#go read shelly's dad fic

[purrincess-chat]

Fashion Faux Paw CH1

It’s time! I wrote this story for @mlbigbang this year against all odds. I haven’t written anything for MariChat in a long time, so I wanted to do something light-hearted and fun. It’s set in s3 between the episodes Reflekdoll and Ladybug and is just a cute little story with the two of them (and Alya) that’s silly and fun, so I hope you guys enjoy it! 

I worked with my ride or die @avrilmaria who has put up with far too much of my shit over the years, so thank you for betaing bby! I also worked with two artists Boots and Megan/Shellie whose pieces I will be sharing when those chapters come out. Thank you both for your incredible work! 

I plan to update this fic every MWF until it’s finished. Chapter 2 will be posted later this evening, and the final chapter (chapter 6) will post Monday, January 23. Please show support not only for me, but for everyone who participated in the event as well. There are a lot of great stories and art in the collection to enjoy, so please show your love for the other participants and the mods for keeping everything organized! Now, I’m going to shut up and let you all enjoy!

Summary:  When Marinette’s fashion blog has a slow start, she finds publicity in an unexpected place, but will her friendly feline’s ego get in the way of her success?

Read on AO3

Chapter 1

“Alya, I need your advice.” Marinette hugged her arms to her chest.

The locker room bustled with students transitioning between classes, the casual chatter a hum of noise just loud enough to keep their conversation between the two of them. Her bff quirked a brow as she exchanged textbooks in her locker, red curls pulled into a high ponytail skimming her shoulders as she turned to Marinette.

“What’s up?” she asked.

Marinette shifted her weight, chewing her cheek. “Well, you helped me set up my fashion blog a few weeks ago, and all of our friends leave nice comments on my posts, but I’m still not getting any new followers. You’re a blog expert. How do I get more people to notice me?”

Alya shut her locker with a smile, and they headed up the aisle toward the door to the courtyard.

“Building a following takes time. Keep posting, and I’m sure more people will trickle in. Your designs are really good, M,” Alya said.

Marinette threw her head back with a moan. “But your blog got like a billion followers overnight.”

“The Ladyblog took off overnight because everyone wants to hear about superheroes. It’s a hot topic, but not all of my blogs are that popular.” Alya put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “Look, you’re not very well known yet, so making a name for yourself is going to take time. Just be patient and keep working, you’ll get there.”

“I guess.” Marinette sighed.

Alya pursed her lips, flicking her gaze around the courtyard. A sly smile curled on her lips, a look Marinette knew all too well — her scheming face.

“I know an easy way to get more followers and spice up your love life.” Alya turned her around, pointing to where Adrien and Nino were standing across the courtyard. “It would totally help your follower count to have a handsome and already famous friend model your designs.”

Marinette’s cheeks burned, and she spun back around with a squeak. “No, no, no! I can’t ask Adrien! You know I can barely get two sentences out around him. Besides, he already models for his dad, so it’s probably illegal or something.”

Alya cocked a hip and gave her a stern look. “Come on, Marinette. Just think about it. You can help him with his outfit at the shoot and spend a lot of time with him. Plus, you’ll have brand new pictures to put on your wall.”

New pictures of Adrien were enticing, especially because she’d have the only copies. Plus, it wouldn’t be weird because it was for her fashion blog. Ugh, no! What was she thinking? She couldn’t ask Adrien! Knowing her, she’d probably lean in to fix the stitching on his jacket and stab him with her sewing needle, then he’d think she’s unprofessional and a terrible designer. News would spread about her incompetence, and her career would be over before it began!

“You’re spiraling, aren’t you?” Alya sighed. “Okay, fine. He doesn’t have to model for you, but he could at least give you a shout out. You two are friends, ya know, and friends support friends.”

“Yeah, but I can’t ask him to do that.” Marinette hid her face in her hands.

“I can.” Alya grinned, grabbing Marinette’s wrist and tugging her over to the boys. She stretched to kiss Nino’s cheek, wrapping an arm around his waist and turning to Adrien. “Have you two checked out Marinette’s blog yet? She posted some really dope designs last night.”

Marinette’s cheeks burned when Adrien turned to her with a smile, and she offered a tiny wave.

“I didn’t know you started a blog, Marinette,” he said.

“Oh, uh, yeah. It’s got fashion and designs that I came up with and posted myself. It’s no big deal.” She winced. At least it was a full sentence.

“That’s awesome. I’ll check it out tonight,” Adrien said.

“Ya know, it would be really awesome if you gave Marinette a shoutout on your Instagram. It would help bring traffic to her blog and be a big help to a friend.” Alya shot Marinette a knowing look that made her cheeks burn hotter.

“I could probably-”

“Adrikins!” Chloe materialized at his side and latched onto his neck, planting kisses on his cheeks. She leaned her head back, looking down her nose at Marinette. “Do my ears deceive me? Don’t tell me you’re trying to get Adrien’s endorsement on your pathetic little blog. There’s a reason no one’s sharing it. Your designs belong in the trash just like you.”

“Chloe!” Adrien chided, gently pushing her off. “Marinette is my friend. I’m more than happy to-”

Chloe pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t be modest, Adrikins. You don’t owe these losers any charity.” She turned back to Marinette and cocked a hip. “Don’t waste Adrien’s time with your cheap scraps. He has much better taste.”

“Oh, really? Is that why you stole Marinette’s designs to try and impress Gabriel Agreste?” Alya shot back.

“Technically, Sabrina stole them, and I just wanted to get Dupain-Cheng kicked out of the competition for cheating.” Chloe flipped her ponytail over one shoulder.

“Chloe, that’s enough.” Adrien sighed. “Look, I’d love to help out in any way that I can, but-”

“It’s fine,” Marinette said. “Thanks anyway, Adrien.”

Alya’s eyebrows knitted together when Marinette smiled and dragged her off. When they were safely in the locker room, her best friend gestured toward the courtyard in bewilderment.

“What was that? Adrien was willing to help. Don’t let Chloe running her mouth talk you out of it,” Alya said.

Marinette fell onto a bench with a sigh. “Something in me just doesn’t feel right using Adrien like that. If I use him to boost my popularity, then I’m no better than Chloe.”

Alya sobered, shifting her weight. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it that way.”

“Like you said, it’ll take time to build up an audience. I’ll just keep working,” Marinette said.

“Aww, girl.” Alya sat beside her, pulling her in for a hug. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll promote you on the Ladyblog, help you do research, and I’ll even help you craft posts that are sure to get attention.”

Marinette squeezed her shoulders. “Thanks, Alya. You’re the best.”            

***

Adrien stared up at his ceiling that evening, twisting back and forth in his computer chair. Marinette’s pink blog glowed on the screen, a picture of a stylish jacket with a cute message in the caption pulled up. Of course, he wanted to help, but his father was strict about that sort of stuff. The last thing he wanted was to invoke his father’s wrath upon Marinette and get her blog shut down. Her designs were really good, and they deserved to be seen by everyone.

“You’re looking more glum than usual. Did you eat some bad cheese at dinner?” Plagg floated down, cradling a wedge of Camembert.

“No.” Adrien rolled his eyes. “It’s Marinette. Did she seem sad earlier today when she left? I’m worried she’s disappointed I didn’t help with her blog.”

“Maybe she’d get more traffic if she put out a cheese-themed line,” Plagg said.

“Somehow I doubt that.” Adrien smirked, scratching between his kwami’s ears.

Plagg shoved his cheese down his gullet and crossed his arms over his chest. “If only us kwamis could be photographed. One shot of my handsome physique, and the followers would come pouring in.”

“Plagg, you’re a genius!” Adrien shot up.

“I am?”

“Adrien may not be able to help Marinette out, but there’s an even bigger celebrity who can.” He grinned.

Plagg slumped over with a sigh. “Why do I feel like I’m going to be involved in this plan?”

“Plagg! Transform me!”

***

Marinette adjusted her newest hat on the mannequin head, trying to salvage the last bit of natural daylight peeking over Notre Dame for a quick photoshoot, but none of her photos were coming out right. With a frustrated sigh, she deleted another failed attempt and shifted the mannequin again.

“Good evening, Marinette!”

She jumped, nearly knocking the hat over the edge of her balcony. Securing it back in place, she turned to meet two mischievous cat eyes perched on the chimney. Her spine stiffened, but there were no obvious signs of screaming or distress.

“Chat Noir? Is there an akuma nearby?” she asked.

“No.” He hopped down to her balcony railing, balancing perfectly on his hands and feet like a real cat.

“Oh.” Marinette relaxed. “So, what are you doing here then?”

“I was just stretching my legs when I saw you out here. I wanted to come over and compliment you on your new blog. I really like it,” he said.

Chat Noir followed her blog? She didn’t know whether to be flattered or mortified that he paid attention to her civilian side. What if she let something slip that gave away her identity? Argh! Why couldn’t he just ignore her?

“Wow! The hero of Paris follows my blog? I’m so honored!” Marinette cupped her hands to her face with a gasp. Ugh, he was never going to let her live this down if he ever found out who she was.

Chat Noir grinned, no doubt soaking up every bit of her excitement. Boys and their egos. He’d probably brag about all the ladies fawning over him on their next patrol in an attempt to make Ladybug jealous.

“You’re really talented, Marinette, but I think your blog might get more traffic if you have a live model,” he said.

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she grumbled.

“What was that?”

“Uhh, I said I’d love to have a live model, but I don’t really know anyone who could.” She shifted her weight. “All of my friends are busy, and the one friend that’s really good at it is… unavailable.”

“Well, if you want, I could model for you. I’m sure having one of Paris’s superheroes wearing your stuff would attract a lot of attention,” Chat Noir said.

She cupped a hand over her mouth to catch her laugh. Undeterred, he picked up her hat and rested it on his head, striking a pose. His eyes hooded into a picture-perfect model pout to rival even Adrien.

Marinette’s eyebrows raised. “Wait, you’re for real?”

“Yeah, I’ve got time. Besides, we’re friends, so I’m happy to help.” He pointed to her phone. “Take them from this angle — it’s my good side — and it will capture the light without washing out the colors on the hat.”

Marinette blinked, biting back a smile when Chat struck another pose. He was surprisingly knowledgeable about photography, and even more surprisingly, an excellent model. She’d always known Chat Noir to be dramatic, but she never would have guessed he could use that to his advantage. What did he do in his normal life?

Ugh, no! She couldn’t think about that. His civilian identity was his business, and she definitely didn’t need to speculate. Speculating would lead to theorizing, which would lead to looking for evidence, which would lead to her finding out who he really was. It was out of the question! Still, he did take good photos. Maybe dealing with press as a superhero taught him a thing or two — it certainly taught her a lot.

“That should be good, don’t you think?” He plopped the hat on her head with a wink. “If this works out well for you, I’d be happy to come back and be your meowdle any time.”

“Thank you so much, Chat Noir! You’re the best.” She threw her arms around his neck. It was mostly for show, but she did appreciate his help. Her kitty could be really sweet when he wanted to be.

“Any time, Marinette.” He retrieved his staff from his belt. “I’ll keep an eye on your blog for those photos.”

Marinette waved as he vaulted off, shaking her head the moment he disappeared over the rooftops. What was that crazy cat thinking? Even still, his photos were way better than any of the ones she took earlier. Plus, he did volunteer to help…

Why not? She’d upload them and hope for the best. Chat Noir was extremely popular on the internet between the catsuit and his boyish charm. His help could be the break she needed to get her designs out into the world.

#miraculous ladybug #marichat #marinette dupain-cheng #chat noir #mlbigbang2022 #my writing #fashion faux paw

[typical-simplelove]

On Your Right (M. Tkachuk)

Author's Note: The longest one-shot I have ever written is for @raysofcrosby for @antoineroussel's Summer Fic Exchange; this is my first exchange, so hopefully, I did well. Thanks to Demi for organizing this! I truly had a blast working on this. I hope you enjoy this!! I used inspo from To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Bridgerton for this. Enjoy reading!

Summary: When you and Matthew both find yourself needing dates to individual events, Matthew proposes a plan where you both fake date. He suggests that he, who's been in love with you since the age of ten, and you, who is convinced Matthew hates you, date. What could possibly go wrong?

Word Count: 21.4k

Warnings: the time may not coincide with the way time works, but ignore that; hatred; friends hating each other; Matthew being an ass; fake dating; mentions of sex (nothing explicit or too NSFW, though); planes; only one bed

Sitting on the patio chair of the Tkachuk's deck was exactly how you expected to spend a Sunday afternoon in the early weeks of summer vacation. For the past ten years, it's the exact way you've always spent your Sunday afternoons in the summer. It was always the same. Your mother and Chantal would be in the kitchen with the air conditioning, and your dad and Keith would be at the grill making dinner. What they would make would change, but it would usually be somewhere between burgers and hotdogs to chicken or salmon. It was always a surprise. They'd never tell the kids not wanting any complaining. You always sat in a chair with Taryn on your left and with Matthew on your right. Across from you sat your brother and Brady next to him. Keith always sat at one head and Chantal at the other. Your dad sat in the seat next to Keith, and your mother sat next to Chantal. You would always drink lemonade, and your brother would drink iced tea. You never got to drink that at home, so you and your brother would make sure to share your cups. Sometimes, Matthew would drink a pop of his choice and share it with you. If it rained, the Tkachuks would go to your home, and the seating situation was the same around your dining room table.

Chantal and your mother would insist that you kids couldn't play inside at these Sunday afternoon dinners. Sometimes, your brother and the boys would play soccer and maybe let you and Taryn join. Oftentimes, though, you and Taryn would hang out together. Sometimes, Matthew would play with you and Taryn, and you'd all play family. You and Matthew would be married parents, and Taryn would be your daughter. If your brother and Brady chose to join, Taryn would be the aunt, and Brady and your brother would be the children. Taryn always joked that life should always end up that way -- you and Matthew married with Taryn as the aunt to your children. When she'd bring up the topic, your mother and Chantal would always give each other a knowing look as if they knew something you both didn't. Your dad wouldn't say anything, but Keith would pat his shoulder, again, as if they knew something you didn't. Brady and your brother would gag and tease Matthew. You and Matthew never said anything; you both were close friends, some would argue best friends, but it didn't matter. You knew that Matthew would be someone who would always be in your life. In your life, ages 5-10, you didn't understand the notion of marriage. All you knew was that you wanted Matthew to be in your life, and if it was marriage, then so be it.

Despite expecting to be sitting on that patio chair, you never expected you'd be watching Taryn, Brady, Matthew, and your brother playing while you sat there by yourself. It wasn't that they weren't including you, but they also weren't not not including you. They all decided to play your least favorite game, and you didn't want to, so you decided to sit and watch. There's more to it, though. The school year ended just the previous week, and you and Matthew graduated from elementary school and would be going to middle school. Somewhere within the past few weeks. Matthew went from being one of your closest friends to hating you. He just suddenly decided he didn't like you. You weren't sure why, but he just stopped being your friend. You told your mother you were sick so as not to have to come to the Tkachuk's today, but she said no. She saw right through your lie. You didn't know why Matthew didn't want to be your friend anymore, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. No longer were the days where you and Matthew would pretend to be a married couple. No more were the days where Matthew would share his pop with you. No more were the days where Matthew was your closest friend.

When Chantal called for dinner, you ran to the washroom to wash your hands and sat back in your usual spot. Despite knowing Matthew's recent emotions towards you, you hoped he'd still sit next to you. You watched as Taryn returned from washing her hands and began to apologize for not playing a game you liked. You told her it was okay, it was, and watched your brother take his seat across from you, as normal. You watched Brady put the toys away and go to the washroom to wash his hands. You watched as Keith and your father put the grilled chicken on the table, and Chantal and your mother set the sides on the table. Finally, Matthew emerged from the house, but what he did next confused you. He sat in Brady's usual seat.

"What are you doing, Matthew?" Brady asks when he sees where his brother is sitting. Matthew glares at you and shrugs.

"I just want to sit next here, today," Matthew says with anger in his voice. You weren't sure why he was suddenly so angry, but the look he had as he stared at you sent chills down your spine. That's when you knew. That's when you knew that Matthew hated you. He doesn't like you anymore, and you doubted he ever would You didn’t know it, then, but you now know that when Matthew opted to sit in a different seat and treat you with anger, he broke your heart.

Matthew Tkachuk broke your heart at the age of ten.

. . .

With Matthew out of the picture as a friend, you found yourself growing closer to your other friends. One friend, in particular, became your closest friend, Shelly. You and Shelly became the best of friends and stuck together through middle school, high school, and college. It was Shelly who convinced you that it would be a good idea to move to Calgary despite your hated family friend living there.

"Shelly, I don't think so," you tell her. "Actually, I know so."

"Come on, Ynn," Shelly eggs on. "Do it for me? I'm getting married! Please, can you bring a date? Actually, it's a must thing. I'm telling you that you have to bring a date. That's the only thing I need from you."

"So, the only thing I need to do as your maid of honor is to bring a date?"

"I mean, no? But, the wedding is in two months, and most of the stuff I've needed you to do has been done. Just this one thing, okay? I think you'll enjoy it much better if you have someone to hang out with. Who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with him and marry him, and I can be your maid of honor."

"Fine," you grumble. "But, only because I love you."

You hang up the phone and groan. How were you supposed to find a date? You had a few work friends in Calgary, but you found it difficult to find a date. The one thing that annoyed you the most was that you had two months to find someone you liked and trusted enough to bring to St. Louis for a wedding. What were you going to do?

Now, a month later, you were standing outside one certain door you never thought you would with a plate of cookies, their favorite cookies, and angry that this was your last resort. You knock on the door of the apartment and await the smirk and comment you were bound to get.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my biggest admirer, Yn Yln," Matthew says with his signature smirk. Yup, you guessed it.

"Matthew," you grumble and walk into his apartment as he welcomes you inside. "Here are some cookies."

Matthew takes the plate from you, opens it up, and bites into a cookie. "Thank you," he says with a mouthful of cookies. You grimace at the sight and remind yourself about the task at hand. "You know, when you called me, I forgot you were in Calgary. Why haven't you ever called me before to hang out?"

"You're serious?"

"Very."

"Maybe the small fact that we've hated each other since we were like ten? Or, how about that time you spilled water down my dress at our joint eighth-grade graduation party? Or, how about that time you spilled Gatorade on my English project? Or, how about that time you told everyone we were dating when you clearly know WE WEREN'T. Or, how about that time you took my car keys and hid them at the bottom of your hockey bag in the men's locker room? Would you like me to continue? I can keep going as far as you need."

"No, no, I get the point. No need to remind me," Matthew tells you. He internally cringes at his actions growing up, but he has too much pride to apologize. "Anyways, that was when we were growing up and in high school. I haven't treated you like that in ages."

Matthew knows he shouldn't have said that immediately when he sees the glare you give him. "I have a list if you'd like for me to list it out?"

"Okay, fine, message understood. You hate me, and I hate you because of it. What do you need? You called me pretty frantically."

You narrow your eyes at Matthew. "Firstly, I did not call you frantically. I called you asking if I could ask for a favor. Secondly, I only hate you because you hate me. Third, I need your help with something."

"Okay, firstly, yes you did. Second, maybe that's right. Third, just tell me."

"Can you set me up with a teammate or a friend of yours for me to take to Shelly's wedding?" you blurt out in one breath.

"What?" Matthew laughs breathlessly, not sure if he heard you right.

"I need a date for Shelly's wedding, and I need you to set me up with someone you trust, please."

"You don't have a boyfriend?"

"No," you grumble out, and Matthew laughs at you. "It's not like you have a girlfriend or anything."

"Wow, look at you. Firing shots, huh?"

"Matthew, can you or can you not set me up with someone you know and trust?"

"Sure, I'll see who I can find."

"Great, thank you," you say and make your way to leave.

"Where are you going?" Matthew asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Home?"

"You just came here to ask me that and leave?"

"It's not like we're friends or anything," you say blatantly. Matthew is shocked by your words and takes a visible step back. He isn't sure why your words shocked him so much because he knows you're both not friends. He knows for a fact you're both not friends but hearing you actually say it after all these years is shocking to him.

"Right, not friends. You can leave then. You can take your cookies back."

"No, no, I made them for you. I know they're your favorite. Thanks, again, Matthew."

"Sure, sure," he says as you walk out the door. He locks the door behind you and is instantly confused why he hates that you're both not friends. He knows you’re not friends. Both his and your actions over the past years have proven it, but he thought — he actually doesn't know what he thought. As the season came to an end, Matthew had another task at hand — finding someone for you to take as a date even though he knows no one he knows is good enough for you.

. . .

Matthew was sitting at the bar with his teammates sizing them all up wondering which one would be good enough for you to have as a date. There was Noah; Matthew guesses he could be okay with you with him, but Matthew knows you could do better. There was Jacob, and Matthew knew he'd treat you well. Maybe he should ask Jacob if he'd join you as a date.

"Matthew, why do you keep staring at us?" Noah asks.

"I have someone I know who needs help finding a date for a wedding this summer," Matthew explains. "This person I know asked if I could set them up with someone I know and trust."

"Do you need a guy? If so, then go with Jacob. He'll treat your friend, right," Elias says.

"Yn's not my friend," Matthew is quick to say.

"Is she someone you’re more than friends with?" Noah asks with a smirk on his face.

"No, absolutely not," Matthew says as he vehemently shakes his head. "No, we've hated each other since we were like ten."

"Why are you helping her, then?"

Matthew just stares at Noah. Why was he helping you? You both weren’t friends, as you made abundantly clear the other day. Matthew didn’t know why he was helping you. You were a long-time family friend and by far one of the most amazing people he’s ever met. But, that didn’t answer the question as to why he was helping you. You were someone amazing, yet Matthew still can’t seem to pinpoint why he was helping you. Matthew knows that if he doesn’t help you Chantal would have his head. Maybe, just maybe, it was the small, no large, crush he’s harbored for you since you were both ten. Maybe, just maybe, he truly, deep down cared about who you dated if it couldn’t be him. “I’m not sure,” Matthew deflects knowing fully why he was helping you.

“Maybe you should strike her a deal,” Mark mentions. “You find her a date for the wedding, and she finds you a date for the End-of-Year Charity Gala.”

Matthew perks his head up towards his captain. He forgot about the Gala.

“Oh no, Matthew has a smirk on his face. What’s your idea?” Noah says suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Matthew says, not losing his smirk. He has one splendid idea that he is sure to solve both your dating issues.

. . .

Matthew: I have a date for you. He’ll come over tomorrow at 5 pm with flowers, okay?

Yn: Okay, sounds good! I can’t wait to meet him.

Matthew: You’ll love him.

Matthew knows you won’t. Based on what his plan was, he knew you wouldn’t like it. He only hoped you wouldn’t slap him across the face.

. . .

The day after Matthew texted you and said when your date would show up, you were nervous. Incredibly nervous. You hoped that, for once, Matthew wouldn’t be an ass and set you up with someone nice. You were pacing around your kitchen and 4:58 pm when the doorbell rang. You stood up straight and took a deep breath. You could do this. You weren’t going to actually date the guy; you were just going to ask him to accompany you to a wedding back home and that was it. You walked over to the door and took a deep breath before opening the door.

“Matthew?” you ask in disbelief as you lock eyes with Matthew’s striking blue eyes. You give him a once-over and notice he’s wearing a white shirt, a tight shirt that fits him way too well, and black dress pants. What was with the fancy wear? You meet his eyes again, and you’re met with his eyes full of love, happiness, and worry as they stare deep into your eyes. You’ve yet to ever see this mix of emotion in Matthew’s eyes when he looks at you, and it sends a shiver down your spine. You and Matthew continue staring deeply into each other’s eyes, both not wanting to break the trance you’ve found yourself in.

“Hey, Yn,” Matthew finally says, realizing who he was looking at. He hands you the bouquet of your favorite flowers. “These are for you.”

“Oh, um, come in,” you say and usher him inside. You hate him, Yn. Stop with these emotions, you keep telling yourself. Why did he suddenly have this effect on you? Matthew walks into your apartment, takes his shoes off, and sits on a chair at your counter. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m your date,” Matthew says nervously, but you still see the love lining his eyes as you speak. You haven’t seen that look directed to you in a while.

“No, absolutely not. We hate each other, remember? Why would I suddenly bring you as a date?”

“Look, before you go crazy, just listen to what I have to say, okay?” Matthew asks softly. You nod and turn away to put the flowers in a vase. You make sure your back is to Matthew because you don’t want him to see how flustered you are by his soft tone towards you.

After placing the flowers in a vase and placing it on the coffee table, you say, “Okay, Matthew, what do you have to say?”

“You know how at the end of the season, the Flames have an End-of-Year Charity Gala?” you shake your head no, and Matthew chuckles softly, and your faith grows warm. “Well, we have one, and I need to bring a date.”

“Okay?”

“So, what if we pretend to date? Like, you come with me to the gala, and I go with you to Shelly’s wedding,” Matthew proposes nervously.

“Why would you want that, Matthew? You hate me.”

“I don’t — I couldn’t ha— you know what? It doesn’t matter. Look, you need a date, and I need a date, so why don’t we just go together and solve both our problems?”

“Matthew, I don’t know.”

“Yn, come on. What’s stopping you?”

“You hate me, Matthew,” you tell him softly, not meeting Matthew’s eyes.

Matthew sighs. He could never hate you. He never really hated you; he just had to pretend to hate you because of how he felt. When Matthew was ten, he realized that he had a crush on you. He realized he like liked you, and he didn’t know what to do about it, so he just ignored you and was mean to you. Unfortunately, over the years, Matthew couldn’t let go of those feelings, and he fell more and more for you as he watched you grow into the beautiful person you are now. Seeing you walk into this apartment with the cookies the other day, Matthew realized that he was still hopelessly in love with you. At first, Matthew thought that he could find a date for you. He could find someone who was perfect for you because everyone knows that he could never be it for you, but, as he began going through his list of friends, he realized that even they weren’t good enough for you. Matthew knew you’d never feel the same way about him, but if Matthew can have you as a fake girlfriend, then that’s what he’ll have, then. “We both don’t want to find a date for our events, so why don’t we just pretend to date, then?”

