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boldlyvoid · 3 years

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New Romantics | Part Three

18+

Summary: She needs help studying for her Case Exercises at the Academy, He needs a date for the annual Banquet... they just so happen to be neighbours who aren't afraid to lend a helping hand, or in this case, a helping kiss.

Categories: Fake dating, neighbours, strangers to lovers, mutual pining, Angst with a happy ending, Smut *as selected by my poll on what you wanted to read*

Warnings: Season 9 Spencer (no Maeve arc), Angst, kissing, drinking, police training mentions, case details, canon typical violence, self-doubt, autistic!spencer, age gaps (24/33), FWB relationships, period mentions, anxiety attacks, crying, misunderstandings,

Word Count: 4.7K

a/n: this chapter covers the whole week from Monday to Friday, thank you @awrfhi for making the gif I used here <3

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Monday morning she’s in his arms still, and then again on Tuesday; he basically lives with her when he’s not on a case. They make dinner together at night and they drive in together every morning, and they have had sex all over her apartment… and he loves her but he was tired when he said it and in a post-orgasm haze and he’s her best friend.

But he loved her— just not the way she loved him. She was sure of it.

Tuesday morning at 10:53 am, she cracks her fake case. They’re apprehending the unsub by Noon and then she has the rest of the week off. So she heads to the main Quantico building, she gets a visitor's pass and she takes the elevator all the way up to the BAU.

She walks through the bullpen doors and Spencer is sitting at his little desk with his head buried in a book. Penelope sees her first, wrapping her up in a hug that gets everyone’s attention as she rocks her back and forth while telling her how much she likes her.

“You are so pretty, and nice and cute, and your hair smells so good?”

“Thank you, it’s Spencer's shampoo,” she laughs as she holds her back, “I just wanted to come and see him really quick?”

He’s standing beside her and she doesn’t even know until Penelope releases her from her grasp. He wraps her up next, “why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

She kisses him right on the mouth, holding his face in her hands she has missed him too much to wait till they are alone again, “I caught the unsub.”

“No way?”

She nods feverishly, “yeah remember I found that stray hair on the crime scene? Everyone was fighting over why there wasn’t a sexual aspect and I was trying to convince them she was a women unsub when the hair came back matching our victims best friend, who also knew victim number 1.”

He’s so happy, his smile is the biggest any of his teammates have ever seen, he lifts her and twirls her around and no one can believe the sight. Spencer Reid the uptight, overly smart, always following proper procedure, Doctor at the FBI; was spinning his girlfriend around as he kissed her cheek.

“You are a genius,” he compliments her as he sets her back down and places another kiss on her lips.

“I know,” she laughs, “I beat your score by one day.”

“I hate you,” he kisses her again and by now they don’t realize they have an audience. It’s incredibly convincing to everyone except each other.

“No, you love me,” she whispers, kissing him again before they hear someone clear their throat.

“Do you want to help with ours?” Derek asks, jumping into the moment and reminding them that they’re in public. “We’re just doing non-urgent consults today.”

“Am I allowed?” She lights up.

Derek nods, “I don’t see why not, as long as you just tell your ideas to us and don’t file anything then I think it’s legal?”

So she helps and it’s the most exhilarating thing since having sex with Spencer. She’s in her element, looking at small details and making connections that even leave Spencer humming and ha-ing. She has a younger insight than the rest of the team, she’s exactly why they hired Spencer in the first place and now she was shining brighter than him.

But he loved it.

Every time she made a connection or she had a suggestion that helped one of them on their own train of thought, Spencer would smile at her like she hung the stars in the night sky. He was proud of her in a way she hasn’t seen in many people before, filling her heart with warmth and hope that maybe he can love her for real one day.

—

She was possibly the love of his life and the more he saw her work and the more he knew her mind; the more he fell. She walked around his office and talked to his friends as if she was always meant to be there, and a part of him really wanted her to be.

He snuck away to go talk to Hotch, closing his office door as he sat down, “what’s wrong?”

“Y/N isn’t really my girlfriend,” he whispers. “She’s pretending so I could get everyone to stop bothering me about dating, and I understand it looks like she’s using me to get close to the team but I really do think she would be an excellent asset to the unit even if she was just in the office—“

“Reid,” Hotch cuts him off and a smile builds. “I already sent her an offer to take Anderson's job while he’s out on paternity leave.”

“Oh,” he smiles to himself. “Pretend I never said anything.”

“It stays in these 4 walls, don’t worry,” Hotch smiles back, “but you should tell her.”

“Tell her what?”

“That you’re in love with her.”

“I’m not,” he lies, “really, I do love her but I’m not in love with her, there is a difference.”

“I know,” Hotch reminds him. “Did you know that I only joined the school musical to get close to Haley? I did whatever I could to get her to fall in love with me and didn’t even realize it when she did because I was so worried she didn’t.”

“Oh.”

Hotch nods with another smile, “you don’t have to tell her until you’re ready, obviously, but you should tell her before it’s too late.”

“I will,” he whispers. “Thanks, Aaron.”

“Why don’t you guys head out early?” He offers, “we could all use a day off with the people we love.”

When he walks back down from Aaron's office, Y/N is with Emily and JJ discussing how she caught her fake unsub at school that morning. She doesn’t brag, she loves to mention her classmates by name and verbatim explains how they helped her. She is a team player, a genius, beautiful, kind… she really is the love of his life.

“Hey,” he places his hand on her lower back as he slides into the conversation. “Hotch said we can all leave early if we wanted?”

“Sure,” she smiles, “actually, did you want to come with me to buy a dress for your thing?”

“That would be fun,” he agrees, wrapping his other arm around her so he can rest his chin on her shoulder and hold her. “Remember I’m buying it so don’t stress about the price.”

“You’re too nice to me,” she replies.

“I just love you,” his voice is as low as he can make it but everyone still hears.

She holds him back tighter, in a silent ‘I love you, too’ and they hear JJ and Emily swoon.

They’re quick to get their things and head out, she hands Spencer her keys and lets him drive to the mall so she can relax, she’s done a lot today.

She’s so quiet on the drive, she holds his hand like she always does and she just looks out the window, she’s peaceful and content with the nothingness of spending alone time with Spencer. They were always just quiet together, sometimes they laughed till they cried and sometimes he could make her scream but most of the time they were quiet.

“Have you checked your email?”

She smiles as she turns to him and her grip on his hand tightened, “what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything, I just told hotch the truth so that he could offer you a job, but he already had before I went in there but he’s a good secret keeper, believe me.”

“Oh,” her smile disappears. “So he knows we’re not really dating?”

He nods, “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I guess we’re going to have to find a convincing way to break up for them and still be able to hang out all the time,” she worries aloud. “Because I don’t want to stop this any time soon, I hope you know that. I really like spending time with you.”

“I feel the same way,” he agrees. “I promise, we can just tell them we work better as friends and they might believe us?”

“I don’t think they will,” she frowns again. “JJ told me not to break your heart today, but I feel like if we break up I’m going to break all of theirs.”

“We could have a fake ugly breakup, and not talk to each other publicly for a bit and then be friends again?” He suggests, “Penelope and Kevin did that.”

She nods, still frowning. She interlocks their fingers this time and she holds his hand instead of just anxiously fiddling with his fingers. She really doesn’t want to let go, and he’s almost convinced she feels the same way.

The banquet is on Saturday, she has one last week of school before her graduation and then they’re done. He thinks about asking her, about what would be the best time to tell her he was in love with her and ask her to be his real girlfriend.

Maybe he’ll do it after the banquet? Maybe he’ll do it after her graduation? He just really wants to do it before she meets his mom. He wants his mom to meet her as the love of his life and his best friend.

He hated many things, but as he kept glancing at her as he drove he realized he hated one thing most of all. He hated that he couldn’t love her as much as she deserved, at least not yet. He wanted to shower her in love, he wanted to protect her and care for her, he wanted to show her off and make love to her and never leave her side.

It hurts, his heart physically aches as he thinks about that. If he had to feel like this to know his love was real, then the pain was worth it. She was always worth it, and he would hurt as long as possible, forever even, if it meant he could be around her just as long.

He held her hand tighter in the silence which made her turn to him, he had no idea he had been crying until she leans over and wipes his cheeks, “I love you, you know that?”

“I love you too,” he smiles but he can’t keep the conversation there, he’s feeling trapped and so he changes the topic. “What colour dress were you thinking?”

The quick-change makes her laugh, “probably black.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods, “I don’t need to stand out beside you any more than I already do.”

“What does that mean?”

She bits her lip, “some of the people in my class are saying that I’m only doing so well because you’re helping me cheat and that I’m just fucking you to get a job… just like I thought they would.”

“At the end of the day, we have a friendship they will never understand, we have great sex because we want to, you’re smarter than me, and the BAU wants you… so who is the real winner?” He’s always going to be her number one cheerleader.

“You’re right,” she smiles again finally, “as always.”

—

He convinces her to get a red dress.

She hasn’t had a pretty dress like this one since her prom and that was 6 years ago. She hasn’t been to a party or mingled with people in just as long, she didn’t realize how lonely she had been while chasing her dreams until Spencer came along.

He was one of the dreams. She saw him talk once, years ago on a school trip, and she fell in love with him a little, even back then. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be him or be with him back then, doing everything in her power to get into the criminal psych degree at her local college, she just wanted to be like him.

Now she’s liked by him.

Every night he goes to his home across the hall and he does his own nightly routine before coming back to her apartment for the night. She’s too emotional to sleep with him today, she knows that if she has sex with him she’s going to say something stupid or cry after because being this close to him without being honest with him is killing her.

Something in him has changed too, he’s less scared to initiate contact, he doesn’t jump anymore when she hugs him or when she smacks his bum as she passes him. Now he’s wrapping his arms around her while she cooks dinner, and he kisses her cheek randomly when they’re in public.

He tells her that he loves her.

She’s confused and she has no one to talk to about it.

She lays back against her pillows and closes her eyes, she knows she’s going to cry soon, and she doesn’t know what to do because she doesn’t want to cry in front of him and he would be upset if she told him to not come back tonight.

The stress of the situation just makes her cry more as she stresses herself into another anxiety attack, much like the first night she talked to him. She just lets it happen, the anxiety in her stomach builds and the tears slip past her eyes and suddenly she’s sobbing into her pillow hard enough that she doesn’t hear him come back.

She jumps at the feeling of his hand on her back as he sits on the edge of the bed, “what’s wrong?”

She just sits up and hugs him, and he hugs her back and they stay there like that for a while. When she calms down, she pulls back from him and wipes her eyes, “my period is coming.” She’s not really lying, and he believes her.

“Does it normally make you this emotional?”

He’s never really experienced her mood swings, he has no idea what he’s in for, she nods. “Yeah, and I have really bad anxiety which just gets worse around this time.”

“And you’re not on anything?”

She shakes her head, “I’m waiting to get onto the good healthcare when I get a job with the bureau, I can’t afford to work and go to school, I’m glad I had enough scholarship money left to rent this place long enough to go to the academy.”

“Oh.”

She just nods, “I’ve never had much money like my parents have been saving for 2 years to buy plane tickets to Virginia so that they can see me graduate. They started saving before I even got in. I went to community college on a scholarship and I get a lot of money from applying for bursaries.”

“Are you going to take the CARD job or the BAU offer?”

She shrugs, “I’m not sure yet, but probably CARD.”

“Why?”

“I can’t work with you,” she whispers. “It makes me feel like I don’t deserve to be there like I’m using you and that all my work isn’t that great. I’m just Doctor Spencer Reids girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, imposter syndrome is a leading factor in depression among child prodigies, once you reach a certain age and you stop receiving awards for your work, it’s hard to believe that you’re still doing a good job.”

She knows he gets it, he has probably said the same fact to himself to calm down before. “Thank you.”

“Do you want me to stay?”

She nods, pulling back the covers and moving over so he can snuggle in beside her. She holds him, resting her head on his chest and taking a deep inhale of his cologne, this was the love of her life and if this was as close as she was ever going to be to him, she was going to take it.

He kisses the top of her head and holds her in his arms at just the right pressure to calm her down. She feels so comfortable with him but she still feels like shit, she doesn’t stop crying, and he just holds her through it.

“Do you want to tell me what’s really wrong?” He whispers after a while, he sounds worried.

“No,” she whispers. “I can’t.”

“Is it about me?”

“Yeah,” she cries again, “and I don’t have any other friends to talk to about us and now you’ve told hotch and I have no one to talk to about how this is kinda stressing me out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” his voice is still scared and she knows he’s going to panic regardless and just send them around in a circle of constant anxiety. But his tone is more apologetic than one fuck up.

“Who else did you tell?” She sits up, “I thought this was just between us?”

“I needed advice, the same reason you are reacting right now, you’re stressing me out,” Spencer finally talks back with passion and she knows they’re about to fight for no reason.

“I never said you were stressing me out. I said our situation was, but I think I need to sleep alone now, Spencer” she’s confident and stern even though she’s crying.

“We can’t go to bed mad at each other. You even said the mornings are the worst, we can’t hate each other for no reason tomorrow,” he starts to cry, not knowing where he went wrong and she can see it on his face.

“I just don’t have what you have, and I’ve always been trying to copy you…”

“What?”

She sighs and wipes her tears, “I have had a big fat, fan-girly, crush on you since I was 18, I came here with my class to watch you do a talk on philias and phobias and then I knew I wanted to get into the academy and I wanted to beat your record and join the BAU, and I just thought; one day I’m going to be friends with this guy and catch bad guys with him and now I am and I’m so alone.”

“You have me?”

“I know,” she tries to smile, “but I only have you and I can tell you almost everything. Like my biggest stressor right now is that if just looking at fake crime scenes for 3 weeks has made me this anxious; what if I’m not cut out for this? What if I get to a real crime scene and I pass out or—“

“That’s only human,” he presses his lips together, awkwardly, and very Spencerly. “If you didn’t feel like this job makes you hate the world and untrusting of everyone around you; then I would think you’re crazy.”

“How do you do it?”

“I open up and let people in, but I typically wait till I’m at my lowest; crying in my friend's arms because I don’t know what to do anymore,” he smiles again, wider and toothy as she smiles back.

“Thank you,” she can’t help but tilt her head and smile as her heart settles and her brain calms down a bit, “I love you.”

“Can I kiss you or is that too much right now?”

She gets in closer to him, laying back down on the pillow and looking at him. They’re closer enough to kiss, and she just takes a moment to look at him, resting her hand on his cheek as he wraps around her waist and pulls her in closer.

“We’re okay?” He asks with his lips right against her, his breath is hot and he smells like toothpaste.

“We’re okay, but no more talking tonight, okay?” She whispers.

He nods, leaning in and kissing her finally. She knows she shouldn’t be kissing him, she knows that she should be mad at herself, but she also knew that even just pretending that he loved her back was good enough.

—

He gets called away to a case on Wednesday morning, he’s too busy to really call her and he doesn’t text back. He feels bad about it but he knows she wanted space to think anyway, what he didn’t expect was for her to reach out to Penelope.

She’s in the office with her on Friday, tired of Spencer ignoring her so she went to the one place he couldn’t avoid her; Penelope’s office.

“How can I help you today, my fine furry friends?” Y/N answers the phone with a smirk, copying Penelope’s line perfectly, they can hear them high five through the line.

“Y/N?” Spencer is the first to catch it, “what are you doing there?”

“I came to meet Anderson and see if I’d like to take his job or not,” she teases, pretending she wasn’t there just to bother him.

Hotch cuts in, asking the question he needed to ask before hanging up, “not sure what’s going on at home but we’re too close to cracking this case for schoolyard games.”

“Yes sir,” he nods and looks away, retreating to the other side of the room to stare at the map and pretend to find connections.

“Crack this and you can go home to her,” Derek whispers with a smile, thinking he’s helping the situation.

“That’s not where I want to be right now.”

“Woah,” Derek catches it, “what happened?”

“Nothing,” he’s quick to get him to stop it but he really wants advice, “she’s stressed out and she took it out on me and I wasn’t very nice back.”

“You said sorry and you pretended you were over it, didn’t you?”

He turns away from Derek with a nod, he wants to come out with it and get it over with and he’s so mad and embarrassed he just starts to cry a little, “I don’t want to lose her.”

“How could you?”

“You have no idea,” he rolls his eyes lightly and scoffs, confusing Derek.

“And I won't unless you want to talk to someone about what’s really bothering you, but you’ve been happier since you met her and I like seeing you happy, and Savannah likes double dates,” he scolds him with a smile, patting his shoulder lightly. “now let's crack this and maybe on the plane you will tell me what’s up?”

“Sure,” he says, but he doesn’t want to.

However, Derek Morgan is good at a lot of things, and one of those things is getting Spencer to calm down enough to tell him anything. Everyone is asleep on the plane, it’s just the two of them at the back together when Spencer finally feels confident enough to say it.

“I lied to you, a long time ago… and it’s just the first one.”

Derek doesn’t look angry, “okay, explain your thought process. I need to know how this pretty brain of yours works.”

He smiles a bit, “I slept with Elle the night before she shot that rapist in Ohio.”

“You did not?” Derek's voice gets a little too loud and they stop to make sure no one woke up.

“I did, but you still always made jokes about finally getting me some lovin’ and it bothered me for a while and I never told you, instead I offered to help my neighbour with her homework if she pretended to date me,” his voice lowers as the words continue and he only stares at the table between them.

“Spencer, I’m sorry,” Derek apologizes first. “I didn’t know I was upsetting you, is there anything else I do that upsets you?”

He shakes his head in a silent no, still not looking at him, he can't.

“What happened between you and Y/N?” He jumps to the main issue, fine with what happened because he feels bad for causing the issue in the first place.

“We started sleeping together.”

Derek sighs, “you have such a big brain, you can remember everything she’s ever said to you and yet you can’t see that she’s in love with you.”

“She’s good at pretending,” he pushes it away.

“No she’s not, because she’s pretending she doesn’t love you right now; the same way you are and you’re both fucking it up for each other,” Derek gives it to him straight. “You have always been loveable, but you have a very hard time accepting it, Spencer.”

“Yeah,” he starts to cry a little more.

“Go home and talk to her and tell her the truth,” it’s the best advice he can give and Spencer knows it. “What’s the worst that can go wrong?”

“She does love me back but in a few years, she realizes I’m too much and she leaves me,” his voice is the saddest Derek has ever heard it.

He gets up from his seat and hugs Spencer, sliding into the seat beside him and wrapping his arms around him, “you have never been too much. You just surround yourself with people who aren’t good enough to love you for who you are.”

“She’s better than me.”

“Which is exactly what I mean, she’s not going to leave you, believe me, once you love Spencer Reid for who he really is, it’s hard to stop,” he speaks from experience, thinking of what could have been between them if either of them had tried harder in the past.

“She’s the love of my life,” he confirms, “I’m never going to love anyone else the way I love her.”

They get the word that they’re going to be landing soon, Spencer wipes his tears and buckles in for the descent, avoiding everyone’s stares and questions on the ride back to headquarters. He’s nervous to see her, he knows his face is puffy and she’ll be there waiting for him with Penelope, but he has to do it.

“Would you wait here, I need to tell her now and she might not give me a ride home if it doesn’t go well,” he asks Derek before heading to Penelope, “she was already mad at me for telling Hotch the truth.”

“Okay, sure,” Derek smiles, reaching out a hand for Spencer, “come to me when you need me next time, okay?”

“Okay,” he agrees with a small smile, heading out to find his fake girlfriend.

She’s not with Penelope, no she’s in the filing room with Anderson and the other temps all talking and laughing, and it sounds far too interesting to interrupt. He waits outside the door and smiles at her laughter until he hears it.

“So be honest,” Agent Camden asks, “are you sleeping with Reid for this job?”

“If I was sleeping my way to the top, don’t you think I would have picked Morgan? Or Prentiss even?” She laughs and it’s like someone stabs a knife through his heart.

He turns around and heads back to Derek, “take me home.”

“Okay,” he doesn’t pry, he just grabs his coat and keys and follows Spencer to the garage.

—

He’s really ignoring her.

She finds out from Emily that Spencer left with Derek, and that he looked rather pissed off when he asked for a ride. It breaks her heart a little and she doesn’t know what to do next, she just drives home and finds herself knocking on his door.

“Let me in, please, Spencer!” She begs from behind his door.

He opens it and looks at her with a puffy red face, tear-stained cheeks and swollen lips, he’s been crying for a while. “What?”

