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#first date: remove those stupid ''arm rests'' on benches
uncanny-tranny · 3 years
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Oooooh you wanna destroy anti-homeless architecture so bad oooooooh
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hoekaashi · 4 years
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3 am Talks - hq pt 4
a/n: first and foremost, please don’t attack me for the twins’ accent. i know i didn’t even try but i also don’t have the brain capacity to do it rn. second, i know i did karasuno but i was requested to do asahi after posting it and i wasn’t gonna make a separate post for just him so i slapped his ass onto this one (: pairings: kita x reader, atsumu x reader, osamu x reader, suna x reader, sakusa x reader, asahi x reader warnings: language, some spoilers for post time skip taglist: @babydabi​, @suckersuki​, @bakugoustanaccount​, @animoozies​ part 3
‧͙⁺˚*・༓☾ *:・゚✧*:・゚✧✧・゚: *✧・゚:*  ☽༓・*˚⁺‧͙
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⇾ omg this boy is gonna talk about how proud he his of his teammates ⇾ like full on proud dad moment (i imagine him like that one panel from the last chapter, just so proud) ⇾ he’s such a soft man, he would talk about how he wants to start a family with you ⇾ what do you mean the sheep aren’t our kids??? ⇾ so would wear a soft smile listening to you ramble on about something ⇾ he would love to hear whatever was going on inside your mind, would never tell you to stop talking or cut you off. Ever.
You climbed into bed after waking up to pee in the middle of the night. Kita had been up for a while and you were unsure as to why he was still up. Before you fell asleep, the two of you had been watching his old teammates play a match on tv and he had been praising them the entire time. “What are you doing up still?” “I was texting in the group chat after you fell asleep and I just can’t sleep now.” You sat cross legged next to him. “What’s on your mind now?” “How I want to start a family with you in the future.” That came out of the blue. Neither of you really talked about that far in the future. “The twins started arguing again and Aran started yelling at me to get them to stop. I asked him why he was telling me to stop them and everyone replied that it was because I’m the only one they still listen to. And then everyone started talking about how I was like the team dad even after all this time and I started thinking about how I would be if I was a father and if I would still act the same. I looked down at you sleeping and the thought just came to me.” You were speechless. “I mean, not that I have any problems with having kids with you, but I wouldn’t classify the twins as test subjects on your parental qualifications. I don’t think they compare to toddlers because the twins actually listen.” “Well, that’s why we have chicken. And sheep.” Kita gave you a warm smile. “Honey, I love you, but please don’t tell me that you just compared animals to human children. Possibly ours.” “It’s okay. It’s good practice.”
.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・.
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⇾ for as much as i shit on him, i do love atsumu (osamu is the superior twin, sorry lei) ⇾ but this poor baby would always be in such a negative head space after losing a match ⇾ literally thinks his entire team hates him, his coach wants to replace him, his brother and ex teammates would look down on him, wondering what was so great about him ⇾ he would just need to get his feelings out without judgement - just hold him while he word vomits but sometimes he does need to hear some motivation to get him out of his funk ⇾ this kind of feeds into the other things he would talk about if he didn’t have a match ⇾ just a lot of talk about his insecurities and how he feels inferior to other people his cocky persona is fake ⇾ just wrap him in a blanket and feed him comfort food as he lets out everything weighing down on his heart
“If I didn’t fuck up five serves, we coulda won.” Atsumu was laying on his stomach with his head on your lap as you ran your fingers through his hair. “You weren’t the only person who messed up today. You can’t blame yourself for losing the game when everyone made a mistake at some point.” “But mine were so easy to prevent.” He wrapped his arms around your waist tighter. “I know when I go into practice next week, coach is gonna bench me. I’m not even mad, I deserve it.” “Tsumu, don’t say that.” “It’s true. Samu even called me out on it after. And I know the entire team wants me out.” At this point, you didn’t know what else to say because no matter what, Atsumu was going to believe that he was the worst player on the team. “I’m just holding everyone back.” Your hand stilled in his hair. “Tsumu, the only other setter who’s managed to pull off that crazy quick with Hinata is Kageyama. Plus you got Bokuto on your team too! Both of those players are so high energy and hard to manage, yet you make it look so easy. So you had an off day, everyone does. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days -” He got up and glared at you before you had a chance to finish what you were saying. “Hannah Montana is not the right person to bring into this motivational speech.” “But you sing Hoedown Throwdown and True Friend on a weekly basis.” “And you better take that sentence with you to the grave.” You grinned at him. “But imagine how much money I could get for selling those twelve little words to the press.” Yes. He tackled you and made you swear on your life that you wouldn’t tell a soul.
.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・.
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⇾ it depends on his mood: either he’s doing all the talking or he’s strictly listening, there’s no in between ⇾ when he’s talking, it could be about a n y t h i n g ⇾ from atsumu to food to you to work to a new show he’s watching to kita to meeting up with friends ⇾ literally anything ⇾ he doesn’t necessarily need to know you for a long time, but he does need to feel close to you if he ever talks about how he feels about you ⇾ he’s not the type to be soft of the regular, so when he is being soft, he’ll be even quieter, maybe even hide his face in your neck or your stomach depending on the position the two of you are cuddling in ⇾ when you’re the one doing the talking, his hands are always busy doing something - most of the time playing with your hair, but it could also be playing with your hands, massaging your hips, etc
“- so Kita blocked our numbers.” “I mean, you did cuss out Atsumu while his phone was on speaker and he was with his grandmother.” “How was I supposed to know that?” he asked quietly into your neck. You laughed. “Let him talk next time. You and your brother you are adults now, so stop arguing like children.” “I can’t help it, he pisses me off sometimes.” You hummed. “Give Kita a fruit basket or take him out to lunch and apologize.” He rubbed his thumb over your knuckles before pulling you closer into his chest. “Yeah I’ll do that.” “Ooo! What if you have him test out that new recipe you were telling -” “No. I always have you test new dishes and that won’t change,” he mumbled. “Samu?” He nuzzled his face further, his breath warm on your neck. His hand moved to your hip and alternated from massaging you to rubbing his hand up and down. “You’ve gotten me this far and everything worked fine. I don’t wanna change anything.” You reached back and lightly scratched the nape of his neck. You turned over and found his face closer to yours that you expected. His arm went back to resting on your hips with his hand on your butt, pulling you closer. He gave you a light kiss on the tip of your nose. “Are you saying I’m your good luck charm?” you asked teasingly. “Nothing’s gone wrong since you’ve come into my life. I’m gonna fucking marry you one day.” You smiled. “Yeah, you also said that when you got your wisdom teeth removed. I’m still waiting on the ring.” He pulled you into a hug, your head in his chest, his lips placing another kiss on your forehead. “Don’t rush me or your not getting anything.”
.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・.
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⇾ he wouldn’t talk at 3 am ⇾ would literally tell you to shut up and go to sleep ⇾ and if you didn’t stop talking, he would get up and either go to someone else’s place or tell you to leave ⇾ this man does not care about what you’re thinking or what you have to say when he’s trying to sleep ⇾ so don’t expect him to be all soft and listen to you - better yet, talk
“So I was thinking -” Suna grumbled. “Yeah? You better stop thinking.” “But I’ll forget in the morning.” “Then it wasn’t necessary to talk about.” “I’m gonna say it.” “You’re gonna shut the fuck up if you wanna sleep here tonight.”
.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・.
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⇾ a listener ⇾ would literally tell you to shut up and go to bed jk, not really ⇾ if he’s up at 3 am with you, he’s listening to music ⇾ for sure he won’t be talking and doesn’t really want to have to pay attention to whatever you’re saying ⇾ not in a rude way but like, it’s late and he doesn’t feel like using brain cells at the time ⇾ if you are talking and he loves you, he won’t tell you to shut up or stop, but don’t expect a reply from him ⇾ depending on his mood, he’ll choose to listen or not, and when he’s listening, he’ll make sure you know that he is
“Did you make this lofi playlist?” You were scrolling through your shared Spotify account on your phone, trying to find something to listen to since neither of you could sleep. “Yes.” You played it, both of you enjoying the soothing music that filled the quiet of the room. “Do you have a fanclub?” Sakusa hummed. “Is that a yes or a no?” It took him a minute, but he replied. “Not sure. Why?” “I don’t know how I feel about a group of girls drooling over you.” Were you proud? Jealous? Indifferent? You couldn’t figure it out. But the fact that he asked made you happy that he cared enough to bother listening to you. “Why should you care?” You looked over at him. “Well, what if they’re the crazy type of fans who try to break in here. Or don’t like that we’re dating and try to kill me?” He laid there in silence with his eyes closed as you spoke about all the extreme types of fans that you had heard about. Once you finished, he remained quiet. You felt bad, thinking that you bored him to sleep. “Love, I think you’ve been listening to too many true crime podcasts.” “But still, those types of people exist.” Sakusa shifted with his eyes closed, pulling you so you were resting on his chest. “Stop thinking about that. It’s stupid. Now go to sleep.” “But -” “Go to sleep.” “I can’t.” He shushed you. “Sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・.
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⇾ jesus would talk about his insecurities ⇾ would catch you up with his friends aka the other third years ⇾ but also i feel like his anxiety traveled with him into adulthood so like, lots of stress talks about releasing new designs on time and not wanting to let people down/be a failure ⇾ he would talk about his travels too, the different things he enjoyed from each country he visited with noya ⇾ would make plans to go somewhere with you when both of you had the time to drop off the face of the earth for a little bit
“So where else did you want to visit?” you asked. “Maybe Switzerland?” You nodded. “That’s a good choice. Want to do anything specific?” “Not really. When I was with Noya, we kind of just winged everything. It was more exciting and memorable that way.” “I do remember you being more free.” Whenever he called you or sent you pictures and videos, he seemed more happy. “Really?” “Uh huh.” “I do remember feeling less stressed. I have a deadline coming up soon and the pressure is intense.” “Does it feel like volleyball stress?” He gave you a little shrug. “A bit? I have a team - a different type of team - and I don’t want to let them down, but in this case, I’m the captain without anyone to rely on. Everyone else needs me to have everything together, so I don’t have the time to freak out or be stressed.” “Yet, you’re still a ball of anxiety.” “Am I?” He grimaced. You nodded. “I’m trying to get better. It’s really hard when there’s a voice in the back of your mind telling you that if you mess up, everyone will be let down and disappointed in you. On top of that, the media and public are so harsh with everything. There’s just a lot of pressure.” “But you’ve done so well. Sure things were a little shaky when you first started, but you’re well known now and well loved.” “You have a point. I’ll do better for you.” You smiled. “I’m already proud of you, don’t worry about that.”
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sevsnapeposts · 2 years
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Snapetober Day 3: Pumpkin carving.
hello everyone. this took more than it should've, honestly, but here it is. i feel like a made a mistake somewhere on the translation but oh well. Sev POV btw. feel free to read it over in ao3 if you'd like, and also if you'd be kind enough, go give me some kudos over there. thanks, hope you enjoy~.
Day 3 - Pumpkin craving.
--
Severus had an incredible ability to carve pumpkins. Where it came from, he had no idea, but he was capable of making all kinds of faces and figures, from a classic malevolent pumpkin to minimal landscapes and human faces. The most impressive thing is that he did it without the use of a wand: Armed with a good knife and an occasional extra object, he carved the pumpkin in the most traditional way possible.
He knew of the existence of his gift since he was a child. He was 8, on the first Halloween for which his mother had gotten some money to decorate his room, in an attempt to give him some happiness. The woman had done this after they passed one of the most beautiful houses on the street, which had a lot of little lights and scary decorations, and she noticed the glint of longing in her little son's eyes.
So, Eileen had managed to get some pumpkins at the fruit stand a few blocks away. There were three of them, a bit ugly and old, as well as small, but that would be more than enough for her and her child.
Severus clearly remembered the expression of his mother, who had marveled when he, using the razor with great care, had perfectly copied the face of the largest pumpkin in that house. Eileen's face had lit up like never before, the usual melancholy and weariness of her fading completely. She had laughed, and hugged him, and she let him carve the other two pumpkins, keeping a close eye to avoid any accidents, even though Severus was more than capable of doing it without a hitch.
The little pumpkins didn’t make it to Halloween though, because three days later (and two days before that date), Tobias found them and smashed them in half, shouting in his drunkenness that in his house no one was going to celebrate those stupid festivities, nor have decorations, nor spend money or time on them.
Severus had cried himself to sleep.
When he met Lily, however, he again had the opportunity to demonstrate his art. Lily took all of the pumpkins to her house, and they all adorned the Evans' yard even after Halloween, only being removed when Christmas got close enough. She had been fascinated, and during her years at Hogwarts, when the time came, she would always get one or two for him to carve out some pretty ornaments and then take them to her bedroom. Even after the end of their friendship, as a kind of apology, tribute, or torture (he didn't know which of the three, honestly), Severus would make pumpkins with flowers and leave them lying around, never close enough to any of them.
After Lily's death, Severus hadn't carved one again.
At least until that day. October had just begun, and he was stuck in Malfoy Manor keeping Lucius company, who since the divorce complained that the mansion was "too big and empty." Severus thought he well deserved it, but he still appreciated him too much to refuse an explicit invitation to stay with him for that month, as a more than special guest.
Of course, Prue was there too. Severus couldn't understand how she had gotten through things so easily, how she was able to sit at the same table as the man who had caused her so much fear and so many nightmares; but if she was comfortable enough with him to agree to stay at his house, then he had no say in it.
In any case, Lucius hadn’t invited them just because he could: He also knew that this was the now young woman's favorite month, and therefore, he couldn’t give her a better gift than to let her spend all those dates without lifting a finger, with elves attending all her wishes and without any responsibility beyond taking one side or the other between the "very mature" arguments the two men had all the time.
Prue always sided with Severus, unless Lucius bribed her with chocolates.
Be that as it may, at the time, the trio were in the back garden of the mansion, where a heap of pumpkins of all sorts of sizes and shapes were being arranged by a couple of elves.
"Overdone as always", Severus said, sighing through his nose and rolling his eyes in mock annoyance. Lucius smiled at him, pleased as always to show off his ability to do whatever he pleased.
"I thought you might need a few to practice first", the blond replied.
"There are more than fifty", commented Prue, who was standing between them, holding hands with Severus.
Happens that, during breakfast, Lucius had brought up Severus' old custom with pumpkins. Prue proved she was very interested in it, as she had never imagined that he would have any artistic ability, and she had asked him to see some of his work. He was saying that it was not a big deal, and that he hadn’t touched a pumpkin for more than 19 years, and that there wasn’t even one there, when Lucius called his elves and sent them to buy "a few", declaring that he wouldn’t escape giving them a show and, incidentally, decorating the mansion.
Lucius was undoubtedly still fulfilling Prue's whims.
"Well, I suppose we can sit here whilst you slaughter a few vegetables”, purred the master of the manor. Just after he pronounced those words, one of the elves snapped its fingers, three chairs and two tall benches appearing near the trio. Lucius invited Prue to sit down while he handed Severus the "pumpkin killing tools," as the youngest of the three had called them. In return, he asked for his wand. “To avoid cheating. You always said it was manual”.
"And it is", Severus replied with annoyance, though he still held out his wand, which Lucius tucked into his coat. Then he went to sit in the chair next to Prue, who was watching them intently with those pretty eyes. Severus noticed that she was smiling slightly at him, and returned the gesture.
"I think an average pumpkin would be a good start", Lucius commented, crossing one leg over the other. Prue nodded, and the blond drew his own wand, pointing at a medium pumpkin, which floated up to the trio, hovering in the air in front of him. He used a simple incantation to empty the inside of the fruit, and Severus took it at last.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous, but he still got to work on it.
Half an hour later, the first pumpkin was ready. It had a normal face, not very elaborate, and it smiled wickedly. Lucius scored it with a "not bad at all," as he stared at the fruit, head laying on Prue's shoulder (who had only stiffened a bit). Then they both asked him to do another.
And so, by the end of the day, almost all of the pumpkins had been carved. Severus had done most of them, his designs the prettiest and most striking for obvious reasons. He had even made a special one for his two companions: For Lucius, a pumpkin with a snake that wrapped itself around it and finally looked straight ahead with its fangs poking out; and for Prue, a pumpkin-cat of Lucifer.
The rest had been done mainly by Prue, who was encouraged to try after the fifth one. She had just carved funny and cute faces, although one of the pumpkins had been hidden away from everyone and she didn’t let them see it. Lucius scoffed saying that she sure had fucked it up and she didn't want to be humiliated, to which Prue threw an unused pumpkin at his head, making Severus laugh.
The blond ended up using the one that had been thrown at him to carve it himself, although halfway there he got despaired and used his wand to finish it. Severus called him a sore, dirty cheater.
In any case, by the time they went to bed a long time later, after having dinner and entertaining Prue with ghost stories, the entire mansion was already illuminated with the dim light emerging from within the pumpkins. Severus was proud of his creations, and terribly flattered that something he had made was displayed like a trophy for all to see.
His feeling of happiness increased much more when, coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower, he found the sweet scene that was seeing Prue asleep in the bed they shared, covered up to her nose and with her beautiful face totally relaxed, as it was only when she had a day that she had fully enjoyed. Next to her, leaning against the pillow that belonged to the man, was the pumpkin that she hadn’t let anyone see. Severus took it delicately and turned it, finding a carving of a cauldron from which a heart was emerging. Looking between the openings, he noticed that there was a piece of parchment inside of it, which he pulled out with the help of his long fingers.
"Thank you for teaching me how to carve pumpkins. I made this with you in mind. I love you."
That night, for the first time in over 30 years, Severus Snape slept not only with decorations in his room, but with a smile that persisted until dawn.
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starfleetakaashi · 4 years
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— to the only boy i’ve ever loved before; atsumu x reader
GENRE. fake dating au, college au, fluff, and angst if you squint ur pretty eyes!
PAIRING. atsumu miya x fem reader
SUMMARY. Atsumu Miya was a piece of shit, everyone knew, but your horny teenager ass still had a crush on him, and he knew. Oh, did he know. Thankfully, high school days were over and college days had finally rolled by, and your crush for the blonde setter was gone. Or, so you thought.
WORD COUNT. 3.6k words
AUTHOR’S NOTE. i’ve been simping over this fool lately, so i couldn’t help myself!!! this fic is lowkey inspired by tatbilb (to all the boys ive loved before) and idkkk i find that movie so adorable even though the second one was a disappointment. anyways! enjoy this bbies, pls reblog and leave any feedback!! xoxo also wrote this one in one sitting wtf is wrong with me i
“Stop following me, Miya.” You said his name with so much venom laced in your voice that the said man had shivers run up his spine in slight fear. He swallowed his fear, an evil smirk playing on his lips as he placed his hands on his hips.
“I will eventually,” he says, and you give him a side-eye glance. “If you’re willin’ to listen to my proposition.” He smiles at you, and you groan aloud, not exactly having the energy to deal with his bullshit so early in the morning.
He was on his way to morning practice while you were on your way to the library to get some extra studying before your big test in Chemistry, your first class of the day. His presence was not in your favor, as he was holding you back from getting any studying done, and Chemistry was in an hour and a half.
“Fine, I’ll listen!” You sigh, rubbing your temples as you exhaled, stress building up already. “Hurry up, will you? I’ve got to study, and last time I checked, you have some plans too.” You say, gesturing to the gym that was right behind Atsumu, who turned back to the gym before nodding at you.
“Be my girlfriend,” he says suddenly, getting straight to the point. If you were drinking something right now, you would have spat it right at his face, and you were starting to wish that you were drinking something just so you could have an excuse to spit at him. 
“Excuse me, what?!” You exclaim, immediately laughing at him, and he rolls his eyes as he allows you to finish your childish laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding, Miya. This is a prank, right? Where’s Bokuto, is he hiding in some bushes?” You ask, looking around. The smile on your face disappears when your eyes land back on Atsumu and realize that he was indeed serious. 
“Don’t act like I wanna actually date ya,” he scoffs, and your eyebrows furrow in confusion. “I meant fake girlfriend, doll.” He smirks, and you blush at the pet name before clearing your throat.
“Me? Your fake girlfriend?” You ask, and he nods. “Now, why would I do that?” In all honesty, high school you would have been freaking out since you harbored the biggest crush on the blonde fool, but thankfully those feelings went away the summer before college, which was already almost two years ago, with you and Miya being in your second year of college.
“Just for the rest of the year, I promise.” He said, and you squinted, trying to find any traces of lies in his face, and you failed to find any. “My fan girls are drivin’ me crazy, [Last Name]-chan! With ya in my arms, they’ll surely leave me alone!” He sighs dreamily, thinking of possible scenarios that would consist of you and him in different situations, some a little too naughty to name.
“Oh, be quiet!” You kicked him, and he whines a little from the hard impact your foot had made with one of his ass cheeks. “What am I gonna get out of this? Your little fan girls might murder me,” you said, and Atsumu looks at you as he rubs his ass.
“Ya get to have me all day any day,” another kick, another whine. “Kiddin’, I was kiddin, gorilla!” Another kick. “I haven’t thought about it, but consider it, yeah? I gotta go, [Last Name]-chan, make sure ya think ‘bout me!” He chuckles evilly, waving goodbye to you as he jogged to the gym, and you said your goodbye through waving your middle finger in the air.
He’s so annoying.
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Bokuto burst out in laughter as you told him what his stupid setter of a teammate had said to you this morning. It was now lunch time, and despite having a rather difficult test in Chemistry a few hours ago, the day went by pretty smoothly.
“It’s not funny, Bo!” You sighed as he calmed down, whispering sorry’s to you before he held his stomach in pain, probably from laughing too hard. “That rascal, how dare he ask me such a weird question!” You gripped your fork harder, the scowl on your face starting to become more apparent than it already was.
“Yes, but think about it!” He says, and you turn to him with a confused look on your face. “Didn’t you have a crush on him in high school? Isn’t it about time you gave the high school version of yourself a little sneak peak?” He wiggles his eyebrows teasingly, and you blush, causing Bokuto to laugh even harder. 
“I hate you, Bokuto!” You yelled, smacking the side of his arm as he threw himself at you, throwing his arms around your neck, engulfing you in a tight hug, and of course, you couldn’t not hug back; it was Bokuto after all. 
“Good afternoon, senpais!” The two of you turn your heads to Hinata, who had just approached you and Bokuto with his lunch box in hand, a bright smile on his face. “You seem like you’re having fun!” He says, sitting down across from you and Bokuto. You dust your shirt off as Bokuto removes himself from you.
“We were!” He says, and you quickly glare at him, afraid he would say something about what the two of you were just talking about. It’s not like you didn’t trust Hinata, you just didn’t want to drag the poor and innocent first year into the dirty intentions that Atsumu held. “[Name] here was asked by Tsum-Tsum to be his girlfriend! Isn’t that sweet?” He asks, and you face-palm yourself. It was your fault for thinking Bokuto wouldn’t open his big mouth after all.
To your surprise, however, Hinata didn’t seem too shocked about it. In fact, he seemed more... intrigued? “Really?” He asks, and Bokuto asks. “So he actually asked you, senpai! What did you say to him?” Hinata asks you, and you and Bokuto blink at each other before reverting your attention back to the orange-haired first year.
“What do you mean, ‘actually’, Hinata?” You ask, and Hinata takes a bite from his sandwich. “You mean he’s mentioned this to you before?” You ask, and he nods. 
“Yeah! I’m the one who suggested it to him,” he says so casually, and Bokuto burst out into another fit of laughter while you sulked. “What, is that bad? I was only trying to help!” He defended himself, and Bokuto pats your head, trying his hardest to stifle a laughter.
“It’s okay, Hinata,” you say, looking up and feeling mentally drained from all the weird events that had occurred to you. “Exactly why did you suggest him that idea?” You ask, and Hinata finishes up his sandwich.
“Well, a week ago, Miya-san came up to me and started talking about his struggles with these girls.” Hinata said as he started chewing on an onigiri that he bought from Atsumu’s brother’s shop, Onigiri Miya. “I felt bad for him, so I started listing some solutions, and the whole fake date thing was one of them!” He grins, and he looked so precious there was no way you could be mad at him.
“See? Why don’t you help out our Tsum-Tsum?” Bokuto asks, and Hinata nods while his eyes were sparkling, and you groan internally. Two of the world’s most precious people were asking you to do them a favor, and a big part of you was telling you to do it. “Plus, your crush on him might come back! That’s extra fun for you, isn’t it?” He asked, and your eyes widened as your face flushed.
“Eh? You had a crush on Miya-san?”
“BOKUTO!!!” 
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“You really beat up Bokkun today, I’m surprised he was still in the right condition to practice properly,” a voice said from behind you, and you didn’t need to turn around to figure out who it belonged to.
“If you want, I can beat you up instead.” You said as you stood up from the bench and turned around, being met with Atsumu’s face so close to yours that if you moved an inch, your lips would meet. Your eyes widen and you abcked away, “Sheesh, don’t stand so close to me, creep!” You shrieked, and he chuckled, throwing his head back as he laughed. 
“What’re ya doin’ out here?” He asked, and you pushed a few strands of your hair behind your ear. “It’s kinda late, ain’t it, [Last Name]-chan?” He looks up at the sky that was littered with stars, the moonlight being the only source of light the two of you had besides the light from inside the gym peeking out from the open doors.
You chose to ignore his question, “Shouldn’t you call me by my first name?” You asked, and he looks down at you, confusion evident in his face. “We’re dating, aren’t we?” You asked nonchalantly, and Atsumu’s face lightens at this, and you rolled your eyes as he engulfed you in a hug and twirled you around.
“Glad to have ya here with me, [Name]-chan!” He smirks, and you couldn’t help the feeling of the butterflies dancing crazily in your stomach as your first name had rolled off his tongue like it was natural. “I’ll take good care of ya!” He winks at you, and you smile at him, catching him a bit off guard.
“Well, you better!” You said, crossing your arms. “I don’t let just anyone date me, Miya!” You said, and Atsumu laughs. 
“No!” He says, and you look at him in confusion, eyebrows furrowed. “Say my first name, call me by that instead. I don’t like the name Miya,” he says, and you roll your eyes, sighing.
“Fine, Atsumu.” You emphasize, a grin on your face, and Atsumu smiled as well, hugging you and twirling you in the air once more. You weren’t too fond with the idea of some piece of shit like Atsumu to be touching you like this, but you were doing him a favor, so you had to get used to it.
What you weren’t expecting, however, was for him to crash his lips onto yours.
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“Still mad at me, babe?” He grins evilly as he leaned against the doorway of your bedroom. You continued to ignore him as you gathered your necessary things inside your bag, feeling your face heat up as memories from last night replayed.
He kissed you. The little shit kissed you on the lips. Although you two were now ‘dating’, it wasn’t something that you expected nor was it something you were ready for so early. A warning would’ve been nice, but you don’t always get what you want.
“The audacity you had, Atsumu,” you finally spoke to him for the first time that morning, and his smirk only grew. “You could’ve warned me! I should have murdered you,” you sighed, gripping your bag as the two of you left your apartment and started your walking journey to the university. Atsumu laughs as he reaches down for your hand, interlocking it with his tightly. You looked down at your intertwined hands before bringing your eyes back to his.
“We’re datin’ now! I can’t always tell ya when I wanna kiss ya,” he says. “It ain’t believable, so just be prepared for it, babe!” He grins, and you’ve never wanted to smack him so hard in your life. He was already a pain in your ass, and you still had months left until this would be over.
You then started rambling about how you wanted respect from him, and Atsumu glanced at the side before he let go of your hand and captured your face in his hands, bringing your face to his as he locked your lips into a kiss, definitely causing your poor body to enter cardiac arrest (not really, you’re just dramatic).
You glanced behind him and spotted a few girls huddled together as they watched the two of you kiss passionately, and you started to calm down, knowing that he only kissed you in order to start convincing people; more specifically his fan girls.
He pulled away and stared into your eyes before pulling you to his chest, his hand on the back of your head while his other arm was wrapped around your waist. His chin was resting on the top of your head as he closed his eyes in bliss, while you inhaled his scent.
He smelled good.
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It’s been a week ever since he kissed you in front of those girls, and from what Hinata has told you, his fan girls were starting to calm down a bit, which allowed Atsumu to relax more, and you noticed it.
You were always a perceptive person, so you knew that Atsumu was always tense whenever practice rolled around. Obviously it wasn’t because of the actual practice, but because he knew that at the end of it, he wouldn’t be able to go straight home and rest as he was always bombarded with his fan girls. Truly the curse of being good looking.
