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#hopefully i can finish the rest of em on friday !!
mxddyhero · 2 years
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Okay so I'm like. Most of the way through the dcau films. This is what I'm living for now 👍
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a-slut-for-smut · 2 years
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HELLO MY FELLOW GOJOHIME HOES!
Its been YEARS but finally finished the smutfest that is ch 3 of my shamelessly brainrotty fic Call Me By My Name: The Taming of the Insufferable Manwhore Sorcerer
Another chonky boi for yall because i like em dummy thicc, hopefully the 10+ smutty scenes make up for the wait lol
Finally get into Mei Mei x Nanami and Shoko x Suguru action in this chapter as all my girls gotta some hehe
Preview below- and yes, it starts off with the good stuff right off the bat (naturally). If you like what you see, you can read the rest on Ao3 HERE. Enjoy.
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It’s Friday evening after dinner while she’s pouring the last of her red wine into her glass that Utahime decides to call Gojo. A bottle of red wine would normally be an adequate nightcap after a stressful week’s worth of work, but tonight she was itching for a different sort of…relief. Sipping her third glass of the night as the phone rings on speaker, it connects upon the first ring.
“Senpai! Hey! …I was just thinking of you.”
“Yeah, I was thinking of you too. I’m a little tipsy and well, I was wondering if you could help me out with something. How fast can you get here?”
“I mean, it depends on distance but if I max out my cursed energy, pretty fast. Why? What did you need help with?”
“Hmm. Well, drinking really gives me the munchies, and I dunno…I think I'm craving a large helping of extra thick, extra juicy manmeat. Care to oblige me?” She asked blasely with a smirk.
Her question was met with silence. “Hello? Gojo, you there?” before a piercing electronic shriek emitted out of the speaker then the sound of the line disconnecting.
“What the fu-” she was interrupted when suddenly a loud boom outside- it sounded like thunder except it was a single extended boom rather than rolling- like a large eruption. She peers out the window but doesn’t anything to indicate as such or a single cloud in sight. Strange.
Suddenly, there’s rapid knocking on her door. Utahime cautiously opens the door to find Gojo, breathing hard and slightly sweating with a huge grin on his face. “Hey.” He manages to get out, panting.
“Well hello stranger.” She greets with a honeyed voice, opening the door wider to let him in. “My dear kouhai, why so out of breath?” She asks coyly as walks back to the kitchen counter for her wine glass.
Gojo coughs, attempting to catch his breath. “Well, I can teleport short distances in no time with little effort, but if I want to go longer distances and go as fast as possible it takes much more cursed energy. Pretty sure I was going over Mach 15, you probably heard the sonic boom?”
“Well, I appreciate you getting here so fast, but no need to overexert yourself.” She chided with mild irritation, before a coy smile bloomed across her face. “In fact, you’re looking a little warm, why don't you take those pesky things off, make yourself more comfortable,” gesturing to his clothes. She leans her back against the counter, bringing the glass to her lips.
Gojo’s eyebrows raise before chuckling lightly at her obvious suggestion. She wants a show? He’ll give her a f*ucking show.
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This chapter is named for Cigarette After Sex’s “Affection”, an achingly tender and sensual song- its SO Gojo & Utahime, trust me it’ll make your heart melt pls give it a listen:
I know that you say I get mean when I'm drinking, But then again sometimes I get really sweet So what does it mean if I tell you to go f*uck yourself Or if I say that you're beautiful to me
It's affection always, You're gonna see it someday My attention for you Even if it's not what you need
I think of you, I want you too, I'd fall for you
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akwardlyuncool · 3 months
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Class Favorites: Shows I Finished and Shows I Didn't, But I'm Ranking Them Altogether.
1) Good Trouble Season 5 Part 1?
I remember, not much, about this season but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed it while it was on. I do remember though that due to the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA stikes that took place for several months in 2023, Good Trouble went on a bit of a hiatus and we didn't know if it was coming back or not. I also remember that it was getting really good right before the strike and I was upset because of timing.
To note: I support the unions and strikes in general, I was just in my feelings cause of timing, but that lasted all of like 2 seconds cause I cared more about them getting paid fairly and not being screwed over by The Man lol. Just to be clear.
Anyway this is MY show and although it was forever ago that I watched it, I don't doubt my choice in putting it at the top. That being said the rest of season 5, otherwise known as the final season 😭 just premiered last week, so hopefully the questions I think I have will be answered and I'll leave the series feeling good. I still haven't put it on though, cause I'm not ready 😭 lol.
2) The Good Doctor Seasons 1-5 ish
This was a binge I started, but haven't finished quite yet, so I won't give my full, full opinion, but I can say that I like it. I think I just wanted something new (to me) and everything I was currently watching I had put on hold. And not to compare the two at all, but I haven't picked Grey's back up yet, and since it's been some years at this point I've probably been wanted a medical drama to fill that void. There were parts of The Good Doctor that didn't give me the full punch that I usually get from these shows, most likely because of how I was binging it but it was still solid and I do recommend. Also Freddie Highmore, enough said.
Side Note: I can't say whether it's good or acceptable Autism representation or not, so if you want that information, seek elsewhere.
3) The Best Man: The Final Chapters
This series for those who don't know is what happened after the 1999 and 2013 Best Man films, essentially following these characters to the "end." In 2022 I did Peacock's Black Friday deal just so I could watch this show. The original Best Man is a favorite of mine and I was excited to see them bring it back. Obviously not without reservations, but excited nonetheless.
I watched this one with my Father and we had a good time. It was fun and messy and the endings made sense. We laughed and maybe wanted to cry a little bit. Quentin (Terrence Howard) was the class favorite for sure. He brought the laughs and the tears. Now it getting the 3rd sport is mainly because of it's shortcomings.
The series tried way harder than it needed to, to show that it was/is progressive. I'm not saying don't join the times, but can you just be natural? In some places it wanted to rise above the fight and in others it wanted to drive the point home. Like I said, it was good, but it featured a common pitfall that hurts a lot of shows these days. They're just "making sure you know" but doing it in a way that feels a little forced. To note, I don't mean this in an "everything is woke nowadays" kind of way, just that I think there are better ways to talk about these things, to where it actually feels genuine.
I recommend the show to anyone that saw the original movies, simply because that's where the entire story comes from and the history of why the characters behave the way that they do is formed. You can still watch if you missed the movies, it just wouldn't be as good without them. That being said, if you have seen the show and want a more spoiler involved detailed review, let me know cause I'm down to talk about all of the characters and get a little deep on em.
4) Paradise City Seasons 1+2 (Sumerian Records)
Paradise City is the series follow-up the film American Satan. (I talked about the movie in my movie ranking for 2023, so look for that there.) The Relentless band has been on a break since reaching peak stardom, after their lead singer got some jail time and was going through drug addiction. Simon (Cameron Boyce) is a "kid" in a band who looks up to The Relentless and is trying make it just like they did.
If you read my review of the movie, you'd know I didn't think it was good, however although I would not give it shining stars, the show was better. I think Paradise City was actually attempting to say something where the movie just didn't or failed if they were even trying. Still a mess, but Cameron Boyce really did carry this thing, along with Mark Boone Junior. Andy Biersack did better here, but his singing voice was still dubbed and I rolled my eyes at some of his scenes, especially with Bella Thorne, but I already wasn't a big fan of the Lilly Mayflower character to begin with. PS: Good Trouble Fans, Booboo Stewart plays in this one as well and he's one of the least offensive characters, so that's a win lol.
Personally the show kept me watching and I was more invested in it than I was in the movie. I don't know that I would recommend this to the audience I'm sure it was trying to target, because of the whole franchise's problematic nature, but I'm sure they've probably already seen it, so it doesn't matter. And for those who haven't or are just curious, watch at your own discretion.
.
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Where's Riverdale?: I was gonna talk about the few episodes of this last season of Riverdale that I did see cause I do remember them being fairly decent at the time of watching, but I didn't get very far and thought I'd either save my thoughts for a separate series ending post or 2024's ranking. So I did start this last season, the tab's probably still up in one of the 6 browsers windows I have in my doc-bar right now, but it's been months so I thought I'd be a little more fair to it, seeing that it is the last season.
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carryon117 · 2 years
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Chapter 85:
The comms become flooded with different people shouting down the line.
“What’s going on?” “Why’s the ground shaking?” “Are we getting higher?” “Anyone knows what’s happening?” 
Tony’s voice cuts through, silencing everyone, “Friday?”
“Sokovia is going for a ride.” 
At that the team is quiet, still trying to group the civilians together, but still listening for any clue as to what may happen next.
Loki appears next to me. I know that it is not one of his doubles as I can feel his hand on my upper arm. I look up at him and he gives me a small smile and a nod. I close my eyes in response and kneel down on the ground. I will not let this get up high enough to do damage. 
I place my open palms, flat on the ground, and extend out my senses. The power of the vibranium machine that Ultron created is strong, but hopefully, I’m stronger. Each particle of the earth being lifted comes to life in my mind as I begin to will it to return to its place below. I can feel their response, their willingness to obey my wishes. But unable to due to the iron fist command of the power being forced upon them. 
My arms shake with the strain, trying to will the earth to obey. I reach out to the winds for assistance, some resistance at least to keep it from getting too high. At least I seem to gain some footing on keeping it from gaining altitude. The earth and wind working together to hover in one place, no longer rising into the atmosphere. 
Slowly I open my eyes to take in my surroundings. Loki is kneeling next to me, hand on my arm glowing his signature green. Lending me strength, no doubt. He opens his eyes and turns to me. 
“Darling, are you alright?” His worry is clear in his tone.
“I am, for now. I think we have been able to stabilize it. We should meet up with the others at the church.” I respond, standing to my feet and brushing off the dirt. As I do, the comms spark to life again.
“Cap, you got incoming.” Tony shoots through the earpiece
“Incoming already came in.” Steve’s voice retorts.
“Stark, you and Y/N work on getting the city down safely. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt em back. You get killed, walk it off.” I silently move my mouth in tandem with Steve’s miniature monologue. Loki chuckles at my antics and shakes his head. 
“I’m guessing that the Captain is the Captain across all timelines?” He asks sarcastically.
“Of course.” I smile, jogging in the direction of the church. “Stark, meet me at the church.”
“Already ahead of you, Elsa.” his voice crackles.
I can feel different skirmishes take place across the city, and hear the team’s quips over the comms.
“Never what? You didn’t finish.” Steve’s voice taunts. 
“Keep up old man.” Pietro shoots.
I race up the steps and into the church where Tony is inspecting the gadget. 
“Hey there Elsa. Nice to have you join us.”
“Okay, Tony. What are your thoughts?” I ask him, hoping that we can come up with something besides an explosion.
“Well, we did stop rising, so that’s a plus.” He states.
“That would be because of us.” I gesture to myself and Loki.
“Us?” Tony asks.
“Well, my gifts and some lent strength.” I add. 
Tony nods in acknowledgment of my explanation. “If the city were to fall now, it would still be devastating. Anyway, you can get us back to the ground?” He looks at me hopefully.
“Sorry, Tony. I’ve tried. The machine is too powerful. I can’t force it down. The most I can do right now, is keep it from going higher.”
He sighs, pacing around the machine. “Friday, if I get Thor to hit it…”
“The impact would be devastating.”
“Maybe if we cap the other end.” Tony supplies.
“Keep the atomic action doubling back.”
“It would vaporize the city. And everyone on it.” Tony looks at me, pain and resignation in his eyes. 
The coms spark to life in our ears, “Stark, Y/N, What do you got?”
“Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That’ll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear.” Tony says the last part while staring at me. I shake my head and kneel back on the ground, powers sparking as I try to get a better grip on the floating rock. 
“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan.” Steve’s voice echoes. 
“We have to make some sort of choice. This rock isn’t going anywhere right now. For now, Y/N can hold it steady, but not forever.  We can’t bring it down another way.” Tony explains looking at me. The look that Tony gives me is filled with thinly veiled concern and panic in his eyes, but the only other indication of emotions is the slight twitch of a smirk to reassure me.  I can feel the sweat beaded on my forehead as I continue to try and push the rock back home. Loki is clearly nearby as I feel some of his strength assist me in keeping the rock steady. 
“What do we do about the civilians?” Sam questions. 
“I’m not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.” Steve’s response comes through strongly, resolved.
“Well, there are worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?” Nat asks.
The comms static grows for a moment before an answer is heard. 
“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It’s about to get better.” Fury’s smug voice shoots through the coms. “Nice, right? Dusted her off with a couple of friends. She’s rusty, but she’ll do.” I can practically hear his smug grin through the earpiece. 
“Fury, you son of a bitch.” Steve’s tone is incredulous, clearly taking in the sight of the helicarrier.
“Oh. You kiss your mother with that mouth.” He retorts. “Lifeboats deploying.”
I can hear the scramble across the coms as the team coordinates the lifeboats and remaining civilians to evacuate. Tony takes off, coordinating with Rhodes as he soars in with War Machine. 
Tony’s quick departure is replaced by Thor landing nearby, with Ultron close behind him. 
At the sight of the imposing metal figure, I scoot across the ground to hide behind some rubble. I need to continue to hold the rock in place against the machine, and I very much doubt that Ultron would appreciate my gesture. Loki stands, ready to defend me or help his brother.
Even from my hiding place, I can hear the exchange between the god and machine.
“I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast… I am running out of things to say. Are you ready?” Thor’s question is answered by Vision flying in with Mjolnir. The sound of metal hitting metal echoes in my ears. 
Ultron goes flying from the impact and lands not ten feet in front of my hiding place. His glowing red eyes inspect me as he gets up from his position. I can’t tell if Loki notices my predicament. 
“Ah, so this is where they hid their precious little flower.” His voice sends a shiver down my spine, my mind immediately thinking of the brief but no less terrifying encounter at the tower. 
I send out a pulse of energy, pleading with the air and earth to hold their positions, and I rise to my feet.
“I am not hiding.” I hope that my voice sounds strong and resolute, and not shaking like it tends to do sometimes.
“It seems that you are here to fight against me, with this band of murderers.” He continues, ignoring my retort. “I would have thought that someone like you would know better.” He chastises.
“Someone like me?” I can't help the question as it tumbles over my lips. 
“Yes. Someone with great power. Someone with a great destiny. Someone who so clearly holds the fates of so many in her hands.” His eyes glow red. “You and I could-”
I don’t let him finish that statement, hurling a gust of wind to force him to retreat from me. The sudden wind gets the others' attention and Loki jogs over to me.
“Darling?” He asks, searching my eyes.
“I’m alright. I promise.” I look into his eyes, conveying the fact that for now I am fine, tired but fine.
He nods, accepting my answer and guides me back to the group in time for the orders from Tony.
“Rhodey, get the rest of the people on that carrier. Avengers, time to work for a living. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.” Tony adds, looking at the gathered heroes in the church. 
As he finishes his statement, Ultron rises in the air just outside the ruined building, staring our group down. 
“Is that the best you can do?” Thor shouts at him. 
Ultron raises his arms in response, and a horde of his bots appear over the rubble headed in our direction.
“You had to ask.” Steve tells Thor, disbelief on his face. 
Ultron hovers over the ground, just outside the entrance to the church. “This is the best that I can do.” He gestures to the surrounding metal army. “ This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me.” He glances at me. “You still have time to step aside.” And he turns to address the whole group again. “How can you possibly stop me?”
“Well,” Tony begins, stepping forward, “like the old man said. Together.”
While watching the battle from the outside in with the movie, it seemed so graceful, a beautifully choreographed dance. But seeing and experiencing it from this end is far from graceful. I cannot spare a second thought for my friends around me. I am far too focused on keeping myself in one piece while trying to keep the city from rising any higher. The first bot that rushes me is frozen in place, glowing eyes dimming as the circuits fry. The first bot is quickly replaced by a second and third, red eyes determined to take me down. The anger in my heart over what Ultron is doing quickly overpowers my gifts, the ice turning to flame and melting the two to the ground. I don’t have time to recover from the shock of being able to melt the metal figures before the next is upon me. With the flick of a wrist, it slams into the side of the church in a gust of wind, falling to pieces. 
I can feel my limbs shaking as I use one arm to focus on the floating city, and the other to summon my gifts in defense. The clanging of metal rings in my ears from all around me as the battle continues. I can’t spare a glance to help anyone, my focus is already split enough. But the incoming bots seem to lessen in number gradually. It seems hours, but must only be a few minutes before I can hear the exchange that Ultron has with Thor, Tony, and Vision before being thrown off by Hulk. As Ultron is tossed, the bots that remain in one piece, flee the church. I take in a shuddering breath, refocusing all energy into the floating city. 
“Rhodey?” Tony asks across the comms.
“On it.” Rhodes’ response comes through clear as he begins to take down the fleeing bots. “No, I didn't say you could leave. War Machine coming at you-” Rhodes trails off, no doubt in disbelief as Vision soars around destroying the bots with his bare hands.
“Okay, we gotta move out.” Steve commands into the earpiece. “Even I can tell that the air is thin. You guys get to the boats. We’ll sweep for stragglers.” Steve says, gesturing to himself and to Bucky. 
“What about the core?”
“I’ll protect it.” Wanda asserts, confidence flooding through her stance. 
“I’m not going to leave you here.” Pietro starts to argue with her.
“I can handle this. Come back for me when everyone else is off. Not before. You understand?” Her voice is dominant and commanding as she addresses her twin.
“You know, I’m 12 minutes older than you.” Pietro remarks.
“Go.” Wanda commands again.
After watching the exchange between the twins I turn and glance around the near empty church. Outside of myself and Wanda, the only one remaining is Loki. His emerald green eyes bore into me, assessing my current state. 
“Darling?” He asks, walking towards me once he notices me looking his way.
“I’m fine-” I start, knowing that he will see through my lie, but I can at least try.
“Sure you are.” He says, cutting me off as he reaches me. He reaches a hand up and cradles my face. “I know that look. You are clearly on or near your breaking point, but there is something else to be done.” His tone is gentle as he regards me.
I let out a breathy laugh, “You know me so well, Loki.” I glance towards Wanda and then the way that Pietro went. “We have to follow him.” I start to move in that direction, my feet shuffling on autopilot. Loki nods and begins to follow me as I follow the route that Pietro took.
“Loki?” I ask, as we continue our trek towards the rescue boats and towards Pietro. 
“Yes, darling?” His deep voice sounds tired but resolute.
“I am going to need a lot of strength soon.” 
At my statement, Loki pauses in his movements. “Are you saying that the hardest trials for you this day have yet to pass?”
“That is exactly what I am saying. There is one that still needs saving and I need to limit the damage being done, the consequences of this battle could be severe.”
He nods, taking my hand and bringing the back of it to his lips. “Of course, darling.” As his lips make contact with my skin, I can feel some of his strength filling me.
But there is something about the twinkle in his eyes as he says this that I think he may be something else. Three words with another meaning, where do I know that from?
I shake my head from that train of thought and give him a smile. “Thank you, Loki.” I say and continue on the trek towards Pietro.
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violetlilysunshine · 3 years
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Like a Sleepover
Tom Holland x Female Reader
Requested
Anon: Sleeping over Tom Holland house for the first time. Lots of fluff please
WC: 3,544
Warnings: none, just fluff
A/N: I'm seeing this take place in Atlanta, but it’s not really specific if you wanna imagine it somewhere else!
REQUESTS OPEN - Or just come chat :)
MASTERLIST
You and Tom had been together for a little while; you were getting serious, spending more and more time together.
Last month, you finally put a label on yourselves, “is it...ya know, uh… can I, well…” he stuttered.
“Spit it out, Tommy,” you joked.
“Can I call you my girlfriend?”
You were taken aback for a second, “well, uh, to be honest, I kinda thought I already was…” you giggled.
He laughed at you gently, “well alright then, girlfriend…” he trailed off with a raise of his eyebrows.
“Okay, boyfriend.”
TUESDAY
Flash forward and you’re making plans for this weekend seeing as you're both off from filming.
“Yeah, so they’re showing Outsiders at the drive-in on Friday, and we’d have to go to the later showing after I finish filming, but uh, I thought it would be fun and something different for us and I know you love the movie. Might be fun to dress like Greasers too,” he proposed through the phone, calling you between scenes.
“Ooh that does sound like fun, but I wanna be Cherry,” you said, giggling a bit.
“Okay, you can be Cherry, I’ll be Ponyboy,” he finalized.
“Sounds good, well I gotta go,” you said, “duty calls.”
“Yeah, me too, but uh, one more thing real fast?”
“Sure, what’s up, babe?”
“Well seeing as it’s going to be really late, I just thought maybe after it’s over, you could maybe stay with me?” his voice tweaked up at the end. He was met with silence on your end for a minute before he added, “ya know, like a sleepover…”
“Uh, yeah, maybe…” you trailed off, “we’ll see what the wind blows, huh?”
“Oh,” he said, his voice dropping a bit, “yeah sounds good.”
“Okay, well I really do have to run.”
“Alright, darling, talk to you tonight.”
“Bye,” you said, already walking out of your trailer and back to set.
“Yeah, bye,” he answered to himself, seeing as you’d already ended the call.
You had never been nervous with him before, but now he’d casually invited you to stay over at his house for the night, something you’d never done with any boyfriend, ever. You didn’t know how to act, and it kinda freaked you out.
Was he expecting anything? What would you even wear? Should you bring a change of clothes? Would late night last into early morning? What if you woke up before him and didn’t know what to do in his house? What if he woke up first and you slept in really late, leaving him bored and trapped?
Questions swirled your mind, and you knew he would bring it up again, but you had to force them away. You hustled back to set, getting into character and trying to forget about everything.
He called you later that night, “wanna grab a bite with Harry and I?” he proposed.
“Uh sure,” you thought since Harry would be there, he wasn’t likely to bring it up again.
You met him just down the street from his house at the forgotten diner you frequented, never being recognized and getting some peace together. You grabbed burgers and chatted about your day as you ate and everything seemed fine. He didn’t bring it up again, and you thought you would have another few days to process everything and hopefully get over the hurdles in your mind. You wanted to stay with him, but you didn’t know how that would play out, exactly.
“Finished?” he asked, gesturing to your empty tray as he stood up.
“Yeah, thanks,” you smiled, and he cleaned up the table and took the trash to the can.
“I’m gonna walk back, if that’s okay,” Harry said, standing from the table, “got some photos I wanna edit.”
“Sure, bro, I’ll be right behind you,” Tom answered, coming back to you.
“Bye,” you waved as he left you and Tom alone.
“Walk you to your car?” Tom offered.
You stood up, turning around to thank the workers as the two of you left the diner. He walked you to your car, one hand secured around your shoulders, hugging you tight to his side.
“So, uh, I kinda got the sense that you didn’t want to stay with me earlier,” he said slowly, testing the waters to see how you would react.
You swallowed hard, turning to lean on the door of your car, “oh,” you whispered, “well uh, it’s not that, it’s just that I don’t - I’ve never really, uh, done that before.”
“Yeah I know we haven’t, love,” he chuckled.
“I mean, like ever,” you whispered, looking at the ground, “I just uh, don’t really know how that works.”
“Oh, well, uh, it’s not that hard really,” he soothed, “you just sorta sleep at my place, and I take care of you, and make you breakfast, and we just be together.”
You looked into his chocolate eyes, nothing but love pouring out of them. You don’t know how long you held his gaze for, but he started to get a little nervous at your lack of response.
“I mean, we’ve napped together before, it’s kinda like the same thing, just longer,” he added, trying to put you at ease.
“But like, what’s gonna happen?” you said, fiddling with your hands.
He understood what your emphasis meant, bringing a hand to your shoulder and rubbing it gently, “I’m not expecting anything, love,” he soothed you, “if it happens, fine, I’m ready for that. If you’re not that’s fine too, just wanna cuddle with you. Feel you pressed against me. Have my sheets smell like you when I get in ‘em the next night.”
You felt more at ease about it, but wrinkled your nose at his last statement.
His eyes grew wide, “no no no,” he hurried out, “I didn’t mean it, like, in a weird way! It came out wrong!”
You giggled at him, “it’s okay, bub, I get it. Why do you think I like wearing your hoodies all the time?”
He breathed a sigh of relief, chuckling at you, “yeah?”
“Yeah, and to be honest I don’t really even like hoodies. I’m a sweatshirt kind of gal.”
“Noted,” he answered, saving that info for later, “so what d’ya think about Friday?”
“I’ll stay, but like, do I bring anything?”
“You can bring whatever makes you comfortable, love,” he answered quietly, stepping towards you and cupping your face in his hands.
“Okay,” you breathed, connecting your lips to his.
You kissed for a while, his body pressing yours into the door. You pulled back to take a breath, resting your forehead on his, “but really, do I bring like, a toothbrush and stuff?”
“Yes, love, bring a toothbrush,” he chuckled, pecking you again. He swung his arm around your shoulder again, pulling you off the car, “let’s get you home, yeah?”
He opened your door, letting you inside the driver’s seat and closing the door. You started the car, him still standing there watching you. You rolled down the window, “are you coming or what?” you laughed.
“What?” he asked with a chuckle.
“I’m taking you home, obviously,” you giggled.
He ran around to the other side, hopping in quickly and buckling up. His hand rested against your thigh instantly, stroking his thumb across your skin.
You made the short drive to his house, lights on downstairs showing that Harry was already there.
“Thanks for the ride, baby,” Tom said, leaning over the console and giving you a quick peck.
“Anytime,” you whispered, pecking him again.
“See you Friday,” he said with a raise of his eyebrows, squeezing your thigh.
“Yeah, Friday,” you answered quickly.
He pecked you one last time before slipping out of the car and jogging to the front door. You watched him go inside, waving to each other before you drove off.
THURSDAY
After you were off, you took a long shower, exfoliating everything and shaving your legs, in preparation for tomorrow night. You carefully packed your bag: toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, hair brush, extra ponytail holders, face wash, cute pajamas, fuzzy socks, extra undies (more than you’ll ever possibly need but can’t be too prepared, right?), a cute outfit for Saturday, and a book (because who knows what the tide will bring?).
You’d spent so long worrying about what you would take with you, that you’d forgotten that you had to find something to wear to the movie. You’d already agreed to be Cherry, so you had to come up with something.
You slipped to the back of your closet, finding an old-plaid-navy-school-uniform skirt. That’ll work. You pulled out a plain white sweater that you’d never found a chance to wear, thinking you could tuck that in, and a lace bralette to go underneath it; after all, you wanted to feel a little sexy. You pulled forward some old blue Vans and some white crew socks, planning to fold them over. You also planned to ask your hair and make-up artist to help you with your hair before you left set tomorrow, saving a few pictures for her.
By the time you’d done all that, you figured you better go to bed, turning off the light, crawling into bed, and thinking about what tomorrow would bring.
FRIDAY
You’d had a long and stressful day filming, stuttering over your lines, missing your marks, and overall just not giving your best performance. Everyone has their off days, but you knew this was coming from your worries about tonight.
You called Tom as you were getting your hair done after wrapping for the day.
“Hi, bub, am I interrupting you?” you asked as soon as he answered.
“Never, love,” he answered, “what’s up?”
“Well, I’m getting my hair done for tonight, then I was going to head home. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t want me to stop and get anything at all or bring anything specific with me..”
“Course not, darling. You just have to bring that pretty face…” he trailed off.
If you were with him, you’d have slapped his shoulder lightly. Instead you just giggled, asking, “you’re positive?”
“Yes darling,” he insisted, “I’ll pick you up at 9:00.”
“Alright…” you trailed, “guess I better let you get back to work.”
“I’ll see you later, beautiful,” he whispered, “bye.”
“Bye.”
Your hair and make-up artist finished her work, expertly recreating your example images. You thanked her profusely, complimenting her over and over.
She answered with a simple, “it’s nothing dear,” and a wave of her hand.
You hugged her thank you, heading back to your trailer to collect your things.
By the time you got back to your apartment, it was already 8:30. You quickly dropped your work and other set junk on the table, scurrying to your room to collect your bag for Tom’s. You checked over everything in there, playing all the possible scenarios in your mind before deciding you were prepared.
