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lumosinlove · 3 years

Text

Vaincre

Part ii: August

For the hope of it all

The river was crowded, but the pier was their own.

Happy Birthday Harzy, was spelled out in big balloon letters, turning in the summer breeze, backwards and bumping.

Logan stood at the waterfront and looked at Leo’s—as it was mostly Leo’s—handiwork. Lobster rolls and soft-shell crab buffet, corn bread and iced tea. Chilled white and orange wines. Summer dresses fluttered and crossed each other as people talked, making new patterns, and Logan let himself settle into the laughter. He had a bad habit of taking peace and worrying it away. He didn’t want to do that today. He wanted to watch Finn enjoy himself, his team, his family. Logan had spent every one of Finn’s birthdays with their Harvard team, and then there had been that one, horribly absent year when Finn had been in Gryffindor and he hadn’t—not yet. He wanted to watch the way Leo put his long arms around his friends, in the same way his mother did, warm and strong. Logan wanted to watch without feeling that sharp tug of worry. He couldn’t have even said what he was worrying about. It was vague.

He’d done a lot of watching this summer. He loved it to the point of never wanting to do anything else. Finn and Leo were alike to each other in more ways than Logan would ever be. Whatever rapid-fire conversation they were in the middle of would often quickly leave Logan behind, but Logan didn’t care as long as he got them stumbling and laughing over each other to try and explain it to him—a book, a TV show, some sort of video game. He knew they liked telling him about it, and Logan loved watching them love things—including himself. Logan had never thought of himself as acting as a grounding point before. That had always been Finn or Leo. He always felt too wild in his own head, unsure, reserved. Vague. But Leo had said it to him this summer.

“When me and Finn lived together, we stayed up so late just talking,” Leo had said one early morning on the beach when they had left Finn sleeping. Logan wouldn’t be quick to forget the feeling of just being able to hold Leo’s hand for so long, in such an open space.

Leo had kissed the back of his palm too many times for Logan to think he’d be forgetting it, either.

“And you and I did the same thing, you know?” Leo continued. “On roadies.”

“Playing cards,” Logan smiled. “And our sundaes.”

Leo nodded, and his smile grew a little softer. He stared at his toes digging into the sand. “And I knew how connected you two were. Well, I guess not how connected, but I knew you two were better friends than anyone on the team, even Sirius and James. Even if you didn’t always act like it. I feel like good friends can do that, handle distance and snap back into place.”

“And?” Logan remembered asking playfully. “Which long talks were better?”

Leo just laughed. “No, no. Not better. Finn talking is like…wild. Like wind. Talking to you is stillness. I love both. The point is, that was…that was my connection. To both of you.” He had cleared his throat then, and given Logan’s hand a squeeze. “My mama always says if you can talk to someone forever then—“

“They’re yours forever,” Logan finished. “My maman says the same thing.”

Leo’s answering smile had been blinding.

An arm circled his waist, another pressing right over his heart.

“Nice party,” Finn said softly into his ear, and Logan only had a moment in that warmth before it was gone, wary of prying eyes. It made Logan miss France, and their brief stay at his mother’s family home that summer.

No one had known them there, and Leo had adored the markets, cooking elaborate meals while Finn and Logan had sat on the counter, watching him and loving him. They’d eaten out on the stone patio, overlooking the sea.

Finn looked a little like he had there, cheeks sun-hot. Logan wanted to reach for them, as he had then, cool them with his thumb. Finn smiled, making the sun-kissed skin crease a little.

“What?” he asked.

Logan shook his head. “Remember that picture?” he asked. “The one of us. It was on your wall at Harvard, you were standing behind me, hand on my chest.”

Finn’s mouth quirked, and he nodded. Logan hesitated for a moment, realizing that Finn was wearing his NASA t-shirt, the same one he had worn the day he’d left Harvard for good, leaving Logan behind. Logan stared at the logo, then looked away, back up to his brown eyes. Bambi, the boys at Harvard had called him.

He took a sip of his drink and shrugged. “I don’t know where it went. I know you packed it, took it with you, but I can’t find it. Do you know…”

Logan trailed off, as Finn had taken out his wallet. He set his beer on the pier ledge, flipped the worn leather open, and slipped out a folded piece of paper, thick, and well-loved. He held it out to Logan, biting his lip, and then leaned back against the railing, as if waiting.

Logan let the photo fall open in his fingers, and exhaled a shaky, steadying breath. There was a laugh in it somewhere.

“Oh,” he said.

“Didn’t know you were looking for it,” Finn replied, and trailed his fingers, cold from his beer, over Logan’s wrist, then reached up to fiddle briefly with his necklace.

Logan traced his eyes over the same, gaudy string lights in the photo, their same smiles—the one Logan knew he wore more freely these days.

Logan folded the picture closed again, and slipped it back into its place in Finn’s wallet.

“You want it, Lo?” Finn asked.

Logan shook his head. “I like that you have it.”

Finn stretched out a foot, ankle hooking around Logan’s, pulling him a little closer again, to stand nearly between his legs.

“I had it all that first year,” Finn smiled. “On my own.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t.”

Finn grinned, singing off-key. “Pretending he’s beside me—”

Logan groaned, shoving his shoulder a little. “Okay, D’accord, I walked into that.”

Finn laughed loudly, and then swung his arm around Logan’s shoulders. “Let’s go find Le, get more food.”

They strode towards the tables.

“Hey!” Evgeni called out. He was standing with Olli and Jackson, his looming form leaning over the pier. “Ten bucks I jump!”

“Kuns, you don’t want to swim in this river,” Finn said.

“He’s going in whether you pay him or not,” Jackson shook his head. “At some point tonight.” He grinned, the scar that ran down one of his cheeks dimpling when he smiled. “Bet you twenty.”

“Nado,” Evgeni gasped, slapping his arm. “We split. Even.”

“No fucking way.”

Logan let Finn lead him away from their bickering, towards where he could immediately spot Leo, standing with Remus and Thomas. Logan felt everything just—soften.

“Do you ever think you could just find him?” Finn asked softly, the hand around Logan’s shoulders gesturing in Leo’s direction. “I mean, even if you couldn’t see him. You know?”

“Ouais,” Logan said, voice just as soft. “I know.”

Leo was mid-laugh when he spotted them, too.

“I gotta say,” he said as he met them halfway, hand on his hip, sunglasses in his hair. “I did a pretty damn good job.”

Logan huffed out a laugh. “You did. Really good.”

Finn snorted. “Way to take the credit, Nut.”

“He deserves it,” Logan said. “I was just here.”

“Lo’s the gift master,” Leo swung his arm around his shoulders. “And I’m the food master. Sounds about right?”

Logan patted Leo’s chest. “Are you going to jump in?”

Leo raised his eyebrows, squinting out at the water. “Do I want to swim in this water?”

“I’d swim if it was with you two,” Finn said. “I’d risk the murky monsters of the deep.”

“You gotta wait twenty minutes after eating,” Leo said. “And I haven’t tried the soft serve yet. They have swirls, they have mango, I mean, come on. I did so good.”

Finn laughed. “And I’m going to kiss you stupid later.”

“And I’m going to hold you to that,” Leo leaned in a little. “Birthday boy.”

They found Sirius holding a cone out to Remus by the machine, and Remus wrinkling his nose.

“C’est la vanille!” Sirius was laughing. “Quoi? Really? You don’t like vanilla?”

“You do?” Remus shook his head.

“Y’all we’ve caught the couple splashed on the front of every magazine in a, dare I say,” Leo paused, “fight?”

“First it’s pineapple pizza, now it’s vanilla,” Remus reached up, pushing Sirius’ chin length hair out of his eyes. “What did I sign up for?”

“Carrying his hair ties for him, apparently,” Finn reached out and snapped the tie around Remus’ wrist.

Remus rolled his eyes, and Logan thought Sirius might have blushed. When Logan reached up to poke at his cheek, he slapped his hand away and Logan laughed.

Sirius dragged Remus away towards where Julian, Remus’ little brother, was calling them over to the beanbag toss, and, momentarily tucked behind the shade of the soft-serve station, Logan felt Leo pull the both of them closer.

“Pretty good beginning to the end of the summer,” he sighed, licking his own cone.

“It was a damn good summer,” Finn grinned. “Hey, give me.”

Logan watched Leo hold out his cone to Finn, and agreed. It had been more than a good summer. It had been a perfect summer, and something in that made Logan stupidly worried. Sun and salt, and cold wine, and hot bodies pressed together as the moon rose. Logan closed his eyes for a moment, tucked between the two of them, and tried not to ruin this peace by thinking about all the times peace hadn’t been there.

This was Finn’s day. This was their season. Logan tilted his chin up and let the sweet mango of Leo’s ice cream sweeten his thoughts.

Noelle wasn’t at Finn’s party, and Thomas could feel it. He fiddled with the new, thin gold hoops she’d gifted him, barely circling away from his ears, the left one with a pearl strung along.

I’m the lucky one who found you, she’d said.

And he’d had to go and ruin it by trying to be funny, even while tears were pressing up as close to him as she was.

What does that make us, oysters?

She’d laughed, looked happy, but Thomas wished he’d said something else. He wished he had gotten something for her. He wished she wasn’t so far away.

I miss you, he tapped out on his phone, and that felt perfectly honest. Simple. Enough.

The three dots popped up and then went away. Thomas tried not to let it mean anything. She deserved to be busy. She worked just as hard—harder—than he did. Still, something like relief flooded through him when a long string of pink hearts answered him.

I miss YOU, T baby. Good party?? Tell Harzy happy bday for me.

Thomas blew out a breath. Will do. Say hi to the girls for me.

“You look like sad sunshine,” Natalie’s voice came, and he looked up to see her walking towards him, taking a sip from a honey colored beer with a lime wedged into it.

“I’m a little sad, Sunshine, like it or not,” Thomas laughed softly, pocketing his phone. “Where are the boys?”

“Canoodling,” Natalie sighed, hopping up onto one of the stools beside him under the umbrella. She had her long blond hair swept up into two french braids. “We’re both getting in our last drops of Alex, I think.”

Thomas nodded. “Hey, I never really asked, Nat. That just…happened this summer, or what?”

Natalie smiled. “Well, when I met Kasey, he hadn’t made it big yet, still on the Rangers farm team, but Alex had been on the Rangers for…maybe about a year? I can’t quite remember. I think Kase had only gotten called up a few times, so they’d met. But anyway, we start dating, two years later he gets a big boy contract with the Rags, and we get to know Alex. I saw him at team dinners only at first.” She smiled. “I was like, cutie, look at those freckles. But I had Kase, you know? I was pretty confused when I started looking a little closer. I mean, I was so happy.”

She pushed her sunglasses into her hair, leaning an elbow on the table and fiddling with a gold necklace at her throat that had the number 30 strung across the leather cord. Thomas wondered if she was going to add a 28 to that, Alex’s number, or if she’d get another one. He wondered if Noelle would want something like that. Maybe they could wear each other’s. He liked the thought.

“Well,” Natalie said. “I was confused until I noticed Kasey looking, but he wasn’t pulling away from me and I thought, hey…maybe this is something?”

“But that was how many years ago?”

Natalie took another drink. “No, yeah, nothing ever happened. Actually, I think they kissed once or twice. Roadies, you know? But Kasey gets traded, and then Finn arrived and we were like, wow, cruel joke.”

Thomas laughed. “I bet. But it meant Alex comes around again.”

She grinned. “That it did.”

Thomas held his drink up for a cheers. “Guess we owe those Cubs a lot.”

She clinked their bottles together. “Life’s weird. But, yeah, it happened this summer officially. Went to the O’Hara Hampton house, and I think we just loved being together. I forgot a little, how wonderful Alexander is. But,” she was smiling wildly again. “I woke up one morning and the boys had gone on a walk, they got back three hours later holding hands, Alex kissed me, and something changed. Maybe they worked through some history of theirs. We’re his now, he’s ours, whatever you want to call it.” She laughed. “Pretty good for a morning’s work.”

“Pretty good,” Thomas repeated.

“I’m worried it’ll be hard, though,” she sighed, chest rising and falling dejectedly. “He’s all the way in Florida and we’re here, together.”

Thomas glanced back down at his phone. “Yeah.”

“I bet that makes me sound like a snob to you,” she reached out and squeezed his hand.

He waved her off. “No, no, I just…we’re new, me and Noelle. Sometimes I worry that we’re too new for…for this.”

Natalie shook her head. “I think distance is distance. And, if it doesn’t work, it isn’t the physical space between two people. It’s a different sort of far away.”

Thomas tapped his fingers against his glass. “You just have something to say for everything, huh, Nat?”

She grinned. “Pretty mouth, gotta use it.”

Thomas snorted. “You’re not wrong.”

“Come on,” she said. “I’m going to whip your ass a ring toss.”

“Yeah fucking right.”

“Apparently they closed down a bunch of streets,” Remus was saying, still bleary-eyed and waking up as Sirius made the coffee. “That’s awesome.”

“It’s a parade. Of course,” Sirius said as he pushed the lid of their french press down.

Remus looked up to see him smiling and rolled his eyes, laughing, “Okay, sure, but it’s still crazy. They say it’s going to bigger than the Cup Parade was in June.”

That made Sirius’ eyebrows raise. “Really?”

Remus hummed in agreement, clicking his phone off and popping his back. “Well. I know Pride is in June, but I’m happy we get to do this, too.”

Sirius nodded, sliding onto the stool beside Remus with two waiting mugs. “Captain gets the Cup last. I don’t make the rules.”

Remus just yawned and let his temple fall against Sirius’ shoulder, closing his eyes as Sirius’ warm palm came to brush over his hair and neck.

“September is in two weeks,” Remus mumbled. “How the hell did that happen?”

Sirius poured their coffee and pressed a kiss against Remus’ hair. “You’ll be fine.”

“Hm?”

“I know you’re nervous for training camp. You’ve seen it a million times, though.”

“Yeah,” Remus sighed and sat up pulling his steaming mug close. “Seen it.”

Sirius laughed, going to the refrigerator for the milk. His hair was in dark, glorious tangles, and Remus vaguely wondered how much time they had before they needed to get ready.

“I meant,” Sirius leaned over the island and poured them both milk before capping it again and going for the brown sugar. Remus smiled when he realized that Sirius had picked that up from Remus’ mom, Hope. “I meant that you know it never comes across like…like some insane competition for spots.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “It is, though. I mean, not for the Sirius Black, but…”

“D’accord,” Sirius nodded. “Okay, okay. But you know what I mean?”

“I’m not worried about the team,” Remus said as Sirius came to sit down again. “I’m worried I’m not going to make the team.”

Sirius shook his head, set his mug down, and all but pulled Remus off of his stool to gather him close. Remus mumbled something about cold coffee, but smiled as he let himself be kissed good morning, kissed calm, kissed loved.

“I’m not worried,” Sirius whispered, and kissed him some more.

Remus had barely shut his car door—having opened it to cheers—before he was getting an armful of his little brother.

“Oof,” Remus grunted, but squeezed him, lifting him off of his feet. “Nice outfit, Jules.”

Julian jumped back, his Lupin Lions Pride jersey actually fitting him for once. “Thanks, dad found it for me.”

