of organization and things for the concert. This year, I was hoping the headliner would be Julie and the Phantoms. My band. Caleb and his band HGC has entered the competition every year, and he's never won. He's a senior, and I know this will be his last chance. I also know who his biggest competition is.

Us.

"So. . . what? You want me to sabotage my own band?"

I feel breathless and dizzy as I ask. Caleb just shrugs casually.

"Whatever you need to do. So long as it's my band that gets the votes. Like I said, I think we can help each other out. Think about it."

Caleb winks- he actually winks- and walks away. I stare dumbly after him. No way. No, I'm not doing this. I can live with being outed. Right?

But my thoughts travel to Ghost. Because he's a part of this, too. He goes to Los Feliz, and he's my age, and he uses a fake name, and he's not out.

Ghost isn't out, and Caleb has my emails.

Fuck.

----------

Any hope I have of forgetting about that stupid conversation clearly isn’t worth it. I have an hour before dinner, and right now I’m basically willing to do anything to avoid my family. Trying to talk to my parents is exhausting. You can’t just get away with telling them your day was good or bad. No, you have to ring out every excruciating little detail. Everything that happens in my or my siblings’ life, they want to know about it. In all honesty, I used to love telling them all that stuff. Now I can’t get away from them fast enough. Especially today. I’m barely in the house long enough to put my backpack in my room before I’m slipping out the back door and leaving again.

I try to drown out my thoughts with Axl Rose screaming into my earbuds. But my mind is stuck on Ghost, emails, and Caleb freaking Covington. Caleb wants to win Music of the Night. I can’t exactly blame him for that. Everyone wants to win it.

Except he’s blackmailing me. And by extension, he’s blackmailing Ghost. And that makes me want to hyperventilate a little bit. Maybe go scream somewhere.

But Axl Rose is helping. The familiar route of walking to Luke’s is helping. We don’t get much of a fall in LA, but the air feels a little crisper in mid October, and I can already see the houses that are getting ready for Halloween.

When I reach Luke’s house, I don’t even bother going through the front door. I just cut through his backyard and head through the backdoor right next to Luke’s bedroom. I hear them before I see them. Reggie’s laugh fills the air, paired with a frustrated groan from Luke. They’re sitting side by side on Luke’s bed, facing the small tv with some video game I’ve never seen on the screen. They look like they haven’t moved in hours. Luke pauses the game as soon as he sees me, waving, and I can’t help but smile a little bit. The guy won’t put down his guitar for you, but he’ll pause a video game or movie without a second thought.

“Great, you’re here! Tell Luke he’s shit at this game and he should let me play Mario Kart.”

I roll my eyes, “Dance was great, Reg. Thanks for asking.”

Reggie sticks out his tongue, and I crack a smile. This is the most comfortable I’ve felt all afternoon. I throw myself into the beat up bean bag chair Luke keeps in his room.

“Luke, you’re shit at this game and Reggie wants to play Mario Kart.”

Luke gapes at me, a betrayed gleam in his eyes, but I just shrug. Luke grumbles a bit as he gets up to switch out the game, and Reggie whoops in victory. I let out a soft sigh. I think I needed this. The chaos of Reggie and Luke playing whatever game, the strange mix of leather, Axe, and his mom’s Hawaiian Breeze cleaner that makes Luke’s room smell awful and entirely wonderful at the same time, and the familiarity of Luke and Reggie. Everything just fits right when I’m with them.

As Luke sets up the game, Reggie looks at me excitedly. “Alex, Luke hasn’t heard about le wedgie.”

I snort a little, “Ah, yes. Le wedgie. C’est une histoire touchante.”

I don’t know why Reggie bothered to wait for me to tell the story; he’s the far better storyteller between us. Maybe it’s just because I’m better at French.

Luke stares at me, “English, please?”

Reggie and I thought we’d be fancy and take something fun like French for our required language credits. Luke decided to take something actually useful and learn sign language. This story is stupid, and my reenactment is stupid, but it feels kind of perfect. Like Caleb and secrets are all things of my imagination, and nothing exists but this bedroom and me, Luke, and Reggie. Benefits of having known these dorks since elementary school, I guess.

About as they finish the second race in Mario Kart, Luke lets out a yawn. Reggie reacts so quickly I barely realize what he’s doing. He grabs a crumpled up Hershey’s Kiss wrapper from Luke’s nightstand and throws it into Luke’s mouth. Luke sees it just in time to clamp his mouth shut. Reggie sighs in defeat, but shrugs.

“Keep yawning, I’ll get you one of these times.”

“Why are you so tired?”

“Because I party real hard. All night, every night, baby,” Luke says, slamming Reggie’s bike with a green turtle shell.

“Alone in your room with your guitar. Some party that is,” Reggie retaliated with a bomb thrown in Luke’s direction.

As the race finishes Luke yawns again, and Reggie’s Kiss wrapper bounces off his cheek.

“I just keep having these weird dreams,” he explains.

I raise my eyebrows. “TMI, dude.”

“Not that kind of dream!” Luke tosses the wrappers at me, Reggie cackling beside him.

Luke starts explaining his dream- something about every time he started playing his guitar his cord had magically unplugged itself from his amp- and Reggie and I just share a look. We were used to Luke being in his weird, feels-the-need-to-analyze-everything moods. But even after all these years, it was almost like a movie, watching Luke get so weirdly passionate about things- music and otherwise. It made me glad that Luke was a brother to me by everything but blood. Partly because if he wasn’t, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from falling for him. And I have a strict policy about not falling for straight guys.