You changed into your outfit for the night, lacing your shoes and admiring yourself in the full length mirror. You snapped a few pictures, deciding that one was cute and posted it to your Instagram story with the caption, “where’s my Pony?” and a cherry emoji.
As soon as you put it up, Tom knocked on your door. You rushed through the living room to the front door, flinging it open to see what Tom had concocted for the evening. You took in his appearance, mouth watering at the sight. You admired his slicked back hair, tight grey t-shirt, sleeves rolled up a bit of course, loose jeans, cuffed at the hem, beat up black converse, and red flannel hanging over his shoulder; you didn’t realize the effect this dress-up would have on you. You giggled, eyeing him up and down as he did the same to you.
“Hey, doll,” he grinned, meeting your eyes again.
“Hey, Pony,” you laughed.
“Ready to go?” he asked gently.
“Yeah, let me just get my bag from my room,” you said, turning back to grab it from your bed.
At the last second you decided to throw a box of tampons in. You weren’t expecting to use them, but you didn’t want to get stranded without them. You sighed, zipping up the bag and turning off your bedroom light.
You emerged from the room, walking towards Tom, standing by the table.
“Ready,” you said, voice kind of quiet.
“Let’s go then,” he smiled brightly, taking your bag from you and grabbing your hand. You locked the door behind you before following him to his car.
~~~~
When you parked to watch the movie, Tom was quick to pull out his phone, snapping a picture of the title screen and posting it to his public story. You knew fans would be in a tizzy, considering your earlier post, but they always were so what’s the point in worrying. Then he turned to you, “take a photo with me, love?”
“Course, Pony, anything for you,” you said dramatically, even though you loved it.
“Are you gonna call me that all night?” he chuckled.
“Maybe forever,” you answered, laughing loudly.
He pulled his phone up to take a selfie. You smiled wide, pressing your faces together, and he turned to peck your cheek. He snapped another, smiling as well, saving it and setting it as his lock screen.
The movie was great, as expected, and the drive-in atmosphere made it even more fun. You didn’t have to worry about fans interrupting you, a big plus, but it also just fit the movie so well, and it was fun to be in costume.
When it wrapped up and you were waiting in the traffic to pull out of the lot, Tom asked gently, “still wanna come over?”
“Yeah, sure,” you said, trying not to overthink things.
“Okay, just making sure. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Just want you to be comfortable,” he said, dropping a hand to your thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Oh, well I wanna give it a go,” you said with a small smile, placing your hand on top of his.
He smiled wide, picking up your hand to give it a kiss, before dropping it back into your lap.
The drive to his house was quick after you finally made it out of the parking lot. He hurried around the car, opening your door for you, before grabbing your bag from the backseat.
He placed a hand on your lower back, gently guiding you to the front door. He shuffled around to unlock it, pushing open the door and allowing you to enter first. You stepped inside, making note of Harry on the couch. It was almost 1:00 AM, so you’d assumed he'd be asleep.
“Oh, hey Harry,” you spoke lightly.
“Hey, was wondering when you’d get here…” he trailed off, “I was just about to turn in. Outfit’s great by the way,” he said, standing from the couch and gathering his laptop.
“I don’t mean to chase you out,” you said, not wanting to be in the way.
“No, no, you didn’t,” he soothed, “it’s time to turn in anyway, gonna go golf in the morning.”
“Oh, okay, goodnight.”
“Night,” he said, trudging down the hall.
Tom had set your bag on the bench in the entryway, coming up behind you. He placed his hands on your hips, pulling you flush against his front, as he snuggled his face into your neck.
“Hi,” he whispered in your hair.
“Hi,” you giggled back, attempting to turn in his grasp.
His hands held you in place, wrapping around to cross over your stomach. He rested his weight against you, slowly swaying the both of you back and forth.
You eyed the mirror across the room, desperate to take pictures like this. After all, he got a new lockscreen earlier…
“Bub,” you giggled, feeling his breath fan across your neck.
“Mmm, yes, my love?” he grumbled, pressing kisses against your skin.
“I wanna take a picture,” you giggled, “over in that cool mirror.”
He squeezed you tighter for a second, before releasing you, “mmkay,” he answered, letting you lead him over to the mirror.
“Do that again,” you told him, guiding his arms around your waist.
He was quick to settle back into you, breathing in your scent as you snapped a few photos in the mirror: a few of him kissing your neck, a few with you both looking in the mirror, a few of him looking at you, lovingly. He buried his face even further into you, hiding completely, as you took just one more. You asked him if it was okay to post one.
“Let me see it first,” he said, wanting to check all of the surroundings for spoilers and whatnot.
He was quick to approve the photo with his lips pressed to your jaw, making you smile.
You put it up on your story, captioning this one, “found him,” with the horse and cherry emojis.
He kissed your neck a few times, watching you post, before mumbling, “ready for bed?”
You yawned slowly, “yeah, I think so.”
“Alright,” he whispered, pecking your cheek one final time.
He slid one hand down your arm, locking your fingers together, and pulling you towards the staircase. He picked up your bag, carrying it with him up to his bedroom. You followed him in and he set your bag on the end of the bed.
“Alright, darling,” he said, rubbing his hands together gently, “make yourself at home.”
“Okay,” you giggled, stepping towards the end of the bed gently.
He’d placed your bag in the middle, next to a sweatshirt. You looked at him, making note of its presence.
“Oh, well, uh, you said you didn’t like hoodies, so I uh, pulled this one out for you, ya know, if you want it,” he said, shuffling his feet.
All you could do was smile, You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him into you. You kissed him gently, lingering for just a second.
“Thank you,” you whispered against his lips.
“You’re welcome, darling.”
You turned towards the bed, stepping back from him.
“So what’d you bring?” he asked, one hand finding the zipper of your bag as he tried to get a peek inside. You were quick to stop his hands, not wanting him to see the box of tampons thrown on top.
“Things,” you said giggling, “teeth stuff, hair stuff, clothes, a book…” you trailed off.
“A book?” he laughed lightly, “what book?”
“Looking for Alaska,” you answered, “it’s my comfort book.”
“Well, you’ll have to read it to me,” he said with a glint in his eye.
“Okay,” you whispered with a sheepish smile.
“I’m gonna pop in the bathroom real quick, alright?”
“Of course, it’s your house,” you laughed.
In his absence, you changed clothes, dragging on your tiny sleep shorts and matching tank top and pulling his sweatshirt over the top. You moved your bag off the mattress, dropping it on the floor. He came back quickly, seeing your new outfit, and smiling widely.
“Looks good on you,” he grinned.
“Thanks,” you said, “can I take my makeup off?”
“Course,” he answered, gesturing to the bathroom.
While you did that, he changed as well, dressing in a new t-shirt and clean boxers; he didn’t want to get in bed with you for the first time in dirty boxers of course. He shuffled under the covers, tucking into his usual side and propping against the headboard. He scrolled through Instagram, reposting your stories to his own and liking a few posts of yours.
You returned, dropping your items back in your bag, and grabbing your book. You flipped off the overhead light and stepped into the other side, enjoying how utterly domestic everything felt.
He flipped on the lamp on the side table, opening his arm for you to rest against him. You settled against his chest, opening your book to start to read to him. He kissed your head and rubbed small circles into your arm.
Your eyes were getting heavy as you read, but you would gladly stay up all night reading with him. Unfortunately, he started to doze off, snoring just enough for you to hear. You closed the book, marking your page but knowing you’d have to go back a little bit tomorrow, and reached over to turn the light off.
He woke up a bit, grumbling, “what’re you doing, love?”
“Just turning off the light,” you whispered, “go back to sleep.”
He sank down to lay against the pillows. You dropped back over to your side, curling up, but leaving some distance between you two. You faced him, admiring his face as he slept.
“What’re you doing?” he grumbled, eyes still closed.
“What do you mean?” you giggled, “going to sleep.”
“No, c’mere,” he said, reaching an arm out to wrap around your waist.
He pulled you into him, tangling your legs together and pecking your cheeks. You giggled at him, pulling his lips to yours, kissing him goodnight.
“G’night, my love,” he grumbled, tipping his head back to rest his chin against your forehead.
“Night, Pony,” you whispered back.
He chuckled, squeezing you tighter before you both drifted off to sleep.
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luci-in-trenchcoats · 3 years
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If I Fell For You (Part 4) - Safety Nets
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Summary: The reader has her first date with Jensen, a simple dinner at home with him and the kids, but when they get a moment alone, he shares some information about the accident hardly anyone knows. Just as things start to get moving with the pair, Jensen has to head to Canada for filming ahead of schedule but he’s not so sure he can go back to whole weeks away from his family right now...
Masterlist
Pairing: Jensen x nanny!reader
Word Count: 5,200ish
Warnings: language, death of a spouse, mention of injury, depression, anxiety, self-worth problems
A/N: Shopping buddies are the best ;) Please enjoy!
________
“Can I help set the table?” you asked the next evening, Jensen shaking his head at you.
“JJ, can you set the table for me?” asked Jensen. She jumped up from the couch and got out silverware, setting an extra spot for you.
“Y/N, are you and dad on a date?” she asked when she finished up. You looked down from where you leaned back against the counter, Jensen chuckling.
“Yes we are sweetie. If this goes well I’d like to take Y/N out on Friday, maybe you guys can go to Uncle Jared and Aunt Gen’s,” he said.
“You should go out with dad,” said JJ. 
“Oh I should?” you said, crossing your arms. “Why’s that?”
“Cause he’s strong and handsome and smart and funny and…” she said, holding up her hand and counting on her hand. 
“The hair,” he whispered, a smirk crossing your face.
“Oh and he’s only got a few gray hairs!” she said.
“Oh. Well that is interesting,” you laughed, Jensen smacking himself in the face.
“Great hair, JJ. Not gray. Great,” he said.
“You do have gray whiskers,” she said.
“Like...barely,” he said. “See what I put up with? A few teensy tiny little patches in my beard if it grows out.”
“I don’t know if I can date a man of such frail age,” you said. He cocked his head and you laughed, JJ giggling as she went to get the plates.
“Keep it up you two,” he said. You walked over to him, JJ going past with the plates. “Come to tease some more?”
“I was told you’re quite handsome, thought I’d get a closer look,” you said. 
“You can have as close a look as you want,” he said, flashing you a wink.
“Calm yourself, Casanova,” you said, reaching up to the cupboard to get another plate for JJ. “Here sweetie.”
“Thanks,” she said. She set it ran back over, hugging you. “Don’t go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” you said.
“Good,” she said. You bent down and picked her up, resting her on your hip. 
“Where’d you think I was going?” you asked. She shrugged and Jensen stopped stirring the pot.
“I don’t know. Wherever you were before. Dad’s a lot happier since you live with us now,” she said.
“Well taking care of you three is hard all by yourself,” you said. You set her down and patted her head. “Go get your brother and sister for dinner.”
“You’re good with them,” he said, stirring the pot again.
“They’re people. Small people that don’t know half of what adults do but still people. Sometimes you gotta treat ‘em like it. Most of the time actually,” you said. 
“I talked to her earlier about this whole situation,” he said.
“Besides listing off all your selling points what’d she think?”
“Well apparently she’s in favor of me asking if you’d marry me tonight,” he said.
“Oh. Shotgun wedding. Simple. I like it,” you laughed. He turned his head and smiled, glancing down for a long moment, slowly returning.
“Why doesn’t this situation scare you? The kids, me who has been all over the place lately, not to mention my job, long distance, the shit you get just for-” he said, your hand covering his mouth.
“I didn’t say it’s not a lot, Jensen. It’s scary. Of course it is. Every single one of my relationships has ended badly for one reason or another. Friendships. Family ones. Romantic ones. You’re handsome and you’re so successful and I’m literally a nanny but you said you wouldn’t hurt me. So I’ll trust that you won’t and you trust I won’t hurt you and it’ll work itself out.”
“That simple huh.”
“I’m easy going. Let’s keep it simple,” you said.
“Simple works,” he said as you pulled the pot off the burner before it bubbled over. “Simple definitely works.”
“This is not a good idea,” you said two hours later, the kids in bed, you and Jensen jumping up and down on the trampoline in the yard.
“Oh most certainly not,” he said, landing near you and sending you up. You yelped and landed back down on your bottom, Jensen bouncing again, sending you up again and laughing this time. “Well that’s a cute sound.”
“Boys. Is it taught somewhere that you gotta tease a girl when you like her?” you asked, Jensen pulling you to your feet and bouncing around lightly.
“Right after manly man class, duh,” he said. 
“You would have failed, I can tell you right now,” you said. He scoffed and you shrugged. “That’s kinda a really good thing.”
“That your ex? Tough guy all the time?” he asked.
“Not like, to that extent or anything. I had a bad day and I really needed someone and he let me down. He got mad at me for it actually. He called depression a phase I needed to get over with,” you said. He stopped bouncing and you did the same, glancing down. Next thing you knew he playfully tackled you onto the trampoline, rolling to his side and smiling at you. 
“Some of my friends have it. One of my best friends does. Jared. If he ever knocks on the door late at night or whatever, let him in.”
“You take care of everyone in your life it seems,” you said.
“You take care of the people you care about, not insult them. Hopefully the ex figures that out someday.”
“How’d you figure it out?” 
“I don’t do anything anyone else shouldn’t,” he said.
“Maybe that’s it,” you said. “You’re unapologetically good and you don’t even know how rare that is.”
“It takes up too much energy to be angry or mean or cruel. I’d just rather be happy,” he said.
“You got a lot of friends, don’t you.”
“My fair share,” he said.
“How many would you call close?”
“Maybe ten or so.”
“How many real close?”
“Two or three.”
“How many know what really happened that day? Your wife…” you said. He stared at you and swallowed.
“How do you know?” he asked quietly.
“Because when we met you said she died in an accident but then you said it was her head. You’re holding onto something, something you don’t talk about.”
“She was driving when the aneurysm happened. I was in the car with her. I almost died. It’s seemed easier to lie about that.”
“Who knows?”
“My parents and Jared. They’re the only ones.”
“You ever talk to anyone about it?” 
“I went to talk to someone a few times. I’m better now,” he said with a smile. “I don’t share a lot if you may have guessed already. Not to too many people. But you it feels so easy to.”
“Must be special,” you said. He smiled and reached a hand over, twirling a piece of your hair in his fingers. “That why you like me?”
“There’s a lot of stereotypical reasons to like someone and part of that is true in why you choose someone I suppose. But there’s this other part that when you meet someone that you can’t really explain.”
“I get that. I get all of it. My brain always seems to want to go to the bad scenario first I suppose,” you said. You looked up at the black sky, Jensen toying with another strand between two fingers. “I wish it didn’t do that so much.”
“You’re just trying to protect yourself is all,” he said.
“But I come off as pushy and distant,” you said, turning your head. “Like I’m that person that’s cool with everything being casual.”
“Well think of it like this trampoline. It’s the only thing holding us up right now right?” he asked and you hummed. “Well my life, I’ve had thousands of safety nets below me to catch me when I fall so even if I tore through one, there was more to hold me up while the others got fixed. You never had as many to start and I think more of yours broke and there was no way to fix them in time so you kept tumbling through until you got to the ground.”
“Your point?”
“Maybe some people hit the ground and others never do. But the people who hit the ground, as they go back up they can make the best most solid nets in the world to hold them up. One good net beats a thousand flimsy ones.”
“So at what age do I get the wisdom?” you asked, turning your head and smiling over at him.
“You don’t. My job has made me fall through more nets than I wanted to and this year made me realize I might not have a thousand strong nets at the bottom but I just needed one to get by and now I’m working back up. You’re not even close to being down low either. You’ve already had the hardest part of your life. It’s all up from here.”
You leaned over and he lay back on the trampoline, gazing up at you. You lowered your head as he cupped your cheek, pulling you in close until your lips were touching. Part of your mind was reeling from that in itself but the other half knew that was his first kiss since his wife. You inched back but stayed close, Jensen peeling open his eyes. 
“You okay?” you asked.
“Very,” he said. You lay back beside him, Jensen letting you go. His hand reached out for yours though and laced your fingers together. “Why’d you kiss me?”
“Wanted to,” you said.
“Cool. I wanted to kiss you too,” he said. 
“Alright then.” You stared upwards, the trampoline shifting again. He popped into view propped up on one arm, your head turning slightly. He was flush, even in the dim light. He moved slowly but you let him come to you, a barely there gentle kiss that lingered, a thousand gears going in your head, likely a thousand more going off in his. 
“I’m okay,” he said quietly as he pulled back a few inches. Your fingers carded through his hair and he smiled. “I’ll get the hang of this again. I promise.”
“That was more than enough for one night,” you said. “We said slow and we’ll go slow, okay?”
“Sounds good with me.”
Two Days Later
“Y/N, can I have a word with you in my office?” asked Jensen as you were picking up after dinner. You hummed and put the last fork in the dishwasher before following him down to a quieter part of the house. He shut the door behind you and he ran his hand over his face. “This is about work, my work, but it’s going to involve you. Heavily.”
“What’s up?” you asked, taking a seat in a chair. He sat in his by his desk, scrunching up his face.
“My job with that TV show, The Boys, it films in Canada. I’m gonna need to be up there four, maybe five months. The way things used to work with my wife was I would fly back home every weekend or every other weekend. I never went more than 2 weeks seeing the kids. I don’t have to film every day but it’s easier to stay there for the week. But it’s...it’s difficult for me. It’s difficult for them and...they lost one parent this year. I can’t stay away that long for months. I just can’t do it anymore.”
“That’s perfectly understandable,” you said.
“I’d like to temporarily move to Canada while I film. No flying back and forth. The kids can see me everyday and I can see them. JJ’s school still offers remote learning and I’m homeschool certified in a pinch. Twins can do daycare easy. The only issue I have is the same one I originally did. I still need a nanny. Only now in a different country...and it’s gonna be more late nights on the regular.”
“I see,” you said.
“This isn’t what you signed up for so if you don’t want it, that’s okay. I can find a nanny up there and we can try long distance and-” he said before you stood and walked in front of him.
“I’m in.”
“Really? I mean it’s gonna be awhile before we’re back in the states,” he said.
“It sounds like fun.”
“Awesome. I was really hoping you’d say that,” he said.
“So where are we going?” you asked.
“Toronto. Well, near there. I gotta start filming start of February but there’s promo stuff to do in late January,” he said.
“It’s already late January,” you laughed. “When do we have to move?”
“Uh, tomorrow,” he said. “Just got the call a few hours ago. I got a house to rent lined up already.”
“Oh wow. Alright. Uh, what do I need to do exactly?” you asked.
“Keep stuff normal. Don’t worry about cleaning or anything. Maybe box up anything you want to bring and some of the kids stuff. Toys, books, that stuff. I’ll handle their bags. We’ll ship it all up tomorrow and take a flight up at night,” he said.
“Okay, cool,” you said. “Wait I need like, a snow jacket right?”
“We’ll get you set up there with coat and boots and all that,” he said. 
“Gotcha,” you said, starting to leave before you spun around and walked smack into his chest. “Wait. I have a lot more questions actually. Like...I don’t have a passport?”
“I know which is why tomorrow morning first thing you’re gonna go down to the post office, get your passport done up and when it comes in, we’ll get it shipped up to Canada,” he said.
“How do I get into Canada though?”
“We share a border with them so we bring your license and birth certificate, you can go right on in no problem,” he said.
“Oh. Okay,” you said. “Wait. I’ve never been on an airplane before. What-”
“Okay,” he laughed. “Take a hot second and breathe and we’ll go from there. I know it’s last minute but it’ll work out. I promise.”
“Y/N,” said Jensen, tapping your shoulder two days later. You hummed and reluctantly turned your head away from staring out the back sliding doors to the snow covered yard and trees around you. “Have you ever seen snow before?”
“No. Not like this,” you said, head going back to staring outside. “It’s something out of a movie.”
“You had that same look on your face when we took off last night in the plane.”
“What’s that?”
“Those little moments where the years fall off and you get that childish joy, like nothing bad has ever happened,” he said. 
“I suppose there’s hope for me yet,” you said with a smile.
“Oh there was always that,” he chuckled. He threw an arm over your shoulders and you leaned into him. “Can I still take you out Friday?”
“Who’s gonna watch the kids?” you asked.
“My buddy.”
“Does he exist?” you said, grinning at him. 
“Cute,” he said, ruffling your bedhead. “Yes he does exist. How’s Friday night sound?”
“Do I need a dress?” you asked.
“Probably. It’s a nice place,” he said. “My favorite place in Toronto actually. Jeans are perfectly acceptable there though.”
“I’ll pick out a dress today too,” you said. You kissed his cheek and watched them turn an ever so light pink. “You’re cute.”
“Shut up,” he chuckled. “Put your boots and coat on the card I gave you alright? That’s a business expense.”
“Whatever you say boss,” you said. “I’m gonna duck out before the little ones get up. I’ll try not to be gone too long.”
“Take your time. Drive slow in the snow until you get the hang of it, okay?”
“I will. I promise.”
“What the fuck’s the difference between therma heat and therma wear…” you mumbled to yourself, gawking at the glove rack at the store an hour later.
“I think it’s just marketing,” said the guy on the other side. You jumped and managed to knock about five pairs off the hangers. He laughed quietly and peeked his head around. “Didn’t mean to spoke ya.”
“It’s alright. I’m…” you said, the man smiling as you shook your head out. “Um...I…”
“You okay?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. You nodded and he smiled. “You sure cause you were just having a life crisis over gloves a second ago and now you can’t seem to form a sentence.”
“You’re Home…” you said, shutting your eyes. “You’re the actor that plays...I’m having a fucking day.”
“Looks like it,” he said, bending down and picking up some of the gloves. He laughed again and you got the ones closest to you, putting them back. “You know it’s like ten degrees outside right? Not exactly sneaker weather.”
“I know. This place looks pretty but it’s worse than a Texas summer almost with how cold it is.”
“I thought you sounded not from here,” he said with a smile. “I’m not from around here either. I do better with the heat myself.”
“Okay um, listen...uh, what’s your name, not Homelander?” you asked.
“Antony,” he chuckled again.
“I’m Y/N. I’m just gonna get the weird stuff out of the way cause…” you said as he smiled but stepped back a foot. “Yeah. Um I’m a fan but like...do you know Jensen Ackles?”
“Why?” he asked.
“He’s my boss...and my boyfriend but that’s another story. We might run into each other at some point, probably very likely. Just wanted to throw that out there.”
“Your boss?” he asked.
“I nanny his kids. I wouldn’t believe me if I were you either. I should go,” you said. You groaned when you were past him, hearing a pair of feet jog to catch up with you. 
“I know you. You were on his instagram last week right? Yeah okay, that makes sense why a clueless Texas girl is stressing over gloves.”
“Excuse me?” He shook his head and smiled. 
“Get a pair of thick gloves, thinner ones but not too thin, a warm hat, good boots for traction along with some boot spray and go with a longer hooded parka. It’ll be warmer. Throw in a few pairs of wool socks to be sure,” he said.
“Oh. Thank you,” you said. You looked back at the store and then to him. “There’s like five hundred coats in here.”
“How about you buy me a cup of coffee and I’ll help you out. Deal?”
“Why would you help me?” you asked.
“Well I’m gonna be working with Jensen quite a bit and he’s your boyfriend too apparently plus it’s just nice,” he said.
“You’re so not like your character.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. We’ll be out of here in an hour tops.”
Antony turned out to be very helpful since apparently you had an uncanny ability to be attracted to the least warmth rated items in the whole store. But you had your parka and boots on now, other items tucked away in the bags as you browsed through a rack of black dresses at a different store.
“We dress shopping now?” said Antony, sipping on his coffee cup.
“Dude,” you said, jumping again. “You gotta learn to make noise.”
“It’s my natural stealth,” he said. “That one.”
“What?”
“That one,” he said, nodding to a dress on the wall.
“I can’t pull that one off,” you said.
“Try it. I’ll watch your stuff,” he said.
“You’re oddly nice,” you said. “To a stranger.”
“Well this beats my plans of walking around the mall buying crap I don’t need. Besides, I like you.”
“I have a boyfriend.”
“I’m taken,” he laughed. “Come on. Everybody needs a shopping buddy.”
“Okay but if you’re a weirdo Jensen will kick your ass,” you said, finding your size and taking it off the rack. “Just sayin’.”
“I like the guy more already,” he said. “It’s not like it’s your first date or anything.”
“...Second date.” He stared and looked away. “It’s…complicated.”
“I heard about...you know…the accident,” he said. 
“Let him bring that up,” you said and he nodded. You took the dress into the changing room and smirked at the mirror. “Alright, maybe we give this one a shot.”
You changed back and found Antony on a bench outside. 
“I should take you shopping more often,” you said. “You have good taste.”
“Sounds like a winner,” he said, handing you back your bags. “I gotta head out for work but it was nice meeting you, Y/N. I’m sure I’ll see you around very soon.”
“Me too. Thanks for the help today, really.”
“Not a problem at all. See ya later,” he said as he headed out. You gave him a wave and picked out a pair of black heels to go with the dress before you were heading home.
“Hey Jensen,” you said late that night. He’d had to go in for some photos in the afternoon and had taken quite a bit longer than he’d anticipated. “Leftovers are in the container on the top shelf.”
“Thanks, Y/N,” he said. He rubbed his eyes and padded into the kitchen before tossing the container in the microwave.
“Um, Jensen? Can I talk to you about work?” you asked. His ears perked up and he nodded while he looked around for a spoon. “Second drawer to the left.”
“Thanks,” he said. “So what’s up? Something wrong?”
“Not exactly. I was thinking earlier though about a backup plan,” you said. He took out the container and grabbed his spoon sitting across from you at the table.
“What’s a backup plan?” he asked, shoveling a spoonful of too hot pasta into his mouth.
“Well down in Austin, say I was suddenly unable to perform my job duties cause I’m sick or hurt or I’m off on vacation or whatever. Down there I have a network of other nannies that could step in temporarily, they can do a pick up or drop off in a bind, that sort of thing. It’s kind of a support group in way. It’s good for me and for you.”
“They must have one of those things up here?” he asked, taking a slower bite this time. You spun your computer around and he nodded. “Tornanny. That’s cute. You gotta sign up or something?”
“I need to take a four hour class. They have one on Saturday morning. Is it okay if I sign up?” you asked. He chuckled and took another bite of food.
“Weekends are still yours to do as you please. I need a bit more help during weeknights or mornings but weekends are still yours. I’m also compensating your pay for the additional time and no you’re not winning that argument so don’t even try.”
“Okay. I’m gonna sign up,” you said, turning the computer back.
“What was that thing on the side?” he asked.
“Hm?” you said as you started filling in the form.
“Some happy hour thing on the side,” he said. You flicked your eyes over to the side of the page and saw the group posting. “That could be fun.”
“Do I look like the kind of person that goes to happy hours?” you said.
“Well maybe you could meet a nanny friend in this group, one you could maybe get to cover for you if you ever needed it. I did steal you away from everything you know to a different country with a days notice after all. I’d go with you if you want,” he said. 
“What about the kids?”
“Hm?”
“Jensen. I’m starting to see a fatal flaw in me being the nanny and us dating. I’m the person that should be watching the kids when you go out,” you said.
“Hm,” he said, eating for a few moments. “You do have a point. I think we need to renegotiate your contract.”
“Wait you’re firing me?” you said, Jensen shaking his head and laughing. “Okay cause you were about to lose a girlfriend for a second there.”
He smiled to himself and looked down, playing with his dinner. 
“So what are you talking about?” you asked.
“Well, girlfriend,” he chuckled. “How about this? Weekends you don’t work, at all, for any reason. If you watch the kids for an hour while I duck to the store, it’s cause you’re doing it cause of us, not as part of your job. If we want to go out or on a date on the weekend, we’ll get a sitter. I had a go to in Vancouver when I lived there. I’ll give her a call, see if she knows anyone out here that would work. That sound good?”
“I guess that’s alright,” you said. He raised and eyebrow and you shrugged. “I enjoy our alone time, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to take away from them though.”
