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#and yes i know this season finished like 4 months ago or whatever
me-loving-woso · 8 months
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The Aftermath
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Hello Tumblr and Hello readers.
This is Part 3 of Monthly visits. I really hope you enjoy it. I’m already working on Part 4, so hopefully you won’t have to wait that much. Does this part end in a cliffhanger? Yes. Am I sorry about it? No.
Let me know if I should continue this series. Hope you enjoy this!
The past few days have been incredibly challenging for you. Ava's room was finally finished, so you had to help her move to the room and Lucia finally decided to join La Masia, so you went with her to sign the contract.
Things with Alexia have been really in a weird place. You still remember vividly your conversation with her that day after she called for a break.
"So you want a break from me or the kids?" You ask, nearly crying, changing your position on the bed to sitting, waiting for an answer.
"I don't know, okay! These past few weeks have been overwhelming; I thought I could handle it. Then, Mom began talking about holidays and Christmas, and I guess I didn't think about it before? I don't know, it feels like my life has been changing so much, and I can't keep up anymore." She says clearly, in a very anxious state. "And above all of this, there is the World Cup, and I have all this pressure put on me, and I just want to disappear." She gets out sobbing, making your heartbreak. 
"Hey, hey, look at me." You gently take her face, turning it to you, wiping away her tears. "Since when has this been going on?"
"Since I got called up for the World Cup."
"So two months ago." You say more to yourself. "Why didn't you tell me anything?"
"You had already been dealing with your problems; I didn't want to add to anything."
"You are not a problem to me, okay? If you are happy, I am happy. If you are sad, I am sad. Whatever you need, I'll always be with you. I love you. And I know I don't say it much, but I probably should have. I love you." You began leaving small kisses on her face, trying to kiss away the tears, "What do you need?"
"I need not feel so broken and out of control of my feelings." She says, keeping her gaze down.
"It's alright to feel broken every once in a while, and it's alright to feel out of control. If you need time, I can give it to you. I'd rather lose you for a while than for the rest of my life. I'd wait a thousand lifetimes for you because you are worth waiting for. So when you are ready. I'll be right here." Your eyes start to water, too, as you understand what this entails. You shift on your bed, hugging her. 
"I love you so much, Alexia. I don't know what I would do without you. You really changed my life for the better. You are the love of my life. The only person I imagine spending my life with. And I swear to God, or whatever is up there, that one day I'm going to marry you, and I'll finally feel like I deserve your love."
"You know, you never said that."
"What?"
"That you wanted to marry me." She smiles shyly, keeping her head on your shoulder, hiding in the crook of your neck.
"Of course I do. I can't wait to be your wife and call you that." You pause, taking a deep breath, making her move her head to look at you. "But before that, you must focus on yourself and be good and happy. I want a happy wife, okay? Not the depressed ones you see in the movies that drink an absurd amount of wine and pass out. I want you to be happy. And if, eventually, I am not part of that happiness, I still want to see you happy." She nods, giving you a light kiss on your hand. "I want you to have fun at the World Cup and kick ass, okay? If you ever need me, I'm a phone call away."
That night was the last time you saw her. You told yourself you wouldn't call or look at her Instagram; it would be too painful. So you decided to distract yourself, of course, still having as first priority the kids. 
-
The first thing you did was go to the pitch. You decided to take Lucia and Ava with you, the older girl was about to start the season in Barcelona B, and you couldn't be happier for her. 
You were practicing free kicks and penalties. You and Lucia were in a clear competition while Ava was just there having fun with the ball. After a while, Ava got bored, so she decided to stay on the sidelines in the shadow playing some games on your phone, which left you and Lucia on the pitch.
"Where is Alexia, by the way? I haven't seen her all morning." She asks out of the blue, catching you off guard.
"She left for the World Cup." You reply coldly, quickly passing the ball from one foot to the other, then shooting hard to the goal post, scoring a top bin.
"Aren't they leaving in like two days?" She replies, clearly not getting the point.
"Aren't you asking a lot of questions?" You glare at her, then realize that your tone slightly hurt Lucia. "I'm really sorry, Lucia. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."
"No problem, I'm used to it anyways." She rolls her eyes, closing off, then walks away.
You were feeling guilty; you really didn't want to hurt her feeling, so you told her the truth, "She left."
"What?" She turns around, looking at you. 
You take a deep breath, "She left me."
"Wait, what? You broke up?" She says, shocked at the revelation, fully turning her body to you, taking a step towards you.
"I don't know. I'm sorry I snapped at you; you took me off guard with the question, and I still haven't fully processed it."
"It's okay. I just overreacted." She pauses. "I'm really sorry about Alexia. Do you need a hug?" She asks awkwardly.
You chuckle. "No. It's better not. If you will, I'll start crying. And I am an ugly crier, especially when it comes to Alexia. And I don't think none of us want to experience that."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"I will be." You release a shaky exhale. "Now, let's go back home. Ava here is getting too bored." You wrap your arm around Lucia's shoulder and take her to her sister.
-
As you get back home, you decide to go and take a shower, and there you silently cry until no tears are left. You then change into something comfy and go outside to your garden, trying to get some fresh air, and for the first time during the day, you check your phone. There were multiple missed calls from Alba and one from one of your best friends, Mapi. You knew that you had to call back both women, so you opted to go first with Alba. You knew it would be a sad call and hoped that calling Mapi after would cheer you up.
Spoiler Alert: It didn’t.
You take a deep breath and call Alba; she almost immediately picks up.
"Y/n, are you okay?" Alba asks almost immediately, quite sadly. You really didn't want her to pity you.
"You already know the answer, Alba." You smile sadly, "How is she?" You couldn't not ask about her; even though you tried to keep some distance, you still wanted to know how she was doing.
"She is miserable and guilty but knows she must focus on herself now."
"Did you tell her she doesn't have to feel guilty?"
“Y/n.” She replies sternly. "She might be my sister, but that doesn't mean I must agree with everything she does."
"Alba, we know how your sister deals with the pressure and anxiety. Alexia has always been very sensitive. She doesn't deal well with that kind of thing; when she was younger, she had her father and football that kept her going on and deal with the pressure. Now she only has football. You can't take that away from her."
"But she can take you out of her life?"
"That is an unfair question." You clench your jaw, trying to keep at bay your own feelings.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry."
"Just know that I only want what is best for your sister, and if she really wants to, she will return; I really hope she will."
"She will." She says a little too sternly. "Or else she won't hear the end of it from me and Mom."
"Just please, stay with her, support her, and care for her. She needs it now more than ever for this World Cup."
You soon end the call after that, and after taking a minute to ground yourself, you call your best friend. She, too, picks up very quickly.
“Y/N!” She screams in your ear excitedly, .
"How was Norway? Did you already come back? Are you already in Barcelona?" You reply as excited as you can, given the circumstances.
"Norway isn't that bad; I missed Barcelona though; Ingrid made it worth it. How are you? How's Alexia?" You could feel her smile through the phone. 
"Mapi, you have been away for a month; I have some news to share, big news, actually."
"Oh my God, did you get engaged?" She replies excitedly; without making your reply, she continues, "Oh my God, I'm so happy for you guys! And yes, of course, I will be your maid of honor, and yes, of course, I already planned your bachelorette par-"
"Maria calmate, I didn't get engaged." You reply sadly while feeling utterly sick to your stomach from the sadness of the situation.
"Then what is the big news to share?"
"I think I need to tell you in person about it."
"Oh, you can't leave me hanging like that!"
"Come over, and I'll tell you." You say, nearly reaching your point of total exasperation, you knew she wouldn't budge, but you also knew it was best to tell her in person that you have children now.
"A small hint?"
Losing your patience from your long day, you went straight to the point, "I adopted two children, and Alexia and I are on a break." You say, feeling a knot closing your throat.
"Ha ha, a good joke; tell me the truth."
"Mapi, I'm not joking." You say while your voice is wavering. She never heard you cry.
"I'm coming over." With that, she closes the call leaving you with a small tear running down your cheek.
You go inside and find the two girls watching something on TV.
"So girls, change of plans; a friend of mine is coming over, so you will meet them."
"Is it someone from the team?" Lucia asks.
You nod, "Guess."
"I know you are friends with Mapi; is it her?" Ava says excitedly.
"Yes, it is her, but that doesn't change anything. Bedtime is always at the same time." 
"But-"She tries to find an excuse, but you interrupt her, "No buts, you will definitely see more of her, so don't worry." She lightly pouts, reminding you of Alexia and how she uses the same facial expression. 
When you hear the doorbell ring, you open the door, finding your best friend in front of you for the first time in a month. You share a hug, then she asks, "So what happened? What is all this about?" Trying to make sense of what you said in the phone call. "Or was this a way to make me come over?" She gives you a mischievous smirk.
"Even though I missed you, it's not. I'll let you meet the kids, and we can talk later, okay?"
"So it wasn't a joke?" You shake your head, annoyed, "Then this 'talk' will take a while.”
She enters your home and makes her meet the girls. In the beginning, Ava was very shy, hiding a little behind you. But, as soon as Mapi began asking for her attention, she gladly gave it to her. Whereas Lucia was trying to keep it cool. 
Your teammate, in the meantime, was giving the older girl a weird look as if she was trying to remember something. 
"Do I know you from somewhere?" She asks, mostly rhetorically. Your friend had a memory of steel. "Wait, you were the girl that won the meet and greet."
Lucia shyly nods.
"I remember you because you were the first kid I met after joining Barcelona. You were so excited to meet your favorite players. But then, when you found out that Alexia and Y/n weren't there, you were so sad." She chuckled. "You must be happy living with your favorite player now." She says while looking at her smirking and then glancing at you.
"Oh yeah, they never shut up about Alexia. It's so annoying." You chuckle, crossing your arms, looking at both girls as if you unveiled one of their secrets.
"Oh no, if I'm not wrong, Alexia wasn't your favorite player," You could see Lucia changing expression in one instance, trying to communicate with Mapi to stop talking, she was shaking her head, widening her eyes. She was embarrassed, and you could see it from miles away. "Your favorite player was Y/n Y/ln." She chuckles. 
You turn around facing her, utterly shocked, wearing a proud smirk.
"She couldn't stop talking about how much she loved to see you play and how she couldn't wait for you to win the Champions League. It was quite cute, actually."
 "Now. Now. Lucia. Now that I have this information, you know you'll never hear the end of it, right?" You chuckle a little, making the girl slightly blush from the embarrassment but quickly recovering.
"You really had to say it?" Lucia asks Mapi, shaking her head. 
"Of course she did! Do you want an autograph?" You joke.
"Oh my God! Stop it!" She says, smiling, clearly not enjoying your teasing.
"Lucia, pay some respect to your favorite player!" Mapi retorts, then she bursts out laughing.
"Yeah, Lucia! Pay some respect. In this household, we don't condone this disrespect, especially when talking about your idols." You finish the teasing while she rolls her eyes, "Moving on, who's up for some food?" You ask, turning to the three girls around you. 
You decided to order pizza again; you really had to begin doing some serious grocery shopping. 
You were so happy that your best friend met the two girls that you loved so much, and you were even more delighted when you saw that they got along great; it was nearly perfect. Only a person missed for it to be perfect. 
That night you played games together, and when it was time to go to bed, Ava apprehensively went to bed after some convincing.
"I think I'm going to bed, too," Lucia said soon after her sister left for her room.
"You know you don't have to; if you want, you can stay with us." You offer.
"Nah, don't worry. I'm tired, and I have some episodes that I have to catch up with." She says, heading to her room. "Goodnight!" She says, while you and Mapi reply in the same way. 
-
After a month of not seeing each other, you were left alone with your best friend.
"So, the girls are great!" She says, clearly trying to begin all the explanations you had to give her.
"Before I begin explaining everything, I need a drink." You go to your kitchen, open the first bottle of wine, and then go outside with your friend.
You sit at the table, basically downing your glass of wine. You took a deep breath then you began explaining everything to her. First, how you met the kids and what made you adopt them, then you talked about what happened with Alexia, reserving some of the most private details.
"She told me she needed a break because she was getting too overwhelmed, and of course, I let her."
"She's an idiot. She'll come to her senses, believe me. You and her work so well together; it's almost annoying. I don't think I could ever see you guys break up." You knew that she would be sad about Alexia leaving you, as she was the person that indirectly put you two together in the first place. 
"Me too. But I guess nothing good ever works out perfectly." You reply sadly, looking at your glass of wine just poured. "I even bought a ring; I would propose after the World Cup. I had everything planned. Our honeymoon, the wedding date, everything. I'm so delusional." You realize, sadly.
"Hey, hey, Y/n, you are not delusional." She reassures you, taking your hand. You look up at her with glassy eyes, looking at her skeptically. "She wants the same things as you do. It might not seem like it right now, but you'll have your happy ending in the future."
"You know what I hate about all of this? The fact I still don't know what made her decide to want to leave me. Is it me? The kids? She said she couldn't deal with the constant pressure anymore, but what made her change her mind about me? Fuck! Am I not enough? In those three years that we've been together, we've gone through so much, from dealing with my own shit to her ACL; I thought that what we had was good, great even. I thought that taking the next step would be the best thing, you know, she would give me hints too that she was waiting for the proposal. So I thought she was sure about us, but I guess I was wrong? I don't know. I really don't know." You sniff, trying to keep in tears, then you quickly backtrack. "I'm really sorry; I shouldn't be dumping you like that; I know I am talking about one of your best friends too."
"No, Y/n, you can talk to me about it. You are one of my best friends too, okay? And I'm here for you. For whatever you need. And now that you have kids. Thanks for telling me right away, by the way," She remarks ironically, earning a chuckle from you, "I'll be the best aunt they ever had."
"I know you will." You give her a faint smile.
--
--
From your talk with Mapi, you realized one thing, which is that the kids should be your first priority, and everything else would come second. 
You tried to deal with Alexia leaving after three years of relationship, in many ways. Normal people would think that you went to therapy, as this whole situation was making your abandonment issues from your parents surf up, but instead, you coped differently: watching Grey's Anatomy, the first seasons obviously. 
That show was oddly comforting for you, for many people, such as Alexia, were adamant about watching it at first. You tried to convince her to watch it for three years, but she never budged. So now that she is gone, you thought it was the best time to watch it again. You usually watch it after Ava’s bedtime. You would put it on your TV for a couple of episodes. Initially, you didn't go in order; you just watched the most painful episodes. In all of this, Lucia would be like Alexia; she would roll her eyes when you watched the show and then go and mind her own business. You often offered her to come and watch it with you, but she wouldn't; you jokingly called her a girl full of prejudice, while she replied that she wasn't as lame and soft as you. But you could definitely see her stealing some glances at the show. 
What you didn't know was that Lucia and Mapi were keeping in touch. A phone call happened, and Lucia told your best friend that you began watching the show; needless to say, Mapi was concerned because she knew that you only watched the show when you were on the verge of a mental breakdown. She told Lucia that she would be coming over soon, as she left town for a couple of days. But you still didn't know that.
That left you one night while you were watching a really intense episode. Lucia came out of the kitchen, passing through the living room, trying to get to her room, but she suddenly stopped looking at the screen. "Wait. Where is the brunette? The best friend of Meredith, I think. Wasn't she supposed to be in the show from day one?"
"She left," you replied, not taking your eyes away from the screen.
"Wait. What?" She says surprised, taking a seat next to you. You gave her a pillow.
"Yep."
"Is it okay if you put an episode from the beginning?" She asks shyly. You beam at her and switch on to the first episode.
And that is how Lucia began watching Grey's Anatomy. And what shocked you the most was that she was an emotional kid, and she got really invested really quickly, but what was funny was that she tried to hide it, but she never managed to do it properly, silently sobbing when characters died.
A week after, you were so invested that you watched it in all of your free time. You knew that it wasn't healthy. Especially for you, but it looked like she was enjoying herself, so who were you to stop her from watching something she loved. 
That day you were watching the bomb episode; Ava left with Nico to get some stuff for his shop, leaving you and Lucia with time to kill, so you put on the show, and both decided you were up for a show marathon. As you got up to get some water for the both of you, you heard a knock at the door.
"Hey Mapi, what are you doing here?" You ask happily, being surprised you were seeing your friend without her telling you beforehand.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing, why?" You ask her, clearly hiding the fact that you were watching Grey's Anatomy.
"You are watching Grey's Anatomy again, right?"
"No, I am not!" You say defensively.
"Stop bullshitting me, Y/n. Do you remember after we lost the Champions League last year against Lyon? You began watching that freaking show because you thought it could bring you some comfort, but instead, it made it worst!" 
"That's not true!" You bark, even though you know it is the truth. "And you can't barge in like this, into my home unannounced, making wrongful claims." 
"Lucia told me to come."
"And since when you and Lucia talk?"
"Since the night we met, so where is she?"
"Oh, you'll love what you are about to see." You chuckle, taking her to the living room.
When she saw Lucia watching the show, her face was adorned with the most disgusted and offended look.
"Lucia?" She says, making her turn around quickly, giving her a guilty expression.
"Okay, this is not what it looks like. It's-It's Y/n's fault."
"Oh don't blame me! I didn't force you." You say, showing the palms of your hands.
"Okay, you two. We are going out. The both of you. We are going on the pitch; get ready. Where is Ava?"
"With Nico." You reply. 
"Tell him we'll be out for at least two hours."
As you get in the car with Mapi, she keeps her eyes on the road without giving you another glance. Leaving Lucia and you with an awkward silence.
As she gets to the parking lot of the training grounds, she makes you exit the car and turns to Lucia. "Have you already been here?"
"Yeah, Y/n takes me at least once a week." 
Mapi looks at you surprised while you comment proudly, "Mark my words, she's going to be the future of Barça." Lucia blushes lightly, staring at the ground.
"I'm not that good." She says, nearly whispering.
"Don't you dare underestimate yourself! At your age, I was not even near as good as you. And you didn't even start training! Imagine then." She curls her lips in a small smile, heading to the entrance of the pitch.
"Did Y/n tell you about how we got the keys to this place?"
"Oh yeah!" Lucia chuckles, "She told me that you got drunk and wanted the keys, and Alexia had to save you."
"So, are we also changing this story?" Mapi asks you accusatively, making you sigh.
"Okay, maybe I embellished it a little." You grin guiltily.
"So what happened?" 
"She was the drunk one!" Pointing the finger at you while you rest your forehead on your hand, shaking your head, not looking at Mapi. "And then, with some excuse that I don't even remember she lured us into helping her get the keys. Needless to say, she couldn't keep quiet, so her plan went to shit. She couldn't think properly because she was very drunk. She called Alexia, who was partying with the other girls because we had just won our first Champions, crying."
"I wasn't crying."
"You were sobbing because you couldn't figure out where the keys were, even though you claimed you knew where they were. And then Alexia came to the pitch, worried sick, and helped us find them. Which is something I would have never expected her to do."
"Well, she definitely told me another story." Lucia chuckles.
"Well, okay, I may have skipped some of the most lame parts of the story because it was the second time I saw you, and I wanted to not sound too lame." You reply, a little embarrassed.
She places her hand on your shoulders and smiles at you. "But you are lame."
"How dare you talk like that to your football idol?!" You say, faking being offended.
"I can, and I will!" She begins running to the pitch while you follow behind her trying to catch her. Spoiler alert: you couldn't. That girl was fast. Too fast.
After a little while, you both stop, taking a break. You put on your shoes and begin passing the ball to each other in a triangle. Then you leave Mapi and Lucia to play alone while you sit on the grass, smiling at their interactions.
-
You were more than halfway through July, meaning the World Cup was about to start. Even though you decided not to participate, you still told yourself you would watch all the Spain games. You had friends and teammates in that squad and wanted to support them. You and Mapi had the same idea, so you hosted a little get-together with other Spanish teammates who didn't attend the World Cup. Of course, you chose to tell all of your teammates about the kids and the adoption but refrained from talking about the Alexia thing. Initially, they were shocked that you had two children now, but then they were very happy for you. 
So you found yourself on the day of Costa Rica against Spain, with many people in your home, all commenting random shit on TV. You were wearing your old Spain shirt with the number 10 behind it, while Lucia and Ava wanted to wear Alexia's. You let Ava wear one of the old shirts Alexia gave you at the beginning of your relationship with her. While with Lucia, you basically forced her to wear a Spain shirt with your name on it, claiming that "You have to wear the shirt of your favorite player, and you are lucky enough that you live with her." You loved teasing Lucia about the fact that you were her favorite player, and loved even more her annoyed reactions.
The two girls looked too cute, making your heart swell. So you posted a story on your Instagram showing the two backs of the shirts and the tv behind, with no caption. You still had to wait for everybody to come when you received a text from Alexia. 
'Love the fits ;).'
You reply almost instantly, with your fingers trembling, as it was the first time you spoke to her since she left that night. 'They look so cute in it!'
‘I still don't know how you convinced Lucia to wear one of your jerseys, though…’
‘Long story’ You simply reply. This conversation confused you, as she wanted to keep talking to you. At the same time, she was the one that wanted a break, but you kept on replying to her, as you really missed talking to her. 
'You'll tell me when I get back?'
You are about to reply when you hear a knock on the door, so you leave your phone on the table in your living room and go to the door. Mapi, Sandra Paños, Patri, and Claudia quickly enter your home, clearly looking for something.
"Nice picture you put up on your insta." Mapi remarks, "People are going to ask why you have two kids on your story and why you were watching a Spain game when you were part of the 15 people that refused to participate in the selecciòn."
"Make them talk about the kids; I'll discuss everything with Lucia in the future. And for the story, I'll just say it was in support of Alexia and nothing more, which is true." You explain to your best friend. 
"So, where are the kids?" Sandra, the goalkeeper, asks you.
"They are in the living room."
After your teammates meet the two girls, you all order pizza and wait for the game to start. 
You picked up your phone and saw that Alexia sent two other texts to you.
'Wish me luck (luck-clover emoji).'
'I miss you.'
You released a shaky exhale and decided not to reply; it was hurting you too much to respond to any of it. It was unfair of her to send you that last text, and it wasn't fair to you to reply.
During the game, when Alexia did something remarkable, as always, your friends, who were clueless about your break with her, would always make little comments about her and you, which you would shrug off, but Mapi and Lucia immediately understood that they were making you a little sad.
Spain managed to win that game by a very narrow margin. 1-0. You knew that they could've won by much more. You could see that by how they played, something was missing. Alexia's performance was clearly below her average, which made you low-key very worried. You see them return to the changing room, and then you switch off the tv. All the people in the room began talking and joking with one another, mainly focusing on the two kids that you had in your home; okay, a kid and a teenager, but for you, Lucia will always be a kid.
After a while, you receive another text from Alexia, making you feel bad that you weren't replying to them. Which she wrote
'You all were right about Jorge. I should have stayed home.'
You reply to this text, saying, 'I'm sorry, Alexia. He's an asshole.'
What actually had shaken you up from the text wasn't the fact that Jorge probably verbally abused many of your friends and teammates from your national team, which still made you angry as shit, but actually was that she said that she should have stayed home. Was she saying that she regretted going to the World Cup? Or was she regretting leaving you? 
Mapi realized you were having inner turmoil and dragged you to your kitchen, asking what was happening. You showed her your phone, and she looked at you surprised.
"Since when has she been texting you?"
"Since today." You put away your phone, "I just don't get what she is doing. What she wants from me. And I know for sure that she is going through worse than me. But this is fucking torture, and the worse thing is that she doesn't even realize it."
Mapi didn't have the time to reply that a very tired Ava came to the kitchen searching for you.
"Mo-, Y/n, I'm tired."
"Do you want to get to bed?" You ask her smiling as you know the subsequent request that she will make. Over the weeks that she stayed at your home, you started giving her piggyback rides to the bed, making her fall into her bed, earning a laugh from her. Then you would tuck her bed sheets, giving her a good night.
She slowly nods, raising her arms and making grabby hands. You chuckle at her and turn around, waiting for her to jump on your back.
You put her to bed, give her goodnight with a kiss on the forehead, and return to the chaos in the living room.
You found your teammates and Lucia outside in your garden, sat down on the couches, actively talking about random stuff that you didn't even want to know about. You went out and sat down next to Lucia and took part in the conversations that were happening.
"Now Lucia, I have a really important question for you." Sandra begins, making the young girls sit up straight, a little worried. "How's living with Y/n?" Making all the people at the table chuckle apart from you. "I ask you this because when this woman here moved in with Alexia, we were really worried for Nala. And also because she has never once made a plant live for at least more than a week."
"Okay, this statement is very wrong. A, I am a great dog mom, Nala loves me, and B, I only ever owned one plant, and I hate taking care of them." You say, clearly, nobody was listening to you but were waiting for Lucia's answer.
"Honestly, she has been very good to us." She replies shyly. "She took us in when nobody asked her to, and honestly, she has been more of a mom to me this past month than my mother has ever been in sixteen years."
You look at her, eyes watering, really shocked about her statement. You give her a small smile, "Stop it, you will make me cry." You chuckle while removing with your fingers the tears forming in your eyes.
"Who would've thought that Y/n was such a softie!" Claudia teases you while you give her a deadly stare.
"Shut up, Claudia." The other girls at the table chuckle softly, then you turn to Lucia, "I'm really happy you feel that way." You hug her, and you give her a small kiss on the temple.
"If you will excuse me, I'm going to bed now; remember that tomorrow we have training." She reminds you, you slowly nod at her, and then she turns to your teammates, "It was so nice meeting you all; I hope I'll see you again sometime. Good night." All your teammates say goodnight to her, and as soon as she leaves for her bedroom, they turn to you.
"That revelation must have hit you like a ton of bricks." Mapi jokes.
"Oh, you don't even know. I wasn't expecting her to say that; she's not the kind of girl who likes to 'speak her feelings.' But it was a nice surprise."
"They are good kids, really kind and smart. You must be so proud of them." Patri speaks up.
"I am. Ava is so smart and sneaky, you don't even know. Whereas Lucia she's a really good kid, she will be playing for Barcelona B this season. I'm so proud of her; she'll surely be our team's future." 
You say proudly as if you were speaking about your own kids, which slowly you realized that as time progressed, those two kids became so much part of your life that now you couldn't see yourself without them. For you, they were your kids, but you knew that it wasn't right to both of them for you to call them that, they already had a mom, and you didn't want to make them feel like you were replacing her.
"And with Alexia? How are they getting along with her?"
"Oh great! The younger one has her wrapped around her little finger. You all know how Alexia is with kids. Ava found out how she can make her say yes to everything she wants, so that's that. Whereas with Lucia, they bonded over football and dogs."
"You all look like a happy family."
"Yeah, I guess." You chuckle sadly, trying to keep up the façade that you and Alexia were still together.
After approximately half an hour, all your guests left, leaving you alone in the house, wallowing in your pit of misery. You were so happy that Lucia told you what she had told you, and there was only one person that you wanted to tell, Alexia. But you couldn't, and that realization left you helpless.
You go to your bed, which had been half undone since Alexia left, and you lay on it, still smelling her perfume from her pillow. You really missed her. So damn much. 
You turned on your phone one last time before going to sleep. As Mapi predicted, you received many comments about the two kids and why you were watching the Spain game, but what worried you was your agent, who texted you.
'Call me as soon as possible. I don't care if it's midnight."
You decide to call him immediately, hoping he wouldn't pick up. He picked up, telling you how the story you put on Instagram makes many people ask questions, making you roll your eyes.
-
The next day you wake up after approximately two hours of  tossing and turning in your bed, and go downstairs to your kitchen; you give Nala something to eat and make her go outside. You prepare coffee for yourself and wait for the girls to wake up. 
You were scrolling through your phone when Lucia and Ava came to the kitchen for breakfast. Fortunately, after more than a month, since they moved in, you managed to get something to eat for them for breakfast, so you didn't have to go to your brother's place every day.
Lucia sat at the chair next to you while Ava tried to sit on the kitchen countertop, as she saw you many times sit there, but she couldn't because she was too short, but she wouldn't surrender. So you chuckled, then picked her up and put her where she wanted to sit.
"What are you doing?" Lucia asks, trying to peek at your phone.
"Did you open my Instagram yesterday?" You ask her.
"You might be one of my idols, but I don't stalk you on Instagram; I already live with you." She threw her hands up.
"Look at my story." You push her phone to her hands, and she picks it up and goes on Instagram.
"Wait, this is us!" She says, smiling shyly. Ava snatches her phone from her sister to see the picture, making the owner of the phone grunt from irritation, the older girl tries to physically take back the phone, making them have a small fight.
"Okay, girls, it's nearly nine a.m.; it's too early for this type of physicality. Ava, give back the phone to your sister." The little girl huffs and reluctantly gives the phone back.
"So, what is the problem with this picture?"
"People are asking who are the kids in the picture, so I thought I would post about it to get my agent off my back. Is it okay for you? I chose a picture in which you can't see your faces, so you won't have any problems." You reassure the older girl, showing the picture on the phone. 
It was one of the first pictures you took together. The first one, Alexia, took it, and it was the first time you hung out together, all four of you. Ava was very tired and fell asleep on you; Alexia took a picture and sent it to you the day after. You couldn't see the sound girl's face in it, but it was evident she was a child. 
The second one instead was a picture of you and Lucia playing football, you didn't remember who took it, but it appeared on your phone. You fell in love with the photo right away. You were possessing the ball, and Lucia was trying to take it away from you, but you were pushing her away laughing. When you saw both pictures, they became your top three favorite pictures of all time. 