“What did I do?”

“You slept with me,” he whispers, “and I told you I wouldn’t react well.”

“Is it my fault you’re crying?” She asks softly and he nods, “do you want to tell me?”

He closes his eyes and shakes his head, “are we still going to the banquet together tomorrow?”

“I really fucked up,” is all he can muster, crying again as he closes the door and goes to cry in his room.

She just opens the door again and follows him inside. Kicking off her shoes she crawls into bed beside him and wraps herself around him, “you don’t have to tell me but I am here for you, always.”

“I love you,” he says it like it’s the problem before he rests his head in the crook of her neck and holds her back for the first time in days.

“I love you, too, Spencer,” she cries along with him. They cry until he’s asleep and she’s just there holding him in her jeans and she’s really uncomfortable but she loves him too much to let go.

“More than you will ever know.”

Permanent tag list:

@g0lden-cth @doctorspenceryeet @samuel-de-champagne-problems @reiding-recs @ssavanessa22 @spookyspence @shemarmooresfedora @reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @blanchardsbk @idonotexiste @measure-in-pain @dreams-in-blxck @doc-padfoot @nomajdetective @xoxomgg @mggswhorificlover @dinonuggets1967 @meganskane @gubeskneescrew

New Romantics tag list:

@bunny-script @ficsrecsforhrnybitches @ne--yo-pets @rexorangecouny @valerieweasley @beepbooptoop @coldlilheart @andiebeaword @anonymous-reading

#spencer reid #spencer reid smut #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid request #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine #new romantics

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dream-a-little-bigger-x · 4 years

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Quarantine Lovers | Charlie Gillespie

Requested by anon: Can we have a Charlie x reader where she is his secret quarantine partner and the cast keeps guessing who it is until Maddie names a famous writer and gets it right? Thanks!

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x Female!Reader

Warnings: fluff

A/N: I’m not sure if this is what you wanted but i kinda like it haha

Charlie has always been secretive about his private life. It’s always been his one thing he promised himself. Work life and private life needs to be separate. Especially in the industry he’s in now. You and Charlie have been together for a couple of months now and nobody knows. It all started when he’d finished filming Julie and The Phantoms and came back to Dieppe from Vancouver. He went for a hike with one of his brothers when they found you sitting on a rock, clutching your ankle.

“Hey, are you okay?” his voice made you look up. You offered him a polite smile, trying not to show your pain or the fact you were thinking ‘Holy crap, attractive”. “Yeah, just threw my ankle a little bit on the rocks over there,” you pointed to a few feet behind the boys. “Was waiting for it to blow over and I could go on, but I’ve been sat here for…” you checked your watch, “About half an hour.” You chuckled at your own pathetic behavior. “I used to be really good at these hikes, you know?” Charlie then chuckled too, mostly at how endearing you were.

“Can you stand on it a little bit if we support you?” Patrick, Charlie’s brother, asked then.

“I’m not sure…” The two guys walked up to you, each taking a hand of yours to pull you up, and then wrapping one arm around your waist. You could go like that for about a kilometer until your foot began to throb again. “Can we take a break?” you squeak. Charlie and Patrick placed you onto a tree trunk very gingerly and took a seat next to you.

“Are you from around here?” Charlie then asked.

“Yeah, I live in Moncton with my best friend,” you replied with a smile, glad he’s distracting you from the pain in your ankle.

“No way! We live in Dieppe!” The excitement on his face was the most adorable thing you’d ever seen. Your eyes and smile widen at this, not necessarily at the fact he lives kind of close, but at the excitement on his face.

“Cool! I have family in Dieppe, so I know my way around there,” you told them. Charlie and Patrick nodded their heads at this, not entirely sure what else to say to this stranger they just picked up from a rock in the middle of nowhere.

“So, what’s your name?” Charlie then asked upon reminding himself of this fact. “Y/N Y/L/N,” you replied.

“Charlie Gillespie, and this is my brother, Patrick,” he introduced himself and his brother, who gave you a little wave. The wind suddenly picked up, and you knew exactly what that meant.

“It’s going to rain soon. We better get going.” Charlie and Patrick nodded their heads agreeingly and helped you up from the trunk.

“Get on my back,” Charlie then suggested. “It’s going to go quicker than you hopping along with us.” You hesitated for a few seconds, but then decided you agreed with him. Patrick helped you jump on Charlie’s back, and the three of you continued your walk down the trail, chatting about your lives the whole way down.

You found out Charlie was an actor and had just finished filming about a month ago, and you told him you were a screenwriter. Your most recent work was on Outer Banks and Season two of Umbrella Academy. You talked about your hopes and dreams and agreed the industry you both were in was a tough one.

From that day on, the two of you have been pretty inseparable. You became really close friends and spent a lot of time together before he finally asked you out on a first date. Then came more and more dates, and then came March 2020. Quarantine. And since Charlie had been spending most of his nights at your place since your best friend was with their parents, you both decided to quarantine together.

No one knew about your relationship. Not even his friends from the cast of Julie and The Phantoms. Only his family knew, and that’s all that mattered right now. No one knew you two were spending lockdown together at your place, and you could keep it a secret for a very long time. Charlie liked it this way, though the cast had been texting and calling non-stop because they knew he wasn’t home in Dieppe.

When September 10th hit, and he could finally show you the work he’d done on Julie and The Phantoms.

“What do you think, Baby?” he asked every five minutes when you were cuddled up on the couch watching it together.

“Stop asking me that question, Char,” you giggled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. You were fine for most of the show, chuckling at the ghost jokes or pretty much anything Reggie did, bopping your head along to the catchy songs. And then Unsaid Emily hit. “Oh, no…” you whined as the music started to play and on-screen-Charlie started to sing the sad song. The Charlie next to you chuckled, endeared by your investment in the show, and wrapped his arms tighter around you whilst kissing your head multiple times. “HOW DARE THEY END THIS LIKE THAT?!” You screamed at the very end, making Charlie love you even more. Afterwards, he listened to all of your theories and your predictions for season 2.

Thus far, quarantine is going really well at the Y/L/N-Gillespie Quarantine Residence.

The couple of weeks after the release of Julie and The Phantoms, Charlie had to do a lot of zoom calls for interviews. Sometimes even multiple a day. You made sure you were never in sight during those interviews, sometimes even leaving the house for a walk, but today, you decided to stay home and work on a script for an episode of season 2 of

Outer Banks.

You were sat on the sofa with your laptop and all your notes while Charlie was doing his interview in the bedroom. You could hear him talk to his castmates and the interviewer, and you often had to pause your writing because you wanted to hear what he was talking about.

“Where have you been spending quarantine?” the interviewer asked. Most of them said home with their families, and even Charlie said ‘home’. This answer melted your heart just a tiny bit.

“That’s a lie, Charlie,” Madison said with a giggle. “Charlie has a secret quarantine partner and doesn’t want to say who!”

“I am spending time with family, exploring Dieppe. I don’t know where you get your information from, Mads.” Though Charlie was a good actor, he couldn’t hide the fact he was lying to his own friends. Even you could hear how flustered he was.

“OK, I wanted to start with a couple of the fans’ questions that they sent in,” the interviewer continued, either ignoring the banter and the big piece of gossip they could get out of this, or not having heard it. “Someone asked who you’d love to work with on a next season.”

“Actor wise, I want to do scenes with Cheyenne Jackson,” Madison replies, “I didn’t get to do any scenes with him this season, but he’s really talented and I’d love to work with him. And I also have a writer that would be really great to work with on our show and that’s Y/N Y/L/N. She worked on Outer Banks and Umbrella Academy, and I loved the episodes she wrote.” Charlie’s face at the mention of your name is priceless. His eyes widen first before his mouth curled up into a smile, though he tried to hide it from his castmates and the interviewer.

Madison and Owen glanced into the camera knowingly but decided not to say anything and continue with the interview. It’s when that interview was done, Madi, Owen and Jeremy called Charlie in a group FaceTime.

“It’s Y/N, isn’t it?!” You heard Madison scream from Charlie’s phone as he walked into the living room where you were working. He gave you a questioning look, as if asking for permission to tell them. You simply nodded encouragingly.

“Yes, okay, fine! You figured it out!” The three on the other side of the line cheered loudly, making you chuckle slightly. “You want to meet the cast, Babe?” he asked you whilst making his way over. You patted the spot next to you for him to sit down, and he obeyed, showing you the screen of his phone.

“Hey, guys!” you greeted with a wave. A chorus of ‘hi’ and ‘hey’ meets your ears. “How’d you figure it out?” You asked them, placing your laptop on the coffee table to get more comfortable. You tucked your feet underneath you, placing your elbow on the back of the couch and gliding your fingers into Charlie’s long, lockdown-hair.

“First of all, I follow you on Instagram, Y/N, and I saw the two of you tagged the same location on the same day once, and your last pictures kind of look similar. So, I had a bit of a hunch, but I wasn’t sure, and when I mentioned you in the interview, he got all flustery and happy and I just knew!” You gave the girl an impressed nod.

“We literally just hung up on the interviewer when Madi texted us ‘IT’S Y/N!!’ in all caps,” Jeremy added with a smile. Defeated, and a little embarrassed, Charlie groaned and hid his face in the crook of your neck, seeking comfort.

“We won’t tell anyone, Char. We’re just happy for you,” says Owen with a smile, “And us, because now Madi won’t be texting us non-stop with all her theories on who your quarantine partner is.” All of you chuckled a that, except for Madison, she glared at her blonde-haired friend through the screen.

“You all wanted to know!” she snarled.

All of you chatted for a couple hours until Charlie and you got hungry and decided to prepare dinner.

“It was nice to meet you, Y/N! Hopefully we’ll see each other soon IRL!” Madison said with the biggest smile on her face.

“It was nice to meet you too, guys! Ooh, by the way! I loved the show!” you complimented.

“Of course you did,” said Owen with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Bye guys!” you waved at them, completely ignoring Owen’s statement. Charlie hung up the phone and put his phone on the coffee table before turning to you. “Madison would be a good detective,” you pointed out with a grin. Charlie glared at you, which just made you giggle and kiss his lips. At least now you didn’t need to keep it a secret from his friends. Almost like a weight off your shoulders.

Taglist: @hannahhistorian92 @marinettepotterandplagg @thequirkybookaholic @parkeret @lukeys-giggle @gingerxarmy @lovesanimals

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #charlie gillespie #charlie x reader #charlie gillespie x reader #charlie gillespie fic #charlie gillespie one shot #luke patterson #reggie jatp #jeremy shada #alex jatp #owen patrick joyner #julie molina #madison reyes

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fridayfirefly · 3 years

Text

The Wedding Schemers

Read The Wedding Schemers on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 23 - Enemies to Lovers

Damian Wayne was so annoying, Marinette wanted nothing more than to shoot him. Unfortunately, he was the only person who could help her. If they couldn't work together, everything would be ruined.

But Marinette was getting ahead of herself. To fully explain the situation, she needed to take it back five months. Back to the beginning. Back to the first day they met. It was April, the season of growth and opportunity. And rain. Lots of rain. Marinette normally wouldn't have a problem with rain. However, rain ruined outdoor weddings and as a professional wedding planner, it meant that she always had to have a backup plan.

Marinette had just finished up her biggest wedding yet. The wedding of Adrien Agreste and Chloé Agreste (neé Bourgeoise) went off without a hitch. It was perfect, the most praised wedding of the season. Which meant it brought in new customers. New rich customers.

Timothy Drake and Stephanie Brown hadn't been in attendance at the Agreste wedding, but they had seen pictures and had decided to hire Marinette as their wedding planner. Over the phone, the couple sounded lovely. They had already picked out potential color schemes, potential venues, and a date for the wedding: October 14th. Marinette figured it might be her easiest wedding yet. That is, until she met the bride and groom in person, and they brought along the best man.

Damian Wayne was intolerable. Every idea that Marinette brought up he instantly shot down. He was pickier then either Tim or Stephanie and they were the ones who were getting married in the first place. Marinette was so frustrated she wanted to quit the job. However, she knew that if she wanted to break into the high-profile wedding business, she couldn't have such a major blow to her reputation. So Marinette sucked it up and tried her best not to punch Damian. All Marinette had to do was survive one annoying groomsman, and her career would be set for life.

----------

It was a warm, breezy August morning when Marinette got the phone call. "Hello?" she said as she answered the unknown number, setting her mug of coffee down on her side table.

"Marinette?" Marinette recognized the voice as Stephanie Brown, slightly distorted by the sob that she let out half-way through the word.

"Stephanie, are you okay?"

"The wedding is off," Stephanie cried, barely able to get the words out. "Tim and I aren't getting married."

"What's wrong? I'm sure we can fix this." Marinette tried to reason with Stephanie but was hung up on before she could finish her sentence.

Marinette stared down at her phone, trying to puzzle through what she had just learned. It just didn't make sense. Stephanie, who seemed perfectly in love with Tim just days earlier, was now calling off the wedding. Obviously, there had been some unexpected developments since Marinette last spoke to the couple, but she couldn't imagine a fight that they couldn't work through. Marinette needed to get back in the loop, and she knew who she needed to call. With a long-suffering sigh, Marinette dialed Damian's number.

"Dupain-Cheng," Damian answered the phone with a clipped tone.

"Wayne. Any idea why Stephanie just called me to announce that the wedding is off?"

Damian sighed. "One of Tim's ex-girlfriends met up with him last night. I'm not certain what happened, but I'm certain that Rossi was involved."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Lila Rossi," Damian bit out the name, "Has had her sights on making my brother miserable since the day he broke up with her. She would love nothing more than to ruin his life."

Marinette took in a deep breath, then let it out. "It's clear to me that Tim and Stephanie are both perfect for each other. This is just a minor setback. Someone needs to get them back together. Are you going to help me, or am I on my own?"

"I will help," said Damian succinctly. "I will pick you up in twenty minutes so that we can formulate a plan."

Damian hung up the phone and Marinette was left wondering how in the world she got herself into this position. She now had to spend the day with the most intolerable man she knew, so that she could reunite his recently broken up friends, in order to save their marriage. Marinette sighed. "I might need another coffee."

----------

Damian pulled up to the curb in front of Marinette's house, driving some luxury brand that Marinette would never be able to afford. Marinette climbed into the passenger seat, turning to Damian with an expectant look. "Do we have a plan yet?"

"Not quite a plan, but I do have a handle on the situation as it is now," said Damian, "Tim is refusing to talk to Stephanie. Stephanie is refusing to talk to Tim. Neither will tell my why they've called off the wedding, but it's obvious that there is some degree of miscommunication going on."

Marinette started to do what she did best - formulate an action plan. "We have to get them to meet up and talk things out. I'll take Stephanie, you take Tim. We need to convince them to follow us to a neutral location and we'll have to come up with convincing lies. If either sees through our plan the whole thing is ruined. Then we'll need to find a place to have them meet. I'm thinking a restaurant. We need our location to be somewhere where neither of them would storm out from but it also has to be private enough for them to talk it out."

Damian nodded. "There are plenty of restaurants that would be suited for our needs. The real problem is convincing Tim and Stephanie to follow us."

"I already have an idea for Stephanie. I'm going to ask her if she wants to go to Clement Park and do one of the destroy-the-dress photoshoots. I image that she's upset enough right now to agree to something drastic and dramatic."

Damian looked surprised. "That's a good idea. You're less incompetent than I thought, Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette decided to take his words as a compliment. "Thanks. I am a wedding planner, after all. It's kind of my whole job to be good at plans involving weddings."

"This is more of a scheme than a plan."

"I'll be a wedding schemer for the day, then," joked Marinette. "Now, are there any good restaurants near Clement Park, or should I choose a different location?"

"I know a restaurant a block away from there. I’ll lure Tim there under the premise that we’ll be getting lunch."

Marinette nodded. "I'll try to get Stephanie to the restaurant at noon. I'll also try and make sure the dress stays intact for that long. I have a feeling that Stephanie will still need it after her lunch today."

"Thank you for assisting me. I do not say this often, because it is rarely true, but I do not think I would be able to accomplish this task without your help."

"No problem, Wayne."

----------

Stephanie jumped on the opportunity to destroy her wedding dress.

"I can't believe I ever agreed to marry him," fumed Stephanie as they drove to the park, wedding dress taking up the backseat of Marinette's car.

"What happened between you two?" asked Marinette. "You seemed perfectly happy when I saw you last week."

"He hooked up with one of his ex-girlfriends behind my back. Lila called me last night to confess to the affair, begging me to forgive her because she didn't even know that Tim had a fiancée when she slept with him. I didn't believe her at first, but then she sent me proof. The poor girl kept blaming herself. It wasn't her fault, the only person to blame was Tim."

"That's horrible." Marinette decided not to press the issue any further. She needed Stephanie to trust her.

As the car stopped at the red light, just a block away from the restaurant, Marinette turned to Stephanie. "I just had an idea. We should get some red wine to splash onto the dress."

Stephanie grinned. "Oh that would absolutely ruin it. I'm sure we can pick up a bottle in one of the restaurants down the street."

Marinette pulled the car up in front of the restaurant that Damian had chosen. "Why don't you come in with me, to help pick out the bottle. We can use half of it to destroy the dress and the other half to get drunk afterward."

"You're just full of good ideas today." Stephanie got out of the passenger seat and followed Marinette into the restaurant.

This was the most delicate part of the scheme. If Stephanie caught sight of Tim and Damian too early it would ruin everything. Marinette led Stephanie through the restaurant towards the back, where Tim and Damian sat, under the premise that they were looking for the sommelier.

"Oh no!" Stephanie looked furious as soon as she caught sight of the men, but it was too late. The only way for Stephanie to get away was to make a scene. Marinette grabbed Stephanie's wrist and pulled her over to the table. "Really, Tim?" hissed Stephanie.

"I wasn't involved with this," growled Tim, glaring at Damian.

Damian got out of his seat and pulled it out for Stephanie to sit down in. "I think the two of you need to talk this out. I have no idea what lies Lila Rossi spun to cause this, but her motives have been nefarious since the moment she stepped into Tim's life. Rossi is the untrustworthy one here, not either of you."

Stephanie sighed. "Fine. I'll give Tim twenty minutes to tell his side of the story. But then I'm leaving."

"Thank you," said Damian. He put his hand on Marinette's shoulder and led her away, giving Tim and Stephanie their privacy.

"Do you want to go check out Clement Park?" asked Marinette once they were outside the restaurant.

"Why would we do that?"

Marinette shrugged. "In case Stephanie doesn't forgive Tim, I need to find a good spot to pour wine onto the wedding dress," she teased.

Damian cringed. "That's a twenty-thousand dollar wedding dress. You were just going to let it get ruined?"

Marinette shook her head. "I would have never let Stephanie destroy it. Even if our scheme doesn't work out, I'm going to keep trying to get them back together. Tim and Stephanie love each other. This is just a minor setback."

A thoughtful look passed over Damian. "Thank you, Marinette, for your help today."

"No problem. I was happy to help."

"I suppose you would be. Having your clients cancel after five months of work would no doubt be a career setback."

Before Marinette could protest what he said, she heard a voice call out from behind them. "Marinette! Damian!" It was Stephanie, grinning ear to ear as she ran towards Marinette and Damian, hand in hand with Tim. "We're getting married!" exclaimed Stephanie as soon as she was within earshot of Marinette and Damian.

"That's great!" Marinette replied, feeling the weight of Tim and Stephanie's failing relationship lift off of her chest.

Stephanie looked a bit more nervous. "We're getting married today. This wedding prep - planning the rehearsal dinner menu and picking out flowers for the bouquet - has been driving me crazy. All I want is to get married to Tim."

An elopement was the opposite of what Marinette wanted. It would be a terrible career move, to have her clients get so sick of planning their wedding that they abandoned it entirely. And yet, she carriedfor Tim and Stephanie too much to see them suffer on her account. “You’re wedding dress is in the trunk of my car. You wanted to ceremony to take place in the gardens at Wayne Manor, and that can happen any time. How about six tonight?”

Stephanie let out a sigh of relief. "Marinette, you're the best. Tim, let’s get married.”

Tim nodded. “Let’s get married.”

----------

It was Marinette’s first time planning a wedding in five hours. It might have been stressful, except Stephanie assured Marinette that they didn't want big impressive decorations. And in a very unlikely turn of events, Damian showed up to help Marinette set up.