“He insisted on wearing it,” Hope Lupin smiled as she walked up. “But you’re going to roast so tell me when you want your t-shirt, baby, it’s in my bag. Hi, Re.”

“Hi, mom,” Remus let her kiss his cheek a few times.

“Salut,” Sirius grinned from beside him. Remus watched them hug, warmed more deeply than by the heat. Hope patted Sirius’ chest where a faded rainbow twelve was printed on his t-shirt. Remus was going to steal that thing as soon as he took it off.

“What a party!” Hope grinned. “Is someone grilling? Thought I smelled it.”

Remus nodded. “Yeah, they got this restaurant downtown to bring BBQ.”

“Is there ice cream?” Julian said, huffing. “I’m hot.”

Sirius plucked at his jersey jokingly. “Mais, ouais, it’s almost ninety!”

Hope laughed, and put a hand on Julian’s back. “I’ll get him cooled off. Your dad’s around here somewhere with Pascal. Meet you on the float in ten. And make sure you’re wearing sunscreen!”

Remus watched his family wind their way through the colorful, crowded streets, felt Sirius’ fingers lace through his own, and smiled.

The sun did beat down hot, but Remus didn’t mind so much, not when they were filed onto the float that was equipped with a red and gold Lions head roaring at the front and rainbow streamers at the back, like an extension of the mane. The Cup sat on a high pedestal between them, strapped in shining.

The crowd was wild. People were hanging out of the tall parking garage that lined one side. The pavement was painted in thick strips of rainbow in some places, and red and gold in others.

Gryffindor loved their Lions. It almost made Remus want to cry, seeing how happy Sirius was. Half of the team was on their float, some of them walking beside. Remus spotted Logan sporting a rainbow brimmed hat walking with Kasey and returned the peace sign Logan sent up.

“Everyone is decked out, man,” James shouted in Remus’ ear from beside him, Harry on his hip. He and Lily had returned in time for Finn’s birthday. He was wearing a Lions Pride shirt, and Harry had a tiny one to match and a sunhat that practically covered his entire body that Lily kept coming over to adjust. James grinned. “Damn. Good Cup Day.”

“It’s not my Cup Day,” Remus laughed. “But I do sort of feel like this is my day.”

James just smiled, pointing at people for Harry to wave at. “Maybe won’t have to make that distinction next year, eh? Look, Har, see the flags? You want one, bud?”

“Re,” Sirius leaned in, and Remus felt his hand on his back. “Want to walk a bit?”

Remus nodded, eyes finding where Leo, Jackson, Evgeni, and Olli were walking together, keeping time with the floats and talking to the crowd. Leo had a rainbow flag painted on one cheek, Natalie’s work.

Remus felt for his own hat, flipping the colorful brim backwards as he hopped down.

“Hey,” Jackson grinned, throwing an arm around Remus’ shoulders. Evgeni had one of Sergei’s daughters in his arms, chatting with the crowd. He wasn’t wearing Jackson’s rainbow-striped shirt, but it looked like one of the kids had stuck two stickers on one of his cheeks that he wasn’t bothering removing. Remus wondered if he was worried, about his family, or his country, like he had told Sirius. It sent a wave of thankfulness through him, the fact that he was here.

“Nado,” Remus hugged Jackson. “Jesus, seriously, what did you do this summer? You look fit, man.”

“You see him,” Evgeni called over, handing a sharpie back to someone wrapped almost entirely in a flag covered with glitter. “Stare in the mirror, in love.”

“I don’t,” Jackson protested.

Evgeni just shrugged, spinning Sergei’s daughter around. “I’m see you.”

“Well, hand some over,” Remus said.

Jackson just gave him a shake. “You’re going to make the team.”

“Maybe,” Remus groaned out a laugh, knocking him away.

“No maybes,” Sirius said, sidling up to Remus’ side and replacing Jackson’s arm.

“Sirius! Cap!” someone called, and Remus felt Sirius tense a little, as he always did in crowds, or media.

The person calling had short brown hair and seemed to have tailored a loose jersey of Sirius’ into a form-fitting dress. The sleeves were cut and hemmed by the twelves on the sleeves.

“Salut!” they said, accent stiff, and laughed. “I tried.”

That seemed to ease Sirius a little, and Remus tugged him to a stop.

“Salut,” Sirius smiled. “Wow, that’s my jersey?”

They nodded, eyes sliding over to Remus. “It is. My girlfriend was hoping to have a Lupin one so we can match, but…”

The girl beside her, black hair tucked up in a bandana, smiled and threw her hands up. “When are they stocking those! I have two hundred bucks I’m ready to drop, I mean, let’s go before I second guess myself!”

Remus laughed. “Oh man, I’ve been there.”

“With my jersey, ouais?” Sirius grinned was teasing as he signed an autograph and Remus blushed.

“Here,” Sirius took out his phone. “You can give me your phone number, if you’re okay with it, and I’ll get you one? Yeah?”

“Oh…are you kidding?” the girl put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God, I…yes, Cap, you can have my phone number, sure fucking thing.”

They moved along the crowd easily. Sirius grabbed the Cup at one point, walking it along for people to touch just as their entire team had in June. Remus stayed well away.

“No jinxes here,” an older man in a Lions Pride shirt laughed, his arm around his son. He held out his hand. “My entire family’s been Lions fans for generations. Glad to have you on the team.”

His son, the very image of his father, smiled and tentatively held out a sharpie. “Would you sign my shirt? I’ve seen your tapes and everything, I…you’re my favorite. I was thinking about getting out of hockey before you.”

Remus blinked. “I…” he took the sharpie, swallowing around the tightness in his throat. “I’m glad you’re staying. Are you a defenseman?”

He lit up. “How’d you know?”

Remus shrugged, smiling. “You hold yourself like one.”

“I hope that’s a good thing!” Remus heard Olli call from a little ways down.

He laughed. “How did you hear that?”

Remus signed the boy’s shirt, thanked him, and jogged a little to catch up with Sirius.

“I’ll take that,” Jackson grinned, and plucked the Cup from Sirius’ grasp.

“It’s my Cup Day!” Sirius laughed, but wrapped his arm around Remus instead. “Hi.”

“That was my first signature,” Remus said softly, to Sirius only, and Sirius squeezed his shoulders.

“The first of many.”

It was a bit of a blur after that. Natalie brought them ice cream and cold lemonade, which turned Sirius’ kisses even sweeter when they made it back home, out of the heat and stumbling, happy and sun-kissed. Sirius’ entrance hall was dark to Remus’ unadjusted eyes, and he focused on his palms, splayed over Sirius’ broad back. He yelped when a voice rang out from the living room.

“We’re on the couch!” Regulus shouted. “Just so you know!”

Sirius broke the kiss, looking flushed and dazed. “What…why?”

“I live here!” Regulus’ voice called back.

Remus suppressed a smile, and leaned his forehead against Sirius’ chest, trying to calm his breathing and any flush of arousal that had been beginning to stir up.

“Fuck,” Sirius swore. “How did he get home before us?”

“Who’s we?” Remus called out.

“Howdy,” Leo’s voice came.

Sirius sighed. “It’s my Cup Day.”

Remus gave his hip a short pat before walking down the hallway and rounding the corner to find Leo and Regulus slouched on the couch, AC on full blast.

“Right,” Remus nodded. “You’re suppose to be helping Reg pack for school.”

Regulus glanced up from his phone. “There’s twenty different gifs of you jumping down from the float and turning his hat backwards on Twitter.”

Remus blinked. “What?” He didn’t even remember doing that.

Leo nodded, crunching a potato chip. “And we’ve only been looking for ten minutes.”

“Huh,” Sirius said, turning towards the kitchen. He stopped, hesitated for a moment, and turned back. “Let me see.”

Remus huffed out a laugh. “I need water.”

“Donne-moi!” Sirius demanded of Regulus, grabbing for his phone.

“You have your own phone!” Remus made out Regulus’ reply in French.

Remus filled his glass, downed in, and was filling it again when Leo came into the kitchen, rolling his eyes and smiling.

“Thought I’d leave the brothers to fight. Can’t believe I used to be scared of both of them.”

Remus laughed, too. “Right?”

Remus watched Leo grab a glass, spinning his own slowly around on the counter. “Are you…”

Leo glanced up. “Hm?”

Remus took a breath. “Tell me if I’m overstepping, but I know today must’ve been a little…” he took his hat off, the colorful bill bright against the dark stone of the counter.

Leo nodded in understanding, sliding onto a stool. “It wasn’t…hard. It was actually good to see all of the support. I could see it in Finn and Logan, too. Logan is nervous.” He nodded to himself. “More nervous than me and Finn. Understandably. I mean, you know how long he and Finn…” Leo shook his head. “I was happy he got to see that. And Finn was happy, I know, too. Maybe we’ll start making plans. I mean, this summer was just fucking heaven. Just being together. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”

“Me too,” Remus sat on the stool beside him. They smiled at each other, then laughed. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“I am, too,” Leo grinned. “All right, I think me and Reg have to actually put his clothes in suitcases now.”

“Good luck.”

“That boy owns, like, five t-shirts,” Leo drained his glass and put it in the sink. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Remus grabbed a third glass and followed Leo back into the living room where they found Sirius leaning over the back of the couch, squinting at Regulus’ phone. He did a double take when he spotted Remus.

“Hey, where’s your hat?”

Remus snorted. “I’m not a twitter gif. C’mon, I need a shower.”

Regulus raised a teasing eyebrow. “And you need him for that?”

Remus stuck out his tongue. “Yeah.”

Sirius flicked the back of Regulus’ head. “Go pack.”

Remus tugged his t-shirt off on their way up the stairs. “That was wonderful, but fuck do I wish it wasn’t a thousand degrees.”

“I don’t know,” came Sirius’ reply from behind him as they entered their bedroom, followed by his hands on Remus’ hips and his lips against his neck. “When it’s hot, your hair sticks to your neck just…” he kissed just by Remus’ ear gently. “Here.”

Remus bit back a smile. “With sweat.”

“It’s handsome, I think.”

Remus laughed, turning in Sirius’ arms. He was summer tan and happy. Remus didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing that grin, one that was more and more present lately. Sirius laughed and made small talk with fans who asked for pictures—even today, he had seemed to almost enjoy the crowds and the media. Remus touched his number twelve necklace. He brought it to his lips. “You’re handsome.”

They stepped into the shower together and stood in the peace and quiet of the beating down water, turned cool against their heated skin. Remus rested his head against Sirius’ chest, and smiled when he felt Sirius lace their fingers together. It wasn’t exactly a new thing anymore, but it still felt new. It had been that way when James, Lily, and Harry had first arrived home and Sirius had done it on the table between them at the restaurant, just as it had been early in June, when Sirius had done it while they waiting in line to board their plane.

Remus looked up, squeezing his hand, and Sirius bent to take Remus’ mouth against his own again. It was softer, but Remus felt just as giddy from the day’s events. A parade. A Cup Day.

He wanted one of his own.

“Love you, mon loup,” he smiled. “Thank you for today.”

Remus ran his hand over Sirius’ broad shoulders. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You did everything,” Sirius whispered back. “You are part of me allowing myself things.”

Remus felt his expression soften.

“Heather explained it that way,” Sirius said. “I thought it was well put.”

Heather, the team’s sports psychiatrist. Remus had only actually met her a few times, but Sirius valued her highly, had called her a few times during the off season.

“I like it, too,” he said, and let Sirius pull him close again.

They threw the windows open to let the cooling breeze in once they were back downstairs, and Sirius put steaks on the grill for the two of them.

“Where’d Reg and Nut go?” Sirius asked.

“I think out with some of the boys,” Remus said, and followed as Sirius went back out to the patio. He notched his hip against the door frame. “Hey, do you want to go to the rink tomorrow? All this Cup talk has got me wanting to skate, like, now.”

Sirius tilted his head back and laughed. “With you? Always.”

Remus grinned and padded back over to the counter where the salad was waiting for dressing.

“I’m glad we didn’t end up having everyone over,” Remus said as he tossed it. “As much as I love them.”

Sirius hummed, sliding the screen door of the deck closed. He set the plate and tongs down before wrapping his arms around Remus.

“As much as I love them,” he repeated quietly, lips brushing against Remus’ neck. “I want you all to myself right now.”

Remus leaned back against him. “My thoughts exactly, baby.”

Sirius smiled against his skin. “Glad we’re on the same page. Vanilla hater.”

Remus pinched his arm. “Pineapple hater.”

Cole woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs wafting down to his room from the kitchen—and Katie Dumais curled up at the foot of his bed.

He jumped a little, and then sat up slowly. It took him a moment to realize that she wasn’t asleep, but that she was fiddling with a little charm bracelet, her eyes down.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, hi, Katie.”

She looked up, and a grin lit up her face. “Mom says breakfast is ready. I didn’t want to wake you up, even though she told me to.”

He sat up a little more. “How long ago was that?”

Katie wrinkled her nose. “Maybe four hours?”

Cole blinked, and picked up his phone from his nightstand. It was eight-thirty. He glanced back at Katie.

“Can you tell time?” he asked slowly.

“Not really,” she sighed happily, and kept fiddling with her bracelet. “You still have rainbow paint on your face.”

Cole laughed, rubbing a hand over his cheek, where Lily Potter had painted a flag the day before, for the parade. Where the Stanley Cup had been.

It still all felt surreal to say.

“Okay. Um, tell her I’ll be up in a second, okay?”

Katie nodded. “Okay!”

Cole listened to her footsteps scamper all the way up the stairs before he flopped back down on his pillows and chuckled to himself. He gave his teeth a quick brush and followed.

“Bon matin,” Celeste smiled as she flipped a few more pieces of bacon onto a plate. “How did you sleep? I think that heat yesterday tired everyone out.”

Cole slid onto a stool beside Marc and Louis, Katie to his right. “Really good, thanks.”

“The air conditioner isn’t acting up again?” Celeste asked. “Logan was always having trouble with that thing.”

“It didn’t turn on right away, but I fixed it,” Cole smiled when she set a steaming plate of eggs, bacon and fruit in front of him, and then another plate with toast. “My mom’s big with her tool kit, so, I mean, if you ever need anything around the house, I know some stuff. Just so I can…help out. Thank you for letting me stay.”

Celeste beamed. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re not just letting you stay. We’re very happy you’re here. Someone your age shouldn’t be alone, especially with all the pressure that comes with this job. But I will absolutely take you up on that. You wouldn’t know how to build me some planters, would you? Pascal bought the wood ages ago,” she turned back to the sink, waving a spatula. “Always saying he will take care of it, and yet there it sits!”

Cole laughed softly. “Yeah, I can do that. Sounds good.”

“Well, good,” Celeste smiled, pulling her purse over her shoulder. “Now, Pascal is with Sergei for an ice session—which you’re always invited to, he says, by the way—I’m taking Louis to tennis, and Marc to space camp. Layla will be here soon, but do you mind looking after Katie until she gets here? Adele’s up in her room if you have any questions. She’ll know.”

Cole nodded, trying to swallow the eggs quickly. “Of course. No problem.”

Celeste smiled. “She loves you enough already, she’ll be no trouble.”

