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booksarelife-stuff · 3 years

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The Story of Us- Chapter 5

Jily (James Potter/ Lily Evans), minor wolfstar

Word Count: 3,999

Modern Muggle AU. When Lily Evans meets the man across the hall due to a fire alarm, she has no idea that a new chapter of her life has begun. Featuring a librarian Lily and sports journalist James.

Masterlist Read on A03 Chapter 6

Chapter 5- but we were dancing

The options Mary presented to Lily were amazing. Lily didn’t think she could pull them off, despite Mary’s insistence that she would be stunning. In the end, Lily settled on an emerald green velvet dress that Mary insisted would look amazing on her and bring out her eyes.

Lily had gotten Dorcas to come over to do her make-up because Lily was hopeless at eyeliner and she didn’t feel like winding herself up by re-doing it ten times before it only came out decent.

“Can I see your dress?” Dorcas asked, lightly blending out the blush on Lily’s cheeks.

“Sure,” Lily said, glancing at her analog clock on her bedside table. “We got time.”

“Do you know what James is wearing?” she asked.

“Probably a suit,” Lily replied. Dorcas snorted.

“Yes, probably,” she agreed. “I bet he is going to look dashing. Better than that walrus Petunia is marrying.”

Lily knew for a fact that James at his worst would look better than Vernon, but she didn’t even want to think about James and how dashing he’s going to look.

“You’re all done!” she announced after putting some highlighter on the tip of her nose. She held out a mirror and Lily couldn’t believe how good she looked. The winged eyeliner and bright red lipstick were a bit much for the “natural” look Lily wanted, but Dorcas’s work was amazing.

Lily told her as much as she went to her bathroom, the dress in the bag hanging from the door. Mary had already pressed it and made sure it fit her measurements, but Lily still hadn’t opened it.

The dress was off the shoulder, so it exposed her collarbone and shoulders. There was a ruffle along the bust and sleeves to make her bust look bigger than it was. There was a slit that opened up to her knee and Lily was thankful it didn’t climb higher.

When Lily looked in the mirror, she realized that Mary was right. The dress hugged her beautifully and her green eyes were shining. Her red hair stood out as well, even though Dorcas had pulled it up until an elegant knot on the back of her head, with a few pieces curled and framing her face.

Dorcus gasped when Lily stepped out of the bathroom.

“You look drop-dead gorgeous,” she said, as Lily reached for her shoes.

“It’s not too much, is it?” Lily asked.

Dorcas shook her head.

“No, but I don’t know how James is going to feel,” she said, a cheeky smile on her face.

Lily spun around.

“What does that mean?”

“Oh come on Lily,” Dorcas said. “You have got to be joking.”

“I’m not.”

She sighed.

“He couldn’t take his eyes off of you at the party,” she started. “You guys have lunch, what twice a week now? He watches Outlander with you! Outlander!”

Lily turned away and tried to focus on putting her heel on. She tried to ignore the implication of what Dorcas was saying because then that would cause her heart to start racing.

“I’m just saying, if it isn’t into you, then I don’t know what he’s doing,” Dorcas said.

“What if I’m not into him?” Lily whispered.

Dorcas scoffed.

“Then I’d be doubting your sexuality Lily,” she said. “I’m a lesbian and I think he is quite fit.”

“I don’t know yet,” Lily said. “I really like him but…”

“Scared?”

“A little yeah.”

“I think you would regret not trying,” Dorcas said, a tone of finality in her voice. Lily didn’t say anything more as Dorcas began checking her face and seeing any final touches that needed to be made.

It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door. Lily felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as Dorcas went to go answer it.

“James! You clean up nicely,” she heard Dorcas say. Lily took a deep breath and walked out of the hallway towards her living room where her front door is located.

When she stepped in, her breath caught as she got sight of him. He was wearing a grey suit, one that had to be tailor made because it fit perfectly on him. His hair was a little more tame, but artfully messy. When Lily met his eyes, he was looking at her with wide eyes and his mouth open a bit.

“Hey,” he said, breaking the silence.

“Hi,” Lily replied.

“You look gorgeous,” he said.

“Thanks. Mary and Dorcas really came through for me,” Lily said. “You look nice.”

Lily wanted to kick herself. That was the lamest thing she could have said.

James didn’t seem to mind as he smiled back.

“Well, I should get going,” Dorcas interjected. Lily looked at her, a little ashamed to admit that she had forgotten she was in the room with them.

“Bye! Thank you for the make-up!” Lily said, giving her friend a quick hug. Dorcas patted James on the arm before leaving.

“So, ready to go?” James asked. Lily nodded and grabbed her phone and her keyes. She realized that she didn’t have anything to carry them in, but James took them and put them in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

Lily liked that he offered his arm to her as they waited for the elevator. She also liked that he volunteered to drive them there after Remus told him that Lily was a tiny bit scared of driving. He helped her into the car and Lily thought her heart was going to burst.

“So I made a road trip playlist,” he said. “I put some bangers on there. I hope you don’t mind.”

Lily turned to him and smiled. “No I don’t.”

The drive was fun and it alone almost made Lily thankful this night. She was surprised that James knew every lyric to the Taylor Swift songs he put on the playlist. They had just done a wonderful rendition of “Better than Revenge” when James pulled into the parking lot of the ballroom that not doubtedly, Vernon’s family rented out.

“So why did her sister decide to have a black-tie engagement party?” James asked, turning his car off.

“To show that she's better and classier than the rest,” Lily replied, rolling her eyes.

“If this is the engagement party, I wonder what the wedding will be like,” he replied.

“Probably the most outrageous thing you’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know about that,” James said looking at her. “Some of the kids I went to school with are having some crazy weddings. One of them had the whole bridal party on horses.”

Lily laughed.

“Don’t tell Petunia that. She’ll get ideas.”

James opened his door and stepped out. Lily went to open hers but James was too quick. He hurried over to her side and opened the door for her and offered a hand to help her stand.

Lily didn’t expect to be jumped on by her mother the second they walked in.

“Lily, dear!” Rose Evans yelled, making Lily jump. She barely had time to drop James’s arm before her mother’s arms were around her.

“Hello, mum,” she said, hugging her tightly. Her mom pulled away and inspected Lily.

Lily looked awfully like her mum, but in a slightly different font. Lily was a head taller and her dark red hair was the obvious difference, but other than that, they had the same nose that turned up and eyes.

Mum was looking her up and down. Lily inspected her as well. She was still looking good in her willowy frame. She was wearing a light pink dress that was only fitting for the mother of the bride.

“You look beautiful, dear,” she said. She looked at James, and her eyes widened. Lily could see the excitement in her eyes. “You must be Lily’s boyfriend Tuney talked on the phone with!”

“Mum-” Lily started, purposely not looking at James. “He’s not-”

“You are dashing! What’s your name, dear?” Rose said, talking over Lily. Lily felt her stomach drop.

“James Potter, ma’am,” James said, not missing a beat. He flashed her a charming smile.

“Lovely! It’s been awhile since Lily has brought anyone over to meet the family!” Rose said, looking like she was on cloud nine.

“That’s because-” Lily started.

“I’m a special one, what can I say?” James said.

“Well, go get your seats! There’s gonna be a toast before the party kicks off,” Rose said, ushering them forward.

James smiled and nodded and grabbed Lily’s hand. He laced their fingers together.

“I did not tell Petunia you were my boyfriend,” Lily whispered as soon as Rose was behind them.

“I know,” James said. “But I couldn’t dash your mum’s dreams.”

Lily snorted.

“Was charming mothers a class at your posh boarding school?” she whispered.

“Yes, actually. It was after ‘How to smile like a politician,’,” James remarked.

Lily laughed a little as they walked to the main ballroom.

Lily couldn’t believe how much Vernon had dished out for the engagement party. Lily knows there was no way Petunia could afford it with her career as a make-up saleswoman for that pyramid scheme she worked for.

The centerpieces were huge, filled with roses that were painted gold. There were fancy name plates in a cursive that was barely legible. Petunia’s colors were an awful combination of hot pink and a bright orange. The table cloths were alternating between those colors.

There was a live band that was setting up, composed of cellos, harps, and other instruments that indicated to Lily she was not going to be able to dance to the Cupid Shuffle tonight.

“Wow, this is something,” James said. Lily could tell she was holding back laughter.

“I think that pink is bright enough to burn my eyes,” Lily whispered.

There was an usher, who guided them to their seats. Lily wanted to roll her eyes at her sister, placing her in the back corner and probably with Vernon’s cousin who they had deemed to be lesser than them.

James pulled her seat out for her. Lily rolled her eyes at him.

“What a gentleman, thank you,” she said.

“My Mum would have my head if I didn’t act my best today,” he replied, sitting next to her.

“Does your mum know you’re here?” Lily asked, looking over at him. He nodded, his black curls bouncing a little.

“I tell my mum everything,” he said. Lily wondered what that must be like. “Speaking of which, you have been invited to an event of mine.”

Lily raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Yep. Sirius and mostly likely Remus will be going,” he said. Lily hummed.

“What kind of an event?” she asked.

“It’s the Potter’s annual charity event and auction,” he said, like it wasn’t a big deal. “It’s more laid back than this, like a cocktail party if you will.”

Lily blinked at him.

“How rich are your parents?” Lily asked. James glanced at her, smiling a bit.

“My father is Fleamont Potter, Lily,” he said.

“No offense, but am I supposed to know who that is?”

“I’d be surprised if you did. He invented hairspray,” James said.

Lily laughed.

“Okay, you got me,” Lily said. “What did he really do?”

James took a sip of his water, his eyes not leaving Lily’s.

“You have got to be kidding.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, my pretend girlfriend.”

“Give me my phone.”

He handed it to her and did a Google search, only to see that James was absolutely right.

“What the fuck?” she whispered.

“Language Evans!”

She handed her phone back to him, staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes.

“Crazy, I know,” he said.

“Why didn’t you mention this?” she asked. James shrugged.

“Didn’t seem important.”

Lily rolled her eyes. Only James would think it wasn’t important that his father had invented the very product she had sprayed all over hair for most of her life.

Turns out they were seated with Vernon’s cousins who they had deemed untowardly. Surprisingly enough though, they were the ones that Lily actually imagined having a shot at getting along with.

James had so much charm, it was practically oozing out of him. He had charmed the socks off of Vernon’s cousin, Elizabeth with a simple tale from his uni days.

Mingling was not one of her strong suits, but James made it a lot easier.

Lily’s gut twisted when the speeches started to kick off the night. The first one to go was her sister’s best friend from secondary school, Makayla, who had assisted in making Lily’s life a nightmare.

Her speech was fine until they started talking about the “good ol’ days.”

“One of my fondest moments from our friendship early on was when we found her sister eating alone outside,” Makayla started. Lily’s breath caught at the mention of this and she stiffened.

She felt James grab her hand. He laced his fingers through her’s and squeezed once.

“We felt so bad for her! So we decided to sit with her,” Makayla continued. “We knew it would damage our reputation, but that’s what you do for family.”

There were a few laughs.

“That was until Lily started to get smart with her mouth and Petunia dumped her lunch all over Lily!”

Lily remembers it like it was yesterday. She had been reading a book, when her sister’s hoard of girls descended over her. They were spewing fake compliments, Petunia’s backhanded ones as well, Lily had had enough and looked straight at her sister and fired back at her.

Lily had beans in her hair for the rest of the day.

No one laughed, but Makayla trucked on to the story of how she met Vernon.

Lily’s pulse rate was up and she could feel her cheeks flush with anger. She almost wanted to leave the room, but James was holding her hand. She squeezed it and James leaned over.

“I take it, that's not the whole story?” he whispered. Lily shook her head stiffly.

She didn’t pay attention to anyone else’s speeches. She kept her eyes down and was content to staying in a bad mood until James started a thumb war on her lap.

He had just won for the second time when everyone started standing. Lily looked around in confusion.

“I think we can get up and mingle now,” James said. “Or maybe we’re supposed to go greet the bride and groom?”

There was a line forming in front of Vernon and Petunia. Lily’s eyes passed over them and on to the snack table that only a few others were at. Lily eyed the champagne.

“Snacks?” she asked.

“Lead the way.”

James, once again, lended Lily his arm as they made their way through the crowd.

“What kind of party doesn’t have a chocolate fountain?” James asked as they neared the snacks.

“They probably thought it wasn’t posh,” Lily replied.

“I’ve been to plenty of posh parties and there has always been a chocolate fountain,” James replied. Lily laughed a little.

“What about a cheese fountain?” she asked.

“That sounds disgusting.”

“You can grab a tortilla chip and cover it in cheese.”

“Nasty, Evans.”

James grabbed a plate and let Lily fill it with whatever she wanted. She made sure to grab enough for both of them, James only turning down champagne.

“Well, I’m going to need a lot to get through this night,” Lily said, taking a sip.

“I wish I could,” James said, sighing.

“Thanks for driving,” she said, smiling at him.

“You only use me, Evans,” James lamented before popping a strawberry into his mouth.

Lily was about to reply when Makayla walked up. She was looking at James though, like Lily was completely invisible. Lily fought the urge to grab James and run but Makayla was quick.

Lily wasn’t in the business of hating other women, though it was hard to fight the societal pressures that had been pushed upon her since she was a kid. She didn’t hate Makayla because she was pretty or because popular in school. She hated her because Lily had spent many days crying and fearing her presence.

“I don’t believe we met before?” she asked, extending a hand to James. “Are you one of Vernon’s cousins?”

James almost snorted, but Lily could see he was fighting his prep school education. He shook her hand.

“No, I’m Lily’s boyfriend,” he said, smiling widely.

Lily didn’t miss how her face fell a bit. She took a big gulp of her champagne. James put his arm around Lily and brought her closer.

“Oh! I didn’t know Lily had a boyfriend. Petunia failed to mention that,” she said.

“This is the first time I’m meeting the family,” James said, smoothly. “We haven’t been dating long.”

“Oh well, this is a perfect occasion for that,” Makayla agreed. She finally turned her gaze to Lily. “How have you been Lily?”

“I’ve been good, thanks,” Lily said, forcing herself to smile and keep her tone light.

“Still in school?”

“Post-grad,” Lily replied, evenly. Makayla hummed and turned her eyes to James again. James quickly stuffed food in his mouth, avoiding having to answer another question.

“This has been lovely, but we really should be queuing to see Petunia and Vernon,” Lily said. “See you later.”

James followed Lily as they walked to the back of the queue.

“I’m offended,” James said when they stopped. “She thought I was related to Vernon.”

“I bet she didn’t,” Lily mused. “She probably used that as an opener.”

James scoffed. “That’s a bloody fucking horrible opener.”

Lily laughed. They shared the snacks and Lily told him about the people she was recognizing. She didn’t have any cousins and her aunt had passed sometime ago, so it was only Vernon’s family and she didn’t know much about them.

The couple in front of them started talking, revealing them to be Vernon’s cousins who had been shunned because she had gotten a divorce. It was nice bonding by being the family outcasts.

Lily didn’t feel nervous until she was staring at her sister.

Petunia was wearing a dress that Lily could admit was very pretty, but the sneer on her face is what made her ugly to Lily. Vernon was wearing an black suit with an orange shirt that blinded Lily’s eyes.

“Lily,” Petunia said, stiffly. “How lovely to see you.”

Lily was determined not to live up to Petunia expectations, no matter how much she wanted to yell at her.

“Lovely to see you as well,” Lily replied. “And Vernon as well.”

Lily saw Vernon eyeing James.

“I’m James,” he said, a posh smile on his face. “I’m Lily’s date.”

“Or boyfriend, as you had decided to call it,” Lily added.

“What do you James?” Vernon asked, shaking his hand.

“Oh, I’m a trust fund baby,” James said smiling. “I don’t really need to work. I may go get a job at a McDonalds though. It’ll keep me on my toes.”

Lily bit back a smile as Vernon started to turn red.

“Really?” he gasped.

“No, just kidding,” James said. “I’m a journalist.”

The way Petunia’s jaw dropped, Lily would think that someone had committed a horrible sin right in front of her.

“Is this the company you’ve been keeping, sister?” Petunia hissed.

“Yep. Every night. We live together now,” Lily said, knowing it would make Petunia blow a gasket. It worked.

“Vernon and I aren’t even living together yet! And we’re engaged,” she whispered scandalized.

“Hm, maybe we shouldn’t tell them about the pregnancy scare?” James said, turning to Lily.

Lily pulled him away as Petunia let out a little shriek. Lily was holding in a laugh as they walked through the tables.

“Too far?” James asked. Lily shook her head.

“No, just far enough,” she said. “They’re going to think you’re a sinning vagrant like me.”

James rolled his eyes. “If anyone here is a vagrant, it’s me Evans.”

Lily’s mother was waiting for them by their table and Lily’s laughter stopped. She hoped her mother wasn’t going to be stern with her. She felt like a kid again.

“What did you say to get Petunia so mad?” Rose asked, swirling her glass around in the cup.

“Oh, normal stuff,” Lily replied. Rose smiled.

“I can’t believe you found a willing accomplice,” Rose said, gesturing to James.

“I prefer partners in crime,” James replied.

Rose smiled.

“I’m going to ask that you guys stay for about an hour before you sneak out,” she said.

Lily huffed as she was just about to ask James if they could leave and go get McDonalds.

“Fine.”

With that Rose left, giving them a small smile. Lily and James some more snacks and soon the little band was playing. James stood up and offered his hand.

“Uh,” Lily said, staring at it. “I don’t know how to dance.”

“Not a problem. I’ll teach you.”

The truth was that Lily could probably get the gist of it fairly quickly, but the issue was that she had never danced with anyone before. Like never, ever, danced with anyone before. Not even at the little dodgy dances that school threw. She went to one and no one had asked her.

For some reason, it was nerve racking, being that close to James. Sure, she sat next to him on the couch, shoulders bumping, their legs touching. But this seemed intimate.

Too intimate for their friendly relationship.

James squeezed her hand as he led her to the dance floor. He gave her his wide, easy smile. It made her feeling comfortable, knowing that he was going to be embarrassed by her as they danced.

They ended up doing the stereotypical slow dance that wasn’t really a dance. Just swaying with their arms around each other.

Petunia only seemed to have picked ballads for this occasion because not a single song went to an upbeat tempo. So their position was cemented, one hand with their finger’s threaded together, his other on her waist and her other resting in between shoulder blades.

“I’ll teach you to properly dance,” he said. “One day.”

“When will I ever need that?” she asked, smiling a little. James smiled too.

“If you are accompanying me to any and all Potter events, you’ll need to know.”

Lily groaned but she wasn’t bothered in the slightest.

It fell silent between them. Lily looked up at him, taking in his jaw and the way the lights of the room reflected in his glasses.

Another ballad started and Lily realized she liked this. A lot. She liked being this close to James, she liked grabbing his hand, she liked sharing laughs between them.

She liked James. A lot. More than she ought to. She wondered how this snuck up on her like that. She didn’t know the exact moment she started feeling that way, but based on the intensity, it had to have been for a while.

James glanced down at her and she averted her eyes, staring at his tie.

He adjusted their position. He encouraged Lily to get closer and she obliged. Her arm went around him and she rested her head on his shoulder while his hand rested on her back. He kept their fingers threaded together though.

Lily’s heart was thumping and she hoped James couldn’t feel it, as there was no room to speak of between their bodies. She could hear James’s thumping..

She could melt right there in that very spot, that’s how close they were. She wanted to be this way forever.

Lily forgot that the back of her shoulders were bare from how the neckline of the dress was until she felt James’s hand gently trace a circle on her bare skin. It made her body start to tingle and long to feel his hands everywhere on her.

The song changed and Lily realized she was going to have to do something about this. But not right now.

“I think it’s been an hour,” she whispered.

“Wanna get out of here?”

“Yes please.”

#jily #James Potter #Lily Evans #lily evans potter #James Potter/Lily Evans #minor wolfstar #harry potter #muggle au #marauders era #jily fic #jily fanfic #Harry Potter fanfic #James x Lily

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allie1804-fan · 3 years

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The Middle of the Road (Chapter 16)

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10, 11 , 12, 13 14 , 15

Warnings: None

September 2024 – Toronto Emily and Keanu flopped down on the bed in their room at the apartment they were renting in Toronto for the week of The Toronto International Film Festival. They had just arrived from LA and were travel weary. He had just had his 60th birthday and would be receiving a Tribute award at the festival, a great honour for any film maker but an especially treasured one for Keanu who had grown up in the city. He remembered when the festival used to take place in his neighbourhood of Yorkville in the late 70s so the whole event was very close to his heart.

The whole family had decamped from LA including their Nanny Maria which would enable them to attend the evening events as well as do some promotion. Keanu had done voice work in a film being premiered there which had a U certificate so they would all attend the afternoon screening. They were taking a bit of a risk with Hannah but Emily or the nanny would be able to take her or Johnny out if either of them got unsettled.

After they had rested up a bit, they all went out to a local Italian restaurant around the corner from the apartment and enjoyed a simple relatively quick meal before getting the babies back home to bed. The next morning found Keanu and Emily enjoying some free time looking around his old haunts – he’d shown her his home in Yorkville, his elementary school, ice hockey stadium, the Leah Poslun Theatre and the location of his first kiss!

“Right there?”? Emily was pointing with an aghast expression on her face at a dingy alley behind a bike rack at the back of an old Walgreens store.

“Yup – I know. I’ve got a bit classier in my old age I hope you agree.”

“And what was her name?”

“Angela”

“Now THAT is a 70s name if ever I heard one. I guess at least your name is just totally unique and not linked to an era like some”

“She was sweet – but not long lasting!” Anyway, I think that is the complete high, and low, lights for you. We better get back and get some lunch before this afternoon’s shenanigans” He was referring to the premiere of his film which was an afternoon affair so kids could attend. Some local children would attend as well as press and the stars and their families. Johnny and Hannah would be there – with the exit strategy of mum or nanny if it was too much. They had watched films at home and had quite good attention spans but Hannah had only been in a movie theatre once and so was a bit if an unknown quantity behaviour wise.

It was also to be their first red carpet as a family. They had kept the children well shielded so far but, accepting that complete privacy wasn’t realistic, they had decided to attend this premiere all together. They all dressed in smart casual clothes rather than the suits and ballgown style of Oscars and that was needed given they would have the kids next to them snacking on ice cream! The press and fans were enthralled with the kids, both dark haired and with big brown eyes strongly favouring Keanu but with the delicacy of Emily’s features. After letting her walk on wobbly legs for a little while, Keanu scooped Hannah up and carried her while Emily walked with Jonathan and Marie brought the buggy and a change bag just in case. Hannah loved waving at everyone and fans called her name which made her laugh. Johnny joined in with waving too, sensing that this was something special but not really at all clear what. It was going to be a while before they understood that their Dad wasn’t just special to them!

The kids enjoyed the film and made it through the whole hour and half without a melt down to everyone’s relief.

That evening Emily and Keanu appeared on a panel about a project they were working on together. There were inevitable questions about how husband and wife could work together which they fended off deftly - working together was after-all how they met and it felt easy compared to parenting and they were glad to keep the topic work focussed. In the next couple of days they each took part in other promo for their work and had a meal out, just the two of them. There they talked about the award show that would be the following night.

“You nervous?” Emily asked as she sipped her coffee.

“Am I ever!” He groaned. “All that intention is intense – I’m used to parts of it – the red carpet, the photos, being filmed in the audience, even being on stage handing out awards or receiving a less significant gong but such focus, and a speech – phew, it’s crazy”

“It’s what you deserve honey, you know that inside don’t you”

He shook his head,

“It’s an honour, such an honour but, no, I don’t know it – it just feels surreal”

“Well just try to enjoy it if you can, hun – OK?, Want to run through the speech back at the apartment?”

“Sure, that would be great to have a writer’s input”

The award day came and they passed as much of it as they could focussing on the kids, taking them to one of the lakeside beaches for playtime and a picnic but eventually time came for the ‘dressing up game’ as Keanu called it. Both of them would spend a few hours being “made beautiful” for the cameras with stylists primping and polishing their hair, clothes and make up to within an inch of their lives. They left the children with Maria and they would tune in later to see Mommy and Daddy on the TV walking the red carpet.

Emily was wearing a stunning sleeveless, full length taffeta gown in red and her birthday necklace to match her ruby engagement ring and Keanu was in the tux he’d worn to the 2020 Oscars. Emily’s palms were sweaty even before they left to go to the theatre. She’d attended public occasions before where there were paparazzi but only one awards show about 4 years ago so she was nervous of the attention, especially as the news of their marriage was still quite fresh.

As they climbed out of the car, Keanu whispered in her ear “Just imagine everyone naked” before they started to make their way up the red carpet, making her giggle and relax just a little.

“I feel like the wives in Apollo 13, if they ask me anything. I’ll just say “I’m proud, happy and thrilled”

“Are you likening me getting an award to going to the moon or a life-threatening mission?!”

“the former for you and maybe the latter for me!”

At first she held Keanu’s arm in a death grip but gradually she relaxed especially as she saw the smiling faces in the crowd and she saw Keanu relax too, signing photos, DVDs and books and posing for photos. Several fans encouraged her to pose alongside him, surprising her. It seemed some people were happy to see him happy with his marriage and kids and thus welcomed her with open arms.

There were a few reporters on the red carpet who stopped them for a few words. Keanu made her laugh, though she tried to hold it in, when he responded to the question of how he was feeling to be receiving the Tribute Award.

“Well I’m proud, happy and thrilled” he said, giving Emily a wink which made the laughter bubble to the surface. They moved on and at last made it into the auditorium and were shown to their seats.

There were several other awards before his but at last it was time for his big moment.

The presentation started with a show reel with clips from his most famous movies as well as some of his lesser known early ones which made him blush. He leaned over and whispered to Emily

“At least they’re not showing the Coke and cornflakes ads!”

After the reel, there were some video clips from some of his directors and co-stars praising – his work, his character and his work ethic. There was Chad Stahelski, Sandy Bullock, Carrie-Ann Moss and Lilly Wachowski. Then it was time for the award itself which Lana Wachowski presented. As he walked up to the stage, the whole auditorium stood, clapping and cheering. He was right, Emily thought, this was really overwhelming! She dabbed a tear away as he took his place at the podium and took a moment to let the applause fade.

“Firstly let me say a huge thank you for this great, great honour - to receive this in the city where I spent my formative years is really very special so thank you.”

More applause erupted then quickly subsided allowing him to continue.

“I owe this award to many other people - first and foremost, I’d like to pay tribute to my mom for believing in me all those years ago when I asked her one day, would it be ok if I was an actor and she simply said ‘whatever you want son’.

And thanks must also go of course to the teachers and directors at the schools where I did plays and at the Leah Posluns Theatre where I really began to learn my craft- thank you for lighting the fire.

Looking back, the reel you showed just now only served to remind me how much I love movies. And a key reason over the years for that love and indeed for much of my success has been the joy of collaboration when making them. Collaboration with many wonderful directors, actors, cinematographers, stunt coordinators, make-up artists, caterers, runners to name but a few is what I thrive on. And they have all made me look good. And I know sometimes I’ve made my fellow actors look good too by how bad I was! Special thanks to Winona and Gary in that regard!

And I can’t forget the writers, for one thing my wife would never forgive me if I didn’t give them a mention.”

Keanu looked over and caught Emily’s eye as she sat in the front row beaning with pride.

“Writers have gifted me some amazing, memorable characters, some of them coming back time and again like Ted, Neo and John Wick. And I think special thanks are due for all the Johns, Johnny’s and Jacks and the quarterback punks that have been a recurring theme for me and such fun to play.

So I love movies and I love the opportunity they give me to tell stories.

But this year, as I hit a big milestone birthday, I am in a new phase in my life and I’m planning on being focussed less on the stories in films and more on my own story. Over the years, my fellow actors and the crews have been like family to me, a band of brothers and sisters if you will. But 5 years ago I met and fell in love with a wonderful woman and she became my family. Then 2 years ago we became parents - and now there are 4 of us. And this year I also became a husband - in all these things as you can probably tell I was a late starter!