But now, thanks to your little act, his fan girls stopped staying late and waiting for him by the doors and instead just watched from afar, and Atsumu couldn’t feel anything but relief. He was starting to think about having you be his fake girlfriend for the rest of college so that he wouldn’t have to deal with his fan girls, but he unknowingly had other reasons; like maybe actually having you be his real girlfriend because he liked you. Although, you never heard that from me.
You were sitting on one of the benches that were set up in the volleyball gym doing your homework while you waited for Atsumu’s practice to finish up. The two of you were starting to become a daily thing in each others’ lives, and everyone else saw how it was impacting the two of you positively. Bokuto, however, saw it as something else. After all, only him, Sakusa, and Hinata knew of the real thing behind the act the two of you put up.
Bokuto approached you during one of his breaks as everyone else continued practicing. He grabbed his water bottle and sat besides you. You glanced at him for a second before returning back to your work.
“You two are getting closer,” Bokuto says, and you officially avert your attention from your work and focus on Bokuto. “Don’t get too close, ‘kay? I don’t want you getting hurt.” He says, and your eyes widen a little, realization hitting you that this whole thing was fake. You were starting to become a little too comfortable, and it was going to bite you in the ass. You were thankful that Bokuto had warned you, but maybe it was too late.
“Yeah! Of course,” you said, lying through your teeth. Bokuto looked at you, reading through your facial expressions before nodding suspiciously, giving you a smile and a pat on the head before leaving his water bottle on the bench and returning back to practice.
It was then Atsumu’s turn to take a break, standing in front of you as he drank water, even spraying some of it on his face. He looks at Bokuto before looking back at you, pointing to the owl-faced boy. 
“What’d he say?” He asks, and your heart starts beating faster, your mind racing through lies in order to cover yourself and refrain from saying the truth. 
“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention,” you said, feeling bad that you had to lie to him. But, it was for the best. After all, this was all fake. An act, and you couldn’t get too attached, even if it was too late.
Atsumu eyes you suspiciously for a second and nodded, putting his water bottle back inside his bag before grabbing your chin with his fingers, getting you to look at him and capturing your lips in a passionate but short kiss. You kissed back with no question, savoring it as much as you can before it becomes a distant memory.
He lets go of you and smiles, jogging back to the team and gets into his position, getting back into the practice rhythm almost immediately. You stared at his back before sighing. 
Well, so much for your feelings from high school ‘disappearing’.
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It’s been two months since your act with Atsumu started, and just last week was when you decided that it was about time you started fixing yourself. By that, you meant getting yourself together before you completely depend on Atsumu and getting too comfortable with his involvement in your life as it is right now.
You had to start getting used to his absence before you could hurt yourself, and you did just that. You started distancing yourself, only talking to him and engaging in romantic interactions with him when there was people around. 
Before, the two of you used to kiss and hug even without the presence of other people, as if the two of you were actually dating. Which was extremely dangerous, as this was supposed to be nothing but a fake relationship.
Atsumu noticed, obviously. I mean, how could he not? You were starting to become something that he had always expected to show up in his daily life, and when you started to disappear from it, he felt off about it. In other words, he didn’t like it. It was safe to go as far and say that he hated it.
Yes, he knew this was fake, but he was starting to wish it wasn’t. Ever since he heard that you had a huge crush on him back in high school, he could never leave you alone, whether it was through teasing you or engaging in actual conversations with you. If it wasn’t for his full dedication to volleyball in high school, he might have been able to be in a real relationship with you.
It’s not like he didn’t have the same full dedication to volleyball now, in fact he was more dedicated to it since he was in a pro-team, but he was an adult now. He knew how to split his priorities, he knew how to make time for other things — people. 
So, here he was, spending his Friday night in a club with a few of his teammates, drinking his worries away. Drinking the thoughts of you away. He wasn’t drunk, after all, he hadn’t drank that much, and his teammates could tell that the two of you were distancing. They felt bad for Atsumu, as he was the happiest he’s ever been.
Meanwhile, you were in your apartment, watching The Office with a tub of ice cream on your lap. A few tears were dripping off your face as you watched the scene of Pam and Jim getting engaged in a random gas station, and you just started imagining your future with Atsumu. It would never turn out to be what Pam and Jim have, and that’s what hurt you because you wanted it to.
You fell in love with Atsumu, and you wanted to kick yourself so bad, but you couldn’t help it. You should have said no to his stupid offer, but at the same time, you’re glad you got to experience what it would be like to be in a relationship with him, even if it was all fake.
Your attention was caught when your phone vibrated on the coffee table, and you reached over to pause the show and grab your phone, reading whatever notification was displayed on your lock screen.
atsumu stupid fucking idiot: come out ya apartment babe
Your face contorted in confusion.
you: why? im watching the office
atsumu stupid fucking idiot: please babe? lets hang
He keeps calling you babe, and it’s hurting. He’s making it harder for you, but you can’t say no. It was always a yes when its him, huh?
you: fine.
You turn off your TV and shoved the ice cream back into the freezer. You entered the bathroom and cleaned yourself up, changing into less pajama-like clothes before stepping out of your apartment, only to be met with Atsumu sitting down on the floor and leaning against the wall besides your door.
“Atsumu?” You asked, and he looks up at you, a blush on his face. You could tell that he was a bit drunk, but considering that he came here by himself without any means of struggle, he wasn’t too wasted. You helped him up, and he engulfed you in a hug immediately. “What’s wrong?” 
“I missed ya babe,” he whispered in your ear, and tears started prickling the corner of your eyes. No, he can’t do that. It’s not fair. “Why’re you ignorin’ me? It’s not fun, I get sad too, ya know?” He asks, and you sigh, closing your eyes in bliss as you took in his scent, hugging him back.
“I’m sorry,” you said, kissing his cheek. “But this is all fake, Atsumu, I can’t get too attached. It’s not fair to me,” you said, deciding to let your tears ago, creating a wet spot on his black shirt that he always looked good in. Curse him and his good looks, what a bastard.
Atsumu lets go and holds you by the shoulders, looking at your eyes with so much love that you wanted to cry even more. “Who said that? Who said ya couldn’t get attached, huh?” He brings you back in his arms, and you sniffled. “Get attached to me, babe, it ain’t just you,” he says, and you peek up at him, resting your chin against his chest as he looked down at you.
“Can I get attached? Can I really?” You ask, sniffling like a little bitch. Atsumu chuckles, and he didn’t know if it was the slight intoxication he held or if it was his actual feelings, but he was feeling bold. He held your face and brought you in for a kiss like he used to do. Yet, this one seemed different.
This one... it was for real.
183 notes · View notes
the-delta-42 · 3 years
Text
Cody & Frankie
Cody & Frankie
Cody watched as Blaster lifted a barrel off of a car. Ever since Blaster had joined their team, he’d been left behind at the Firehouse with Cody, as he was a Communications Officer, which left him paired with Cody.
“Why am I completing training exercises when I’m never going to be out in the field?” Asked Blaster, as Chase observed him.
“In the event of Cody being in danger.” Said Chase, getting stares from Blaster and Cody.
“No offense,” Started Blaster, “but Autobot City is practically a fortress, any Decepticon that is stupid enough to get too close to here is scrap.”
“You mean like the ones of the Alchemor?” Asked Chase, making Blaster go silent.
“Well, if you guys are busy,” Said Cody, getting up, “I’m going to meet Frankie.”
“Cody, I must ask you to postpone your date with Francine,” Said Chase, making Cody blush, “you may be required for the training scenarios.”
“RiGht,” Cody’s voice cracked, “First thing, I’m not dating Frankie, we’re just friends, second, you have that training dummy that can stand in for me.”
Chase and Blaster both stared at Cody, “Need we remind you of the Velgrox incident?”
“That scenario doesn’t count,” Protested Chase, “You and Francine instigated that incident.”
“Yeah, but it showed that Blaster doesn’t need to go through any more scenarios,” Said Cody, folding his arms, “He protected me just fine.”
Chase remained silent, which Cody took as his que to leave. The two Autobots watch Cody limp away.
“I think he’s still upset about Prowl.” Said Blaster, frowning.
“I thought it was just me.” Agreed Chase, as Cody disappeared from view.
C&F
Cody parked his bike outside the park, the lock activating automatically, before heading off to find Frankie. He’d usually be able to find her at the memorial statue that had been erected in the middle of the park after the Decepticon Attack two and a half years ago. Cody remembered the attack, because it was when he, truly, first met Starscream.
“Cody, over here!” Called Frankie, waving at him.
Cody smiled and started towards her, she was sitting on a bench in front of Prowl and Quickshadow’s legs. The two statues’ shadows casting a shadow of the area, Brawn and Windcharger’s Statues stood over by the lake, while Huffer, Hound and Beachcomber stood in a field of trees, bushes and flowers. The seven Autobots had been killed when Starscream led his Decepticon ‘loyalists’ against the city, it was because of those seven that no humans were harmed in the attack.
“CeCe got her first Science Fair prize,” Said Frankie, showing Cody a hologram of the nine-year-old, braces and all, holding a ribbon and her project, “It collects glitter from all surfaces, Daddy wants to see if more can be made, since, well, you know glitter.”
“Small, sticks to everything and almost impossible to remove.” Said Cody, sitting next to Frankie as Fixit rolled past, “Blurr’s gotten a new paint job.”
“Yeah, blue really suits him.” Said Frankie, as Cody pulled a hologram out of his bag, “Nearly three years.”
Cody looked up at Prowl’s statue, he couldn’t get the sight of smoke pouring out of his optics and mouth as his body slowly greyed, the resulting explosion revealed that his internals had all but melted. Prowl’s corpse had landed on Cody’s leg, resulting in the limb being amputated. The only bright thing that came from that day, in Cody’s opinion, was Arcee taking Starscream’s head off.
Cody quickly looked to the ground, before placing hologram emitter at the feet of the statues. A small Autobot symbol appeared, Ratchet had told them that placing a hologram with the faction’s symbol was the Cybertronian equivalent of placing flowers on a grave.
“Jolt’s been working with Daddy on something,” Said Frankie, from her spot next to Cody, “I think it’s related to the power spikes.”
Cody hummed, before Frankie took his hand and said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”
“Anything to keep me from Chase’s scenarios.” Said Cody, walking with Frankie, their hands still entwined.
“I’m not sure if we can keep this up,” Said Frankie, her grip on Cody’s hand tightening, “Dad only not questioning why we’re meeting up so often because he’s working with Jolt, I don’t know how he’ll react to us, you know, dating.”
“Chase came close to finding out as well,” Said Cody, sighing, “he said our date would have to be postponed. I think he and Blaster are trying a little too hard to make up for Prowl.”
“HA! I knew it!” Cried Blades, making Cody and Frankie jump, “I knew you two were dating!”
“Blades!” Hissed Cody, as everyone stared at them.
“What?” Asked Blades, before looking around, “Oh…right, sorry.”
“Blades, why are you here?” Asked Cody, his face red.
“Oh, press conference, you know, live broadcasts, Q&A, that sort of thing.” Said Blades, as Cody spotted Huxley Prescott filming them.
“Y-you said ‘live broadcast’,” Said Cody, colour slowly draining from his face, “So, everyone watching heard your outburst?”
“Yup.” Said Blades, as Frankie caught on.
“Okay, maybe they’re not watching tv?” Suggested Frankie, just as their phones went off, “Oooh, it’s my Dad.”
“Kade.” Said Cody, confused, “Hello?”
Cody suddenly pulled the phone away from his ear and winced, “Dani, why are you using Kade’s phone? Oh, that noise was you, Kade.”
Frankie nervously answered her phone, as Cody’s face went beet red, “Hi, Daddy…”
Frankie was stiff for a moment, before relaxing, “Right, thank, Dad. Love you too.” Frankie hung up, before looking at Cody, who almost seem purple.
“Kade…I don’t need you to give me the Talk again,” Said Cody, “The first time was traumatising enough. No, don’t put Dad on the phone… hey, Dad. Yes, I do know how that stuff works. No, I don’t need Chase to make a diagram. I, I don’t think that’s an appropriate question Dad. Yeah, sure. Love you too. No, don’t break out the pictures!”
Cody lowered his phone and stared at the screen, “Dad’s going to break out the baby pictures.”
“Please, as if I haven’t already seen them.” Smirked Frankie, before looking up at Blades, “Where’s Dani?”
“With Taylor,” Sighed Blades, looking dejected, before looking down at Cody and Frankie, “Wanna go flying?”
“Is energon blue?” Was Frankie’s response, before Blades Transformed and Cody and Frankie climbed into his cockpit.
“Any requests?” Asked Blades, waiting for their input.
“Somewhere private.” Said Cody, immediately.
“Somewhere private coming up.” Said Blades, as he took off.
“I’m sure that could’ve gone better.” Said Frankie, as soon as Blades arrived at a waterfall that was difficult to access from the ground.
“Yeah, Kade tried giving me the Talk, again and Dad wanted to know if we were physical and if we were protection.”
“What is it with parents and thinking their kids are interfacing?” Asked Blades, making Cody and Frankie look up at him, confused, “You know, how humans make sparklings.”
Cody and Frankie blushed and looked at the ground, “Sooo, what now?” Asked Frankie, looking at Cody.
“We wait up here for a couple of hours and then head back,” Said Cody, sitting at the water’s edge, “I don’t think Kade’s going to let up on the Talk.”
Frankie smirked playfully, “Well, you know what we could do to fill that time up?”
“Oh, what?” Grinned Cody, before Frankie pushed him in the water, only to be dragged in herself when Cody grabbed her wrist.
Both teens were laughing as they threw water at each other, Frankie tackled Cody, making the young man fall on his back with Frankie on top of him. The young woman giggled and kissed Cody, resting her forehead against his.
“I love you.” Whispered Frankie, getting comfortable on Cody’s chest.
Cody returned the kiss, “I love you too.”
Frankie buried her head in the crook of Cody’s neck, getting comfortable as the pair drifted off into sleep.
C&F
Blades glanced over at the two humans, both cuddling each other in their sleep, and checked his internal chronometer before deciding to wake the pair up.
“Guys?” Said Blades, his voice soft, “It’s time to go.”
The two teens groaned, but started to get up, both shivering as the cold started to set in.
“Next time we’re up here,” Said Frankie, looking at Cody, “We bring a change of clothes.”
Cody smiled, before climbing into Blades with Frankie. Blades took off and took them back to Autobot City, landing on top of the Firehouse. The pair were greeted by their families, Doc Greene and Chief Burns holding a set of dry clothes.
“Blades said you’d need them.” Said Chief, as the pair took the dry clothes, “But, we need to talk about you running off.”
“I’m partially to blame, Chief,” Said Blades, crouching, “I suggested that we go flying and the fact I kind of outed their relationship on live TV.”
Chief sighed, before looking at the pair again, “Come on, you’re probably hungry, but, please, get changed first.”
Cody and Frankie nodded and headed off to dry off and change, leaving their parents on the landing pad.
“They do grow up fast, don’t they?” Asked Doc Greene, as Charlie frowned.
“I just wish that Cody didn’t grow up so fast.” Said Chief, as he watched Cody and Frankie messing around with each other.
“I just hope I win the next bet.” Said Doc Greene with a small smile.
C&F
Cody fiddled with the guitar strings, as Miko showed him how to play a chord.
“You’re doing great, Cody.” Said Miko, getting Cody to smile. Frankie was discussing some science stuff with Raf, while Jack was flicking through some paperwork given to him by Fowler, “I’d say we’re almost finished with the lessons.”
“It’s nice to be with you guys,” Said Cody, leaning back in his chair, “It’s almost as if things are as, they were before the Omega Lock incident.”
“Yeah, there are times I half expect Ratchet or Arcee to walk in and ask what we’re doing.” Sighed Miko, looking out the window, “I mean it’s nice having the Autobots here, I think I speak for everyone when I say we miss our partners.”
Cody’s smile turned sad, “I remember the time Prowl walked into that power line, I don’t I ever saw anyone move so fast.”
“Or that time Bulkhead screamed his head off when we showed him that mouse.” Grinned Miko, looking over at Jack.
“That’s nothing compared to Arcee calling an exhaust a ‘dowhicky’.” Said Jack, abandoning the paperwork.
“How about Bumblebee sneaking out of the base to go racing?” Asked Raf, as he joined the three.
“How about Kup’s cy-gar trick?” Asked Frankie, remembering the old bot.
“You mean the one where he turned it into a bullet?” Responded Miko, looking at Frankie.
“Yeah, that one!” Laughed Frankie, as Cody went to stand up, only for his prosthetic to buckle under his weight, “Cody!”
Jack caught Cody before he hit the ground, helping him back to the chair.
“It’s fine, it’s been acting up for a while.” Said Cody, as he rested the prosthetic on his other leg and pulled his trouser leg up. The light blue glow from the power cell flickered as the group observed it.
“I could get my dad to look at it.” Frankie offered, making Cody smile.
“I probably forgot to charge it properly.” Said Cody, getting back to his feet. Frankie held his arm, in case the leg gave out again, “You’re just looking for an excuse to steal me away, aren’t you?”
“How could you tell?” Smirked Frankie, as Jack sighed.
“Just remember to use protection,” Smirked Miko, making Cody and Frankie blush, “I’m too young to be an aunt.”
The two eighteen-year-olds quickly left the room to escape twenty-one-year-old, as Jack levelled her with an unimpressed stare.
“Old enough to be a mother, but too young to be an aunt.” Said Jack, folding his arms.
“Shut up.” Giggled Miko, as Raf decided to go back to his computer.
C&F
Cody winced as Doc Greene removed the power cell from his leg.
“Hmm, it seems that the power cells developed a fault.” Said Doc Greene, rubbing his chin, “I don’t know what could’ve cause it, unless you went for a sudden swim.”
Cody and Frankie froze and glanced at each other, thinking back to the week before and their dip in the pool of water.
“I know that look.” Said Doc Greene, folding his arms, “I’ll see about making your next prosthetic waterproof, Cody.”
“Thanks, Doc.” Said Cody, as Doc Greene reinserted the power cell.
“Frankie,” Said Doc Greene as the pair were leaving, “do try to be home at a reasonable hour tonight, your mother and I heard you knock the planter over.”
“Daddy!” Exclaimed Frankie, her face going red with embarrassment.
“I’m glad that no one heard me knock an entire shelving unit over.” Muttered Cody, as Blurr shot past.
“Higuys,byeguys,I’dlovetostopandchatbut,I’mbusybusybusy!” Said Blurr, speaking a mile a minute.
“That red energon must be some really strong stuff.” Said Frankie, as Blurr turned a corner.
“Apparently, Blurr’s body was built to use it,” Said Cody, shrugging, “Something about Velocitron and speed?”
A red and black semi with a yellow cab pulled to a stop in front of the pair.
“There you guys are,” Said Blaster, opening his door for them, “Chief has an announcement down at the Firehouse.”
“What is it?” Asked Cody, as he and Frankie climbed in.
“I don’t know,” Said Blaster, driving off, “Blurr was supposed to pick you up, but then he got called away by Bumblebee for something. Oh, and be warned, I think Chase’s sister is visiting.”
“Chase has a sister?” Asked Cody, cocking an eyebrow.
“The way Strongarm acts?” Snorted Blaster, “She might as well be!”
Blaster pulled to a stop outside the Firehouse, allowing Frankie and Cody to climb out. Blaster transformed and followed them inside, joining the joint crowd of Humans and Cybertronians. Cody and Frankie made their way through the crowd of Autobots with ease and then weaved through the humans.
“Graham, what’s going on?” Asked Cody, as soon as he spotted his brother.
“Dad has an announcement to make,” Said Graham, frowning as he looked at his notes, “Something about work.”
Cody noticed pink glittery ink on the paper, “Sarah’s really learning how to draw, huh?”
“Yeah, she’s either drawing or running Amy and I into the ground.” Said Graham, yawning.
“I heard Kassie’s been a nightmare for Kade and Hayley.” Said Frankie, folding her arms.
“Yeah, even I can hear her temper tantrums.” Groaned Graham, shaking his head.
Everyone went silent as Chief Burns walked/shuffled onto the stage.
“Okay, I’m going to keep this short and sweet,” Said Chief Burns, looking around, “I’m retiring. I spent a good 45 years serving on the police forces and, frankly, I’d love to spend more. However, I’m not getting any younger and the resident doctors, thank you Doctor Darby, have told me that my body can’t keep up with the rescue anymore. I’ll be making the official announcement tomorrow. That is all.”
Cody watched as his father left the stage, wincing as he stumbled a bit when he reached the steps. Carin helped Charlie with the last few steps. Cody felt a tug on his trouser leg, drawing his attention to the twins, Kyle and Maggie. Kyle and Maggie were Cody’s younger half-siblings, born shortly after his dad married Carin when they first moved to Autobot City.
“What’s daddy we-tyre ring?” Asked Kyle, looking up at Cody.
“Retiring?” Asked Cody, getting a nod from Kyle, “It means he’s going to stop working because he’s starting to get too old.”
“Why?” Asked Maggie, her teddy trailing behind her.
“Because he’s a grown up,” Said Cody, crouching down to their level, “and, eventually we grow up so much that we can’t work anymore.”
“Then what happens?” Asked Kyle, making Cody freeze.
“Uh, well, then we, er,um…” Cody was saved from explaining death to the twins by Carin walking towards them.
“Come on,” Said Carin, hoisting Maggie onto her hip, “time for your nap.”
Cody picked up Kyle and followed his stepmother, Frankie following behind them, leaving Graham with his work. Getting the twins in bed and a sleep was fairly easy, Maggie and Kyle were quick to nod off. Soon the family, plus their significant others, were sitting in the living room.
“I know it’s short notice,” Said Charlie, looking at his children, “but, I think it’s time to face the music, I’m not the man I was.”
“It’s fine, Dad.” Said Dani, resting her feet on Taylor’s lap, “You’ve earned it, more than any of us at this rate.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Demanded Kade, crossing his arms.
“I don’t think Dani was looking to start a fight, Kade.” Said Cody, from his place curled up with Frankie.
“I saw you explaining retirement to the twins, Cody.” Said Carin, smiling softly as he flushed red, “I also saw how you tried to avoid explaining the concept of death to them.”
“They’ll probably have to be told sooner or later.” Mumbled Cody, his grip on Frankie’s hand tightening softly.
“We will when the time comes.” Promised Carin, her smile turning sad.
Shortly after Prowl’s death, Cody had vanished, along with some weapons Wheeljack had been working on. Cody was later found next to the remains of a Decepticon known as Thundercracker. Thundercracker’s optics had been torn out and parts of his body had been subjected to small explosives. What killed Thundercracker, however, was a small vial of cosmic rust that had been poured into the remains of his optics. Just shy of where Cody was found was the burnt out remains of a Decepticon energon mine, with the melted remains of MECH agents. Ultra Magnus had said that he’d assumed some humans were working with the Decepticons, he just didn’t expect them to be wiped out in one strike.
“How’s your studying coming along?” Asked Charlie, swiftly changing the subject.
“Doctor Darby thinks I’m progressing well,” Said Cody, his frame relaxing, “if I keep at my current level, I’ll be able to continue on and become a doctor by the time I’m 25.”
“Know you,” Smirked Dani, her hands cradling her bump, “You’ll probably find a way to become a doctor before then.”
Cody let out a laugh, before the robotic lion that was Steeljaw tumbled into the room. Everyone watched Steeljaw chase something that looked like a ball of light, before he vanished down the stairs.
Kade smirked as Hayley adjusted Kassie on her chest, “So, Cody, what are your and Frankie’s plans for the future?”
“Decent paying jobs before getting married and having kids.” Said the pair, simultaneously.
“Why do I get the feeling you two rehearse that?” Asked Dani, as Sarah toddled up to her parents and presented them with a picture.
“Ta-Da!” Sang Sarah, as Amy took the picture.
“Oh, Graham, look at this,” Gushed Amy, showing Graham the picture, “it’s another work of art.”
“A Masterpiece.” Agreed Graham, picking the toddler up.
C&F (Time skip)
Cody rocked back and forth on his heels, the weight of the small box in his pocket was impossibly heavy. He’d been waiting for Frankie to turn up for nearly an hour and was beginning to think she wasn’t going to show. The sounds of a fight caught his attention, Cody spotted a guy that worked with Frankie having his ass handed to him. The guy, Matt, Cody thought, had been flirting with Frankie, despite her saying she wasn’t interested. Cody caught sight of the person knocking sense into Matt. Frankie was dressed up nicely, despite still having her lab coat on, while hitting Matt with her handbag. Cody winced as Matt hit the doorframe and slid, before walking over to Frankie. It was only as Cody got closer, did he see that Frankie’s hair was dishevelled, as if someone had pulled on it, there was a bruise forming on her neck and the necklace Cody had given her for her 21st Birthday was missing.
Cody reached and touch Frankie’s shoulder, making her whip around with a snarl on her face. Frankie completely relaxed at the sight of Cody, while Matt struggled to get up off the floor.
“What…happened?” Asked Cody, frowning.
Frankie threw a disgusted look at Matt, “He didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Are you alright?” Questioned Cody, looking into Frankie’s eyes.
Frankie sighed, “Yeah, he only turned violent when I entered the restaurant, but he only followed me here from work.”
Cody’s gaze turned to Matt, before it fell to Matt’s right hand, “Aren’t you going to give that back?”
Matt froze at Cody’s cold tone, something Cody had picked up from Prowl. Matt looked at the necklace in his grip, before throwing it into the restaurant and trying to run off. Cody grabbed the necklace from the air and looked at the damage. Cody sighed when he found only the clasp was broken.
“Your mum’s necklace.” Gasped Frankie, upon seeing the damaged necklace.
“It’s an easy fix.” Said Cody, carefully putting the necklace with the ring box, “Do you want to go home?”
Frankie took a deep breath, before nodding. Cody gave her a small smile, before going to the manager to cancel the reservation. The two twenty-six-year-olds drove home in silence, Frankie closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.
“What did you want to talk about?” Asked Frankie, almost making Cody jump.
“Let’s, let’s deal with that when we get home.” Said Cody, suddenly remembering the box.
“Right.” Said Frankie, her tone despondent.
“Don’t worry, it’s a good thing,” Said Cody, before frowning, “well, I think it’s a good thing, I mean the others said it’s a good thing and, I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”
Frankie giggled, Frankie had been terrified that Cody was going to break up with her, after she found that ring in the draw. Cody had been giving her gifts recently, when she brought it up with Priscilla and a couple other friends, came to the conclusion that they were breakup gifts, something to help with the actual blow of the breakup. Frankie knew that Cody didn’t class breaking up as a good thing, unless he took a heavy blow to the head.
Cody pulled into his usual parking space and went inside the home with Frankie, both taking a seat on the sofa.
“Are you okay? Really, okay?” Asked Cody, looking into Frankie’s eyes.
Frankie averted her gaze and sighed, “I was scared, the entire time he was following me, I was scared he was going to do something. I took the longest possible route to try and get away from him, but when I arrived at the restaurant, I found he was already there. I thought if I ignored him, he’d leave me alone.”
“Then he decided to grab you.” Said Cody, making Frankie nod.
“He was fired today because he damaged something that the Autobots are keeping top secret,” Explained Frankie, as Cody wrapped an arm around her, “we don’t know how he got hold of it, but Hardhead found it in Matt’s locker and demanded an explanation from him. He didn’t give one.”
Cody pulled Frankie closer to him, rubbing comforting circles on her arm, “It’s like something in him snapped. I wasn’t expecting but, I kinda was? It’s difficult to explain.”
“I doubt he’ll hurt you now,” Said Cody, pulling Frankie close and allowing her to rest her head in the crook of his neck, “I saw Streetwise picking him up.”
Frankie smiled, before looking at Cody, “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
Cody swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, “Right, er, yes, well…screw it.”
Cody got off the sofa and got down on one knee, taking the ring box out of his pocket, “Frankie, you’ve made me incredibly happy in the time we’ve been together and, frankly, I don’t want that to end. Will you marry me?”
Frankie’s eyed danced between the ring and Cody’s face. The next thing Cody knew, he was on his back with Frankie laying on top of him and kissing him.
“I’ll…take that as a, yes?” Asked Cody, as Frankie grinned and nodded her head.