“She’s always trouble,” Louis mumbled.

Celeste tisked, but kissed his head. “Come on, up. Cole, you have some of the boys’ numbers, too, right?”

“Um,” Cole thought of Sirius Black’s number in his phone from when he called him. “Yes?”

“Good. I know you don’t have a car yet, and you’re always welcomed to ours when it’s available, but if you ever need a ride anywhere, I’m sure any one of them will drive you.”

Cole, for the life of him, didn’t think he would ever be able to bring himself to call Sirius Black up and ask him to drive him to, what, Target? Jesus.

“Right,” Cole tried for a smile and knew it came out nervous. “Thanks.”

Katie did turn out to be a pretty easy kid. Even if she did seem to switch activities at a rapid pace. She drew, and then she watched half of a TV show, and then she was hungry, but she did all of it herself. After less than 30 minutes she had parked both of them on the couch where they were stringing beads for necklaces.

“I’ll make you Lions colors,” she said seriously.

That had been Cole’s best—and only—idea. He glanced at the multi-colored kit. “What colors do you want?”

“Surprise me.”

Cole smiled. “All right. What’s your charm bracelet?” He nodded to the small silver ring around her wrist.

“It’s from Tremzy,” Katie thrust her wrist forward. “He gets me one every one of my birthdays. There’s a hockey stick, because we love hockey, and an ice cream cone, because we love ice cream, and this is a book because we read together, and—”

There was the ding that told Cole that Layla had arrived, coming in from the garage, and Katie was off again.

“Hi,” Cole said, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

Layla looked up from trying to put her things down and hug Katie at the same time. “Hey, Cole.”

“How’s it going?” Cole asked, feeling decidedly more prepared this time. Layla was in a green tank-top today, but her same shorts and gold rings.

“Busy,” she laughed. “I actually have my first orientation this evening, at the rink.”

Cole nodded. “Nice. I’ve never actually been inside. Well, not yet, I guess.”

Layla straightened at that. “Well…I’m driving over once Celeste gets home, just to see the place first.” She seemed to take a breath. “Do you want to come with?”

They didn’t have full gear, but the chilled rink was a relief against the sweat they worked up anyway. Remus borrowed a helmet—his own hadn’t been sent out yet—and used his old, worn in CCM skates.

“I can still beat you in these,” Remus panted as he skated backwards, tapping the puck back and forth and trying to gauge which way Sirius was going to dodge first.

“Oh, I know,” Sirius said, then lifted his right foot and went left.

Remus knocked the puck out of his stick towards the boards, and it sent them both chasing it.

“You use that trick too much!” Remus laughed, it echoing across the empty rink, as he shoved Sirius against the glass, the puck trapped between his skate blade and the foot of the boards.

“What about this one?” Sirius said, and turned to press their mouths together. Remus smiled into it, and it was enough to allow Sirius to steal the puck back.

“No!” Remus laughed as Sirius carried the puck expertly across the blue line, winding his stick up and taking a deadly slap shot, notching it perfectly in the upper left corner of the empty goal.

He dropped to a knee, sliding into a celebration before wrapping around the goal with a final whoop and crashing back into Remus for another kiss.

“Wanna run plays?” Sirius asked. “I’ll be your center if you’ll be my winger.”

Remus smiled as they reset themselves, pushing the used pucks towards the boards. “That might not happen.”

“Maybe I have more pull than you think.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Not that much, baby. What’s going to happen is I’ll start on the fourth line, go from there. Anything else and every journalist in the city would go batshit crazy.”

Sirius just scooped another puck into the goal, then hooked his arms over his stick, the body behind his neck. “Wouldn’t be our first time causing that.”

Remus smiled. “True.” He nudged Sirius towards center ice. “Face-off.”

Sirius took his helmet off to push his hair back. “Let’s do it.”

Remus was just tugging off his shirt, smiling as he listened to Sirius rattle of plans for the season, when he heard two voices laughing from the hallway. Sirius’ smile dropped, and he narrowed his eyes at the door.

“Don’t know,” Sirius said. “Hey, where are we meeting the guys for—”

“Should we check out the locker room?” one of the outside voices said—higher. “Do you think it’s open?”

“Non,” Sirius mumbled under his breath, grabbing for the back of his own shirt.

The door opened hesitantly at first, then wider, revealing Layla and Cole.

Cole flushed, and Layla’s mouth opened, then closed.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Sorry, we didn’t think…”

Remus glanced at Sirius, but when he didn’t say anything, just pretending to fiddle grumpily with his bag, he waved them off.

“Hey, we were just swinging by for a quick skate. It’s not our locker room,” he smiled. “Well, not only ours. You guys have the same idea?”

“Not skating, maybe,” Layla replied, twisting one of her braids around her finger. She looked up at Cole, who still looked like he thought he was in the wrong place, and smiled. “But neither of us have really gotten to look around yet, so, we thought we would.”

Remus smiled, using his dirty t-shirt to wipe sweat from his brow. “Nice. Well, maybe Cap and I can give you a tour or something some time.”

Sirius glanced up. “Marls does that.”

Remus tried to send Sirius a look with his eyes, but Sirius just glanced mournfully towards what Remus thought might be the video review room.

“Well…” Remus said hesitantly.

“We’ll keep looking around,” Layla said quickly. “See you guys around.”

Remus watched them to make sure the door was closed, then turned and punched Sirius in the arm.

“Quoi?” Sirius asked.

“Grumpy.”

“I liked it just us,” Sirius mumbled. “I thought we could plan plays or—or watch tape.”

Remus laughed, pressing his forehead to Sirius’ chest. “You’re such a baby.”

One corner of Sirius’ mouth raised. “So?”

“You wanted the rookie to stop making moon eyes at you,” Remus said. “Here’s your chance.”

“D’accord,” Sirius’ grin spread as he gathered Remus closer by his hips. “But will you keep making moon eyes at me?”

Remus leaned up for a gentle kiss. “I’m going to ask them to lunch. Wait here, Captain, you scare the rookie.”

“I don’t,” Sirius sighed, and Remus pushed out the locker room door.

“Hey,” Remus jogged to catch up as Cole and Layla turned at his voice. “Us and some of the other guys are planning to get lunch. How about it? You, too, Layla.”

Layla blinked. “Seriously?”

Remus laughed. “Team lunch isn’t a team lunch without the PT. Or, one of them, at least.”

Layla grinned. “Right. Well, I’d love to.”

Cole nodded quickly. “I—yeah. Yeah, cool. That rooftop place again?”

“You’re already picking up on team favorites, I see.”

Cole smiled sheepishly. “Kuny makes us go there every time.”

“It’s the sushi,” Remus laughed. “He’s a man obsessed. Well, cool. Meet you there in twenty?”

Layla jingled her keys. “See you there.”

“Sushi,” Evgeni all but moaned as he picked up a piece of yellowtail.

“Jesus, Kuns,” Jackson said. “You can’t eat all of that by yourself.”

Evgeni was chewing with his eyes closed. “You don’t know.”

“All right,” Thomas leaned forward, folding his sunglasses into his shirt in the shade of their umbrella. “What do we think this season, boys? Predictions, let me hear them.”

They all looked to Sirius first, who leaned back in his chair, one arm over the back of Remus’. He took a sip of his iced tea.

“Rangers,” he said finally.

“Uh-huh,” James nodded.

“Same,” Layla said, taking a spoonful of her miso soup.

“Caps, maybe,” Sirius continued.

“Definitely,” Remus said.

“I’m feeling Avs?” Thomas offered. “And I don’t want to say Snakes, but…yuck.”

“More like Vegas,” Remus said.

The table paused, and Remus just shook his head.

“It’s true,” he said, glancing at Cole and Layla, trying to decide if they’d noticed the shift in the air. He had to be able to talk about this. About him. "They’re deep this year.”

“Yeah,” Cole said softly. “Greyback’s killer.”

Remus felt the entire table tense and felt immediately guilty. Cole didn’t know what he had said, and Remus all but watched him wonder if he’d said something wrong.

“And us,” Thomas grinned, slapping Cole on the back. “We’ve got Lupin now. We’ve got Reyes.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but laughed. He tried to express his thanks silently, and Thomas winked at him.

This felt different. He had known it would. Team dinners would be his dinners now, not a friendly tag-along invite. Driving to practice with Sirius, they would go through almost the same routine, not split off for his office and the locker room. These were his teammates. He’d win and lose with them, and they with him, in a way they hadn’t before. Sitting there, in the sunshine that was going to turn colder, Remus looked forward to a year of this.

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milliethekitty27-writing · 3 years

Text

The Ladder

In a hole in the ground, there lived a lonely hobbit. It all started when Bilbo grew tired of his empty kitchen.

He hadn’t been fond of eating alone since the dwarves destroyed his pantry, but he hadn’t after Frodo joined him in Bag End. He’d eaten with the elves in Rivendell, which had been full of lovely music and pleasant conversation, and then he’d eaten with the elves, Frodo, and Gandalf when they’d traveled to the Undying Lands.

Now he was here, in Yavanna’s Garden, living in what was basically Bag End. (the actual Bag End was right next door for his parents) He had his beautiful garden back, which only mattered really because he’d been brought back to his youthful self with working hands. The house was always clean (and he’d never really liked cleaning, so that didn’t matter much to him) so he had all the time in the world to work on his maps and his stories. He got the occasional social call from neighbors or family. He ate dinner with his parents on Thursdays and went over to their home on Sundays for family nights with many cousins and aunts and uncles, but he spent the rest of his time alone. He got the same whispers he had in the Shire, but he was satisfied with his cooking and working in the garden. Except… on the days there were no social calls, no family dinners, Bilbo Baggins sat in a very quiet house and talked to nothing.

“You know-” Bilbo said to no one in particular as he weeded a particularly stubborn patch of grass out from underneath his rose bush. There was a basket of tomatoes ready to be made into a sauce, or maybe used the fish tonight, but he’d seen the weeds and wanted to deal with it before it spread. “-I would have expected the garden to take care of itself when I died. Not to be doing the same tasks as before. But here we are, fighting with weeds, aren’t we Tho-” Bilbo stopped, shook his head, and pushed that thought aside.

He made dinner for fourteen but only ate for one. The rest got put away for the multitudes of meals of the next day, but almost five years after he’d died he found himself looking at the empty table with a frown.

The next morning he perused his bookshelf until he found a collection of stories. From there, he found tales of the dwarves. He sat in his armchair until a collection of cousins knocked on the door and pulled him away, but he found what he was looking for when he was waiting for a peach pie to bake.

Dwarves belief that they return to the halls of Mahal upon their deaths. From there, they await the Final Battle. Upon the arrival of that day, they will be sent back to rebuild Arda, but until then the dwarves rest in their creator’s halls.

Bilbo hemmed over that. He wandered down to where most of the Tooks lived, asking if they had any maps or had heard of the Halls before. It was a bit of a long shot, and he wasn’t surprised when they all said no. He returned to his smial and examined his garden.

“Well-” he said to the same problematic patch of clover that refused to leave. “-I know that dwarves do like their underground tunnels and their mines. And if the Green Lady is married to the Smith, then it stands to reason that they might go underground nearby. I don’t think there’s any harm in looking, I’ll just get a bit dirty and ruin my garden, and I do that on the regular. Or I’ll fall into a great underground river and run back into Gollum.” Bilbo sighed, then went to see if he could borrow Hamfast’s good shovel.

There was a patch of yard in the back Bilbo had been planning on planting carrots in, but he had a better idea now. He wiggled his toes in the cool earth, nodded, and stretched out his shoulders. Then Bilbo Baggins put his shovel into the soil and started to dig.

It took quite a bit of time, but he didn’t get as tired as he had in his old age and he didn’t have to take as many breaks. Death might mean you didn’t have to eat, or sleep, but it was routine, and he had dinner with his parents that were tradition. One day, maybe, he’d be able to bring more than just himself and whatever his mother wanted him to bring for dessert, but he pushed the idea of muddy boots and braids out of his mind in favor of helping his mother finish up the roast.

“What are you doing, Bilbo?” his father asked during one dinner. “Gorbadoc says he hasn’t seen you at the Green Dragon in some time.”

“I’m digging a tunnel.” Bilbo said matter of factly. “I’m going to try to find the halls of Mahal.” His parents looked at each other for a minute.

“What for?”

“I… suppose it’s just because I can.”

“Have you considered asking the faunts?” Belladonna suggested as she took a second helping of mashed potatoes. “I’m sure they’d be more than thrilled to be asked to ruin a garden.” Bilbo considered that.

“I think this something I want to do myself.”

Bilbo digged and digged. The hole was big enough for him to stand in rather comfortably, though he had to dig some stair-like notches into the side so he could get in and out. It took almost a week of non-stop digging to reach literal rock bottom, and then he was left with a conundrum. He’d dented Hamfast’s good shovel, so he returned it with an apology and a promise to pay him back, but would Hamfast please lend him a good pickaxe?

Bilbo woke up that next morning with arms that were incredibly sore and demanded he take a day, if not more, off. He agreed. The dwarves had waited this long, they could wait a bit longer. Bilbo went to market, got a drink, avoided questions about what he was up to, dodged a few nosy grandparents, and returned home with arms full of goods. The next day he baked an apology pie for the Gamgees and sent his mother and father cookies, lounging for the rest of the afternoon with a good book. On the third day his arms didn’t yell at him for raising them above his head, so Bilbo hoisted his pickaxe.

“How’s your hole going?” Belladonna asked as she took out a tart to cool. It was nearly time for the harvest festivals. Hobbits loved to work in their fields and grow their goods, and that meant the harvest festivals of the Shire still went on. That meant competitions (his mother was entering a lovely pumpkin she’d been growing all year, while his father was entering in a poetry competition) and baking, canning for the winter, and family time.

“Rather well, I like to think!” Bilbo gave the bread he was kneading one last good push. “I think I’ve nearly reached it, the rocks started to change to the next type of rock underground that I read about in the book that Adamantius lent me last week. It’s supposed to mean you’ve gotten to the next layer or… something. The book was rather complicated. I suppose I’ll just have to see what happens.”

“Maybe you’ll have it fixed in time for the summer planting competitions.” His father brushed his hands off on an apron as he came in from the garden with a basket of potatoes, placing them on the counter and taking a moment to kiss Belladonna’s cheek. For a moment Bilbo wondered if soon he’d be seeing his dwarves, be able to kiss one particular cheek, but he pushed those thoughts aside. It was possible he was nowhere near being able to see his dwarves, but that was a thought he’d deal with when he came to it. He was nothing if not practical, as a Baggins (no, Baggins weren’t actually practical, he knew that now, but don’t bother telling the Baggins side that) and he didn’t want to consider that what if.

“Maybe.” he ceded. “But I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make it a permanent feature.”

Bilbo returned to his hole the day after the festivals had finally finished. His larder was filled to bursting, along with all his storage rooms, and he was just planning on doing a little bit of work before settling in with a nice book.

That plan fell a bit short, though. He drove his pickaxe in rather deeply and the earth suddenly crumbled all around him. Bilbo let out a yell as he fell through a suddenly rather large hole, landing with a rather sharp thwack on something… surprisingly soft.