So whilst I’m not retiring, going forward I can’t and I don’t want to be the man who is all work and no play. I want to be with my beautiful wife and my kids as they grow and play my part in guiding them in their lives, in their story.

And hopefully, I’ll bring the riches of that experience of being a parent and a husband to my future roles.

Thank you”

There was rapturous applause at this end to his speech and Emily found herself crying once again at his very public commitment to a more balanced life for them all going forward.

Keanu took his leave, heading back stage where there would be a few interviews to do before he could re-join Emily and head onto the after-party. There was a brief break in proceedings and Emily made her way back stage to meet up with him.

Keanu was just taking his leave from one of the news teams when he glimpsed Emily weaving her way between the throngs of stage hands, actors and publicists.

He headed in her direction and indicated a small alcove to the side to aim for. She reached it first and waited for him to join her, his progress being slowed by people stopping to congratulate him on his award and speech. When he finally got there, she threw he arms around his neck.

“That was, just, just”

“Wow have I actually rendered you speechless?” he laughed.

“You didn’t share THAT part of the speech!”

“You mean the bit about marrying a wonderful woman and sharing my story with her?”

“yes that part, you sneaky devil, you made me cry”

“Happy tears I hope?”

“Yes!” she smiled planting a kiss on his smiling lips.

@penwieldingdreamer @fortheloveoffanfic @kindainlovewithkeanu @ladyreapermc @witty-wallflower @gatsbynouvel @bitchyslut99 @keanureevesisbae @omg-imagine @iworshipkeanureeves @fics-not-tragedies @ficsnroses @kindainlovewithkeanu @paperplanesandwallflowers

#keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves fanfiction #keanu #keanu reeves #keanu reeves ofc

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tiesandtea · 4 years

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The Famous Five - interview with Mat Osman about Coming Up, April 1997

By Kevin Courtney. The Irish Times, 19 April 1997. Archived here.

Suede are back on track with a new album, two new members and some perfect pop. Kevin Courtney talks to bassist Mat Osman about reinventing Suede

"We got back to the very simplest things about being in a band," says Mat. "For six months we played live pretty much every night, and got that kind of mental link where we're not just five musicians stuck in a room, you are a band, you feel like a band, you play like a band. And then we spent probably another four months just rehearsing every day, and not being particularly precious about it, playing new songs, playing old songs, playing other people's songs, and no one was watching us, and no one was writing about us, and it felt like being 16 again, you know what I mean, in a garage somewhere, just doing it for the love of it.”

Full article under the cut.

OK, so it wasn't the biggest comeback in the history of pop music - that distinction must go to the Meat Loafs and the Tina Turners of the world - but for a band which had been all but washed away in the tide of Britpop, Suede have made a pretty smart, stylish re-entry into the forefront of the 1990s pop scene.

Three years ago, Suede seemed destined for the scrapheap when guitarist and main music composer Bernard Butler suddenly quit the band on the eve of the release of their second album, Dog Man Star, leaving singer Brett Anderson, bassist Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert with a near-masterpiece on their hands and a world tour on their appointments diary, not to mention a lot of bad vibes all round.

Butler had been the band's Johnny Marr figure, its musical genius, while Brett Anderson was seen as a mere fop, a flashy, egotistical frontman who liked to experiment with drugs and write lyrics about kinky sex. Popular opinion had it that Suede would simply cease to be, in much the same way that The Smiths were negated by the severed alliance between Morrissey and Johnny Marr.

To everyone's surprise, however, the remaining members of Suede announced that they were looking for a guitarist to replace Bernard Butler, and that they hoped to have their new recruit ready to go on the road ASAP. A tall order, even for an accomplished, mature musician, so imagine the complete gobsmacking shock when Suede revealed that their new wonder boy was an unknown 17-year-old named Richard Oakes, a classically-trained guitarist from Poole, Dorset, and a fan of the band.

Jaws dropped - the general consensus was that Suede were clutching at straws, and flimsy, teenage straws at that. Dog Man Star finally came out near the end of 1994, but it was soon eclipsed by the début album of an exciting new band which would grab our undivided attention for the next couple of years - Oasis.

Eighteen months later, just before Oasis were due to make their historic appearance at Knebworth, Suede released Trash, the first A-side co-written with Richard Oakes, and suddenly we had to bin all our preconceptions about this strange, unique band.

Trash was a glorious, glam-tinged celebration of low-life and highgloss, as immediate as Bowie's Rebel Rebel or Roxy Music's Street Life, and far classier than Blur's Country House. It went straight in at Number 3, proving that Suede had hit on a pop cocktail which tickled record-buyers' tastes.

Trash was three mascara-stained minutes of sheer sleaze - in other words, it was perfect pop. The Number One spot didn't deserve it. The band's third album, Coming Up, which followed soon after, featured 12 songs co-written by Brett Anderson and Richard Oakes, and it must have been feeling generous, because it went straight in at the top of the charts on the week of its release.

"It's weird, because I was very proud of it when we finished it, I thought it was a great record, but I had no idea how it was going to be received," says bassist Mat Osman. "When the first single came out, we really knew it was great, but at the same time our record company had a sweepstake on how high it would go in the charts, and some people were betting Number 5, and other people were betting as low as 25. We actually had no idea that it would tap into the public right away, so it was a cool thing."

You could forgive Suede for setting their expectations a little lower than usual - after all, they'd gone through a confidence-shattering bust-up which stopped them in mid-swagger and forced them to turn tail and retreat. With all the stories surrounding the split, not to mention the intense media interest in Brett's alleged drug habits, it must have distorted some perceptions about the music of Suede.

"Oh, yeah, when we were releasing the last album it was like a circus show, and one of the nice things about this new album, is that the first album was the 'Suede hype’ album, the second was the ‘Suede split’ album, and this one just happened to be ‘album’. I think it's the first time in the band's life that we've had reviews about the album itself, and not just a bunch of scare stories."

So did the image, the glamour and the drama, all the accessories which Suede liked to drape around their music, threaten to smother the band? "Totally," agrees Mat. "When the first album came out, there were probably more people who'd read about us and had an opinion about us than had heard a record by us. And it just got to a ridiculous stage, because when the second album came out, everyone I spoke to had an opinion about what we should do and where we had gone wrong - and most of them hadn't even heard the album. And if there's one reason I got into this was to make records. I have no interest in being a media star, or a kind of guru, so it was a very strange position to be in."

After the split with Butler, the band closed ranks. "We got back to the very simplest things about being in a band," says Mat. "For six months we played live pretty much every night, and got that kind of mental link where we're not just five musicians stuck in a room, you are a band, you feel like a band, you play like a band. And then we spent probably another four months just rehearsing every day, and not being particularly precious about it, playing new songs, playing old songs, playing other people's songs, and no one was watching us, and no one was writing about us, and it felt like being 16 again, you know what I mean, in a garage somewhere, just doing it for the love of it. And I think it was really good for us, I think it's the reason the record sounds like it does. I mean, when Richard joined, he was writing immediately, and he could play anything, so we could have just gone and recorded an album straight away just to keep our faces out there. But we wanted to kind of get back to basics, I guess, and start again as a band."

Notice that Mat says five musicians together in a room - surprise number two was sprung when the band announced the addition of a fifth member, keyboard player Neil Codling, cousin of drummer Simon Gilbert. "It was very strange, because we kind of unveiled him at a fan club gig, we kind of just pulled the sheet off him and didn't tell anyone about it. I think the fans love him."

Love him? They absolutely worship him, so much so that there now exists a bona fide "cult of Neil".

"The only thing that's a bit of a shame about that is that there's a lot of stuff written about Neil and said about Neil, and they forget that he's a f---ing great musician. You know, he wrote two songs on the album straight off the bat, having just joined the band. He can play anything, you know, he played a bit of guitar on the album, he played keyboards, he sang - he's an all-rounder."

So now Suede are five, a true gang in a very Enid Blyton sense. "We tend to be pretty tight together. Which you have to be, because you rely on each other a lot, you know, there's a lot of people who are part of the music scene, and hang out with other musicians and all that stuff, and if you don't have that, you've got to be pretty tight in yourselves, to keep your standards up."

Suede play an outdoor gig in the Courtyard in Dublin Castle on Sunday May 4th as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival. Support is provided by Welsh band Catatonia and Dublin glam-punks The Ultra Montanes.

#suede #mat osman #coming up #coming up month

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mydearsaddiary · 4 years

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Speakeasy Tonight Neil Season 3 Fanfic

Neil Season 3- Chapter 3

Hello! For those of you who don’t know Im writing a fanfic on how I’d imagine Neil Season 3 to go! This is chapter 3, here’s a link with all the chapters: https://mydearsaddiary.tumblr.com/NeilSeason3Fanfic

Little Curiosity notes: Because this chapter is all about the high society of BAHS-ton, there’s some currency involved! I put the amount in 1926 dollars, in parenthesis I adjusted it according to inflation on how much it’s cost today!

WARNING: LOTS OF ANGST AND DRAMA. LIKE SO MUCH DRAMA.

Chapter 3- Ghosts Are Alive in a Haunted Night

1926

The way to Boston was long. The anticipation built was driving me over the edge. I’ve been around the upper crust of Chicago, but even so most of them seemed like new money. Extravagant women who just got their hands on dough and bought everything they could. The upper crusts I met in Chicago weren’t elegant, they just had money in their hands. Even so I felt like an imposter amongst them.

I had a perception Neil’s family would be different. They were the true high society. Money was in their roots and they’ve never lived without it. For generations and generations I imagined most of them never worked, but increased their riches by letting others do the work for them.

I noticed when Lucille wrote to Neil, she always signed “Lucille Dresner of Boston”. Only the wealthy referred to themselves with their hometown attached to their name like “The Dresners of Boston”. They measured each other by how prominent of a family they were. For the first time I didn’t think of Neil as just Neil. I imagined him as “Cornelius Dresner of Boston” or “Cornelius of the house Dresner from Boston” or some fancy Jane Austen society title I could never imagine myself belonging to.

I knew Neil was living in an apartment in Chicago, living the same economic life as I did right now by choice, but that didn’t change where he was from or who his family was. For the first time I also realized that you could notice the high class in Neil in his personality.

There was just something in him that distanced him from people like Cliff or Vince who’d come from nothing or even me, who came from some but not as much. I thought of the elegancy, the way he never let himself look like a fool, the fact that he was highly educated, enjoyed chess like no other, the fact that it was easy to look at him and respect him. He had the air of being classier than most. He had his troubles and he wasn’t some snob who thinks he is better than everyone, but something in me said I needed to step up to the gentry, who breathed old money and who would judge me as middle class.

I looked down at the dress I chose for the trip. It was a delicate red. I always thought it was a good color on me, but it wasn’t the best dress (or the best shoes) I could be wearing

I looked at Neil who looked so calm he could have no idea of the internal battle that was happening in my mind. However, I felt guilty for struggling so much. Neil hadn’t seen his family in years, they’d probably be talking and paying so much attention to him that they wouldn’t even have time to look at what I was wearing

Nevertheless when we stepped out of the train in Boston I felt trapped. When I first got to Chicago, it seemed like the city was bursting, it was like my world had expanded and there was no seeing its end. In Boston I got a different feeling. The elegancy, tall buildings and the cold air engulfed you in its atmosphere and urged you to climb the social ladder. It seemed to tell you if you didn’t, you were bound to fail

-Hey…-It was the first time I said something in at least half an hour- I’ve been dying to see the fashion stores in Boston. Whaddya say you take me to see one, just to look around the city for a bit before we go?-I held his arm firmly

-Is the calm and steady Miss Granger nervous to meet my parents?- He got back at me from what I said in Columbus

-Alright, alright, this point goes to you!- I giggled nervously more than playful- I am, alright. Nothing calms my nerves better than shopping for a new outfit

-There’s a store nearby Lucille loved when she was younger. Can’t make any promises it’s still open.

-Doesn’t hurt to try!-I followed him around

It took a little while for Neil to remember the exact spot of the store and kept saying “It’s somewhere along this street”. While I followed him I looked around with interest. The city was full of cars and people. Constructions happened all around and every building was glued to the next one. Two words to describe it were: Completely packed. It seemed like the whole New England lived there. People were moved fast like all of them were in a hurry and it contrasted Columbus in a way it did make me feel like I came from the middle of nowhere. Among the cars there was a policemen on horseback flying by, it struck me as one more thing engulfed by the modernization and craziness that I found myself in. Chicago’s population surpassed Boston’s by a lot, but it was funny how I felt lost in that new city in front of me. Maybe I’d gotten used to Chicago so it didn’t seem that big anymore

And I thought I was ready for Boston

-Was Boston always this full?- I walked holding him tightly, afraid I could lose him in the crowd.

-Full of buildings and people? Yeah, it always was. Although before the war there used to be less cars, floor-length dresses and high hats- He pulled me in into a building, inside it was revealed a store as huge as Menken’s- Here it is, still open

The store was cream-colored with eccentric chandeliers around. I could see at least two floors. I never managed to bring Neil shopping with me before, so I might as well enjoy it.

I took a look around at different dresses. Something had gotten to me though. Look at the price of those dresses! I could buy at least ten dresses at Menken’s for the price of some of these!

If it was Lucille’s favorite store, at least before, then of course everything would be expensive. I swear I found a dress that was $300 (~$4300)! You could buy a new car nowadays with that kind of money. However, my expression remained calm. I looked at Neil sometimes but he didn’t even mention anything about the prices. I felt myself in the obligation to act like it was all normal to me

I remembered some conversations me and Neil had in the past: “Act like you’re entitled to the world”, “You positively grow with middle-class respectability”, “You’re not gonna wear sables and diamonds and be rude to the help, are you?”, “They’ll know you’re not one of them. But you’ll never notice when they’re looking down on you, that’s how people in high society treat people like you and Charlie”. I sighed in despair

-What is it? Nothing matches your photoplay dream?-He said sarcastically behind me and I noticed I had been staring at a dress for too long, lost in my own anxiety- I thought you said shopping lifted your spirits.

-Oh, nothing!-I looked at him- I was just thinking about the Ice Box that’s all, I was worried that-

-MC, I know you’re deeply infatuated with your illegal activities, but there’s nothing you can do from Boston

-I know- I let it go, it was just an excuse anyway. I was excited about the vacation and I couldn’t let the whole pressure just make me crumble. I had to prove to Neil that I was able to deal with whatever life threw my way. We were going to work this out together

-Say, why don’t you keep shopping? I’ll wait outside, all this glitter is hurting my eyes

-Alright, yea, I shouldn’t take long- I gave him a quick peck before he went out, I could see him grabbing a cigarette before turning my attention to the dresses

Alright, MC, you need to choose something classy enough but that won’t burn your pockets. Now, where do I find something that’s doesn’t cost more than $15 (~200)? I could spare that, it’s a special occasion.

Wishing I could have some gin in me right this second I went through the embarrassment of asking if they had anything around the price range I wanted. My luck was that there was a dress that was worth $100 (~1450) that was about to be thrown away because the zipper was broken. When I looked at the dress I didn’t understand why they’d throw it in the can.

It was beautiful. It was this pale pink color with a V-neck. The sleeved has the same gold details as the dress, but otherwise it was transparent. The details on the pale pink went down in waves until right below the knees. I smiled at it, it was perfect for the event of meeting Neil’s parents, and I’ve never worn anything like that.

I asked her if I could have it and she shrugged in a manner like she didn’t understand why I was even there. I couldn’t blame her, I didn’t know either. I got the dress for $20 (~280), it was more than I could at the moment, but I was just happy to have found something I could afford and still look ritzy in

Due to the extra money spent I couldn’t really go looking for shoes or accessories, but I wasn’t worried. What I had would work for this.

-Alright!- I caught Neil outside- I’m ready, first impressions are everything! Now I just need somewhere to put this stuff on!

Yes… Like the back of a rental car in a dark alley…

-It’s so convenient nowadays, you know, they started renting cars and everything right- I said huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf in the back seat getting my dress off and the new one on- So you can change in the middle of the road too

-I thought this way we could go places without having to use one of my family’s cars- Neil waited in the driver’s seat

-What’s wrong with your family’s cars, huh? Not ritzy enough for ya?-I put on the dress to realize it didn’t close in the back. Shoot! I forgot to ask what happened to the zipper. Think, think, think!

-It’s the contrary- Neil responded- If I remember well from back then, I always felt like I was in a circus truck, doubt they changed the way they do things- He seemed to hear me struggling- Do you need help back there?

-No! Nope! I am just fine- I said putting a pin on the zipper so this way it wasn’t broken anymore. It closed all the way up! The only thing was the pin showing a little bit on the top, which looked a little tacky, but with all the details in the dress it could be overlooked

-Let’s hurry then, I told them we should be there for lunch. With your little shopping going on, we’re late

-Sorry!- I put on my rhinestone tiara and went through my bag to find my golden pair of heels that matched the details on the dress, then I hurried up to the front seat- I’m ready, let’s scram!

Neil started to drive, I could feel him a little tense as he drove. I put on my hand on his leg squeezing it- Are you excited?

-When I left Boston I was twenty-four. I haven’t been back since

-Neil- I calmed my voice- They’ll be happy to see you, they’ll be thrilled. Especially Lucille, I really can’t wait to meet her. How old is she?

-We’re about ten years apart, she’s the youngest. So she should be about twenty-two right now. Damn…-He went quiet for a few seconds- When I left she was fourteen, now she’s a woman, married and is about to have a baby.

-Oh, little Cornelia- I smiled thinking about it

-Don’t remind me, I still feel for the kid

-Can it, Neil! It’s sweet. I can’t imagine how she must have felt when she got a letter in the mail from you

-I can’t believe I let you convince me to go through with this-He shook his head

-Hey, pal, I didn’t say anything! You wrote the letter to her yourself

Neil smiled, as if there was something in his thoughts he didn’t want to say out loud- I know.

We pulled up to a narrow street full of four stories apartments- I didn’t know they lived in a flat- I said, a little confused. I expected it-

-They’re not flats-Neil responded- They’re houses

My eyes widened looking again at the row of houses with my new perspective. It was pure Boston Brahmin. The houses were glued to one another, only separated by color, each of them were massive once I understood the four stories were for each family. Rows of fancy cars were parked in front of each designated house and U.S. flags stood in front of each one.

Neil parked in front of an elegant brick house, it was full of organized windows and one big wooden door stood right in the middle of the ground floor.

-Is this where you grew up?- I opened the car door on my side

-No, this is just the city house. I’d spend a lot of time here, but usually we’d be down by the estate

-Estate?- I turned to him, wondering if my ears heard right- Your family owns a estate?

-About 15 miles out of the city- He said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I focused on my breathing not to let myself get too nervous. “Act like I’m entitled to the world” is what I kept playing in my head. I went around to meet Neil and then I noticed his look was distant

-Neil?-I shook him a little bit and he looked down at me, his face was not upset, but the usual mask wasn’t there either- What’s the matter?

He hesitated a little bit. Being back here must be hard. It’s still not easy for him to open up, so I appreciate it even more when he does- That house right there- he pointed. I looked back at the white magnificence across the road, just as beautiful as the one that belonged to Neil’s family. It had a black door instead of a wooden-colored one. No cars were in front of it, so it looked solemn, distant and different from the rest- It’s the Hasting house.

I looked back at him squeezing his hand- Alton…

-Yeah… Alton- He replied

I didn’t know what to say, I never knew what to say when Neil mentioned his past. But he said all he needed me to do was listen. I gave him a kiss on his cheek, hoping to comfort him. I was glad to see it got a smile out of him- Ready?

He breathed profoundly, turning his head back to the wooden door- Yes, I’m ready- He knocked on the door

----

It creaked as it opened, it was like seconds got transformed into hours. Once it was open a servant smiled. Some kind of butler? Gee, this is something else. However that only added to the moment. He positioned himself by the door, looking into an area in front of him I could only imagine it was the living room. He stuffed his chest like it was the most important thing he was going to say in his life to the ones who waited

-Cornelius Dresner is home

I nodded to Neil, letting him walk in first. He took his hat off as he walked, each step seemed to hold anticipation in them. I walked in right after, but staying away from him. I understood this was a precious moment, so my eyes turned to watch instead.

The silence was so expansive you could hear if cotton balls fell on the ground. When Neil stood there, a second set of steps started. My eyes turned to a very visibly pregnant woman, who could be due anytime soon. She had bright icy blue eyes, her blonde bob fell elegantly on her face. She had the posture of a porcelain doll and her face resembled Neil’s.

She stopped right in front of him looking up at his face, like she was examining every detail, her serious face was beautiful in that light. I assumed that was Lucille, the one who never gave up on him. They now held this very serious starting contest, I almost thought no one was going to say anything

-You got old- Her melodic voice let out and Neil burst into laughter at the same time she did. He hugged her carefully but tightly

-And you grew big, in more ways than one- He joked with her but then turned serious- Lucille, I’m sorry…

-Oh, forget that! You’re here now…

Others walked up to them, I counted them in my head and assumed mother, father, Maude and Warren. I let them have their moment. It was so intimate I stepped back not wanting to hear much. It was like Neil had gone off to a war, survived and now was home once more. In a way, that’s what had happened. Neil had won, or at least started to win, his internal battles and now he had made it back there. I smiled watching the scene. He didn’t reserve any smiles and his family seemed to be everything but mad at him. They relented.

I couldn’t help but think how proud I was of him

A few minutes passed, they started pulling him to the living room to “sit, relax and update them on everything that’s been going on”, then he looked at me and stopped them in their tracks

-Wait- He walked over to me and then looked at them. This was the first time they noticed I was there. I didn’t blame them, Neil had all their attention- This is Mary

The older woman, I’m assuming Neil’s mother walked over and I felt the chills down my spine. She had cold eyes but a warm face. You could watch her and feel that she was judging you and it made you wonder if she considered you worthy of her time. She was the image of classiness, the peak of the upper class. She was one of those wealthy people you see walking by and wonder how they must live. She walked like she had books piled up on top of her head. More charm than Vera Peters, that was for sure, but I felt bad that her aura reminded me of the former mayor’s wife. After all, I wanted to attribute her to someone nice

-Of course- She smiled- Miss Granger, right?

-That’s me! - I smiled- It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am- I was going to say something about how beautiful her house are and introduce myself to the others, but she turned her eyes somewhere else

-Please collect their bags, you can put Neil’s in his room-She said to the servant- And Miss Granger’s bags can take to the spare room downstairs

-Mother- Neil interrupted her- I’d like Mary to stay in the guest room upstairs- He said in an imposing a tone. If there was a guest room upstairs, I got a weird feeling about her asking for me to sleep downstairs in what I could safely assume was an underground floor.

-Fine, yes. Take hers to one of the guest rooms- She said and the servant started moving according to orders

When I turned around, Lucille was walking up to me and Neil. She in turn had kinder eyes, and I could see them a little wet. The pregnancy probably added to the emotion of her beloved brother coming home

-Miss Granger, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My brother spoke highly of you in his letter- I didn’t know whether to pay attention to her eyes or the diamonds she wore

-He must have flattered me too much- I said shyly. She wasn’t much older than me, but she spoke clearly and no slangs were in sight

-I only speak the truth- He said behind me

-I’m sure- she replied- I understand it’s you I must thank for having him write me

-I may have pushed him a little bit- I squeezed his hand- But he made the decision on his own

Neil introduced me to rest of his family. His father seemed a tad quiet just like him, his other younger siblings greeted me well, and he reintroduced me to his mother who was next to talk again

-It’s so nice of you to wear something so simple to come see us. I did hope you felt at home- She mentioned I could feel my face getting hot- Why don’t we all sit down, there’s much to talk about!

I was more nervous now than when I first walked, but I didn’t want to let on everything was getting to me.

The living room was mainly white, so white it was like staring at snow in the sun. The couches were the most comfortable seat I had ever felt. In this place where comfort was displayed all around, I felt all the eyes and social pressure of high society that made me feel like it was the most uncomfortable place in the world. What calmed me was Neil sitting next to me and his hand on my waist.

-How’s life in Chicago?- Lucille asked- I tried asking Drummond when you wouldn’t reply but he always told me you weren’t working for him anymore

-Yes, I only worked with him for a few years- He continued, and I was sure he was going to give them the clean version of the story- Turns out we didn’t get along so well. I moved to this neighborhood where I met this man called Charles Granger. He in very involved with the city’s anti-saloon league and involved in the politics and he takes care of the neighborhood he lives in, it turns out they were in need of a doctor. So he offered me a job and I accepted, worked with him ever since. He helped me get settled, I do owe him a lot

-Well, we’ll be sure to send Mr. Granger our regards for taking care of you- His mom gave a forced smile. I’m sure she had questions but it was noticeable she was trying to be on Neil’s good side, afraid he might escape again

-So my life was settled there. A few years later he announced to me and his associates that his niece was coming from Ohio to live with him. She helps him out at work and that’s how we met, through Charlie

-And now you’re seeing each other- His mother continued

He smiled softly- MC and I are engaged, mother. I mentioned in the letters

-Oh yes, Lucille told us the news- Her tone seemed like… Disappointment? No, I’m just reading too much into it

I had to do something to break the ice- We were planning for it to happen in late April, early May, wait until the cold passes by

-Yes, it’s smart to wait a while-She smiled at me- A lot can happen in those months, things might end up different

I held my breath, I couldn’t pretend to be dumb to myself. She was definitely unhappy with Neil’s choice. For the first time I felt a sting in my chest. It wasn’t embarrassment or anxiety. It was… Insecurity. I usually never lacked confidence and I was sure that I could take everything and anyone. However, being on the receiving side of the looks from Neil’s mother made me feel like a pin in a haystack. Tiny and lost.

-We weren’t planning on waiting too long- Neil said. Even he acted different around his family, but his tone was firmer. I knew it was him sticking up for me in the ritziest way there was. So I appreciated in silence.

-I hope you don’t mind that we organized a ball for your return- She said excited, changing the subject- We invited the Hastings, the neighbors, just close people to spend the night with us

-Oh mother, you know I always loved the balls you gave- He said in a sarcastic tone but she ignored it, Lucille did giggle though

-Get up and get ready-She said- Do you need me to send the valet upstairs?

-No! No... I can manage myself- He said walking towards the stairs and taking me with him

She then spoke to me before we left- Oh dear, you’ll want to wear something a little bit more elegant for tonight

Once we were in the second floor I couldn’t help but look around. There was a piano room and then a corridor of doors, I assumed they were bedrooms. It seemed kind of oddly placed, surely nobody would like to sleep while the piano is being played right outside their doors. However, everything inside was so white the black piano was a welcoming contrast.

-So… I’m guessing balls are a normal thing in the upper class

-It’s traditional, not my thing if you ask me- He lowered his voice to say the last part

-I’d imagine not

I didn’t have much time to admire the guest room, even though I did notice that its grandiosity made it hard to imagine that it was a room that didn’t belong to anyone. I sat on the bed stressed, wondering how I was going to find something in my bag that would fit the expectations of Momma Dresner. The fanciest dress I could find didn’t impress her, and now I had to step up my game for an official “welcome home Neil” ball

In the middle of my mind’s perturbations, a knock on the door got my attention. When I opened the door, Lucille was standing there smiling

-Mrs. Branford!- I started

-Lucille is fine, if I can call you Mary

-MC- I stepped out of the way to let her in- What can I do for you?

-My mother, she is… Traditional- She sat on the loveseat by the window- I’m not going to lie. People like her, they are not easily impressed by… People like you

-People like me, you mean middle-class

She nodded- Yes, it’s in her ways. The Dresners, they come from very old money. Me, Neil and our siblings, we’re more used to the ways things are nowadays. But our mother never really spent much time with people who didn’t have as much money as she did. So she always looks down on them- She looked back at me- And she always expected Neil to marry an indoor, wealthy girl if you know what I mean

I must’ve made a face, because the look of sympathy rested on her eyes- She doesn’t think I’m worthy of Neil

-Yes, MC, but you must understand it’s old thinking. She thinks that solely based on money. Besides, it’s a little tougher on Neil because he is the oldest of us. That makes him have to marry the perfect woman in her eyes.