Marinette wasn't quite sure why Damian was there beside her, tying ribbons and flowers to the walls of the little gazebo on the grounds of Wayne Manor. She got her answer when Damian finally asked the question he had been holding in for hours. "Why didn't you convince them to go through with their original wedding plan? You've put countless hours into their wedding and now all of that work is for nothing."

That was the question of the hour. The response was easy. "If I was in it for the money, I would have chosen a completely different career. I decided to become a wedding planner because I wanted to make people the happiest they could be on their special day. For Tim and Stephanie, this is the happiest they could be on their wedding day - not a big blowout wedding, but a small personal ceremony. It took almost losing everything for them to realize this."

Damian looked guilty. "I'm sorry that I misjudged you, Dupain-Cheng."

"Call me Marinette and I just might forgive you."

"Of course, Marinette. I suppose you may call me Damian, then."

"Thanks, Damian. Now can you pass me the pink ribbons? I want to pair them with the gypsophila and white roses."

As they worked together, slowly but surely turning the gazebo into the perfect wedding centerpiece, Damian kept up the conversation with Marinette. "I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other after this."

"You think?"

"I'm certain that Tim and Stephanie won't forget the help that you gave them.

Marinette shrugged. "It wasn't that big of a deal. Anyone would do what I did."

"Not just anyone. You're special, Marinette."

Marinette blushed. "I think you're pretty special too, Damian."

Her face got dangerously close to Damian's, and she could see the desire in his eyes. Marinette's eyes closed, and she sucked in a small breath of air, ready for what was about to happen.

In what had quickly become a trend for the day, Stephanie chose that moment to interrupt the intimate moment between Marinette and Damian. From across the lawn, she called out, "Quit flirting and finish up with the decorations! The ceremony is about to start and I need help putting my dress on!"

Marinette glanced over at Damian, face still pink with blush. "I've got to go, but I'll see you after the ceremony."

"Goodbye, Marinette."

Marinette fled the gazebo, wondering how in the world she had gone from dreading spending time with Damian to almost kissing him.

----------

The ceremony was beautiful, even if it was entirely under-planned. Tim's vows to Stephanie were only half-written, so he had to improvise. Stephanie's allergies were acting up from all of the pollen in the air. They ran out of napkins ten minutes into dinner. Still, Marinette knew that this was Tim and Stephanie's dream wedding.

"Marinette." Damian caught up to Marinette when she went into the house to get another bottle of wine for the reception.

"Damian. You wouldn't happen to know where the wine is kept?"

"We have a wine cellar."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Of course you do," she teased.

In the privacy of the wine cellar, Damian finally looked Marinette in the eyes. "I know that our relationship didn't have the best of beginnings, but I've realized now how wrong I was about you. I thought you took on Tim and Stephanie's wedding for the money. I didn't realize that you had grown to care about them as a couple."

"I misjudged you as well. I thought you were so difficult to work with because you didn't like me. I realize now that it was because you wanted the best for your family."

"How about we start over," suggested Damian.

"You've got yourself a deal." Marinette stuck out her hand. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, professional wedding planner."

"I'm Damian Wayne, the brother of the groom."

Marinette grinned. "I've heard that there's a dance floor outside. Maybe you'd like to show me it?"

"Would you give me the pleasure of dancing with you, Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

"Call me Marinette, and you've got yourself a deal." Marinette snagged the right bottle of wine and started making her way out of the cellar. "By the way, Damian, I had a fun time scheming with you today. Maybe we could come up with another scheme for tomorrow. One the involves actually eating at the fancy restaurant."

Damian smiled. "I like the way you think."

"I tend to have good ideas. It's in my job description."

@maribatmarch-2k21

#maribat #daminette #romcom au #marinette dupain-cheng #damian wayne #MaribatMarch2021 #maridami #marinette x damian #miraculous ladybug fic #my work

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sunnysviolin · 3 years

Text

Omotober Day Two- Faraway

You can also read it here on ao3

In a small town like Faraway, gossip is a ritual. The intricate ways of being nosey and knowing everything about your neighbors must be carefully taught to all new inhabitants.

“No matter what you do, someone always knew you would.” ― Ami McKay

“Country folk talked, that was all. Whether in the borderlands or the baronies, gossip was ever the chief sport.” ― Stephen King

Faraway is a town with only two thousand seven hundred and fourteen people. It just barely crosses the threshold of rural to suburban, and despite what the mayor promised with all of the new construction plans, the people of the town didn’t expect that there would be many more people coming anytime soon.

Faraway was perpetually sleepy, and when you combined that with how much it lived up to its name in being far from any city, most newcomers either left quickly or never stayed in the first place. Everything closed at nightfall, and the worst crime was high school ruffians who occasionally spraypainted a wall or smashed in a mailbox or two. The town was little, but the residents liked it that way. They liked not having to worry about locking their doors or watching their backs as they walked around. They liked being able to poke their heads into each others backyards and always being invited to every party and outing.

But Faraway did have one detraction. As with pretty much every small town, most of the residents were terrible gossips. Such was the fate of a place without much to do, neighbors found their entertainment in one another.

“Did you hear Perdita’s husband finally got sick of her and left? It was only a matter of time, she’s a complete alchie”

“Greg finally found out that Emily was cheating on him and now they’re getting divorced. It is going to be meeeeessy. They’re fighting over the house and the kids!”

But the biggest piece of gossip was what happened to Sharon.

Anyone who moved into the town learned the story quickly. Once the new neighbors had a chance to settle in, a group would come over with a plate of cookies or a casserole after church, and wait until they were offered a cup of coffee and a chat. It was the neighborly thing to do after all, and it was important that anyone coming into their world know what they were getting into. Once the coffee was poured and the trivial compliments about the layout of the house were given, then it would start.

First with some simple things- who was going behind whos back, which couple was doomed to get a divorce before too long. It was important to gauge here if this new neighbor would be one of them or not. If the new arrival seemed put off or uncomfortable, a few feelers would be put out. They might just be new to small town life and not aware of the importance of knowing all of this. If all attempts to chat were rebuffed, then the rest of the town knew that this person wouldn’t last long among them.

But sometimes a new neighbor showed potential, promise in their willingness to listen and participate. If that happened, then it was time to move onto the main story that plagued the town even four years after it had happened. No one ever meant to talk about it, but it was inevitable that it would be brought up. It wasn’t every day that one of the darlings of the town ended up dead after all.

“A tragedy, such a shame.”

“Hung herself! Poor thing,”

“The girl had been only fourteen- oh wait fifteen. Yes Mari had been fifteen.”

“No, she hadn’t left a note, but everyone could guess. Her parents were always such strange people, so strict and demanding of their children. It was inevitable that one of them would snap, but no one expected it to be Mari. She seemed so happy, so above it all.”

“She was in a relationship with Teresa’s boy. Not the one still here, of course, but the one who’s in college now, studying to be a doctor. All the way on the other side of the country if you can believe it!”

“It only got worse from there though. Sharon’s husband had left her afterwards, and she never told anyone why...He probably blamed her for it. Men can be that way, can’t they?”

“Now she goes around acting like nothing happened at all. It’s bizarre. If I lost my daughter you wouldn’t catch me acting like she never existed.”

“I hear she’s moving. Yes I’m sure, the manager over at Fix-Its told me that she asked him for a moving company reference,”

“I saw a For Sale sign in the front yard. It make sense though, I have no idea how she could have possibly lived in that house for the last four years, knowing what her child did there,”

“‘How could she live in that house’? What I want to know is how could she let her son stay in there day in day out! After what happened to him,”

“Oh, sorry honey, let us explain. So Sharon has, well had, two children. Mari, her daughter and Sunny, her son. I can’t for the life of me remember how old he is. High school age now I suppose...but no one has seen him in years,”

“ Years . We’re completely serious. Sharon does errands and goes to work in an office nearby as a secretary, and she shows up sometimes for a cup of coffee or the occasional church meeting, but no one has seen Sunny since his sister died. He’s the one that found her, and he completely lost his mind. He’s psychotic now,”

“Now that isn’t fair. That child went through something no person should ever have to, and at such a young age. It’s no wonder the boy has issues, but Sharon should have done something. At least forced him to keep going to school,”

“You can’t deny that the child is strange, Margaret. He was strange before he found his sister hanging from a tree. My Ethan was in classes with him, and he said he used to see Sunny staring out the window for the entire class period without blinking. Like he was possessed,”

“He was friends with Perdita’s girl, and we all know how that child turned out. She’s going to end up making license plates and eating gruel before she turns twenty, mark my words,”

“And what about what happened to the cat? You can’t deny that’s strange,”

“Oh that’s just a rumor. I don’t believe it,”

“Rumors, but no ones seen it since she died. Lacey swears that she saw a dead cat in their trash bin only a week after Mari’s funeral. Don’t look at me that way, I’m just saying. I certainly don’t have any plans to let my children near that house,”

“Even if you did, they wouldn’t let you in! Teresa’s boy goes there every afternoon, and no one ever answers the door. He’s such a sweetheart, you should introduce your kids to him. Kel’s always been a rather lonely boy for some reason, even though he’s such a nice child. He’s been practically distraught since his brother left for school, the one we told you is going to be a doctor?”

“Oh by the way, make sure you don’t say any of this to Teresa or her husband. She’s still very close with Sharon and views Sunny like one of her own. If only Kel had rubbed off a little more on him,”

“I’m just glad that Kel got out of that group of kids before it completely devolved. Teresa’s boys are far to good to be around children like Sunny and Aubrey,”

#omori #omotober #omori sunnys mom #omori sunnys dad #omori mari #omori sunny #omori aubrey #omori kel #omori hero #omori fic #omori faraway #faraway town #bitchy smalll town life is intricate

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amymel86 · 3 years

Note

I do NOT want to be that person but are there any snippets from anything you could or would like to give us, cause our little addiction is having a bit of a withdrawal? #crackheadforyourjonsafic 😅

lol honestly, anon - please BE that person because I jump at any chance for external validation lbr...

So this is a little something from a fic I'm working on. It's a modern, college au but Sansa was raised by Lysa who is a devout follower of The Maiden. No Robb, Cat died giving birth to Sansa. Sansa doesn't know who her father is. A few of the scenes I have in mind are inspired by a horror film but there's no demonic possession or r*pist priest in this one - don't worry!

The nervous excitement had soured. Sansa blinks down at the little ceramic statue of The Maiden and the prayer book that lay atop her clothes in her suitcase.

She had not been the one to put them there.

A vibration in her cardigan pocket jumpstarts her heart into an erratic beat. She can guess who might be calling; either Aunt Lysa or Father Baelish.

“Why haven’t you called?”

Sansa resists the urge to chew on her thumbnail. “I’ve only just arrived, Aunt Lysa, I was going to-“

“Your coach arrived three hours ago.”

“I had to wait to be shown my room allocation. It was very busy. And I wanted to get unpacked-“

“You left your prayer book and Maiden, Sansa.”

“I-“ Sansa stared at the reflection of herself in the full length mirror hung on her dorm room wardrobe door. Going to college, getting away from her Aunt and her overbearing ways was meant to be a new start for Sansa; a way to finally experience some of the world – something that was her own.

There was no use arguing with her though. “Yes, Aunt Lysa,” she said, turning away from the mirror. “I forgot them, I’m sorry.”

There’s a long-suffering sigh from the phone and Sansa can quite clearly picture her Aunt standing in the old, beige hallway, receiver to her ear while she fusses with her own Maiden statue that she keeps on the telephone table, on top of one of her more elaborate handmade doilies. Going to college has been the first thing that her Aunt has let her do for herself – it’s the first thing that Aunt Lysa hasn’t had control over.

“You are getting more and more like your mother.”

It should be meant as a compliment – it is not.

Sansa has heard the comparison time and time again – she’s seen photographs of her mother who passed away when Sansa was born. She always looks so beautiful and kind in those old photos. But that’s not what Aunt Lysa is referring to.

Promiscuous

Immoral

Wanton

Whore

That is what Aunt Lysa means when she compares Sansa to her mother.

“Those places are full of temptation and sin, Sansa. Your mother was led away from her faith and went all too willingly-“

“It’s not like that, Aunt Lysa, it’s-“

“No, no,” she mutters in response, “Father Baelish and I discussed this at length and we really do think that you should return and-“

Sansa’s eyes began to sting. “Please,” she begs softly, “please don’t make me come back. I promise I’ll be good. I promise you don’t need to worry about me.”

The dorm room door clicks open making Sansa spin around. A pretty girl with brown, wavy hair flashes a smile as she lugs the biggest suitcase Sansa has ever seen over the threshold.

“I have to go Aunt Lysa,” Sansa hurriedly whispers down the phone, breaking off the call.

“Hi!” the new girl in her room says with a grin as she dumps her bags. “I’m Margaery! We’re roommates I guess!”

“I’m Sansa,” she squeaks, possibly all too quickly. Should she extend her hand to shake? That’s what you do when you meet people at the Sept on Sundays. But her palms are a little sweaty. No-one wants to shake a sweaty hand. Sansa worries the skirt of her floral dress, still wondering what she should be doing to make a good first impression.

Margaery, on the other hand has turned her back on her and is rooting around in her bag for something. She wears the shortest denim shorts Sansa has ever seen. Aunt Lysa would pitch a fit and would probably make Sansa scrub the floorboards of the whole house andthe Sept if she’d ever even dreamt about wearing anything like that.

“Welcome drink?!”Margaery spins ‘round excitedly after apparently finding what it was she was looking for; a bottle of Wildling Vodka.

Sansa’s cheeks are hot. “Oh! I... Um...” She’s worrying her skirt again and shakes her head to decline.

Margaery’s smile dims a little and her eyes slide down Sansa’s frame to take in her long floral dress and then to the Maiden statue and prayer book out on the desk. “Alright,” she says, her lips twitching. “That’s cool...uh, I’m gonna... I’m gonna go introduce myself to our neighbours on this floor.”

Sansa watches her new roommate sashay out of the room, bottle in hand and lets out a long breath. It’s probably what she should be doing too, right? Being sociable?

Creeping over to the open door, Sansa peeps into the hallway. Most students are arriving today, although some seem to have been here yesterday too. There’s all manner of person milling about – lugging bags and boxes, hanging posters on doors, blasting music from their open dorm room doors.

“Theon! No!”someone screams and then laughs hysterically. It makes Sansa jump and turn to see a boy lifting her roommate, Margaery over his shoulder and attempt to run down the hall with her.

Sansa watches him sprint a little way down the hall while Margaery squeals and giggles. All Sansa can do is stare after them... until the door to the next dorm over opens and a shirtless guy leans against the frame. His dark hair was wet and he had a towel around the back of his neck. He shakes his head at the ruckus but his lips look as though they’re fighting back a smile. Sansa’s gaze dips and she feels hot all over as she takes in the lean muscle and smooth skin – the trail of dark hair that travels southward from his navel, disappearing inside his shorts.

What are you doing?! What are you doing?! What are you doing?!

You are getting more and more like your mother.

Her eyes snap up to find the shirtless guy looking at her. Her skin feels ablaze with guilt and her heart is pumping painfully. He gives her a soft sort of smile but all Sansa can do is squeak and slam the door shut.

#jonsa #jon x sansa #good girl sansa #jon's gonna be into it #college au #modern au #snippet

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jemej3m · 4 years

Note

Aaron takes the mental health course part of pre med (is that a thing?) and starts recognizing Andrew grounding himself, having an episode, etc

bruhhhhh

bruuhhh

Aaron winced as his son sprinted for the door, yelling the whole way. The twins knew that their uncle was coming to visit and were absolutely ecstatic about it. A well-known fact amongst the old Foxes and their children was that Andrew was very, very good with kids.

Well, Aaron conceded. Andrew wasn’t good with them. He just didn’t even have to try: they loved him right off the bat. And barring the slight furrow in his brows whenever one of Aaron’s twins or Kevin’s spawn whined ‘please!’, he didn’t seem to mind being around them, either.

His son was jumping for the doorhandle excitedly, so Aaron put his hand atop of his head and stilled him before swinging the door open.

Andrew was much the same. They were aging the same way, albeit the slight muscular composition difference. Andrew’s teeth were a little more yellow, though he’d given up smoking a few years ago, and Aaron had reading glasses tucked into the collar of his shirt. Other than that, they were just as similar as they always had been.

“Hey,” Aaron said, but his son was already yelling and jumping and tugging on Andrew’s hand. Andrew’s lips nearly twitched into a smile. Nearly.

Once his bags were deposited and shoes tucked into a corner, Katelyn handed him a mug of cocoa and they all sat on the couch as the kids regaled their uncle with stories of preschool and their neighbour’s new dog and how Dad had found them in the bathroom with craft scissors, which was why Aaron’s son had such a short haircut now.

Katelyn got them settled for bed soon after: Andrew had arrived relatively late in the evening, just in time for ‘adult dinner’.

“How was the flight?” Aaron asked, taking a dish of potatoes out of the oven.

Andrew hummed into his glass of wine. “Miserable.”

Aaron had known for quite a while Andrew’s deliberating fear of heights, ever since the Foxes had taken a reunion trip to Hawaii a few years ago. When his wife hustled back into the kitchen, Andrew nodded at her and she smiled back. Aaron felt something odd in his chest. Andrew had been very tolerant of Katelyn lately. He assumed it was the kids’ doing.

They ate dinner quietly. Katelyn chattered about the kids, and their medical placements. Andrew asked about their specialties.

Aaron stared at the plate. Katelyn nudged his shoulder.

“Right.” He glanced up. “I’m not sure. What I want to choose, that is. It’s between surgery or psychiatry.”

Andrew hummed. “Psychiatry.”

Aaron shrugged. He’d done a lot of mental health work throughout his postgraduate degree. It just seemed to make sense that he’d go into that field. It takes one to know one, and all that. “What do you think?”

Andrew just arched an eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

“Well, yes,” Aaron said, tone a little frigid. Drake’s trial had been a public debacle, but it was Dr Richmond Proust that Aaron couldn’t get out of his head. It was during their fourth year when the news had come on about a psychiatrist at Easthaven being exposed for forceful sexual conduct with patients. Andrew hadn’t spoken to anyone but Neil for a week, and then disappeared for another two when Waterhouse asked him to stand witness to Proust’s trial.

“Psychiatry is glorified drug dealing,” Andrew decided, stabbing a piece of broccoli with his fork. He paused, then shrugged. “Could probably do with a bit of Minyard fuckery, though.”

Aaron was finally able to read Andrew’s subtext though: that was the biggest compliment he’d ever get. Unable to bite down a smile, he said “I thought so, too.”

His brother simply hummed.

The rest of dinner passed quietly. Andrew had three of Katelyn’s triple fudge brownies and sent a photo of them to Kevin, just to piss him off. The evening slowed down with a nightcap in front of the news, Katelyn heading to bed early. She’d agreed to take the kids to their daycare in Aaron’s stead so that he could have breakfast with his brother alone.

Aaron was just about to turn in for the night when Andrew’s phone rang. Andrew squinted at the unknown number, mouth turned down: he could remember everyone’s phone numbers, and this was clearly one he didn’t recognise.

He rose the phone to his ear. The slight frown disappeared and transformed into a blank stare, something far deadlier. Aaron hadn’t seen him wear it since college.

“When,” Andrew snapped, gripping the phone so hard Aaron thought it would break. The voice continued. “And you only thought to call me now? I’m his next-of-kin.” Aaron froze.

Eventually, Andrew hung up, holding the phone midair as his eyes glossed over.

“Andrew?”

“Neil got in a head-on collision,” he mumbled.

“Dead?”

“Unstable.”

“I’ll book you a flight.”

Andrew wasn’t moving. When Aaron saw a flush rise in his cheeks, he realised Andrew wasn’t breathing, either. Shit. Shit. His brother was having a fucking meltdown. Goddammit, next time Aaron saw Neil he was going to strangle him.

He got off the couch and crouched down in front of Andrew, careful not to touch him. “Andrew.”

Andrew didn’t move.

“Hey, Andrew.” Aaron stood up a little more so that they were eye level. “Andrew, you need to breathe. Okay? If you’re going to go make sure Neil’s okay, I need you to breathe.”

Andrew finally looked at him. He was angry. Terrified. Aaron couldn’t really tell: his gaze was like looking into a void, pupils blown wide.

Calming someone down was a lot simpler when Aaron didn’t know them. This was like walking a tightrope of barbed wire over an alligator-infested pit.