You look at Matthew and see the sincerity in his eyes. You see the longing and want for you to say yes. You’ve always loved looking into Matthew’s eyes and seeing the emotion in them. You’ve never seen this kind of emotion directed towards you. You see the longing and sadness and wishing for you to say yes; however, you also see love? You couldn’t possibly be seeing that in his eyes. Could you? “Okay,” you whisper, suddenly being overwhelmed with what you saw laced in Matthew’s eyes and facial expressions.

“Okay?” Matthew asks, confirming because he was in disbelief.

“Yeah, okay. We can fake date.”

Matthew rushes over to you and wraps you in a giant hug. “Thank you,” he whispers as he holds you tightly.

“Of course, Matthew. You had a good idea that helped us both.”

Matthew leaves shortly after with a fake girlfriend and a wide smile on his face. He only hoped that he wouldn’t fall harder for you now that he’s finally somehow got you.

. . .

Matthew came over two weeks later, one day before the Flames’ last game, to sort out the terms of your and Matthew’s fake dating ruse. You weren’t sure why you agreed to this. No one back home would believe that you and Matthew were dating. You both have hated each other for as long as you can remember. Everyone would be shocked that you and Matthew can possibly stand to be in the same room together. The fact that you moved to the same city was also a giant shock to everyone. Not a single person would believe it, but why did your heart suddenly race when you thought of you and Matthew fake dating? Why did your pulse quicken at the thought of being on Matthew’s arm at the Gala? Why did you enjoy the cheeky messages Matthew has been sending you and telling you that he was trying to “fill the role perfectly”? Why did your heart hurt when you realized it was all fake?

“I brought some takeout, is that good?” Matthew asks as he steps into your apartment. In his hands, he has a bag of food from your favorite restaurant in Calgary and another bouquet. You take the bag of food and the flowers from his hand, and Matthew goes into your cupboards to find some plates. The domesticity of the situation made your heart lurch through your chest, but you still weren’t sure why.

“That’s perfect, thanks, Matthew,” you tell him with a smile as Matthew sets the plates down on the counter. You place the flowers in another vase and put them next to the flowers Matthew brought previously that were probably ready to be tossed. “You don’t have to buy me flowers every time you come by.”

“Firstly, it’s been like two times, and secondly, let me treat you, okay? I am your boyfriend, after all, so I might as treat you as you deserve to be treated,” Matthew tells you as if he was preaching fact. He talked to you as if he didn’t hate you your entire life and only just started liking you.

“Fake boyfriend,” you correct. You want to make sure that the parameters of your relationship are clearly defined.

“You tell that to Shelly? That you and I are fake dating?” Matthew asks with a smirk.

“I told her I had a date, and I was going to tell her it was you, but she told me to surprise her on her wedding day. I’m convinced she thinks I don’t have a date,” you tell Matthew and take a bite of food. You moan in delight, and Matthew grins knowing he picked the perfect meal for you. “How did you know this was my favorite?”

Matthew shrugs, but a playful smile is a dead giveaway that he has an explanation. “I guess I just know you really well.”

“That’s ridiculous, Matthew. You do not know me at all. I’ve changed since you stopped being my friend when we were ten.”

“Hey! I did not stop being your friend. You stopped being my friend,” Matthew feigns hurt even though he knows your words are right.

“Matthew, I stopped being your friend because you stopped being friends with me.”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Matthew mumbles and opting to look down at his plate instead of at you where he’d much rather be looking.

“You stopped being my friend after we graduated from elementary school. I remember that the third Sunday dinner we had that summer was the first time you stopped sitting next to me, and I knew that you were officially not my friend anymore.”

“You sure that’s what happened, Yn? Are you sure that it wasn’t you who stopped being my friend?”

“I always sat in the same middle seat, Matthew. You opted to sit in Brady’s seat instead.”

“Fine, whatever. Agree to disagree?”

“Sure, sure, even though I’m right.”

Matthew laughs at your words and shakes his head. “How we were ever friends baffles me because we are both so stubborn.”

“That we are,” you agree, and a comfortable silence fills your kitchen as you and Matthew continue to eat.

“You know,” Matthew says breaking the silence, “I do know you better than you think.”

“As do I,” you tell him not meeting his eye. You always were quite observant of Matthew despite you two not being friends anymore. There was something about him that made you want to look at him. No, it probably wasn’t because of how gorgeous he was.

“Okay, you tell me something about myself, then.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know, Yn; you just say something.”

“But I want you to tell me what you want me to say,” you tease.

“I’m starting to think you don’t know anything about me,” Matthew gives you his signature smirk.

“I’m starting to think the same about you.”

Matthew sighs and shakes his head. “How about we talk about our situation instead?”

“Our ruse?” you tease and quirk your eyebrows.

“Sure, our ruse,” Matthew says, not sure why you had that look on your face. “What is our story? We could just say we hooked up and realized that we liked each other.”

“As much as that story is believable, I don’t think that Shelly will believe that. Why don’t we go with something else? How about: I was lonely in the city and needed someone familiar, so I called you, and the rest just fell together.”

“I don’t think they’ll believe that,” Matthew says. As much as he loves and thinks it’s a good story, he’d very much rather have a bit more romantic and loving story, so Matthew can have the fake relationship he’d always wanted with you.

“Oh, come on, Matthew, it’s perfect!” you pout, and Matthew knows he’s going to bend for you because it’s you. He always bent to your will regardless of whether or not you knew it.

“Fine, we’ll use your story. How long have we been dating?”

“Why don’t we just keep it vague to minimize any questions? Should we say a few months now? Anything longer will be suspicious, and anything shorter would be weird. The most we can say is three to three and a half months because when I talked to Shelly about two months ago, she was under the impression I wasn’t seeing anyone.”

“Okay, fair. You know,” Matthew says with a smirk, “the fact that you’re able to throw together the perfect fake-dating story makes me think that you’ve done this before.”

You burst out laughing. “You seriously think that? I thought you knew me.”

“I do know you.”

“Then you’d know I’m a hopeless romantic, and the amount of times I’ve read fake dating romance novels is unbelievable. The only thing, though, is that our story won’t end up with us dating but with us maybe being friends.”

“Right,” Matthew says, and he looks down at his plate sadly realizing you truly didn’t feel the same way.

“I’m sorry, did I say anything wrong?” you apologize. You weren’t sure why Matthew suddenly got upset, but you thought it couldn’t have possibly been your words. How could it? You and Matthew have hated each other for years. It’d be ridiculous to think that this ruse would end in an actual relationship.

“No, not at all. Don’t worry,” Matthew sends you a soft smile, and your stomach does somersaults. “What about physical stuff?”

You glare at Matthew trying to figure out exactly what he was asking for in this fake relationship. “Explain because if you’re trying to sleep with me, it’s not happening.”

“No, Yn, of course not! That’s not what I meant!” Matthew replies shocked that you’d even bring up the notion. “No, I meant like holding hands, my arms wrapped around you, kissing and stuff like that. Things that couples do, you know?”

“Oh, yeah, um, I guess we could hold hands and touch each other to keep up the facade, but only in public.”

Matthew nods. “Only in public.”

You make moves to clear the table, but Matthew stops you and clears the table for you. “Sit, I’ll take care of it.”

“Matthew —” you begin.

“Nope, my fake girlfriend doesn’t need to clear her table, so sit down.”

“Maybe you should be my fake-boyfriend forever if you’re going to be clearing my table and stuff like this.”

“I mean if you’d like,” Matthew smirks and sends you a wink. He continues cleaning up by placing the dishes in the dishwasher and placing the leftovers in a Tupperware container and inside the fridge. You’re watching him concentrate on the task at hand, and suddenly, you’re drawn to his lips. You were drawn to the way he bit his lip in concentration and licked the bottom lip now and then. You watched the way he’d stop biting his lips and realize that you want to be the one to bite his lip. You wanted to kiss Matthew.

“Hey, um, Matthew?” you begin hesitantly.

“Mmm,” he replies looking up.

“Should we, um, kiss?” your eyes don’t meet Matthew’s, and you’re intent on staring at the tiles on the floor of your kitchen instead.

“I mean, sure, when we’re out in public. It’d be weird if we didn’t, right?”

“Right,” you nod knowingly and happy that Matthew didn’t realize the true meaning of your request. You look up and notice him watching you curiously. The sparkle in his eyes makes your face warm under his gaze, and you know that he’s figured out what you were truly thinking.

“Or,” he begins with a smirk, “we could practice now, so we know what to do when we kiss in front of people.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” you whisper, barely audible.

Matthew, being the pest he is, smirks at your words and asks you to repeat them. “I couldn’t hear you, baby. I need you to repeat it.”

“I think that we should practice kissing,” you say again, slightly louder, but Matthew’s shit-eating grin tells you that you’re going to have to repeat yourself.

“Come on, baby, I need to hear you loud and clear,” he walks over to you, and you shift in your seat to face him. You stand up, so you’re level with him (as much as you can be considering his height), and Matthew puts his hands on your waist. “This okay?” he asks, and you nod, but when he raises his eyebrows, you know you have to give him audible consent.

“Yes, Matthew, and I think that you should kiss me,” you tell him loud and clear. Matthew’s grin widens, and he dips his head towards yours. You put your hands around his neck, and he pulls you closer to him.

“This okay?” he asks with concern lacing his features. He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries with you.

“More than okay,” you reply and lean towards him. Matthew dips his head towards yours and places his lips softly on yours. He planned on pulling back and that being the end of the kiss, but his instincts and strong desire to kiss you stopped him. Matthew’s hands leave your waist and cup your face. He holds you forcefully but also gently. You both deepen the kiss, and your mouth separates as Matthew works his mouth against yours. Your tongue swipes against his bottom lip begging to meet his. Matthew puts his hands back on your waist and pulls you close and flush against his body. There’s no space between the two of you, not a single inch of air. You both pull away after the kiss crossed the line between what your relationship truly was. You both pull away but your heads are still close to each other. You’re looking into Matthew’s blue eyes that are laced with longing and desire. You watch Matthew’s eyes glance down to your lips as you long for his lips to be on yours again.

“We have the practice, now,” Matthew says in a deep voice, almost huskily.

“That we do,” you reply softly.

“I didn’t hurt you, right?”

“Absolutely not, Matthew. I would have slapped you if you stepped out of line,” you tell him, and Matthew’s deep chuckle sends the butterflies erupting in your stomach. You take a step back from Matthew and sit back in your chair. “Maybe if we kiss in front of people, it shouldn’t be that deep and passionate.”

“Yeah, maybe not,” Matthew tells you. He loved kissing you. Now that he’s kissed you, he doesn’t want to kiss anyone else. He wants to keep kissing you for as long as you would possibly let him. “Oh, that reminds me.”

“Mmhm?”

“I may or may not have let the cat slip out of the bag that I had a girlfriend, and now the team is expecting you to be at the last game tomorrow and our celebration.”

“Matthew!”

“I know, I know, I wasn’t supposed to. I didn’t mean to, it just slipped out!”

“How does it just slip out?”

“Some people asked if I had a date for the Gala, and I said I was bringing my girlfriend.”

“So, I have to go to the game tomorrow?”

“Please?” Matthew pouts. “I’ll owe you big time.”

“You already owe me big time,” you point out.

“Fine, just come to the game tomorrow? You don’t have to wear my jersey or anything, just come?”

“I’ll be there, and if you give me a jersey, I’ll wear it, okay? Or, I can just wear Brady’s.”

“No, never. Wait, why do you have Brady’s jersey and not mine?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Sure, I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow?” Matthew asks as he walks over to the door. You walk with him and unlock the door.

“See you tomorrow, fake boyfriend,” you tell him and place a kiss on his cheek.

“Tomorrow, fake girlfriend,” Matthew says and walks out the door. When the door is closed, he places his hands on his cheek where you kissed him. He touches his lips softly remembering how you kissed him just recently. Just remembering your mouth being anywhere near his face made him melt. Matthew was digging himself into a hole he only hoped he’d be able to escape from.

. . .

You walked up to the Friends & Family box still trying to recover from Matthew kissing you barely twenty-four hours prior. You didn’t have Matthew’s jersey to wear, so you opted for a red shirt with jeans and a leather jacket. You’ve also never met anyone on the team before, so you were scared as to what they would say.

You stepped into the box and were instantly overwhelmed with what you saw. All the other wives and girlfriends and children were mingling around, and you felt out of place. One of the WAGs walked over to you, and said, “You must be Yn, Matthew’s girlfriend.”

You nodded, “Yeah, that would be me.”

“I’m Annica, Elias’s girlfriend. Don’t worry about being nervous or whatever, Matthew is crazy about you, so we’re automatically crazy about you, too! Everyone, this is Yn, Matthew’s girlfriend.”

You stood there as everyone introduced themselves, and you maybe remembered two of those names.

“Matthew left you a jersey because he knew you didn’t have one,” Lauren, Mark’s wife, tells you. She hands you the jersey, and you look at it. Were you supposed to put it on? “You can just put it on over your shirt and leave your jacket on a chair.”

You nod. You put on the jersey and look down at the number on your sleeve. You smiled. You liked the way it looked on you.

Watching the game with the other girls was interesting and exciting. You chatted with the other women and played with the children. It was exhilarating to be in the Saddledome during a game, especially the last of the season. You haven’t been to a game in Calgary despite living there. Every time the Tkachuks came to town, you always told them you couldn’t go to the game. It didn’t feel right, but now that you’ve been to a game, you wanted to keep coming to the games. The Flames ended up coming out on top to celebrate their final game, and the arena was loud and bursting with happiness. You followed behind as everyone walked to outside the locker rooms to wait for the team. You stood awkwardly, not sure what to do. You played with your jacket in your hand just as Matthew walked out. He spotted you instantly, and his heart lurched through his chest as he saw you in his jersey. His eyes widened at seeing his number on your arm, and if possible, he fell more in love with you.

“Hey,” he says as he walks over. You look up and give him a wide smile.

“Hi,” you tell him and pull your fake boyfriend into a large hug as you whisper in his ear, “you played amazing.”

Your words send shivers down Matthew’s spine, and he holds you tightly. “Thank you.”

You both pull away and notice some of Matthew’s teammates and significant others greeting each other with congratulatory kisses. Were you both supposed to kiss? “Should we kiss, Matthew?” you whisper.

“What?” he whispers back, not sure if he heard you properly.

“You heard me, should we kiss? Everyone else is.”

“Do you want me to kiss you?”

“Would it be awkward if we didn’t?”

“I’m going to kiss you, okay?” Matthew doesn’t wait for your response as he hungrily leans down and kisses you. Despite kissing you yesterday, Matthew was waiting earnestly for the day he’d get to kiss you again. It wasn’t as passionate as the night before, but somehow, it was even more intimate despite being in public. You both full away flushed with the kiss, and Matthew’s teammates holler around you both. “Oh, shut up.”

Matthew leads you to his car and holds your hand. “Did you want to come to celebrate with us?” he leans down to whisper in your ear.

“I thought that was part of this,” you tell him.

“Yeah, but not everyone is going out, so if you don’t want to, we can just head to my place.”

“We can go to your place, then.”

“Okay,” Matthew says to you and opens the car door for you. He closes the door and heads towards the driver’s side. When he gets in, he asks, “How did you get here if I’m driving you home?”

“Oh, I walked because I don’t work too far from here,” you explain, and Matthew whips his heat towards you. “What?”

“You walked? Do you not have a car?” he asks as if the notion were beyond him.

“Yeah, it was like ten minutes.”

“If you didn’t have a ride or something, I would have sent someone to pick you up.”

“I walk to work, Matthew.”

“You walk? No, from now on, I will be driving you to work and wherever you need to be.”

You giggle to yourself softly. “I have a car, but I just walk to work because it’s only five minutes.”

“No, I refuse to let you walk to work.”

“Matthew,” you say gently and place your hand on his thigh. “I’m fine, I promise, okay?”

Matthew looks at the soft look in your eyes and the anger he has dissipated. “Okay, but if you ever need a ride somewhere, please just let me know, and I’ll drive you, okay?”

“Okay, but I do have a car, you know,” you tell him, and Matthew starts the car and heads towards his apartment. Why was Matthew so concerned and angry about the fact that you don’t drive to work? You ponder the thought and are so deep in trying to figure it out that you don’t realize that you’ve reached Matthew’s apartment until he tells you so.

“You okay?” Matthew asks as you’re standing in the elevator.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

“Not sure, you seem kind of spaced out.”

“Oh, no, I’m okay.”

“Promise?” Matthew asks.

“Promise,” you reply with a smile.

You and Matthew walk into his apartment, and your breath is taken away by the view of Matthew’s apartment. You take your shoes off and just stand there staring. You drop your purse and bag on the floor and walk over to the window in a trance.

“Yn, you good?” Matthew asks, confused about your actions.

“It’s just so pretty, Matthew,” you say and reach for your phone in your back pocket and take a photo. Matthew can’t help but smile at your actions. Sure, the view was pretty to him, but he saw it each day, so it wasn’t as special to him. Watching you take in the view, though, gave Matthew a new insight into how pretty the view truly was. Maybe, just maybe, Matthew was staring at you, looking beautiful with the dim lighting of his living room and wearing his jersey, instead of the view, but it didn’t matter. It was beautiful, and if he was talking about you? Then, so be it!

“I’m just going to get changed real quick, okay?” Matthew asks. He didn’t want to leave you standing there alone, but he knows he won’t be comfortable in his suit. “I can stay if you want.”

You giggle to yourself. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

“Yeah, I know, but —”

“Go,” you push Matthew in the direction of his room. “I’ll be fine.” Matthew looks behind him once more to you; you give him a pointed look, and Matthew walks to his room to change.

You settle yourself on the couch and sit there staring at the TV stand. On it are sitting picture frames with photos of Matthew’s family and friends. One photo, in particular, stands out to you. You get up and walk to the photo and smile at it. You pick it up and stare at it. It was a photo of Brady, Taryn, Matthew, your brother, and you. You don’t remember the photo being taken but it was around when you were six or seven. You were sitting at the table in Tkachuk's backyard before dinner. Matthew was sitting on your right, as he should, and with Taryn on your left.

“Find anything interesting?” Matthew asks as he walks out. He walks over to you and rests an arm around your shoulder.

“I’m surprised you have a photo of me sitting here,” you tell him and look at him.

“Why?” Matthew furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“I just, I don’t know.”

Matthew walks over to the couch and sits. You place the photo back on the stand and join him. You sit next to him on your right, and Matthew, again, rests an arm around your shoulder. “I have photos of the important people in my life.”

Matthew turns on the TV and begins flipping through Netflix. He selects one of your favorite movies, and you’re surprised he knows it, but then again, Matthew seems to know more about you than you realized.

As the movie continues, you and Matthew move closer and closer together to the point where you’re cuddled into him and your head moves in sync with Matthew’s breathing. The warmth that Matthew’s body exudes and the pattern of his breaths put you to sleep. When Matthew notices you’ve fallen asleep, he doesn’t want to wake you, so he tightens his hold on you and grabs the blanket that was sitting over the couch (he silently thanks his mom for making him put it there), and he places it on you. He softly kisses your forehead with a soft, ”goodnight, Yn.”

. . .

The next morning, after you’ve woken up, eaten breakfast that Matthew made for you, and left for the day, Matthew was on his way to the Saddledome for the exit interviews of the season. It didn’t end the way the team wanted, but they fought tooth and nail until the last game, and they should be proud of that.

As Matthew walks into the locker room, he has a soft smile on his face of pure bliss.

“So, what did you and Yn do last night?” Noah teases when he sees his teammate. “You’re never one to turn down a night out.”

“I didn’t go out because Yn didn’t want to. I think she was overwhelmed with meeting everyone, and I just wanted her to be comfortable.”

“Wow, Matthew, look at you maturing for the better,” Mark teases. He was waiting for the day that Matthew would meet a girl and act this way for her.

“Whatever,” Matthew rolls his eyes.

“Matthew’s in looooove,” someone teases and everyone else laughs in response. Matthew, again, just rolls his eyes in response. He had no other response.

Matthew only wishes that the person he was in love with was him, too.

. . .

You’re standing outside Matthew’s apartment door with your dress in your hand with a bag of the things you needed to get ready over your shoulder. You took a deep breath. You weren’t sure why you were so nervous, but you were. You were about to ring the doorbell, but Matthew opened the door first.

“How did you know I was here?” you ask as you walk into his apartment.

“I mean, I had to buzz you into the building, so I was waiting for you,” Matthew says as if it were obvious.

“Oh.”

“You can shower first. I probably take less time than you to get ready, so you can shower first.”

You nod. “Okay, can I hang up my dress in your closet?”

“Yeah, of course. What color is it? I probably should have asked before, so that we could match.”

You smile. “It’s a lavender color. I doubt you own anything lavender.”

“My mom bought me a lavender dress shirt for Christmas, so, yes, I do own something lavender.”

You giggle to yourself softly and head into his bedroom to hand up your dress. You walk into his washroom and set your things there. “Thank you, Matthew.”

“No need to thank me,” he tells you. “I left you towels and stuff. Just let me know when I can shower, okay?”

You nod. You’re not sure why you’re suddenly at a loss for words. What was it with Matthew?

After you showered, Matthew told you that, if you were comfortable, you could use the washroom as he showered. You told him it was fine and began styling your hair just as Matthew was showering. You were halfway done when you heard Matthew turn off the water. You watch him from the corner of your eye as he grabs the towel from behind the shower curtain. You try to calm your breathing as you watch Matthew step out of the shower with the towel wrapped low on his hips and his broad shoulders and chest lined with water droplets. He stands next to you and begins to moisturize his face. You feel your face warm as you stand next to him.

Matthew walks out of the washroom, but he stops at the door and turns to you. “I’ll get ready in my bedroom, and you can get ready here. Just let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll let you change in the bedroom.”

“Thanks, Matthew.”

“Sure,” he says and takes one step out of the washroom before stopping again. “Hey, yn?”

“Yes?” you turn to him.

“Your hair looks really pretty.”

“I haven’t finished, yet,” you point out.

“Fine, but I know for a fact that you’re going to look so incredibly beautiful.”

. . .

You put on your shoes and look at yourself once more in the mirror. You observe the way you look and take a deep breath. You take your steps out of the bedroom, and Matthew stands when he hears the clack of your heels. Matthew takes a deep breath, getting ready to see how beautiful you will undoubtedly look.

“Hey,” you say and stand in front of Matthew. You smile, and your breath stops when you see Matthew. He’s wearing a lavender shirt that matches your dress with a black tie, jacket, and pants. His clothes fit him perfectly, and it displays his body just the way clothes should.

“Hey,” he replies, and his breath stops, too. You were beautiful. The lavender gown hung on your body perfectly, and it accentuated each and every curve of your body perfectly. The color brought out your eyes, and they shone in the light. The dim light of Matthew’s apartment reflected off the design and details of your dress that Matthew knew he was going to be speechless when the light of the ballroom truly lit you up. “You’re beautiful, Yn. Gorgeous, yn!”

“Thank you,” you say bashfully and walk over to your fake boyfriend. You place your hands on his chest and straighten his tie. “You look amazing, too, Matthew.”

Matthew’s breath is shallow as you run your hands on his chest. His heart is beating through his chest, and he knows that he’s going to have to use all his energy and brainpower not to stare at you the entire night. You stop and rest your hands on his chest. “Ready to go?” you ask.

Matthew audibly swallows at your touch. “Yeah,” he says in a low voice. He takes your hand and leads you towards the door. “Did you want to put your stuff in your car and drive home, or do you want to just stay the night and drive home in the morning?”

“Can I stay the night?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Matthew won’t admit it, but he wanted you to stay the night.

As Matthew drives to the location of the Gala, he continues taking peeks at you. He isn’t sure what he’s done to get someone as beautiful as you as his date, but he’s thanking any and every higher being for blessing him with you.

Throughout the entire night, Matthew has to force himself to leave you for moments every now and then to do his job. It was difficult. He wanted to be right by your side and show the world how lucky he got to be right next to you. You were the star, and Matthew was one of your many admirers. When Matthew wasn’t talking to donors and was right next to you, he found it difficult to speak. When you’d ask a question or make a comment, Matthew would take a few seconds to reply because of you. Your laughter, your smile, and your perfume were intoxicating, and Matthew wasn’t sure how he would make it through the rest of the night.

Annica wanted to grab another drink from the bar, so you went with her. Matthew, reluctantly, removed his hand from the small of your back and watched you lovingly as you went off with Annica. When he lost sight of you, Matthew finally turned his attention back to the group at the table.

“Yeah, you’re definitely not whipped for her and in love with her,” Elias says.

“Matthew not in love, who?” Noah jokes.

“Oh, shut up,” Matthew says. It didn’t matter if he was in love with you because you weren’t in love with him.

“Look, the minute Yn comes back, Matthew is going to put a hand on her, either on her shoulder or on her back, smile down at her, and pull her close to him. I guarantee it,” Jacob says. He was watching the two of you interact the entire night, and he knows that this will happen as it happened every time you and Matthew got separated.

“I see your point, and I raise you with this: he’s going to lean down and kiss Yn on the forehead,” Johnny adds.

“I see both your points, and I raise you with this: Matthew’s going to look at Yn, and she’s going to look at him, and they will both smile widely at each other,” Elias points out.

“Are you guys betting again?” Mark asks as he settles himself at the table as he’s making his rounds.

“Kind of. We’re trying to figure out how Yn and Matthew are going to act when she returns,” Noah explains.

“Oh, drop the subject,” Matthew says, annoyed.

“I’m not sure what has been said, but I guess that Matthew will be so enthralled by his date that everything in the world will fade away,” Mark says, “because that’s what a person in love does.”

“Look, I’m not in love with Yn, okay? Can we just drop the subject before Yn and Annica return?” Matthew replies exasperatedly.

Everyone agrees, but they all know that they will be monitoring your and Matthew’s actions when you return. Just a few moments later, you and Annica are returning to the table with a refill of drinks. You settle in next to Matthew and place a glass of wine down for you and a glass of beer for him.

“You were empty, so I got you a refill,” you tell him.

“Thank you,” he says to you and places a hand on the small of your back where it was before you left. You lean in further to him, and Matthew smiles down at you as you engage in conversation with Mark. Matthew places a soft kiss on your forehead, and you look up and smile at Matthew who smiles back at you. Elias mentions Matthew’s name, but Matthew is too soaked up in your presence to notice. The group is shocked. Every single one of them guessed correctly what Matthew would do when you returned.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” Mark begins, “I’m going to go ask the Mrs. for a dance.”