Cody grinned as well and slipped the ring on Frankie’s finger.
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cherryeol04 · 4 years
Text
Play Pretend
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Part one / Part two / Part three / Part four / Part five / Part six / Part seven / Part eight / Part nine
Summary: Just a girl and her imaginary friends living life, finding love and playing pretend.
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You weren’t exactly sure when playing pretend turned to just having your imaginary friends around, but it did. You surmised it was probably around the time you started thinking boys were cute and you wanted to kiss, hug, and date them like all the actresses you’ve seen in movies and on TV did. Those who used to play princess with you, and protected you from the evil men who wanted to make you clean a house for living slowly morphed into just guys who were always by your side. They made you smile, held your hand and gave you a sense of comfort you only felt when they were around.
You didn’t feel alone.
So it was no surprise that Felix joined you when you were dragged along to an impromptu trip to the zoo with your family. You loved your family, you really did, but sometimes they were just a bit much - especially your cousins. They were younger than you and two years apart from each other and always at each other’s throat. Your mom and aunt always assumed it was just their age difference. The oldest one being into different things than the younger one and eventually they would grow out of it. Well you really hoped they would grow out of it faster!
As it was, they made the whole car ride nearly unbearable, but luckily Felix was by your side and holding your hand. You’d give a squeeze every now and then, taking a quick glance to him before looking away. You weren’t sure if it was because of his smile or because you knew secretly that he wasn’t really there - or at least not there for the rest of your family. You could see him clear as day, but you knew others couldn’t. It sucked, because all you wanted to do was lean against him and talk to distract yourself from the shouting of your cousins, but you couldn’t. It was disheartening but in a way this was just something for you. Your safe space and your secret that no one could take away from you and you found a little bit of solace in that.
It was mid afternoon by the time the horde that was your family finally got inside the zoo. And after a huge argument of where to start on the map - and how your mom refused to walk the entire park - you were finally on your way to the train station. It was the cutest thing you had ever seen in a zoo, a train that went around the entire park - stopping at specific exhibits for patrons to get off and meander around - and giving an overview of the entire area.
You were overly excited for it because it was a “ride” but also it was train and you had never been on a train of any sorts before. The line for it was pretty long, only made more annoying because your cousins started hitting each other. By the time you finally got onto the train, you were ready to pretend like you weren’t apart of that family. Sitting on the inside, you leaned your head out of the open window to get a better gauge of the train, a smile tugging on your lips as excitement raced through you. The conductor sounded the horn as the last of the passengers boarded and the train started moving.
Your heart raced with excitement as the train started to gain momentum, another horn sounding as it finally pulled out of the station and began its journey. You could hear Felix’s deep voice rumbling next to you and you turned to look at him. The look of what you could only imagine was absolute adoration was radiating across his face, eyes scrunched up cutely as he flashed you the brightest smile that you had ever seen. It was so Felix and it reminded you of why he was your sunshine. That smile alone could make any horrible day so much better and in that instant, the anger and frustration of being with your family melted away, along with everyone else. It was just you and Felix, sitting side by side as the train rounded another corner and the different monkey exhibits came into view.
“Look look!” You said quickly, tugging his hand to pull him closer as you pointed at one of the exhibits. “It looks like Changbin.” You giggled, Felix joining in on your laughter.
“You’re right! But don’t tell him we said that.” He snickered, holding a finger to his lips and you nodded quickly in agreement. While You thought it was funny, Changbin surely wouldn’t and you didn’t want to upset the other. The train chugged along the tracks and eventually came to a tunnel that signified a change in contents and with it, change in the animals that could be seen.
As with the train, you had never been through a tunnel before either, having lived in a place where tunnels weren’t a common aspect of driving. darkness was coming and you squeezed Felix’s hand slightly in apprehension. “It’s okay, baby.” He whispered gently, removing his hand from yours in favor of wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you close against him. You flushed, a small smile etching across your face as you laid your head against Felix’s shoulder just as the train entered the tunnel. Darkness washed over the whole locomotive and you let out a soft whimper. You weren’t scare of the dark necessarily, but there was still something uneasy about not being able to see what was right in front of you. However, with the lack of sight, it felt like all your other sense were heightened.
Suddenly Felix’s cologne was much stronger than before, surrounding you in a warmth that you could only describe as ‘man’. And every twitch his muscles gave reverberated through your body. You could feel as he shifted, turning towards you. Fingers gently brushed against your jaw and you lifted your head, looking in the direction of where you assumed Felix’s face would be. His fingers continued to move, gently gliding over your cheek before his thumb ran against across your lips. He repeated the motion a few times before moving his hand away, fingers gripping your jaw. There was stillness for a split second and then you felt the gentle press of Felix’s lips against yours. Your eyes fluttered closed as you melted into the kiss, returning it shyly at first, wanting to keep the kiss light and gentle. It felt absolutely wonderful, and it was technically your first kiss with Felix. He felt experienced as he tilted his head and slotted your lips into a better position. The kiss itself felt like sunshine and dandelions on a hot summer day. It was everything you’ve ever associated Felix with and more.
It was utterly perfect.
He pulled away a moment later, and just as your eyes opened the train exited the tunnel and you were flooded with the bright light of the sun, wincing at the stinging pain of the light. You closed your eyes quickly, rubbing at them to hopefully try and help them adjust quickly as discomfort coursed through you. You dared to open your eyes a few seconds later, and thankfully you weren’t as sensitive to the light as you had been. Looking towards Felix, you were saddened to see him gone, the space besides you now empty and cold.
You glanced around the train, taking in the couples and families that were looking out the windows, awestruck at the animal exhibits they were passing by. You didn’t see Felix anywhere, though you shouldn’t have expected to. It was rather stupid of you to think that maybe he had gotten up and moved to a different seat. Why? When just moments ago he was kissing you. It was a stupid thought, but it had given you hope and chased away the abandoned feeling that was once more trying to claw its way into your chest.
The train pulled into the next station, coming to a slow halt and you wondered if maybe you took this moment to refocus your mind and energy, Felix would come back. You averted your eyes, staring at the back of the plain white bench seat in front of you. You let your mind wander, conjuring up the beautiful image of Felix and the galaxies that dusted his cheeks. You could feel the air shifting around you and you were sure that he was almost back. But a voice shouting broke your concentration and the feel vanished.
“Y/n! Let’s go!” Whipping your head up, you watched as your family shuffled off the train and you quickly rose. Rushing down the aisle way, you grabbed the railing of the steps and carefully stepped off the train, jogging to rejoin the train wreck that was your family. Your mom was busy spouting off a plan of what everyone was going to see, but you were half listening. You were sad, alone now and you didn’t think Felix would be coming back. In way, it was probably for the best. After that kiss, you didn’t want to do something that might get you weird stares from strangers or even your own family. While you missed Felix dearly, you knew that you would see him again soon enough. You just had to get home and back into the sanctity of your room.
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chickensarentcheap · 4 years
Text
Sanctuary -Chapter 16
Fandom: Extraction, Tyler Rake
Tagging:  @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @valkyrie-of-the-light
If anyone wants to be tagged, please let me know. I know there’s quite a few reading this ;)
Warnings: none really. Maybe some bad language.
“You're a natural,” Esme comments the next morning, as she and Nik lounge on a park bench; Yaz keeping the kids busy and laughing hysterically over his antics on the playground equipment.  
 They've all become restless being cooped up in the house with nothing more to do than count down the hours and minutes before Tyler leaves for Ireland. Opting to head into town for a late breakfast and some window shopping before taking the kids to burn off some of their excess energy. Tyler and Ovi had been gone for better part of the morning and wouldn't return to some time in the early afternoon; time at the shooting range, lunch, and long overdue talk about his expectations for the teenager while he was gone.
 “I've never been told that before,” Nik laughs, as Declan bounces happily on her lap; tiny feet planted on her thighs, hands on her shoulders, her own resting on his hips to help keep him steady. He's a cute little thing: strawberry blond hair (inherited from Tyler's mother), huge, brilliant blue eyes, and quite possibly the most adorable smile and giggle she's ever seen or heard. Out of the four, he'd been the biggest: an impressive nine pounds, ten ounces.  “Normally I'm told how uncomfortable I look.”
 Nik remembers when Tyler had to actually teach her how to hold Millie. Back in nursery in that little apartment in Australia. How nervous she'd been when that impossibly tine baby had been placed in her arms. Never had she held something so fragile. Helpless. Priceless. A little human being that depended solely on her to keep them safe.
 She's perfectly content being 'Auntie Nik'; she can spoil them rotten and love endlessly on them yet hand them back to their parents at the end of the day. With each passing birth, she's gotten more accustomed to the actual nurturing parts. She can feed them. Burp them. Bathe them. Clothe them. And is now able to successfully change a soiled diaper without promptly vomiting.
 “You don't look uncomfortable to me,” Esme says, as she adjusts the snap closure on the back of Declan's baseball cap and then slips it back onto his head. “And he obviously doesn't think so either. Look how happy he is. He adores you.”
 As terrible as it sounds to even to Nik's own ears, Declan is her favourite. He's vibrant and full of life; always smiling or giggling and very rarely crying of fusing. Infinitely curious. Simply loving life and everyone and everything in it. The twins rarely bother with her; they're head strong and wild, whereas she's very strict and routine orientated. Millie is a character all on her own. Five going on fifteen, full of sass and attitude. Never backing down from a challenge and very rarely showing any signs of fear. Very much her father's daughter. Right down to the bad habit of immediately distrusting others and shutting them out.
 “You're a strong little thing,” Nik says to the baby, laughing and wriggling away from the hands that try to latch onto her sunglasses. “You're going to be walking in no time, I think. Those are some powerful legs you've got there! I remember when you were still in your mommy's belly and you would kick her hard enough to make her cry sometimes.”
 “There were a couple times he nearly brought me to my knees,” Esme recalls, shaking her head in disbelief. “Like he would just get all that power into that one kick and just let me have it. If Tyler was lying up against me, it would even wake him up sometimes. All the kicking and the rolling around. You've just never sat still,” she addresses her son, tickling his stomach. “Always on the go! Even then. You never wanted to settle and now look at you. Still going about with your nonsense.”
  “You're going to grow up and be big and strong just like your daddy,” Nik says.  “You'll be able to put your older brothers in their places, that's for sure. And you'll be able to protect your sister from any mean boys in the neighbourhood. Or beat up any boyfriends that don't treat her right.”
 “Boyfriends,” Esme laughs. “Bold of you to assume that Tyler is ever going to let her date.”
 “Is he still bent out of shape over that? He's probably just worried because he remembers what he was like when he was a teenager. He doesn't want her bringing him any boys like him.”
 “I can imagine how my dad would have reacted to me bringing Tyler home. That would not have gone well. I'm the first girl after three boys. He would have taken one look at Tyler and the hair and the tattoos and promptly kicked him out of the house. Trust me, that is not what he wanted for his daughter. Someone with an edge. He would have taken one look at him and that would have been it. I love my dad, but he definitely would not have approved. He would not have even given it a chance to get to know him. My dad had a certain vision for how my life would go. And a guy like Tyler was not part of that vision.”
 “What kind of guy was he hoping for?”
 “None, preferably,” she laughs.  “He wanted the white-collar type. Boring. Simple. Vanilla. And as you already know, there is absolutely nothing vanilla about Tyler. In any aspect of his life. He's a little...”
 “Wild?” Nik offers.
 “Edgy. Dark. Dangerous. Fearless. A mystery. The type my father definitely did not want me to end up. I think once he realized I wasn't going to give in and stay away from him, he would have come around. Even teenage me would have been unable to stay away. I can't explain it. What exactly it is. But I felt it in Dhaka. Maybe I even felt it when I walked into his place in the outback. There was something different about him. Something irresistible, despite your brain and your heart telling you to just walk away. It was impossible. In Dhaka. I couldn't stop it. I didn't want to stop it.”
 Nik completely understands. She'd felt it too; the minute she'd met him a little more than ten years ago. He’d been a challenge. An enigma. And she hadn't been able to stop going to his bed even though she'd known he'd never want her for anything more than that. No matter how many times he told her, no matter how many times he insisted that he'd never want anything more, she'd held out hope. And sometimes she still did.
 She hates how it still makes her feel; the bitterness that eats away at her when she sees them together. It’s been a little more than five years and it is still so hard. To accept the way things are. Even when it’s so blatantly obvious how happy Tyler is. How much he relishes and thrives on being a husband and a father. How it has brought out a light within him; a sense of peace and contentment that had been absent from his life since his son died, and his first marriage disintegrated. And she should be happy about that. That he’s far removed from the Tyler Rake that existed in that little shack in the outback.  That he’d given himself the chance to actually be happy; that he’d let someone break down those walls and show him what it is like to be wanted and loved.  But it’s difficult. He hadn’t wanted that person to be her. And now she had to sit back and watch as his life went on.  A spectator to just how wildly and crazily in love he is with someone else.
 “Have you given it much thought?” Esme asks. “About having your own family?”
 “I have a family. I have Yaz. The team. All of you.”
 “You know what I mean, Nik,” she sips at a takeout cup of piping hot ginger and lemon tea; a rather potent smelling concoction that she swears help calm her stomach and her bad nerves.
 “I’m a much better Auntie than a mother. I’m too selfish. I enjoy what I do too much. I like being able to come and go as I please. Nothing tying me down. No one I have to answer to. That kind of life was never meant for someone like me.”
 “Six years ago, you could have said the same thing about Tyler. That this kind of life wasn’t meant for someone like him.’
 “That’s different. He wasn’t allowing himself to have this life. He hated himself too much. He was a mess and didn’t want to bring anyone else into it.  But he thrives on this kind of existence.  And he needed it. The stability. Someone to come home to. Kids that love and idolize him. Things that give him a purpose. Could imagine where he’d be if you’d never come along? He would have let himself die that day on the bridge. I’m sure of that.”
 “Sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago,” Esme sighs. “And then there’s other days where it seems like it was just yesterday. I’ve made peace with it. I’ve put it behind me. But sometimes…I don’t know…sometimes it just creeps up on me. Something just brings it back to the surface. I try not to let it get to me. But it’s in there. I can feel it.”
 “You’re probably just on edge because he’s leaving,” Nik suggests, as she places the baby down on a blanket that lays spread out at their feet, then accepts the cup of coffee that Esme had been babysitting for her.  “Are you feeling okay? The way you’re drinking that stuff, you’re not…”
 “Oh my god no. There is no bun in this oven. Not yet anyway.  It is definitely just bad nerves. And stress. I am so stressed, Nik. Not just about this. This is just the icing on the proverbial shit cake.”
 “Talk to me. What’s going on? Are things okay with you and Tyler?”
 “For once, it actually has nothing to do with him. I mean, other than the fact he’s leaving in eight hours and I have no idea when he’ll be back. If he’ll be back.”
 The word ‘if’ hangs heavily in the air. It’s always a possibility that things will go to hell. That the job won’t go nearly as easily and seamlessly as hoped. It very rarely does.  And there’s always that possibility that this mission may be the last one.  That one bullet in the chamber with your named etched on it.
 “It’s just stupid stuff,” Esme continues. “It’s Millie and the way she regresses like she does. It’s my parents and the fact my stepdad has been cheating on my mom for years and now they’re not even living in the same house. It’s my brothers and their relationship drama. And my sister.  She’s met this guy and she’s dropped out of college and no one knows where the hell she is. And then there’s the ex husband.”
 Nik arches an eyebrow.
“I guess he’s been friends with my mother all this time. Since things fell apart. And she had the nerve to tell him where I was. Address and all. He showed up at the house, Nik. When I wasn’t even there. He actually spoke to Tyler.”
 Nik smirks. “And he lived to tell about it? Maybe Tyler is starting to slip.”
 “He should have just killed him. No one would miss Mark. Not even his own parents. Well maybe my mother would. How screwed up is that? That she’s stayed friends with him but she hates Tyler? That she holds Mark up on some kind of pedestal but treats Tyler like he belongs in the gutter? It makes no sense.”
 “She has it in her head that he took you away from her,” Nik reasons. “One day you left and never came back. You said you were going on a business trip and then you’re calling to say that you’ve met someone and you’re staying in Australia.”
 “It was nearly six years ago. She needs to get a grip. He’s my husband. Whether she likes it or not. And he’s the father of my kids. Her grandchildren. You’d think that would mean something to her. He’s not a bad guy. You know that, Nik. He’s a big, strong man with an even bigger heart.”
 “With the right people,” Nik stresses. “That’s the important thing here. Only with the people that he allows himself to be that way with.”
 “It’s just so frustrating. That she just can’t give him a chance. Even if it’s just for the sake of her grandchildren.  He went to see her the other day. She called him and asked him if he would drive up. Said they needed to talk,” she rolls her eyes at the last part, sips her tea.
 “About what?”
 “Who knows. Tyler came home and never even brought it up. And I know better than to ask. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past five and a bit years, is hat it’s better if you just sit back and let him decide when he wants to talk about things.  You know what he’s like. He likes to keep shit in.”
 “Until he snaps and it all comes out.”
 “Exactly. Which I’ve pointed out many times and you can imagine how well that went. He’s so stubborn! So goddamn stubborn and it drives me absolutely insane.”
 “Well…” she grins, and playfully digs her elbow into her friend’s side. “…now you know how he feels when it comes to dealing with you.”
 “I am nowhere near as bad as him. Nowhere.”
 “I’ll give you that. But you’re both horribly stubborn and you’re both enormous pains in each other’s asses. But it works. In its own way. Neither of you could live without the other. I’m one hundred percent sure of that. And he’s going to be okay,” she reaches out to rub her friend’s shoulder. “He’s going to come home. To you and the kids. I promise you. We’ll make sure of it. And I know you hate me. For putting him in the situations I do…”
 ‘I don’t hate you, Nik. I could never hate you. And you don’t put him in anything. Tyler manages that all on his own.  If anyone is an expert on getting himself caught up in wild and crazy shit, it’s him. I just wish…” her voice trails off, a frown curving her lips as she lays a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun and peers into the distance. “…what the hell?”
 “What?” Nik turns her attention to what has caught her friend’s eye. TJ wandering away from the playground, towards a stranger waving to him from a cluster of bushes and trees fifty meters away. “Yaz!” she yells at her brother, whose completely oblivious as he busies himself pushing Mille and Tanner on the swing. “What are you doing?! You’re supposed to be watching that one too!”
 “It’s okay,” Esme assures her, and hands her the cup of tea. “Tyler’s fine. He won’t hurt him. He doesn’t hurt kids. Only women.”
 “You know that guy?”
 “Unfortunately,” she sighs, and slips her feet into her flip flops. “That’s my ex husband.”
 ***
  “Tyler James Rake Junior!” Esme bellows, as she stomps across the grass, to where her son is immersed in conversation with Mark. As if they’re long lost friends.  “Just what in the blue hell are you doing?!”
 “We’re talking about football,” her son informs her. As if it’s perfectly natural to be making friends with complete strangers. “But real football. Like daddy likes. Not the stupid NFL.”
 “You do not just go wandering off like that,” she scolds him, dropping to one knee in front of him, hands on his shoulders. “How many has daddy and I talked to you about that? That you stay where we can see you? That you just don’t go off on your own?”
 There are many reasons for their warnings. And their worries. Yes, there’s a lot of unsavoury and sketchy people out there that are just waiting to take advantage of a child. But there’s also the possibility of there being someone out there just waiting to exact revenge. It is a strange way to live: always looking over your shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it’s the nature of the beast.
 “He’s fine,” Mark pipes up. “I wasn’t going to hurt him.”
 She ignores him and continues to address her son. “What did daddy tell you? About never taking off like that? About never talking to strangers?”
 His chin falls to his chest, a pout curving his lips. “That I should always be where someone can see me.”
 “You scared me. And Auntie Nik. Don’t go wandering off like that, okay? What if something happened to you? Mommy doesn’t want to lose you. She loves you way too much. Come here…” she draws him into her arms, a hand on the back of his head as he snuggles his face into her shoulder. “…I’m sorry I yelled. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. But you scared me, Tyler. Please don’t do that again, okay?”
 “Okay,” he agrees with a sniffle, and when he pulls back, she uses gentle fingertips to clear the tears off his cheeks and the sides of his nose.  “I’m sorry, mommy. But it’s not a stranger. He’s my friend.”
 “No. He most certainly is not. He’s not your friend.”
 “But he came to the house and said he knows you and he talked to daddy.”
 “He is not your friend,” she stresses.
 “Everything okay?” a breathless Yaz inquires as he arrives on the scene. “I’m sorry, Esme. I just looked away from him for less than a minute. I was caught up with the other two and I just glanced away and…”
 “Everything’s fine,” she assures him, wiping grass and dirt off her knee as she stands up. “He’s okay. A little too fearless, but okay. Can you take him back?”
 “I want to stay with you,” her son argues, and wraps both arms around one of her legs.
 “Who are you?” Yaz addresses Mark.  No chill. Just straight to the point.
 “I’m Mark,” he steps forward and offers a hand.
 Yaz looks at his hand, then straight in the eye, and then back to the hand again. Giving a derisive snort as he turns to Esme. “Mark, Mark? As in…?”
 “Just take him back to the others,” she says, and pries loose little fingers from around her thigh. “Go with Uncle Yaz,” she speaks to her son. “He’ll take you down to see the ducks and the geese. Mommy will be there in a few minutes. Can you do that for me? Go with uncle Yaz to feed ducks?”
 He nods, and she takes his little face in her hands and presses a kiss to his forehead.
 “You’ll be okay?” Yaz asks. “If you need me to stick around…”
 “I’ll be fine.”
 He nods, then looks at Mark. “Just so you know, I know about fifteen different ways to kill someone without leaving any evidence behind. And my sister knows about five times more than that.”
 “I’m not here to cause trouble,” he promises. “I’m just here to talk.”
 “Yeah…sure you are…” Yaz mutters, and then takes TJ by the hand and hauls him off back towards the playground.
 ****
 “He’s a little cutie,” Mark observes. “Looks nothing like you though. None of them do.”
 “What the hell is wrong with you?” Esme hisses. “First you show up at my house and talk to my husband, now you’re following me around and talking to my three old? Are you following me?”
 “You never called,” he attempts to reason. “I gave your husband my business card and he said he’d tell you to give me a call and…”
 “He should have just punched you in the throat and threw your ass in a shallow grave. And believe me, he’s more than capable of doing it. And much worse things. What do you want? It’s been eight years. No contact. Exactly the way I like it. And all of a sudden you just show up out of the blue? Are you unhinged?”
 “I’ve kept in touch with your mom. She’s the one who told me where to find you.”
 “Oh, I know. And believe me, she’s going to be on my shit list for a long time. What do you want? Why are you showing up at my house? Why are you following me to a park and watching me with my kids? Do you realize how creepy that is? That you’re just hanging out watching us and talking to my son? That is creepy as fuck and that is a line you never should have crossed. My son, Mark? Are you serious right now?”
 “You’re making way too much of a big deal out of this, Esme. I guess some things never change, huh? You still overreact.”
 “Don’t even try that with me. I’m not the same person I was when I let you get away with all your crap. So don’t you dare try and gaslight me. For once just own up to your own shit. You never should have kept in contact with my mother and you definitely should not have shown up at my house. You talked to my husband? Like, seriously Mark?”
 “He’s a nice guy. Not nearly as intimidating as he looks,” her ex smirks. “He’s a big boy, huh? Strong as hell.”
 “Why don’t you show up at the house again and try your bullshit on him and you can see just how strong and intimidating he can be?  I honestly would like to see that. I’d like to see him just hand you your ass. You have no idea what he’s capable of. And I don’t think you really want to find out.”
 “I’m not underestimating him. I’ve heard the stories. They’re out there if you know the right people. I definitely would not want to get on his bad side.  I heard what he did to those guys back in that apartment in Dhaka. I thought maybe it was all just a bunch of bullshit. Did he really kill a guy with a garden rake?”
 “I’m not indulging you in this. I don’t care what you’ve heard. I don’t care who you’ve heard it from. You had no right going to my house and talking to him. And you definitely had no right coming here and talking to my son. How low are you willing to stoop? How much further down into the gutter are you willing to go? That is my child, Mark. My three-year-old. And you’re out here luring him away like some pedophile.”
 “I was not luring him away. He saw me and wandered over to talk to me. That’s it. I would have never hurt him, you know that.”
 “Because you only hurt women, right?” she crosses her arms over her chest. “Just tell me what you’re doing here. Why do you want to talk to me so badly? Can’t you just go back under whatever rock you’ve been living under for the past eight years? I have a life. One that doesn’t include you. I have a husband and kids. Can’t you just let me be?”
“I just want to talk to you,” Mark assures her. “I’m not here to cause problems. I just want to talk.”
 “About what?”
 “Can we go and sit down somewhere?  Get a little privacy?”
 “You either talk right here or not at all. I’m not going anywhere with you. So talk. Whatever you have to say, just get it out.”
 His eyes narrow as he looks over her shoulder. “Your friend is staring at us.”
 “That’s Nik. And she’s probably going through all the different ways she can kill you. You wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley, either. Stop trying to change the subject. What do you want? Why are you here?”
 “To talk.”
 “I got that already. About what? You’re testing my patience, Mark.”
 “First things first…” he reaches into the breast pocket of his golf shirt and plucks out a small, sparkling and shiny object, offering it to her.  “…you left it behind.”
 The engagement ring he’d given to her many years ago. When things had seemed normal. Perfect. When she’d been convinced she’d found the love of her life and she’d wanted nothing more than to devote her life to him.
 She slaps his hand away. “You’re lucky I didn’t shove it up your ass or down your throat. What is wrong with you? Why would you bring that? If I didn’t want it then, why would I want it now?”
 “Well I noticed you don’t wear one, so…”
 “So you thought I’d just take that one back and wear it? You really are a delusional, arrogant prick, aren’t you. You’re not part of my life anymore. You haven’t been part of my life in eight years. And I was perfectly fine with that. I don’t want your ring. I don’t want you showing up at my house. I don’t want you talking to my husband or my son. You’re messed up, Mark. You have serious issues. You need to just go. Go back to whatever cave you’re living in and…”
 “Denver,” he interrupts. “I live in Denver now.”
 “Oh, how convenient. Considering you hated Colorado when we were together. Well go back to Denver, then. Go back there and leave me alone. Leave us alone.”
 She attempts to turn on her heel and walk away, but he captures her by the wrist and turns her around to face him.
 “Don’t…” she warns, and yanks her hand out of his grasp. “…ever touch me like that.”
 He releases her and then holds his hands up in surrender. “Just give me a chance, okay? Let me just explain what I’m doing here. It’s just to talk, I promise. There’s things I need to say to you. To get off my chest. Will you let me do that?”
 She crosses her arms over her chest once again, head cocked to the side as she waits for him to continue.
 “I’m in a program. For my drinking. I know what you’re going to say. That it only took eight years for me to get to this point.  And that I should have listened to all the times you begged me to go and get help. That things would be completely different now if I had have.”
 She doubts it. Their problems extended far beyond his alcohol issues. Getting help for that barely scratches the surface.
 “One of the things I need to do…to make a clean break and start a new life…is to make amends for things I’ve done. It doesn’t erase what was said or what I did, but it’s an important step I need to take. For my own mental and physical health.”
 “Because that’s all it was ever about, right Mark? You. I was never really in the equation.”
 “Maybe it will give you some kind of closure as well. Maybe you need to hear these things just as much as I need to say them. So you can get on with your life.”
 “I’ve gotten on with my life. I met the love of my life. The true love of my life. I got married. Had babies. I love the life I have. With the person I’ve made that life with. I don’t need to hear anything from you, Mark. But I understand why you need to say them.”
 He gives a smile of appreciation, taking a deep breath as he nervously rubs his hands together.  “I know that I hurt you,” he begins. “I know that I wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Live with. That there were things I said and did that were horrible. That I was a terrible person to you a lot of the times. Especially after the baby.”
 She nods in agreement, swallowing down the lump of emotion that has lodged in her throat.
 “I think we just got caught up in things.  I had just come out of a bad relationship and I was looking for someone…anyone…to fill that hole inside of me. And you were there. I met you and everything seemed right with the world again. And maybe it was wrong. Maybe it never should have happened. I was your commanding officer. But it did happen. And I don’t regret that. Because there were some good times. And when things were good, they were damn good. Weren’t they?”
 “I never denied there were good times, Mark. But there were more bad than good and you can’t deny that.”