To everyone but me and Reggie- immune to him after knowing pretty much every thought that’s ever gone through his head since elementary school- there’s this pull to Luke. Like he casts a spell that has everyone in a 10 mile radius tripping at his feet and each and every girl swooning. Poor Julie is not immune to the spell, it seems. Lucky for her though, Luke doesn’t seem immune to her either.

It took barely a few weeks into the school year before I noticed Luke switching seats with Willie Meyers at lunch to increase the odds he’d end up right next to Julie. Then there’s that stupid, puppy-dog, love-sick look in his eyes that Luke gets every time he thinks Julie isn’t looking. And it’s not like Reggie and I haven’t put up with a pining Luke before, but everything seems a little different with Julie. It makes me think of Ghost.

Would I look like that if I saw him in person? Would he look at me like that?

If Caleb leaks my emails and Ghost hates me forever, I don’t think I’ll ever find out.

-----------

chapter one complete!

i'll let everyone know right now that i have no clear updating schedule for this fic; it's kind of hard to write and get down the way i want, so i'm not sure how long anything will take me. but it is summer break for me, so hopefully you'll all start seeing consistent posting of new chapters!

i hope you all liked this first chapter, or are at least intrigued to read some more. as i said in the starting notes, this will be cross posted to my AO3! Feel free to leave me a comment here if you would like, or head over there if you have any comments about the fic at any point! feel free to send me a message/ask on here if you have any questions or comments, too! my inbox is open any time <3

if anyone would like me to start a tag list, let me know and i’ll get that done right away!

this fanfic is definitely my baby, so i really hope you guys all like it as much as i do!

thanks <3

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #jatp fanfic #fanfiction #alex mercer #willie jatp #luke patterson #reggie peters #julie molina #willex #simon vs the homo sapiens agenda #love simon #alternate universe #willex fic #owen patrick joyner #booboo stewart #alex vs the homo sapiens agenda #AvtHSA

7 notes · View notes

enamoured-x · 4 years

Text

so it goes

Summary: When Alex moves in across the hall, Rio knows he’s in trouble. A good girl like her would never want anything to do with him, or so he thinks.

Word count: 1.7k

Chapter 4

The next night Alex was getting ready for bed when she heard talking outside of her front door. Figuring it was Rio, she wanted to take a peek to see what was going on in case there was a problem. But mostly she was just being nosey. So she made her way to the door but before she opened it she heard the voices again.

“She did it again?” Alex knew that was Rio’s voice. But she had no idea who the guy he was talking to was.

“Seems so.”

“Tell her I’m done playing nice. Next time she shortchanges me there will be consequences.”

“You got it, boss.”

Alex’s eyes widened. She stepped away from the door. What the hell was that? What were they talking about? Who were they talking about? And boss? Alex’s mind was running wild. She couldn’t help it. Maybe it was innocent, maybe it just sounded worse than it was. But his tone, he was upset, angry even. This sounded serious and whoever she was, it didn’t sound good for her. Then again Rio said he was shortchanging her? Maybe she owed him money and hadn’t paid up? But for what? Even if that was the case, why the hell would this man be doing his bidding. And boss, that word was really rattling around in her brain. Rio was a boss to this man? It didn’t make sense, well, none of it made sense. He had told her he freelanced, she did remember him not wanting to talk about it but she brushed it off thinking he just didn’t care to talk about his job in his free time. But maybe there was something else there. She went to bed confused, it wasn’t her business, she knew that. It wasn’t her business yet she wanted to know what that conversation was really about.

“Are we doing brownies or cookies?” Hope asked as her and Alex made their way down the baking aisle in the grocery store.

“Brownies.” Alex answered, putting the things she’d need in the cart. They were having a girls night at Alex’s place, which usually just consisted of dinner, dessert, and a movie.

“So how was lunch the other day?” Hope asked out of nowhere. Alex smiled. She didn’t give them much when Rio had walked her back to the shop that day, there was nothing to tell them anyways.

“Damn, just mentioning him does it, huh?”

“He’s sweet, and I don’t know…” Alex felt her face flush. Despite being weirded out by what she heard last night, she still enjoyed Rio’s company and she was not going to jump to conclusions.

“You like him.” Hope stated. Alex shrugged. They continued to walk down different aisles.

“I’ve only known him for like two weeks. We’ve only hung out a handful of times.”

“So? I’m not saying you’re in love with the dude. Look, he’s hot and he seems to be taken with you.”

“We’re just friends.” Hope snorted at that.

“What?”

“You’re telling me you wouldn’t sleep with him if you had the chance?” Alex cleared her throat and that was all Hope needed.

“Exactly. Why don’t you just ask him out?” Hope grabbed two bottles of wine from the shelf and put them in the cart.

“Because, I’m too big of a baby to do that.” Alex had no problem admitting it. Sure, she usually took what she wanted despite her shy demeanor but she had her limits. Rejection was one of them. Especially from someone who she found to be a nice neighbor and friend. She didn’t want to mess that up and make things awkward.

“You asked him to hang out with you first, did you not?”

“That was different. It wasn’t a date. Can we just please stop talking about this?” Alex wasn’t going to let up, she would not ask Rio out. It was too big of a risk, if he was actually interested like Hope assumed he was, then he’d ask.

“Fine, fine. I was just trying to help my friend get laid.” Alex slapped her arm.