When he looked around, he found that he was surrounded by an incredible amount of short, bearded people wearing multiple colors and gems.

Dwarves.

He looked up and found an incredible amount of sunlight falling on him, along with a decent amount of dirt.

It seemed he’d found the Halls of Mahal. Now the question was how to get back to Yavanna’s Gardens.

...he’d cross that road when he got to it. For now, he had dwarves to find, and, uh, oh dear. The dwarf he was sitting on didn’t look very happy. He jumped off of the poor dwarf’s back.

“I’m so terribly sorry-” Bilbo offered the dwarf a hand. They were covered in braids, with long black hair, and Bilbo tried to dust them off once they were up. “-I had no idea I’d almost broken through like that, I would’ve given some warning.”

“You’re what’s been making all that noise?” a dwarf behind him said. Bilbo turned on his heel. This dwarf was dressed like a miner.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The noise-” the dwarf gestured at the ceiling. “-for the past month, we’ve been getting this awful banging- that’s coming from you? But you’re a halfling!” There was a great deal of yelling at that as the crowd of dwarves surrounding Bilbo all realized what he was. Bilbo felt his cheeks heated up with rage.

“What do you mean a halfling fell through the ceiling?!” someone bellowed after several minutes where Bilbo couldn’t get his voice loud enough. There was a great deal of pushing through the crowd and Bilbo offered another apology to the poor dwarf he’d probably concussed in his fall.

“I’ll have you know I’m not half of anything!” He said loudly into the suddenly silent hall, but there was a further commotion.

“That’s not just a halfling that our halfling!” Bofur, that was Bofur, he knew that voice. A bald dwarf covered in tattoos practically rammed his way through the crowd and there were all his dwarves, looking alive and well and whole, no blood or funeral garb, no sorrowful letters or tearful tales from Frodo about bodies and ancient stone walls. He was hugging them, pinching cheeks and smiling as wide as he had in some time. He did a quick head count - twelve. Where was thirteen, where was-

Oh.

There he was.

Thorin was standing at the other end of the mass of dwarves in the hall, firelight glinting off the silver in his hair and around his neck. There was no sign of gold or bronze, just silver. He practically blended into the cave wall in his nearly black clothes but Bilbo met those beautiful blue eyes and something just clicked. He was covered in dirt, and in his gardening clothes. He looked a mess, he was sure of it, but Thorin was looking at him in a way that made his breath catch in his throat.

“Master Burglar.” Thorin’s voice rumbled across the nearly silent crowd.

A moment later he and Bilbo met in the center of the path, both having run as fast as their feet could carry them. Bilbo’s fingers curled into the thick, wiry hair and he inhaled the smell that was undeniably Thorin.

“I thought I told you to call me Bilbo.” he said in a thick voice after a moment. “Or should I be calling you your majesty?”

“No.” Thorin said instantly. He shook his head and Bilbo felt the gentle thuds as beads connected with his skull. “No. Never you.”

They looked at each other for a moment. Thorin didn’t have the wrinkles around his face anymore, the silver in his hair was less than it had been, but there was still that shadowed look in his eyes. Bilbo took a quick breath, then leaned up and kissed his cheek like his father kissed his mother’s, like he’d been thinking about for ages and ages.

“Hello.” he whispered. “Hello, Thorin Oakenshield.”

“Hello, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire.” Thorin’s face was flushed now, but he reached up and brushed his thumb along Bilbo’s jaw.

“That counts as a kiss!” someone bellowed. There was a loud thud and the dwarf, definitely Nori, yelped. “That hurt!”

“Bilbo can we get a boat through your hole?” Fili called. A moment later there was a thud and both Fili and Kili were there, smushing Bilbo into the center of a Durin family hug.

“A bo- what do you need a boat for?”

“I want to find Tauriel.” Kili sounded elated. “If you could get through, then she-”

“Boys, I have to get back up myself, I can’t just pull up a boat-”

“What about cheese?” Bofur piped up. Bilbo realized that the entire company had encircled him. He was surrounded in a mass of dwarves. Stinky, hugging-too-tight, wonderful dwarves that he’d missed. “Bombur’s been talking about that recipe you sent him-”

“He sent me dozens of recipes, you’ll have to be more specific-” Bombur started.

“I told you he could break in, I don’t know why you’re still not giving me money!” that was Nori again, directed at Balin.

“These are the Halls-” Balin began.

“Bullshit, this is Bilbo, he stole from a dragon! This is all in a day’s work for him!”

“Have you seen my Gimli up there?” That was Gloin. “You know, my beautiful laddy, with the curly red hair and the most beautiful eyes, I haven’t been able to find him and we haven’t heard anything about him in a long time for a while, I’m starting to get worried-”

“He just got here, Gloin, don’t start yelling about your kid again-” that was a voice he didn’t totally recognize but he saw Bifur without an axe and grinning widely as he spoke.

Bilbo looked back up at Thorin, who was smiling at him in a way that made him come into focus and drown everything else out.

“I’m glad to see you, Bilbo.”

“I’m glad to see you too.” Bilbo smiled back at him. His dwarf reached up as if to touch his face again, but faltered.

“We’ve… we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“We do.” Bilbo agreed. “Bu-”

“Bilbo?” Someone shouted down the hole. He recognized his mother after a moment. He struggled out of the throng of dwarves much like a whale breaching for air. There was a shadow over the patch of sunlight from above, bits of dirt trickling in.

“I’m fine!” he yelled back. “Be careful, it’s a pretty hard landing at the bottom, I don’t want you to slip!”

“Wait that’s the burglar?” someone in the crowd said. There was a loud shushing noise, a thwap, and an ow.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, Mum, I’m alright!”

“Wait is that your mother?!” Kili and Fili said together.

“Did you find your dwarves?”

“I’m going to regret this-” Bilbo sighed, then he pitched his voice back up high. “I fell but I’m alright, I just didn’t realize how far down I was!” He paused for a moment, then shouted back. “Do we still have the apple picking ladders?”

“I’m sure we can dig one up-” there was his father. Poor Bungo was probably tearing his hair out. “-are you hurt?”

“No, he’s not, he said he’s alright-” his mother’s voice was muffled. “-we’ll go check, darling, stay out of trouble!”

“Can you throw down some cheese?” Bofur shouted.

“Bofur!”

“Oh some apples would be lovely.” Dori sighed.

“And some apples!” Bofur yelled a bit louder.

“Just send down his whole larder!” Kili yelled. “And a boat! I need the hole to be big enough for a boat!”

In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. This hole was comfortable, and warm, and cozy. It was also full of Bilbo Baggins’ things. This hobbit had lived a remarkable life and thus his home was quite remarkable in many ways, but the most intriguing bit about this hole was the larger hole in the backyard. It was surrounded by stones, with a lovely set of carved steps going up to the house. It led to a sturdy but worn wooden ladder that had been used for apple picking but now served to connect the Halls of Mahal to Gardens of Yavanna. This ladder fell in the center of a massive stone hall, which was filled with flowers that hobbits would come down to tend to. The two races regularly wandered through Bilbo Baggins’ garden to meet - dwarves would come up for market day bearing gifts and coins, eyeing steaming bread and crisp red apples, while some of the more adventurous hobbits would slide down the ladder to inquire about repairs for their tools.

For Bilbo, though, this hole meant so much more. It meant thirteen dwarves crashing into his house ridiculously early in the morning to nag him into making them breakfast. It meant having his family, blood and not, over for dinner. It meant listening to his mother talk with Dori and Balin about tea, to his father engage Fili and Ori into long tales of age-old tales. It eventually meant Kili tugging a tall, red-haired elf into Bag End no. 2, covered in water while a tired Fili collapsing into a chair complaining that Kili and Tauriel hadn’t stopped making doe-eyes at each other.

It meant that, after a long conversation with tears and laughter and shy touches, Bilbo made dinner with a dwarf that made him laugh as he stole pie filling and got flour on his nose and in his beard. It meant that Bilbo would come back to market to find someone frowning on his porch with little metal bits twisted in his lap as he worked on making ornaments for Bilbo’s garden. It meant that Bilbo Baggins woke up next to Thorin Oakenshield, one hand tangled in that beautiful dark hair. It meant that they sat on the bench under the oak tree and blew smoke rings into the setting sun, holding hands.

When Frodo Baggins finally entered Yavanna’s Gardens, he found his uncle beaming like he hadn’t in years, with a braid in his curls and a ring on his finger. There were thirteen dwarves in the living room, and Frodo was just in time for tea.

---

Thanks for reading!

This is based off of a post made by @wheeloffortune-design about Bilbo digging his way into Halls of Mahal, which has literally been living in my brain since I read it. (and @gallusrostromegalus put down some delightfully funny comments that also made my day) So… here we are. You can find the post here, assuming the link works!

The AO3 link is here!

man i love bagginshield.

#writing #writers #writers on tumblr #fanfiction #the hobbit #bagginshield #thorin x bilbo #bilbo x thorin #bilbo baggins #thorin oakenshield #my otp honestly #i started shipping this and never stopped

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poodlejoonas · 3 years

Text

Inspired by my BC Fan Week dad!Joonas short: the rest of the guys as uncles

@the-killer-queenie just sent me a darling DM with her own ideas of it and now I want to add more: the other members as uncles (and Joonas as a dad). And if you’re cool with it, I included your original DM that inspired it at the end.

Also, perfect timing because there was a discussion of BC dad/uncle headcanons in the Violent Pop server while I was cleaning, so this one’s also for you guys 🥂

Under the read-more for length:

Joonas:

His first reaction when he found out he was going to be a dad was pure fear. He doubted that he would ever be a good one and that he would end up ruining his daughter’s life. While the anxieties lingered (and still do, even with her here), he learned to grow into the idea. He became super protective of his girlfriend, calling every chance he got while he was either in the Netherlands or on tour to make sure that she was comfortable. She got annoyed super fast by how fussy he was, but she understood that he was excited and anxious and only wanted the best for them. He was the one to suggest the name Sohvi and started calling her by it long before she was even born.

Despite finding out about the pregnancy in April, they waited until almost the end of June to make the news public. It was a big all-in-one announcement: a small gender reveal at home with a cake and a letterboard with her birthday and initials (name was kept secret until she arrived). This all conveniently happened before the tour so the crowd went into the show knowing about her. As much as he would have loved to invite his girlfriend to more summer tour shows, he wanted to make sure she wasn’t overexposed to the heat and stress of being in a large crowd. When she does come to one of the shows in Helsinki, he sets her up with an air conditioned room backstage. Every time they were sitting next to each other, he would instinctively hold her belly. Whenever he was at home, he would sing to them so Sohvi could hear his voice. Eventually, she would kick when he started singing, almost like she knew he was there.

Joonas would be a fantastic girl dad! The night before every tour, he lets her paint his nails any color she wants, and he refuses to take it off no matter how messy it is or how chipped it gets. It becomes like a tradition for them, mostly so she can get used to the idea of him being gone for long periods of time. When she can come to local shows, she does the make-up for him and the rest of the guys (the ones who wear it, at least). They play an acoustic version of one of their songs (something like My Heart is a Hurricane) for whenever she can join them on stage; it’s a small break for the ones who aren’t playing and a chance for her to see them perform without noise-cancelling headphones.

He takes super adorable pictures of and with her, and whenever he posts something of her and her mom together, he calls them “his girls.” He would also certainly have her name and her birthday (November 15) in Roman numerals tattooed over his heart. Every year around Christmas time, they take a family weekend vacation to Rovaniemi to visit Santa’s village. In all, he would surprise a lot of people - and himself - by fitting into the role so well and so quickly. He’s not a perfect dad, but he tries his best.

The “responsible” uncles:

Tommi:

Tommi would almost certainly be her favorite uncle. He’s just such a massive teddy bear in general that she loves whenever she can get a hug from him. When they go out as a group, especially to festivals, he carries her around on his shoulders so she can feel tall and see the other bands perform better. I get vibes from him that he’s the best cook out of the group, so whenever he’s on babysitting duty, he makes her the best meals. He likes to wrestle and playfully rough house with her to make her laugh. It’s not uncommon for her to fall asleep while he’s holding her because he’s that comfy to rest on. After the Bass Incident, he became the top candidate for being her godfather.

Olli:

You know, until last week, I thought that Olli would be the best choice for being her godfather, but after the lost bass fiasco I don’t think he can be trusted with a child lol. But he’s still one of the responsible uncles regardless! When she’s super young, sometimes she gets him and her dad confused with each other because their hair and instruments look so similar (see also: this vine). He’s the one who likes to take her out to the park and then get ice cream with her afterwards. He also has zero shame about letting her put a tiara on him and invite him to her tea party, and he plays along with it too. When he’s on babysitting duty, he reads her stories and sometimes narrates them with different voices.

Aleksi:

He’s the chill responsible uncle. He works so often that he rarely ever gets time to hang out with her outside of the studio like the others do, but they spend the most time together while he works. He holds her while he works at his laptop and lets her watch the cool colors and coding scroll across the screen. He’s the first one to volunteer to hold her if Joonas has to go in the other room to record his parts, and typically the first one to volunteer to take care of her last-minute. When she gets a little older, between song editing sessions, he’ll open a fresh file and let her “record” her own songs. Of course, they almost never leave his laptop, but it’s the thought that counts.

The “irresponsible” uncles:

Niko:

Okay, so Niko is one of the “irresponsible” ones but almost certainly a little better than Joel at the job. What puts him in this category is that he swears like a sailor even when she’s in the room because he forgets that kids are sponges and absorb everything they see and hear. He also has no problem throwing some chicken nuggets in the oven and calling it a day, so he needs to be reminded that she has to eat more than that. But he’s still a loving uncle, he just needs someone to help him babysit lol. He lets her play with his hair when they’re hanging out together, and when she gets older, he teaches her how to play the piano. She loves when he sings to her and she’ll request certain songs from him. He’s also the uncle who encourages her to just talk and talk (building up her communication skills) by pretending that they’re gossiping together (“oh really? what did he do next? tell me more!”)

This post is totally Niko, by the way:

Joel:

Joel... love this boy, but he’s without a doubt the least responsible of the uncles. It’s mostly because he can spend maybe an hour and a half maximum with her before he hits a wall of exhaustion and is ready to send her back to her parents. When he’s with others who can help him take care of her, he can hang out with her a little bit longer. He also has no idea how to actually hang out with a child in a kid-friend context. Admittedly, he was the least excited to find out that she was coming because he thought that meant Joonas was going to leave the band. He needed tons of confirmation before he warmed up to the idea of becoming an uncle. But that doesn’t make him a totally bad uncle. He treats her like a member of his own family as well and he’s great at making her laugh. He’s also the first to jump to her or Joonas’ defense on Instagram if tabloids (or someone like That Bitch Archie Cruz) make defamatory comments about them.

The original HC:

#blind channel #joonas porko #joel hokka #niko moilanen #olli matela #tommi lalli #aleksi kaunisvesi #dad!joonas #i'm so glad i'm not the only one with these ideas racking my brain #now i gotta plan the others that have been requested #thanks for enabling me y'all!