The third picture being with you and Alexia you took when you won your first Champion's League together. You had just started dating and thought you couldn't be happier at that moment, but boy, you were wrong.
"I love them." Lucia simply says, nodding. 
"I don't like my picture!" Ava says, crossing her arms on her chest and pouting.
You chuckle at her antics, "What do you have against it? It's cute!"
"It's not cute! I'm sleeping." 
"Okay, why don't you decide the picture." You offer, giving you her phone, on the album where you kept all the pictures with the girls.
She casually lands on a picture you took of her and Alexia petting Nala, which you thought was beautiful and sad. Making you rethink your life choices again in the past month.
"I want to put this." She says, giving you back the phone.  
"I'll think about it." You give her a smile, then go back to preparing breakfast for them, thinking you'll finish the post that night.
That day, you had a lot of things to do. One is enrolling Ava in an elementary school and then bringing Lucia to the pitch to help her train for the season. You decided to multitask. You took Lucia to the pitch, then left for the school with Ava, and then you'd leave her with Nico and then go back to the pitch to Lucia so that you could train for preseason in Mexico.
Needless to say was that when you got home, you were exhausted. After the tough training that you and Lucia just endured, you both decided to shower then the both of you found yourself lying frozen on the couch with the AC on, waiting for Nico and Ava to come back home to dinner.
Fast forward to three weeks, and you still had to do the post; you opted out of it because you thought the pictures were great, but you knew something was missing: Alexia. How could you post about your family when a huge part of it was missing? So you decided not to post anything, hoping she'll return to you. 
You were all now watching the Spain game against the US. The same at your house for the Panama game was again at your home. Spain barely got out of the group stage, with all the players clearly missing the spark they usually had. Matches with the US have always been challenging games; they were 4-time world champions for a reason, but more than that, the majority of the players in the USWNT played in the US, so you weren't even used to playing with them in a club. 
Needless to say, Spain lost that game badly. Jorge was fuming. You could see it from the screen. He would scream at his team at any time, especially with Alexia, making you extremely worried. Alexia didn't deserve it; nobody did. He was acting irrationally for the world to see how bad of a manager he actually was. 
The US team was over the moon when the final whistle blew, whereas Spain was shattered. They were all on the ground with their hands covering their faces. Then Alex Morgan walked towards your ex-girlfriend, picked her up from the ground, and gave her a small pat on the back for encouragement. It really hurt seeing the love of your life this hurt and distraught. 
You see her go to get water near the bleachers, then the camera frame Aitana Bonmatì, which she was too standing up, but then you see her begin running. The camera changes the frame again, and you see where Aitana is running to. Alexia was drinking from a Gatorade bottle, and Jorge approached her. He snatched it harshly away from her and began talking angrily at her. You couldn't hear what they were saying to each other.
Still, you knew Alexia wasn't having any of it, chuckling sarcastically and shaking her head. He reacted by grabbing her by the arm. In the meantime, many of your Spanish teammates that have seen the scene unveiling, ran up to their captain, trying to make him take his hands off her. Ona even forcefully removed his hand from Alexia's arm, giving him a death stare. As she saw her teammates swarm her and their trainer, Alexia put a hand on Ona and Aitana, trying to stop them from doing something stupid. At the same time, Jorge kept screaming at all of them. 
You and your Barça teammates were watching the scene on TV and looking at each other worried. You were frozen and scared, hoping that things wouldn't go sideways than they already were. FIFA was about to intervene when Jorge just finished screaming when Alexia shook her head and left the pitch, practically stomping. The game's broadcasting went to the ads, and you all looked at each other.
"What the fuck just happened?" Map was the first to speak, all turning to her while you still stared at the screen. Many voices were talking one on top of the other, but you closed them out, trying to think about your next step. You knew that if their interaction had lasted more than it did, you would've probably already been at the airport.
What brought you away from your spiral of thoughts was Ava calling out your name. This made you snap out of your trance and realize that also Ava and Lucia probably saw the same thing as you and many other kids around the world. 
You went before her and then kneeled so she wouldn't have to raise her head too much.
"Y/n, why was the coach screaming at Alexia?" She asks worriedly with her head down.
You didn't know what to say to her; you couldn't possibly say that Jorge was an asshole who couldn't interact appropriately even on a worldwide broadcast.
"You know, when a person is sad and angry, they sometimes take it out on others even though they don't deserve it. That's what happened, even though you should never have your feelings out of control." She nods understandingly while you gently take her sides, "Now, why don't we go outside and get ice cream together?" She nods excitingly. "I have to make a phone call now. Can you stay with Mapi until I am back?" You look at your best friend; she gives you a slight nod, then turns her attention to the younger girl. 
You go to your room, and the first thing you do is call Alexia. It goes to voice mail. And even though you hate leaving voicemails, you do.
"Hi Alexia, it's me, Y/n. I think you probably know that already. I saw the game today. I'm trying to say that please call back as soon as possible, or even just text me to let me know you are okay. And I know we're on a break, so I must give you space. But just please let me know if you are okay. I love you." You say, probably holding your phone too tightly, trying your best to find the right words.
Then you text Alba, which you haven't heard from her since the day she called you.
'Hey, Alba. I know that you are in New Zealand right now. I just wanted to ask you if you had heard anything about Alexia. Is she okay?'
Then you send a text again to Alexia. 'I saw the game today. Can you call me when you get this text, please? Or if you don't want to call, just tell me you are okay.'
Then you took a big breath to ground yourself. You told yourself to put your concern for Alexia in little boxes in the back of your brain. You had to be strong for Ava and Lucia. 
You went downstairs to the girls and found your house empty, only Mapi and your kids.
You give the woman a puzzled look. "They left about two minutes ago. And the kids are outside playing with Nala. Did you manage to get a hold of Alexia?"
You shake your head. "I send her a text, and Alba too. I really hope that she's okay. That interaction looked like a lot. And for the whole team to intervene seemed like he was saying some hurtful stuff."
"I sent a text to Aitana to ask her what was going on. She told me that some hurtful personal stuff was said to Alexia. They haven't seen her since then."
"I mean, should I be worried? I know that we aren't on talking terms right now, but she is still someone I still care very much about."
"It's okay to worry about her. I know for sure that she won't be MIA for much long."
"Thank you for taking care of the kids, I'm sorry I left in such a hurry, but I had to make the phone call, ya know."
"If it were Ingrid, and I was in your place, I would've probably done worse." Her confession made you chuckle. 
"So, ice cream? You don't have to come if you don't want to." 
"Of course, I'm coming! I still have to beat Nico for top place as aunt/uncle!"
"You are an idiot." You say, laughing. 
You go outside and call the two girls; Ava goes straight past you to Mapi, whereas Lucia, Shows you the thumbs up and asks you, "You okay?". You nod, giving her a weak shoulder pat, making her enter the house.
Every ten minutes, you would check your phone in the hopes of notification of Alexia, but it was useless. Good thing that Mapi was there, keeping the kids busy. 
You were taking a walk when Alba called you. 
"I'm sorry I have to take this." Your mouth to the defender that it was Alba and move away from the three girls.
"Hi Alba, how are you?"
"I'm good; we are about to go back to Spain. Tomorrow we have the flight."
"Say hi to Eli from me, okay?"
"Oh no, she told me to pass you the phone when we are done talking. What are you doing?" Even though you have known Alexia's mom, she has always been scary to you, especially when Alexia was on the line.. 
"I took the kids for some ice cream with Mapi. Right now, they wandered off, probably looking at some squirrel." You chuckle, smiling at the thought. "Have you heard from Alexia?"
"Nope, she didn't even call mamá. But strangely, she is not that worried. I think she knows where she went."
"At least one of us knows." You say hopefully.
"Mamá wants to talk to you," Alba says, passing the phone to her mom. 
"Y/n, how are you?"
"I'm good, Eli. How's New Zealand?"
"New Zealand is nice, but Barcelona is better."
"No doubts about that." You chuckle, agreeing.
"How are the kids? Are they behaving well?"
"They are wonderful; you should come to dinner as soon as you get back." You say politely.
"Now, I know you love my daughter very much, right?" She asks you authoritatively, making you subconsciously make your back straighter.
"Yes, I do very much."
"When she'll come back to you because she will. Make her work for it." Your face turns into a weird and confused expression. "You two are perfect for each other and complement each other perfectly. That is why I gave you my blessing to propose to her a year ago. But when my child comes to her senses and apologizes to you, if you want her back, which I really hope you do, make her earn it."
"I will." You say, chuckling. "I'll make her sweat a little."
"Good. Now I'll let you get back at it with the kids. Give them a hug from me. And take care of yourself, with ya?"
"I will. Have a safe flight."
-
The rest of the day and the next day passed on rather quickly. You were still worried, but somehow, after the call with Alexia's mom, you were worried less. You knew she was a nearly 30-year-old independent woman; she could care for herself. 
It was approximately 11 pm. You had just put Ava to bed, and Lucia was already to bed, ‘Claiming’ that she was tired. You thought she was hiding something from you, but you weren't worried about that. When she is ready, she will tell you. At least, you hoped. 
Alone in your house, you wondered if this was like rich housewives felt when they waited for their husbands to come home, except that you didn't have a man, nor a woman, for that matter. 
So, willing to get the whole desperate housewife experience, you decided to do the most typical thing they could do. Which was pouring yourself a glass of wine or two and hoping for the best. 
You tried to find the cheapest bottle in your kitchen and opened it immediately; as you were about to put the wine in the glass, you heard an insistent knock on the door. You checked your time and wondered who in their right mind would knock at someone's door at past 11 pm.
You go to the door and open it.
"Alexia?"
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five-and-dimes · 6 months
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20 Questions for Fic Writers!
I was tagged by @seiya-starsniper! 🤘
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
38 currently, but I orphaned a few in the past and am considering orphaning a couple more of my older ones, we'll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
220,579 - holy shit, when did that happen??
3. What fandoms do you write for?
At the moment just Sandman, although I still have some Umbrella Academy wips that I might try to go back and finish before season 4.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
lol I think just due to the nature of them being fics that have been on AO3 for a decade (which... holy shit I'm old 😂) my top five are four Teen Wolf fics and one Voltron fic
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Not really. I'll respond if someone, like, asks me something in a comment. I know I should respond more, but I often get overwhelmed and don't know what to say. So, uh... sorry everyone 😬
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Hm, none of my fics have, like, angsty endings... I think the closest might be Now I Lay Me, just because it's more of a hopeful ending as opposed to explicitly happy (although I'm writing a sequel specifically so I can write the explicitly happy ending, so... that's me in a nutshell lol)
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
I would definitely say Smile Like You Mean It. That one is the most fluffy happy ending for sure.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Nah. The worst I ever got was way back in the beginning on some of my Teen Wolf fics I'd get those comments that were like "you should have written it THIS way-" which were annoying but nothing I'd call "hate".
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
lol I wrote actual, explicit smut for the first time a few months ago with Undisclosed Desires. My fic famously will have almost-sex before something tragic happens and gets in the way lol, and even my one smut story is still very hurt/comfort. As much as I appreciate reading smut of all kinds, I think if I ever wrote more it'd be the same h/c vibe. I'm a one trick pony.
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
Nah, the closest would be in my bandom phase? But I never fully understood if those counted as crossovers or not lol
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
As far as I know I have not
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yup! I can't remember which ones, but I remember approving requests to translate a couple fics.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I did once, and I had a lot of fun with the idea part, but the actual writing a coherent, publishable fic together was stressful. I love just bouncing ideas with people, expanding on topics together, yes and-ing with friends, etc., but I think fully writing a fic with another person isn't really my thing.
14. What’s your all time favorite ship?
lol it's hard to say I have an "all time" favorite. I tend to just have my favorite at any given moment. Obviously I'm super into Dreamling right now, but I've had tons of ships that I still love and reread stuff for.
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
Honestly, there's a bunch of batman wips that I started ages ago and still really like, but I just haven't been able to get into them (Sandman took over the brain real good lol)
16. What are your writing strengths?
I think I'm good at the emotional parts- it's why I like hurt/comfort so much. I will gleefully spend half a story ripping your heart out, but then I'll work hard to give it back. I think I'm good at writing inner thoughts in a way that helps evoke whatever the character is feeling. And I think I'm good at imagery.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Well for one thing I write out of order, so if I ever do multichapter fics I have to finish the whole thing before I can post it lol 😂 Also I think I struggle with action and plot. My writing is very heavy on character introspection, and I like my fics, but if you take a step back from them not a lot really happens in them.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
I personally prefer not to, just because I'm monolingual. I'll either just do the italicized words and "they said in x language" or just say "they spoke in x language" and have the pov character not know what they're saying type of stuff.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Heroes. Does anyone remember that show?
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
Oof, I will reluctantly narrow it down to three lol. Now I Lay Me (I love the concept), Sloom (love me some family angst), and Recoil/Release (A Voltron fic that is currently my longest fic, and was another one that I was really proud of the concept and characterizations)
I don't know who's already been tagged, but I'll tag @gabessquishytum @cuubism @softest-punk @magnusbae and @pellaaearien
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snowdice · 1 year
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Big Bang Editing Story [Day 105]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49
Let’s do a bit of this today!
Chapter 50 (Patton)
Patton was starting to get excited. There had been a small snow storm a couple of weeks before, but since then, the temperature had been on the rise with no sign of more snow on the horizon. It was still a bit chilly, but Patton only really felt the need for a light coat instead of any more extreme winter wear. It was great!
Usually everyone including Patton was relieved as Winter turned to Spring, but this year, Patton had even more of a reason to be happy about it. Virgil had gotten a tiny bit more comfortable going outside over the winter, but he still didn’t like it too much.
Patton could almost feel the change in him as the warmer months drew nearer like a flower getting ready to bloom. He was happier and more energetic. Mr. Deknis was getting things ready to start planting as soon as his seasonal workers started to arrive in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Virgil was helping him get ready with a lot of enthusiasm.
Today, it was probably the warmest it had been all season. It wasn’t anywhere near summer weather, but Patton wouldn’t call it cold. So, while Logan was off doing princely duties in the afternoon, Patton decided to test if it was warm enough now for Virgil to willingly go outside.
Patton found Virgil in Mr. Deknis’s rooms a couple of hours after lunch, figuring he’d be done with whatever task they were doing that day by then. Patton ended up being correct as when Mr. Deknis let him into his living room, Virgil was busy flipping through yet another book of orchids, still trying to decide which he wanted to grow.
“Hi, Virgil,” Patton said, walking into the room with Princess Marisol on his heels. She had been lazing in a sunny spot by a nearby window but had gotten up to follow him as he walked by.
“Hi,” Virgil replied. He closed the book and set it aside.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dovecote with me,” Patton said. “I wanted to send a letter.”
Virgil thought about it for a moment, and Patton would swear he was using some secret weather sensing mechanism in his head to check the temperature outside before saying, “Okay.”
“If you two are going to the dovecote, would you mind taking a letter for me as well?” Mr. Deknis asked.
“Of course,” Patton agreed.
Mr. Deknis turned to grab a sealed letter off his desk. “It’s for my daughter,” Mr. Deknis said. “The handlers should know the right pigeon to give it to.”
Patton nodded and took it.
“You have a daughter?” Virgil asked, sounding more surprised than Patton would have expected.
“Yes, Darlene,” Mr. Deknis said. “I’ve talked about her. I thought I’d mentioned she was my daughter.”
“I didn’t know you could have children.”
The statement clearly rang with truth to Mr. Deknis’s ears, but it didn’t make him look any less confused. “Why would you think that?” he asked.
Patton’s eyes widened as he recalled a conversation from months ago where Virgil had been confused about why Mr. Deknis was allowed to be a gardener when he was a multrum. Patton didn’t know much about how multrums were treated in Mocnejsi, but it hadn’t sounded very nice, and Patton could draw some conclusions about why Virgil thought what he did. The problem of course was that Patton was pretty sure very few people in Prijaznia would be confused about Mr. Deknis being allowed to have a kid.
“You’re old,” Patton blurted before Virgil could say anything more. “Old people can’t have kids.”
These things were not technically lies. Mr. Deknis still looked at him like he’d just sensed Patton saying one though. He frowned and his eyes narrowed a bit. Patton had… never been as good at running around Mr. Deknis’s powers as Logan was.
“Patton,” Mr. Deknis said. “What?”
“You have to forgive Virgil,” Patton said, grabbing Virgil’s arm and tugging on it. Luckily, Virgil followed easily enough. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even know how babies are made.”
“That isn’t an argument, Patton,” Mr. Deknis said.
“Anyway, we have to go!” Patton said as he pulled Virgil out of Mr. Deknis’s living room and into the hallway. He slammed the door behind them. “Run,” said Patton to Virgil.
They ran.
Luckily, Patton was right. Mr. Deknis was old and didn’t seem keen to chase them. However, Patton expected that the conversation was nowhere near over. This, even if it made their behavior even more suspicious, would give Patton time to think of something or, more realistically, talk to Logan and get him to think of something.
The ended up all the way outside the stable before the stopped. Virgil, while fast, was not a distance runner and Patton wasn’t exactly athletic, so they collapsed in an exhausted heap.
“Why did we run?” Virgil asked after a few minutes of rest.
“People from Prijaznia wouldn’t question why a multrum can have a child,” Patton said. “They’re just normal people with some powers. If we’re not careful, he could have figured out you weren’t from here.”
Virgil grimaced. “That’s not good,” he said.
“It’ll be alright,” Patton promised. “We just need to ask Logan what to say. He’s always better at talking circles around Mr. Deknis.”
“He’s in a meeting right now though.”
“Yeah,” Patton said, “but that just means we have to be sneaky for a couple of hours.”
Always one to make something fun out of a not so great situation, Patton glanced over at Virgil. “You’re pretty good at sneaking,” he said. “Why don’t you teach me something about sneaking by helping me sneak into the dovecote.”
“You want to do training?” Virgil asked.
Patton hesitated, having heard about ‘training’ from Logan. “Uh, only this type of training,” Patton said, “and only for this afternoon until we have a chance to talk to Logan.”
“The king told me I could train people if they gave me permission.”
Oh dear.
He seemed invigorated suddenly and popped to his feet even though Patton really would have rather rested for a bit more.
“The dovecote is the tower that kind of stands on its own on the North side of the castle, right?” Virgil asked.
“Yep,” Patton agreed, “that’s it.”
“Great,” Virgil said. “That will be perfect for climbing lessons.”
Oh dear.
“Er…” Patton said. “Climbing? I thought we could just, you know, sneak through the doors…”
“Using the doors is the first thing they’d suspect,” Virgil argues. “We have to be sneaky.”
“We won’t really be sneaky if I fall and crack my head open on the ground,” Patton muttered.
“That’s why it’s perfect for training!” Virgil said. “There’s a lot of footholds. You won’t fall.”
“You vastly overestimate my upper body strength,” Patton said, but Virgil wasn’t listening. He was just grabbing at Patton’s arm and pulling him North.
“I’ll teach you everything you need to know!” Virgil promised. “First lesson. We need to sneak up to the building. There are bushes that go along the castle walls. We’re going to crawl through those.”
“Okay, I’m not sure if that’s necessary,” Patton said. “If Mr. Deknis finds us, we can just outrun him again.”
“Maybe not,” Virgil agreed, “but it’s good practice, and this is training.”
“Right…” Patton said, but then sighed at the look in Virgil’s eyes. “Fine, lets go get in the bushes.”
  Chapter 51 (Logan)
“I see you wore out Patton,” Logan said to Virgil. Patton glared at him from where he’d collapsed on Logan’s bedroom floor.
Logan had been accosted as soon as he’d gotten out of a meeting earlier in the day by Patton and Virgil as, apparently, they’d slipped up in front of Mr. Deknis. Luckily, the conversation had not been nearly as dire as they’d feared.
True, most people in Prijaznia wouldn’t question the rights of multrums anymore, but racism was still prevalent in some smaller pockets near the kingdom’s boarders. It was easy enough to explain that Virgil was from an area where prejudice against multrums was prevalent (not a lie) and that Patton, with his sensibilities would panic not wanting Mr. Deknis to realize Virgil’s internalized prejudices and would take him away to explain (also not a lie).
It had been easy enough to provide this explanation to Mr. Deknis and for the man to accept Virgil’s apology for his accidental offensiveness. There’d been a bit of lingering suspicion from the gardener, but nothing that wouldn’t fade with time.
They’d fled back to Logan’s room after that to get a chance to breathe away from adult supervision which is when Patton had dramatically fallen to the floor in exaggerated agony.
Patton had become Virgil’s newest victim of training. He currently had bruises and scrapes from attempting to scale the wall of the dovecote. When Virgil hadn’t been able to get him up that way, they’d taken an alternate route which explained the feathers and… other unpleasant messes now stuck to both of them. That’s why Patton was on the floor and not the furniture.
“Patton has a lot to work on,” Virgil said gravely. His eyes flickered to Logan, “but at least he’s willing to work on it.”
Logan shot him a tight-lipped glare. “Go take a shower, Virgil,” he said. “You’re dirty.”
Virgil stuck his tongue out at him in response but did turn and disappear into the next room to take a show.
“And what about you?” Logan asked the figure on the floor. “Are you going to go shower?”
There was a long pause. “I’ a min’te,” he yawned, not opening his eyes.
“Whatever you want,” Logan said. Though, he did sacrifice one pillow from his bed, making Patton lift his head so Logan could slip the pillow under it.
He sat on his bed with a book while waiting for Virgil to get out of the shower. He was pretty sure Patton had fallen asleep on the floor by the time the door to the bathroom opened once again. Virgil was in one of the sweaters Logan had given him when he’d first come here despite now having new fitted clothes of his own for every occasion. It still hung off his frame a bit, but not as much as it once had. He yawned softly, a sweater paw coming up to cover his mouth.
“Tired from your long day of being a menace?” Logan asked idly.
Virgil stopped mid yawn to glare at him.
Logan just smiled back and patted the bed next to him. Virgil seemed to forgive him for his teasing easily enough. He came to sit next to Logan on the bed, curling his legs underneath him.
Logan glanced down at the boy on the floor. “Patton, you can go take a shower in my bathroom if you don’t want to go all the way downstairs.”
There was no response.
Logan tsked. “What have you done to him?” Logan asked Virgil. He used to think Patton was the energetic one.
“He’s fine,” Virgil claimed.
“He’s filthy and unconscious on the floor,” Logan argued back.
Virgil just shrugged and leaned over to rest his chin on Logan’s shoulder. Clearly, he was a bit tired as well even if he wasn’t as much as Patton. “What are you reading?” he asked.
“Just starting a new book on code breaking,” Logan said.
Virgil hummed, but his fingers twitched on his lap a bit.
“Did you need something?” Logan asked.
“When you’re done reading that, could you help me read something?”
“Of course,” Logan said. “I’m at a stopping point, so we can do it now if you wish.”
Virgil nodded and went scrambling over the bed. Logan flinched as he was jostled from his position by the movement.
He opened a drawer in the nightstand that Logan had emptied out from him a while back. It’s where he kept the first protection charm he’d made when not carrying it and a picture Patton had drawn him once. He was also, apparently, keeping a book there.
He plopped said book down on Logan’s lap. It was a book about different species of orchids.
“Mr. Deknis gave me this book and I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few flowers I like by the pictures, but most of the words are really hard in this book,” he explained. “Could you read a few passages to me.”
“Of course,” Logan replied, taking the book from him. The book was on the larger size, though not nearly as large as many books Logan read and was covered with hand-drawn flowers, in particular, orchids. There were small pieces of colorful paper sticking out of the top, marking certain pages. “Are these indicating the pages you’d like me to read to you?” Logan asked.
Virgil nodded, moving closer to once again settle his chin on Logan’s shoulder. He peered down at the book in Logan’s lap intently.
Logan smiled softly as he cracked open the book to the first marked page.
Virgil listened with rapt attention as Logan went through the description of the flowers on each page. Each of the flowers had a short blurb about them along with a table that explained things like how much water and shade each needed. There were 6 flowers in total marked, and Virgil did not interrupt Logan once as he read through them.
Logan glanced at Virgil as he finished reading the last bit of text and Virgil reached out to take the book back. Logan closed it and handed it to him.
Virgil frowned down at the book in contemplation for a long moment.
Then, he opened the book to the fourth marked page. “I like this one,” he said, looking up at Logan, seemingly for approval.
Logan nodded. “It’s very nice, Virgil.”
“How do you say the name again?” he asked.
“Zygopetalum maculatum,” Logan told him.
Virgil’s eyes squinted a bit, and he didn’t attempt to say it. He just nodded.
“We can practice pronouncing it if you’d like,” Logan offered.
He nodded sheepishly and closed the book. “Maybe tomorrow,” he suggested as he stashed the book back in his drawer and curled up on his side of the bed.
“Tired?” Logan asked.
Virgil closed his eyes and nodded, cheek scraping over his pillow.
“Want me to read more of Into the Mist?” Logan asked.
Virgil nodded again, and Logan reached over to the nightstand, his hand passing over the code book he’d been reading earlier to the novel he was reading with Virgil.
Logan didn’t even get a full chapter in until Virgil was softly snoring. They’d probably have to read everything again with Virgil more awake next time.
Eventually, he managed to poke Patton awake long enough for him to rinse off in Logan’s shower, but not enough for him to retire to his own bedroom. Instead, he flopped onto the foot of the bed and promptly fell unconscious again. Logan’s bed was crowded that night.
  Chapter 52 (Mr. Deknis)
It was Jeffers Deknis’s second busiest time of year right after the fall harvest. However, unlike the fall harvest, not all of his workers were yet at the castle. The winter had been harsh and while the last snowfall had been a month ago, many of his workers whose families lived far from the castle had sent word they would be late arriving for various reasons. A few were dealing with sick relatives and others had to help fix things broken by storms for their families before making the trek. One who lived in the mountains up north was still snowed in.
So, he was dealing with only about 70% of his usual staff, meaning he was even busier than he usually was in the spring.
However, despite how busy he was, he didn’t mind taking a bit of time out of his schedule to help plant a little plot of land he’d reserved for a special selection of plants.
Virgil has spent a lot of time deciding on what plant he wanted to grow in the plot Jerffers had given him. He’d combed through multiple books even though it quickly became clear he couldn’t read well and talked to Jeffers about his options extensively before finally coming to a decision.
He’d decided on a flower called Zygopetalum maculatum which was a type of orchid. It wouldn’t be an easy flower to grow considering they didn’t naturally have the right climate for it, but with a bit of magical fertilizer and ruins in the ground near them, it was feasible.
Since Virgil had chosen his flower, Jeffers had dedicated a bit of his time each day to explaining what they needed to do for it to grow and had set him up with the correct materials. Virgil had spent a good chunk of the last two weeks outside on his marked off plot of land doing as instructed to get the soil in the right condition.
Sometimes Logan and Patton joined him and sometimes he was alone, but he was clearly dedicated to his task. Jeffers had stopped by and tested the soil the day before and found it was adequately prepared for planting Virgil’s flowers and had told the boy as much.
Despite being already very busy, Jeffers had allowed for an hour out of his schedule to help Virgil plant his flowers this afternoon.
Even though Jeffers had told him exactly where in his schedule he’d made time for it, Virgil had come early.
Very early.
He’d stalked Jeffers’ footsteps all day. If the boy were a cat, Jeffers would have assumed he’d accidentally left a slice of meat in his back pocket after breakfast.
Jeffers ended up letting him help with a few other things in the morning which he seemed to enjoy. He seemed to appreciate planting things even if they weren’t his flowers. He was also good at it if a bit slower than necessary in his caution to make sure he didn’t mess anything up.
Jeffers ended up sending Patton to get an extra packed lunch from Helen for Virgil (as people didn’t like when the gardeners tracked mud into the dinning hall) and they ended up eating while sitting on the base of the fountain by the plot of land Virgil had been tending to.
The water in the fountain was now flowing, having recently been cleaned and turned on and birds were chirping in the distance. It was a nice, calming environment. This was why Jeffers liked to spend so much time outside. Or at least, it was one of the reasons.
There was a soft meow from beside them that drew Jeffers’ attention. Jeffers looked down to see one of the castle’s many cats standing on its hind legs with one of its paws on the fountain’s base. It was staring at them expectantly. Jeffers recognized the yellow stripped cat as one of the friendlier ones that Patton had tamed as a kitten. It meowed again when it saw him looking.
“What?” Jeffers asked it, raising one eyebrow. “I know you’re not starving.”
It meowed again in complaint. Then it turned to Virgil. Virgil was instantly tearing off a bit of his chicken sandwich to feed to the cat.
“You don’t need to feed him,” Jeffers said. “Patton takes care of that plenty well.”
Despite what Jeffers had said, the cat gobbled up the piece of chicken Virgil had fed him like he was starving.
“It’s Buttercup,” Virgil informed Jeffers. The name vaguely rang a bell.
“You remember all of Patton’s names for them?” Jeffers asked, honestly impressed. There were so many cats.
Virgil nodded and ripped off another piece of chicken. The cat went flying at it with gusto.
“Keep some for yourself too,” Jeffers said. “You look less fed than the cats.” Thankfully he was looking more fed than he had at the beginning of winter.
“But he’s hungry,” Virgil replied with a frown.
“He’s a glutton is what he is,” Jeffers said. “He’s already had his lunch by now I’d imagine and is more than free to hunt down rodents in the barn if he needs a snack.”
Virgil frowned and gave the cat another piece of chicken.