“I appreciate the sentiment but I’m not saying…” he said before he trailed off and ate the last bites of his food. “I moved us so they could see me everyday which is far more than they ever did when I filmed my show. I will still make them breakfast. I will still put them to bed. I will still have lunch with them and play with them and all of it. They’ll always by my first priority. But a relationship with kids doesn’t always mean the kids are around. Sometimes they come with, sometimes they stay home. I’m not talking about ditching them for days on end. A few hours on a Saturday night, most of which they’ll be in bed asleep is all I’m talking about. We have a right to a little bit of time for ourselves. It’s not as easy with them than it was the first time around but we just have to try harder is all.”
“Okay,” you said. “I’m good with that. How was your first day?”
“Good. We did a lot of promotional stuff. I won’t start acting until next week. I heard you met Antony shopping today.”
“Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to tell you when I got home earlier. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He does. He invited us to dinner once we settle into a routine,” he said. “Apparently you two are shopping buddies now.”
“The man does know how to choose a dress.”
“Good thing I packed my lucky suit up here,” he said. 
“Speaking of suits...you wouldn’t happen to have any of you in your Soldier Boy suit from today?” 
“No spoilers,” he said with a smirk. You jutted out your lip and he rolled his eyes, taking out his phone. He tapped and slid it over to you, your eyes wide. You must have stared for a solid minute before you looked over at him, Jensen leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and a huge grin on his face. “You think I’m hot, don’t you.”
“Pft, no,” you said, biting your bottom lip before you licked it. He was still grinning out of the corner of your eye and you gave him the phone back. “Maybe...you’re kinda hot. But it’s totally the suit. Like right now, ugh, horrendous.”
“Nah, I’m hot,” he said, sticking out his stomach and rubbing it.
“I’m impressed you can actually do that,” you said. 
“Everybody’s got a tummy,” he said. “Seriously though, you think the suit is cool?”
“It looks awesome. I’d love to see it in person,” you said.
“Oh you guys will be on set at some point,” he said. “I’m kinda nervous about next week.”
“Really? Why? You’re a great actor.”
“Have you ever seen a single thing I’ve done,” he chuckled.
“I did in fact see that horror movie on a date years ago. Something with like mining?” you asked. 
“That’s what you saw? Like that movie? I hope the date worked out at least,” he said with a big smirk.
“Actually it was the crappy ex,” you said.
“Oh. You guys must have dated for a long time then.”
“Since we were seventeen,” you said. He stared and you shrugged. “I kept waiting for him to grow up and change. Eventually I realized he never would.”
“Did you love him?”
“I loved the idea of him. I liked him. I was with him for close to 12 years so I obviously liked him. But it wasn’t love. I could never be myself all the way around him and that’s not a way to live. There was none of that feeling when you first meet someone, you know?”
“Would I be pushing to ask if you ever thought about marrying the guy?”
“He did propose actually. A few times,” you said. “I turned him down. Things really went downhill from there though.”
“Why’d you say no?”
“I didn’t want to marry someone that made me feel bad about being me. Got tired of him telling me to get over everything that happened as a kid, dress a certain way, should I really have dessert, that kind of crap.”
“It’s part of who you are. I wouldn’t exactly call your past something to get over,” said Jensen. “Why would he even make you feel bad about it? You’re so normal.”
“I don’t think his daddy hugged him enough,” you said.
“No need to be a dick to other people for it,” he said. You smiled as you finished filling out the rest of the form for the class before sending it off. “Hey on the plus side I did get a good recommendation for daycare today. I was gonna check it out tomorrow morning, maybe get the twins in next week. Apparently they’re also hooked up with a school so JJ can go to school with some other American kids too instead of being stuck behind a screen here all day.”
“That’s great news. She can make some new friends that way. You know I was thinking maybe she could get signed up for indoor soccer. When I played the new season normally started right at the beginning of February.”
“Is it safe?” he asked. “I thought that could get pretty dangerous.”
“Adult leagues can be but kids her age it’s just running back and forth mostly. She could make some new friends, give her something fun to look forward to.”
“It’s not a bad idea. I would like her to be involved in something since she’s out of dance and soccer back home right now. I’ll talk it over with her in the morning,” he said. “She say something to you about it?”
“No. I just know what it’s like to be the new kid,” you said. “Soccer helped me make friends at school.”
“You and your mom move after your dad passed?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah. I was little so I don’t remember so much,” you said, an email coming in that your spot in the class was reserved. “Alright. Looks like I’m all set for eight on Saturday.”
“I’ll try not to keep you out too late on Friday night then,” he said.
“I never said that.”
“I like flirty you,” he said, both of you looking up at the ceiling when you heard a loud pair of giggles. “Duty calls. Goodnight, Y/N.”
“Goodnight Jensen.”
________
A/N: Read Part 5 here!
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miekasa · 3 years
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your dad!levi headcanons made my day. would you happen to have any thoughts about dad!eren?🥺
Unfortunately... I do 🤒🤒 he’d be such a determined but fun dad, like I don’t think he'd be completely lax, but he's not an authoritarian either, but he definitely butts heads with his kids when they get a little older and more rambunctious, and you gotta remind him to be patient with them because... because they're exactly how he was when he was 8 😭😭
He was stupid excited when he found out you were gonna have kids. Like, way more excited than you thought he’d be; you’ve maybe mentioned kids in passing or casually, and he was never negative about the prospect of them, but he had never shown this level of excitement before.
He gets even more excited when you find out you’re having twins. And then reality hits him that you’re having twins. That means two of them. At the same time. Yeah, he might have been excited about one, but two... the whole dad thing really kicks in right there. 
He has this period of time where he’s definitely still supporting you and being positive throughout your pregnancy, but then he’ll lay awake at night scared shitless of the fact that he’s gotta raise two kids. He starts freaking out so bad, Mikasa has to slap some sense into him. 
He’s losing it one night at her place, completely having a downward spiral of doubt and anxiety, going off about what ifs and how maybe you’d be better with someone else being a dad to them and Mika literally slaps him to shut him up. “You are going to be a dad to those kids, and you’re gonna be a good one, too, Eren. Nobody’s saying you won’t fuck up, but you’ll have help along the way.” 
He feels better after that (his cheek hurts like hell for two days tho), and the reassurance from Mikasa and you really does help, and he’s back on track to bouncing off the walls about having kids. 
Obsessed with the concept of baby clothes (“Babe, are they really gonna be this tiny??”), but he doesn’t understand the sizing of them. Is there really that big of a difference between four month olds and ten month olds?? He hasn’t grown that much in six months, why would they?? 
Don’t even get him started on baby shoes, he thinks those are completely ridiculous: “Their toes are gonna be the size of my pupils, why would we put shoes on them?? That’s dumb, we’ll just get those fuzzy socks to keep em warm when they’re cold, I don’t wanna squash their growing toes.” 
He cries when he holds them for the first time, because, they are, predictably, tiny. Tinier that he ever could have thought imaginable; he can hold is son and his daughter with one hand each and it’s an incredibly tender and heartwarming and humbling thing to him. 
He literally cried more than you throughout the whole delivery, too. He was a complete emotional wreck; happy and jittery one moment, anxious and nervous the next, crying no matter what, and yeah, he might have passed out once or twice, but don’t mention it. 
Gives the twins a “house tour” when you take them home from the hospital, narrating it every bit of the way. He holds them both to his chest, slowly parading around your house like, “And this is the kitchen, and this is the fridge where we keep your baby mush. It tastes bad, I tried it, but hopefully you’ll like it.” 
Your daughter looks like you, but also like Carla; and your son has damn near all of Eren’s features, and they both got his green eyes (lucky them). Eren is obsessed, and loves playing peek-a-boo with them. 
When his paternity leave is up, he figured he’d go back to work first and leave you at home with the kids to give you more time to rest and let your body have more time to adjust after giving birth. Half-way through his first day back, he calls out early under the pretenses of being sick because he misses you guys that much. 
He calls out sick for the remainder of the week too, and finally by Friday he sits down with you and is like, “I know we said I would go back to work first but I don’t think I can do it, babe. I wanna stay and hang out with them all day before they’re too big and have to go to school.”
And that, is essentially, how Eren comes to the conclusion that he wants to be a stay at home dad. It doesn’t surprise you, or anyone really, it was only a surprise to himself; but it was a surprise to him that nobody else was surprised. 
“What do you guys mean you ‘saw this coming?’” he questions you, Mikasa, and Armin sporadically, “I could have gone back to work if I wanted to!!” To which, you look around at his friends, before Armin finally speaks up, a slight roll to his eyes, “Eren, you can hardly leave them with me or Mikasa for two hours. How did you expect to make it through the work day.”
When they get a bit older, he’s the champ of playing games with them. Acts out the most dramatic “deaths” when he gets shot by a Nerf gun, becomes the most convincing doctor when playing fake hospital, and has learned a pretty damn impressive Mickey Mouse impression to entertain them. 
It’s your daughter that turns out to get most of Eren’s... determined personality. She might only be three years old, but she can argue with him as if she graduated from law school, and swears he never wins with her. How could he; it’s like arguing with himself, please they both stomp away and have to cool down after. 
They make up pretty quick tho, because Eren hates it when they’re mad in general, much less mad at him or you; and he sulks to you, borderline whining about how he doesn’t want her to hate him. You reassure him that she does not hate him, she’s just... feisty like he is. 
It’s her twin brother that consoles and calms her down, because he’s the more tame of the two. By the time Eren’s knocking on the door to their room to talk it out and apologize, she’s already knocked out, leaning up against her brother as they both take a nap. (It’s a sight that could bring him to tears, and he slowly closes the door and goes to cuddle up to you, while he waits for them to finish napping). 
He absolutely loves to lift them up, and even has they get bigger, he insists they’ll never be too big for him to hold them. Both he and the twins get a kick out of having them hang off his arms while he spins around in a circle like a little human sprinkler. 
Family picnics and/or beach days happen often, and more often than not, it ends up with Eren and the kids coercing (see: pulling) you to the water or to play with them.
By the end of the day, Eren’s laying on the blanket lazily eating a sandwich hich you’d packed earlier, with his son sat criss-cross on his stomach. He teases him by airplaining the sandwich near his mouth, only to take a bite of it himself after, because he adores the betrayed exclaimation of “Daddy! No fair!” Eren’s always sure to give him a bite for real after, and a little kiss on the head to make up for it. 
Your daughter sits in your lap, half-asleep, even tho moments before she was oh-so determined to play volleyball against her dad again (“And I’m gonna win, mommy, watch! Daddy’s tall, but I can win!”)
He lets them draw/color/paint on his back. He’ll just lay down on a blanket in the living room and let them go to town. Face painting, too, though that’s for when they’re a bit older; he learns the hard way that a two year old can have pretty rough hands. 
The complete and utter disappointment and betrayal in his eyes when he hears your son proclaim that he thinks Jean is “cool.” Eren has to take a lap, he can’t believe his own kin would say some shit like that. 
Your daughter loves Mikasa, thinks she’s the absolute best person in the world, and always asks if she can be the one to babysit. They both like Armin, too, but Armin’s gotta stay away from your son for a bit because for whatever reason, his blonde hair is very amusing to him, and the kid’s got a pretty strong grip. (“Stop bullying your Uncle Armin, it’s not his fault he’s blonde.”)
You often catch him doing push ups with either one or both of them on his back, and the kids fucking love it. They’re cheering him on, counting completely out of order about the amount of push-ups he’s done, and clapping every time he comes up again. It becomes his favorite workout. 
He swears they’re his best friends and his favorite people in the entire world. He does everything with them: getting the oil changed in his car, going to the store, picking up the mail. He just loves being around them and swears he’s gonna be the best dad for them. 
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poedameronloverx · 3 years
Text
A New Way Of Life
Life In Lockdown Series Masterlist
Poe Dameron x F!Reader
Summary - As the reality of working from home sets in, you and your friends have to learn to work around one another, whilst also finding things to relax you to make evenings with your friends a lot of fun.
Warnings - Mentions of covid
Word Count - 2090
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Week 1 – March 2020
The first few days of lockdown were a challenge. Trying to get in touch with people from work was proving more difficult than you’d first thought. You were getting easily distracted as well. BeeBee spent his time going between Poe in the dining room and you in the living room, the open plan nature basically making it a massive room for him to wander around in. Anytime he came near you, you couldn’t resist picking him up for snuggles. Poe was a distraction too, he liked to sing to himself as he worked and the sound of his voice was distracting you from whatever work you were doing. After reading the same line of an email 4 times you decided to take a break, you headed to the kitchen and started up the coffee machine. BeeBee followed you, deciding to have his own drink break with his bowl of water. Rose appeared in the kitchen whilst you were waiting for your coffee to be done.
“How’s it going?” she asked
“It’s a lot more challenging than I thought. Everything is distracting me!”
“Me too” she replied “And most people aren’t picking up calls today because they’ve all obviously had to close their offices as well”
“I can’t get hold of management” you replied “And BeeBee keeps wanting attention and he’s so cute I always give in! We should put a smart watch on him. He’s probably done 10000 steps walking between Poe and I”
“How’s Poe as a colleague?”
“Distracting, he keeps singing”
“He’s a good singer, could be worse” Rose chuckled
“Yeah he’s great but my mind just hears singing and thinks it’s done with work” you replied “Have you heard anything from Finn?”
“No, the doors been closed all morning. I don’t think he even came out for a break”
“Hopefully it’s going alright for him”
“Why don’t we do something tonight” Rose said “We’re all having weird days so maybe we could plan fun things in the evenings”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Movie night tonight” she replied “We can make dinner then watch a bunch of movies. We can plan other things for other evenings”
“I’m in” you replied “It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to”
“What are we looking forward to?” Poe asked as he joined you in the kitchen
“Oh, Rose was just saying we should plan fun things to do in the evenings, starting with movie night tonight”
“Sounds great. This working remotely thing is really not fun”
“BeeBee likes it” you smiled “He’s enjoying going between us”
“Well as long as the best boy is happy then we all are” Poe chuckled, leaning down to scoop the dog into his arms “You’re the best little buddy aren’t you”
“So cute!” Rose whispered
Rose’s idea for a movie night was just what everyone needed after the first day of the strange new reality the world found itself in. The 4 of you picked a movie each, the genres ranged from musicals, to Disney, to action and finally horror. You didn’t hate horror movies but they would never be your first choice. BeeBee who had taken residence in your lap for movie night suddenly found himself being hugged a lot tighter than previously. Rose and Finn were sat on one sofa all cuddled up, Rose had a blanket over her head and Finn was chuckling at her anytime she jumped at the scares from the movie. Poe and you were sat on the opposite side of the room. A blanket covered your legs, which were crossed underneath you. Poe was stretched out, his feet hanging off the end of the sofa and his head rested on a pillow a few inches away from you. He sat up when you jumped at one particularly bad jump scare.
“Hey, you alright?” he whispered
“Just not really my kind of movie” you replied
“Me neither, but Finn loves them so I’ve got used to them! I can hold your hand if you want”
“Thank you, but I’ll be fine. It’s just a stupid movie right?”
“Right” Poe smiled, he sat up and moved closer to you “Just incase anyone tries to grab you, I’ll not let them”
The sun decided to make an appearance on the 3rd and 4th days of lockdown. It wasn't tropical temperatures or anything but you could get away with being in the garden as long as you had a hoodie on. Rose was completely snowed under at work and you rarely saw Finn apart from lunch. Poe’s boss had taken pity on them all after a stressful few days and given them the Friday as a day off. You could see him sat in the garden with BeeBee whilst you worked. It was approaching 12.00 and you were slowly losing the will to live. You managed to push through until 1pm when you were ready for lunch. Your boss emailed to give everyone the afternoon off so you made your lunch, pulled a hoodie on and headed out to the garden to join Poe. As soon as the sun hit your skin, you instantly felt relaxed. It had been a strange week and you were grateful to be able to start your weekend a few hours early. You grabbed one of the garden chairs and moved it over next to Poe.
“Happy weekend” he said as you sat down
“It’s been the weirdest week in the entire world. I’m so glad we made it to the weekend”
“Me too, and I’m really glad you got an early finish. Bee isn’t the best conversation holder” he winked
“He’s cute though, he gets points for that at least!”
“That goes without saying”
The dog must’ve known he was being spoken about. He got up from his place in the shade to come and get some attention.
“Wanna take him a walk with me later?” Poe asked “The ice cream kiosk in the park is open, we could get something there, and it would be nice to have some company”
“Yeah, that sounds good”
Finn and Rose were still upstairs working when it came time for BeeBee’s walk. You texted Rose to tell her you’d gone with Poe. The park was beautiful in the sun, you couldn’t remember the last time you’d actually visited it. It was only a 10 minute walk away from the house but you didn't really have a reason to go to it. There were families out on walks, people on their own, people with dogs. Everyone was out enjoying the weather and taking their one form of daily outdoor exercise. You chuckled as BeeBee tried to make friends with every other dog and human he came across, his little tail wagging the entire time. Poe led you over to the ice cream kiosk he had mentioned; there was a long socially distanced queue.
“You keep an eye on Bee and I’ll get us some ice cream” he smiled “There’s a bench just round the back of this kiosk, nobody ever sits at it but it’s at a really good bit for Bee to run around. I’ll come and get you once I get the ice cream”
You nodded and made your way round to the bench Poe had mentioned. Like he said, the area was quiet; there was one woman with a dog that you’d seen earlier on, BeeBee and her dog had sniffed one another when you'd walked passed her just after walking into the park. You took the ball you’d lifted before leaving the house out of your pocket and threw it for the little dog. He happily chased after it, always bringing it back. He set it down for a second to talk to the woman who was stood at the other side of the grass, her dog spotted it’s opportunity and grabbed it. The woman chased after her dog and eventually got the ball back. She walked over to the bench and stood far enough away from where you were, but close enough to lay the ball down.
“Sorry about that, he’s terrible for stealing from other dogs”
You chuckled “It’s not a problem, it’s this ones fault for trying to be too sociable”
She smiled “Your dog is so cute!”
“He is cute, but sadly he’s not mine. I have to give him back”
“Ah, he’s your boyfriends. The guy you were walking with earlier”
You could feel yourself blushing “Em, yeah he belongs to him, but he’s not my boyfriend. Just a friend and lockdown house mate”
“Oh, I’m sorry I just assumed” she replied “You guys looked liked a super cute couple  when I spotted you earlier”
“It’s fine” you replied with a shrug.
You wished he was your boyfriend, you’d had a crush on the man since the first day you met him. The two of you had clicked right away when Ben had introduced you. Him and Poe had been classmates that didn’t keep in touch, you vaguely remembered seeing Poe at your brothers birthday parties when you were kids but nobody paid you much attention back then because they were all older and you were the annoying little sister of their friend. Poe and Ben had met back up again when Ben became a client of Poe’s work. You were introduced to Poe when Ben and Rey got engaged and had a party. You’d later found out you had a mutual friend in Finn and the 3 of you started to hang out. You’d known Finn since high school, you never went to the same school but you both had a part time job at a local café. Finding out Poe was Finn’s best friend and roommate made you re-connect with Finn. You’d kept in touch on social media for years but didn’t really spend a lot of time together so through Poe that all changed. When you’d introduced Finn and Rose it had been love at first sight. The 4 of you could be found hanging out on a regular basis; everyone always assumed it was a double date because of how close you and Poe were. He was a touchy, feely guy. He would often be found with his arm round your shoulders, his hand on your back when you were walking anywhere with him. You loved it but also hated it because you always wanted more. The reason you had never mentioned anything was because you were scared he wouldn’t feel the same and you didn’t want such a good friendship to fall apart if you told him and made things awkward. Rose knew, but she promised she wouldn't tell Poe.
BeeBee and the other dog went back to playing together and the woman wandered back to where she had originally been stood. You took a few photos on your phone and uploaded them to social media. Everyone needed a boost during the weird times you were in and you thought there was no better way to cheer people up than photos of cute dogs. After what felt like hours, Poe finally came to join you. He handed you a small tub of ice cream and a slushie.
“Man are they busy” he said, flopping down next to you on the bench “Did Bee behave?”
“He did, that dog he’s playing with stole his ball but they’re on friendly terms now”
“That’s good news” Poe chuckled
The two of you sat and enjoyed your ice creams, the weather and one another’s company. When you were ready to head back home Poe phoned Finn, the local takeaways were open for delivery and Poe decided it was too nice a night for anyone to be cooking. The evening was spent eating as much pizza as you could and watching videos on YouTube. Finn was really into the ones exploring abandoned places and you all fell down a rabbit hole of watching video after video. Rose fell asleep first, and you soon followed. Eventually leaning over and falling onto Poe’s shoulder. Poe and Finn smiled at one another. You had all survived a crazy week, you’d had to adapt to an all new way of life and there had been some hiccups but overall you’d all coped. You were thankfully all healthy, and you had good company and were surrounded by your best friends. Life was far from perfect but both of them knew that things could be a lot worse, and that worldwide things would get worse before they improved.
So once again please let me know what you thought, I want to get better as a writer and I can only do that with your help. Thank you for all of the kind comments one the last part, they really made me smile! <3
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ghostxofxartemis · 3 years
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It’s a few days late, but here’s day 6: Pet Day for MerWeek2021 hosted by @cactuarkitty.
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard Characters: Male Shepard (Mass Effect), Kaidan Alenko, Kaidan Alenko’s Mother, Dog Additional Tags: Fluff, Pet Day, MERweek2021 Series: Part 6 of MERweek 2021 Summary:
Describe or draw a special moment with your beloved pet/s. Could be special time spent together or shared time with friends/family. Let’s have fun with our furry (or not so furry) friends :)
Shoutout to @mallaidhsomo for betaing! Thanks hon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaidan straddles Axel, and slowly starts kneading the knots from the younger man’s back.
“Hmmm, morning to you too.” Axel mumbles, sleep still invading his mind.
“How’d you sleep?” Kaidan asks him as he deep massages Axel’s shoulders.
“Rock solid. You know, I could get used to this.”
“Well, don’t get too used to it ‘cause I’m shipping out this morning for a month.” Kaidan’s hands trail down Axel’s back until they reach his rear and he kneads both cheeks. He smirks when the younger man closes his eyes, a content smile creeps up his face and Axel moves his hips from under him.
“I know you’re leaving, and I really don’t want you to…but… hmm…this feels good.”
Kaidan leans forward and brings his lips down just a breath’s hair away from Axel’s ear. “I’m just getting started.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Axel fills up his coffee mug and leans on the counter to take a sip as he waits for his breakfast currently in the microwave. Kaidan comes down the stairs, skipping a step each time, duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He’s going to be gone for next month and it’s something Axel dreads, being home alone, while still on the mend, and while not being able to do very much makes the time go by painfully slow. He grabs the coffee thermos on the counter, all ready to go, for his husband.
“I’m running late.” Kaidan plants a kiss on his husband’s cheek before accepting the offered thermos.
“I wonder why?” Axel gives him a coy smile. He gets a scowl in return. Kaidan starts to pull away but Axel manages to grab a handful of material from his uniform. “Hey. You’re not leaving without giving a proper kiss, are you?”
Kaidan leans in and Axel’s lips curve upwards at one side of his mouth. He makes a content sound when Kaidan’s luscious lips meet his. Kaidan presses his tongue against the other man’s lips and Axel let’s it slide between his. They part after a brief moment, breathless, foreheads pressed together. Kaidan tilts his head backwards slightly so his lips can reach Axel’s forehead and kisses it before pulling away slightly.
“I sent my mother your PT schedule.”
“K-” Axel starts to protest.
“You have to go to them.” Kaidan doesn’t look at him and his lips twitch slightly at the corners.
“Kaidan…” Axel groans.
“And I knew you were going to protest so I made sure my mother’s going to drive you to each appointment.”
Axel’s protest is a deep throaty growl.
Kaidan only smirks as he looks at him, giving him a coy look. “I love you. Be good while I’m gone.” He pecks his husband on the cheek one last time before heading out the door.
It’s going to be a lonely four weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plate in hand, Axel heads out on the deck to enjoy his breakfast and coffee. Just when he’s about to sit down, he hears a whimper, one of pain. He’s pretty certain it didn’t come from him. Despite feeling like a rusty piece of junk metal, he wasn’t one to complain about his injuries. He puts his coffee down on the table, and listens carefully when he hears it again. It’s coming from under the deck.
He holds his plate in one hand and the railing with the other as he takes one step at a time. When he reaches the bottom level, he takes a knee carefully and then the other, then goes down on all fours to look under the deck where he finds the owner of the whimpering noise.
“Hey buddy. You lost?”
The dog growls at him, and he chuckles.
“Not the friendly type are we? Or are we having a bad day?”
Shifting himself into a sitting position, he rips a piece of the blueberry pancake and tosses it under the deck.
“Or maybe we’re just hungry?”
Without having any experience with dogs before, he really can’t tell what could possibly be the issue with the dog at the moment. One thing he does know; it might take a while to coax it from under the deck. I’ve got time buddy, lots of time.
Axel looks away, taking a few slow bites of  his pancakes, and looks out to the ocean that’s calm in the horizon on this fine morning. When he looks back under the deck, the small piece of pancake is gone.
“It’s good uh? My husband made ‘em. Doesn’t want me on my feet too much while I’m recovering. We’re probably the same as you and I. Hurting?” He picks up a strip of bacon, biting off a big piece and tossing the rest under the deck. He watches as the dog takes tentative steps forward, sniffing the bacon and picking it up before hiding again.
“You’re gonna be like that.” Axel says as he bites into another one of his bacon strips and licks his fingers. 
The dog looks up at Axel with pleading eyes after it finishes eating the strip of bacon and Axel chuckles. He tosses another strip of bacon and another piece of his pancake before he finishes off his plate.
“I’d stick around a little more but err…Ma’s gonna be here soon to take me to PT. But er…” he grunts as he gets up to his feet, his hip protesting against the movement. “How ‘bout I get you a bowl of water. It’s going to get warm today.”
He makes his way back up the stairs and back to the kitchen when he hears the front door opening.  He pokes his head out of the kitchen and lifts a finger to warn his mother-in-law he’ll just be another a minute. Opening the cupboard doors to all the dishes, he grabs a bowl and heads to the sink to fill it up with water.
“I’m running a little behind, are you almost ready?”
“There’s a dog under the deck.”
“What?”
“Yeah, there’s a dog under the deck.”
“How did it get there?” Helena asks as she takes the bowl of water from Axel’s hands.
“I’ve no idea, but it must have been in the middle of the night because it wasn’t there yesterday, or I would have heard it. It was whimpering pretty bad. It’s not ready to come out though.”
Helena makes her way to the deck while Axel leans his back against the counter. “Sometimes it takes them a little bit to warm up to people, especially if they’ve been mistreated or dropped off somewhere.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Axel’s brows narrow in confusion. He’s never had pets other than his hamster and his fish, but he could never see himself hurting them. His hamster was able to be brought back home, but he made Kaidan promise to take care of his fish in his…no… now Kaidan’s captain quarters on the SR2. As much as he wanted to bring them back home, they just didn’t have the space to have an aquarium that size, despite having even more space in their home.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”  She purses her lips and shrugs her shoulders as if to say I don’t know and makes her way down the stairs.
It doesn’t take her long to drop off the bowl and make her way back up the stairs. “I’ll get some dog food at the store and some peanut butter while at your appointment.” She tells him as they make their way to the front door.
Axel opens the passenger door of the skycar. “Peanut butter?”
Helena chuckles as she gets in the car and starts the engine as she closes her door. Axel climbs in the passenger seat, closing the door shut. “I keep forgetting you’re new to the whole animal thing. Yes, peanut butter. Dogs love it for some reason.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 2.
Axel grabs a bottle of water, a spoon, a fork, the container of peanuts, and his reheated dinner outside with him. Somehow managing to juggle all items in his hands and under his armpit as he holds onto the railing going down the stairs, grumbling to himself how he can’t wait for his legs to have the stability they used to have. Soon, hopefully.