Elias and Annica leave, too, and head to the dance floor. You stand there awkwardly wondering if you and Matthew should dance. Matthew leans his head towards yours and whispers, “Do you want to dance, Yn?”

You look at Matthew and nod with a smile. Matthew takes your hand and leads you to the dance floor. He takes one hand in his and the other rests on the bare skin of your upper back. You place your other hand not in Matthew’s on his shoulder and move close to him. You both sway to the music that’s playing. As you both continue to dance, Matthew’s hand draws soft patterns on your skin sending electric shocks through your body. As the song comes to an end, the bubble you and Matthew found yourself in slowly pops, and you return to reality. It didn’t matter how special dancing with each other was, you were both not truly dating. You were living a lie, and you knew it would hurt when, one day, the ruse was over. You only hoped that you could salvage your feelings and not hurt your heart too much. You weren’t sure, though, what you were trying to save your heart from.

. . .

“Ready to head home?” Matthew whispers into your ear as you’re talking with some of the WAGs. You nod and say goodbye to the ladies. Matthew wraps his suit jacket around your shoulders as he notices you’re cold and takes your hand in his. “Thank you for being my date.”

You smile. “Thank you for taking me. I had a lot of fun.”

“I had a lot of fun with the beautiful person as my date.”

“Oh, beautiful person? Who may they be?” you tease.

“They’re you, of course. The most beautiful of people.”

“You flatter me, Matthew.”

“You deserve all the compliments in the world, Yn,” Matthew squeezes your hand and opens the car door for you. You smile in gratitude as he closes the door and heads to the driver's side. You smile in happiness at the evening you had. Matthew intertwines his hand with yours as he drives. With the late hour and the comfort of Matthew’s hand, you feel your eyes drift closed. You didn’t mean to fall asleep, but you did.

“Yn? You have to wake up; we’re back at my apartment, now,” Matthew says softly as he strokes your face softly to wake you.

You slowly open your eyes, and your lips quirk up at the sound of Matthew’s soft voice. You nod and move to get out of the car.

“No, no, I’ll get the door for you,” Matthew interrupts. You’re too tired to argue, so you just let Matthew rush out of the car to open the door for you. Matthew leads you back to his apartment and ushers you into his bedroom. “You can sleep here, and I’ll take the guest room.”

“No, Matthew, I’ll take the guest room,” you interject.

“No, Yn. You did me the biggest favor by coming as my date tonight, so you can take my bed.”

“Matthew —” you were going to point out that you were taking him to Shelly’s wedding, but he wasn’t going to change his mind.

“Yn, just take the bed, okay? You can grab a shirt and sweatpants to wear to bed.”

You nod, and Matthew walks out of the room with clothes for himself. He closes the door quietly behind him as he heads to the guest room. His one wish was that he was sleeping in that bed with you instead of you there alone.

. . .

“Yn, come on, we have to go,” Matthew says, standing in your kitchen and waiting for you to be ready to leave.

“Just give me a moment. We’ve got quite a bit of time, still.”

“You know, you’re the one who told me I had to be here at exactly this time, Yn, so you should be ready to go.”

You walk out of your bedroom lugging your suitcase and purse. Matthew rushes over to you and takes your suitcase out of your hand. In the process, Matthew’s hand brushes over yours, and you hear your heartbeat in your ears as the heat rushes to your face. “Let me just make sure that all the windows are closed and that I unplugged everything.”

When you return and are completely ready to go, you lock the door to your apartment and head to Matthew’s car. He opens the trunk to place your suitcase in, and as usual, Matthew opens the car door for you.

“You know, you don’t have to always open the car door for me, right?” you tell him.

“Just doing what any boyfriend would,” Matthew points out. “Fake or not.”

“Right,” you say. It’s been a while since you or he pointed out the fakeness of your relationship, and you almost forgot. Almost. Matthew turns to you and opens his mouth to say something, but he isn’t sure how to put his thoughts into words. How is he supposed to ask if you’re upset that he pointed out that you were both fake dating despite that being the obvious title between you two? You reach to turn on some music to try to ease the awkwardness in the car. You put on Taylor Swift, and Matthew groans in response.

“You know the way Taryn and I were growing up; I can’t believe you’re shocked.”

“I thought you’d show me some mercy, you know as your boyfriend?”

“I show zero mercy.”

. . .

Going through checking in and security was a breeze. You got on the plane fine just, but the nerves immediately hit as the pilot announced that the doors were closing. Your leg begins to bounce up and down, and you begin to fiddle with your fingers. Matthew glances down at you and notices your nerves.

“You’ve been on a plane before, right?” he whispers.

You nod. “Just scary sometimes.”

He nods and places his hand on your thigh causing it to stop bouncing. You feel all your nerves suddenly dissipate. “I’m here, okay? Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” you whisper back. Matthew lifts the armrest between you both and scoots closer to you. He pulls you into his side, so you’re leaning against him. You rest your head on his shoulder, and Matthew takes your hand in his.

“It’s not a long flight. You’ll be okay.”

. . .

“Hey, you have to wake up,” Matthew whispers as he strokes your head softly. Your eyes flutter open. You didn’t realize you fell asleep on Matthew during the flight. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah,” you yawn.

Matthew smiles softly at you. “You slept through the flight, so that’s good.”

“Oh, we landed?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, let’s get off this plane, what do you say?”

You grab your purse from under the seat in front of you, and Matthew grabs his carry-on from the overhead bin. He packed significantly more than you because he wasn’t flying home with you. Matthew would be staying in St. Louis until he flies back to Calgary for training camp.

Matthew extends his hand for you, and you take it. He walks into the aisle first with one hand holding his bag and the other behind him holding your hand. You both exit the plane and head towards customs and baggage claims.

You take a deep breath once you’re in line for customs. You knew this day would come, but you didn’t realize the nerves that would come with it. Would you be able to survive this week with Matthew?

. . .

“You go in first and get us settled; I’ll pay for the taxi,” you tell Matthew when your taxi pulls up to the hotel.

“Nope, you go in; I pay,” Matthew counters.

“Matthew —”

“I am your boyfriend, no? Just let me do this.”

“Okay,” you relent softly and head into the hotel with your luggage in tow. You head to the check-in desk. There isn’t a line, and you get your room information and key quickly. You meet Matthew at where he’s standing and lead him towards the elevator door. You both wait for the elevator in silence and walk inside in the same silence. You lead him towards your eighth-floor room and walk inside. “I made sure to request two beds, so we don’t have to share.”

“Smart,” Matthew says. You unlock the door and walk inside. You groan when you see the layout of the room and what it contains — one bed.

“Oh,” you mumble. “Only one bed.”

“What? Oh,” Matthew says as he stands next to you.

“Let me call down and see if they have another room for us.”

Matthew nods. He was frozen solid at the thought of sleeping next to you. He watches as you walk over to the phone and call down to the front desk. You tell them your issue, and Matthew watches as you furrow your eyebrows in frustration. You end the call with a “thank you, it’s no problem” and look to Matthew.

“What’s the verdict?” Matthew asks.

“They have three wedding parties staying here and no extra room with two beds for us.”

“I can sleep on the floor,” Matthew suggests.

You shake your head. “We’re both adults. I’m sure we can sleep in the same bed without any issues arising.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Matthew breathes out. His throat is dry and the words are barely forming on his tongue. You nod towards Matthew and begin unpacking. You hang up your dresses in the closet and line your shoes against the wall.

“Make sure you hang up your suit, so it doesn’t get wrinkly,” you remind Matthew as you head to the washroom to unpack your toiletries. Matthew nods and does what you say. He isn’t sure why he’s suddenly so nervous and clammy, but he figures it’s because you are both going to be sleeping in the same bed. You both move in sync with each other as you settle into the hotel room. Once Matthew has finished, he settles on the couch and turns the TV on. You awkwardly get on the couch, and Matthew chuckles at you.

It would be a restful night, right?

. . .

After meeting with the rest of the bridal party and making sure everything was perfect for the rehearsal the next day and the wedding the day after, you head into your hotel room and see Matthew sitting on the bed.

“Hey,” you say as you get ready to shower.

“How were your preparations?” he asks.

“Not bad. I’m tired, but it’s all worth it if Shelly gets the wedding of her dreams.”

Matthew nods.

“I’m going to take a shower and then go to bed; if that’s okay?”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Matthew replies as you head to the washroom to shower. While in the shower, you did everything in your power to prolong your time there because you knew that when you finished, you’d be going to sleep. You’d be going to be sleeping in the same bed as Matthew.

Once you’ve showered and gotten ready for the night, you walk out of the washroom and see Matthew standing next to the bed.

“I pulled out the blankets and stuff when I heard the tap turn off,” Matthew bashfully tells you when you notice the bed. “I figured you’re tired and stuff, so I was trying to help.”

You smile softly at the man. “Thank you, Matthew.”

He nods at your words. “What do we do now? Should we call down for more pillows and make, like, a pillow wall?”

“Um, I don’t think we have to do that. It’s big enough where we probably won’t get in each other’s way.”

“Yeah, probably,” Matthew lies. He isn’t sure if now is the right time to mention he’s an active sleeper and moves around a lot. “You can get in first.”

“Okay,” you say and move towards the bed. You get under the covers and sigh at the comfort of the bed. You lay on your back, a position that isn’t the most comfortable for you. When you’re done, Matthew gets under the covers, and he, too, lays on his back. You don’t think it’s the most comfortable for him, either. You lean over to turn the lights off, so the entire room is cascaded in darkness. “Good night, Matthew.”

“Night, Yn.”

You both lay there in awkward silence and stare up at the ceiling. What were you supposed to do? Were you supposed to talk to each other until the other fell asleep? Was it okay to face each other as you slept? What happened if you woke up in a compromising position? Would your friendship (was this a friendship?) be awkward? What would the morning be like? How awkward would it be? Should you be thinking about the fact that Matthew wasn’t wearing a shirt next to you? No, you shouldn’t be, but here you are thinking about Matthew’s bare chest.

You took a deep breath and hoped for sleep to easily overcome you.

Thankfully, it did. You fell asleep, and when your alarm went off, you were surprised you slept through the night. It was one of the best nights of sleep of your life. The pillows and blankets exuded this comfort and warmth that cocooned you and made it easy to fall asleep. When you opened your eyes, you were shocked by the sight in front of you. You blinked your eyes to make sure you weren’t still dreaming. Nope, you definitely weren’t dreaming.

Matthew Tkachuk, your fake boyfriend and boy who has hated you since you were ten, was cuddling you into his chest. Not only that, his arms were wound tightly around your waist with your forehead comfortably on his chest. Both of your legs were intertwined with each other, and your arms were grasping his waist. No wonder you slept so well.

“Oh, good morning,” Matthew says quietly. You look up at him and notice that it looks like he’s been up for a little bit.

“How long have you been awake?” you ask.

“Wow, no good morning? I’m hurt,” Matthew pouts.

“Good morning, Matthew; how long have you been awake?”

“About half an hour?”

“And you didn’t wake me knowing we were sleeping like this?” you say annoyed and slowly pull away. Once you’re fully out of his grasp, you wish you remained in his grasp. Matthew’s body exuded this comfort and warmth that made you happy and comfortable. You wished you could return to Matthew’s hold and embrace without it seeming weird.

“You were very comfortable, it looked like, and you seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and I figured you’d be more upset if I woke you, so I didn’t. Are you upset that I didn’t wake you?”

You ponder over his last question for a moment. No, you weren’t upset that he woke you. “No, it’s okay. I just slightly overreacted.”

“No need to apologize. You reacted just fine.”

You nod. “I have to get ready for wedding stuff, but we can go down to get breakfast together.”

“Yes, whatever you say,” Matthew replies and watches you get out of bed and towards your suitcase and washroom. Matthew wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was up for hours. He got up hours before because he was warm and needed to turn the AC up higher, but when he realized the situation you were both in, Matthew refused to get up. When else would Matthew be able to hold the person he’s been in love with his entire life who doesn’t love him back?

. . .

“You have the rehearsal tonight, right?” Matthew asks from outside the washroom as you’re doing your makeup. He walks over to the dresser and begins looking at the jewelry you’ve laid across it.

“Yeah, sorry that I can’t bring you. It’s a small thing with just Shelly’s family and bridal party. That means, though, that our big fake dating debut will be tomorrow at the reception,” you say from the washroom. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m having dinner with my parents at a restaurant around the corner. I know you said that you have a ride to and from where you have to be, but if you need a ride, just call me, okay?”

You smile to yourself from the washroom where Matthew can’t see you. There was something about his concern that made you smile like crazy. “Okay, Matthew. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me,” he begins. “I am your boyfriend after all.” He mutters under his breath the word “fake” with a scowl. He hated being just your fake boyfriend.

You begin to pack your things back into your toiletries bag so as not to leave a mess, and you walk out of the washroom. “How do I look?” you ask when you’re in full view of Matthew. He immediately looks up from where he was staring at your necklace, and his jaw drops.

“Wow, you — I, wow! You’re gorgeous, Yn,” Matthew says with wonder and awe in his eyes. You take your hands and place them on the hem of your skirt and look down. Matthew walks over to you and takes one of your hands and twirls you. You giggle in response, and Matthew catches you with his hands on your waist. “You’re beautiful, Yn.”

“Thank you,” you whisper. Matthew places a soft kiss on your forehead and takes a step back to admire you.

“I get to be your date tomorrow? Aren’t I the luckiest guy on the planet?”

You giggle again and make your way to the dresser to put on the necklace sitting there. It’s a matching necklace you and Shelly both bought at the age of 18. “Can you help me put it on?”

Matthew’s Adam’s apple bobs in his throat as he soaks you in and your request. He nods and takes the necklace gently from you. You turn around, so your back is to him, and Matthew places the necklace around your neck. He fiddles with the clasp and whispers a soft “there you go” when he’s finished. You turn around and look into his eyes.

“Thank you, Matthew,” you say nervously but hide it with a smile. You’re not sure why you’re nervous, but you suddenly are. Maybe it was the intimacy of the act Matthew just performed for you. “Have fun with your family tonight.”

“Have fun at the rehearsal! Text me when you’re on your way back, okay?”

“Okay,” you reply as you slip on your shoes and make your way towards the door. “Night, Matthew.”

You walk out the door before Matthew could respond. “Night,” he says even though it’s pointless. In his head, Matthew is replaying the vision of you walking out in your blush pink dress and how beautiful you looked. Matthew knows that whoever gets to be the one to call you their girlfriend will be the luckiest person in the world. He only wishes he were the one.

. . .

Matthew walks into the restaurant his family picked, still reeling from how beautiful you looked. It was at that moment when Matthew saw you when he realized he was truly gone. Matthew has dug himself into a hole that he knows he’s never going to get out of. Now that Matthew has experienced you as a date, in his arms in his apartment, at one of his games, kissing you, and sleeping next to you, Matthew knows that no one else will compare to you. He knows that when this ruse is over, he will be heartbroken beyond repair. Is he choosing to do something about it? Nope, not at all because to him, if he can have even a little bit of you, even if it’s under the guise of being fake, then he’ll take it.

He sits at the table his parents and siblings were already at and greets them. It’s not even two seconds after he sits before they all corner him about dating you.

“So, you and Yn, huh?” Brady smirks.

“Don’t start, please,” Matthew warns.

“I’ll start, then,” Taryn prompts. “I can’t believe you finally got Yn to date you after you’ve harbored a crush on her for all these years and hated her.”

“Can we not?” Matthew asks.

“Nope, not happening, we are going to question you about every single detail. Who knows, maybe you two will be the next ones to get married.”

“Okay, Taryn, take a step back,” Keith chuckles.

“I think you should take a step forward,” Brady prompts. “Considering how head over heels Matthew has been, Taryn’s right.”

Matthew just rolls his eyes and sighs. “Can we just order and have a normal meal, please?”

“This conversation isn’t over yet,” Taryn warns, and Matthew just rolls his eyes.

After deciding what to eat and ordering, Taryn was true to her word and began to question Matthew about his dating life. “How did it start? What was your first date like? Did Yn slap you when you first asked her out? I need details, Matthew!”

“Did you ever consider that Yn and I want privacy about our relationship?” Matthew snaps.

“Right, but this is the weirdest pairing ever, so I feel like I should get something out of you,” Taryn defends herself.

“There isn’t much to say. A few months back, Yn called me saying she needed a familiar face because she was homesick, so we met up. We realized that we liked each other and here we are.”

Chantal gives her son a curious look. That was the exact statement and explanation that you gave her when she called you a few weeks after she found out about you and Matthew. Either that was the reality of the situation or you both practiced this many times. Chantal thinks it’s probably the latter because she knows her son. She knows that if you and Matthew were for real, then he’d be telling everyone how much he liked you.

“That’s it? I thought there’d be more! Something more romantic or something,” Taryn pouts, and Matthew just shrugs. He wishes he could have made a more romantic story for how you both started dating because that’s what you deserve, but you wouldn’t have any of it.

“I agree with Taryn,” Brady adds. “Yn, as we know, is a hopeless romantic. I’m surprised you haven’t stepped up your game to match Yn’s romantic side.”

“Look, maybe we do have a romantic relationship, but we just want to keep it private,” Matthew growls.

“Alright, let’s just let the topic go,” Chantal interjects and inserts an out for Matthew. “Will you be sitting with us tomorrow?”

“During the ceremony, probably because Yn is part of the procession and all that. I’m not sure during the reception, though, because I think it’s open seating.”

“Okay, that’s understandable,” Chantal says just as their meals arrive. Matthew lets out a sigh of relief. He was able to keep the story about your ruse straight and evade any questions that could poke holes into the story. He could only wish that what was happening between you two was real.

. . .

Just as Matthew was getting interrogated by his family, your brother and Shelly were on their way to interrogate you. It was after the rehearsal, and everyone in attendance was at the restaurant catching up. Your brother walks over to you and whispers that Shelly wants to talk to you. Being the maid of honor, you figured that she needed help with last-minute wedding preparations. You weren’t expecting an ambush.

Your brother leads you to where Shelly’s sitting, and you expect him to leave. However, when he sits right next to you with Shelly across from you, you know that you’re getting interrogated.

“Don’t you have to go be with your pregnant wife?” you ask your brother pointedly hoping to get out of the conversation.

“No, she wants this information as much as I do,” he retorts.

“You and Tkachuk?” Shelly shrieks. Some of the other guests turn to the commotion but turn away when they see it’s only the bride getting excited about something. “I always knew he had the hots for you, but I wasn’t sure if he’d ever do anything about it. Wow, I’m impressed it didn’t take more time for it to happen.”

“What are you talking about?” Matthew never had the hots for you. This situation was purely platonic and aiding each other's social calendars.

“Oh, come on,” Shelly rolls her eyes. “You have to have known that Matthew was crazy in love with you in high school.”

“And that explains his treatment of me?”

“It’s what insecure guys do when they crush on someone who is way out of their league,” your brother explains. “For what it’s worth, you are way out of Matthew’s league, and the only reason that I haven’t confronted him is that I know him. But still, Matthew? Why him?”

“How did it start? Is he a good kisser? Does he make you smile like crazy? Is he the super romantic boyfriend that you’ve always wanted? Is he good in bed?” Shelby begins but is stopped by your brother making a disgusted look. He definitely didn’t want to think about you and Matthew sleeping together. “Sorry, I forgot you were here.”

“It’s alright,” he grumbles, and Shelly throws you a wink knowing that she’d ask you about this later.

“The other questions are still valid, though.”

“It started because I was homesick. I realized that I missed home and needed a familiar face, so I called Matthew. From there, we realized that there was something there between us,” you explain hoping that your brother and Shelly would accept the story.

“More like you finally realized it,” Shelly corrects. You were about to contradict her words, but wouldn’t that break the facade you and Matthew have built? “What about the rest of the stuff?”

You shrug.

“That’s it? There’s nothing else you can say about it?”

“I like keeping my relationship private,” you say softly hoping it came across as confident despite the guilt you felt lying to your brother and best friend.

“Sure, and did this happen before you and I talked about bringing a date to the wedding?” Shelly questions further. She knows that if you liked someone and were crazy about them, then you’d be talking about this person constantly. She isn’t buying the story.

“We started talking before, but we made our relationship official shortly after your call,” you lie, again. You make a mental note to tell Matthew this so that when Shelly did interrogate him, he’d have that information.

“But you insisted you didn’t have anyone to bring as a date,” Shelly points out.

“You also called me if any of my friends would want to bring you,” your brother points out smugly. You glare at him and kick him under the table.

“I wasn’t sure if bringing Matthew would be like cheating because I knew he was invited to the wedding,” you quickly retorted. Would that be enough to have them lay off you?

“Sure, sure,” Shelly begins. “Look, if your relationship is of convenience, you know, for pleasure, you can say that.”

What? “What?” you and your brother speak at the same time. She wasn’t interrogating you because she thought you and Matthew were faking. She thought you and Matthew had a friends-with-benefits relationship! Somehow, that calms your nerves and helps you relax.

“Oh, so it’s a real relationship,” Shelly says with a grin. “I was wrong?”

“Yes, it’s a real relationship,” you laugh.

“I mean, if it were a pleasure-seeking based relationship, then I’d also be okay with that because you do need to make yourself happy,” Shelly winks.

“Okay, I’m done here,” your brother immediately gets up and walks over to his wife. You and Shelly both giggle.

“Are you happy?” she asks.

You nod. “Yeah, I’m happy.”

“That’s good. I have to get back to bride duties. I know that I was shocked when you told me you were dating Tkachuk earlier and didn’t react the way you wanted me to, but I only did it because I don’t want you to get hurt. He treated you like crap when you were in high school, and I don’t want him to go back to that version of himself. You seem happy, though, so ignore me.”

Shelly kisses your forehead and finds her fiance. You knew you weren’t going to get hurt because what you were both doing was merely for show. You both weren’t actually dating, so there were no feelings to be hurt, but one thing stuck out to you. Matthew liked you in high school? You weren’t sure why that unsettled you so much, but it did. Why would he have treated you like crap if he liked you? Would you and Matthew hurt each other? What happens when you both end this ruse? You know you’ll miss the way Matthew could always put a smile on your face and bring out giggle after giggle from you. You’d miss the way his smile or hand in yours would make your heart burst and make you warm inside and out. Were you on the path to getting hurt?

. . .

As Keith and Brady are arguing about the bill, Matthew and Chantal step outside to wait for them, and Taryn is in the washroom.

“So, you and Yn?” Chantal begins.

“Mom,” Matthew groans.

“I find it funny that the story that you told tonight to us is exactly what Yn told me a few weeks ago.”

“It’s what happened, so it makes sense that Yn told you the same thing,” Matthew lies.

“Yeah, but it was the exact same story, Matthew.”

Matthew looks at his mother, and he knows that she’s read through fabrication. “We both needed dates for things, so we thought we’d pretend to date to make it easier on both of us,” Matthew mumbles.

Chantal looks at her son and sees the forlorn expression on his face. “But you like her.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her, mom,” Matthew says sadly as if he finally realized the hopelessness of the situation.

“Why don’t you just tell her?”

“Because, mom, it’s like Taryn was saying earlier and why it shocks you so much. I treated Yn like crap when we were growing up, and I’m pretty sure she hates me.”

“But you love her.”

“I never hated her; I just didn’t know what to do with my feelings. I’m screwed, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know,” Chantal admits. Her heart breaks as she watches her son run his hands through his hair sadly as he admits to feelings. “I haven’t seen you both around each other, but who knows, maybe Yn does feel the same way.”

“No, I know for a fact she doesn’t. It’s okay, at least I have this,” Matthew says. Keith and Brady walk out of the restaurant at that moment with Taryn close on their heels. Keith slaps Matthew’s back and asks what Matthew was talking about. Matthew shrugs it off with a curt “nothing.” Matthew didn’t want the rest of his family to know about the reality of his dating life. He also knows that you’d rather not let that information come out.

“On Sunday, you and Yn should come over for dinner,” Chantal suggests. “Like tradition.”

“I’ll ask Yn,” Matthew answers.

“It’s not a request, Matthew,” Chantal says and walks with her husband. Well, then you and Matthew are going to dinner at the Tkachuk’s on Sunday.

. . .

The next morning after the rehearsal, you had to force yourself to pull yourself out of Matthew’s embrace. You’ve both woken up in the same entanglement as the morning before, but this time, you liked it. You enjoyed the warmth and comfort his hold produced. You groan as you get out of bed and walk to the washroom in the cold away from Matthew. You had to be up early to get things ready for the makeup artist, hairdresser, and photographer. You briefly washed your face and brushed your teeth before throwing on a pair of leggings and your “I Do Crew” t-shirt that was made for you. You grab your dress, shoes, and jewelry before heading over closer to the bed to grab your phone and purse. You place everything down and kiss Matthew on the forehead. You smiled at how peaceful and cute he looked as he was still sleeping.

If only it were real.

. . .

When Matthew’s alarm went off a few hours later, he moved closer to your pillow hoping to hold you for a little bit longer. When his head hits your cold pillow, Matthew’s chipper mood deflates when he realizes you’re not gone. He knows that you had to leave early for wedding preparations, but it still hurts knowing that you weren’t there to wake up next to him. In the past few days, Matthew has gotten used to waking up next to you. He isn’t sure what he’s going to do when you both return to your normal lives and he can no longer wake up next to you.

. . .

“Well, you look nice, Matthew,” Chantal says as Matthew sits in the row next to his family. Matthew straightens his tie. His leg is bouncing up and down in nervousness. Chantal observes her son from the corner of her eye and smiles at his actions.

“Have you seen Yn yet today?” Chantal leans over and asks. Matthew shakes his head no; he was nervous to see you. Matthew got a glimpse of your bridesmaid’s dress, and he knows you’re going to be just as beautiful, if not more, than the night of the rehearsal.