“You’re too good of a kid,” Jeffers said with an eyeroll.
Virgil just frowned at him and took a bite of his sandwich for himself this time.
“Make sure to eat extra dinner if you’re going to feed the cats your lunch,” Jeffers said. “Though I’m sure Helen will be feeding you extra by default when she hears you’ve been helping me in the garden all day.”
“I’m fine,” Virgil said, stubbornly. He took another bite of his sandwich and fed another to the cat.
Jeffers considered him. ‘Fine,’ was a very vague word and his powers didn’t ping on it as a lie because it could mean a variety of things. He had a feeling Virgil knew that.
Jeffers wasn’t a fool. The kids had been talking around his powers about something all summer, though he couldn’t figure out what exactly it was about. Virgil was almost as good at it as Logan. Maybe he was even better.
“Not hungry enough to eat the entire sandwich by yourself then?” Jeffers asked.
Instead of replying verbally, Virgil just shrugged. Clever little bastard.
Jeffers sighed. Helen had packed some of the canned peaches in their lunches, so Jeffers pulled his out and set the container next to the boy. Virgil looked at the offering in surprise.
“Cats don’t eat peaches,” he cautioned. “It’s bad for their digestion.”
“I don’t need to take your food,” Virgil said with a frown.
“Yeah, you do,” said Jeffers. “I’m and old man, not a growing boy. You should eat them.”
Virgil frowned and looked like he was about to argue.
“Eat your lunch so we can plant your flowers kid,” Jeffers huffed.
Virgil hesitated, but the idea of getting to plant his flowers seemed to trump his desire to argue with Jeffers about lunch and he picked up the dish of peaches.
Jeffers went about finishing what was left of his lunch as Virgil continued to eat his own. The cat ran off when it noticed there was no more meat available.
Jeffers rolled his eyes. The thing was probably running off to go scam more people out of their lunch. Patton had spoiled them far too much and they were too good at making cute starving expressions.
“Alright,” Jeffers said once they were done. “Are you ready to plant your orchids.”
Virgil nodded eagerly and Jeffers packed away their trash before getting up.
“Good,” Jeffers said. “You have all of the supplies I told you we needed gathered?”
Virgil nodded and started to list off everything that Jeffers had said.
“Then, we can get started planting,” Jeffers said with a smile.
  Chapter 53 (Virgil)
Virgil and Mr. Deknis took their time with planting the orchids. Virgil had done everything Mr. Deknis had told him to do with the plot of land before planting. He’d even had Mr. Deknis write it all down so Logan could read him the instructions each morning. The sheet of paper was in Virgil’s pocket at the moment. He knew it so well at this point that he knew what each list item said even if it had words he still didn’t quite know how to read.
It had been hard work getting the soil to be right for his flowers, but it was fun hard work.
 Working hard was different when he didn’t have to do something but wanted to do something. It was also easier to do physical labor when he wasn’t hungry, something he hadn’t been all winter.
He’d thought by not training as much over the winter months as he used to in the military regiment that he would be weaker when Spring came, but he actually felt stronger and like he had a lot more energy. He’d also gotten taller without realizing it. He’d noticed when he’d been in the shed he’d first hid in when coming to the castle. He’d hit his head on some of the tools when he’d been able to walk under them the previous fall.
 Virgil had already watched a few things being planted by Mr. Deknis, but he still was careful to pay attention as the gardener showed him how to plant the first few bulbs. Then, Virgil was handed the container of bulbs to plant.
Mr. Deknis watched him plant the first few orchids and Virgil glanced up for approval before moving on each time.
Eventually, Mr. Deknis took a few bulbs himself to the opposite end of the patch of soil and started planting some himself, trusting Virgil to plant his portion of the flowers right without supervision. Virgil couldn’t help but be happy about this show of trust given to him.
 “Good job,” Mr. Deknis said after the two of them had planted two rows of orchids. “You’ve got an eye for planting things.”
“Thanks,” Virgil said bashfully.
“How old are you again?”
“I’m 14,” Virgil said, unsure why he was asking.
Mr. Deknis nodded. “Maybe in a few years you’d want to get a job as one of the gardeners here,” he said. “I could always use one who knows how to respect plants like you and with how much you’ve been volunteering to help already, you’ll know a good amount by then.”
“Really?” Virgil asked.
Mr. Deknis nodded.
“Why not now?”
 “You’re only 14,” Mr. Deknis said. “You don’t need to worry about working. I’m happy to let you tag along and watch or even help a bit with planting when you want, but you should just be a kid.”
That confused Virgil. He’d been considered out of training to be an assassin as soon as he’d turned 14-years-old last fall. Now he was being told he needed to wait a few years to help plant seeds?
“I could do it,” Virgil said.
“I know you could,” Mr. Deknis said, “but you don’t need to. Have a little fun this summer.”
 “But I want to,” Virgil said.
Mr. Deknis huffed out a laugh. “I know,” he said, “and you can feel free to care for your orchids and help me out all you want, but no jobs until you’re at least 16.”
“It’s better than any other jobs I’ve had,” Virgil muttered, honestly annoyed he couldn’t become a gardener right now because of his age.
Mr. Deknis raised an eyebrow. “And what other jobs have you had?”
Virgil froze. That was not a good line of questioning. “Uh…” Virgil said and Mr. Deknis’s expression was changing in an alarming way. “Different things. I’ve carried things for people and, uh, cleaned.”
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survey--s · 2 years
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229
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What’s your favourite cereal? Lately, I’ve been going for shreddies or weetabix. Is there a bus stop near your house? We don’t have any public buses in our town. Do you prefer red wine or white wine? White wine. Who do you live with? My husband, our dog and our three cats. Do you read reddit? If so, how often and what subreddits do you like? Yeah, I go on reddit everyday. The ones I visit the most are r/britishsuccess, r/awfuleverything, r/creepywikipedia, r/fundiesnarkuncensored, r/blackcats, r/beagles, r/eyeblech, r/greebles and r/goatsonhorses. I also read a lot of the true crime and paranormal subs, but I don’t really contribute.
Have you recently broken up with a significant other or even just a friend? No.
What’s the weather like today? Is it nice enough to go outside? It’s sunny but really windy so it’s cold out. I mean, it’s perfectly nice enough but you’d need a jacket and I don’t think you’d want to sit out there for long. Do you know anyone who’s had a baby recently? My cousin had a baby boy a few months ago. Have you used a pen or pencil today? What did you write down? No. What does your last text message say and who is it from? It’s from Kerry and it’s just a load of laughing emojis, lol. Luckily she still wants me to walk Tyke so I have him two days next week :) When was the last time you ate marshmallows? I honestly don’t remember, I’m not a huge fan of them really. Do you listen to any podcasts? How do you listen to them? No. They bore me, lol. How old will you be in the year 2030? I’ll be turning 42 right at the end of the year. How often does the kettle in your house get used? Everyday - maybe 4-5 times a day in total, depending on whether we’re both home or out at work. What was the last thing you spent $150 or more on? Stock for work. Do you prefer yes or no questions or more open-ended questions? Open-ended ones, or at least ones that require more than a one-word answer. What brand of toilet paper do you usually buy? The cheapest one, lol, which is normally Tesco own brand. If I knocked on your door right now, would you be acceptable/dressed? Yeah, I’m wearing leggings and an over-sized jumper/dress type top. Are you studying currently? What level of education and what do you study? No. I finished with school nearly eleven years ago now. When was the last time you played a board game? What did you play? We played Monopoly last weekend, lol. We don’t play them often, though. How old were you when you first became sexually active? (consensual sex) I lost my virginity at seventeen but I’d been doing other stuff from fourteen. Have you ever been to a festival for beer or other type of alcohol? Yeah, beer festivals. Where I used to live held one every year. Do you own a record player and/or vinyls? Nope. When was the last time you went out for drinks? Uh, we don’t really do that much anymore, maybe last year sometime when Tom was up visiting and we got beer and chips, lol. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nope. What’s your favourite kind of smoothie? Raspberry. What’s your opinion on The Simpsons? I love upto about season 18-20, but after that it kind of lost it’s appeal for me. I still watch all the early seasons though - yay Disney+! Do you prefer horizontal or vertical stripes? Horizontal. What’s your favourite brand of deodorant/antiperspirant? I just buy whatever anti-perspirant is on offer, really. They all do the same thing so I just buy the cheapest. Do you know anyone who has been through a divorce? Sure, quite a few people. If you had the money, would you take taxis everywhere instead of driving? Nope. Have you ever done a juice cleanse? No. I don’t have that level of willpower, lol. Do you have any friends who you can’t decide if they’re attractive or not? Hmmm, I suppose so. Is the inside of your fridge clean right now or does it need a clean out? It’s clean - I emptied the fridge and cupboards yesterday and had a clear out and a wipe down. When was the last time you washed the dishes? This morning after breakfast. Are there any magazines that you read on a regular basis? Not anymore. Do you have to pay for parking in most places in the town/city you live in? No, but you do need a parking disc in the centre and even then you can only park for an hour. What’s the first thing you tend to do when you have a headache? Take painkillers and have a drink. Tell me about your responsibilities at work. I run my own business, so everything is my responsibility, lol. Booking jobs, social media, messaging clients, advertising, transport, organising insurance, actually doing the walks and sits, making sure all the animals are happy, fit and healthy, ordering stock, making up orders, posting parcels, paying in cash, keeping track of payments... What’s your favourite style/cut of underwear? I just wear french-style knickers. Can you hear lots of traffic from your house? Does it bother you? Not really. We hear the odd car but generally it’s pretty quiet. Have you ever had proper Canadian poutine with the squeaky cheese? Hahah yes, I LOVE poutine. I wish we could get it here. I used to have it everyday when we went skiing there, haha. Do your parents know how to operate smartphones and/or computers? Yeah - well, they both have Macbooks and can use them fine but my dad has never owned or used a mobile phone. How old are your parents, anyway? 62 and 66.  Do you complete a survey before taking this one? Will you take one after? This is my first survey today but I’m sure I’ll take plenty more. Have you ever lost enough weight to drop a dress size? Yes. What’s your favourite kind of bread? Sourdough, focaccia or scacciata. When was the last time you got pizza? What toppings did you get? Uh, a few weeks ago. Sundried tomato, pesto and mozzarella.  Do you own Monopoly? Is it the original or a special version? Yeah, we have the original version but I would LOVE the beagle version, lol. Would someone being either a cat or dog person affect you dating them? No, but I wouldn’t date someone who didn’t like cats or dogs. I have both and I’d never give them up for another person. How do you travel to and from work? I drive. Do you primarily use cash or card for your purchases? Why? Card. Because it’s about ten times more convenient. Have you ever been to a stadium concert? Yeah - I prefer smaller, more independent venues though.
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ineedbooks15 · 3 years
Text
His Solace (X)
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~~~
Summary: Levi finally receives intel about his sister after months of not knowing about her. Marley sends out their first survey ship. 
Word Count: 2.3K
Warning: Spoilers for Season 4 specifically episode 9 (Brave Volunteers). 
~~~
It has been exactly two weeks after (Y/N) gave birth to her son, and ever since his arrival to the world Zeke couldn’t help but remind himself about his plan. As much as he wanted to stay with (Y/N) and Kaito, he knew that his plan needed to be set in motion and soon. Luckily for him, the first scouting ship is preparing to leave today. With some of his comrades on board, Zeke is confident that his message will be heard. 
After making sure that he had everything to give to Yelena, Zeke made his way to the nursery. There he saw (Y/N) holding Kaito in her arms. (Y/N) was making silly faces which were successful in making Kaito laugh. Once seeing Zeke at the doorway, (Y/N) came up to him. She transferred her son into his arms.
“Do you have everything ready?” She asked. 
Of course, Zeke has told her what he was going to do. Well, he only told her he was planning on making contact with Paradis Island but he wasn’t about to tell her about the Rumbling. After spending so much time with her, he knew she would be against the elimination of the human race no matter how much he would try to explain that it was for the greater good.
“Zeke?”
Zeke snapped out of his thoughts. “Yes. Your letter is in my pocket as well as the photograph. Yelena assured me that she will hand deliver it to your brother.”
“She better not lose them.” (Y/N) muttered as she looked down at her son as caressed her son’s head. “They need to know that I’m okay.”
“Don’t worry. By the end of the week, your brother and your friends will know that you are alright and that you have been blessed with a child…. Wish I could see their faces when they see the photograph of Kaito.”
(Y/N) smiled at the thought. She too wished she could witness their reaction when they see Kaito’s picture for the first time. She could only hope to see them soon.
~
“Hello, friends from Marley!” A voice yelled out from shore. “Welcome to Paradis Island! I’m Hange, here to greet our guests who’ve come so far across the sea! Now, step this way and join us for some tea!” The overly kind woman gestured to the people beside her. “By the way, we’re already friends with this guest that arrived before you! Isn’t that right, Niccolo?”
The guest she was referring to was a nervous young man who had his hands tied behind his back. Even when it was nightfall, the look of fear was obvious to everyone on the ship. The short man behind him made sure to point his blade at the captured soldier as Hange swung her arm around Niccolo’s shoulders, giving him a friendly side hug.
“Captain!” Niccolo yelled out. “Forget about me and shoot these devils!”
“What are you saying, Niccolo?!” Hange asked, her forced smile breaking.
“He’s tired of your shitty skit.” The short man named Levi said, stating the obvious.
The captain of the ship glared at the devils in front of him. “Niccolo! Understand  this, you devils! Marley doesn’t mingle with filthy blood!” He pointed his gun at the devils. “Go drink your pig piss with your filthy friends!
“Haa? Hey! You sure you wanna be rude to us?!” Hange yelled back. “Can’t you see the Titan behind you?!
The crew members looked behind them to see the 15-meter Titan glaring down at them. Just moments ago, it proved its strength by carrying the ship out from sea and onto shore. Would they test its patience as well?
Despite the Titan behind them, the captain continued to point his weapon to Hange and Levi. “We’ll never yield to you devils! Say hello to this!”
A single gunshot filled the air. 
No one moved, not knowing what to do. Everyone had shocked faces as they witnessed one of the crew members shoot their own captain.
“Hands up, Yelena!” 
The tall woman, Yelena, pointed her gun to another crew member. “Drop your weapons.”
At her words, the unsuspecting crew members were surrounded by armed weapons. Hange, Levi, and everyone else were surprised to see this twist of events happen in front of their eyes. 
Yelena took off her helmet. “Hange, I’d be happy to accept your invitation. Let’s have tea. I have good news to share with you all.”
~
Inside the main tent, Hange was staring down the barrel of the gun. Her curiosity showed no bounds as a pull of the trigger could spell out her death. 
“Ah, I see!” She exclaimed when seeing the number of bullets in the chamber. “So that’s how it shoots a bunch.”
Levi, on the other hand, showed no interest in the weapons. His eyes never left the two people in front of him.
“That’s standard-issue in Marley.” Yelena explained as she sipped her warm tea. “The Marley army has 20,000 soldiers per division. With 50 divisions, that’s 1,000,000 soldiers.”
With this information, Hange stopped fiddling with the weapon.
“There’s also the navy with three fleets, each composed of 21 battleships. They’ve made tremendous progress in new weapons and aerial warfare as well.”
“Aerial…?”
Levi tsked before kicking Hange from under the table. The look he gave her said: “Don’t freak out or they’ll think we’re weak.” Hange responded with her own look: “I know!”
“In other words,” This time it was the dark-skinned man that spoke. “Vehicles allowing one to attack the enemy from the sky.”
“Huh?!” Hange quickly stood up, completely forgetting what Levi advised her. “From the sky?!”
“Oi.” Levi warned.
With a bit of sweat on her face, Hange asked, “If Marley had such capabilities this whole time, why haven’t they attacked in over a year?”
“There are two reasons.” Yelena answered. “One being the Pure Titans released here. Even with the latest weapons, they would hinder a land assault. They were used as a tool to confine Eldians within the walls, but in turn, they’ve protected Eldia from invasion.”
“Yeah. Well, ain’t that funny?” Levi asked sarcastically.
“Though dawn is coming soon, and that’s when Titans are active.” Yelena noted as she looked out the entrance. “But if we’re way out here, sipping on tea outside the walls, you must have killed all the Titans roaming around. Is that true?”
“And what if it is?” Levi asked. “You gonna report it to Marley?”
“No,” Yelena said, her face changed into one of surprise. “It blows away my expectations.”
“And the second reason?”
“Currently, Marley is at war with multiple nations. They can’t be bothered with Paradis. You defeated the Warrior unit, the pride of Marley, and captured two of their main weapons, the Colossal and Female Titans.”
“And yet one of them took one of our own.” Levi sneered as his glare intensified.
Yelena disregarded Levi’s comment. “Marley’s many enemies took notice and were quick to unite and declare war.”
“If you guys are secret agents who infiltrated Marley, I’m guessing you came from conquered nations?” Their silence was enough for Hange to confirm her hunch to be true. “Oh, I’m right?! If you’re going up against Marley, I bet you’ve got big backers!”
Yelena set down her tea. “We’re not secret agents or anything of the sort. We were powerless. Marley took our homes and forced us to be soldiers. We were close to losing hope at ever striking back. Until we met him.”
Yelena’s mind played the moment where the Beast Titan saved her. 
“A Titan that people of the world feared, calling it a devil. But I saw something completely different… A god. One that gave hope to the powerless.”
Levi rolled his eyes at Yelena’s words. If she was referring to the Beast Titan, then she must be delusional.
“Under Zeke Jaeger’s command, we shot our superiors. We’re the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers. Our goal: To free the Eldian people.”
~
As the meeting reached its end, Yelena placed two separate envelopes on the table.
“One of these envelopes contains Zeke Jaeger’s term on how to free your people. But this one,” Yelena slid an envelope towards Levi, “Is from your sister.”
Levi tried not to react outwardly at her words but he couldn’t help how his heart raced at the mention of his sister. After a year and a half of not knowing if his sister was alive or dead, he’ll finally have some type of closure.
“Is she…” Levi couldn’t even finish his sentence. The thought of his sister actually being dead… Were the contents in the envelope her final words? 
“She’s alive and well.” Yelena answered as if she could read his mind. “But she sends her regards for not coming here personally. She had more important matters to attend to.”
“More important than coming back home?” Hange asked, not believing in what she was hearing. She knew (Y/N) very well. What would be so important for her to not come back to them? 
“Everything is explained in there,” She gestured at the small envelope in front of them. 
And with that Yelena and her comrade left Hange and Levi alone. Hange looked at her friend and saw how conflicted Levi was.
“Do you want me to leave?” She asked him.
“...No.” Levi said.
Hange nodded. She knew Levi needed a friend right now. Ever since they got back from the basement, she couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault that (Y/N) got captured. If only she had stayed with her then maybe…
Finally, Levi grabbed the envelope and opened it. He grabbed the folded piece of paper and quickly unfolded it. He instantly recognized his sister’s handwriting as he read the letter.
Levi,
This is (Y/N). But you probably know that because of my messy handwriting. How are you? Dumb question, I know. You’re probably worse than shit without me there. I hope Hange is reminding you to be a human being and that you need to eat everyday and sleep your usual three hours. But enough about that. I hope this letter reaches you. A lot has changed since Shiganshina.
First of all, I’m okay. I swear. I’m writing this letter on my own free will. I’m in Marley. More specifically, I live in an internment zone called Liberio. Reiner and Zeke explained their reasons why they attacked the walls. Hopefully, whatever was in Dr. Jaeger’s basement explained everything. Long story short, to everyone in the world we’re devils that have committed horrible acts against humanity centuries ago. I’ve done my research and every single history book I’ve come across reached the same conclusion. I’m not sure what to actually believe but I do know the world isn’t ready to forgive and forget. I hope you all prepare yourselves for the future we’re about to face.
I mentioned this before… A lot has changed. There’s a reason why I’m not there with you right now. Believe me, I want to be there. I want to see you and Hange and the other cadets but Zeke said it would be too risky. I know you hate him but he’s right, especially now that I have a son.
That’s right. I’m a mother. Hard to believe, I know. His name is Kaito. He was born a few weeks ago. He has Erwin’s eyes. I wish you could see him, Levi. He’s perfect. He’s my new reason to live ever since Erwin has passed away. I have to stay with him. His safety is my priority. Kaito needs me as much as I need him. Please understand, Levi. Please. 
I hope we see each other soon. I miss you and everyone. Tell them I said hello.
Sincerely,
(Y/N)
Levi has to reread (Y/N)’s entire letter, hoping he hadn't misread anything. But it was there. Written on the paper plain as day. 
Son. (Y/N) has a son. He’s an uncle...
Levi passed the letter to Hange as he processed everything he just read. 
“(Y/N) has a son? Erwin’s son?” Hange asked. “Was she pregnant during the battle?”
“No.” Levi said with certainty, “She would have told us if she had known. Or she would at least told Erwin.”
“I don’t think even Erwin knew, Levi.” Hange said as she folded the letter. “If he had, he would have made her stay behind.” 
Levi, not knowing what else to say, only nodded. Noticing Levi’s silent mood, Hange tried to give him some words of comfort. 
“At least we know she’s okay, Levi.” Hange said as she placed the letter back in the envelope. “And we now know where she’s living so when we begin our infiltration we’ll know where to look. Hey. Look at this!”
Levi looked up and saw Hange was holding a small rectangular piece of paper. No. A photograph. What was engraved in the paper made Levi smile. 
The sight of his sister smiling at him with the small baby boy in her arm made Levi’s heart swell, as if it was making more room to love. The only thing that ruined the picture was the man in it. Why was Zeke there with her?  Why was she letting his hands touch her? Why was he still breathing? He knew that (Y/N) was fully capable of killing him. So why? Were these the changes she mentioned in the letter? 
“He looks like her.” Hange said as she referred to Kaito. “And she’s right about his eyes. They’re definitely Erwin’s.”
“Yeah,” Levi said as he stared at his nephew. “Wonder if he’ll act like him too.”
Hange smiled and handed Levi the photograph. “Well, we’ll just have to meet him and find out for ourselves, don’t we?” Smiling wider than ever, she clapped Levi’s back. “Congratulations on becoming an uncle!”
As Hange left Levi alone, the man sat back down while still gazing at the photograph in his hands. He’s an uncle now. The baby in the picture, Kaito, was looking at him with such innocent eyes. Levi smiled. 
“See you soon Kaito.”
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forzalando · 3 years
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The Perfect Arrangement | George Weasley | Pt. 1
Pairing: George Weasley x F!Reader AU: Bridgerton!AU Word Count: 2.1k Warnings: Bridgerton spoilers, mentions of alcohol
Summary: As a woman in the early 19th century, you’ve been told all your life that marriage should be your ultimate goal, however, you do not share that sentiment. When the insufferable George Weasley devises a plan that may solve your problems, how can you say no?
A/N: hi friends! this will be a multipart (probably 3-4 parts) George fic inspired by Bridgerton. i’m so excited for it and i hope you all are too :) thank you for reading!
The start of the social season had been, as you had expected, the topic of conversation around the ton for the past few weeks. It was impossible to go anywhere without hearing whispers of who would snag an engagement in the next few months.
Particularly, people had been interested in who the Queen would declare the “diamond of the season”. Your mother was positively convinced it would be you, but you had other plans in mind for your life other than parties and dresses and loveless marriage. However, when the Queen took one look upon your face, she quickly declared you incomparable, as she had done the same for Daphne Bridgerton, now the Duchess, a few years prior, and your fate was sealed.
As a member of the distinguished and esteemed Y/L/N family, and as the eldest daughter, you had a trivial, yet necessary and important role to play, even if you longed to free yourself from it. Your mother and father, as wonderful as they might be, had high expectations for you, and you would not and could not let them down.
Your mother fluffed your hair and primped your dress in preparation of the Danbury Ball, admiring you fondly and gushing about how beautiful you looked.
“Maybe your luck will be as wonderful as the Duchess, her love match was indeed unprecedented but oh so joyous. Do you think your fortune might align with hers, dear?”
“Mama,” you sighed. “I have no interest in a life like the Duchess’s. All the parties, teas, and properness. Besides, there isn’t another Duke for me to marry.”
“I did not mean that you would have to marry a Duke to share her fate; only that you may marry for love.”
You huffed as you turned away from the mirror. In truth, you had no interest in marrying for love, or marrying at all for that matter, but the duty of an eldest daughter was set in stone.
All too soon, you arrived at the Lady Danbury’s spectacular first ball of the season; the sea of gowns and tailored coats causing a queasy feeling to settle in your stomach, and you wished with all your might that anything at all would ruin the festivities.
A glass of champagne was placed in your grasp and you let your eyes wander around the room; Lady Eloise Bridgerton, a close friend of yours, donned a similar look on her face though her mother enthusiastically tried to get her to waltz across the dance floor.
Glancing to your left, you noticed Lord Farley, a rather grotesque older man, eyeing you up and down; his beady eyes causing the queasy feeling to return and for your feet to take off in what could almost be considered a sprint.
When he was no longer in your line of sight, you began to slow down your gait, but a shoulder roughly bumped into yours and an unattractive yelp escaped your lips.
The unmistakable chuckle that followed your outburst made you groan due to your detestation of the man you knew you had bumped into.
Lord George Weasley; a man, nay, a boy, with hair of fire and a wit to match. You had known him for years as you were the same age and his sister Ginevra was the best of friends with your younger sister.
“I want to believe, Miss Y/L/N, that you would not take such drastic measures to capture my attention, but I must say I am flattered nonetheless,” George teased, his hand reaching out to steady you as you recovered from the collision.
“Mr. Weasley, I believe you to know me better than that,” you spoke with gritted teeth as you swatted his hand away. “Besides, there are plenty of young women here that would kiss the ground you walk on. Might you bother them instead?”
“Ah, but where is the fun in that? I’ve noticed that you still have room on your dance card?”
“I always have room left on my dance card.”
You tried to step around George and escape his company, but his impossible height made it so easy for him to evade your attempts.
“Is that by choice or because you’re just so pleasant to spend time with?” he inquired with a smirk.
“Suppose a bit of both. Now, if you would be so kind, I’m quite parched and would love another glass of champagne.”
“Perfect, I shall accompany you.”
George Weasley, you surmised very early on, was nothing but a flirt. You wouldn’t go so far as to call him a rake, because as far as you knew he was an honorable man, but he was also most intolerable with his boyish charm, sense of humor, beautiful eyes…
Yes, you were quite sure that he was entirely intolerable.
“Have you told your mother you have no interest in procuring a husband, yet?” he mused, breaking you out of your trance as he carefully handed you a glass of champagne.
“Don’t call it procuring as if it’s a transaction. And no, I haven’t. Do you think I’d be standing here alive if I had?”
“Good point,” George hummed as his eyes surveyed the room, no doubt searching for the next woman so unlucky enough to be graced with his presence.
“How is your family?” you asked as you sipped on your flute of bubbling liquid.
“They’re doing well, thank you for asking. Work has been a bit hard on Dad but – ”
Before George could finish, a man approached you and bowed; taking the hand not holding the champagne flute and pressing a kiss to your knuckles.
“Miss Y/L/N, would you like to join me for a dance?”
You noticed George looking on angrily at the sight before him, probably because his ego couldn’t take the interruption.
“I’m flattered, Lord Rainier? I believe?” When you received no objections, you continued. “As I was saying, I’m flattered by your offer but I simply must decline. I am feeling a bit ill and all that spinning might make me sick.”
“Yes, yes, of course, Miss Y/L/N. Perhaps another time?”
You gave him a small, soft smile and let out a sigh of relief when he walked away. Turning back to George, you urged him to continue. While you held him in contempt, or so you told yourself, you did enjoy his family as they were all simply lovely.
“You were saying, George?”
“Right, work has been a bit hard on Dad, after his accident a few months ago. He’s been doing better but Charlie had to take a break from his travels to come home and help out since he’s the eldest. Fred and Angelina are expecting again, if you haven’t heard. They’re hoping for a girl this time.”
“Maybe if you were more like your brother you’d be married and having children by now,” you teased.
He gasped and clutched his hand over his heart, drawing the attention of anyone near.
“You wound me, Y/N.”
Much to your dismay, you laughed at his actions, devastated that you gave him the satisfaction of knowing he was entertaining you. However, the moment was short lived as another man interrupted your conversation.
“Miss Y/N, I must say you are looking exquisite this evening. It would be a shame for your dress not to take a twirl on the dance floor. Might I accompany you?”
You tried not to groan when you noticed a line forming behind the man currently asking for a dance.
“Actually, Lord Beverly, I’m feeling a bit warm. I was just about to go outside for some fresh air.”
“I shall accompany you, then.”
“Without a chaperone? Goodness, no, please find another young lady to dance with. There are certainly many that would be delighted at the chance.”
You looked around Lord Beverly to see at least four other men waiting for their chance to ask you for a dance, and the thought of making up more excuses made your head spin. You graciously bid Lord Beverly a good evening, and turned on your heel towards the nearest exit.
In your haste, you did not notice George following you into the gardens.
“Well, you sure like to let them down easy,” he joked.
“George!” you cried. “We can’t be seen alone, are you daft? Trying to ruin me and my family?”
“Calm yourself, my Mother is just right there.”
You looked a bit to George’s left and saw his wonderful mother keeping a careful eye on the two of you, graciously leaving the attention of her husband to ensure that none would suspect foolery between you and George.
“As I was saying, it’s awfully obvious that you do not want any man to court you. Your mother will realize well and soon enough of your…aversion to marriage.”