I looked at her- The oldest… So…

-Neil is the heir of our estate. Of our parents fortune.

My eyes went wide. It must’ve been obvious, but I just realized that- I never thought of it that way.

-Listen, MC. When Neil left Boston, after Alton passed away… He was not just unhappy. He was lost, his eyes were haunted. He was cold and it seemed like all life from him was just gone. He had this hard edge, and he estranged himself from all of us- She looked at nothing, but I could see pain in her eyes- When he came back from France I convinced myself I would never see the Neil I use to know before the war again, I knew some of his troubles. Then a few years after he left I started to convince myself I’d never see him again- She turned her eyes to me- And then a few months after knowing you he writes back, and then he comes home. On top of it, although there’s still a hard edge on him, I can see it in his eyes that you make him happy. I can see the old Neil in him. That’s why I know you’re more than worthy to be with my brother, you brought him back from the darkness he lived in

Wow. I was so caught up in what she said. It was nice knowing she was on my side- Lucille, I didn’t really do much… I

-No humbleness. Just take some credit for it. I can see you care for him very much

I nodded exaggeratedly- I love Neil.

-And you can see it in his eyes he loves you-She got up this time, going to a dresser in the room- My brother will be happy with you, and I’m so excited to have you as my new sister. However, convincing my parents require a different approach- She pulled out a dress. A beautiful and obviously expensive dress

It was a salmon color, a soft V-neck that was more of an U and graceful short sleeves. While the looseness of the dress was there, it’d flatter whoever’s waist it was on with a slight inward curve, going down in a soft A-line. The dress ended right below the knees. The pattern on it was two colors. One the color of the dress, only visible if you really paid attention to it, the other was white and in the shape of leaves, like a garden going around and forming a heart around the chest area, small flower-like drawings of the same color elegantly finished the dress.

-Oh Lucille, it’s beautiful, but I couldn’t-

-Yes, you can. It doesn’t fit me anymore and it’d help you impress everybody, plus I’m sure Neil would love to see you in it. C’mon, put it on

I hesitantly did so, and once I saw myself in the mirror with it, it made it a lot easier to accept it. I loved it- Thank you, Lucille

-We’re not done. It’s not just the dress- She said pulling some accessories out. First she fixed my curls, like she watched people doing hers enough times to know how. Then she placed a white headband on my head. It had a details on the side, I didn’t dare ask if they were diamonds or something else. A pearl necklace was put around my neck, I asked myself if they were real pearls. Lastly she brought in beautiful heels. They were white as well, clasped in the middle of my feet, and closed in a salmon bow.

When I finished putting them on I looked myself in the mirror again. Oh boy, Momma would pass out if she saw me like this. Poppa would finally consider me his pride. I was all dolled-up. That sensation that I was an imposter grew in me, but then I was only human. I felt confident again- What do you think? - I asked her

-I think you’re ready to face them. Now, I have to go get dressed myself

-For sure, yes- I smiled to her- Thank you Lucille, really

-You brought my brother home back to us… It’s the least I could’ve done- She hugged me tight- Remind me to properly introduce you to Michael at the ball

I agreed laughing lowly and feeling a lot better

A little while after I heard another knock on my door, when I opened it, I was more than happy to see it was Neil. He seemed surprised at my get-up at first, then he smiled

-I see you’ve had some help

-Well, your sister came in and-

-You look beautiful- he offered me his hand and I took it. I was going to say something smart, but the look in his eyes was so sincere I didn’t want to ruin the moment

-Thanks- I said instead- Did everyone already leave?

-Well, lucky for me, I’m the reason of this party- He said it in a sarcastic tone- So I get to come in late and be the center of attention, I’m hoping their curiosity about you takes some of it away from me.

-Neil Dresner is back home, and he brought a low-class girl with him and he’s saying he’s gonna marry her?-I raised my voice to sound like upper-crust gossip- My oh my, Doctor Dresner, quite a scandal

He gave me that warm smile that went all the way up to his eyes. The one that always makes me feel the jitters in a good way

However I wasn’t done- They’ll probably think you’ve gone crazy and send you to a psych ward or think you’ve knocked me up and now you’re stuck with me- I pretended to hold a fan imitating the rich older women- Disgraceful, truly disgraceful

This time he let out a laugh, a harsh laugh, but a long one that sounded like melody to me. For a second I thought he wouldn’t stop laughing, and then I started up laughing too. We walked all the way to the car like that

-People will think I’ve gone soft if I spend too much time with you- He said

-You agreed to spend the rest of your life with me. You’ll be the biggest softie the United States has ever seen

He let out a harsh chuckle this time, as if he told me he wouldn’t ever let that happen. Then the servant from before opened the back door of a fancy car, it had a long hood and it was half black and half white, a wheel sat on its side. I could also see a chauffeur in the front

-Wow, you’re getting the whole ritzy treatment today- I said getting into the car and we were on our way

-You get used to this kind of stuff- He mentioned and then turned to me- You will…- Before I could ask what he meant, he kept going- You know, during these balls we were required to attend, me and Alton would usually spend the entire time together. He didn’t use to be a fan of it either. Having him there… It always made it feel better, it always made it fun somehow- Then he turned to look at me- Having you there, it’s going to make it feel better

I smiled, filled with emotion, but I had to say something- You’re definitely turning soft on me

He rolled his eyes-I should’ve known better than being nice with you, Granger

Our verbal sparring continued until we stopped in front of a big house, the doors were open to reveal a ball room at the bottom of the stairs. I’ve done this before. They’ll announce us and we’ll go down and I’ll act like I’m entitled to the world

So we did just that. The servant opened the car door and Neil took my hand to help me out of the car. Then, I took his arm and we walked in to the top of the stars. People there looked at Neil like he was a rare diamond, like the king of England just walked in. I could feel his tenseness with the looks, but the preparedness for it in his eyes, he whispered to the announcer and then held my arm tighter

-Mr. Cornelius Dresner of Boston and his fiancée Miss Granger

-C’mon- I said lowly and he followed, so we both went down the stairs.

At the bottom of it his family came over again, and soon I could see people looking and gossiping. It was a good hour of walking around and talking to his family and everyone Neil once used to know and introducing me. I felt like I was in one of those old periods of time when the upper crust used to announce engagements.

After a while I was talking to Lucille while Neil talked to some of the other men. Then she looked behind me and got closer to whisper something- Look, Momma just took Neil to talk to Lillie and left them alone

I looked around feeling my heart jump, at first I felt was surprised. I remember who Lillie was, Lucille’s best friend and… Neil’s ex-fiancée. I remember feeling pity for her because Neil left her, but the pangs of jealousy struck me once I saw her.

She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, for the second time that day I felt insecurity, but this made me feel much tinier. Because I knew Neil’s mother approved of her, because she was part of the high society and she grew up in it. Her pale skin, her green eyes, her dark smooth hair. She was tall and charming, she was the figure of elegancy. I also knew Neil found her attractive, that he was romantically involved with her once. If he used to love her, how can I be sure all those feelings are gone? No… It’s just the atmosphere and everything, it’s just all throwing me off.

I must’ve been so shaken up I felt paralyzed. Lucille shook me- Hey… Hey! They walked outside. We can spy on them from over in that room- She said pulling me along, I wasn’t even paying attention until I was already there. It was a dark room, looked like an office? Lucille brought us to a window, the drapes were almost closed so you couldn’t see us, but we could spy on them

-I have missed you, Neil- She looked up to him, and her eyes were shining. I knew what that look was… She was still in love with him- I haven’t courted anyone else- She showed him her hand- I’m still wearing the ring you picked out for me.

-I didn’t really pick it out, Lillie it was…

-Yeah, your grandmother’s. You told me remember? You got it when you were fourteen. It was to keep it to the woman you loved the most, to the woman you wished to spend the rest of your life with, whom you’ll always love and that woman shall always love you- She held his hands this time and I felt my stomach sink- You told me that you would always love me if I always loved you back-She got closer to him, this time placing her hand on his face- Here I am, still loving you. Can you say everything was washed away?

He took a few steps back, his confusion could be seen on his face. I wondered what he had to be confused about- Nothing is ever just washed away, Lillie. You of all people should know that.

My heart hurt, what did he mean by that, did he mean his feelings for her were still there?

She smiled softly-Neil… You never gave me closure. You never ended our engagement. One day you were just gone. People kept telling me that you were gone for good-She looked away at the stars, it was a well moonlit light. It was perfectly romantic, but that didn’t fit me one bit in that moment. I hated the romanticism of the stars and the shine that it gave on her face. I hated that it made her look more beautiful- But me and Lucille we knew you’d come back to us. That you’d come back to me. And you were so troubled when you left…

-Lillie…-He looked at the stars now too- I’m sorry for what I’ve done in the past. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve done that I can’t fix and I have to live with it. But I got a second chance to make things better. I’m not the same man who proposed to you back then

-Then how is it I look in your eyes and I see him? I see my Neil

I don’t know if I was feeling anger, sadness or disbelief. It could’ve been all of those together. Lillie knows Neil is engaged to me, she must know, we were announced together. You’d think she’d have some respect

-You see what you want to see, Lillie. You think you love me but you don’t

-I went after you! I went to Chicago-He looked at her with interest, she was caught up in her emotions, crying now- Mr. Drummond told me how you were troubled, lost in… Morphine, was it? I looked for you all around the city, and I couldn’t find you. I’m fighting for you Neil. I can’t give up on us

He breathed funny- Lillie-

Before he could say anything else she hugged him, and he hugged her back for my surprise. When was it that Neil hugged any girl like that?

-Seemed you two form quite the spies- A voice behind us said- Me and Lillie jumped. It was Neil’s mother, and she seemed satisfied from what she saw outside, seeing as she was the facilitator in the situation- You see, Miss Granger. Neil belongs back here, in Boston. And you belong is whatever infested middle-class house you came from with your people. You will never be worthy of my son, and of course it only took the right girl to pull him back into his senses.

-Mother…!- Lucille started

-I’ve had enough of it, Lucille! The little gal needs to know her place. Did you think you could ever make your way into OUR family?

I didn’t say anything. This was so far away from my reality at the Ice Box, my family or everything that I’d ever done before. I couldn’t… I can’t handle this.

-I have to go- It was the only thing I could say before flying out of there. I got back in the car asking for the driver to take me back to the town house, once I was in I couldn’t stop my racing thoughts until I was in the guest room, packing my bags.

But then I stopped. Neil… I can’t just leave him like this. I was so mad at him, I was so mad at all of this, I… I want to go back to Chicago. I looked in the mirror again, all dressed up in fancy things, this isn’t who I am. I surprised myself by ripping it all out of me, putting on my favorite green dress and hat, the ones I wore all the time. Once I was back in clothes that made me recognize myself I swore I’d never again try to be somebody I wasn’t. C’mon MC, you always knew you didn’t have to prove anything to anybody.

But I let my stupid wandering thoughts continue. Neil knelt down in front of Lillie once and asked her to marry him. He asked her to marry him, not me. She had a ring on her finger, not me.

I don’t know how much time had passed by when I heard people in the house.

-MC!- I heard Neil’s voice from downstairs- MC!- He didn’t knock on my door, just walked in- Lucille, she told me you listened to me and Lillie talk

-Yeah, I heard it, alright

-I…-He was going to say something when he saw the bag I started to pack, then he looked at me, visibly mad- You were leaving? Without me?

-No! Not without you. I was gonna wait for you- I walked until him- Let’s go back to Chicago

-We’ve only been here a day

-I can’t be here anymore, Neil. Please, let’s leave

-I haven’t been back in years. You convince me to write to my sister, convince me to come over here, we’re here less than 24 hours and you want me to leave? I just got the courage to be here

-Neil, today has been the most stressful day of my life! I have been dressing up like a paper doll, I have been trying to impress your mother and all I’ve been hearing is how much I’m not worthy, how I won’t fit in, how I’m way in over my head! I have been feeling nothing but insecure, down and I’ve been trying to do everything for you, but I can’t- I was rambling on and tears had begun falling from my eyes, but I didn’t even care- I’ve been keeping a stone face all day trying to make you happy because I know this is huge, but it’s tiring! It’s tiring feeling so out of place, and then hearing your mother say all those things, and then I walked out there to the ball and you go in a secluded area with your beautiful ex-fiancée to exchange words of love under the moonlight?!

-I didn’t say any words of love!- He raised his voice, more than I’ve ever heard him raise it before- I was feeling bad for Lillie, I left her and never came back after promising her a married life! I gave her time because I was trying to fix what I did wrong in the past, with everyone!

I didn’t know what to say or think- Neil, let’s just please, go!

-Yes, I think it’s time you went back to Chicago, if you’re going to behave like this the whole trip you should go!

I looked back at him wide-eyed- You don’t mean…!

-I thought I saw a woman, MC. But how could I, you’re nineteen! I’m thirty-two. You’re the same kid I saw the first night you came to Chicago.

I looked right at him as I wiped my tears off my face, then I grabbed my bag I had packed. Neil called Lillie a ghost back in Chicago, but he was wrong. Lillie wasn’t a ghost, nothing back in Boston or his past life had anything to go with ghosts, ghosts terrify you, but he seemed just fine where he was. Maybe this is where Neil belongs after all. But it’s sure not where I belong.

That night for me was the true ghostly aura. A memory that’d haunt me forever. I left Boston, alone, under the beautiful moonlight that would have enchanted me otherwise. I left with only one certainty: I’ll be dead before somebody ever mentions the name Neil Dresner to me ever again!

1933

-Alright, ready?- I asked and the kids all agreed. Neil wasn’t one to make a big deal out of his birthday, but after a few ones together he knew there was no point in fighting against it. I’d always want it to make it a special day, so we settled on a cake and some candles. Just me, him and the kids- One, two, three!

The kids along with me started our little choir, for that man that was so special to all of us- Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear daddy! Happy birthday to you!

-Do we really need to do this every year?-He asked, cynically, but with a little smile on his face

-Alright, mister doom and gloom! We have this discussion every year!- I kissed him in the cheek

We all had our piece of cake. After putting the kids to bed, I walked outside, the moon was shining in the sky and it was a cold January night. Neil soon joined me- One more year close to death- He said raising his glass, then proceeding to drink the bourbon inside it

-You always know how to lighten up the mood-I pulled him in for a hug and along with it a long kiss

-You’re something else, MC, you know that?

-I’ve been told-I smiled up to him, mischievously

-You can never have any idea of how much I love you- He played with my hair, moving it out of my face

-I have some

He chuckled very softly, almost inaudibly- I just ask one thing of you, MC Granger… Never change who you are

----

Little curiosities: DRAAAAAMA. I thought they deserved a little fight and angst. Well, next chapter we’ll be back in Chicago and it’s time for the Ice Box to shine again! Woo Woo, Prohibition stuuuff!

Thanks so much for reading this chapter, guys! Hope you enjoyed it!

Chapter 4 is already on its way!

-Candy, My Dear Diary (5/24/2020)

#voltage usa #speakeasy tonight #voltage inc #voltage amemix #voltage games #voltage #neil dresner #lovestruck #lovestruck voltage #vince moretti

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toonstarterz · 5 years

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BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #164

Hey, not dropping the ball actually worked!

We’re just a hair’s length away from summer vacation, but unlike last year when Tomoko approached summer with not much consideration, she’s now taking a proactive role in deciding how to spend her last summer in high school. At first glance, Tomoko appears to have become a responsible, young lady. But as we soon will see, that can-do attitude may not be as refined as it looks on the surface.

Chapter 164: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Do My Best Starting From Summer Break

There’s that time period during the day when most students have already left but school hasn't quite closed up. It’s pretty creepy, even more so before summer break when you’re expected not to stick around.

Have I mentioned Itou is a cute? ‘Cause she is.

It’s usually her looking after Komiyama, so it’s really sweet to see the dynamic flipped around like this. Despite, well, everything, Komiyama is a good friend.

Assuming that cheering for the baseball teams is optional, it’s endearing to see Itou go through with it. Even though baseball isn’t her thing, she’s likely doing it to support her bestie, which I can 110% get behind.

Ah, right. Dude’s in the manga club. That said, I wonder if their plans are for just being attendees, or if they’ll actually be manning a booth and selling their work. With his skills and, er, preferences, I think Hatsushiba could do the latter.

Don’t be so modest, Tomoko. There’s no slouching either when you’re a three-year veteran of the Going-Home Club.

Studying during summer break? Outrageous!!

It’s intriguing to see just how Tomoko’s study habits have evolved throughout the series. The early days would see her spend summer goofing off on her hobbies, with bare minimum concern for academics. But now, Tomoko is actually considering studying on her own accord. Sure, it’s more-or-less a fallback when she has nothing else planned, but the thought itself is still worth mentioning.

Is that one of those mini-fans that you can carry around in your bag? I love those things.

Study camp, huh? Any other day, Tomoko would be apathetic to the idea, leaning more on the side of brushing it off. But having Katou bring it up makes all the difference, ‘cause let’s be real. Katou could ask her to sign up for a hostess bar at the Red Light District and Tomoko would still seriously consider it.

Miss you, Yuu-chan.

I second that, Komi. Fourteen hours of studying a day is brutal, even if that’s to be expected in what is essentially a boot camp. I’ve always questioned the efficiency of cram schools and the like, mostly because they seem to prepare more for short-term memorization than long-term understanding. But even it actually works in principle...

...I’m not sure Tomoko will be able to handle it.

Perhaps it’s just me, but it feels like Tomoko is overestimating her discipline for studying. She already struggled with Katou’s flashcards and study sessions that a whole training camp feels like it would have a more detrimental effect on Tomoko than a positive one. “Work hard, play hard” was never meant to be that extreme, Tomoko.

That’s...genuinely uplighting. Tomoko has missed out on several of the key “memorable” high school moments, and she usually lets it go with only mild regrets. But here, Tomoko’s actively trying to gain what she once lost. Sure, she’s trying to “game the social system” a little, but what did you expect? She’s a person, not a saint.

This was Yuu’s only line in this entire chapter. My girl deserves more than this.

Will the 2% of Tomoko’s personality that is tsundere ever realize that if you really “didn’t care either way”, then you wouldn’t have asked the question to begin with? Doubt it.

That romaji tho.

It comes to the surprise of absolutely no one that Komiyama has some pretty...vivid fantasies about Tomoki. But what stands out to me is how deep into the relationship her thoughts go. Most people fantasize about their crush first in their sexual attractiveness, but only a few ever dream beyond that. Ironically, you know your crushing has gone off the deep end if you start thinking about them in domestic, SFW ways. Least Komi’s committed, yeah?

Gee, I wonder what’s that “and stuff” Tomoko’s talking about?masturbating

Nothing like a fresh bowl of Grossi-Os and Gross Juice to start the day!

If what Yuri says is true, then that would mean that she and Ucchi have probably walked to school together several times before–more than the couple of times we’ve seen, at least. And even so, it doesn’t look like they haven’t gotten much closer as friends, if at all. Some people just don’t click, I suppose.

Not sure how blind Ucchi is because anybody with a pair of eyes (beady or not) would see that Yuri has friends, even if you only count Mako. Poor girl just can’t accept the truth even when it's right in front of her face.

Ah, Yuri. Why can’t you just drop the “savior” act and just admit you want to spend time with her?

I’m inclined to agree about Yoshida, but who knows? She’s surprised us before. Mako's a safe bet, though. Especially if the former’s going. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Boy, does that take me back. It still blows my mind that all of Ucchi’s problems originated from one night of misunderstandings. The art nerd in me really appreciates the subtle improvement in Niko’s art style. The character models feel “weightier” and more consistent without compromising the stylization.

You don’t see it in the previous panel, but Ucchi was totally blushing at the prospect of reliving her trauma/dream. Perhaps she was also looking to live out that ping pong match she never got.

I’m not sure if there was some kind of wordplay in the original text. Either way, it kind of sucks for Yuu-chan that she got such a “flattering” nickname when she wasn’t involved in that scenario whatsoever. Though it sure is a tad classier than Miss Akari “Dick Sister Jr.’ Iguchi.

It’s kind of (read: absolutely) frightening how Katou’s envy towards Yuu feels a lot more intense than Yuri’s. Perhaps it’s because Yuri’s so transparent that you know how to deal with her. But with Katou, that air of secrecy feels like a nuclear bomb about to go off.

I always wondered where girls picked up that thing where they intertwine their fingers as a sign of affection. It’s precious.

Praise modern technology for convenient storytelling.

Wow, Fuuka’s already made her mark on Tomoko’s “bitch” list. Though exactly why she’s on that list now is kind of odd. I mean, yeah, she asked Tomoko about the whole fondling thing, and she unintentionally presented herself as a pervert for the whole “hair” thing, but Fuuka hasn’t really done anything all that terrible. If anything, Tomoko is probably expressing a rare bit of jealousy towards someone else supposedly perving on Katou besides her.

The most striking part about Fuuka’s inevitably failed plan is that she describes Tomoko’s appearance as “sudden”. It was touched on before, but it further emphasizes that Tomoko’s friendship with Katou was just as unexpectedly quick in-universe as it was for the readers. And in doing so, it brings us one step closer to the real mystery over why Katou is so enamored with Tomoko in the first place.

Ya’ll know Sayaka’s got her homegirl’s back on this one. Let’s see (hopefully) how Akari screws it up.

Chapter 58, mothereffers!

I don’t know whether I’d say Nico Tanigawa has been playing the long game, or if they just found a convenient throwaway to capitalize on. But the acknowledgment itself is very much appreciated. Tomoko may have forgotten, naturally, but us overzealous fans certainly never did!

The chills, man. Chill’s right up the spine.

It’s certainly true that Tomoko’s words can be interpreted in a good or bad way, so it’s pretty telling that Katou’s gut reaction went for the latter. It suggests that Katou may actually have some insecurities that can easily set her off. Then again, a defining part of Katou’s personality is that she takes everything Tomoko says at completely face value, so maybe she’s starting to see Tomoko’s negativity even if it’s not there. Just more of the enigma that is Asuka Katou.

Not a bad save, Tomoko. Countless battles with shame have made her quick on the fly. Unfortunately, while she’s improved at starting a save...

...she still doesn’t know how to end it.

It would’ve been a clean getaway if Tomoko had just ended about half-way in the above panel. But because Tomoko’s anxiety causes her to try and cover all the bases, she ends up rambling suspiciously. The part about Nemo isn’t even that relevant, but in her burst of defensiveness, Tomoko ends up saying things that could just exacerbate the problem even further.

Fucking shit, Katou is damn scary.

The one fortunate thing about Tomoko’s defensive rambles is that once she starts to cool down, her honesty starts coming out more organically. Self-deprecation becomes self-reflection, and brings to the forefront Tomoko’s endearing side.

Only Tomoko could spout such a cliché moe line and sound so pure of heart. Must be the irony.

Aha. Ahaha. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

–that totally didn’t happen.

Tomoko, girl, you’re in the CLEAR! Stop trying to fan flames that have already been put out.

But on that note, it does affirm that while Tomoko is honest with Katou about certain things (perversion, laziness), she isn’t quite ready to be honest on anything that would paint Katou in a bad light. I’d say tha’st about 85% due to fear.

Death Flags raised all around.

I had a feeling that Nemo would take the plunge this time and invite Tomoko out somewhere during the summer. It seems like such an insignificant gesture, but considering that this is the very first time a classmate has asked to hang out with her during the summer, it warms my heart.

Hey now, Tomoko. Don’t get cocky when you’re maximizing your own goof-off time by taking a study camp.

The easy guess is that Nemo wants to go to Comiket. But really, it could be anything that Tomoko would have an interest in. And because it’s implied that Nemo is going for research purposes, it could be anything from a seiyuu panel (the last one went so well) to a hot spring to a hentai game company. Hope they bring Okada along...

Mama senses her daughter’s giving in to peer pressure.

Not gonna lie. This hand gesturing from Rena made me think that she was thinking about doing...something else.

Damn mind-in-the-gutter.

Even though Anna doesn’t appear to be the studious type, it’s pretty cool to see that she can respect people who are. Also, I dig the way she wears her tie (or is that a ribbon?).

Emoji II really has become an honorary delinquent and it fits her perfectly.

I guess no matter how much more grounded Tomoko becomes, she still thinks reading manga is legitimate practice for playing in real-life (though tabletop games may actually allow for some truth).

Sub!Tomoko confirmed.

What a way to end a chapter. For the longest, Katou had always viewed Tomoko through a pair of rose-tinted glasses, always seeing the girl’s faults as endearing “quirks”. But as her soul-piercing gaze seems to indicate, Katou has reached a revelation about Tomoko that she can actually disapprove of. Whether or not it’ll shatter her illusion of Tomoko is still unclear, but how she treats Tomoko from here on out may finally give us a deeper look into Katou’s psyche.

160+ chapters we’ve followed Tomoko, and we’re still learning new things about her. The very extent of Tomoko’s agency has always been a tad murky. She’s good at (poorly) executing short-term ideas, but hardly does she plan out and follow up on her long-term goals. Even her greatest milestone of making friends involved a lot of pushing from outsiders (Ogino, the most obvious case). That said, having to take charge of herself for once is inescapable with college on the horizon. How she goes about it amongst her various mom-friends may end up being Tomoko’s biggest personal challenge yet.

#watamote #watamote review #chapter 164 #no matter how i look at it it's you guys' fault i'm not popular!#tomoko kuroki #kotomi komiyama #hikari itou #hatsushiba #asuka katou #yuu naruse #yuri tamura #emiri uchi #sasaki fuuka #hina nemoto #rena #anna haruna #review

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crystallized-shadow · 5 years

Link

Chapter: 1/1 Rating: Explicit Pairing: Madara/Tobirama Word Count: 3987 Warnings: Teacher/Student Roleplay, Dom/Sub elements, Office Sex, Hair Pulling, Rough Sex, and Collars Summary: An unfortunate situation leads to Tobirama discovering a side he never knew about his chemistry professor.

For @madatobiweek Day 7: Something Kinky

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

It wasn’t fair, Tobirama thought to himself as he watches the sleek black hair trail behind the immaculately dressed man stalking across the front of the room, no man should be allowed to be so visually captivating. The older man could have been explaining the meaning of life or the nuances of how paint dried; Tobirama wouldn’t have any idea, all he could think about was how perfect the other’s lips would look wrapped around his cock. Professor Madara Uchiha, head of the Chemistry department at Konoha University was not only very passionate about his subject but also drop-dead gorgeous to boot. If Tobirama was a man of lesser intellect he would be failing the class due to the constant distraction strutting across the front of the room everyday. Professor Uchiha had an air of confidence that was absolutely intoxicating to the Senju, he just wanted to bend the man over his desk and fuck him until he begged for mercy. Unfortunately the professor didn’t even know he existed; in fact he didn’t seem to realize the effect he had on his students.

After a particularly trying day, Professor Uchiha had worn his hair up in a high ponytail that Tobirama just wanted to wrap around his fist, he decides he needs to blow off some steam. Normally Tobirama would avoid the bars, drunk college kids were the absolute worse, but the one his brother ran was a bit classier and tended to cater to the dom/sub culture. With any luck he could find a sub looking for a rough fuck.

“Tobi! Thank god!” Of course the universe had other plans for him.

“What is it Anija?” Tobirama sighs, writing off his previous plans as he walks over to the bar where Hashirama is waving frantically at him.

“I need you to do me a huge favor!” Hashirama pleads, pressing his hands together and doing his best to look like Tobirama had kicked his favorite puppy again.

“Fine,” the younger Senju grumbles, knowing it’s pointless to argue with his brother.

“Thank you!” Hashirama grabs his brother and drags him back to the office before he can change his mind.