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hanmajoerin · 3 years

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A/N: To be honest, I’ve really hesitated on what pronouns to use while Ranma’s Jusenkyo curse is on full display. A really fun aspect of fanfic writing for me is seeing how in character I can keep everyone, and I think being a “man” is important to Ranma. So, even though there are times when he rocks lady bits, he still identifies with he/him pronouns.

Chapter Summary: Ranma Saotome, 20 years old. He’s been the husband of Akane Saotome for five months, but they’ve known each other way longer. His goal? Forget how the heat and humidity of August stayed long after the sun dipped from the party. Akane deconstructed and reconstructed some popsicles or something, so here’s to hoping. And lower body temperatures.

II AO3 II FanFiction.Net II

-x-

In the living room, Soun hollered at Pops for taking advantage of a sneeze. Apparently, he’d swapped their koma pieces while his father in law’s eyes were closed. Ranma rolled his eyes from outside. That tracked. Not that he could hear the argument very well or cared. The TV murmured some crap too, but it sounded as fuzzy as the static he bet clung to the screen like the sweat stuck to his head. And his back. And the back of his knees. And his elbows. Nature was such a pain in the ass. Down to the bugs. The chirps of the crickets and cicadas and moths as they cozied up to the lights by the shoji doors sounded normal. Like the heat of August hadn’t moved them in the slightest. Stupid. Not that Ranma’d been moved either, but in a much more literal way. Like he was a sitting duck, frozen but because of the summer heat. It was all so unbelievably dumb.

Blinking up at the clouds in the night sky, Ranma realized for the fifth time in the past half an hour that he felt disgusting. Never thought his cure-all hot bath would feel like a death sentence, so he was stuck like this. Stripped down to a white tank top and yellow patterned boxers. If it was just him ‘n Akane, he’d have ditched the shirt. But with his family so close and Akane’s hand in punching range, he let himself get drenched in the least sexiest way possible. His boobs felt too heavy, and while resting his head in Akane’s lap was nice and all, she was also pretty hot.

Ranma blinked up at his wife. Of the two, she was supposed to be the most un-cute, but her pink sundress was really doing something to him. Pieces of her black hair stuck against her face like she’d placed ‘em there on purpose. Sweat just gave her a dewy glow that the stars seemed to sprint to. Stupid.

“You think we’ll make it?” Ranma asked as Akane threaded her fingers through his red hair.

Akane hummed. “It’s supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow.”

Ha! They were so dead. He could cook an entire four course meal in the dirt of the yard, even now, when the sun booked it. Ranma groaned, turning to face the koi pond. He splashed his feet in the plastic bin Akane’d brought him a few minutes ago. “Akane, the water’s warm,” he whined.

“Well you haven’t turned back yet, so it can’t be that bad.”

“Aw, come on.”

Akane handed him a popsicle mold. “Just shut up and eat another one. It’s still cool.”

Ranma grabbed the frosty mold, closing one eye to inspect the contents inside. There were way too many chunks, but presentation and Akane didn’t go hand in hand. She’d forgotten to put the tops in so none of these things came with sticks, but with it being so hot out, it didn’t make or break the experience. Ranma opened his mouth, watching as lumps of strawberries ambled out. Snails moved faster. “This is the best thing you’ve ever cooked,” the martial artist droned, knocking back the chunky popsicle.

“I didn’t make it though,” Akane sighed, continuing to run her hands through Ranma’s red hair.

“Sure you did,” Ranma offered, watching the last few chunks meander down. He stuck his tongue out, waiting, but continued talking, “You stripped ‘em and put ‘em in the blender.”

“Yeah and it was basically juice when I was done.”

“So now they’re popsicles again.”

Akane sighed, “I guess.”

Ranma raised a brow, but his wife missed it. How was it that whenever he tried to actually drop a compliment, Akane acted all weird about it? She should be blushing furiously, brushing off his praise yet soaking it all in like a sponge. Ranma sighed too. He knew how to reel her back in hook, line, and sinker. “Guess you’re right; if you put this together from scratch, I’d be on a training trip.”

Akane turned her head sharply, a familiar ire already in her brown eyes. Ranma couldn’t help grinning. “You know I hate it when you say stuff like that,” she huffed. The martial artist just brought his mouth to the frozen treat, licking the last of it. He tossed the emptied mold aside with far too much confidence for how gross he still felt. “Hey! Are you an animal? Our home isn’t some dumpster!”

Ranma shrugged from his spot in her lap. “Can’t move,” he said, proffering Akane a face he knew she’d clock him for.

Akane growled, her fingers sprinting from his hair to be balled into a fist. “Ranma...” she warned and the martial artist snickered. He reached a hand up to clutch hers.

“I don’t exactly see you runnin’ over to pick it up.”

“Just watch me!” Akane exclaimed before pushing Ranma off her. Light brown wood was everything he saw, but his ears were clear. Her stomps were as loud as an elephant’s, and he pushed himself just in time for the plastic to whack his nose. “Look, I found the trash can!”

Ranma tried not to laugh.

#hanmajo writes!#about Ranma!#and his favorite tomboy turned wife #Ranma 1/2 #Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction #Ranma fanfiction #Ranma Saotome #Akane Tendo #Ranaka #Ranma and Akane

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heyhey-heyward · 4 years

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WHAT WE WANT | part one

THE INVITATION

summary: You’ve always had a complicated relationship with JJ Maybank. Complicated in the sense that JJ has always had a crush on you and is unable to express it in other ways than shameless flirting.

word count: 1.5k

series masterlist

If you’re a tourist on the Outer Banks looking for some place to eat, you’re probably going to end up at The Wreck. If you’re a strapped for cash teenager named JJ, Pope, or John B looking to score a free meal, you’re also probably going to end up at The Wreck.

Which is where the three found themselves as their fourth member, Kiara, the daughter of the owner of The Wreck, finished her shift. They were at a table in the back, halfway through lunch and trying their hardest to not be too rowdy and get kicked out. Kiara told her dad she was taking a break and shoved herself into the booth with the boys.

“Kegger tonight?” John B questioned out of the blue, pausing his game of throwing fries at Pope as he tried to catch them in his mouth. So far, they had been unsuccessful—evident by the way the ground around them was littered with fries.

“That’s a good idea.” JJ pointed at his best friend since the third grade with a grin that seemed to always spell trouble. And without further deliberation, it was settled. The Pogues would throw a party in celebration of absolutely nothing.

The door opened and a new customer entered, though that didn’t catch the attention of the group. JJ, who was seated in the same side of the booth as John B, both had their backs to the door. Neither bothered to turn around, assuming that it was just another tourist stopping in to escape the summer heat. That was, until, the newcomer spoke up and JJ recognized the voice immediately.

“Hey, Mr. C.” The cheery voice called, and JJ spun around so fast in his seat his friends were genuinely worried that he might have given himself whiplash.

Y/N Y/L/N. A name more renowned on The Cut than Maybank or Routledge or Heyward, you knew everyone and their mother on the island. If something broke, they called you and within five minutes you’d be able to tell them what’s wrong and how to fix it. You learned from your father, who owned the best auto shop on the island.

“Well, what’s the verdict?” Mr. Carrera asked as you approached the counter that he stood behind. He had called you to take a look at one of his old generators that hadn’t been working properly, and you had been out back working on it.

“One of the parts rusted so bad it stopped working, but I’ve already called to order a new one. I’ll let you know when it arrives.” You explained, giving him the short version of what you had accomplished.

“You’re a lifesaver, here’s lunch as payment.” Mr. C grinned, putting a container of your usual order on the counter. Usually, you charged Kooks, but his cooking was good enough that you overlooked it. You grinned, thanking him before turning to leave. Before you could get too far, someone called your name. You recognized the four faces that sat around the table that the sound originated from, and made your way over to them with a smile.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” You asked as approached. John B had been the one to call out to you. You knew him from school and hung out together at parties every once in a while, but you were never the closest. Across from him sat Pope, who you had studied with on a few occasions and even helped his dad deliver groceries when you needed the extra money. Beside him was Kiara, who you didn’t know all too well since she went to the Kook Academy. Still, you liked the girl from what you had seen of her.

And then there was JJ, whose stare you were actively avoiding. It wasn’t that you had anything against him, it was just the fact that each time you crossed paths he would flirt with you if given the chance. And you were trying really hard to not give him the chance.

Because as much as you had a reputation on The Cut, so did JJ Maybank.

Looking past his family tree of smugglers and whatnot, he had made a name for himself among the tourist girls that visited the Outer Banks. He was famous for his one night stands with Tourons that would leave in a week and he’d never see again. Ever since you had met him, he had been trying to get you to be one more of his conquests.

And as tempting as his bright blue eyes were, you were determined not to let yourself be just another notch in his bedpost.

“Are you busy later today?” John B asked, ignoring the way JJ elbowed him. You shook your head, mentally running through your schedule for the day. The Carrera’s generator had been the last thing booked for the day, knowing you needed to run some errands for your father before heading back home, leaving your evening free. “Could you look at the HMS Pogue? Something is wrong with the engine and I can’t figure it out.”

“No problem.” You waved him off. It wasn’t unusual for you to work on John B’s boat, it probably would have been scrapped for parts if it weren’t for your repairs. You were a saving grace among the old equipment that many Pogues owned.

“We’re throwing a kegger after, so if you want, you can come with us after.” John B offered. You grinned, it had been awhile since you had let loose, too busy working to help keep your parents afloat like most teenagers on The Cut.

“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ve got to run, but text me when you want me to come by.” You called as you started backing away from the table. After receiving a nod from John B, you moved to smile at the other three sitting around the table. Before you could stop it, your gaze locked with JJ’s and in the split second it took for you to turn around, he shot you a wink that made your heart rate spike. As you left the restaurant, you couldn’t help but wonder just why the blond had such an effect on you, even when you so adamantly wanted to avoid him.

“How can you do that?” JJ turned to John B with an incredulous look on his face as soon as the door shut behind you. He was met with an amused and slightly confused look from his best friend, who was having a hard time figuring out what was so out of the ordinary.

“What, talk to her?” John B questioned, a look of realization crossing over his face. He’d seen the way JJ looked at you, and he was quickly connecting the dots.

“Talk to her like, I don’t know, she’s one of us! That’s Y/N Y/L/N, practically Pogue royalty.” JJ gushed, waving his hands around dramatically to drive home the point that he thought you were something spectacular. “I’ve been trying to get with her for months, bro, and she won’t give me the time of day.”

“That’s because she’s smart, J.” Kiara teased, reaching across the table to ruffle his already messy hair for added annoyance. JJ scoffed, running his hands through his hair dramatically to try and get it back to its previous unstyled style.

“And she’s really nice, and offering to fix the boat for free, so you better not ruin this for me by sleeping with her.” John B threateningly pointed a fry at JJ as he spoke. The blond surprised the whole table by flushing at the brunet’s words, glancing down at the table to try and hide his embarrassment.

JJ Maybank had a reputation of being a player. And yes, he did hookup with Tourons after most parties—but he thought you were different. Ever since he had seen you for the first time at The Boneyard laughing loudly at something someone had said, he was done for. You were the first girl that he wanted something more with, the first girl that made him not make fun of other couples because you were the first girl that made him realize he wanted what they had.

“Shut up, does my little JJ have a crush?” Kiara cooed, and John B went to pinch JJ’s cheeks, but the blond was faster and slapped his hands away.

“No, I don’t! She’s just cool, I wouldn’t do something like that to her.” JJ mumbled. He wondered why he couldn’t just stop himself from talking, but then he pictured your smile once more and the corner of his lips quirked up subconsciously.

“Yeah, JJ, that’s because you have a crush on her.” Pope joined in on the teasing, and JJ decided that he had enough and tossed his balled up napkin at his friend.

“Don’t we have a party to get ready for?”

—

taglist:

@pixelated-pogues @bailspogue @delilahandshawn @annedub @shawnssongs @beautyandthebleh @kylosleftbuttcheek @sunflowerbecca @maybankiara @mimithefangirl25 @deviouscharitos @drewstarkeyobx @starryblueeyesandstarryblueskies @ihatemyself21 @sunwardsss @kayak-huesgen

tags with a strikethrough didn’t work

let me know what you think !!

#jj maybank #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank series #outer banks #outer banks imagine #outer banks x reader #outer banks series #what we want series

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maple-syrup-goblin · 3 years

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@tarly-the-bitch

(some of you might like the tags up here, sorry

suicide, gore, depression, murder, ect)

Imagine:

You just broke up with your s/o, your heart is in shambles. Just to wake up, you need to lift the weights of your sorrows, regrets, and the deep gap within your soul.

It's a normal, terrible day. The sky is gray, it's been that way ever since they left you. Despite your unwillingness, the drive for food forces your body through your house, out of the door, and to your bike.

You mindlessly ride to a store. Any store will do. As you look to the sky and realize it's getting dark, and you are slpashed with shock when you notice that you've arrived in the next city over.

You push on as the pit in your stomach grows as deep as the pit in your heart. Your eyes fly to a bright sign of a small grocery store on the outskirts of the city. You place your bike on the outside of the shop and enter warily.

You grab whatever your hand seems to be attracted to. You end up grabbing a load of junk with dull, meaningless lables. As you near the counter you peer down to a worried face.

"Um, sir? You don't look too well." her wide eyes stare at you as she says faintly.

"I just biked from the small town over, I'm just tired." you reply, dead as ever.

"Really? That's a long way. If you need a place to stay, I could let you rest at my home." she suggests.

"Ah, thank you very much." you muster a weak sign of gratitude.

"My shift ends soon so, you shouldn't have to wait long!" she states excitedly.

You finish paying and wait on the bench outside. Filling your stomach with some of the garbage you bought, your head becomes a little less foggy. As you wait, the sun sets and your grow cold. Just as you huddle, the girl bursts out like a little bundle of energy.

"Whew! I can't wait to get home!" she exclaims with a wide smile. Just then, in that moment, you see her with clear vision. Her cute sweater, short hair, and smooth skin. Just that sight brings you more joy than you've felt in the past month. You can't help but smile at the sight.

"My car is this way," she states, "but we'll have to leave your bike here for the night. My car is too tiny to fit your bike."

"Oh! That's alright. I'll get it tomorrow." you reply.

As you walk toward her car, she glances at you and questions, "So, what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm y/n. What's yours?" you ask.

"You didn't catch it on my name tag?" she quips with a smirk. Although you feel like that was ment to poke fun at you, a you can feel is joy. "It's Ambrosia, you can call me Am though." she explaines.

You ride in her car for a short while before arriving at a cute house, completely dark from inside to out. The tiny home is beautiful even if you can't see it well in the starlight. As you walk in the door, she turns on the lights to reveal a neat and comfy place of living.

"Sorry, it's a little small. But now that we're here, would you like something to eat?" she asks kindly. Although you ate before you got here, you haven't had any good food for months and you crave to know what her cooking tastes like.

"I'd love something to eat, what do you have?" you speak joyfully.

"Oh it's not that simple! I'll make us a surprise!" she plays. Her positive attitude leaves you trembling with happiness. As she starts to cook, she demands that you stay out of the kitchen so that it remains a surprise.

You look around her home and see few family photos and many little decorative trinkets. The smell from the kitchen lures you to it as she announces that she's done.