 “And you can’t deny that those times weren’t all my fault. You’re not exactly the easiest person to live with, Esme. You don’t make it easy to love you. I’m surprised this guy’s held on as long as he has, to be honest.”
 She smirks. “And you were doing so well there for a minute. You almost had me feeling sorry for you.”
 “He must have a lot more patience than I do. Almost six years, right? And he’s still around? You must be doing something right.”
“I give amazing blow jobs and he gets laid nearly every day, twice a day,” she retorts, and he frowns. “You actually almost had me there, Mark. I was starting to feel sorry for you. I was actually starting to feel proud of you for getting help. And then you do this. You turn it around so you’re the victim.”
 “I’m only pointing out that things fell apart because of both of us. Granted, I was a lot worse than you were and you put more into it when it came to trying to keep things together. You definitely worked harder than I did when things were falling apart.  And I know I went off the deep end after the baby. I’m sorry. For the things I said and the things I did to you. The other women. The lying. The being a complete asshole.  And that’s what I came to say to you. That I’m sorry and I hope one day you can forgive me.”
 She nods, considering his words, arms still crossed over her chest, hands rubbing her shoulders.
 “You have a beautiful family, Esme. You’ve got a guy that’s obviously crazy about you. Amazing kids. And I’m glad you found that. I’m glad you found someone that loves you as much as he does. Someone that could give you what I couldn’t.  I’m sorry I couldn’t be the kind of man that you needed. I really am. Even now I wish things could have been different.”
 “Things happen for a reason,” she says. “Had we…had you fixed things…I wouldn’t have what I have now. I never would have met Tyler. And that was the best thing that ever happened me. Even if what happened afterwards was screwed up. I don’t regret meeting him. Or going through what I had to. He almost died. I almost lost him and I had just found him. But I don’t regret how I met him or how things happened between us. And none of that would have happened if things worked between us.”
 “Well I hope he appreciates it. How much you love him. How much you’re willing to go through for him. Because when you love, you love with your whole heart. Your whole being. And I just hope he realizes how lucky he is. I hope that you have a long life together. A happy life. And I really am sorry I couldn’t give you all that.”
 “And I’m sorry too,” she admits. “For not being the person you needed.”
 “That’s the thing. You were. And I was just too stupid to realize it.”
 “Mommy,” Millie appears by her side, tugging at the bottom of her t-shirt.  “I’m hungry.”
 “Again?” Esme laughs, and scoops her up into her arms. “You’re getting to be just as bad as your daddy and your brothers. Can you say hi?”
 “Hi,” the little girl chirps, and offers a hand. “I’m Amelia. But everyone calls me Millie. I like that better.’
 He smiles and shakes her hand.
 “I’m five,” she announces. “Those are my brothers...” she nods over her mother’s shoulder in the direction of where Yaz is helping the twins shake playground sand out of their sandals. “Tyler and Tanner. They’re twins. But they don’t look exactly alike.”
 “Fraternal,” Esme explains. “Not identical. But you’d never know it if you saw them side by side. It’s hard for people to tell them apart, isn’t it, Millie? We can because we live with them and see them every day. But to other people it’s hard.”
 Millie nods. “Sometimes, at school, if they have a new teacher or a new person watching them on the playground, they’ll pretend to be each other. Just to mess people up. They think it’s funny,” she rolls her eyes at that, then adds in exasperation, “Boys. They try at home too, but mommy and daddy know who is who. That’s my other brother,” she points in the direction of where Nik is buckling the baby into his stroller. “Declan. He’s just a baby. I like him better than the other two. I really want a baby sister. I’m tired of having brothers.”
 “Well that’s something your dad and I have to decide. Whether it be a brother or a sister.  We don’t really get to pick. It just happens.”
  “Do you know my daddy?” Millie addresses Mark. “His name is Tyler too. My brother was named after him.”
 “We met,” he confirms. “We don’t really know each other though.”
 “You know mommy?”
 He nods.
 “How?”
 “Your mom and I knew each other a long time ago. We met at her old job. Long before she met your dad or had you or your brothers.”
 “You were friends?”
 He smiles. “Something like that.”
 “Do you like dogs?”
 Mark blinks.
 “I have a dog. His name is Macaroni. But everyone calls him Mac. I try telling everyone that’s not his name, but…” she shrugs.
 “Welcome to the world of five-year old’s,” Esme grins. “Where your attention span is limited yet you can carry on six different conversations at the same time. I should go. The other three are probably hungry too. And we should get home before daddy and Ovi, right?” she presses a kiss to Millie’s temple.
 “Ovi’s my other brother,” Millie explains. “But he didn’t come from mommy’s tummy. Mommy and daddy didn’t make him like they made the rest of us. I’m only five, but I know how these things work, you know.  Ovi doesn’t look like me. But he’s still my brother.”
 “The drug dealer’s kid?” Mark asks Esme, and she nods. “Pretty admirable. You guys taking him on like that.”
 “He needed a family. Him and Tyler have a pretty tight bond. Even back then they did. And we couldn’t just leave him there.”
 “He never would have survived. If you hadn’t have taken him. You realize that, right?”
 She nods, then gives Millie a smile and a kiss on the forehead. “Hungry? Should we go and grab something to eat? Make Uncle Yaz pay? We should go. If all four of them start carrying on at the same time…”
 “Thank you, Esme,” he reaches out and rubs her shoulder. “For hearing me out. I know it wasn’t easy for you and I know you didn’t owe me anything. And I hope one day you can forgive me.”
 “Maybe,” she says. “I’m glad to see you’re getting yourself together, Mark. That you’re finally taking things seriously and getting the help you need. I really am. You deserve much better than the cards you’ve been dealt. You always did.”
 He smiles, then reaches out to tuck a wayward piece of hair behind her ear. “Your hair has always done that,” he chuckles. “I always used to fix it for you.”
 “Well, someone else does that for you now. So…”  she backs away. Far enough that he can’t reach her.
 “I really am happy for you. Genuinely happy. You got the life you wanted. Someone that loves you and can provide for you, give you children. He’s lucky.”
 “I’m pretty lucky myself. Even if it takes something like this to make me realize it. He’s a good man. Not perfect, but perfect for me.  And he’s a great father. Right, Millie? Isn’t he? Isn’t he a great daddy?”
 “The best daddy ever,” she gushes. “Even if he won’t let me paint his nails or wear the tiara.”
 “It’s a long story,” Esme says.
 “But he does take me fishing,” the little girl continues. “And hiking. Those are pretty cool too. Do you have kids?”
 “No,” he responds. “I was never lucky enough to have kids. Your mom’s a good mom, isn’t she?”
 “The best ever,” Millie says, and presses a noisy kiss to Esme’s cheek. “Even if she does keep giving me brothers.”
 “And that’s our cue to leave,” Esme laughs. “I need to get these guys fed and home. It was nice seeing you, Mark. For what it’s worth, I hope you got what you needed by coming here. I know it wasn’t easy for you, either.”
 “If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll help anyway I can. Maybe we can start from square one. Be friends again. We always worked better as friends. Would you at least think about it? Give it a chance.”
 “We’ll see,” she says. “If you don’t hear from me…well if you don’t hear me, just take care of yourself. You’re on the right path. Stay on it.”
 “I will,” he promises, and then she turns on her heel and walks away.
11 notes · View notes
helpinghanikan · 5 years
Text
Inter-species relationship
X-men x Reader
Sum: Relationships come in many forms, with those that are powered and those that aren’t.
AN: little, teeny-tiny one shots because classes are starting soon and I gotta get ready
Charles Xavier:
           Behind the powers, behind the suits and the missions and the X-men themselves there is a school. A school with actual students that need an actual education. Which in turn needs actual teachers. Which is where you come in.
           Andy was one of your students, Andy was a bright student and Andy was a little shit.
           “This is fucking shit,” It was Lily’s voice, but it didn’t come from her.
           “Andrew…” Your chalk sat down, turning to face him with a ‘are you serious’ look.
           Andy didn’t have the most impressive power in the school. He was a mocking bird, a watered-down Mystic who can only change his voice and prints. Not enough to warrant a super suit, but enough to be taken advantage off. Several nights spent behind bars and handcuffs before his mother got to Charles’s school.
           “Lily said it.” Andrew says before you completely turn around.
           Lily is done, staring to the ceiling like she’s hoping for God to take her from this misery.
           “The least you can do is learn how to lie better. Or pretend to be someone who can do it.” One perk of being a one of it’s kind private school was the amount of sass you’re allowed to dish out. Anything short of cussing out a kid was green lit, within reason.
           Among the small chuckles from your students there was Andrew. And his little smile that turned into a smirk.
           “Of course, Miss.” Your name came from Charles voice but out of Andrew’s mouth.
           Later on, Charles was trying to hide a smile behind his hand. Pretending that he was reading the paper in front of him and only half listening to your rants.
                                           -------------------------------------
Erik Lehnsherr:
           Accidents happen in prison all the time; from suicides to miscounts of prisoners, no prison is perfect.
           So, who can say how that metal fork was mixed with the plastic?
           It was either the recent surge of sympathy for mutants, or just plain stupidity that Magneto was still alive. Leashed and caged in plastic in an equally non-metal prison. Millions in tax payers money ruined by someone infected with sympathy.
           He only stared up at you, like he was expecting a kick to the face.
           And you stared back, pretending that the fork suddenly floating wasn’t anything new. It’s only when you take several steps back, does he stop staring.
           Floating fork dents and presses, a thick needle pressed into a lock neither of you saw. Watching the neck restraint come undone, although silent, was the loudest sound.
           It was your turn to stare at him, expecting violence when he only walks past you.
           “I’m only giving you now to leave,” He says, jerking his head towards the door you had entered.
           “You’re welcome, I guess.” You said while walking away. Probably only getting a few second head start.
                                          -------------------------------------
Raven/ Mystique:
         The smallest bit of blue lays in the palm of her hand. It spreads into the flat of the fingers, and onto the thumb. Skin that was entirely her pressed against your own. Follow up the arm and into the green eyes and you won’t find her there.
           Instead you see a man, a stranger created from hundreds of faces passing by each day.
           It was only in the confines of your apartment that she was your entire blue rose. Grabbing her hand and begging her to come with you, pulling her with you towards the door. As though the door frame was a machine, changing your love into the stranger the world would accept.
           At least twice a week you sat on your bench with a different person. Lovingly holding each of their hands in the same way each time. Head resting against their shoulder without a change of pattern.
                                         -------------------------------------
Peter Maximoff:
         He never outright said it, but everyone knew that Peter was always different.
           He had class across the school? Didn’t matter, he was always there. Already stealing whatever snack you were trying to hide away.
           School work? Done in the time it takes for your book to be pulled from the bag. It was almost never right, forcing you to watch him do it painstakingly slow.
           It was something that no one bothered to tell anyone else. Something that was just a trick of the mind and not worth mentioning. After months of these tricks happening and then only one you’ve ever said anything to was Peter’s mother.
           “You have to trap him,” Ms. Romanoff said when you mentioned it. “I used to hold his hand everywhere, until he was about thirteen. It’s like a leash or something he can’t break out of.”
           At no point was the question asked but the answer was clear.
                                           -------------------------------------
Hank McCoy:
         There is two moods when sleeping next to Hank: Cuddling into a comfort you can only dream of buying in stores. And mentally planning your funeral after you die from heat-stroke.
           It’s an amazing thing to watch someone you love gain confidence. Seeing Hank stand taller then before, voicing his opinion instead of exiling himself to the lab. All this while in blue, too. There was no way you’d make him feel bad by explain that he was gonna smother you one of these nights.
           It seemed he already knew. Every night you visited he would try and sleep on the farthest part of the bed. Curling in on himself while you did the same on the other side.
           It never lasted long. Both Hank and you were natural cuddlers. In the haze of sleep Hank reaches for his natural state as the big spoon. A branch of fur reaching around your middle and a bear of blue pressing into your back. In your own world of sleep your head is controlled by another. Lifting for the other branch to find it’s place under your neck.
           A heat stroke in the middle of the night is just a cross you have to bear.
                                                -------------------------------------
Jean Gray:
         She was already slightly an outcast amongst outcasts. Coming full circle and into your arms after running into each other on more then one occasion.  
           The only way you’d ever make her situation worse would be through a visit. Just like now.
           Only Scott seemed to notice when Jean suddenly stopped talking. Her eyes slightly widening and the brisk, but fast, walking she made towards the front door.
           You’re standing in front of the gate like a tourist. Looking up and down at the paper with a hastily scrawled address Jean hadn’t thought you’d actually use. She walks towards you with quick strides and flowing hair in your direction.
           “Hi!” You wave at her.
           “Hey, what-what are you doing here?” She asks, jogging the last few steps.
           “Sorry, you mentioned you weren’t doing anything today.” You say when she reaches you.
           “No, it’s fine. Just-just like, call first.” She looks beyond the gate towards her school.
           Scott stands at one of the balconies. You watched for too long and another two of her fellow students come out. One even waving in your direction. A gesture you returned.
           “The school isn’t really the best place for us to meet…” She says moving her head like she’s trying to convince herself.
           “Because of your-.” Your hand makes a wiggly motion next to your head. “little trick and whatever?”
           “It’s not-I don’t have a little trick.” Jean says.
           Your eye-brow raise and head tilt stopped her from trying to defend herself any further.
           One of the fondest memories shared was of the first real date. The one where Jean could answer every question you threw at her, about yourself and otherwise. She remembers the glee in your eyes when she’d pretend to think really hard and then answer with supreme confidence. You remember how it took you a few minutes to realize her gift. Back then it was just a theory. One proven fact after several incidents in your following interactions.
           “Babe,” You say. “You aren’t exactly subtle.”
                                       -------------------------------------
Logan/ Wolverine:
           “Stop moving,” You scold.
           Flat of your palm presses against his forehead, pushing him back onto the little table. He could easily push against your own strength but instead he falls back. Landing with a grunt as though he was mortally wounded.
           “Hank treats me better than you do.” He comments, wincing when you made another incision.
           Your medical know how was the smallest bit above average. Panic watching YouTube videos after the first time he asked for “a little help”. You still had yet to learn about pain killers.
           “Go to Hank next time, and then you can take all his beer, instead.” Using tweezers, you press into the skin. Taking hold of the bullet in his skin and pulling it outward.
           In normal cases bullets aren’t removed from wounds unless there’s a surgery. It took a little convincing from Logan’s side for you to remove the bullet the first time around. Come the second and your forcing his leg onto the table to dig out the bullet deep in his thigh.
           “It’s not my fault they appear in my hands. Almost like somebody is handing them to me.” He says.
           It’s impossible to not cringe when his body sews itself back together. It’s better to hop up and head to the fridge then to watch it happen. Grabbing one of those brands that taste, in a word, icky and bringing it back. The skin was back together by the time you sat down again.
           “Only because I don’t know where to buy morphine yet.” The beer is next to his head. A medical reason, not a reason of love.
                                            -------------------------------------
Kurt Wagner:
           One of these days you will last a day without getting a heart attack. Today is not one of those days.
           “Sorry, I’m sorry!” Kurt exclaims, trying to stop you from already screaming.
           It doesn’t matter the skin tone or look of any person. Someone suddenly appearing right next to you will always be scary.
           He’s done this before, appeared right next you and being surprised by your reaction.
           “It’s fine,” you say holding his shoulders as though he was the one who had been screaming. “Just, back up a few steps next time.” It’s a condition he always forgets and is never important enough to fuss about.
           He smiles in that “I’m sorry” way and takes your hand.
           It’s only a heart beat until Peter is at the door frame. Kurt still holding your hand like an elementary school couple. Peter’s arms were crossed and was tsk-ing at the entire scene in front of him.
           “Who taught you guys how to sneak in?” He asks.
165 notes · View notes
elisaphoenix13 · 4 years
Text
Unlucky Date
"Babe...I love you but this is torture." Peter pulls the sleeve of his sweater over his hand before holding his hand up to his nose.
He and Cassie were spending the day at the mall and it had been nice up until now. Tony and Stephen were incredibly generous when it came to his, Harley's, and Diana's allowances, so when Cassie spent a majority of hers, Peter handed over his debit card without a second thought. Scott couldn't give her a huge allowance, and Quill currently didn't have a job since he went to space too often, but the space pirate took on the job to protect Scott and Cassie and he did whatever he could to spoil them anyway. Peter didn't mind letting his girlfriend dip into his funds. She could probably buy all she wanted and barely make a dent into what he had.
She wasn't very materialistic, but today was one of those days that she wanted to splurge. Some new clothes, a couple of knick knacks, a little bit of makeup (that Peter tried to convince her she didn't need. He's seen her without it, but she said she only wore it for special occasions), and now she dragged him to a candle store. One or two candles didn't bother him, but a whole store of them had his sense of smell going into overdrive.
"Just wait at that bench then. It will only take me a couple of minutes." Cassie points to a nearby bench and he nods as she walks into the store.
The other reason Peter didn't just suck it up and go in with her was because he couldn't. If he went in there, there was a good chance he would have a sensory overload and he didn't want to make Cassie deal with that. She was true to her word though, and was out of the store within a couple of minutes and they were walking away from it much to his relief. When she handed him the bag of candles, he took them out one by one to smell them as they walked to their next destination, one of them burning his eyes.
"Keep that one downstairs." He says as he returns it to the bag and wipes his eyes.
Cassie giggles. "It's for Dad and Papa anyway. I'm the one that keeps our floor clean after all."
"You make it sound like they're kids."
"They're really not bad but Dad leaves paperwork, schematics, and blueprints on every freaking surface...and I think Quill has something against shirts. I find them all over the place. I actually have to go looking for laundry on the day I do laundry!" Cassie rolls her eyes and Peter smirks.
"I'm pretty sure it's your dad that has something against Quill having shirts."
"Ugh, please don't remind me."
After a couple more stores, the two decide on a lunch break, and Peter stays in line to order their food while Cassie finds them a table. A few minutes later found them sitting at the table and eating their first burger, and Cassie raising an eyebrow when Peter is already halfway through his first one when she had barely taken a second bite out of hers.
"Peter, I swear you're going to choke one of these days. Slow down tiger."
"Sorry. I'm starving." He says around a mouthful of food and Cassie wrinkles her nose.
"That's attractive."
Peter ignores her and takes a sip of his drink before crumpling the wrapper and tossing it on the tray and then opening his second hamburger. His second hamburger he did take his time with, giving Cassie time to enjoy her lunch and not feel rushed. They did have an amusing scramble over a couple of Peter's fries when she finished hers, but it was in good fun and he let her have them. It was definitely worth it to see her flash him a victory smile when she successfully stole and ate them.
It was halfway through his second burger that the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Peter looked around for potential danger, and when Cassie noticed his behavior, she sat up straight. She knew what that look meant.
"Peter?"
Peter focuses on listening to his surroundings, and when he hears a faint beeping that definitely didn't belong, he grabs Cassie's arm.
"Get down!"
She did. Peter pulled them down to the floor and under their table just as an explosion goes off, and he covers her body with his own. Screams filter through the booming of collapsing parts of the building, and Cassie presses herself closer to Peter when a large chunk of concrete falls too close for comfort. The table they were under wasn't much protection but it was definitely better than nothing and Peter made himself Cassie's second line of defense. He was much more likely to survive a hit on the head if that's what it came to.
And it did. A large piece of the building falls onto the table, knocking it over, and a second smaller piece immediately follows. It hits the back of Peter's head just before the rest of the building collapses, and he blacks out to the sound of Cassie screaming for him.
__________________________
"I'm telling you, they'll fake it and run it in." Sam says and Clint snorts.
"If they do they're stupid. The other team will see it coming a mile away." Clint twirl the pencil in his hand. "Hey Quill! What's holding you up?!"
"I may be a god but I only have two hands assholes!"
Quill walks into the living room with his arms full of beer and snacks, throwing the cans at everyone waiting while also dumping the snacks on the coffee table. Most of the team decided on a day of watching football games and basically screwing around, and even Tony and Stephen had joined them. Harley was at a friend's house, Peter and Cassie were at the mall, and Diana was with Wanda, Natasha, and Pepper for a girls day. Cassie was invited too but she wanted to spend the day with Peter instead since they didn't get much time together. Especially alone. It was always with someone or other kids.
Stephen wasn't really watching the game, but he was still enjoying the company. Tony on the other hand was one of the one's placing bets on scores and future plays.
"Someone could have helped me." Quill gripes.
"Talk to your boyfriend." Tony snarks and the god prepares to throw a beer at him.
Then he freezes. Swirls of colors fill his eyes until everyone sees nothing but miniature versions of the galaxy (humorously dubbed Galaxy Eyes by the team), and Tony holds up his hands.
"Whoa, easy Porcupine. Nothing to get mad about!"
Scott looks up from the pad of paper he's scribbling everyone's bets on, and practically jumps over the coffee table to get to Quill. "He's not mad, something's wrong!" He reaches up and grabs the pirate's face. "Hey, what are you looking at?"
Quill's galaxy filled eyes focus on Scott. "Cassie."
"Boss, there's been an explosion at the mall." FRIDAY says immediately after and Tony and Stephen jump to their feet.
_________________________
"Peter!"
Cassie winces as she tries to move the slab of metal pinning her leg. It thankfully wasn't hurting her, but it was uncomfortable and she was afraid it could start cutting off the circulation. Her main concern was getting closer to Peter because there was blood coming from the back of his head and a piece of metal was cutting into his side. Calling him into awareness probably wasn't a good idea yet, so Cassie looked around for anything loose that she could use to help lift the metal off her leg. There was a metal rod a little buried nearby, but with some careful wiggling to make sure it wouldn't disturb anything, Cassie managed to grab it and pull it out. She shoves it under the metal slab and uses all her strength to push down on the rod, barely managing to pull her leg out of its trap before the metal crashes back down. The thought of her leg being crushed under it had her skin crawling.
The next thing she did was move closer to Peter and check his injuries. The back of his head was already starting to slowly heal over, but the metal piercing his side was the bigger problem. Peter had told her in the past that he had coded his suit for Cassie to use in case of an emergency, and this was definitely an emergency so there was no time like the present to see if it was true. She reaches over to pull his nanotech bracelet off his wrist and slips it over her own, activating the suit like she had seen Peter do before. The nanites crawl over her skin until the suit forms to her body and the rest of it turns on.
"Hello Cassie." Karen greets her.
"Oh my god, he really did code it for me." Cassie breathes out and then shakes her head. "Can I safely remove the piece of metal?"
"Only if you apply a compression web immediately afterwards." Karen responds. "I've already taken the liberty to turn on the GPS signal for your parents to find you, but it will take some time to reach you."
"Okay."
Karen automatically sets the web shooter to compression webs and Cassie pushes up on the concrete with the distended piece of metal until it slides out of Peter's side. She shifts the concrete aside just enough so that the metal doesn't come back down onto either of them, and then applies the web to Peter's side after she lifts his shirt. He groans as the nanites crawl back into their housing unit, and Cassie removes the bracelet to return to Peter. That was all she could do for now. She wasn't strong enough to move the metal and concrete around them, and even if she was, she couldn't risk having the building fall more on them or anyone else that was stuck like them. The suit only provided so much strength as well. If Cassie thought about it, Peter probably coded it that way because the strength he used came from him.
"Shit..." Peter hisses as he rejoins the waking world and the pain from both his head and his side throb in unison.
"Peter." Cassie leans over him and he startles until she brushes a loose strand of hair away from his forehead.
"Oh...hey. Are you hurt?" Peter asks and she shakes her head. "Okay good." He sits up and lifts his shirt when he feels the web sticking to his side. "Did you do this?"
"Had to. I was afraid you would wake up and move the metal and make things worse."
"You're making me look bad by saving my life all the time." Peter jokes.
"You saved me from the explosion and the building. This is nothing."
Peter looks around their small prison, fully intending to take the joke farther, but instead his breathe traps itself in his throat. Their situation was way too similar to when the Vulture dropped the warehouse on him and he started to hyperventilate. He couldn't lift everything off this time. There was someone that could get hurt if he tried and he didn't want to hurt Cassie...but he was feeling claustrophobic. The air felt suffocating and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't inhale properly.
"Nononono...I can't...can't..." Peter heaves through another attempt to inhale and Cassie grabs his face with both her hands.
"It's okay. You're okay. Breathe Peter."
Peter tried, but just when he stopped hyperventilating, it would start all over again. Cassie remained vigilant and patient as she continued to coach him through his breathing, until finally she chose to use a distraction. She kissed him...and it worked. All of his attention went to her and when she finally moved away, he was breathing properly again and was much calmer.
"Better?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe you should do it again just to be sure." Peter mumbles and Cassie smiles.
"Our parents should be here any second. At least that's what Karen said."
Peter nods and rests the side of his head against some concrete, and Cassie moves to sit next to him so she can lay her head on his shoulder. She slips her hand into his to help keep him grounded and he closes his eyes to focus on her breathing and her heartbeat. It was what got him through the rest of the time they were stuck and he was kind of glad she was with him. Not so much that she had been in danger, but that he wasn't alone. Which brought another fear inducing thought to the front of his pounding head.
"Your parents are going to kill me. Especially Quill."
Cassie squeezes his hand. "No they won't."
Voices reach their ears about ten minutes later, and Peter jerks away from the concrete he's leaning against when it shifts. The concrete and metal around them crunch in warning, but instead of falling onto them, they fall away to reveal Tony in his suit and Quill. The celestial immediately scoops Cassie up into his arms and takes her outside while Tony helps Peter to his feet. The teen groans and holds his side, and Tony helps him out of the building.
"Hey, look at me." His father says. "At me Underoos." Peter blinks in the sunlight and looks up at Tony.
"...gonna be sick." Peter manages to croak out and Tony keeps him up as he brings up his lunch. The sunlight aggravated his pounding head and the pain made him nauseous.
"Mama Bear! Peter needs your attention right now." Peter feels himself being moved and he sighs with relief when Levi drapes itself over his head to block out the sunlight. "You got him?"
"Yes. Go take care of everything else." Stephen says as he carefully directs Peter to the back of an ambulance truck to sit.
Peter leans against one of the doors as Stephen tends to his side, and as soon as he's properly patched up, the sorcerer uses some of his magic to alleviate his headache. Peter just wanted to sleep for a couple of days to let his body heal and also because the panic attack he had earlier left him feeling drained, but he absolutely had to make sure Cassie was okay. He wouldn't put it past her to lie to him in a situation like that to keep him calm.
"Cassie?"
"She's perfectly fine. Nothing but a couple of scratches." Stephen assures him. "Just rest. She'll probably come over as soon as she can get away from Scott and Quill."
Peter harrumphs. "You mean never?"
Stephen chuckles. "Do you still need the cloak?"
Peter lifts part of the cloak to let in some of the sunlight, and when it doesnt have him keeling over to hurl again, he shakes his head. Levi slowly floats off of him and settles back onto Stephen's shoulders and Peter leans forward to rest his forehead on the sorcerer's chest.
"I just want to sleep." He mumbles.
"Don't you want a shower first? You're filthy." Stephen carefully brushes his fingers through Peter's hair, being mindful of the healing wound.
"Too tired. I'll take one after a nap."
"Alright."
Stephen portals them all back to the tower once Tony gets everything settled with the right people, and Peter passes out as soon as his head falls into Cassie's lap. She had barely gotten comfortable when he laid on the couch and used her as a pillow, and Quill and Scott were still kind of fussing over her despite the fact that she told them repeatedly that she was fine.
"For the last time, I'm fine. I promise." Cassie pushes Scott's hands away.
"I never want to see you like that again." Quill says and they all knew he was talking about through his celestial gaze.
"My parents are Avengers, and I live with Avengers. It's going to happen."
Stephen directs the two to an empty couch. "She's safe now and that's what matters. Just go back to watching football. Clint and Sam will be back soon and you can all raid our fridge again."
Tony groans loudly. "Stephanie..."
"They helped dig our son out of another building. Hush. Besides, restocking the fridge costs pennies to you."
"Fine." The engineer points at Quill. "Stay away from my Skittles, Porcupine."
"Thanks for telling me you have some." Quill says with a grin.
"Son of a-"
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shark-from-the-park · 5 years
Text
FIC:  It’s a hard life
Responding to the several kind requests for more involving Crowley thirsting over Chubby!Aziraphale the only way I know how. 
NSFW.  NSFCD.  NC17 to be on the safe side.  Smutty and gratuitous.  You’ve been warned.