Figuring Hashirama messed up the bar’s books again, he really needed to stop trying to help Mito while she was away, Tobirama’s not prepared for the sight of his chemistry professor passed out on the couch Hashirama insisted on having in the office. “What happened?”

“Madara came here to have a celebratory drink with me,” Hashirama explains, making Tobirama’s brows furrow in confusion, “we are old friends and he just got a huge grant for the department. Anyway we got a bit wrapped up in reminiscing and someone spiked his drink.”

“What?”

“I dealt with it.” The serious expression coupled with the dark tone makes Tobirama pause. That was usually a telltale sign that he shouldn’t ask questions so he just nods.

“So what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to take him home with you.”

“Absolutely not,” Tobirama states with a frown, “I can’t take him anywhere he’s my teacher.”

“Oh…” Hashirama deflates for a second before he suddenly breaks into a grin. “Take him to my house then! It’s off campus and no one will know!”

“He probably shouldn’t be alone right now,” Tobirama points out as he glances at the unconscious man, “doesn’t he have a girlfriend or something?”

“Mads is single and his brother is out of town,” Hashirama says and Tobirama can’t stop the snort at the stupid nickname. “Can you just stay with him until I get home? I close tonight, but you can always spend the night and I’ll take you back to your dorm tomorrow morning.”

“Fine,” Tobirama sighs, knowing it would be quicker to just agree with his brother and get it over with.

“Thanks! Here are his keys, just go out the back door,” Hashirama shoves the keys into Tobirama’s hands and darts out the door. “I have to get back to work!”

“Idiot,” Tobirama mutters under his breath as he crosses the short distance to the couch. “Professor, are you awake?” Shaking the older man gets zero response so Tobirama carefully picks his professor up and takes him out to the car that flashes when he hits the unlock button on the key fob. Cars might not be his thing, Kawarama was the car nut of the family, but Tobirama has to admit Professor Uchiha’s ride is very nice.

When Tobirama gets to Hashirama’s house, he parks in the garage and carefully moves his professor to the couch.

“Professor?” Tobirama tries again as he places a waste basket next to the unconscious man. Getting no response the Senju sighs and flops into the loveseat across from the couch. This was not how he’d planned on going home with someone. He didn’t even have any classwork with him for something to do, but his brother did have a decent movie collection, so he resorts to that to avoid just staring at Professor Uchiha.

Tobirama manages to make it through two movies, more like one and a half as he wasn’t sure when his eyes had strayed back to his professor, before he can’t take it anymore. “Fuck it,” Tobirama grumbles as he crosses the room and shakes the older man again. “Professor!” Barely getting more than a groan, the Senju huffs in irritation as his eyes stray back to the ponytail that had taunted him throughout class today. Surely it would be more comfortable to rest with his hair down, Tobirama reasons, he only cared about his favorite professor’s comfort; it had nothing to do with how he was dying to know what those luscious black locks felt like. He wars with himself for another moment before he finally gives into the temptation and carefully removes the tie from the Uchiha’s hair.

As it turns out the older man’s hair is not only as soft as Tobirama had thought it would be, it is remarkably tangle free and felt like the finest silk between his fingers. Gods how he wished he could run his fingers through these locks again. Lightly digging his fingers into the professor’s scalp, Tobirama is surprised to hear the older man let out a content hum. Who would have guessed Professor Uchiha liked having his hair played with? Perhaps Tobirama could use that in the future to get what he wanted.

“Where...?” The groggy voice snaps Tobirama out of his pleasant daydream and he quickly, albeit carefully, pulls his hand back.

“Professor, are you awake now?” Tobirama asks, brushing the older man’s bangs out of his face so he can check how dilated the other’s pupils are.

“Senju?” Madara mutters, confusion clear in his tone as he struggles to remember what happened. “You...drugged me?”

“No!” Tobirama yelps, not wanting the gorgeous man to get the wrong impression, “I did a favor for my brother!”

“Hashirama drugged me?” Madara questions, carefully sitting up with his student’s help.

“No,” Tobirama sighs, running a hand through his hair, “someone else drugged you when you went to have a drink with my brother. Hashirama dealt with the person, but he was worried about you, so he asked me to bring you to his house and keep an eye on you until he got home. How are you feeling?”

“Confused,” Madara admits, running a hand through his hair, “didn’t I have my hair up?”

“The tie came loose when I got you here,” Tobirama lies, handing the strip of leather over to him, “I tried to tie it back but it has a mind of its own.”

“So you’ve been watching over me then?”

“Yes, is that okay?”

“Sure,” Madara shrugs, looking at his student thoughtfully, “you’re one of my more responsible students.”

“I didn’t realize you knew I existed,” Tobirama admits and the Uchiha chuckles, a grin lighting up his face.

“You’re Hashirama’s little brother, I recognized you the second you walked into my classroom,” Madara says, grin still fond, if not amused, “thankfully you’re nowhere near the disaster your brother was when we were in class together.”

“I’m insulted you thought I was,” Tobirama huffs, “Hashirama is an absolute buffoon. Though at least he knows when people are flirting with him, unlike a certain professor I have.”

“Oh I know when my students are flirting with me,” Madara snorts, rolling his eyes, “none of them are worth getting fired over.”

“Well there goes my shot of fucking you over your desk,” Tobirama jokes, flushing when he realizes what he’s just said. He’s about to quickly retract the statement, until he sees the blush dusting his professor’s cheeks and the considering look in his eyes.

“Does it have to be my desk?” Madara blurts and the Senju’s eyes widen, this night just kept getting better and better.

“You were drugged and unconscious for who knows how long,” Tobirama points out, “that would be taking advantage of you.”

“How noble of you, stupid, but noble,” Madara sighs, slumping back against the couch, “how about you come see me at the end of my office hours tomorrow? It’s Friday so no one will try and bug me and you can’t say I’m still being influenced.”

“You’re serious,” Tobirama mutters, and Professor Uchiha nods, making the Senju smirk, “as long as you wear your hair up.”

“Deal.”

Tobirama contemplates not showing up to Professor Uchiha’s office the next day, still not entirely convinced the professor had meant what he said, but decides it would be silly to pass up such a chance. Worst case scenario he’d pretend he was checking on his grade for the semester. As the Senju makes his way to his professor’s office he notes that the rest of the science department have either left for the weekend or are packing up. That wasn’t too surprising, Madara was one of the few that made his office hours Friday afternoon; most professors wanted to start the weekend as soon as they could.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d show up,” Madara comments as Tobirama shuts the door behind him, the Uchiha’s hair once more tied up in a high ponytail.

“I wasn’t sure if you were serious or not,” Tobirama admits with a shrug as he drops his backpack into the seat across from the older man, “for all I know this is a set up.”

“I hardly need you to come here to set you up, all I would need to do is tell Hashirama you took advantage of me inside his home.”

“I did no such thing!” Tobirama growls, slamming his hands down on the desk as he glares at the Uchiha, who just smirks.

“Who do you think Hashirama would believe?” Madara challenges with a raised eyebrow, “me, his best friend who was unconscious and drugged, or you, his brother with known morality issues?”

“The corpse thing was one time!” Tobirama snaps, grinding his teeth together to prevent anymore stupid confessions.

“My point stands,” Madara chuckles, “I have the advantage in this situation.”

“If you were just going to blackmail me why wait until today?” Tobirama forces out, the words bitter across his tongue.

“One, I didn’t want to jump you at Hashirama’s house, and two, you’re no longer one of my students now.”

“Wha-?” Tobirama’s eyes widen before he even finishes the question. Of course, this was a shortened course and the final project was due earlier in the week. Tobirama was willing to bet his final grade was already submitted to the university so, in the unlikely event they were caught, Madara wouldn’t lose his job. Suddenly all of Madara’s taunting made sense, he was waiting for his office hours to officially end. “So how are we going to do this Professor?”

“Fantasy for a fantasy?”

“The noble Professor Uchiha has a dirty fantasy about fucking one of his students?” Tobirama teases with a smirk, “I can’t wait to hear it.”

“You want to fuck me over my desk, I want you to blow me under it,” Madara mutters, pink dusting his cheeks.

Tobirama pretends to give the offer some thought, he would pretty much do anything to bend the Uchiha over his desk, so while blowjobs weren’t his favorite thing, it was definitely worth it. Not to the mention the thought of opening Madara up and fucking into a second orgasm was too good a treat to pass up. “I suppose that’s doable.”

“If only Hashirama could see his baby brother now.”

“First, I’m not his baby brother that’s Itama,” Tobirama states as he crawls under the large wooden desk, “and second if you bring Hashirama up again I’m going to bite you.”

“If you bite my dick you’re not going to fuck me,” Madara warns as he slides his chair back into place, trapping Tobirama between the back of the desk and his legs.

Tobirama rolls his eyes, Madara was leaving this room limping one way or another, only to frown when he realizes he doesn’t have the leverage to unzip Madara’s pants. “Are you going to whip your dick out or do I have to do everything?”

“So needy,” Madara chuckles even as he frees his already hard cock, revealing just how much he wants the Senju under his desk.

Instead of responding verbally Tobirama leans forward and takes Madara’s cock to the base, dragging a startled moan from the Uchiha. Just because this wasn’t Tobirama’s favorite technique, didn’t mean he wasn’t good at it thanks to his lack of a gag reflex.

“Oh fuck!” Madara snarls, thrusting forward as he grabs a fistful of white hair, “of course you’re good at this too.”

Tobirama chuckles at the comment, loving the whine he gets from Madara, before he slowly starts to bob his head. Just when Madara has a chance to adjust to the pace, Tobirama hums, curling his tongue around the underside as he pulls off with a wet pop. “So glad you approve of my skill,” Tobirama purrs, lightly nibbling on the older man’s length, “Professor.”

“Fucking tease,” Madara whimpers, trying to tug Tobirama back to where he wants him, but the former student just smirks as he continues his slow pace.

“I really need that A Professor,” Tobirama mutters, his lips brushing against Madara’s shaft as he speaks, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“Goddamn,” Madara curses, tightening his grip on Tobirama’s hair; he hadn’t expected the Senju to play his part so well. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Pretty please Professor?” Tobirama pushes his lips out in an exaggerated pout, “I’ll lose my scholarship without it.” He slowly takes the Uchiha back into his mouth, hollowing out his cheeks obscenely as his lips meet Madara’s pelvis.

“Fuck!” Madara snarls, bucking his hips up without meaning to, Tobirama looked like he belonged on the set of one of those cheap pornos.

Tobirama hums in encouragement, picking up speed as he does. Madara barely lasts another minute before he yanks Tobirama down harshly and his release crashes over him. The Senju jerks slightly, but he quickly recovers and swallows the cum, wiping his chin on Madara’s pant leg once he can move.

“Goddamn Tobirama,” Madara pants, leaning back in his chair, “that mouth of yours shouldn’t be legal.”

“You better not make me wait for my turn old man,” Tobirama teases, nudging the chair back until he can crawl out from under the desk. His knees and back ache a little from holding that position so long, but the arousal coursing through his veins makes it easy to ignore.

“Fuck you,” Madara grumbles, waving a hand thoughtlessly in a ‘get on with it’ motion.

Tobirama smirks as he lets his eyes trail over them man he’s desired for half a semester. When Madara’s eyes slip closed for a moment, Tobirama strikes, one hand grabbing that damn ponytail. Before Madara can react, Tobirama yanks him out of his chair and pushes him down on his desk in one swift movement.

“Damn!” Madara hisses, tired body protesting the sudden movement, “what the hell Senju?!”

“You’ve been very naughty Professor,” Tobirama mutters, draping himself over the older man’s back so he can whisper directly into his ear. “Always looking so fuckable in class...I should punish you, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Tobirama-!” Madara’s words are cut off by a moan when his hair is yanked, hard.

“Hush now Professor, this isn’t one of your lectures,” Tobirama continues as he straightens up to look at the enticing sight before him. Madara looked even better spread across his own desk than Tobirama had thought he would. “You have no idea how distracting you are, do you? I think it’s about time someone fucked some sense into you.”

“This isn’t funny Senju” Madara states, getting his arms under him so he can push back against his former student. “You need to leave.”

“None of that now,” Tobirama tuts, yanking the Uchiha’s arms behind his back. Realizing Madara wants to play that kind of game, Tobirama smirks as he uses the man’s own hair to tie his wrists in place.

“Bastard,” Madara grumbles, tugging experimentally at his arms, only to moan at the burn in his scalp; his hair would hate him for this later, but at the moment Madara didn’t care.

“That’s better,” Tobirama purrs, leaning forward to suck a hickey on the back of Madara’s neck; it would be easily hidden by the man’s hair, but that wasn’t the point. “Now let’s get to the real reason you’re everyone’s favorite teacher,” Tobirama mutters, removing the older man’s belt and shoving his pants to the ground. “No underwear, how risque.”

“Fuck you,” Madara mutters, whimpering when his student’s hands roughly grope his ass, “I’ll fail you for this you brat.”

“Unlikely,” Tobirama chuckles, leaning over the professor to grab his backpack and drop it behind the desk. He lets Madara wonder what he’s doing for a moment before he slips a now lubed finger into the Uchiha. “I’m going to fuck you so hard Professor that you’ll be addicted to my cock.”

“You’ll be expelled for this,” Madara spits, even as he moans and thrusts back, impaling himself further on the invading finger. “You’ve just ruined your life, hope it’s worth it.”

“It’s so cute you think the university will take your side,” Tobirama chuckles, quickly working a second finger into Madara, “when the Senju family are their biggest donors. The only one that will get in trouble is you, Professor.”

“I’m not the one fucking his teacher over his desk,” Madara groans, biting back a whimper when a third finger slips in almost too soon, “the department head no less.”

“Titles mean nothing to the university as long as they get paid,” Tobirama chuckles, curling his fingers until the older man cries out, “you’re mine and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Bastard,” Madara whines as the pale fingers slip free.

“I’ll make it good for you,” Tobirama promises, freeing and coating his cock in lube before he roughly thrusts into the bound man under him. Madara practically howls, but the Senju knows it's more from pleasure than pain.

“Fuck!” Madara snarls, body jerking as Tobirama immediately sets a brutal pace. Instead of getting him away from the cock sawing him in two, all Madara manages to do is tighten the knot of hair around his wrists, forcing his head back at an awkward angle.

“You feel so good Professor,” Tobirama moans, digging his nails into Madara’s ass, wanting to leave behind as many marks as he can. “I think you missed your true calling in life.”

“I swear-ah!” A particularly hard jab to his prostate has Madara choking back a sob of pleasure, “I’m gonna kick your ass!”

“Are you threatening me Professor?” Tobirama chuckles, grabbing at the base of Madara’s ponytail and yanking until he’s sure the older man can’t breath, “I’m sure I misheard you.”

“Senju…!” Madara gasps, stars dancing behind his eyes as Tobirama pulls him back to meet his next thrust.

“Say my name Professor,” Tobirama growls, picking up the speed of his thrusts.

Madara tries to fight it, but between the abuse to his prostate and the lack of air, his brightest student’s name tumbles out. “T-Tobirama…”

“Such a good boy,” Tobirama purrs, returning both hands to Madara’s hips so he can yank the older man back to meet each increasingly brutal thrust.

Madara greedily sucks in air as his head lolls forward as far as it can. The chemistry professor knew he wouldn’t last much longer, no one had managed to play his body as well as Tobirama was in a long time. “Tobirama...please...I-I...need…”

“Is this what you need Professor?” Tobirama mutters, shifting one hand to grab Madara’s leaking cock in a firm grip. “Do you need to come again?”

“Please!” Madara begs, too far gone to care how pathetic he must look.

“Anything for my favorite professor,” Tobirama chuckles, stroking the hard flesh in time with his thrusts. Madara makes it half a dozen thrusts before he comes with a wordless cry, his release splattering the top of the desk. Tobirama moans as the muscles around his cock grip him like a vice, pressing in as deep as he can before his orgasm hits.

“Shit,” Madara pants, whining as he is pressed down harder into the desk, his own cum staining his shirt.

“Your ass is even better than I thought it would be,” Tobirama chuckles, using one hand to keep Madara pressed down while his other hand rummages through his backpack again. Finding what he’s looking for Tobirama smirks and carefully pulls out of Madara. “I brought you a present Professor.”

“Wha-?!” Madara has to bite back a sob of pained pleasure as he feels something hard stretch his entrance open farther.

“I would hate for you to make a mess in your office,” Tobirama continues like Madara hasn’t spoken, firmly pressing the glass plug the rest of the way in. The Senju hums as he admires his handing work, one finger lightly tracing the edge of the toy.

“Enough,” Madara whimpers as the sinful finger pushes inside, his over sensitized nerves burning at the new stretch, “please.”

Tobirama just hums in agreement as he retracts his hand and fixes Madara’s pants for him. Carefully freeing the older man’s wrists, Tobirama runs a soothing hand the tangled locks of hair. “Hush now Professor,” the Senju mutters, enjoying the whimper when he gently sets Madara into his office chair, “I’ll take care of you.”

Madara can only grumble in response, too tired to offer much of a complaint. He’s vaguely aware of Tobirama cleaning off his desk as he drifts in and out of consciousness. A sudden weight in his lab draws him back to his office with a pained grunt as the plug is forced deeper. “What are you doing?” Madara demands, glaring at the younger man straddling his lap, “our deal is done.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said you were mine now,” Tobirama says, bringing a collar into view, “now the question is, will you accept it?”

Madara stares at the collar for a long moment, realizing that Tobirama wanted him for more than a one time fling. That thought shouldn’t warm his heart nearly as much as it did, but it had been so long since he’d had a good dom. Instead of responding verbally, Madara just tilts his chin up, offering Tobirama free access to his neck.

Tobirama grins as he carefully fastens his collar around Madara’s beautifully pale neck; he’d never given out his collar before. “Thank you,” he mutters, using the collar to pull Madara down into their first kiss.

“No, thank you,” Madara chuckles after Tobirama pulls back just enough that their lips brush as he speaks. When the Senju grins stupidly like his older brother, Madara rolls his eyes, tugging Tobirama back in for another kiss.

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wolfpawn · 5 years

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Chapter 12

Previous Chapter

Chapter Summary - after an interaction that leaves Paige slightly uncomfortable, she goes off the radar for a few days, leading to Mark realising something.

Tag, @wolfsmom1 @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @standing-onthe-edge

anyone else who wishes to be added to the tags, just ask :)

Paige scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was after being spotted out by some fan of Tom’s, which in itself was an odd sensation, what made it odder was she was not with Tom but Fiona, which was annoying as the fan was taking photos of her while with Fiona and her sister Samantha, as the three women were bridesmaids’ dress shopping and the presence of the fan, meant that they could not relax. The only grace, as Fiona stated, was that it was not for her wedding dress. Paige felt nauseous at the mere thought. She could not fathom how anyone would willingly choose to live a life so public. With an apology to Fiona, who knew the truth, she walked into the changing area to try on her dress.

Tom looked sadly at her. “I’m sorry.”

“How do you do it? That is no way to live your life.”

“You get used to it.”

“I never could. There’s no way any right-minded person would willingly live such an existence.”

Tom bit his lips together. He could see she had meant it. Feeling both guilty and disheartened that she did not feel the same for him, he merely said nothing in response. Instead, he noted Bobby had his head on her lap, as though soothing her. “You’re getting used to this.” He smiled at the dog.

“I may have to get one myself after all of this. I will miss him.”

Tom swallowed at her words. Paige was thinking when things would end, not of a potential to remain together. It was clear that she was not feeling as he was regarding the connection between them. Her words about how she enjoyed his company, he realised, was on an entirely platonic level. All of the times he was rejected by women as a youth came to the fore as he felt rejected, but on this occasion, he felt all the more so. As a youth, he did not see them as the women he could envision a life with, not like these days but Paige was the sort of woman he could see long-term. She was beautiful both in body and in mind. Her likes and dislikes, her personality, he was entirely smitten with it and wanted nothing more than to continue to get to know her. “How is your writing?”

“Good, wonderful actually, I can’t seem to stop.”

Tom smiled. “Excellent.” Then his face changed. “Have I taken you from it?”

“I needed to get out for an hour anyway.” She dismissed.

“Can I ask what it is about?”

“I’m not even fully sure yet, all I know is it is a new angle for me.” He looked at her with genuine intrigue. “I am writing from the viewpoint of the male character.”

“Really, how are you finding it?”

“Different. I know I am not a man so I am out of my comfort zone, but it is just coming and coming and I can’t stop it.” She spoke with enthusiasm.

“Well then, don’t stop.” Tom smiled at the animation in her features. “What is it about?”

“Nothing in particular, it’s bordering on romantic, something new for me, but being so long in this, I suppose I am sure a few left of field pieces.”

“Stephen King wrote IT and Shawshank Redemption, and the Green Mile.” Tom pointed out.

“He also wrote a few stinkers.” Paige reminded him.

“I am in some of the highest-grossing films of all time, I am also in some with incredible reviews, I am also in some that barely scrape double figures on Rotten Tomatoes.”

“Would you go back and do them again?”

“I would. I learnt from them and that is knowledge I keep with me now.”

Paige looked at him as he spoke, his eyes on hers and gave a small smile. “You are an incredible man, Tom Hiddleston.” She leant against his shoulder.

Tom said nothing but looked at her, saddened that she clearly liked him too, just not as he wished.

“Paige?”

Paige looked around, startled. “Hello?”

“Yes, it’s me, Mark, your brother.” Her brother sat across from her on the sofa. “What the hell happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Tom and I have been trying to contact you for two days. Mum too actually.” He turned slightly. “She’s in here.”

Paige looked at the doorway to see who was with him. Usually, if calling Fiona, Mark would just call her ‘Fi’. Instead, it was a very worried looking Tom looking at her. “Hi?” She looked at Mark again. “What…?”

“Yeah, you have not answered your phone in two days, you daft idiot.” He informed her again. “We were all wondering if you were dead or alive in here.” He looked around. “Smells like something died here. That book better be good.”

She looked at her computer screen, seeing the sidebar telling her she was on page 720. “I...Sorry?”

“Yeah, that isn’t even remotely remorseful sounding. What caught your attention?”

“I got in a groove.” She stated sheepishly. She looked at Tom again, who seemed startled. “I warned you I get a little sucked in.”

“I never thought I would meet someone more obsessive than I am about work.” He commented almost shocked. “You really do put yourself into it.”

“I don’t mean to, but I get a little focused.”

Tom walked forward, noting the food plates were somewhat dried, telling him food had not interested her in a while, the blanket on the sofa showing she slept next to her work and the dishevelled appearance she bore told him she really had not been further than the bathroom in a considerable time. “You need to eat and drink, and maybe a shower.”

“Maybe?” Mark looked at his sister. “She smells like a three-day-old lasagne left on the counter in summer when on holiday, there’s no maybe, she needs one.”

Tom assisted Paige to her feet. “Go, get yourself freshened up and I will get you something to eat.” He offered.

“It’s fine.”

Tom heard her stomach growl aggressively. “I am really stubborn, you say heard my Mum warned you about it. I will not stop until you do, so either go and get yourself cleaned up or we will still be here tonight at nine arguing this.”

“You have work.”

“Today’s my day off.”

“Well, you really should not be here, you should be relaxing.” Paige admonished.

“I hadn’t heard from you in two days, I was worried about you.” He confessed.

Feeling her cheeks redden, Paige turned and walked away, out of the room as Tom’s words bore into her mind. She overthought them completely, thinking to herself that he was concerned on a deeper level for her, but she admonished herself and reminded herself that this was nothing but a convenient arrangement, one to make them look classier than their actions, to not embarrass themselves, especially for Tom, nothing more. Sighing sadly, she stripped out of her clothes and got into the shower.

Tom, for his part, looked around the room, focusing on the mess. Grabbing the first of the plates, he began to tidy.

For a moment, Mark simply watched him. “You must be regretting this agreement.” Tom looked up at him. “My sister is a lot of work.”

“She is an incredible woman with an incredible work ethic. I thought I was dedicated, she puts me to shame.” Tom smiled.

“How much longer is this charade planned for?”

Tom bit his lips together. “I’m not sure.”

Mark watched Tom’s facial expression, the schooled mannered in which he kept his features, not showing any emotion but his demeanour showing all of them. “Well, I bet you’ll be glad to see the back of it.” He joked, walking past Tom, clapping his shoulder. “God, I wish she went to those fucking dinners before she met that shitbag, who knows what would have happened then.”

Tom swallowed sadly. He had rarely gone to Ben and Sophie’s dinners, had there ever been a chance to have met Paige at them before that, he wished he would have known.

The trio ordered food, Mark watching his sister interact with her supposed publicity partner, noting how both of them seemed so alike and aligned as people. Tom had gone back to his house and grabbed Bobby on Paige’s insistence, the dog now resting in a comfortable spot on the living room rug as the humans ate.

Mark used the time to get to know Tom better, having realised at the play that Tom was a pleasant man, talking to him more, he could see he was even more so. Intelligent, jovial and respectful, everything his sister deserved. He watched how Tom interacted with Paige, but so too did he notice Tom’s glances at her when she was not looking. He had realised Paige seemed to become infatuated with her fake other half through their conversations, especially at the Sunday dinners Tom could not attend due to the play, but he was startled to see Tom seemed to share such sentiments and to his shock, both seemed blissfully ignorant to the other’s thoughts, however obvious they were to see.

#Once Bitten Twice Shy #chapter 12 #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fic

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secondchancesfic · 5 years

Text

S.C: Chapter I

Superhero!AU

Summary: Virgil only wanted to spend some time with his dad, but Surprise villain is a surprise.

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairings: Parental Analogical, Platonical Anxceit

Tags/Warnings: Shouting. Mention of Abuse. Deceit

Words: 4758

This wasn’t what Virgil had in mind for a relaxing day.

He only wanted to spend some time with his dad to catch up without worrying so much about school or work, and god in heaven knows his dad would live in his office if he wasn’t forced by his boss and coworker to leave the installations of the association.

Was a nice coffee and a bit of father-son time too much to ask?

-YOU LOOK A LITTLE CHILLY!!- Yelled a very engulf in flames maniac who was approaching Virgil in a fast manner. Well his civilian name is Virgil, his hero name is Mender.

The villain flew towards Mender and started to throw a couple fire balls at his direction, the young hero manage to avoid them easily by doing some zigzags and jumping backwards; during his midair pirouette he went to hold on to a device in his belt, once the villain was close enough he threw it at him and it explode into a cloud of carbon dioxide to extinguish the aggressor, but this one manage to avoid the attack and holding on to Mender’s collar with a clear hand, not catching the hero on fire…yet.

-Those ones are new, aren’t they? I’m impressed- said the villain while letting his arm to start catching of fire slowly, teasing the imminent danger to the young one.

-Yeah, you know…Last time you almost kill a lot of people…- said the hero while going for one of the other gadgets in his belt, he was holding the villains arm to try to get away but retreat it once he felt the fire getting closer.

The villain chuckles.

-Well, there will be no next time for you now-

Mender manage to grab the gadget and press it against the villain, triggering it. It explode into a type of hologram and light, turning all the fire completely off. Mender’s hand was burn, yet he hold the villain’s arm into a lock and threw him into the ground.

-You are under arrest, Crimson- says Mender still holding him down.

Crimson wiggles and tries to get Mender off of him to no avail. Mender smirks at his victory and looks around to see the people who now are safe, can’t say the same for the building they came from, it was almost completely gone. At least people were safe, he thought.

-What did I told you?-

Mender’s smirk falls at the sound of the familiar voice.

-To not engage- Mender huffed. He looked at the one talking.

-And what did you do? - said a man firmly and almost scolding. He was wearing a gray lab coat over a suit that looked as if it was made out of metal. Safety polarize glasses were over his eyes to protect his identity.

Mender sigh annoyed. -Engage…- He was still holding the villain down. The other hero, Syllogism, walked towards the younger hero. He was much taller, and looked very calm even when his voice said otherwise.

-You could have hurt yourself- said Syllogism concerned while holding on to the villain, making Mender to move away.