“Can I have your phone? I’m going to book you a flight. Okay? Nod if you can hear me.”

Andrew nodded but didn’t relinquish the phone. Aaron grit his teeth.

“Andrew. It’s going to be okay. He’s unstable, but he’ll make it. He’s always made it. He’s impossible to kill, right?”

“I hate him,” Andrew mumbled.

“I know. Can I use your phone?”

Andrew dropped the phone into Aaron’s hand and dropped his head into his hands, utterly still. His breathing went all ragged and choppy.

There was a springy voice on the other end of the line. “Hello, this is the service desk for Terminal 1 domestic, how can I -?”

“I need a flight for Denver as soon as you can,” Aaron snapped. “It’s an emergency. When’s the next available one? I’m willing to pay whatever’s necessary.”

“Oh,” the woman sputtered. “Um, there’s a red-eye leaving in an hour, but there’s only first-class left - ”

“That’s fine. Please book it for Andrew Minyard. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Sir, I really can’t - wait, Andrew Minyard? Seriously?”

“Dead serious.”

“Alright,” she allowed. “Okay. If you can make it to this desk in 25 minutes, I’ll have a seat for you, Mr Minyard.”

Aaron hung up. “Andrew, we need to go.”

Andrew’s breathing sped up, fingers digging into his hair and pulling hard enough to rip it out. Aaron’s chest began to ache, watching as the sleeves of his shirt fell down to reveal the black armbands, still everpresent after all these years.

“Hey,” he said, keeping his voice gentle. “Are you with me, Andrew?”

Andrew glanced up slightly, glaring at Aaron’s collarbone.

“All you need to do is breathe. Neil is okay. He’s going to be okay. You’ll see him soon, alright?”

Aaron tapped his hand gently on his knee, palm down for four counts, then holding his fist closed for eight counts, then palm up for four counts. Andrew slowly began to breathe in time with his hand, chest heaving as he inhaled through his teeth.

It took a while, but Aaron watched him slowly come back to his senses. His hands slipped over his eyes once his breathing was steady, kneading at his temples.

“I’ll drive you to the airport,” Aaron said.

“Okay,” Andrew rasped.

“Babe,” Katelyn whispered. “Your phone is going off.”

Aaron blinked his eyes open, glaring at the ceiling. Why’d he been up so late?

Oh. Right.

He blindly reached out for his phone.

Most of it was the Foxes going mad, but there in the midst of chaos, was Andrew’s number.

he’s going to be ok. thank you.

Aaron sighed, oddly relieved. He didn’t like Neil Josten one bit, but it would’ve been a slight hiccup if he’d died.

good, he said, texting blindly without his glasses. don’t mention it.

trust me, his brother texted back. I won’t.

nawww twinyards!

#tw: panic attack #mental health #twinyards #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #tw: mention of car accident #aftg #all for the game #look at that relationship growth #aaron minyard

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harryhighkey · 4 years

Text

the 1

hi!

so because i haven’t been able to listen to anything but folklore ever since it came out here’s a one shot inspired by one of the songs, the 1.

i’m really proud of how this turned out and i’m thinking of maybe doing more one shots inspired by songs from that album!

hope u like it and happy reading ♡

______________________

You were doing good.

So good in fact, that when someone asked you how you were, it wasn’t a mundane, somewhat conditioned response of ‘good’ - even if you weren’t. It was a genuine, wholehearted ‘I’m so good’ kind of response you’d hear in some finding the light moment by a protagonist in a movie. You deserved it too, you had been actively trying to find this frame of mind and finally here you were.

You first noticed the change in yourself when you started some new habits in your life. The moment came when you were caught in a drunk-minded deep conversation with one of your best friends.

“Y’know what I need?”

“What?”

“Get on some new shit.”

“You wan’ drugs right now?”

“Nah, nah, nah, not like that. I mean like, in life in general, y’know?”

“Yeah, dude. Same, like... let’s day drink on weekdays too.”

You laughed at her reply, but you remember not saying no. That was something else you were trying to do. Saying yes instead of no.

It’s not that you were necessarily a no person. In fact, you liked to think you were more of a yes person. You were always the friend who was up for anything once upon a time. No matter if it was going to sushi train, spending an afternoon following a Bob Ross tutorial, going axe-throwing, having a Sunday sesh of drinking bottomless margaritas or simply laying in bed and bitching about the people you didn’t like from high school and how boring their lives seemed compared to yours. You were always very friend orientated and you had amazing friends who you always had the most fun with and when that part of your life halted, it effected you more then you realised.

It had stopped by your own choice. You happened to fall in love with one of the most known and beloved male singers of this generation. Harry Styles. At first you kept living normally, but it was only a matter of time before you would get recognised more and more due to being his girlfriend. You didn’t sign up for being a celebrity, it was never your plan and you didn’t consider yourself to be one. But you couldn’t deny that you were known in the Harry Styles fandom for sure. Because of this, you started saying no to a lot more things. It was a sacrifice, but one you were willing to make at the time for the boy who you were so sure was the one.

It was impossible to ignore his status when you two were together and even now when you were not. There was a day when it had been two months and six days since you broke up where you were driving home from work and you were thinking of him. On your lunch break, your co worker who was named Henry was drinking from a mug with a ‘H’ on it. It was the same mug you had bought for Harry when you two were together. And on your way home there was a split second where you thought you saw him at the bus stop. You didn’t though. Of course not, it was just your mind playing a sick trick after you’d been thinking of him so much. Someone of Harry’s fame wouldn’t be able to catch a public bus, especially at peak hour without causing a ruckus. It was easy to miss the good parts and that moment was a slap in the face of reality at how the two of you struggling to be a ‘normal’ couple was a big reason why you broke up.

Two days after that, you spent a week where you swore to hit the ground running each night that week to feel better. The first night was out to dinner, the second was a board game night, the third was visiting your parents, the fourth was an escape room, the fifth was a rooftop bar, and finally came Sunday where you hit the matinee.

That week was exactly what you needed. It was busy as hell, but you wanted it to be. By the end of the week you were exhausted, but in the best possible way. Almost in a way of when you exercise and the release of good endorphins follow. You really felt like the main character in your life again, and when you were reminiscing back on the packed week, it was like a montage in a movie and your favourite songs would’ve been playing as the soundtrack. But then you had a wave of him. One single moment alone, and of course he’d crept into your mind. A simple memory of when you couldn’t decide what movie to watch. You had very different tastes when it came to watching something and Harry in an effort to soothe this over before it became frustrating asked in a dramatised voice,

“Don’t you know that the greatest films of all time were never made?”

At the time you had rolled your eyes and laughed at him. But maybe he was right after all. You missed him again in that moment, you never thought you would have to miss him in that way. When you were together and you missed him because he was away for a work commitment, you could call him up. Now you couldn’t. The the last phone you’d had with him flew to the front of your mind and sadly it was a bitter memory.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hey, H.”

“You okay?”

You sighed.

“That’s a no.”

“Mhm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well I’m home again.”

“Go out then, (Y/N). You don’t need to have fomo.” He tried to lighten the mood by saying it like that, you were an extreme fomo sufferer and it was a personal joke within your life and at first he had found it cute and joined in. But it wasn’t simply fomo anymore. You were beginning to become depressed with the downfall of your social life that was once, such a defining aspect of who you are, and one of the reasons you had caught Harry’s attnetion in the first place, he loved your extroverted attitude.

“If I go, I’m gonna’ feel like groups of girls are looking at me and talking about me.”

“I know how that feels.”

“Harry, it’s not the same for me.”

“I know.”

You gave him silence, some sort of this conversation had became pretty repetitive for you two towards the end of your relationship.

“I am sorry you’re feeling like this (Y/N), but I’m not sorry for having my life.” He was getting frustrated, you could hear it in his voice. You were too, but you understood his frustration now, you didn’t then.

“Well, how I was to know that dating you meant this? You never know... never know that dating someone is going to fuck your life up.”

“I fucked your life up?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

He hung up then. It wasn’t pretty due to things only getting rockier. You broke up the day after that call. And fuck, were you devastated. You didn’t have your old life because going out meant feeling like people were looking at you for being Harry Styles’ girlfriend and that would hurt too much knowing you weren’t. Another thing that kept you inside for the most part, was the knowledge that it would only be a matter of time before rumours spread on social media that the two of you had split. And you didn’t even want to think about how it would make you feel to hear people you didn’t know at all whisper about you being his ex. So there you were, without your old life and also without Harry and the new life you had with him.

It fucking sucked.

You waited for him to call, or to show up at your door to display some proclamation of love to get back together. In the first two months you would’ve said yes of course. But unfortunately it happened five months and twenty-eight days after the break up.

You were having a really good night. Harry wasn’t.

You and your sister were at the movies and you had to go to the toilet after ordering the biggest slurpee size and not being able to make it through the movie without needing a pee break. Just after you’d washed your hands your phone rang and you answered without looking at who it was, assuming it would be your sister asking to get some more m&m’s.

“Yeah?”

“Ah..hi. Bad time?” You recognised his voice and swore you felt your heart lurch into your throat. “(Y/N)?” You hadn’t answered him and you had answered the call so quick, he was caught off guard at your abrupt answering of the phone and now complete silence.

“No.. I, I didn’t look who was calling. I thought it was (Y/S/N).”

“Oh, you out?”

“Just to the movies.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Bet you look so pretty, baby.” He was drunk. His compliment did cause that warmth to appear in your heart, but you fought against it.

“Why are you calling, Harry?”

“Miss you...miss you so much.” Tears welled in your eyes, this was all you had wanted months ago. Just not now, not after you’d work so hard to get your life back on track to how you liked it. “Want you back, (Y/N).”

“Stop.”

“No.”

“It’s too late.”

“Why?”

“You had so much time to do this, it isn’t fair you’re doing it now. If you wanted me, you really should’ve showed.”

“I’m-”

You hung up on him and then cried.

You never made it back to into the theatre, instead, your sister came to you in the bathroom, making a joke about if you had gotten diarrhoea. She quickly stopped when she saw your makeup ruined and teary eyes. Immediately becoming concerned and when you explained what had happened, she simply told you,

“If you never bleed, you’re never gonna grow.” And that was all you really needed to hear.

And so bleed you did, figuratively. You thought you had gotten past the crying stage but that call brought on a second wave. Except this time, you were determined to keep up with your found again lifestyle. More often then not you saved the crying for when you were alone. But sometimes, something reminded you of him and you couldn’t help but to become a little teary eyed in public.

One day though, a month and eleven days after that call, the tears weren’t out of complete sadness. You were at your nieces birthday party and the current activity for the children was making balloon figures with those long, skinny balloons. Your attention was on one kid who was seeming to struggle a little and you could quickly see that her balloon was shaping into something not so appropriate for a kids party. It made you laugh and before you gave it a second thought, you snapped a photo and sent it to Harry, due to it reminding you of a memory with him.

“Baby, I don’t think giraffes are meant to look like that.” Harry was laughing at you, the two of you had, had some drinks and after finding a random packet of those bendable balloons in your backpack, you decided on seeing who could make the best animals.

“I know! I can’t figure out how to do it any differently.” Your tone was frustrated. That was your third attempt and it was turning out exactly how the first two had. In the shape of a penis.

“That dirty mind of yours.” He continued to tease you so you hit him with your penis shaped balloon and he quickly picked up the other two to hit you back with them. It wasn’t long until the swats of balloons became grabby hands and you two had some of the best sex you’d ever had.

It was such a fun moment and your eyes did well up slightly, but it was more of a nostalgic feeling. He replied to the photo quickly.

Harry: I want to support you in whatever you do but I can’t support you teaching the only balloon shape you know how to do, to kids.

His reply was funny and you laughed and gave a quick wipe under your eyes before a tear could roll down but your sister caught the movement and gave you a questioning look so you told her,

“It’s alright now.” And she knew exactly what you meant.

You didn’t message him back. That day. And you had to really fight with yourself not to but for the next two nights he was in all of your dreams so that third morning when you woke up and was still half asleep, you messaged him.

(Y/N): I had this dream you were doing cool shit.

Harry: You did? What was I doing?

(Y/N): A bunch of things, it was like I was watching a movie of you.

Harry: How so?

(Y/N): Idk, having all these adventures on your own.

Harry: Anything in particular that stands out?

(Y/N): You met a woman on the internet and took her home.

Harry: It wasn’t you?

(Y/N): No.

Harry: Interesting.

You didn’t reply after that. You thought it would be another light hearted text conversation but something felt weird about it. Yes, you were obviously broken up but you swore there was a shift of some kind.

You tried your best to forget about, you really fucking tried but a few more weeks passed and on a Saturday at 1:33am you were drunk calling him.

“’lo?” It was his ‘I just woke up voice’. And your heart fluttered, he always was a ‘Do Not Disturb’ person when he slept, so this meant your contact was still selected as a favourite.

“Hi.”

“(Y/N)? What time is it?”

“1:33am.”

“You okay?”

“I don’ know.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“My life feels out of place...and I’ve been trying real fucking hard to get it back on track.”

“I’m sure if you keep trying-”

“I hate tha’ you’re missing from my life.” You cut him off.

“(Y/N), I think you need to get some sleep.” He could tell you were drunk.

“I know we never painted by the numbers, but like, we were making it count... Right?”

“Right.”

“But it doesn’t mean anything anymore... the greatest loves of all time are over now.” You were so drunk, and speaking a little dramatically but Harry knew you were in a state, so he was being a little patient with you. “Do you miss me, Harry?”

“I do.”

“I miss you, too.”

“But think of all the things you missed when we were together. I don’t want you to stop living your life that you love so much.”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“This is for the best.”

“Do you actually think that?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you want to come stay tonight? I miss you a lot in the mornings.” You were getting more tired and Harry could hear it in your voice.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I just can’t, (Y/N).”

“Fine, it’ll just be another day waking up alone.”

“You’re not alone, you’ve got so many people in your life.”

“But not you, anymore.”

“Well, you still do, just not in the same way.”

“But, we were something, don’t you think so?”

“I do think so.... Are you okay, (Y/N)?” Harry asked a second time, he still cared for you so much.

“I think so, I just, can’t stop thinking about what if we had been together in another time... Like, imagine us in the roaring twenties. We’d be so vibrant and throwing parties together... Wishful, too. Tossing pennies in the pool.”

“What would you wish for?” He knew it was wrong to ask this while you were intoxicated but your emotion was flowing onto him even through the phone and he couldn’t help himself but to induldge in your scenario.

“Harry, if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you and me always.” You so unashamedly admitted, and Harry felt guilty then. He was pretty certain you’d wake up in the morning and regret this.

“I think I should go, (Y/N). Let you get some sleep, okay?”

“Yeah, night.” You were exhausted.

“Goodnight.”

The next day your best friend called and once you had told her of your late drunken call to Harry she immediately asked you,

“Now why the fuck would you do that?”

“In my defence... well I have none.”

“Exactly, and my question still stands, why the fuck would you do that?”

“You know me, just can never leave things well enough alone.”

After that call and promising your best friend that you wouldn’t go drunk dialling ex boyfriends again, you really wanted to stick to it. And so you did.

For seven months, there was no contact. And Harry had been laying pretty low so he wasn’t really being talked about and plastered in places so you couldn’t not see his face or hear his name or his songs.

Until news broke of him and his new girlfriend.

It was everywhere and you hated it. You hadn’t even thought of dating someone new. A couple months ago, you and your friend had set up a tinder profile for you but you hadn’t used it at all. You didn’t end things with Harry because you didn’t love him, because you did. So maybe part of you thought that you would get back together eventually, and maybe part of you thought he felt the same.

Apparently not.

The following weekend, you only had a couple drinks when you went out for a friends birthday. Truth being told, ever since seeing photos of Harry simply holding hands with another girl who wasn’t you, you had a pit in your stomach. You didn’t stay out for long, either. It was probably just you being a little anxious but you couldn’t shake the feeling that people were staring at you, and it had been a while since you felt like that and it was not a welcomed feeling.

Once you were home, you persisted and resisted the temptation to call or message Harry, simply to ask him if one thing had been different, would everything be different today? But you did resist and that was something you could celebrate.

Eventually those feelings that came from seeing Harry with his new girlfriend, faded. Partly because you’d done everything in your power to block hearing any news about him, but it was what you needed for your own peace of mind.

But today, you were going to see him, you knew that. And you knew there was a possibility of his new girlfriend also being there. It was a mutual friends engagement party, and maybe you had tried extra hard to look as good as you possibly could due to this knowledge.

You’d brought your best friend as a plus one and she spotted him before you did.

“Don’t turn around, but he’s coming in now.”

“Is she with him?”

“Yeah.” You took in a deep breath at your best friends confirmation of what you’d been worrying over. “He’s just spotted you.”

“Fuck... Does he look like he’s gonna come over?”

“Maybe, he’s talking at the moment.”

Harry was only a 180 twist away from seeing him after no contact for so long, but anxiety overtook any feeling of excitement or temptation. “Let’s move, I’m not ready.”

“We’ll go get a drink.”

The two of you walked off to the bar area and you released a sigh of relief which was followed by a few wet pussy shots to calm your nerves.

As the night continued on, you started to feel more at ease, which was probably from the alcohol but you didn’t care what it came from, as long as you felt better. As far as coming into contact with Harry, you hadn’t yet. You’d spotted the back of him a number of times, but he was always involved in a conversation with someone else.

It was when the engaged couple and their families announced speeches, you’d ended up closer to him then you would have liked. You sat down beside your best friend, only to look slightly to your left and see Harry sitting just to the side of you and a tiny bit forward.

You wished you could’ve said you found this fine and you enjoyed the speeches given by the couple and their family members but you kept allowing your eyes to drift over to him. It was so easy to considering he would have to look over his shoulder to catch you looking. He seemed happy with the rosé flowing with his chosen family.

“Are you okay?” Your best friend whispered to you and you looked back to her with a soft, sad smile.

“Yeah... just would’ve been sweet if it could’ve been me.”

You were so grateful she was there with you and when the final speech was completed with a cheers, the both of you downed your own drinks and then laughed at each other. The laugh of yours that was familiar to someone else in the room and when you felt your vision moving to the left again, you were greeted with Harry’s eyes locking with your own. You weren’t even sure how, but your heart stilled and you watched as he turned his head back to the woman stood beside him to tell her something. She gave him a smile and nodded and you quickly looked at her as she glanced to you, you barely mirrored the smile she offered you because then Harry was making his way towards you.

“Hello, ladies.” He greeted the two of you. Moving to hug your best friend first because you had subconsciously taken a step back when he became too close.

“Hey, Harry.” She greeted him back and you took the brief moment they embraced to glance down and try to quickly regain your composure as best as you could.

It was only a quick timeframe between him hugging your best friend hello to then solely directing his attention to you but at the same time, it seemed like time was in slow motion.

“(Y/N), hi.” He moved to you so easily, and you to him. You were worried about it being awkward but your bodies knew exactly what they were doing when it came to each other. Your arms didn’t bump into each other, rather they so elegantly glided across one another until yours were up and around his shoulders and his were clasped so snugly around your waist.

Fuck, it felt good. It had been so long since you’d seen him, let alone felt him. You were so happy it was a genuine hug, being pressed against him and being held so tight felt so right. “Hi.” You finally returned his greeting, quietly and he pulled you in closer then.

“I’m just gonna head to the bathroom, guys.” Your best friend spoke up and part of you was glad because you weren’t sure you could ever let go of Harry again after being apart for so long. Another part of you wasn’t because it did cause the two of you to break apart and look towards her. You both shared a look, an unspoken ‘are you going to be okay?’ before she walked away after an unspoken confirmation.

When you looked back to Harry, you realised your hand was still gently holding onto this arm and when you noticed he had completely dropped his touch from you, you did the same. “Sorry.” You apologised and held your hands in front of you, but he smiled so warmly at you.

“Don’t be, it’s all good.” He always was so good at making you feel okay.

It was beginning to grow louder where you were with the completion of speeches and the party going back into full swing, so at the same time you both started to suggest finding a different spot.

“Should we-” You both stopped to allow the other to continue but with the double stop you both laughed.

“Let’s go.” Harry continued and so you walked with him in search of a more peaceful spot. After a few steps, you started to grab his hand without even realising why it would be a little problematic to do that right now. “(Y/N)...” He garnered your attention by calling your name and before you could finish filling the gaps between your fingers with his own, he pulled his hand away. His movements weren’t quick or aggressive and he didn’t speak your name with any kind of warning, it was more of a sad tone.