Alex had just finished putting a few squares of brownies in a container when she heard footsteps outside her apartment. The brownies were for Rio so if he was leaving she figured she’d better give them to him now. She grabbed the container and went and opened the door, Rio had his back to her, unlocking his door. He heard her step out and he turned to look at her. Dressed in her usually night attire and a container in her hands. He had been admiring her till he saw the look on her face. Then he remembered.

“What happened to you? You’re bleeding!” Alex walked up to him and grabbed his shoulder as she looked closer at his face. He had a cut on his eyebrow, his lip was busted, and an eye that looked like it would be swollen soon. Worry took over Alex instantly, who did this to him?

“It’s nothing, just got into a fight.” He shrugged. Another lie, he thought.

“That does not look good. Come on.” Alex didn’t think about what she was doing. She just dragged him into her apartment and shut the door.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

Rio sighed and sat down. She looked so worried and he didn’t like it. He didn’t want to worry her. He took the time he had while she was gone to take a look around the living room. It was pretty simple, a couch, a loveseat and a wooden coffee table, all facing her tv on the wall. She had a few picture frames hung up but before he could get up to see them she had walked back in. She didn’t have much but she had grabbed what she could. A wet washcloth, some neosporin, alcohol, and an ice pack.

“Mama, you don’t gotta fuss. It’s—”

“Say it’s nothing one more time and I’m gonna lose it.” Alex said and grabbed the towel. Rio liked this side of her. Her protective side. He kind of liked that she wanted to fuss over him though his injuries were nothing too serious. He liked that she was protective over him already.

“Here,” Alex grabbed his stubbly chin to tilt his head to start cleaning his cut with the warm wet rag. She swallowed hard at how close they were, how she was touching him. He just stared at her while she wiped away the blood. She then grabbed the cotton balls and alcohol and started to clean the cut at his eyebrow. The air felt thick as she cleaned the cut at his lip.

Rio kept his hands clasped, arms on his legs as she stood in front of him, looking down at him. His hands were itching to take a hold of her waist. She was being so gentle and it was torture watching her bite her lip as she focused on his cuts, focused on him.

Alex sighed, “who did this?” She started to apply the neosporin to the cuts and then she grabbed the ice pack. She held it up to him to take, he was about to protest until she gave him a stern look. He grabbed it from her hands and placed it under his eye.

“Just some stupid bar fight.” Alex didn’t know if she believed that. Rio didn’t seem like the type to get into a bar fight. He always seemed so calm and collected. The last thing she would suspect was for him to lose his temper at a bar.

“Hmm,” she hummed. Rio knew she wasn’t exactly buying the story but she didn’t mention it so he left it alone. Alex couldn’t help but wonder if this had something to do with the conversation she heard the other night. That was shady enough and then Rio coming home all banged up? Something was off, or maybe she was just being paranoid and reading into it too much.

“It was a misunderstanding, but I’m fine now. No need to worry.” He said.

Alex’s words slipped out, “I do.”

Rio felt his heart swell. No one cared for him, let alone would admit it.

“I mean, I obviously worry. You’re my friend.” She tried to save herself. It felt like some revelation with the way Rio had looked at her when she said it.

Rio hated that word right now, friend. He was fine with it at first, even teasing her with it, but right now? Right now after she just licked his wounds and confessed that she cared about him? He hated it. He wanted so badly to pull her into his lap and kiss here right then and there. But now was not the time, he knew that much.

“Right. I should go.” Rio stood up and handed the ice pack to her.

“Keep it. You need it.” Alex said and he nodded. She walked him to the door and saw the brownies at the stand by the door.

“Oh, here. I was going to give you these.” Alex handed him the container and he took it with a smile.

“Brownies?” He looked excited as he realized what they were.

“Yeah, what?”

“Nah, nothing. They’re just my favorite.” Alex smiled.

“Maybe I’ll bake some more if you don’t get into anymore fights.” She didn’t mean to hint at his lie but she couldn’t help herself. But Rio just smirked.

“I’ll try my best, Alexandra.” Alex’s eyes widened and then she turned to see her framed degree on the wall. It was the only thing that had her full name on it.

“No! No! Just Alex.” She pleaded and he laughed.

“I don’t know. I kind of like it. Alejandra.” He used her Spanish name and she groaned. He sounded like her father and Fernando, but she only ever allowed Fernando to call her that.

“Don’t! It’s Alex.” He held up his occupied hands in defense.

“Alright, alright. Alex, I’ll see you later. Thanks for the brownies and fixing me up.” She nodded and he opened the door. He hesitated though and then turned back around.

She was confused until he leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek, her breath hitched. Then he left her.

Her heart was pounding as he walked into his apartment and closed the door.

Taglist: @thickemadame @fairywriter-oracle @joalsglasses @naysianaee

#rio x reader #good girls rio #rio good girls

178 notes · View notes

theriverpersonshadow · 3 years

Text

Lamia Drama (Part 2)

See previous post for warnings and general info.

Credit for the lamia species (or at least the specific species, not lamia in general) goes to @vex-bittys

Keith decides to give this new girl a chance and introduces another lamia! DnD shall come whether Hux likes it or not. Coral boy is jealous.

< PREV | NEXT >

Keith and Hux had just been talking DnD with each other when a girl with short, wavy blonde hair walked into the back. Keith’s flickering tongue caught the taste of sweat, dirt, and a variety of plants. Real plants, not like the fake trees, though he could identify some of the smells as the foliage they could keep here. His soul leaped in his chest, he could feel it immediately, they were meant to be.