@awritersrejections  @idinink  @jedi-pumpkin-pie  @kheauzx  @littlemissanglerfish  (tagging those who may be predisposed to read this. If you want to be removed/added, let me know)
AN:  This can be read as a standalone tormented and aroused Crowley pleasuring himself because Aziraphale is a hot chubby sexy delicious mess fic, or as a follow on from ‘Come on and sit on my hot seat of love’(https://shark-from-the-park.tumblr.com/post/185636324936/fic-come-on-and-sit-on-my-hot-seat-of-love), it should work just as well either way.  Sort of masturbation-without-plot?  Sorry.
But listen, fandom, this is my gift to you.  A portmanteau for Crowley masturbating, you ask (and by ‘you ask’, I of course mean: No-one asked)?  A portmanteau for Crowley Solo?  …
#Crolo.
Prouder of that word than the fic, tbh.  Have that one on me, fam.
It’s a hard life
Crowley slithered onto his bed and under his silk-covered goose down duvet, whimpering needily to himself.
He was so fucking horny.
Embarrassingly horny.
And it was all Aziraphale’s stupid fault.
Crowley vanished his clothes with an irritable flick of his wrist and huffed into his expensive pillow miserably.
Stupid, stupid, sexy, delicious angel and his stupid, sexy, delicious way of not realising that he was sexy…
He flung himself fitfully onto his back, and palmed his hard cock, toes curling against the 300 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets.
He thought about earlier on today, in the bookshop, how the buttons of the angel’s waistcoast had strained slightly as they struggled to contain the round swell of Aziraphale’s paunch, and he clumsily stroked his fist over his erection, whining aloud in the still air of his bedroom.
He thought about when they had been feeding the ducks in the park this morning, and they’d had to squeeze past several young mothers with prams on the narrow path, and his wrist had slightly, accidentally, brushed against the exaggerated curve of Aziraphale’s backside as they’d manoeuvred themselves.  How his mind had completely blanked out afterwards, and he had come to himself again once they were sitting on their usual bench and the angel was wittering on about some topic that Crowley couldn’t even begin to decipher.
Crowley grunted and spread his bare legs apart on his luxury sheets, thrusting his hips upward to slide his leaking cock through the dry tunnel of his fist.  Oh fuck, that felt so good... But it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough, the really good tingly human body feelings were just frustratingly beyond his reach…
His hips rutted upwards and he whined again, desperate.
He wondered about how it would feel to properly touch the flesh of Aziraphale’s backside, without all sorts of fabric in the way, what would the, - ah - consistency be like… Would his hand bounce back from it if he were to give it a gentle smack… What would the sound of that be like… Ahhhh… Nggggggg.
Panting, Crowley spread his knees apart as far as they would go and lowered his hand from his cock to massage his balls, keening and writhing against himself at the sensation.
Thinking about the solid, heavy weight of the angel.  Imagining lying face down underneath that bulk…  Crushed into the mattress underneath Aziraphale’s warm, naked flesh.  Blanketed by him.  Covered by him. Pressed down by him…
Ahhhhh… fuck…  His serpentine hips were grinding, making pathetic little circles in thin air.
Glaring determinedly at the pristine concrete finish on the wall adjacent to his bed, pretending to himself that this wasn’t where his hand had been heading all along, Crowley casually dropped his fingers to stroke a little lower than his balls.
His lower body involuntarily jerked off the bed and he made a sound a bit like a sob.
Propping himself on one shaky elbow for leverage, Crowley’s fingers finally reached his puckered arse hole.
He now made a sound entirely like a sob.
Biting his lip against the overwhelming sensations, he pushed his index finger past the threshold of the tight ring of muscle, wriggling it a bit, enjoying the stretch.
Thinking of Aziraphale’s wriggles. And wiggles. His peculiar little movements and the way his extra flesh jiggled in response to them.
Crowley’s head dropped back and he moaned aloud. He wriggled his finger free of his arse again in order to bring his hand to his mouth and hock and spit onto it (and how disgustingly, delightfully human that was…), lowering the saliva covered digits again to spread the wetness around the outside and just inside of his twitching hole.
The unapologetic way that Aziraphale filled out his clothing to the seams.  The way he ate… Fuck, fuck, fuck.  The way he ate. His pink lips parting to welcome a delicious morsel into his mouth. The naked enjoyment on his face as he chewed and swallowed.
Crowley’s moist index finger probed inside himself again as he wet his lips with his tongue, seeking, attempting to dig deeper. He growled and bucked his hips wildly in frustration. If he’d had another hand or two, or could be bothered to miracle them into being right now, he might have torn at his hair. He slid his middle finger in beside the first, gently thrusting inside himself.
Ahhh, uhhhhn.  Aziraphale’s thick, meaty thighs, and the way they spread and pushed against the seams of his trousers when he sat down.  Nnnnnnnng.  Oh… Somebody. The way they sloped upwards into the obscene curve of his arse, which was usually mostly obscured behind the tails of a coat or jacket.  But the hint of the round, plump, peachy shape was still there even through the layers… And Crowley could remember watching the bounce of the angel’s plump behind through a thin white toga, millenia ago.
Fuck fuck fuck.
What the fuck was the point of his own lanky, angled body - of any body that wasn’t gloriously curved and soft, if it didn’t have dimples, if the flesh didn’t wobble and strain and bounce…
“Oh Sss-… Merc-… SOMEBODY. Somebody damn it all…” Crowley writhed against his two probing fingers, attempting to get them deeper, to crook them slightly, to hit the spot…
To no avail.
Shuddering with the strength of his arousal, he gave up on his arse, withdrawing his fingers, and rolled onto his front.  He wriggled around on the bed until he had a squashy lump of duvet stacked under his hips, and he rutted himself desperately on it, gripping a chunk of duvet between his skinny thighs and gasping at the excrutiating sensation.  His face flooded red with embarrassed heat as he thrust his bare arse out and back into thin air, arching his spine.
He frantically imagined nipping at the roll of chub that appeared under Aziraphale’s chin whenever he angled his head downwards slightly.  Or nibbling oh so gently at the flesh of his thighs while his own skinny hands rested on the soft warmth of the angel’s belly.  Or gripping tightly at the soft flesh of the angels flanks.  Fuck fuck fuck…
Crowley took his aching, weeping cock back in hand and thrust forward into the blessed friction, exaggerating the movement of his hips as he thrust backwards and pulled his cock entirely out of his grip… Before thrusting forwards into his fist to start the whole glorious cycle again…
“Fuck! ANGEL… Why are you so… Sssssssooo… Fuck… Why are you sssssso…. Damned hot…..”
He grunted with the effort of his stuttering hip thrusts as he bucked into his own palm. Somehow the imagined sensation of his arse being thrust against by a pair of chubby thighs was even better than the real sensation of his foreskin being pulled down over the head of his cock by the tight grip of his hand.
He imagined reaching back with one hand and clutching at Aziraphale’s padded hip in encouragement as the angel thrust inside him, flesh slapping against flesh.  Oh fuck, fuck, fuck…
Crowley’s hand shook as he pumped himself, once, twice more…
He was… He was going to… He was…
“Angel!!” He cried, and came all over his duvet, his stomach and his hand.
His arms collapsed under his weight and he slumped forwards into his own mess, shuddering with his whole body, gasping for the air he didn’t technically need.
Pleasure was shooting through him like lightning, tingling in his fingers and toes. His mind went blissfully blank for a few precious minutes as his cock jerked fitfully in his loose grasp and kept on spurting out little dribbles of come until he was completely and utterly drained.
It took a long time for him to regain his senses, his body still thrumming with exquisite fire.
When the vague feeling of guilty shame began to creep over him, Crowley breathed deeply and waved away the mess from himself and his bedding, still feeling a phantom stickiness even after the physical evidence was all gone.
It’s fine… Nothing to see here. Just a demon, lying naked on top of his bedclothes. Shivering. And blushing.
He cleared his throat several times, yet another human habit he had picked up, in an attempt to get a bit of his swagger back (it had never actually worked before and didn’t buck the trend this time around).
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow he would call the angel.  
No, no.  He’d drop by and see him.  
And he’d casually just… just…
Ask him out on a date.  In so many words.  So that the angel would know he meant a proper date.  Like, an official date.  As opposed to all of their regular, normal, everyday dates.
He’d just ask him.  See how it went.  
It had only been a month or so since they’d not really stopped the not-really-apocalypse together, after all.  They’d very nearly lost everything.  
And humans asked each other out on dates all the time.  
How hard could it be?
Crowley screamed into his extremely expensive pillow.
He’d ask him tomorrow.
Probably.
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wellhellotragic · 5 years
Text
CSJJ Day 23: A Rather Common Name (1/2)
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Whoaaaaa. What’s that? I made words? Trust me, I know, and I’m just as shocked as you all are. It’s been months since I’ve written anything (my poor little book included) but I’m back and hopefully words will continue to come.
I have to send out a huge shout out to everyone at @csjanuaryjoy. Thanks to the mods for hosting this year and bringing everyone together. It’s been so much fun hearing about all of the fics that everyone’s been working on. Now that this is done I’m about to dive into all of them with my greedy little reader eyes. Also a huge shout out to all of the fam in the discord channel. It’s been such a privilege and so much fun to get to know you guys. You all make me laugh daily with the complete randomness. And thank you all for letting me bounce ideas off of you! Also, much love to the wonderful @profdanglaisstuff for chopping this up with her red marker of death (and surprisingly there’s no sarcasm there at all). You’re fantastic for helping me out! <-- See that? No past perfect! 😂
With that super long thank you out of the way, this is a two parter. The back half is coming in a few days on the 28th.
In case AO3 is more your jam
Summary:
She hated him. Okay, maybe hate was a strong word, but he was a dick when they met. So why did she tell him about the apartment for rent in her building? And why did she let him in? Let him climb her walls? Why did she let herself trust him when every man she'd ever been with had betrayed her? Why did she think he'd be different?
And why, despite it all, did she still love him?
The hustle and bustle of Christmas had come and gone in the Nolans’ Boston apartment. The tree had been taken down the day after Santa had delivered his presents, yet the lights remained, strewn up in the living room to keep the festive spirit alive. Mary Margaret was insistent that the lights could be recycled into New Year’s Eve decorations. The only concession given to David’s objections was the removal of the brightly colored bulbs wrapped around the railing of their balcony. Apparently red and green didn’t exactly scream New Year’s.
Instead, they were swapped out for some of the trendier hanging lights that she’d seen in all of the design magazines. The same magazines that usually covered Mary Margaret’s coffee table, something to be left up year round. But on that night, they’d only be admired from the living room. When the invitations went out, Mary Margaret had clearly not expected the massive nor'easter coming through. The news said that five inches had already been dumped on the city with no end in sight.
Mary Margaret had always been the perennial mother hen of the group, throwing all of the holiday parties. Christmas and Thanksgiving had come later, after they’d graduated and decided to become adults, but the New Year’s eve tradition had started back in college, right around the same time that David had appeared. Emma hadn’t missed the connection between her best friend throwing her first ever party, and the fact that said party was for a holiday that traditionally included kissing at midnight.
Not coincidental at all.
At the time, Emma had rolled her eyes, never understanding the build up. Always wondering why everyone bought into the idea that starting the year kissing a drunk loser was supposed to set some amazing standard for the next 365 days. Of course, that had been before Killian. He’d blown into her life like a torrential whirlwind, systematically setting her world on fire even as she felt like she was drowning in the sea.
Emma didn’t date. It was a promise she’d made to herself after Walsh. Twice burned, but never again.
Never let people in and you won’t get hurt.
But Killian, he’d snuck his way in while she wasn’t looking, and for the first time in years, she was ready to take a risk. Ready to open the door to her heart. But that’s the problem with opening doors in the storm. Sometimes the wind is so strong that you get blown away in the process.
There’s been an accident.
With one phone call, her entire world was rocked. The storm around her raged as she stood there at the door, rooted to her spot in sheer agonizing fear. Crippling paralyzing fear. The open shutters an invitation for her desolation. The ground shook, knocking her from where she stood. Windows shattered, shards of glass strewn on the floor around her. One piece aside, her heart stabbed clean through.
New Year’s Eve: 2 Years Earlier
“Emma, it’s only twenty minutes to midnight. Surely you’ve picked out someone by now?”
There was a sickeningly sweet tone to Mary Margaret’s voice as she said it. Some odd notion that happily ever after was achievable to anyone if you only had hope. Normally Emma would let it roll off her shoulders like water off a duck’s back, but having just collected her pay for bringing in another cheating runaway embezzler, Emma’s faith in love and hope was at an all time low. There was absolutely nothing appealing about kissing a stranger, not that she was necessarily opposed to doing other things with strangers on any other night. Something about New Year’s Eve was clichéd though, raising expectations.
Emma scanned the room. Most of the guests included the usual suspects. Graham, David’s partner at the precinct, who by all accounts was actually a stand up guy, but he was already off limits. He’d been in love with Ruby for years, pining away for her in secret. A secret kept from Ruby alone. He wasn’t Ruby’s type though, and she’d never once considered him in that way, never noticed the way his eyes stayed glued to her from across the room. Never noticed the way he always made sure to have a full glass in front of her before she could finish her beverage. How he was always bringing extra tapenade hummus to their get togethers knowing that it was her favorite. Instead she’d always picked party boys. The love ‘em and leave ‘em type.
Talking animatedly next to Graham was David, who was ‘out’ for obvious reasons. Beside them though was a man Emma had never seen before. Brooding heavily. His Adam’s apple bobbing as he chugged back the rest of the drink in his cup. But before she could get a better look at him, her attention was dragged back to Mary Margaret.
“If you haven't picked anyone out yet, then I have this guy in mind for you. He teaches with me at the school and he’s so sweet. His name is Jefferson and-”
“Whoa, are you talking about that guy that always wears those crazy different hats around town?”
Emma hadn’t even noticed Ruby approaching.
“Yes, and I think he’d be wonderful for Emma.”
“Uh, Mags. That guy is certifiably crazy. You know that right?”
“Ruby, he’s not crazy, and that’s not even a politically correct word to use anymore. Yes, he may be a bit eccentric, but all of the kids love him.”
“Listen to me. Thank you for worrying about me, but I’m not kissing anyone tonight.” Emma watched as Mary Margaret tried to interrupt, but stopped her before she could argue. “The only man that’s going to be touching my lips tonight is Mr. Jose Cuervo.”
With that, Emma grabbed the half empty bottle off the kitchen counter and made her way through the crowd, sneaking out onto the empty balcony. The streets below them were nearly empty. A rare sight on a Saturday night in Boston. She stood there, watching the lights change from emerald to amber, then scarlet. Over and over, no cars ever crossing the intersection. The calm should have relaxed her, but instead it did the opposite. Only further reminding her of how alone she was. Of how everyone else in the city had somewhere to be. Someone to be with. Of how Neal was out in the world somewhere probably conning some other stupid naive girl. Of how Walsh was probably in bed with the redhead he’d been screwing for the last three months of their relationship.
She’d never have that, and while it had been her choice to swear off men for anything more than a one night stand, on nights like that, she couldn’t help but long for the comfort of a man’s embrace. For something more that just ships passing in the night.
“Not that your delectable arse doesn’t make a stunning sight, love, but it’s hardly the view I’d come out here for.”
Emma jumped, nearly throwing the bottle of tequila over the rails as she attempted to clutch her chest.
“Jesus Christ! Lurk much?”
He let out a throaty laugh, lifting his head just enough to catch the glint from Mary Margaret’s bulb decorations. Even in the dim lighting, she could see the blueness of his eyes.
“It’s hardly lurking when I was here first.”
“Excuse me?”
“I was here, minding my own business, taking in the scenery. Then you appeared. Not lurking. Just easily overlooked apparently.”
“And you waited to announce yourself, because?”
“Well if the lady Nolan is anything like her excitable husband I assumed you needed a few minutes of respite to collect yourself.”
She nodded, unable to argue his point. Both of her friends were well meaning but overeager and overbearing when they thought they were right.
“Fair point.”
He laughed again, a little less humor tinting it that time as his hand gestured to the empty space next to him on the bench. Neither spoke for a few minutes, instead basking in the last remaining moments of silence before the midnight countdown began. Eventually her curiosity broke through though.
“Okay. I have to ask. How do you know David?”
Their friendship group had always been a fairly small tight knit crew, and she was certain that she’d have remembered the man next to her. Even in her foul mood she’d be an idiot not to acknowledge how handsome he was with that light smattering of scruff covering the lower half of his face. The perfect mixture of rugged and kempt. The way his bicep felt quite firm as he shifted and brushed his arm against hers.
“Ah. The inquisition portion of the evening.” He took a long tug from a flask he’d hidden on the ground next to his right foot.
He had walls. Something Emma understood intimately. The immediate need to deflect or defend with sarcastic remarks and witty banter. Anything to distract from people from getting too close.
“Not an inquisition. Just call it curiosity. And by the way,” she started as she took another swipe from her own bottle. “Who talks like that?”
Perhaps she’d had enough of the tequila.
“Like what exactly?”
She leveled him with her best glare.
“Fair point,” he mimicked her words from earlier. “The name is Killian, and to say that I know Nolan would be a bit of an overstatement. I just transferred over to his precinct earlier this week from across town and when he discovered that my plans for New Year’s involved take out and pay per view he insisted I come here. Apparently rubbing elbows with complete strangers with hardly any personality is a more appropriate use of my time. And as far as the ‘talking’ goes, you can blame that on the British educational system. For some reason they really tend to stress the whole education bit unlike the schools here in America.”
He stood as the party blowers began to scream, hardly bothering to excuse himself as he left Emma sitting alone, jaw hanging open at the verbal onslaught he’d just bestowed upon her.
She could hear the cheers inside signaling that another year had passed in glorious fashion.
Disaster.
Not that she should have expected anything less. The year before last she’d lost her mind and kissed Walsh. Another one of Mary Margaret’s infamous set up attempts. A year later she’d kissed him again, on another midnight . Unfortunately she’d found him kissing another woman just two days later and that was that, having set an impossibly high standard for that year to live up to.
Seven weeks into that new year Emma had come back from a night of friendly neighborhood research (stalking) to find that her beloved bug had been stolen. Only further emphasising her back luck, David had pointed out to her that she couldn’t file a report on it without implicating herself in a crime. Apparently cops tended to judge a person when they reported the car they stole as stolen, even if that person had gotten her shit together in the intervening years.
And then there had been the bank incident. Her beloved coffee shop had been closed for remodeling and she’d been forced to grab something at one of those trendy chain shops that charged a month’s rent for a single cup of cocoa. Usually that would have been hyperbole, except that particular cup had cost her everything in her checking account. The shop adamantly denied it, but one of the employees had clearly skimmed her card and gone on quite the shopping spree, draining away the money she’d been saving since college.
And if life hadn’t yet kicked her hard enough, she’d been evicted from her apartment, although evicted hadn’t been exactly the wording used on the letter explaining that her building was going co-op. But with her account fraud still under investigation and her money not yet returned, she couldn’t afford the down payment. The bank had all but laughed outright at her when she’d asked them for a loan.
The year hadn’t all been bad though. It had led to her living only one floor up from Mary Margaret and David. It was nice coming home from a midnight booking to find her fridge full of homemade meals in perfectly sized tupperware. Her newer car was a slightly less conspicuous than the bright yellow bug and she’d increased the number of skips she’d tracked down because of it. And ya, the new apartment was a little more expensive in rent that her old one had been, but it was a fresh start. Something she desperately needed. The rest of the year had actually gone pretty smoothly too, until she met Killian Jones.
He’d gotten under her skin somehow, something she thought about him considerably over the next few days. It wasn’t so much what he’d said, as much as the tone in which he’d sneered it out. She’d been called prickly in the past, but she’d never had someone act so callously towards her before, even in her foster care days. She thought about it as she went to bed in a foul mood. She thought about it as Mary Margaret tried pushing Jefferson on her again at lunch the next weekend. She even thought about it a dinner a few nights later, which is probably why she didn’t see the bread plate hurtling at her face.
She’d thought she had him, some lowlife who had hit his girlfriend one too many times. She should have expected it, been prepared for it. She had been, but then the dark haired guy at the bar beside her had said something in an accent and she let her mind wander for the briefest of seconds, just long enough for the scumball to toss a plate right in her face before trying to run out of the restaurant. He’d tripped on the stairs by the entrance though, smashing his face and breaking his nose. If Emma Swan had ever believed in karma, it was in that moment.
Luckily for both of their sakes, they’d only been a few blocks over from David’s station house. If she’d had to spend any more time with the man, his nose likely wouldn’t have been the only thing broken that night.
Granted, it was after nine on a Tuesday night, meaning David was long gone, but Emma was friendly enough with the night guys that none of them would have given her a second glance if she had roughed him up just a bit more than usual.
With the ring of a door bell, Emma found herself shoving the guy through a side door where Mullins was waiting for her just inside the bullpen after buzzing her in. He’d been the cop that had trained David during his rookie days. Mullins had taken a bullet during a robbery during David’s third year with the force, and even though he’d fully recovered physically he’d never returned to the field, too worried about leaving his wife and kids alone.
“Well, well, what do we have -” The concern was evident in his eyes as he took her in. “Jesus Christ, Emma.”
She felt herself holding back a snicker as Mullins pulled a little more forcefully than usual on the guy’s shoulder. After gruffly ordering her skip to sit down and changing out her cuffs for official department ones, Mullins returned his attention to Emma.
“You’re gonna have a pretty good shiner there, ya know that kid?”
“I’ve had worse.”
“I’m sure you have, but if Nolan finds out I let you leave here without checking you over he’ll have my hide.”
She chuckled to herself. David’s protective streak was his defining character trait.
“You know you outrank him, right?”
“Doesn’t matter. Jones!” His bellow took Emma off guard, startling her slightly. “Grab a first aid kit and get Emma here cleaned up a bit.”
Mullins pointed at a desk near the back of the bullpen and told her to go wait. Most of the desks had a few pictures littering the area. They were a mashup of people as the day officers and night officers shared spaces, but the one in the back had only one photo on it. Belle looked stunning in her white dress holding onto Lance’s arm in what was possibly the tightest tux she’d ever seen on a man. They were so happy together. But there was nothing else. Nothing in the way of personal effects from anyone else.
“Alright, love, I’ve got-” His words seemed to fall away when she turned around. The last person she’d expected or wanted to see was standing before her in a dark navy blue police uniform. In the artificial lighting she could see that there was a smattering of ginger in his beard. His inky black hair stuck up in places. But it was his eyes that she lingered on. They were possibly the bluest she’d ever seen.
“You.” Not her most eloquent of greetings, but she was still fuming over what he’d said to her on New Year’s.
“Aye, me.” His fingers fiddled with the latch on the first aid kit, but he made no move to open it.
“This day just keeps getting better and better,” she mumbled to herself
He at least had the presence of mind to look chagrined.
“Please, love. Take a seat and I’ll get you cleaned up and on your way.”
“Emma.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s Emma. Emma Swan. I’m not your love.”
He nodded and looked at the ground as he came to lean against the desk. His desk.
“My apologies. For calling you love, but mostly for the other night. You have every right to be cross with me. I’d had far more libations than food and I treated you poorly. I’d like to think I’m usually more of a gentleman than that.”
She studied him for a while, watching to see if his eyes shifted or if he fidgeted. Tells that she’d learned over the years to see if someone was lying. Little pieces of body language that could give away everything. He didn’t do anything to convince her that he was anything but sorry.
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t but she felt the call of Ben and Jerry’s and a Netflix marathon pulling at her. As well as a much needed icepack. “I probably wasn’t in the most festive mood either so we’ll call it even.”
He had her sit on his desktop so she’d be at eye level with him. Killian - Killian Jones apparently - grabbed her chin and tilted her face to get a better look. Frowning, he lightly brushed her forehead with his fingers causing her to hiss in pain. She knew the plate had caught her pretty squarely in the face, but it hadn’t hurt until just then.
He apologized for causing her pain and set to work on cleaning her up, informing her that on top of the beginnings of a black eye there was a pretty large gash as well. She winced as he dabbed the wound with an alcohol swab. She also protested when he suggested she go to the emergency room for stitches. She’d had worse and just wanted to go home and forget the entire night.
Well, most of the night. As he set about to applying butterfly strips, she couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over his face, over the pale pink scar on his right cheek. The slight point of his ears. But mostly over how well his form filled out his uniform. Boston’s finest indeed . Shaking away the thought, she heard him apologize once more,thinking he’d hurt her again.
“Uh, no. I’m just tired.” Not a complete lie at least.
Her exit from the precinct was awkward at best. After Mullins returned with her paperwork so she could collect her money, she hadn’t been sure what to say. Or if she even needed to say anything. They’d only met at a party once for three minutes after all. After mentally debating it, she’d given him a very simple thank you, then humiliated herself by almost poking herself in the eye as she pointed to her face. Not the most graceful exit, but she’d at least managed to make it out of the building without falling over in her heels so she called it a win.
She’d barely made it through the front door of her building before Mary Margaret and David had come barreling out down the stairwell, coddling her like parents, insisting that she come back up to their apartment to eat something. Clearly Mullins had called them to check on her. By the time she made it back to her own apartment she was far too tired to do anything other than crawl into bed and pass out.
The rest of the week, however, was practically a staycation as she hibernated in her apartment, not wanting to see people’s pitying looks on the sidewalk as they misjudged the situation. The first day her head throbbed and her eye was nearly swollen shut. She slept that day away, not even wanting to get up to search for painkillers or to make an ice pack. The second day was slightly better. The swelling had gone down on her eye, replaced by a deep purple bruising. It was still too sore to cover with concealer so she stayed shut up in her apartment scarfing down the ice cream she’d been craving before.
Before she realized it, she’d watched an entire season of The Great British Bake Off, and completely lost track of the time. The sun had long since fallen below the skyline and her stomach was beginning to turn on her for having forgotten to feed it something more substantial than frozen milk all day. Just as she was getting up to check her fridge, she heard a knock at her door.
Curious, she checked the peephole, not expecting anyone. Her downstairs neighbors had a key, and while it was supposed to be for emergencies that had never stopped them from using it for everyday use too.
It was hard to tell through the dirty glass of the peephole, but it appeared to be a man carrying a large bag of food from what looked like the Chinese place around the corner. It was probably a mix-up with the delivery guy. August down the hall had an even more irregular sleep schedule than her and ordered food at all hours of the night.
There was another knock, reminding Emma that the man on the other side of the door was in fact an actual human being and that she should probably open the door and redirect him to August.
“Hey, I think you have the wrong apartment. Booth is three doors down on the right.”
She was already closing the door when she heard him.
“Emma Swan?”
“Ya.”
“Well, then this is for you.”
She tried to explain that she hadn’t ordered anything. That he either had the wrong apartment or that it was a prank. The food had already been paid for though and the tip taken care of. Cautiously she had accepted the bag, setting it on her coffee table as she eyed it, as if it were somehow booby trapped, like a peanut can that once opened launched snakes at its poor unsuspecting victim.
Once she’d felt thoroughly convinced that the bag was safe, she began pulling out enough containers of food to feed a small army. She wondered once more if it had been a mistake, if some poor family of four was starving somewhere in the building, but as she pulled out the last carton of spring rolls, she found a note. His handwriting was a bit more flowery than she’d expected, not that she’d actually thought on it until just then.
Swan,
Now we’re even.
-KJ
Simple and to the point, making Emma smile in spite of herself and her lingering hostility towards him. She had to give him credit. He’d nailed all of her favorites, making her wonder if he’d just guessed well or if he’d had a little insight into her food preferences. Although, she doubted that he’d bother asking David and they didn’t share any other acquaintances.
That night she ate to her heart’s content, almost too much. Putting away the remaining food, she returned to her bed and quickly fell asleep thanks to her overstuffed stomach. The next morning brought a bit of relief with it. Her black eye was finally in the icky green healing stage and the gash on her forehead looked much better than the first night.
Feeling as if she’d rested enough, she called her employer to claim her next case. It was a small time drug dealer. By all accounts, he seemed to be privileged kid rebelling against his parents. He’d dropped out of school his junior year of college and started selling weed out of his car. His latest arrest had been for trying to deal to a cop. His parents had foolishly bailed him out, yet again, and he’d missed his court date, yet again .