“The only reason you know that is because you eavesdropped on a conversation I had with Eloise. But yes, I have no desire to marry, and I’m quite certain I never will. I’ll have to fight off suitors and think of a million excuses until I’m considered a spinster and men no longer want me.”
Silence enveloped you both as a tear slid down your cheek. You hastily wiped it away, hoping that George hadn’t seen, but of course, you were not so lucky.
“Is the idea of marriage really that upsetting to you, Y/N?”
“All those men, all they want is a woman to wear on their arm and to give them children. That’s what a woman’s life is in marriage. A husband doesn’t care about his wife’s passions, desires, intellect, among other things, and I can’t bring myself to entertain the idea of a life that has no room for my happiness.”
George was quiet; pondering your response and your feelings, when he was suddenly struck with the most brilliant of ideas.
You see, Mr. George Weasley was in love with Miss Y/N Y/L/N, has been for several years in fact. He couldn’t tell you exactly when or why, but he knew that the fluttering in his chest and the way his whole world became brighter when she entered a room meant that Y/N was more than just someone to engage in friendly banter with.
“I’ve thought of an idea,” George muttered, piquing your interest.
“Whatever might it be, Mr. Weasley?”
“Your…situation, can only go away if men were to believe you were taken, correct?”
“Yes, I suppose, only I can’t fool them into thinking that. It would become quite suspicious when I’m seen alone everywhere. And, there’s no way I could ever fool my parents.”
“Except you wouldn’t be alone, you’d have me!”
“I don’t believe I’m following your idea, George.”
“Marry me.”
You choked and sputtered on your own spit, unable to take a breath through your coughs and gasps. George’s hands flew to your shoulders to steady you, helping you to breathe easier and calm yourself down.
“George, you must be joking,” you said quietly.
“I am as deadly serious as I could ever be. Not a real marriage, of course. Real in every sense of the word in terms of legality, but not real as in, well, us together. I’ll spend this social season courting you, and at the end of the season I’ll propose. We’ll get married in a few months’ time, and then we can travel the world, doing whatever our hearts desire.”
“Why on earth would you want to marry me?”
“It’s quite simple. You need to get the eligible bachelors of the ton to leave you alone and you never want to marry because your husband would restrict your freedoms. I, as your husband, wouldn’t dare. You’re not entirely awful, I suppose there are far worse people to spend my life with, even if you utterly despise me, and marriage, real marriage, isn’t something I want either.”
You looked at him quizzically, searching for signs that he’d had far too much champagne or had gone completely mad in the head, but he looked right as rain, and your mind was spinning.
“I find it hard to believe you do not want to marry, after all the times you’ve said you cannot wait to marry the woman you love.”
“Honestly, the woman I love is….unattainable, I’ll put it that way. I won’t ever love anyone but her. I’m also waiting for an answer, it’s not every day you have to have a discussion after a proposal.”
“You’re sure this will work, Mr. Weasley?”
“How hard can it be to pretend to be in love with a woman as beautiful as you?”
“I always knew you were a flirt, but God, do you lay it on thick.”
George looked at you expectantly, almost a glimmer of hope is his eye, but as quickly as you thought you’d noticed it, he looked away.
“My answer is yes, George. Let’s fool the ton, our families, court, get married, and then travel the world platonically.”
“That sounds like the perfect arrangement, darling.”
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Can I Have This Dance? (Steve Rogers x Reader)
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Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader
Rating: PG - Fluffy 
Word Count: 2,689
Synopsis: 4 times the reader asked Steve to dance with her and one time Steve her.
Info: Written for @cockslut-padalecki​’s Not My Ninth Challenge in celebration of 9k followers! Also Happy Belated birthday, I hope you had a great one. I choose, How Do I Live by LeAnn Rimes and Wedding Ceremony. The dividers are by @firefly-graphics​ 💘 I’m posting this on my barley working laptop, so forgive me. Also all mistakes are mine as this is not beta read.
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1st Time:
Honestly what possessed her to wear her favorite white denim overall shorts to Sam’s barbecue? They were now stained with all all kinds of food and handprints from the children of the Avengers children asking to be held by her. Admittedly seeing everyone so happy and spending the afternoon with her fiancé made it worth it. Also Natasha would probably be able to show her how to get the stains out.
“Want to queue up the next song?” Sam nudged her handing over his phone that was connected to speakers. Giddily Y/N took the phone and went through the approved barbecue playlist as Killer Queen started to play, she continued to scroll as her head bopped to the song. Finding the perfect one she handed the phone over to Sam’s significant other Lou who kissed her on the cheek. 
Bucky and Steve were sharing a phone screen laughing at whatever video it was they were watching, probably one of Alpine that Bucky had taken. Getting up from her chair Y/N stood beside Steve’s and brushed her right hand across his broad shoulders, goosebumps started to rise on his skin as she leaned in to brush her lips beside his ear. 
“Come dance with me, Stevie please?" the blonde's face blushed as his fiance turned away from him making her way back towards the dancing couples. “Punk if you don't I sure as hell will.” Steve turned to give his best friend a glare just as the baritone voice sang out, jumping to his feet.
“I had a thought, dear, however scary, about that night, the bugs and the dirt. Why were you digging? What did you bury? Before those hands pulled me from the earth.” Steve rushed to Y/N’s side, a small smile on her face her fiance placed his face at her time taking in the scent of lavender and mint, while his hands rested at her hips. Y/N’s arms circled his neck interlocking her hands, eyes closing she placed her heads against his chest over his heart. As Hozier sang the couple just swayed from side to side, loving each other.
“I could not ask you where you came from. I could not ask and neither could you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips, we could just kiss like real people do.” As the song came to an end Steve and Y/N’s eyes met, she was biting her lip, a look of worry was in her eyes. 
“What?” Looking placed his hands on Y/N’s face doing everything he could to ease the worry in his fiancés face. 
“Just, how would I live without you?” Steve scoffed and pulled Y/N into his arms, hugging her close, “You’ll never have to live without me, I’m going anywhere. I love you.”
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2nd Time:
“Well son her mother would have loved you and I’m so proud to have you joining our family.” Andy clapped his daughters fiancé on the shoulder, before looking out on the dance floor to see all four of his children dancing together to the Macarena having a good time. 
“I’m lucky to have her Andy and I love both her and this family.” Steve assured Y/N’s father how much he loved her as the song came to an end. The DJ for the reception started to walk towards Y/N’s  sister and her husband. 
Y/N stood between her brothers playfully nudging each other like they used to do as kids. Suddenly it was quiet in the reception hall, both her and Steve were looking at Y/N’s sister and her husband who smiled at everyone, but they were staring at Y/N. 
“I need my sister Y/N and her fiancé Steve to come up here for a second.” Y/N’s brothers pushed her forward, suddenly glad she had exchanged her heels for converse 4 or 5 songs back. Steve and she met halfway there, hands grasping at each other as their fingers intertwined. The blonde leaned over and kissed the crown of his fiancé's face making her blush as they reached Legacie and Michael. 
“This weekend was actually supposed to be the weekend that Y/N and Steve got married, but 6 months ago I came to my sister and told her I was pregnant. Y/N knew Michael and I would want to move our wedding up, Y/N and Steve immediately asked if I would like to take their wedding and for that we are so thankful. The thing about my sister is she is just like our mom, always giving and so loving, it makes so much sense why Steve fell in love with my little sister. I got to thinking a way to thank you and that is dedicating a song to you, your favorite song as a kid.” Legacie passed the microphone back to the DJ, before she reached over kissing her little on the cheek. Y/N looked at her sister before her jaw dropped and her cheeks turned pink as the keyboard of the popular ’90s Australian pop singer hit started to play. 
“I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish. I'll be your fantasy, I'll be your hope, I'll be your love. Be everything that you need.” Y/N still holding onto Steve’s hand turned to stand in front of him and looked up at him. 
“Will you dance with my love?” with a smile on his face, Steve didn't even verbalize his answer, he just gave a tug of her hand pulling her body closer to his, as other couples joined them on the dance floor.
“I wanna stand with you on a mountain. I wanna bathe with you in the sea. I wanna lay like this forever. Until the sky falls down on me. I wanna stand with you on a mountain. I wanna bathe with you in the sea.I want to live like this forever. Until the sky falls down on me.” As they continued to dance among Legacie and Michale's family and friends, he tried to imagine how he would live without her in his life. He had an answer before the song was even over he knew a life without Y/N was no life at all. 
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3rd Time:
She was trying really hard not to cry but it felt but it was 3:12 in the morning, it was raining, it looked like Bucky had finished off the rest of her Ben and Jerry Star Spangled Berry Swirl, and Friday was playing her I got the blues playlist. Boy did she have the blues, she shouldn’t though, it was November, the holiday season was in full swing, but it was as if her heart wasn’t in it. 
Then the piano kicked in and the tears really started. 
“Look into my eyes, you will see what you mean to me.”
Steve down the hall in bed they shared hearing sniffles of his fiancé, got out of bed, grabbing her cardigan from ottoman at the foot of the bed. Y/N stood at the kitchen island sipping a cup of hot tea as Bryan Adams sang. 
“Darling?” Steve came up behind her and placed the over side article of clothing over shoulder, kissing her temple. Setting the steaming cup of lavender and blueberries down, Y/N turned around to look him in the eyes, with tears still coming down. 
“Dance with me Stevie, please?” with a little lift of the right side of his lips. Steve pulled Y/N to him, placing her head over his heartbeat, he encased her his arms and started to sway them. 
“Don't tell me, it’s not worth fightin' for. I can't help it, there’s  nothin' I want more. You know it's true, everything I do, I do it for you.”
“I can’t live without you Stevie.” Y/N whispered into the night as she looked out at the rain coming down in the night. 
“And you won't have to," Steve promised. 
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4th Time:
It was finally the New Year, 12:01 on January 1st to be exact and everyone was partying at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, thanks to Pepper and Tony. Peter Quill and his friends had made it, Thor with Jane, Carol Danver, Monica Rambeau with her friends Jimmy Woo and Darcy, Fantastic Four, Peter Parker had brought his best friend Ned and girl friend MJ, all the Avengers were there, even the Wakanda gang was accounted for, the place was packed. It seemed as if the bad guys were in need of a day off. 
Steve stood a few feet away from Y/N who was dancing with Natasha, Clint, Shuri, Peter, MJ, Wanda, Scott, Johnny, Groot, Darcy, Sam, Lou, and Jimmy Woo, they were all dancing to thank u, next, laughing and having a good time. Lou was currently on Sam's shoulders making the Bucky who was beside Steve, hoot’d, as he took a shot from the Asgardian mead. It was great for Steve to see all his friends and family to be letting loose. 
Y/N walked over as the song came to a closure and pulled Steve in for a kiss earning a cheer from the group they had surrounded themselves with. Blushing they pulled apart as the familiar violin started to play across the room, making the room erupt cheers yet again. Tonight’s crowd was easily pleased, who knew all it took was alcohol, food, friends, and good music? 
As the drum kicked in, Y/N’s head started to bop her foot tapping along, grabbing Steve’s hand she started to pull him towards the group, grabbing Bucky’s hand along the way. 
“Steve can I have this dance?” Looking over her shoulder as she got ready to start jumping up and down, Steve looked at her as if he had to think on it, but stopped when Bucky hit him in the bicep. “Not with the metal arm, and yes!”
“Come on Eileen! Oh, I swear, what he means. At this moment you mean everything, you in that dress. My thoughts I confess, verge on dirty. Oh, come on Eileen.” The group's form of dancing was jumping up and dancing, moving their heads side to side, throwing in mixed moves, like the sprinkler or epaule here and there. It was just about letting go. Steve and Y/N danced together with the fingers of their left-right hands interlaced jumping up and down, throwing their heads back and forth like they were at a rock concert. 
As Bucky danced with his best friend and the girl that had become like a sister to him, he couldn't picture their lives without one another. There was no Steve without Y/N in it, no Y/N without Steve. They were so madly, deeply in love, that to lose the other it would be close to losing themselves. He vowed at that moment to do whatever it took to always bring Steve home and to always protect Y/N for him. 
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The 1 Time Steve Asked Y/N to Dance:
“This is the best birthday gift I could ever ask for!” Bucky raised his glass of bourbon to the crowded room, before he leaned down to place a kiss on Y/N’s cheek. He had just given his best man speech congratulating his best friend on finding his soulmate who made him happy, and on his retirement. Lou leaned forward putting their arms around Y/N’s shoulders swaying, making the bride laugh as the best friends hugged. 
Steve took the microphone from Sam and pulled Y/N away from her best friend, confused she looked up at him. The room was silent with all eyes on them, as it had been since the moment she stepped out onto the wooden boardwalk Pepper’s people had built leading to the dock, everyone’s eyes had been on them. 
“Through this whole wedding process my wife has been so incredibly patient with me. Originally I just said whatever you want Y/N it’s your day, but she would scrunch her face up, for her family they know what I’m talking about, the one where she doesn’t like something or doesn’t understand, anyways. Lou, Y/N’s best friend and the perfect person for Sam came to me said,
“Rogers for a superhero, you are pretty dense, the wedding day is both your big day. This is a day you both are going to look back on, tell your children about and share with your family and friends. Don’t make her plan it and make all the choices on her own.” Steve looked down at Y/N and smiled, as his wife laughed and gave her best friends hand a tight squeeze before letting it go. 
“So I did what I could, your napkins I chose, thank you very much, your centerpieces though, you are going to have to take that up with the my beautiful wife’s cousin, Willow, she handmaid these beautiful pieces for us, so we could reuse them in our winery and barn.” Willow blew the couple a kiss making the crowd laugh as Y/N caught it and stumbled back, before throwing one back just as extravagantly. 
“Anyways the reason I’m up here is because I really didn’t do that much, but I made a promise to my wife that I, the man out of time, could pick the song we dance to as a married couple.” Turning his body so now the newlyweds were now facing each other, Sam took the microphone holding it up to Steve's mouth, as Steve held both Y/N’s hands in his.
“Steve we’ve talked about this you’re right where you need to be.” Steve just nodded his head and kissed her on the lips getting a few people in the crowd cheering. Bucky, Sam, Lou, and Y/N’s siblings are motioned for the crowd to quiet down. 
“I admit I waited till last night to e-mail our DJ Ned and tell him our song. But to be fair if it hadn’t been for a talk I had while sleeping at Sam’s and him playing this song we probably would just have some random song. Thank you Sam for saving the day.” Sam pulled the microphone telling the couple it was no problem really. 
“With that all said and done, Mrs. Rogers can I have this dance?” Laughing Y/N nodded as they made their way around the tables holding hands waving to their family and friends. Ned Leeds, was the nights DJ, thanks to coming recommended by his friend Peter Parker, this was his hobby by a means to pay for college and his growing obsession of Star Wars Legos. As soon as the couple had made it to the center of the faux hardwood dance floor, he hit play.
“How do I get through one night without you? If I had to live without you, what kind of life would that be?”
Y/N let a gasp slip past her lips as the familiar country song played. Her arms held onto Steve’s shoulders, while he held onto her hips, they did their usual sway, there was no need for fancy footing or putting on a show. This was just them being them, in love, sharing that love with a room full of their closest family friends. 
“I promised you, you wouldn’t have to know what it was like to live without me, and you won’t either of you.” Y/N looked up at him placing a kiss on his soft lips, letting a few tears of happiness slip. This is what contentment felt like, to feel whole, be loved, and find that perfect person. 
“How do I live without you? How do I live without you, baby? How do I live?”
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starrybethany · 3 years
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I’m Sure - Adam Boqvist Imagine Part 5
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Word count: 4.0K
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Adam: You followed me
I stare at the three words, blinking with tired eyes. All I want to do is sleep, especially after the day I’ve had with Holden, but the baby decided kicking me was more important. So here I am at four o’clock in the morning checking my social media when I should be getting another three hours of sleep.
I rub my eyes, unsure of how to even respond to the message.
It’s just a statement. I feel flabbergasted by it- really, we haven’t talked in years- well, technically months, but the last time we saw each other we just fucked, and our child went to see him without my knowledge or consent. How the fuck am I supposed to respond to those three words?
Y/N: I think we need to talk.
I sigh, setting my phone down. Might as well get straight to the point. The sooner I tell him about the second baby and ask why he would see Holden without at least running it past me the better. I roll over, pulling the blanket tighter around me. Hopefully I can sleep at least a little bit longer. I’m going to need it to deal with the moody adolescent I’ll be seeing in the morning.
~
“I made some toast and bacon. Just let me just finish cutting up these strawberries and then breakfast will be ready,” I inform Holden as he hops down the stairs.
He picks up the filled plate waiting for him on the table, throwing the food into the trashcan and setting the plate on the counter, giving me an expectant look.
I stare blankly back at him. I know he’s waiting for a reaction. He wants me to blow up so then he feels okay yelling at me instead of starting the confrontation himself. Instead, I just say, “That’s wasteful.”
He rolls his eyes, grabbing his backpack from its usual spot by the door and making his way outside, letting it slam shut behind him. I release the breath that I’ve been holding in, popping a strawberry into my mouth.
I open my Instagram app to catch up on the posts that I’ve missed, freezing when I see that I’ve received a DM. I forgot that I sent a message to Adam last night. Well, technically this morning. After I sent the message, I passed out hard, and I thought the whole thing was a fever dream.
Adam: What about?
Adam: Here’s my number
My fingers tap the screen quietly as I add his phone number into my contacts, saving it and staring at it blankly.
Well. No time like the present.
Before I can even realize what I’m doing, before I can even think things through and decide what to say or whether this is a good idea or not, or hell, even what time it is in Chicago right now, I click on the phone icon.
I curse to myself, raising the phone to my ear. Absentmindedly, my hand raises to my mouth so I can chew on my fingernail. Nail-biting is a nervous habit that I gave up years ago, but I guess old habits die hard.
“Hello?” His groggy voice comes through the phone.
I can’t breathe.
The oxygen gets stuck in my lungs. All I can think about are his hands on my body, sliding down to grip my hips. The twinkle in his eyes as I would pull my shirt over my head.
And not to mention the last time I saw him. His hair is longer than he used to keep it, but it suits him. It looks good on him. And he bulked up since the last time I saw him, too- his abs definitely looked and felt like it, anyways.
“Hello?” He repeats, sounding more awake and borderline annoyed now.
“Adam,” I respond softly, suddenly feeling shy. Come on, where did my confidence go? I’ll need it to get through this conversation.
“Y/N,” he says, all sounds of annoyance out of his voice. “You actually called, I didn’t think that you would-“”Sorry for waking you up,” I blurt out, glancing at the clock and seeing that it’s seven in the morning here. Chicago is an hour behind Philadelphia- it’s what kept me from calling the boys on the team late at night for several years.
“Oh, no, no, don’t you ever worry about that,” he reassures me. It’s quiet. I know he’s waiting for me to speak, to let him know what I want to talk to him about, but I just can’t get the words out. I feel them stuck in my throat, clawing to escape. “So, how’s Holden?”
And there it is.
That question is what spurs me to speak, to dig into the man who hid a huge secret like that from me. But I guess I’m doing the same thing to him now.
“I don’t know, how is he, Adam?” I spit out.
He sighs. He sighs. I want to punch his perfect fucking face.
“If I had realized that you had such a problem with it-“”Such a problem with it?” I repeat, not believing my own ears. Suddenly I’m reminded of why I decided not to tell Adam about this baby and why he wasn’t ready to be in Holden’s life for thirteen years. Hell, it sounds like he’s still not ready.
“My son lied to me about his intentions of going to Chicago, traveled halfway across the country by himself, and saw someone who he’s never met before. Yes, I have a fucking problem with it,” I growl.
“Our son.”
“What?”
“He’s our son. You said my son.”
All I want to do right now is to reach through this tiny screen and hit him upside the head. Really, after I lay out all of my concerns, this is all he has to say to me?
“Whatever. When are you coming to Philadelphia next?” I question. I don’t want to air all of grievances and talk about the new baby over the phone. I’ve had enough communication classes to know that you need to see someone’s nonverbal behaviors instead just hearing what they have to say.
“Why? You want to see me?” Suggestion laces his tone.
No, asshole, you already got me pregnant again.
“Yes. We need to talk about Holden… and some other things,” my voice trails off at the end, not sure how to warn him about such big news.
“Some other things, eh? Well, I’ll be looking forward to that,” he responds, clearly thinking that it’s something regarding us and our relationship, well, our dislike or lust for one another or something, instead of picking up what I’m trying to hint at.
“Cool. So, can you take a trip to Philly sometime soon or are you going to wait until hockey season?” I inquire.
“I can take a trip there, just for you. And Holden, of course.”
I can’t help but let a small smile slip onto my face. That sentence shows me that he’d be a good dad if he just put in the effort. It infuriates me that he’s kept that from Holden for years just because he hasn’t felt like working towards a relationship with his son.
“Good. Let me know when you’re in town so we can meet up.”
“What? You’re not going to invite me to stay with you?”
“Goodbye, Adam.” I hang up before he can respond. All I can imagine the rest of the day is his reaction after that phone call. He would have that small, knowing smile on his face, pulling his phone out of his pocket every five minutes to check and see if he got a new text from me or to send the fifth one in a row to me- one that I still would not respond to.
And my heart skips a beat at the thought of that.
~
It’s been a week since the phone call and since Adam sent me a screenshot of his booked ticket to Philadelphia two weeks from then. For some reason, maybe it’s the stupid, hopeless romantic part in me, I had hoped that he would book his plane ticket and hotel room for that night or even the next day. But he told me he had some ‘lose ends’ to tie up in Chicago before leaving.
And it’s also been a week since Holden has said a word to me. I’ve tried talking to him. I’ve asked him about his day, his friends, cooked him his favorite meals all week, I even offered to take him to Target to get a new video game.
None of that has worked. And it hurts. It hurts knowing that after everything I’ve done for him and everything I’ve sacrificed for him, and how Adam has done none of that, he looks at Adam like a God and me like the scum on the bottom of his shoe.
I know it’s what I’m supposed to do as a mother, care for my son and make sure he’s happy, but it’s just- it’s just- ugh.
I start to feel my blood boil as my mom’s voice echoes in the back of my head. Life’s not fair.
It’s then that I realize that I’ve given him enough space and time to figure out his feelings and how he wants to proceed. I don’t want to give him too much space that he begins to resent me and feel like I don’t care about him.
I know that feeling all too well.
I knock on his bedroom door softly, waiting for him to open it before I just walk in. It creeks open slightly, and just as I expected, eyes matching my mom’s peek out to glare at me.
“Can I talk to you, Holden?”
He doesn’t respond, just stares at me.
“Please, you don’t even have to talk, just listen,” I beg.
Fortunately, he opens the door the rest of the way, watching as I walk into his room and sit gently on the edge of the bed. He sits down on his worn computer chair, laptop open to some video game I don’t recognize on his desk.
“I want to start by apologizing for yelling at you last week,” I begin, taking a deep breath. Apologizing isn’t something that comes easy to me- I grew up in a family where the words ‘I’m sorry’ were unheard of. My parents were always right, and I was always wrong.
“I realize it probably wasn’t easy for you to go to Chicago by yourself to meet your dad. Holden, I just want you to realize that I would do anything to protect you, and I love you with my whole heart so realizing that you were in such an emotionally taxing situation without talking to me about it first-“I pause to sniffle, starting to feel tears well up in my eyes. “I felt helpless. And I couldn’t stop wondering why you didn’t feel like you could share that with me and then I realized that it’s because I don’t share stuff with you either.”
He watches as I lift my sleeve, wiping the tears from under my eyes. His face is still blank, but his eyes look like they’ve softened. He’s understanding my words so far.
“So, yes, this baby is also Adam’s baby. And he did ask about you when I saw him back in February, but I let my pride get the best of me and I told him that he didn’t deserve to see you. I’m sorry for robbing you of meeting your father earlier,” I genuinely apologize, maintaining eye contact with my son.
He shifts in his seat, his hard exterior softening with every word. “Well, I’m sorry for calling you a shitty mother. And saying all of that other stuff. And, if it makes you feel better, I did go to the computer programming camp. I just saw Adam when we had a night off.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
He nods.
“What did he tell you? About not being involved in your life?” I ask carefully, curious as to what Adam told Holden to turn him against me like that.
“He just told me that he was working through some stuff,” he shrugs, acting like he doesn’t care but I know my son well enough to tell that he does. “And he wasn’t ready until recently to meet me.”
I bite my tongue to keep it from releasing an insult towards Adam. “And how does that make you feel?”
“Honestly?” I nod, probing him to go on. “Pretty awful. I don’t think I want a relationship with him, mom.”
A mix of emotions run through my body at his word. I feel anxious, because now I have to tell him that Adam’s coming next week and will want to see him, sadness, because my son now recognizes how his father did not want be involved in his life, and anger toward Adam for making him feel like this in the first place.
“Well,” I cough awkwardly. “He’s coming to Philadelphia next week. I’m going to meet him to tell him about the baby. If you don’t want to see him, you don’t have to. It’s all up to you, bud.”
I stand up slowly, rubbing my belly as the baby begins to kick. He always seems to do that whenever I move even just a little bit- he’s an active little guy.
“Oh,” I turn back around just as I’m about to close the door. “How did you even find out who your father is?”
“Please mom, I’m not stupid,” he grins slyly at me, sliding his headphones onto his neck. “You lived in Chicago when you got pregnant with me and worked for the Blackhawks. I figured, since you said you worked a lot, the only guys you really had a chance to be with were on the team. And when I asked you about my dad for that project for school you said he was Swedish, so I just went to the Blackhawks roster in 2020 and found the Swedish players, messaging them some really uncomfortable and intrusive messages on Instagram.”
I chuckle at that, shaking my head. It will never not blow my mind how clever and smart he is. As I close the door to his bedroom, I hear him say, “On the plus side, Alex Nylander is a really nice guy.”
~
The day is finally here. Being eighteen weeks pregnant makes it really hard to hide my baby bump, but I somehow manage to find a baggy sweatshirt that I’ve stolen from one of my ex-boyfriends to cover it up. I don’t want to walk into the restaurant we’re meeting at and have him immediately know.
Somehow my jeans still fit on my legs, but I have a feeling by the end of this lunch they’ll be unbuttoned. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.
I get to the restaurant before Adam, just like how I planned it. I wanted time to scope out my exits in case I need to bail halfway through this meal- knowing Adam, it’s a possibility. I haven’t thought through what I was going to say too much.
I know I need to talk to him about why he would keep Holden going to Chicago to see him a secret from me, and we need to talk about the baby.
But mostly I just want to hear him grovel. The secret, sadistic part of me wants to hear him beg for forgiveness for making me raise my child by myself for the past thirteen years. I want to hear him admit that he fucked up- I’ve never heard Adam Boqvist admit that he fucked up before.
He shows up two minutes late.
I know because my phone is sitting face up on the table and I click on it every five seconds to see what time it is. I tell myself that if it gets ten minutes past noon and he’s still not here, I’m going home and giving up on dealing with Adam ever again.
But then he’s standing in front of me, familiar toothy grin on his face, black beanie on his shaggy hair, and a bouquet of red roses in his hand.
“You’re late,” I state sternly, not letting any sign of emotion onto my face. I need to let him know I mean business. I need to let him know that I’m never getting into bed with him ever again.
“Yeah, sorry, there was a line at the grocery store,” his grin begins to slip, but as he holds the bouquet out towards me, it takes over his face once again. “I got you these.”
“Thanks.”
I don’t make any movement towards them. His smile falls once again and I begin to feel guilty- he did buy these flowers for me, but he also impregnated me and left me twice.
He slides into the chair across the table from me, setting the flowers on the table and coughing awkwardly. “So, have you ordered yet?”
“Just water,” I respond shortly.
“Do you want to split a bottle of wine?”
“I’m not really a day drinker,” I eye him over the top of my menu, then go back to skimming through the items. It’s a charade, though. I already know what I want.
“Are you two ready to order?” The peppy waitress appears at our side, notepad open in her hand.
“I’ll have the chicken alfredo,” I announce, folding my menu.
“I’ll take that too. And a bottle of your sweetest wine, please,” the blonde orders, passing his menu to the waitress. When she leaves, he turns back to me. “I know you like the sweet stuff.”
I take a deep breath, deciding to cut to the chase. I’d rather get through this meal as soon as possible. The sooner we get done talking about this stuff, the sooner I can get out of here.
“Adam, I’m pregnant.”
He chokes on the sip of water he’s just taken from his glass, water dripping down his chin and landing on the table in front of him. I can’t help but watch with a content smile as he coughs, trying to catch his breath.
“Excuse me?” He utters through coughs, wiping his chin with a napkin.
“I’m pregnant,” I repeat. “I’m due in November.”
“Well, uh, congratulations,” he says unsurely.
I roll my eyes, muttering, “You clearly haven’t gotten smarter since last time.”
He seems to catch on to the hidden meaning behind my comment, his eyes widening. “Oh is it- since we-“”It’s your baby,” I conclude bluntly.
A smirk begins to spread across his face. I can’t believe it. He’s smirking just after I told him that he got me pregnant accidentally for the second time.
“Why do you have that look?” I snap.
“My little swimmers work pretty well, don’t they?” He inquires confidently, sipping from his water and succeeding this time.
I lean across the table, turning it on him. “I don’t know, do they? Are there any half-siblings that I need to worry about?”
The smirk is replaced by a look of genuineness now. It startles me, the sudden change of emotions. “No, it’s you, Y/N. It’s always been you.”