Matthew and his family continue to chat quietly, and everyone in the crowd abruptly ends their conversations as Shelly’s groom heads to the front of the aisle. In a matter of seconds, the orchestra begins to play the “Wedding March”, and everyone turns their heads to the aisle awaiting the procession. The groomsmen process down the aisle and take their places. Following the groomsmen are the bridesmaids. As each woman processes down the aisle and takes their places, Matthew is confused when he doesn’t see you among them. Matthew assumes, though, that because you’re the maid of honor, you have something special to do.

Matthew’s suspicions are confirmed when you walk down the aisle in your blush, floor-length, off-the-shoulder dress with your right hand holding the hand of the flower girl and your left hand holding a bouquet. As you walk down the aisle, Matthew is entranced by you. He stops breathing and blinking as he watches you. He watches as you lead the flower girl to her place and stand behind her. When everyone’s attention is turned to Shelly and her father walking down the aisle, Matthew’s attention is focused on you. He knew you were beautiful, but you were beautiful. There isn’t any difference between the two words, Matthew knows, but the latter word somehow means more. Matthew keeps telling himself it’s the dress, but he knows it’s not just the dress. It’s the person wearing the dress. It’s the way your face glowed from happiness at the new couple and the makeup you had on. It was the way your hair flowed impeccably in the breeze. It’s the way you looked amazing in that dress that had Matthew frozen. You were the most beautiful person Matthew has ever seen, and he didn’t want to look away.

When you catch Matthew’s eye, he swears he died and came back to life. You smile softly at him, but he doesn’t do anything. He just stands there staring at you as the officiant continues to talk. Chantal notices you trying to stifle a giggle and turns to her son to see if he had anything to do with it. When she sees Matthew just staring at you, she elbows him.

“Smile at her,” Chantal directs. That, it seemed, was what finally took Matthew out of his trance. He blinks and takes a deep breath right before sending you his signature smile. You shake your head playfully when you notice that Chantal had to remind him to smile and pay attention. You turn your attention back to the ceremony happening right in front of you as the officiant directs everyone to sit. You also try to ignore the hole it feels like Matthew (and the rest of the Tkachuks) were burning into the back of your head.

Because you were the maid of honor, you were one of the official witnesses and had to stand behind the bride. Through it all, Matthew was watching you. He was captivated by you, enamored by you. You met his eye a few times and had to force yourself not to laugh as a blush overcame his face and he turned away. Taryn, thinking that the next wedding she’d be attending was between you and Matthew, was watching the interactions between you two. The first time she watched you looked constipated as you tried to hide a giggle, she knew Matthew was the reason. After the second time, Taryn made sure to keep an eye on Matthew, too, so he could watch his reaction. Normally, in relationships, Matthew was confident, cocky, and full of himself. He was always the one to make the person he was dating speechless, shy, and look away bashfully. This time, though, you were the one in control, overtaking Matthew’s usual position. This time, Matthew was the one who was smiling bashfully and looking away whenever you’d meet his eye.

Taryn noticed that you stopped turning your attention to Matthew when the vows began to focus on the bride and groom. That doesn’t mean, though, that Matthew was paying attention to the happy couple. He was still watching you.

“Hey, Matthew,” Taryn leans over her mother and whispers.

That seems to take Matthew out of his trance as he rolls his eyes at his sister's words. “What?”

“Stop staring at your girlfriend. You’re trying to get her to marry you, not run away from you.”

“Taryn,” Chantal warns. Matthew doesn’t say anything except to stare ahead. This time, though, he doesn’t place his eyes on you. No, he places his eyes on the couple hoping to get his family off his case. He didn’t want to face the reality of the situation that Matthew wasn’t trying to get you to marry him despite him knowing you were the one. He hoped to ignore the true reason why Matthew was here as your date and not as a family friend. During the rest of the ceremony, Matthew doesn’t look at you once. He opts to look at the couple, the officiant, or the beauty of the outdoor venue. He hopes that by not looking at you, Matthew can escape the reality that he’s in love with you and you, it seems, are not.

When the ceremony ends and the couple walks down the aisle, you and the rest of the wedding party are getting ready to take photos during the Cocktail Hour. You try to make your way to find Matthew and see him because you missed him, but every time it seemed you had a chance, he was busy or was avoiding you.

Eventually, the Cocktail Hour was over and everyone was heading into the location of the reception. After you’ve made your rounds, you look around to see where Matthew was or your brother. You weren’t sure who you were going to sit with, but you were hoping to sit next to Matthew, though. You weren’t sure why Matthew was in a sour mood, but you knew you caused it. You only hoped he wasn’t too mad at you.

“Hey, you look beautiful,” Brady says as he walks up to you. He is holding a fresh drink in his hand, so you assume he was coming from the bar.

“Thank you,” you murmur, wondering if Matthew was around, too.

“Matthew, don’t you think so, too?” Brady says, and you turn your head to where Brady was directing his question to.

“Hi,” you whisper when your eyes lock with Matthew’s. You see anger in his eyes and are suddenly worried that Matthew is truly upset at you. However, Matthew’s face softens when you send him a soft smile, and the anger leaves his face.

“Are you sitting with us?” Brady asks.

“Of course, she’s sitting with us,” Matthew says and walks over to and wraps an arm around your waist. “She’s my girlfriend.”

You smile and let Matthew lead you to where his family is sitting. Matthew pulls out a chair for you to sit in, and he pushes it in for you. Matthew takes the seat next to you, and you’re suspicious that it was Brady’s when he grumbled about sitting in the chair next to you. Immediately upon sitting, Matthew places his hand on your thigh and scoots his chair closer to yours.

As the night carried on, Matthew never took his hand off your thigh, and he constantly whispered in your ear asking if you were okay. If you needed a refill on a drink, Matthew always went to the bar to get you a refill and insisted you shouldn’t have to get up. He always returned by placing the drink on the table and placing a kiss on your forehead.

When he returned with your third or fourth refill of the night, you smiled at him as he sat down and told him, “You know, I’m starting not to hate you anymore.”

Matthew looks at you sadly at your words. You still had animosity towards him? He thought he’s been working so hard to change your opinion of him, but it seems it's just barely working. You notice the strain and sadness in Matthew’s pout and wonder if you did something wrong. You place your hand on his thigh and look into his eyes. The minute your hand touched his thigh, Matthew was fine. It didn’t matter what you said because he knows he cares about you, and he knows that deep down, you care for him, too, despite your words.

“You okay?” you ask.

“Of course,” he says with a smile. “I’m sitting next to the prettiest person in the world; why wouldn’t I be okay?”

You smile at Matthew’s words and rest your head on his shoulder. What were you going to do when you and Matthew no longer could be like this? You knew you were going to miss it.

. . .

As the reception is nearing the final hours, everyone’s moods have turned more casual and laid back, including you and Matthew. Both of your chairs were right up against each other with you leaning heavily against Matthew with your head resting on his chest. His hand was wrapped around your shoulders and was rubbing small patterns on your shoulder. You and Matthew are talking to Brady and Taryn when a slow song, one of your favorites, begins to play. You perk up slightly, wondering if you should ask Matthew to dance with you.

“Hey, Yn, isn’t this one of your favorite songs?” Brady instigates.

“Oh, yeah, I guess it is,” you reply, and Matthew looks down at you softly.

“Do you want to dance, Yn?” Matthew asks. You nod and slowly pull away so he can lead you to the dance floor. You and Matthew position yourselves so that your hands are resting just below his neck with his resting on your mid-back. You both sway to the song, and you’re both entranced with each other’s eyes. As the song continues, Matthew’s hands slowly rise up to the bare skin of your upper back. He begins to stroke soft patterns on your skin, and it sends chills up your spine. You pull yourself closer to Matthew to try to use his warmth to evade the chills. You run your fingers through the hair at the nape of Matthew’s neck, and you see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat.

As the song comes to an end, Matthew licks his lips and leans his head towards yours. He pulls his head back slightly. Was this appropriate? He didn’t have the chance to further contemplate kissing you because you pulled away and led him back to the table. His one true regret that evening is that he didn’t kiss you. He wanted to kiss you. He wanted to kiss you badly, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss you and tell you how much he loves you.

He knows he’s dug himself into a hole he will never get out of.

. . .

“What are you doing today?” Matthew asks as you’re getting ready for the day. Based on his tone, you know something’s up, and you have to agree with whatever it is.

“Why?” you ask nervously.

“Would you want to go to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner? Like pastimes?”

You turn to face Matthew and smirk at him. “I feel like I don’t have a choice here.”

“My mom said that I had to bring you, no negotiations, so yeah, you have no choice.”

You laugh. “Okay, I can go to your parents’ for Sunday dinner, but I know my parents and brother won’t be there. They have plans tonight.”

“What are you going to do for the rest of the day, then?” Matthew asks knowing he wants to spend the day with you.

“I’m going to visit some friends from high school; what are you doing?”

“Just hanging around. Nothing much.”

“Okay then, why don’t I meet you back here, and then we can head over to your parents’ house?”

“Perfect,” Matthew says and turns away from you to go shower. On his face, he’s wearing a wide smile. He only hoped that you were just as excited as he was.

. . .

Unlike when you were growing up, you didn’t stay outside with the boys while Chantal and Keith got dinner together. This time, you and Taryn were in the kitchen helping Chantal cook while Brady and Matthew were out at the grill helping Keith. Now and then, you’d look out the backyard window and notice Matthew. Sometimes, he’d meet your eye and wink at you, and your face would grow warm. Or, sometimes, he wouldn’t be looking at you, but you saw him turn his head away as if he was just looking at you. Sometimes, he didn’t notice you looking at all, and you loved watching him interact with his dad and brother.

“He seems lighter when he’s around you,” Chantal comments after noticing you and Matthew staring at each other for the gazillionth time that afternoon.

“How so?” you ask.

“He’s nice,” Taryn says blatantly.

“Taryn,” Chantal scolds, and you can’t help but smile.

“I’m not wrong,” she defends.

Chantal rolls her eyes. “All I’m trying to say is, you guys are good for each other. It’s about time you both realized the dynamic you both have after years of animosity between you two.”

“Who knows, maybe we’ll finally be sisters,” Taryn jokes, hinting at the possibility of marriage. The smile on your face fades as you remember that you and Matthew aren’t dating. The smile fades knowing that you and Matthew wouldn’t ever get married, and when this ruse was over, many more people would get hurt than you both anticipated.

“Anyways, let’s go eat, yeah?” Chantal approaches. “Taryn, you put the salad on the plate and tell the boys we’re ready. Yn, you can help me scoop the other sides, okay?”

You were about to take the potato salad out to the table, but Chantal grabs your shoulder lightly and signals you to hold back for a moment.

“Just know, Matthew cares deeply for you,” she advises. “At the end of the day, he’s crazy about you; don’t forget that.”

You don’t have the words to say anything in response, so you just nod. Chantal seems to think you fully understand her words, so she walks out to the backyard. You don’t. What could she be talking about? Did she know that you and Matthew weren’t dating? You thought you both put up a pretty good act.

Opting to try to enjoy the evening, you place your worries to the back of your head and walk out to the patio. Just as you’re placing the potato salad on the table, Brady is placing the grilled corn on the table, too. Taryn’s already taken her usual seat, and because it’s a smaller crowd, Chantal has taken the seat where your brother would normally sit. Following tradition, you sit next to Taryn, and Brady takes the seat next to you. Keith has taken his seat and says that Matthew has gotten to grab a refill of drinks for you and him.

“Brady, move,” Matthew growls to his brother from behind you. You perk your head up and turn to see Matthew glaring at his brother.

“What? No! Go sit somewhere else. I’m already sitting here,” Brady says in retaliation and annoyance. He shakes his head and mutters a comment to you asking how you put up with him. You stifle a giggle knowing that the look in Matthew’s eyes was of determination, and the ordeal wasn’t over yet.

“Brady, I said, move,” Matthew says more forcefully.

“Why can’t you sit somewhere else? You never sit here.”

“Brady, move,” Matthew growls again.

“Why don’t you sit here, Matthew?” Taryn asks, trying to diffuse the situation. It was clear that Matthew wanted to sit next to you.

“No, I want Brady to move.”

“I’m not going to,” Brady is firm in his words. “Seriously, Yn, how do you deal with him sometimes?”

You don’t say anything, but Matthew does and is still incessant on Brady moving. “Brady, move and sit somewhere else. I want to sit next to my girlfriend.”

Brady stands up and stares at his brother. Looking at Matthew’s face, Brady knows that Matthew won’t give up on his endeavor, so Brady sighs and proceeds to get up. Brady goes and sits in his old normal seat, and Matthew sits next to you. He places a glass of water on the table for himself (he already had one beer but was driving, so he had to be safe) and lemonade for you. “Thank you, Brady,” Matthew says softly once he’s situated.

Brady grumbles in reply and mutters about how annoying Matthew was. You place your hand on Matthew’s thigh and lean over to whisper in his ear, “You didn’t have to force Brady to move, you know. It’s fine if we don’t sit next to each other.”

“It’s not fine,” Matthew whispers into your ear. “I wanted to sit next to my girlfriend, so I was going to sit next to my girlfriend.”

You open your mouth to say how it was all a ruse but decide against it.

“Shall we eat?” After observing her two sons spar over a seat and Matthew melt as he whispers into your ear, Chantal finally says.

Conversation, as everyone eats, varies from the wedding from the previous night to Taryn going to college to the upcoming season to your job. You loved how normal it was and how it was like before. It felt like before you and Matthew turned ten started hating each other. It was like when you were both young and the idea of marrying each other was still a thing. It was the way life was supposed to be had Matthew not started hating you at the age of ten. As you were both eating, Matthew always had a hand on you. Whether it was on your thigh or around your shoulder, Matthew was always touching you, and his family noticed completely.

“You know, when Matthew told us you were both dating, I was truly shocked. I was surprised you would ever go for him, Yn, considering you are way out of his league,” Brady says out of nowhere and tries to get back at his brother.

“Brady,” Keith warns.

“He’s not wrong, though,” Taryn points out, not realizing the true intentions of Brady's words. “As much as I love you, Matthew, Yn is completely out of your league.”

You notice Matthew stiffening up next to you, and you place your hand on his thigh to try to calm him down.

“I’m just surprised you even gave him a chance considering Matthew hated you for like half your life.”

“Taryn,” Chantal warns. Taryn looks up at her mother and shrugs in confusion.

“I never hated, Yn,” Matthew defends. “I’m not sure where you guys are getting that from.”

“How about the fact that — ow!” Brady is stopped as Chantal kicks him under the table. An awkward silence fills the table as everyone finishes up their meals. What did Matthew mean when he said he never hated you? His actions definitely showed it. Did he still hate you? All these questions swirled in your head as Taryn volunteers you and her for clearing the table. You move in autopilot as you clear the table still trying to figure out the meaning of Matthew’s words.

“I’m sorry for my comments out there,” Taryn apologizes. “I didn’t mean to say anything hurtful.”

“Don’t worry,” you tell her with a smile. “I wasn’t offended, but I think Matthew could use an apology more than me.”

“Nah, he’ll be fine. He’s got thick skin, and it’s not like I said anything he didn’t know.”

“Mmm,” you say, not sure how to respond.

“I’ve never seen Matthew so protective over someone before. Is possessive the right word? I don’t know, but I don’t think he’s ever been like that. If he would challenge Brady to something and wouldn’t immediately get his way, then he’d just drop the subject or physically fight Brady. He didn’t do either of those things. There’s something about you, Yn, that brings out a different side to Matthew,” Taryn points out as she’s rinsing the dishes, and you place them in the dishwasher.

“Interesting,” you say, again, not sure how to respond

“It’s a good thing. You’re both good for each other.”

. . .

You and Matthew say goodbye to Chantal, Keith, Brady, and Taryn two hours later and head back to the hotel you were staying at. Chantal couldn’t understand why you guys didn’t just stay with them before you flew back to Calgary the next morning. You weren’t sure how to explain that you’re not dating her son, and you needed some time to unwind and not have to be Matthew’s pretend girlfriend for extended periods of time.

As you’re driving to the hotel, you and Matthew sit in silence. Now and then, Matthew would shift in his seat in discomfort. You could tell he was still upset from Brady’s and Taryn’s comments. You reach your hand across the center console and place it on his thigh. You hear Matthew’s breath halt at the touch, and you’re confused at the sound.

“Matthew, are you okay?” you ask softly. “Don’t take Brady’s and Taryn’s words too seriously.”

“Yeah, but —”

“Matthew, don’t,” you interrupt as he stops at a red light. He turns to you, and his heart melts at how the lights on the street illuminate your face. He nods at your words, and suddenly, he wasn’t sad or frustrated anymore. The drive continues in silence, but your hand doesn’t leave his thigh. You have one lingering thought, though. “Matthew?”

“Mmm?” he asks.

“What did you mean when you said earlier that you didn’t hate me?”

“I didn’t realize there was anything to say. I don’t hate you,” Matthew says blatantly.

“Yeah, but you did hate me.”

Matthew laughs sourly. “Why do you think that even though I’ve told you that I didn’t hate you?”

“You were such a pest to me after we turned ten.”

“That didn’t mean I hated you, Yn.”

“Then why were you such a pest?” you ask.

“Because I had a giant crush on you when we were ten.”

“You had a what?” you asked, shocked, as Matthew drives into a parking space.

“A crush when we were ten,” Matthew answers and walks out of the car. He walks over to your side and opens the door for you. You step out of the car still reeling for his confession. “Don’t worry, Yn, I don’t have a crush on you anymore, so don’t worry.”

“Good,” you reply quietly. You aren’t sure why you are so upset at Matthew’s words, but you are. Did you have a crush on Matthew, now?

. . .

You’re standing in front of the mirror placing the final touches on your makeup and hair as you get ready to fly back to Calgary. You vaguely notice Matthew sitting in the chair behind you. You figured he was looking at his phone or watching the TV that was on. You lift your eyes to glance at the boy in question. Just as your eyes meet his face, Matthew looks up, and his eyes land right on yours. You stop moving, too entranced in his gaze. Matthew sends you a soft smile, and you mirror his smile. He sends you a wink, and your eyes instantly dart away from him. You continue getting ready, and you try to ignore the heat that rushed to your face and the rapid beating of your heart.

. . .

“I brought pizza and beer, is that good?” you say as you walk into Matthew’s kitchen. It was his first night back in Calgary since you said goodbye at the airport after the wedding, and he wanted to spend the night with you.

“That’s perfect,” he says and takes everything out of your hands.

You take your shoes off and walk further into this apartment. “Oh, looks like you cleaned.”

Matthew looks around the apartment and scratches the back of his neck. He turns to you, and you see a slight blush lining his cheeks. “Yeah, well, no one likes to live in a pigsty.”

You raise your eyebrow at his words. “What version of Matthew is this? The high school version of Matthew had the most disgusting bedroom ever.”

“Oh, shut up,” Matthew rolls his eyes and throws a napkin at you. You swat at it and begin to giggle. Matthew takes a piece of pizza and places it on a plate for you and opens a bottle of beer for you. You take it out of his hands with a soft “thank you” and walk over to his kitchen table. He places his plate and beer on the table and places his hands on your hips; your breath catches in your throat at his touch, and Matthew swears his heart started to beat a hundred times faster at the sound. He guides you towards the couch. “We’re sitting on the couch to eat.”

“But, Matthew,” you say after regaining your voice. You watch him grab his beer and plate from the table where he placed it and sits next to you.

“Nope, we’re not at Yn’s house. We’re at Matthew’s house, so we eat on the couch when we’re having a movie night.”

“Matthew,” you begin again.

He shakes his head as he takes a sip. “Don’t. I can’t eat this once training camp and the season starts, so let’s just enjoy it, okay?”

You nod and take a bite out of your pizza. Why did your breath hitch out of your throat when Matthew touched you? He’s touched you before, but why was it different this time?

. . .

“How about these?” Matthew asks as he holds a bag of chips in front of your face.

You shake your head. “I don’t like that flavor, and I already bought a bag of chips.”

“Maybe you should buy them for me, this lovely person who you forced to go grocery shopping with you.”

“That is not what happened, Matthew, and you know that,” your point out.

Matthew walks over to you and entraps you from where you’re standing at your shopping cart. He places his hands on the bar on your sides so you can’t move. He leans his head towards your ear and whispers, “Then tell me what happened.”

“You know what happened,” you murmur, trying to hide the fact that Matthew’s actions and words were sending chills down your spine.

“But I want you to tell me,” he whispers again into your ear.

“You showed up at my apartment just as I was about to leave,” you swallow before continuing, “and you insisted on coming with me, and here we are.”

“I don’t recall that being how it happened,” Matthew says against your neck, and the vibrations warm your entire body. You figure if Matthew was going to mess with you in the middle of the snack aisle at the grocery store, you might as well do the same. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull his face closer to yours. Your lips are micrometers from his, and you can tell that Matthew is nervous.

“That’s exactly how I remember it happening,” you say against his lips and with each word you said, your lips touching Matthew’s. Out of instinct and preparation for a kiss, Matthew places his hands on your waist, and you smirk, knowing you have him right where you want him. You run your hands up through his hair, and Matthew’s hold on you becomes limp. You lean closer, if possible, to him, and Matthew thinks you’re going to kiss him. Just when you would’ve leaned forward and kiss Matthew, you pull back and escape from where Matthew has you entrapped. You’re standing a few feet away from him, and you notice Matthew still in his trance. “You coming?”

That seems to take him out of his trance, and he nods and pushes the shopping cart to follow you. Matthew isn’t sure what happened, but he knows that whatever did just happen sent Matthew to heaven.

. . .

“What are you wearing?” Taryn asks you when you sit down next to her.

“Oh, this old thing?” you say, pretending to be oblivious.

“Matthew’s going to hate it considering you’re his girlfriend, who the Flames are playing, and what you’re not wearing.”

“I’m counting on it.”

“You are such a pest like Matthew. No wonder you guys are so good to each other,” Taryn rolls her eyes.

“You’re lucky we won or you’d have hell brought down upon you,” Matthew says when you’re standing outside the locker room after the game.

“I didn’t know you knew the devil personally,” you joke.

“Why did you have to wear Brady’s jersey, Yn? The day that I play the Sens, you are wearing the wrong brother’s jersey.”

You shrug but have a knowing smirk on your face. “I felt like it.”

Matthew groans when he sees Brady walking over to you and him. “Nice jersey,” Brady smirks.

“Thank you. Too bad you guys lost.”

“Seriously?” Matthew’s mouth’s agape.

“Oh shut up, you know I cheered for you when you scored,” you say and link arms with Brady as you head towards Chantal and Keith. “It worked. I pissed him off,” you whisper to Brady.

“You guys are so weird,” Brady chuckles. Matthew just stands behind you and Brady and is trying to figure out what just happened and how he’s going to get back at you.

. . .

When you showed up to the Senators-Flames game wearing Brady’s jersey, Matthew knew he had to think of a way to get back at you. After a week-long road trip and coming home at 2 am, Matthew wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. He also wanted nothing more in the world to see you and to get back at you. When he got in his car to drive home, Matthew realized he had the perfect plan to get back at you. He knows that something you value deeply is your sleep, so because you messed with something important to Matthew, he was going to mess with something important to you.

Matthew drives to your apartment from the airport and parks in the parking spot next to your car. He isn’t sure why he thought you didn’t have a car and why you don’t drive it to work, but here your car is. He walks into the lobby of your building and waves to the nightguard working the night shift. He takes the elevator up to your floor and walks up to your door. He takes a deep breath and begins to aggressively ring your doorbell. He hopes that you wake up and none of your neighbors do.

The ringing continues for twenty seconds before you realize it’s not your alarm. You sit up for a few moments when you realize that it’s someone at the door. When the ringing doesn’t stop, you get worried that something’s wrong. You rush over to the door and open it. “Is everything okay?” you blurt out before noticing who’s the one ringing your doorbell.

“No, I have a very important message for you,” Matthew says with a smirk grazing his face.

“What happened? Is everything okay?” you’re worried now. You’re still barely awake, and if you were, you probably would have noticed the smirk on Matthew’s face.

“It’s an important message. Ready for it?”

“Yeah, yeah, just tell me!”

“Hi.”

“Hi? That’s it? Matthew, you rang my door like a lunatic and made me worry that something was seriously wrong. What’s wrong with you?”

“You wore Brady’s jersey to my hockey game.”

“So you decide to pull this shit?” you’re angry now, and Matthew realizes he made a mistake.

“I’m sorry. I also wanted to see you,” he mumbles.

You sigh and pull him into your apartment. “Then call me instead of halfway giving me a heart attack.”

Matthew nods and follows you into your apartment. He puts his bag down by the door and takes his shoes off.

“I’m going back to sleep, but you can change and shower in my washroom and join me when you’re ready. I’m not staying awake; I’m too tired.”

Matthew is shocked that you’re doing this. Matthew woke you at 2 in the morning just because and you’re opening your home for him despite it. Matthew will never take your friendship for granted ever again.

. . .

“Matthew, are we still fake dating?” you ask out of nowhere. It’s been months since the wedding, and you weren’t sure if you and Matthew still had that title. Recently, you both had been hanging out together, but it didn’t seem like “dating”. It was “friend” hangouts, and you were both disappointed and happy with it.

“Why do you ask?” Matthew asks. He doesn’t want to fake date you anymore; he wants to real date you, but he isn’t sure if you want that, too.

“Because,” you hesitate.

“Because, why?”

“I went out with some friends the other night and this guy was hitting on me, and I turned him down because I didn’t know if we were still under the ruse of dating.”

“Oh,” Matthew says dejectedly. “Don’t worry, if you see him, or anyone else, who’s hitting on you, then you can say yes. We, as of this moment, are just friends and no longer fake dating.”

You nod. “What do we tell people? Like, Shelly or your family?”

Matthew shrugs. “We realized we were better off friends. We went from the extreme of not being able to be around each other to the extreme of always being around each other and realized it doesn’t work.”

“Okay,” you say. You weren’t sure why you were so upset with Matthew’s response.

After the conversation, you head home about an hour later with your head still reeling from Matthew’s words. Just friends, he said, but you didn’t want that, did you? You wanted Matthew in every way that you could. You wanted him next to you when you woke up and when you fell asleep. You wanted good morning kisses, good night kisses, and just kisses in between that. You wanted Matthew because you liked him. You wanted Matthew because, in the months of fake dating, you fell for him. You fell for Matthew Tkachuk, the one boy you never thought you’d fall for, and the one boy who doesn’t want you like that.