… According to who? Or what? Some bred in biological imperitive? It was just there to make him easier to adopt, right? But it felt real…

No.

He wasn’t going to leave Hux and the others behind. The woman didn’t seem to have even noticed anyways, so maybe he was just imagining it. Heck, he probably was. Then again, if anything was going to seduce him – something he felt was pretty impossible, he’d just never been interested – it’d probably be someone bringing their own books and homemade fucking cookies. Yes please. They smelled like chocolate and peanut butter – questionably healthy at best, but he’d take it!

… He should probably answer the question, huh?

“Yeah, nice to meet ya. Name’s Keith, I’m the DM,” Keith said, slithering down to her level.

“So, you think you have what it takes to play with the big boys?” Hux said. “Heh. How’d you even find out about that?”

“There was a sign,” the woman said. “My friends are busy with college stuff right now – I’m on break, doing work in a greenhouse and all – but my evenings are totally free. Kinda have to leave early though, have to be up before the sun. I love the job, but that part sucks.”

Keith chuckled, “I feel you there.” He’d stay snuggled in a nesting mound half the day if you let him. What? Blankets are soft, and it’s not like he had to leave to read things. Beds and blankets make reading better if anything. Prime coziness.

“I think you should look somewhere else,” Hux said. “We go until, like, two in the morning sometimes.”

Before Keith could stop himself, he found himself saying, “Eh, we can end early for a little while. Or hey, maybe have a side campaign with you or something.”

“What?!” Hux said, standing high as he could on his tail with his arms thrown out. “Dude! We’re halfway through Pipsqueak’s character arc or whatever! Can’t just push him aside…”

Pipsqueak was Trousle’s (a bitty Papython) mousefolk bard; he’d been looking for pieces of the Worldsong, a song that, once played, was supposed to give the musician power over all things. Pipsqueak had managed to get half of it and was facing down with Caterwaul, the Tabaxi bard, who had the other half. It was looking like Pipsqueak was questioning whether the song should be played by any. However it played out was going to be awesome, though it might or might not be the end of the campaign depending on how Trousle played it.

Since when did Hux care so much about that though? He wasn’t exactly a roleplayer type…

“I mean, if you guys are full or in the middle of something, I can just… not?” the woman said.

“Nah, don’t mind Hux. It’s alright, uh… What’s your name?”

“Oh! My bad. Call me Alex. You said it’s, uh… Key?”

“Keith,” Hux said, unimpressed.

“I am the actual worst at names,” Alex said, sighing.

“Eh, it happens. But I bet we can work something out.”

“We don’t need to work things out,” Hux grumbled, curling into a ball on the floor and sulking, hiding his skeleton half under a ball of black and red scales.

Keith rolled his eyes. Hux never liked change and didn’t seem too fond of people. He was tolerant of the people running the place, but no one else. That said, it was no excuse to be a dick. “Hux, be nice. Sorry about him, he’ll warm up to ya. Why don’t I take you to meet the others? We can work something out. Not like we’re going anywhere…” And that was fine by him. Home was here with his own batch of misfits. “Get Liam, will ya Hux?”

“Ugh, why do I have to?”

“ ‘Cause you can never find Trousle.”

“Why don’t I go looking for Oozy?”

“I’ll bet you a week’s snacks that Oozy’s in his hammock.”

Hux huffed and crossed his arms with an adorable blush on his face, flustered. He was, apparently, not willing to take that bet. As much as Keith liked to stay curled up all cozy, he had nothing on Oozy. It wouldn’t be the first time they had to carry him in the hammock to DnD night. Hecking cornies.

“Thought so,” Keith said, chuckling. “I’ll go get Nikolai. Hope you don’t mind kiddos, Lex.”

“Is Nikolai a kid?”

“Nope,” Keith said. “Follow me.” He slithered past the jungle of fake plants, real plants, and various toys and hiding holes that made up the dim room he liked to call the “Chilling Room.” It was a little cool in here, but mostly he called it that ‘cause this area tended to be more quiet, lacking the toys and people-chairs that littered the rest of the back. Sometimes you just need a place to be a Snake and stalk your friends for a little while, or somewhere to just hide in a hole and listen to the same song until it was playing through your dreams in utter bliss. That second one seemed unique to him.

“… I’m not gonna remember any of these names,” Alex whispered to herself. She stopped to pull some dead foliage from some of the plants, fingers working fast with practice. For a moment she paused then put a leaf in her mouth. “Stevia leaves the weirdest after taste. Not bad though. Also, why do you have stevia?”

“Is that what that is? I think the Honeybos like to chew on it.”

“Is that why they’re Honeybos? ‘Cause they’re full of sweet?”

“I mean, maybe! Never bitten into one.”

“Not even licked one?” Pause. “That’s a weird thing to ask, huh?”

“I mean, I smell with that y’know. But some of them do smell kinda sweet.” He had the oddest urge to nibble a snake now. Logically he knew they were not just little slithering sweets, but a little voice in the back of his head whispered but what if they do taste like honey buns?

Keith really hoped that voice wasn’t Alex’s. That’s just a weird thing to think. Even weirder if you aren’t a snake. “Do you stick a lot of random stuff in your mouth?”

Alex kinda went quiet, staring at the floor, and Keith tried to stifle a laugh, stopping in his tracks to look at her behind him. “Oh my god. You have, haven’t you? What’s the weirdest thing?”

“Probably either crickets, an agar plate – one of those things they grow bacteria on – or my salt lamp.”