The only foreseeable issue was that the kid had nearly unlimited funds to hide with, though he hadn’t exactly been good at evading the law before. As Emma searched through his social media accounts, it quickly became apparent that what he had in money, he more than made up for in lack of brains. It only took her an hour of research to learn that he’d been staying with an old friend from prep school in the center of the city.
Not bothering to go through the effort of a honey trap, Emma dressed in comfortable leggings, a long sleeved sweater and red leather jacket. She did her best to conceal the remaining wounds on her face and set out, grabbing a few snacks for what she hoped would be a very short stakeout.
It hadn’t been. In fact it had taken fourteen hours of sitting in her four year old Mini Cooper.. She’d been ready to call it a night when he finally emerged from the brownstone wearing a black hoodie and jeans. He’d clearly watched one too many movies on standard criminal dress codes.
As usual, he hadn’t seen her coming. She got the jump on him just as she’d done countless times before, and in near record time she had him back down at David’s station ready for booking. She wasn’t really sure why she’d gone there, passing another police station along the way. One that she’d used plenty of times before.
Yet for some reason, she’d felt compelled, trying to reason that it was just because David’s station was closer to her own apartment. That it would be a shorter ride home after. It had absolutely nothing to do with the attractive man that had invaded her dreams the night before.
Of course, when he saw her bringing in her barely legal skip and had come over to say hello, she was as annoyed as she might have expected. In fact, he was in a much more jovial mood that night, and when one of the other cops made a comment about how they preferred her other ‘work’ outfits, he just smiled and mumbled something about how they weren’t wrong under his breath. Then she watched as his cheeks pinkened and his finger began to scratch at a spot just behind his ear.
She hadn’t known how to take it. She hadn’t known how to take him. Not after New Year’s and the Chinese food. He was like Jekyll and Hyde, moody and brooding one moment, blissfully charming the next. He perplexed her. Or at least that what she told herself as thoughts of him continued to invade her mind over the next three weeks. Unable to get a read on him.
The harshness of January gave way to February. Snow still lingered on the sidewalks, but no more had fallen. She’d delivered two more skips to the same department over that time, even though one of them she’d picked up clear on the other side of town. Killian’s mood had soured dramatically by the second drop off. So much so that he’d barely even spoken more than a disgruntled hello that final time. Barely acknowledged that she was there.
It shouldn’t have hurt her. It wasn’t like she really needed him to leer at her chest in her skintight minidress like the other cops usually did. Especially the married ones. She’d always felt a little cheap when it happened, but something about his dismissal of her felt worse. Like she was no one. A sensation she hadn’t experienced since she was eighteen, just after Neal. That’s when she’d found out that she’d been accepted to Boston University with a substantial financial aid package. Gone were the days of not being seen by her foster parents or social workers. She’d become someone, and yet at twenty seven, she may as well have been that young girl all over again as he groused about paperwork, waving her off in the process.
A few nights later Emma wore that same red dress to pick up her latest skip, promising herself a well deserved break after his delivery. Catching him was easy. A little batting of the eyes, a throaty laugh as she pressed her hand into his chest. He melted into the her, dropping his guard long enough for her to cuff him to the barstool. She didn’t bother taking him to David’s station that time, choosing to instead call someone out from the precinct around the corner. The skip really should have been smarter than to agree to meet her at a notorious cop bar.
Once again the dress had done its job, and though she felt a slight bit of gratification knowing that at least one guy in Boston still found her attractive, the garment was shed the moment she walked into her apartment. Unlike the skin tight material, the day lingered on, tight in her muscles, and she hoped that a hot shower would ease her body.
It wasn’t meant to be though, as a sharp set of knocks sounded out on her door. Knocks that she recognized. Calling out to wait a minute, Emma scrambled to get dressed, tugging on some leggings and a sweatshirt. She didn’t even bother to check herself over in the mirror before opening the door.
She’d met him about two months in from moving into her new apartment. There had been noises, loud ones. Breaking glass, thumping on the walls. It was enough that she could hear it from her closed apartment three doors down. She’d been worried that someone was in trouble. With her gun in tow, she’d crept down the hall, stopping to listen at the door. There had been muffled yells, a man’s voice cursing. The door had been unlocked, and while she’d known it to be a bad idea at the time, walking into a stranger’s apartment uninvented and armed, her concern outweighed her need for self preservation.
He was a writer. A self indulgent prick with a complex. A man trying to write the next great novel and failing at it. The yells had been him screaming at his computer, at his words for being unremarkable. Oddly enough, Emma hadn’t been as put off by him as she should have been, and somehow they became friends of sorts.
“Thought you might be up for a goodbye party.”
He didn’t wait for an invitation, pushing past her to unpack the food he’d brought with him.
“Goodbye? I didn’t know I was going anywhere.”
August laughed, standing only long enough to grab some beers from her fridge.
He was leaving. To some place in Thailand, or near Thailand. Something about needing to disconnect from technology and distractions. About needing to live a story worth telling. She gave him three months before he partied himself into a ditch, or whatever type of landforms they had in Phuket. They ate and drank and promised to stay in touch, both knowing it was a lie. He left that night for the last time and Emma felt just the slightest bit empty.
She’d lost her confidant. The one person she could tell things to that wouldn’t judge her thanks to his own litany of crap. The ‘break’ she’d promised herself was short lived. The hollow feeling eating away at her. She needed something to distract herself. It wasn’t hard to track her down. A fake account on Grindr, a quick meet up for a drink first.
The only problem had been that the restaurant was only a few blocks away from her apartment, meaning only a few blocks down from the last precinct she wanted to visit again. She thought about driving to another one, but the girl had been mouthy after Emma had cuffed her and she just wanted her gone. She could only pray that he was out patrolling for once.
She had never been particularly lucky. Mullins was out sick and the only free officer to take her skip was him . He looked like shit, a small satisfaction in her book. Dark circles under his eyes, mused hair, wrinkled uniform.
He was moody. Not exactly harsh with the skip, but not showing any real kindness either. Not that she’d expected him to. She’d only seen him a handful of times and he’d been cranky more often than cheerful. If she hadn’t needed him to sign off on the paperwork, she wouldn’t have even bothered to stay. But when he mumbled something about being too busy and her bringing in a skip being an inconvenience she’d had enough.
She tossed the paperwork at him, telling him to just sign the damn papers so she could be on her way. Telling him that she hadn’t exactly been expecting to spend her entire night at the station. That he was the inconvenience. She barely let him finish scrawling out his name on the last piece of paper before she ripped it out from under his pen, storming off towards the side door.
“Shit. Swan, wait.”
She turned around just long enough to give him her fiercest glare before turning and heading for the door again. His hand loosely grabbed her wrist as he chased after her.
“Please.”
She stopped, not quite facing him, but not shutting him out completely.
“I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, not again, but I shouldn’t have taken my piss poor mood out of you. I’m sorry.”
There was a pleading in his tired eyes that she didn’t understand. Yet she felt helpless to hear him out anyway.
“No you don’t, and no, you shouldn’t have.”
His head dropped in resignation.
“Why have you been in such a horrible mood anyway?”
He told her the story. It wasn’t the whole story. She knew he was leaving something out, but it wasn’t her place to ask. It wasn’t her place to want to know. But he gave her enough. He’d been staying in a hotel since he changed precincts nearly two months ago, stuck on the night shift. Apartment hunting had been a nightmare. His schedule only left him a small window of opportunity to see listings in person, and the places were either death traps or rented out before he’d got a chance to even view them. Then some ‘lot of bloody children’ had moved into the the room next to him. They spent most mornings running around making noise and he’d been unable to get a decent night’s sleep.
She felt for him, something deep within her seeing something in him. A lost boy. He was all alone just trying to survive. He’d been thrown overboard and was too proud to ask for help or to let anyone know he was drowning. She hated herself for what she was about to do.
“I have a friend.”
“Okay?”
“I mean, I have a friend who’s moving out of his apartment. He’s subleasing it himself until his lease is up in a few months and then you could transfer over the lease to your name after, if you wanted to stay there that is.”
His eyes shifted, more alert but still guarded. But something lighter filtered through as he watched her. Hope.
“You’d do that for me?”
“I think we’ve established that I’m not the dick here.” She flourished her hand between the two of them. “The only catch is that it’s in David’s building. I’m not sure if you’d want to see him at both work and your off time.”
His head tilted. “Thank you, but perhaps I shouldn’t then. If Dave chose not to tell me about the apartment, it probably means he doesn’t want me there.”
“He doesn’t know about it. The guy that lives there now is on a different floor and keeps odd hours. I’m not sure if he and David have actually ever even spoken to each other.”
She gave him August’s contact info, telling him that he was likely awake if he wanted to call about it on his break, leaving him with a warning.
“Don’t make me regret this, Jones.”
He moved in the next week, bringing only a few boxes. August had decided to leave most of his furniture, choosing instead to relinquish the creature comforts he’d become accustomed to. Believing that an artist was more creative when struggling. The furniture didn’t seem to match Killian’s personality, but he said it was fine.
He was still unpacking when two large pizzas arrived at her door. Already paid for just like the Chinese food. A thank you gift for getting him out of his hell hotel. He’d waved to her from his doorway, box in hand as she’d accepted the pizza, before ducking back inside. She’d thanked the delivery guy, adding on an extra tip. It was a lot of pizza. Too much really.
At least, that’s what she told herself as she grabbed a six pack of beer from her fridge door along with the pizza boxes before heading over to his place. The door had been left open from his constant trips back and forth between his car and the trash chute.
“Knock, knock. Welcoming party.”
He called back out, telling her to come in, laughing when she told him that someone had sent her an obscene amount of food. They talked a little that night. Superficial things. He was originally from London but had moved to the States for college. He had a brother, still serving in the Royal Navy. They usually only saw each other once a year around Christmas time. Emma was only doing bail bonds long enough to save up enough money for law school. It was strangely nice, despite her missing August.
It wasn’t the man that she missed as much as the bond she’d formed. She’d told him everything. Or at least almost everything. Now a near stranger sat in his place, and she felt alone all over again.
The strange thing though, was that he wasn’t a stranger. Not a complete one anyway. She knew him in a way. Knew that he’d been hurt. That he was just as alone as she was. Just as defensive. As broken as her. He was a kindred spirit.
They parted that night on better terms than ever before, leaving Emma to wonder just who Killian Jones was. What the missing part of his story was. She considered asking Mary Margaret the next day at lunch, but she wasn’t able to think of a natural segueway. One that wouldn’t make her look like a young schoolgirl with a crush.
The checks were on the table when she was finally and inadvertently given her chance. Ruby was the one to ask. She’d delivered some coffee and donuts to Graham and David who’d both been up early that morning working on a case. Killian had still been there, causing Emma to wonder why he’d been working so late. She’d even worried a little, but then Ruby asked about him, and all of Emma’s focus went to that.
To why Ruby was asking about him. To the way she toyed with the locket around her neck. The wolfish grin as she mentioned how good his ass looked in those pants. To the way Ruby asked if he was single.
Emma had to hold back a growl as her friend basically spoke of how she’d love to devour the man, and it frightened her. Frightened her that she was jealous over a man she barely knew, that she refused to let herself think of in that way. Jealous that Ruby could be so casual with men she saw on a daily basis. That she was so open with her sexuality. But mostly it frightened her that Ruby Lucas had never had a man turn her down.
The thought of Ruby writhing on the same sheets Emma had helped him tug over his mattress the night before made her sick for some reason. One she absolutely refused to think about . Instead she pushed it down, listening to Mary Margaret explain that she didn’t really know all that much about him. Just that he seemed nice enough the few times she’d met him. She didn’t even seem to realize that he’d moved into the building.
“Hey Mags, I have a great idea. Why don’t you invite him over to dinner Friday to properly introduce us. You know how you love setting people up.”
“He’s working.”
Two pairs of eyes snapped towards her. The words were out of her mouth before she’d even realized it. She wasn’t sure of he was really working or not, but it seemed likely enough. She’d seen him there on a Friday night before.
“I mean, I think he is. The last time I brought in a weekend skip he was there.”
“Well that’s a shame,” Ruby pouted. “Shit, is that the time? Crap, I have to run, but Mags, next time you see him, do you think you could talk me up?”
“Sure, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks. You’re the best!”
Mary Margaret barely spared Ruby a second glance as she ran out of the cafe, instead focusing her eyes on Emma. Speculation written all over her face.
“What was that all about?”
“Oh you know Ruby,” Emma tried for nonchalance. “She’s always been man hungry.”
“That’s not what I was talking about and you know it.” Her friend had clearly picked up some lie detecting tricks from David. “You were upset.”
“No I wasn’t. I was just trying to be helpful.” “If that’s true, then please explain to me why the heels of your palms have fingernail imprints in them?” Emma squirmed under her gaze, trying not to give an inch lest her friend take a mile.
“I just feel bad for Graham, you know.” Not a total lie. She was getting good at that. “He’s been in love with her for so long and I just thought it might be really awkward for him having to work with a guy that Ruby’s been with.”
“Good try. And yes, it would be if I thought Killian had any interest in her at all.”
“And what does that mean?”
Emma felt her heart surge with the tiniest bit of hope as Mary Margaret went on to explain that she’d already tried to introduce the two of them on New Year’s but Killian hadn’t been as amiable. So maybe amiable wasn’t the word Mary Margaret used, but it sounded like something Killian would say and for some reason that’s how Emma heard it. Her friend further explained that Killian had actually seemed really put out by the notion of a set up even after he’d seen Ruby’s chest nearly falling out of her dress as she danced around the apartment.
It wasn’t until later that day that Emma took offense. Her friend had tried to set Ruby up with Killian, while she’d tried setting up Emma with the mad hatter. She didn’t want Killian, really, she didn’t.
Yes, keep lying to yourself. That’s healthy.
But she’d still been offended that Mary Margaret had thought she’d be more compatible with a guy that talked in riddles and dressed up to go to the Boston tea house. It was a place only small children went to feel fancy in their dress up princess clothes. Not a place for a grown ass man to live out some weird fantasy. A part of her wondered if there wasn’t something slightly more sinister going on there.
She begged off from their planned dinner the next night. Something she did with them every Friday night, work permitting, but her ire with Mary Margaret had only grown and she didn’t want to see the woman, afraid she may say something regrettable. Unfortunately, it meant that her friend left nothing in her fridge to eat. She contemplated getting something delivered, but she didn’t want to be home if the Charmings from downstairs came up to check on her or to call her bluff about being busy.
The little pub around the corner was busier than she’d expected. Nearly every table was full and the bar had a crowd two deep. Emma turned around, set to leave when she saw him, sitting at a table in the corner all by himself.
“Is this seat taken?”
It was a cheesy line, and she hadn’t meant to sound so throaty as she said it, but she hoped that she come off more as joking than flirty. It didn’t matter though. He was too gone to really even notice her. She could have been wearing a shark onesie and he likely wouldn’t have been fazed. He shouldn’t even be served any more, yet when the waitress walked over with her tray, she had another glass of amber liquid ready for him.
“I’ll take that. Can he get some water?”
The waitress looked disappointed, but smiled and nodded, returning soon after with a large glass. Emma took a moment longer to order some food, asking for it in a to-go bag. As she waited on it to be ready, she tried to force Killian to drink as much of the water as possible.
The walk back to the apartment was a bit of a struggle. Killian was wobbly on his feet and she nearly dropped him trying to open the door to their building, but somehow she made it to the elevator without hurting him. It took a minute of digging around in his jacket pocket to find his own apartment keys.
The place was surprisingly immaculate. She’d never seen it in such a condition before. August had always been a bit sloppy. Emma set Killian down on the couch and pulled the food out of the to-go bag she’d been given, insisting that he eat it all to soak up the booze in his stomach. By the end of the meal, he was looking far more sober than when she’d found him at the pub.
His eyes still had a glaze over them though, a haunted look, and although she tried not to worry, she couldn’t help asking him what had caused him to get shit-faced. He was evasive, or tried to be, but Emma refused to let him bottle it up. She shouldn’t pry. Not when his inhibitions were so low. She knew that. She would be furious if the tables were turned, but when he said something about a ‘her’ Emma’s concern morphed into something else. A new feeling that left her stomach in angry knots.
It was the the same old story of heartbreak. Her name was Milah. They’d dated for two years and suddenly she’d just decided to end things. To walk away from everything they’d built, including the townhouse they’d purchased. Or almost purchased. Something about it being in escrow.
But that’s when the tale turned. Her husband had caught wind of her plans to purchase a new home with her lover and told her she needed to choose between his money or her man candy. Ya, the husband had been news to him too. A blatant reminder that no matter how long you’ve been with someone, you never really know them.
The money had won out.
So he’d packed up. Boxed up the few items that didn’t remind him of her, and asked for a transfer. She felt sick. It was such a vivid reminder of Neal and Walsh. Of how they’d both fooled her into thinking that they loved her, but when it came down to it, neither had. Both had chosen something else over her. Her heart stung for him.
She’d been in the society section of the newspaper that morning, promoting a new little boutique uptown. She’d looked happy, really happy, and it had sent Kilian over the edge of misery knowing that she didn’t even miss him. That their breakup was nothing to her.
“So, Emma Swan,” he slurred slightly. “You now know my deepest darkest secret. What’s yours?”
She didn’t tell him. A mixture between wouldn't and couldn’t. That secret was locked far too deep inside. She’d never told anyone. Not Mary Margaret or David. Not Ruby. Not even August who’d known more about her than anyone.
Instead, she lied, telling him about Neal. About how she’d given her virginity to a man a decade older than her. A man that had immersed her in a life of petty theft and crime. How he’d tried to pin something on her, but she’d found out before he could do anything and turned him over to the police. He’d fled before they could arrest him, and she’d been let off with a strong warning. It was the only time being a foster kid had worked in her favor. The judge had taken pity and given her community service in exchange for a dismissal of the charges the DA had tried to hit her with.
It wasn’t her deepest secret, but it was still a dark one that she didn’t enjoy discussing. Mary Margaret had just looked at her with pity when she’d told her. That had been the start of her obsession when fixing Emma up with the perfect guy. Ruby’s first question had been to ask if Neal was good in bed. Unfortunately, his age and experience had done little for him. Something Emma didn’t realize until later after she’d had a few more partners.
But Killian, he just thanked her, his head still lolling back resting against the edge of the couch.
Something shifted between them that night. It started slowly, but they didn’t just talk when they ran into each other for work anymore. They both went out of their way to hang out, binging shows on their days off. Getting meals together. Walking together to Mary Margaret’s Friends’ Friday dinners. And if Emma had made an extra effort to ensure that he sat next to her instead of Ruby, well that was nobody’s business.
When Emma sprained her ankle chasing a skip in the rain, it was Killian who wrapped and iced her ankle. His fingers that brushed against her skin creating sparks along the way. It was Killian who told her she didn’t have to go to the emergency room if she didn’t want to, even though all of her other friends were insisting she get it x-rayed. He somehow just knew that what she needed most was to stay in bed. He was also the one that brought her bear claws from Granny’s on his way home from work in the mornings. He stayed up long enough to make her coffee just the way she liked it and brought it to her before going to his own apartment to crash.
He had become her everything in that year since their meeting. Somehow a mashup of the relationships she shared with August and Mary Margaret. He was her doting friend that had also become her closest confidant. He was the one she went to when she saw Walsh in the jewelry store buying a ring. The one that told her she wasn’t as stupid as she felt. That the mistake of opening up her heart to someone wasn’t hers, but his for betraying her trust the way he had.
He went to her when he was struggling with work. With his new captain who was just a huge dick and how he was always getting crumbs in his stupid black beard. With a case where the evidence just didn’t add up. Even when he was pissed at Dave for interfering in his personal life. She was the first person to hear about is promotion to detective, and his subsequent change to the day shift.
They were everything to each other.
And that was the problem. She hadn’t realized it. Not at first. But over that year she’d come to rely on him like a crutch in a way. She craved his approval. Wanted to see him smile. To be the one that made him smile. She loved the way that his arm lingered on her shoulders protectively when they went out to the pub for Ruby’s birthday. The way his hand stroked up and down her arm, his thumb drawing circles across her clavicle. The way his fingers always tangled in the ends of her hair.
She wanted him. She wanted him in the way that love stories were written about. She wanted him to hold her as they fell asleep at night after a passionate night of lovemaking. She wanted him to wipe away her tears and then kiss her senseless until all of the bad thoughts were banished. She wanted him to tell her that he loved her. Emma wanted him to be her last New Year’s Kiss. She wanted everything with him.
She just didn’t know it.
Not until Mary Margaret pointed it out while they were taking down the old Christmas decorations. The holiday had passed by in steller fashion. Killian hadn’t been there, instead meeting his brother in New York. The Boston airport had been all but shut down and many of the flights had been rerouted due to weather. Killian had told her that he couldn’t stand the thought of Liam spending the holiday alone in a strange city, so he left early, trying to beat the storm as it raged across the north east coastline.
She’d been worried about him driving in such horrible weather, even offering to go with him. But he’d insisted that she stay, not wanting to ruin her holiday as well. She felt empty and alone, despite being surrounded with people. He’d called her when he’d gotten there the night before, as promised to let her know he was ok. Liam was already passed out in the bed next to him so he couldn’t talk for long, but he’d wished her a Merry Christmas Eve before he hung up.
The storm had only worsened overnight and the Jones brothers were trapped in the city, unable to get home until the snow had stopped falling and the streets had been cleared. So they spent the morning on Facetime celebrating the holiday the best way possible. Mary Margaret opened the presents he’d left for them and laughed at the NYPD Rookie newborn onesie he’d bought them. Mary Margaret still had a few months to go, but David had already decided that his son was going to wear it one his ride home from the hospital. He tried to get Emma to open the present he’d left for her as well, but she refused, telling him that she’d wait until he was back so they could exchange gifts together.
It took four days before Killian finally made it back to Boston. At one point she’d been certain that he was going to miss Mary Margaret’s now infamous New Year’s Eve party, and while it would have sucked for him to miss it, a part of her was secretly glad. Ruby was still insistent that Mary Margaret set the two of them up. That they should forget to take down some of the mistletoe. There was an exaggerated wink that followed and the idea of it had just left a heavy weight on her shoulders, a gnawing in her stomach that she couldn’t quite explain.
She pushed that thought out of her brain when he returned though. The feeling of his chest pressed against hers as they hugged in greeting was a balm to her soul. One she didn’t know that she needed, and that was enough for her to forget the dread she’d felt.
She couldn’t believe that he’d remembered based on a random story she’d told him months before. He’d given her a magic eight-ball. As a kid she’d been naive and fallen for the story her mother had told her when she’d handed her the box on her 6th birthday. That she’d thought it was an actual lie detector test and she’d carried it everywhere with her, thinking it gave her a superpower, until a bully in one of her group homes had grabbed it from her, tossing it onto the sidewalk from a second story window. Shattering the ball and the last bit of hope she’d had in the world. And while none of her friends had understood the significance of the gift Killian had bestowed upon her, she cherished it.
She’d bought him a captain’s hat, telling him that if a man as idiotic as Edward Teach could make captain, than so could he. He’d smiled and kissed her cheek telling her “Thank you for the gift, love.”
She wasn’t really sure when he’d started calling her love again, just that it didn’t bother her anymore. In fact, it usually left her with a flutter. Not that she ever dwelled on that.
But then Mary Margaret had pointed it out. The way she lit up when Killian was around. That he did the same. The casual affectionate touches that they shared. The fact that they had more inside jokes together than she had with the rest of the group combined. The way they spent all of their free time together.
They were dating and neither of them knew it. Or at least Emma hadn’t known it. She couldn’t say for sure. She’d even gone so far as to deny it, but then she’d been reminded of the elevator incident.
They had come back from watching a Boston Celtics game. A skip had offered her his family tickets for her to let him go. She’d taken the tickets and cuffed him anyway. Perhaps it wasn’t the most upstanding thing to do, but they’d go to waste otherwise. So they’d gone, had beer and popcorn. It had been fun. It had been long. The metro line had been jam packed and they all regretted not driving to the stadium. The arm she would have paid for parking almost would have been worth it.
By the time they made it back to their building, they’d all been exhausted, and the elevator ride seemed slower than usual. David and Mary Margaret had both been leaning against the opposite wall of the elevator, but Emma had leaned back into Killian, allowing him to hold her up. Maybe she’d been too tired to notice the way his hand had settled on her hips, his thumb brushing dangerously low under the waistline of her jeans. Then again, maybe she just hadn’t cared.
It had seemed so natural for him to touch her so intimately. Anyone else would have received an elbow to the ribs or a kick in the groin, but with Killian, it was just normal. Mary Margaret had disembarked on her floor, giving Emma an odd look on the way out as David told them good night. Emma had been too tired to care what the look had meant though. When the elevator had opened on their floor, they hadn't discussed it. They’d just instinctively gone to Emma’s apartment and plopped down on her couch to watch Netflix. They’d woken the next morning spooning each other and neither of them had thought it unusual.
So ya, they were dating, and honestly, Emma wasn’t sure what to make of it. Especially when she didn’t know if Killian felt the same way. If he had butterflies when she rubbed his shoulders after a long day. If he felt a rush of heat when he saw her in her in one of her honeytrap dresses.
She spent all of New Year’s Eve thinking about it. Debating if she should say anything or not, but he’d winked at her in the hallway as he was getting in from work, and that moment, had solidified her resolve. She was going to find him at midnight and kiss the ever-loving hell out of him. To start the year off right. Maybe she’d even take him back to her apartment after for something more than movie watching.
There was a new dress. One she’d been saving for a special occasion. Something more meaningful than a skip. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her makeup removed and reapplied twice. She even managed to find matching heels. The weather had cleared up enough that they’d even be able to go out on the balcony again, where it had all begun. Everything was perfect. She’d also severely underestimated how long it would take her to get ready though, and by the time she got down to her friends’ apartment, there were less than fifteen minutes until midnight. With the apartment full of people it was hard to move around, and even harder to find the man she was looking for. With five minutes left, she finally spotted Graham, slipping out of the restroom. She stopped him, grabbing his wrist to ask him if he’d seen Killian.
There were tears forming in his eyes though. Something had happened. Something with Ruby, and as much as she wanted her grand dramatic gesture, she needed to comfort her friend more. She had no idea that soon she was the one that would need comforting.
He’d been looking for Ruby, thought he’d seen her head into the bathroom. She’d been in there a while so he knocked, trying to make sure she was alright. No one had answered, but he’d heard moaning noises. Thinking that she was in trouble, he’d slipped into the bathroom and caught an eyeful of dark hair fucking Ruby with his mouth. Emma had had enough. She loved Ruby dearly, and would never judge her for her choices, but Graham was hurting and it was time that Ruby took responsibility for her actions. She stood to make her way to the bathroom but he stopped her.
“Emma, you don’t want to do that.”
Like hell she didn’t.
“I mean it. You really don’t want to go in there.”
He was pleading, a fresh wave of tears staining his cheeks and Emma felt every muscle in her body seize up.
“And why don’t I want to go in there?” There was a quiver to her voice. She felt so small and weak and hated herself.
“Please.”
She knew. Before she knew, she knew . As she stepped to the door, hand in the air ready to knock, she heard a scream. One final yell of ecstasy fell from Ruby’s lips, and she knew.
“Jones! ”
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I know you might be uncomfortable about this but I’m going thro something. Could you write a fanfic about how Jamie would react if Claire were anorexic
The Meeting - Part 2
The moon was bright in the sky as they walked,their hands swaying against one another, Jamie slightly ahead of Claire as heled them forwards. Ice glistened on the path, the sparkle of the frozen waterilluminating the path as the crunch of it echoed beneath their feet. There wasa sort of delicate beauty floating around them, the winter mist encasing thepassers by, causing them to disappear before her eyes as she glanced downwards.
 Her flesh was almost blue in the evening light-as was his- the glow of it giving them an also translucent quality that caughther eye and held her hostage for a while.
 “Can I say something wi’out freaking ye out,Claire?” Jamie asked after a while when all other passers by had seeminglyvanished, the urban clearing and making way for the rural.
 “Yes, sure.” She replied, not really knowingwhether she was being honest or not.
 “When my da met my mam he kent her in aninstant. She was engaged to someone else and within the month had broken it offand eloped with my father. They were marrit not long after, had bought a houseand had my eldest brother on the way. It was madness, really, but he alwaystold me Fraser’s had strong bonds when it came to love. I didna believe him,especially no’ wi’ what happened and then dealing with the aftermath. But whenye walked into that hall tonight, Claire, it was as if the sun came out -- andI understood it then.”