I lean back in my seat, the sudden seriousness too much for me to bear. I fiddle with the napkin sitting next to my glass, avoiding eye contact with him. “Yeah, so it’s a boy.”
“Another boy,” he echoes my very thoughts the moment I found out the sex.
I grin at the thought of my second child. When he’s been kicking me at night and keeping me awake, I think about what he’s going to be like. Is he going to cry a lot or is he going to be a quiet baby like Holden was? Will I have to keep an eye on him every minute or will I be able to get some breaks?
And what about when he’s older. Will he like hockey like his dad? Would he like the Flyers because we live in Philadelphia, or would he like the Blackhawks because his dad plays for them?
“Speaking of boys, how is Holden doing? He hasn’t been responding to my texts lately.” Adam means for the question to sound casual, but I can hear the undertone of worry in his voice. Maybe he isn’t as much of a shitty father as I think he is.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you,” I confess.
He doesn’t bother to hide the hurt on his face. I don’t expect him to. I know how it feels to feel unwanted and unloved by your child- I felt it when Holden told me that I’m a shitty mother. And although Adam deserves the consequences to his actions, I can’t help but feel a small amount of pity for him.
“I deserve that,” he sighs.
“You do,” I agree, knowing that I’m shoving the knife deeper into his heart. “But just give him time to decide what he wants to do. It’s all so fresh to him.”
He gives me a small, vulnerable smile.
“Why didn’t you tell me that he was going to see you while he was in Chicago, Adam?” I ask him the question I’ve been dying to ask ever since I found out about the situation.
He shrugs, not saying a word.
“Yes, you do know,” I persist. “So just fucking tell me. Enough of the bullshit, we’re in our thirties now. It’s time to focus on the children, not your fucking pride.”
He looks baffled by my sudden outburst, but it inspires him to answer. “I was afraid that if you found out, you would stop him. Then I’d never get to meet my son.”
“I would have stopped him,” I agreed, causing him to open his mouth to begin arguing with me. I start to speak again before he can begin. “And reschedule the trip to a time that works better with my work schedule so that I could go with him. Yes, you’re his father, but you’ve never been in his life. You’re essentially a stranger to him.”
He narrows his eyes at me like my words are a challenge. “Not anymore.”
I narrow my eyes at him now. “Really? What’s his middle name? When is his birthday? What’s his favorite color?”
He doesn’t respond and I scoff, taking a sip of my water again. “That’s what I thought.”
We’re quiet as the waitress returns with our meals. I cut my noodles, taking a bite of my food.
“I don’t want it to be that way with this baby,” he says, quickly adding, “And Holden anymore. I want to be there for this baby from the start. Or from now, I guess. And I want to be there for Holden, if he ever wants me.”
Mixed feelings begin to flush through my body. This is what I wanted for my kids from the beginning, an active father figure. And Adam’s offering it now, but why am I still feeling so hesitant?
After years of expecting him to step up as a parent and him never doing it, I have reasonable doubts when it comes to Adam’s parenting ability.
“Well, you know it’s up to Holden. You can’t force him to like you,” I begin slowly, trying to phrase my words in the best way possible. “But with this second baby… we can try it. I have a doctor’s appointment in two days. I’ll text you the address and time.”
“But my flight leaves tomorrow,” he whines. “Can’t you just reschedule for today?”
“You have so much to learn, Adam,” I shake my head. “I just hope you realize that being a parent means that you’re selfless more than selfish. Tell you what, go back to Chicago if you want to. But if you go back to Chicago, the only time you’ll communicate with the boys is when they want to talk to you.”
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spaceradars · 3 years
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so, today i finished due south and it's basically the first thing i did this morning, and yet it's the afternoon now and only now i'm begining to be able to just put into words every single one of my thoughs so bear with me please as i attempt to put into words what watching call of the wild was like:
-so, call of the wild love that title love that book...... now, there are a few things i knew that happened in these final episodes, but i certainly didn't know the way they were supposed to and just wow, W O W.
-it was an absolutely emotional episode at least for me and i know it was for fraser too bc of the whole plot of it is just about family. i mean 4x11 was about him finding a half-sister he hadn't even met up until that moment, and now we've got this..... too much. maybe it's me who's too senstive regarding family matters now, but to have pretty much the entire episode related to family (that being both blood family, i mean fraser's parents and the connection to the man he's trying to catch for obvious reasons, and found family, which is basically his chicago family) was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. also, kinda unrelated but the thing i like the most about fraser as a character is the fact he's just good like ????? and yes, i know a big part of that is played as comedy, but he's just such a nice character and has such a good heart and it's nice to see that sometimes????? maybe it's just me being sensitve, but it's really nice to see a character that it's nice and has a kind heart and it's basically❤️❤️
-okay then, on another hand, we got ray vecchio back, like!!!!!! you've got no idea how happy that made me, HONESTLY. i knew it had to happen, then i knew it was going to happen, but i wasn't expecting at all for it to happen the way it did and it was just so good to see him back because i've missed him <3 i'm glad they brought him back and i'm also glad they gave him closure (him quitting detective work or whatever it's called + moving to florida with stella and opening a bowling alley!! good for them !!!!!! i love to see it <3)
-and then there's ray kowalski who's a mixture between something close to jelousy but i really think it's just anxiety during basically 90% of the episode because finds out rayv is back and feels he'll be displaced/forgotten and that's another thing that makes me go🥺🥺 not me projecting in this character no just kidding uNLESS.... anyway it was actually painful to watch all of that, but it's also refreshing to see all of the-- idk if it's development but it's true that we've seen a lot of different sides of this character specially during s4, and it's so good?? you go boy!! i'm glad he gets the literal happy ending he deserves <3
-anyway i loved the ending i mean all of those last two minutes in which we're given all of the info regarding what happened to these characters we learned to love in the spam of 4 seasons (+ the entire meaning/connotations of the word adventure i see you @ fraser)
-i just want to say i'm extremely glad i discovered due south this year and that a little less than a month ago i decided to give it a try because it's surely one of those series that will stick with me in the years to come, i'm absolutely certain.
-so yeah idk what this post is about i just want to say i really liked the ending (they gave us everything, didn't they?) and it made my heart melt <3
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ochako999 · 3 years
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from SEASON 4 EVE PARTY!!! she is wondering why isnt he wearing a shirt underneath smh
funfact i love zeon-schmid studen-master relationship the most but its so goddang hard to draw an old man cryyyyyyy keep reading for me simping and crying over them all bc i barely have energy to finish my sketches so i’ll just upload SOME of them here
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OK LMAO soorry i didnt write it in english bc i thought it would be funnier if i use my language LOLOLOL basically its just EXOS but Highschool AU, and if you know the original  plot, then you know what I mean............... only in Gakuran.....
again, sorry for the bad, random art styles bc i was just drawing whatever the hell came  into my mind...and i needed quick scribbs scribbs before my body gone tired or lost inspo.... and thats how i make sketches AHAHHA
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above was drawn right after i finished chapter 11 or 12(a month ago??) and i cried like a bitch it was so wholesome and sadddd i wanted to punch Zeon for being  a punk but then again he was smol boi who just lost his family........ and daddy Schmid didnt know how to raise and heal himb. bUT I SCREAMED when he saved his adopted son from dying after the battle with papa Shufraken hnhsnhdndhsndhsndh
I was ultra sobbing when I watched a Synergy raid cutscene where Kaya said “Zeon doesnt know how to enjoy music, maybe bc his wound is too deep.” I SOBS MAAANN poor mc-kun....
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AND YA BET YER BUTT DID I SCREAMED EVEN MORE IN SCHMID’s BLACK WHITE RAID BECAUSE FFFFCKKKK I once thought of an AU where zeon died and schmid went berserk. AND FUCK WHEN THE RAID DROPPED I FELL FROM MY BED AND I-
...man i just cant believe my ideas went canon it was NUTZ i was so sos so so happy, and yes, Schmid is my number one in my party. I grow him. I just love him so much man.......
ngl when he went separate ways in chapter 16(cmiiw?) (the one where Neomi released Forbidden Consequence) HE WAS SO ILL bc he just saved his son UGH, and i have a bad feeling ab him in later chapters..........
I finished chp18 actually, but I havent played anything after the season 4 update........ to many new character and new fatecores and AU its so hard to catch up _(:’‘<  7  )L_ I just hope hes ok. He approved Iris and asked her to take care of him in his stead AAA IM SOFT
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Now that Seo-A came in and becomes his 2nd studen but we havent know HOW did she do that- and how did they met???? so I’m really looking forward it :(
Master’s footsteps combo has become my favorite phrase in the entire game beCAusE the obvious reason of Him and his kids being unbearably wholeSoMEE AS HECK
PLS PRAY FOR ME I want to finish my sketches of them one day WAAAAA
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snowdice · 2 years
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Big Bang Editing Story [Day 103]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48
Going to try to get a good chunk of stuff done today, but I will be taking a break in the middle to eat lunch.
Chapter 50 (Patton)
Patton was starting to get excited. There had been a small snow storm a couple of weeks before, but since then, the temperature had been on the rise with no sign of more snow on the horizon. It was still a bit chilly, but Patton only really felt the need for a light coat instead of any more extreme winter wear. It was great!
Usually everyone including Patton was relieved as Winter turned to Spring, but this year, Patton had even more of a reason to be happy about it. Virgil had gotten a tiny bit more comfortable going outside over the winter, but he still didn’t like it too much.
 Patton could almost feel the change in him as the warmer months drew nearer like a flower getting ready to bloom. He was happier and more energetic. Mr. Deknis was getting things ready to start planting as soon as his seasonal workers started to arrive in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Virgil helped him get ready with a lot of enthusiasm.
It was probably the warmest it had been today. It wasn’t nearly summer, but Patton wouldn’t call it cold. So, while Logan was off doing princely duties in the afternoon, Patton decided to test if it was warm enough now for Virgil to willingly go outside.
 Patton found Virgil in Mr. Deknis’s rooms a couple of hours after lunch, figuring he’d be done with whatever task they were doing that day by then. Patton ended up being correct as when Mr. Deknis let him into his living room, Virgil was busy flipping through yet another book of orchids, still trying to decide which he wanted to grow.
“Hi, Virgil,” Patton said, walking into the room with Princess Marisol on his heels. She had been lazing in a sunny spot by a nearby window but had gotten up to follow him as he walked by.
“Hi,” Virgil replied. He closed the book and set it aside.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dovecote with me,” Patton said. “I wanted to send a letter.”
 Virgil thought about it for a moment, and Patton would swear he was using some secret weather sensing mechanism in his head to check the weather before saying, “Okay.”
“If you two are going to the dovecote, would you mind taking a letter for me as well?” Mr. Deknis asked.
“Of course,” Patton agreed.
Mr. Deknis turned to grab a sealed letter off his desk. “It’s for my daughter,” Mr. Deknis said. “The handlers should know the right pigeon to give it to.”
Patton nodded and took it.
“You have a daughter?” Virgil asked, sounding more surprised than Patton would have expected.
 “Yes, Darlene,” Mr. Deknis said. “I’ve talked about her. I thought I’d mentioned she was my daughter.”
“I didn’t know you could have children.”
The statement clearly rang with truth to Mr. Deknis’s ears, but it didn’t make him look any less confused. “Why would you think that?” he asked.
Patton’s eyes widened as he recalled a conversation from months ago where Virgil had been confused about why Mr. Deknis was allowed to be a gardener when he was a multrum. Patton didn’t know much about how multrums were treated in Mocnejsi, but it hadn’t sounded very nice and Patton could draw some conclusions about why Virgil thought that. The problem of course was that Patton was pretty sure very few people in Prijaznia would be confused about Mr. Deknis being allowed to have a kid.
 “You’re old,” Patton blurted before Virgil could say anything more. “Old people can’t have kids.”
These things were not technically lies. Mr. Deknis still looked at him like he’d just sensed Patton saying one though. He frowned and his eyes narrowed a bit. Patton had… never been as good at running around Mr. Deknis’s powers as Logan was.
“Patton,” Mr. Deknis said. “What?”
“You have to forgive Virgil,” Patton said, grabbing Virgil’s arm and tugging on it. Luckily, Virgil followed easily enough. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even know how babies are made.”
“That isn’t an argument, Patton.”
“Anyway, we have to go,” Patton said.
 Patton pulled Virgil out of Mr. Deknis’s living room and into the hallway. He slammed the door behind them. “Run,” said Patton to Virgil. They ran.
Luckily, Patton was right. Mr. Deknis was old and didn’t seem keen to chase them. However, Patton expected that the conversation was nowhere near over. This, even if it made their behavior even more suspicious, would give Patton time to think of something or, more realistically, talk to Logan and get him to think of something.
The ended up all the way outside the stable before the stopped. Virgil, while fast, was not a distance runner and Patton wasn’t exactly athletic, so they collapsed in an exhausted heap.
 “Why did we run?” Virgil asked after a few minutes of rest.
“People from Prijaznia wouldn’t question why a multrum can have a child,” Patton said. “They’re just normal people with some powers. If we’re not careful, he could have figured out you weren’t from here.”
Virgil grimaced. “That’s not good,” he said.
“It’ll be alright,” Patton promised. “We just need to ask Logan what to say. He’s always better at talking circles around Mr. Deknis.”
“He’s in a meeting right now though.”
“Yeah,” Patton said, “but that just means we have to be sneaking for a couple of hours.”
 Always one to make something fun out of a not so great situation, Patton glanced over at Virgil. “You’re pretty good at sneaking,” he said. “Why don’t you teach me something about sneaking by helping me sneak into the dovecote.”
“You want to do training?” Virgil asked.
Patton hesitated, having heard about ‘training’ from Logan. “Uh, only this type of training,” Patton said, “and only for this afternoon until we have a chance to talk to Logan.”
“The king told me I could train people if they gave me permission.”
Oh dear.
He seemed invigorated suddenly and popped to his feet even though Patton really would have rather rested for a bit more.
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“The dovecote is the tower that kind of stands on its own on the North side of the castle, right?” Virgil asked.
“Yep,” Patton agreed, “that’s it.”
“Great,” Virgil said. “That will be perfect for climbing lessons.”
Oh dear.
“Er…” Patton said. “Climbing? I thought we could just, you know, sneak through the doors…”
“Using the doors is the first thing they’d suspect,” Virgil argues. “We have to be sneaky.”
“We won’t really be sneaky if I fall and crack my head open on the ground,” Patton muttered.
“That’s why it’s perfect for training!” Virgil said. “There’s a lot of footholds. You won’t fall.”
  “You vastly overestimate my upper body strength,” Patton said, but Virgil wasn’t listening. He was just grabbing at Patton’s arm and pulling him North.
“I’ll teach you everything you need to know!” Virgil promised. “First lesson. We need to sneak up to the building. There are bushes that go along the castle walls. We’re going to crawl through those.”
“Okay, I’m not sure if that’s necessary,” Patton said. “If Mr. Deknis finds us, we can just outrun him again.”
“Maybe not,” Virgil agreed, “but it’s good practice, and this is training.”
“Right…” Patton said, but then sighed at the look in Virgil’s eyes. “Fine, lets go get in the bushes.”
  Chapter 51 (Logan)
“I see you wore out Patton with that,” Logan said to Virgil. Patton glared at him from where he’d collapsed on Logan’s bedroom floor.
He’d been accosted as soon as he’d gotten out of a meeting earlier in the day by Patton and Virgil as apparently, they’d slipped up in front of Mr. Deknis. Luckily, the conversation had not been nearly as dire as they’d feared. True, most people in Prijaznia wouldn’t question the rights of multrums anymore, but racism was still prevalent in some smaller pockets near the kingdom’s boarders. It was easy enough to explain that Virgil was from an area where prejudice against multrums was prevalent (not a lie) and that Patton, with his sensibilities would panic not wanting Mr. Deknis to realize Virgil’s internalized prejudices and would take him away to explain (also not a lie).
 It had been easy enough to provide this explanation to Mr. Deknis and for the man to accept Virgil’s apology for his accidental offensiveness. There’d been a bit of lingering suspicion from the gardener, but nothing that wouldn’t fade with time.
They’d fled back to Logan’s room after that to breathe away from adult supervision which is when Patton had dramatically fallen to the floor.
Apparently, Patton had been Virgil’s newest victim of training. Patton currently had bruises and scrapes from attempting to scale the wall of the dovecote. When Virgil hadn’t been able to get him up that way, they’d taken an alternate route which explained the feathers and… other unpleasant messes now stuck to both of them. That’s why Patton was on the floor and not the furniture.
 “Patton has a lot to work on,” Virgil said gravely. His eyes flickered a bit, “but at least he’s willing to work on it.”
Logan shot him a tight-lipped glare. “Go take a shower, Virgil,” he said.
Virgil stuck his tongue out at him in response but did turn and disappear into the next room to take a show.
“And what about you?” Logan asked the figure on the floor. “Are you going to go shower.”
There was a long pause. “I’ a min’te,” he yawned, not opening his eyes.
“Whatever you want,” Logan said. Though, he did sacrifice one pillow from his bed, making Patton lift his head so Logan could slip the pillow under it.
 He sat on his bed with a book waiting for Virgil to get out of the shower. He was pretty sure Patton had fallen asleep on the floor by the time the door to the bathroom opened once again. Virgil was in one of the sweaters Logan had given him when he’d first come here despite having new fitted clothes of his own for ever occasion. It still hung off his frame a bit, but not as much as it once had. He yawned softly.
“Tired from your long day of being a menace?” Logan asked idly.
Virgil stopped mid yawn to glare at him.
 Logan just smiled back and patted the bed next to him. Virgil seemed to forgive him for his teasing easily enough. He came to sit next to Logan on the bed, curling his legs underneath him.
Logan glanced down at the boy on the floor. “Patton, you can go take a shower in my bathroom if you don’t want to go all the way downstairs.”
There was no response.
Logan tsked. “What have you done to him?” Logan used to think Patton was the energetic one.
“He’s fine,” Virgil claimed.
“He’s filthy and unconscious on the floor,” Logan argued back.
 Virgil just shrugged and leaned over to rest his chin on Logan’s shoulder. Clearly, he was a bit tired as well even if he wasn’t as much as Patton. “What are you reading?” he asked.
“Just starting a new book on code breaking,” Logan said.
Virgil just hummed, but his fingers twitched on his lap a bit.
“Did you need something?” Logan asked.
“When you’re done reading that, could you help me read something?”
“Of course,” Logan said. “I’m at a stopping point, so we can do it now if you wish.”
Virgil nodded and went scrambling over the bed.
 He opened a drawer in the nightstand that Logan had emptied out from him a while back. It’s where he kept the first protection charm, he’d made and a picture Patton had drawn him once. He was also, apparently, keeping a book there.
He plopped said book down on Logan’s lap. It was a book about different species of orchids.
“Mr. Deknis gave me this book and I’ve think I’ve narrowed down a few flowers to pick out by the pictures, but most of the words are really hard in this book,” he explained. “Could you read a few passages to me.”
 “Of course,” Logan replied, taking the book from him. The book was on the larger size, though not nearly as large as many books Logan read and was covered with hand-drawn flowers, in particular orchids. There were small piece of colorful paper sticking out of the top, making certain pages. “Are these indicating the pages you’d like me to read to you?” Logan asked.
Virgil nodded, moving closer to once again settle his chin on Logan’s shoulder. He peered down at the book in Logan’s lap intently.
Logan smiled softly as he cracked open the book to the first marked page.
 Virgil listened with rapt attention as Logan went through the description of the flowers on each page. Each of the flowers had a short blurb about them along with a table that explained things like how much water and shade each needed. There were 6 flowers in total marked, and Virgil did not interrupt Logan once as he read through them.
Logan glanced at Virgil once he’d finished reading the last bit of text and Virgil reached out to take the book back. Logan closed it and handed it to him.
Virgil frowned down at the book in contemplation for a long moment.
 Then, he opened the book to the fourth marked page. “I like this one,” he said, looking up at Logan, seemingly for approval.
Logan nodded. “It’s very nice, Virgil.”
“How do you say the name again?” he asked.
“Zygopetalum maculatum,” Logan told him.
Virgil’s eyes squinted a bit, and he didn’t attempt to say it. He just nodded.
“We can practice pronouncing it if you’d like,” Logan offered.
He nodded sheepishly and closed the book. “Maybe tomorrow,” he suggested as he stashed the book back in his drawer and curled up on his side of the bed.
“Tired?” Logan asked.
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Virgil closed his eyes and nodded, cheek scraping over his pillow.
“Want me to read more of Into the Mist?” Logan asked.
Virgil nodded again, and Logan reached over to the nightstand, his hand passing over the code book he’d been reading earlier to the novel he was reading with Virgil.
Logan didn’t even get a full chapter in until Virgil was softly snoring. They’d probably have to read everything again with Virgil more awake next time.
Eventually, he managed to poke Patton awake long enough for him to rinse off in Logan’s shower, but not enough for him to retire to his own bedroom. Instead, he flopped onto the foot of the bed and promptly fell unconscious again. Logan’s bed was crowded that night.
  Chapter 52 (Mr. Deknis)
It was Jeffers Deknis’s second busiest time of year right after the fall harvest. However, unlike the fall harvest, not all of his workers were yet at the castle. The last winter had been harsh and while the snowfall had been a month ago, many of his workers whose families lived far from the castle had sent word they would be late arriving for various reasons. A few were dealing with sick relatives and others had to help fix things broken by storms for their families before making the trek. One even who lived in the mountains up north was still snowed in.
 So, he was dealing with only about 70% of his usual staff, meaning he was even busier than he usually was in the spring.
However, despite how busy he was, he still didn’t mind taking a bit of time out of his schedule to help plant a little plot of land he’d sectioned off.
Virgil has spent a lot of time deciding on what plant he wanted to grow in the plot Jerffers had given him. He’d combed through multiple books even though it quickly became clear he couldn’t read well and talked to Jeffers about his options extensively before finally coming to a decision.
 He’d decided on a flower called Zygopetalum maculatum which was a type of orchid. It wouldn’t be an easy flower to grow considering they didn’t naturally have the right climate for it, but with a bit of magical fertilizer and ruins in the ground near them, it was feasible.
Jeffers had dedicated a bit of his time since Virgil had chosen his flower to explaining what they needed to do for it to grow and had set him up with the correct materials. He’d spent a good chunk of the last two weeks outside on his marked off plot of land doing as instructed to get the soil in the right condition.
 Sometimes Logan and Patton joined him and sometimes he was alone, but he was clearly dedicated to his task. Jeffers had stopped by and tested the soil the day before and found it was adequately prepared for planting Virgil’s flowers and told the boy as much.
So, despite being already very busy, Jeffers had allowed for an hour out of his schedule to help Virgil plant his flowers today.
Despite telling him exactly when Jeffers would be ready to plant the flowers, Virgil had come early.
Very early.
He’d stalked Jeffers footsteps all day. If the boy were a cat, Jeffers would have supposed he’d accidentally left a slice of meat in his back pocket.
 Jeffers ended up letting him help with a few other things in the morning which he seemed to enjoy. He seemed to appreciate planting things even if they weren’t his flowers. He was also good at it if a bit slower than necessary in his caution to make sure he didn’t mess anything up.
He ended up sending Patton to get an extra packed lunch from Helen for him (as people didn’t like when they tracked mud into the dinning hall) and they ended up eating while sitting on the base of the fountain by the plot of land Virgil had been tending to. The water in the fountain was now flowing, having recently been cleaned and turned on.
 There was a soft meow from beside them. Jeffers looked down to see one of the castles many cats standing on its hind legs with one of its paws on the fountain’s base and staring at them. He recognized the yellow stripped cat as one of the friendlier ones that Patton had tamed as a kitten. It meowed again when it saw him looking.
“What?” Jeffers asked it, raising one eyebrow. “I know you’re not starving.”
It meowed again in complaint. Then it turned to Virgil. Virgil was instantly tearing off a bit of his chicken sandwich to feed to the cat.
 “You don’t need to feed him,” Jeffers said. “Patton takes care of that plenty well.”
Despite what Jeffers had said, the cat gobbled up the piece of chicken Virgil had fed him like he was starving.
“It’s Buttercup,” Virgil informed Jeffers. The name vaguely rang a bell.
“You remember all of Patton’s names for them?” Jeffers asked, honestly impressed. There were so many cats.
Virgil nodded and ripped off another piece of chicken. The cat went flying at it with gusto.
“Keep some for yourself too,” Jeffers said. “You look less fed than the cats.” Thankfully he was looking more fed than he had at the beginning of winter.
 “But he’s hungry,” Virgil replied with a frown.
“He’s a glutton is what he is,” Jeffers said. “He’s already had his lunch by now I’d imagine and is more than free to hunt down rodents in the barn if he needs a snack.”
Virgil frowned and gave the cat another piece of chicken.
“You’re too good of a kid,” Jeffers said with an eyeroll.
Virgil just frowned at him and took another bite of his sandwich.
“Make sure to eat extra dinner if you’re going to feed the cats your lunch,” Jeffers said. “Though I’m sure Helen will be feeding you extra by default when she hears you’ve been helping me in the garden all day.”
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chancelloramidala · 3 years
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Staring at the Sun ➤ Evan Buckley
Chapter Five: Growing Pains.
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Masterlist.
Marceline Pierce was trying her very hardest to move on from Evan Buckley. It sucked because yeah, maybe this should’ve happened long ago when it was obvious that he didn’t return her affections, but hey at least she’s learning.
She got tired of waiting, of being filled with sadness and jealousy whenever Abby was brought up (especially whenever the subject of "Abby made me a better person!", god that made her blood boil) or whenever she was around.
It made Marceline feel… ugly if that made sense. She didn’t like those feelings brimming at the top of her surface and sort of gave up on her feelings for Buck.
She went on a few dates, finding that the men, women, and non-binary folk she met were just trying to find a one-time thing. And in most cases, Marceline was fine with that, nothing too serious and just a little fun for one night, but she craved something more than a quick interaction like that.
She wanted to get to know someone, figure out what they like and dislike, what they’re allergic to, what drives them to be a good person, and many other things. Marceline wanted a human connection that lasted longer than one night, one that would be reciprocated instead of one-sided.
And that’s how she met Elena Chavez. A beautiful Argentinian-American woman who's easy on the eyes and had the ability to make Marceline actually laugh without trying too hard. They’ve been on a few dates, namely four, and kissed for the first time towards the end of their third.
It was strange for Marceline to be dating again after several years of remaining single and then the several months quietly pinning over a goddamn oaf, but she was proud of herself. She realized that Buck was just never going to love her back in the same capacity she did and decided that she deserved better, even if it wasn’t with him like she initially hoped.
Even if something crucial was just… missing.
Nicolette was ecstatic to see her moving on from Buck. She even helped set up many of Marceline’s failed dates, but she was glad that Marceline was leaving her options open to people other than Buck. Nic has spent the better half of her days listening to her best friend go on and on about her unrequited love for Evan Buckley, and watched her cry when he attended her get-well-soon party with his new girlfriend.
Plus, it helped Marceline think Elena was actually there for her when she watched the other woman interact with Gemma and Nic. Because if there was anything you had to know about Marceline Pierce was that her friends and somewhat co-parentship to Nicolette and Gemma Pierce were an added deal into dating her.
And after the sixth date, Marceline worked up the courage to introduce Elena to another set of important people in her life: her team. Even if they didn’t know they were that important to her.
“Hey, guys, uh,” Marceline cleared her throat at the table whilst Bobby laid out the food with the help of Chimney and Buck. “Can I talk to you?”
“Hm?” They all turned their attention to her, and at that moment she kinda wanted to disappear.
“So,” she pressed her lips into a thin line as she recalled the dialogue she made up last night. “I know I haven’t been the most… open person here with my personal life, but I do consider you to be people I hold very close to my heart.“ she paused for a moment, her green and brown eyes glancing around the table to find they were all looking at her with soft expressions and a small smile tinged on their lips. ”So, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to introduce you all to my girlfriend?”
“Of course,” Bobby nodded without any hesitation and smiled softly at Marceline for taking a step at opening herself up to them.
“Aw, so the Ice Queen does have a heart.” Chimney jokes, thus earning a smack to the back of his head from Hen. “Hey, hey, I was joking, I’m very excited to meet her, Mars.” He winked at her as he rubbed the back of his head and shot Hen a playful glare.
“Great,” then she checked the watch on her wrist, “she’ll be here any moment. She’s bringing a pie.”
Marceline then led Elena towards the table after she arrived, and gestured to each person as they introduced themselves. “This is my dysfunctional team, El,” she said with a small firm.
Elena smiled brightly at everyone and waved, “It’s great to finally put faces to the names, Mars talks about,”
“Please, sit,” Bobby gestured to the table, specifically at the open spot next to Marceline.
Chimney, ever so the man to break the ice eyed the tin towards the end of the table. “So, what kind of pie did ya bring for us?”
She grinned as pink tinted her cheeks. “I baked you guys some peach pie,”
Bobby was instantly intrigued. “You made it yourself?”
Buck laughed, “We’ll you’ve already sold, Bobby huh?”
“Yes, I’m a baker and owner of Delicate Taste Buds downtown.”
Then, for the majority of the meal, Elena and Bobby exchanged their favorite dessert recipes with Marceline smiling softly at the woman next to her. It didn’t go unnoticed that the two women were holding hands at this point. Their clasped hands could be seen on the table when Elena talked about herself and grew nervous, wanting to make a good impression for the 118. So Marceline carefully reached over and put her hand on Elena’s, and gave it a gentle squeeze
Hen and Chimney whispered conspicuously to one another, smiling at Marceline and Elena’s display of affection and talking about how cute the two women were.