“Can confirm, those are salty.”

“You too?”

“Nope. But Trousle dared Liam to once and he swallowed the whole thing. We had to pull it out by the chord.”

“That… That’s both amazing and dangerous.”

Keith nodded, “Yep. Never dare a Mamba to do something unless you want to face the consequences.” Looking around, he brought out his phone and showed some pictures of Liam – a full sized Mamba – with light streaming from his mouth and tail as Hux and Nikolai (a King) tried desperately to pull the lamp out. Trousle was on the table, shouting encouragement but too small to actually help. “That’s why we’re not allowed to have salt lamps anymore.”

Alex was snorting as she laughed, hand over her mouth and eyes crinkled behind glasses. “Oh my goodness. Reminds me of when I caught a baby rabbit and found out they can scream. I almost dropped it.”

“Oh no!”

“It tried to escape! But I caught it midair. And then it just stared at me, judging. Relatedly, gardening gloves have multiple uses. One of them is bunny catching. They have claws and will kick the shit out of you.”

He’s tempted to mention that’s why he just eats them, but gets the feeling that won’t go over well. Since when does he care? He’s a snake, she should know this. It’s natural.

“You like cute? C’mon,” Keith said. It was a short slither to the very back room. Alex stopped, staring at the “Staff Only” sign, but Keith gently tugged her through, “It’s fine.” The door opened up to a humid room with multiple little lamps scattered over eggs and newborns. The nursery. They were greeted with a variety of hisses and chirps from little baby snakes and a much louder hiss from Nikolai. The King’s hood flared upon seeing the stranger and he stood as tall as he could, clutching three squirming baby Pygmy (full sized, but still so small) to his chest protectively.

Alex froze up, face going blank as she stared at the sight of King’s hood and fangs, venom dripping from them. Maybe Keith should’ve warned Nikolai first, but better late than never?

“Alex, this is Nikolai. The most broody bastard you’ll ever meet. Nikolai, Alex. She wants to play DnD. And probably to also hold some kiddos, but who am I to judge?”

Nikolai narrowed his eyes, somehow keeping hold of the Pygmy as all three attempted to go in different directions, unfazed by one of them trying to put his hands in Nikolai’s eyesockets. “Keith. We need to talk.”

7 notes · View notes

lemonade-baby · 3 years

Text

So I spent all day writing a quick fic of the boys in the black room and it was originally really light hearted and was supposed to have some comedy, but then it got real sad as I tried to figure out how the fuck to describe... uh... nothing, so.... yeah. Here ya go.

You know that feeling you get in your stomach when something semi-bad happens and you know it’s gonna come back to haunt you, so you try to distract yourself to the point that you almost forget about, but you’re still unsettled deep down inside? That’s the feeling Alex got when he ate that hotdog.

Sudden floatation had always been one of those things Reggie thought about at night while he laid in bed, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars Bobby stuck there in freshman year. It wasn’t as cool as he’d thought it would be, especially when he saw his own body on the gurney. It was not a sight he’d recommend to anyone.

Luke didn’t remember too much about dying, except that being the second one sucks major ass. He hadn’t been paying complete attention honestly, he’d pretty much zoned out when his eyes met the poster on the wall. Someone had already rushed to his friends aide, leaving him sickly and pale by himself in the middle of the alley.

“What the-” Reggie was holding his head when he woke up. All there was was black, and darkness, and loneliness.

“Reg? Reggie? You’re awake?” Alex was sitting on the ground, or what felt like ground, holding his knees up to his chest. Alex scrambled to his knees and did one of those half crawls towards Reggie. Luke turned around, he’d been trying to find the end to this endless void, but both doubted he would be able to. No matter how far he walked, he didn’t move anywhere.

“Where are we?” Reggie groaned, pushing himself up.

“Let me paint you a picture...” Luke slung his arm around Reggie’s shoulder and put his hand out in front of them, before whispering, “dead.”

“Okay...” Alex mumbled. “How do you know we’re dead? Maybe... maybe this is just some type of weird collective dream.” Reggie pushed free and pointed towards Luke with both pointer fingers. This was followed by a smack on Reggie’s hand, and he pulled them back.

“Hey! Okay yeah, maybe we’re dead...” Reggie cleared his throat and looked around. Nothing but them and the endless nothing. It would've been peaceful if not for the knowledge of their deaths.

Oh man. Oh God. This sucks. Luke’s mind raced and he closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath, or what felt like a breath. Could ghosts breath? Probably not.

What about his parents? Or his friends? What about Bobby? What would happen to them?

“Luke! Alex is crying!” Reggie called out, pulling Luke from his thought. “What?” He asked as he turned, sure enough to find Alex still on the ground, roughly wiping his face with his shirt. “You okay?” He murmured, and Alex show him a look that could've killed if they weren’t already dead. There was too much panicking going on his brain to allow him to stand up, so he stayed seated.

“No! Luke! I’m not okay... we’re dead!” Alex grumbled, and Reggie brought his head back in surprise. He’d never heard any of the boy's yell at one of the others like that. Eternal nothingness was gonna suck, he could already feel it.

“You guys think we’re in hell?” Reggie interrupted them, attempting to alleviate the situation. The one thing he’d learned in all the years of dealing with his parents was comedy, when he would entertain his little brother Quinn as the fights and the yelling scaled the walls and crept into Reggie's 2nd floor bedroom. But they’d hide under the covers, occasionally joined by his older brother, Karson, and laugh and tell stories and attempt to ease the 10-year-olds nerves.