-Yeah, well, I didn’t, ok? I capture him, didn’t I? - said while crossing his arms

Syllogism looked at him; noticing a small burn in Mender’s chin and hand, the burned collar of his uniform and several missing gadgets on his belt. –You used Deceit’s device up close, didn’t you? -

Mender uncrossed his arms in surprise and open his mouth as if to say something but was cut off by Syllogism.

-You were reckless. You could have been in awful danger if you had lost your powers before this... pyromaniac- Syllogism said while looking at the villain and placing special handcuffs in his arms.

-What did you do to me, you asshole?!- Shout Crimson –And excuse you, I’m no pyromaniac, I merely thought everything would look better with a CRISPY LOOK! - The villain chuckled.

-You could have hurt innocent civilians- Said Syllogism in a monotone way –And destroyed several buildings if the fire spread; you are not only a pyromaniac, you are also an idiot- the older hero made the villain sit and to keep quiet.

Mender muffled a snort, the villain huff and stayed still. Syllogism looked at Mender, he couldn’t see his eyes but knew he was being looked in a disapproving way. He sigh and blow his purple hair off of his face.

-Go join with Deceit, I will take care of this one- said Syllogism firmly while making a hologram with his fingers that were covered with a dark glove. He started to make some notes.

-But-

-Now-

Mender started walking away annoyed and frustrated. People were looking at them, not exactly getting close out of fear the villain would do anything. The police got there and started to take notes from the people, fireman were attending the wounded civilians. Mender looked at them but knew he couldn’t help now that his powers were out thanks to the device inspired by his comrade.

Talking about him, where in the hell was he?

Virgil walked towards the now black building where he was with his dad, passing near a brown van. The door open and someone drag him, then promptly drove off rather harsh and quickly.

The inside of the van didn’t had seats, just the two on front. It had a screen showing the news and the floor was actually made out of a soft material, someone probably sleeps inside the van very often.

-Hey, Virge- said a young man resting his back on the drivers sit.

He was wearing a mask that covered both sides of his cheeks and his eyes, while his mouth and nose were uncovered. He also was wearing a black bowler hat, his outfit was black and had certain golden trimmings around a type of cape, his shirt was a bright yellow and he was wearing golden gloves. He looked way classier than Virgil who was wearing a tight black outfit with purple thunders around him and a mask that would change color from black to purple if light hit it.

-Hey Greg’ - said Virgil while being upside down due to the forceful dragged.

-Hey, dude- said the man in the driver’s seat. He wasn’t wearing any mask so he didn’t draw attention to himself while driving.

-Holy shit, the morning star actually woke up early today- said Virgil in a mocking way.

-Ha, ha. So funny- said the man who was paying more attention to the road than to the young hero.

Virgil smiled and adjust himself to sit properly. Deceit, or well, Gregory, looked at him cautiously, as if he was looking for something missing. Virgil took notice and had a sense of déjà vu.

-What? - He asked.

-Nothing, I was just wondering- smirk Gregory. –Logan sounded so calmed when he called us to pick you up-

-Oooooh, got yourself in trouble again, Virge?- said the driver mockingly.

-Shut up, Nate- he said frustrated while laying down. –I just did my job-

-Yeah, you just ran ahead and tried to stop a literal fireman- said Gregory.

Virgil stayed quiet, he was tired of the same discussion and scolding. His chin and hand burn healed up and disappeared without living a scar. “Guess the power’s back”, he thought.

He has train several years now, he has tried all the devices his dad has made, he has done everything perfectly and yet he is still not allowed to engage in battle. It’s bullshit. He is not a kid anymore, he is 19 years old now. He capture Crimson, which should prove it to the man that he is ready to go alone, but apparently is not enough. He doesn’t even act this limiting to Gregory. Sure, he isn’t legally Logan’s son but he has been with them as if he was. Not minding that Gregory was at least 4 years older than him.

-This is bullshit…- He mumbled angrily.

Gregory moved to the co-pilot so he could see both at Nate and Virgil. He gave Virgil an understanding look, he exhale and turn to Nate. He just shrugged and continue looking at the road, not exactly wanting to get involve on all that family mess. He wasn’t really a good listener anyway. Gregory turn to Virgil and decided to try to lighten his mood.

-How’s studying going? – He asked out of the blue.

Virgil chuckled. –Like shit. I’ve read the same page for days now – He sit down.

-I wanted to take a break today but “surprise villain” is a surprise- he said while doing a hand gesture.

Gregory hummed. And then an idea pop on his head.

–Do you feel like blowing off some steam? – He asked while smiling.

-Not really…Not feeling like doing anything now…– Virgil said without looking at Gregory.

-That’s too bad… Because I heard Blue Nightowl say some pretty interesting not so nice things about Syllogism…- Gregory said while admiring his gloves as if he was looking at his nails.

That got Virgil’s attention and looked at the other hero with a malicious smirk. Nate rolled his eyes while smiling fondly.

If there was one thing they both enjoy a lot, was pranking the other heroes in the association. Even when everyone was a proclaim hero, some of them were actually gigantic assholes. Ever since the new boss, who, by the way, was the kindest and bubbliest woman ever, started to make changes, which involve making Logan second on hand, they haven’t stop complaining once. And that’s because they both implemented a couple new rules about how to handle villains, involving less use of excessive force and to always be brought to the association for a rehabilitation.

Now, heroes cannot exactly do or say much about Green Wonder, their boss, since it is because of her that they would know about dangers around the city easily. She is a great asset to the whole association, but they all thought Syllogism wasn’t exactly useful nor necessary. And it was because of him that the 2 rules mention above were established, due to his main philosophy: “All people can be either good or bad due to circumstances, our job is to make good circumstances” that, of course, applies to villains as well.

Some heroes, however, don’t think nor believe a villain can be reformed at all. A main example they take is actually Deceit; he was a young villain who would manage to hack systems to get money and to simply obstruct with justice, and he manage to avoid being capture by any hero who rely too much in their powers since his power was annulling any superhuman ability. He was the first villain to be reformed and thus giving Logan green light to keep that program in.

He quickly became friends with Virgil since Gregory would spend a lot time with Logan, learning about what he did and the several studies he would make to him. The time Logan manage to capture Gregory wasn’t pleasant in the slightest, Gregory was very hurt from being abused in his old home. He manage to escape with a damaged eye and some broken bones, Virgil tried to cure him but since he was not very trusting he annulled the young hero’s powers not allowing him to heal him. So they rely on normal medical care.

The heroes hate him because, thanks to Gregory, a very powerful and effective gadget to avoid combat was created, also very useful especial cells to keep very dangerous villains. They think those gadgets are dangerous and that when the chance comes, he would betray everyone. Also, at the beginning of his treatment he would annul every heroes’ powers for fun; for example, if he saw someone flying he would make them fall because he would thought it was funny. Of course, he would get a scolding from Logan.

Something the heroes failed to notice was the fact that Gregory was still young, at least on his teenage years. And even if some of the villains they capture now were older, Logan still believes in redemption. Something made all this people became evil, and he would fix that as much as he could.

Either way, they would avoid to use whatever Syllogism would make and complain very loudly so he knew how much they hated him. Of course, calm and collected Syllogism didn’t took the complaints at heart, Logan, on the other hand, would be distraught and angry sometimes. He wouldn’t show that side to anyone, not even Virgil or Gregory, who were actually very amazed by what he made.

He would get so disheartened by the cruel and ignorant remarks the other heroes would say, making him feel like he was wasting his time. Despite all that, he continued creating and building his inventions; recently he has tried to study everyone’s powers to try to replicate them into a device, just like he did with Gregory’s powers, although it has been quite challenging because they aren’t very cooperative.

Virgil is very proud of his dad, sure he can be a pain in the ass over the “do not engage in battle” rule, but he really loves him a lot. He has been his role model and his best friend, ever since he was adopted, so it enrages him to hear other so called heroes say awful things about Logan. Instead of fighting them, he and Gregory usually inconvenience them in several ways.

Gregory was prohibited to use his power against the heroes (Again, decreed by Logan) so they decided on simple pranks. At first it was just the usual salt for sugar in the coffee, then they increased their maliciousness until it became a bit…destructive. Some of the heroes had nice things that would suddenly turn into broken things… Some other times they would suddenly be sick… or hurt badly… For being someone that cures everything, Virgil was always a petty asshole towards other petty assholes. And yes, they would get scolds and grounding. They pretty much have been more times in the powerless cells than anyone, even though that doesn’t actually do much for them.

Nate drove them towards a building, it had a brown garage door that opened with a key he had. It was department building colored in a deep red, at least that’s what it looked like from the outside. Inside they parked the van and got out, Gregory and Virgil took off their masks. Gregory had a wide scar in his left eye, he barely could see from that eye. He adjust his hat, some yellowish stripes of hair were showing. Virgil showed his distinctive dark eyes with purple rays shining through, his hair being a mess like always.

Nate walk ahead of them and called for the elevator, one hero walked towards them and greeted them kindly. She looked like one of the newest heroes because they have never seen her before. While they were waiting to get to their floor, Gregory decided to chat with her; apparently she had hydrokinesis, that’s a nice power, he made some remarks and tried to make Virgil to engage but he just avoid eye contact or any contact what so ever. He could follow up a living torch down the street and try to kick his butt, but he couldn’t do any type of social interactions with new people. “Of course that made sense”, he thought.

Once in their floor, they parted ways. The girl smiled bubbly and ran off; Nate walked away too, he had some business to attend apparently (Wow, he was never this active during daylight). Gregory and Virgil walked in the direction of Logan’s office. The place was like a big reception, different heroes were passing; some were focusing on the news displayed in the screens, and others were going out the building in their normal clothes. Several heroes decided to live there, they found it more convenient than living in other apartment where you had to pay for everything, especially the ones that are around 24-28. Gregory said hello to some of them, newest additions to the association didn’t knew his past yet, so most would actually return the greeting.

Virgil continue walking, he knew Gregory stayed behind to chat, he was very social and nice which was a shame some people were still adamant on knowing he has change for the best. It wasn’t even his fault he was a villain in the first place, not even a good one may I add.

Virgil got to where he wanted, he enter the office without knocking and- Logan wasn’t there. Huh.

He walked out towards Gregory, suddenly a bunch of screams were heard in all the floor, all coming from the same source. Everyone turn to where the sound was coming from; there he was Syllogism with one very angry, screaming and loose villain- wait…

-I will need you to calm down right this instant- Said Syllogism very calmly – You have 0 chances of leaving this place, you are surrounded, therefore you really should…- He got interrupted by a fireball which he avoid. It hit some furniture where the newest heroes were, the bubbly girl from before put the fire out by dropping some carboy water she controlled. Logan made the personal stay put and to not get into the fight, he had it over control.

Crimson slowly started to ignite his body, and wanted to hurt the hero by trying to slam himself into him. Logan was undisturbed and quietly avoid the villain while he hold one of the CO2 devices to extinguish the villain’s attempts of starting a fire. It exploded and the villain was surrounded by the cloud that prevented him from using his powers. Crimson then went to punch the hero, at least he was going to make him feel pain in some way or another. Logan hold his arm and throw him to the floor, for someone who looked slim and not very muscular he was very agile and strong.

-I don’t want to harm you, but if you continue to engage in this erratic behavior I will use force- said calmly.

The villain got angrier and tried to get away. Logan hold him down with one hand, he kneeled and with the free hand manage to adjust a bag he had. He open it, there were several pieces of metal, screws, cores and more, all the necessary to make devices. He placed his hand over them and energy, almost electrical, passed through the pieces. In seconds he made a pair of handcuffs that emitted a yellow glow, which he use to retain and annul the villain’s powers completely.

He made Crimson stand up and he walk, Virgil and Gregory went up to Logan. He saw them coming and looking at Gregory he pointed to the villain; the young hero huff and made a thumbs up while going ahead and holding the newest addition of “patients”. Logan then looked at Virgil and pointed at the office, he rolled his eyes while blowing air at his purple bangs. He turn around and started walking towards his dad’s office.

-Is it going to my record? - said Virgil half mockingly, stepping into the office.

-Yes- Logan said in a monotone. He walked towards his desk.

-Awesome, please do. It’s my first catch after all – The young hero said while falling into a chair in front of Logan’s desk.

-Virgil…- his voice was strict, making the hero turn to look at the older one.

-I know you want to… “Beat up bad guys”- said trying to imitate Virgil’s voice, which made the other snort. –But you can’t do that if you keep being reckless-

-When was I reckless?!- Virgil shouted, jumping from his seat.

-I told you to attend to the wounded civilians, and instead you went to follow up Crimson- Logan stated.

-He was running away!! You were already making sure everyone was safe! I didn’t want him to scape again! – He stood up, angrier than he was before. This was stupid, he didn’t do anything wrong. Why was Logan scolding him?

-Virgil- he got interrupted

-I catch him!! Isn’t that what heroes do?!- He continue. –I am ready!! I don’t need to just to stay put all the time!! I can do more than just patch someone up!-

-Virgil! - Logan raised his voice.

He looked at the older hero, eyes full of angry tears. Logan sigh and took off his glasses, replacing them with reading normal glasses. His eyes weren’t disapproving, they were full of concern; the older hero placed his hand on his forehead while sitting down.

- I know you want to help more. I know - He says sternly without looking at his son.

-It doesn’t seem like it- Virgil angrily said while flopping in his seat.

-Try to understand, I only want you to be safe. Your powers are amazing, but they aren’t good for combat – he said stating the facts straight, looking directly at Virgil who was looking away in anger. He knew Virgil wasn’t so sure his power was so helpful, even though it was the most powerful and wonderful there was. And because of that, Logan was always concern, he didn’t want his son to attract too much attention to himself in front of other villains.

–You have been the fastest to learn combat skills and you help me so much by trying the devices- he said to assured.

-I am very proud of you Virgil, not only for your previous achievements but for this one.-

He said sounding as sincere as he could, explaining how he feels its way more complicated than building a freeze gun without his powers and with a blindfold. Virgil had a twitch in his lips, as if he tried to hide his smile, he was still mad, because he knew what else he was going to say.

-Please, just… Don’t fight anyone alone. You cannot do that in any circumstance - He paused as he watch his son, Virgil sigh and slumped in his chair.

–Understood?-

-Yes… - said annoyingly. He was too tired to keep up and repeat this old fight.

-Good – Logan said, relief that this discussion was over. He knows Virgil is capable of fighting and winning, if anything that day proved that point. Yet… He really cannot let go of the fear of losing his son. His powers would put him out there, what if a villain tries to capture his son and make him do anything? Bring back someone… Even though his powers do cover that with animals, with people is… more complicated.

-Hey, dad…- Virgil said all of the sudden.

-Yes?-

-Weren’t we going to have… You know, time to talk? - He asked.

-We can talk here- Logan stated.

-No, like… What we were doing before Crimson attack the café-

Oh, right. Today was supposed to be a day off of work. It was odd for Logan to leave early or to not work at all, he always had something to do because he would propose to himself a new idea to keep him busy.

-Well… We could just talk here- the older hero repeated himself as if that would make Virgil realize something different.

-You know what Picani said. You need to get out of here more – Virgil said, he was still a bit peeved off about the whole villain thing but maybe changing the topic was good for now.

-I don’t see how that would be productive. If we are going to talk we could just stay here – Logan said, then jump a bit as if a new idea came to his head, spinning behind him to check several drawers full of different parts, opening them all at once.

-THAT’S why we can’t talk here, dad - Virgil said pointing at the way Logan was already making a new device.

-What? – Logan would loose the trail of the conversation once he is concentrated in something.

Virgil looked at him annoyed and then smirked. He kicked the desk and shouted.

-OUCH!-

Logan looked around dropping all the pieces

-Virgil! Are you ok? - Every time, he would fall for that. Since he was little he would pretend to be hurt so Logan would spend time with him. Not like he didn’t do so, Virgil just thought needed breaks, and a lot of them.

-Dad, at least let’s get out of your office-

Logan stood up sighing. –You’re never this excited to talk about something, what’s got you so… “Chatty”? - He looked at Virgil for approval, Virgil nod. -Today- he finished. They both got out of the office.

-Well…Remember that internet page…- he asked trying not to smile.

-Which one? - He said not noticing the twitch in Virgil’s lips.

-You know, that one that was pink… And blue…-

Virgil said as if he was trying to make Logan connect dots with the ambiguous response. Logan eyed his son very amused. They walked towards a coffee machine, they never got their coffee at the café anyway.

-With letters? – Logan said sarcastically.

-Yes, exactly! – Virgil said rolling with it. Logan chuckled lightly. -And that you had to put plenty info ‘bout yourself…Like your age…Your hobbies…Your job…-

Logan realized what he was talking about and he huffed bothered.

-Tell me you didn’t…- He was cut off.

-You got plenty of suitors! – Virgil said while taking his phone out.

-No- Logan said grabbing his coffee and going back to his office.

-C’mon!! Would it kill you to try to go out and have some fun?-

–You talking about going out? And fun? Ha- His sarcastic laugh always made Virgil laugh, but he was serious this time… Partially… He snorted.

-I do go out- Virgil said between chuckles.

-Yeah? I thought Gregory always drag you at this “hang outs” and I also thought you hated people because, and I quote: “Everyone is stupid”- Logan said smirking

-Don’t need to drag me like that…- Virgil mumbled.

-Thank you, Virgil. But I am fine, besides I already have enough with Picani-

-But dad, don’t you want to meet someone? Preferably not from work? You always stay in here. I at least make a tiny bit of effort to tolerate other people- Virgil said crossing his hands.

Logan smiled tenderly, his son always worried about his wellbeing.

-I can assure you I am fine, if anyone should be worried to have a partner it should be you- Logan said smiling and closing his door not allowing Virgil to finish or start any sentence.

Logan was always a loner, well before he had Virgil. He always wanted to have a son but never exactly fitted with someone else to form a family. If he was honest, he had ideas or desires to be with a person who could understand him, who he could talked to for hours. But now… He was kind of… Old for that. And besides, his main focus is his son and his work; having a relationship now would just make him unfocused and make mistakes in his inventions. He didn’t need a relationship.

I’m fine alone, he thought every day, ignoring that heavy emptiness he would feel every time he look at a happy couple and longing for sharing his life with someone else.

Virgil sigh, he sure was stubborn. He knows his dad could be happier if he put himself out there to meet someone. Sure, he sounded a bit hypocritical since he would rather stay at home and draw or listen to music while reading but he can’t pretend it doesn’t feel nice to have friends. Maybe the whole criticism over his work made him feel as if he wasn’t enough for someone? If that was the case Virgil had to make some visits to the ignorant heroes.

-Where’s Greg’…? - He asked to himself.

Then something exploded and water was coming from a bathroom, Gregory open and closed the door and started running towards Virgil.

-DECEIT!!!- The hero opened the door, he was full of paper towels and wet with what Virgil hoped was only water.

-WAIT TILL I PUT MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU SHIT!-

Gregory hid behind Virgil. -THE SHIT TALKING ABOUT SHIT, SOUNDS REDUNDANT, YOU SHIT! - Gregory shouted, the hero was very angry, running towards both of them.

Both started to run and laugh. He will try to talk to Logan about the dating site later. Now was time for some pranks.

Prologue/ CH 1 / CH 2

18 notes · View notes

elizaviento · 6 years

Text

Assimilation (part 15/23)

SFW -- 2400 words

(FYI: Additional chapters of Assimilation can be found in the Rick Fic Masterpost link in my blog description. Or, you can click the #assimilation tag in this post, within my blog, to access all additional chapters.)

*****

Waking up in Rick’s room for the second time was just as disorientating as the first; especially considering that it contained no windows or a clock. Rick was gone again, which wasn’t a shock. I had wondered many times if the man ever actually slept at all. The thought occurred to me that I could just lay here dozing until he returned, although it could be awkward if he expected me to be long gone when he did. Honestly, I had no way of knowing how he would react. He was the most unpredictable person I’d ever met or ever would meet.

I’d always had a saying “You never truly know someone until you hear how they moan during sex.” So far, Rick Sanchez was the only exception I had encountered. Everything about his exterior was gruff and unyielding. Every now and then, there would be a glimmer of something a bit softer, but only in specific situations and only with specific people. I had been lucky enough to be one of those specific people, mostly due to my association with Beth. I was so young when I first met him that he probably lumped me in the ‘daughter’ category of his head space and treated me as such – until recently. But, the way Rick behaved with intimate partners, at least in my short personal experience, was much different. His gruff exterior was still absolute but the tenderness he hid underneath was surprising. And, his penchant for praise was something I never could have expected in a million years.

My cheeks began to burn at the memories of said praise; whispers of ‘good girl’ making me feel swollen and needy. I had to admit that one of the main reasons I found myself so hot for Rick was due to his perceived position as an authority figure in my life. My school girl crush on him was definitely fueled by such; along with the small aspect of taboo associated with him being the father of my best friend.

God, I was so fucked up. What on earth would Beth do if she found out? What would Jerry do? How would the kids react?

Nope. I couldn’t think about that now.

Since I was completely unaware of what time it was, I tentatively poked my head outside his bedroom door. It was still daylight, so that was good. I didn’t hear anyone else in the house either and that was very good. So, I made my way to my room to fetch my laptop. I really needed to buckle down and get this project rolling again, especially since I hadn’t even checked my email since Friday.

Finally reading through my email was painful. An old friend of mine had contracted me to draw up the architectural plans for a new house he intended to build in the country. The last time we’d spoken was over a week ago and I now had several emails from him. He wasn’t used to radio silence from me so his last email simply read, “Are you okay?” The last thing I wanted was to lose this contract (and a good friend in the process) so I decided the best course of action was to call him and explain that I’d been sick with the flu. Luckily, I was able to get in touch with him right away and he agreed to meet with me that evening to go over what I had completed thus far. So, I made a few finishing touches and sent the draft to the local printer.

As I was getting ready, excitement began to bubble up within me. I hadn’t seen Trevor since Chris died and it would be wonderful to catch up with him again. He and I had always existed on the same wave length and we both had a very bizarre sense of humor. I’d asked him to meet me at one of the classier bar/restaurants in town so I had to look somewhat presentable. I also hadn’t had the opportunity to ‘dress up’ since moving back, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put in a little effort, if only to feel like a human female for a few hours. I had the perfect dress in mind; something professional but also classically cute – sleeveless and black with a flowing skirt that hit just above the knee. I finally found the dress after looking through nearly every trash bag I had hurriedly stuffed full of clothes when I moved, but I also had to dig out my flat iron and most of my make up – making me realize how unconcerned I had been about my appearance for the last month. On one hand, it was incredibly freeing. On the other, it was a bit depressing. I’d also forgotten the effort involved with styling my hair and applying perfect wingtip eyeliner. In the end, however, I was rewarded with a semi attractive, confident looking woman.

Checking the clock, I noticed I had just enough time to swing by the printer to pick up my drafts before heading to the restaurant. No one was home yet, so I scribbled a quick note and tacked it to the fridge explaining that I’d be back later and rushed out the door. Walking down the driveway to get to my car parked on the street, I noticed that the garage door was open. Taking a closer look, I saw Rick standing at the metal shelves, digging through one of the many boxes. I hadn’t even realized he was here, so I made my way to the garage, if only to show off my polished look. I was sidetracked, though, when my phone chirped with a message from Trevor. He was on his way to the restaurant and he couldn’t wait to see me. Now feeling rushed, I glanced up to see Rick staring at me with slack jawed expression that made me grin ear to ear. Giving him a quick wave, I made sure to put a little swing in my hips as I strolled to my car.

----------

Trevor didn’t burden me with small talk and pleasantries. He and I were like peas in a pod, so he knew to get down to business right off and then smoothly transition into our comfortable banter afterward. He told me how good I looked and asked how I was, but it was genuine. I thanked him and confessed that things had been hard for a while but were finally getting better. We drank cocktails and ate way too much food and were generally having a wonderful time when my phone chirped. I ignored it at first, figuring it was Jerry or Beth asking if I’d be home for dinner. Then it chirped again. And, again. Finally plucking it from my purse with a sigh, I took a quick glance at the screen just to make sure it wasn’t something important. The message previews I saw on the lock screen were confusing, so I unlocked it to read them in their entirety.

Rick: So how’s your boyfriend?

Rick: He looks like a doofus.

Rick: He can’t be THAT funny.

I quickly scanned the dimly lit restaurant and didn’t spot him. Then, I glanced toward the bar and there he sat, at the furthest end from our table with a glass of something brown. I was completely taken aback. Had he really followed me here? Looking at the messages again, I was convinced that I’d somehow misread them.

“Something wrong?” Trevor asked, pulling my eyes from my phone.

“Oh, sorry. No, I just got a text from my brother. What were you saying?“

I tried to pay attention. Sincerely, I did. But, Rick was relentless. I flipped the ringer off on my phone but I could feel it vibrate on my lap in steady intervals.

Rick: He thinks he’s getting his dick sucked.

Rick: I bet his nuts smell like cottage cheese.

Rick: Does he know you like ‘em swaggly?

And on and on and on…

I couldn’t stop myself from snickering at some them which only upset me. What the fuck was going on here? Suddenly, I knew the response that would shut him down –

Me: Jealous?

When I glanced his way and caught him scowling into his glass, I knew I was right. I didn’t receive another text from him, but he didn’t leave the bar either, which made me nervous. Trevor continued to talk and I’d insert the appropriate audio cues and giggle every now and then to give the impression I was listening. When the check finally arrived, I sighed in relief and snatch it up before Trevor could even blink.

“No!” he attempted to protest.

“I can write this off as a business expense,” I explained, throwing down my debit card and glancing back at the bar once more. Rick was gone and I felt my heart begin to race with anxiety. I checked my phone again – nothing new – and froze when I felt a weight settle on the booth next to me.

“Heyyy, babe. Who – who’s your little friend?”

I gawked at Trevor from across the table, my eyes wide with shock, as an arm slithered around my shoulders. I actually couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Hi, I’m Trevor,” he said, extending a hand toward Rick from across the table.

“Rick Sanchez,” he replied, not taking Trevor’s offered hand but, instead, pulling me closer.

Trevor shot me a ‘what the fuck?’ expression and all I could do was shrug in response. I was absolutely speechless. Nothing could have ever prepared me for this moment. But, when Rick placed his hand on my knee and began gliding it up my thigh, I found my voice.

“Trevor and I were just going over the architectural plans I drew for his house,” I offered, lifting my portfolio from the booth on the opposite side of me and placing it on the table. I turned to look Rick straight in the eye and resisted the urge to flinch back when I saw that his face was mere inches from my own.

“So, are you two… um…” Trevor began.

“Fuckin’? Yeah, man. Oh, yeah – all the way. She – uh – she’s wild, too.”

Trevor’s expression was priceless and I fought the urge to scream with laughter. I was going to kill Rick. He was going to die tonight.

“I-I-I mean, not like you’d know. Or – or anything. Nah – she’s wayyy too hot – too fine.”

This time I did laugh. This was fucking unbelievable.

Trevor, now obviously fed up, began to gather his things to leave. Rick had me cornered in the booth, so I reached across the table to grab his arm.

“Don’t forget the drawings,” I said, taking them from my portfolio. “Please, look them over again and get back to me with the changes, okay?”

I really need to salvage this contract. Chris’s survivor benefits and pension and my savings would only get me so far. I needed a steady stream of income and this contract was the first step to establishing a client base large enough that I wouldn’t need to return to my old firm. Trevor was a well respected doctor and knew plenty of other people with disposable cash who wanted to build high priced homes.

“Yeah, of course,” he agreed, taking the drawings. “I’ll email you.”

“Don’t l-let the door hit ya on the way out,” Rick said, giving him a salute.

As soon as Trevor was out of sight, I groaned and covered my face as Rick’s arm retreated from my shoulder.

“Why?” I asked, my voice muffled behind my hands.

He didn’t reply. He did, however, order us both a scotch on the rocks as the waitress came by to pick up the check. When the drinks were delivered, I downed mine in one shot and then took his and did the same. From the corner of my eye, I saw him pull his flask from his lab coat.