“Sorry.” A second apology was given.

“It’s okay.” He accepted, he wasn’t trying to make you feel uncomfortable.

Eventually, you two found an empty side balcony with a little corner seat to occupy and when you sat down, your knees touched but neither of you made any effort to move to stop the accidental physical connection.

“You look beautiful.” He complimented you so doubtlessly and as your eyes found his again, you swore the stars you saw in them made their way right to your heart to pierce through it. At a different time, you would have slid right beside him and held his face in your hands and kissed him so tenderly. His hands would have effortlessly found their place on your hips and if you were both feeling daring enough, you would have fucked hard and fast right there on that balcony. But he wasn’t yours anymore. Those stars weren’t for you anymore, as much as you wanted them to be. So you couldn’t allow yourself to react how you wanted to.

“Don’t do that, Harry.”

“What?”

“Tell me that and look at me like that. It’s not fair.”

“(Y/N),” He looked away then with a sigh, but you kept your eyes trained on his side profile. “You wanted this.”

“Okay, no.” Immediately, you argued against his words. “This,” He looked back to you then as you waved your hand between you two, “is not what I wanted.”

“Enlighten me, then.” His tone changed, it was slightly angered now.

“Really? Do you really want to dig up that grave another time.”

“I mean, as far I can remember you broke up with me.”

“But not because I didn’t love you or want you or anything like that, though.” You turned more towards him and the contact of your leg against his became more prominent.

“I know... but I’m with someone else now.”

Fuck, that hurt.

“I know.” Your voice cracked and instantly you snapped your head to the side in an effort to hide your teary eyes but he had already spotted them welling up.

“(Y/N),” He placed his hand on your knee and without looking at him you put your hand over his, at first you told yourself you were going to push his hand away, but instead you let your hand simply sit atop his. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’m trying not to.” And you were. Harry could see that and he waited as you took in a few very shaky breaths. It took everything in him to not gather you in his arms and cradle you against him, but he knew that wouldn’t be the right thing to do right now. But with each breath they became more evened out.

After a couple of minutes, you looked back to him while also lifting your hand from his and pushing his hand from your leg. He got the message and removed his grip.

“I swear I’ve actually been really good.” You spoke up and Harry smiled.

“I don’t doubt that.”

As you continued on, you looked away from him. Mindlessly glancing at whatever you could as you tried to explain. “No, really...like, I miss you, yeah, but, I really have been doing good.”

“I believe you.”

“Honestly, I swear I don’t sit around crying all the time.”

“(Y/N),” Instantly you looked back at him. “I know, you don’t have to explain yourself.”

You laughed and so did he.

“It would’ve been fun... wouldn’t it?”

“What?”

“If you would’ve been the one.”

#Harry Styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles fanfic #one direction #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles angst #harry styles concepts #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you #harry styles writing #writing #writings #my writing #my writings #the 1 #folklore #by blue

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vintagedolan · 3 years

Text

mixtape | track nine

| masterlist | faceclaims | playlist |

Eden arrived in New York in the biggest coat she could find in a store in Los Angeles, which came equipped with a furry hood and enough stuffing in it to make her resemble the michelin man when she climbed into the car.

She leaned back against the headrest of the seat with a sigh, an iced coffee in each hand. Her eyes closed for a minute, like she was trying to find her inner peace, and then she sat up and passed a cup to Indy in the driver’s seat.

“Vanilla, oatmilk right?”

“Always,” Indy laughed, taking a sip before putting it in the cupholder. “So uh, I love you and all, but are you finally gonna tell me why you changed your flight and made it so much earlier?”

“Drive to your place, and I’ll explain.”

Eden waited until she got out of the majority of the traffic.

“So, I had my original ticket and I was just gonna rent a car and show up, you know this, we planned it. But then I had the brilliant idea to come early and kidnap you,” she grinned, sipping her coffee.

“You’re kidnapping me?”

“Kinda. Well, reverse kidnapping I guess cause I’m forcing you to host me. You told the boys you were Christmas shopping like I said right? So you’re clear for a few hours?”

“Yeah.”

“Well good, cause we’re having a girls moment, because you need me.”

“I need you?” Indy laughed. She could never imagine possessing the confidence that Eden manifested every day, but she hoped one day she could have a fraction of it.

“Yeah, because you’re surrounded by Dolan twins, not Dolan twins girlfriends. And I’m sure neither of them have shut the fuck up about everything going on, right?”

Indy sighed, which Eden took as a yes. The two had been talking more and more, but especially since the absolute blow up on social media. Eden had been the first one to text her that day with a simple message.

Been there, I know how much it sucks but it’ll pass. Call me later when you’re up for it

Indy hadn’t called. She didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want Eden to think she was weak. Instead she’d gone onto Eden’s instagram, tried to see how she handled things, and from the first few scrolls on her feed it was blatantly obvious that she didn’t give a shit. Just a few weeks prior she’d posted a picture of her and Ethan in the mirror dressed up for a date, his hand fully grabbing her ass with the caption miss you bby. Indy scrolled the comments, blood boiling at some of the shit people said to her. She wondered if she’d ever get to the point where she could even stand to reopen her own instagram, much less post with reckless abandon.

“We love men who think they know what it’s like to be a woman,” she teased, shaking her head as they continued down the road. “They’ve got such a protection complex, both of them, but Gray especially. Don’t get me wrong, I love it most of the time. Actually, it’s kinda hot. But holy shit does it get annoying when they underestimate you.”

Indy had experienced it first hand in the last week, and she couldn’t disagree. It was like she was on lockdown. Gone were the days of Grayson meeting her in the lobby of the building, or waiting for her outside of Jets. When he came to her apartment he was in sunglasses and a beanie, sometimes even a scarf pulled up over his mouth in an attempt to hide from any cameras he couldn’t see. He relaxed marginally when he got inside, but the only time he really seemed to catch his breath was when the sun set and they were tangled in each other’s arms, or when they were off the interstate on the back roads to Jersey. His shoulders would sink a bit, and his grip on her hand would relax when they took the exit. Something about the trees, still coated in snow, made him feel safer, made him feel like he could protect her somehow.

It felt like a breath of fresh air to walk into her lobby with someone by her side. There were no cameras, but Eden wouldn’t have cared even if there was. She held her hand and walked in as if she’d done it a thousand times, though she had to wait for Indy to hit the right elevator button.

When they got inside the apartment, Eden plopped herself down on the couch with a smile and patted the cushion beside her.

“Alright, spill. Give me all the details, how’s it been going?”

Indy started to talk, and then she couldn’t stop. It spilled out of her like water, every single thing that had happened since her graduation date. Eden listened intently to each detail, from the way they’d changed their walking path to the hospital to the fact that he was looking into a new paint job for the truck to make it less recognizable.

“And he’s just so paranoid, and I mean I guess I am too in a way, cause I like my privacy too. But it’s like he thinks I’ll die if a picture of me gets out or something, like damn, I’m a little sensitive sometimes but I’m not that fucking fragile.”

“You should have seen Ethan when the pregnancy rumors started for me. One big lunch at Monty’s later and all of a sudden I’m 3 months pregnant and I don’t know which twin’s it is,” she rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee through her straw with a smile.

“No fucking way.”

“I thought he was going to actually murder the dude from Hollywood Fix for that one. We burned through two Relax candles that week. Wild.”

“Jesus christ.”

“But hey, you already got the engagement rumor out of the way, so pregnancy is probably next. To be safe though, never even look in the window of a wedding dress store, and definitely don’t go to the baby section anywhere.”

Eden said it all so casually, as if making sure to avert your eyes from a wedding dress in a window was a totally normal thing to do. Indiana’s breathing picked up at her words, afraid that somehow she’d accidentally start a rumor about herself that would come back to bite Grayson.

“Isn’t that exhausting though? Being worried about that shit all the time?”

“You get used to it, and you adapt. Like the topaz ring for Lisa. That’s from Ethan and Grayson together, but they decided to send Gray in because if Ethan got spotted in a ring shop there would be an article about our secret wedding on DailyMail next week. Of course, that plan didn’t work out for Gray so well either, as we now know. Why the fuck he didn’t think about that is beyond me, but whatever,” she laughed.

“No one was supposed to know about me,” Indy said, and her words didn’t resonate until they hung in the air. Was that what it was? The sudden shift in him being so damn worried about someone possibly seeing them together? It made her palms sweaty and she rubbed them on her pants before she spoke again.

“When did Ethan get over it?”

Eden scoffed. “He’s not over it. Still makes him want to lose his mind when someone says some shit about me. He broke a knuckle last year punching a wall cause a news outlet got pictures of me in a bikini while we were in Hawaii and said I’d gained weight.”

“That’s… absolutely fucked Eden, I’m fucking sorry.”

“I put it on my instagram story and laughed it off.” She shrugged her shoulders, as most women do when they have to accept unsolicited opinions from strangers. But something about the confidence she exuded when she said it made Indy believe that, somehow, she really had just brushed it off for the most part.

“Is it hard to do that? Laugh it off?”

“Sometimes.” She sat up, getting more serious as she looked at Indiana. “But here’s the thing babes. Someone is sitting in an office somewhere, probably in their little house, with a bunch of clutter on their desk writing shitty articles about me. Meanwhile, I’m living in a nice ass house in LA with my hot ass boyfriend who bought me that bikini and took me to Hawaii. So who's actually winning?

“People talk shit about you when they wish they were you, that’s just how the world works. It’s shit, but once you accept that it changes your perspective on a lot of things. I mean honestly Indy, who gives a fuck what dolantea with 7 a’s the end has to say on instagram when you have Grayson fucking Dolan in your bed every night?” She raised her eyebrows, happy to see the smile she got out of Indy. “And if you ever tell him I said that I’ll put Nair in your shampoo.”

“My lips are sealed,” Indy teased, suddenly filled with a boost of confidence. “You have a very interesting perspective on the world Eden, I like it.”

“Coming from the college grad, I take that as a major compliment.”

“Believe me, there’s plenty of dumb people with college degrees. Doesn’t mean much at the end of the day.”

“But it gets you into a career that means something,” she mused. “I mean, being a doctor is a big deal, you’ll help a lot of people.”

Indy chewed on her lip. Every intrusive thought she’d had in the last few days that didn’t revolve around Twitter had to do with her imagining herself as a doctor, but it always faded into something else. It was her at a patient’s bedside, her helping them get to their feet, her sending them home with their family. Things that nurses did, not doctors.

“Yeah. I hope so,” was all she could say.

“That wasn’t very Indy of you.”

She quirked an eyebrow at Eden and waited for an explanation.

“You always keep a convo going, and you let that one drop, which means you probably don’t want to talk about it. But I’ll listen if you want to get it off your chest.”

“I don’t know… it’s just. The more I think about it, the more I realize that maybe being a doctor isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.”

“Oh. Well, then don’t be a doctor.”

It was Indy’s turn to scoff. “It’s not that simple Eden.”

“Isn’t it though?”

Indiana couldn’t come up with an answer. So instead, after the silence became too much, she deflected, making Eden walk her through the plans for the day.

A few hours later, once they’d gotten ready, they headed out to Jersey for the early birthday surprise, which Lisa was in on. She had ordered a massive vegan cake from one of the bakeries in New York that Indy picked up on the way, making Eden hold it for the majority of the ride. But when they got to the start of the driveway, she pulled over and had her counterpart climb into the trunk of the SUV, sticking a shiny blue gift bow on top of her head while she held one hand on the cake box to keep it steady.

Grayson appeared on the porch at the sound of the gravel crunching, cocking his head to the side when he noticed that Indy was backing in. He jogged up to the window when she put it in park, waiting for her to roll it down so he could lean in to kiss her. She hummed and smiled at him.

“Happy Birthday.”

“It’d be happier if you were out here,” he mused, leaning back to pull on the door handle, frowning when he realized it was still locked.

“Go get Ethan for me, tell him I need help getting the cake out of the trunk.”

Grayson turned to do as she asked before he did a double-take at the very cake shaped box in the passenger seat.

“But…”

Indy repeated her sentence with a tight smile, but he still just frowned.

“Is that not the cake? Mom let it slip that she ordered one, I can just get it, cause Ethan is grumpy.”

“BITCH JUST GO GET HIM.”

Eden’s yell was so loud that Grayson jumped, putting a protective hand on Indy’s shoulder, though he didn’t know what he was protecting her from until he peeked into the car.

“Oh thank god,” he laughed at the sight of her, half hidden by the back row of seats. “He’s been moping for like three days!”

“Oh believe me, I know. Now go get him, I’m getting a fucking leg cramp back here.”

Gray grinned, already feeling his brother’s happiness somehow as he bounded into the house, yelling incessantly until Ethan finally came trudging down the stairs, muttering profanities as he stepped out into the New Jersey cold.

“Bro, be nice, Indy worked really hard to make this birthday nice for both of us, even if Eden couldn’t be here. Just help me carry the cake,” Grayson said, doing his best to keep his voice steady.

Ethan took a deep breath and nodded.

“Dee, open the trunk babe!” Gray called, having to turn away to hide his grin. But he looked back quickly, not wanting to miss his brother’s face when the door lifted and revealed his girlfriend, sitting adorably with a bow on her head.

Ethan just stared for a moment, mouth hanging open so wide that it made Indy laugh as she watched in the rear view mirror.

“You little shit!” He finally said, closing the distance and pulling her into his arms and out of the car, spinning her around for a moment before peppering kisses all over her face. It was like he couldn’t let go. Every time he went to pull back he caught sight of her face again and pulled her back against him until they were both shivering out in the cold, wind whipping at their exposed hands and ankles.

Grayson helped Indy out of the car, warming her lips with a welcoming kiss before they moved to unpack the car, letting the lovebirds have their moment. Lisa greeted her as soon as she made it in the door and sat the gifts down, her hair smelling like she’d just put on hairspray. Eden and Ethan trailed in moments later hand in hand, with Ethan yelling about how Li had been in on it the whole time.

In terms of birthdays, it was a chilled out evening. The twins birthday used to be a huge event, full of laughter and excitement. Now, there was a blanket over the scene, a silent understanding that one person was missing from the table - one who should have been a year older just a few days prior. But they made the most of their time together, eating the cake first gathered around the table before moving into the living room and starting on presents.

Grayson kept a hand on Indy’s knee unless he was unwrapping, looking over at her with a warm smile any time that he could. Lisa’s gifts were first - new sweaters, Ethan’s red and Grayson’s green, a bottle of shampoo each, specific to their hair texture. They gave each other such an incredulous look that Eden and Indy couldn’t help but laugh, only growing louder when Lisa leaned over to smack their heads lightly. They got individual gifts too - a new helmet for Ethan for his longboarding trips and a nice drill that Grayson had asked for. They both stood up to kiss her cheek in thanks before they settled back down to open gifts.

Indy was let in on the tradition that Ethan always opened first because he was older, and she was more than happy to lean on Grayson and watch his brother open his gifts. He started with Eden’s, eyebrows shooting up when he pulled out an odd arrangement of things. A bottle of sparkling cider, sunscreen and a pair of swim trunks that were adorned with a pattern made of a picture of Gizmo. He checked the bag for anything else before looking back at Eden and waiting.

“Read the bottle.”

He held it up to his face, reading aloud. “Passionfruit Cider. Made and bottled on Maui. Oh shit. Oh SHIT! Are we going back to Maui?”

“We’re going in March cause that’s the only time when I could put two weeks together where we both don’t have work.”

Indy sunk down even further despite already being on the floor while they celebrated. She looked at the tiny box she’d brought for him, wanting to reach out and hide it behind her back.

She didn’t get the chance to, because Ethan had already grabbed it, reading the tag.

“Indiana you didn’t need to get me anything,” he said, and his sincerity made her feel a fraction better.

“Well, it’s no trip to Hawaii, so don’t get too excited. And your mom helped.”

He unwrapped the box carefully, opening the lid and staring down for a moment.

“It’s a key,” he murmured, reaching in and pulling out the necklace, a silver key which sat on a matching chain horizontally.

“It’s a copy of the key to your house here, but as a necklace. I know you really miss home while you’re gone, and you wear necklaces sometimes, so I thought I could make you a little reminder.”

“You made this?” He looked up at you with wide eyes.

“Yeah! It’s not much, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it's perfect Inds. Seriously, I love it, thank you so much.”

Indy blushed anyways, not really believing his words but trying to accept them as he leaned over to hug her, grateful for the change of subject when it was announced that it was Grayson’s turn.

He started with Eden’s, smiling wide at the tool belt that he pulled out, yelling when he realized it was customized with his name on the side.

“You can use that to build that side table you keep telling me you’re gonna make me,” Eden teased, which devolved into a moment of playful bickering. Indy used the time to line up the boxes in the right order, biting her lip when she handed him the first one.

“That’s way too many gifts,” Grayson said, frowning at her a bit.

“It’s really just one, it’s like a - well they go together - just, just open it.”

He did as she asked, pulling the paper off and unboxing the first one.

“A fucking nutcracker! Fuck yes!” He yelled, starting to look at it a bit closer. “Wait. WAIT. Is this Cudi?”

“What!?” Ethan piped up before Indy could even answer.

“Bro it looks like Man On The Moon End of The Day cover, look at the fucking colors, and the moon.” He pointed to specific parts on the body of the doll, showing his brother who leaned over his shoulder.

“Open the next one,” Indy laughed, passing him the box.

He was quicker with that one, yelling so loud that Gizmo started to yell in the kitchen as he recognized the album art from Man On The Moon II, all tans, blacks and stars.

“Holy fucking shit these are so fucking cool! Give me the next one, holy fuck.”

Indy passed them along, laughing when each reaction was just as dramatic as the first. The Indicudi was Indy’s favorite, with the mixture of reds and oranges. The collection started to take shape as he sat them out next to one another, adding the simplistic Satellite Flight nutcracker next, followed by the neutrals of Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. Passion Pain and Demon Slayin’ matched well with the bright colors of Man On The Moon III, and Grayson was so excited by the end of the six that he had to stand up and run a lap before he came back and pulled Indy to her feet.

“You like them?”

“You got me Cudi’s discography in fucking nutcracker form. I fucking love it, and I fucking love you.” He kissed her like no one was in the room, her heartbeat so loud in her ears that she didn’t even hear Lisa’s ‘awe’ from behind them.

“I love you too,” she murmured against him, letting him hold her for a minute before he dropped back down to his knees to look at the collection, dissecting every detail like a six year old with a brand new toy.

Ethan was just as enthralled, and she wished she could be as chilled out as Eden seemed as she sat and watched them. But instead, she was running numbers in her head, trying to calculate how much a trip to Maui for two would cost with airfare and lodging put together.

She’d thought she’d gone overboard with the $300 collection of nutcrackers. For her, it was anyways - she’d timed her showers for two weeks and left them lukewarm in an attempt to save some money on her utility bill to justify it. Her mind spun for a moment as she thought about the little stack of Christmas presents hidden under her bed. A sweater for Lisa, a roll of film for Charlie to go with the new camera Dev was buying her. Fuzzy socks and a candle each for Eden and Cam that she’d found on a good sale. The thought of them sitting next to big extravagant gifts she was sure would arrive on the 25th made her deflate, so much that Grayson sensed it enough to pull himself away from his new toys.

“Hey, where’d you go?”

“I’m here,” she said, giving him a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was have him worried about her on a day that was supposed to be about him. He returned one in hopes it would lighten her mood, but he knew not to push it. In fact, he didn’t bring it up until they were back at Indy’s apartment, in their pajamas after eating extra cake that Lisa had sent home with them.

“Did you have a good birthday?” Indy asked, tracing H-A-P-P-Y-B-D-A-Y on his chest.

“I did. Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah! Yeah, it was good. But today was for you, it doesn’t really matter what kind of day I had.”

“It always matters what kind of day you had,” he countered. “You seemed kinda upset when we were giving presents.”

“Oh, yeah, it was no big deal. I just didn’t feel like I got you guys enough stuff. 21 is a big birthday.”

He leaned back enough so he could see her face, frowning down at her.

“First off, it’s only a big birthday because you can drink, which doesn’t matter to me. Second, you gave us both more than enough, I have no idea why you think that.”

“Eden got Ethan a trip to fucking Maui.”

“And?”

“I got him a key. On a chain.”

“Which is probably the most thoughtful gift he’s gotten in a really long time.”