“It’s definitely not hell Reg-” “Yeah, my parents always said Hell was like... fire and brimstone...” Alex’s lip trembled as he tried to hold back more tears.

“Well, your parents are a-” “Okay!” Reggie cut Luke off before he said something he’d later regret, “maybe it’s not hell. How long we been here anyway?” “Like a half hour dude, chill out.”

Reggie snapped his fingers, “Maybe it’s a waiting room! Like we’re not dead yet! Limbo!” Reggie spent a lot of time reading theories about what happened after death while they were alive, and Alex was sure they’d be hearing about it for however long they’d be together. He loved his boys but damn, they could be annoying. He was just trying to cry in peace.

“Reggie-” Luke turned abruptly. Deep down, he knew Reggie was just trying to help, but now really wasn’t a good time.

Deep down, they were all just scared teenagers. Luke had never wanted to go home so much. He wanted to run to his mom and hold her and apologize for running out on her. He wanted to grab ahold and not let go, like a child on the first day of kindergarten, clinging to his mom's ankles and begging to stay with him for a little while longer. God knows what would happen to them. How would they react? Their only son killed by a hot dog of everything.

Reggie couldn’t stop thinking about his brothers, and how hard it would be for Quinn now. Mom and dad were on the brink of splitting, and whatever happened after this was certainly going to make or break their marriage. Karson was in his Sophomore year of college in New York, which left Quinn on his own. Secretly, Reggie had wished his parents spilt before Quinn was old enough to remember the fighting, then he’d be okay with two houses and being on his own sometimes. He’d never been without one of his brothers during a fight before, and he’d probably crawl under the covers and wait for Reggie to come save him from the screams. But Reggie wouldn’t be there to this time.

And Alex, who hadn’t said all that much since Reggie woke up, sniffled to himself and twisted the bracelet on his wrist around in circles. After everything went down at home when he came out, he’d stopped talking to his parents much. They’d put up with the incessant banging of drums, and him skipping out on church. Alex put up with the “Eleanor from church has a daughter you’d like” and the quiet yet deafening whispers he’d catch from his parents before he walked in the room. Even now, they were still his parents and the instinct to reach out for reassurance was overwhelming.

“I’m sorry you guys...” Luke turned, tears welled in his eyes, but he wouldn’t let his friends see them fall. “I- I fucked up.”

“It’s not your fault Luke-” Reggie brought in a shaky, “We’ve eaten there so many times. How were you supposed to know it’d kill us this time around.” Again, Reggie tried to lighten the mood, a stark irony while in this empty, dark void.

Alex broke down again, he was an ugly crier. Luke reached out and awkwardly patted his head, yet it did nothing to soothe him.

Take Off

Last Stop

Count down ‘till we blast open the top

A familiar tune played faintly, drawing their attention. “Is that-” “Our song! Guys I told you we weren’t dead!” Reggie pumped his fists as Alex finally pushed himself to his feet.

“okay...”

Luke gripped at his chest. It felt like a vacuum had attached itself to him and was trying to suck out his spectral internal organs. “Dude? You okay?” Alex attempted to ask, but he soon found himself doubled over in the same pain. Reggie too.

Then, just like that, Luke was gone, and a very distant, and familiar, scream could be heard. Alex too, and then Reggie, all three sucked into, well, wherever.

It took a moment for Luke’s eyes to readjust to light as he stared up at the ceiling and gripped his side.

“Woah, how’d we get back here.”

#julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #reggie peters #alex mercer #I literally spent all day on this and cried when I wrote one of Reggies paragraphs #its honestly kinda shit #and YES i believe that reggie has two brothers and i will defend it with my life #Elise writes

15 notes · View notes

spaceskam · 4 years

Text

ao3

Alex knew he picked a good choice of best friend when Kyle's response to Alex being dumped was to haul him into the car and start the 11 hour drive to Las Vegas.

The whole drive was spent full of Kyle distracting him and hyping him up, stopping by a daiquiri shop on the way there and getting him the largest size. It was a little weird, but Alex found that he was endlessly grateful. He needed this.

"You were too hot for him anyway," Kyle said a few hours in, "You deserve someone who could at least be a model, but not more of a model than you, you feel me?"

"Yeah,* Alex laughed, smiling at him as he sipped his drink, "I feel you."

"But it's all good. We're going to find you a hot piece of ass to rail," Kyle declared, "Or get railed by, I don't judge."

"Jesus Christ, Kyle," Alex laughed, but he just flashed that charming smile and went on with driving.

When they arrived in Vegas, the city was already lit up for the night and Kyle got a hotel room that they didn't stay in for long. He immediately led the way to a casino and paid Alex's way. Whenever Alex tried to refuse the handouts, Kyle insisted and said it was his idea so he would pay.

They spent the next few hours getting drunk and winning little sums of money. $20 here, $5 there, nothing fancy. But Alex was having more fun with Kyle than he had in his entire relationship, so it was easy to get lost in it.

"Alex," Kyle called, catching him by the belt loop and tugging him closer, "Blow on these for good luck."

Alex felt his face flush and a few sets of eyes were on them, but he blew on the set of dice Kyle shoved in his face nonetheless. He watched him throw them onto the table afterwards and a few separate things happened that he didn't quite understand having never been the gambling type. People cheered, though, and Kyle kissed the side of his face without hesitation.

"Told you!" Kyle exclaimed, "Good luck charm. What's his face didn't even know what he had."

Alex felt his face get even hotter and soaked up the praise without question.