I didn’t know what to do; didn’t know how to feel. Should I be angry? Humiliated? Flattered? The truth is, I was all three.

Turing toward Rick again, I noticed he was hunched with his elbows on the table and a slight pink tinge to cheeks. He appeared just as flabbergasted as I, no doubt, did and I suddenly felt bad for him. He had completely misinterpreted the situation and acted like a jealous teenager.

Rick Sanchez. Jealous.

I started giggling, as I always did when feeling awkward.

“What – w-what‘s so fuckin’ funny?” he asked, sounding like a sourpuss. I giggled harder.

“You really think I’m fine?” I asked, shifting my upper body to fully face him in the booth.

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, though. What the hell was that?”

Again, no response. He knew that I knew. The waitress dropped off my debit card and receipt at the far end of the table.

“By the way –” I said, reaching across him to fetch my card while making sure to press my tits against his arm in the process, “– Trevor is totally gay.”

To be continued…

#rick and morty #rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez #fanfiction #assimilation #sister smith series

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eagleslouis · 5 years

Note

No it's not an asshole move because their contracts were coming to an end. Why would Harry continue doing something because other people want it? What kind of idiot do you think he is? The only thing Louis carried were water and twitter fights. Legend! Harry is a better singer than Louis, he's better looking and he's classier. That is why he has a solo career and Louis is a judge on X factor. Get it? There's zero debate regarding Freddie's paternity. Babygate can't end because it doesn't exist.

this ask singlehandedly made me want to choke myself but uhh okay lets go piece by pieceIT STILL IS AN ASSHOLE MOVE. its fucking selfish. if he was suffering so fucking bad he literally couldve pulled a zayn before zayn did and left, especially since hes had the azoffs literally in his back pocket since 2013 (irving was literally named the most powerful person in the music industry in 2012, remember?). HE WOULDVE BEEN FINE. and 'doing what he wanted'!!! we know why though, right? he needed to keep his image squeaky fucking clean. even though it is all coming out now, probably didnt expect that one, harold. none of them planned a solo career and louis literally said he expected to be back in 18 months and once that hit and there was no contact, it was like, wow.. its really official. FUCK HARRY. and honestly? i think hes a huge idiot, we know this. he doesnt know who the fuck he is, the 1975? prince? david bowie? idk! is he a singer? an actor? whatever gives the most money i guess! and he doesnt know what the fuck hes talking about it, 'umm yeah i mean umm sott is kinda like about my response to blm and all that, you know? umm yeah just like.. shut up stop crying.' the kid was NOT meant for fame. he couldnt even answer a question without hesitating or having bad word choice, the boys literally teased him. damn, god forbid louis to interact with his band members in a fun way that engages his fans (during times that he didnt have to sing). hes such a dick. hes had fucking dumb scraps on twitter, who hasnt? afawk he did talk to zayn after jay said he should and i highly doubt either of them hold such a grudge for something said over social media. better for louis to actually use social media and admit it than to say he doesnt use it because he doesnt see the point (completely ignoring that when not on tour thats the only way to interact with fans) but then proceed to be liking posts on instagram nearly 24/7... like someone we know. now.. everyones entitled to their own smelly onions so i wont go too deep into this but uhhhh harry can stop straining his voice by fucking yelling in all his songs if he doesnt wanna lose it by 30. he can maybe pick like one fucking genre to stick with??? hes very gio from x factor, who louis coincidentally hated lol. i GUESS beauty is in the eye of beholder, even though harry is fucking ugly. they were right when they said his hair was always greasy, i dont know why everyone was pressed! also i think its pretty damn clear harrys cupcake image is all fucking fake now, hes not fucking classy at all lmao what are you on? real fucking classy move to write a song about an underage girl he met and probably fucked for one night without telling her but including her name so her dad could call her and say that he wrote a song about her :) real fucking classy to slut shame girls for how they dress in his songs but then again play it off that he has the utmost respect for women. too many more to say. his solo career is going well yeah i guess right? honestly a good move to pick tiny tiny venues so they would sell out quickly and people would pay attention to the time sold out versus the size. even though he did fuck over the fans with that whole ticket fiasco beforehand. i suppose!!!! my only criticism is i hope this next album is more cohesive :). dont exactly see whats so horrible about louis as a person regarding him doing x factor? he again went back to his roots and is helping people achieve their dreams which is something he said he would like to do anyway!!! i want his music so fucking bad (and we're getting it in like a month anyway hopefully) but i mean... ill be... patient. i dont think his solo career is normal so far at all lmao and its due to syco because other artists came out and said the same!!!! that they wouldnt let them release music or would give them NO promo. not the same situation at all for multiple reasons. harrys been planning a career w his best friend whose under guidance of his dad, one of the most powerful men in the industry whereas louis wasnt planning a career and is with a well known awful company. also i mean theres ton of debate about freddies paternity lol and if its real anyway, then there HAD TO BE A LOT MORE with the situation he wouldve been in. if 'babygate' will never end, the conspiracy will never end either so get used to it i guess.

#fuck you lol #i forgot my laptop so im just EXTRA annoyed that i had to reply to this on mobile #anonymous #ask

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bbbarneswrites · 6 years

Text

Be With You

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Steve and Natasha had been setting Bucky in date after date. Little did they know that the man had his eye on you for a while now. Genre: Romance/fluff Rating: T Warnings: Swearings, make-out sessions 4,741 words

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Notes: @brandybucky, you requested this fic in freaking 2016 if I’m not wrong and there hasn’t been a day where I didn’t think about it, LMAO. I don’t even have an excuse for how long I took (I bet you don’t even remember about this) but I seriously wrote more than 10 drafts for this and it was never enough for me. I just love the idea so much that I couldn’t let it go. Imagine my surprise when I finally got something that was at least decent. ANYWAY, I hope you like it (and forgive my sorry ass). TO Y’ALL, one more black!reader fic to the list and hopefully more to come! For this fic you can listen to Better Man by Leon Brigdes (it’s his concert that they go to) and She’s Mine Pt. 1 by J. Cole. Happy reading! <3

You’ve got the brightest eyes, smooth brown skin, hair that his fingers itch to touch and a smile that can easily brighten up his day and yet, back in his time, you'd be forbidden for him. Bucky sure misses a lot of things from the 40s but not being able to show off his girls is not one of them. He remembers it as clear as day – all the times he had to hide his relationships, deny them for his partner's own safety. No dates, no dances, no casual day-outs otherwise they'd be frowned and bullied upon. And he sure remembers them.

Jo, the girl he met down at the docks, absolutely hated staying cooped up in his place instead of going out and she hated that her fight wasn't enough to stop all the harassment they got.

Michelle from his usual diner was quiet and so shy that he wasn't sure what to do when it came to their relationship and he was often scared of hurting her because of that. It didn’t take much time until she decided to call it quits.

Leslie patched Steve up sometimes and had her own way to deal with the situation – she liked him but it seemed like she knew nothing would come out of the relationship with the situation they lived in.

He loved all of his girls but they all had brief, short lived passages through his life due to other people’s judgements and discrimination. It was hard to live being constantly harassed, having a burden on your back that wasn't even meant to be there in the first place.

He’s pleased to know that the 21st century isn’t like that anymore – or sort of isn’t.

Women own their own bodies and fight everyday for their rights now, LGBT couples are allowed to marry their loved ones and black people are finally free from the segregation that took place back in his day, becoming more engaging than ever.

But even so, there's still judgement, occasional dirty looks and mean words. There's still closed-minded people, narcissism and prejudice and privilege and his girl deserves nothing like that. He knows that you can crush the world beneath your feet if you want to so he tries to not care about them unless they're up for a confrontation. Nothing can hold him back now. His girl has the brightest eyes, the smoothest brown skin, hair that makes his fingers itch to touch and a smile that brighten up all of his days. And so he makes damn sure to show you off in all chances he's got – especially by doing all the things he couldn't back then.

It happens for the first time when you have your first date in a little burrito shop in Hell’s Kitchen that you insisted in going, even if with his failed attempt of convincing you to go somewhere classier.

That’s the first of the many differences from his previous dates.

Bucky always had to look at his best for the dates Steve and Natasha set for him. Impeccable clothes, neat hair and a sharp mindset because the places were always classy and expensive and in the nicest are of the city.

You deserve all that and more but he can’t deny it’s a nice surprise to have this, to not be uncomfortable in his own skin for once, not having to live up to any expectations his appearence might give out.

It’s a nice surprise to just be with you in a random park spot, your drinks perched in a cut tree log as you sit on the grass and talk about everything between bites of your burritos. It’s a nice surprise to have you so comfortable around him, your thighs brushing against his own as you stay side by side.

It’s nice to know that you know him, not whatever image he has to put up with the dates he’s used to.

And Bucky can only guess his light demeanor is noticeable given you jump right into the dating topic about an hour into your talk.

“Okay, I gotta ask though...” You smile cheekily after swallowing the last bite of your burrito, biting your lower lip when he nods for you to continue. “What made you call me on a date?”

Bucky frowns confusedly, trying to look as collected as he could before asking, “What do you mean?”

He watches as you sigh curtly, giving him a pointed look that he almost smirks at. He knows exactly what you’re talking about but he doesn’t feel like sharing the miserable details of his dating life just yet.

“It’s just– I’ve seen your dates before, Bucky.” You roll your eyes playfully, making a funny face and letting out a short laugh when Bucky raises his eyebrows. “They’re definitely not like me. They just kinda look like...I don’t know. I didn’t think I’d be your type.”

His dates. Ever since he got back in America and sorted out whatever mess he and Tony had, Bucky started living in the Avengers tower. Ever since he got back, Steve and Natasha had been insisting for him to test waters, get back into the dating game as a way to ease in into the modern world.

Ever since he got back, he’s been set up with girls he didn’t want to or have interest in – all because his eyes had been on you since his very first day in the tower.

Bucky doesn’t really want to admit the story behind his dates but hearing you say that you aren’t his type is more than enough to push him to tell the truth.

“That’s Steve and Natasha’s fault.” Bucky feels his cheeks warm up at the admission, shrugging as nonchalantly as he can as you frown in confusion. “They made me this account on this...dating app thing. It’s not bad but the dates weren’t that good.”

“A dating app? Like Tinder?” You ask in mild shock, your mouth hanging open for a moment until you chuckle in amusement. “Ok, wow. Finding out that Black Widow and Captain America are on Tinder was not part of today’s plans.”

Bucky lets out a short laugh as he runs his fingers through his hair nervously, building up the nerve to speak up his next words and secretly wishing he still was as good with words as his younger self.

“I actually wanted to ask you out for a while now.” He admits, feeling unusually shy as he watches your lips curve into a smug grin, your tongue right between your teeth. “That might be one of the reasons the other dates didn’t work out.”

You shift around your seat, turning your body to his side so that he can feel the fabric of your fluffy top brushing against his flesh arm. As you hook one of your legs under his, Bucky places his arm right around your waist, his fingers brushing against your jeans clad hip and making him feel like a high school boy with a crush all over again.

“Why didn’t you? I’d have said yes, that’s for sure.” You tilt your head to the side, still grinning smugly as Bucky lets out a small laugh and squeezes your hip fondly. “I might have had my eyes on you for some time now?”

Bucky couldn’t help but feel his chest warm up at your words.

Knowing that you worked at tower for Tony was one of the reasons why he took so long to finally ask you out, afraid that he could potentially jeopardize your job by doing so. His own insecurities were next on the list because honestly, he wasn’t the easiest man to deal with from time to time.

But now hearing that you also were out there for him makes everything worth it.

“Didn’t know if it was safe, doll.” Bucky replies hesitantly, seriousness now lacing his voice and features as you make a sour face once he continues. “Things weren’t easy for your folks back then. I just didn’t want to risk everything again.”

“Ugh, I get that. Things aren’t perfect but they’re a bit better even if we have a Cheeto for a president.” You grimace playfully before tilting your chin up at him, feeling his breath mixing with yours as he looks down at you. “But we can definitely date now. And so, I’m in charge of what we’re going to do next.”

The gloomy mood from the conversation immediately fades once you smile cheekily at him, your lower lip caught between your teeth as you lean closer to the point where your noses are almost touching and your lips are just inches away.

Bucky feels like his heart might burst out of his chest because yeah, you can definitely date now.

“Are you now?” He teases, his lips curving into a smirk and fingers brushing the exposed skin between your top and jeans as you raise your eyebrows challengingly. “Should I be scared?”

And also because of the light touch of your lips on his before you pull back with a little grin and finally reply–

“Only if you can’t keep up.”

Your dates come and go and Bucky couldn't be feeling better about everything. For the fifth one, you buy tickets for a special music concert of one of your favorite artists and Bucky can't say he isn't surprised at how lightly he takes the idea. He's been back for a while now, his triggers words have been removed and his mind is slowly getting pieced back together but he still has a lot of issues to deal with. In any other time, going to an overcrowded place would set his nerves on fire at the mere thought of it.

But as you bring it up one day as he meets you in one of the corridors of the tower, he just feels eager for the night to come. Truth to your word, the night and the concert are both amazing. The rhythm of the songs are familiar and though it leaves him a bit nostalgic sometimes, Bucky feels as comfortable and in place like back in the day. Your presence is soothing and he can't help but marvel at how pretty you look, hair brought in two cute buns and make-up looking as beautiful as ever. It's a night where Bucky allows himself to just forget the shitload that is his past and try to be that guy again – except that now he's got his girl with him and nothing could be better than that. Song after song, he revels on the way that you freely sing the lyrics, the way you smile at him when he makes a comment about the crazy bassist on the band, the way you openly kiss his cheek and tighten his arms around your waist by pulling him closer, the way you playfully run your fingers through his hair.

He revels that you both can do all that now, that you're safe despite the shit he grew up with. Once the concert is over, you drag him all the way to a little hidden pizzeria in Brooklyn while vehemently claiming it's the best pizza you've gotten in your life. The place isn't too big and isn't too crowded but you both opt for a quiet little corner booth in the back of the room, taking a seat on each side of the table before entertaining yourselves with the ridiculous amount of pizza flavors on the menu. It doesn't take much until you choose yours (triple cheese with lots of oregano) and Bucky chooses his (meat and also lots of cheese) and you're falling into a playful conversation to wait on your orders. "So, how was it?" You cross your arms over the table and playfully squint your eyes at him, a closed smile curving your lips briefly. "Your first music concert in the 21st century?" "It was good. Familiar." Bucky grins boyishly, his blue gaze firmly locked with yours as he shrugs non-commitedly. "Company wasn't so bad either." "Flattery will get you nowhere and everywhere, Sergeant." You wink at him and hold back a giddy smile when he laughs in return. "Did you enjoy the music?" Bucky nods and immediately places both arms on the table, mirroring your pose as he leans forward to you with mischief written all over his face. "I did. It's an improvement from all that crap you got on radio nowadays." "Your old age is showing, grandpa." You joke with a flick of your tongue before leaning over the table like him, mocked worry now replacing the teasing in your voice. "Well, I'm glad. I wasn't sure if this was your type of thing, so..." "What's that supposed to mean?" Bucky asks with a frown, though the amusement is clear on his face by the way he holds back a smirk when you shrug. "What's my type of thing then?" "Corny country, maybe?" You feign innocence as you reply, soon breaking into laughter at the weird face he makes at your choice of style. "Hey, come on. A few songs are kinda decent if you squint." You reach out a hand to playfully swat at his forearm with your teasing but his prosthetic hand catches it midway as he gently wraps his fingers around your wrist, fingertips brushing against your skin before you interlace your fingers together. "You're lucky I like you, doll." Unbeknownst to Bucky, his words nearly makes your heart skip a beat and you can barely contain your love striked face as the waiter arrives with your orders, thankfully (or not) giving you both something to occupy yourselves after the sudden heartfelt moment. Bucky tries to not overthink his actions for once and keeps the conversation rolling as best as he can while you gush about how good your pizza is time and time again. He doesn't mind it much– Even because it earns him a very generous piece delivered directly to his mouth from you so he can't complain. Once you're finished and the night is almost coming to an end, Bucky feels like a changed man. Or in the very least, a prospect of a changed man. Not only because of the pizza (it was that good as you promised) but also because of the comfortableness he's feeling.

On being with you, on being himself, on trying to bring back flickers of his old self that he swore it was gone. He finally feels like he's balanced between the two lives he lead, balanced enough to start considering making this his third attempt with you by his side. As the waiter gathers your plates and leave with the promise of coming back with your check, you both realize that maybe this is the end of another of your dates but hopefully it's the start of something else. "Can we call this one date a success?" You ask coyly, resting your chin on your hand as you smile mischievously at him. "Because I think we can. You stand-spooned me the whole concert and you liked the songs." "I think we can, yeah." Bucky shoots you a half grin before frowning in mocked disappointment, though his tone of voice is still as teasingly as ever. "We're missing this one thing, though." You immediately raise your eyebrows, getting into his game by feigning confusion at his little smirk. "Oh? I wonder what that is?" Before his mind can make him second guess, Bucky leans over the small table and crashes his lips against yours, his flesh hand gently cupping your jaw as his thumb brushes softly against your warm cheekbones. He can feel you smile against his mouth before you pull back for a moment, diving into it again after a moment and raising your hand to rest at the base of his neck, fingertips scratching at his short beard. Neither of you mind the rather uncomfortable position, losing yourselves with each other until the waiter comes back with the check and interrupts the moment with an embarrassed clear of throat. Bucky can't help but smile as he senses your hesitancy on pulling back, downright loving the short pecks you keep giving him before you decide to back away for good. Even so, your hand still stays at the base of his neck and he can't help but press a kiss to your palm when you lovingly cup his cheek. Your next words makes him laugh but also makes him feel like the luckiest bastard in the world. "You, Bucky Barnes, are the best white boy on Earth and I'm keeping you." He doesn't say anything in that moment but Bucky is beyond glad to be yours if you want it.

It’s been two months since you both started seeing each other when you playfully remark your next date is going to be your fifteenth date.

Though you’re past the formalities and pretences of a usual date, Bucky actually enjoys all the opportunities he’s got to just let himself unwind and be with you whenever and wherever you want.

It’s fun and never too usual and Bucky is always surprised to rediscover a piece of himself with you.

There hasn’t been an official proposal but calling you his girlfriend and hearing you call him boyfriend might be one of the best things in life to him.

Your plans for the anniversary date had been pretty tame with a reservation in a Nigerian restaurant you loved and a private night out club for a dance and drinks later. And Bucky was truly looking forward the said night, especially with a tough week of trainings and simulations.

He most definitely isn’t expecting an impromptu mission to ruin it all.

You react as lightly as ever at the news of your now cancelled night, rather pressing a firm kiss to his lips and demanding payback as soon as he got back.

A week and half later and Bucky is standing in front of your door with a bag of takeout straight of your Nigerian place while his heart turns with a mix of feelings as soon as he sees you. Bedhair, little sweatshorts and a top that does little to hide the expense of your skin and keep him sane.

And he swears he wants to have a nice night with you – it’s what you deserve after he blew your plans, it’s what he’s craving after another rough week.

But Bucky knows you can feel that he needs more than just comfort food and idle talk.

You don’t say anything as you place the bag of food on your kitchen’s counter and lead him to the bathroom, feeling his gaze on your frame as you fill up the tub with warm water and throw in one of your cute bathbombs inside.

He doesn’t say anything as you start to undress him, your fingers smartly undoing the zippers and buckles from his tactical uniform before peeling off your own clothes. But before you can step into the tub, Bucky moves behind you and gets inside first, reaching out his hand to you once he’s settled in.

Your comfort is always something he welcomes without any doubt but today he just needs to hold you for a few hours before moving on to something else.

With your back against his chest, head on his shoulder, legs right between his and arms interlaced over your belly, Bucky finally feels home.

It makes his heart skip a beat the way you know exactly how he feels, your next words taking a weight off his shoulders he didn’t even realize it was there.

“I have a feeling you don’t really want to talk about your week so we’re both ignoring that for now, okay?” You break the silence with your soft whisper, your fingertips drawing random patterns on his hands as he nods quietly. “Okay. Tell me how you got Azi to make you a takeout meal when he doesn’t do that for anyone.”

Bucky smiles fondly at the mention of the Nigerian chef who had become very welcoming and solicitous in the very second Bucky brought your name up, asking for help to make up for your lost date at the restaurant.

“All I did was mention your name.” Bucky chuckled lightly in amusement, his lips pressing a small kiss at the back of your neck as you hum contently. “I think he has a soft spot for you.”

You turn your head around to face him, a teasing smile playing on your lips that only makes him want to take you there and then.

“Everybody’s got a soft spot for me.” You shrug playfully with your lingering grin, settling back against his chest again with a little sigh. “Didn’t he...ask anything? Like who you were or something?”

“Told him I was your boyfriend trying to surprise you.” Bucky replies with a smirk, the familiar teasing tone lacing his voice again. “He actually seemed surprised.”

You only snicker in reply before reaching out to one of your loofahs, drowning it with your favorite honey shower gel and turning your body around his hold to start washing his skin as slowly and carefully as you can.

The warm water feels good and so does the fluffy feeling of the loofah running through his chest.

But Bucky can safely say the cure of all his homesickness and heartbreak is you looking like a vision before him with your soaked and bare skin all on display just for him.

He doesn’t even try to hide delight as you drop the loofah and lean over him, legs tucked between his own as your chests are pressed together. With your arms around his neck and his hands resting low on your hips, you press a slow kiss to his lips with a question on the tip of your tongue.

“Did you ever had another black girlfriend?” You ask with a small smile, resting your chin against his collarbones as you look up at him. “Besides me, obviously. Back in your day.”

The memories from his younger days come back to him in a rush and Bucky can’t help but feel relieved that he’s there now – in a time where he can just be with you despite the occasional bumps on the road.

“Three of them.” Bucky lets out a heavy breath before shaking his head wistfully, hands tightening around your hips as he continues. “We couldn’t go out or be seen together. It always drained both of us until we just had to end things. And that’s not even the worse of it.”

With a hum of understanding, you slide your hands to the back of his neck where your fingertips keeps drawing soothing circles to his skin and hair scalp.

“That’s why you took so long to ask me out.” You guess, instantly frowning in dejection when Bucky nods in a silent reply. “It still isn’t easy. Some days I feel like things are getting better...but then there’s the harsh days.”

Bucky feels his chest flare up with a new purpose at your heartbroken little smile, his arms bringing your frame closer to him as he tightened his old around your waist.

Your noses are just mere inches away when he firmly cups your jaw with his left hand, his blue eyes set with your own as you bite your lip in anticipation.

Not that it prepares you for his next words, neither how determined he looks.

“I’ve got your back in this.” Bucky murmurs decidedly against your mouth, his lips brushing with yours as you bump your nose against his with a smile. “For the rest of my life, for whenever you need. I mean it.”

He nearly doesn’t see it coming when you push him against the back of the tub, your lips eagerly meeting with his until you pull away in a breathless bliss and–

“I love you.”

Words that Bucky reciprocates over and over when he’s got you on the bed later that night with your legs over his shoulders and your sweet moans filling the room.

Bucky stretches his torso lazily on the bed, a low groan escaping his mouth as he feels the soothing heat from the morning sunlight filling up the hotel room you’re spending the weekend at. Glimpses from the previous night fill up his mind immediately and he can't help but grin dumbly to himself before glancing over to his side, where you’re comfortably tucked beside him and looking as gorgeous as ever even deeply asleep. He's one hundred percent sure you're a damn vision that he'll never get tired of admiring. You've got his left arm under your body, curled around your frame as his hand rests on the curve of your hip.

Bucky secretly loves to trace his fingers from your hips and down to your thighs, trailing through your skin marks and spots even though you don't particularly like them. Your brown skin is a contrast to the usual plain white sheets and he relishes on the way your legs tangle around the fabric.

The messy bedhead is his favorite thing ever and even though your hair tickle his neck when you move, the sweet smell that lingers after is good enough for him. You feel warm and soft and it makes his chest flutter with feelings he didn't even know he could feel five years ago. He can’t get over how much you feel like home to him.

Especially when you wake up just as lazily, body stretching up and scooting next to his own as your lips make its way to his neck and jaw, soothing the fresh lovebites you'd left on his skin just a few hours ago.

Bucky can feel your grin against his neck and it makes him hum contently, arms shifting to wrap up your frame completely and lift you up to his top completely. As soon as you've got your thighs on each side of his hips and hands shimming down his naked chest, Bucky's just gone. And he might think he's in heaven when your lips touch his, your bare skin rubbing so softly against his own that he almost feels drunk.

No panties, no bras, no boxers, nothing but your morning wake-up call make out session. Bucky almost whimpers when you break the kiss and sit up straight on his lap, gathering the sheets around your chest fully knowing he'd try and sneak in a touch or two if you let your body completely exposed. "I think I might be in Heaven." Bucky breaks the silence, his hands sneaking under the sheets and sliding through your thighs as you raise your eyebrows defiantly. "You just gotta be an angel baby doll, look at you." You let out a laugh before leaning forward to him again, setting your elbows on his chest as his hands find home on the small of your exposed back, his fingers trailing up and down your skin. "You're such a sweet talker, Bucky Barnes. I don't even know how I fell in love with you." You say with a click of your tongue, watching as his lips grows into a grin before he miserably leans up to kiss you again. "I'm not kissing you. Not until you ring in some breakfast." Bucky smiles teasingly and quickly sits up on the bed, snaking an arm around your waist and the other under your bottom before lifiting both of you to stand in the middle of the room, a surprised squeak leaving your lips as you wrap your own arms tightly around his neck. "I’ve got a surprise for you first."

You don’t say anything as he walks out of the bedroom and heads to the living room, much less when you spot the coffee table set with all kinds of fancy breakfast goodies just ready for you to dive in.

Bucky just smiles knowingly as he sits you on the couch and takes the seat next to yours almost giddily as if he’s up to something.

And even though you’re starving, your gaze can only focus on the small red box resting near a vase with a single sunflower inside. You don’t waste any second before throwing yourself against Bucky again, his sweet laugh filling the room as you kiss him over and over again, only stopping to scream–

“YES!”

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peaches-of-1 · 6 years

Text

Chapter 3: Extracurricular Activities

Black!Female!Reader x E’Dawn

< Previous | Next >

Today was your first day going to dance practice after school. It was one of your lighter days, so it wouldn’t be too bad. It’s just...the outfits weren’t made for your American ass. Even though you had lost some weight after the drastic change in your diet that came with moving to a new country, there was still enough there that you were worried these Asian made shorts would rip trying to go over your hips.

Looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror, it wasn’t too bad. You ordered two sizes bigger than you thought you would need for your bloated days. You didn’t know it would be your regular pair.

“Not bad.” You said, taking one last look before heading to the school gym. Maybe you were being paranoid, but were those guys taking pictures of you?

[12 hours ago]

You wiped your eyes and woke up at 6am. After waking yourself up through a bit of web surfing on your phone, you nudged yourself out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for school. Hair, makeup, making sure you had done all your homework, and doing the homework you didn’t finish but was due in 4 hours. Just like the responsible college kid you were.

Lisa was playing music as she poured her cereal and danced in the kitchen. You decided to join her before applying anything to your lips. She was super excited to get the day started for some reason. You had another roommate that you never saw traces of except in the trash can.

“What’s got you excited today?”

“First day of Dance Practice!” She squealed.

You gasped, “Oh, right! I forgot that was today. It’s right after my English class since it got switched last second.”

“You’re so silly.” Lisa giggled and took a sip of juice. “Hey, how are you feeling? We all talked in the group chat, and he sort of got kicked out of said chat. Not like he was saying anything.”

“Uh, yeah. I saw. I just. Neither of us were completely right. I could’ve been faster with my decision or told him I needed time to think, but he also had the possibility to tell me that he was lying about actually waiting forever for me.”

“Wait he said that?”