Buck sat there, nodding and listening to Elena talk about herself, and would add his own inquiries every so often. Then his eyes would flicker to Marceline who seemed to be only staring at the woman beside her with this soft, gentle gaze that matched how he felt he looked at Abby.
Evan Buckley never thought he’d see Marceline Pierce like this. So entranced with another being. But perhaps he wasn’t looking hard enough, to begin with.
Because if Henrietta Wilson knew the long, pining gazes of Marceline Pierce, it certainly wasn’t directed to Elena Chavez. While Buck, Bobby, and Chimney were busy talking with Elena, they never caught Marceline staring at Buck with heartbreak in her heterochromatic eyes.
The facade of warmth she thought she was holding together for her own sake slipped whenever she even spared a look to Evan Buckley.
Eventually, Elena had to go stating that she had errands to run and a business to manage. The team gave Elena and Marceline some time to say their goodbyes as they cleaned up from their meal before smirking at the woman as she walked up the twisting stairs.
“What?” she asked, dubious as to why the hell her coworkers were acting so goddamn weird. “Do I have something on my face or…?”
“We’re just happy for you, that’s all.” Bobby cut in before Chimney or Buck could make a fool of themselves.
“Oh,” Marceline replied, dumbfounded at how her team seemed to enjoy Elena’s company. “Well, don’t be too happy,” she mumbled under her breath as she walked over to the sink since it was her turn to wash the dishes.
As she rolled up her sleeves, Buck slid beside her with a red rag in hand. “You wash and I’ll dry?”
For a moment, she eyed the other man strangely, knowing very well that they had a drying rack for this very purpose but whatever, to each their own. “Sure,” she mused before turning the water on.
Silence washed over the two firefighters by the sink, one passing a wet plate or fork the other’s way as they dried it with a dishrag. But just because it was quiet, didn’t mean it was uncomfortable. Marceline and Buck were in sync with each other’s movements, the only sound coming from the splashing of water from the sink or the small squeak from the cloth against a plate.
This gave Marceline a lot of time to think about where she was in her life right now. And the more she thought about it, the worse she felt. In the end, no matter how hard she tried to get over Buck, he would still tug on her heartstrings and linger in the back of her mind, and that was in no way fair to Elena. Even if she was the perfect person to be dating, Marceline had too much shit to work through and Elena didn’t deserve to be used as a distraction of sorts.
(In short, her efforts of shoving her feelings for Evan Buckley into a box locked away deep within her wasn't going so well.)
After they finished washing and drying each and every dish in the sink and the epiphany she was having, Marceline took a blue rag nearby and wiped her hands before turning to Buck. “I think I’m going to break up with Elena,”
“What?” Buck was absolutely floored to hear this because he thought Marceline was head-over-heels with Elena.
She shrugged lamely as she threw the towel onto the counter after she finished drying her hands, “She’s a great person, but… I lack that spark with her, you know?” she turned her head to look at him, curious to know if Buck would understand.
Buck tilted his head to the side for a moment, pondering at the word spark. Because if anything, he’d think that he has that special spark with Abby. She brought the best in him, Buck 2.0 which was the best Buck, so that had to mean something, right? “Yeah,”
But then Abby’s mom died and that spark he thought he had with her started to dwindle when she walked past the glass doors and into the airport.
@skyslowalking @beelarson 4 u <3
˚ ༘✶ ⋆。˚ ⁀➷ AUTHOR’S NOTE: we in season two now bitches
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peaches-writes · 4 years
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hwang’s guide to gardening
description: your neighbor, hyunjin, is a gardening novice trying to grow flowers and vegetables on their balcony for the summer member: hyunjin  genre: fluff, summer au, neighbor au word count: 3.4k  warnings: use of the word cuttings (but they’re used for leaves!) note: i’m not a plant expert my plants just died from the heat and typhoon and i miss gardening so i’m channeling my plant baby fever into writing. also, my writing’s rusty. 
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It’s day 12 of Hyunjin tending to his mini garden of flowers and herbs, some of which he bought from an Instagram store with an aesthetic feed and questionable pricing. So far so good, he thinks to himself as he carefully waters the lilies and vegetables lined across the small expanse of the dorm balcony—of the 6 clay pots, no one’s threatening death yet. “By this Saturday, some of you might just be in our movie night pasta.” He reminds his pot of basil leaves. “I don’t know if I can tell you that.” 
“I don’t think you’re supposed to.” Seungmin agrees as he passes by the open clear sliding door, on the way to set up breakfast with Felix. “There are studies of plants dying because they get badmouthed.” 
 Panic briefly sets on Hyunjin’s face and his first instinct is to give the basil leaves extra drops of water. “Oh shit, I’m sorry—wait, I cursed, is that bad? I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” 
Behind him, Seungmin and Felix laugh. 
“If you’re done with your plants, breakfast is ready.” Seungmin calls for him. 
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Hyunjin nods absentmindedly as he moves along to his 4 other plants. “Here you go, babies, grow well, please.”
Hyunjin continues watering and tending to his other plants, making sure to whisper encouraging words now with the new gardening tip from Seungmin. He works in silence for a while, until, on the window right on the adjacent fire escape, you then appear, the usual trays of succulents in hand—9:10 AM on the dot as he has observed for the past almost 2 weeks.
“Hey, Hyunjin.” You greet when Hyunjin turns to your direction to water his 2 pots of lilies. You sometimes go out to sit on the fire escape but on most days, like today, you settle for reaching for everything from your window. “Any progress on the radishes?” 
Hyunjin takes a brief glance on his pot of radishes as you set down your succulents on the damp fire escape then reports, “They’re growing alright.” He then gestures over to a tray of succulent lead cuttings you’ve laid out nearest to the edge of the fire escape, where it can get the most sun. “What are those for?” 
“These? I’ve been drying them for a few days before planting them so I can grow more succulents.” You answer as if you’ve just made a new discovery. “If they’re successful, I might consider selling them.” 
“How long does it take to grow?” “Around a month? I just looked this up on YouTube the other day.”
Hyunjin nods understandingly. Though you’ve had a habit of tending to plants longer than he has (even before you moved in the building with your roommate, he recalls), succulents were a new venture for you—at least from the sporadic small talks you’ve had over the window so far. “Can I do that to my plants?” 
“Depends on the plant, you should look it up.” You briefly survey his garden with the limited view you have from your window. “I think you can definitely cut the basil stems.” 
“Really?” You nod with a hum, having previously taken care of basil leaves yourself. “Huh, that wasn’t on the instructions I got from the store.” 
“Cut some leaves up to the stem then put them in water until they grow roots, from what I remember, that should do the trick.” You advice, finally done with putting all of your succulent trays outside after a long night of rain. Faintly, Hyunjin then hears your roommate call for you from inside your own apartment as she does on most mornings. “Okay, I gotta go, Jisoo’s calling for me.” 
“Alright, see you.” Hyunjin waves goodbye to you with a smile as you back away from the window, already done with tending to his own garden as well. 
Once you’re out of sight, Hyunjin also stands up from squatting around his balcony for the past 5 minutes, stretching his arms and legs then returning back inside the apartment. 
And that’s how most of his mornings have been since he began gardening.  
 “You’re all smiley.” Jisung immediately notes teasingly, alone on the dinner table when Hyunjin steps into the kitchen while everyone else who’s finished breakfast have returned to their own rooms. At that, Hyunjin is suddenly aware of the dazed smile he wears. “Did you see Y/N out again?”
 “Yes but it’s not because I saw them that I’m all smiley!” Hyunjin quickly defends himself, making a beeline to the refrigerator to retrieve juice. “I just got a lot of gardening tips today, that’s all.” 
“Sure, whatever you say.” Jisung chuckles, turning his attention back to the video he’s watching on his phone.
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Two days later, Hyunjin goes to his balcony garden to see you already seated on the fire escape, a rectangular pot on your lap where you strategically place the succulent cuttings you’ve been drying. At the faint rustling of his pajamas, you immediately look up from your work to greet him with a simple wave. “They’re ready to go.” You proudly tilt the pot towards his direction in such a way that the cuttings don’t move. 
“You’re not going to bury them on the soil?” Is the first question Hyunjin asks as he squats down on the ground and picks up his watering can. 
“If I do, they’ll rot.” You pick up a stem cutting from their drying tray, showing him the dried up opening. “This is where the plant will grow after a few days of keeping them inside and occasionally watering them, it’s the side that used to stick on the mom plant.” 
“And when they fully grow?” “Then I’ll bury them on the soil and they’ll be new life!”
You see genuine fascination on his face so you say, “Amazing, ‘no?” 
“And it’ll be this way for a month—it sounds hard.” He muses, proceeding to water his plants. He thinks of his own lilies, growing, yes, but painstakingly slow in his eyes since it’s the first time he’s growing them. 
“It is—it’s quite the bargain.” You agree with a nod. “But I’ll be the happiest person ever if a lot of them sprout.” 
Despite only knowing you the mostly from your small conversations every morning, Hyunjin thinks he likes you the best when you’re talking about something you’re passionate about. “I’m sure they’ll grow, you take care of them well.” 
“Don’t flatter me.” You manage a chuckle. “Still, I worry since it’s not the same as the other plants I have back home. These are a bit unconventional, to say the least.” 
“Nah, I really believe you’ll do well raising them.” He persists. “Just trust the process.” 
You nod through your work, a smile unconsciously forming on your lips at the encouragement. “Tell you what? I’ll give you one for free if at least half of these live.” 
“Really?” 
“Yeah, so you can have more variety on your garden.” You answer. “And you can tell your 2,000 Instagram followers about my new summer business.”
Hyunjin chuckles at the thought, though seriously contemplating it. “I’ll trade you with these lilies if you want.” He offers, suddenly confident of the lilies he’s been worrying about. 
"Oh? Don’t you want to save them for someone special?” 
Hyunjin is immediately flustered by this. “N-No? There’s no one special lately.” 
You raise an eyebrow, questioningly at him. “Really? I thought you’d be the type.” 
Hyunjin is quite popular in school, you think to yourself. A month ago, back when you still had classes, you remember how Hyunjin’s often the talk of your classmates in a lot of general classes. 
He shrugs, though somehow it makes him feel iffy to say what he just said along with, “I just wanted to try growing flowers.” 
Glancing briefly at you from his pot of basil leaves, you seem unfazed by his flushed cheeks, “Well, eventually the lilies might die since they’re seasonal. You might want to consider giving them to someone at least—maybe your mom or Kkami, I don’t know.” You suggest. “You’re growing them really well, too, it’d be a shame if you didn’t show them to other people.” 
You remember how his roommates teased him when he got the seeds and planting kit in the mail so you made sure to mention his mom (whom you’ve only met once when students were leaving for the holidays) and his dog (who got lost once in the rooftop while you were drying clothes). 
“Aw, but I’ll miss them.” “Don’t worry, I think you can grow the bulbs.” 
“Really?” You hum in yes. “I’ll look that up later.” 
Naturally, you then continue to work in silence until you finished your work earlier and bid him goodbye—a rare occurrence since he usually leaves first. 
When you leave, Hyunjin immediately whips out his phone and searches how to propagate lilies. 
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It’s day 22, Felix has started to pester Hyunjin on when his basil leaves will grow again for another bowl of movie night pasta, and his lilies are almost ready to bloom, reaching up almost to his thighs. They’re pink Asiatic lilies, a pop of color amidst all the green leaves and dull shades of root crops, but lately, he’s more fascinated with how you’ve been growing your succulents that seem to grow agonizingly slow, especially since you keep them inside throughout the day rather than let them bask in full sun like your other grown succulents. 
“They’re echevaria lolas.” You stumble over the pronunciation this particular morning, letting them sit outside for the fresh morning air and faint sunlight before the sun fully drenches your side of the building later in the afternoon. “The mom looked like a lotus so eventually they’ll look like lotuses too.”
“Everyone good so far?” Hyunjin asks while googling how to propagate radishes for later. 
“There were some two or three who’ve died, unfortunately.” You frown, showing him the barely noticeable empty spaces on your pot. “But it’s okay, I guess, since I have a lot more.” 
“How do you know if they’ve died?” “They wrinkle or turn purple.” 
“Oh, sorry.” He frowns too which you stifle a giggle at knowing he’s starting to care really deeply for plant life. 
“It’s cool.” You shrug. “That’s just how it is.” 
You also show him how hints of roots and stems are now growing on some of your leaf cuttings, the biggest smile on your face he’s ever seen in the short time you’ve been neighbors so far. 
“I’ll give you this one.” You point to the biggest leave with the biggest progress in the group. “I predict that by next week it’ll have a center already or maybe even its own new leaf!” 
“Ah, you don’t have to!” He insists, waving his hand dismissively. “What if it’s the prettiest? Then everyone would want to buy it when you sell them.” 
“If it’s the prettiest, then it better end up on your garden so that I’ll know it’ll fully grow prettily.” You counter. 
Though you said it casually, Hyunjin swore to Jeongin later on that he felt that he almost fainted in front of you then—out of the small crush he’s harbored over you the entire summer or honor of you entrusting one of your plants to him, he’s not quite sure. 
“I think Y/N’s nice.” Jeongin comments. “And I think you have a crush.” 
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On the cloudy afternoon of day 28, Hyunjin jogs down to the building’s lobby to retrieve his package of new clay pots and seeds. They’re smaller compared to the ones he bought last time since they’ll only be housing a new batch of root crops (after Felix hoarded almost all of his radishes and basil leaves last week). Arriving at the building front door to meet the delivery man, he sees you coming home from your summer job at the ice cream parlor on the next block. 
“Hey.” He greets you, feeling a bit weird since you’re not upstairs on the fire escape. “How was work?” 
The delivery man leaves after Hyunjin pays, making way for you as you climb up the steps to the front door. “It was okay, not a lot of people since it’s been raining lately.” You shrug off your raincoat and close your umbrella before stepping inside, walking next to Hyunjin as you both climb up the stairs to your respective apartments on the 4th floor. 
Hyunjin also hasn’t seen you lately since it started raining, forcing you to keep your succulents inside and leaving only some of your leaves to stay outside the whole day. “And how are the leaf cuttings?” 
“They’re okay.” You answer. “They all have roots now!” 
“That’s...that’s good to hear.” He comments awkwardly, suddenly finding it difficult to talk about anything. After all, it’s one of the rare times he’s seen you outside your place. 
Luckily, you pick up the conversation from him. “How about you? It’s been almost a month, are the lilies blooming yet?” 
At this, Hyunjin visibly frowns from the corner of your eye. “They’re growing taller but they’re not blooming yet.” 
“Maybe they just need more time.” You console him, finally reaching the 4th floor. “Plants don’t care much about exact dates and times but they’ll grow eventually.” 
You glance over at Hyunjin as he walks further to his dormitory’s door adjacent yours. He turns to your direction before going inside, his frown now a small smile. “I hope so, thanks.”
You nod. “No problem.” You smile at him before blurting out, “I believe in you, if-if that helps.”
When you do check his balcony later on that day, you see his lilies have grown significantly taller since the last time you went out on your fire escape but as he said, they haven’t even bloomed yet. 
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Hyunjin’s lilies bloom on day 32 which is day 18 of your leaf cuttings. You went out to your fire escape earlier than usual on this particular morning so that your succulents can get a lot of sun after a few days of rain. 
“Congratulations!” Hyunjin comes out to his balcony with your proud exclaim and he immediately turns to your direction where his lilies also are in his line of vision, fully-bloomed. “Congrats on your first flowers!” 
“Thanks.” He shyly grins from ear to ear, kneeling in front of his flowers to observe them. 
“They’re really pretty.” You comment. “You raised them well.” 
At the compliment, he blushes. “Do you want some?” Hyunjin looks up to you and this time, you’re the one who’s flustered. “I can cut up a few.” 
“What? No, I’m cool, thanks.” You shrug off the rising heat on your face. “I don’t have vases that match the flowers, anyway.” 
At this point, both of you (albeit unknowingly) think that your excuses are getting more and more ridiculous but Hyunjin seems to just accept it and say, “I’ll go get Felix and Seungmin! They need to see this.” 
“Go get Chan too, it looks like he hasn’t seen the light of day since summer started.” You chuckle, remembering how you haven’t seen the oldest boy in their apartment much since summer started. 
“Yeah, good idea.” Hyunjin hurries inside, calling to his roommates eating breakfast. 
After a while, as you were preparing to go back inside your own apartment, all seven of Hyunjin’s roommates cramp into the small balcony, all in different expressions of surprise at the flowers. 
“Woah, they’re so pretty!” You hear Felix comment under his breath. 
“Hyung, can I get some?” Jeongin asks to which Hyunjin jokingly replies, “You have to pay for them!” 
You greet the boys from your space on the fire escape and they greet you back with knowing smiles to which Hyunjin elbows Jisung who stands nearest to him. “Yah.” 
“What? Can’t I greet Y/N?” Jisung whispers loudly. 
“You have that weird look!” “What weird look?” 
Luckily, you were already inside since Jisoo called on you again before Jisung told everyone of Hyunjin’s little crush. 
“Ooh, what if you give some of these to Y/N next-door?” Minho suggests. 
“They said they’re ok with not getting some of them.” Hyunjin answers. “I’m planning to send some to my mom and dad.” 
“Hyunjin, even when they say they don’t want flowers, you should still give them flowers.” Changbin insists matter-of-factly. 
“Ah, I have a better idea!” Chan exclaims. 
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You come home from work on day 34 and come across Hyunjin by the entrance of your building again, this time getting off a taxi, probably from his parent’s place given the two coolers of frozen meat and kimchi he was taking juggling in his hands that always signifies that his mom bought food for everyone in Hyunjin’s apartment. When the taxi drives away and you manage to walk faster to get to him, he greets you with a grin, “Hey, Y/N.” 
You nod and wave hello. “Back from your parents’ place?” 
“Yeah, I delivered flowers.” His smile grows wider. “My mom liked them, especially.” 
“Oh, that’s good to know.” You return his smile. “Do you need help?” 
But he shakes his head at your offer. “No, I’m good. Come on, I have something for you.” 
You look at him suspiciously as you open the building entrance for him but decided on humoring him and agreeing, “Sure.” 
You climb up the stairs in almost complete silence. You ask him briefly about his short trip to the other side of the city and he tells you about how Kkami has been since you last saw the dog. You almost missed how he answers rather curtly and nervously, as if he’s hiding something. 
“Oh, right, wait here!” He suddenly stops you from proceeding to your apartment when you arrive on the 4th floor, sprinting to his before you could even utter a word. 
You stand alone in the hallway for a short while, until Hyunjin re-emerges from his apartment with a medium-sized pot in his hands. “Ta-da!” He holds it up to your eye-level for you to clearly see the label written in his careful handwriting, lily bulbs. “You said you didn’t want the flowers but you didn’t say that you didn’t want bulbs.” 
“Hyunjin—” He thrusts the plant pot in your hands happily, a little proud that he’s got you flustered again. 
“I just want to say thank you for helping me grow my garden this past month.” He insists before quietly adding, “And Chan may or may not also have mentioned that it’s more romantic if I gave you something to grow yourself rather than give you a flower right away since you’re the plant expert.” 
“Huh? Romantic?” You can’t help but smile at the choice of word. 
“Y-Yeah.” He agrees with a small nod. Now he’s equally flustered, even more when he unintentionally blurts out next, “Maybe by the time they grow their own bulbs to plant, we’re already on our 100th day.” 
At that, you finally break into laughter, making Hyunjin laugh as well, albeit more nervously. “What? What 100th day?” You visibly cringe in front of him but with good intentions. 
“I’m trying my best here!” 
“Are you perhaps asking me out?” Surprisingly, he nods slowly in yes, momentarily stunning you.  
A beat of silence passes by that Hyunjin starts preparing himself to pass your conversation off as a joke. 
“Listen—” But before he could even get another word out, you beat him to it.   
“Okay, I’ll take it—cheesy line and all.” You interject, taking a step back to your apartment. “Let me just go get you something in exchange.” 
“You don’t have to.” But you ignore him, proceeding by saying, “No, I insist! Meet me at the back.” 
When he does meet you at the back, on his balcony, you pass him one of your leaf cuttings from the fire escape, the one you pointed at him from before except now it’s grown into the smallest flower with barely enough leaves to form 1 ring of leaves resembling petals. “’Maybe when it’s big enough to look like a flower, it’ll already be our 100th day.” You tease him, earning you a ‘yah!’ from him that just makes you laugh harder than a while back. “Just keep it on a pot with lots of rocks and good drainage, spritz it with water every few days, and keep it away from direct sunlight until it grows into a full succulent.” 
“I—” “It means yes, Hyunjin, I’ll go out with you.”
“R-really?” His eyes grow big, not really expecting that you’d agree. 
“Yeah, just make sure to take care of the leaf cutting I gave you! It’s the prettiest among my plant babies!” For the first time since the two of you crossed paths today, Hyunjin finally lets go of the breath he’s been holding at your words. “And less cheesy lines, please.” 
“Okay noted.”
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Hyunjin’s leaf cutting starts growing into a proper succulent on day 70 of tending to his mini garden of flowers and herbs. The lily bulb he gave you has already sprouted as well. It’s not your 100th day yet as you predicted then but you’re still going out on dates (with less cheesy lines now) and googling how to propagate more plants. 
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darriness · 3 years
Text
Klaine Fic - Season of Happiness
Author: darriness
Rating: Explicit
Category: AU
Word Count: 11,172
Summary: A Christmas with the Anderson’s - what could possibly go wrong?
Author’s Note: So I started watching Happiest Season the other day and got inspired! I have only watched an hour of the movie though so far. Once it sparked this fic idea, I wanted to run with it without having to think about how closely it aligned with the movie. So any similarities, especially near the end, are coincidental. That being said, there are two lines from the movie I used in my fic word for word because I loved them so much (if you want to know which they are just ask and I'll tell you - I take no credit for them). As always this fic was beta'd by the lovely @darrenismydarcy but any left over errors are completely my fault! Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
AO3 Link
“There it is. There it is.” Blaine Anderson pants as he rocks his hips. Kurt Hummel, the man currently on the receiving end of Blaine’s thrusting hips, puts his hands into his hair as his noises become more desperate. He is so. Close. And Blaine knows it.
“Oh God, Blaine.” Kurt moans.
“Come on. Come. Come around my cock.” It’s those growled words that do it. Kurt feels everything in him tighten before it releases in blinding light and sparks.
He is aware of Blaine’s almost pained groan above him and after the initial wave of sensation is over, Kurt makes the concerted effort to squeeze his muscles as Blaine continues to thrust.
“Coming.” Blaine announces in a strained voice as he stills and Kurt hums at the pulsing sensation deep inside.
They are still but for their panting breath for several moments afterwards. Kurt is enjoying the little sparks of sensation still zinging all over his body and he has a feeling Blaine is about five seconds away from collapsing on top of him.
4, 3, 2, 1…
Blaine lets out a huff and his arms collapse under him so he’s lying on Kurt’s chest. Kurt smirks - he knows his boyfriend. Kurt brings his hands up to run them absently along Blaine’s sweaty back as the other man rests his cheek on Kurt’s sternum. He knows sooner rather than later Blaine will have to get up to dispose of the condom, but for now he’s going to wait until he can feel his extremities a little more and just enjoy this moment.
Six months in and it seems to only get better.
He met Blaine in a coffee shop, of all cliche places. Witty banter and flirty, coy smiles were exchanged and just like that Kurt had himself a date for the evening. Six months later finds the twenty-four year old men living together in Kurt’s small but impressively decorated one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn and more in love than either can really comprehend.
Kurt is forever thankful that he decided to stop at that particular coffee shop before work all those months ago.
Blaine brings him back to the present with a groan as he pushes off Kurt to quickly dispose of the condom before pulling the blanket up to cover them both and snuggling back in beside Kurt.
“Love you.” Blaine whispers.
Kurt turns with a smile, enjoying the way the passing lights from the street outside cause the light to play on Blaine’s beautiful face, “Love you, too.” He answers back.
Blaine gives a small smile, “And thanks for letting me do that.”
The comment makes Kurt actually laugh out loud, which makes Blaine’s smile grow bigger.
“You say that like it never happens.” Kurt says after he’s done laughing, “I’ve let you fuck me quite a few times.”
Blaine shrugs, “Yeah, but you much prefer to fuck me.” 
It’s Kurt’s turn to shrug, “Fair point. But it’s not like I only let you top on your birthday and Christmas or anything. And don’t pretend you don’t prefer it the other way.”
Blaine smirks, “You are very talented with your hips.” He concedes which does wonders for Kurt’s ego, “But it’s close enough to Christmas so the whole ‘only let me fuck you on Christmas’ thing could hold water.”
Kurt snorts and rolls his eyes before looking back at Blaine who suddenly has a serious expression on his face.
“Speaking of Christmas…” Blaine starts and Kurt’s eyes widen slightly.
It’s not like he hadn’t been expecting this conversation. They’ve been dating for six months and living together for one. It’s the middle of December. He’s actually surprised the topic of their first Christmas together hadn’t come up sooner.
“Yes.” Kurt says, slowly.
Blaine bites his lip, “I was wondering if you’d...come to my parents place for the holiday.”
Something in Kurt’s chest instinctively tightens. Meeting the parents. For Christmas. It’s a lot.
It’s not like Kurt’s never met a boyfriend’s parents. He’s had two major relationships in his twenty-four years, both lasting two years, and he met the parents both times. It’s just that...the meeting hadn’t gone overly well either time. In fact, the disaster that was meeting Ethan’s parents was what had caused him and Kurt to break up.
It’s not that Kurt doesn’t want to meet Blaine’s parents - he and Blaine are serious enough to warrant a meeting for sure - he had just been hoping to avoid it a little bit longer.
He must not be answering quickly enough because Blaine picks his head up from where it had been resting on Kurt’s chest with a furrowed brow, “If you don’t want to, that’s okay. I know it’s a big step.”
Looking into Blaine’s round, large, hazel eyes, Kurt finds his heart melting and he smiles despite his misgivings, “I would love to spend Christmas with your family.” He says and the bright smile Blaine gives him is enough to know he’s made the right decision.
-- -- --
“No, Dad, I already told you. Blaine’s parents live in Westerville. We’ll spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with them and then we’ll drive to Lima and spend Christmas afternoon and the twenty-sixth with you and Carole.” Kurt is saying to his dad as he finishes packing his bag.
It’s not the first conversation he’s had with his father about the subject. This won’t be the first Christmas Kurt has had to divide his time, but it’s definitely not the norm, and Burt Hummel is having a difficult time with it.
His father coughs before grumbling, “Couldn’t it be the other way around?” 
Kurt sighs and pauses in his packing, “Dad,” He says, “I already told you this, too. Blaine’s parents and brother are flying out to LA on Christmas Day.”
Burt sighs, “I know you told me, I just...want you here.”
Kurt pouts a little, “I know, Dad. But it’s the only way to make it work without Blaine and I spending Christmas apart. And it’s just easier to get both ‘meeting the parent’ moments out of the way.”
Burt huffs, “So now I’m something to be gotten ‘out of the way’?”
Kurt looks up at the ceiling, “Daaaaad.” He all but whines and this time Burt laughs.
“I’m just joking about that last one.” He says and Kurt feels some of the tension leave him, “Promise me you’ll FaceTime me on Christmas Eve at some point?” Burt asks.
Kurt nods, “Of course. Will Finn be around to help you figure out how to work FaceTime?” He asks.
“Hey now…” Burt says in warning and then the father and son are laughing.
“I’d better go, Dad.” Kurt says, “But I’ll see you in a few days.” 
-- -- --
Kurt drums his fingers on the window ledge of the car as he looks out at the trees passing them by. They’ve been on the road for a few hours and while Kurt doesn’t necessarily want to speed up the time it takes to get to Blaine’s house and the meeting of his parents, he also wouldn’t mind if this car ride was shorter.
For whatever reason, Blaine has been tense the entire time. He’s kept both of his hands on the wheel, even going so far as to pull his hand back when Kurt had gone to grab it and bring it into his own lap, and he hasn’t said more than a single sentence in the last hour. Kurt has tried to ask if everything is okay but he just gets a nod and tight smile in return.
This can’t be a good start to this whole thing.
He figures Blaine is just nervous as well though, and decides not to push. He hums along with the radio and watches the scenery pass them by.
His phone rings in his pocket at one point and Kurt pulls it out to see his best friend Elliot’s name on the screen. He smiles as he turns the radio down and answers the call.
“Hey! Settling in okay?” He asks. He notices Blaine’s eyes flick from the road over to Kurt briefly before returning to look straight ahead.
“Definitely. Your place is amazing.” Elliot says. Kurt had asked Elliot to house sit while they were gone. It may only be four days, but Kurt wanted someone there in case something went wrong. Elliot would be staying in New York for the holidays and Kurt and Blaine’s apartment is only ten minutes from Elliot’s parents house. It worked perfectly, “But please tell me you changed your sheets before you left.”
Kurt lets out a laugh and lays his head back on the headrest, “Yes, we changed the sheets before we left.” He looks over to see Blaine smirk slightly.
“Excellent.” Elliot says, “So, on a scale of one to ten, how nervous are you right now?”