Kyle kept him close as they eventually left the casino when they had a solid amount of winnings, taking their tipsy asses to a drag bar a few blocks away. They were let in surprisingly easy for not being dressed up in the slightest. They drank more, talking closer over the loud music and getting absolutely lost in each other's company. Alex felt like the luckiest man in the entire universe.

A few times, Kyle tried to introduce him to men he thought he might be interested in, but Alex always found Kyle significantly more interesting. He didn't mind going to bed alone if it meant just having Kyle. He eventually got that and stopped sending other guys his way, instead accepting drinks from interested parties and sharing them with each other.

"Men suck. All of them. Except maybe you," Alex said confidently, drunk enough to speak his mind but not enough to mess with his balance (for the most part) as they walked down the lively street. Kyle seemed to be on the same level because he smiled, squeezing Alex's hip since he had a grip on him so he wouldn't lose him as they headed towards the hotel. "God, I wish you were gay."

Kyle laughed loudly, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Alex exclaimed, "You're, like, the only man I've met who understood what, like, growth is."

"What can I say? Therapy is a recommendation in my hospital," Kyle said. Alex snorted. "But glad I could be a good example."

"Yeah," Alex sighed, "You're my favorite person."

"Good," Kyle said, kissing the side of his head for what felt like the billionth time that night, "'Cause you're mine."

They were a block away from the hotel when they came across a 24-hour chapel. Kyle slowed as they neared it and came to a complete stop as he stared at it.

"You wanna get married?" Kyle asked. Alex blinked twice and looked at him.

"Seriously?" Alex said. His mind instantly started trying to be rational. Was he drunk? Was Kyle? What exactly did him asking that mean? Was it a joke? Would it be platonic? Would it be crazy to say yes even if it was?

"Yeah, why not?" Kyle said, looking at him with a fairly reckless smile. It reminded him of young Kyle who had talked him into sneaking into an abandoned house or had spontaneously learned how to do a backflip because he wanted to. He'd gotten a little more responsible since then, but it was nice to see. "Alex Manes deserves to give a nice fuck you to society and I'd love to do the honors of being that fuck you."

And, before Alex could even convince himself to ask questions, he nodded.

"Okay, sure."

Both drunk of hours of alcohol and each other, they found themselves standing in front of a tacky alter with a bouquet of faux flowers in Alex’s hand. They only partially listened to the guy who got his ordination credentials online, instead making teasing faces at each other. Alex felt like he was going to burst out of his skin, feeling a little confused and a little overwhelmed and a lot eager to understand what this meant. Would they frame their marriage license to put his dad’s grave and drink champagne in front of him? Would they use this for shared financial benefits? The healthcare between an Air Force officer and a doctor would be pretty sweet.

Except when the officiant said that they could kiss, Alex didn’t actually expect to Kyle to go for it. Or maybe he did because Kyle seemed to go in for a cheek kiss and Alex turned his head to meet his lips and Kyle just pulled him closer. And then Alex didn’t actually remember the kiss ending.

It was like he blinked and they were back at the hotel, pressed into the corner of the elevator as they shared the alcohol still on their tongues. Then they were in the hotel room, two queen sized beds with a single nightstand between them and Kyle led them towards the one closest to the door to share.

It only stopped when Alex had to take his prosthetic off and, even then, Kyle pressed kisses across his shoulders and up his neck and certifiably destroying Alex’s ability to overthink anything. All he could think about was Kyle and how he wanted to touch him and how they had fucking signed a marriage certificate.

After the prosthetic was off, Kyle grabbed his jaw and sealed them in another kiss, pulling him to lay back on the bed. He seemed like he knew what he was doing and that was equally as confusing as the rest of the things that were happening that night, so he stopped questioning it. He welcomed Kyle’s skin and his touch and his kisses and he only had to help him out with an angle here and there.

It wasn’t until he woke up the next morning plastered into Kyle’s side, naked and warm and finally more sober, that he realized he didn’t understand. More than just that, he was outright confused about everything that had happened. Kyle, his straight friend, had just casually married him and slept with him after he got dumped. Did he do it because he felt bad for him? Did he do it because he was drunk? Did he even remember it?

Alex sat up and looked at him. He was sound asleep still, eyes closed and chest rising and falling with each breath. Tiny bruises that Alex had accidentally put on him were partially hidden under his facial hair. He was gorgeous. And so, so, so not into him like that.

Alex quickly got his prosthetic on and pulled on his clothes before he went into the bathroom, avoiding his reflection as he splashed water on his face. He didn’t want to look at himself, didn’t want to face the fact that he felt like absolutely garbage for what he’d done. The whole “marriage” was blurry, but Alex probably guilted him into it somehow. He didn’t remember, though, and that made it worse.

But, honestly, whatever happened was bad. Kyle was his best friend, the main person he could rely on, his safe space. And he fucked it all up by letting it go too far. He was going to lose his best friend because he couldn’t be responsible.

“Alex?” Kyle’s voice called. Alex’s whole body ached in response, a flood of guilt and shame and desire all hitting him at once.

Kyle was his friend and he ruined it and, yet, he wanted to ruin it more. With him, he had fun and felt wanted and safe. No matter how stupid they were being, Alex never felt like the rug was being pulled out from beneath him. He was just safe. He wanted more of that.

“Hey, you okay in there?” Kyle asked, knocking gently. Alex squeezed his eyes closed. “You hungover? I can go get you something to drink. You like red Gatorade, right?”