You nodded. “Yep. He said he’d wait for my answer and respect it, but it’s my first month in a new country. I’ve got a lot of things going on, and couldn’t he wait? Just a little?”

“He should’ve, jeez. Some men just have no sense of patience or like anything really. I’m really sorry. I knew you had a bit of a crush on him, or that you were starting to get close with him.”

You sighed, “Thanks, Lisa. You’re the best. You wanna meet up before practice or will you be busy?”

“Yeah, sounds good. No wait, I’ve gotta go straight from a class to practice, so not today. I’ll see you there, though.”

With the added information, you reminded yourself to pack your dance clothes in a separate bag to keep in your car until it was time to change. You made sure you had everything on the check list and then you headed off for school ahead of Lisa.

Hyojong’s English class had been the most boring of all his classes. It was filled with people who either had no idea how to speak English past a greeting and apologizing and what was in music or people who thought they could speak English better than everyone. E’Dawn knew how to write English better than he could speak it and wasn’t very good at conversational English.

It wasn’t until he saw familiar brown combat boots and a red skirt did he actually think that it might be a good class after all. You sat down, not having seen him. If you had seen Hyojong, you would’ve sat next to him. Right? He saw you set your backpack down and approach the teacher.

You two bowed to each other and then exchanged a handshake. The following conversation was in English, and it caught the attention of the rest of the class who probably didn’t understand half of it. The way you spoke English was beautiful. Why were you even in this class?

Class began and the teacher spoke in a mix of Korean and English as she usually did. She introduced you and E’Dawn felt like he understood everything you were saying even if he had never head the words before.

“Hi, I’m (Y/F/N), and I’m a freshman this year. I’m here to do some research on how English is taught in college classes as it is part of my writing class to write a research paper on a topic of my choice for my final project.”

Hyojong waved and you waved back which made him really happy. People looked and you grinned before finishing up. “I will probably be interviewing some of you, but don’t worry, I know Korean too.” You repeated it all in Korean and got more nods from everyone listening.

The teacher spoke as well, “(Y/N) is here to observe and said that she’s willing to help you if you have any questions for her, but only after you’ve finished your daily work. Thank you, (Y/N).”

You bowed to the teacher and sat down in a front row seat in the farthest right column. You took out your notebook and started taking notes about today’s lesson. When the teacher told the students to get into small groups to practice with each other, a lot of them tried to come to you, but the teacher told everyone to stop before you got trampled.

“Form groups with your actual classmates. (Y/N) will come around and look into each group for a bit and do her thing.”

The group practiced ordering food at a restaurant. Those who were more well traveled were able to do it better. Hyojong was trying even harder now that you were in class. He noticed you go around and sit in on different groups and ask them questions in both Korean and English. Some even asked you to question them in English so they could guess.

When you got to Hyojong’s group, you bowed to them since they were all older than you.

You spoke in Korean, “So, I was wondering what made you take this class in the first place.”

Most of them were business related and wanting to better communicate with future business partners. Others like Hyojong were planning to go abroad some time in the future and believed communication would be easier since English is a universal language.

“How are you today, (Y/N)?” Hyojong asked in English with a unique inflection that made you smile.

You answered, “I’m doing well, oppa. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Is this actually right? What we’re being taught?”

You looked over his shoulder in the textbook and scanned it, not seeing anything wrong until...

You leaned down over the book and made sure you read that right. You did, and you were all adults. You had to explain this.

“Yeah, so far so good. Only, you wouldn’t um...you wouldn’t say ‘Who do you usually eat out?’ unless you add the word ‘with’ at the end. Without that word, it changes the connotation completely.”

One boy in the senior colors asked why, as did the whole table. You explained how it was slang for giving oral to a female or a butthole. They all covered their mouths and you nodded.

“I should probably tell the teacher this, so she can tell everyone else. That’s a really bad mistake to make. Hyojong-oppa, can I see your book for a bit, please?”

He handed you the book, and you approached the teacher asking to see her in the hallway. After a moment, the two of you returned and Hyojong couldn’t believe their textbook had such a mistake in it. The teacher addressed the class telling them to fix it in their books and praised you for being such a great asset to the class.

You returned the book to E’dawn who couldn’t help but smile at you, “Be careful, or she might assign you to read through the whole book and point out what needs to be fixed.”

The others laughed and one of the girls who were with them asked how to say a certain word. You pronounced the word for them slowly and then were called to the front of the class to have volunteers to "make plans for lunch” with you. When class was over, Hyojong asked if you had anything to do before changing for dance practice.

“Ah, no. I just wanted to ask the teacher a few things.”

“Ok, I’ll wait for you outside, so you can walk me to my next class.”

You smiled and felt a slight blush rising, “Sure. Sounds good.”

E’dawn stood outside the classroom and waited for you as you asked the teacher whatever. He wanted to tell you that he had a crush on you, but he wasn’t sure how to do it. The reason he hesitated was because you were just so beautiful and he wasn’t sure if you were completely over...whatever you and Vernon had been.

He didn’t want to do anything too rash in case it caused you to turn him down, so the blonde decided to wait. His mind wandered to what your first date might be like. Should he take you to Hongdae or someplace classier? If it were in Hongdae, he’d pick someplace that served American food to make you feel at home. It would start raining and he’d hold your hand as you took cover. You’d thank him and kiss him for thinking so quickly.

“Um, oppa?” Your actually voice and a poke to his tummy made him wake up.

He woke up from his imagination to see your sweet face in front of him with a curious spark in your eyes. Your messenger bag strap was held by both of your hands as you raised your eyebrows and laughed.

“What were you thinking about?”

He blushed, “N-nothing. So, onto my next class.”

On the way to his next class, he told you how glad he was that you had made it onto both dance teams. You asked how he got into dance, and he said that he was into hip-hop.

“It lead to making want to learn how to rap and dance. Just the amount of pure talent in hip hop just inspired me to push myself in a different direction than I was going.”

“That’s amazing.”

He stopped, “This is me. I’ll see you after class then.”

You nodded and let him go, but you both turned around and told each other to wait. Instead of just talking over each other, he told you to speak first. You asked him a question you had been wondering about for a whole week. Even though you were pretty sure about the answer, you wanted to hear it come from his mouth.

Looking down and twisting your shoulder strap, you asked, “You’re not seeing anyone are you? Like, I know you’re not dating Hyuna, but is there anyone else?” You nervously bit your lip.

“Nope. I’m single. Have been for a while.” He sighed and gave you an obvious look before saying. “Wish I had someone though. Why?”

“No reason!” You bowed. “I’ll see you in practice later!” And you rushed off before your cheeks got any hotter.

So yeah, you were totally into Hyojong. He was opened to dating. It wasn’t until you were drinking some cold coffee in the cafe that you realized that would’ve been a great time to ask him to go out with you.

“Fuck!” you slammed your drink down and then looked around. After apologizing for interrupting, you went back to your studying and finished typing up your findings from your first day in Hyojong’s English class.

After looking at the time, you had an hour before practice. You went to your car to make sure you had everything since you had enough time to stop by at home if you didn’t. You had everything for both of your groups.

For the All-Female dance team, you had to wear red shorts and a blue crop top with white tennis shoes and socks. Your white socks were all dirty, so you decided fishnet socks would have to work today. The team was called S.H.E which stood for Soul Heart Excellence. You also had to have backup black heels, which you did.

Then for the Co-ed dace team, you were given snap pants in both blue and red and a blue jacket with “Spotlight Dancer” on the sleeves as well as your name on the back of it. Red and blue shirts were provided with the team name on the front. That name? Urban Shine to reference a former K-pop group called Urban Zakapa. The shoe requirements were the same: dress shoes and white lace ups.

You decided to change in the bathroom just because you knew there’d be staring in the changing rooms, and you just didn’t want that today. There were a few African names on the list. None of them were Spotlight dancers, though. Every way you thought about it ended up with you being stared at. Maybe it was all in your head, but by the time you convinced yourself of that, you were in a bathroom stall getting undressed.

Even though you ordered a few sizes above what you thought you would need since it was Asian sizing...maybe you should’ve gotten even bigger. You just prayed that your ass wasn’t hanging out of the shorts when you were stepping out. You put on the ones you ordered for your bloated days and decided they’d work better for your regular pair. At least the top fit well.

You crossed your fingers and hoped that you wouldn’t look like the stereotypical black girl in the back of music videos when you came out of the stall. Looking at the mirror, you looked more normal than you thought you would.

“Not bad.” You said, putting your clothes into your practice bad and then heading to the school gym.

As you walked from the gaming hall to the gym that was about a block away, you felt like more eyes were on you than need be. You checked to make sure you didn’t have your Special jacket on. Then you thought you saw a pair of guys recording or taking pictures of you. Were you just being paranoid? Either way, your face got hot from embarrassment.

Hyojong saw you as he was dressed in his own outfit for the He Is Magic dance team, aka H.I.M. It was blue sweat pants and a red tank top with white lace-ups. For E’dawn, that was converse. A pair of Keds was in his bag as required as well as his co-ed dance team outfit. Today the guys were told to wear the blue snap pants with a white shirt. His red Spotlight Dancer jacket was in there as well.

He noticed that you seemed to be looking over your shoulder a lot. Were you uncomfortable? Either way, he didn’t like the look on your face and wanted to make you feel better. As he got closer, he heard some guys talking about you, no not you. They were talking about your body, objectifying you, as if you were only walking past them for their amusement.

Sometimes he had done this, but it was mostly just saying how pretty a girl was and then hoping he had a good day. Not this. This was disgusting, and he nearly grew horns when they got their phones out to start taking pictures of you. Hyojong started running and called your name.

Dear God, who’s calling my name now? You thought as you heard someone yelling for you. Wait, you knew that voice. Turning around, you felt relief wash over you when E’dawn came running towards you.

He put his arm around you, “Are you ok?”

“I just feel really exposed. Nothing’s hanging out, right?” You had to ask, and you trusted him to be honest with you.

E’dawn answered, “Nope. Everything fits fine. If it feels uncomfortable, do you wanna wear my jacket?”

You shook your head, “Just you being here is helping me a lot. Thanks, oppa.”

“You’re welcome. I’d do anything for you.”

As the two of you walked towards the gym, there were arrows pointing to the different practices for the sexes. You two kept talking about classes and stuff and didn’t notice you were walking to the girls’ practice until you were standing outside.

“Oh, I guess we’re here. You are an absolute life saver, oppa.”

“You make me so happy when you call me that. Just because no one says it as cute as you do. ‘Oppa~, you’re so great’” He imitated you with a high voice. “ ‘Oh my gosh, oppa! Oppa’s a lifesaver! Oppa, this isn’t phrased correctly, it means a naughty thing!’ So cute.”

Both of you laughed. Hyojong hugged you and said that he’d see you later. His closest friend Hui saw it since he was talking to Hyuna. All of the other girls saw it too.

“Hui, let’s go to practice! Don’t wanna be late, ya noob!”

The man with silver purplish hair and a bucket hat told Hyuna farewell and went to catch up with his other friend. Lisa and Rosé called you over and introduced you to some of the other girls they had met while doing warm ups. It was still 10 minutes until practice started officially, so it was fine to just mill around a bit.

You met Jisoo and Jennie who were just super adorable human beings.

“Are you two dating?” Jennie asked, pointing to the door.

“What? No. We’re friends.” You said, getting into a V-sit position and reaching towards your right foot. “I wouldn’t mind it, though. Hyojong’s a great guy.”

As you talked about your blonde and sweet oppa, Hyuna smiled and texted her friend. She told him to ask you out the next time you two were together and just to trust her when he asked why. He said there were no promises.

“Alright, my Sheros, let’s go around the room and introduce each other! I’ll start. My name is Kim Hyuna, call me Hyuna or just by my honorific since a lot of you are younger than me. I’m one of the co-captains, but I can’t be here all the time because I have cheerleading practice which is usually at the same time...”

She went on for a bit, introducing the other co-captain Korai Nonanes who was Japanese and very well recognized for being the leader even during her freshman year when their actual captain quit last second. Korai was the reason why they never got less than second place.

After getting to know everyone, you all went over the basic dance steps and did some trust exercises. Then it was time to disperse. A lot of the girls redid their makeup. Some were also in your co-ed dance team. You were wearing a lot of waterproof things since you knew it would be hot today, so you were fine after checking your eyeliner and lipstick.

When you changed into your second outfit, you unsnapped the pants to your lower thigh. You were humming the band tune to yourself when you heard Rosé giggle.

“Are you excited to see E’dawn again?”

You blinked and couldn’t help but smile, “I wasn’t even thinking about him until you said something.”

“And look how big your smile got!” Lisa cooed. “Ask him out, (Y/N)!”

Even Jisoo spoke up, “I think you two would be really cute with each other.”

Puffing your cheeks, you replied, “I’ll think about it.”

It had been two months, and you still had not asked him out. Hyojong hadn’t asked you out, either. Both of you were just extremely nervous and bashful to move the relationship you had past being best friends which you were at this point. The best of friends. You two were even partners for the Spotlight Dancer Duet since you two worked so well together.

The amount of people who asked if you were dating increased. Your friends even had to ask you, “Are you sure you’re not dating?”

You two were just close since neither of you would say anything about your feelings for each other. Instead, you “accidentally” flirted with each other and did everything that couples did except makeout. You’d even kiss each other’s cheeks and foreheads, but you weren’t dating. Nope, not at all.

Today was an exciting day since it was Theme Day for competition being held after winter break. All three groups got different themes and then had to elaborate with them on their own.

For the girls, it was Rock Music while the guys got International Music. Mostly, it was just taking a survey of songs you all wanted to dance to. You picked a lot of songs you listened to or heard while growing up plus some things that your parents listened to. Queen, Nirvana, Def Leopard, KISS.

When it came to the co-ed Urban Shine, the female leader Stevie A called for a drumroll while K. Gami opened the email. All the dancers hit their legs rapidly until you were given the signal to stop.

“Fairy Tales!”

Everyone’s mind went to Disney cuteness and princely manners. While reading the email, K. Gami explained that the troupe had to choose 3-5 different classic fairy tales they’d like to turn into dance and send it in. They had to pick several in case someone picked their top one first. That meant this was the quickest brainstorming session ever.

They sent in the following list:

Aladdin

Peter Pan

Alice in Wonderland

Wizard of Oz

Not even 5 minutes later, they got back what they would do while they were doing a dancer version of “Trust Pinball”. Another drumroll was done and they announced that Urban Shine had gotten Peter Pan. Taller men tried out for the parts of Captain Hook, larger men and some girls for Smee. Then auditions were held for the main parts of Wendy and Peter.

Not many people auditioned when they saw that you and E’dawn were individually auditioning. The auditions were basically a minute and thirty seconds of in character dance, a mix of ballet, contemporary, and street dance. The lead positions were closed to Spotlight Dancers anyways, but even the others who had been dancing for a while didn’t want to impede of this potential match finally being made.

In short, you got Wendy and E’dawn got Peter.

“So, the Spotlight Dancers can stay to help us figure out an outline, and the rest of you are free to go home. Get some rest and study!”

After everyone left, Stevie A asked what you guys wanted to do. There were eight spotlight dancers: You, E’Dawn, J. Seph, Hyuna, Hui, Somin, Matthew, and Jiwoo.

Matthew had gotten to be Captain Hook while Somin became Smee. Hyuna would become Tiger Lily. The others would be Wendy’s siblings and Jiwoo was Tinkerbell. You mostly watched while they all created a basic story line and a schedule to get everything done like costuming, etc. It wasn’t until they got to the topic of music genres that E’dawn made sure to ask your opinion.

“Um, I think that each section should have it’s own genre or subgenre. Like, if we’re doing pop music as the main type, we could have songs that are more classical based for Wendy, rock or hip hop for Hook, that sort of thing.”

Hyuna gasped, “A LOVE SONG WHEN PETER MEETS WENDY! They kiss right?”

You blinked before Matthew clarified, “It’s not a real kiss, but it’s a thimble and an acorn they exchange to symbolize a kiss.”

“They should kiss.” She said with sass.

“Or not.” Hyojong said. “I like that part a lot since I think it’s deeper than a kiss.”

“Same here. It’s just so romantic, and it ends up saving his life. We have to keep it.”

The choreographers agreed. Then they asked for music suggestions.

“I think pop could do us some good. It’ll resonate with the audience better and we can be trendy by adding some American pop music. I want five songs from each of you by midnight tomorrow.” Stevie A said. “I think that’s it for tonight. You lucky ducks get some sleep now.”

Everyone moved to pack up and chatter some more. Hyojong offered to walk you to your car. You agreed, and neither of you noticed the knowing looks shared between the other dancers. They were just waiting for one of you to ask the other out on a legitimate romantic date.

You yawned as the cold night air sent prickles up your arms.

E’Dawn smiled at you, “So, Wendy, are you excited for competition season to begin?”

“Very. I love Peter Pan, so I’m so glad we got to do that one. I would’ve loved to have done Alice in Wonderland too.” You texted Lisa and your other roommate in the groupchat to say you were going home. “What would your second pick have been.”

“Alice, of course. It’s so awesome and psycadellic. The costumes for that performance would’ve been amazing. I hope we do a spin on this concept too.”

“Like making it modernized or something.” You both said.

You looked up at him and giggled, “Ok, so that’s a great idea, but I don’t wanna wear jeans. Even leggings sometimes chafe.”

“So a shorter dress?” He asked, “I mean, I guess it’s ok if you’re comfortable with it and we don’t get disqualified.”

“Ok, so maybe leggings with like a blue peplum shirt.”

He nodded, “Oh wait, does that mean, I have to wear leggings too? OR like will green sweatpants be ok?”

To be completely honest, you started to crack up out of embarrassment for imagining his area his tights. How large would it be? How thick? You had to laugh at how wild your imagination went in a few seconds and stop yourself from looking at his crotch.

Hyojong chuckled, “What?”

“You in tights. I hope you just get regular pants. I’m sure that would get us disqualified. Like, imagine if you were doing a lift and something ripped or you got ‘excited’ out of nowhere.”

In all honesty, it wouldn’t have been out of nowhere. He sometimes had thoughts about you, and would turn himself on just by being near you or his own imagination. He just imagined cuddles that went other places and sometimes it made him dizzy just thinking about you.

He laughed it off, “You’re exactly right. I’ll make sure tights are not part of the costume. What if they wanted you to wear a skirt?”

“Maybe if it was a bit more flowing instead of frilly and maybe a bit see-through, that would be more modern. Make the top more frilly. Maybe just make it like a return of Peter Pan and have me in a nightie.”

Hyojong swallowed, “And if we wanted modern child?”

You thought for a bit, “A bit of frills. Mayhaps we could go back to the tights idea, or maybe leggings. Ooo, Leggings and an oversized shirt. Kids and adults do that all the time nowadays. Maybe just a blue pants and shirt set? Need to write this down.”

It was obvious that E’dawn liked you, at least to himself. He was completely and utterly attracted to every aspect that you had to give. Your mind. Your voice. Your dancing skill. Everything, but this was probably the moment he fell in love with you. Your face was looking at the notes in the phone and typing out what you two just talked about.

His heart wouldn’t calm down, and he wanted to kiss you. He really wanted to kiss you, but he couldn’t. He was too nervous to ask, too nervous to just do it. Everything in his body screamed to take the chance. E’dawn just froze.

[Three weeks later]

It was just a week until winter break began and the school had been decorated for the upcoming holiday season. Most everyone wore Christmas colors for the allowed accessories: hair clips, socks, shoes, ponytail holders. You and E’dawn were putting on your matching reindeer antlers after practice tonight.

Everyone threw on a sweater or a jacket to brave the cold night and dash to their cars with sweat making everything sticky.

The set up was great and you had mostly been working on the ensemble work instead of the smaller group things. The costumes would be revealed after Christmas, and you had seen the sketches.

It would be silky light blue pajama top and bottoms for you as Wendy. The bottoms would most likely be shorts for mobility and a flowy light blue robe to go over it. They said that they would add bows to the bottoms to make it more “girly” and like Wendy-esque. Also, since she was essentially barefoot, you’d have to find ballet flats to match your skin tone. Heh, that’d be fun. At least they didn’t shove you in “nude” slippers and tell you to deal with it.

E’Dawn Pan was glad that he wasn’t wearing tights or leggings, and you were too. He was wearing green shorts with a green vest over a shirt that had stars all over it. For shoes, it was mostly up to him, but he wanted to have brown shoes since it was a neutral color. So the costuming department decided brown moccasins or ankle boots would work.

For Captain Hook, it was spiked black boots, red muscle shirt with dark red vest, and black jeans. Matthew would wear a regular pirate hat with it with a puffy white feather. Complete with hook hand. He said that he’d try to grow his hair out to make it more realistic.They sort of wanted him to dance in a suit, but he was strongly against that.

Tinkerbell Jiwoo would be wearing a green dress not much different from the original style, but more tulle. She’d also have wings and ballet flats to complete the look. They said that she’d be wearing a sparkly pair if they could find some food ones. Also, she got to get a drawstring purse full of silver and gold glitter for fairy dust.

J Seph was John, so he just got to wear a white pajama set while Hui was in a pink onesie if it was safe enough. If not, then he’d just be wearing the same sort of pajama set. It was your second to last practice before the holidays began, and everyone was excited.

E’dawn threw his coat on before asking you, “Hey, did you wanna get something to eat before heading home? Just something quick before we go home and do assignments.”

“Sure! Let’s get something warm.”

“You guys going to eat?” Matthew piped up.

“Yeah. Not sure where yet. Why don’t you come along?” You asked like the oblivious darling you were.

Matthew agreed and so then all the Spotlight Dancers plus Lisa and Rosé came along for the meal. Most of the finals were done by this point of the year, but there were things still going on around campus and around the city that caused a lot of students to stay until the campus closed.

You guys ended up at a place famous for Korean BBQ and noodles. A lot of celebrities visited apparently, since their were signatures on the walls and pictures with the manager of that time. Dang, this place was old, but it felt strangely like home. After ordering food, everyone talked about how excited they were.

“I can’t believe we’re almost to competition season!” Jiwoo said.

Lisa agreed, “I know. I’m so glad we don’t have to perform at freezing cold football games anymore. Like, why don’t we have sweat pants like the cheerleaders?”

“Oh my god, right?” Rosé chirpped.

“Holy shit, I agree with that 100%!” You added.

J Seph laughed, “What was that saying? No pain no gain?”

Matthew gave his two cents, “Exactly. What’s a little hypothermia for the price of looking fabulous during half time and in the stands when no one is really paying attention to you?”

Somin hit his arm and you kicked his shin. He cursed in English and Korean for that. The rest of the table laughed.

E’dawn handed you the drink you ordered since he was sitting next to you as well as a straw as you were speaking.

“At least--oh thanks, oppa--at least we got to wear leggings when performing with the co-ed team, under the pants.”

Momo pouted and put her head in her hands, “Maybe I should join the co-ed team so that I can wear leggings.Then at least I’d be a little warmer. Didn’t you get jackets, too?”

They nodded. Momo was there before the co-ed dancers arrived but decided to join since you all basically knew each other from S.H.E. When the food arrived, everyone dug in and tried all sorts of things. Your noodles were the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. Apparently, a bit too good since everyone was staring at you.

“E’dawn, you gotta step up your game if she’s moaning like that for some cheap noodles.” Hui joked, making your oppa blush.

“I don’t even do things like that with her. We’re friends.” He mumbled.

You held up some noodles to Hui’s face, “You try them and not have a foodgasm.”

The silver-haired man ate them and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, “Ok, I take it back. Even if you tried, you couldn’t make her moan like these noodles could.”

“I’m sure he could.” You say and then put more food in your mouth, slurping it up and giving him a ‘come at me’ look.

“Geez, (Y/N), how did we ever have fun without you? You’re so cool.” He said and the other agreed.

You smiled happily and continued eating. E’Dawn brushed your bottom lip with his thumb and then put it in his mouth. You looked up at him, kind of shocked at the seemingly sudden action.

“Yeah. It’s really good.” He said simply.

What the fuck? You didn’t know that he couldn’t stop staring at your lips as you ate and enjoyed the food. You also didn’t know that he had gotten a bit jealous when you fed his friend some food and not him, so when he saw a drop of broth on your lips, he took a chance. However, he had no clue had your heart was pounding out of your chest or that your panties suddenly got wet.

And neither would ever find out because you both looked away embarrassed with all eyes on you as E’dawn excused himself to outside the restaurant.

What the fuck was he thinking? What kind of k-drama move was that? E’dawn paced in front of the store. The cold would clear his head. Yes. That would work. You probably weren’t even that into him, he thought. Why did he get jealous of his friend?

Speaking of, Hui came out to check on him.

“Why can’t I words?” E’dawn asked. “I just wanted to ask if I could try some of her noodles too, but instead I act like some delinquent from a drama hitting on a girl!”

Hui chuckled, “Well, you’re two out of the three, but a gentle delinquent.”

He pouted, “I really like her, Hui. What do I do?”

“Telling her would be a good start.”

“Pssshhhh. BUT HOWWWW?” He whined.

“Come back inside. I’ve got an idea.”

You stared at your friends and they stared back. They all just saw that. Your cheeks were still on fire! There were things you wanted to say, but none of them were made of actual words.

Rosé cracked a smile, “Giiiiiiirrrrrllll. Please tell me that you know he likes you now.”

“It was just. He’s not. We’re--”

Jennie chuckled, “That’s not something friends do. Boy got jealous of you feeding his friend.”

The others nodded, but you kept denying it. There was just no way he was into you like that. “I’m his dude. We’re just buds. Dude buds.”

“I’m a dude. He’s a dude. Dude’s don’t just do that to other dudes.” Matthew replied. “I would’ve gotten a napkin or something probably just have pointed it out so that you could get it yourself. But that was like skin ta skin. He wants you, (Y/N), and it’s clear as day you feel the same.”

Momo whispered, “He’s coming back, and I swear to God if you don’t actually flirt with him. You’re wearing matching antlers!”

And everyone acted normal as they ate in sync. The table was silent for a good moment which made everything sort of really awkward until Hui spoke up.

“So, (Y/N), are you going home for the holidays? Like back to America?”

“I might for like a week, but tickets are really expensive. Not sure whether to go before or after Christmas.”

Jisoo spoke up, “Do you celebrate, uh, what’s it called? Something-zah!”

“Kwanzaa!”

“Yeah, Kwanzaa. Do you celebrate that? If so, you should go after Christmas to celebrate it and the solar New Year with family.”

“But you have to be back in time for Lunar New Year.” J. Seph added. “You’re really pretty and I really want to see you in a hanbok. I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

Everyone at the table gushed at how cute you’d look in their traditional clothing, suggesting colors that they think would look best. The girls said that they’d probably go a bit more modern and do pastel hanboks this year.

Hui steered the conversation back to the way he wanted as everyone started to pay for their food, “Well, I wanted to invite you guys all to a Christmas party at my aunt’s resort. It’s always good and lots of food. Good drinks, too.”

“Sure! Sounds good. I’ll come along. Is it formal?”

“Not really, just Christmas colors. However, girls usually wear that ‘sexy Santa’ costume as a tradition, so you might want to get one of your own.”

E’dawn gave his friend a look that went unnoticed by you. Hui was lying his ass off, but he wasn’t about to stop him. Girls usually did wear it, but it wasn’t tradition. Either way, you guys decided to go hanbok shopping and have a lot of fun before you left back home. You couldn’t wait for some down time, either.

#Pentagon #E'Dawn #E'dawn x Reader #Reader x E'Dawn #Triple H #Kim Hyojong #black!reader #American!Reader #Hyojong x Reader #Reader x Hyojong #Peter Pan #Story: The College Crush #female!reader #College!AU #College AU #Story: College Crush #food mention #college!reader

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tallmansions · 6 years

Text

M!TabrisxAlistair: They Make a Mean Old-Fashioned Here

Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins

Pairing: M!TabrisxAlistair

Rating: T and relatively SFW if you don’t mind strip clubs

Words: 2773

Read it on AO3!