Kurt sighs and looks over at Blaine again who hasn’t looked away from the road but seems to be even more tense than before, “Like eleven.” Kurt confesses, “But I gotta go, El. We’ll talk soon.”
“Okay, but just do me one favour?” Elliot says.
“What’s that?” Kurt asks.
“Don’t pass up the opportunity to fuck that boy in his Star Wars sheets.”
Kurt can’t help but laugh out loud which draws Blaine’s attention, “Bye Elliot!” Kurt sings into the phone before hanging up on his laughing friend. He smiles down at the phone before turning to find Blaine’s eyes still on him. When their eyes connect, Blaine looks away and back to the road.
Kurt lays his head on the headrest, “Do you...have Star Wars sheets in your childhood bedroom?” He asks.
Blaine’s face scrunches in confusion before he shakes his head, “No. They’re green and burgundy.” He says.
“Damn.” Kurt whispers with a smirk.
“Why?” Blaine asks.
Kurt shakes his head, “Never mind.” Blaine isn’t in the mood for jokes right now Kurt can tell. He sighs and looks out the window, setting himself up for another few hours of silence.
A few moments later, Blaine sighs roughly, “Kurt...I have to tell you something.”
Kurt looks over at him in concern, “What’s up?” He asks.
Blaine presses his lips together and shakes his head before he sighs again, “I figured I should let you know, before we get to my parents place that….they don’t know we’re a couple.”
Kurt’s face pulls together in confusion, “What? They don’t? You haven’t told them we’re together?” 
Blaine shakes his head, “No.”
Kurt immediately gets a bad feeling but he pushes it aside. Their romance has been a bit of a whirlwind and Blaine doesn’t really talk to his family so maybe he’s just waiting to tell them when they get there?
“So they’re going to find out we’re a couple when we get there?” Kurt clarifies.
Blaine swallows, “Not...exactly.”
Kurt begins to panic just a little, “Okay...you need to start saying more words.”
Blaine sighs and brings one hand from the wheel to rub his eyes, “I haven’t told my parents we’re together because...I haven’t told my parents I’m gay.”
Kurt feels all the air around him leave the car. He feels a tightness in his chest that makes him want to bring a hand up to massage it away. 
He’s about to go into a home where not only does no one know he and Blaine are a couple but where no one knows Blaine is even gay. What in God’s name did he get himself into here?
He tries to tamp down his feeling of panic, considering the look of absolute nausea on Blaine’s face. He loves this man. There has to be a reason.
He swallows and shakes his head to clear it before turning to Blaine, “So...who do they think I am to you?”
Blaine looks over at him and squints, “You don’t want to know why my family doesn’t know I’m gay?”
“Oh, we’ll get to that.” Kurt says and Blaine winces, “But I need time to process what they think I am to you.”
Blaine shrugs, “They think you’re my roommate. That I moved in six months ago to help with the expenses.”
“Moved into my one bedroom apartment?” Kurt asks, incredulously. 
Blaine winces again, “They don’t know it’s a one bedroom.”
Kurt sighs, “So, they’re just okay with your gay roommate crashing their Christmas?” Kurt is really getting tired of Blaine’s winces, “What?” He asks, annoyed.
“They...think you’re straight.” Blaine says.
Kurt just stares at him for a moment before huffing and gesturing to himself, “Oh yeah, you know everyone always tells me how much of a straight man I come across as!”
“Kurt, I didn’t know what to do! I was going to tell them before I brought you, but then my dad has this really important investor meeting tomorrow and I didn’t want to rock any boats before that. It’s important.” Blaine argues.
“And I’m not?” Kurt asks, hurt. He’s hurt. That’s the emotion he’s settled on. He’s hurt that Blaine didn’t feel enough about their relationship to tell his parents.
Blaine sighs and suddenly he’s pulling the car over. He puts them in park when he’s reached the shoulder and turns so his hand is resting on Kurt’s headrest and one of his knees is pulled up onto the seat.
“Kurt, you are the most important thing to me.” Blaine says and Kurt can’t deny the sincerity in his eyes, “It’s just, my family is...complicated. I’ve known I was gay since I was fourteen and yet I’ve never felt like I could be open and honest with them. But you...you make me want that. You make me want to tell them everything and to finally come out to them and live as authentically in their presence as I do everywhere else.”
Kurt crosses his arms and pouts but...Blaine’s got a point. It’s not like Blaine’s in the closet. Far from it. Their life in New York is as out as it can be, and for the most part they enjoy the same life any other couple does. There has to be a good reason why Blaine isn’t out to his family and Kurt doesn’t have the right to judge him for that.
He also gets a warm feeling in his stomach at Blaine’s words. Their relationship is making Blaine want to be open with his parents!
Kurt rolls his head on the headrest to look at Blaine, “I understand.” He says and he can see Blaine relax a little in relief, “But,” Kurt starts and Blaine looks back at him, “and not to sound at all like a bad teen movie or like I’m pressuring you at all, when were you planning on telling them?”
Blaine smiles even as he swallows nervously, “Christmas Eve. After my Dad’s dinner.”
Kurt looks at Blaine, the man he’s come to love over the past six months, and smiles, “Okay. I can play your straight roommate for one day.”
Blaine laughs and lets his head drop in seeming relief before smiling up at Kurt, “You are my favourite person.” He says, crossing the divide of the centre console to kiss Kurt.
Kurt kisses him back before pulling back to say, “I expect so much sex to make up for this though.” 
Blaine laughs and lets his head drop on Kurt’s shoulder. After a moment, he picks it up to glance at the road around them. He seems to be considering something before he shrugs and smirks at Kurt, “Might as well start now.” He says, reaching for Kurt’s fly and lowering his head.
Kurt thinks about protesting but...they’re on a fairly deserted stretch of highway and, Oh God, Blaine’s mouth is magnificent.
-- -- --
“Blaine!” Mrs. Anderson shrieks as she pulls open the door Kurt and Blaine stand in front of. She’s a small woman, shorter than Blaine, with dark brown hair pulled back into a bun. She’s dressed immaculately for being home at 1 pm and Kurt can respect her for that.
She pulls Blaine into a hug and kisses both of his cheeks before pulling back and turning to Kurt, “You must be Kurt!” She says, reaching her hand out.
Kurt takes it, noting its delicacy, before smiling shyly, “I am. Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Anderson.”
Mrs. Anderson waves a hand and laughs, “It’s no trouble. We couldn’t very well let you spend Christmas on your own!”
Kurt turns to Blaine, wondering what story Blaine had given his parents that he hadn’t filled Kurt in on. Blaine shrugs and smiles a little. Kurt will have to ask him later. He also notes that unlike his father, who had told all of Kurt’s friends and boyfriends to call him Burt, Mrs. Anderson hadn’t extended the same offer.
“Come in boys! You can get settled into your rooms before your dad gets home from work and Cooper, Amelia, and the kids get in.” Mrs. Anderson says, gesturing them into the house.
The outside of the house is nothing compared to the inside and the outside was quite spectacular. It’s more an estate then a simple house and Kurt had lost his breath for a second at the sheer size of the exterior. Inside, the house is perfectly and elegantly decorated. Kurt takes in the fine fabrics, crystal adornments, and beautiful artwork. It’s a show piece of a house, that’s for sure.
It’s after Kurt’s initial overview of the front rooms he can see that something Mrs. Anderson said catches his attention. Rooms. More than one. He and Blaine won’t be sleeping in the same room. It’s not something that had occurred to him until this moment. Even after Blaine had confessed in the car and then given Kurt the most amazing road head, Kurt had been too floaty to consider that for the next two nights he would be sleeping away from Blaine.
Blaine gives him an apologetic shrug as they are led up the stairs and down the hall. Mrs. Anderson opens a door on the right of the hallway and gestures inside, “Blaine, I washed your sheets so you’re good to go.”
“Thanks Mom.” Blaine says as he, Kurt, and Mrs. Anderson enter the room. It’s not really at all like Kurt had imagined it. It looks less like a teenage boy’s room and more what a design catalogue would tell you a teenage boy’s room should look like. He knows Blaine hasn’t lived in this room for many years, but something tells him not much has changed.
“And Kurt, you’ll be across the hall.” Mrs. Anderson says, gesturing for him to follow.
Kurt does and, indeed, just across the hall from Blaine’s room is a generic guest room. It actually doesn’t look much different from Blaine’s room except it’s lacking in the few personal touches he caught in Blaine’s - no pictures with friends, sports memorabilia, and if Kurt wasn’t mistaken, boxing gloves. The guest room is similar in colour to Blaine’s but it just has a bed, a dresser, and a window seat.
“Looks lovely.” Kurt says with a smile.
Mrs. Anderson smiles and runs a hand along the duvet as Blaine joins them, “Well, I’ll let you boys get settled in and then meet me in the kitchen. I’ve been baking and if you want the chance to decorate anything you might want to do that before Cooper and the kids get here!”
She leaves Kurt and Blaine alone in the guest room and Kurt drops his bag on the bed before turning to Blaine, “We haven’t slept apart in months.” He says.
Blaine puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs, “I know. I’m sorry.”
Kurt puckers his lips in thought, “However...you are just across the hall. I could always,” He starts, sidling up in front of Blaine and grabbing fistfuls of his sweater, “sneak in in the middle of the night.”
Blaine blushes and gulps but is prevented from answering when a loud crash sounds from downstairs followed by a booming voice, “I’m home!”
Blaine looks over his shoulder, “That would be my brother.” He says.
Kurt nods, dropping his hands and stepping back, “Well, then, let’s go say hello.”
-- -- --
Cooper Anderson, as Kurt is discovering after one afternoon in his presence, is just as handsome as his brother but so much more egotistical. Kurt hasn’t been able to finish a sentence while they decorate cookies without Cooper interrupting and providing a personal anecdote. 
Blaine spends most of the afternoon rolling his eyes at his brother’s shenanigans while simultaneously playing footsies with Kurt under the table.
Cooper’s kids seem sweet enough. He’s got a five-year-old son named Dylan and an eight-year-old daughter named Ella. They laugh at Kurt’s jokes and politely ask for icing or candies to put on their cookies. Kurt counts those as wins. Cooper’s wife, Amelia, is quiet but pleasant.
Overall, it’s not a horribly spent afternoon.
Kurt does have to stop himself from reaching over for Blaine’s hand, or pressing a kiss to Blaine’s temple when he passes him something though. All the little things that have become commonplace in their interactions are now things he has to stop himself from doing. He’s never had to think this hard about how he interacts with Blaine, or anyone for that matter.
Blaine’s father comes home around 6 pm and their interaction is brief, void of emotion, but not hostile.
“Blaine, glad you’re home.” Mr. Anderson says, patting his son on the back after hugging Cooper, the kids, and Amelia.
Blaine nods, “Good to be home, Dad.” He says before gesturing to Kurt, “Dad, meet Kurt. My...roommate. Kurt, this is my dad, Bill Anderson.” Kurt is sure he’s the only one who catches the hesitation before ‘roommate’.
Mr. Anderson smiles benignly and reaches a hand forward, “Good to meet you, Kurt.” He says.
Kurt smiles, “Thank you for having me, Mr. Anderson.”
Mr. Anderson nods and then he’s gone. To his office Blaine informs Kurt. Kurt is fine with that. He felt a little as if he had just met a politician - all show but no substance.
Dinner that evening is a quiet affair. They order pizza which bemuses Kurt considering the posh surroundings he finds himself in, but he’s glad for the more relaxed meal.
When it’s time to get ready for bed, he and Blaine stand at the sinks in one of the upstairs washrooms brushing their teeth.
“So, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Blaine asks after he spits.
Kurt finishes a swipe of his toothbrush and spits himself before wiping his mouth with a towel and smiling, “Your family is really nice.” He says.
Blaine shrugs, “I mean, I know Cooper is a bit self-centred but he means well for the most part.”
Kurt nods as he inspects his skin in the mirror, “I can see that.”
Blaine sighs and places both hands on the vanity, “Why do I feel like we’re fighting?”
Kurt’s eyes widen and he turns to look at Blaine in alarm, “We’re fighting?” He asks.
Blaine’s eyes widen incredulously, “All day, since I told you about my family not knowing, I feel like you’ve been distant with me. And I thought you were okay with everything but now I’m not sure and just...tell me if we’re fighting.”
Kurt’s brow pinches, “I’ve been distant?” He asks and Blaine nods, “Well, of course I have! If I’m not distant then I kiss you randomly in the middle of cookie decorating, or drag you onto the first horizontal surface when you start playing footsies with me. I am fighting my every instinct right now so...yeah, maybe I seem a little distant. But I’m not mad at you. I’m trying to follow your wishes.”
Blaine looks at Kurt through the mirror with a pout on his face before he sighs and turns to pull Kurt to him. He buries his face in Kurt’s chest and wraps his arms around his waist. Kurt sighs and wraps his own arms around Blaine’s neck.
“I’m sorry. I’m just…” He pauses.
“Nervous?” Kurt asks.
Blaine nods into his chest before pulling back to look at him, “You make me want to be brave, Kurt. You make me want them to know about me. About us. But I’m also scared shitless of how they’re going to react.”
Kurt runs his fingers along Blaine’s hairline before smiling softly, “Can you do me a favour?” He asks.
Blaine nods, “Anything.”
“Don’t...tell them for me.” Blaine’s brow furrows in confusion and Kurt goes on, “Tell them because you want them to know you better. Don’t tell them because you want to prove something to me, or because you think I want you to. Do I love the fact that we’re both basically in the closet this weekend? Absolutely not.” Blaine blushes, “But,” Kurt continues, “Coming out shouldn’t be something you do on anyone’s timeline but your own, or for anyone else but yourself. I’ll still be here. Our life in New York will still be there.”
Blaine is nodding and Kurt can see tears forming in his eyes, “I love you so much.” Blaine whispers.
Kurt smiles, “I love you, too.” He says softly, “Now, let’s go to bed. Because the sooner everyone else is asleep the sooner I can sneak into your room.”
Blaine’s laugh makes Kurt’s heart feel lighter.
-- -- -- 
“Wait, you’re telling me Blaine’s still in the closet?” Elliot asks later that night. Kurt lies in the comfortable enough but nothing like his and Blaine’s own bed with his phone to his ear. He’s waiting for an appropriate time to sneak across the hall. He figures sometimes around 1 am should be sufficient.
Kurt sighs, “With his family, yeah.” He says, “He’s scared how they will react.”
“So, who do they think you are?” Elliot asks.
“His straight roommate.” Kurt whispers.
There’s silence on the other end of the line before Elliot coughs, “His family has met gay people before, right? Because, I love you honey, but passing...you are not.”
Kurt rolls his eyes, “They’ve known a gay person for twenty-four years and had no idea. I don’t think their gaydar is functioning properly. And I resent the insinuation that I can’t pass!”
Elliot chuckles, “I’m not saying you’re inability to pass is a bad thing! I admire you! I just can’t imagine how repressed these people are to look at you and think ‘Yes, I can believe this man has vaginal intercourse on the regular.’”
Kurt grimaces at the turn of phrase.
“You just grimaced at my use of the words ‘vaginal intercourse’, didn’t you?” Elliot says, knowingly.
Kurt sighs, “He’s just not ready to come out to his family.”
“I’m sorry, Kurt, but that’s a giant red flag.” Elliot says, but before Kurt can argue Elliot continues, “Look, I know coming out is a person’s own journey, but for him to be out in every other way other than his family? Something weird has to be going on. Do you really want to be in the middle of all that drama?”
It’s not like Kurt hasn’t thought of that. No matter the reason, Blaine’s family finding out he’s gay after all these years is bound to cause some drama. Does Kurt really want to be in the middle of it when it happens?
“I love him, Elliot.” Kurt answers and to him, that’s all the answer he needs to give, “And besides,” Kurt says with a shrug, “it’s kind of fun ‘sneaking’ around. There’s a delicious, albeit frustrating, tension.”
Elliot hums, “Well, you know there is nothing more erotic than concealing your authentic selves.”
“Elliot…” Kurt grumbles.
“All right, all right. That’s my last comment for the night. You know I always support you, right?” Elliot asks.
Kurt smiles, “I do. And that’s why I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Elliot says, “And your apartment. Have I mentioned how much I love your apartment?”
Kurt laughs, “Once or twice.” He glances at the clock, “Oooh! I should go. Blaine’s family should be asleep by now. I’m going to go get lucky.”
Elliot chuckles, “Enjoy!”
After Kurt hangs up, he sits on the bed without moving, listening intently to the sounds of the house around him. All is quiet so he very quietly gets out of bed and tip toes across the hall. He can honestly say this is the first time he’s had to sneak into a boyfriend’s bedroom. He figured at twenty-four the chance for that experience had passed him by. Obviously he’d been mistaken.
He eases Blaine’s door open and peaks inside. For all he knows, Blaine’s asleep himself.
He’s not though and Kurt smiles as he sees Blaine sitting up against the headboard of his childhood bed. His feet shuffle happily beneath the sheets when he sees Kurt and with the almost innocent smile on his face, Kurt has a flash of what it may have been like to know Blaine when they were sixteen and doing this exact same thing back then.
“You came!” Blaine enthuses quietly.
Kurt chuckles as he eases into the room and closes the door behind him, “You are too adorable.”
Blaine shrugs a coy shoulder and looks up at Kurt through his lashes, “Adorable or sexy?”
Kurt smirks, “Adorable.” He says, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not also going to come over there and devour you.”
Blaine’s mouth pouts around a smile, “Well, what are you waiting for?”
Nothing, Kurt thinks. I’m waiting for nothing.
He stalks to the bed and crawls up to kiss Blaine. Blaine sucks in a breath and cups his hands under Kurt’s jaw as he kisses back. It’s heated from the very start and Kurt’s hands smooth down Blaine’s sides as he straddles Blaine’s legs.
“I have been wanting to do that all day.” Kurt says when they pull back.
Blaine smirks, “I’m pretty sure even if my family knew about me, and us, you wouldn’t have been able to do THAT in front of them.”
Kurt rolls his eyes, “Can we not talk about your family when I’m trying to turn you on?”
Blaine sits up slightly and brings his mouth close to Kurt’s. He doesn’t kiss him but lets warm air puff across his lips, “You don’t have to try. I’ve been turned on all day.”
Kurt groans and presses their lips together while simultaneously grabbing the bottom of his shirt and pulling it over his head. Their lips barely disengage during the act and even more impressively they somehow find their way to a horizontal position without stopping the kiss either.
Kurt lines up their hips and presses down slightly into the hardening flesh he feels below him. Blaine lets out a stuttering moan before bracing his feet flat on the bed and returning the thrust.
Kurt hasn’t engaged in clothed frottage since college, and the dirty innocence of the act causes a shiver to run up his spine in the most delicious way. Everything about Blaine turns him on.
He’s just considering how best to get Blaine naked without stopping the delicious grind when somehow, over the noise of their breath, he hears a tap at the door.
He sits up like a shot and his eyes widen down at Blaine. Blaine for his part, pushes up onto his elbows with a disgruntled look on his face.
“Why’d you…” Kurt shushes him with a finger to his mouth and jerks a thumb over his shoulder to the door. 
There’s another tap on the door and this time Blaine’s eyes widen.
“Blaine?” It’s Blaine’s father. Coming to his door at 1 a.m. and Kurt is currently straddling his son. His straight son for all Mr. Anderson knows.
Kurt and Blaine stare at each other, both trying to figure out what to do. Kurt’s not sure if Mr. Anderson will just walk in if Blaine doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t want to take the chance.
He quickly gets up from the bed and looks around the room. He notices Blaine’s closet and without thinking much he quietly makes his way over and into the smaller enclosure.
In the next moment, Kurt hears Blaine’s door open and thank God he’d thought to hide. He wishes he could see what is happening, but instead he sits on the ground, pulls his knees up to his chest, leans his cheek on his knee and listens.
“Hey, I was hoping you’d still be up.” Mr. Anderson says.
Blaine coughs and Kurt can hear the shuffling of sheets, “Yeah. Couldn’t sleep.” Blaine answers. Kurt can hear a breathy quality to his voice that he hopes Mr. Anderson doesn’t.
“Oh, well, I was just finishing up some work in the office and thought I’d see if you were awake because I wanted to run something by you.” Mr. Anderson says.
“Oh. Sure.” Blaine says.
Mr. Anderson sighs, “You know how important tomorrow’s dinner is to my work, right?” Kurt assumes Blaine just nods because Mr. Anderson continues, “I need these investors and nothing can go wrong.”
“I get that.” Blaine answers and Kurt can hear a bit of confusion in his voice.
“Merrick Clark, one of the investors tomorrow, has a daughter about your age.” Mr. Anderson says and Kurt’s stomach instantly drops to the floor. Certainly Mr. Anderson isn’t about to propose what Kurt thinks he’s about to propose, “She’s just recently out of a very bad relationship and when her dad heard that you’d be home for Christmas…”
“Dad, I don’t think…” Blaine starts but Mr. Anderson cuts him off.
“I need to keep these people happy, Blaine. And I would really appreciate it if you could do your part.” Mr. Anderson says sternly.
Kurt’s heart breaks in the silence that follows. His mind is screaming for Blaine to just tell his father the truth. Tell him that he can’t date this random girl because he doesn’t like girls in that way and that he’s in love with the boy that’s across the hall (or so Mr. Anderson thinks). But this isn’t a movie, despite the comical timing of Mr. Anderson’s entrance tonight, so Kurt’s heart breaks a little more when Blaine answers.
“Yeah. Sure. Of course, Dad.” He says.
“Fantastic.” Mr. Anderson says and then there is silence for a moment before Mr. Anderson says something else, but this time his voice is further away, as if he’s at the door, “Good night, Blaine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Night Dad.” Blaine whispers and then Kurt hears the door to Blaine’s room open and close.
He stays in his place in the closet (the irony of his position not lost on him) for a moment. He tells himself he’s waiting until Blaine’s father is officially out of hearing distance but really his brain is trying to process the last few minutes. Somehow, not only does he have to be in the metaphorical closet for the next day, he has to watch his boyfriend play nice with the investor’s daughter. He feels sick to his stomach.
Soft light floods the closet as the door opens and Kurt looks up to see Blaine looking down at him and for as nauseous as Kurt feels, Blaine LOOKS even more sick.
“Kurt…” He says in a pained whisper.
Kurt reaches for one of Blaine’s hands and pulls the smaller man down to him. Blaine crumples to the floor to sit between Kurt’s legs and lean against his chest, his breathing erratic and he’s trembling slightly.
“Shhhh, it’s okay.” Kurt soothes, rubbing Blaine’s back.
Blaine shakes his head against Kurt’s chest and Kurt understands - it’s not okay. None of this is okay. 
-- -- --
“So, let me get this straight.” Elliot says the next day over the phone. Kurt’s outside, sitting on one of the Anderson’s outdoor couches. He’s wrapped up in his coat and shivering but he didn’t want to have this conversation where he could be overheard, “Oh, sorry, should I not use the word ‘straight’?” Elliot asks.
Kurt huffs and rolls his eyes, “Be serious, please.” He says.
Elliot sighs, “I’m just saying, you have moved from having to play the straight roommate for two days to having to play that role while your boyfriend is set up on a date with a woman!” Kurt sighs as well, he’s aware of the situation, “You know what I’m going to say. I would have been out after the first injustice, but now?”
Kurt huffs again and watches as his breath puffs out in front of him, “Elliot, are you done shaming me now? Can we move onto the actual advice-giving?”
“I’m not shaming you,” Elliot defends, “I just think the choice you’re making is dumb and you should feel bad about it and yourself.”
“Elliot!” Kurt exclaims as his friend laughs.
“Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood.” Elliot says but when he speaks again he sounds serious, “Look, I love you, Kurt. And a big, very big, part of me just wants to tell you to get out of there. Is a six month relationship with a guy really worth all this?” Kurt goes to answer but Elliot continues before he can, “But I know what you’re going to say and so my advice to you is to just ride it out. Blaine said he’s going to tell his father after the dinner? Give him that chance. If he doesn’t, then you can reevaluate.”
Kurt nods, “You’re right.” He says.
“I usually am.” Elliot jokes and this time Kurt chuckles at the joke, “Now I’m going to go and sit on your extremely comfortable couch and watch a movie before going to my parents where their couches are decidedly less comfy.”
“Enjoy.” Kurt says, echoing Elliot from the night before and he hangs up. He sighs as he lets his phone drop into his lap. He knows Elliot has a point. Six months is not that long a time and Blaine has given him enough red flags just in the last day to make staying with him questionable but...there is just something that Kurt can’t walk away from. 
“Hey.” Kurt jumps slightly and turns to find Blaine walking toward him. He’s all bundled up in his winter wear and Kurt’s not sure how long he’s been outside but Blaine’s nose and cheeks are adorably pink from the cold. Kurt’s breath catches at the sight.
“Hey.” Kurt says as Blaine comes to sit next to him on the couch.
“You okay?” Blaine asks. 
They haven’t really talked all morning. Kurt had stayed in Blaine’s room last night, getting up to go back to his own around 5 am, but it had not been the sexy romp he’d been hoping for. They’d snuggled and slept. Very little had even been said after exiting Blaine’s closet and Blaine had been busy all morning helping his mom with the evening’s meal.
Kurt nods and then shrugs, “Yeah. I guess.”
Blaine sighs and reaches for Kurt’s gloved hands in his own. Kurt allows him to pull his hand into his lap and Blaine plays with his fingers as he talks, “You know that...no matter what happens tonight, it doesn’t change how I feel about you, right?”
Kurt swallows. He wants to believe that so badly. Instead of answering verbally, he nods.
Blaine gives a small smile, “This dinner is really important to my dad.” He continues. Kurt is pretty sure he’s heard that sentence more than ‘I love you’ from Blaine over the past day. He holds back the urge to roll his eyes and stays quiet as Blaine continues, “I know it’s not how you would want to spend Christmas Eve but I promise, once we get through the meal I’ll...I’ll tell my parents.”
Kurt sighs, “Is it okay if I ask now why you haven’t told them in ten years?”
Blaine’s eyes widen but he nods, “Of course. You have a right to know.” Kurt’s not sure that’s true but he appreciates that Blaine is willing to tell him. Blaine shrugs and looks out over the backyard, “It’s not an overly complicated story though. My parents have always made their views on gay people very clear. They don’t hate them, but would almost rather pretend like they don’t exist. They’re deeply Republican and are very into appearances. A gay son doesn’t really fit into the world they’ve created for themselves. I was terrified of the way they would react and didn’t want anything to jeopardize the relationship we had.”
“What about Cooper?” Kurt whispers.
Blaine shrugs again, “Cooper is just too much of a wild card. We’re eight years apart in age. We’ve never been overly close but we struck up a sort of tentative relationship after I turned sixteen. I know Cooper has no problem with gay people, I just don’t know where his allegiances would lie if my parents reacted poorly. I didn’t want whatever relationship we have to disappear if he chooses my parents over me.”
Kurt’s heart breaks once again for the man in front of him. At the moment, Blaine looks like a frightened little boy, and in a lot of ways he is. He has come a long way to accept himself but when it comes to his family he might as well be that fourteen year old boy discovering his sexuality for the first time.
Kurt squeezes Blaine’s fingers, “No matter how they react, I’ll be here.” He whispers.
Blaine looks up at Kurt with wide wet eyes and takes a deep breath. He doesn’t say ‘I love you’ but Kurt can see it and feel it when Blaine brings his lips to Kurt’s in a kiss. Is it the smartest thing to kiss in the backyard? Probably not, but Kurt isn’t going to turn Blaine away especially when he can feel Blaine relax the more they kiss.
-- -- --
“Okay, you’re going to have to change.” Kurt turns from where he’s inspecting his outfit in the full length mirror in the guest room to find Blaine standing in the doorway to the room. His boyfriend leans back to check both ways down the hallway before continuing, “Because if you don’t change I’m going to spend the whole night fighting an erection and the urge to drag you into a closet.”
Kurt smirks, turning back to the mirror and straightening his tie, “And how would we explain that to your family. Just bros helping bros?”
Blaine chuckles as he walks into the room and closes the door behind him. He walks up behind Kurt and wraps his arms around Kurt’s waist before hooking his chin on Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt smirks again because he knows the position means that Blaine is standing at least partially on his tip toes.
“You’re picking up on my ‘fratty talk’.” Blaine whispers into his ear and Kurt groans as he laughs. Blaine is the one who tends to pull out phrases that only a frat boy would say. No wonder his parents believe he’s straight. Kurt immediately banishes the negative thought, though, as Blaine begins to kiss along his neck. He leans his head away to give him more room, “I’m rubbing off on you.”
Another laugh is punched out of Kurt’s lungs as Blaine’s phrase is simultaneously accompanied by Blaine rubbing his hardening cock against Kurt’s ass. Blaine bites his neck softly, “Don’t laugh when I’m trying to seduce you.” He says.
Kurt groans as Blaine’s hand moves down to cup him through his pants. They don’t have the time, or the privacy, for this at the moment. Kurt’s look took him nearly an hour and if Blaine’s going to mess it up by having sex then he’ll be late to the dinner. While not an overly horrible thing in Kurt’s mind, any excuse to miss his boyfriend playing nice with a woman his parents are trying to set him up with, he knows how rude it would look.
“We don’t have time.” Kurt whispers, “This look took me an hour.”
Blaine sighs and Kurt shivers at the feeling of his breath across his neck before the shorter man drops down from his toes and backs away, “You’re right. I would hate to mess up perfection for a quick orgasm.” Blaine agrees, “And besides, soon enough we’ll have the time to take things slow.”