"Allright, let's get to eating!" she announces. "Also, I don't have to work tomorrow so... would you like something to drink?"

It's been a while since you've had a meal this luxurious with a nice drink to go with it. "I'd love to." you respond as she pulls out a full bottle of whiskey.

"I don't do this too often so let's celebrate!" she says as she hold the bottle to the sky. The two of you begin to eat and enjoy your time together. Looking into her eyes feels like standing in a cool summer's breeze. You can imagine the sensation of your hand on her cheek.

You continue to eat and drink as your ability to hold back your feelings becomes frail. The slightest drop of romance could melt you and, she takes notice.

"You know, I'm the only one here. You don't have to hide anything." she states drunkenly. You feel as if your soul has become whole again. You no longer feel pain or sorrow. All you can think about is her adorable lips.

The two of you head toward the living room when suddenly, she stumbles. Falling into you arms, she looks up into your eyes. "You just might have to carry me!" she laughs.

You comply, and pick her up. You feel her squishy thighs in your arms and your hand grabs her chest. Holding her in your arms has put things into perspective. Although she's a tad short, her beauty is unmatched in your heart.

You carry her to her bedroom and set her down. Once she regains her balance, she uses all the force in her body to fling off her clothes. Your drunken mind follows suit and you remove what's keeping her from your body.

The mutual excitement brews a love so stong that it lats for hours. She's lucky she doesn't have to work in the morning.

You grasp her arms and lay her to the bed as you pummel her as hard as you can. Her poor little bead makes cries of help as you recklessly destroy her insides. The absolute bliss you feel is more fulfilling than anything you've ever felt.

She gasps as you continue, she looks beet red with pleasure. You begin to slow so this can last a while longer. You use your hands to toy with ever part of her imaginable. Her squishy breasts, tender thighs, and soft cheeks all run past your grasp.

"Please, please, harder!" she demands, "play with me, play with me! I'll be your toy to make you happy!" she cries with tears of bliss. You continue, harder than you have ever before. You grasp her boobs and fondle them with force.

She lets out one last moan of pleasure and holds you tight. "Thank you." she wispers. Your tiredness catches up to you and you fall asleep with your bodies intertwined.

You've slept better than you ever have before. You wake up to the sight of her soft lips and are instantly filled with the pleasure you felt before. Her small body seems so fragile in your grasp. She's so tender, and vulnerable.

Although you were filled with joy, your heart snaps back to how it was tbe morning prior. You stare at her, blankly. As she awakes, her eyes flutter open and her lips form a smile.

"I love you y/n" she barely musters. As she states this, you realize that she was able to fill you with joy she can do it again. You kiss her passionately and feel between her legs.

Her eyes fill with shock at your sudden movements but she can't say no, you've filled her mouth with her tongue. Her fragile body under your control fills you with the feeling of power. A power you've only felt the day before.

You start to rough her up. Using unnecessary amounts of force. She starts to cry but she wanted to be your toy right? Did she lie to you? Just like you s/o did back then. You can't stand liars. You can't stand her.

You trow her to the ground in a fit of rage, as her cries grow. Noting she says matters now, she'll just leave you like your s/o did. She's just like her, a liar and garbage. You top her and bite her throat with the strength of a lion. You claw at her soft skin and tear her insides up with the most massive rage boner any man could hope to amass.

She can't speak anymore, all you hear is muffled screaming and gurgles. You imagine doing this to your s/o and get up. A job like this requires special tools.

You retrieve a knife from the kitchen, her eyes contort into a deep fear. As you plunge the knife between her breasts. You slice her down to her belly and continue with your hands. You reach inside her and pull everything out. All the love, all the joy, you believe it is yours now.

Her eyes fade and her tears stop flowing. You continue to use her as a toy and fill her with your semen. Since there's no chance of a child, you fill her vagina with your semen in the most satisfying way you could have ever conceived.

You keep her face looking pretty, but with her throat destroyed you decide to ruin it a little more. You flip yourself and shove your dick into her throat however, it quickly reaches where you've crushed it. You press on and slip your cock deeper and experience the tightest grip you'll ever feel.

You assault her lower lips with your raging tongue to get a taste of your prey, your toy, you little meatbag of happiness. Rubbing her ass, you finnish in her adorable little mouth. And find yourself calming.

You cleave her head off to keep it as a physical memory of the last time you'll ever feel joy. You cry as you realize you've ruined your toy. What are you saying? Your toy? You realize that you've become a monster.

She's much more deserving of a life than you ever were. And you took that. You walk out of the house with your hand on her scalp. Or what's left of her you monster. You steal her keys and drive home. You monster.

Every time you look at what's left of her. All you can think is, "you monster" and you are. You are a monster, a horrible human being. If that. Your tears flood your vision. You know you'll never be happy again. You are worthless. But you feel what's left of Am isn't.

You arrive home and place her head on your table. Her lifeless eyes stare at you. You pleasure yourself one last time before ending your life just as you ended hers.

You grab a knife from your kitchen. You place the tip to your chest. You take a deep breath and plunge the blade into your heart. Letting your rage guide your hand. "You monster, you are worth nothing" you repeat in your head, "How can anyone love me now? Why would anyone care? S/o doesn't, Am doesn't, your family doesn't."

When you're done, you look just like her. A pile of blood and meat on the floor. The physical pain amounts to nothing compared to the disappointment you feel in yourself.

You feel warm, your sight glows red even with your eyes closed. Where have you found yourself?

#cursed #story time #imagine

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shypotato-translations · 3 years

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QTVW Chapter 3

The Future* President's Fiancee (III)

----

Ling Xihan stood at the doorway, narrowing her eyes as she sized up An Mu Lan from top to bottom.

Under the warm lighting, An Mu Lan's whole body looks exceptionally soft and warm. She was wearing a nightgown as short as her thighs, and even with an apron over it, it only gave her a different kind of **, the thinness of the clothing did not hide her small, but well-developed body.

Ling Xihan's gaze seemed to casually sweep over An Mu Lan's full breasts, her slender waist surrounded by the thin belt of her apron, and then her long, straight legs. Her eyes darkened, and with that she closed the door with her hand and walked over.

Ling Xihan walked up to An Mu Lan, looked down at her, then at the four plates of home-cooked food on the table, and raised an eyebrow.

An Mu Lan had already pursed her lips and smiled when her gaze came over, her face slightly embarrassed, and after placing the plate in her hands on the table, she shrank up a little awkwardly and whispered,

"I didn't know you were coming back tonight, I'll just go and change."

She turned to walk upstairs, but a slightly cool hand, grabbed her wrist and the other said,

"No, that's fine, didn't you prepare dinner? I'm hungry."

With that, she let go of her hand and went to wash her hands at the sink.

An Mu Lan smiled and said to Ling Xihan's back,

"Then I'll go and serve the rice."

With that, she turned and walked into the kitchen.

As she served the rice, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said to herself: the beauty trick is kind of good, unintentional ** like this is what will impress the villain more.

Ling Xihan walked out after washing her hands and immediately felt that something had become different in this villa of hers. She walked towards the dining table while taking a careful look around her surroundings and realized that many new objects had been added to this room in the two days she was not at home.

They are small, unassuming things, like a row of vibrant, colorful flowers on the windowsill; a bright yellow square tablecloth on the living room coffee table; and a blue fish tank with two small goldfish swimming around in it ......

Small changes such as these are everywhere, and although they may not seem worthwhile on their own, they are the details that make the room come alive and give it a homely atmosphere. And all this is due to the young girl in front of her.

She was more than satisfied with this girl, who was fair and lovely, who behaved generously, and who was pleasant to live with.

She walked over to the table, pushed a chair away and sat down, looked at the four dishes on the table and noticed that they were all home-cooked dishes, but even if they were home-cooked, they looked extraordinarily tasty and she raised her eyebrows in some surprise.

According to the information she had received, An Mu Lan was a young lady who was not well received by the An family, with a timid and unassertive personality, but in terms of her behaviour, she basically fit the mould of a lady of the house. She had chosen An Mu Lan as her marriage partner in the first place, in large part because she was soft and easy to handle, but she wasn't a must.

But in this current situation, the girl in front of her clearly exceeded her expectations and gave her a bit of interest. Since this was a girl who was to her taste, she didn't mind just keeping her.

An Mu Lan came out with rice and saw Ling Xi Han with an obscure expression under the light.

She settled down and warned herself that the battle at hand was an offensive and defensive one, and that she must be careful, and that only by impressing her with the details, and by rattling her, would she stand a chance of survival.

With this in mind, she calmed down and placed a bowl of rice in front of Ling Xihan, offering to hand her chopsticks again before turning off the kitchen light and taking off her apron.

After doing so, she sat down at the table and said with a smile to the imposing woman in front of her,

"I didn't know you were coming back tonight, so I made some of my favourite dishes, and if you don't find them tasty, then I'll make something else."

Across the table, Ling Xihan shook her head impassively and said,

"In that case, it's fine, let's eat."

After saying that, she picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the stir-fried meat in her mouth, a light taste filled her mouth, the meat was tender, the taste was light but not boring, and the vegetables had a taste of the food itself.

Ling Xihan rarely had the opportunity to eat such dishes, and she narrowed her eyes in satisfaction before trying the others, all of which tasted equally fresh.

With a rare expression of praise, she said to An Mu Lan,

"This tastes great, you're a good cook."

An Mu Lan's cheeks flushed, she smiled shyly and said,

"It's all small dish style, it's rare that you like it, I usually try to cook something on my own when I'm at home, and now that I've moved out, it's a lot easier to cook and stuff ......"

She paused, her tone a little downcast, in keeping with the despondency she felt when she was out of favour with the An family, and now that she was free.

But she quickly lifted her spirits and said cheerfully,

"Xihan ...... you like it, I will make it for you every day."

Ling Xihan took her behaviour in stride and she nodded in response.

After dinner, it was still early, and the sun was still shining on the glass of the villa.

Seeing that it was still early and not yet time to go to bed, An Mu Lan took the initiative and said,

"Xihan, it's still early, would you like to go for a walk outside with me to spend some time?"

Ling Xihan thought to herself that she didn't have anything else to do anyway, she had set everything up while she was away the other day and it was time for her to rest for a while, so she nodded and agreed to go along with the homely offer.

An Mu Lan's face immediately showed an expression of delight as she ruffled the loose hair around her ears, said something about changing and hurried upstairs.

The two of them went out the door and walked beside the river in the villa area in the setting sunlight.

It is the height of summer, when the willows are in full bloom and the flowers are fragrant. The atmosphere is quiet and serene, giving a sense of indescribable peace, which is extremely rare in Ling Xihan's life.

She looked down at her side, An Mu Lan, who was half a head shorter than her. Seeing that she was currently wearing a knee-length dress and looking all student-like, she cocked her head and asked,

"What year are you in college now?"

An Mu Lan did not know why the other party suddenly asked this question, but she still responded obediently,

"Sophomore."

Sophomore, Ling Xihan thought in her mind, An Mu Lan is only eighteen years old now, it is still too early, everything is unclear, although there is no denying that she is a good match, but the future is too variable, it is better to take one's time to plan.

After the two of them finished their walk, they returned to the villa, Ling Xihan went back to her room, while An Mu Lan, after cleaning up and washing up, read a book for a while and recalled the course of the day, and went to sleep.

The next morning, Ling Xihan woke up, washed up and walked to the staircase where she saw two plates of small dishes and a bowl of thin rice on the dining table, an obvious Chinese breakfast configuration.

She went downstairs and looked for An Mu Lan who was reading a book on the sofa in the living room. The moment she saw her, An Mu Lan put down her book and greeted her with a smile, saying,

"Good morning, I've prepared some breakfast, so if you're not in a hurry, you can have something to settle your stomach."

There was no expression on Ling Xihan’s face, but she went to the table as she had been told and ate her breakfast before leaving the door.

An Mu Lan passed this world on her own, studying the books of the university, because she had put some effort into her studies, considering her setting of being a good girl.

When it was noon, An Mu Lan made her meal, packed her lunch and went out to take the shuttle to the Ling Xihan Company in the middle of the city.

She got out of the shuttle, took a look at the charmingly shaped building, which was several hundred metres high, and tsked twice in her mind: as expected of a rich person, she had never had the chance to see such a high floor in modern times when she was alive, not to mention that the owner of this floor was her fiancée.

She looked at it for a while, then secretly brushed off her emotions, walked to the electronic device area, entered her personal information, and after the future electronic device confirmed her identity, it read: In three minutes, the president's assistant will come down to pick you up, please wait patiently.

After waiting for less than three minutes, a young woman in a close-fitting suit, her whole body exuding an aura of intelligence and competence, stepped out of the transparent lift and slowly walked in front of her.

She surveyed An Mu Lan with an uncomfortable look in her eyes, and then had a look of contempt on her face that made her look very unfriendly as she said coldly to An Mu Lan,

"Miss An, is it? I'm Xihan's personal assistant, Zhang Yao, I wonder what you want to do here at the office?"

An Mu Lan said with a smile on her face instead of changing her expression,

"Hello, Miss Zhang! I am President Ling's fiancee, please tell President Ling that I have something for her."

Zhang Yao's face sank and her voice sharpened as she said,

"Xihan is in a meeting, so don't give her any trouble."

An Mu Lan walked past Zhang Yao and headed for the lounge shown on the topographical map she had seen earlier. She walked straight to the sofa and sat down, picked up the book in her backpack and read it with a serious face.

Zhang Yao, who was left in the cold, was shaking with anger, she glared fiercely at An Mu Lan and took the lift to leave.

Only after An Mulan could not feel the woman's cold aura did she raise her head and her gaze fell on the spot where Zhang Yao was standing earlier, and in her mind, she recalled Zhang Yao as a person.

The name Zhang Yao was mentioned a few times in the plot of the novel, she was indeed Ling Xihan's personal assistant and the two were very close. Even, in the novel, the woman who finally replaces An Mu Lan and becomes Ling Xihan's wife is her.

In the book, Zhang Yao, a person with a very powerful background and strong personal abilities, is the city's top snake, the sister of a mob boss, a vengeful and extremely narrow-minded woman who secretly kills all of Ling Xihan's alternative fiancée candidates in order to become her wife.

But even when she finally achieved her wish, she was still abandoned by Ling Xihan after her power had grown, and ended up in a miserable situation.

In the memory of the original owner, An Mu Lan, she also had a deep impression of Zhang Yao, although she did not know her at that time.

In the early years of the original owner's stay in the mental hospital, she was personally beaten by this woman and had her leg broken and her face cut, after which she was fed a lot of psychotropic drugs by the doctor.

And the woman simply whispered in her ear,

"Who made you Ling Xihan’s ex-fiancée? You deserve it."

After Zhang Yao's anger, she has the doctor mistreat her, which makes the original owner's already difficult life even more difficult and eventually dies early.

Zhang Yao, therefore, is also one of her targets for revenge.

Thinking about this, Mu Lan couldn't help but feel a headache, according to this, most of the people in this novel, are the target of her revenge.

There were too many enemies to live up to the brain-damaged novel, and she was having a mental breakdown thinking about them.