The Tabrises lived in a nice neighborhood, a cul-de-sac near the entrance of the suburban cluster of two-stories. The development had a generic and pleasant name, Halla Hollow or Andraste’s Grace or something to that effect; it was the sort of generic pleasantness that Alistair immediately forgot after driving past the sign. But the Tabris house itself was nice, again in that generic suburbia way: two stories like all the others, a deep brown roof, a fenced-in backyard sporting a clubhouse and a porch over which Alistair and Mr. Tabris could sit watching over their spawn and pretend to have a meaningful conversation while Adaia and Kieran had their playdate.

There was no reason why they couldn’t have a meaningful conversation. They were both employed by the same cybersecurity company. They were both divorced from beautiful women who didn’t want much to do with them. They were both the fathers of one-a-piece very bright, very energetic child best friends with the other. But at this point in the playdate schedule, sitting on the porch with setting-a-good-example drinks (a juice box for Mr. Tabris, a lemonade for Alistair), they’d exhausted all possible topics of work, women, and fatherhood. It was why these days, Alistair would drop Kieran off, ask Mr. Tabris how he was doing, and drive home until 6 PM, when he would drive back, pick Kieran up, ask Mr. Tabris if Kieran had been good, and drive home yet again.

It was because he didn’t want to impose on Mr. Tabris, Alistair justified.

It was because he didn’t want to rehash the same conversation topics, Alistair reasoned.

It was because he didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good work relationship, Alistair decided.

It definitely wasn’t because he’d seen Mr. Tabris at The Pearl once and wasn’t sure if Mr. Tabris had seen him, Alistair told himself.

Kieran had been a handful in the morning before the bus came to get him. Alistair had made the unforgivable mistake of asking if Adaia was “coming over to play” after school, and apparently, “play” was out and “hang” was in. Kieran had sputtered in embarrassed outrage--”No, dad”--and, heading out the door, had added the parting shot of, “Mom gets it.”

The fact Alistair was divorced didn’t particularly sting anymore. It had been nearly eight years, and Kieran probably couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t spend weekends at his mother’s secluded house in the country. But he was eleven now. Old enough to know that the best way to get under his father’s skin was to imply Alistair wasn’t doing a good job, and certainly old enough to know better than to try.

But Alistair wasn’t much of a disciplinarian. And Kieran also knew that.

Alistair’s car unlocked with a couple cheerful beeps, and he sighed, planting his forehead against the top of his minivan. He wasn’t looking forward to spending the evening with a surly Kieran, Adaia or no Adaia. Kieran hadn’t even answered the original question.

“Should’ve had a mabari instead of a kid,” Alistair mumbled against the metal of the car. “Mabaris are loyal.”

“Would’ve been hard on Morrigan, don’t you think?” an amused voice said from across his car. Alistair’s head shot up, and of course Mr. Tabris was standing there, keys in hand, the door to his sedan open. A half-smile slashed itself across his face. “I shouldn’t make the obvious ‘bitch’ joke, should I?” He was wearing shiny black shades that completely obscured his eyes. Alistair wished he had a pair of shiny black shades.

Half-smile, tailored suit, sleek sedan, shiny black shades...No wonder Kieran preferred going over to the Tabrises. Mr. Tabris looked like a “cool dad” who probably knew to ask Adaia if Kieran was “coming over to hang.”

“Probably not,” Alistair said with another sigh. “She could probably hear you from here. And then she’d swoop down upon us both in vengeance.”

Mr. Tabris swung himself into the black leather of the driver’s seat. “Swooping is bad,” he agreed. “I’m guessing Kieran’s being an annoying eleven-year-old. If you want to grab a drink later, let me know.” He started the car, and it came to life with a smooth purr.

“Yeah, I’ll...do that,” Alistair lied, but Mr. Tabris had already closed the door and was backing out of the spot with a raised hand Alistair’s way. Alistair waved back like Queen Anora, and only when Mr. Tabris’s sleek sedan was purring away from Grey Warden Secure’s massive parking lot did he get into his minivan, managing not to hit his head in the process.

Kieran was at Morrigan’s for the weekend.

It was a long weekend for school--some sort of national holiday Alistair had forgotten about.

Grey Warden Secure was having an office party at some high-end place downtown Alistair had claimed he couldn’t afford.

Mr. Tabris had looked disappointed from the cubicle over when Alistair had laughed his excuses.

That meant Mr. Tabris was going to it.

It was safe.

But Alistair still looked over his shoulder as he shuffled through the dingy parking lot. No sleek sedans. No shiny black shades glinting in the neon pink light. No offers of a drink later, not from Mr. Tabris and not from any of the other folks at work.

The thumping bass and raucous shouts of the audience slammed into Alistair’s chest when he closed the door behind him and nodded at the bouncer. The Pearl was busier than usual, probably due to the long weekend, and the strippers onstage or on-pole were well into their routines. He’d come later than usual, waiting for the office party to start far away in a nicer part of Denerim.

Alistair could no longer recall how he’d found The Pearl. How he’d decided to check it out. It was an uncharacteristic decision, surely. He vaguely remembered some bachelor’s party, but not whose it was. He didn’t usually drink to excess, but maybe he had at one point? It must have been something to that effect, the more he thought about it.

It was quite the night. One that he knew only through flashes of laughing and muscles and spilled drinks and soft skin and faceless new friends and uncertain flutters in his stomach and foggy conversations--

Encouraging howls and catcalls keened through the poorly-lit space. A short and curvy woman--oh, she’s topless--was gyrating on the lap of a round boy surrounded by “FINALLY 18” balloons. The birthday boy’s friends were throwing cash her way, oblivious to the kid’s wide-eyes and frozen hands. Alistair’s face turned red from second-hand embarrassment. He needed a drink.

The bar was farther away than he remembered, squatting low and neon near a black-velvet-curtained-off wall. Alistair blundered through the screaming men mumbling “excuse me”’s and “sorry”’s and “just getting to the bar”’s. It was loud, but for some reason, not so loud that he couldn’t hear the main door open, couldn’t hear the bouncer growl, “ID.”

Alistair peered around his shoulder, bar just within reach, and felt his heart plummet into his stomach with an icy splash when he saw who was getting carded. Mr. Tabris calmly reached into his blazer pocket for his wallet, thumbing through it before handing the bouncer his ID. Alistair, like an idiot, did not think to glance away as Mr. Tabris tugged off his shiny black shades and looked at the bouncer. And then right his way.

Alistair had never had such a frantic need for the bathroom in his life. He barged past the bar, past the black velvet curtain, and barreled into the men’s room like he was about to piss himself. He slammed a stall door closed and stared at the toilet, smiling a watery grin at him in a mocking sort of way.

Why?

He hadn’t planned for this. Mr. Tabris had seemed eager to go to the work party, or at least, he’d seemed disappointed that Alistair wasn’t going. Didn’t that mean he’d been planning on attending?

Why, why, why was he here?

Alistair gulped several deep breaths, the red mottling his cheeks fading with each inhale. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. This was something men did. It was okay that they were colleagues. Some colleagues even went to go to strip clubs together. It was also okay that their children were best friends. Their eleven-year-old children. The children whose potty-training habits they’d discussed.

And Mr. Tabris was cool. If Mr. Tabris deigned to grace a fine establishment such as this with his presence, then certainly Alistair was that much classier for appreciating the same sort of exotic dancing he did.

Alistair took another breath, steeled himself, and tried not to burst out of the bathroom with too much fanfare. Fortunately, the roaring audience was sufficiently distracted by the short dancer back on stage, upside down on the pole with only her legs gripping the steel from above.

Seated at the bar was Mr. Tabris, back to her, tumbler in hand. No, not Mr. Tabris. Alistair knew his name. Definitely. Something with an E.

Edward, Evan, Eldric--

“Funny seeing you here, Evaric,” Alistair chirped, sliding into the barstool that left one seat empty between them. A burly man to Alistair’s right barely gave him a look, and neither did Mr. Tabris.

Damn. Wrong name?

The crowd cheered again, and Mr. Tabris cast an uninterested glance over his shoulder. Alistair stiffened, nearly twisting his neck in a manic effort to smile at the bartender.

“Alistair?”

He couldn’t help it. He jumped, flicked nervous eyes to his left. Mr. Tabris, shiny black shade-less, had raised eyebrows and lips parted in surprise.

“Evaric,” Alistair greeted him with a definitely not-squeaky response. Mr. Tabris’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his hairline.

They stared at each other for a very long second. Mr. Tabris had very brown eyes, noticeable against how wide they were.

Mr. Tabris, of course, was the first to crack a smile, raising his glass. “They make a mean old-fashioned here, huh?”

Alistair nodded once, twice, way too many times to be normal. “I try something new every time I’m here and I’m never disappointed.”

Fuck. It was true, but did Mr. Tabris need to know he came here often?

“Do you,” Kieran’s best friend’s father intoned. He took a slow sip from his drink while Alistair continued babbling.

“I have kind of diverse tastes, I guess. And there’s not really a place in Denerim that offers so many kinds of things to try, at least not nearby. So I like to come here to unwind. I’m really only adventurous in this one boring place.”

Why wasn’t Mr. Tabris looking at him? What was so absorbing about that one specific ice cube floating in his old-fashioned? Alistair stared at it, too, and shut up.

“What’s your favorite...drink? Here, I mean?” Mr. Tabris finally said when Alistair was growing bored with the ice cube and contemplating waving the bartender back over.

“It’s a little weird,” Alistair hedged, but of course that only got Mr. Tabris to smile encouragingly. “It’s called a Starkhaven Poet.”

“You like Starkhaven Poets, huh? Wouldn’t’ve figured you for the type.”

“It’s whiskey,” Alistair explained, missing the way Mr. Tabris bit back another grin. “Whiskey and rose syrup. With lemon juice and cold tea on top.”

“Rose syrup?”

“Most places don’t have it. But The Pearl does. It’s surprisingly fancy.”

Mr. Tabris didn’t answer, but he did lift his fingers a couple hairbreadths above the counter. The bartender materialized like he’d been magically summoned. “A...Starkhaven Poet for my friend here,” he said, nodding at Alistair one barstool away. The bartender didn’t bat an eye, setting to work scooping ice. “You look like you could use it,” Mr. Tabris said to Alistair.

Was he sweating? When had he started sweating? Alistair thumbed the side of his nose, and yes, it came away a little damp. He tried to talk and distract Mr. Tabris from the way he was wiping the sweat off on his jeans. “Glad to have the weekend to myself after a long day,” he made up.

“Kieran with his mom?”

Alistair nodded, relieved to have a familiar topic. The music blasting through the speakers faded into something slower with a jazzy feel. “Yeah, every weekend. Adaia?”

“With Leliana, yeah.” The bartender set the Starkhaven Poet in front of him, and Alistair sipped it through the dinky little straw without remembering to thank the guy. “Adaia hasn’t been doing too great in science, and I really can’t help with that. So it’s good that she’s with her mom.”

“Leliana went to some fancy Orlesian school, right?” Alistair piped up.

“She’s Orlesian, so presumably,” Mr. Tabris laughed. “They have a more varied curriculum there. And Leliana was always bright, so…” He shrugged. “Just another way she’s better suited to helping Adaia than me.”

“Hey,” Alistair chided, but Mr. Tabris waved him off with his half-drained glass.

“I’m kidding. How’s your Poet?”

Alistair blinked and looked around the slowly-emptying dance floor. The birthday boy was staggering out the door with the large group of friends who’d dragged him.

“Your drink, Alistair.”

He flushed, but Mr. Tabris didn’t sound annoyed or even mocking. “It’s great,” Alistair said, thrusting the highball across the empty barstool. “Wanna try it?”

Mr. Tabris’s face was unreadable. It was only now that Alistair noticed his shiny black shades were still present, folded neatly in the front blazer pocket, glinting in the steadily changing strobe lights. “You’re not gonna card me, too, are you?”

Alistair chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe that. They should’ve carded me, too.”

“You can grow a beard. I can’t.” Mr. Tabris took the offered glass and lifted it to his lips. He didn’t use the straw, sipping from the edge and staring at some point behind Alistair’s head.

Alistair didn’t realize he was watching Mr. Tabris drink until well past the point of not-weird. He cleared his throat when Mr. Tabris handed him back his Starkhaven Poet. He did not look when Mr. Tabris’s tongue darted out to catch a whiskey droplet on his own thumb. Instead, he sipped from his little straw and pretended that the burly man sitting to his right wasn’t calling one of the dancers over.

“It was pretty good,” Mr. Tabris granted him. “Not sure I’d call it my favorite.”

“Everyone’s a critic.”

“Guess I’m not one for poetry. More of an old-fashioned sort of guy. I like the classics.” Mr. Tabris drained his glass in one fluid motion and signaled to the bartender, miming a pen writing in empty air. The bartender zipped into existence once more, handing him a credit card and receipt. “Sorry to bail on you, Alistair, but I’m a strict one-drink driver. Don’t need to stick around for anything else, right?”

“Right,” Alistair agreed. “Of course. Nothing else.”

Mr. Tabris signed the receipt, and Alistair couldn’t help but notice his elaborate signature. Alistair’s was a hasty, scribbled thing he hadn’t changed since he first learned script. “Nice seeing you outside of work.”

“We’ll get Kieran and Adaia together soon,” Alistair said, but Mr. Tabris only hmmed, folded up his copy of the receipt, and was soon wading through the thinning crowd of sex-fueled people with a hand raised in farewell.

“I’m good to go, too,” Alistair said to the bartender, who was no longer there, instead chatting with a patron further down. The burly man was now being attended to by a very thin young woman with a seductive smirk frozen on her lips. Alistair edged into the seat that had stood between him and Mr. Tabris, summoned his courage, and mimed writing a pen.

The bartender faded into sight. “You’re all set.”

“Huh?” Alistair managed, already reaching into his jeans pocket for his wallet.

“You had the Starkhaven Poet, right?” Alistair nodded. “You were on Evaric’s tab.”

“Oh. Well, guess I owe him a favor,” Alistair said to thin air. The bartender had moved on. “Or a drink, at least.”

Under the gap between the floor and the black velvet curtain, purple and blue lights drew Alistair’s eye. The shadows of shoes blotted out the glow every few drumbeats.

Don’t need to stick around for anything else, right?

It occurred to Alistair, back in his minivan and zooming along the express lane home, that Mr. Tabris had apparently had a tab open, and yet he’d said he always stopped at one drink. But this realization was overshadowed by the distinct embarrassment of calling him “Mr. Tabris” in the privacy of Alistair’s own mind.

Evaric, Alistair reminded himself. The man’s name was Evaric.

#dragon age origins #dragon age fanfic #alistair theirin #m!tabris #warden x alistair #my fics #nenalata #this is fun to write!#why yes I do have 8 unwritten prompts sitting in my inbox #but this is DIFFERENT okay

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goodnightkisseu · 6 years

Text

Ong Seongwoo - Push

Genre: Fluff

Note: Hi all, today i have a cute fluffy Ong Seongwoo scenario for you all! Part of the idea came from a comment my friend after I sent her a screenshot of when Daniel and Ong showed up in Sewoon’s Master Key video (which was really cute btw). The other part of this idea came from my life because I actually work in video game development. I’m working on finishing up requests, but as always, requests are always open so feel free to send one in! :D Anyway, it was a fun little fic that I jotted down and I hope you all like it ^^ Also let me know if having a gif with the fic is something you guys like? If it is, then I can do it more often. This one was just because they looked good in those suits >///<

(gif below was made by me)

“Hyung, just go over there and talk to her already,” Daniel said in a slightly exasperated tone.

“I’ll go over there when I’m ready, don’t rush me. Plus she seems a bit busy…” Seongwoo retorted, trying to calm down his rather exasperated best friend.

“Busy? She’s literally standing over there sipping her drink. Her boss isn’t over there anymore, so just go over there and talk to her, and do me a favor and tell her that you like her. I can’t take this anymore,” Daniel jabbed at his friend. “She probably likes you too anyway, like half of the women in this office.”

Daniel quickly glanced over at his friend who was now staring off in your direction, with a small smile on his features. As much as he adored his friend, Daniel couldn’t take the pining anymore. He just wanted you two to get together already. Seongwoo had a crush on your since you started at the video game studio that you all worked for. You were coming in as a new tool developer and Seongwoo was the one that had taken you to lunch on the day of your interview. Daniel, knowing his friend well, knew that something was up after that lunch, but it wasn’t until you officially started there that he realized that Seongwoo liked you.

What surprised him was that Seongwoo never made a move. It wasn’t that he was the type to outwardly hit on girls or something, but if he liked someone, he definitely didn’t keep it a secret and would normally make moves to hint that he liked that person. He hadn’t done this with you yet and it really surprised Daniel. He must have really liked you then. Still, this couldn’t go on for much longer. It was actually kind of starting to stress Daniel out and one way or another he was going to get the words out of one of you.

“Come on, we aren’t going to stand here like this, let’s go talk to her,” Daniel said firmly, lightly grabbing his friend’s hand and pulling him over towards you.

Seongwoo was pulled out of his daze as the younger male started to drag him in your direction. “Daniel, come on, give me a couple minutes to at least regain my composure and look cool!”

“Look cool? Dude, she’s seen you shoot animation reference as our sexy vampire character. If she ever thought you were cool, after seeing that, I think that’s all but gone,” Daniel retorted as he continued on his path, like an energetic dog pulling along its master.

========

Big and fancy parties like this weren’t really your thing, but you knew that you would be missing out if you didn’t come here tonight. Once a year, the video game studio you now worked at would throw a big formal event where all of the people that worked at the studio and also at the company’s smaller studios would get together and mingle. It was more formal in dress code than the usual end of the week office parties that you guys usually had and required you to be a bit more professional. You weren’t originally going to go to this party because you had only been at the studio for about half a year, but your boss suggested that you go to meet people from the other studios and to just have a good time.

You agreed to going, and after searching around for the most formal dress you owned, here you were, mingling with mostly your coworkers, though you did talk to a few new individuals through them. Truth be told, you really liked your studio. They were all really nice people and had been really welcoming to you even though this was your first job in the game industry. You were new to this way of working, but they were amazing when they had to show you something new or explain how certain groups did their work.

A lot of your work revolved around making animation tools for the game animators, so you spent a lot of time with them. It was nice because most of them were a bit closer in age to you, and they were all very welcoming. You also felt like you lucked out a bit with them because you had already met one of them before starting. Seongwoo was the one to take you to lunch during your interviews and he was rather nice to you at the time. He was easy to talk to and you felt a sort of connection with him. You had felt nervous during your interviews but he had a way of calming you down and it made the rest of the process rather painless. He was even the first person to greet you on your first day. Since then the two of you had worked together from time to time and it was a really good working relationship. You just wished that –

“You’re spacing out again~” someone whispered in your ear when they came up behind you, causing you to jump almost a foot in the air. You turned around to see Daniel grinning at you and it seemed like he had someone with him.

“Seongwoo-hyung and I saw you standing here on your own and thought we’d come hang out with you,” Daniel said.

“Hey,” Seongwoo greeted like he usually did, and you gave him a smile that melted his heart a bit. You really had the most gentle and soft smile.

“I thought you guys would have wanted to catch up with some of your friends. They were the animators that used to work here before they transferred to the other studios, right? Why hang out with the new girl?”

“Because you’re our friend too. And it’s weird for you to be standing around on your own,” Daniel pointed out.

“How are you enjoying the party?” Seongwoo asked.

“It’s nice,” you admitted, before thinking about it a little more. “It’s just a little…”

“Stuffy?” Seongwoo inquired, seeing you hesitantly nod a little. “Yeah, these formal parties are definitely not as fun. It’s really more for the business people but it’s good that we all show up. I guess they think we can make some connections with people here.”

“We usually don’t though. We show up for the free drinks and then we usually leave,” Daniel admitted with a chuckle. “You look nice tonight, by the way,” he pointed out, finally getting a good look at you.

You giggled. “Thanks, Daniel, but the two of you definitely look more handsome,” you complimented back, and it really wasn’t a lie. Usually people said that men looked good in suits, but they had obviously never seen how good these two looked in them. They had different styles of course. Seongwoo’s was a little classier, while Daniel went for the rugged kind of look, but they were both good looking in their own ways. You had to try not to stare.

Seongwoo was about to say something when someone came flying at him and almost knocked him over. “Hyung! It’s been so long!” the guy exclaimed as Seongwoo chuckled upon realizing who it was. Daniel acknowledged him too, and the guy grinned. “Both you guys should come over here. All the guys from our original animation team are over there. Come hang out with us.”

Seongwoo was about to leave when he caught sight of you again. You could tell that he was going to ask if you wanted to come with, but you gestured for him and Daniel to go hang out with their friends. “Don’t worry about me, just go have fun! I’ll go find Chungha. I’m sure she’s still around here,” you reassured them before the male that came over dragged them both away…

========

“Hey youuuuu~” came a familiar voice as the individual draped his arm around your shoulders. This normally would have been fine, but the male put almost the entirety of his weight on you and you found yourself stumbling forward a bit due to the unsteady nature of being in heels.

“Yes Daniel?” you inquired with a light giggle as the male finally regained his footing. If you hadn’t seen a somewhat drunk Daniel during that last company party at the office two months ago, you probably would have been shocked. He was more unsteady than he was the last time though. His slightly disheveled hair and now loose tie gave you the idea that Daniel probably had a couple more drinks in him this time.

“Let’ssss have a… another drink togetherrr,” Daniel stated with a giant grin on his face.

“I think you’ve had more than enough to drink, mister. I think it’s better that we get your home. Where’s Seongwoo?” you inquired as you wrapped an arm around him to help keep him upright.

As if he had heard you, Seongwoo’s familiar voice called your name as he briskly walked over to you, his eyes shifting from you to a really drunk looking Daniel. “Ah, this guy… Sorry he bothered you. I can take him home. You don’t have to worry about it,” he said, apologizing for his drunk friend as he tried to dislodge Daniel from you, but to no avail. Daniel’s arm around you only got firmer, frustrating Seongwoo even more.

Not wanting to make the atmosphere weird, you piped up. “How about I help you get him home?” you suggested and you knew that Seongwoo, being who he was, was going to say it wasn’t necessary, but you were quick to speak before he could say any of that. “I’ve actually had enough of the party for tonight and it doesn’t seem like Daniel is going to let go of me, so let me help you get him back? It’s really okay,” you reassured him as Seongwoo quickly thanked you and went onto the other side of Daniel to alleviate some of the male’s weight off of you. The three of you then slowly made your way out of the party and out to the car, heading to their apartment…

========

“Just hold onto Daniel for a bit. I have to find the key…” Seongwoo said apologetically, feeling quite bad that you had come all the way just to help him get Daniel’s drunk ass home.

“It’s really okay. I’ve kind of gotten used to it. It’s not as bad as it was earlier trying to get down those stairs with him…” you said with a light giggle.

Seongwoo sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know that the elevator on our parking level wasn’t working. If I did I would have dropped you at the other elevator first.

“Seongwoo, it’s really okay. Things like this happen. They aren’t your fault,” you reassured him.

“Yeahhhhh, not, not your fault, hyunggg,” Daniel chimed in momentarily before he looked over at you. “You, you want to know sssss-something else about Ssseongwoo-hyunggg?” Daniel asked as Seongwoo finally managed to his keys out. “He realllllllly, reallllly likes… you.” A big smile formed on Daniel’s lips after the words were said.

Your eyes widened at first, but you were pretty sure that he was only joking about it. You were going to dismiss it when you realized that Seongwoo, who was in front of you, kind of froze on the spot. Wait, did that mean…

You didn’t really have time to ask questions as Seongwoo told you that he managed to get the door open and was back to help you with Daniel, quickly moving into the apartment with your drunk friend in tow before you could even ask him if it was true or not. Maybe that was a conversation to be had afterwards.

The three of you moved slowly through the apartment as Seongwoo moved to turn on one of their hallway lights so that the three of you wouldn’t run into anything on your trip to the couch. Your eyes momentarily took in your surroundings and from what you could see in the dim light, they had a pretty nice place. It was to be expected when you realized where they lived in the city, but still, this was even nice for that area. Really nice finishes on the counters in the kitchen, open spaces with high ceilings, a higher floor. They really went all out for this place. You remembered them telling you that they had gotten this place because they really wanted an upgrade from the place that they had when they were still working for an indie game company, which was basically just a teeny studio, but you didn’t know that they went for something like this. It was surprising.

“This way,” Seongwoo said as he led you around some of the furniture, with a bit of difficulty, trying to not knock over things before you finally ended up at couch, lightly placing Daniel onto it as Seongwoo worked to position him comfortably on the couch. It was silent for a bit, and you were the first to break the silence because you really needed answers.

“So, about what Daniel said earlier…” you said softly once Daniel was securely on the couch. You reached over for the throw that was at the other end of the couch and draped it over your unconscious friend as you waited for Seongwoo to answer your question.

“O-oh. You know what, why don’t we go talk out on the balcony? It’s more private out there,” he suggested with a small smile as the two of you took the few steps that landed you at the sliding door. He opened the door to the balcony for you, making sure not to close it when he was outside as well. The last time, he accidentally closed it behind himself and it somehow locked him out. He had to wait until Daniel got home from his date to let him back in. Thing was, Daniel was having so much fun that he didn’t get back until late and Seongwoo basically froze his ass of waiting for his lovely roommate to get back. Never again.

Seongwoo look at you as he exited, admiring the way you looked down at the street below you, how the gentle breeze lightly blew through your hair, the way your dress lightly fluttered in the wind. It felt like a scene from a movie almost.

As he drew closer, you turned around, your back against the railing, meeting his gentle gaze momentarily as he stood next to you, his arms resting against the railing as he looked out at the city. “So,” you started softly, your eyes tracing his facial features as you spoke, “do you like me like Daniel said?”

A small and attractive smile graced his lips. His looks were truly unrivaled. You really had never met someone as handsome as him. “I do. I guess the cat is out of the bag on that,” he replied turning his head to lock his gaze with yours. “Not satisfied?”

You shook your head, a smile forming on your lips as well. “No, the opposite. Why didn’t you just tell me earlier though?”

“I was afraid of making you uncomfortable. I was the one that took you out during your interviews here and I’ve been working here for longer than you have. I didn’t want you to feel pressured or awkward because of how I felt for you,” he explained. “And I didn’t want others to think badly of you because you happened to start dating someone after only starting. I wanted to give you time to adjust at first, but the longer I waited, the harder it became to tell you how I felt. We got close and we work together often. I didn’t want that to get weird either…”

Seongwoo was thoughtful. It was a quality of his that you always admired. Seongwoo, Daniel, and the other guys in the studio would often joke around, but you would see glimpses of this softer side of him from time to time and it was really attractive to you. It was sweet that he had taken all of those things into consideration. He read the situation well and you were a bit glad he did, because you never even thought about how awkward some of those things could be, until now.

“So, what do you think? If it’s still uncomfortable, I can wait a little longer. Or if you aren’t interested at all, you can just tell me. I won’t push you,” he said gently. “I will say that I really like you though and I would like to try and make this work…”

You lightly turned your body towards him, lightly resting your hands on his arm. “That’s a hard thing to say no to, Seongwoo,” you teased softly. “I’d like to try too,” you replied earnestly.

A giant grin formed on Seongwoo’s lips, one that wasn’t faltering as he lightly removed your hand from his arm, as he brought it around your shoulders and pulled you closer. “I’m glad,” he whispered in your ear.

“Thanks for being so caring about me, by the way. I really appreciate it,” you told him as you felt his lips lightly place a kiss on your head.

“Of course. Anything for you…”

And while the two of you kindled your new relationship on the balcony, a smile formed on Daniel’s lips from the couch, obviously far more sober than he had let on earlier. He felt a bit bad for tricking the both of you like he did, but the result was good. All he needed to do was give Seongwoo a little push in the right direction…

#wanna one #ong seongwoo #ong seongwu #wanna one scenarios #wanna one imagines #kpop scenarios

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