Sitting down on the grass, he puts the water bottle down and his dinner. He notices the food he put in the bowl this morning had hardly been touched. He untwists the lid to the peanut butter and scoops it up with the spoon. So far, the dog has stayed out of arm’s reach, but Axel has managed to get it to eat from the spoon in his hands the last couple of days. It’s progress. He stretches his arm out and waits for the dog to approach. The dog approaches tentatively and slowly licks the peanut butter from the spoon. “Atta boy. I don’t know if you’re a boy, but I’m going to call you that for right now. Just easier. Hope you don’t mind.”  The dog looks up at him and licks his snout. “It’s good, uh? I’m just going to put this down on the ground so I can eat as well.” Slowly, he lays the spoon on the grass.
He takes the lid off his container containing his dinner, and takes a bite.
He cracks open the lid to the water bottle and takes a good swig out of it before grabbing the dog’s bowl. He tosses the old water and pours the fresh water into and places it by the dog.
“I’ll be back tomorrow little guy.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 3.
A victory for Axel today when he feels the bump of a cold wet nose against his hand. He doesn’t move though. He lets the dog come to him on its own terms. He’s done such extensive research in the past few weeks that he’s happy his patience is starting to pay off. It’s been a fascinating way to spend the weeks outdoors and still manage to keep his promise to his husband while avoiding any hard physical activities that he is yet to get cleared for.
He spends his day outside, only going in to get some food occasionally and to use the washroom a couple times. He makes sure to bring the peanut butter in the evening when he knows it’s his last time coming out for the day. He makes sure the dog has food and water for the night.
The process is gradual for the rest of the week. But on Friday, the dog nudges Axel’s arm with his snout and sits beside him. Tucked under his arm. Axel pets the tuft of fur on the dog’s chest, a smile forming at the corners of his lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 4.
Axel is sitting on the bottom step of the staircase. He puts a dog treat on the grass right in front of it. He shimmies up one step.
So far, he’s managed to get the dog to trust him enough to allow him to pet it. But the evenings are getting colder and he wants to get the dog inside. There’s no way he was going to let it get stranded outside in September. He hates how the weather changes so drastically from day to night.
He places another treat on the second last bottom of the stairs and shimmies up another. He keeps doing this until he reaches the very top of the stairs.
The sound of the patio door opening makes him jump slightly.
“Axel? What are you doing? And why is there a bag of dog food on the counter?” 
He’s been so focused on the dog this last month he forgot his husband was scheduled to be home today. Shit. He wanted to make dinner to surprise Kaidan. He curses at himself for being so distracted, but answers the question.
“I found a dog under our deck. It’s really apprehensive so I’ve been just slowly coaxing it out. Trying to get him inside.”
“A dog? How long has it been there?” Kaidan sits next to Axel. He puts a hand on the younger man’s thigh and pecks his cheek.
“Found him the day you left.”
Kaidan rests his head on Axel’s shoulder. “Been doing this since I left?”
He kisses the crown of Kaidan’s head, “Yeah.”
“You sure it’s a him?”
“I saw his ballsack.”
Kaidan chuckles.
The dog pokes his head around the railing, taking the treat before retreating back behind the stairs. Slowly, it comes back for more and slowly climbs the stairs. When it reaches half way, Kaidan and Axel retreat inside the house, but keep the door open.
About an hour later the dog finally comes inside, running towards Axel, tongue lolling It’s rewarded with head scratches and a kiss on the forehead. His black floppy ears, his bright blue eyes, the white dots on his black nose, and splotches of caramel in his white fur just made him too adorable to resist not petting him.
“Kai. Can we keep him?” Axel looks up at Kaidan, puppy eyes and all.
Kaidan contemplates a moment and Axel is sure is about to refurse, “Sure. I mean you’re alone a lot, he could be excellent company for those long periods I’m gone. Did you name him?”
“Naw. I don’t know what’s a good name for a dog.”
Kaidan smirks, “Mako.”
“I feel like this is a jab at me.”
“You’ll never know.”
“It’s a jab isn’t it? Kaidan…”
Kaidan guffaws on his way out of the kitchen.
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hiddennerdworld · 3 years
Text
Homesick (pt 3) with Katsuki Bakugou
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Note: Hi! This is long I'm sorry fakldj;vnj. Also I didn't know how to end it. And I didn't proofread well. It's a mess, BUT a fluffy, cozy mess. Hopefully you enjoy this as much as I did :)
———————————————————————
It was Friday night and you were having a movie marathon with the Bakusquad. You had hoped it would take your mind off things, but once everyone had passed out on the couch, it was no help. You gently moved Mina's head and Kirishima's arm off of you and headed to the kitchen where you found Boom Boom Boi hanging by the counter. This didn’t really phase you because you were all friends. You were only super close to Kaminari and Mina, but you still knew the others well enough.
“Oi! What are you doing in here, idiot?” He asked looking up from his phone.
“Well hello to you too. I’m just grabbing some water. Why are you in here anyway? You’re supposed to be watching the movie with us, you know."
“Not that it’s any of your damn business but I got bored. I can’t believe you guys like to watch that shit. I don’t believe a lot of the stuff you guys do. I’m surprised you didn’t all parade in here like a bunch of dumbasses!”
You giggle to yourself as you join him at the counter with your glass of water. “They’re actually all asleep. It’s kinda hilarious if you look at it. They’re like spaghettied together.”
“And you’re not with them? I thought we wEre SuPpoSed to Be waTcHinG thE mOVie ToGeThER?” As usual, Kacchan took great pride in mocking you. He has the widest smug grin on his face. However, he noticed you weren’t firing back as much as you normally would. Even with the voice and stupid faces he made you still just stared at your glass.
“Eh I mean you’re right but I couldn’t sleep and the movie sucks if there isn’t constant commentary from Kaminari.”
“Don’t blame you. Shitty Hair’s snoring wakes me up half the time.”
“Nah it’s not that. I just-.... I don’t know. Nevermind.” You were getting all flustered and fidgety now.
“Well, something is on your mind because you’re being so fucking weird. Just spit it out!” He was now doing his usual seething while waiting.
“Okay fine! I-I just miss my family I guess. It’s stupid but that’s why I can’t relax or fall asleep. And it’s just gotten worse the longer we’ve been at the dorms.”
“You’re not stupid.” He mumbled and you short your head up to look at him. Did Lord Explosion Murder just say something not insulting? To you?
“Everyone misses home. Who wants to live at their fucking high school? Hell, I even miss my parents sometimes. My dad may be a wimp, but he fucking knows how to cook.”
“Mine too. He would make my family pancakes for breakfast every weekend.” You sighed and looked back down. You guys sat in silence for a while. Bakugou had no clue what to do. All of a sudden he sighed and grabbed your wrist. “Come on, loser. It’s late we’re going to bed.”
Now you had no clue what to do. What the hell was he doing? “Uh no that’s okay Bakugou! You go ahead I’ll stay here and keep an eye on them.” You said trying to resist but he just kept dragging you along.
“They’re fine. Probably won’t even be up until noon tomorrow. So let’s go!” He kept dragging you along and you finally ended up at your door. Luckily it wasn’t locked so he just swung it open and threw you in bed. He pointed a finger at you and said “stay there” and stomped out. And you listened, waiting to see what he was up to. A few minutes later he returned with a blanket and pillow and flopped then on the floor and slammed the door shut.
“What are y-“ you start to speak but are interrupted.
“I’m staying in here so you’ll go to sleep and get out of your sappy mood and I don’t have to listen to your bullshit tomorrow. Now goodnight.” He started to get set up on the floor. Of course, in a very aggressive manner, grumbling the whole time.
“Well if that’s the plan we can share the bed if you want. There’s plenty of room.” You said quietly, not wanting to look at him while saying it.
“Pch- fine if that’ll get you to sleep faster.” With that, he threw his stuff on the floor and crawled into bed next to you. Once he got under the blanket you could feel a wave of heat. This mans is a fucking furnace. He flipped with his back towards you and pulled on the blanket.
You faced away from him too and said “Thank you. Goodnight Bakugou.” You were smiling to yourself. “Yeah, whatever.”
Almost falling asleep a few times but waking yourself back up, you still couldn’t sleep. You knew Katsuki was out tho because of his soft snoring. Still trying your best you moved around to get more comfortable. This led to Bakugou putting his arm on you. You froze and your eyes widened. Was he doing this on purpose? Did you wake him up? Why isn’t he yell- Your panic was stopped by the boy continuing to snore. Phew, at least you didn’t have to worry about that. Continuing to try to get comfortable, you tried to nuzzle closer to him and he pulled you close. You soon fell asleep with a little smile on your face.
———————————————————————
The next morning you woke up with the sun shining in your eyes. You expected to wake up just as you fell asleep, in Bakugou’s arms. Oh, you were ready to give him so much shit about it. But you soon felt the lack of warmth from your side and flipped over to realize the boy and his stuff was gone. You shrugged. Of course he was already up. That boy rises with the sun. So with not being able to tease Kacchan, you got ready to see if the others were up yet.
As soon as you walked out of your dorm you found Kaminari.
“Hey! There you are Y/N!” He ran up and gave you a hug. “Where’d you run off to last night?”
After being so kind to you, you decided the least you could do is keep your mouth shut about what happened with Bakugou. “Oh, I just went to bed after you all fell asleep. Too many times where I almost got kicked in the face. Plus, Kiri snores sound like a construction site.”
He chuckled at that last bit. “That’s true, but you get used to it after a while. Well, we all missed you. Wanna hang with us in a bit? We can sneak some of the food Bakubro is making.”
“Oh yea, for sure! See you later, Kami.” You both did finger guns as you walked away. After you turned the corner, you turned around and kept walking. Kacchan was cooking? Usually he’d be out training by now? You quirked up your brow and kept going, curious to see the goodies that were being made. As you got closer and closer, the sweet scent of whatever was being cooked got stronger. Now super hungry, you skipped into the kitchen. There you found the spiky blonde wearing an apron and flipping pancakes. Your heart swelled with happiness. You stood frozen but your smiled radiated warmth. He was doing something nice? For someone else? For you??! You ran up and gave him a hug. A blush quickly rose to his cheeks.
“Oi! What the hell are you doing dumbass?!” He lifted his arms and looked down at you holding his waist and resting your head on his shoulder.
“You’re making pancakes?! I can’t believe you remembered, Bakugou!” You gave him a squeeze.
“This isn’t because of all that shit you said last night! Listen, I’m making these because you put the idea in my head and I needed to make them! I’m making these because I want to! For me! Got it?!”
You let go and gave him a grin, “Well then why are you making so many?”
“THAT’S JUST HOW MANY THE RECIPE MAKES!!! You can have some if you shut up about it!”
“Yes, sir!” You said giving him a fake salute. Then you skipped away, running into Kaminari who was heading into the kitchen.
“Nice! You’re making pancakes, Bakubro?!” He tried picking one up from the finished pile and Bakugou slapped him away.
“GO GET YOUR OWN DAMN FOOD, SPARKY!!!”
“You’re really telling me you’re gonna eat all of these? Yea, right.” He said while trying again to get a pancake which ended the same way as it did before.
After slapping him away again Bakugou looked up and gave him a nasty glare. “I said they aren’t for you.”
Kaminari then backed away with his hands up. “Okay, sheesh. I get it. Pancakes are good man, no judgment here.”
Then after a little while, Bakugou came into the dining area with two plates. He sat across from you and placed the plates on the table. A big smile grew across your face. “Yay! I’m excited to try them.” You take a bite, “Mmmmmm! These are so good!”
“Tch- I know. Spent so much time on ‘em they better be fuckin good.”
You guys ate together, barely talking but that was alright. Bakugou kept looking up every so often when you weren’t looking to make sure you liked them. His ego doubled after seeing you so happy. Soon, you finished your amazing breakfast. So you got up and walked to the other side of the table. “Thanks again.” You said softly. Then you bent down and gave him another hug and a kiss on the top of his head. “I’m gonna go finish getting ready for the day.”You grabbed your plate and rushed back towards the kitchen with a blushing, smiling face.
Bakugou was broken for a sec. Poor boy didn’t know how to react. He just grumbled under his breath, trying to sound angry to hide the fact he was smiling and his face was bright red. At least he got you out of your shitty mood. That was the goal, right? (Soon after he told you that he may like you more than most people. Dude can’t hide what he’s feeling, so he just spits it out. You gave him lots of more hugs and kisses after that.)
———————————————————————
BONUS!
Kaminari yelled to Bakugou from across the room. “Hey Bakubro! You have any food left from your date with Y/N??!!”
“I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
Kaminari heard sparks and ran for his life.
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atlafan · 4 years
Text
Take it Slow - Part Fifty-Two
a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.
Warnings: Wee bit of angst.
Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)
The Friday before he was going to Florida, Christin came into Harry’s office to go over the small details.
“Okay, so you, Julia, and I are going to meet at the airport around-“
“I’m sorry, who?”
“Julia.”
“Why is she comin’?”
“I want her to see how these expeditions work. Dana’s going to join in on the next one. Why? Do you have a problem with her?”
“No…it’s just…I don’t know. It’s fine.”
When he got home to the barren apartment that night he slammed the door shut, making you jump slightly.
“Jesus.” You say to him.
“Sorry.”
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re sendin’ fuckin’ Julia with me.” He groans. “I don’t want to be alone with her all week.”
“Well, you won’t really be alone with her.”
“You don’t care that she’s gonna be around me?”
“What’s there to care about?” You shrug. “What’s wrong Harry, can’t handle a little girl?” You smirk. “You’ll be fine.”
//
Of course you got your period the weekend of the big move. You and Harry were still able to have a good romp before he left, but it wasn’t the same. Your brother and mom came to help you with everything. Thank god for his truck. Niall, Sarah, and Rachel helped as well. Everything went pretty smoothly.
//
Harry had the aisle seat on the plane, Julia had the middle, and Christin had the window. He hadn’t said much to Julia. She eventually fell asleep, and her head landed on his shoulder. He tried to nudge her off, but she wouldn’t budge. He sighed loudly and tried to fall asleep himself. When she woke up she couldn’t help but marvel at just how beautiful he was. She looked at the pearls around his neck and wanted to know what he might do with them when he wasn’t wearing them. She was hoping to find out at some point during the week.
Harry helped carry the luggage out to the cab Christin had set up for them. The second he was alone in his room he FaceTimed with you. Everyone was eating pizza and laughing.
“Hey babe! You in your hotel?”
“Yes, finally. How’d it all go?”
“Amazingly! Say hi to Harry!” You yell off to everyone. They all say hi, making him chuckle.
“Have a great week off.”
“Anything you want me not to touch?”
“Nah, do whatever you like. M’sure there’ll be plenty left for me when I get back. Save the heavy shit f’me.”
“Can do. The girls are gonna sleep over here with me tonight.”
“Oh good. Wish I could be there.”
“Soon enough. Enjoy the nice weather! Love you!”
“Love you too.”
He sighs and flops onto the bed. This was going to be a very long week. There’s a knock on his door. He looks through the peephole and sees Julia. Here we go. He thinks to himself.
“Yes?”
“Hi.” She squeaks. “Um, Christin and I were gonna go down to the pool for a bit and get some lunch. Would you like to come?” He looks down at her. She had flip flops and a cover up on.
“No. Thanks. You can just have Christin text me when it’s time for dinner. Know she wants to go over all the plans then.”
“Could I have your number?” Both of his eyebrows raise. “You know, just in case.”
“Gimme your phone.” She hands it to him and smirks when he see the picture of Joe Jonas as her lock screen. “My girlfriend loves this guy. Could ya unlock it?”
“Oh sure.” She presses her thumb to the button. He adds his contact information and hands it back to her.
“For emergencies only, alright?”
“Alright…so you’re not going to eat lunch?”
“I might come down in a bit. I’m certainly not goin’ swimming. S’not a vacation.”
“True, but Christin said we could have some fun before working hard all week.”
“How nice for her. That all?”
“Yeah.”
He closes the door, practically in her face, and goes over to his bag. About an hour later he goes down to the hotel restaurant. He puts his sunglasses on and goes outside with his salad that he had made to go. Christin was lounging under an umbrella, he goes over to her and sits down.
“How are you wearing all black?”
“S’not that warm yet.” He shrugs.
“I think it’s perfect weather.”
“Where’s Julia?” Christin points to the hot tub. Harry rolls his eyes. “Thought you weren’t hungry for lunch.”
“I wasn’t earlier, now I am.”
“Hi Harry!” Julia says walking by, dripping wet in a purple two piece. She quickly wraps a towel around herself.
“Hi.” He says without looking at her. She was an attractive girl, and if he was a different type of man he wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation. But he wasn’t like that…not anymore anyways.
“Wasn’t it your birthday over the weekend?”
“Yes.”
“How was it? How old are you?”
“It was good, I turned twenty-six.” He takes a bite of his salad. “My girlfriend threw me a huge surprise party.”
“She buy you the necklace too?” Christin asks. “Haven’t seen you wear pearls since you first started.”
“Yeah she did.” He smiles. “She’s the best. We’ll have been together six months on Friday.”
“Wow! Good for you, H.” She chuckles.
“How long you and Dan been together?”
“Little over ten years now. Never thought I was going to meet anyone worthwhile until he and I got together.” He nods.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m never going to meet anyone.” Julia says.
“You have so much time, you have no idea. Just enjoy being young.” Christin says with a smile. “Harry, did you even bring a bathing suit with you?”
“I mean Y/N had me pack one, but I doubt I’ll be wearin’ it.” He finishes up his salad and stands up. “Text me when it’s time for dinner, I’m gonna hang in my room for a bit, decompress.” Julia watches him walk away.
“He’s been so private since I met him, it’s so nice to hear him talk about someone like that. He must really love that girl.”
“Yeah.” Julia puts her sunglasses on and rolls her eyes. “Must be nice.”
//
That night at dinner Christin goes over the plans for the week. She tells them what time they’ll need to be up and out, and headed to the site. They’d be going out to an island where a weed had been taking over and the natural plants of the landscape couldn’t grow anymore. Julia would be interviewing the volunteers that go out to get rid of the weed.
“I’m so excited!” Julia says stepping off the elevator with Harry. Of course their rooms were on the same floor.
“Make sure you pack a hat and some sunscreen for yourself. Oh, and water. We’re goin’ to be out for a long time.”
“Right, thanks.” She beams at him. “I’m excited to check out the butterfly garden at the manatee habitat Wednesday too.”
“Yeah, they’re nice people. This is a follow up piece, they started the project last year.” He stops at his door. “Well, this is me.”
“Goodnight, Harry.”
“Night.”
He calls you immediately.
“Is that Harry? Hiiiiii Harryyyyy.” He hears Sarah say through the phone.
“Gettin’ drunk in our place already?”
“Wouldn’t be a proper sleepover now would it? How was your day?”
“Long. I miss you already.”
“Awww. I miss you too baby.” He hears the girls make kissy noises through the phone. “Stop it you guys, be cool! Sorry.” You giggle.
“S’okay. Where are you all sleepin’?”
“We’re camping out in the living room. We all brought our sleeping bags.”
“Oh fun.”
“Mhm. You gonna be able to sleep?”
“Hopefully. I just wish I was there with you, I’m sorry.” He sighs.
“It’s okay. Only six more sleeps til your home.”
“Oh I like that. Six more sleeps.”
“Exactly. I’m gonna go now, I love you. Sweet dreams.”
“I love you too.”
//
The next morning, Harry puts on a white t-shirt, and lathers himself up with sun screen. He puts on a snapback and rests his sunglasses on the collar of his shirt. He packs the cameras and batteries he’ll need. He goes with a pair of light blue jeans and his boots. He meets Julia and Christin down for breakfast. Julia has to stop her jaw from dropping. The t-shirt looked snug against his muscles, and she could make out more of his tattoos. He looks at what Julia’s wearing.
“You might wanna wear pants. Don’t want your legs gettin’ scarped up do ya?” He puts his things down and goes up to the buffet.
“He’s right Julia. You can pack your shorts with you if you get too hot.”
“Okay.” She leaves to go change. Harry sits back down.
“How nice of you to act as her big brother.”
“Just helpin’ her with the tricks of the trade.” She comes back in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Much better. You’ll thank me later.”
The three head out to the site once they’re done with breakfast. They take a car out and meet a man at a dock. They have to take a small boat out to the island. Harry puts his sunglasses on. Julia can’t help but watch the curls from under his hat blow in the wind.
Christin and Julia talk with the volunteers at the site while Harry starts walking around. He begins snapping away. Julia was thankful she listened to Harry about everything. From the pants, to the hat, to the extra sunscreen. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when he took his shirt off. He tucked it into the back of his pants and continued taking pictures.
“Oi! Chris!” She whips her head to look at him. “Couldja spray some lotion on my back?”
“Yeah!” She hustles over to him and sprays the cool lotion onto him.
“Thanks. Sweatin’ my ass off.”
“I know.” She looks at her watch. “Let’s take a break and get you into the shade a bit. I packed some lunch.”
“Sounds good.”
“Julia, c ‘mon it’s lunch time.” She says to her.
The three sit in some shade and eat the sandwiches Christin brought. Julia can’t help but stare at Harry. He looks up and catches her gawking at him.
“You act like you’ve never seen a tattoo before.” He says to her.
“Sorry.” Her face blushes. “Um, when did you-“
“Got ‘em all years ago. Late teens and early twenties.” Harry’s phone buzzes and sees a text from you. He immediately smiles. You had sent him a video of the kitchen. He hits play.
“Hi! Okay, so I unpacked most of the kitchen. My mom helped a lot yesterday. Our bed is all made up too, but I can show you later. Isn’t it so nice in here? The girls were really jealous. Hope you’re having a good time! Please make sure you reapply your sunscreen, I don’t want you burnt to a crisp when you come back. Love you!” He chuckles and texts you back.
“Is she your mom or girlfriend?” A snide remark from Julia. Harry looks over at her slowly and squints.
“Nothin’ wrong with her checkin’ in. She loves me and wants me to be safe.” He gets up. “In fact, I’m gonna go send her a video a quick.”
He walks away so neither of them can hear him. He shows you where he is. When you get the video you can’t help but just stare at his sweaty torso. He looks really cool with the snapback and sunglasses. You text him immediately with a kissy face.
“Alright, let’s get back to it.” Christin says.
Harry grabs his camera and walks around the vegetation more. Julia got all she needed for the article that needs to be written, so she decides to follow Harry around. She watches the way he snaps the photo and looks at it to see if he likes it. He knew she was following him, but he didn’t mind. Maybe she just wanted to observe.
“Here, what do you think of this one?” She leans in to look at the upclose shot.
“Really cool! It’s crisp.”
“Mm.” He agrees. “Hey, I think we have everything we need.” He says to Christin.
“Let me look through.” He hands her the camera, and take his shirt out of his pants to put back on. “Oh these are amazing! I knew I was smart to bring you. I can’t wait to get you into that butterfly garden Wednesday.”
“What are we doin’ for the next couple of days?”
“Your favorite; under water shots. These same people are deploying oysters near the coast in this bay to help stop the erosion.” A smile grows on Harry’s face. “You’d be pissed if I did this without you, now wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe a little. And technically, my favorite shots are at night.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s head back to the boat.”
//
That night you decided to have a glass of wine while organizing some boxes. You didn’t want to go through too many of Harry’s things. You stumble upon a smaller box that said “X Photos” on it. Were they pictures of ex-girlfriends? Your buzzed curiosity takes over and you open it. You gasp when you see the first photo. It was of Harry. Only he was fully naked, lying on the floor, his legs leaning up against a wall, tastefully covering his manhood.
“Oh my god.” You say to yourself. “Who the fuck took these for him?”
You sit down and go through them. There were dozens more. He looked good, really good. The pictures didn’t look too old either. You were amazed at how the camera captured every curve of his beautiful body. Then there it was. A picture of him holding his fully erect penis with a smirk on his face. You realize the x on the box meant it was rated x.
“Jesus.”
Your eyes dance over the way he grips himself, and you need to put it down before your mind wanders. There was a more serious photo behind it. There were a couple of him wearing boxers too. He looked like an underwear model. Despite them being so revealing, the pictures were gorgeous. The lighting was perfect.
“Where did he take these?” You squint at one photo. You sort of recognize it and you gasp. “His flat in London.” Your phone goes off and you nearly jump. A FaceTime request from Harry. “Shit.” You put the pictures away quickly and answer the phone. “Hey babe.”
“Hey!”
“You looked cute earlier.”
“Thanks. And I didn’t get sun burnt. Got a nice tan comin’ along though.”
“Can’t wait to see it.”
“You look a bit flushed, are you alright?”
“Um.” You look back at the box. You weren’t sure if you should tell him about finding his very personal photos. “Okay, I wasn’t snooping through your things, but I found some photos…of you.”
“Oh?” He furrows his brows trying to think. “Oh! The naked ones?” He had zero shame or embarrassment.
“Yeah.”
“Good, was hopin’ you’d find those.” He smirks. “What’d you think?”
“They were gorgeous of course. Who…took them for you?”
“I took ‘em myself. I was home for a few weeks last summer and I was bored. I had just gotten a new lens, and I was testing out some black and white effects.”
“And you had them printed?”
“Printed ‘em myself too. I had gotten a fancy photo printer.”
“You were…hard in a few of them.”
“Mhm.”
“Why?”
“Don’t know, I was just havin’ fun.”
“Oh.”
“Was that your favorite?”
“Actually, this one was.” You go into the box and take out the first photo you saw.
“Oh yeah, there’s some left to the imagination with that one.”
“You should seriously just be an underwear model.” He chuckles. “I’m serious.”
“I know you are.” He smirks at you.
“What?”
“Nothin’, just thinkin’, like, would you ever let me take pictures of you like that? You know, tasteful ones?”
“Like a boudoir thing?”
“Sure. We could set the loft up all nice, and the pictures would just be for us.”
“I’ll think about it. I feel like I would be so awkward.”
“I’d tell ya exactly what to do. Totally professional.”
“Has someone ever paid you to take boudoir photos?”
“God no. Although, I have taken a few pictures of some naked pregnant women before.” He laughs.
“So, how was your day?”
“It was good. I’m going under water tomorrow, I’m actually kind of excited.”
“Oh that sounds like fun!”
“Yeah…I wish I could go to sleep with you.”
“Me too. Bed feels too big when you’re not there.”
After some more chatter, you both hang up, and you go do your nightly routine. Just as you’re getting into bed, you get a snapchat text from Harry.
“What in the…” You open it.
Harry: textin ya on here so the messages disappear.
Your cheeks heat up. He was in the mood.
You: Alright
Harry: I’m really fuckin hard
“Jesus.” You feel your lower stomach twist in knot.
You: oh? Just from seeing my little face?
Harry: yes
You: are in bed?
Harry: yes
You: would you like to know what I would do if I were there?
Harry: enlighten me
A wicked grin grows on your face as you dial his number.
“Hello?” He says chuckling.
“Hey, I just thought of something fun and I thought you might like to hear my voice as I say it.”
“Alright, lay it on me.”
“I have a challenge for you, and I’ll do the same so you won’t suffer alone.”
“Okay?”
“I don’t want you to touch yourself at all while you’re gone.”
“No way, it’ll be easier for you since you’re on your period.”
“I usually get off in the shower without telling you.”
“Jesus, don’t tell me stuff like that.” He groans as his cock twitches. “Why do you wanna do this to me?”
“Because imagine how fucking good it’s gonna feel when you come home. Please?”
“What will I get as a reward? There’s gotta be a really good incentive here.”
“Reward? Babe, I’m going to let you fucking annihilate me when you get back.”
“Fuck.”
“But that’s only if you do as I ask, okay? We’re on the honor system here.”
“And you’re not gonna do anythin’ either?”
“Nope.”
“Alright, challenge accepted.”
“Sweet dreams, hope you don’t wake up with sticky sheets thinking of me.” You giggle and hang up.
//
By mid-week you were really starting to miss Harry. It wasn’t like you could just go hang out with Niall or your other friends during the day because they all still had to work. There was plenty to do in the apartment, but you didn’t want to do any of it without him. You decided to spend some time getting a jump on your assignments for class. There was a big research paper you had to do, and now was as good a time as any to start it. Niall said you could come over for dinner that night, and you were excited you didn’t even have to drive to go over. You loved your new place, but you knew you’d love it more once Harry was home.