#yuri #shypotato #transmigration #world hopping #QTVW3

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adenandraofvespertine · 3 years

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Hello again! I just scrolled through your monster boys, your art and little story chunks have my heart.

Three requests for reader insert, if you would :D none of them have to be very long

Gato (the Minotaur) going stargazing

Dema (the werewolf) impromptu fashion show at JC Pennys.

Viraj (the naga) cuddling in the sun in his palace

Sorry this took a bit, head was empty for a little bit there haha. I had a lot of fun with these~

Settle in this is a lOng one

Gato has always been shy with you, but his thoughtfulness never wavers. Tonight he has asked you to his home for dinner, discussing his work and your life with you. He seems to loosen up after about ten minutes together; his stuttering fading away and a calmer, charming demeanor taking over. The meal was fantastic, he tells you all about his early life in Greece as he cooks his family’s recipes.

After cleaning up, he takes your hand gently and kisses it. “I have something to show you... If you’d like?” He asks, his voice gentle and hopeful. His ears wiggle happily when you nod, his dark eyes glittering with excitement as he leads you out his back door and through the backyard fence. The cool night air is crisp but not uncomfortable, the clear night sky glittering with millions of stars above you as you make your way up the little hill behind the street.

The clear fields sing gently with crickets and your footsteps rouse fireflies from the grass and into the air, the scene is magical as Gato sits down on the grass and pats the space next to him for you to sit. As soon as you are next to him, he paces a gentle arm around you and smiles down at you, his features lit softly in the moonlight.

“I thought I’d bring you here to stargaze... I know all the constellations here, and the stories behind them.” He says, managing not to stammer though his nerves have begun to prickle up again. You place your hand on his and smile sweetly. “That’s a lovely idea, Gato...” You say, feeling your cheeks warm up as a big smile graces his features. “I’m glad...” The rest of the evening is spent staring up at the stars and listening to Gato ramble about the constellations, answering any questions you might have about them, and admiring each other in the pale glow of the moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its become normality having Dema pop up at your door with a bright smile and plans for an outing, he has a unique way of dragging you out of your home and to his favorite milk tea cafe. And that is precisely what he has done today, showing up at the door and dressing you up for a casual outing.

“Now what's with the glum face, baby? You’re usually all sunshine when I pop in to treat you...” Dema sighs, putting his sunglasses on his head and taking hold of your hand. You explain that you haven’t been feeling the best lately, partway through your explanation in fact when he puts a finger to your lips and gives a caring smile. “Now sweetheart, why haven’t you said so? If I’d known I would have planned something a little more soothing...” He ponders, holding your cheek in his hand. “Well, how about I try cheering you up first, hm? Drinks first, then I have just the thing.” He cocks an eyebrow and waits for you to agree, that stunning grin he gives you coming to his face when you nod.

Now, drink in one hand and the other in his; you walk through the mall together towards a familiar store. JC Penny’s? “Now I know what you’re thinking, clothes? Why clothes? Well, just you wait and see. This is something I’ve taken to doing when the world has got me feeling less than fantastic.”

With that he whisks you away inside and heads straight for your specific style of clothing, looking you up and down and thinking for a moment. Within an instant, he has armfuls of clothing and accessories. “Alright, I’ll send you into the changerooms with an outfit, you put it on and come out to show me. Today we’re doing a fashion show, you’re up first with this lovely piece. We’ll take photos of every one and the winning outfit comes home with us. How’s that sound?” He says, grinning down at you hopefully. You nod, smiling back up at him. “It's really sweet of you to do this...” “Nonsense, baby, you deserve it. Now go on in and get started, call me if you need help~” he coos, sending you off with your first set of apparel.

Who knows how much time is spent changing clothes and striking poses, taking photos of one another with giggles and compliments between the two of you. Your mind is completely overtaken by the activity; eventually, the voting begins and the top outfits are chosen to be taken home.

“I think you looked great in everything, honey, it was so hard to choose.” Dema sighs as you head out of the store. “I could say the same about you.” You smile back, leaning in and kissing his cheek. “Thank you... I needed this.” Dema laughs softly and kisses your cheek back. “How about we grab something to eat on the way home, then talk about what's got you down?” “I’d like that...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Jewel Prince’s Palace is always a cool and refreshing retreat from the blaring sun, bright silks and decorations adorn the hallways. The sounds of trickling water in the canals that border the hallways soothe you as you make your way towards the Prince’s private sunroom as per his request.

As you enter, the stunning view awaits you. The glittering turquoise pools have flower petals floating atop them, the silk tarps flowing overhead in the gentle breeze. “Ah, there you are, my darling Y/N. You’re looking radiant as always, though you look as if the heat has gotten to you? Why don’t you come sit here with me.” A melodious voice calls out to you from the water’s edge, you look to see the Summer Prince himself in all his radiance. His hair is tied back with little pins adorning the dark curls, his usual silk wrap around his shoulders and finery about his wrists, ankles, waist and neck. Viraj is always the vision of luxury.

“Hello, your majesty.” You bow gently, giving him a smile to which he returns with his own. As you approach you see his shimmering coral scales winding below the water, enjoying the coolness of it. When your feet touch the water you feel immediately refreshed, the crystal ripples lapping against your legs.

“I’d ask you all about what you’ve been up to, but right now all that matters to me is that you’re here. I’ve been dreadfully lonely without you, even if you’ve only been gone a day. It’s no fun sunbathing without you, I always keep the shade to protect your skin, must be terrible not being able to absorb all the sun.” Viraj sighs, the tip of his tail coming up to tickle at your feet to make you giggle.

“Well if it makes you feel any better, I missed you too.” You giggle, he hums and rests his head on your lap for a while. “I’m afraid you’ll never miss me as much as I miss you, my love.”

“Come, let's go to the shade before you burn~” He coos, taking your hand and leading you over to the lavish and comfortable outdoor lounging area. He sits you down in the shade, sneaking light kisses over your face. “I love you, you know? Every one of your features is more radiant and precious than any facet of a jewel...” Viraj says softly, his words heartfelt. His tail stretches out into the sun while his arms slither around you and his ear pressed over your heart. “I love you too, Viraj...” You smile, a hand placed upon his head.

The rest of the afternoon is spent comfortably in each other's arms.

#monster boys #monster boyfriend #monster bf #gato #viraj #dema

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come-on-shitty-boys · 3 years

Text

// the king of roses. oikawa tooru //

Request: is it to late to ask for a part 2 of The King oikawa fic 👉👈

Warnings: none?

Word Count: 1.9K

Notes: yes i’m bringing back throne room thursday for one day, what about it also who was going to tell me that my irls were toxic as shit or was i just supposed to find that out on my own?

PART I. II.

“Are you sure about this? It’s not going to be a ball or anything grand, you know. There won’t be any gourmet food or world-class champagne or-”

Oikawa laughs, smoothing out the silken fabric of his shirt as he turns to look at you. “I know that, Y/N. It’s a town festival, trust me, I don’t have the highest expectations when it comes to this outing. I just want to experience at least one of them. You made it sound so fun and going would make you happy, wouldn’t it?”

You stood to the side of the grand foyer, awkwardly adjusting your gaze as you shifted in your spot. You hadn’t been to a festival in many years, since you were a young girl, actually. You had grown to miss the atmosphere of the cobblestones glowing under the light of candles and the cool touch of the moon, the way that the band could barely be heard over the laughter and conversations of people packed tightly onto the square, the smells of food wafting into your nose that could make your mouth water at the mere thought of a single bite. You can only bring yourself to nod. Yes. It would.

After months of living by his side, trapped in a loveless marriage with the enemy of your now-fallen kingdom, you can’t remember the last time that you had felt that wave of sun that came with being happy. Everything that had made you happy had been ripped from your clutches and you weren’t even able to say goodbye to the life that you had known. You had been brought here and forced to marry a man that you didn’t love, that you could never even see yourself loving, things that he knew and had known for a while. You didn’t love him. You didn’t want a single thing to do with him, yet he persisted. Oikawa Tooru had chef’s cook you dishes that were known to your region, he had gardeners import the roses that your home was known for and they now grew happily alongside the beautiful carnations of the Riveria Kingdom.

It was like he was asking for the impossible, really. He could’ve lived with you never being in love with him, hating him until your last dying breath, yes, he had faced much worse in his short time as a king. He just wanted one smile, a real one, one that didn’t just ghost your lips at a memory, one that stretched all the way to your eyes and lit up your face better than any light ever could.

Oikawa offered his arm to you, an invitation to hold onto him to at least maintain the front of a happy royal family while you both made the walk to the town center. But, it was only ignored, leaving both to trail along in silence and a sense of discomfort that hung in the air heavier than the humidity of a summer’s day. Each question he asked was only answered with short words, brief and curt. Your hatred for him still burned in your chest, but even he noticed that your sharp tongue had dulled. Maybe it had just become exhausting or maybe you just didn’t even care to let him know that you wanted nothing to do with him anymore, instead choosing to lock yourself away during the day, only appearing before him for meals when you would offer the same short responses as you did now.

It was only when the lights were flickering clearly in front of you and the sounds of music could be heard did you take up his arm. The whole of the kingdom had a hard enough time finding something to like about their young king, they didn’t need to know about his failure of a marriage behind the castle doors as well, something that both of you agreed on. It was just better for the public image to put on fake smiles when the two of you needed to appear in public together, but yours was wiped from your perfectly painted lips faster than he could comprehend the minute you were secure in the privacy of the palace walls once more.

Quiet whispers echoed through the crowd at the first sighting of the two young royals emerging from the evening, arm and arm. Tooru raised in hand in greeting, his polite smile on his lips as his subjects fell to their knees in his presence. “Now, that’s not necessary. We’re here to have a good time, just like the rest of you. There’s no need to be formal with us,” Tooru says, his clear voice carrying easily over the crowd, but his smile falters as he sniffs the air. “Do you smell that? Pork buns?”

“Yes, your highness. My wife makes them fresh just for these festivals.”

“Well, I’m quite hungry, aren’t you?” He turns to you and you’re nearly taken aback. Handsome. It was a word that you have long used to describe Oikawa Tooru. Even if he carried the painful weight of his predecessor’s crimes and the stress of dealing with a massive kingdom’s daily upkeep, he had always been handsome with a strong physique and perfectly sculpted features. But, cast in the warm glow of candlelight bouncing off of cobblestone, his kind eyes only appeared to be swimming in pools of caramel and honey as he stared at you, waiting patiently for your answer.

“Yes. I would love to try them. They smell fantastic,” you stumble out only to leave him laughing at the way you shrank against him in embarrassment at your delayed response.

“I can get those for you, your highness! You enjoy the festival with the queen and I can find you when they’re ready!”

Tooru nodded towards the townsperson. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you. Come, darling, we have plenty to see before the night is over.”

He tugged you along the outskirts of the festival, taking his time to fully examine what each of the vendors had set up. There was a man selling mead by the pint. Tooru offered him two gold pieces, asking if that would cover everyone’s drinks for the rest of the evening. The woman selling the most wonderful smelling tarts couldn’t stop laughing at how absolutely amazed Oikawa was that she could make lemon taste so good, asking for her recipe so he could pass it along to his own chef at the palace, because he “wanted to eat this every night” for the rest of his life. An elderly couple had hand-woven shawls, explaining that they used scraps of the fabrics that were used to craft the clothes they sold in their shop. Tooru couldn’t keep his hands away from the beautiful red one that had touches of silver thread woven in. It was just so soft and he was more than sure that it would be perfect for the chilly nights when he liked to sit out on his balcony. He let you pick one out for yourself, laying two more gold pieces in the man’s hand before wishing him a pleasant night.

But it was the kind man selling flowers that caught your attention. Like you were in a dream, you drifted away from Tooru who had found himself pre-occupied by a group of young gentlemen, laughing as they told him stories of their travels and their lives.

“They’re lovely, aren’t they, your highness?”

“They’re stunning. I didn’t know that you could grow Aster daisies here.” He smiled at you, offering one of the blue flowers out to you. “It’s not easy, but with enough tender care, anything can grow. Those roses that your husband grows around the castle? Difficult beauties. They’re more suited for the mountainous regions. I’ve tried countless times to get those pesky roses to grow here, but they just don’t like the moisture we have here, but our king has paid special attention to get those to thrive. It’s brilliant, really, how much care he put into getting those flowers to bloom. My wife and I used to be able to see him out in the mornings, down by those rose bushes, constantly checking and preening away. I don’t think he trusted a damn soul anywhere near those things- can’t remember a time that I saw anyone else but him near them. I’d like to cross them with our carnations. They could make something beautiful, I’m sure.”

But you didn’t hear him, your gaze had been swept up towards the gates of the palace where in the daylight you would’ve been able to see the bright blossoms of the roses that were everywhere in your youth, the flowers that reminded you of home and how every room in the castle would smell like fresh roses and how someone would ask at the end of each week, what color roses you would like for your room. You always chose the white ones that someone smelled sweeter than the others, the same white roses that now grew in front of your new home. You were lost in the thought of all the times where you would sit across from your husband at breakfast and there would be just the trace present of dirt underneath his fingernails and yet, you never bothered to ask what from, simply choosing to ignore his questions and push any attempts of conversation away. Oikawa Tooru had done what seemed impossible all for you to have the barest sense of home that he could provide. Arrangements of white roses and pink carnations adorned the table every day and yet, you could never look past the anger in your heart to see the way that his eyes only looked at you with every ounce of adoration he could muster, wanting nothing more than for you to be happy here, to be happy with him.

“They’re lovely flowers, really. Thank you. I will be sure that my husband knows of your excellent work. I’m sure he would love to talk to you about his roses,” you say, giving a shallow curtsey before weaving through the crowd to find that mop of brown curls that were always tossed back in a hearty laugh. As much as you wanted to take your grudge against his father out on him and as much as he just stood there and took each cold word, he had put so much work into trying to make everything as comfortable as possible for you. He put himself on the back burner all for you and if he put so much care into making you sure that you could bloom in full beauty just like those roses that twined together with carnations, then maybe-

“Tooru.” The sound of his name had his laughter halting as he turned to face you, concern scrunching his brows in a silent question, but they quickly raised in shock when you took his face between your hands, pulling his head down to place your forehead against his as he let his own hands sit on your waist. “I want to be happy. I want to be happy with you. And- and I know that I’ve made it hard, but with enough care, anything can grow and I want to grow with you.”