. . .

You went out with Matthew and the team to celebrate another win. This time, you wore Matthew’s jersey, and you swore Matthew’s smile grew wider when he saw you in it. The celebration at the bar thus far has been fun. You weren’t sure if the team knows you and Matthew “broke up”, but it doesn’t matter because Matthew was still being touchy with you, and you hoped that you were hiding your feelings for Matthew well.

“I’m going to go get some refills for us, okay? Same drink for you?” Matthew whispers into your ear. You visibly shiver at his action, and you know Matthew noticed. You nod, not trusting your words. To try to ignore how you’re feeling, you immerse yourself in conversation with the group. It works, you think, but when you look up and see the back of Matthew’s head, your heart begins to beat rapidly. You needed to figure out how to get your emotions in check if you’re going to continue to be hanging out as friends with Matthew.

“So, you and Matthew have been going strong, huh?” Annica says when she notices you staring at Matthew. You snap your attention back to the woman. Matthew must not have told the team that you and he “broke up”. You guess that would be a weird conversation to have. You doubted Matthew said something along the lines of, “Yes, we broke up, but I’m going to keep bringing Yn around. Why? Well, we were never really dating, and now we are just friends. Yeah, it’s weird, but just go with it.”

“Oh, um, yeah,” you reply, hoping that Annica didn’t read too much into your words.

“I can tell he’s crazy about you and that he —,” Annica is interrupted by Elias bringing her another glass of wine and conversation changes. You look back at Matthew to try to figure out the meaning of Annica’s words. Just as your eyes land on Matthew’s head, he turns around, as if sensing your gaze, and meets your eyes. He smiles at you, and you instantly feel the tears falling from your eyes. You try to blink them away, but when Matthew begins to rush over to you, you know that he noticed. You excuse yourself from the group and rush out of the bar.

“Yn, yn,” Matthew calls out to you. He catches up to you with his long strides and places his hand gently on your shoulder. You turn to face him and feverishly wipe the tears away. “Yn, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you lie.

“I didn’t know we cry over nothing now, but thanks for letting me know,” Matthew jokes, but it doesn’t do anything to make you feel better. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t be your friend anymore; it just hurts too much to be your friend when I want more,” you blurt out and walk away. Matthew is too stunned at your words to follow after you. You want more? Since when? Matthew doesn’t come to his senses to chase after you until you’re getting into your car to drive home. What does he do now?

. . .

“Yn, yn, yn, I know you’re in there,” Matthew yells as he aggressively knocks on your apartment door the next day. “Yn, please. I just want to talk to you.

You angrily stalk to the door and open it. “What, Matthew? Maybe you should have taken a hint when I didn’t open the door the first eighteen times you knocked on it.”

“Yeah, well, we need to talk, so it doesn’t matter if I was knocking on your door for hours, I’m going to talk to you.”

“Matthew, there’s nothing to say,” you tell him through gritted teeth hoping not to let it show how much you wanted to cry at that moment.

“Like hell, there’s nothing to talk about,” Matthew aggressively replies as he runs his hands through his hair. “You can’t just say that and leave, you know. You’ve had me going crazy, Yn!”

“Well, it’s not like you feel the same way or want the same thing,” you mumble, looking at the ground.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve wanted this since I was ten!” Matthew replies incredulously.

“But you told me you didn’t like me anymore!”

“That’s because I thought you didn't like me like that.”

“Well, I do like you like that, Matthew.”

He takes a step closer to you and looks into your eyes. “That entire time we were fake dating? I was imagining it was real. I was doing everything in my power to make it real so that I could have that experience of being with you because I thought I’d never had a chance with you. Like my parents said, you are completely out of my league, so I was extremely honored that you ever wanted to fake date me.”

“I don’t want to fake date you.”

“I don’t want to fake date you, either,” Matthew chuckles.

“Oh, good,” you reply and look down at your feet. “I want to be your real girlfriend.”

Matthew laughs at your words. “That’s what not wanting to fake date means.”

“Oh, right,” you giggle at yourself.

“So, if I put my hands on your waist and kiss you, is that okay?”

“That’s more than okay, Matthew,” you tell him with a smile and place your hands on his face to bring him closer to you. Matthew smiles at your words and leans his head towards yours. You both softly placed your lips on each other before deepening the kiss. It wasn’t the first kiss you both shared, but it was the first time you kissed each other with your feelings on display. You both deepen the kiss, and Matthew pulls you into him. You run your fingers through the hair at the nape of Matthew’s neck, and you giggle at the small moan that leaves him. His moan and your giggle cause you both to pull back. Matthew gives you a pointed look.

“Great, our first kiss ends like that.”

You giggle again. “It’s not our first kiss, Matthew.”

“Still,” he pouts.

“Don’t worry,” you tease. “There will be many, many kisses in our future.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Matthew says with a grin and pulls you in for another kiss.

The get-together wasn’t perfect or what anyone expected, but it was your story, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

#matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #matthew tkachuk x reader #matthew tkachuk fic #matthew tkachuk imagines #nhl fic #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl writing #nhl fanfiction #hockey fic #hockey writing #hockey fanficition #hockey imagine #calgary flames x reader #calgary flames imagine #calgary flames fic #claudia writes

[darling-i-read-it]

My Wife

Dale Cooper x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: nothing I can think of

Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy darling!

Requested; by anon, Okay hear me out imagine you are married to Dale Cooper and you are an FBI agent and while he is in Twin Peaks you are sent to go and help him. You go there and when you meet new people you say your name is Y/N Cooper and everyone are shocked especially Audrey 😳 I would love to read this from you, cause you write Dale's fics soo well 😭😭😭

Summary: the request

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

You walked into your office, holding a cup of coffee in your hand. You were surprised to find that Diane was sitting on your desk, flipping through some papers there. She didn’t jump when you walked in, she never did. You and Diane had always gotten along splendidly. Your friendship only grew when she started to work for you while also working for your husband, Dale Cooper.

“Hello Diane. What do I owe the pleasure?” you asked, walking up to your desk. You swatted her hand away and laughed gently.

“Dale called for you this morning. I’ve gotten you a plane ticket up to Seattle then Dale will pick you up and drive you to Twin Peaks.” You raised an eyebrow, sipping your coffee.

“I have things to do here. I thought Dale could handle himself up in Twin Peaks. It was just the one dead girl right? It’s nothing he hasn’t been able to handle before.” Diane shrugged.

“He’s been having some odd observations. I would be happier if you went up and I imagine so would he. You’ll stay at the Great Northern Hotel. I didn’t get you another room, I imagine you’ll just stay with him.”

“Yes, that's alright. What kind of odd observations?”

“Dreams, weird people. Apparently Twin Peaks isn’t the quiet town he wanted it to be.” You nodded.

“Alright. When do I fly out?” ====

You brushed through your hair as you walked through the large doors of the Great Northern. You had been momentarily awestruck to see the gorgeous waterfall outside. You were starting to like Twin Peaks already.

You walked up to the front desk. You smiled at the woman behind the counter. She looked young, probably still in high school.

“How can I help?” she asked. She was gorgeous. You had to look away on purpose to help yourself from staring.

“What room is Dale Cooper staying in?” you questioned. You noticed her interest pique. She fidgeted a bit.

“I’m not at liberty to give out information on our guests.”

“Of course. Do you know when he’ll be back?”

“Are you another FBI agent?” she asked curiously. You nodded.

“Yes. I’m Y/N Cooper, nice to meet you.” Her eyes went wide. Audrey hadn’t known Dale was married. Though she had never actually looked at his ring finger. She cursed herself for not being more observant.

“Audrey Horne. My dad owns the hotel.”

“Well then, very nice to meet you.”

“Here’s Agent Cooper now!” You turned at her words. Dale came through the large doors of the hotel wearing his regular suit. He held up his tape recorder and was speaking.

“Diane, remind me to get Y/N the coffee here when she arrives. She’ll love it.” He walked right past the two of you. You laughed a bit and walked up to him, tapping his shoulder. He turned and his eyes went wide. He clicked off on the recorder and his arms went around you. “I was just thinking of you!”

“I heard!” You gave Audrey a wave and she gave you a half hearted one back. You walked away with Dale towards his room. “Diane said you were having some odd occurrences. Care to fill me in?”

“Gladly.” He put his hand gently on your back, smiling. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

====

Dale fixed your coat as you walked into the Double R before going out for the case. You were laughing at something he said as you sat down on the stools. Dale called over Shelly who walked over swiftly with a coffee pot.

“Agent Cooper, I see you’ve brought company,” she said kindly.

“This is my wife,” Dale said happily. Shelly raised an eyebrow as she poured Dale some coffee.

“Well, does your wife like her coffee black too?”

“Yes please,” you said kindly. Shelly nodded and poured you a cup as well. “Thank you very much.”

“Are you an agent as well?”

“Yes,” you said. “I’ve come to offer more help in the Palmer case.”

“Whatever help we can get,” Norma said, walking behind Shelly. You smiled gently and Shelly walked away to tend to other customers.

“Everyones been affected by Laura’s death,” Dale said.

“I can see that.”

====

For the final stop of the day before heading back to the hotel, Dale lead you to the sheriff's office.

“This is where I’ve been spending most of my time,” he explained walking through the doors. “Everyone here is very helpful, though I think Albert will be showing his face soon for the autopsy.”

“Oh wonderful.”

“Agent Cooper!” a small blonde woman called from behind a counter. She stood up. “Harry has been asking for you. I haven’t been able to get a hold of you. Oh you’ve brought a friend!”

“This is my wife, Y/N,” Dale said proudly. You shook her hand and she smiled brightly.

“Lucy.”

“Nice to meet you Lucy. Where is this Harry?”

“Just down the hall there.” You nodded. Dale and you walked where she pointed and soon came face to face with two men, one of whom you assumed was Harry.

“Are you the other agent they’ve sent?” one of them asked.

“This is my wife, Y/N.”

“How many times are we going to say that,” you asked, laughing quietly. You shook both mens hands.

“Harry Truman. This is Hawk. We’re very glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” You pulled up a chair. “Now. Tell me about Laura Palmer.”

#dale cooper x reader #dale cooper imagines

[hookedonapirate]

Set My Soul On Fire

Summary: What happens when the high school principal’s son falls in love with the pastor’s daughter? Hiding a relationship is hard, especially since Killian’s girlfriend is seventeen and not allowed to date until she’s thirty, it’s even harder to hide her pregnant belly. Can Killian save his relationship with Emma when her parents find out? Some miracles are worth fighting for no matter what. Especially when there’s a little hope involved and a whole lot of love.

Teen Pregnancy AU

Notes: Here's the epilogue! Hope you've enjoyed the story, and thank you so much for reading ❤️❤️❤️

In case anyone's interested, one of my new fics is a My Girl au where Killian and Emma play the roles of Harry and Shelly. I was surprised to find there are no cs My Girl fics currently written, or at least any I could find, and this is one of my favorite movies. No main character deaths, I promise!

Thank you so so much @ultraluckycatnd​ for beta reading this chapter at the last minute, and @onceuponaprincessworld​ for your feedback!

Thanks again to everyone for reading, to those who've made such beautiful artwork for this verse and to everyone who's supported me along this journey! I really enjoyed writing this fic!

Rated: Mature

Catch up: Ch 1 I Ch 2 I Ch 3 I Ch 4 l Ch 5 l Ch 6 l Ch 7 l Ch 8 I Ch 9 I Ch 10 I Ch 11 Ch 12 Ch 13

Also available: AO3 l FF.N

Epilogue

Over one year later...

The year has flown by so fast, Emma can’t believe she’s now sitting in the front row at church—the same church she married Killian in—watching her father’s sermon as she gently bounces baby Hope on her lap. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and perfect, but honestly, it could’ve been an absolute disaster and it still would’ve been perfect in Emma’s eyes.

After the service is over, Emma and Killian say goodbye to little Hope, giving her hugs and kisses as they hand her off to Brennan and his wife, Joanna.

It’s Emma’s and Killian’s one-year wedding anniversary, but she has no idea what he has up his sleeve. They say goodbye to her parents and Leo, and an Uber picks them up from church, which confuses Emma because they arrived at church in the SUV her parents got her as her graduation present. She’s even more confused when Killian wraps a blindfold over her eyes.

“Where are we going?”

She feels his warm lips on her forehead and his hand gently squeezing hers.

“You’ll see, love. You’ll see.”

After the car rolls to a stop, Killian guides her out, and the cool breeze sweeps around them as they walk.

When they finally come to a stop, she can feel Killian’s breath in her ear.

“Ready, sweetheart?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Killian removes the blindfold, and Emma’s eyes widen when she sees what’s in front of them.

They’re standing in a hangar with a plane.

Emma spins around to look at him. “Are we…” She can’t even get the words out, she’s so excited. She’s been waiting for Killian to fly her around ever since he got certified.

He grins and nods as he twirls a set of keys around his finger. “Aye, love. We’re going for a ride.”

Her eyes widen even more as she turns around again. “Is that the plane from the photo in our living room?”

When they moved in together over a year ago, Killian’s dad gave him a box of old photos of him as a kid, of Brennan’s sons and his father and the small plane Grandpa Jones would fly them around in, which had inspired Killian to want to be a pilot in the first place. “After my grandpa passed, my father kept it so that one day I might get to fly it myself.”

Emma’s speechless, her jaw practically on the pavement as she follows him around. After he walks the plane out of the hangar and checks the outside of the plane, he opens the door and climbs in before leaning over and holding his hand out for her. She steps on the wing and sits in the passenger seat, still amazed this is happening. She’s never been in a small plane before; she’s only ever been in a plane when her parents moved from Phoenix, and now she’s in a plane her husband is about to pilot. Her husband. The man of her dreams. The father of her baby girl. The only man she's even been with. The man she trusts more than anything in this world. The man who, only two years ago, showed her around school. The man she almost immediately knew was the one she wanted to be with forever.

Emma widens her eyes, completely overwhelmed by the array of dials and knobs as Killian hands her a headset.

“Put this on, sweetheart.”

Emma’s heart is pounding fast as they put on their headsets and fasten their seatbelts. This is one hell of an anniversary surprise, that’s for sure.

“Do you trust me, love?”

Emma smiles and doesn’t even have to think about her answer. “With my life.”

He leans over and kisses her cheek. “Okay, we’re going to do our pre-check. It’s required before every flight.”

Emma watches him in wonderment as he explains what he’ll be doing and does everything that needs to be done like he’s done this a million times.

When he turns the key, the propeller comes to life, creating a hum. Her heart races, and even though she trusts him completely, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. But it’s the kind of nervous every passenger who doesn’t fly often gets. Even though she’s nervous, she can’t help but think about how sexy Killian is as he uses pilot lingo to talk to the tower.

Killian tells her the weather is perfect, and Emma lets out a small sigh of relief. Sensing her anxiety, he takes her hand in his. “Just relax, baby. I’ve got you.”

His soothing words reassure her and when they’re cleared for takeoff, the plane starts to move, and soon, they’re speeding down the runway.

Butterflies take flight in her stomach when the plane lifts off, soaring through the air like glass. The town of Storybrooke is underneath them, lots of crystal blue water and houses and specs of people below them.

“Wow,” Emma gasps as she takes it all in. She has no idea where exactly they’re going, but she doesn’t care. She could fly around with him all day like this.

Once they land on another runway and the plane comes to a stop, Emma wraps her arms around him and kisses him fiercely, running her hands through his hair.

He chuckles against her lips. “I should take you flying more often.”

She smirks. “You’re sexy as a pilot. Well, you’re always sexy, but watching you fly this plane is super sexy.”

He arches a brow. “Really?”

She bites her bottom lip and nods. “Mhmm.”

“If I would’ve known that, I would’ve gotten certified a long time ago.”

Emma giggles and kisses him again.

When they climb out of the plane, her lips are still swollen and throbbing as they walk toward a building. They’re picked up by another Uber and it drives through an unfamiliar town, but she soon realizes they’re in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The car turns on Baker Street and stops at a tall, three-story house with a white picket fence.

Emma gasps as she gets out of the car. It looks like her dream home she told Killian about over a year ago when they talked about where they’d want to live in the future.

“I did some research and found this property that looked like it would be perfect to build a house on. So I discussed it with your father and he bought the land, but I’m saving up money to pay him back. I also got a lot and construction mortgage, and the monthly payments would be the same as if we were to rent an apartment. Now, Hope will get to run around a spacious backyard instead of a tiny apartment.”

Emma gapes at him in shock. “You had this house built?”

He nods. “Aye love. I want to give you and Hope everything. This is an exceptional neighborhood to raise a child in, and I already checked out the schools. I think they would be a good fit for our daughter.”

Emma grins from ear to ear. “Killian, this is amazing.” Once again, she wraps her arms around him and kisses the hell out of him. She can’t believe Killian did all of this. She may not have known about it, but it’s everything she wants and so much more.

~*~

Ten years later...

They moved into their new home three months after he showed it to Emma, and Killian framed the photo Liam took of him, Emma and Hope when they were cuddled together on the couch. He placed it on the mantel among their other photos. One of their senior prom with Killian’s arms wrapped around his fiancé from behind, placing his hands on her pregnant belly. She wore a beautiful pink gown that matched her blushing cheeks as she smiled radiantly at the camera. There’s a photo from their wedding day where they’re in a similar pose, only Emma’s wearing a gorgeous white wedding gown. There’s a picture of Emma holding Hope after being in labor for eight hours. His two loves looked absolutely perfect and radiant, just like they always do. There are also more recent photos of Emma and Killian with their four beautiful children. And in the center of the mantel is a screenshot of the text Killian sent to Will. The one of the picture Killian took of Emma on her first day at Storybrooke High School. The one Will told him to take if Emma was hot. The one where he added the text underneath:

Gentlemen, meet Emma. Aka my future wife. Aka future mother of all my babies 😍❤😍❤😍❤😍

He never knew how true that statement would be. He’d only hoped it would be.

She wasn't just hot, though. She was kind and beautiful and gave him hope for the future. She was everything. She still is.

So every time he leaves for a flight, he looks at the photo and remembers just how much he’s leaving behind, but will come back to every single time.

He literally has everything he’s ever dreamed of and so much more, and is not exactly sure how or why.

As he looks out into the vast sky and sees the sun break through the clouds out the windshield, radiant light filling the cockpit, he feels close to his mother, just as he always does up here.

He used to question why, if God existed, his mum was taken away from him; he would get so mad at God as a teenager because he didn’t understand why God would take away someone so good and pure and special. But he’s no longer bitter about it. Because not only is there an angel looking over Killian in heaven who he feels close to every time he takes flight, but God brought him an angel in human form on earth. And she gave him four beautiful children.

God brought him Emma, and as he feared ten years ago, once he looked up and his eyes met hers for the very first time, he never once looked back.

And he never will.

Tagging‌ ‌‌@teamhook‌‌ ‌‌@onceuponaprincessworld‌‌ ‌‌@itsfabianadocarmo‌‌ ‌‌@followbatb‌ ‌ @natzombeez‌‌ ‌‌@resident-of-storybrooke‌‌ ‌‌@ilovemesomekillianjones‌‌ ‌‌@kmomof4‌ ‌ @artistic-writer‌‌ ‌‌@jamif‌‌ ‌‌@darkcolinodonorgasm‌‌ ‌‌@nikkiemms‌‌ ‌‌@carpedzem‌ ‌ @ashley-knightingale‌‌ ‌‌@tiganasummertree‌‌ ‌‌@ultraluckycatnd‌‌ ‌‌@maquita‌‌ ‌‌@mariakov81‌ ‌ @bugheadswanjones‌‌ ‌‌@searchingwardrobes‌‌ ‌‌@andiirivera‌‌ ‌‌@melly326‌‌ ‌‌@squidvisious‌ ‌ @snow-into-ash‌‌ ‌‌@snowbellewells‌‌ ‌‌@kingofmyheart14‌‌ ‌‌@biefaless‌‌ ‌‌@superchocovian‌ ‌ @willow154‌‌ ‌‌@ouatpost‌‌ ‌‌@xsajx‌‌ ‌‌@holdingoutforapiratehero‌‌ ‌‌@onceratheart18‌ ‌ @moviequeen51‌ ‌ ‌

#cs ff #captain swan #set my soul on fire #my fic #epilogue

[anthonyjlockwood]

Okay so for some reason tumblr’s not letting me answer this BUT we have a screenshot so let’s proceed. 

send me words & if they appear in any of my WIPs, I’ll answer your ask with the sentence (or paragraph) that they’re in!

I don’t have the word “horse” (please direct all further questions to @willexmagic​ and also go read their polo AU because that absolutely will have horses)

Seeing Luke – normally as full of life as someone can be, when they’re a ghost – walk around like he’s haunted by something, shrugging off his friends’ concern and chugging along full speed ahead, is worrisome. Julie is worried about Luke, and she’s worried about Emily, even though she doesn’t know her. 

- and time is taking its sweet time erasing you

okay listen. this is an Incomplete Sentence but i’m putting it here anyway because i’m just a mess of a person and anybody who knows me or my fics is well aware of this. so. 

Music is definitely enough to keep him happy and feeling fulfilled. It is the other half of Luke’s soul. He’s fine – he will be fine – with just that.

And it stays that way – until the first Monday of Luke’s high school career, when Bobby Shaw (somethings) into his life.

- this doesn’t have a title yet but it’s a fic i’m not writing because I got an idea from @valiantlyweepingdreamer​ and our friend Faith’s soulmate AU that they’re working on 

All the times I’ve used the word “life” in my Letters Home fic are conveniently all together, so here’s that part (am I repeating any of these from any other asks? fucking probably. but we do not double check and we do not mention it if I do): 

He thinks about that last fight with his mom, and he selfishly wishes that she was by his side now, brushing his sweaty hair back from his burning-up forehead. Whispering reassurances in his ear that whatever happens, he was going to be okay. That she and his dad would be okay. And he thinks about how pointless it all was – all the fighting, the fire that he was so determined to keep burning. That feeling of suffocation, of being convinced that she was trying to dull his spark. How he’d thought it had just been because she didn’t understand him. That she never knew him at all, and thought that the safe, boring life she’d wanted for him would have been enough. That he’d feel at least some sense of success, however false or lacking it was.

He wants both of them to be okay. He wants to be able to reach out to her, reassure her that he’s okay, that he’s at peace. That no matter what happens, he’s lived a good life and he loves her, loves his dad. 

But he doesn’t feel that way. He doesn’t feel like he lived a good life. He doesn’t feel like he’s lived a life at all. The one he had was full of yearning, of dreaming, of wanting to be something that he just never got the chance to be. He wants more. But he was selfish and stupid and now he’s dying, and he’s taking his friends down with him. So he’s getting exactly what he deserves – he’s getting nothing. 

 And he can never talk to Emily Patterson again.

The fire is finally burning out; the last sparks of it flicker and it dies, slowly, dimming and dimming until it’s nothing but a thick tendril of smoke being swallowed up by a dark sky. 

And... I have “life” 40 times in all is well (goodbye, goodbye). LEARN SOME NEW WORDS SHELLY DAMN

It shouldn’t even make that much of a difference that he’s dead. 

Because yes, he lost his life, he lost a lot of things… but he really didn’t lose what was most important. His family. The one he chose, the one that meant way more than the arguing parents in the house by the beach, at least – not more than his brother, though; no, nothing could ever mean more to Reggie than Stevie did. He had Alex and Luke, so Reggie figured that no matter what happened, he’d be okay. 

And... no “marry” either, unfortunately! 

#ask games #answered asks #julie and the phantoms #jatp #fanfic wips

[fromyourrafterstoyourrails]

What is this? a Fic Review 👀

Have you ever read a story that changed your life? Ok, I’m overexaggerating a bit, but what else is the internet for. At about 7AM EST this morning, I was in my bed looking desperately for more WTF content (the paring between Foxtrot, Tango, & Whisky). There are only 18 works listed under their tag on ao3, and it’s a tragedy. Who doesn’t love a good OT3? And these three are a match made in hockey heaven.

I consider myself an avid reader of fanfiction and published stories alike and feel I can distinguish s good story from a great one. However, I had already read the 7 fics under this tag that sounded appealing, and I was hungry for more. So against my better judgment, I clicked on the one claiming to be a Gilmore Girls au. I think I was so averse to this story initially because I had never seen Gilmore Girls. I knew very little about the story and was hesitant to jump into an account bassed around this show’s central themes.

“Samwell is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone. That’s why everybody knows that Eric “Bitty” Bittle’s bakery is the only place to get a decent pie, why everybody knows that if you want to teach your kid to dance or sing you send them to Adam Birkholtz, and why everybody in town has a bet on when single dad Derek Nurse and diner owner and purveyor of Samwell’s best coffee Will Poindexter are going to finally stop messing around and get together.”

Boy, was I ever wrong. Almost There and Nowhere Near It by shellybelle (@geniusorinsanity), Published on June 3rd, 2018, and Finished on January 1st, 2019, is one of the best fics I have had the pleasure of reading. The CheckPlease fandom is no stranger to well-written stories. Having over 10 thousand published works on Archive of Our Own, there’s bound to be some gems hidden among the dust. But the writers in this community continue to surprise me with their attention to detail and astounding character development.

Shellybelle created a story with so many twists and turn in its 7 chapter run I couldn’t put my phone down. I laughed, and I yelled so much at these characters that I had only known for a few hours. Every ‘almost’ between the central paring of Derek Nurse and Will Poindexter had me furiously delighted, making the payoff at the end all the sweeter.

The author’s use of repetition throughout the story gave it a sense of community. Enticing the reader into the world of the small town of Samwell, Connecticut; population 8,476. The brilliant idea to start every new story point off with, This is _____, let the reader know that the story had progressed without the use of consistent line breaks (a pet peeve of mine).

As previously mentioned, I have never seen Gilmore Girls. But that shouldn’t discourage any potential readers from flocking to this tale. The way the story is laid out, you never need even know Gilmore Girls existed. This story stands strong all on its own.