//
Harry was exhausted by the time Wednesday rolled around. He spent two days diving under murky water just to get some pictures of oyster shells in bags. He got some great shots, but fuck, at what cost? He’d be spending the rest of the week at the manatee habitat. He wasn’t super thrilled.
“This is beautiful!” Julia exclaims, stepping into the butterfly garden. “Harry, do you think we’ll see any manatees?”
“Probably not, they’re not usually here this time of year.”
“Oh.” Her smiles slowly fades.
“But, um, you can certainly look. There could be some.”
Christin was inside the building talking to the couple of people that worked at the habitat. She walks out with them and Harry wants to blow his brains out.
“H, you remember Molly and Beth right?”
“Sure, hi.” He shakes both of their hands. He had slept with Molly last time he was here. Not super professional, but so it goes.
“So glad you’re back.” Molly says to him. Julia comes walking back over.
“Ladies, this is Julia, she’ll be interviewing you for the next couple of days.”
“Great! Should we start with the garden?” Beth asks.
“Sure!” Christin and Julia follow her. Harry fiddles with his camera.
“How you been?” Molly asks him, her cheeks flushed.
“Good, really good. How ‘bout yourself?” He takes a test shot of a tree. “So fuckin’ bright out today, wish it was overcast.” He says to himself. She raises an eyebrow at him. “Less shadows when it’s overcast, can get a clearer picture. I’m gonna have to fuck with all the settings.”
“You’re a talented guy, as I recall.” She winks at him and walks to catch up with the others.
Once he gets things how he likes, Harry starts snapping shots. The benches in the garden were painted a vibrant blue. He thinks of you, knowing you’d love the color. He takes his phone out quick to take a picture to send to you. He gets a reply immediately and smiles big, then puts his phone away.
“What do you suppose made him smile like that?” Molly asks Julia. She sighs.
“Probably his girlfriend that he’s gaga for.” She rolls her eyes.
“Girlfriend?” She watches Harry squat so he can take a picture of a butterfly that’s just landed on top of a flower. “Damn, that’s too bad.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oh, nothing, never mind.” She shakes her head.
Harry comes walking over to Julia and Molly.
“Where’s Chris?”
“Inside with Beth.”
“Right, well she has all the water.”
“Thirsty, Harry?” Molly was trying to be cute with him, but he wasn’t having it.
“I can get it myself, but thanks for offerin’.” He says sarcastically, brushing by her.
“Pleasant as ever.” She crosses her arms.
“Did, um, something happen between you two?”
“Not super appropriate to talk about while on the job.”
“It’s off the record.” Julia jokes.
“Yeah, when he was here last year we hooked up. And I’ll be honest, I still think about it. He, uh, really knows what to do with it.”
“Did you stay in contact at all?”
“Nope, he totally ghosted me after he went home. Don’t blame him though.” She shrugs. “I mean, I didn’t expect a long distance relationship or anything. But I am disappointed that he’s not single. Wouldn’t have minded picking up where we left off.”
Harry comes back out with his Julia’s water bottles. He hands it to her.
“Thanks Harry! I could’ve gotten it.”
“I know.” He smiles at her. “This one wants to see a manatee, could ya walk her around and show her where they usually are?”
“I’d be happy to, come on Julia. The habitat is pretty big.”
Julia mouths thank you to Harry and he nods. Selfishly he was happy to be alone in the garden to walk around and snap shots as he pleased.
“He seems to like you.” Molly says to her.
“He was just being nice. He’s not always so nice though. He can be kind of snippy, but also mysterious.”
“Definitely mysterious.”
“I have a huge crush on him, it’s so hard.” She looks back at him.
“Look, it’s not like he’s married.” She shrugs. “It’s okay to flirt a little.”
//
“Harry these are beautiful! Well done!” Christin says looking over the days’ worth of shots. “Can’t wait to come back tomorrow so we can get some more.”
“Thanks, beautiful garden. Very tranquil.”
“You both ready for some dinner? There’s a restaurant around here we can go to.”
“Sounds great.” Julia says.
The three end up at a bar and grille.
“Okay, so, as a rite of passage, we’re ordering the fried alligator.” Christin giggles. “I know you won’t eat it Harry, so we’re also getting the fried pickles.”
“Fine.”
“Why fried alligator?”
“Because we’re in Florida and it’s a tradition when we come down here.”
“The girls at the habitat were really nice.”
“Yeah, they were great to us last year. Harry even got a private tour of the area.” He chokes on his drink. “Remember? Molly took you for a drive to some other sites.”
“Yup, I remember.” His cheeks started to turn a light pink.
“So, what’s your new place like?”
“It’s massive. Two bedrooms and two full baths. And there’s a loft. Not entirely sure what we’re gonna do with it yet. She said I could use it as a home studio, but I think we should just both put our desks up there and have it as a more formal working space. We’ll see.”
“That’s great, H. Sorry all this got in the way of your move.”
“S’okay, she was really understanding.”
“Julia, any boys come into your life at school?”
“Not this semester since the internship is full time.”
“You must still go to parties and hang out with friends though.”
“Oh I do…no one’s really caught my eye. Guys my age can be really immature.”
“Take it from me, guys at every age are immature.” Harry gives her a look as he scoffs. “It’s true! That’s why I opted for an older man. Hubby’s got five years on me, that’s why it worked. Our maturity levels are the same. You’re older than Y/N, right Harry?”
“Yeah, but only by a year and half.”
“Still, older is the way to go.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Julia says.
//
After his shower, Harry couldn’t wait to settle into bed with his book. He had cranked the A/C and got cozy in his favorite joggers and a t-shirt. Just as he was getting his glasses on, there was a light tap on his door. He sighs heavily and goes over to the door to see Julia.
“Yes?”
“I didn’t…I didn’t know you had glasses.” He pushes them up like a headband to rest on the top of his head.
“They’re for readin’.” He crosses his arms. He looks down to see her holding some toiletries and some pj’s. “What’s all this?”
“My shower doesn’t have any hot water.”
“Didja give it a minute?”
“Gave it like ten minutes, just wouldn’t heat up.”
“So…why are here?”
“Could I use your shower?”
“Go use Christin’s.”
“I can’t, she wouldn’t answer her phone. She must’ve passed out after dinner. Please, Harry?”
“Alright, fine. But make it quick.” He lets her into the room.
“Thank you so much!”
“Should still be a dry towel in there.”
She nods and goes into the bathroom. How the fuck did he get himself into this? He picks up his phone and immediately calls you.
“Hey baby, you ready to read to me?”
“I was…”
“What do you mean?”
“Julia’s in my shower.” He whispers.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“She said her hot water wasn’t workin’.”
“And yours was?”
“Well…yeah. I hope she fuckin’ leaves right after. I don’t know what kind of game she’s playin’.”
“Oh, you’re paranoid.”
“I don’t know, this seems weird.”
“Harry, she knows you’re in a relationship, she’s not going to try anything funny.”
“Not everyone’s a nice as you.” You sigh.
“Look, it’s not like I can come down there and save you. Do you wanna stay on the phone with me so she leaves right away?”
“No…I think that’ll make it more awkward.” He hears the water turn off. “Shit, I think she’s done. At least she listens.”
“What?”
“I told her to make it quick.” He sighs. “I’m gonna turn the TV on. I’ll call you back in a bit.”
“Alright.” He hangs up.
He flips the channels to see if anything good was on. Reruns of The Simpsons, that’ll do. He hears the door click open, she comes out in a tank top and shorts. Her hair was down and still pretty wet, causing the top of her shirt to get wet.
“Were you talking to someone?”
“Hm? Um, yeah, I was just on the phone quick.” She looks at the TV.
“Anything good on?”
“Just The Simpsons.” He sighs.
“Oh I love The Simpsons!”
“Aren’t you a little young to love this show? You probably don’t get half the references.”
“Some of the older episodes are a little confusing, but for the most part I just think it’s funny.” She sits on the corner of the bed, and Harry inches backwards.
“Listen, um…”
“Is it okay if I hang out for a bit? These nights have been a little boring and lonely. I can only check my social media so many times.”
“You can stay for one episode, but that’s it. I’m pretty tired…been out all day in the sun ya know?”
“Alright, thanks Harry.” She turns around to look at the space next to him on the bed. “Do you mind if I-“
“You can sit in the chair if you’re back hurts sittin’ like that.” He points to the chair near the desk in the room. She sighs.
“That’s alright, I’ll just sit like this.” She shifts to lay on her stomach, propping her face up with her palms. Ass fully on display for him. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Harry pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He tries to just concentrate on the TV. It was a pretty good episode too. He finds both him and Julia giggling at certain parts.
“Harry?” She turns to look at him, laying on her side.
“Hm?”
“Did you always know you wanted to be a photographer?”
“No…it was just a hobby for a long time. When I got to uni I took an intro photographer course and realized it was what I wanted to do.”
“You do a lot of freelance work right?”
“Mhm.”
“Does that get tiring on top of all this?”
“Yeah, sometimes.”
“What types of-“
“Why are yeh askin’ me all these questions?”
“Just trying to get to know you better…I’ve been working for you for nearly two months and I feel like I don’t know a single thing about you.”
“You don’t work for me.”
“I work with you…I know Isaac really well, even Myk at this point. She’s gotten a little nicer. I think she was happy I got sent here instead of her.”
“She wouldn’t have wanted to be on a plane with me for three hours, that’s for sure.” He smirks.
“Did you two used to date?”
“I think that’s enough with the personal questions.”
“That’s a yes.” She smiles.
“We didn’t date.” He sighs. “Sometimes when you’re young and stupid…you do stupid things.”
“You’re still young, Harry. Really young.” She giggles. “Remember the day you said I could just call you Harry?”
“Um…”
“I actually kind of miss just calling you Mr. Styles.” Yup, he knew exactly what she was doing.
“Julia, I-“
“And you thought my name was Julie, that was so cute. You could’ve called me whatever you wanted, and I probably wouldn’t have cared.” She laughs. Harry looks at the clock on the night table.
“Look, it’s gettin’ late, and I’m supposed to call my girlfriend back.”
“That was her earlier, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. And I need to call her back.”
“What’s so important?” He sighs heavily.
“She is.” He gets off the bed and walks towards the door. “You came here for a shower, remember? Should I call maintenance for you tomorrow so this doesn’t happen again? Or will everything be miraculously fixed?” She gets up and stands near him.
“You think I lied about my shower being broken? Why would I lie about that?”
“You tell me.” He crosses his arms. She swallows hard. “I think you’re a nice girl, I do. I think you have a lot of potential as a writer. But you’re out of your fuckin’ mind if you think I would ever do anythin’ to hurt my girlfriend. So, whatever you thought might happen by comin’ in here, needs to leave your head because it’s not.”
“I…”
“Even if I was single, you’re like six years younger than me, I wouldn’t take advantage of someone like that. Trust me, you don’t wanna fuck someone you work with.”
“But you can fuck the people you see on business?” She crosses her arms. “Molly told me.”
“Of course she did.” He rolls his eyes. “Listen-“
“Stop telling me to listen! I’m an adult, same as you, and I-“
“Really? Because comin’ in here the way you did makes you look like a child, a brat actually. Tryin’ t’get your way. Did you really think a little pair of shorts was goin’ t’be enough to seduce me?” She blinks at him, she feels tears prick at her eyes. “Shit.”
“I just…I don’t know…I really like you, Harry.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel!”
“But you don’t even know me, Julia.” He puts a hand on her shoulder. “You know some version of me you see at work every day.”
“I’m really fucking attracted to you, I can tell you that.”
“I’m sorry about that, really I am. But it’s just not gonna happen.” He takes his hand off her.
“What does she have? What makes her so goddamn special?”
“For starters, she’s out of undergrad and has her life together.” He knew what he said would slice right through her, but she needed to hear it. “I can’t really explain the rest of it. I quite literally think she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, she brightens my day just bein’ herself, and I love every little fuckin’ thing about her, even her less than favorable qualities. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I hope to god you meet someone that makes you feel the same way too. It’s the most amazing and awful feeling at the same time. If I were to lose her, especially over somethin’ like this, I don’t know what I would do. A quick fuck isn’t worth it, and maybe someday you’ll learn that. And honestly, shame on you for comin’ in here and tryin’ to make somethin’ happen when I’ve told you time and time again how in love I am with her.”
“I’m sorry, okay! I know I was wrong.” He sighs again.
“I forgive you. Look, I’m happy to be friendly with you, give you any advice I can about the job, whatever you need, but that’s where this ends, that’s where the line is, alright? I know how a lot of people at the studio look at me. I see it on Isaac’s face every mornin’ when I walk in, and I see it when I look at some of the other people. Don’t you think I feel bad? It’s partially why I keep my distance. I don’t want to make anything worse for anyone else.”
“But that adds to it! The mystery is so sexy.” She laughs. “When I say that out loud I just sound pathetic.”
“You’re not pathetic, you’re a girl with a crush…and I’m sorry I can’t return your feelings.”
“It’s not your fault.” She sighs. “I’m really sorry about all of this, I made such a fool out of myself…”
“It’s okay. Let’s just move on, yeah?”
“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll go now. I’m really sorry again, I didn’t mean to spoil your night.”
“Don’t think much of it, not spoiled at all.” He smiles at her and opens the door.
“Can you not mention any of this to Chris? I, um, lied about texting her.”
“I assumed so, and yeah, I won’t tell her.”
“Thanks…you’re really cool you know that?”
“Goodnight, Julia.”
“Night.”
He closes the door and locks it. He wants to scream. He can’t believe he just had to lecture her like it was his child or something. He jumps to the bed and FaceTimes you immediately.
“It’s about time, I was just about to fall asleep. Did she just leave?”
“Yeah…she made a pass at me.”
“What?!”
“Well, nothing physical…but she was wearing really short shorts and said something like how she missed just calling me Mr. Styles…so I gave her a stern talking to and had her leave.”
“A stern talking to from Mr. Styles.” You giggle.
“This isn’t funny! She thought I was goin’ t’fuck her.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t.”
“I would never.”
“I know that.”
“You really weren’t worried about her at all?”
“Harry, you’re a big boy, and more importantly, I trust you. You said you’d never do anything to hurt me and I believed you. What we have is solid, I know you wouldn’t risk it just for some college girl’s loose vagina.” He bursts out laughing.
“Not exactly a woman supporting another woman are yeh?”
“I don’t have to talk nice right now, she just tried to get into your pants.”
“Wish you were here to get into my pants.”
“How are you doing with the no touching?”
“I’ve refrained, just like you told me to. It’s fuckin’ torture.”
“It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
274 notes · View notes
makeste · 4 years
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BnHA Chapter 270: Harry Potter Rules
Previously on BnHA: Present Mic punched Ujiko in the face! It was awesome. I’m thinking about getting a tattoo of it. Meanwhile Endeavor saved Mirko’s life by setting her on fire (reason #15 why I will never become a superhero), and Aizawa did some sexy Spider-Man poses for our viewing pleasure while fighting the rest of these Noumus which are still annoyingly refusing to die. Anyway but back to Present Mic, the undisputed MVP of this chapter. Because you see, in addition to the punching, he also used his Loud Voice attack (literally the actual attack name; Horikoshi will steal all of my jokes and leave me with nothing) to smash open Tomura’s Noumutank! Which I really thought was going to immediately lead to Everyone Dying, but apparently I was wrong! Anyways so yeah, right now Tomura’s just lying down all heart-stopped and not-breathing. Which seems very anticlimactic, BUT I JUST HAVE THE CRAZIEST FEELING that maybe, just maybe, the super powerful villain lad who just spent the last three arcs slowly upgrading his bad self just in time to wage war on the world as the story reaches its climax, might not actually be dead though.
Today on BnHA: DON’T MIND THAT OMINOUS ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND, IT’S NOTHING, IGNORE IT. Ahem. So first of all, as some of the bolder among us dared to speculate, Tomura is not, in fact, dead. He’s still very much kicking it with his nipple-less pecs and truffula tree hair, putzing around in his mental landscape filled with crumbled buildings and disembodied Theatrical Gesture Hands. For some reason he doesn’t have shoes or a shirt in his mental landscape, which was a very interesting choice on Horikoshi’s part, but we will speak no more of it. Anyway so to sum things up, Tomura’s family is all “TENKO WE LOVE YOU” and he’s all “oh hey” and then AFO fucking appears and he’s all “COME HERE MY BOY” which is exactly as creepy as you would expect, and for some fucking reason TOMURA ACTUALLY DOES COME HERE. And lol it turns out Ujiko gave him AFO. Like the quirk. Yes, that quirk. So long story short, Tomura is about to be possessed by AFO’s evil soul or some shit, and to put the cherry on top, fucking Deku out of fucking nowhere, MILES AWAY, is all “HE’S COMING.” Because of course he can sense it, because AFOFA IS REAL, AND FUCK ME THIS IS ALL HAPPENING TOO FAST, FUCK.
I know this chapter has been out since like 1pm, but I’m not getting to read it until 5 hours later because for once in my life I was trying to be responsible and actually get some work done on a Friday. I thought this might lead to less oh-god-I-still-have-to-get-that-done anxiety hovering over my weekend, but instead it just led to oh-god-I-have-to-get-the-chapter-recap-done anxiety hovering over my now! anyways so this might be a bit rushed lol
(ETA: yeah turns out this wasn’t exactly the kind of chapter you could just read quickly and get on with your life lmao. so, then!)
what a nice panel of Present Mic taking out the trash
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you heard ‘em fellas. the doctor is secured. good job everyone we did it, manga over, congratulations. now to cut away to a two-page spread of Dark Shadow comically smothering Dabi’s flames with a giant stock pot lid, and that’ll be that! what a wonderful, extremely short and strangely underwhelming arc in which we haven’t even seen the actual main characters do anything yet. but I guess we don’t need them since the main bad guy is lying dead on the floor! everything is just so fucking dead and secured!! do you think if I keep repeating it enough Horikoshi will finally be like “okay geez I get it” and reveal his hand already
Mic is now ordering Ujiko to power down the Noumu, which again, I’m sure he will definitely do without a fuss since after all the good guys have clearly won the day
OH SHIT OH FUCK
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rip X-Less. gonna just take a moment here to imprint your beautiful face onto my memory before it turns into a pile of ash. your face, I mean. not my memory. well my memory more or less already is a pile of ash but that’s neither here nor there ANYWAYS
:’)
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what are these little sound effects. I think that’s supposed to be a buzzing noise?? anyways whatever it is PLEASE STOP IT, I AM NOT HAVING A NICE TIME SO STOP
ffff Horikoshi sure has done an excellent job of setting the mood in such a way that all of these panels of X-Less doing incredibly mild things are sending my stress levels through the roof. like is anyone else reading his lines more or less like “WELP, TIME FOR ME TO DIE, ANY SECOND NOW, WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, HERE IT COMES”
(ETA: when is this poor sweet innocent man going to fucking die already.)
LET’S CUT BACK TO MIC ESCAPING THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY
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I have the clearest mental image of Horikoshi standing by with a walkie talkie in one hand and one of those remote bomb detonation clicky switch thingies in the other, patiently waiting to receive the go-ahead once all of the important characters have gotten to safety
anyway so now Ujiko is talking again
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no fear everyone this is just the beginning of his verbal noumu deactivation sequence. nothing to worry about. everything is fine
yes for some reason his code phrase to put all the noumus back to sleep involves going into rambling detail about his work researching quirk singularities and shit. it’s fine. it’s not a big deal. code phrases are just like that sometimes all right
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just ignore the increasingly panicked look in Mic’s eye as he slowly realizes he was way too fucking keen to just leave the “dead” Tomura back there with his laser-eyed hero buddy. anyway so let’s continue learning all about the Quirk Illuminati or whatever the fuck
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okay so... he faked his own death? 70 years ago, at age 50 or thereabouts? I mean, that’s interesting and all I guess. not saying I wouldn’t be thrilled to spend the rest of this chapter learning all about Ujiko’s boring evil life. I don’t need to say it because it’s implied on account of Ujiko sucks and is the worst. so yeah can we get a move on though
oh shit?!?
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WHOSE NARRATION IS THAT IN THE BOXES TOMURA IS THAT YOU OH GOD OH GOD
also, comparing AFO’s smile to a buddha’s really sent an actual shudder of disgust down my spine for some reason lmao. I personally would have steered that comparison in a different area, maybe less to buddhas and more to Norman Bates from Psycho, but to each their own
oh shit wait up
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okay but this is actually a pretty big revelation though, isn’t it? because it’s been hinted for a while now that AFO and Ujiko had some method of duplicating quirks (the fact that all the Noumu share the same regeneration quirk was the biggest clue, but there was also John-chan’s quirk, as well as Hood’s Muscular-esque quirk), but as far as I can recall, this is the first time we’ve had it confirmed. though to be fair I wasn’t joking when I said my memory really has been shit lately sob
anyway so for real though, can you really call it a BnHA chapter if you’re not spending a good chunk of it being hopelessly confused over the ownership of some ambiguous thought bubbles. WHO IS THIS. I do seriously feel like it’s Tomura, because he’s the wrathful one, but another hallmark of a typical BnHA chapter is me constantly questioning everything I know as I muddle my way through
(ETA: yeah I’m pretty sure it was him. still impressive how vague it is though! it could also potentially be Ujiko, Mic, or even Deku. hopefully Caleb’s translation on Sunday can shed some more light on this. though he wasn’t really helpful last time this happened lol.)
SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON
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didn’t... you just... say that “preservation” was your quirk?? what do you mean that you wanted it?? CAN YOU JUST FINISH YOUR SENTENCES LIKE A NORMAL PERSON
anyway so here’s a summary of this chapter thus far
present mic: okay goodbye forever x-less
x-less: what a strange thing to say! :) also is it just me or is this machine fucking staring at me
present mic: turn the noumu off please
ujiko: seventy years ago... society... singularity... he’d be 120 years old now...
??: [REPULSIVE FEELING EW WHO’S TOUCHING ME]
ujiko: all for one has the smile of an angel...
??: [SON OF A BITCH I’M SO FUCKING WRATHFUL]
ujiko: my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk...
all caught up?? grand. also btw is anyone else super disturbed by the fact that Ujiko recognizes Mic as being “Kurogiri’s friend”, like holy shit though? how would he know that. I can’t think of any implications of this that aren’t super disturbing tbh
anyways back to -- LOL WHAT THE
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Horikoshi Kouhei: [furiously scribbling notes to himself at 3am] BUT WHAT IF THE FOLDING CITY FROM “INCEPTION” HAD MORE GIANT HANDS
jesus christ. is this like some mental representation of what shit is currently like in Tomura’s mind? lots of crumbly destruction and traffic lights and the house his father built (isn’t it? I feel like it looks familiar), and SO MANY HANDS, HE JUST LOVES HIS HANDS
anyway so at this point it’s a coin toss whether or not anything in this fucking chapter is ever going to make any kind of fucking sense! but here I am voluntarily along for the ride while Gene Wilder sings that creepy boat song right in my ear!
DSFKLDSJ
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ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN FLOATING IN A JAR FOR THREE MONTHS TBH. that is some luscious quarantine hair
SDFLKJSDLFKJSLKFDHLKSDJFLKJLKSDJL:FKJSDL:KJ
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(ETA: that Tomura in the top left may be my new favorite panel. look at him. all he is is a nose and chin and ~*~HAIR~*~.)
HANAAAAAA AHHHHHH OH MY LORD OH MY LORD! OKAY I’M FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION NOW FOR REAL! NO MORE JOKES! EVERYBODY SHHHH!!!
FFFFFFFFFF
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“LOOK AT ME I’M A MAIN CHARACTER I CAN HAVE STRANGE VISIONS AND TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE IN MY DREAMS, SOUND LIKE ANYBODY ELSE YOU KNOW?” TOMURA SHUT UP I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ANALYZE THIS SCENE THEMATICALLY RIGHT NOW I’M TOO BUSY BEING SAD ABOUT YOUR DEAD SISTER WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY CALCULATING THE ODDS OF THIS SOMEHOW BEING FORESHADOWING FOR HER NOT REALLY BEING DEAD. OH GOD, OH FUCK YOU GUYS, I’M FREAKING OUT
WHAT KIND OF YOUNGER BROTHER DOESN’T CALL HIS OLDER SISTER “NEECHAN” TOMURA WHAT KIND OF ANIME CHARACTER ARE YOU
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AT THIS POINT HIS HAIR IS ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER WITH THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS WOW
HORIKOSHI PLEASE STOP SHAKING THIS CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE OF SIBLING FEELS SO VIGOROUSLY I AM SO TERRIBLY AFRAID OH GOD
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“BY THE WAY TENKO I JUST HAVE TO SAY, YOUR MAN BOOBS ARE SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE AND YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD.” YES HANA I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY. HOW ASTUTE OF YOU TO POINT THAT OUT. BOY HAS BEEN HITTING THAT BOWFLEX
WTAF IS HIS HAIR THOUGH SERIOUSLY??!
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IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS DIALOGUE BUBBLE ACTUALLY COMING FROM THE HAIR ITSELF. TOMURA. TOMURA BLINK TWICE IF YOU ARE IN DANGER
SJJKJSKJSW
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TENKO IT’S ME YOUR GIANT MOM I’M BEHIND YOU HONEY TURN AROUND AND LOOK HELLO HI I LOVE YOU DO YOU STILL WANT TO BE A HERO
ffff why is he so pretty all the time lately
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you are very handsome with your billowy hair and ken doll abs, you. sure are having a lot of trippy visions for a dead guy too there
HEY!!!!
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WHO SAID YOU WERE ALLOWED -- DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST -- ffffffffff I need to be alone with my thoughts for a few minutes fuck
okay well. but since it is getting late I guess we’ll just pack these feelings up real quick and put them inside a box and neatly label it “feelings I have about Tomura having a vision of his mom and immediately turning back into his innocent little boy self in said vision as soon as he sees her.” not too sure about the contents of this box yet but I will have to explore them thoroughly at a later date
oh hey it’s this asshole
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“THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO, DAD.” jesus Kotaro. get over it
and also guess what, if you go and get Tomura all riled up so he wakes up grumpy and disintegrates the first hapless guy he sees, I will hold you solely responsible for that poor man’s death. I’m just warning you now
oh my
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I remember this conversation going a bit differently the last time, but hey
LOOOOOOL
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HIGH FIVE. PUT ‘ER THERE
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WHY WOULD YOU LOOK SO SURPRISED LOL DID YOU NOT JUST TURN TOWARDS HIM WITH A SINISTER MURDER FACE LIKE TWO SECONDS AGO. LIKE WTF DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN
OH NO OH SHIT
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FUCK ME, GUESS IT WOULDN’T BE A DRAMATIC BNHA DREAM SEQUENCE IF THIS ASSHOLE DIDN’T MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT SOME POINT OR OTHER NOW WOULD IT
-- HOLY SHIT?!
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RECORD SCRATCH, FREEZE FRAME??
holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit
holy shit. fuck
...okay so
is this implying that AFO has been Noumufied? but that doesn’t make any sense, does it? he already had multiple quirks. what other advantages could there be to him becoming a Noumu. well whatever I’m just typing out all of my thoughts real fast for the time being and I’ll try to make sense of them later
or is it because he sees Kurogiri as a father figure? and AFO also?
or is he using Kurogiri’s quirk????? IS HE SOMEHOW WARPING INTO TOMURA’S DREAMS
because that third one, to me, is what this panel most looks like? Tomura says he looks like Kuro, but he doesn’t though. Kuro has a very distinctive face which this is very much lacking. instead it looks to me much more like one of Kurogiri’s portals, with AFO’s buddhaesque smile sticking out. so yeah. I got nothin’. except, again, fuck
(ETA: yeah I obviously have more thoughts about this now, but we’ll get to those in a bit.)
...
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.......