“It cost $20.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“That’s easy for you to say, you can buy people whatever you want.”

“We’re just in different life stages,” he said. “You’ll be making bank once you’re out of school, you just have to get to that point. And even then, it doesn’t matter what you buy people for gifts. They only care that you’re there with them.”

Indy resisted the urge to repeat her words back to him again. She didn’t really expect him to understand where she was coming from.

“Yeah, I hope so.” She ran her hands down over his ribs under the covers, smiling when she felt him sigh under her. “By the time I pay off my loans Ethan and Eden will probably have three kids, you’ll have to spot us for all the baby shower presents.”

It was Grayson’s turn to fall quiet. He could see it - see Indy in a little pink sundress out in their LA backyard, celebrating a new baby on the way, talking with Eden and Lisa, helping Adele organize tables. And he wanted it. But he held her in his arms and thought about all that would come for her before that time came, and his heart tightened in his chest when he realized that he wouldn’t be there to see it.

“Tell me about school.”

She sat up a bit, running her hands through his hair.

“That’s what you wanna do with the last hour of your birthday? Hear about school?”

“Yeah. Just wanna hear you talking to me,” he said, ignoring the tightness in his throat.

She did as he asked, talked about the classes she had left and what order she’d have to take them in, the application process, the in’s and out’s of medical school as he tried to memorize every inflection of her voice, her laugh, and the feeling of her pressed up against him.

When they woke up, it seemed that the holiday season had fully taken hold overnight. Suddenly, the days were flying by in blurs of Christmas lights and shopping. The pair were together 24/7, attached at the hip every moment that they could get away with. When Grayson was recording the podcast, Indy was just out of sight on the floor listening. While Indy was clearing out her laptop from the semester, Grayson was sitting behind her on the bed braiding her hair. Before they knew it they were trying to fit Bekah’s presents, and the cookies they made for the nurses into an already packed backseat of the truck on Christmas Eve.

A blanket of snow still rested in the city, muffling the city sounds it seemed as they drove. They were bundled up enough that Grayson wasn’t worried about them being recognized in the short walk to the hospital, and they shed their layers once they were inside the warm walls. They took the elevator, not minding the slow climb up to Bekah’s floor. But when they got to the desk to sign in, the nurses looked weary. Indy chucked it up to having to work the holiday and hoped that the cookies would lift their spirits when she left them on the counter.

Bekah’s room had a small tree in the corner, covered in colorful lights and generic silver and red ornaments that were identical to those in every other room of the hospital. Bekah hardly reacted when she saw the duo enter in, though she tried. She sat up as much as she could but ended up back flat on her bed.

“Hey Beks, hold on, let me help.” Indy rushed over to her side, fumbling for the buttons to raise the back of her bed up so she could sit up and see the room. Grayson held up her stack of presents with his biggest smile, the one Indy loved where he would clench his teeth. Bekah lit up, grinning wide at the two of them. Her skin was pale, and they could tell that she’d lost weight, but her smile was just the same.

“Earrings, you double as Santa on the weekends or something? They already give the sick kids pity presents, you didn’t have to go so hard.”

“These are from Indy actually,” Grayson said. Indy bit her tongue. She’d picked them out, but Grayson had footed the bill.

“They’re from both of us,” she corrected. “You feel good enough to open them now?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good.”

And she was good. But she wasn’t great. Just unwrapping the boxes seemed to zap out the small energy store she had left. Indy wished she’d had the foresight to package them in bags instead of boxes, make it a bit easier for her to open. But the excitement was enough for her to make it through opening the new Christmas blanket, which was covered in cats and dogs in festive sweaters, a Harry Styles crewneck and new fuzzy socks. The last box was an Among Us shirt, with a little purple crewmate peeking out of the pocket - Bekah was notorious for how many hours she spent playing (Gray and Indy would sometimes hop on and play a few games with her when they weren’t there).

“You guys are the best,” she said, letting the pile of presents rest on her bed. She yawned, so hard she leaned back and her beanie slipped off her smooth head. Grayson watched as she reached for it and winced, and suddenly he was watching his dad there in the bed, trying to get to his phone on the bedside table, wincing in pain. His breath caught in his chest and he blinked hard, trying to come back to reality.

And then Bekah closed her eyes, and laid perfectly still. It was quiet in the room for a moment, and a wave of nausea rose in Grayson, so strong that he raised his hand up to his mouth.

“Beks?” He choked out.

“She’s okay, she’s okay.” Indy rushed to reassurances. “Look, look at her monitor.”

The blips on the heart monitor line meant much more to Indy than they did to Grayson, but he recognized them enough to catch his breath.

“Sometimes, when someone is exhausted like that, they lapse in consciousness for a little while. It’s a defense mechanism, she’s okay.”

“For a second I thought - fuck,” he huffed, running his hand over his face. Indy moved beside him, taking his hand in hers and kissing his knuckles one by one.

“What the fuck.”

They both turned to the bed, where Bekah’s eyes were open again. But they were unfamiliar somehow, none of that usual Bekah charm that warmed the dark pools of brown in sight.

“Bekah-” Indy tried, but she was cut off.

“You two are dating? Seriously? What is this, community service date night?”

“Beks-” Grayson spoke up.

“I never ask for much, but fuck you two. Fuck you.”

“Bekah, hey.” Indy took a step towards her bed, and Bekah recoiled.

“I try. I try really fucking hard not to think about how fucked up and shitty my life is. I’m 15, and I’m dying. I’m never gonna go back to school. No prom, no graduation, no wedding. Not even a fucking boyfriend before I die and everyone forgets me. The least you could do is not rub it in my fucking face.”

“Bekah, you can’t think like that. You’re gonna get better, you’re gonna get all those things,” Grayson said, blinking through the tears that had formed without warning in his eyes. They fell down his cheeks in uneven droplets, hot and unfamiliar.

“Yeah? Just like Emma was gonna get better right? Well, her funeral was last week. She’s never going to play hide and seek again, much less anything else. What about Damion from my last radiation rotation hmm? God was gonna come down and heal him too right? Then why is he dead, huh? Where’s God in all this? Where’s my fucking happy ending? I’m gonna get the inside of a box, that’s what I’m gonna get, and no one will fucking admit it because I’m a kid, and I’m supposed to be here longer than this! I’m supposed to have more time! I’m supposed to get to do stupid shit in college, and grow up, and find my person but no. I’m never going to get those things, so fuck you both for throwing it in my face.”

“Bekah-” Indy’s voice broke on the word.

“Get out. Both of you, out.”

“Bekah please.”

“OUT!”

Her yell was loud enough to alert a passing nurse in the hallway, and she stepped inside.

“You two need to step out of the room please.”

The sobs didn’t take hold until they were in the hallway. They ripped out of Indy without warning or grace, and Grayson did all he could to hold her pieces together as she started to shatter.

“Shhh, Dee, hey, it’s okay, let’s go outside,” Grayson tried to comfort her through his own tears, leading her towards the doors.

A hand caught his shoulder and he turned his head to see Jessica in her scrubs, coming out of another patient’s room.

“What did she say?”

Indy perked up from where her face had been buried.

“What did Bekah say?” She asked again

“She’s agitated, talking about how her life is being cut short, how she’s dying. She told us to leave.”

Jessica sighed, looking down at her shoes.

“We’re on our last resort. A final round of chemo and radiation. If this doesn’t work, we’re out of options. And it’s going to be brutal, it’s spread to her brain. You’ll have to be patient with her, she’s probably going to go through some personality shifts. She’ll be more emotional, more irritable. Sometimes she might be disoriented. This type of cancer, when it’s in the brain, it’s unpredictable. One minute she could be fine, the next she could be completely unrecognizable. Give her a few days, wait until after the holidays when everything is back to routine, and give it another try okay? Hopefully it’s better when things are a bit more normal.”

“Yeah,” Indy sniffled. Jessica put a hand on her shoulder.

“Indiana her face lights up when you two walk in that room. She talks about you guys non stop when you aren’t here. She’ll come around from whatever it was, okay? Just give her some time. We’ll be here to take care of her, don’t you worry.”

Indy wasn’t sure why, but she pulled Jessica into a hug. The woman was surprised, but she reciprocated anyways with a squeeze.

“Sweet girl. It’ll be okay,” she murmured, which only made the tears flow even more when she let go.

Indiana transferred from one set of arms to the other, back into Grayson’s strong grip which only loosened when he pressed the button for the doors. When they made it to the ocean hallway, it all hit at once, and her legs gave out. She caught herself on the support bars as Grayson lowered her to the ground. They came in waves that she couldn’t control, not for want of trying.

“I’m s-s-sorry,” she stuttered, trying to force air into her lungs. Someone down the hall pulled a door closed quietly.

“It’s okay, hey, it’s okay. Breathe baby, just breathe,” Grayson murmured, running his thumbs under her eyes to try and wipe her mascara, which was running down her red cheeks in dark streaks. He waited until she was able to take a few solid breaths before he spoke again.

“C’mon, let’s go to Jersey. I’ll take you to Jersey.”

She put most of her weight on him while they took the stairs out into the cold streets. It had begun to snow again, and the cold only added to the stinging in her eyes as he led her to the truck. She wondered in that moment how many times he’d had to hold her together, and her stomach twisted in guilt for a moment at the thought. Even still, she huddled into Grayson until he opened her door for her, immediately moving over as close to him as she could, pushing the middle console up to make it a bench seat and scooting to the middle when he climbed in.

His Dad had once told him it was important to be a confident one handed driver - you never knew what you’d have to hold in your passenger seat, he’d said. At the time, he was referring to the four large pizzas that ended up leaving a permanent grease mark in his jeep seat. But Grayson was thankful for the advice as he maneuvered the car out of the spot and out of the parking garage with an arm still around his girl.

The roads were quiet, and he questioned it until he remembered that it was in fact Christmas Eve. He slowed down when they got to the Jersey neighborhoods, looked at all the lights, all the families he could see in the windows, huddled around their bright trees. He could remember those nights like they were yesterday, him and Ethan sneaking to the top of the stairs to try to catch a glimpse at the big man with the red sack. When they were five they’d seen him and ran to wake their sister. They’d all watched in amazement as he placed presents under the tree and ate the cookies they’d left.

He’d found the santa suit in a box in his dad’s closet when they went through his things after his funeral.

“Does your family have any Christmas traditions?” He asked quietly, running his arm quickly over Indiana’s arm in a bid to keep her warm as he drove. The cool wind that was whipping the snow around seemed to be outrunning the heater in the truck.

“We did. We would watch Elf the night before, cause it was mom’s favorite. We did the cookies, the stockings, all that stuff too. But we always had grilled cheese and soup for dinner too.”

“Grilled cheese and soup?”

“Yeah. That was mom’s idea too. She always said we could leave extra room for a good Christmas morning breakfast if we ate grilled cheese and soup. So we always ended up in the living room with our plates and bowls and Christmas PJs watching elf. Turns out, warm soup was always her trick to get us to go to sleep early. Made me and Charlie tired I guess. She told me it worked like a charm every time. What do the Dolan’s do?”

“Ours is more Christmas morning. We do the whole giant breakfast thing. We open stockings first, and Santa presents, then we do breakfast and then we do the rest of the presents. Used to drive us crazy when we were little, cause all the presents would just be waiting for us. But Mom said it was so we were grateful for our food too, cause it was a gift that we had it on our table at all.”

“Li is a good mom,” Indy sighed, resting her cheek on his shoulder. Her eyes were tired, the kind where your eyelids feel like they weigh ten pounds a piece, but she fought with them and won, still awake when they made it to the house. She hopped out and moved to the backseat, but Grayson caught her.

“I’ll carry the stuff in. Go get cleaned up, take a hot shower and relax. Mom will be worried, she always knows when someone has been crying, it’s like a sixth fucking sense.”

For once, Indy didn’t argue. Instead, she went in the house as quietly as she could, grateful that even Gizmo didn’t seem to note her arrival. She snuck up the stairs to Grayson’s closet, grabbing an old thick flannel and a sports bra that she’d left, plus some sweatpants, considering she’d left her bag in the truck.

She had never been so thankful for a shower. She lost track of how long she let the warm water wash over her head, closing her eyes and focusing on the feeling of the stream against her skin. It was peaceful, but surreal in a way. She thought about where she’d imagined herself on Christmas Eve night at the beginning of the year, and it looked so vastly different than where she was, on the cold tiles of a New Jersey shower with her boyfriend carrying in gifts downstairs. The thought of him waiting for her gave her enough motivation to get cleaned up, though she had to resort to using Grayson’s shampoo and bodywash, which was an unlabeled Wakeheart sample he’d been testing out it seemed. It smelled fresh, with a vanilla mixture that was reminiscent of Jet’s.

Indiana was in higher spirits when she sauntered down the stairs, and her heart swelled a few sizes when she heard a familiar song in the background - the title screen of Elf, waiting on the TV in the living room. She checked rooms until she found Grayson, standing in front of the stove with two pots and a skillet going. She didn’t have to ask. Instead, she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

He spun around, spatula in hand until they were chest to chest as he watched the stove over her head, holding her close to make sure she didn’t get burnt. He nuzzled into her wet hair, and then sniffed harder.

“You smell like me,” he noted.

“Had to use your stuff. I like that body wash though, which one is that?”

“Can’t remember. Let me see.” He reached around and caught her arm, smelling her skin.

“Ah. That’s Polis.”

She looked up at him.

“Polis? Like… Poland?”

He chuckled against her, flipping over a grilled cheese.

“Polis as in the end of Indianapolis. A smell that makes you seem put together and professional with a sweet note at the end. Vanilla. Like your lattes.”

As he often seemed to, he rendered her speechless enough that all she could do was press a kiss to his chest and wrap her arms around him, under his sweatshirt to trace on his back.

L-O-V-E-Y-O-U

He kissed the top of her head and stirred the soup.

Ten minutes later and they were cozied up on a makeshift palette on the floor under a few blankets, with soup and sandwiches in hand. Grayson had made himself three vegan grilled cheese and tomato soup, and caved and given Indy the last can of chicken noodle in the cabinet because he knew it was her favorite even if it wasn’t vegan, though her grilled cheese was vegan as well. They watched Elf play, laughing and noting all the familiar NY scenery. Indy swore the man in the red jumpsuit had come into Jet’s before. They sipped their soup out of the bowl, and Indy listened to Grayson talk about the cinematography, trying to follow all that he was saying.

Once the bowls and plates were sat aside, they found themselves wrapped in each other’s arms, and Nicole’s old trick seemed to work, considering Indy was asleep before the end credits. Grayson carried her upstairs and put her to bed before going back down to clean up.

Though he tried to get into bed without waking her up again, he didn’t quite manage it, his weight moving the mattress just enough for her to stir and open her eyes.

“Sorry baby, it’s just me. You fell asleep.”

“Hmmm. C’mere,” she murmured, opening up her arms. He laughed, knowing that if he laid on her the way she was asking that he’d press all the air out of her lungs. Instead, he pulled her on top of him and slotted their legs together, revealing in the feeling of their skin pressed together. She was warm for once since she’d been under the covers, and he hoped his fingers weren’t cold as he began to trace patterns against her back.

“I love you,” she hummed, tracing a swirl over his ribs lazily.

“I love you too.”

“Forever.”

“Hmm?” He asked.

“I’m going to love you forever. I can feel it. I’m yours forever Grayson Dolan, and don’t you forget it.”

He pressed a kiss to her head and felt her finger against his ribs. F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

“I’ll love you forever too Indy. Forever.”

The tears returned.

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

Grayson was the first up the next morning, after a restless night of sleep - or so he thought. Lisa was in the kitchen, watching the snow continue to fall outside. It coated the trees outside and muffled the woods in a blanket of white. Lisa turned to greet her son, and frowned.

“Have you been crying?”

He hadn’t shed a tear since the night before, but he should have known she would know. A mother always does.

“Just some stuff with Bekah. She’s not doing well, and I feel bad cause I won’t see her again until next time we come visit after we leave.”

“You can always call, and she’ll have Indy. She’ll be okay love.” She stood and ruffled his hair as she passed, headed to pour him a cup of coffee.

“It’s not as good as Indy’s, but it’ll do,” she smiled, rubbing her hand over his shoulder. They sipped in silence for a moment as the world woke up.

“Do you remember the year Dad dressed up for Christmas? When we were five?”

“Oh yeah. That was your Poppy John’s idea, he did it for Sean when he was little. Said it made him believe in Santa for a few more years. Your dad wanted to keep you guys kids as long as he could, and he knew Cameron was going to figure it out sooner than later. He also knew you two would be spying. You tried it when you were four, but you both fell asleep on the stairs before you could see any action. He told you Santa must have carried you to bed when you woke up that morning.”

“Holy shit, I remember that.” He paused for a moment, reflecting. “You all always went all out for us on the holidays, I never really thought about it. Thanks.”

Lisa smiled the warm smile that only mom’s could really give, and patted his hand on the table. “I just hope you’ll do the same for your kids one day. I know you will.” She paused for a moment, and then she smiled. “You remember what he told us, on that last Christmas? About what he was gonna do?”

Grayson could hear his father’s voice in his head for a moment, and it made his throat tight.

“Yeah. Said he’d give us white Christmases for the rest of our lives if he could.”

Lisa lifted her mug towards the windows.

“Merry Christmas Sean.” Her words hung in the air, and Grayson swallowed the lump in his throat, watching the snow fall.

Eventually he went back to bed to coax Indy awake about an hour later, smiling at her bedhead when she rolled over.

“Merry Christmas Dee,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. Her eyes widened a bit quicker than normal.

“It’s Christmas!”

“Yep,” Grayson laughed, brushing her hair out of her face. She caught his hand and pulled him down over top of her, the covers wedged between them as she kissed him.

��Merry Christmas,” she said against his lips, and he melted into her. He couldn’t think of how many Christmas morning’s he’d woke up wishing to have someone there with him. It brought a new kind of excitement that quieted his mind for the time being, and he happily scooped her up and sat her on her feet so they could go wake up the other duo of the house.

By the time they convinced E squared to arise - which took jumping on the bed, a promise of lattes and the threat of cold water - Lisa was already halfway done with breakfast.

Grayson hadn’t exaggerated - there was a huge assortment of fruit, pastries and coffee to get everyone started.

“Stockings first! Well, coffee, then stockings!” Lisa clapped her hands and passed out mugs. Indy channeled her Jet’s days to make the lattes quickly, funneling in behind everyone as they headed to the fireplace to grab their stockings.

She melted when she noticed the I.

“Lisa, you didn’t need to do that.”

“Oh hush. Okay red E is Ethan, white E is Eden…” she trailed off as she passed them out, slightly confused when she watched Ethan reach underneath the tree to pull out a stocking for his mom that the boys had filled.

Indy was let in on the stocking tradition when she opened it. Everyone got essentials - a new toothbrush, socks, chapstick, lotion. She also threw in each person’s favorite candy and a giftcard to a local ice cream shop in town with vegan options. Lisa’s stocking was more extravagant, with some of her favorite high-end hair products, a certificate for a free massage, and lots of bath bombs that were Wakeheart testers. She hugged her boys necks when they all stood up, up on her tiptoes so she could reach. Everyone funneled into the kitchen after that, the boys in charge of the vegan meat options while Indy and Eden helped with the biscuits and cinnamon rolls. They ate around a full table, laughing and telling stories of Christmas. Eden won the most interesting story with one about her holiday with her extended family back in the Philippines, in which they’d spent Christmas using buckets to get water out of the house from a monsoon that had made landfall, a rarity for that late in the year.

Time seemed to fast forward as they moved to open presents. The boys spoiled Lisa, as they always did. A new iPhone, expensive tennis shoes to help her back while she worked. New signs for the garden beds that Grayson built and Ethan painted, a canvas print of the picture Charlie had taken from Thanksgiving. They saved the topaz ring for last, knowing it would make her cry. Her tears were enough to get Ethan’s eyes prickling - forever the mama’s boy, who just hugged her while she let it out, Grayson joining in a few moments later. She opened her sweater from Indy, complimenting the color, and a new set of Airpods from Eden, seeing that she’d lost her first set.

They moved on to Eden next. She also got a new phone from Ethan, which she smacked his arm for buying considering she knew how expensive they were, ignoring the fact that her phone barely held 20 minutes of battery anymore. Grayson got her a new sketchbook with a set of top line pencils and markers for her to sketch out her work designs, and Indy bought her a pair of Nike’s that she’d had her eyes on. Lisa got her a gift card to her favorite restaurant in LA - a non vegan one that she proposed could be used on a girls date when Lisa came to visit.