He’s referring to when they leave Blaine’s parents house tomorrow morning. Kurt mentally scrolls through what they have to get through in order to make it to that, and his brain hurts to do so.
He turns to take Blaine in properly and smiles, “Gorgeous.” He says.
Blaine strikes a mini pose that causes Kurt to laugh, “Why, thank you, kind sir.” Blaine says before offering his arm, “Shall we?”
Kurt takes in a deep breath and then takes Blaine’s offered arm. They only hold on until they get to the door and then separate once Blaine opens it. Kurt has no idea what this dinner will hold, but he knows the sooner it starts the sooner it will be over for better or worse.
-- -- --
“Ah and here he is now!” Kurt and Blaine hear as they make their way into the Anderson’s living room. It’s Mr. Anderson that speaks and he gestures Blaine forward into the mini circle he and two other people have made. Kurt threads his fingers together in front of him and waits a little further back.
“Merrick, I’d like you to meet my youngest, Blaine.” Mr. Anderson says, speaking to an older gentleman to his left, “Blaine this is Merrick Clark. He owns one of the most successful real estate companies in the midwest.”
Blaine smiles and extends a hand, “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Clark.”
Merrick Clark lets out a booming laugh and grasps Blaine’s hand in a mighty shake, “Please, son, call me Merrick!”
Kurt tenses at ‘son’ even though he intellectually knows that’s how a lot of older men address younger men. Blaine nods as his hand is released. Kurt wonders if anyone else notices how uncomfortable Blaine is at the moment or if it’s only Kurt.
“And this,” Mr. Anderson says gesturing to the woman beside Merrick, “is Tamara Clark. Merrick’s lovely daughter.”
Tamara is objectively beautiful but Kurt is immediately put off by how fake she seems. Everything about her - from her face, to her hair, to even her breasts - screams FAKE! to Kurt and the smile she gives Blaine is one of the most predatory looks Kurt has ever seen.
She extends a hand in the way some women do when they don’t seem to know how to shake hands or want to touch you as little as possible and all Blaine can do is grasp her fingers and shake them awkwardly, “Bill, you didn’t tell me your son was so gorgeous!” Tamara enthuses and Kurt immediately hates her voice. Like nails on a chalkboard.
Blaine blushes at the compliment and Kurt knows that blush. He’s made Blaine blush that way, a lot. His hackles rise to think of this fake woman eliciting that reaction from HIS boyfriend.
Blaine coughs as if he, too, realizes what his reaction was before he turns and smiles at Kurt, “I’d like you to meet my roommate, Kurt.”
Kurt bristles at  ‘roommate’ but is pleased that Blaine wants to introduce him. All eyes swing to him and Mr. Anderson coughs, “Ah, yes. Kurt. Blaine’s friend who is here for the holidays.”
Kurt just barely catches himself before he glares. With that one sentence, Mr. Anderson has made his feelings toward Kurt very clear and they aren’t favourable. Considering he and Kurt have exchanged all of ten words since they’ve met, and Mr. Anderson knows next to nothing about him, Kurt finds this disdain strange. Though he guesses he’s done the same thing with Tamara, but it’s not like Kurt’s trying to sleep with Mrs. Anderson.
“Nice to meet you.” Kurt says with a small wave.
There’s a beat of silence before Merrick nods, “Right. Well, Bill why don’t we leave these two to chat?” He says, gesturing to Blaine and Tamara.
Mr. Anderson nods, “Of course. Why don’t we go talk a little shop before dinner?”
The pair leaves the living room which leaves just Kurt, Blaine, Tamara. Kurt’s not sure where Tamara’s mother or Cooper and his family are but he suddenly feels like a giant third wheel.
He shifts in the silence and when he looks at Tamara she is glaring daggers at him. Kurt lifts an eyebrow. So this is how it’s going to be?
“Blaine,” Tamara says, “Can you show me where the little girl’s room is?”
Blaine nods and gestures down the hall, “It’s just down the hall…” He starts but Tamara interrupts him by laying a hand on his arm. Kurt’s eyes zero in on the contact. So do Blaine’s.
“I’d really rather if you’d show me.” She says with a coy smile.
Blaine coughs, lets his eyes dart to Kurt, before he nods, “Sure. I’ll...be right back, Kurt.”
As they leave, Tamara threads her arm through Blaine’s just like Kurt had done upstairs. Kurt sighs. It’s going to be a long night.
-- -- --
“So Kirk!” Merrick booms a half hour later as everyone sits at the dinner table. Merrick isn’t that far down the table from Kurt but his voice cuts through every conversation and suddenly all eyes are on Kurt.
“Kurt.” Kurt corrects with a patient smile.
Merrick nods and takes a drink of his wine, “Right. Kurt. I knew that.” He says, “So, what brings you to your roommates house for Christmas?”
Kurt shifts in his chair and tries to avoid looking across the table at Blaine. He’s actually tried to look at Blaine as little as possible since he and Tamara had left him in the living room earlier. He feels like there are too many landmines there considering the situation, and he also has no interest in watching a woman, who seems not at all shy with physical touch, be around his boyfriend.
“Um my dad is working tonight so Blaine offered to have me spend Christmas Eve with him. I’ll be driving home tomorrow afternoon to see my family.” Kurt answers. Burt Hummel is definitely not working tonight but no other untrue story could explain his presence here tonight.
Merrick nods again, “Very kind of him.” Kurt nods and dares a quick smile in Blaine’s direction. He wishes he hadn’t when he sees Tamara’s hand on Blaine’s shoulder. Is she cutting her turkey with one hand?
“No girlfriend to spend the holidays with?” Clara Clark asks from beside her husband. She was introduced to Kurt drunk and hasn’t stopped drinking since.
Kurt presses his lips together in a pained smile and shakes his head.
“No?” Merrick booms, “Why not? A youngu, virile looking young man like yourself? No woman to speak of?”
Kurt’s not sure where to start. Why is this man commenting on his apparent virility and why is him not having a girlfriend such a travesty to a man he just met?
Before Kurt can answer though, a tiny voice pipes up from down the table, “Kurt and Uncle Blaine kiss each other.”
The entire table becomes so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Kurt feels his stomach sink as he looks down to find little five-year-old Dylan Anderson happily eating his mashed potatoes, seemingly unaware of the bomb he just dropped. All eyes swing from Dylan to Kurt and Blaine, and now Kurt has a very, very small window to figure out how to react to this. 
His body reacts for him and suddenly he’s laughing. All eyes swivel to him as he laughs in his chair, and he has the forethought to keep from breaking into hysterical laughter because he’s already probably coming across as not very mentally stable.
“Dylan.” Mr. Anderson finally says as Kurt’s laughter calms, “Why would you say that? You know, it’s not good to spread lies.”
Dylan shrugs as he picks up some cranberry sauce on his fork, “I saw them outside.” He says, still unaware of how his words are affecting the table.
With this new information, Kurt finally looks across the table at Blaine. His boyfriend is staring at his plate like it holds the answers to the universe and is as still as a statue. Tamara still has a hand on his shoulder and she’s staring at Kurt with a quirked eyebrow.
“Blaine,” Mr. Anderson says, once again breaking the silence, “Is this true?”
Kurt watches as Blaine begins to shake and Kurt holds his breath as he waits for the answer. He hates that this is the way Blaine has to come out to his family, feels sick to his stomach about it actually, but a small part of him is relieved.
Blaine swallows down at his plate before picking his head up, catching Kurt’s eyes for a brief moment before turning to his father. He laughs, the sounds almost robotic to Kurt’s ears, “Of course not.” He says.
For the second time, Kurt feels his stomach drop but this time his heart goes with it. What…?
Tamara laughs beside Blaine, “Maybe Dylan saw Kirk outside with one of his boy toys. Because if he’s straight? Then I’m Kim Kardashian.”
Kurt feels his ears go hot as the entire table turns to look at him. Everyone except Blaine, who’s head whips in Tamara’s direction. Tamara for her part just smirks with a shrug.
Before Kurt can comprehend what his mind and body are doing, he’s on his feet. His chair scrapes against the floor in the silence and he stands frozen for a moment, staring at Blaine and Tamara across the table.
He points across the table at the bottle blonde, “You’re right. I am gay. And proud of it. I wouldn’t want to be anything else. But I’m sure you’re happy I’m not straight because then you’d have to explain why your flat ass is no match for Kim’s beautiful butt.”
Tamara’s mouth opens as if she’s offended but Kurt pays her no more attention as he turns to look at Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, “Thank you for having me last night but I think we can all agree that I’ll see myself out now.”
He doesn’t wait for them to answer, but does spare one more look at Blaine’s conflicted face before he stalks out of the room and up the stairs.
As he packs he keeps expecting, or rather hoping, that Blaine will come upstairs and beg him to stay. That he’ll apologize for denying them as a couple and say to hell with his family and that Kurt is more important.
That doesn’t happen though, not that Kurt actually expected it to, and ten minutes after leaving the dining room Kurt is packed and down the stairs. He can hear voices from the dining room but keeps going out the door and to the car he and Blaine rented. He’s not sure what Blaine is going to do for a ride the next day, but at the moment he doesn’t care. He just needs to get out of here before he starts crying.
He almost succeeds. 
He’s at the bottom of the driveway before the first tears fall and he’s on the highway before he’s full on sobbing.
-- -- --
Kurt wakes up slowly the next morning. He blinks his swollen eyes into the early morning sunlight streaming in through the window and has a moment of confusion. Where is he?
He hears pots clanging somewhere in the house and when his eyes finally adjust he sees the familiar surroundings of his bedroom at his Dad’s house. Oh right, he’s with his family. And his eyes are swollen because he spent the entire drive here crying and then proceeded to cry himself to sleep after crying on his dad’s shoulder for a few hours.
He’s not sure what time it is, but he knows he hasn’t gotten enough sleep. That being said, the comforting presence of his father is too much to ignore so he slowly rises into a sitting position before pushing to stand and shuffle out of the room.
When he gets to the kitchen he finds his dad and his wife, Carole, moving around the room with practiced ease, while Finn, Kurt’s step brother, sits at the kitchen table, most likely after being told to stay out of the way. Kurt smiles at the scene as much as he can before his Dad notices him in the doorway.
“Hey bud.” Burt sighs as he leans back against the counter.
“Wow, Kurt, you must be feeling bad.” Finn pipes in, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so...messy.”
Kurt rolls his eyes at Finn’s bluntness but it’s Carole who answers, “Finn!” She admonishes her son, “Maybe go take a shower before breakfast and presents.”
Finn, who looks confused why he’s being sent away, does so without comment, leaving just Kurt, Burt, and Carole in the kitchen.
“I’m,” Carole starts, handing the spatula in her hand to Burt, “going to check on the presents.” She says and then she, too, is gone.
“Subtle.” Kurt sighs as he lowers himself into a chair.
Burt chuckles softly, “They’re worried about you.”
Kurt quirks an eyebrow, “Even Finn?”
Burt inclines his head, “In his own way, yes.” Kurt ‘aha’s sarcastically but he does, in fact, believe that both Carole and Finn care about him and are worried about him. He may not have felt that way when they entered the Hummel family eight years ago after it just being Kurt and Burt for years after Kurt’s mom had died, but every year the ‘step’ gets less and less important.
“How ya doing?” Burt asks, flipping a pancake before taking the pan off the heat and lowering himself into a chair next to Kurt.
Kurt shrugs, “Like I did a lot of drinking last night...after getting my heart broken.”
Burt pouts slightly before sighing, “I can’t believe that’s how it all went down yesterday.”
Kurt nods, “Me either. But it did. Now it’s just me having to get over it.”
Burt tilts his head, “What are you going to do about the fact that you share an apartment with this man?”
Kurt sighs and shrugs again, “I don’t know. That’s a New York Kurt problem. Lima Kurt just wants to eat carbs, open presents with his family, and forget yesterday even happened.”
Burt nods just as there is a knock on the front door. Father and son turn toward the sound in confusion. Who would be coming to call at 6 am on Christmas morning?
“Kurt?” Carole calls from the front hallway where she had presumably answered the door.
Kurt’s brow furrows as he looks at his dad. The older man just shrugs and gestures toward the door. Kurt shrugs and gets up to see who it could possibly be.
He rounds the corner into the front hall and stops short.
It’s Blaine.
Blaine is standing on his front doorstep, winter hat being wrung between his gloved fingers and biting his lip with a guilty look on his face. Kurt hates how adorable he looks.
Carole is standing at the door with a look of worry on her face. She seems conflicted.
“It’s...okay, Carole.” Kurt says and the older woman nods before making her way past Kurt. She reaches a hand out to squeeze his arm as she passes.
When it’s just Kurt and Blaine, they stand in silence for a long time. Kurt doesn’t even invite the other man in. He just stares as Blaine shifts back and forth on his feet.
“Why are you here?” Kurt finally asks.
Blaine jolts like he hadn’t realized Kurt was still there or he’d been so lost in his own head that he hadn’t anticipated Kurt speaking first. He looks up at Kurt with wide eyes before looking back down at the carpet at his feet.
“I told them.” He whispers.
There’s silence again as Kurt processes this information. Eventually, he slowly reaches to grab his jacket off the hook and puts it on. He heads to the door and steps out, causing Blaine to take a step back, and closes the door behind him so the pair is now standing on the porch.
He gestures to the porch swing and he and Blaine sit next to each other.
“I’m listening.” Kurt says, softly. He’ll give Blaine that much. He’ll listen.
Blaine sighs roughly, “As soon as you left I wanted to go after you. But I knew that would just make things worse. I needed to deal with things with my family before I could come to you. Hell, as soon as those words were out of my mouth I wanted them back.” 
Kurt knows what words Blaine is talking about. He’s heard ‘Of course not’ repeated in his head over and over since they left Blaine’s mouth.
Blaine shakes his head, “And I wanted to slap Tamara for what she said but,” and at this Blaine smirks a little, “you kind of verbally slapped her for me.”
Kurt feels the corner of his mouth twitch upward but he’s still too wary to really find humour or compliment in Blaine’s words.
“After you left, my dad started making this big speech about how wrong it was to have a gay person try to hide who they were and ‘sneak’ into his house. How he felt violated.” Kurt’s stomach starts to turn sour. Blaine huffs and his breath comes out in a puff of steam, “And he’s going on and on about how you deceived me and the family and I just kept getting angrier and angrier until eventually I just exploded.
“I told him that if he felt deceived by the two days he didn’t know about you then he was in for a doozy because I’ve been ‘deceiving’ him for ten years. That shut him up real quick.” Blaine laughs humourlessly, “And everyone just stared at me. I told them that I was gay and in love with an amazing man and that if they couldn’t handle that then they needed to check their priorities.”
Blaine falls silent and Kurt’s eyes widen expectantly, “And?” He asks breathlessly.
Blaine sighs and looks out across the front lawn, “And then my dad told me that if that’s the way I felt I could get the hell out of his house.”
Kurt gulps.
Blaine is quiet as he looks out over the lawn before he turns to Kurt, “And you know how I feel now?” Kurt shakes his head and slowly a smile blooms on Blaine’s face, “I feel relief. I am so relieved to no longer have this hanging over my head. In the end, I couldn’t care less about how they reacted, I just needed to say it.”
Kurt gives a small smile, “Well, then I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” Blaine breathes and then he shifts and Kurt thinks it looks like he goes to reach for Kurt’s hand but then at the last moment thinks better of it and retracts his hands into his own lap again, “Look, I know just because I came out to them doesn’t erase the fact that I forced you into a closet and then lied about you point blank. I get that.” He nods, almost resignedly, “But,” He says, looking up at Kurt with wide eyes, “I love you so much, Kurt. And if you can somehow find a way to forgive me, I promise that I will NEVER do anything like that again. You weren’t the reason I decided to come out to my family but your love made me feel like I’d have a soft place to land no matter what.” He grimaces, “And I fucked that up.”
Kurt is quiet as he looks at the man in front of him. He’s only known Blaine for six months but from the very beginning it’s felt like he’s known Blaine his entire life. They zinged in a way he never has with anyone else. They’re love was real and deep and something worth fighting for.
Is.
Is something worth fighting for.
Kurt reaches across the divide and grabs Blaine’s hand. Blaine inhales sharply and he looks down at their hands and then up at Kurt. Kurt smiles and squeezes the hand in his own.
“It’s still a soft place to land.” He whispers and Blaine all but melts against him. Blaine’s lips are on his and Kurt’s still warm enough from the house to get a small jolt from the coldness of Blaine’s lips. He silently vows to keep kissing until their lips are the same temperature.
“Woooohoooo!”
The exclamation makes the pair pull apart much too soon for Kurt’s liking and he turns toward the sound in alarm.
Standing beside a blue SUV on the street is none other than Cooper Anderson. He’s got his arms in the air and a bright smile on his face.
Kurt laughs in disbelief as he turns to Blaine who is smiling sheepishly, “What…?” Kurt trails off.
Blaine’s smile grows, “Turns out when push comes to shove...Cooper’s allegiance is to me.” He says it with a little bit of disbelief and Kurt can see his eyes twinkle with the beginning of tears.
“I told you he’d forgive you!” Cooper exclaims, loud enough for the whole street to hear and then he bends to high-five a bouncing Dylan who Kurt just realizes is next to him.
Kurt and Blaine laugh, “Coop! You’ll wake the neighbours!” Blaine admonishes.
Cooper shrugs, “Well, I haven’t heard Kurt extend an invite for Christmas morning breakfast yet!”
Kurt laughs as he tugs Blaine up to stand with him and gestures Cooper and Dylan forward, “My dad and stepmom are making pancakes. Would you like to join us?”
He directs his question to all three Anderson’s as Cooper and Dylan comes closer but he’s only got eyes for Blaine.
Cooper and Dylan slide past them and he enters the house without further comment but Kurt and Blaine hear him bellow, “Good morning Kurt’s family! I’m Cooper, Blaine’s brother. This is my son, Dylan. And we were told there were pancakes!”
Kurt and Blaine laugh again as they hold hands facing each other on the porch, “I guess we should go explain.” Kurt says, tilting his head toward the door.
“One more kiss.” Blaine says and Kurt smiles as he indulges him. He bends down and presses his lips to Blaine for a moment before pulling back.
“We can kiss inside where it’s warm, too.” Kurt says.
Blaine smiles, “Yeah, but if we do it inside Cooper will make inappropriately lewd comments.”
Kurt smirks, “Actually, my step brother Finn probably will, too.”
“They’ll probably get along famously.” Blaine comments.
“Probably.” Kurt whispers before kissing Blaine one more time, “Merry Christmas, Blaine.”
“Merry Christmas, Kurt.” Blaine whispers before the pair link fingers and enter the house together.
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wizardysseus · 3 years
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i was thinking about once upon a time (abc) in bed this morning so i decided to write this list
subject to change, since awhile ago i was in the middle of season 6 when they took it off netflix and i never quite got around to picking it back up. i’m gonna finish if it kills me i promise
top 5 things about once upon a time
5. anna frozen
when ouat introduced frozen characters, most fans decided the show had jumped the shark. they were not wrong. however, it was this very thing that allowed the show to be fun again! after an excruciatingly bad season 3 (we will get to that), bringing on anna and elsa literally transported directly from their own unaltered story in cheap ass versions of their unaltered movie costumes allowed the show to let loose and do... basically whatever it wanted. this became the hallmark of the show for those who stuck with it: absolutely not making sense at all, but being fun about it. post-season-three ouat becomes a totally different soap opera from season one, but by god you are never bored.*
personally, the flashback episode where anna annoys rumpelstiltskin and gets the better of him and he’s so fucking mad about it is like top 10 episodes**
4. 2x16 “the miller’s daughter”
this episode is just another personal favorite. it exemplifies what this show was really good at when it was good, and also where everything went wrong. i think cora is a great example of a good ouat villain, i think the twist on the rumpelstiltskin story is great, i think the dramatic beats really work.
...and in typical ouat fashion, cora immediately dies and two more villains we don’t care about at all are introduced. (sonequa forgive me you know i’m in love with you but tamara was nothing. it’s not your fault.) yes we get that great scene of snow aggressively doing archery practice while listening to “bad reputation” but was it worth killing off a compelling villain just as you’d dug into her story?
3. the commitment to regina’s redemption
and lana parrilla in general. i mean i’m gay and she’s hot but the worse the show got, the more acting lana gave it. and this is just speculation, but i think lana is more comfortable with drama than with camp? because regina becomes a much more interesting character as someone conflicted and on the path to redemption than as a villain. and by god, they were gonna redeem regina.
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if only she had been gay we really could have had it all.
2. rumpelstiltskin
the sweet spot with rumpelstiltskin for me was seasons one and two when he was unabashedly bastard, there was an attempt to make him sympathetic but nobody except belle actually liked him, you weren’t quite sure how much he knew, he was pulling all the strings, and he was just really fucking weird. it will surprise no one who follows this blog to hear that that is my type of wizard.
1. season one
it’s a good season. it’s a good season. there are some bad things about it, but it was extremely watchable. it was doing fairy tales with occasional disney nods in a (mostly) cohesive fashion. the lore and the magic hadn’t sprawled out of control yet. it had the strongest relationship, imo, between emma and henry, and emma and snow. as for iconic episodes, most of the greats are here, plus sebastian stan as the mad hatter and giancarlo esposito as a series regular. the crowning moment for me is the scene at the end of skin deep, when regina confronts gold in the town jail and he reveals that he remembers his real name (after beating the shit out of belle’s dad with his cane obviously). god. that is some good television.
worst 5 things about once upon a time
5. the adoption politics but everyone knows this one.
4. WASTING the talent
you had the love of my life sonequa martin-green and gave her nothing. you somehow scored oded fehr as jafar and gave him nothing. you had giancarlo esposito and regina literally forgot he existed. i will kill you
3. rumpelstiltskin.
it’s no secret that robert carlyle was acting circles around most of the cast; my opinion is that the showrunners felt that if they committed to either his redemption or his villainy, they would never find someone else with the talent to fill his shoes as bastard wizard. so they flip-flopped on him every half-season, which ruins his story longterm, slowly kills the light in robert’s eyes, and gets reallllllly old. it’s also no secret that my favorite rumpelstiltskin is bastard wizard, but they screwed over belle BIG time in the process and for that i will never forgive them.
also like. the rumpelstiltskin fairy tale is antisemitic to begin with and they did not minimize that by comparing him to a lizard and naming his storybrooke counterpart mr gold. they just. did that.
2. THE FUCKING NEVERLAND ARC GOD IN CHRIIIIIIIIIIIST THAT HALF-SEASON IS EXCRUCIATING
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1. captain hook
*it’s my opinion that if you are bored, you’re watching a hook-centric episode. every time i dropped the show and forgot about it for months at a time, it was because i had been in the middle of an episode about hook and just could not get through it. how do i describe all the things i don’t like about what killian hook jones did to the show? with subpoints!
1a. the episode where gold gives him back his hand and he never changes.
**this is actually the same episode i mentioned about anna and, like i said, it’s one of my favorites and not at all boring. look, i’m not pretending this list isn’t subjective as hell.
remember when hook blackmailed mr gold into magically reattaching his hand, which gold has been keeping in a jar, because hook has a date with emma and wants it to go well? but also, gold tells him that if he reattaches his hand with dark magic, it will turn him evil? and then hook spends the episode doing evil things, only for mr gold to tell him “i was just messing with you! the hand was not evil, you gave yourself permission to be evil ;)”
yeah, that’s basically hook’s mo.
1b. episode where emma tells him his brother is lying to him and he learns the exact wrong lesson from this and never changes.
so emma goes to the underworld to get hook back after he dies (while being evil and doing villainous things). they find his brother down there, too, and emma senses that he has a dark secret (because he does) and is lying to them (because he is). but hook always idolized his older brother, so he won't believe her. when emma confronts the brother directly, hook interrupts to rant to her about how he knows what this is ~really all about.
actual dialogue:
HOOK: i don't need proof to know what's really going on here. emma, when are you gonna admit that this isn't really about my brother? EMMA: what else would you think it was about? HOOK: us. you think if you can prove that liam is a villain, then i’ll somehow feel like i was less of one.
who... would EVER come to that conclusion. and why is the lesson he learns at the end “perhaps i do deserve saving after all” (another direct quote), and not “NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU, BECAUSE EMMA WAS LITERALLY RIGHT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER LYING TO EVERYONE”????
1c. the emma dark one arc, where hook never changes.
this would be the arc that leads up to the above underworld arc, and it is deeply dumb, entertaining, and hard to explain. suffice it to say, during this whole arc, killian (along with emma) has all the powers and ~~~Darkness~~~ of the dark one (formerly rumpelstiltskin). unlike emma, he is not aware of this for most of the season. the moment he finally finds out, he turns on emma and goes through with all the revenge plans he’s apparently been holding onto since season two.
it’s supposed to be sympathetic, because emma made this choice for him to be a dark one, which is clearly awful, when he didn’t want it. so i get that. but on the other hand, it is..... boring. because (a) it's nothing we haven't seen him try to do and fail at before, his motivations really aren't that complex. and more importantly, (b) he was the dark one the whole time! the only thing that changed, that made him act evil, was finding out about it. at that point, it's not the ~~~Darkness~~~ making you do evil things. it’s just you. because you’re a dick.
how is this arc resolved? well, he dies. after the underworld arc (which i very much enjoyed tbf), a sizable part of robin hood’s death episode is devoted to people telling emma to slow down and grieve for killian, since at least two arcs have revolved around her inability to let hook go when he is literally dying or dead. (it’s been said a million times but being his girlfriend really sucked the personality out of emma and i miss her.) and in the end he just... comes back anyway. no explanation given; he says it must be a reward from zeus for killing hades... while he and emma make out literally in front of the coffin of robin hood... who actually died fighting hades. killian died half a season before. while he was evil. and emma reverts to tearful girlfriend.
it’s insulting. it’s grating. and it is a Killian Hook Jones Guarantee that his episodes will involve some measure of this.
like, is it more or less the same shtick that the writers kept giving rumpelstiltskin, too? backsliding and screwing over his love interest who gets less and less say in the matter? yes. definitely. the crucial difference is that i, personally, love rumpelstiltskin, while i find hook boring and not self-aware. but clearly i have had a lot of fun complaining about him! again, this is not an objective list.
conclusions
this show ran for 7 years. it got cancelled not because it deserved to, but because no one liked the soft reboot. it was on until 2018.
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disaster-vamp · 2 years
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I finished a Buffy rewatch about a month ago and all I want to do is watch it again (this time in actual order because I always watch it S5-6-7-ATS5-1-2-3-4 because I didn’t start watching in real time back in the day until the S6 premiere and now I always watch it weird) and take notes and shit and chase threads and revel in all these gorgeous high quality gifs bc the last time I did a rewatch it was pre-tumblr.
Meanwhile I’m trying to get through Angel again and it’s such a goddamn slog. I’m about midway through S3 and I just don’t remember disliking it this much? I’m over here like has this show always been this boring and sexist and boring? while knowing the answer is yes, absolutely your bullshit tolerance was just a lot higher back then. And
I thought I liked Angel (on his own show at least) more than this? I thought I liked Cordy more than this WTF is up with her hair all the time I know the 2000s were horrible, I was there and old enough to be at the mercy of them, but JFC you poor poor girl.
Did I always find nearly all the romantic pairings on this show this forced? (I’m in the middle of Gun/Fred, Cordy/Angel and I honestly don’t remember finding both ships this irritating - I think I was mostly ‘whatever don’t care’ about them and now I’m sitting here stone-faced not buying one second of any of it and getting increasingly disgusted by literally everyone but Wesley and Lorne, Wes probably bc he’s going to start hatefucking Lilah soon and I don’t remember what I thought about that last time and am curious as to what I’ll think about it now and Lorne bc he is like one of the only ones who is coming out of this unscathed again). Angel is only tolerable as a romantic lead to me if it’s with Darla because at least they read as similar in age and as equals also Buffy comes off as a Darla rebound on this show and Kate comes off as a Buffy rebound and then there’s Cordy who’s connected to Buffy so that’s also Buffy-adjacent and then Nina comes off like a Buffy rebound and just ok I get it he has a thing for blondes and Cordelia bc she’s like pseudo-Buffy with the super powers and learning to fight and also she’s mom-ing his baby son and wtf was up with all the mystical pregnancy storylines you fuckin’ weirdos, also I know the Connor stuff is coming really soon and I’m just preemptively grossed out and all I’m going to be thinking about is Pete Campbell’s receding hairline coming for him and I remember hating the Jasmine bullshit but at least Gina is pretty and Do NOT Get Me Started on ATS5 which I already watched bc Spike and holy shit the Spike characterization and how they regress his character so severely so Angel can still be The Hero even when he clearly is not worthy of even having his own show in the first place did it make me this irate the last time I watched like a decade ago or was I just so happy to have Spike for a little longer I just sucked it up and now I’m like this show is bad it has bad writing and I don’t even remember which season I used to think was decent bc I only have 1.5 seasons left and I thought all of them were bad and OMG CORDY’S OUTFIT IN HER FINAL EPISODE MAKES ME WANT TO PUNCH THINGS WHY IS HER SHIRT BASICALLY COMPLETELY OPEN YOU GROSS SEXIST SHITHEADS
Anyway some of y’all are giving me life with your ATS hate and I thank you for your service and your satisfying and astute takedowns I feel very validated in my current disgust.
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