 He took a breath, a long cathartic gasp of airthat filled his lungs with fresh oxygen and gave Claire a moment to digest whathe’d said.
 “Do ye think I’m mad?” He sighed, the gust ofair catching on the breeze, the cold air swirling it around his head as heturned to look over at her in the blackness.
 “No.” She returned, her voice barely a whisper.“No, I don’t. I believe you. I don’t...understand it right now, but I felt ittoo. Maybe we’re both mad?” Laughing she let her little finger graze his andbasked in the tingle that emanated across her flesh at the contact.
 “I lost control of my life the moment Frank leftme. I had a plan, everything was as it should be and then he took that andsquashed it. I didn’t even realise what I was doing with food until Joe foundme unconscious in the break room at work. It was all just a blur. But it wascontrol. I needed to feel as if everything was on course again so I amended mydiet to such an extreme that I felt powerful. Stupid, really, when I say it outloud.”
 “Nay, not at all…” Jamie interjected, goosebumpsrising along the expanse of his neck, “I get ye. For me it was exercise. ForJohn too, that’s how we met. He saw in me what he’d finally been made to see inhimself and he helped me break the cycle.”
 “PTSD then, the same as him - from your tour?”The words were barely audible on the night air but he heard her loud and clear.
 “Ach, no.”
 For a moment she thought he wasn’t going toelaborate. The tightness was there again - his shoulders just rigid enough thatshe thought he might just gloss over it as he had done in the bar and changethe course of their conversation. Not that she minded, when and if he decidedto tell her, it would be in his own time and not just because she’d asked him.But then he swallowed and she knew he was trying to form the words in order toanswer her unspoken question.
 “Even my sister doesn’t know.” He said finally,his nose pinked from the frigid air. “And she kens everything about me.”
 “Does she know--”
 “About my anorexia?” Interrupting her, hechuckled humorlessly beneath his breath before he continued. “Oh aye, everyonekens about that but they all think what ye thought --because at the time Ididna have the strength to tell them the real reason. Only the doctors whotreated me and John know the full extent of the trauma.” He spoke, barelypausing for breath, as he shook his head to clear the myriad of dark imagesthat were suddenly snaking around him.
 “Whatever it is, Jamie, you do have strength. Ican see it. I can sense the force of it flowing beneath your skin. The secondyou sat opposite me in that bar I felt it and it calmed me.”
 “Do ye ever feel like yer about to blurt somethingout? Something that perhaps needs to be said when two people have kent oneanother for longer than a few minutes?”
 Letting the wind settle around them, Jamieshowed Claire to a bench. They’d walked the length of the city and ended up ona hill with Kelvingrove in front of them and the university behind. The citywas awash with colour, glittering lights flickering in the distance as the citybegan to sleep around them.
 “It wasn’t just Frank leaving me.” Claire began,allowing the call of midnight to wash away the filth of the previous day. “Wefought a lot in later days. He wanted kids and it wasn’t happening for us. Oneday it got heated. I thought something was amiss but when I accused him ofcheating on me with work something changed in him. I watched as something cameover him, a veil of sorts, his eyes just glazed over...and then he hit me. Butit wasn’t one of those ‘in the heat of passion’ slaps you see in the tele - notthat it’s alright to hit at all.”
 Pausing for breath, she wiped the tears from hereyes, her belly aching with the memory of the moment his fist had come intocontact with her. “He sucker punched me in the stomach. Hard. I replay thatmoment over and over in my nightmares, I watch myself as I crumple to theground gasping for breath and failing miserably.”
 Sensing she wasn’t finished, Jamie sat quietly,his arm resting gently against hers.
 “It’s a cataclysmic event, isn’t it? Thetrigger. It isn’t the event or moment itself, but thefestering...thing...that’s been boiling and bubbling, waiting for something topush you over the edge and when it finds the right trauma to sink its teethinto - that’s it. You’re done for.”
 Shrugging her shoulders, she inhaled through hernose and exhaled through her mouth, watching the condensation evaporate infront of her. “I’ve never told anyone that.”
 “That he hit ye?”
 “Yes. I was ashamed. I’m a surgeon, a good one.Him leaving me was enough of a social stigma without adding that into the mixso I said nothing and buried myself in work.”
 In an instant Claire had removed the pressurefrom the situation. With her confession, she’d made herself vulnerable - shehad given him something of herself that she’d not given to anyone else.Stripping herself bare, she’d relieved the strain and suddenly Jamie didn’tfeel so exposed.
 “I was raped, Claire.” He said plainly.
 It felt cathartic. The words leaving his mouthwithout further provocation, washing away some of the residual feelings ofpowerlessness and disgust. In an instant he felt a little less contaminated,his muscles less sore from the continued pressure of carrying around the weightof his ordeal
 “Like ye I felt ashamed. Weak. I was numb forthe longest time. I’m good at hiding, Claire, so I managed. I worked. I spentall of my free hours in the gym, lifting weights and running until I couldnastand wi’out assistance. I’d moved to Glasgow before the attack so I juststayed here. I didna dare go home for fear my parents would see the truthwritten all over my face. My mam just kens me too well.”
 Claire let him talk, letting him offload-anything he needed- her knee knocking softly against his as their fingersunconsciously linked. Her heart was beating double its normal speed and herstomach twisted, it’s usual knot becoming tighter as Jamie began to jiggle hisleg, the heel of his shoe tapping against the concrete.
 Licking her dry lips, she waited for him torelax a little before slowly untangling her hand from his and wrapping her armaround his waist.
 “Have you ever read the poem ‘Courage’ byAnne Sexton?” She whispered.
 Jamie shook his head, having no capacity to formthe words any longer he simply leaned his head to the right until he restedneatly against Claire.
 “You should. One day, when you’re alone, and youfeel so utterly lost that you feel you might finally be consumed by thedarkness - just read it. I promise you it’ll resonate.”
 “Can ye remember any of it?”
 “Yes,” she replied, “some. Why?”
 “Tell me, recite to me what you remember.”
 “Erm,” she began, shifting so that he couldmimic her actions and place his own arm around her waist, “let me see…you didnot fondle the weakness inside of you, although -or just though, I don’t quiterecall- it was there. Your courage was a small coal that you kept swallowing.”
 “There’s more?” He asked, lulled by her softvoice. There was something magical about her, somehow she seemed to steal thefestering putrescence that ran through his veins.
 “Yes, the bit directly after that I don’t reallyremember, but I think it continues like this; later, if you have endured greatdespair, then you did it alone, getting transfusion from the fire, picking thescabs off our heart, then wringing it out like a sock... I think.” Though sheknew it did, she’d read it over and over, sometimes aloud, so the words mightstick to her skin and mend the cracks that’d begun to appear over every inch ofher frail flesh.
 “I feel as if I’ve kent ye for longer than thisevening, Claire.” Jamie whispered, turning his head so that he could bury hisnose in her tames curls. “Like we’ve lived a hundred lives together and this isjust another manifestation of us. Beaten, broken and scarred - but stillsomehow alive.”
 “And yet we haven’t even had a first date.” Shejested, though she felt the truth of his words, her heart reaching out to his.
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georgialouisea · 6 years
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Evening at the bar.
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Characters - Dean x Reader, Sam, Unnamed exes. Word Count - 1400 Warnings -  Angst, fluff, exes. Summary - A night at the bar doesn’t quite go to plan. A/N -  Written for @d-s-winchester ‘s 2 year blogiversary challenge. I got the quote You were like coming up for fresh air, it’s like I was drowning and you saved me. From Grey’s Anatomy the quote is in bold below.
“Bar?” Dean clapped his hands together before dropping his duffel to the floor.
“Showers then bar, I have vamp brains in my hair.” You walked past him grabbing your bag off your bed and locking yourself in the bathroom. The hunt as per usual had been exhausting and stressful as hell. Stepping under the hot spray you waited for the water at your feet to run clear as all the vampire blood washed from your hair.
On nights like these, you wanted to curl up next to Dean and sleep, yet Dean wanted to go out, sure you didn’t have to go but if he went on his own he’d end up passed out in a parking lot somewhere.
By the time both men had showered and dressed you were ready to go out, makeup and hair done, you had on your favourite pair of jeans and a new top you’d bought recently.
“Well, you look stunning.” Dean grinned at you walking across the room his arms snaked around you, pulling you close to his chest.
“Hey! No, if you two start that you’ll never leave the room.” Sam raised his finger at both of you.
Dean held the door open for you, his free hand finding yours he pulled you into the bar. Despite the fact it looked like a run down bar from a movie it was surprisingly busy, the bar was full, a bachelorette party in the corner sat squealing and giggling away.
Following Dean to the bar you noticed more than a few women watching him, you were secretly happy, last year you were one of those women watching Dean, dreaming about being with him. Today you were sat on a bar stool, his arm draped around you, his hand resting on your hip.
The bartender glared at you as she slid your drink across the bar, her eyes darting between each Winchester.
“What the hell is her issue?” You mumbled.
“Dean.” Sam blurted, closing his eyes he dared to look down at you. “I shouldn’t have said anything, it’s not my place.” He looked over you at Dean who was completely oblivious.
“Right, great.” You sighed knowing you were in for a crap night.
2 hours later you were sat in a booth near the bachelorette party. Dean was flush against your side Sam sat across from you both.
“You okay?” Dean whispered in your ear.
“Yeah, just tired.” Smiling up at him you rested your head on his shoulder.
“You want to go back?”
“No, you enjoy, I’ll get you another.” Shuffling over Dean’s lap you kissed him before standing up. “Sam want another beer?”
“Whiskey please.”
Walking towards the bar you were relieved to see a second bartender manning the section you were in, the barmaid from before was still giving you some looks between serving customers.
Walking back to the table 3 whiskeys in hand you slowed when you saw a woman stood before Dean, she was leaning over him her hands on the table in front of him. Reaching the table you reached into the middle of the table making sure she saw, clinking them as you dropped them on the table.
“So this is your flavour of the month huh?” The woman turned to face you, her eyes travelling the length of your body. “A real downgrade Dean.” She spat smirking at you.
“Okay then.” You rolled your eyes at her, shoving past her you shimmied back over Dean’s lap and sat next to him.
The drunk woman didn’t get the message, you were tired and in no mood to play games.
“Dean when she gets boring you know where I am.” She purred reaching down to touch him, her hand stroked his chest. Everything she did Dean ignored her flirting, her touch.
“Okay! That’s enough, get your hand off him before I break it off.”
“Ooohh I’m so scared.” She mocked rolling her eyes.
Shifting Dean grabbed your hand knowing that if you got to her she’d leave crying and hurt.
“Seriously just get off me,” Dean growled, she snatched her hand away from him.
“Your loss Dean, you know your week with me was the best you’d ever had.” She blew a kiss to Dean before walking away.
“I’m refraining from throwing a bottle at her head.”
“Do it,” Sam whispered smiling at you.
“Jesus, I need another drink.” Dean sighed kissing your temple. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“Yeah, but she was …”
“Dean don’t.” You held your hand up closing your eyes, not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence.
“More drinks then.” He announced draining his glass standing up and walking to the bar.
“He's slept with the barmaid too hasn’t he?” You turned to Sam.
“Yeah.” He rested his elbows on the table and dropped his head in his hands.
“And the woman having a drink with her husband in the corner, and the woman in the bachelorette party who keeps looking like she wants me dead.”
“We’ve been here a lot.” He sighed.
“I need some air.” You slid out the booth and almost ran to the door.
“Y/N!” Sam shouted after you.
Flinging the door open you walked into the cool night air, taking a few deep breaths you began to calm down. Sure you knew Dean had a past but 4 women he’d slept with in one room, the same room you were in, it was too much.
“Y/N!” Sam shouted again across the parking lot, you didn’t stop walking, you didn’t know why you just wanted to be away from the bar. You stopped when you reached a bus stop and sat down on the bench.
“You okay?” He asked sitting beside you.
“No.”
“I’m sorry, this is like the worst night never, I knew the barmaid still worked here but the rest.”
“The rest.” You repeated closing your eyes resting against him.
“He never would have put you in this situation if he’d known, he was young and stupid.”
“Sam stop please.”
“Y/N -” His phone ringing cut him off. “Dean we’re outside, we’re fine … yes she’s fine… at the bus stop… because it’s a seat okay?” Sam pulled his phone from his ear and wrapped his arms around you. “He’ll be here in a minute.”
“I know.” You smiled as you wrapped your arms around Sam regretting the decision to not bring a jacket.
“Babe? You okay?” Dean asked walking around the bus stop to face you and Sam, giving Sam a squeezed you took your arms from around him.
“Yeah.” Smiling as you stood up, wrapping your arms around Dean’s waist.
“Well you’re not okay and you’re freezing.” He kissed your hair as he removed his jacket, draping it over your shoulders. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
“Dean, it’s fine.”
“No it’s not, if I was in a room with guys you’d been with and they behaved how those women did, there would be two dead men.”
“I know.”
“Can you see why I love you? You’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Dean -”
“No, come on let’s walk back.” He wrapped his arm around you. “Sam’s probably already back.” Turning around you saw Sam was gone.
“I love you too.”
“I was a mess before you, even Sam says so, he is so grateful that you’re in our lives, he tells me at least once a week how you’ve made our lives better.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m so sorry about tonight, I’m sorry for what I did, for what I’ve done.”
“Dean they were before me, it was just a little too much.”
“Still I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“No, I am, you saw the kind of women I dated, is dated the right word?”
“Probably not.”
“Still, you, you’re the most beautiful amazing woman I’ve ever met, for years I’ve been messing about, trying to find someone, you…” He paused kissing you pulling away his hands cupped your face.
“You… You were like coming up for fresh air, it’s like I was drowning and you saved me.”
“I…”
“When I saw you my world stopped.”
“When I first saw you, you saved me, you kept my world turning.”
“You two are disgustingly sweet.” Sam interrupted. “Forgot the key.”
“Way to ruin a moment Sammy,” Dean whined handing Sam the motel key. “We should have got our own room.”
“Well if we did all we’d be doing is sleeping because as much as I love you I’m exhausted.”
“Me too, come on let’s get some sleep.”
Forever Taglist - @mega-loser1298 @smalltowndivaj @roxyspearing @ginamsmith @donnaintx @emoryhemsworth @dwgrl1903
Dean Taglist - @akshi8278 @awesomestperson22 @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @michellethetvaddict @dramaqueenrolf @itsallabouthedean
Dean Fluff- @dr-dean @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @nichelle-my-belle @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @notnaturalanahi @impala-dreamer @deathtonormalcy56 @samsgoddess @spn-fan-girl-173 @deansleather @curliesallovertheplace @whywhydoyouwantmetosaymyname @waywardjoy @mrswhozeewhatsis @imadeangirl-butimsamcurious @kayteonline @supernatural-jackles @wevegotworktodo @jpadjackles @quiddy-writes @babypieandwhiskey @deantbh @deanwinchesterforpromqueen @chaos-and-the-calm67 @memariana91 @plaidstiel-wormstache @teamfreewill-imagine @chelsea-winchester @fandommaniacx @revwinchester @castieltrash1 @supernaturalyobessed @ruined-by-destiel @winchester-writes @faith-in-dean @winchestersmolder @bennyyh @clueless-gold @deanwinchesterxreader @winchester-family-business @4401lnc @teamfreewill92 @just-another-winchester @canadianjelly
@mrswhozeewhatsis Taglist Dean - @thinkwritexpress-official @itsemmyb @ezauraemmaline @charliesbackbitches @crzcorgi @ellen-reincarnated1967 @littlegreenplasticsoldier @gryffindorable713 @deerlululucy @walkingencyclopediaoffandom @growleytria @thegleegeneration @samtomydeanwinchester @sis-tafics @amaranthinecastiel @fandommaniacx @meganwinchester1999 @kittenofdoomage @samanddeanwinchester67 @ferferelli  @iridianuniverse @the-morning-star-falls @ackleslaugh @fangirling-instead-of-working @eyes-of-a-disney-princess @kayteonline @spnsimpleman @mamaimpala @winchesterfiesta @sleep-silent-angel @gadreelsforbiddenfruit @trenchcoats-and-bees @jencharlan  @thebunkerismyhome @feelmyroarrrr @beachy2014 @fandom-book-nerd @tia58 @sams-little-toy @deansleather @faegal04 @sunriserose1023 @saving-things-hunting-family @winchesterswoonathon @jotink78 @lucifer-in-leather @i-dont-know-how-to-write @everyday-supernatural-af @notnaturalanahi @howmanytuesdaysdidyouhave @babypieandwhiskey @besslincoln-bruh @shelovesallthethings @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish @hexparker @atwistoffate @evilskank-inthemegacoven @there-must-be-a-lock
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aswithasunbeam · 6 years
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The Three Ten to NYC, A Modern Hamliza Fic
[Read on AO3]
Rating: Teen and Up
Summary: Eliza and Alexander are stuck at Union Station in the middle of the night. Despite long coffee lines, angry tweets, and general sleep deprivation, Eliza is head over heels in love and feels like the luckiest girl in the world.
A fluffy modern hamliza AU
The dull drone of an announcement crackled over the speakers. Eliza listened just long enough to hear something about a delayed southbound train, then tuned it out once again. The line for coffee, which snaked back and forth through several loops of sleep deprived passengers, inched forward a little more, only for the woman who’d finally stepped up to counter to hesitate over her order. Apparently, the fifteen minutes she’d been standing in line wasn’t quite enough time for her to work out what she wanted, Eliza thought with an internal huff.
Trying to block out her frustration, Eliza swiped at the screen of her phone and opened the photo gallery. Alexander’s handsome face grinned at her from the latest picture. It was a photo she’d snapped just hours ago in their cramped hotel room. He’d already removed his jacket and loosened his tie, and he was trying to entice her to join him in the shower.
“I sat through a two hour meeting about climate change and the importance of water conservation today. I’m feeling very motivated.”
“We’re supposed to be washing up and taking a nap,” she’d reminded him, lying atop the covers on their bed scrolling through her phone. “Our train leaves at three in the morning.”
“Yeah, of course,” he’d agreed innocently, slowly removing his tie and backing up towards the bathroom. “This is just about being responsible with precious natural resources.”
“Uh huh.” A dimple had appeared in his cheeks as she’d hummed with disbelief. She’d snapped the picture just before she pushed off the bed to follow him, unable to resist. They’d never quite gotten around to properly washing up or napping. But a little sleep deprivation wasn’t such a high price to pay when he’d looked so damn cute, she granted herself.  
Usually when Alexander traveled to D.C. with the Senator, she remained behind in New York. This time, though, the dates of his trip happened to line up with a child welfare conference that she’d been wanting to attend anyway. Not being away from her new fiancée for a full week had only been an added benefit.
When Senator Washington heard she had accompanied Alexander to D.C., he invited them both to his second home on the Potomac for a quiet dinner. In Mrs. Washington’s kind and capable hands, that quiet dinner had turned into a surprise blowout engagement party, complete with many of Alexander’s oldest friends, a live band, and thousands of white lights strung up from the house all the way down to the river. Eliza wouldn’t have traded that magical night of laughter and dancing for anything in the world.
She was playing with the filter on a picture of the two of them down by the water when she finally found herself at the front of the line. Thrusting her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she stepped up the counter to order two black coffees and, impulsively, a buttery croissant from the bake case. The two coffees were passed to her over the counter as she paid, allowing her to bypass the huddled mass of customers waiting on lattes and macchiatos. She placed her brown pastry bag on the coffee station to add a half and half to her cup, then headed back towards the benches with her purchases in hand.
Alexander had long since traded his suit jacket and tie for his ratty Columbia sweatshirt before they left the hotel, and thick framed glasses were sliding down his nose. The light from his laptop screen reflected in the lenses pounded at the keyboard. His eyes always carried a slightly bruised quality, but the circles seemed darker in the harsh unnatural lighting, and his face and shoulders looked tense.
“Hello, handsome. Is this seat taken?” Her voice was heavy with exaggerated flirtation and she batted her eyes ridiculously as she sat beside him, hoping to make him laugh.
He smiled weakly and accepted the coffee from her. The drink was still piping hot, but he gulped it down like it was room temperature. Putting the cup down on the bench on his other side, he jabbed his finger at his laptop and said, “Look at this.”
She scooted closer so their shoulders were pressed together while she looked at the screen. Twitter was open, and he was gesturing at a tweet from a senator’s aide in the opposition party. Why he insisted on reading that garbage and getting all riled up over it, she still didn’t understand.
Pressing a kiss to his cheek, she answered vaguely, without really taking in the content of the tweet, “How awful.”
“This kind of blatantly racist bullshit is why we can’t have intelligent, rational conversations about immigration in this country,” he fumed, and switched tabs to a google doc to resume his furious typing. He’d already filled a page and half with text, she noticed. A smile crept over her face as she tried to figure out whether he was writing some kind of op-ed or just an extremely long thread of tweets.
“Any updates on the train?” she asked, interrupting the rant she heard gathering steam under his breath.
“I guess it was delayed coming out of  Richmond,” he answered, still focused on his computer. “They’re estimating another thirty minutes.”
She sighed and pulled the croissant from the paper bag. Splitting the pastry down the middle, she offered Alexander half. He gave it a sidelong glance and shook his head. “I’m not that hungry.”
“You’re sure? You didn’t eat much before we left.”
“Yeah.” He slid his left hand under his glasses to rub his eyes. “My head is killing me.”
“That’s what you get for using up our nap time.”
He smirked and readjusted his glasses. “Nah, it was worth it.”
Leaning over, she placed a kiss against his lips and pushed his laptop closed. He chuckled warmly, although the tension in his brow remained. She ran her fingers through the hair at his temple tenderly. “I think I have Tylenol in my purse. Do you want some?”
He nodded. She bent down to rifle through her bag until she felt the travel sized bottle on the bottom. Dry swallowing the two pills she handed him, he chased them with another gulp of coffee.  
“Want to look at some pictures from the party?” she offered, a transparent ploy to keep him away from twitter. “People have been sharing them with me all day.”
Thankfully, he gave in easily despite the obvious tactic. Twisting on the bench to face her, he invited “Let’s see ‘em.”
She shifted closer so they could both see her phone. He laughed at the first picture of him, Gilbert, and Mulligan with their arms around each other, though she thought she heard a hint of melancholy in the sound. She’d seen dozens of similar photos of the group from over the years, but always with a fourth member: the legendary and beloved Jack, who’d been killed on his third overseas deployment a few years earlier. She didn’t linger or press, and his laugh turned lighter when she showed him the next picture of him looking at the buffet table. “Oh, God, please get rid that one. What is that face I’m making? I look like I have three chins.”
“You do not,” she laughed.
“No?” he asked as he made a goofy face and pulled his chin back towards his neck.
She snorted and broke out into giggles. “So sexy.”  
“Wow, I need to borrow those love goggles of yours.” He reached out and slid his finger over the screen to look at the next photo: a selfie she’d meant to delete already because her eyes were half shut. “See, now, that’s better.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you need to borrow anything.”
They spent the next several minutes sipping at their coffees and scrolling through the rest of the photos.
“I want to print this one,” she told him, stopping again on the photo of them by the river, the same one she’d been fussing with in the coffee line. Mrs. Washington had snapped it early in the evening, so they both looked fresh faced and happy. Eliza was smiling for the camera, but Alexander was looking at her with the sweetest, softest expression she’d ever seen him wear. The pure love she saw shining in his eyes made her heartbeat quicken and her stomach fill with the wonderful kind of butterflies.
He nodded seriously. “We should. That came out nice.”
She cuddled closer and leaned her head on his shoulder. “It was a beautiful party.”
“It was,” he agreed, twirling a finger through the loose hair on her shoulders.
“I’m just glad I didn’t embarrass you.”
The words had tumbled out of her mouth before she’d really thought them through. He stilled beside her and then straightened. She could feel him trying to catch her eye.
“What are you talking about?”
She winced. Exhausted as she was, she’d let slip the insecure thoughts that usually floated, safe and unspoken, around in the back of her mind. She had a healthy amount of self-confidence, really. She knew she was kind, moral, beautiful, and far from stupid.  But ever since she’d started dating Alexander, she’d had a deep, dark fear that one day she’d say something in a group of Alexander’s genius friends that would make him realize how much she didn’t fit in with them. It was something she worried about secretly, late at night, when she watched him sleep beside her and wondered what sort of miraculous, world-changing ideas were brewing in his mind.
“It’s just…everyone there was so accomplished. So brilliant.”
“You’re brilliant.”
She scoffed. “Not like they are. Not like you.”
“Eliza, you are the most beautiful, compassionate, loving, amazing person I’ve ever met.”
Her gaze fell to her lap, not able to look at him as she tried to explain. “I barely made it through college. I’m never going to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a scientist. I only have the chance to do so much volunteer work because my family has money. I just, I worry that someday you’re going to look at me, and….”
“Hey.” He tilted her chin up. “You go to work every day and help dozens upon dozens of kids in awful circumstances. I see the kind of hours and the commitment you put in. You fight for those kids, you raise money for them, and you care about each and every one of them. You are smart, and capable, and driven. And I am so proud of you.”
Her throat went tight with emotion, and her vision turned a little blurry. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” he assured her. He gave her a sweet, soft kiss. “We all sit around and talk about policy language, and rant at each other on social media, but you’re the one doing the real work. It’s one of the first things that drew me to you. If everyone took the privileges they were given and used them for good the way you have, the world would be a beautiful place.”
A strange, but wonderful realization dawned on her.
As she’d gotten to know him, she would from time to time pick up on his insecurities, and she’d always find herself puzzled. It seemed to her that the things he felt the most self-conscious about were, in reality, his greatest strengths. He worried about his past, about his job, about his lack of money, but all she saw was someone who’d overcome long odds, who did great and important work, even at the cost of personal glory and fortune.
Now, seeing all that love in his eyes again, she realized for the first time that he felt the same about her. All those things she worried about late at night in the dark, the parts of her she’d tried to hide from him, he’d seen in her all along. He’d seen her, and he loved her, not in spite of those parts, but because of them. Never before in her life had she felt so wholly and completely loved.
“I love you so much,” she whispered.
He smiled. “I love you, too.”
The grainy voice announced their train would be arriving at platform ten, intruding on the tender moment. They shared a quick kiss before they stood and collected their baggage, Alexander shoving his laptop back into his bag while she popped up the handle on her carry-on. They fell easily into step as they made their way to the platform.
They didn’t speak as they stood under the orange lights on the platform to wait for the arriving train. Eliza turned to face him, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close in the cool spring night air. Hardly anyone was around for the late night train to the city.
She felt the powerful whoosh of air as the train approached, and she reluctantly released him so they could board. Thankfully, the cars weren’t particularly full. They found seats towards the back of the car and settled in next each other. She’d expected him to pull out his laptop again when they settled in for the three and a half hour ride home, but instead he rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.
“How’s your head?” she asked softly.
“Better. I’m just really tired.”
She tugged him towards her, so that his head rested against her shoulder. He removed his glasses off, shoving them into the pocket of his sweatshirt, and adjusted to rest against her chest, his arm stretched out to embrace her. Her hand traced patterns over his back as the train pulled away from the station towards home.
In the quiet of the train, as Alexander began to snuffle softly, she gazed down at the diamond ring on her left hand and smiled. She was engaged to the love of her life. All the little frustrations and worries from the past hours had melted away. Delayed trains and long lines, angry politicians and sleep deprivation—none of those things mattered in the slightest. Not when Alexander was in her arms.
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New Girl on the Block
A Billy Hargrove Fanfic
Chapter Three (link to AO3)
(You can read Chapter One here, and Chapter Two here)
“You’ve decided what you’re wearing, right?”
By now I could remember at least half of the girl’s names. Why did Annie have to have so many friends that looked so similar? I think that one was Ruby.
“Yeah I think so,” I began to doubt my outfit choice for this evening. “What are you guys wearing?” I addressed the group as a whole but knew that only a few would respond. It was Friday and at least four of them still hadn’t come round to the idea of accepting me into their group. I didn’t mind, I would probably feel the same in their situation, but a couple of them went out their way to be rude – mainly Hollie and Elizabeth.
“Do you want to come to mine after school and I can show you? We can get ready together?” Considering Annie directed this only at me, I assumed the other girls were already going to her house, or had other arrangements.