Another part of this story that worried me was the amount of background ship and the tag promising that “everyone in Check Please makes a cameo.” It’s difficult to craft a well-written story while jumping from viewpoint to viewpoint, letting every character have their moment to shine. But Shellybelle has done it again. Every person got a satisfying ending without being to cliche (for fanfiction based on a drama show, that is). The shift between Derek and Ford’s love lives and how they intertwined m showing the father-daughter duo learning from each other mistakes, was literary genius.

I could go on about how much I love this fic, moving it solidly into my top 10 list but I'll let you all get on with your days. I hope anyone who stuck around to read all this gives Almost There and Nowhere Near It a chance. The story is beautiful and is great to read while curled up with a cup of tea. Hears to you, Shelly, for your beautiful story crafting.

#long post #sorry i was inspired #Shelly I'm gonna go read like everything you've ever written now #fic rec #fic review #omgcp #omgcp fic #Almost There and Nowhere Near It #nurseydex #omgcheckplease #william poindexter #derek nurse #fanfic #fanfiction #wtf omgcp #foxtrot tango wisky

[iffeelscouldkill]

Five Times That Park and McCabe Were Mistaken For a Couple

Summary: Despite what a lot of people assume, Jin-Seon Park and RJ McCabe are not a couple. 

A/N: The spark of inspiration for this fic came a few months ago when I was on a Murderbot Diaries fic-reading kick. Specifically, I was reading some fics that had great queerplatonic vibes between Murderbot and ART, and it hit me that I really envision Park and McCabe's relationship in the same way: a closeness that most would probably parse as romantic, but isn't necessarily. And I suddenly really wanted to do a fic for them which contained a bunch of 'romantic' tropes, but in a non-romantic context.

Behold the result! I started writing this in May, though most of it was written over the past couple of weeks. It was originally a post-2.05.5 fic, but I sprinkled in some references to characters we meet in the second half of season 2; however, it wasn’t written to be compliant with the finale, so you can read it as a canon divergence AU, or maybe far future canon fic? Reader’s choice :D

Also, if I had £1 for every time I wrote a 5 Times fic starring RJ McCabe I’d have £2, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Cross-posted to AO3

                                                              I

“So… are you my dad’s new datemate?”

RJ almost jumped out of their skin at the question, which came from a girl who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, with long hair that was tied up in a high ponytail and had dyed blue streaks in it. Right, this was Shelly – Agent Park’s daughter. Agent Park had mentioned, when he invited them to drop by later that evening to pick up some annotated copies of documents connected to the Iris casefiles that he’d been working on at home, that his teenage daughter was staying over. Apparently she lived with her mother, but spent alternate weekends at her father’s place. RJ had been inwardly hoping not to bump into her; they weren’t great at interacting with teenagers.

“…Datemate?” they repeated, when Shelly continued to look at them expectantly. Agent Park was upstairs, looking for the promised files, and had left RJ standing awkwardly in the kitchen clutching a mug of green tea. RJ began to wish even more desperately that he would reappear.

Shelly flicked the end of her ponytail over one shoulder. “Yeah, y’know, his… special friend? Dating partner? Romantic interest?”

RJ spluttered at the assumption Shelly had made, based purely on walking in to find a strange person in her father’s kitchen. “We’re colleagues! I’ve – I’m here to collect some files, that’s all.”

As if going to their superior’s house hadn’t felt intrusive enough – Agent Park had issued the invitation completely nonchalantly, like it was a normal thing to do, but RJ had been self-conscious from the moment they’d stepped through the door – now here they were, being mistaken for his dating partner. (At least, a small part of their mind noted, it meant that Shelly thought they were old enough to be in a relationship with Agent Park. But that was an odd silver lining).

Shelly shrugged. “I know there’s probably an edict somewhere forbidding workplace relationships among Agents of the Republic, but I just thought… I dunno. He never invites anyone over. I guess I was hopeful that he’d finally found someone new.”

RJ sipped at their tea to try and control their expression. Inappropriate didn’t even begin to cover this conversation (also, there were three edicts forbidding workplace relationships among IGR Agents) – but mostly RJ was baffled and fascinated by how uninhibited Agent Park’s daughter seemed. Having got to know him a little better over these past few weeks of working day and night on the Iris casefiles, they knew he wasn’t just the staid paper-pusher they’d initially pegged him as, but they’d still never imagined that his daughter would be so… lively. Irreverent.

As the silence stretched out, RJ offered, “I think he’ll be back down soon. He was just looking for the documents he needs to give to me.”

“It’s fine,” Shelly said, not seeming concerned. “I was just curious – I mean, something had to have happened to make him start liking his job again.”

RJ’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?” they asked, and almost immediately regretted the question. It wasn’t any business of theirs, even if it was to do with the job. They kept an ear out for Agent Park’s approach, almost guiltily hoping he wouldn’t walk back into the kitchen at that moment.

Shelly appraised RJ for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to confide in them, then said, “You know, working longer hours, actually seeming happy for a change… He didn’t hate it before, but I think he was bored. And tired. He always changed the subject when I brought it up, but then today, when I asked how work was? He actually smiled.”

Okay, so RJ could kind of see where the ‘new relationship’ conclusion had come from. They thought back, trying to determine whether they’d noticed the radical transformation in their boss that Shelly was describing. But it was hard to say, because at the beginning they’d been caught up in the excitement of their first real case, and trying to get up to speed with things as fast as was humanly possible. Plus, they knew now that their early impressions of Agent Park didn’t represent the whole picture.

And Agent Park did smile, sometimes – just the other day they’d caught a glimmer of amusement on his face as they complained about the crabbed handwriting that Clark had used to submit her latest report, wondering aloud if they should get a specialist from the Decryption Unit in to decipher it. (RJ couldn’t lie – it felt pretty good to make their typically-stoic boss crack a smile).

Read the rest on AO3!

#TSCOSI #RJ McCabe #Jin-Seon Park #Park & McCabe #queerplatonic relationship #QPR #fluff #5 Times #5 Things fic #Shelly (yes she's Park's daughter in this even though I know it doesn't quiiiite fit) #but honestly I'm not convinced there is an explanation for Shelly that makes total sense xD #fic

[sophfandoms53]

History Repeats Itself AU One Year Anniversary

I can’t believe that it’s been an entire year since I’ve created this AU! Seriously, I feel like it was a few months ago. But nope. A whole year. It’s crazy how much has changed from then to today. I hope you are all staying safe and inside!

This AU has grown in a massive way that I could have never predicted. I never intended on creating a whole book to follow the AU but y’all wanted more and I realized how much I could explore with this AU and I’m so thankful for all the love and support, seriously it means the world to me. This AU helped me get back on my feet when things were extremely dark and bleak, so I really appreciate it.

Okay enough sappy stuff lmao, lets get to the purpose of this post.

To celebrate my AU’s one year anniversary I wanted to do something a little different compared to my other two big posts. Instead of writing mini fics about the events, I’d just show you guys what’s coming up and explain it without revealing too much. Mainly this will be about certain character’s plot points and their arcs. Just wanna have some fun with a dash of feels inbetween.

So let’s begin!

So obviously this is the start of Troy and Skye’s investigation. They stumble upon this hidden room in the archives, similar to Della’s, and the entire room is in dedication to Dewey Duck. An idea that manifested between Huey, Shelly and Louie and it became a reality.

For Troy, this starts as a gold mine. All the stories about his families adventures, a lot of those artifacts, are in this room. Most of his attention is on all the artifacts as he comes to realize how much his parents hid from him. They had this entire room and no one ever told him about despite him constantly visiting The Archives. Although at first he doesn’t initially realize this room is about his Uncle Dewey, he see’s that when he looks over at Skye.

The first thing Skye saw upon walking in was the portrait of her father, and that’s where she remained fixated for a while. Even after Troy walks over, he too becomes distracted by it. This is the first time Skye has seen her father outside of the family photo Webby showed her and her brothers when they were young. Her emotions are all over the place. Her initial impression of her dad was not him being an adventurous person. So seeing this portrait, and the painting from the other day, it solidified her father was definitely not what she thought.

Seeing all this, Skye immediately wanted her brothers to know. She knew they were just as curious as she was, well maybe Danny a little more than Chase. But regardless, that was the plan.... until.

The note.

Louie,

I need to use The Curse Of The Sirens. I know this is late notice. I hope to explain soon. I’m sorry.

- Dewey

Once this was read. Any plan or idea they had, went out the window. They had more questions than answers and Skye became even more confused about who her father was. When Troy suggested that Dewey betrayed the family and used the curse to do so, the two came to an agreement to keep everything hushed until they found out the truth.

They just weren’t prepared for how complicated and messy the truth was.

Oh Lena. Lena, Lena, Lena, I’m so sorry.

Lena is still definitely a mess in this AU. 11 years of corruption when you thought you left your past behind? Yeah that does stuff to ya. However, during the first 5 years of everything happening, she was able to fight back and remain in control during the day time, she was able to be a proper mother and teach Aurora how to control her magic, but at night? The darkness took over. Similar to how Magica’s powers were connected to the Lunar Eclipse (this comes into play later too). After year 5, Lena had no choice but to banish herself away to protect her daughter and everyone else. Unfortunately this left her bound to Aurora as a shadow and the darkness causes Lena to manipulate her.

Once set free from the Shadow Realm, Lena imprisons both Aurora and Louie (not realizing this would allow them to talk and figure out their relation) and takes over the bin, in a similar manor like Magica. Although, Lena transforms a section the money bin into her own little place, creating her throne. She sent shadows and darkness rapid around Duckburg and enjoyed every second of it.

This does come back to be a huge regret when Lena is reformed and the darkness is sealed away in the Shadow Realm, along with Aurora who made the sacrifice to give her mother another shot at life. Due them both being shadow’s (in Aurora’s case half shadow) Lena is still able to keep contact with her in her shadow form, and the two work together on how to free her, while repairing their broken relationship slowly, but steadily.

Yup, Magica’s still around. Her number one target? Sweet little Aurora.

Lena’s not the only one keeping contact with her daughter in the Shadow Realm, Magica is too. Magica see’s how vulnerable and confused Aurora is and she wants to feed on that.

She wants to lure Aurora in and make her feel like she can help, teach everything there is to know about magic. Any question she had, Magica would answer. Aurora would be the key to gaining back all her magic abilities, which she slowly gained feeding off of Lena in order to corrupt her.

Due to Aurora being half duck/half shadow, it would grant Magica more power than ever before. She’d have the ability to manipulate more than dreams and shadows, she could manipulate things in the real world. All she needs is a new puppet.

After all, they’re family, right?

I kinda showed this moment already, but I wanted to bring it up again to clarify something. (And an excuse to draw Danny with his hair zoosh so y’all can see them side by side lmao)

Danny is not the kid Dewey is going to have the most trouble building a relationship with. This little moment is meant to emphasize, for Danny, that Dewey knows who he is, uses his proper birth name, Daniel, and he accepts his father with open arms.

All Danny wanted was for his father to know his name and show that Dewey was trying to connect with him. That little moment was enough for Danny to want to create a proper bond with his dad, and they do just that.

Dewey quickly bonds with both Skye and Danny once he comes home. Which makes sense as Skye dedicated most of her life to finding out the truth about her dad and was the first to accept his offer to be a proper father and Danny is a happy-go-with-the-flow 8 year old kid, he’s game for anything.

Notice how I missed someone? Well....

Look familiar?

Currently a WIP as I’m figuring out the background, but yes this is that infamous scene between Della and Louie.

Unlike his brother and sister, Chase struggles to find any common ground with Dewey. On his first day home, Chase admits to feeling completely disconnected from him due to Dewey and everyone else mentioning specific aspects of his father that Skye and Danny inhabit. He feels lost in the middle as most of Dewey’s time is spent with either Skye or Danny, while he just watches.

Chase believes his father is unaware of his heart condition (which comes into play during their fight) as Dewey never brought it up upon meeting. Chase is so use to his mom and doctors taking care of him that he struggles having his father around, a lot.

Attention is something Chase wants, but he never knows how to go about it because he doesn’t wanna seem weak or have it come back to his heart condition, sometimes he just wants someone to spend time with him and not bring that up.

This cultivates into Chase internalizing his frustration for his father’s attention that he does something drastic and it all goes south and falls apart in the matter of minutes. He got his father’s attention, but not in the way he wanted.

The reason this conflict is with Chase rather than Danny is, Chase is the middle child, just the same as Dewey. It felt fitting that Dewey would clash with the kid who inhabited his middle child syndrome and thirst for attention.

Similar to Della and Louie, Dewey calls Chase out for going completely overboard just because he wanted some attention when Chase could’ve just vocalized his frustration instead of thinking he had control over the whole situation and that he hadn’t thought through every variable or how it would affect the entire family. This, of course, provokes Chase to say,

“Oh? And who does that sound like?”

-

And that’s all for now! Again, thank you all for the support of the AU, it’s absolutely insane how far we have come and I cannot wait to share more with you guys. You all mean the world to me.

Happy One Year History Repeats Itself!!!

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #ducktales au #history repeats itself au #ducktales fanart #dewey duck #troy duck #skye duck #chase duck #lena de spell #lena sabrewing #aurora de spell #aurora de spell duck #magica de spell #i rlly like dewey’s outfit in the last drawing #probs gonna draw it separately later lmao

[ablogofthecriminalmindsvariety]

Hi! I was wondering if you could write a small fic about how the te found out about Reid's daughter? Like he doesn't tell them about her in fear of being criticize for being a single parent? Maybe like Amanda gets kidnapped by an unsub who holds children hostage to get random money, but he kills them if the money doesn't arrive on time or the parents don't give in? It's up to you how to write it.

I’m going to say that Amanda is four, almost five, and that he’s just very, very good at hiding it because he’s scared of everything and the team, though they’re sad he didn’t think he could trust him, understand, and they eventually find a way to overcome that.

--

Spencer hadn’t told the team that he had a daughter. He was so young, and a single dad, and his life didn’t exactly conform to it… so he hadn’t said anything. He’d been trying to, but… he just really didn’t know how. He loved her, he loved her with all his being, but he was so scared to connect the two parts of his life, get her at all involved in anything related to his work. There were so many bad things that happened every day, he didn’t want his daughter to be related to that in any way, period.

But that was too much to ask for, wasn’t it? He couldn’t have things the way he wanted. His baby, his little girl, his poor little girl, so full of love and life and had so much left to do was taken from him, right under his nose. He should have known better, that lines would get crossed and things would get mixed up at one point or another, and he should have taken it upon himself to do that on his terms.

He knew something was wrong when the sitter called in a panic. She called occasionally, when Amanda was upset and she needed to hear the sound of his voice, but this wasn’t that. This was a different kind of emotionally frayed. She sounded panicked. Frantic. 

“Shelly, what’s wrong? What happened? Is Amanda okay?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I-I… I just got up to get a drink of water for her, she was thirsty, and I could still see her, but I turned my back for a second and-and-and, I… I…”

“Shh, Shelly. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Breathe in, and tell me what happened.”

“I turned my back for a second, just for a second! And-and I guess… I guess he got in and I didn’t see him because.. Because then Amanda was crying, and I turned around and he hit me with something and I couldn’t see his face and I passed out and I woke up and now she’s gone and all there was was a note about…. He wants money and I’m so sorry!”

He felt like his blood had frozen in his veins. No. No. No no no no no no no no. He felt like someone had stolen the air out 

“He snuck into the house in the middle of the day, and he hit you over the head and took Amanda?”

“Yes, he… I called the police, just a few minutes ago, and they said-said to come down, and… and I....”

“Okay, Shelly, breathe. Breathe. I… I’m there now. Come talk to an office, and I’ll come find you, alright?”

“Okay.” She took a few deep breaths. “I… I’ll be there soon, Dr. Reid. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

He didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t know what to say, to do. But he figured that there was something that he probably should do.

Guess it was time to let everyone in on his little secret.

He headed into the room that the rest of the team was residing in, talking amongst themselves. Might as well just rip the bandage off.

“I… um… guys, I’ve got… I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

Suddenly, all of their attention was turned on him, their gazes concerned, and he almost felt about ready to burst into tears from the million things that he was feeling all at once. “What is it, Reid?” Hotch finally asked.”

“I…” He took a deep breath before blurting out, “I have a daughter and I think our unsub took her. And I’m really sorry that I didn’t tell you about her before, but I just didn’t want to cross wires with this part of my life and that part of my life because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, but now this happened and I’m so sorry, and I just… I really need to find her.”

They all stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. JJ was the first to speak up. “Spence… you… you have a daughter, and you didn’t…. Why didn’t you think you could tell us?”

“I was… I was scared. I’m young, and I’m a single dad, and I don't want her involved in any of this and I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I wanted to, but I didn’t know how and I’m sorry. And I promise, I promise, I’ll tell you all about her and I’ll let you be in her life and I’m so sorry I didn’t before, but please, please just help me get her back.”

The room was silent for a few moments before Derek spoke up. “Alright, kid. Alright. Calm down. We’ll find her.”

He nodded. They would. They had to. He didn’t know what he’d do if they didn’t.

He couldn’t remember a time that he’d been more determined to finish a case, never been more focused on an end goal before in his life.

He talked to the sitter, he looked over the details, talked to the sitter again, read the note a million times, considered, heavily considered just giving in and transferring the money, but he knew, he did, that that wasn’t what he should do.

He didn’t eat, didn’t sleep for the next seventeen hours, by the end, he was just running on fumes, but they did it, they found her, they found where she was, and they got her, they got the guy, the did it.

She looked scared, and dirty, and about ready to burst into tears. And when she saw him, she started crying. And so did he. He scooped her up into his arms and held her to his chest, a hand carding through her tangled hair as he told that she was okay, and he was going to protect her and that he had her, it was okay now, he loved her, he was sorry.

Reluctantly, he let go of her so the medics could look over her, hovering close by as they did.

“She’s cute.” 

He nearly jumped out of his skin. “Huh?” He turned his head to find Dave standing next to him. “Oh, I, uh.. Thanks.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It wasn’t planned. The mom isn’t in the picture, she… she kind of did a drop and run.” He stared down at his shoes, like they were much more interesting than they were. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be. I get why you did it.”

“I won’t… I want you to be in her life. I shouldn't have handled it the way I did.”

“You were scared and you didn’t know what to do. I get it.”

“I do want you to be in her life, though. You’re my family, and… and you’re hers now.” He cleared his throat. “Would… would you like to meet her?” He asked softly after a few moments.

“I’d love to, Spencer.” He headed over to where the medics were finishing up checking over her.

“Mandy? There’s someone I’d like you to meet. This is Mr. Rossi.”

“Hi… hi, Mr. Rossi.” Her tone was quiet, timid.

“You can call me Dave, sweetheart.”

“Um…. um, okay. Hi, Dave.”

“Hello, Amanda. It’s lovely to meet you.” He stuck out his hand in offerening, closed in a fist.

She smiled a little as they bumped hers against his.

God, he wished he’d done this sooner.

#criminal minds #reid #spencer reid #aaron hotch #aaron hotch hotchner #aaron hotchner #hotchner #hotch #derek morgan #morgan #jareau #jj #jennifer jj jareau #jennifer jareau #jj jareau #mine #rossi #david rossi #dad rossi #my writing #criminal minds fic #my wriring

[stonerbughead]

maria watches friday night lights (#4)

season 2, pt 2!! (2x08-2x15)

ugh Matt is really having his Being A Stupid Teenage Boy season huh?

-lol love a good naked dude being chased scene — in this case, Smash on his recruiting trip being chased around by a potential future teammate. Classic.

(it’s kinda cute that Matt came to pick him up tho)

- the latest in season 2 being off the fucking rails: really? Riggins’ new digs include a meth lab on wheels??

-Landry confessing to murdering someone and then having his sheriff dad drag him out of the station to go home is the whitest shit EVER. Like, Landry is literally *trying* to be punished and they just won’t punish his white, cop-kid ass. ‘Murica. (I mean don’t get me wrong: it WAS self defense against someone literally stalking and trying to rape Tyra, but the point still stands that if Landry was a black kid he’d have been tried as an adult and convicted no doubt)

-YESSSSS a MySpace shoutout! we love to see it

“I hate you” - Santiago (and also me) @ Buddy Garrity

-omg Coach Taylor noticing that things aren’t good at home for Riggins and taking him in, my heart!

-Wow in just one scene Riggins charmed baby Grace, warned Tami’s sister not to shame women for eating a lot (“it can lead to anorexia, especially in girls”) and then offered to go out to the store to get baby formula in the pouring rain. What a man.

-and yes, Shelly, you fully grown woman, it IS a bad idea to lust after a TEENAGE BOY

-wow Riggins protecting Julie from the SUPER DRAMATIC TORNADO that made me laugh. Do we get to have a Riggins-Julie friendship??? bc I’d be down. We need more friendships.

-Thank you, Tami, saying “EW” to her sister watching Riggins work out! Someone has sense to know a fully grown woman shouldn’t be lusting after a teenager! Julie can lust if she wants tho, that’s age appropriate.

-DYING at Landry being aghast that Tyra’s never heard of West Side Story.

-oh god, Lyla — it is totally fair to assume your mom would tell your dad she’s getting remarried, especially if she knew you’d be seeing him — so I’m sorry you’re the one who accidentally set off whatever nonsense Buddy is gonna pull now that he knows his ex wife is “marrying that treehugger.”

“Who’s that?” “Some douchebag named Chip. who names their kid Chip anyway?” Same, Tyra, same.

-Landry, one of my biggest pet peeves is asking someone out while they’re on the clock. Like, come on! let Tyra work, boy.

-Jesus Christ it’s like everywhere Julie looks, she has to see Matt making out with someone. That’s rough.

-and oop Matt you busted bc Julie actually knows who Carlotta is!

-once a cheater, always a cheater, Buddy. And yes to Pam for being like “nah bye I’m happy now, it is over.” You treated her like garbage so here we are, sir!

-hilarious that Landry is the one who ends up throwing the first punch that gets the post-tornado, school-crossover tensions to finally boil over

-I like that they show both the fall formal and the party where everyone who didn’t go to the formal is. Nice.

-Aw poor Julie got drunk af to deal with all her feelings. This really is the season where they have Julie and Matt being sixteen year olds in the most painful ways. So maybe it’s good they’re not together during this tho I’m still looking forward to when the tide turns their way again.

-anyway, Tim is a good friend for getting the creep who thought he was “one beer away from getting laid” off of Julie.

-And....in true Texas dad fashion, Eric Taylor misinterprets everything! Noooo. We can’t have nice things.

-This Noelle-Smash partnership is definitely an interesting pairing. Two very ambitious football people courting all these recruiters while Smash’s mom side eyes them in the corner? Hilarious.

-omg not this Oklahoma tech recruiter harassing smash’s mom in the grocery store! GTFO here! Give her some fucking personal space. They really do such a good job of showing as much of the toxic shit about football culture as the inspiring, big moments.

-Aw and I love that Tami tried to help Mama Smash get the guy to go away. It’s such a familiar scene, women helping each other get a dude harassing them away. And then they have a heart to heart in the parking lot? Love that.

-omg what a throwback that Shelly TAPED OVER Eric’s football game to tape a NEW EPISODE of The Office! Love it. “Y’all should get a TiVo.”

-omg watching Tami and Eric work out arguments is so beautiful, they communicate very well! We stan a good marriage.

-wow seeing the other coach from tornado school lose his shit publicly after he knocked down Riggins was uh....wild???? This is the second time he put his hands on Riggins!

-awww Eric actually coming to apologize to riggins for overreacting about Julie when he hears the real story??? Love it.

-Weevil from Veronica Mars shows up as a friend of Santiago’s? Of course.

-WOW and Logan from Gilmore girls as a Christian radio host...tracks.

“Is that your way of telling her you like her?” Jason making a surprisingly astute observation about Tim. (And Lyla.)

-yo why would you invite your daughter’s boyfriend’s family over for dinner just to say they shouldn’t date? (And bc it’s an interracial relationship.) Southern culture is wild to me lol

-wow the racist coach from last season is now off spouting his mouth about how “no wife of mine would be working with a kid at home.” I love that Eric calls him out as sounding stupid and ignorant — you better!

-hearing that Lyla burned her cheerleading uniform is one of the most badass things she’s done so far tbh along with that dealership destruction

-off the rails update: 2x12 was toooo much!! Like, Jesus between Smash’s sister getting harassed at the movie theater by the racists who hate on smash and Noelle...and this plotline with Santiago and his old friends trashing Buddy’s place...it’s like, can we breathe.

-I could not be more excited for Carlotta to leave and another teenage boy with adult woman relationship to end.

-wow can’t believe the plotline where Riggins stole $3000 from a drug dealer isn’t ending well for him. And now Smash is getting arrested bc of those racist guys from the movie theater episode? One recap I read said that too many of this season’s plots feel contrived and I think that sums it up.

-is there any character who HASN’T worked at Buddy Garrity’s dealership at this point?!

-and yikes at all the other salespeople being mad that a salesperson in a wheelchair was hired...y’all mad ugly and ableist for that

-Tyra and Landry are....confusing

-Wait Logan from GG is an actual preacher and not just a Christian radio host? CREEPY. And he kissed Lyla? A lot to unpack there.

-lol Tim trying to woo Lyla is kinda funny to watch simply bc Tim is clearly so confounded by rejection

-I love how much space they give for Smash’s sister’s pain in the Noelle-Smash theater incident. A lesser show wouldn’t have centered her as much.

-is it mean of me to say Jason is boring AF most of the time

-yeah this dreads girl is seemingly way more compatible with Landry than Tyra yikes! Like she made him a power metal mix cd???

-wow this Smash storyline where mouthing off to the press is what gets him suspended....really checks out bc teenage boys are dumb

-I love Tami as a volleyball coach and getting to see another sport! Also as someone who’s been on a losing team I know that feeling of finally winning a game!!! Go Dillon volleyball!!! (Am I maybe currently writing a Bughead fic based on my underdog field hockey experiences? ;) yes yes I am)

-Oh shit now Saracen’s at the nihilistic Nothing Matters phase of teenage angst. Right on schedule!

-lol these two short haired blondes (white dreads Jean and Tyra) being in a love triangle with Landry is wild

-Omg jean just said, “are you a friend or are you competition?” She is not playing!