Indy was next. She had always hated opening gifts in front of people but she swallowed her un-comfort and proceeded through the boxes. Lisa bought her a nice blow dryer, remembering that she’d complained about hers once and raved about the one that she let Indy borrow. Eden bought her a new outfit - it was a bit out of Indy’s comfort zone, with the patterned pants and bright top, but she hoped she’d be able to pull it off. Both Eden and Gray assured her that she could. Ethan bought her a print of the state of Indiana, laughing at the way she tried to pretend that she loved it.

“Read the back.”

She flipped it over, squinting to try to read his messy handwriting that told her to check behind the tree. Sure enough, she found a box with a stethoscope in it. Top of the line, one of the more expensive brands.

“Every doctor needs one of those things, at least that’s what google told me. It’s got your initials on it too, cause apparently people try to steal them.”

He dismissed her claims that it was too much, and instead urged her to open Graysons gifts. The first was a speaker, because ‘Cudi needs to be played loud and well’, followed by a bag full of clothes. She pulled the first piece out and gasped.

“You bought me scrubs?”

“Yeah. I know you were stressed out about them being expensive, and I knew you’d use them. I bought five sets, I hope that’s enough. And I asked the nurses at Frazier what the best brand was, but if you don’t like those I have the receipt.”

“I’m sure they’re perfect. Thank you bub, I love them.”

She knew that Grayson had held back, and she was appreciative, especially as they got closer to his gifts. Luckily, Ethan was born first and therefore got first dibs. He got a custom longboard from Eden that she’d designed with all his favorite things, including a thermal painting of a very scandalous picture of her on the bottom that she’s covered with a piece of paper so Lisa didn’t see. Grayson got him an envelope with three tattoo appointments that he’d managed to get with their favorite artist in LA, who was usually booked up for months in advance. Lisa bought him a new jacket and boots, while Indy bought him a pair of headphones designed for the inside of a helmet, so he could listen to music while he skated.

Grayson was the last to go. Eden got him new sweatshirts since he ‘wore the same ones all the time’, while Lisa bought him a sweater and jacket. Ethan bought him extra organizers for his closet and a minimalistic nutcracker, though he admitted it didn’t stand a chance of taking the spot of one of the Cudi nutcrackers, which stood tall on the mantle. Finally, he opened his bag from Indy, smiling when he pulled out a few things. The first was a journal, made of recycled paper and bound in a dark green cover with his name on the front in gold. The next was a Jet’s gift card, a small inside joke between the two of them. The final one was a picture frame. It was simple, black with flecks of gold along the edges. Within it, the first picture they’d ever taken together, in the mirror of Indy’s room where half his body was covered in her writing, labeled muscles.

“Can’t lie, I spent most of my budget on your birthday. But I have a matching picture to put on my shelf, so I figured you might like it.”

“I love it,” he reassured her, kissing her cheek quickly, a sweet moment before the bustle of clean up began. The afternoon flew by with movies playing in the background and the snow continuing to fall outside. The boys cleaned off the cars, and after sunset, they appeared with a duffle bag each and a mischievous look on their faces.

“C’mon, we’ve got one more gift to show you guys.”

Lisa waved goodbye from the front porch as both couples climbed into the truck, the girls in the back.

“Do you know what this is about?” Eden whispered.

“No idea.”

So they waited patiently until they finally put the pieces together - it only clicked when Ethan got out and opened the gate.

The trail looked different from the seat of the truck. Partially because it had been cleared out, but mainly because they weren’t on the back of a quad, with the wind whipping in their faces.

Hidden away in the snow covered clearing, the tiny homes were covered in snow. The lights inside were glowing a warm yellow, inviting them in from the cold. Grayson parked halfway between the two, coming around to get the duffle bag before turning around, a sign for Indy to climb on his back.

She didn’t argue, considering he had the advantage of snow boots over her, and climbed on, hugging onto him tight as he trudged through the snow to the front door. He kicked the snow off his boots on the small front porch and then opened the door, the draft of warm air already enticing.

The inside was more beautiful than Indy could have imagined it would have been. She remembered trying to visualize it when Grayson had explained where everything would be - it felt like years ago, that warm fall day. But the kitchen was exactly as he had said it would be, minimalistic with dark wood that looked black in the dim light and white cabinets. The stairs were beautifully done, and Indy found herself climbing to the loft to find the queen size bed that awaited them, with the triangular window that looked out over the trees.

“This is incredible,” she mused, looking down over the balcony at him. He beamed up at her, taking her in. Her skin glowed in the warm light, her hair washed yellow in a beautiful tone as it hung around her shoulders. He found himself kicking off his shoes and climbing the stairs to meet her, abandoning his plan of giving her a full tour in favor of exploring her instead.

She followed his movement like water in an ancient stream, cut out and formed just for her to flow along, and they ended up on the bed with her back against the soft mattress.

“Are we christening the house?” Her words were muffled by his lips, which were eager and hungry against hers, a feeble attempt to drown out his thoughts. He kissed her incessantly instead of answering, pressing all her buttons to make her melt for him. The heater was small and nestled downstairs, goosebumps rising in the cold air as they lost layer after layer, chasing the heat of each other.

He held her as close to him as he possibly could, blocked out the cold and the doubt as he bit onto her shoulder and rocked her in sync with his hips, watched her head fall back and his name sing from her lips as she came undone over and over again until she was putty in his hands. He came so hard he saw stars, slowing down with her still in his arms.

She was in such a daze that it took her a moment to come to her senses and remember that she needed to go downstairs to pee and get cleaned up. As soon as she was out of his sight, the realization of what he’d just done came crashing down on Grayson. The guilt crushed his lungs as he finally admitted to himself that he knew he was hurting Indy. He knew she deserved to know where his mind was at, where it had been ever since Ethan had brought it up. He’d been selfish, and cruel, and as he sat there naked he’d never felt more ashamed in his life. He scrambled to get his clothes back on before Indy came back up.

She was still blissful, her legs a bit wobbly as she tried to navigate the unfamiliar stairs. But she frowned when she saw his winter coat.

“Those aren’t pajamas.”

Grayson jumped at the sound of her voice.

“Yeah, uh, Ethan texted me, he said their heater isn’t working, asked me to come look at it.”

“Oh. That sucks, you want me to come help? I can hold a flashlight or something,” she offered.

“No, no it’s cold, you just stay here and relax, I’ll be back. Might take a while, but I’ll be back.”

“No promises that I won’t be asleep,” she teased, climbing under the covers. “This bed is better than mine I think.”

“Get some rest, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. I’ll save a spot for you. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

He headed down the stairs, slipping his boots on as quickly as he could and choking back his sobs until he was out of the door. He trudged blindly across the yard, only guided by the lights from the windows, and he knocked on the door.

He couldn’t imagine what he looked like when Eden opened the door. But it was bad enough that she didn’t say a word. Instead, she simply turned and called for Ethan, who took one look at him and pulled on his coat, following him out into the snow towards the truck.

Safe inside the cab and in the presence of his brother, Grayson fell to pieces. Ethan could only remember a handful of times that his brother had cried so hard, and he held him tight in his arms as best be could, shaking with him as the sobs ripped their way out of him.

Ethan didn’t even attempt to talk, only to console as best he could until Grayson could finally breathe. He pulled the extra inhaler out of the glove box and made his brother take a few puffs when he started to wheeze, holding the canister up to his lips.

“Breathe Gray, c’mon, you’ve gotta breathe so you can talk to me. You gotta tell me what’s wrong so I can help. Hey, I’m right here, it’s me. You can tell me, it’s okay.”

Grayson finally caught his breath enough to calm down, with his hands gripping onto Ethan’s jacket collar like his life depended on it.

“I’m gonna break her E. I’m gonna destroy her and it’s all my fault. I love her, fuck, I love her. What am I supposed to do?”

Ethan sucked in a long breath through his nose, looking over at Grayson’s house.

“You haven’t told her.” It wasn’t a question.

“I wanted to, I fucking can’t. Every time I think I can tell her I just think about what it’s gonna do to her. What it’s gonna do to me. I don’t know what the right thing is here E, you gotta tell me.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Fuck that, you’re me, we’re each other, you know me better than I know me. Tell me what to do.”

Ethan could barely see his brother’s face, but the little bit of light from the moon showed enough pain in his eyes to have Ethan’s stomach twisting. He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder and squeezed.

“You know what I’m gonna say.”

Grayson’s breath hitched once, and then a new wave of sobs took over. He shook so hard that Ethan was convinced the entire cab was shaking with him. Ethan held him, willed himself to absorb some of the pain, as much as he could, anything to help.

“If it’s the right thing why does it hurt this bad?”

“I don’t know Gray. I don’t know.”

“I love her.”

“I know.”

“She loves me.”

“I know.”

“Then how is this the right thing?”

Ethan paused for a moment, holding steady on Grayson’s shoulders.

“What would dad say? If he was here with us, right now, what would he say?”

Grayson pressed into his eyes with the heel of his palms and sniffled.

“He’d say that it wasn’t fair. He’d be mad that I hadn’t told her yet, and he’d say that she’s a good person who shouldn’t have to give up on her dreams for mine. He’d tell me to do what’s best for her, I know that. God, FUCK!” He smacked the dashboard so hard that Ethan heard something crack. He wished there was a way that he could protect his brother in that moment more than anything. Usually, he could step up, take the heat, take the attention off him if he needed. It was one of the few times that he felt truly helpless.

“You don’t have to do it tonight. You still have a few days. Just think about what you want to say, and bring it up whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m never gonna be ready, Ethan. That’s the love of my life, and I’m just supposed to walk away? And what’s she gonna say, when she finds out I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, and I haven’t said shit, huh? She’s not gonna want anything to do with me. She’s not gonna love me anymore, Ethan, and I can’t live with that. I can’t.” His voice cracked, and Ethan’s heart cracked with it.

“If it’s meant to work out, it will somehow. We’ve always believed that.”

“How?” It was a plea more than a question.

“I don’t know Gray. I don’t know.”

Grayson didn’t know how long they sat in silence. They didn’t need words, just the comfort of each other’s presence as he ran through line after line of what he was going to say. He had to do it then, there was no other option. He had to tell her as soon as he got back, or he was afraid that he never would. But every time he closed his eyes to think, his mind was flooded with her, a kaleidoscope of memories and moments that he couldn’t imagine not making more of. He thought of the way his soul ached every time she cried, and he couldn’t fathom how much worse it would be when he was the cause of it.

He threw the door open without warning, stepping back out into the snow. It took Ethan a few steps to catch him, but when he did he pulled him into a hug, a real one, and pressed his face into his shoulder.

“I love you bro. We’ll get through it. You’ll be okay.”

Grayson always knew when his twin was lying, but he tried his best to believe it. The cold wind stung on his wet cheeks as he went back to the house, kicking off his boots. He took the stairs one at a time as slowly as he could, his panic growing with each one.

When his foot cleared the final step, he saw her.

She was asleep, curled up under the covers in her New York sweatshirt, hands folded underneath her face. He just stared at her, tried to memorize every feature on her face.

He could have stood there for hours, but she stirred only a moment later. Her eyes peered open just enough for him to see the blue, and then they closed again, a small smile stretching across her lips.

“Come to bed baby. S’warm.”

Every cell in his body screamed at him, tried to pull him back as he slid out of his coat, out of his flannel, stepped out of his pants. His brain called him every name in the book, told him he was pathetic, weak, manipulative.

But his heart beat just a bit slower at the thought of being in her arms, even if it was just for a moment, the familiar home he’d made for himself comforting enough to let him drown the rest out and climb under the covers and over to her, pulling her into his arms as he pressed his lips together and let his eyes fall closed.

#mixtape #WOOO #sorry it has christmas even tho christmas has passed hahaha FUCK #pls lemme know what you think :)#grayson dolan #grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson dolan fanfiction

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beauvibaby · 4 years

Text

who cares - f.andersen

a/n: I had to repost bc the tags didn’t work 🥺

word count: 1.9k

I slipped my dress on, not being able to fully zip up the back, I sighed, gathering the last of my accessories, and carrying my heels by the straps, my feet padding down the hard floors quietly. I was about to pop my head around the corner to get Freddie’s attention, needing him to fix the back of my dress, but my ears perked up as I heard my name being mentioned between him and Auston. I leaned against the wall, “she’s so young, it’s hard.” I heard Freddie speak up, my smile faltered, I was waiting for a but and the sentence to continue but it didn’t, his words hung in the air for a while. “That’s never bothered either of you before.” Auston pointed out and I could hear some shuffling, and I panicked rushing quietly back down towards the room. I slipped my heels on before walking back towards them, making my presence known as they patiently awaited me for a fancy maple leafs press event. “Freddie, can you zip me up?” I called softly, not wanting my voice to give me away. I stood sticking my head out, holding my dress to my front as they glanced over, “yeah.” He mumbled with a smile, approaching me, and I gave him one in return, forcing the words to the back of my mind, but who was I fooling, they kept replaying in my head, over and over. She’s so young, it’s hard. He’d never said anything like that, for goodness sakes, I was supposed to be moving in with him this summer, we had planned it as I was graduating college. It was perfect to me, and I thought it was too him but now I wondered. “You alright, baby?” Freddie whispered after he zipped my dress up, his hands lingering on my shoulders as the straps fell into place. I grimaced are the pet name that he’s always used, suddenly feeling like it was an insult rather than a term of endearment. “I’m okay.”

Stephanie and I were huddled up together watching as the guys lined up to do interviews, I was anxiously shifting on my feet, “I’ve tried to bite my tongue, but, there’s something clearly bothering you.” She sighed, I was undoubtedly the closest with her out of everyone’s girlfriends. I glanced over at her, “what did he do? Do I have to hurt him? I can make Mitch stay quiet.” She rushed her words, instantly picking up that I was angry at Freddie. “He didn’t do anything, actually that’s kind of the problem.” I admitted and she furrowed her brows, shooting Mitch a smile when he met her eyes, she looked back towards me. “I overheard him and Auston talking, Freddie said something about me being so young, and how it’s hard. Then I heard them moving and panicked.” I explained, fiddling with my freshly manicured nails. “Oh girl, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. He’s all about you, every time I see him and you’re not there it’s always ‘y/n did this’ or ‘I wish y/n was here’. He’s pathetically in love with you.” She assured me, but of course her words couldn’t fully sink in as I told myself even she had to have her doubts. “I’m 22, he’s 30, it’s never bothered me or really anyone that knows us, but suddenly he’s telling Auston how hard it is?” I sighed, glancing up as I felt his eyes on me, he was looking at me, to anyone else he would’ve looked blank, or tired. But to me, I could tell he was trying to figure out what was going through my mind, his eyes darted between mine, trying to see if I was upset over something. I forced a smile onto my face which eased him up a little bit as he continued down the parade of reporters. “You should talk to him, you guys have never let this stop you before. Why start now.” Steph gave me her last words of assurance as Mitch started approaching, she met him halfway, placing a kiss to his cheek as she walked off with him. I took the few short steps to the waiter who had a tray of champagne, “thank you.” I mumbled taking the glass, and pressing it to my lips nearly instantly. “Yes ma’am.” He responded, I could feel him give me a once over. I turned away from his gaze feeling uncomfortable, I smiled as I saw Freddie approaching me. “Hi.” I sighed in relief, even though those thoughts still danced around my mind. I laughed as Freddie out a hand slightly lower on my back than he normally did in public, I could tell he was shooting the waiter a look. “Don’t be so jealous.” I teased, lacing our fingers together.

He let a soft chuckle past his lips, “says the one who gets pouty when someone else wears an Andersen jersey.” He tsked, I rolled my eyes softly. “Hey, I used to be one of those girls, I know what they’re saying about you.” I reminded him and a pink tint crept up his neck as he ordered a drink from the bar. “Y/N?” Freddie asked after a short silence, I looked up from my flute glass, “yeah?” I replied, glancing at his hand that subconsciously started squeezing mine tighter. “You’re awfully quiet tonight, is everything alright?” He murmured, giving the bartender a silent thank you with the nod of his head as his drink appeared in front of him. “I’m fine, let’s just enjoy the night.” I assured him, adjusting the tie around his neck for a moment. He gave me a hesitant look but knew I wouldn’t budge so he dropped it and we started mingling the night away.

***

The elevator ride up to Freddie’s apartment was quiet, dare I say awkward, something I had never felt around him. Neither of us were tipsy, both barely finishing our one alcoholic drinks of the night, not feeling like being inhibited tonight. He held the door open for me and I walked in, sighing in relief when I could finally remove these heels. “Baby-“ I cut him off with an unintentionally loud sigh and he raised his eyebrows at me. “Yes, Freddie?” I bit back my tone, my voice coming out soft and tired instead. “I was just going to say that you looked beautiful tonight, and thank you for coming with me.” He explained, watching me cautiously. I looked him over, feeling guilty as I never complimented him on his look tonight either. “Of course, you know I’ll always go with you to these things. You looked very handsome tonight.” I responded, walking over to give him a quick peck. He cupped my face, gently keeping me in place longer than I had planned but I began to melt into him. “My love,” I gave in at his words, he knew that was the way to get me to open up, he had stumbled across it on accident one time, trying to get me to calm down when I was panicking over a finals exam. Ever since then he’s reserved it for moments like this, where he was genuinely worried for my wellbeing, knowing something was clearly bothering me. “Did someone say something tonight?” He questioned when I silently looked up at him, my eyes a little shiny with tears. I nodded my head, pulling my bottom lip into my mouth, he raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to tell him what happened. “I heard you and Auston talking while I was getting ready.” I admitted and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why would that upset you? What did you hear?” He looked genuinely confused, I stepped out of his gentle hold giving him a soft glare. “She’s so young, it’s hard.” I repeated his words and his face fell, “is that all you heard?” He questioned. I nodded, looking to my feet, “I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it would only make you realize again how much younger than you I am.” I admitted, hating myself for saying it as I looked up and saw his face, I assumed what I had said was true when he broke into a small smile. “It’s not funny, I can’t believe you’re laughing!” I gasped, turning away to walk towards the bedroom, needing to be away from him. I heard him following me, “y/n, I’m laughing because you didn’t hear everything I told Auston.” Freddie explained, grabbing my hand and I spun towards him with a few silent tears on my face. “Hey,” he murmured, frowning when he saw how genuinely distraught I was, “baby,” I flinched at the name once more and his face went completely blank, “don’t cry, please don’t cry.” He sighed, wiping my tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Why not? I just told you my biggest fear and you laughed.” I knew I was guilt tripping him but I didn’t care. “Wait, that’s your biggest fear?” He looked taken back by my words. I nodded softly, “losing you is my biggest fear.” I muttered, inhaling sharply when he tackled me to the bed in a hug.

“After Auston said it never bothered either of us before,” he paused making sure I was fully listening to him. “I told him it would never bother me, but I was worried about people making you feel bad, I was worried you’d think I’m holding you back.” He told me and this time I was the one who was confused. “Freddie, why would I think you’re holding me back?” I slowly sat up, forcing him to sit beside me. “Because you’re 22, you should be out going to parties, and doing what normal college students do, but instead you’re going to my hockey games every weekend, and staying in because I don’t want to go out to every bar in town.” I let a laugh fall from my lips at his words, much like he had done to me. He gave me a look and I stopped, “honey,” he rolled his eyes at my choice of name, I always did it to poke fun at him, but it never failed to get a smile out of him. I moved to be straddling him, as best as I could in my dress, “I fell in love with you because of all those things, I don’t like getting drunk every weekend, I don’t like being surrounded by all those perverted men in bars,” I paused letting a chuckle fall from his mouth, I rested my forehead against his. “I wouldn’t change a thing about you, about us, who cares what people think? I love you and I love staying in every weekend with you, and I love going to your hockey games, and wearing your jersey. I love everything about us.” I sealed my statement with a kiss, and he circled his arms around my waist, pulling me as close as he possibly could. “I love you.” He muttered against my lips, I smiled moving to hide my face in his neck, he did the same to me. “So does this mean I still get to move in?” I teased, pressing a chaste kiss to his neck. “You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easy did you?” He responded, I laughed against him, “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you earlier, we could’ve had much more fun at the event if I had.” I sighed leaning back in his grip, he shook his head, “I should’ve talked to you too.” He shrugged it off, not wanting to ruin this moment. “But I can think of a few ways to liven up the night a bit.”