-- !!!!!!!!!!LKJLK!JLKJ
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oh shit oh shit oh shit 
OH SHIT
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NO BABY NO DON’T DO IT
GASP
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THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AHHHH
I HAVE LIKE TEN THOUSAND THOUGHTS IN MY BRAIN RIGHT NOW YET SOMEHOW MY MIND IS ALSO STRANGELY BLANK?? I DON’T EVEN KNOW?? I’LL JUST KEEP READING
KOTARO ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP HIM OR ARE YOU PULLING HIM TOWARD AFO??
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OH HE’S PUSHING HIM BACK!! OH SHIT IT’S A WHOLE FAMILY EFFORT
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THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AFO IS GOING TO TAKE HIM OVER AND THEY’RE TRYING TO PROTECT HIM OH GOD OH JESUS
BABY TENKO EYES OH MY GOD HE LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE DEKU THAT I THOUGHT IT WAS DEKU FOR A MOMENT
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NO TENKO!!!
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FUCK -- DOES HE NOT CARE? HE ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN BUT HE DOESN’T CARE?? IS HE TRULY SO PROFOUNDLY MISERABLE THAT HE’D GO AHEAD AND ACCEPT THIS FATE WILLINGLY
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NO SOUNDS. NO WORDS. YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP IN MY ROOM RIGHT NOW
except that I have the most incredible, chilling, disturbing, electrifying feeling that my mental soundtrack is about to start blaring AFO’s theme from the anime on full blast...!
LOOOOOL SOB OH FUCKK
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THE MOST TERRIFYING, DRAMATIC KIP UP YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE!! THIS IS IT, IT’S BEEN REAL FRIENDS, THIS IS WHERE WE DIE
-- ARE YOU REALLY, TRULY, GENUINELY SHITTING ME RIGHT NOW
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NOW OF ALL TIMES IS WHEN WE FINALLY CUT TO THE TRIO, I’M CAN’T, I’M FUCK
AND THAT’S THE END AHHHHH
holy shit holy shit holy shit. wow
okay so. I don’t really have any sort of neat and tidy way to wrap up this hot mess of a recap lol. so, just... have a whole mess of all of my stupid whirling thoughts
those first four pages really did nothing to brace me at all lol
okay, so. here’s my understanding of all this, I guess. basically we’re going full Harry Potter rules here. AFO horcruxed his quirk, and from the looks of it, a piece of his soul (perhaps even the main piece) along with it. he then passed it on to Ujiko to implant into Tomura
horcrux!AFO then wakes up, and takes over Tomura. so then my understanding is that he’s going to be possessed by him. and I also got the impression that he’s fully aware of that, but just doesn’t care at this point. he knew his family was trying to warn him, but he didn’t care. and that look in his eyes when he disintegrated them just seemed so fucking resigned to me, though. jesus
but now the more interesting thing! so we can liken Tomura to the resurrected Voldemort from book 5 and onward, reborn after transferring his power into a new vessel. which would go a long way toward explaining how AFO was able to sense what was happening from all the way in Tartarus; because if we liken it to Voldemort and his horcruxes, it would mean that he still has a connection to them (similar to the connection between Voldemort’s mind and Harry’s)
but so now comes the really interesting thing -- what does this then imply about the connection between AFO and Deku? because you’ll recall that AFO alluded to a similar mental connection back when Deku first activated SIXQUIRKS. and now we have Deku somehow being magically aware of AFO’s sudden resurgent presence in this chapter. but why?? if the reason AFO and Tomura share a psychic link is because of a shared quirk, why would Deku also be experiencing the same link? the answer is, he wouldn’t -- unless he, too, had the same shared quirk
in other words, I think All for One for All is fucking confirmed you guys. I can’t think of any explanation for this other than that OFA is also a horcrux quirk. a little piece of AFO broken off and embedded in his brother, and then passed along through the generations. and now residing within Deku
anyway. so that’s a hell of a lot to ponder lol. I guess we can at least be grateful for the fact that we’re not waiting two weeks for chapter 271 like Hori originally planned. can you fucking imagine. what a fucking asshole lol
133 notes · View notes
jbbarnesnnoble · 4 years
Text
Chaser - Downdraft (Part One)
Chapter Title: Downdraft
Series Summary: Storm chasing is your passion. You decided in high school to study atmospheric science and spend your life studying storms. An accident leads you to the Avengers compound. A mother hen Tony Stark, a confused and concerned supersoldier, and some meddling friends, life is taking a new and unexpected turn.
Part Summary: You and your team head out to track a storm, putting you on a collision course with danger. 
Features: Storms and storm chasing, incorrect science
Pairing: Eventual Bucky Barnes/Reader
Notes:  In this part, we’re introduced to reader and her ragtag team of storm chasers. We also see a bit more of her relationship with Tony. We haven’t met Bucky yet. 
Word Count: 1866
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Log #15042018
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia 
Downdraft (n.) - “a column of cool air that sinks toward the ground. It is most often accompanied by rain.” 
The air was heavy with the promise of a storm. You knew the conditions were perfect for tornado formation. Usually you didn’t venture too far to the east in the midst of tornado season but you’d been tracking the storm system and knew the potential for fireworks was there.
For as long as you could remember, you were obsessed with the weather. Your mother would recall how you could tell it was going to storm without ever looking at a radar map when you were a child. You almost wondered if you had some kind of mutation. It was an ability that persisted into adulthood. Your mother’s favorite story to tell was about how you begged her to go home one day when the weather was clear and rain wasn’t in the forecast. Three hours later a storm rolled in that knocked out power for most of the town and brought down some of the bigger trees. 
“What’s the game plan, Twister?” Sheridan asked you. Casey Sheridan was one of your partners in the field. The man was a trained first responder, volunteering back home with the local EMS. You had a small team assembled, all with the goal of studying storm systems to advance the science communities understanding of them.
“Thanks to our generous benefactor, we don’t have to pull a Jo Thornton and get right up with the tornado. The AI system will control the flight of the probes into the tornado and give us perhaps the most comprehensive data to date. The more storms we do this with, the more complete the data set becomes. Even if the probes become damaged entirely, the data will hopefully transmit. They have a home base they’ll return to and enough energy for a three day trip. Thanks to Stark we have them,” you explained. 
“I hate that we work for a billionaire,” Deacon grumbled. No one was fully sure of what Deacon’s real name was. You knew it because you hired him. He adopted his nickname from Fallout 4 and stuck with it.
“We don’t work for him Deacon. We’re an independent group of scientists with funding from Stark Industries…there’s a difference,” you argued. He raised an eyebrow in your direction.
“Potay-to, Potah-to, Twister. Stark pays our bills, and I for one say, eat the rich,” Deacon replied. You shook your head at him. 
“Well when you’re done plotting how you’re going to overthrow the bourgeoisie, I need you to finish a last check on the probes, Deacon. You know. Your job,” you said. You saw him roll his eyes and laughed to yourself. 
You had two modes of transport. The van followed the pickup truck. The probes would be launched from your truck closer to the tornado. All you had to do was press a button on a remote you had in the cab of the truck. It was the first time the probes were going to be used. Up until then, your research had depending on distance analysis and observing the damage after a storm.
“National Weather Service just issued a tornado warning. It’s go time. Radar indicated rotation about two miles south,” Cody said. She was your eyes and ears on almost everything. She and Casey worked together tracking the radar and any warnings. Your main job was ensuring your team stayed safe and analyzing the data that came in. 
You had a degree in meteorological and atmospheric sciences. It was your passion. You had graduated from Cornell and had your master’s, with a dream of getting your PhD eventually. Your encounter with Tony Stark had changed your life for the better. 
Anxiety was setting in as you and your team headed south toward Lynchburg. You had a good idea of where the tornado would touch down based on the radar imaging. Cody and Casey remained in the van with Deacon driving. You were on your own in the pickup. You always worried going into a storm. About your safety. About the safety of your team. It was only natural.
“FRIDAY what’s the radar looking like?” you asked the AI as you drove. Tony had outfitted your truck with access to FRIDAY. You argued at first but she was helpful in a pinch. He had done a lot to add protection to your truck and the van. You knew he worried about you, which still shocked you. 
“There is rotation approximately a half mile south,” she said. You nodded to yourself, and opened up the comms, another gift from Tony.
“We’re about a half mile out. There’s definite upward motion on that cloud up ahead. Pull off to the left coming up. We don’t want to get too close to this thing,” you said.
“Rain. We need to be ready to move. If this thing is rain wrapped,” Cody said her voice trailing off. 
“Looks like we’ve got touch down. I’m deploying the probes. FRIDAY’s sensors will guide them toward the tornado,” you said as you pressed the button. You watched as the probes flew off toward the storm, praying they worked. When confirmation came from the team you had silent moment of celebration.
“Twist, I think we gotta go, this thing is going to come up toward us and we don’t want to get caught out,” Casey said.
“Copy, Sheridan. Let’s continue moving to the south. We can avoid running into it and still gather images. Keep your eyes up Deacon, you never know when something will pop up,” you said. 
You drove forward, keeping an eye on the storm as you tracked it’s path, doing your best to judge what a safe distance was. You didn’t expect the debris that knocked into the truck that made you swerve off the road and flip. 
——————————————————————————————————–
Tony was pacing around the lab. Bruce was doing his best to reassure Tony. Most of the team had never met you, but Bruce had. Your innate curiosity always managed to turn things around and diffuse the tension when Bruce and Tony would argue.
“We have a problem,” FRIDAY said, breaking the tense silence.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked, trying not to sound panic.
“Sensors in her truck indicate that there was an impact and the truck has flipped on its side,” FRIDAY said.
“Is she alert?” Tony asked.
“In and out, sir. I will patch you in to their comms,” the AI said. Tony knew as soon as he was patched in.
“Status report,” Tony said.
“Christ Stark a little warning,” Sheridan snapped.
“Noted. Now, status report,” Tony said.
“A piece of debris hit the pick up. We were about one hundred feet back. She went careening off the side of the road and the truck flipped. EMS ETA is about ten minutes. She’s been in and out of consciousness but there doesn’t seem to be major external injury,” Cody replied. 
It didn’t take Tony long to get to Virginia, not with a quinjet. He was grateful to have Helen Cho on his payroll now, because as soon as you were stable, you were going to the compound, no arguments. There were few people Tony cared about on a deeper level. You were one of them. 
“Kid’s in surgery, but the doctors think she’ll be fine,” Tony said. He called Pepper as soon as he had news.
“She won’t be happy about being dragged to the compound,” Pepper pointed out.
“Tough. She needs to recover, not be out on the next chase. Her team agrees. They’re all going on vacation to be with their families, no argument. She needs to rest. And we both know she won’t do that if she’s not at the compound,” Tony said.
“You’re on your own then. Because we both know she’s not going to like it,” Pepper said. Tony sighed. 
“She’ll be on board when I give her free reign of the lab,” Tony said.
After talking to Pepper it was a waiting game.Tony had to pull serious strings to be able to see you. Your family was hours away and they weren’t going to come. He knew that. If you were awake, you’d know that. It had been that way for a long time. Another reason Tony worried about you, why he looked out for you. 
“Hey kiddo,” he said once you were awake. 
“Tony?” you asked, your voice raspy. 
“Yeah. You had a bit of an accident,” he said. He watched your expression change as the memory of what happened came back. You groaned. He wasn’t sure if it was in pain or annoyance.
“How’s the truck?” you asked. He snorted. 
“I’m having it brought back up to New York. Too much Stark Tech in that thing to let it go to a salvage yard,” he said.
“So it’s totaled?” you asked.
“Afraid so, kiddo. Gert is no more,” he said. You had named the truck, something that amused Tony to no end. 
“And the others?” you asked.
“They’re fine. A little shaken, but fine.  The van’s coming back up to the compound too while you recover. Your team is taking time off too. Visiting their families,” he said. You looked at him. He knew an argument was brewing. It was prime time for tornado season. You didn’t want to miss it.
“Tony,”  you started to say. He shook his head.
“Kid, you broke your leg. You’re down for the season. You need to rest and recover,” he said.
“But you have that cradle thing,” you argued.
“That we only use for life threatening injuries or if we desperately need someone back in the field. There’s no shame in letting things heal the old fashioned way,” he said. 
“I need to be back out there,” you argued.
“No. You need to rest. Your team needs time to rest. They thought you were a goner, kid. You’re lucky it seems to only be a minor concussion and a broken leg,” Tony retorted. A nurse soon came in, ending the standoff between the two of you. It wasn’t long before you were being brought up to the roof, where a quinjet was, and loaded in to be brought to the compound. Tony hadn’t come alone.
“Romanoff, meet Jo Thornton. I think you two will be spending a lot of time together,” Tony said. You glared at him.
“That’s not my name,” you snapped before offering your real name up. Tony had a habit of calling you by the name of the main character from Twister. You preferred the nickname Twister or Twist, if for no other reason than it being the nickname of a character from Rocket Power.
“Well, you know what they say Dorothy. There’s no place like home,” Natasha said as the aircraft began making its descent. Tony had opted to pilot it, leaving you to get acquainted with Natasha. You had a feeling she was one of the people Tony was going to rope into looking after you. 
You allowed yourself to relax and drift off into a light sleep, dreaming of your next chase and the thrill that came with it. 
26 notes · View notes
broth-y · 4 years
Text
Gundham Tanaka’s Perfect Plan
kazuichi souda/gundham tanaka
alternatively: How to Spend the Rest of Your Life With the Boy of Your Dreams.
a/n: this is for day seven of soudam week! i chose the wedding prompt and kinda messed with it. if you've been paying attention, i only participated in 4/7 days, but i had to prioritize quality over quantity. i procrastinated. i think the proposal itself is cliche, but it doesn't even bother me because i am happy with this piece. i really hope that you guys like it!! 
AO3
“Kazuichi, have you fallen asleep yet?” Gundham’s words were quiet, as to not wake the boy in his arms if he had fallen asleep. Their bodies pressed together tightly.
“Not yet, why?” Souda murmured.
“I believe that an outing is long past due.”
“Huh?” He questioned, too tired to translate his boyfriend's words.
“I would like to go out to dinner with you soon.” Gundham had carefully calculated a plan, it was simply a matter of convincing Souda to join him.  
Kazuichi hummed, “we always get food on Fridays.”
Gundham’s hand found its way into his partner's hair. He twirled his fingers through it slowly. “I wish for something with more grandeur. Perhaps we could go somewhere lavish next Friday.”
“Fancy dinner on Friday? Sure, whatever ya want, we can dress up n’ everything.” He answered drowsily, laughing slightly.
“I would be greatly satisfied.” His plan was going exactly as he intended. Souda even added the idea to put on their best clothes, saving Gundham from having to persuade him.
“If we’re going somewhere fancy, you’re paying.”
“I would insist, my love.” Kazuichi yawned, “then it’s a date.” he was sluggish and Gundham knew it would be only mere moments before he fell asleep.
“Perfect.”  Tanaka intertwined their fingers together with his unoccupied hand. His request had gone ideally, everything he needed was ready. However, he was terrified.
-
The box resting in the pocket of Gundham's slacks seemed to weigh him down as if it were a brick instead. He stared at himself in the mirror. He knew that he would struggle to hide his uneasiness throughout the night.  Glancing at the clock, he realized their time to ready was running thin. “Souda, make haste. The reservation is in less than an hour.” He yelled to the boy in their adjacent bedroom.
“I’m tryin’. Can you come tie my tie babe?” Kazuichi asked.
“Yes, of course.” He walked into their bedroom, seeing Kazuichi with his shirt unbuttoned and tie thrown haphazardly around his neck. “You look dashing.” He smiled as he approached him.
“You too, but you might need a shirt to go out.” Souda laughed. His calloused hands wrapped around the bare torso of the taller.
Gundham nodded, carefully fixing Kazuichi’s collar. “I will dress soon.” He answered and decided not to mention the shameful amount of time he spent rethinking his arrangements while Souda was in the shower; time he could have used to get ready.
“Why did you wanna go out anyway?”
 He finished tying his partners vividly green tie. “Need I a reason? I wish to do something different, and I am honestly tired of pizza delivery.”
"Pizza delivery is good." Kazuichi responded, sticking his long tongue out towards the other man. "Your standards are just higher than mine."
"Touche." Gundham smirked as he walked to the closet. He removed his shirt, which he had ironed meticulously for the event, putting it on and buttoning it. As he reached for his own tie, he noticed Kazuichi, kneeling at the other side of the closet, and removing a pair of shoes. "Are those the shoes you will be wearing tonight?"
"Yeah, don't 'cha like 'em?" He asked, a pair of abrasively green shoes in hand. Kazuichi beamed, "They match my tie!"
"That is certainly a unique choice, my dear." Gundham chuckled as he adjusted his shirt.
The pair finished dressing, Gundham adding a vest and Kazuichi, a blazer.  He was left with one final request. Before they headed out, on foot, Gundham turned to his boyfriend. "Would you like to get ice cream after dinner? Our usual spot is close to where I made our reservations. Perhaps we could go to the park, as normal?"
"The park where you took me on our first date, for sure babe. You know how much I love ice cream." He answered, seemingly pleased.
All was set in motion. It was simply time for Gundham to go through with it.
-
“The waitress said my shoes and tie were cool, she totally liked them! I knew that somebody would.” Kazuichi grinned and licked happily at his chocolate ice cream, coated in sprinkles. They were walking, free hands intertwined, through the twilit park.  
Gundham laughed, “You seem to be implying that I do not.”
“You insulted them at home, Gundy.” He joked.
Tanaka scoffed in response, “I said they were unique, which was not an insult. I love your eccentric accessories.”
“Well, thank you.” Kazuichi stood on his toes to place a quick kiss on his partner’s face.
“You are very welcome.” Gundham noted the quick darkening of the sky as the sun set. He finished his dessert and knew his partner would soon follow suit. The persistent butterflies in his stomach began thrashing once again and he prerpared himself for what was to come.
"Do you wanna sit down for a few minutes, then probably head home?" Souda asked, nodding to a bench just meters up the path.
"I can agree to that." He nodded. Kazuichi demolished the remains of his ice cream, as they walked. He threw a napkin in a nearby garbage can upon their arrival.  
They lowered onto the bench together, Kazuichi finding a comfortable place, snuggled under Gundham's arm. Silence fell over the pair. Curious fingers ran across Gundham's thigh, fingertips rubbing small circles. Kazuichi was typically one to busy his hands with something.
Gundham worried that his partner, pressed close to his chest, would hear his rapidly increasing heartbeat. He was about to ask a question that would change the course of his life, hopefully for the better. The thought terrified him, more than anything had before. The worst that could happen, would be Kazuichi denying him, it certainly wasn't welcoming for that to be a possibility.
They sat for a few minutes longer, words still yet to be exchanged. The nervousness occupied Gundham's mind far too much for conversation. The common comfort from close contact with his boyfriend, was not present in the moment. just sweaty palms and shaky breaths. Souda sat undisturbed, regardless. Gundham wondered how he had stayed quiet for so long; it was atypical of him not to make any comments.
The uncharacteristic behaviour was soon explained when he felt the smaller boy jerk upwards against his chest.
"Hnhm. I guess I started to fall asleep there." Kazuichi attempted a short laugh, and moved so he could sit up straight. He planted a kiss on his partner's cheek, before asking, "do you think we could go home soon Gundy? I love being here with you, but I'd rather fall asleep in our bed together, not a park bench."
Tanaka forced himself to grin smugly in response, "of course we can." He answered, knowing that marked his time to begin.
Kazuichi rose from the bench, stretching where he stood. After a final deep breath, Gundham lifted himself off the seat and reached his arm out to his partner, who had just turned away. “Before we leave, I have a gift for you.” He blurted.
“A gift?” Kazuichi questioned, turning to look at the other with his eyebrows raised, “What for?”
Gundham didn’t answer, just shuffled in his pocket to retrieve the small box that had burnt a hole there throughout the night. Holding it concealed in one hand, he took his partner's hand with the other. “Kazuichi, I mean not to be cliche, but the years we have spent together have been my favourite of them all. My love spans wider than what is comprehensible to most. I am a man of many words, so let me make this brief.” He smiled smugly as he detached their hands to present the simple ring to Kazuichi.
“I must know, will you marry me?”
Bright tears quickly welled in Souda’s eyes as he realized what was happening. Gundham felt the weight of the other boy press against him as he collapsed into him, his hands grabbing desperately at the back of Gundham’s jacket.
Gundham moved his arms that had been awkwardly sandwiched between them, stuffing the ring box back in his pocket, as he wrapped his arms around his partner. He interrupted the unintelligible sobs coming from beneath him, “There is no need to cry, my love.”
“Of course I’m gonna cry!” Kazuichi sniffled as he lifted his head to meet the other’s eyes. “You just — you just asked me to marry you!”
Gundham placed the shorter boy’s face in the strong grip of both hands. He ran his thumbs gently under Kazuichi’s eyes, wiping away his tears. “Yes, I did. And you still have yet to answer.”
“Of course I’ll fuckin' marry you, get down here." He said, still weak and sobby. He pulled on Gundham's collar, bringing their lips together in a soft kiss.
Months of well suppressed anxiety flowed from Gundham's mind as they met. He relaxed his tensed muscles and held his lover tighter than ever before. They kissed, and he relaxed, knowing that he had won the only person worthy of spending his life with.
Tanaka disconnected their lips to speak, touching their foreheads together instead, "Lest I forget, you have not received your ring." He once again removed the ring from his pocket and presented it to Kazuichi. "I hope you are pleased with it."
The box displayed a wide silver band with a rectangular stone inset in the center. Kazuichi gushed, "How couldn't I be? I love it. I'll have to try not to lose it, between the shop and everywhere else."
He removed the ring from the box, finally and carefully sliding onto the other's finger. A long awaited task indeed. "I request that you keep it in your sights, at least until the wedding."
"Wedding — the wedding!" He beamed, detaching their foreheads as he jumped back, ever so slightly. "We're getting married, Gundham! It didn't even sound real, until you said it."
Gundham couldn't suppress the smile rising in his face from his partner's reaction, "I understand how you feel. It is quite foriegn."
“You — the guy who was Mr. Overlord, incapable of mortal emotions — you asked me to marry you! We’re gonna get married!” Kazuichi grinned. Gundham wondered if it was possible for a person to smile any wider.
“We are.”
“I can’t believe it. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Kazuichi.” He replied, pulling him close for yet another kiss, entirely unable to believe it either.
53 notes · View notes
hwangdol · 5 years
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l.jn: just shoot your shot
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summary: can jeno just be confident in himself? pls? pretty pls? 
pairing: student-athlete!jeno x tutor! (fem) reader
warning: PROCEED WITH CAUTION! GRAMMAR MISTAKES! AND CRACKHEADS! ALSO CURSING! i’m back and i’m not dead so here’s some athlete!jeno that everyone was looking forward too. just a reminder, this is apart of my collab with @huangsren so check out her art-hoe! renjun and childhood-friend! chenle in our dreamies highschool au. i’m not really satisfied with this piece compared to my other two. hopefully, this still slaps. also, there will be for sure a second part to this so yuh. enjoy. 
okay so let’s get this straight lee jeno is THAT guy whose in like all of the sports teams on campus 
basketball, baseball, football, soccer, track and field, cross country, pickleball, etc he’s on them all 
he was deadass about to join the cheerleading team just so he could have the clout of being on all of the teams 
ngl imagine a cheerleader!jeno,,,hell yeah that’s my shit
but he didn’t bc he isn’t as big of a crackhead as one like to think
jeno has the reputation of the silent cold guy, but in actuality is a big FLOOF ball especially with his close friends (aka jaemin) 
he’s well-liked by everyone bc he’s hecka nice once they look pass that cold exterior and he’s realllly hot.
just picture sweaty!jeno after practice using his shirt to wipe off his sweat allowing everyone to have a glimpse of his abs. 
sign me the fuck up
he’s just extremely shy and socially awkward so he doesn’t really know how to interact w people when he meets them for the first time so a lot of people just think he’s that distant, angsty type 
it still shocks a shit ton of people when they find out he’s best friends with the social butterfly/ fboi! jaemin but don’t get him wrong bc he doesn’t go around town breaking hearts left and right like his best buddy does
as much as jeno likes to deny it, he is a ROMANTICIST
way back in freshmen year, jeno was captivated by a teenage romance which he blames ara (from fucq-boi! jaemin au) for roping him into all those barbies and chick-flick movies. 
like his heart flutters at the idea of his significant other wearing his jersey to his games or sharing a milkshake at the local ice cream parlor,,,he wants to give them his hoodie and cuddle on the couch (hopefully watching barbie princess charm school) 
BABY BOY JUST WANTS TO BE LOVED ! 
but he doesn’t want it to be superficial like what jaemin does 
he highly disapproves of jaemin’s casanova ways
jaemin is probably really glad about the bros before hoes rule bc he would have lost jeno a long time ago with all of the girls he goes through 
jeno knows that love is a delicate thing and should be treated seriously which is why he’s so against jaemin’s date and ditch 
and jeno wants to be in a relationship! but he can’t bc he has like NO time for the lovey-dovey highschool bs (also bc he’s highkey scared that he might ruin any relationship he gets himself into)  
the boy has back to back practice from all the sports he decided to take on
on multiple occasions, different practice times interfere with each other and instead of just missing one like he SHOULD, jeno decided to take em both on at the same time
catch him sprinting from the soccer field to the football field back and forth in between break times
one time, basketball and swimming practice collided w each other so jeno thought it was smart to go back and forth from the school’s pool to the gym after he’d finish a 1000M IM set and shot at least 15 3-pointers 
let’s just say he flashed a lot of people, running half-naked with only his drag suit on when he forgot to put on his sweatpants in one of his runs back and forth
art-hoe! renjun never lets him live it down much to his embarrassment 
“remember that one-time jeno displayed his junk to the whole student body? good times, good times” 
cue jeno throwing a pencil at renjun or chasing him down the halls 
jeno’s abs were the talk of the school for at least a whole month and our boi had red cheeks every time he heard someone talk about it 
because of that jeno double-checks, quadruple-checks to make sure that his pants are on before booking it to the gym to shoot hoops 
ALSO 
another reason why a lot of people find jeno so intimidating and hard to approach was bc of the fight that happened between his ex-friend! stoner-boi!haechan sophomore year
no one expected that the calm, seemingly unbothered jeno could throw punches that hard. it was like he transformed into the hulk or something 
except jeno didn’t like the new reputation he gained over a stupid fight with his once close friend. 
there’s one nasty habit that jeno can’t seem to let go of no matter how much jaemin and renjun tell him to fix
the boy holds onto grudges like there’s no tomorrow
there was one time where jaemin had to borrow jeno’s phone for something and he accidentally dropped it
“hey can i borrow your phone to call someone? mine’s dead.” jaemin asked him.
“no, last time i gave it to you, you cracked it” 
“dude! it was one time” 
“say that to my cracked screen” 
“for goodness sake, jeno, i only cracked your screen protector!” 
“still you broke it”
yeah, jaemin never got to use jeno’s phone ever again. 
someone didn’t give back the pencil he lent them? he doesn’t even look in their direction until jaemin nags him enough to just let it go 
which is probably why he and haechan still vehemently hate each other even though renjun and jaemin are ready to go talk things out with haechan 
some part deep down insides knows he should just let it go and actually talk things out with haechan on why he initiated the fight bc haechan was once someone jeno considered as a bro 
and jeno doesn’t give out bro passes as easily 
he just doesn’t know how to approach haechan or if haechan would even be willing to talk it through 
it’s kinda sad how the two of them don’t even look each other in the eye or acknowledged each other existence anymore 
other than that jeno is practically flawless, jk 
as much as he is very enthusiastic in physical education, when it comes to math, science, etc, jeno is basically flunking. like borderline passing in all of his classes 
he was for sure failing math though which is a HUGE problem…bc to stay on any team sport, he CAN’T be failing a class 
which is why jeno was currently spending his free period, in the library, furiously erasing his wrong answer for the problem he tried multiple times to solve. it was the first math problem on the remedial work packet that his math teacher gave him for extra practice. 
even his friend, smartass renjun gave up on helping him and went to go toy around with his telescope, going on a tangent about renjun’s alien conspiracies theories.
if only jeno could have renjun’s genius brain, life would be so much easier
slamming his head on the table, jeno let out a low groan of frustration at whoever decided that it was a good idea to mix number and letters together.  