Alex huffed a laugh and caved, swinging the door of the bathroom open. Kyle stood on the other side in all his naked glory and, honestly, it was a goddamn trap. It had to be. No one just looked like that casually.

“What happened last night?” Alex asked. Kyle stared at him, blinking a few times in confusion before his eyes widened slightly.

“You were that drunk?” he asked. Alex shook his head.

“No, I remember, I just... don’t,” Alex said, scraping his hands over his face, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand. Why did any of that happen? Did I make you feel like you had to or something?”

“You think I would marry you because I felt like I had to?” Kyle asked, a disbelieving tone in his voice. Alex didn't answer. "Look, it was a stupid ceremony and, and I don't think the license is even notarized officially or filed or whatever, so we can just rip it up and pretend it didn't happen if you want."

"Okay, so we pretend that didn't happen," Alex said loosely, his voice tightening as he got a little more upset and be gestured to the bed they'd shared, "How do we pretend that didn't happen?"

Kyle looked away from him for a second, falling so quiet they could hear the footsteps from the people in the room above them. Alex didn't know what to do.

"You want to forget that happened?" Kyle asked cautiously.

Alex huffed a laugh, “You don’t?”

Kyle was quiet for a long time, so long that Alex was beginning to feel sick. He felt like he drastically misunderstood something or maybe Kyle just was incredible at confusing him. Alex liked kissing him and, sure, the thought had crossed his mind more than once that Kyle would be the perfect boyfriend. Kyle was nice and thoughtful and cared about him. But he never in a million years thought Kyle might’ve thought about it too.

“Yeah, if you want to, sure. We forget it happened,” Kyle said, walking back towards the heart of the room to search for his clothes. Alex’s eyebrows were pulled together as he cautiously followed.

“Kyle, what the fuck is going on?” he asked. Kyle seemed to put an ample amount of attention into buttoning his jeans. “Don’t you want to forget it? I mean, I’d figure you’d want to forget sleeping with a guy.”

Kyle dropped his shirt and turned to face him.

“You must think real highly of yourself if you think I just decided to be bisexual because I wanted to make you feel better,” Kyle stated blatantly, “And you must think really highly of me if you think I was that good on my first try.”

“Wait,” Alex said, holding a hand up as he tried to process his words, “Wait, you...”

“I’m bi? Yes. And was it stupid to hook up with you knowing you just got out of a relationship? Also yes, but I’m not known to make good decisions when it comes to my romantic or sexual relationships, so,” Kyle said, throwing his arms out and letting them fall to his side pathetically.

Alex thought back through the last few months, trying to think back to any of the signs of Kyle realizing that about himself. He couldn’t remember when Kyle ever started acting differently. He was always just Kyle.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alex asked. Kyle took a long, deep breath.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders, “Probably because I knew if I did, I’d have a lot less things keeping me from trying to marry you on a whim in the middle of Las Vegas.”

“Okay,” Alex said, slowly sitting down on the bed. A few seconds passed before Kyle sat beside him, sighing. Alex eventually looked at him after he processed his words. “You didn’t have to tell me if you weren’t ready. You don’t owe me anything.”

“I’m in love with you, Alex,” Kyle said, so openly that Alex’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head, “I have been for a long time and I’m tired of hiding it. Especially after last night. And if you’re not into me like that, okay, fine, I can take it. I-I need a little space, but we’re friends first and I can learn to stop loving you like that. But I need you to tell me because if you don’t, I’m going to sit and wait for the rest of my life.”

“You know, I didn’t expect this whenever you suggested we drive to Vegas,” Alex said, mind swimming with a million thoughts at Kyle’s confession. Kyle huffed a small laugh, but he didn’t try to add anything.

They sat there for a long time, Kyle letting him think over what he said. It was strange to think that, while Alex was dating idiots who didn’t treat him right, Kyle was just there and waiting for him to notice. It made a mess of the last year, a slew of overthinking every interaction. Was Kyle being nice because he was Kyle, or because he wanted to sleep with him? Or was it just because he loved him? Genuinely, truly loved him and didn’t make him feel like that was a bad thing? Was that a thing someone could do?

“Do you really love me?” Alex clarified after awhile. Kyle gently nudged his knee into Alex’s.

“Trust me, I wouldn’t have said that if I hadn’t thought about it every day for months,” he promised, “I love you and I want what’s best for you, whatever that means. So if you want me to fuck off, I will. If you want me to stay, then I will. Ball’s in your court.”

Alex took a deep breath and looked at him seriously. His handsome features, his honest eyes, the little hickies hidden in his facial hair. Alex wouldn’t mind looking at him forever, especially when that wasn’t all he had to offer.

“Can we do something in the middle?” Alex asked. Kyle waited. “Can we spend this weekend in Vegas being stupid and reckless, but when we got back to Roswell, give me some time to actually get over my last relationship. And then we start from square one? I don’t want you to be a rebound.”

“You don’t want me to be a rebound, but you wanna sleep with me again first?” Kyle clarified. Alex blinked innocently and gave a short nod in response. Kyle just laughed, moving forward back into his space and kissing him again.

Alex wasn’t sure if it was the sobriety, the love confession, or just the lack of confusion in general, but this kiss seemed to transcend all the previous ones. He leaned into it more, letting Kyle just love him openly and honestly.

And he liked that feeling.

#kylex #kylex fic #kyle valenti #alex manes #roswell new mexico #my fic #this is based on a tiktok i saw like a month ago

53 notes · View notes