“I kind of promised my Mom and Dad that I’d be having dinner with them.” A few of the girls that I didn’t get along with rolled their eyes at this, clearly thinking that I was lying, and I was, in a way. “My Aunt and Uncle are visiting for a few days,” I added, shooting Annie an apologetic look. This wasn’t a total lie. My Aunt and Uncle were in town for a few days to visit the new house, and we were supposed to be having a family dinner together, but I had been excused from going once they found out about the party. Something about them not wanting to hold me back from socialising in a new town.
“Oh, well you can still come over and get ready with us, yeah?” I think that one was Ashley, and it seemed over the week that she was constantly out to get me. Although she said everything with a smile, I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t a genuine one. I was internally screaming, how was I going to get away with this one?
“I mean uh, actually I had kind of sorted a ride with Billy?” The silence that followed was deafening. Yeah, telling the truth was not the way to go.
“You mean like Billy, Billy?”
“What?”
“Are you guys dating then?”
“We are so not dating, it’s not remotely like that,” I assured them. Only in my head is it like that.
“Wait, Billy Hargrove is coming to pick you up and take you to Steve’s party?” Ruby asked in disbelief, and I nodded.
“You know he only wants to get into your pants,” Elizabeth declared, and a few of them nodded their heads in agreement with her.
“Lizzie, that’s not exactly fair,” Annie started, attempting to defend my corner.
“It’s true though! Fresh meat and all that,” she counted back at Annie before turning to me, “He’ll be bored of you by next week.”
“Okay, I think it’s time we went to class.” Usually Jennifer remained quiet, hardly contributing to the group discussions, from what I had seen so far this week, but she could obviously sense my discomfort, and looked at me apologetically. I smiled back at her softly, but it took all I had in me not to cry.
Picking my bag up, I rested the strap on my shoulder and sat up from the picnic bench we had been gathered at.
“I’ll see you later,” I murmured at no one in particular, none of them having moved a muscle, presumably out of sheer awkwardness.
As I walked away I could hear what sounded like someone swatting another’s arm, followed by a “What was that for? You were all thinking it.”
I walked towards the English block with my head down, blinking desperately to try and stop any tears from forming.
“I was starting to think you’d ditched me, princess.” I lifted my head, only to be greeted by Billy leaning against the wall with a lit cigarette in his hand. The smile on his face quickly disappeared when I looked up at him. I could feel my bottom lip trembling, so I had it pressed firmly against my top one in an attempt to stop it, and the tears that had been threatening to fall, finally fell when I saw him.
I daren’t speak, knowing my voice would crack, so I did the only thing I could to avoid conversation. I made my way inside, walking at twice my usual pace now. I wiped the tears that had fallen on my cheeks away with the back of my hand, but before I could even make it to the classroom, I felt the familiar grip on my elbow pull me to the opposite side of the corridor and straight into the boys toilets.
“Billy, what are you-“
“Whose fault is this?” This wasn’t the Billy that I knew, this sounded an awful lot like the one I had heard so much about from other people. There was no hint of a smirk or a smile, instead his jaw was set firm, looking as though he was a moment away from raging.
“Its fine it’s just,” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. In my head I sounded utterly stupid, and the last person I wanted to talk to all this about was Billy himself.
“Did someone hurt you?” He looked me up and down, checking for physical injury, but his gaze soon returned to my face, looking concerned now more than anything.
I sighed, figuring I’d have to tell him.
“It’s just some of those girls,” at this he let out a sigh of relief, stepping back and running a hand through his hair.
“Fuck, you know I really thought you’d been hurt.” Billy’s tone had completely changed again, this time he sounded pissed off. “Here I was ready to go sort someone out, and all it is, is girl drama,” he said this mainly to himself, not even looking at me anymore.
“Girl drama that you’ve caused,” I argued, wiping yet more tears out of my eyes.
“I’ve got nothing to do with that bunch of-“
“You’re the fucking reason! They all think I’m one of your idiotic, insecure little followers that you fuck and then get rid of,” I couldn’t read his expression, but his jaw was set into a hard line again. “And you know what Billy, I’m starting to agree with them.”
It was silent for a moment, but as soon as I had finished speaking I daren’t hold eye contact, instead I chose to look at the tiled floor. I heard him make a noise as if he was going to speak, but didn’t.
I grew even more uncomfortable in the silence, but a moment later, “You think I want to fuck you?”
I was at a loss for words, not expecting that to have been the next thing out of his mouth. I came over all embarrassed, of course he didn’t want to, he just pitied me being the new kid, he even said so himself. Without saying anything back, or even looking at him, I turned with every intention of leaving the bathroom, but he was faster. He had both hands on my arms, pulling me back gently so I was in front of him, my back against the wall.
“Because you’d be right.” Looking up at him, any trace of anger or being pissed off was gone, having been replaced with the more familiar calm, nonchalant look that I was used to.
“I, uh-“
“Why’d you think I’m only nice to pretty much just you?” I shrugged, but he raised his eyebrows expectantly, pressing me for an answer.
“Because you want to-“
“To get in your pants, right?” He finished for me, and I nodded.
“If I wanted to fuck someone, I wouldn’t chase them like this. I wouldn’t speak to them the way I speak to you, hell I wouldn’t even give them rides to school.” I didn’t know what to say, so he continued. “Is that what they’ve been saying to upset you?”
I nodded, “I told them you’d be taking me to Steve’s later, and Elizabeth said that you were only speaking to me because I’m fresh meat or something, and that you’d be ignoring me by next week.” Before I could do it myself, Billy removed his hand from my arm, and wiped his thumb pad across my cheek, catching a stray tear. I tried not to jump at the contact, and although it wasn’t as if he hadn’t touched me before, it was usually restricted to my arms, and the occasional slap on my bum when I was getting out of his car.
“Do you mean Lizzie Atwood?” He questioned.
“Yeah that’s her, I think.” I wasn’t any good with first names, let alone surnames.
“She’s been trying to get with this,” he said, gesturing a hand down his body with a smirk on his face, “since I got here. Ignore her, princess. She’s just jealous you don’t have to get the bus.” I couldn’t help but let out a laugh, and to my surprise he actually smiled. “Come on, let’s skip class.” He added, throwing an arm over my shoulder as we vacated the toilets.
  “I mean I’m not sure it’ll look all that different,” I insisted, the receiver resting between my shoulder and my ear.
“Ruby said she thought that blue was too out there.” I was already late, running around my room trying to piece together an outfit when Annie rang me with an eyeshadow dilemma.
“I think turquoise and blue are pretty much the same, just go with whatever you think suits best,” I suggested vaguely, too preoccupied with my own situation to be paying much mind to Annie’s.
“You know you’re right, I’m going to go with the blue I think.”
Do I wear the red skirt with the cream top or the white top? Or do I forget the red skirt altogether and wear a dress?
“Are you even listening to me?” Annie accused a few moments later.
“No sorry I am I’m just doubting my outfit choices,” I sighed, looking at the mess I’d created around me, spilling from my closet.
“I’m sure Billy won’t mind what you wear.” I could hear the cheek in her voice, and replied with a sarcastic laugh. I hadn’t filled her in on everything that happened earlier, but she had mentioned that some Ben guy saw Billy and I go into the bathroom together and had made it public knowledge. “To be honest, I’m sure he’d quite like to take off whatever you do choose to wear.” I rolled my eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Bye Annie,” I said dryly, and I could still hear her laughing as I put the receiver down.
I had about half an hour before Billy was meant to pick me up, and I was stood in the middle of my room in a pair of tights and a bra, surrounded by a sea of clothing. Fuck. I made the executive decision to go with the red skirt and the cream top, simply because it was my least favourite shirt and if anything got spilled down it I wouldn’t be too gutted. I laid it down neatly on my bed, deciding to put everything else away first.
Sitting on my floor, folding blouses and skirts, and arranging items on hangers, I noticed a bright light shining through my bedroom window. My bedroom was at the back of the house, so it couldn’t have been a car or a streetlight. Maybe my parents and Aunty and Uncle wanted to sit outside on the patio? I shrugged to myself, carrying on with the folding and hanging. A moment later, the light disappeared. Not wanting to be the victim in a horror movie, I crawled over to the window, peeping up so I could see above the ledge and down to the garden.
It was too dark, and I couldn’t see anything, until the light flashed up at my room again, and the suspicion in my gut was confirmed. Lifting the window up a bit, trying hard not to expose myself in my underwear, I called down.
“What in God’s name are you doing?” I tried to keep my voice down so no one heard, but it came out as some kind of whispered yelling.
“Just wanted to get out the house, but I don’t want your Mom to think I’m keen,” I couldn’t see Billy’s face properly with the minimal lighting, but I could tell he was probably biting his lip, smirking.
“Well go sit in the car then,” I suggested, leaning back to grab the closest item of clothing to cover my chest, holding it over my front.
“But it’s cold, and I’m bored,” he whined. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but found myself doing so anyway.
“Okay, just- stay there for a moment.” I shut the window quietly, crawling back across to the other side of my room so I was out of sight, before standing up and throwing on the outfit I had chosen. Tucking the blouse into my skirt loosely, I zipped the skirt up at the back before checking quickly in the mirror. That’ll have to do.
Picking up the pile of clothes that had been folded, as well as the unfolded mess, I threw them all into my closet, closing the door quickly so nothing could fall out.
Lifting my window up all the way now, I called down to Billy.
“Come on then Spiderman.” I heard him scoff at my joke, and noticed that he had now lit a cigarette, leaving it hanging between his lips as he used both hands to pull himself up, one foot on the kitchen window ledge below my room, the other using the trellis on the side of my house to climb.
Once he was at eye level with my window, I reached down to take the cigarette out of his mouth before putting it out against the bricks lining my window, and throwing it back out.
“What did you do that for?!” I instinctively put my hand across his mouth to quieten him, panicking in case anyone heard him.
“You aren’t smoking in my room, Billy. Are you trying to get me into trouble?” I asked.
“I think you’ve managed to do that all on your own,” he winked.
“Don’t make me push you back down,” I threatened, raising my eyebrows at the smirk that still remained on his face.
“You wouldn’t,” he teased, “now back up a bit.” I stood back from the window, watching him as he effortlessly lifted himself up that little bit further and crawled through, now standing in my room.
“Wow, you must have really had some experience.” I commented. He had barely broken a sweat.
“I have to say it’s much easier with that plant thing there,” he said, pointing down to the trellis as he shut the window behind him.
“Really? I’ll have to ask my Dad to take it down then,” I laughed, to which he replied with a sarcastic one and the middle finger. “I think you lost a button on the way though,” I pointed out, motioning to his extremely gaping shirt which exposed most of his chest.
“You’re just full of ‘em today aren’t you? Don’t think I’ve never caught you looking.” Although I’m almost positive he was just teasing, the amount of times I’d caught a glance was becoming excessive in the past few days alone.
“I still need to do my makeup,” I announced, trying desperately to change the conversation. I knew whether I answered his remark or not I would be admitting to guilt.
He nodded, “You carry on princess, I’ll just be here.” He practically threw himself onto my bed, and I watched him taking in his surroundings, examining every poster and every object in my room from where he was sat.
I sat down at my vanity, brushing my hair back into a ponytail whilst I did my makeup. It was silent for a few minutes, which I was thankful for as I didn’t want my Mom or Dad getting suspicious.
“I didn’t know you liked David Coverdale.” I carried on with applying my mascara, and instead of turning around I looked at Billy in the reflection of my mirror.
“Oh yeah, my Mom hates that one,” I laughed, noticing which poster it was he was looking at. “I’ve been banned from listening to music whilst I get ready for school.” I added, and saw between the strokes of my mascara wand the confused look on his face. “Apparently anything pre-8am is ‘too early’ for Whitesnake.” He laughed at this, and I noticed the creases forming next to his eyes when he did. It was a proper laugh, not one of the flirty ones I was used to seeing by now.
By the time I was done with my makeup, I brushed my hair out, deciding to leave it as I normally did. I placed my stool back under my vanity, and went to stand at the foot of my bed, leaning against the metal frame of it. It was only then that I fully took what Billy was wearing, and it wasn’t much different from his usual attire. Jacket, boots, jeans – but somehow these were impossibly tighter than his regular pair. He was flicking through a magazine that I had left on my nightstand, not spending more than five seconds on a page.
“Come on then, shift.” I said, motioning my head in the direction of my window.
“Why would we go out the window?” The way his face screwed up in confusion made me laugh, but his expression didn’t falter.
“We aren’t, you are. You can’t expect us to just walk downstairs as if it’s normal for you to break into my bedroom.”
“It’s not breaking in if you let me,” he quipped back, and I rolled my eyes at his answer.
“Whatever Billy, you have to get out and ring the doorbell.”
“This isn’t prom, can’t you just run out when you hear the horn like you normally do?”
“My Aunty and Uncle are visiting, and I believe that my Mom has told my Aunty a lot about you already.” I told him, cringing at the thought of it.
“Really?” He smirked, “Maybe I should come in for a bit then.”
“Calm down Billy, they are both married.” I reminded him.
“That’s never stopped me before.” A look of complete shock and horror must have found its way onto my face, judging by the booming laughing that he broke out into.
“Shh they’re going to hear you!” I stressed. His complete lack of care was evident in the way he swung his legs off the bed, stood up and sauntered over to the window.
“See you in a minute, princess.” The combination of the wink and the pet name had started to make me blush. At the beginning of the week, I tried my hardest not to take any notice of it, not wanting to develop unreciprocated feelings just because he called me ‘princess’ and used that voice, along with his smirk. But after today, I started to let myself think it was somewhat genuine.
And with that, he crawled back out of the window, setting his footing back on the kitchen window ledge and the trellis, jumping down onto the patio and disappearing around the side of the house.
Not even a minute later, the doorbell rang.
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that 70s slasher
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Chapter One: the gang
 Eric Forman’s basement October 1977.
 “Eric I want the Cruiser tonight” Laurie, Eric’s older sister said as she entered the room, catching the eyes of Michael Kelso and Fez. “What? No, we’re using it tonight” Eric motioned to his friends sitting beside him. “Little brother, whatever it is you need it for tonight is not as important as the party I’m going to” Eric pretended to think on the subject, rubbing his chin. “Well… No” the scrawny teenager smiled and leaned back on the couch with his arm around Donna.
“Eric I need to go to this party”
“Why can’t you use the Toyota?” “Mom and dad are going on a date tonight”
“Then walk.”
“Fine jerk, but I’m telling Red when I get back” Laurie rolled her eyes and walked out of the basement through the outside door, Kelso and fez still watching her. The room was quiet other than the T.V until Kelso spoke up pointing his Popsicle in Eric’s direction. “You know Eric that was totally rude of you to not let Laurie take the car” the gang looked at Kelso and Jackie squinted “Michael, why do you care If Laurie gets the car?” Kelso blushed and sat up slightly. “What? I don’t- I don’t care, why would I care?”
“Because you like her” Fez smirked and received a fist to the arm from his friend. “Aye!” fez rubbed his arm and retracted awkwardly back in to his seat to avoid anymore beatings from his friend. It was a typical Saturday night for the gang, all sitting around the basement watching T.V and joking with each other.   “okay, I gotta take a whiz, too much beer I guess” Hyde placed his hands on his knees and stood up with a faux groan as if he were an old man getting up. As soon as he was out of the seat and headed towards the stairs Fez was up and headed for his chair. “Hey! Get back in place” Hyde pointed at Fez and then continued up the stairs while the disappointed exchange student sat back down in his seat.  Eric looked around the room at his group of friends, somewhere in him he regretted not letting his sister use the car, but it was his right to use his car. Besides she was a total bitch and rarely helped him when he needed things so why should he help her?
“I’m gonna go get the car started while Hyde’s in the bathroom, we should be ready to go by then” Eric stood up and grabbed his jacket, going out the same door his sister had gone out just 10 minutes before.
Donna followed her boyfriend outside, leaving Kelso, Jackie, and fez alone. With Fez there nothing was gonna happen between the two lovebirds, Jackie rolled her eyes and spoke “fez, why don’t you head out with Eric and Donna” she shooed the foreigner away with her hand and looked back at Kelso. Fez grumbled to himself before getting up and leaving the basement as well, leaving his friends alone to make out on the couch. Normally he would find a way to stay and watch but maybe if he snuck up the stairs he could catch Donna and Eric making out, unlikely but possible he thought.
Hyde was taking longer too pee than they would expect, he must have drank quite a bit that day. It wasn’t a bad thing though, it just gave Jackie and Kelso more time alone before they had to get up and make their way to the Vista Cruiser with the rest of their friends, a few more minutes of sucking face and rubbing their hands all over each other and they were finally getting up and readjusting their clothing so that they could go out with the rest of the teens without looking sloppy, both of them were to self absorbed in their looks that they wouldn’t dare be seen in public the way they looked right now.
“Come on Michael, Donna and Eric are waiting on us.” Jackie crossed her arms and tapped her foot while her boyfriend tucked his shirt back in and buckled his belt
“Damn Jackie, you can’t just get someone half undressed and expect them to be dressed again in just a few seconds”
“Michael I’m not the one that unbuckled your belt that was you”
“Well- yeah but you were the reason I unbuckled it!”
“Whatever Michael, meet me in the garage” Jackie turned and walked out of the basement going to meet her friends.
Hyde soon appeared coming from the glass back doors, his hands neatly tucked in his jacket pockets as he sat against the hood of the gold station wagon. “Where’s Kelso?” he asked, looking at the other three members of the group. “He’s cleaning up before we leave” Jackie answered his question then glanced at Donna when she spoke. “More importantly, where’s fez?” they all looked around for a moment before finding him; he was hiding behind the Cruiser. “Fez, what were you doing behind there?” Donna questioned him and he blushed, rubbing his arm “I waz… Eh” “he was trying to catch you doin it!” Kelso laughed and made his way around the car to get in the front seat, passing the embarrassed exchange student. “Hold on who said you were riding shotgun?” Donna grabbed the tall teens arm and yanked him away from the car door.
“Well I figured because I’m obviously Eric’s best friend-“
“Why Don’t you both sit Up front man, it’s a bench seat” Hyde punched Kelso’s arm and climbed in to the back seat. “I didn’t think of that” Kelso rubbed his bruised arm and let Donna get in first thenhe  got in next. Donna scooted close to Eric, being part of a car sandwich was sometimes fun, but not when it was Kelso who took up the part of being one of the slices of bread. Eric put the car in drive and pulled out of the driveway,
Laurie made her way out of the basement, closing the door behind her and crossing her arms as she walked, the night wasn’t that cold and the party was only a few blocks away, but she still wanted the car. Her stupid brother couldn’t just use one of his friend’s cars; he had to use the Cruiser? She sighed and walked down the street, Point place was peaceful and boring there was nothing to be worried about, while walking was tiring and annoying it wasn’t dangerous. Point place hadn’t had a murder or disappearance, ever. Well, she wasn’t sure about that, she hadn’t ever looked in to it.
As she thought about it she began to feel fear well up inside her, she was thinking about murderers and other horror movie stuff and it was giving her the creeps. “happy things” the blonde whispered to herself and tried to change the subject in her mind from blood and death to partying with her friends, getting drunk- maybe meeting a boy and taking him to an unused bedroom, yeah that was nice, the party would be super fun and no one was gonna get murdered, that only happened in those stupid movies her brother and his friends watched, yeah.
After a few more moments of walking in the dark she thought she heard something. It was probably just her mind playing tricks on her, or maybe it was one of those idiots, she had just passed the Pinciotti house a few minutes ago so it wasn’t too crazy to think one of them was playing a trick on her. She kept walking, ignoring the noise behind her, maybe it was Kelso, and she could just grab his crotch and give him a kiss then send him on his way back to his friends, yeah that was probably it. It was Kelso following her to get himself a kiss where Jackie wouldn’t see. She turned around and looked at the trees in the empty lot, there were several empty spots filled with trees in the neighborhood she lived in, her and Eric grew up playing games in those very Trees. “Okay Kelso, I know it’s you hiding there, come out” she stepped off the pavement and on to the grass, slowly making her way in to the woods. “Seriously Michael, if you want to get with me you can’t hide in the trees” she was getting worried as she stepped closer in to the darkness of the woods. Suddenly a figure stepped out and she jumped, looking at the character in front of her, all black clothes, and a hood, she couldn’t see his face but he was tall, it had to be that idiot boy-toy of hers. “Don’t scare me like that, asshole” she pushed on his chest and went to tease his crotch with her soft fingers when she noticed the silver blade sticking out from the baggy sleeve.  “K-Kelso what’s that?” she took a step back, removing her hand from his crotch as she did. The blade rose up and Laurie’s eyes went wide, she took another step back but it wasn’t quick enough because before she could say anything the knife was stabbed in to her shoulder, she screamed out in pain and fell backward, blood staining her white jacket. “What the fuck Michael!” she angrily said but before she could say anything else the knife swung past her neck and she could only gargle out words that weren’t understandable. Her last sight was the black hooded figure above her, who she wasn’t completely sure, was even Kelso.
Bob Pinciotti was sitting on the back patio of the house with his wife Midge, they were enjoying a nice cool evening together while Donna was with her friends, the sound of what could have been a girl screaming filled the air and midge sat up. “Was that a scream? Bob maybe you should check it out…’ midge looked around, her eyes landing on her husband. “Midge, honey it was probably just some girl getting thrown in a pool, there’s a party goin on over on Chicago street” bob brought his drink up and sipped it softly.
“Bob it sounded closer than that… are you sure you shouldn’t at least just go check?”
“Baby its fine; I know what a party-scream sounds like… But if you really want, I’ll go check.” He stood up and walked out the back gate, heading down the street just a bit to the woods where they heard the scream come from, he clenched his fist ready to punch someone. When he stepped on to the grass and looked around the woods he saw nothing, his foot did squish in to some soft grass but it was too dark for him to see what was making the ground soft, probably just water, maybe a spilled beer from some kids. By the time he got back to assure his wife nothing was wrong whatever he had stepped in was already wiped off by the grass. “See, told Ya. Nothing was wrong” he smiled, sat down and pulled his wife close to him, kissing her cheek.
The Pinciottis went back to their little date, none the wiser to the murder of their neighbors oldest just a few lots away from them.
Red made his way in to the nice restaurant with his wife beside him. “We have a reservation” Red smiled and the man at the front desk looked at them. “Name?”
“Forman” Red said proudly and the man looked down the book of names before planting his finger on their name. “Ah, yes. Right this way sir, ma’am” he nodded at the two and showed them the way to their table, sitting them down and laying two menus on the wood top. “Your server will be with you in just a moment” the man walked off and after a few seconds another man walked up. “I’m James, I’ll be serving you tonight, what can I get you to drink?” Red spoke for both him and his wife. “I’ll have a beer and my wife here will have a margarita” the server wrote down the order and nodded. “Okay I’ll be right back with those for you” he turned and walked away to go get the drinks.
“Isn’t this nice kitty, just you and I, finally on a nice date?”
“Yes, it is, I’m just worried about the kids”
“The kids? Kitty we’ve left them alone before, they’ll be just fine”
“I know Red… sorry,” Kitty smiled softly and sat back.  
“Laurie is there and the Pinciottis are next door if they are truly in need of help”
Kitty nodded and the two changed the subject to something else.
The server interrupted the conversation by laying the drinks down and pulling out his notepad once again. “Are you ready to order your meals?” he asked and glanced between the two. Red looked at kitty then nodded. “I think we are, I’ll have the King’s steak, medium rare, and Kitty will have the large Caesar salad.” Red grabbed the menus and handed them to the server who took them and went to take the order to the kitchen.  Minutes passed and while they were waiting Red felt a little twinge in his heart, he swallowed and looked at Kitty “I think something’s wrong” he took a sip of his beer.
“Wrong? Red what could be wrong, are you feeling sick?”
“No kitty- I’m fine, I just think maybe something bad happened at the house” Red frowned and stood up. “I’m gonna go Call and see if everything’s okay, I swear if Eric did something stupid I’m gonna put my foot so far up his ass the doctors are gonna have to give my shoe back” he laid his napkin on the table and walked off to find a phone so he could call home and make sure everything was okay. The phone rang, and rang, and rang again ringing to an empty house. Red hung up and sighed and decided to give The Hub a call and see if they were there, it rang a few times before someone picked up. “The Hub, best burgers in town, what can I do for you?”
“Hi I was wondering if my son Eric was there, he’s scrawny, bowl cut hair, looks kinda like a girl, probably with his friends”
“Yeah give me a moment” red heard the phone knock against the metal countertop and a second or so later the guy was back at the phone. “Yeah he’s here” “can I talk to him“
“Yeah, man let me just, oh wait this is a company phone so, no”
“Listen, I need to talk to him, now. So either put him on or I’ll come down there and kick your ass”
“Fine,” the line clicked and Eric was now the one on the other end. “Hey, dad- what’s up?”
“Is everything okay? You didn’t crash the car did you?”
“What? No, dad… Everything is perfectly-“ Eric was cut off by his father. “What about your sister, is she okay?”
“Yeah I think so, she went to some party on Chicago, she was walking there last time I talked to her”
“Walking? You made your sister walk at night? What is wrong with you?”
“It’s my car, besides it’s only a few blocks away and nothing bad ever happens in this crappy town”
“Eric when I get home you better be ready to have my foot up your ass, now I’m gonna go and have a nice date with your mother, goodbye”
“Bye dad-“. Eric mumbled out before the call ended and he was headed back to the table to sit with his friends. “What was that about Forman?” Hyde brought the soda to his lips and looked at his best friend. “My dad is pissed off ‘cause I made Laurie walk to the party” Eric took a bite out of his burger and looked at his friends. “It’s just a few blocks away, I used to walk further than that before I had the cruiser anyway” Eric motioned with his hands. “Yeah, but you’re not a girl, Eric” Donna scolded him. “So what if he’s not a girl, he’s built like one” Kelso laughed and Hyde smiled. “Burn” Fez followed up and the group laughed while Eric shrugged them off, it was a well played burn. “Whatever, she’s the devil, I don’t think anyone’s gonna touch her” “your dad has every right to ground you Eric” Jackie leaned against Kelso. “Okay yeah maybe I could have at least given her a ride, but what’s done is done”
“She’s probably slobbering all over some poor guy in the closet right now anyway man” Said Hyde as he took another drink from the brown soda bottle, Hyde’s joke caused Kelso’s demeanor towards the situation to change slightly. “Uh well… what makes you say that Hyde?” Kelso awkwardly asked his friend. “Have you met Laurie?” Eric added in and Kelso almost looked offended. “yeah- and, and she wouldn’t do that to me!” “To you?” Jackie raised her eyebrows. “Yeah- what I meant to say was, she wouldn’t do that cause-“
“Shut up Kelso” Donna interrupted. “Kelso is obviously still high, and not thinking straight” she glared at Kelso and picked a fry off of Eric’s plate. All the while, fez sat silently drinking his soda from a straw and watching the conversation of his friends.   Jackie decided to drop the subject; she would have a talk with her boyfriend later. “okay, the bowling alley is open for another 3 hours, if we wanna get some good games in we’ll  have to go soon” Eric said and laid the last of his burger on the plate, wiping ketchup off his lip and standing up to go pay for the meal and drinks.
Back in the Vista Cruiser the friends were off to the local bowling alley to play a few games, it wasn’t very crowded when they got there, just a few teens here and there. And a girl that Eric recognized. A brunet with green eyes, autumn palmer, which was the girl that invited Laurie to the party if he remembered correctly. While everyone else got their shoes and went to find the right ball to play, Eric made his way over to Autumn. Leaning on the back of a chair he got her attention. “Autumn- hey” the girl turned to look at the scrawny highschooler. “Do I… know you?” she asked.
“No- not directly, I’m Laurie’s brother”
“Oh, Eric yeah okay now I remember, what’s up?”
“Laurie was supposed to be going to a party you invited her to and I was just curious why- uh why you were here instead?” Eric scratched the back of his neck “Oh that, yeah the party was really boring, a few of us left early”
“Did you happen to see Laurie before you left?” Eric sounded a little worried but not by much
“No I’m afraid not- we left pretty early, sorry”
Eric nodded and leaned forward, standing up and waving as he made his way back to his friends, of course Laurie made it, though it was rude of autumn to invite Laurie to a party she wasn’t even gonna be at and not inform Laurie. ‘I guess being a bitch comes with having bitchy friends’ he thought and walked back to his friends to enjoy the rest of the night.
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