“dude, can you not?” he heard someone say from next to him. 
he lifted his head to take a peek…and this is where you come in, glaring at him with murder on your mind 
jeno’s just staring at you and the fool does not recognize you at all 
NCT High isn’t a big place either so he would have come across you once or twice, but you were simply a new face to him. 
you, at this point, grew annoyed at the boy who was just shameless staring at you. 
“is there something on my face?” you asked with a raised eyebrow 
slowly he shakes his head ‘no’ 
“keep it down, i’m trying to sleep” you warned him before laying your arms now with your head resting on it, faced away from jeno. 
jeno, who was awe-struck for second at your frank personality, decided that it was time to have another go at the problem and looked at it again
yeah there was no way in hell he was going to be able to solve it, he was too fucking lost 
atm jeno is like .000000001 seconds away from having a mental breakdown because if he doesn’t pass his test this friday he’s going to be benched and if he fails the class then he loses his status of team captain and his spot on the soccer team which he cannot afford to bc it was SENIOR year and he should be living in all of his sports glory right now 
and what if he can’t graduate? he can’t be a super senior like lucas wong like nooo that can definitely not happen
literally, jeno, stop freaking out - sincerely admin minnie
suddenly while he was having an overthinking session, his paper and pencil were taken away from him. he watches as the culprit (you) quickly solve the problems on the piece of paper in record time with wide eyes
letting out a small huff, you gave him back the paper wordlessly before going back to your previous sleeping positions hoping to get back to your precious nap time. your actions leaving jeno’s mouth opened in awe as his eyes glances back and forth between the answer sheets and the ones you provided him, both matching up perfectly with no mistake 
he looks back at your sleeping form and wonders if you’re an actual prodigy like renjun 
but jeno also feels really bad for disturbing your nap so he lets you be and tries to quietly work on the other problems and review how you solved the ones he had trouble on earlier 
except he’s even more confused bc there was more numbers and letters;; no comprendo 
jeno’s brain: ajadkf;dskjhg;ajdsvf;
he contemplates ask you for help or a basic explanation since there was no way that jeno learned how to solve that in class (he did, he just slept through the lecture because he was dead-beat tired after a heavy soccer practice from the night before) 
jeno’s fear of flunking overweighed his social awkwardness so he pokes you gently with his pencil eliciting a grumpy “what do you want, now?” from you
gulping, jeno mumbles a small “can you help me, i don’t understand how you solved this” 
you looked intently at jeno not answering his questions causing the boy to instantly regret asking, but surprisingly you replied 
“what don’t you get?” you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and shifted towards the male 
“i don’t even know what i don’t know”
i felt that jeno. i felt that. 
he pulls the piece of paper between the two of you and points to a problem that you did with ease 
“oh, so you’re so supposed to…” you launched off into an explanation filled with math terms that adds more to jeno’s confusion 
sensing that jeno still wasn’t understanding, you let out a big sigh 
“sorry, it just doesn’t make sense in my head” jeno admitted shyly
at first, you were gonna say something snappy about how even an eighth-grader could do this problem easily, you held it back because you actually felt bad since jeno was trying so hard
you also weren’t going to deny that lw jeno looked quite cute with that adorable slight pout on his face 
“let’s just take it slow, i’ll explain step by step” 
so you did just that, patiently teaching the methods and theorems to jeno who constantly made that confused noise every time you introduced something new to the table
the two of you worked through five of the worksheets and jeno was actually understanding it! horray! 
you were explaining the last problem to jeno when he stops you with a question that was completely off-topic 
“why are you helping me?” 
it was simple question so you answered it simply. 
“because you looked like you need it.” you shrugged “i was trying to take a nap earlier but it was too loud for me with your constant erasing” 
“sorry” jeno said looking down at his lap, embarrassed that he was a nuisance to you  
you kind felt bad ngl so you quickly reassured him 
“don’t worry about it. you remind me of my idiotic friends, not that you’re an idiot though. actually, no comment.” 
we love a blunt y/n. 
you clicked the pen you were holding and placed it down, “i moved here a couple months ago so i barely know anyone. now that it’s senior year, everyone already has their own friend group so why bother trying to join them?” 
jeno makes another confused noised at your blunt statement. 
you wondered if that particular noise has some type of effect on you due to the fact that you have a sudden urge to explain your situation to the boy you hardly knew for more than the hour
“i used to go to miroh high, but my dad got a transfer here so he decided to enroll me at this school without my say. i left all my friends back there sadly” 
“that sucks,” was all that jeno could say.
damn his inability to socialize like a normal human being. 
you nodded, “yeah, it does, but it’s not that bad. my friends make an effort to come down here most weekend and sometimes i drive up there too.” you turn to look at him and jeno freezes at the sudden eye contact “actually, you remind me of my friend hyunjin. he was kind of a ditz in anything that wasn’t sports” 
“wait, how do you know that i play sports?” jeno asked confused 
“dude, everyone knows that you’re the school’s mvp.” you said as if it’s obvious “you’re not as intimidating as they say you are though.” 
damn it 
he was hoping you had no idea who he was so that could relieve his guilt of not knowing who you were despite being in the same graduating class.
at the same time, he was glad that he seemed to have made a good impression on you  
“don’t worry, i won’t spill your little secret” you gestured to the worksheets which had red pen markings all over it, signs of jeno’s failures. you figured that the school’s star jock didn’t want the school knowing his inability to solve basic 12th-grade math problem 
you reached under the table to grab your backpack, causing jeno to reach a hand out to grasp your wrist 
“wait, where are you going?”
 a part of him was afraid that he was going to forget everything you taught him once you left, but the other part was extremely curious about you and wanted to know more
“i have somewhere to go?” you looked down at his hand and back up at him “you have something else you want to say?” 
sensing that his grip was making you feel uncomfortable, he quickly pulled his hand away. rubbing the back of his neck. he avoids your eyes, opting to stare at your feet instead. 
“this might be a little weird, but can you please tutor me? at least until next week when i have to take my make-or-break test.” jeno plead, embarrassment rushed to his cheeks in the form of a red blush when he realized how desperate he sounded. 
you let out a tiny giggle, totally different from your persona earlier. 
you took his pencil that was laying on the table to scribble something on the corner of his worksheet. patting his shoulder, you quickly left the boy staring at the piece of paper. 
don’t get confused (127) 312-0325 :)
a stupid smile made it’s way onto jeno’s lips as he quickly packed up his things in haste. he practically skips to soccer practice. maybe he even heel-clicked.  
lee jeno is not failing math! 
cute tutor acquired! 
woohoo! 
but also, there’s this weird tingly feeling that jeno has inside. 
he doesn’t know what exactly it was but most likely it’s probably the reason why he was a goofy-ass smile on his face 
“dude, are you okay?” one of his teammates ask after he gets hits in the head with a soccer ball 
jeno, not even fazed by it one bit, just smiles and gives his teammates a big thumbs up 
“coach, i think there’s something wrong with jeno!” 
anyways, that night he’s extremely excited to text you. 
imagine jeno on his bed, laying on his stomach feet up in the air, taking at least an hour to construct a response that doesn’t make him seem lame or a fifty-year-old man like all of his friends say he texts like 
jeno is probably the type of person that texts, with all the correct capitalization and actual punction plus awkward spacing and usage of emojis 
this time he tried to be chill about it
jeno: hey, it’s me, jeno. sorry for bothering you this late at night, but i don’t understand this problem. can you help me pls? 
sent. 
now jeno was currently awaiting your response….however, you don’t reply right away like jeno for some reason expects
he takes the waiting time to scroll through his social media and it’s the usual things he sees every day 
he sees the juniors’ chenle and his weird little friend talking about some sort of prank they’re going to pull, jaemin’s spam post on how he was stuck making prom decorations to fulfill his community service requirements, etc 
however, a sudden post from @/luccasss caught his attention
especially the girl sitting on top of an old blue car with the senior, middle fingers up  
his eyes glance at the caption quickly 
me and my main bitch fucking it up (pc to our little kiddo) 
wait a minute. 
jeno could remember you saying how you didn’t bother making friends w anyone, so what are you doing with the lucas wong? 
now lucas wong doesn’t have that great of a reputation around campus, especially since he was a held back his senior year. he blows off class and jeno has heard that he’s in cahoots with the stoners on campus too 
your account is tagged in the picture and luckily it’s on public, so jeno could secretly and shamefully stalk your page
while looking through your photos, jeno realizes that he really doesn’t know anything about…. you 
tbh he didn’t even know your name until he saw your bio and username. (facepalm @ jeno)
scrolling through your photos, he saw you posing with other boys and girls that he didn’t recognize making him assume that they were your friends from your old school 
his fingers land on a picture where you’re kissing a cheek of ridiculously good looking guy. checking the tag, he sees that it’s a guy whose username was something along the lines of cb_97
imma miss my ddy chan <3!! owo 
as he scrolling through the chan guy’s instagram, jeno becomes more dejected bc maybe he was too deep in his imagination that he got from watching too many dramas with ara 
letting out a sad sigh, jeno clicks his phone off and settles into bed. the more he thinks about it the more he feels insignificant to you which he was. 
for all he knows, he’s just a random kid in the library that you helped with a few math problems 
the next day, jeno walks into school with no pep in his step :( 
and as his certified besties, jaemin and renjun drag him into an empty classroom during lunch prying him to confess what’s got him down in the dumps 
and jeno knows he can’t hide anything from his besties so he just lets it all out 
jaemin, taking a long blink after his bff’s rant to process the newly acquired tea  “wow, bro. you got the feels” 
“exactly,” jeno groans “i only talked to her once! she doesn’t even know me!” 
“she knows you suck at math,” renjun points out 
and jeno threatens to throw a chair at his friend, but jaemin quickly stops him 
“okay, how about you just take it slow? like get to know her and let her get to know you. it could be that you’re just overthinking her kindness for helping you when you were desperate. appreciation is different from admiration” ngl jaemin was kinda-sorta right 
“btw, who is this chick anyway? you haven’t told us who it was” renjun asked, sitting on one of the empty desks  
“y/n, she transferred a couple months ago from miroh” 
renjun abruptly jumps to his feet, “the y/n l/n? the new math teacher’ daughter?” 
“you know her?” jeno quirks an eyebrow 
“dude she’s in my ap calculus class and she has the highest grade, but she never shows up to class,” renjun tells him. “she’s a straight, badass genius” 
jeno feels stupider as renjun continues to list all of your achievements and the art boy makes it seem like all of them were done effortlessly. 
how stupid was he in your eyes when he couldn’t solve regular senior math problems while you were out here solving college-based ones?
now you seem like a person farther and father away from him.
jaemin, his good-ol-buddy knows that jeno is over-analyzing the new information renjun was telling him, and he tries his best to hype is buddy up
“c’mon, you might not be a genius at math but you certainly are on any field, pool, and court. have some confidence!” 
deep down jeno knows that he should listen to his friend and that he should just be more confident in himself, but he can’t shake his feeling of insecurity and doubt 
so the next time he sees you laying on the empty table in the non-fiction section sleeping, he’s a bit more reluctant to approach you. instead, he quietly sits in the seat next to you as he pulls out his practice sheets to work and miserably fail on
except you don’t wake up for a looong time until jeno accidentally sneezes too loud, causing you to awaken
opening your eyes, you see the boy look at you with wide eyes as if he’s done something terribly wrong by waking you up 
“why do you look like i’m about to kill you or something?” you giggled watching as the boy in front of you became very flustered “why didn’t you wake me up when you came here?”
“oh, you look like you were in deep sleep, so i didn’t want to wake you up” 
you stretched your arms out, one hand over your mouth as you let out an inaudible yawn, “don’t worry about it. i’m always sleeping” 
you blamed all of your fatigue on lucas as it was his fault that you were tired out of your mind from the little night adventure he roped both you and a junior named eun (y/n from childhood-friend!chenle’s au) into. 
honestly, if it weren’t for lucas’s annoying ass laugh waking you up from your nap that one day, you probably wouldn’t have befriended the big bumbling bafoon. 
“yeah, but apparently i’m failing the twelfth-grade again bc i’m not allowed to just go to homeroom and p.e. i mean, who wants to learn about FUNCTIONS when you could just be looking up memes in the library?!?” - lucas wong, 2019
despite lucas’s overwhelming personality, you were quite thankful to have him as he reminded you of your old friends back at miroh, it was nice. 
eun was a soft-spoken child that often had to turn to you or lucas (which wasn’t always a good idea) for advice that you both were happy to give to the underclassmen. 
personally, you didn’t care that you only had like two friends, quality over quantity right? 
“earth to jeno?” you waved your hand in front of his face as he stayed unresponsive 
he mumbles something inaudible and points at a problem 
your eyes gloss over it taking in the problem, before quickly grabbing a pen and solving it. you spoke slowly as you explained the step-by-step solution that jeno had to do. 
when you look back at jeno to make sure that he was understanding the content, you noticed how the jock is off in his own universe and not paying attention to you. 
“please don’t make me repeat that again,” you sigh, catching jeno’s attention. you capped the pen and lightly tossed it on the table, proceeding to stretch out your hands above your head. 
“sorry” 
“what’s up with you?” you asked, wondering why the boy who seemed desperate for your help yesterday, was now acting like he could care less. “and don’t give me that stupid, generic “nothing” bullshit.” 
“sorry, football was tough last night,” jeno said quietly, focusing on the problem. 
despite not being involved in the school festivities, you knew that it was well past football season. and that meant that jeno was lying to you. 
there was a slight pang of disappointment, but you pushed it aside. what were you expecting anyway? he probably only saw you as a tutor. 
you weren’t even his friend for fuck’s sake 
“let’s move onto the next problem” you say, quickly changing the subject. 
honestly, the two of you were fucking idiots. smh 
despite there being awkward tension between the two of you, you’re tutoring was actually very very helpful for jeno. he could actually understand what was going on in math class now. 
remember that test he had to take to ensure that he could play for his soccer match? jeno passed that with flying colors thanks to your careful explanations 
even after that test, the two of you kept your tutoring arrangement;;;and maybe jeno was falling even harder for you. 
he couldn’t help it though! the way you run your fingers through your hair or the way you puff out your cheeks when you’re trying to think of a way to explain something to jeno just makes leaves him star-struck. and every time he gets a problem right without your help, the proud smile that you give him makes his heart leap
it wasn’t like you were safe from the love bug either!! 
lee jeno was hard not to like and he was even harder to not fall for. 
the little cute noises that he makes when he’s lost, the way his eyes go wide when he finally understands the problem, and the eye-smile he gives you when he gets a problem right. 
your heart literally went uwu when jeno offered you his hoodie bc the two of you were sitting underneath the ac vent and you were shivering.
when you tried to give it back to him, he just shook his head and said “keep it, just in case you get cold” 
lee jeno was not healthy for your heart. uwu hours 24/7 
but the two of you were stuck in this weird relationship bc the two of you weren’t exactly friends, but also not strictly tutoring. you would share laughs here and there, but then quickly it would dial down and returned back to the math problems
some times when he was texting you, he would send a cute gif to show you that he understood and sometimes you would tell him about something funny/stupid lucas+eun or your other friends did. 
“just ask him out,” lucas tells you bluntly as the both of you chilled on the bleachers during lunch. 
“hard pass” 
“fine, then i’ll do it.” lucas shrugs, eliciting a hard smack from you 
“don’t embarrass me, you asstwat” 
“who said i was asking him out for you? that boy is a fine piece of meat” 
“istg, lucas, i’ll actually gouge your eyes out” you deadpanned. 
but big ol’ oaf lucas doesn't see you as an actual threat. and he reaches out to grab your cheeks causing your face to form into a fish pout 
“can you even reach me?” he teases, shaking around your face
and this the part where you’re pulling lucas into a headlock, oblivious to the fact that jeno was watching your toughy actions from afar
he kicked the soccer ball angrily into the goal causing jaemin to duck with a small shriek to avoid getting his head decapitated by jeno’s fastball 
“dude wtf!” jaemin shouts 
“sorry,” jeno mutters. 
jaemin looks over to where jeno was staring at and saw you and lucas being really handsy with each other. from that distance that the two boys were looking it, it didn’t look like the roughhousing the two of you were actually doing
you pulling his hair to them looked like you were playing around with it  
jaemin’s buddy jeno be looking like a kicked puppy rn, muttering under his breath about his shortcommings
jaemin is bout ready to slap him upside down the head for having no confidence or whateves
“can you stop talking shit about my bestfriend now?” jaemin @ jeno but the boy is on a whole ass rant on why he sucks in comparison to lucas
“of course she doesn’t like me. she has a whole lucas wong and he’s 6′0 ft of handsomeness. he’s fun and exciting, i’m staler than a moldy piece of bread!” 
can jeno just love himself??????? is that to much to ask? 
“i’ll just never be good enough for her. i’m not her type, she can do better than me.” 
cue jaemin intense internal screaming 
one day, jeno was going to your usual sitting spot in the library when he sees lucas chilling with eun—a girl that he’s seen around with his friend chenle. they were both laughing at something on lucas’s phone. 
jeno looks at the sight confused. cause like aren’t you and lucas a thing? like why was this boy looking really chummy with this underclassmen? 
so jeno clears his throat to catch their attention and both of them look at him like “who tf are you?”
“where’s y/n? she’s suppose to be tutoring me” jeno says 
a look of recognition flashes across lucas’s and eun’s at the sound of y/ns name. the younger female whispers something to the senior causing him to clap his hands. 
“oh so you’re, jeno??” lucas says in this voice
and jeno awkwardly nods
“yeah, y/n is skipping school today so she told me to tell you to look over the notes she wrote out for you” lucas pulled out a notebook and handed it to jeno
jeno flips through it carefully, examining the words you wrote in your familiar handwriting; there was also a highlight code system and little side comments to help him
“thanks” jeno about to leave but lucas’s next comments stop him
“you’re lucky that y/n likes you enough to do that for you. she wouldn’t even tell me whats 4x4 when i asked her” lucas slumped into his seat
“that because she thinks you have chronic stupidity” the underclassmen said, giggling
“aren’t you suppose to be on my side you little pipsqueak” lucas says jokily, rubbing her head. 
and jeno is watching the exchange, getting more and more confused
did y/n know that lucas was hanging out w another girl without you?
“did you need something else, jeno?”  eun asked him
jeno is about to say no, but different words left his mouth
“aren’t you dating y/n, lucas?”
there was a silence that lasted for a good minute, both lucas and the underclassmen giving jeno a blank stare….
until lucas bust out into ugly laughter, bent over his seat delirious and eun was also laughing along but not to the same degree.
was it really that funny? jeno be staying confused
it wasn’t until the librarian came to shush the two did they stop laughing
lucas wiped away tears of laughter from his eyes “that was a good one!”
“what do you mean?” jeno asked
“pffft eun would rather date a rabid animal than me,” lucas said “she’s only friends w me bc i forced her to be”
oh! that was news to jeno
“besides, lucas isn't y/n’s type” eun revealed, shocking jeno
oh really now? 
“yeah, you fit her type really well,” lucas stated nonchalantly. 
eun is like BRUH WHY WOULD YOU REVEAL THAT but doesn’t say anything and kicks lucas underneath the table. she could already picture the pure anger once her friend found out that lucas spilled her secret crush that easily. 
robot jeno is just standing there holding the notebook and deep in thought. 
“is he okay?” lucas whispers, looking up and down at jeno. eun shrugs in response 
bOOM jeno zoom zooms away and the two high schoolers shrug at the jocks before returning to looking at dank memes 
jeno basically charges down to the only female he’s friends with for advice, ara. (go read my fucqboi! jaemin for the backstory!) 
conveniently, he finds both his jaemin and ara standing at her locker talking. tbh it looked more like jaemin trying to flirt with ara and her ignoring him. 
but right now his friend’s girl problems were the least of jeno’s concerns! 
so jeno basically hulk yanks jaemin away from ara and has the most serious expression on his face “i need your help, ara” 
“huh?” 
and he drags ara off to a more secluded place to explain his current situation to, ignoring jaemin’s whines
“to be honest with you, i think you need to have more confidence. now that you know that she isn't interested in lucas, why don’t you just take the initiative to confess?” ara says once jeno explained to her every juicy detail of his hopeless love story. 
“because i don’t think that she likes me. there’s nothing special about me. the only things i’m good at are sports and that’s not very interesting!” jeno exclaims “she probably thinks i’m an actual idiot!” 
“jeno, listen, i’m only going to say this once, but please please understand that you’re a very special person, okay? you’re extremely hard-working, nice, and honestly very fun to be around. it would take a fool to not like you, lee jeno.” ara sighed, patting her friend’s shoulder “just shoot your shot. if it doesn’t make it in, it’s okay.” 
but jeno doesn’t like leaving things to chance. he wants to be sure and he hates uncertainty. 
“when you’re competing or playing against someone, you have no idea how the whole game is going to pan out. all you know to do is to try your best and go all out to ensure the very best result so that you can win. liking someone is like that, you just have to go forward and hopefully, you’ll be able to score a home run or a touchdown.”  
that was sum deep shit 
after listening carefully to ara’s words, jeno came to a conclusion
maybe 
just maybe
jeno will take a chance.  
reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone and sends a text. 
jeno: can you meet me at neo ice cream later? i have something important to tell you. 
y/n: yeah ofc. i’ll see you at 4 
he had soccer practice today and for the very first time, jeno was skipping practice, his favorite time. the only time where he’s ever fully confident in his abilities, where his stupid insecurities can’t get to him. 
this was more important the temporary self-gratification that jeno gets when he’s able to fly through practice with ease
lee jeno was taking a leap, unsure of where he’ll fall. 
today, he’ll shoot his shot. and hopefully, you’ll catch. 
1K notes · View notes
doyouever-daydream · 4 years
Text
Friends with Kids.
A/N  I re-watched Friends with Kids for the firs time in years and I came up with this, if you, like me, love rom-coms I highly recommend it, therefore if you don't want spoilers for the movie, go watch it and then come back here to read this! For the sake of the story there might be some OOC moments, don't kill me. Also there are many time-jumps so I hope it’s not too confusing. English is not my first language so bear with me, I try my best, I'm still working on it. I enjoyed writing this so much! I started last month and it was a blast so hopefully you enjoyed it as well, if you did, let me know! Thank you for reading this super long oneshot. P.S. This is the first work of the Movie AU series that I've been planning (if you pay close attention, without intending to I wrote a couple clues about others stories I'm working on (Movie AU's as well) 👀
P.S. 2 You should go and check this post and this post and help if you can ❤
ALSO this is another entry for my @cmbingo​ card, the square is Friends to Lovers.
Summary: After seeing all of their friends having kids, Penelope and Luke decide that since none of them seem to have found their person, they agree to have a child of their own. Having a kid with your best friend can't be that bad, right? (Movie AU: Friends with Kids)
Pairing: Penelope Garcia x Luke Alvez (with a little bit of Jemily 🤭)
Warnings: Cursing, mentions of sex, bad jokes, SLOWBURN, some angst I guess, some grammar mistakes.
Word count: 15410 (y’all told me to post it as a one instalment lmao 🤯🤯🤯)
Masterlist (You can also find this and other fanfics in my AO3 acc )
Luke didn’t need to look up to know that Penelope was finally down in the lobby, the sound of her high heels gave it away, he pocketed his phone and got up, ready to go and meet their friends.
“Hello chica” He kissed her cheek and she returned the gesture.
“Hi newbie, I’m sorry it’s so late, I got caught up at work, let’s go”
“After you” Once they were outside their apartment building, they called a cab, eager to get to the restaurant and catch up with their friends.
“How was work?” Penelope asked him as she put on lipstick.
Luke shrugged “Same as usual, nothing exciting happens, what about you?”
“Terrible day, I can’t wait to drink a couple glasses of wine” Luke snorted and raised an eyebrow “Or five”
“It’s Friday so I’m also thinking about getting a little tipsy” She placed her lipstick in her purse and rested her hands in her lap with a smile on her face.
“It’s been so long since the eight of us have gone out to dinner, I miss everyone”
“I know, I don’t think I’ll recognize their faces anymore” Penelope rolled her eyes instead of going along with it.
They remained in a comfortable silence the rest of the time, saving everything else they had to say until they were with the rest. Penelope and Luke saw each other much more often than the others, mostly because they lived in the same building, just an elevator ride apart, Penelope’s place was on the third floor while Luke’s was on the seventh. Another reason as to why they didn’t see each other that much was because half of the gang, Matt, Kristy, Derek and Savannah were now parents and they didn’t have as much free time time as before.
Once in the restaurant, Penelope walked as quickly as she could, Luke following close behind careful to act if she tripped or something. Penelope’s smile fell just a little when she only saw Emily and JJ sitting at the table.
“Hey, you guys are here” Emily and JJ quickly rushed to them, and after a round of greetings and hugs, the four sat down.
“Where's the rest of the gang?” Luke asked, looking around to see if they were by the bar or coming from the bathroom.
“Yeah, we can’t be the awesome eight when there are only four of us here” Penelope stated as she nicely signaled the waiter to come over.
Emily bit her lip and looked at JJ “They called to inform us they can’t make it tonight” The blonde woman informed them.
“Kristy’s not feeling well and Matt has to be there to take care of the kids and Derek and Savannah couldn’t find a sitter” Emily added carefully watching Penelope, they all knew she had been looking forward to this dinner for a few weeks now.
“Oh” Penelope forced a smile “It’s ok, I get it, things happen” Under the table, Luke took her hand and squeezed it, she looked at him and smiled a little less forced this time.
“We’ll be the fabulous four tonight” JJ raised her glass and Penelope remembered she hadn’t seen them in a few months so it was still exciting getting the chance to see them.
“I’ll drink to that” They all proceeded to order their drinks and dinner, ready to make the most of the evening.
They spent the next hour and a half talking about how life was, JJ and Emily told them about the trip they made to Italy to celebrate their three years of marriage, Penelope told them a funny story about a blind date gone wrong, Luke shared he was getting promoted at work, overall life was good for all of them and it made the evening much more pleasant even though four of their best friends weren’t there.
“There’s this guy at work who I think would be great for you” JJ commented while eating her dessert.
“I don’t know if I should trust you to set me up anymore, last time was horrible” Penelope replied remembering the last date she had with one of JJ’s prospects for her.
“No, this time it’ll be better, I promise” 
“I think you’d like this guy, Pen” Emily said while sipping on her glass of wine.
Luke nudged her with his elbow “Come on, chica, let JJ set you up, it can’t be worse than the time the guy bursted into tears when you told him you were a Libra”
They all laughed, followed by a loud sigh from Penelope “God, I missed this so much, being with you, laughing at my terrible luck when it comes to dating”
“I missed it too” Emily interjected “Being together not laughing about your love life”
“I gotta say it” Luke started “I love our friends’ kids so much but I miss the times when it was just the eight of us, you know?”
Before JJ or Emily said anything Penelope spoke “I know, I mean I’m also super grateful those little sweethearts joined the fam but on nights like these I get all nostalgic reminiscing the pre-babies era”
JJ and Emily shared a look and both Penelope and Luke knew something was up “What’s that?” Luke wondered.
Emily took JJ’s hand “Well, one of the news we wanted to share tonight was that JJ and I are adopting” Penelope and Luke were wide eyed “We actually started the process a few months ago but didn’t know when we were going to be matched and we didn’t expect it to happen soon but we’ve been matched, it’s sweet one year old girl” JJ finished telling their news to their friends.
“Her name is Emerson and she’s coming home with us in a couple weeks” Emily waited anxiously to see their reactions.
Penelope was the first one to speak “Oh my God, you guys, congratulations, a new addition to the fam” She was genuinely excited with her news and so was Luke.
“It’s great to hear this, you’ll be amazing moms” He turned to Penelope “We’re getting a new niece”
“I know, I know, look about what we said earlier-” JJ cut her off.
“Oh, it’s ok, we know kids aren’t really your thing so it’s alright” Luke was the only one who noticed how Penelope’s face changed for one second, she quickly smiled again, hoping no one noticed the flash of disappointment in her face at JJ’s words.