#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#oikawa #oikawa tooru #oikawa x reader #royalty au #haikyuu x reader

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fbdo1986 · 4 years

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halloween headcanons for everyone’s (or at least my own) favorite ot3!

i’m approaching this with the au in place that they don’t start dating until the summer after senior year/a few weeks up to a month after the events of the film! so they don’t really do the high school party thing in their relationship! that being said, ferris and sloane did go to a few halloween parties while dating in hs, and were always known for their couples costumes that Obviously only a bi guy and girl could pull off! consider: they went as romeo and juliet one year, wearing clothing that resembled shakespearean dress. that’s all you need to know about these two giantic and obnoxious dorks who are literally perfect for one another and also cooler than the population of their high school.

when it comes to halloweens in their relationship though, they tend to stick to themselves/a night in! when they’re in college they sort of try the whole party thing, but it’s really not cameron’s scene, so they sorta abandon it! if the two are really itching to go to a party though, cam will stay home and prep their own party in his dorm while they go out for a bit!

what their parties entail: halloween music! these three love their dance parties, so they always need a soundtrack! the classics everyone loves! the monster mash! psycho killer! highway to hell! werewolves of london! also, horror/halloween movies! none of them are scared of them, although cam can be slightly squeamish when it comes to gore and blood, but he sucks it up most of the time. they end up watching campy halloween flicks more often than not, they’re ferris’s favorite! sloane has a love-hate relationship with slasher movies (hate mostly for the ones that exploit their female protagonists) but she likes the more classic ones! i think that ferris is very adamant about how anti-feminist and sexist a lot of horror movies are, even moreso than sloane is, and it makes cam and sloane laugh. of course they agree, but there’s something totally hilarious about pausing a movie mid-way through only for ferris bueller to rant to you about anti-feminist movies. i think cameron likes thrillers the best! they always have a good time with paranormal movies too. movies bring the Best out of chatty ferris, and they don’t mind, because out of any movie to talk during, why wouldn’t it be during a horror movie in which you bond in yelling hopelessly for the protagonist to make a better decision? fun fact! they all like watching it’s the great pumpkin, charlie brown together early in the evening. it’s a childhood staple for all three of them, and they like to prepare themselves by making big mugs of tea/cocoa/apple cider beforehand, putting on their comfiest sweaters, and cozying up on the couch!

candy preferences!!!!! idk why this brings me so much joy to think about but it does! first off, ferris has an ADAMANT hatred of candy corn. the first time sloane brings it home it becomes a huge Thing because of course, everything is a Thing with ferris. sloane doesn’t really see what the problem is, but this sends ferris into a giant spiel about how much it sucks, which ends with cameron annoyingly trying to hit ferris with said candy corn to shut him up. cameron won’t eat a lot of it anyway because it’s so sugary, so sloane doesn’t find it worth it to get any because it’d just be her having it. however, it becomes an inside joke every subsequent holiday, sloane taunting him with a small amount she’s acquired somewhere. ferris likes chocolate-y candy the best, cameron prefers chocolate candies with caramel, and sloane likes peanut butter and chocolate the best!

costumes! i touched on this slightly in the first hc but i honestly don’t think the trio are going to dress up in costume if they’re just sitting in cam’s dorm/are at home. it’s a thing if they’re having friends over (or if jeanie comes to visit! they like to go full out for her if she’s coming) or if they go out, but it’s not the usual. instead, they still wear like, halloween attire/themed clothing and obviously spend time in their thoroughly decorated living room. if they do dress up, i’ve thought of a few costumes i definitely think they’d try their hand at! i definitely think one year cameron dresses up like a vampire/dracula and like. yes these sweeties are always aware of how beautiful their partners are but the fact that he looks So starkly different from how he normally shocks them in the best way because he looks so awesome and so handsome. almost immediately, after they process their initial shock of how different cam looks, sloane and ferris begin a bit about how they’re just two innocent strangers who somehow showed up at his castle and they “really hope they don’t get turned into vampires by this tall handsome and brooding stranger!” this continues until they’re just hanging out on the couch and watching a movie when ferris lays his head on cam’s shoulder and sloane shouts that his neck is exposed, so she has to “kill” him by stabbing him in the heart with a stake before he turns ferris into a vampire, it’s so incredibly dramatic but cam loves every second of it. as suggested by my friend jon, i think ferris as a zombie baseball player would be a fantastic look. honestly, ferris as any type of jock would definitely make cam and sloane swoon, even though cameron is technically the jock out of the three of them. while this is mildly self indulgent just because i think sloane would rock a suit, i think if sloane went as a magician one year, complete with a top hat of course, i think she’d have so much fun with it! generally i think sloane likes to have a lot of fun with her costumes, and likes to get them super accurate to whatever she’s portraying. i also think that costumes for three people are a bit hard to come by, but for shits i’m gonna explore the advanced taste if the three of them went as brian, sally, and maximillian from cabaret. i think it’d be especially fun if cameron was brian, since technically ferris should be since he’s the one who has a lasting relationship with sally, but let’s be honest with ourselves. who suits a suave stranger like max more than ferris?

traditions! i touched on this also a bit earlier, but i think the trio generally love cooking for one another, so i think they make it a point to make things extra special on holidays! they all probably contribute to cooking the various parts of meals together, but usually one of them (most likely sloane, she’s precise with measurements that baking requires whereas ferris likes to have more fun improvising when cooking) will make dessert! it’s almost always pumpkin cookies, but sometimes a pie will make an appearance! also, i think because these three are incredibly sentimental, a holiday absolutely calls for photos together, even during their mundane halloweens spent at home. they’re brandishing their jack-o-lantern’s, making sure there’s evidence of their costumes when they dress up, and if jeanie is coming over it’s a must. they like having photos of them with her. no one’s quite as much of family as she is! expanding on jeanie, i think if jeanie does come to visit, chances are (it’s a fun spin on a headcanon i made not too long ago) she brings the bueller dog who she’s firmly taken in to their apartment and they end up walking him all together around the neighborhood, admiring the decorations and saying hello to any kids who might be passing through there trick-or-treating! (also jeanie acts like she’s too cool for this, but she’s definitely got some sort of costume on this dog. there’s no way around it.)

#fucking betrayed myself and spelled carmel like caramel what’s happening to me #yknow i really am thinking about how much the trio would like an american werewolf in london #also AGH having cam being a vampire/dracula to just. subvert/reclaim vampirism from its antisemitic origins? I LOVE IT #i really COULD go on but i also wanna get these out there!!!!! enjoy these they're quite silly but i love these three and i love their #little domestic life together #fbdo rambles #ferris bueller #sloane peterson #cameron frye #happy halloween babes!!!!!

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barrysjumpsuit · 4 years

Text

the dark side - jj maybank x shoupe’s daughter, ch. 1

w/c: 1.9k

summary: catherine shoupe has the perfect life. when she gets hired by heyward to run groceries, she has a new coworker - jj maybank. as the deputy’s daughter, she can’t help but hate him. but when jj decides to bring her to the dark side and woo her over, cat not only has to hide her activities from her father, but also hide who she really is.

warnings: none for this chapter

a/n: i’m super excited for this! making it up as i go.... posting may be slightly delayed/irregular since i’m busy with working and moving but who knows i’ll probably waste my time and work on this more than i should

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Cat’s feet and back ached, and the sun felt good on her cool skin as she stepped out of the overly air-conditioned grocery store she had been in since they opened that morning. She sat down on a bench in a shaded area between the store and a coffee shop, resting and enjoying her fifteen minute break.

The same thing. Every day, five days a week. Cat would be the opener for the grocery store, getting there at four in the morning and working until ten. It was smaller, a hippie fresh market type of place with fresh produce and organic products. Very Kook-y. It drew tourists and locals alike, as well as a bunch of people her age, working for grocery delivery services.

Morning shifts in the summer were nice because they drew more of the local crowd. The working class, like her, though still kooks. Moms grabbing their groceries after dropping their kids off at school, working professionals stopping by for premade sandwiches or donuts for their coworkers. That particular morning, her dad had stopped by for his own lunch and spent entirely too long chatting with her.

Cat enjoyed seeing people, asking them about plans for their days. She often suggested the best surfing spots and restaurants to the non-locals, while striking up easy conversations with the regulars that frequented the market in the mornings. After work she often took her brother out to the beach. It was her mission this summer to teach him how to surf. In the evenings, if her dad wasn’t working, she would help her mom cook dinner and they would have a big family meal. It was repetitive, but perfect and full of things and people she loved.

After her fifteen minute break was up, she went back inside, but her manager pulled her aside before she returned to her checking lane.

“Hey, Catherine, come see me in my office?” Mrs. Lee’s voice rang out.

There was a brief nervousness that made Cat’s stomach roll over, but it quickly vanished once she saw the smile on the store owner’s face. “So you know Heyward, right?”

“Of course,” she answered, smiling at the thought. She knew the man and his son well - they were always in and out, buying groceries for their customers. “He’s awesome. What about him?”

“He and I are partners now,” she continued, obviously excited about the development. “He’s looking to hire some new people to deliver groceries. I know you love being out on the water and talking to people, so I figured I’d ask to see if you were interested. It’ll come with a bump in your pay, too.”

“Yes!” she said, perhaps a little too eagerly. “I’m definitely interested. Does he want an interview?”

Mrs. Lee laughed. “He said if you were interested, you’re on board automatically. He knows you’re a good worker. I’ll call him and let him know and get back at you, okay?”

“Sounds good! Thanks, Mrs. Lee,” Cat said, smiling back at her before leaving her office.

Going back to her checking lane was almost bittersweet, knowing that lane three had been hers for almost two years. As soon as she flipped her light back on, a local came through, eagerly starting up a conversation and letting Cat know how his son was doing in the summer little league baseball series.

After she got off, she cranked the AC on in her car and began the drive home. The place was flooded with tourists, the summer season officially in full swing. She lived right off the main strip, which was fun and convenient, but could get annoying when anyone and everyone was there.

“Hey Cat!” her brother greeted her as she got home. He was sitting on the couch, watching TV.

“Hey Tyler! Want to go out for ice cream later?” she asked, and he nodded excitedly. “I’ll make us some lunch then we can go after that.”

“Okay!” she heard him respond as she jogged up the carpeted steps. She walked past her parent’s bedroom and then into hers, kicking off her shoes and changing into flowy shorts and a basic tee before going back downstairs to make lunch.

The rest of the day was pleasant and uneventful. After they ate lunch, she took Tyler to the ice cream place two blocks away. He got birthday cake while she got peppermint, enjoying the cool sensation on the hot day. They walked on the beach, her brother talking nonstop about the video game he was playing, while Cat smiled and faked listening.

She was really listening to the sound of the waves lapping at the store, and the voices of those who lounged on the beach. Some were playing in the ocean, some were playing games in the soft sand.

Her father was off work at six, so once they returned home, it wasn’t long until her mother got off work and they started prepping dinner. Cat’s mom was laid back, always smiling, which she loved. She left her work at the office, unlike her father.

Being the daughter of a sheriff’s deputy was odd. Cat didn’t mind it. There were rules in place, of course, but she hadn’t any urge to break them. There were people from her school out doing drugs and drinking most nights of the week, but Cat had never touched any of that. She had a curfew, but she didn’t really mind it.

Her dad got home right before dinner was ready. He pulled Cat towards him, kissing the top of her head before kissing her mom on the lips. “How are my ladies this evening?” he asked, grinning. A patch on his uniform read Shoupe in bold letters, and he was still fully clad in his uniform.

“Pretty good,” Cat answered, stirring the sauce that was simmering on the stove.

They made light conversation until her dad went to change out of his work clothes while Cat and her mom set the table and plated up dinner.

“How was work, Cat?” her dad asked when they were sat down and eating.

“It was good. The usual. But, I got a new job!”

“Oh?” her mom asked, taking a sip of wine and raising her eyebrows.

“Heyward and Mrs. Lee are working together now, and Heyward needs runners. So he wants me. I get a pay bump too.”

Cat was smiling, but it dropped when she saw her dad’s face. Her mom noticed too, casting him a glare, and he spoke. “That’s great, honey. But be careful, okay?”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Her father hated her going near the Cut. Not that she had much reason or urge to, but she knew it could be rough down there. He often worked down there, on the south side of the island, and constantly told stories about shoplifting Pogues and underage drinking. “Dad, it’s Heyward’s. It’s basically Figure Eight.”

“I know, I’m just saying,” he said, raising his hands in surrender.

“Can you take me on the delivery boat sometime?” Tyler asked, luckily rerouting the conversation.

The issue was luckily dropped, but Cat still felt bad. She didn’t know why - she was seizing the opportunity, something her parents had always encouraged. Cat had been working ever since she was old enough. Her father always told her, a good work ethic is the most important thing you can have. They were urging her to save up for college, and now she was essentially being promoted.

Mrs. Lee had texted her during dinner. Heyward wants you to start tomorrow! Meet him at 9, wear whatever you want.

She responded to the text before settling down in bed with a book. At ten, before she went to bed, her father stepped into her room after knocking softly on her door.

“Hey, dad,” she said, and he walked over to sit on her bed. Cat pulled her feet up to give him some room and put her book down on her nightstand.

“I’m happy for you, Cat,” he said, smiling at her. “Just be careful, okay? With all the boat traffic now and going everywhere… Heyward’s a good guy. I trust him.”

“I will, dad. You know me. I grew up on the water.”

He smiled again. “Yeah, you did. Have fun tomorrow, okay? Good night.”

“G’night, dad,” she said as her father stood and left the room.

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Cat woke up early, not used to getting to sleep in since she usually was at the grocery store before dawn. Her parents had already left for work, leaving Tyler in front of the TV as normal. She made a smoothie before changing into shorts and a t-shirt.

“Bye, Ty!” she called as she left the house at 8:30, closing the back door behind her before heading to her car.

It was about a 20 minute drive to Heyward’s from her house. When she got there, she quickly located him on the dock, filling a gas can. As she stepped onto the dock, he gave her a wave, and quickly hurried over.

Heyward gave her an impromptu ‘training’. How to read the orders, how to use the boat’s navigation. It was simple, and she knew most of the people who had put in orders for that day. “Right now I have two people who shop and two of you who run and deliver together, each day,” he was explaining. “Here’s your work shirt, I don’t give a damn what pants you wear as long as your ass isn’t hangin’ out.”

He thrust three t-shirts of different colors towards her, each with the Heyward’s logo printed on it before taking her into the office to discuss her pay and scheduling. Since she was already in the system, it went by quickly, and she ran her printed schedule to her car and slipped into her new work shirt before returning to the dock.

“There’s those sons of bitches getting back now,” he said, waving at two people who stood on a white boat pulling up to dock. “Catherine, go ahead and start carrying over the groceries in the cooler over there, time for your first run.”

She went inside the small building and started pulling bags out of the ice, full of produce and goods from her store. She noticed Heyward’s son, Pope, standing on the boat, and he held out his hands to take the bags from her to load.

“You working here now?” he asked, and she nodded. Cat had always liked Pope; they went to the same school until high school. He was quiet and witty, which she appreciated, and they had even sat together at lunch one year.

As soon as she finished handing Pope the groceries, she took his outstretched hand and climbed onto the boat.

“Hey Catherine!” she heard Heyward call. She turned to see him, grinning at her. “These are your new coworkers. Have fun.”

Pope grinned at her, but Heyward said coworkers. Plural.

A blond boy came into her line of sight, smirking. Cat’s heart sank as she recognized who it was, and she considered getting off the boat, but couldn’t bring herself to move or speak. It was someone she hadn’t seen in quite a while, and she was okay with that.

JJ was the first to speak up, his voice smooth and cocky. “Hey, kitty Cat, long time, no see.”

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taglist: @letsgofullkook @stargazingstarkey @sortagaysortahigh @jjsmentalpolaroids @ims0golden @jjmaybcnks @shawnssongs @queenk00k @broken-jj

#jj maybank #outer banks #obx #outer banks fanfiction #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank fanfiction #deputy shoupe #daddy shoupe

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