-I love Riggins dragging Saracen to practice

“I don’t want you to become at an at-risk youth” -Landry teasing Saracen while also sincerely caring about him is some of the best friendship banter on this show. The accuracy 😂

-It seems like Julie gets a lot of hate? But I think I have such a soft spot for Julie bc I was a bitchy teenager with undiagnosed mental health disorders and I just wish so much #growth for her! Also I really do miss her and Saracen’s relationship, I’m so excited I’m almost at S3 where it seems like it’s happening again?

-LOL this guy at the dmv is the first person in Dillon to be like, “no I hate football.” That tracks.

-wow Saracen is getting driven to the hospital to make sure his grandma is okay by the sex worker who was just giving him a lap dance. Amazing.

-also I hope grandma is okay!

-okay Tyra throwing her hat in the ring for Landry at the last minute? Idk I think Jean deserves the win but there’s no way it’ll happen bc she’s a guest actor?!

-awww Saracen’s abandonment issues coming out whiles he in the tub after being sobered up by Eric Taylor. “There’s nothing wrong with you.” 😭 and “your daughter left me for a better guy” - will take that crumb — first mention of Julie out of Saracen’s mouth in a minute

-hey, Landry, my friend: flirting with a girl (Jean) to get her outside then dumping her immediately is kind of a wild bait and switch. But I get it, he’s been in love with Tyra for a long time and Tyra IS right — they had a very fucked up start to their relationship so it makes sense she needed a minute to process her ~feelings~. however I definitely identified closer to a jean in my high school experience L O L (minus the unacceptable white dreads)

-these Julie and Tami driving scenes are painfully accurate, btw. Love them.

-wow the scene of Smash hyping everyone up, the adrenaline/energy of the team cheering with helmets and a classic “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” - then the whole team running out onto the field and leaving an empty locker room with just Smash breaking down into tears....#art

-alright y’all I’m gearing up for the last episode of S2! Thanks to @lockitin for reminding me this is the writers’ strike season — I was in eighth grade then and remember being pissedddd about the shortened fourth season of “the office” — so I’m fully prepared for the abruptness to come.

-I love when they parallel showing the white church and the black church

-and Tim going to church just to see Lyla makes me laugh

-ooooof Jason you cannot put on this waitress you had a one night stand with the fact that this could be your only chance to have a baby!!! Omg this poor woman who just pointed out she, too, is NINETEEN.

-wait so is Riggins doing a sports show on a Christian radio station? What?

“I think you’re really hot. Your long hair reminds me of Jesus” -Christian girls being horny for Riggins LOL

-awww Saracen being like “okay Landry you’re gonna impress Tyra right now” before that football play was a cute friendship moment for those two

-aww I love how this Smash storyline is turning out with Coach Deeks whose had his eye on him for six years my heart 😭

-also unclear to me whether Logan Huntzberger the Preacher is a fully grown adult dating a high school senior?? Biggest teen drama pet peeve once again! Stop this!

-Tami is my heroine for just leaving Eric at the restaurant fighting with her ex. “see you at home, honey!”

-I’m sorry, is Jason gonna like actually convince this girl to have a baby with her one night stand at 19??? Oh lol wait THAT ended up being the cliffhanger of the whole season? Fucking hilarious.

well I made it through season 2!!! Super psyched for Season 3, Jay has been hyping me up for it. See y’all next time! (I’ll try to post more for season 3 bc this accidentally got long af.)

#maria watches friday night lights #mine #friday night lights #friday night lights 2x08 #friday night lights 2x09 #friday night lights 2x10 #friday night lights 2x11 #friday night lights 2x12 #friday night lights 2x13 #friday night lights 2x14 #friday night lights 2x15

[queen-of-deans-booty]

A History Lesson

Characters: Tour Guide!Alex Calvert x Reader

Word Count: 889

Warnings: none

Summary: you know more about your own town than the tour guide does. maybe it’s time to share your knowledge.

Squared Filled: Bookstore au // Tour Guide!Alex

Author’s Note: I know some of you have requested fics, and I promise I will get to them. I just need to finish these bingos before the deadline in June/July of this year. I am also trying to post daily again so bear with me. This is for @spnfluffbingo2019 and @spnaubingo and this is unbeta’d and any and all mistakes are all on me.

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

Everyone that comes through your small bookstore has a purpose. A student with a paper due at midnight that they’re trying to cram for. A little girl who looks for a book her dad told her so much about before he died. Someone just trying to get away from their home life, to drown themselves in a book for hours on end. A sweet old lady who gathers children from the behavioral center just to read to them. Some listen, others don’t.

Everyone that comes through your small bookstore, you know personally, all except for him. Being a small store and everything gave you the opportunity to get to know your customers. What kind of books they like, ones they hated, and ones they look at every time they come in but never had the guts to pick it up and read it. He was different.

He never came in for one thing. A week ago, you never saw his face anywhere in your life. Twice a day this gorgeous man would come in, pick a book, sit in his little corner, and read it front to back. Always a book, never the same genre. He never talked to anyone, never seemed as if he had the time. It’s the only reason why you hadn’t gone over to him in the first place.

He seemed so lost in his tiny world, you were afraid of bursting it with your curiosity. He must be new to town since you’ve never seen him in your bookstore before. Someone who does that much reading, you would have at least noticed.

One of your dreams growing up was to own a bookstore. It didn’t matter how small or big it was. Actually, the smaller the better. It allowed for more interaction with your customers. Due to living in a small town, you had the advantage of already knowing your customers. This way, you were able to dig deeper.

Another reason for wanting a bookstore of your own was for the lives you’ve changed. That student with their paper, they are able to find books that big libraries wouldn’t have on call. That little girl whose book means everything to her, it’s only found here due to it being so old. That someone trying to get away from their home life can read in the cozy section you made up so that they could feel like this was their second home. That group of kids the old woman reads to, they are learning that reading isn’t all textbooks and homework; it can be fun too. They’re all connected in your mind.

All except for him.

“Do you know that gentleman?” you asked Shelly, the woman who came by every day to return her late books that you so graciously let her keep overdue. She’s having a hard time at home with her husband dying about a month ago, so you try to keep her life as stressless as possible.

“No, I’m afraid I’m not,” she said as she shakily handed over her books. There were more overdue, but you didn’t say anything about it.

“Have you seen him before?”

“I thought I saw him walking out of city hall the other day. But, I could be mistaken.”

“Thanks, Shelly. You doing okay?”

“As can be expected. You’re a good soul, Y/N. One of the good ones,” she smiled kindly as she left the store. Looking back at the man, you caught him looking back at you. Blushing, you looked away and busied yourself so that he wouldn’t feel inclined to come over to you. Handsome or not, he is still a stranger you didn't know. For all you knew, he had a gun on him and would shoot the place up for you looking at him wrong.

“Excuse me?” the man asked as he approached the counter. Looking up, you put on your best face possible.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“Hi,” he looked at your name tag with a smile before going back to your eyes, “Y/N. I’m looking for a book. It’s a book about World War 2, especially the history of it in this town.”

“You looking to brush up on some fun facts? You a history nerd?” you smiled once you felt the calming waves come from his body.

“I’m actually the new tour guide. I guess word travels fast in this small town. My job starts on Monday, and I really want to make sure I have everything memorized before I start,” he chuckled nervously.

“You know, it’s not fair you know my name and I don’t know yours,” you flirted.

“Alex. Alex Calvert,” he laughed. “You live here long?”

“My whole life. I know this town like the back of my hand,” you said, suddenly getting an idea.

“Lucky you.”

“You know, they say the best way to learn is by doing. You can read all you want about my town, but you’re not going to learn everything. Not everything is in those books. I could show you if you want. Give you a history lesson so to speak.”

“A tour guide being the tourist,” he laughed.

“So, is that a yes?”

“Yes, I’d really like that.”

“Great. My shift is over in 30 minutes if you want to wait.”

“My pleasure,” he grinned, shaking your hand.

*****************************************************************************************************

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#supernatural fanfiction #alexander calvert #alexander calvert x reader #alexander calvert fanfiction #alex calvert #alex calvert x reader #alex calvert fluff #alex calvert fic #alex calvert fiction #alex x reader #alex fic #alex fiction #alex fanfiction #alex fluff #alex fan fiction #spn #spn fic #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn fan fic #spn fluff #supernatural

[ladylynse]

Um, i can't click on the stories in the see more fics things

...I have no idea why, but you’re right, I can’t either when I go to that post. But when I click on the post to edit it, they all show up. I’ll copy and paste the post into this and see if it works:

A list of my three sentence fics by fandom(s) and characters/prompts so they’re easier to find! Alternatively, check out my tumblr fic masterpost, random WIP scenes and snippets, fic ideas, or find me on FFnet and the AO3! Also, take a peek at the fanart and fanfic I’ve been gifted. If you like my work, you can consider buying me a coffee.

Fandoms:American Dragon: Jake LongAo No Exorcist/Blue ExorcistDanny PhantomDaredevilFirefly/SerenityGravity FallsHarry PotterMerlinMiraculous LadybugRandy Cunningham: 9th Grade NinjaSupernaturalThe Adventure ZoneVoltron: Legendary Defender

Crossovers:Secret Quartet (DP/ML/AD:JL/RC9GN)ML/AD:JLML/DPSuperPhantom (DPxSPN)Phantom Falls (DPxGF)DP/RotGFirefly/TAZ (sorta)DP/OtGWDaredevil/SPNDP/Daredevil

American Dragon: Jake Long:Rotwood, 88, and 89 (”reveal”)Jake and Rose (”Huntsclan!Jake AU”) [FF | AO3]Haley (and Fu, Jake, and Rose) (”Huntsclan!Jake AU”)Susan and Lao Shi ( ”Huntsclan!Jake AU” //death (not really but still)) (expanded: FF | AO3) Rotwood and Jake (”Rotwood is pleased that Jake fits in a duffel bag”) / follow up / follow up / follow up Susan, Jake, Haley (Huntsclan!Jake AU “scales”)Jake, Fu (”Jake accidentally gets a kangaroo pouch in dragon form”) (1+5) Rose and Jake (Huntsclan!Jake AU “Why are you acting like this?”) (1+5) Blue Exorcist:Rin and Yukio (”capes”)

Danny Phantom: Jazz and Dani (stranger)Maddie and Plasmius (unexpected guest)Maddie and Dani (”escape”)Vlad (”have a heart” //blood, gore)Valerie and Danny (”What did you do with the body?”)Red Huntress and Phantom (”What did you do with the body?” //blood, death)Maddie and Plasmius (”impervious”)Vlad/Plasmius and Danny (”You can’t stop me”)Danny, Jack, and Maddie (”Uh...surprise?”)Danny, Sam, Tucker, OC ghost (”It is time to do the laundry”)Danny and Jazz (“lightning”)Valerie and Skulker (“horizontal”)Dani and Jazz (“family”)Maddie and Jack (“light switch”)Maddie and Jazz (“fool’s gold” //implied torture)Tucker (“folklore” //implied past torture/death)Danny (”college”/not angst)Danny and Sam (”purple” “DxS”)Danny (”badger in Vlad’s bag”) (follow up: 1+5) Vlad (”betrayal”)Dani, Jack, Maddie, Danny (”Jack and Maddie meet Dani”)Dani and Mr Lancer (”Lancer meets freshman Danielle Fenton”)Jazz, Danny, (Jack) (”Jack has a dad sneeze”)Danny and Maddie (”angst”) (x2, warnings for the second one: //blood, gore, vivisection, torture)Valerie (”cold”)Valerie and Mr. Lancer (”Mr. Lancer finds out about Valerie”)Danny and Dora (”sword”)Dash, Danny, (Kwan) (”Dash steals Lancer’s gradebook”) (follow up: 1+5) Dash, Desiree (”Dash steals Lancer’s gradebook” different version) (1+5) Danny and Valerie (”Danny, why do you have Mr. Lancer’s wallet?”)Vlad and Danny (”Vlad captures Danny in a thermos”)Vlad and Danny (”Vlad kidnaps Danny again” //drowning, torture)Maddie, Valerie, Dani (”blue”)Vlad, Maddie, Ghostwriter (”reveal”)Danny and Vlad (”Danny in a baby sling” à la this post) / follow upJazz and Danny (”tomorrow” //kicked out)Dani and Vlad (”forgive”)Danny and Lancer (”Per Tucker’s dare...”) (1+5) Danny and Vlad (”You’ll change your name...”) (1+5) Danny, Maddie, Jack (”impossible”)Tucker, Sam, Danny (”petrichor”) (1+5) Danny (”If I move fast enough....”) (1+5) Jazz, Danny, Maddie, Jack (”Can we go home now?”) (1+5)

Daredevil:Matt and Det. Mahoney (”discussing Daredevil”) (continued here)Various Hell’s Kitchen residents (”outsider POV” //death mention)OCs (”noticing Matt’s canes in the lost and found”)Matt and Foggy (retrieving Matt’s cane from the lost and found)Karen, Foggy, (Matt) (”she wasn’t expecting a 2 AM phone call”) (1+5)

Merlin:Merlin and Arthur (”If I could move...”) (1+5) Merlin and Arthur (”black eye”) (1+5)

Miraculous Ladybug: Chloé and Ladybug (reveal)Plagg and Gabriel (“I should have ripped off your head” //blood, death)Chat Noir and Marinette (”midnight coffee”)Plagg (”ephemeral” //dying)Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino (”double date”)Adrien/Chat Noir and Ladybug (”You can’t stop me”)Chat Noir, Ladybug/Marinette, and Pharaoh (prompt based off this post)Marinette and Chat Noir (”hot chocolate” “Marichat”)Marinette/Ladybug and Chat Noir (“listen”)Marinette/Ladybug and Chat Noir (“chilly”)Marinette/Ladybug and Chat Noir (“dog”)Marinette/Ladybug and Chloé (“exasperation”)Marinette and Adrien (”cat-like tendencies”)Marinette and Tom (”brunch”)Marinette, Adrien, kids, and kittens (”kittens”)Adrien/Chat Noir, Ladybug, OC akuma (”Children should eat their vegetables”)Tikki, Tom, Sabine (post reveal “Tom and Sabine let Tikki fly through the house”) Manon and Adrien (”Manon finds a Miraculous”)Alya (”Lila was in big trouble”) (1+5) Adrien, Duusu (Ladybug, Nathalie, Hawk Moth) (”Duusu started crying”) (1+5) Nino (”Nino felt he had no claim to fame”) (1+5) Alya/Rena Rouge and Ladybug (”My family can’t see me wearing this”) (1+5) Mendeleiev and Aurore (”Mendeleiev hadn’t expected Aurore’s rant”) (1+5) Tom and Sabine (”farting contest”) (1+5) Lila and Pollen (”stolen Bee Miraculous”) (1+5) Chloé and Caline Bustier (”birthday present”) (1+5) Emilie and Audrey (”friends”) (1+5) Ladybug, Adrien/Chat Noir, (Chloé) (”Chloé bans wasps”) (1+5) Carapace/Nino (”Carapace hated being called Shelly”) (1+5) Nino, Alya, Chloé, Ladybug (Mayura, Chat Noir) (”Mayura’s blue skin”) (1+5) Luka and Anarka (”smoking”) (1+5) (related)The Puppeteer and her (human) puppets (”What happens to us?”) (1+5) Chat Noir, Frightingale, (Ladybug) (”Harley Quinn”)Adrien and Gabriel (”Don’t blame me for this.”) (1+5)Caline Bustier and Ms. Mendeleiev (”Please stop hugging me”) (1+5) Gina, Sabine, Marinette (”motorcycle ride”) (1+5) Lila and her mom (”Madame Rossi’s face was alight with fury”) (1+5) Bustier, Mendeleiev, and Damocles (”This isn’t very healthy”) (1+5) Lila and her mom (”Lila’s mom learns the truth”) (1+5) (follow up)Emilie and Audrey (”Hawk Moth!Emilie”) (1+5) (follow up | related)Chloe/Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, Ladybug, (Carapace, Chat Noir) (”We can’t turn our backs on him!”) (1+5) Chloe and Adrien (”My mom left and yours disappeared”) (1+5) Gabriel and Nathalie (”My hair is grey again!”) (1+5) Chat Noir and Ladybug (”At least it isn’t raining”) (1+5) Marinette (”Like many fictional teenagers”) (1+5) Marinette and Tikki (”Like many teenagers”) (1+5) Nadja and Manon (”Manon’s drawings”) (1+5) Lila and Nooroo (”future Hawk Moth!Lila”) (1+5) Lila and Kagami (”I’m not scared of you”) (1+5) Nathaniel and Ms. Mendeleiev (”your science grade is up”) (1+5) Sabine and Gina (”Mom”) (1+5)

Firefly/Serenity:Mal and River (”that’s gonna leave a mark”)River (“repeat”) (could be read as a TAZ crossover so I’m going to throw it there, too) (related scene)

Gravity Falls:Soos and Wendy (“grateful”)Soos and Wendy (“quiet”)Mabel and Dipper (“stomp”)Stan (”Stan as a pickpocket”)Ford (”Ford waking up from a nightmare”)Dipper and Ford (”baby sling” à la this post) Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford (”staying in Gravity Falls”) (1+5) Mabel and Dipper (”I got in so much trouble today.”) (1+5) Pacifica, Mabel, (Dipper) (”How did I get dragged into this?”) (1+5)

Harry Potter:Ron and Hermione (”stab him already”)Ron and Hermione (”technology/bafflement”)Ron and Lavender (”[Ron], what’s with your hair?”) (1+5)

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja: Debbie (”competition”) (find an expansion of this idea by @sach216 here)Julian (”secrets”)Randy (”revealed”) (continued here)Randy (”captured”)Randy (“I wasn’t expecting that, but hey! It works!”)Debbie and Howard (“Why is it that when I’m with you, this always happens?”)Randy and Debbie (and Howard) (”protect”)Miss Wickwhacker (”cat herd”)

Supernatural:Human!Castiel, demon (”he was so cold” //near death) (1+5)

The Adventure Zone:Magnus, Taako, and Lup (”frosting”)

Voltron:Pidge and Allura (“wonder”)Shiro ("Shiro" :accidentally shrunken teammates”) (1+5)

Secret Quartet:Adrien and Plagg (”watching idols”)Randy, Jake, Danny, and Adrien (”watching idols”)Jake and Adrien (”painting” x2)Randy, Adrien, Jake, and Danny (”Can we get ice cream?”)Jake and Randy (“trapped”)Randy, Jake, (Danny, Adrien) (“rat”)Randy, (Jake, Danny, Adrien) (“hangry”)Randy, Jake, Adrien, Danny, McFist, Viceroy (”heart attack”)Randy, Adrien, Jake, Danny (”Nasty Burger”)Randy, Adrien (”Wait, you’re telling me that isn’t normal?”)Randy, Jake, Adrien, Danny (”Griffons do what with new hatchlings?”) (1+5)

Miraculous Ladybug/American Dragon:Jake LongMarinette and Jake (”Marinette, the French Dragon”)Adrien/Chat Noir, Chloé/Queen Bee, Ladybug, (Jake) (”riding a dragon”) (1+5) Jake and Tikki (”Ladybug!Jake”) (1+5)

Miraculous Ladybug/Danny Phantom:Mylène (”She was happy she lived in Paris”) (with a dash of Ratatouille) (1+5)

Superphantom:Dani and the Winchesters ( "And you think that's going to work?")Danny and Tucker ("No way! You see this too, right?" //torture mention...sorta)The GhostFacers (about Dani) (”grudge”)Dean (and Sam) (with ectoplasm) (“everywhere”)Dean, Sam, Vlad, Dani (”Too bad that didn’t kill me”) (1+5) Sam and Dean (”It’s too early for this”) (1+5)

Phantom Falls:Dani (”sunlit”)Danny Phantom/Rise of the Guardians:Danny and Jack (“ice”)

Firefly/The Adventure Zone:River (“repeat”) (related scene) Danny Phantom/Over the Garden Wall: (set in my fic Down the Rabbit Hole)Danny, Jazz, Wirt, (Wendy from GF, Toby from Trollhunters) (”part-time job”)

Daredevil/Supernatural:Matt/Daredevil and Castiel (”The Lord’s Angel teams up with The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen”) Matt/Daredevil and Castiel (”snark”)Matt (”fallen angel AU” x2)

Danny Phantom/Daredevil:Danny/Phantom and Matt/Daredevil (”Danny Phantom meets Daredevil”)

#ladylynse #asks #I don't understand #what is tumblr doing #it worked earlier today #like a few hours ago earlier today #Anonymous

[supernatural-jackles]

I have 2 fics that I associate with you, Jen - cause they go hand in hand. Summer Fling & More than a Fling, I believe Summer Fling was the first one I read of yours. That whole series is my favorite of yours!! 💜

Yes they do, Shelly! One of these days, I’ll finish More Than A Fling. Since it’s not completely done, I won’t give away too much. 

For Summer Fling, the outline for that is actually about 35k words long. I almost had her staying at the end, but I decided to have her going back and I’m glad I did. She needed the closure she got. 

Summer Fling is probably the series that is closest to my heart. Somedays I go back and I reread it and I have a hard time believing that I wrote it. I remember the exact moment I thought of the idea, which was at about 6:45pm April 14th 2017. I was on Woodlawn Rd by a Tim Hortons and some train tracks. And it just hit me out of nowhere.  It was all I could think about until I finished it. I love the series. 

In part 14 when they are at the Hospital Gala and they sneak out for a smoke. John originally wasn’t going to come out, but I thought it would be cool to add that in. Just to kind of show that Dean and his dad were close. 

Alright, More Than a Fling. I’m going to confess that I don’t love it nearly as much as I do Summer Fling, and I think that’s part of why I haven’t finished it. And there's a part of me that thinks that everyone else feels that way too and it’s kind of prohibited me a little. 

There are parts in Summer Fling that set up things for the sequel. Those being Dean’s parents specifically and that’s going to be a big thing coming up when I do get back to it. Jo is another one to worry about. Dean’s grandparents aka Samuel. 

I had thought about the ending and potentially taking into a third 3 part series, but I don’t think I’m going to end it the way I was originally thinking. If you would like some specifics, I will definitely be willing to share them with you privately!  :) 

Summer Fling - More Than a Fling

#Jen loves Shelly #Ask Game #Summer Fling #I got carried away here! #long post for ts #dolphincliffs

[mlmdarkfiction]

OCtober Shipping; Day 2: Chilly

Ship: Ash Williams X Violet Antoinette

Notes: This is incredibly loose basis on the prompt sorry about that. Also although there is a ship in this fic it's mostly focused on Ash's relationship with his child (another oc of mine) Mildred. I also originally intended to let this fic end with Violet waking Ash up from the 'nightmare' with it being the next morning as Mildred leaves to go on their trip, however considering this is for October I decided to keep the scarier, sadder ending.

Read on AO3

TW: Slight Gore, Character Death 

Read Below:

Ash hates feeling like a helicopter parents, but how else is he supposed to react to his child leaving the house for their first long term trip. It doesn’t matter that Mildred is nineteen now, and that they’ve been coached through by Ash on all the dos and don’ts of road trips.

He’s still worried about them. “They’ll be fine.” Violet promises, pressing a kiss to his husbands’ cheek. “Victoria will be with them, nothing bad will happen.” “Yeah…Yeah, you’re right babe.”

As much as he wants to believe Violet, he doesn’t. He can’t. Whether it’s the PTSD or a legitimate feeling Ash isn’t sure, and he doesn’t really care. Not when it comes to the safety of his child.

“Hey Milliebean.” He’s trying to play it chill, act like he’s not bothered by all of this, but…he’s not that smooth. At least not to Mildred, who knows their dads like the back of their hand.

 “Hey Pops.” They smile. They can sense the anxiety coming off of him in waves and…they can’t necessarily blame him.

He’d told them enough about his past, the cabin, and the Necronomicon. He told them enough to know what’s really out there in the world. Enough to be afraid.

“Do you have everything you need?”

Mildred isn’t leaving until the next morning, Ash knows this, knows that they’ve long since been packed, and are now only going through things to make sure nothing was forgotten. “Yep. No need to worry.”

“Extra clothes?”

“Yep.”

“Got the wheelchair packed just in case something happens to your leg braces, or you don’t feel like you can walk?” “Yeah, Victoria came down yesterday and we packed it into the RV.”

They smile up at Ash in a way that they hope is reassuring. “Seriously, I’ll be fine. And like I said, Victoria Rented the RV so even if it breaks down, we’ll have a place to stay, and won’t have to resort to staying into any strange cabins.”

That does calm him down, at least a little.

“Right. Sorry Kiddo.” Ash brushes back their bangs, and plants a kiss to their forehead. “I’m gunna head to bed, don’t stay up too late okay?” “I won’t.”

 Ash smiles as he leaves the bedroom. He knows they won’t. He and Violet were blessed with a wonderful child, who, as far back as Ash can remember almost always did as they were told.

It’s like they aren’t related to him at all.

When he makes his way to the bedroom only to find that Violet had gone to sleep without him. He’s only dressed in his underwear, face first in the bed snoring.

The sight leaves Ash actually rather relieved. With Violet already asleep, he doesn’t have to pretend to sleep himself.

Because really, Ash doesn’t want to sleep. Not tonight. Something is wrong.  He can feel it. If he sleeps, something’s going to happen to his family, to Violet or to Mildred, and that’s not something he’s willing to play around with.

A sudden chill.

That’s what it is that snaps Ash upright in bed, glancing at the digital clock revealing 3:46AM in glowing neon. The hair on his arms are standing up completely. He knows this feeling quiet well.

He recognizes it, just like he recognizes the low demonic grumbling coming from the wind blowing his curtains aside.

Violet’s still sleeping beside him, unbothered by the unnatural gusts of air filling their bedroom.

It’s not their window that’s open.

And then he hears it. A gentle tapping, the sound of an open window repeatedly hitting against the wall. He’s up, out of bed, taking the shot gun he leaves under the bed in case of emergency with him.

The walk to Mildred’s room is short but feels much longer with every heavy step he takes. He swears he can hear his name whispered on the wind.

Ash doesn’t think, doesn’t knock, he just kicks open the door to their room.

What he sees doesn’t relax him.

Mildred, their back to him, staring at the empty window.