Taglist: @literarycharleton @thathockeygirl

#imagine #imagines #frederik andersen x reader #frederik andersen blurb #frederik andersen imagine #frederik andersen #freddie andersen imagine #freddie andersen #nhl maple leafs #nhl writing #nhl imagine #toronto maple leafs imagine #toronto maple leafs

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volleyball-dontknowher · 4 years

Text

Break up with your girlfriend and date me instead

WOrds: 1.7k

Warnings: None

Characters, Kenma, Tsukishima and HInata (all seperate and x reader)

Requests are open!

Kenma

It had been almost six months since yoou and Kenma started dating and it went exactly how you would expect, you chatted some in the mornings before school and during lunch, but otherwise majority of your time together was after school or on the weekends where you didn’t have to worry about other people bothering the two of you. One of your friends didn’t understand this and continuously asked you if you were going to bring Kenma around or why you weren’t sitting next to him, and when you told her that it was because he needed his space too she always rolled her eyes as you changed the subject.

This had been happening since the beginning of your relationship and never thought too much of it, until she decided to go talk with Kenma alone.

*From Kenma’s perspective*

“Heyyyyyyy Kenma” You recognized the voice, she usually hung out with Y/N so I had to at least be a little nice to her so Y/N doesn’t get mad.

“Hi” I mumbled not looking up from my game, being nice and caring are two different things.

“Soooo whatcha doin?” She asks while sitting down right next to me.

“Playing my game.” “Ohhh what game? It looks really hard, you must be amazing,”

“It’s animal crossing, I have a five star island,” she was getting annoying and she’d barely said anything.

“Wow Kenma you’re so talented.” “I guess.”

“Well I wanted to ask you something?” Crap, she wanted to actually talk and I really don’t want to, before I could respond she was already going off, “so how is your relationship with Y/N going?”

“Good.”

“Is it really? I don’t see the two of you hanging out often, like it looks like the two of you aren’t even dating.”

She's annoying, “We’re dating,” I huff out just wanting to focus on my game but I know that she is going to want to talk more.

“Why?”

“What?” I couldn’t help but look up at her to see that she looks serious.

“I mean come on Kenma, you two don’t work together, I think you should date me instead, I mean I am a lot prettier and I will actually hang out with you and talk to you and cheer for you at all of your games because I care about you so much.”

“No you don’t,” I respond, she really knows nothing.

“But Kenma I promise you I do, we would be the best couple ever, we would have so much fun going out together and we look so”

“No we would not. I like Y/N and we are dating so stop talking.”

“Kenma listen to me we would be so much better together and she is nothing compared to me.” SHe is practically whining at me and I’m sick of it.

“I don’t care what you think, you’re annoying” I can’t help but tell her the truth, and I don’t even have to look at her to know that she’s staring at me in shock.

“Kenma Kozume you are a jerk and I can’t believe that you could say something like that-”

“I can, I don’t like you, I like Y/N so stop wasting your breath and find someone else.”

She is peeved but I don’t care she is annoying. I get up and leave the bench to go find Y/N so we can walk home together and I can show her how much I’ve done on our shared island. (That he secretly has been working all day on to show you because you only had two stars at the beginning of the day and he just wants you to be proud of him and loves how happy it makes you, like he was really annoyed that he had to stop to tell that girl that he was not interested)

Tsukishima

You and Tsukki were the perfect couple, you both complimented each other perfectly, you brought out everything in him that he thought that the public would never see. You were too good to be true and he made a point to constantly remind you. What the world saw was him greeting you by the door, walking you home, and giving you his sweatshirts. What they didn’t see however was how you called him after practice and just let him talk about all of his worries, or how you pack him food for long bus trips because you know that’s the only way that he’ll eat, or how you practically pounce on him when he comes over and give him all of the affection in the world. This is what let your friend decide that she id going to have...an opinion on your relationship.

*Tsukishima’s perspective*

Morning practice was as brutal as usual this morning, they all voted for sprints this morning and it really couldn’t have been worse. Now it’s over and I’m waiting for Yamaguchi to finish changing so we can walk to class together. It was a little colder out today and I just wanted to get inside. I decided to put my headphones on for a couple of minutes of peace before school, as I grab them out of my bag I see one of Y/N’s friends running towards me.

“Tsukishima, hey Tsukishima!” She is calling my name, shit. She’s annoying and I really only handle her because she is Y/N’s friend.

Once she gets to me she is out of breath but tries to puff her chest out and smiles at me, “Heyyy so I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me?”

“What?” Did she really just ask me that? I have a girlfriend and she knows it, she is literally friends with Y/N what the hell.

“I mean I thought that you would want a girlfriend who actually cares about you ans wants to spend time with you and I would also love to show you a good time,” she says while rubbing her hand up on my chest and I can’t help but brush it off of me.

“Why would I do that?” Is she really asking me to go out with her? Is she stupid?

“Because I like you stupid and I would be willing to fufill all of your needs and I’m prettier than Y/N and I would like to do everything for you. Besides you don’t even seem happy with her, like you do all of these things but that’s because she’s spoiled, you deserve better, duh.”

“You must be stupid, ugly and stupid.” “What?!?” “Y/N is my girlfriend, not you, do not touch me, do not talk to me and do not assume anything about our relationship. You must be stupid to think that you can come blink at me and expect me to go out with you. I knew you were dumb but that’s rediculous.” She was completely in shock, but that’s fine she doesn’t matter to me. Lucky for me Yamaguchi walked out of the locker room and we left her standing there, staring at me in awe. When I got to the classroom with Y/N I pulled her into a hug and told her that she needed to drop that friend before you got hurt.

He would actually never ever ever tell you this but you literally make him the happiest person ever and to think that someone would even think about trying to split the two of you up makes him both pissed and super nervous because if he was mean and still got asked things like that what happens to you, his nice and loving girlfriend. He makes sure to be a little closer to you for the next couple weeks because you are his whole world and he just wants you to be by his side.

Hinata

You and Hinata are literally so cute together and if you don’t know that the two of you are dating then you must be blind, deaf, and stupid. He was constantly shouting your name or is right by your side, HInata is loud but a complete sweet heart and he treats you so well that it makes other girls so jealous. Like no one else gets greeted by their boyfriend with a big hug and goofy smile every single morning. Other girls approach him often but usually you are right by his side.

Hinata’s POV

After school there is about 5 minutes after I change before someone with a key gets to the gym, so I like to sit on the steps by the gym to be the first one in. Usually Kageyama was there with me but today I was all alone, well until Y/N’s friend came along, she came and sat by me and gave me a really warm smile.

“Hey Shouyo what’s up?”

“I’m just waiting for practice to start, you?”

She sighs and looks at me, “I’m not doing anything, I just wanted to know if you would be interested in hanging out with me?”

“What were you thinking? Practice starts in fifteen minutes so I guess I could talk with you until then…”

“No silly, I meant like hang out like go out on a date together,” she looks at me like I should’ve known that but there is no way.

“Um no… you know that I’m dating Y/N right?” Maybe she forgot or this was a prank, who knows what people are up to.

“Yeah, I know, but I mean I just thought that I would be more fun to date instead of her, like come on Hinata I play volleyball too, like we could do that together and I would actually be your biggest fan.”

“I already have a biggest fan and her name is Y/N and she is also my girlfriend so thank you but no thank you.” She’s Y/N’s friend, how you could she say something like that? “NO HINATA I COULD MAKE YOU HAPPY” “I am already happy.” Walking up next to the gym is Tanaka who got a set of keys to the gym and unlocked it for us, he looks at the two of us with a confused look on his face but doesn’t bother asking before he entered the gym. I get up to follow behind him and look back at her one more time, “If you wanted to be friends I would be more than happy to be friends with you, but I am taken and have to go to practice now, so have a good day!”

Hinata really didn’t understand what happened there, like she meant a date but he was already taken so he kinda just blew it off. When he told you later though you explained it to him and he kinda just laughed but also felt bad for rejecting her like that even though she should have known better than that.

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everlarkbirthdaygifts · 4 years

Text

Happy Birthday, omercilessmoon!

Happy Birthday, @omercilessmoon! We hope you’ve got a wonderful day planned, and that you get exactly the presents you were hoping for! To start you special day off right, the lovely @mega-aulover has written a story just for you!

PROMPT: modern enemies/rivals to lovers with one-sided pining? maybe they share a dance?

Omercilessmoon

Title: Hate to Love You

A/N: This is part one of the story I’ve never really written: enemies to lovers with one sided pining - and I hope you enjoy and Happy BIrthday. Special Thanks to @norbertsmom for betaing and helping me through plot points, to @eiramrelyat for help with the drink and @mandelion82 for your generous help. It takes a village to write a story.

Rated T - for mature themes

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

The annual office Labor Day outdoor party was filled with laughter, barely edible canapes that never filled anyone up, and drunken naughtiness in dark corners. It was Friday afternoon before the big weekend. The company made holiday decorations and it made most of its revenues between Labor Day and Christmas.

Katniss Everdeen always skipped out on these social rituals. This year however she could not. Her boss, Haymitch Abernathy demanded she attend. Apparently the owner of the company, Coriolanus Snow, wanted everyone to show up for some grand announcement. The one thing Katniss hated about these parties, and hated about her job in particular was that upstart show off Peeta Mellark.

He was schmoozing with the assortment of models dressed as pumpkins, elves, and turkeys. He was just too perfect. Perfect height, natural ashen blond hair, straight white teeth and an ass that was slap worthy. Katniss closed her eyes. As much as she loathed Peeta, she was also wildly attracted to him. She wanted to strip that stupid smile off of his face all the while living la vida loca on a springy bed. Oh, she wanted him so much she’d taken to carrying an extra pair of underwear, his voice did things to her during meetings. She could just envision what he would sound like in the bedroom.

The canape she held in her hand crumbled and she came back to the present. This weakness is why she loathed Peeta Sexy-Ass Mellark so much. No man should be that freaking sexy. No man should make her crazy by just looking at her. Turning around, she stomped away to the drinks bar; the only way to survive this was to get buzzed.

The bartender was handing a drink to the person next to her. When they finished Katniss said, “Excuse me…”

The bartender ignored her and moved to the person next to her.

Katniss shook her head. She often found herself in this position. She waited for the bartender to finish. She wasn’t that tall and naturally people looked right over her head at the taller person standing behind her or next to her. She waited patiently and listened as the DJ’s switched two songs.

“Evergreen.”

Katniss grimaced when she heard Peeta’s voice. He always mispronounced her name. Peeta Mellark did this to annoy her. He knew everyone's name, he knew birthdays and anniversaries but her name he always butchered, and somehow always forgot her birthday. She turned to face him. His eyes were dripping with frost, and she reciprocated the look. “Mellark.”

His frosty exterior melted the moment the bartender appeared. He turned into the Prince of charm and finesse. “Hello, may I have a suffering bastard.”

The bartender smiled and winked, “Sure.”

Katniss fumed; she’d been waiting for ten minutes. “REALLY!”

“What's the matter Everdeen, making enemies with the bartender?”

“NO! I’ve been waiting for ten minutes for a drink and you come up and of course they serve you first.”

He raised an eyebrow as if amused by her story.

These were the things that annoyed her about him.”UGH!”

“It’s just you don’t look like the type of person who drinks.” His lips formed that mocking smile, that made her want to smack him. “You also don’t look old enough to drink.”

“I am old enough to drink, and when I do I like strawberry daiquiris.”

“Strawberry daiquiris?” He sounded amused.

“Well it’s better than your, what are you drinking, a suffering…?” Katniss stopped as she realized what she was going to say.

“You can’t even say it, can you?”

His amusement at her inability to say the ‘b’ word frustrated her even further. “I can too.”

“Go ahead,” Peeta mocked.

Spurred by his dare she opened her mouth, but small choking sounds. She couldn’t curse, everyone in the company knew she had a problem with vulgar words. It was the fault of her 9th Grade English teacher Miss Trinket who would fail students for using vulgarities and incorrect diction.

He chuckled dryly. "You're so pure."

His words were a backhanded compliment and it set her on fire. Katniss was a Pollyanna from a backwater town and he hailed from Capitol City, and it meant that she was simple and unsophisticated. It also meant inexperienced. And while some of it was true, he didn't know what she thought, orr how tempted she was to push him into a dark corner and have her way with him.

Her problem was she did not have the words to communicate with him. Words weren't her thing, she was more of a doer. It's why she made a great account manager for the business development managers. They sold and she was able to get the order shipped out on time for them.

She currently worked with Caesar Flickerman. He was flamboyant, and sweet, but he was demanding when it came to excellence. Looking at Peeta she was trying to formulate the words to insult him when the microphone screeched letting them know their attention was needed at the stage.

Katniss took that moment to slip away from Peeta. She stood toward the back of the crowd where she was sure no one could bother her.

Their boss, Corilianus Snow took the stage. He began speaking about the company’s long history and Katniss wished she had her daiquiri. She hated these long drawn out speeches. On the other hand, after the big announcement she could quietly slip out. Katniss focused on Snow’s words.

“As an effort to bring our company forward into this new era, we will be instituting new initiatives,” Snow said. “We will be offering a prize of a profitable cash bonus at Christmastime and two extra days of paid time off.” Everyone applauded.

The money would be amazing. The days off though were the biggest prize. Katniss didn’t have many days left, and two extra days meant she could possibly spend Christmas with her family. Katniss hadn’t spent a holiday with them in so long. She missed her sister and her mother.

Snow put his hands out to quiet the crowd before continuing, “In the spirit of competition and to bring new dynamics to the sales force we will be shaking things up internally by switching Account Managers and Business Development Managers. So if you go to that table where our lovely assistants are located you will find an envelope with your name on it and inside it will contain the name of the person you will be working with until December 23rd.”

The announcement took everyone out of their comfort zone, but the necessity to know who they were being paired with drove the staff to the tables like brides descending on Kleinfeld’s semi-annual sale. It was chaotic and it overwhelmed Katniss; she hung back.

There were gladdend faces and faces that reflected horror by the new partnership. Katniss looked around frightened by the prospect of having to work with someone new. She walked to the table and picked up her envelope.

When she opened it her vision went dark.

“Looks like we’re stuck with each other.”

Peeta’s voice contained the grim foreboding sentiment she felt.

She tried to smile but she was sure she looked deranged.

“Stop smiling, you're scaring people.”

Katniss wasn’t sure how to best show that this didn’t bother her. Of all of the people in the company she had to be stuck together with none other than Peeta-I-want-to-scratch-your-eyes-out-yet-ride-you-into-oblivion-Mellark. Life was not fair.

"Everyone please enjoy the food, the open bar, and enjoy a dance floor..." Snow said over the microphone.

The music started and Finnick and Annie who were secretly dating made their way to the dance floor. Katniss and Annie sat together during lunch at times and she had covered for Annie when she met Finnick in secret. Several others who saw the way Snow tipped his glass toward Finnick went to the dance floor too. It was all a game to show Snow they were not affected by the changes. The music was upbeat and definitely not Katniss’ style.

“Come on, dance with me.”

“What?” She hissed.

“We need to show them we’re a team.”

“NO,” Katniss didn’t want to dance with him. She didn’t like to be touched.

“Snow is watching us, and we need to make a good impression. I have a feeling this is going to be more than just about numbers,” he whispered.

Katniss took a look at Corilanius Snow, who stood off to the side in his white suit inspecting everyone. The one thing Katniss knew for sure about Snow was he had keen eyes and he was able to perceive things about people just by observation.

“Fine,” she said.

The band struck up a slow song. Peeta led her not to the center but off to the side which gave her some relief.

“I’m not a good this,” she whispered as his one hand found purchase on the small of her back and the other cradled her hand as if it was the most delicate flower.

Her heart rate increased as blood flowed south, as all at once she was surrounded by his heat and scent. He smelled warm and spicy like one of her mother's medicinal teas. She had fantasized what it would be like to be held close in his arms, and it was better than her imagination. Peeta was fit, his shirt was cut close to his physique, her underwear was going to get ruined. His arms were solid and she involuntarily pushed herself closer.

“Just follow my lead,” he said quietly.

Katniss nodded. She noticed the slight flecks of gold in his blue eyes. Katniss committed them to memory as he moved. Their bodies fit together perfectly and she was thankful for his graceful movements because she wasn’t sure of her steps. Dancing wasn’t something she participated in regularly. The last time she committed herself to a slow dance was back in middle school, and it ended up with her partner having a broken toe.

“You need to relax your shoulders, you're too stiff,” he said.

His words ruined the moment for her. “I told you I don’t do this.”

“Just close your eyes,”he said.

Katniss stared at him.

“If we're going to work together you have to learn to trust me."

His words were a gauntlet thrust in her face. How dare he talk about trust when he didn't even know her. She shot back, "Then you're going to have to earn it...trust and respect are earned. And you don't trust me either and you certainly don't respect me."

"Look Evergreen,” Peeta said.

“FIrst off, it’s not Evergreen. It’s Ever-deen,” Katniss hissed. She knew this was a mistake.

He raised that infernal eyebrow of his.

“If we are going to be working together you need to at least learn my name.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

His voice was beginning to grate on her nerves.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Katniss needed to get away, to compose herself before she did something stupid. Thankfully the slow music stopped.

Peeta let go of her. She walked away and sat down on a bench near the bathrooms.

She heard women laughing. One of the women’s voices she recognized was Clove, the other she didn’t know, but this woman’s voice sounded breathy like a phone sex operator.

“Did you see who Peeta Mellark was paired with?” The woman with the breathy voice asked.

They were just around the corner from where Katniss was sitting. They didn’t know she was listening.

"She’s the one person in this entire company who's not a team player.” Clove snickered. “No one wanted to work with her and poor Caesar was stuck with her when Claudius retired. He tried to make her likeable in front of everyone, by saying she was a hard worker. All she ever does is scowl at anyone and everyone who approaches her cubicle. There’s a reason Peeta calls her Evergreen."

“Doesn’t his nickname mean Evermean?”

Both laughed.

“He’s so gorgeous. I heard from Glimmer that he’s good in bed.”

“I hate that bitch,” Clove said.

��I also heard he’s been spending time with Cressida.”

“Really,” Clove replied. “told me she shot down Cato.”

“She’s so exotic, I think she was once a model.”

“Well at least we know he’ll never touch Everdeen, he’s too busy going after Cressida.”

Clove's words hurt because she wasn’t a likeable person, even Haymitch said so, but she was a hard worker and she put her heart and soul into everything she did. She also knew the chances of someone like Peeta Mellark liking someone like her were slim to none. Getting up, she quickly walked away, not wanting to let them see her dilemma.

She walked right into Peeta. His arms went around her shoulder to keep her from falling.

“I was looking for you, come on,” he tugged her hand, dragging her back to the dance floor. “We need to keep up appearances.”

Katniss relented and walked with him to the dance floor. She wanted to escape and seek shelter from the ugliness of the world. He pulled her closely and slowly they danced.

“Just one more dance and then we can go home.”

Katniss looked away.

“I see the scowl is back.”

Her face hardened, she didn’t want him to see the hurt in her eyes. Clove’s words were in her head, she was unlikeable. And now she was stuck with Peeta, a man she loathed but at the same time lusted after. Nothing good would come for this.

“Come on Evergreen,” Peeta whispered.

Katniss' eyes narrowed.

“Maybe if you smiled more…”

Saddened and angered by his actions and Clove’s words she lashed out, “Smile more, you mean like one of the empty headed bimbos that you frequent Sae’s with?”

“Have you been following me?”

“What, no?”

“Do you have a crush on me? Is that why you’re stalking me?” he taunted.

Katniss spotted Glimmer making moon eyes at him. “No, but your little friend over there would love a round two of Peeta’s greatest hits,” she hissed. She then spotted Cressida standing by Finnick and Annie. “Oh look, another one of your little fanclub.”

He looked amused when he spun them around so that he could see who she meant. He chuckled, “You’re jealous.”

“You’re an idiot to think every woman wants to drop their drawers because you cast a look at them.”

“You’re pretty when your eyes flash, they look like daggers.”

Frustrated she looked at him and said, "You disgust me." And she stomped her foot down on his before marching away.

Even as she left she felt bad for striking his foot. He could go to HR because of that and she could be fired.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #everlarkbirthdaydrabbles #everlarkbirthdaygifts #fan fic #by mega-aulover

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