The sight makes him think of Cheryl; The way she sat in the corner of the cabin by herself, while Linda and Shelly played that card game, staring out into the woods, the very same woods that had attacked her. How she’d begun to list of the cards as they were pulled her voice becoming more and more distorted before she turned to the group, asking them why they’d disturbed the Deadites sleep.

The DeJa’Vu is enough in its own right. He knows what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t stop him from wanting to deny it. Calling out to his child, just barely managing to hold the break in his voice because, god damn it, not again, not someone else he cared about.

“Mildred? Millie? What are you doing up? Isn’t it a little late, kiddo?”

They respond, but they don’t answer his question. What he gets in return is just laughter.

Laughter like the laughter of the freshly turned Shelly. That insatiable laughter taunting laughter that didn’t stop until he’d gone to end the things life, at which case it once again pretended to be his girlfriend.

They turn to face him, neck making a horrible crack as it swivels on its axis in an inhuman fashion, the laughter following it, pausing and shifting in sound as the head turns.

The eyes. Ash knew. He knew before he’d even the entered the room what he would find.

This wasn’t his child anymore.

The Deadite inhabiting Mildred’s body opens its mouth to speak, but before it’s able Ash pulls the trigger, flinching his eyes shut as the shell connects, blowing their skull clean open.

#Ash #Ash Williams #Ash Williams X Violet Antoinette #OC X Canon #OCxCanon #oc: Violet Antoinette #OC: Mildred Williams #OCtoberShip2019

[littleliv1]

I Was Born To Love You- Part Nine

A/N- ahhh, it's finally here. The final part! So sorry for the delay in posting, I was on spring break! I so enjoyed writing this fic and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well! I'm starting a new series in a Roger x Reader type thing, the first part will be out soon!

Summary- A visit from Austin, and "I do"s are being exchanged

Warnings- some angst, major fluff!

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

There he was in front of me, my ex husband Austin. I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there. "Hey," He said quietly. "Hi," I said back. "You look different." He said. I looked down, I had gained some weight from the pregnancy. "Well I was carrying a baby inside of me." I snapped. The new face was brought to the attention of the dogs, who ran across the house. The vibrations carried throughout and woke Nate, who started crying. "Is that it?" He asked, walking in without asking, but I didn't stop him. "Yeah. And not it, him." I said, closing the door behind him. Just then, Ben walked in the room with his boxers on and Nate in his hands. He had a pacifier his mouth and his eyes were red from crying. "Is this," Austin asked, pausing for the name. "Nate. Nathaniel to be exact," Ben said, walking forward. "And who are you, holding my son?" He said, walking towards the two. I stepped in front. "My fiancé, Ben."

He laughed to himself, not that it was funny to him, more of like 'you're-fucking-kidding' kind of laugh. "Fiancé," he repeated. I nodded, taking Nate from him, comforting him. "He looks just like you," He said. I didn't want Nate to have a connection with the man who didn't want him, but I wanted Austin to see what he had been missing for the last year-ish. I still couldn't believe what I had said next. "Do you want to hold him?" I asked. Austin cupped the baby's cheek, but shook his head. "I still don't want him to connect. And I don't want to connect either. I'd make a lousy father, we all know that." He said, rubbing his cheek. Nate started signing 'food'. "What's he doing?" He asked. "Sign language. He's almost completely deaf," Ben replied. "Go feed him, I'll take care of our guest, love." He said, kissing my forehead, then kissing Nate's. I left, and started feeding him, but I could hear in the living room the two men talking. "If you didn't come to win her back or try to reconnect with your son, why are you here?" Ben asked. "I don't know, I guess I just needed to see him once. But I needed something, but that's a Leah question." He replied. There was a long silence, then Nate was asleep again. I held him to my chest, put him back to bed and went into the living room where the two were.

"So, what's new?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had been apparent for about 10 minutes. "The main reason I'm here. I- uh," He started. I hope to god he wasn't going to ask for me to take him back, or something like that. "I want your wedding ring and engagement ring back. I'm proposing to, someone, and I know she loved your ring. But I had it designed, it's one of a kind, so," I laughed, not in humor, in shock. "Who is it?" I asked, standing up. But I knew who it was, I just needed confirmation. There was a pause. "Who is it, Austin?" I said again, slamming my hand on the coffee table. "It's Shelly. I love her." He said in shame. I knew I couldn't be mad that he was in love, so was I. But man did it sting that it was with who he cheated on me with. I nodded my head and walked into my room to get the rings. I came back and slammed them on the table. "Now leave." I said. He took them, and did just that. Left. That's all he's good at. Leaving. I slammed the door as he left, earning a small laugh from Ben. "Damn, feisty are we?" He said. I shrugged my shoulders, looking down. I may be over him 110%, but it still stung. Seeing him.

The half birthday party was a success. We asked for no presents, just a small get together to remind us how blessed we felt that we had Nate, and how happy we are with how far things have gotten. He liked showing off. Signing was the norm for him, but he knew it got reactions when he signed something he wanted, he liked to show off. Things felt right.

*7 months later*

Nate turned 1 a month ago. He got all kinds of fun things, he loved his cake, but most of all he felt all of the love we all had for him. He is the ring bearer for mine and Bens wedding, which was in a few hours, and one of Ben's nieces was the flower girl. My dress was a tank top strap, mid-thigh dress, but it was tight fitting. Ben wore a loose fitting white t shirt and white khaki shorts, and Nate matched him. My maid of honor was Lucy, and his best man was Joe. We kept it small, mainly because it would be mostly his family, so we invited a few close friends.

Nate has been signing more and more, forming complete sentences- more or less. As Lucy helped me in my dress, Nate came running in. "Mommy pretty" He signed. I smiled, and picked him up, signing "thank you, my love". Bens mother, Mary, came in, knocking first. "It's almost time, oh my dear sweet girl. You look beautiful," she said. She had been like a mother to me since Ben and I first got engaged. I smiled, taking her hand in my free hand. "I'm so blessed my boy found you. Your parents would be so proud and happy for you," she said, tearing up. I nodded. "Yeah, I bet my mom is slapping my dad who's probably watching his golfing show to pay attention," I laughed a bit, trying not to tear up, as Nate started to sign 'daddy'. "Daddy's getting ready," I signed back. I speak the words, we all speak the words to him when we sign to get him in the habit of reading lips. "Daddy," he signed again, more aggressively. I smiled a bit, setting him down and fixing his bow tie. I kissed his cheek. "Would you mind taking him to Ben?" I asked Mary. She nodded, kissing my cheek and taking his hand. She closed the door behind her. "Make up touch up," Lucy said, coming at me with lipstick and eye shadow. "I've known you both for a short while, but I know you all were meant to be." She said, applying eye shadow, then touching up parts of my dark coral lipstick. "It's hard for others to understand what your friendship means to me because of the short length of time that I've known you, but it does. It means everything to me. And it makes me so so happy to see you happy." She said. I smiled at her and hugged her. We sat and talked for a little bit. Before we knew it, Mary walked in. "You ready?" She asked. I nodded, smiling.

We went out into the hallway, as I was handed my bouquet of flowers. I had to admit. I was nervous. The last time I had done this I was so sure I was going to be with whoever was on the end of the isle, forever. Plans changed, but I didn't want it to change. Not with Ben. I looked out slightly to see Nate walking down with Bens niece, as he held a sign that says "Don't worry ladies, I'm still single". as I knew that that would get a lot of laughs. And it did. As I entered the garden, everyone stood. It wasn't a new feeling, unfortunately, but it was new when I saw Ben. It was euphoric, like I knew it was going to last this time. Ben started to tear up, blinking away the tears. Brian and Roger had walked me down the isle. Once we got down, they both kissed me on the cheek and left, handing me to Ben.

It was a feeling that I haven't felt before. Not in a while. There were flashing cameras from the crew we hired. We wanted this to be everywhere. The priest was announcing everything, we exchanged our vows, and sealed the deal with a kiss. Everyone cheered, including Nate, not exactly knowing what was going on, just going with the crowed which made us laugh. I picked him up as Ben and I kissed his cheek. "You are the love of my life, you both are," he whispered, kissing me again, causing a jealous one year old to grab my face and kiss me on my nose. We walked back down the isle, ready to spend forever together.

Taglist: @amy-brooklyn99 @florenceivy

#ben hardy fluff #ben hardy fanfic #ben hardy x reader #queen fanfiction #queen

[itsthejuggernautbitch]

You Look Like Trouble (Morning Glory Wine) - Cable/OC

Here’s chapter three! I don’t want to be that person but if you’ve got the time and the inclination, kudos would be great.

Also, here’s a playlist if you’re into that kind of thing. I make them for all my fics. Listen along if you like because the chapter titles correspond to the song.

Taglist: @this-that-and-every-thing-else  @ptite-shit  @lesbianyondu  @chromecutie  @gallifreyangrandtorino  @ra-ra-rasputiin  @akihecko

Mondays suck. The to-do list for the day is always too long, there’s always stuff left over from the weekend, and then there’s the whole week ahead. That's when you've got to go to all of your appointments, deal with life in general. Mondays were just too much.

This Monday, though, was Vivian’s day off. There was work to be done, but not the kind of work where she had to go into the office and hold down small children or bother grown men about taking their medicine properly.

Today, Vivian got to see her kids.

Vivian was in the middle of getting dressed when her doorbell rang. She tumbled out into the hall, tugging her dress down over her head and hopping on one foot to put her shoes on. There was no chance of anything more than a relatively professional dress, ponytail, and a spirited attempt at makeup. She couldn’t remember the last time she made an effort to dress up, but at least the dress was business-y.

The doorbell rang again. When she opened the door, Wade stood on the other side, dressed in the Deadpool suit. Looks like someone else had business to take care of today.

Wade whistled when he saw her. “Look at you! I thought the white coat just came included with the special features! What are you up to today?”

“Parent-teacher conference for Shelly at the middle school today,” Vivian replied, scraping her hair up into a fussy ponytail.

“But I thought you couldn’t - ”

“The ex-husband cannot be in attendance and apparently it’s urgent, so I get to go handle it. Restraining order is against him, not my babies.”

Wade held onto her shoulder so that Vivian could balance long enough to get her other shoe on. “So this is the first time in how long?”

“About a year.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be a fun conference. Tell your kids to stop setting off stink bombs or eating Tide pods or whatever it is that kids do for fun these days.”

Vivian was pretty sure that kids didn’t actually do any of those things for fun.

She snorted. “I’m hoping I can take them out for dinner afterward.”

Wade hopped on the couch and stretched out, watching Vivian attempt to finish getting dressed in a timely fashion. “You know where you should go after dinner?”

“Not Sister Margaret’s. It’s my night off.”

He hummed. “I was thinking more about Xavier’s mansion.”

Vivian stopped long enough to stare at him. “Absolutely not.”

“Oh, come on, Colossus wants to talk to you!”

“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “Captain Boy Scout has been trying to sit me down and talk to me about being the school nurse for years. Besides, when did you start rolling out the welcome wagon for the X-Men?”

Wade huffed. “Gimme a break! It’s part of training!”

“What, recruitment?”

“If you come, I don’t have to wear the yellow crop top!”

“Good thing you look good in yellow, because I’m not setting foot in that place,” Vivian replied, grabbing her keys. “Now, let me get out of here, I don’t want to be late.”

Wade opened the door for her, slamming it behind them. “Have fun! Tell the babies that Uncle Wade says hi!”

“They don’t call you Uncle Wade!”

Vivian stood in the school lobby, arms crossed, tapping her foot. She’d been waiting for a solid thirty minutes for Jack to bring the kids, but neither Shelly nor Benji were anywhere in sight. She couldn’t just find the teacher’s room on her own and take care of the problem. She’d never been inside of the middle school, so she didn’t know the whereabouts of the teacher’s classroom.

“Mama!”

A tiny, high-pitched voice preceded the appearance of a tiny blonde girl, like the sound of a bird chirping. Shelly ran towards her, all hundred pounds of middle school girl barreling towards Vivian like a bullet. Benji jogged along behind her, wearing the same grimace that Vivian always gave to Wade when he was overly enthusiastic about something.

She caught Shelly in her arms and gave Benji one of those side-arm hugs teenage boys give when they think they’re too old to hug their moms.

Shelly didn’t stop long enough for greetings. She wouldn’t let go of Vivian’s hand as she pulled her down the hallway. “Lets go get this over with.”

“Hold on, honey, what’s your teacher’s name?”

“Mr. Johnson. He’s kind of a twerp.”

“Why’s he a twerp?”

Benji rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be telling her not to call people twerps?”

“Probably, but I’m your mom and you should be able to express your feelings in a safe, understanding environment. If your sister says the man’s a twerp, he’s a twerp, Benji,” Vivian said. “Why’s he a twerp, Shelly?”

“Well, he called this conference and I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

“I don’t even know what happened, Shel Dorado. Your dad didn’t exactly clue me in on that.”

“Dad didn’t even read the letter that got sent home with me?”

“No, Dad just didn’t give me the letter to read. We’re not really allowed to talk, remember?”

“Oh, yeah… Well, I guess Mr. Johnson can tell you,” Shelly said, coming to halt. “This is his room.”

Vivian walked in, Shelly and Benji trailing behind her. The room was the same stringent, basic setup as every other middle school classroom in America, purposefully bland and devoid of hope or fun. Desks were arranged in clinical rows. The teacher’s desk was arranged carefully in the front corner with two chairs across from the teacher’s computer chair.

Benji sat at a desk on the front row while Shelly parked herself in one of the chairs next to the teacher’s desk.

Mr. Johnson stood up and shook Vivian’s hand. “I was under the impression that I would be dealing with Mr. Thorn. We’ve had correspondence about Shelly’s behavior before.”

Vivian sat down in the chair next to Shelly’s. “Well, Mr. Thorn is presently unavailable, as he had something he deemed more important to take care of today. You’ll be dealing with me instead, so why don’t you enlighten me as to Shelly’s behavior.”

The teacher sat down in his chair and scooted it in close to the desk.“She’s been picking a lot of fights lately. I’m just curious as to whether this relating to something that’s happening at home?”

“I wouldn’t know what happens at home, being that Mr. Thorn and I are divorced.”

Mr. Johnson shrugged. “It could be your absence in the home that’s causing this…”

“Well, Mr. Johnson, why don’t you explain to Mr. Thorn that my absence in my children’s life is negatively impacting them so that he’ll authorize visitation,” Vivian replied, liking the teacher less and less with every passing minute. “This, I assume, would only be possible in the event you or the nearest other available pig grows wings and takes flight.”

“Ms. Sharpe-”

“Dr. Sharpe.”

“Dr. Sharpe, I meant no disrespect to you. I wasn’t insinuating anything.”

Yeah, right.

Vivian didn’t have a lot of patience to begin with, but he was testing what little she had. “Why don’t we ask Shelly why she’s acting out? It may be that you’re not addressing her needs as a student. Shelly, what’s going on?”

Shelly looked like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world at that very moment. “Tom and John made it a game to pull every girls’ hair, snap bra straps, pull down our pants. I’ve been telling Mr. Johnson that for months.”

There is a special kind of fury only felt by mothers of girls, because mothers of girls know exactly what kind of pain they’re going through.

“Is this true, Mr. Johnson?”

“She’s the only student who’s complained about this…”

If she didn’t have to set a good example for her kids, Vivian would have definitely punched him by now. “So, what? The testimony of one little girl isn’t enough to make you address this situation?”

“That’s not what I was saying…”

“No, you’re saying that these little boys are touching Shelly and you’re not doing anything about it.”

“She punched Tom Wells in the face and broke his nose.”

“Good,” Vivian snapped. “She did something about it when you wouldn’t. The only thing you’re doing is teaching my child that she won’t be taken seriously.”

“Dr. Sharpe, I have reprimanded them.”

“You gave those boys a slap on the wrist, but you pulled me and both of my children away from our lives to have a conversation about my daughter defending herself?”

“That wasn’t the intention.”

“I know what your intention was, Mr. Johnson,” she said. “I’m a thirty-four year old woman with a medical doctorate. I know exactly what she’s going through and how you’re responding to it because I’ve been dealing with the same thing for thirty-four years myself.”

“Well, if you’re not going to have a conversation with me, Dr. Sharpe, perhaps you should leave.”

“Oh, I think this was a great conversation, Mr. Johnson. And don’t worry, I’ll be pulling her from your class.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Oh, I can’t? Watch me.” She motioned for Shelly and Benji to follow her. “Come on, guys.”

Vivian held open the door so that the kids could walk ahead of her. She slammed the door behind her and stalked down to the lobby to take care of this problem. When you found the business office door, she pulled open the door and looked for the administrative assistant.

She found Lucy, the administrative assistant, waiting for her in her office. “I need you to take care of something for me.”

Lucy looked up at her over the rim over her glasses. “Switch Shelly to a different class? Way ahead of you.”

“How’d you know?”

“I just needed consent from you or Jack to get her out of that class,” Lucy replied, already typing away at her keyboard. “It’s like the more she fights back, the bigger the target on her head.”

“Well, get her off the firing range. She’s got a target on her head because that teacher isn’t doing anything about it.”

Lucy nodded. “I’ll get it taken care of, Viv.”

“Thank you, Lucy. Can you send me updates on things?”

“I will.”

“Thanks again. I’ll see you later.”

Vivian left the office decidedly calmer than she expected to. She motioned for Shelly and Benji to follow her out. The kids followed Vivian out to her car.

Shelly grabbed Vivian’s hand and swung it as they walked. “Can you come to all the teacher conferences from now on?”

Vivian pulled Benji into a one-arm hug as she walked, despite the fact that he looked like he was going to die of embarrassment. “Of course I can. I didn’t even know all of this was going on or I would have been crawling his ass long before now.”

“Language, mom,” Benji said. She was vividly reminded of a smaller, less shiny Colossus as that moment.

“Sorry, honey.”

Vivian climbed into her car and waited for the two of them to climb in behind her. They both slid into the backseat, shoving each other for elbow space. She started the car, put it into gear, and sped off towards the exit.

“Hey, mama?” Benji asked. Vivian’s heart melted a little bit. She hadn’t heard Benji call her that in years . “Can you get me put in a different English class? She gives pop quizzes.”

“No, Benji. Pop quizzes are good for you,” Vivian replied, searching absently for the street she needed to turn onto. “What do you two want for dinner?”

“Pizza,” they said in unison.

Vivian sighed. “How many times have you had pizza this week?”

“Three.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have something healthier?”

“No.”

“What does your father feed you? Jeeze. Pizza it is, I guess.”

Vivian could see why Wade harassed her about getting sleep. If she slumped any lower in her chair she was going to hit the (very bloody) floor.

It was a slow Friday night, which was rare. Friday nights usually meant a steady flow of wounds to stitch up. Thank goodness she’d only had a couple of patients, though. There was no way she would have been able to deal with the Friday night load in her current state of overwhelming exhaustion. Of course, even though it was a slow night, she’d had two difficult patients. Both of them bled everywhere (as is the nature of stab wounds), which only exacerbated her exhaustion. She got both of them stable and stitched up, though.

The time was drawing close to two a.m. She was only sticking around so that she could pay Cable, whenever he decided to show up. Cable didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would skip out on a payment, so Vivian was a little worried that he might have forgotten his deadline, or worse - that he might have had some trouble with his mark.

The mark in this instance was the man Vivian bought all of her medical supplies from. He never stiffed her on numerical counts, but she had long suspected that he was buying the lowest quality items and pocketing the different. Distasteful, unethical - not technically illegal, but none of these practices - his or her own - were legal anyway, so she could do something about his poor business practices. She suspected that it was his doing that all of her supplies had been substituted out and replaced. She wasn’t exactly surprised that he did it - more annoyed than anything. That was fine. She had learned over the years that one must fight back in order to accomplish anything.

She knew how to fight all too well.

Really, she shouldn’t have been worried that Cable forgot his deadline, or failed to meet it. She realized that when the medical room door was thrown open, and in stepped Cable and the mark.

Cable dragged the guy in by his ear and shoved him towards Vivian. “Jimmy here’s got something to say to you, Dr. Sharpe.”

Vivian bit her lip to keep from snorting. She was pretty sure she’d never seen a grown man’s ear twisted like a bad schoolboy’s by another fully grown man. “What on Earth is going on here?”

Cable flicked the man’s ear. There was a little blood. “What do you say, asshole?”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Sharpe!” Jimmy said, grimacing when Cable twisted his ear again. “I’m sorry I switched out your supplies!”

“What else did you want to tell her?”

Jimmy flinched, shying away from Cable as far as he could without running the risk of being flicked on the ear again. “I’ll get you what you paid for, no charge!”

“And?”

“And I’ll buy the placebos back!”

“ And? ”

“And I won’t do it again, I swear!”

Cable slapped him on the back of the head, pushing him towards her. “Now give her the money.”

Jimmy tossed Vivian a hefty roll of cash, which she caught easily. She didn’t bother to count it. Cable would have made sure it was the correct amount.

Cable grabbed Jimmy by the back of his shirt and pulled him towards the door. “Get out of here, and make sure I don’t have to come after you again.”

Jimmy scurried out of the bar, spurred on by bar patrons throwing beer bottles at him. They’d all heard that he’d stiffed their doctor (thanks to Weasel’s loose tongue), and they weren’t happy about it. Who else was going to remove their stitches without pulling and not charge them thousands of dollars like real hospitals do?

Vivian stuck her head out the door to watch him run off, chuckling when she caught sight of the wet spot on Jimmy’s jeans. To be fair, peeing himself was the appropriate response.

Vivian shut the door behind her. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a merc make a mark apologize to me.”

Cable shrugged. “Yeah, well, he was a scumbag. Needed to learn a little humility.”

Vivian couldn’t disagree with that. Most of the people she associated with were scumbags - some more so than others. And yet, some of them weren’t so bad.

Vivian supposed she should pay him for a job well done. She peeled off a section of the roll of cash. “This is what I owe you. Count behind me and make sure it’s right.”

He waved her off. “Keep it.”

What was it with Wade and his weird friends not letting her pay them?

Vivian sighed. “Between you and Wade, I swear… I’ll get a bad reputation if people keep doing work for me for free.”

“I didn’t do it for free,” Cable said, staring at her with those piercing eyes. “You stitched me up the other night. Damn good job, too. The scar’s not even that bad.”

Vivian shook her head. “Wade took care of your bill last week. Next excuse?”

He huffed. “Well, I just…”

Cable didn’t give her an answer, just shuffled from one foot to the other, looking just past her. Vivian suspected that Cable had several reasons for not taking payment from her. Maybe he had some kind of sense of loyalty for Wade, maybe he had some feeling of duty towards her. Damn mercenaries never could talk about their feelings. Whatever the reason, she knew she was going to have to bother him to take her money in the future.

Perhaps in her determination to read his emotions, Vivian stared Cable down too hard. Everything about him was just… entrancing. A little terrifying. Exhilarating. He caught her stare and didn’t look away.

Out of the corner of her eye, Vivian caught blood dripping from his ungloved hand.

“Give me your hand.”

Cable didn’t ask why, he just held out his hand (albeit warily). His knuckles were split and scraped, like he’d tried to swing on someone and hit a wall instead, probably done while dragging Jimmy into her medical room. Vivian took his hand between her own and did her best to look away from his face.

She held his hand for a full minute and let the cold energy emanating from her hands wrap around his. He jumped when his hand got cold, but didn’t pull away.

When she released his hand, he pulled away, hand completely healed. He inspected the fresh pink flesh covering his knuckles. “You’re a healer?”

“Only a little bit. It’s just a secondary ability.”

“Why don’t you use it more often? Seems like it would save some time instead of poking and stabbing all these people.”

“I’m kind of stretching to do it now, honestly. I have the ability to reject events - trees falling over, pianos falling out of windows. It doesn’t work with organic material, for the most part.”

“So how are you doing it now?”

Vivian shrugged. “I don't know. Sometimes it just works. Usually, I have to be pretty stressed, or… really need it to work.”

“Well, I know you’re pretty stressed…”

Ah. So that’s why he wouldn’t accept his payment. She hadn’t pegged Cable for a sentimental type, but that just added a new layer to his otherwise gruff and stoic facade. A shame; it made it that much harder for Vivian not to like him.

Vivian quirked an eyebrow. “Alright, what’s Wade told you?”

Cable grimaced. He must have realized that he’d hit a nerve. “Enough.”

“Explain.”

He explained in that sort of way that Vivian could only describe as infuriatingly stoic. She was beginning to think that this was his own special brand of macho. “Two jobs, two kids, and you never sleep.”

“That it?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

So Wade must have left it at that. Very few people were privy to the full situation. He might have loose lips sometimes, but Wade was unfailingly loyal.

Good boy, Wade.

“And that’s why you won’t let me pay you.”

Cable looked like a man who’d been cornered. Which, he had been. “I didn’t really have to do much. Not like ol’ Jimmy was was hard to bring in or anything. You’ve got other things to worry about that paying me for that.”

Vivian was accustomed to fighting for every good thing in her life. Perhaps she was finally being given something good for once.

“You have a good heart for a mercenary,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “Wade keeps good friends.”

He gave her the tiniest of smiles - so small that she would have missed it had she not been physically unable to look away from his face. “If you need me to do anything else…”

“You’re first on the list, Cable. Thank you.”

Vivian had met Cable three times now, and in those three times, she’d figured out pretty quickly that she was going to have a tough time keeping her head on straight where he was concerned. She’d been denying herself the prospect of dating or even feeling for so long; denying the desire for emotional or physical care. She had an undeniable attraction to Cable; he was gruff, stoic, intense . It wouldn’t be so bad if he was attracted to her, too…

Vivian had never made a single decision that wasn’t calculated and planned down to the minute. She’d learned the hard way that missteps could be fatal, and she couldn’t afford to lose anything else.

And yet, as Cable turned to leave, Vivian made one of the most impulsive decisions she’d ever made in her entire life.

Vivian called his name and stopped him. “Can I buy you a beer?”

“No…”

Vivian couldn’t pretend that didn’t sting a little bit.

“… but you can let me buy you one.”

He grinned. Not the tiny half-grin from a minute ago, but a real smile. And just like that, Vivian knew she wouldn’t be able to guard her heart from this one, not if he wanted it.

#cable #MCU!cable #cable headcanons #cable x reader #cable imagines #deadpool headcanons #deadpool imagines #deadpool #mcu!deadpool