After saying their goodbyes and promising to reunite once Emerson was settled with JJ and Em, Luke and Penelope took another cab to go back to their apartments. She was silent and Luke didn’t know if it was a good idea to ask what was on her mind, he debated whether or not to start a conversation.
Before thinking it twice he started “So was it true?” Luke questioned and Penelope tilted her head.
“What do you mean?” Luke licked his lips.
“What JJ said about kids not being your thing” Penelope sighed and bit her lip, of course Luke had noticed her expression when she heard their friend saying this.
“She was referring to both of us, Luke” She tried to avoid answering his question.
“I know but in my case she’s wrong I would like kids” She looked at him with raised eyebrows and a smirk in her face.
“I didn’t know that, newbie” Luke shrugged “I honestly assumed you were the no kids kind of guy” 
“Are you kidding me? My mom would never forgive me if I never gave her grandchildren” Penelope laughed imagining Elena, Luke’s mom, lecturing him to give her grandchildren.
“So you’re doing it for your mom then?” 
“No, I really wanna be a dad, someday, a tiny human that’s half me, that would be great” She patted his shoulder.
“You’re right, that would be great” He looked at her expectantly “What?”
“What about you, Penelope? Would you like to have kids?” She pressed her lips together.
“Yes, I would love that” She admitted after a few seconds of being silent “The thing is I have no one, sometimes I think I should’ve said yes to Kevin when he proposed, I’d have children by now”
“You’re gonna find someone” She rolled her eyes “You will, you are gorgeous and an amazing woman” 
“Have you ever wondered if you’ve already met your person? You know, the one you’re gonna end up with?” Penelope questioned.
“No, I haven’t met my person, I know that much, but I will and so will you, Pen, you’ll see” He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, starting to feel sleepy, they remained like that until they got home, said goodnight and went to sleep to their apartments.
Almost four months later, Luke and Penelope were hosting a baby shower for Matt and Kristy, it turned out that time they had cancelled dinner with them was because Kristy was having a hard time during the pregnancy.
Everyone was there, including friends they hadn’t seen in a while, all of them with their significant others: Spencer, Tara, Alex, Kate, David, Aaron and Elle.
At one point of the party, Penelope escaped from the conversations about marriage and kids, and she stood in a corner trying to go unnoticed, during the entire gathering Luke had kept an eye on her, since they were planning the party, he noticed the subject was still a sensitive for her.
“We did good” He said as he leaned against the wall.
Penelope looked around his place, everyone seemed to be having a good time “Yeah, I think it turned out pretty well” He offered his glass of wine, it was almost full “Thank you” 
“I’ve always known we were a dynamic duo” This earned him an eye roll from Penelope, he expected her to say something else but she remained quiet and so did he.
She took in the scene of her friends with their children, the look on their eyes were like nothing she had ever seen before, she knew these people from a very long time and there was always a huge difference between the before and after having kids.
“I want this” Penelope said out of the blue.
“Ok” Luke said unsure as to what she was referring, he thought about it for a second “I can plan a birthday party for you next year, Pen”
“Not a party, I want to have a baby” He didn’t know what to say to that but just in that moment JJ walked over to them with Emerson in her arms.
“This little one is looking for her fairy godmother” Emerson reached her arms to Penelope and she happily took the one year old in her arms.
“Did you, little Em?” She kissed her goddaughter’s head “I was missing you too” The baby babbled, content to be with her auntie.
“I’ll go grab some cake” JJ turned around and walked towards the kitchen and Kristy came to join the three of them.
“Thank you guys so much for this” She offered a warm smile “I promise you we’re done after this one” She announced while she rubbed her round belly.
“Oh don’t mind us, you have as many babies as you guys like” Luke joked and when they laughed, little Emerson joined them with a giggle.
“No, we’re definitely done, it’s your turn to find someone and start giving us nieces and nephews, right, Emerson?”
“I think this one will get a little sister or brother before we know it, Em and JJ are over the moon being moms” Penelope stated.
“I know” Kristy agreed “It’s been really touching seeing them in this new phase” 
“I hope someday you guys get to see me being a mom” The nostalgia was obvious in her voice.
“It’s gonna happen” Kristy assured her “And I can’t wait, Penelope” She smiled to her and then proceeded to go with her husband.
Seeing Penelope with Emerson and the rest of their friends’ children left him thinking, after the baby shower was over Penelope stayed to help him clean even when he told her to call it a night and go to  get some rest, but she refused, they spent the next couple hours tidying up the place, once they were done Luke offered to order takeout but she didn’t accept and went to her apartment.
Luke tried to get some sleep but he kept turning and tossing in his bed, his thoughts not letting him rest, he tried everything but ultimately failed, he looked at his alarm clock, it was almost 2:00 AM. Unable to get his idea out of his mind, he got up and walked towards the elevator, he needed to tell Penelope what was happening on his mind.
Once he got down to her floor, he stood outside her door for a few minutes thinking maybe it was too out of line to make her the proposition he was thinking about. He pressed his lips together and rubbed his palms in his pajama pants, trying to muster enough confidence to knock on her door.
  He sighed and knocked a couple times.
Luke tried a few more times, wanting to tell Penelope what he was thinking about, after all it was his best friend, if she didn’t accept, they could laugh it up and continue as if nothing happened. 
Penelope opened the door “What’s up, Luke?” She put on her glasses as her eyes adjusted to the light.
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Penelope yawned.
He stared at her and took a deep breath “I want a baby” Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Are you… Drunk?” She questioned and he shook his head.
“I want to be a dad” He blurted. 
“Ok? Well I know everyone calls me the fairy godmother but it’s not like I can make a baby appear and give it to you”
“What if you could?” Luke objected.
Penelope let out a frustrated sigh “Are you high?”
“No, Penelope, you want to be a mom and I want to be a dad, we haven’t found our person but we’re best friends I thought maybe we could try this” 
“How would that even work? Luke, what the fuck?” 
“Look, there are different types of families, two best friends having a kid and then finding their person doesn’t sound too crazy to me” He insisted.
“Are you being serious right now?” Penelope wondered, trying to examine his face to see if he was messing with her.
“I am” He walked to her and took her hand “Think about it, we’re best friends, we have a baby and we split everything 50/50 costs, responsibilities, and it will be good because we’re not attracted to each other, we won’t get to have married couple fights and all the complicated part” He offered a small smile to his friend who looked at him open-mouthed trying to process everything he was saying.
“I need some time to think about it” Luke smiled when he heard those words and let go of her hand.
“Alright, that’s ok” He walked towards the door “Let me know what you decide on, you know where to find me” As he was about to leave, he turned around and quickly walked to her to hug her.
“Go to sleep, Alvez”
“Garcia-Alvez has a nice ring to it” He whispered in her ear before she swatted at his chest, he rushed to the door and closed it behind him, leaving Penelope standing there, shocked at his proposition but also thoughtful, she walked to her bedroom and snuggled once again in her bed, trying to regain her sleep before Luke came to disrupt her mind.
Penelope and Luke were busy with work for the next couple weeks, until one night she texted him if she could come up to see him, he instantly replied with a yes and Penelope was on her way with an answer to his proposition. She let herself in and walked to his living room, he was watching TV.
“Hello stranger” He patted the couch, inviting her to sit beside him.
She plopped next to him and Luke put his arm around her without taking his eyes from the screen “How’s… life?” 
“Good I guess?” He quickly shot her a look with an eyebrow raised “How about you?”
Penelope played with her hands “Did you mean what you said that other night?” Luke turned to her and took the remote control turning the TV off and giving her his undivided attention.
“About having a baby with you? Absolutely” His voice was firm and his face was serious.
“I’ve thought about it” She looked at him and he was waiting for an answer.
“And?” He questioned with raised eyebrows.
“Ok” Penelope stated in a whisper.
Luke smiled “Ok?”
“Ok” She returned the smile “You are right, there are different type of families and two friends having a kid doesn’t sound like the worst idea”
He leaned forward to her “Should we get to it? Like now?” Penelope jumped.
“No, not now but soon I guess, I’m not sure” She was suddenly self conscious, thinking that in an attempt to have a baby together, they’d need to have sex.
“We could do those fertility tests to know when you’re ovulating” Penelope looked surprised.
“How do you know about those?” She asked with amusement.
“What? Because I’m a guy I can’t know? Come on, Pen, I’m a modern men” She chuckled and looked at him waiting for the truth.
“Ok I saw it on a movie but I do want to know more about this, I plan on being there for you during the pregnancy, Lamaze classes and all”
“Alright, we can talk about all of that later, I’ll just go have dinner now” As she was about to get up, Luke took her hand.
“Don’t go, we can order something or I could cook something for you”
“Didn’t you already had dinner?” He nodded 
“But you can have dinner here, you don’t need to eat all by yourself”
“Alright I’ll go check your fridge, I’m sure there’s some leftover takeout I can eat” Penelope went to the kitchen and Luke started to look for something she could also enjoy on the TV, this was their routine, having dinner at each other’s apartments whenever they could, talking about life, family, dates they’ve been, adding a baby to their dynamic didn’t sound like the worst idea.
“We are having a baby” Penelope announced to their friends, Luke was a little bit terrified of Derek’s reaction to the news, Penelope and him were very close.
“So you’re finally together?” Savannah said with a smile on her face.
Derek who was sitting beside his wife started grinning, he knew this day would come “I’m happy for the both of you”
“Uhm, no, we’re not together, we’re just having a kid” Savannah’s and Derek’s face changed into frowns.
“Oh” Savannah said smiling again, trying not to show her confusion, she wanted to be supportive of her friends, especially Penelope, she was Derek’s best friend.
“So how far along are you, baby girl?” Derek wondered with a more serious expression.
“I’m not pregnant yet, we just decided to have a baby”
“It’s because we both want to be parents so w-we came up with this idea” Luke added.
“Well, that’s great, isn’t it, babe?” Savannah squeezed Derek’s knee for him to say something supportive.
“Yeah, yeah, it is” He tried his best to offer an honest smile “Hank would love to have another cousin, especially coming from his fairy godmother”
Penelope smiled at Luke reassuring him that everything was ok, he had expressed his concerns over Derek’s reaction but as close as Penelope and Derek were, this was her decision. 
Later that evening Penelope offered to help Derek to do the dishes and he was glad he would have a moment alone with her.
“Are you sure about this, baby girl? The whole having a baby with Luke thing?” She noted the worry in his voice, she finished drying the last plate.
“I am, it’s not like we are getting any younger” She shrugged and leaned on the kitchen counter, he shot her a concerned look “Hey, if you weren’t married I’d go to you for this” She joked nudging him with her elbow “Just imagine your DNA and mine, that kid would be something else” They both laughed.
“I can only imagine how that’d conversation would go” Derek commented while drying his hands.
“I actually can’t, I mean Luke was really the one that came up with the subject”
“Was he now?” He asked with an arched brow
“Stop it, it’s not like that” She rolled her eyes “We’re friends, that’s all we are and all we’re going to be”
Derek shook his head and let out a sigh “Alright, if you’re sure then just know you have us for support, questions, help, anything you need, sweetness, and I better be godfather”
Penelope got teary eyed, it was really important to her to count on Derek for this new adventure, he was her most precious friendship, so listening to him saying those words made her feel more at ease, she was sure of her decision but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified of the changes coming up.
Soon all of their friends heard the news from Penelope and Luke, Matt and Kristy were very supportive, mostly because in their eyes those two belonged together, they thought that maybe for them the baby had to come first then they’d realize how perfect they were for each other despite their differences. A contrast from Emily’s and JJ’s reaction, JJ had always been super protective of Penelope, and she thought this was a terrible idea where Penelope would end up being hurt, Luke was her friend as well and knew he wasn’t a bad guy but raising a kid with someone was complicated even when you were in a serious relationship with someone you were in love with, Emily wasn’t a fan of the idea either, someone was bound to get hurt and no matter who, their kid would have to pay the consequences, they didn’t explicitly voiced their concerns but neither did they applaud their decision.
Kirsty, JJ brought their kids at Savannah and Derek’s for a playdate, and it was only a matter of time before the subject was brought up.
“So what do you guys think about Pen and Luke’s plan?” JJ asked watching Hank helping Emerson to get the toys she wanted.
“Well I hope she gets pregnant soon, so their baby can be close to this little one in age” Kristy replied while rubbing her stomach.
“It’s gonna be interesting” Added Savannah while taking a sip of wine.
JJ squinted and looked at them “Don’t you think it’s crazy for them to go through it? Penelope is too sensitive, I’m not even sure she’s not feeling something for him already, what if she gets her heart broken?”
“It may not be ideal but…” Savannah shrugged her shoulder and pressed her lips “It’s their decision and I don’t think anything we say will change their minds”
“They want to be parents, they are planning this and seemed excited, I don’t think it’s the worst thing”
The blonde woman remained silent, she was still unsure it was the right choice but everyone seemed to be on board so she tried to be supportive of Luke and Penelope, hoping with all her heart they they’d prove her worries were silly and that they would make it work.
The day had finally come, they were trying tonight and Penelope was a bundle of nerves, Luke on the other hand was excited, lately his desire to be a father was getting stronger, all of his co-workers talked about their experiences in fatherhood and even though they shared both, the good and the bad, he was anxious to experience it firsthand.
“Alright I’m ready” Penelope announced as she entered his apartment in her mermaid nightie and fluffy robe with unicorn slippers, Luke smiled at the sight of her, soon with all the confidence she had mustered, Penelope straddled his waist.
“A ‘hello, how are you?’ would be nice” He joked and she lost all confidence, the blood traveled to her face and she stepped away from him but Luke took her hand and pulled her so she was sitting next to him “I’m kidding, it’s j-just I don’t know, I’m using humor to lighten up the mood”
“I’m mortified, Luke” She admitted with closed eyes “We’re having sex”
“It can’t be that bad, I know it won’t be bad” Penelope opened one eye.
“How could you know?” Luke shot her a smirk and a wink.
“If we’re comfortable enough to have a baby together then I’m comfortable enough to confess I’ve had some dreams”
Her eyes shot open “LUKE!” Penelope’s voice raised with surprise.
“That’s exactly how it sounded” He joked and if Penelope wasn’t red before she was now.
“Oh my God, stop, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not” Luke laughed, not really understanding why she was so worried.
“Come on, chica, it’s gonna be alright” He placed a strand of her out of her face.
She sighed and sat up straighter “Ok, let’s do it”
Luke caressed her cheek “Are you sure?” 
Penelope swallowed and nodded, he went on to kiss her and after a few seconds she started laughing.
“Pen, this is not helping my confidence” He commented as he pulled away, Penelope rested her forehead on his.
“I’m sorry, it’s just, you know I laugh when I feel awkward” Luke softly placed his hands on her shoulders and got up.
He extended out his hand to her “Let’s go to the bedroom” Penelope looked hesitant “If you don’t feel like doing this today, we can do it some other day, it’s ok”
“No, I want to, it’s just… Weird” 
“So I shouldn’t have lit the candles or put a million rose petals on the bed then?” Penelope rolled her eyes, he was teasing her to that one time a guy had done that and it was a huge turn off for her.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, I hate your mouth so much”
Luke loved to mess with her “I bet you a hundred bucks you won’t be saying that in a few”
“Fuck you, newbie” Penelope spat.
HIs hands signaled to himself “Be my guest” This time he saw the eye roll on her face accompanied with annoyment and he decided to stop his teasing “Alright, alright, look, I know you like fresh sheets and I even used that softener you like, let’s go to bed and… Do this”
“I need a minute” She went to the bathroom and Luke sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her, he licked his lips, hoping she wasn’t regretting everything, soon Penelope came back and stood between his legs.
“Ok, shut up for real this time and let’s do this” She placed her hands on each side of his face.
“One baby coming up” Penelope facepalmed “... In nine months, th-” She kissed him in an attempt to shut him up for good, Luke immediately responded and placed his hands on her hips.
Once they were done, they remained on his bed, both were hopeful that everything was on their side so within the next couple months they could see a positive pregnancy test, Penelope’s awkwardness was all gone, she figured she was making a big deal of the whole thing, having sex with Luke wasn’t bad and she actually had enjoyed it more than she thought she would.
“Shouldn’t you lift your legs up or something?” Luke suggested.
He didn’t see her rolling her eyes “Is this another thing you saw in a movie?”
Luke turned to her “Maybe”
“Let’s go to sleep Luke” She turned to the other side and fell asleep easily.
That night Luke had another dream with Penelope, except this time, in his dream they were a family, they were even married and had twins, he woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it, he remembered the joy he felt in his dream and allowed himself to imagine how life would be if that scenario became a reality, after a few minutes he shook his head, Penelope was just his friend, there was no interest in being more than that from either side.
They decided to give it a few tries, to increase the chance for them to get pregnant, the next times weren’t awkward except for one time where Luke came in unannounced.
“Pen” He called for her entering her apartment “Chica, let’s get to baby making, there’s a game I really want to catch later” As he finished his sentence he reached Penelope’s living room only to find her sitting there having dinner with a guy, Luke’s eyes widened, she was going to kill him probably.
“Uhm, I think you already have plans for tonight” The guy said while getting to his feet.
“Wait, Joe, it’s-” Penelope didn’t know exactly what to say.
“No, no, it’s ok, I’ll go, it was nice meeting you” He hurriedly got his messenger bag and walked out of the apartment.
Luke immediately apologized “I should’ve knocked, sorry, I’m really sorry” Penelope waved him off.
“A mutual friend set us up, she insisted a lot and I ended up saying yes” She sighed “But right now, I’m not interested in dating, not when I’m trying to have a baby with my friend, so it’s ok” He still felt terrible so he decided to skip the game and stayed to have dinner with her.
“Pen” Luke squeezed her hand “Are you actually gonna take the tests or are you just gonna stare at them?” She looked at him.
“Maybe if I stare them long enough they’ll get some sort of vibes from me and show us if that week of trying worked or not” He smiled sympathetically, six weeks had passed since that week and Penelope avoided taking the pregnancy tests, even though her period had been late, she was scared of seeing the results, Luke was understanding and supportive, he had a good feeling but he put himself in Penelope’s shoes.
“Come on, let’s go” He took the bag of pregnancy tests he had bought and tried to guide her to the bathroom but she didn’t move an inch “It’ll all be ok”
“What if it’s not?” Penelope asked in a whisper.
“Then we’ll get through it, together” She felt tears coming to her eyes, she was terrified of the results, whatever they may be, she knew they would have an impact to her.
Luke was open to keep trying if the results were negative but he didn’t know what Penelope wanted so he wanted to know what the tests actually ended up showing before bringing up the conversation. A few minutes later, he was waiting outside the bathroom for her, he was starting to get worried, she was silent.
“Penelope, can I come in?” No response, that didn’t help his nerves “Ok, I’m coming in” When he entered, he saw her face filled with what he believed to be surprise.
She barely smiled “It’s positive, all of them are actually” Luke’s lips spread into a wide smile.
“I knew I had a good feeling about this” He hugged her and kissed her hair, they were going to be parents.
The next few months flew by, soon they were getting ready to welcome the little one, true to his word Luke had been with Penelope as much as he could, whenever he wasn’t at work he was beside her learning together, reading books, attending classes, building baby furniture, reading Penelope’s favorite children’s books to the baby, feeling the baby kick for the first time, discussing names, imagining how life would be once the baby arrived.
None of them had been really interested in meeting new people during the pregnancy, until Phil, Luke’s friend insisted on setting him up with a doctor, after much insistence Luke accepted, not without asking first Penelope for advice on whether he should go out with her or not.
“She sounds great, you should do it, it’s been an eternity since you’ve gone on a date” Penelope mentioned rubbing her belly “I miss listening to your disastrous dates stories, they are quite entertaining” Luke glared at her and handed her the ice cream pint she had asked for.
“Ha-ha, you’re very funny” He pursed his lips together “I think I’m gonna tell Phil yes”
Penelope winked at him while licking ice cream off her spoon “Great, I’ll help you choose a nice outfit”
A week later Luke was out with Lisa, Phil’s friend, she was really nice, easy to talk with and gorgeous, she didn’t seem to freak out entirely when he brought up that he was about to be a dad, he was actually enjoying the night, for a second he saw that she seemed distracted and looking behind him.
“I’m sorry, Luke” She cut him off “I think there’s someone trying to get your attention” His brows furrowed as he turned around to find Penelope carrying her hospital bag, this immediately made him panic as he rushed to her.
“Are you in labor?” He took her by the shoulders and examined her.
“Yes, my water broke” Luke was in shock for a second “An hour ago but it is until now that the contractions are getting frequent and…” She placed her hands on her shirt and clutched the fabric  “...Stronger” 
“Oh my God, you should’ve called me the minute it happened, let’s go” He tried to take her hand but she managed to remind him to give an explanation to the nice woman that looked at them with empathy in her eyes.
Soon they were settled in the hospital room, Penelope wasn’t ready to push yet but both her and the baby were doing fine.
“You were supposed to go into labor in two weeks” Luke was scared this was a sign something was wrong but after some tests, doctors and nurses assured them everything looked normal.
“I guess we already know newbie junior is antsy like daddy” 
“We don’t even know if the baby’s a boy”
“Oh newbie is gender neutral, I’ve been calling them this without actually thinking it’s a boy or a girl”
Luke smiled and started to push some strands of hair out of her face “You’re being a champion, Pen, you’re handling everything amazingly”
Penelope laughed as she took deep breaths “Oh, don’t be fooled newbie, I’m freaking out and I might pull one of those ‘what have you done to me? I hate you’ lines just like in the movies” 
“I’ll take it, chica, you can even punch me if you want, so I can experience at least a little bit of pain with you”
“I’ll keep that in mind” She joked.
Soon Penelope started to push and not even once she cursed at Luke, he held her hand, cleaned the sweat off her forehead and kept encouraging her to trust her body, Penelope was exhausted and sometimes she felt like she couldn’t go through it but then she remembered that after all the pain she would finally look her baby in the eyes and fall in love like she had never done before, she tried to remember everything she had learned from her doula, and within the hour she heard her baby’s cries.
Luke swore it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, while Penelope’s eyes focused on the baby who was being all cleaned up.
“Congratulations, it’s a boy” Doctor Kim said as she placed the newborn on his mother’s chest.
“Hello you” Penelope whispered with tears on her eyes, and Luke stood over her head watching his son “You couldn’t wait to meet us, little one” The small baby fuzzed.
“It’s alright, we couldn’t wait to meet you either” Luke said while seeing him open his eyes for a brief moment before he closed them and nuzzled to her mom’s chest.
“He’s here, Luke” She stated without taking her eyes off her boy “We did it”
The following morning, the new parents were still living in their own bubble with their son, he was healthy and so was Penelope.
“Ok so we agreed on Bowie, right?” Penelope tried to see if Luke would budge.
“No, sorry chica, we didn’t”
“Alright, Ziggy then” Luke laughed softly, she kept suggesting those ever since she got pregnant.
“Nope”
“Ok…” She tapped the baby’s little nose “David it is”
“What about Julian?” He suggested and Penelope felt in her heart that was perfect for him.
“Julian” She bit back the smile and thought about messing with him for a little “I guess we’ll go with your suggestion”
“Hey, I’m trying to-” Penelope finally looked up to him and smiled widely.
“I’m kidding, I love it, he looks like a Julian” His tiny lips turned up in what looked like a tiny smile “See? Jules agrees” She passed the tiny bundle to Luke and he happily held his son.
“Hello young Julian Garcia-Alvez, we love you more than you could ever imagine”
Later that day Derek and Savannah came to visit, they couldn’t wait one minute more to meet the new addition to their lives.
“Hello, hello” Savannah announced as she carefully opened the door and peeked her head “We’re here to meet the handsome boy”
“Ah! We were waiting to see you” Penelope was beaming at the thought of her found family meeting her boy “Come on in”
Derek entered eyeing the three of them, he was glad for her best friend, she had always wanted to be a mom and now she had finally become one.
“Look at that, my baby girl had a baby boy” Derek saw the tiny baby in Luke’s arms, he was familiar with the look on Luke’s face, it was one of pure love and adoration, the one he had for Hank when he had been born.
“Let me present to you to Julian Garcia”
Derek raised an eyebrow at Penelope “It’s Julian Garcia-Alvez but I guess Luke’s too lazy to say the full name”
Luke didn’t even seem to hear them mention his name, he was to absorbed in his son “I love the name, he’s gorgeous, congratulations guys” Savannah squeezed Penelope’s shoulder.
After a conversation about how Penelope had to interrupt Luke’s date and how was Julian’s birth, all while his auntie held little Jules, Savannah suggested Luke to go and get some tea and muffins, she wanted to give Derek and Penelope a moment so they could have a conversation of their own, ever since she had started dating Derek she knew him and Penelope shared a really special friendship and that sometimes they needed a moment just them alone to talk about life.
“We’ll be right back” Luke glanced at Penelope and Julian and smiled at them before closing the door behind him.
They remained silent for a few minutes as they only focused on Julian who was now wide awake.
“How are you feeling?” Derek asked softly.
“I feel like I’m in a dream” She admitted “I can’t believe this sweet little boy was given to me”
He placed his hand in the side of her face “I already know you’re gonna be the most amazing mom to Julian” Penelope leaned into his touch.
“Thank you for being there, both you and Savannah were the two people that were the most supportive, I’m still not sure JJ and Em are totally on board with this and Matt and Kristy they have five kids now so we don’t get to see them much but you and Savannah were always there for us”
“And we plan on continue being there for the three of you” Penelope couldn’t hold back her tears “May I?” She carefully handed Julian over to him.
“Can I confess something? I’m scared about how this is gonna go, I mean with Luke, how we’re gonna make this dynamic work”
“Baby girl, are you sure you don’t have feelings for him?” Penelope smiled.
“I love the guy, I mean he’s the father of my baby but no, there’s no feelings there” She was being honest but still Derek felt uneasy, thinking the situation could change and Penelope would end with a broken heart. 
“Ok, well I’m sure you will make it work, maybe it won’t be easy but both of you are very determined and at the end of the day it’s this little guy you’ll be doing everything for so I’m sure you’ll be ok”
“Oh, chocolate thunder, you always know what to say” Penelope stated seeing Derek smiling at Julian “I wanted to ask you something, well, Luke and I did” 
“Anything”
“We were wondering if Savannah and you would like to be Jules’ godparents?”
“Oh, Penelope, I would’ve disowned you if you hadn’t asked, of course, we would be honored to be his godparents” 
“I love you, Derek Morgan” She reached out for his hand.
He looked at her and squeezed her hand “And I love you Penelope Garcia” He looked down at his new godson “I love you too Julian”
That day after Derek and Savannah, Luke’s family, and the rest of their friends had visited them to meet Julian.
Penelope came out of Julian’s room, she had put him down to sleep, already knowing he was going to wake up in a few hours, three months had already come and gone, neither could believe how fast time was passing by, they had adjusted quite nicely.
“Ok, I have some more things I need you to store in your apartment” She signaled some things next to the door, they were some coats, a pair of skis, shoe boxes, even her ukulele was being forgotten at the moment and since it was taking space it had to be stored on Luke’s place, they had been doing that ever since they’ve brought Julian home.
“Have I ever told you you own way to many shoes?” Luke commented rubbing his eyes.
“All the time” She smiled “I still don’t care”
“Alright, I’ll take them now and don’t worry about waking up later, I’ll come down to feed him” She raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure?” 
“Of course, it’s around 2 when he wakes up, right?” Luckily for them, Julian was the greatest baby, he easily fell into routine, he woke up around the same time each night, so Luke had alarms and he came down so it wasn’t only Penelope waking up at night.
“Yeah”
“Ok, goodnight”
For Luke it felt as if he had just closed his eyes when the alarm went off, he quickly got up and went to Penelope’s place, he opened the fridge to find the different bottles, each of them were labeled:
One glass of wine.
Couple of Margaritas.
Pure.
Stressful day.
Pure.
He snorted and grabbed one of the bottles labeled as ‘pure’ and proceeded to warm it, he didn’t hear any crying when he came in so he assumed Julian had yet to wake up demanding to be fed, a few minutes later the three month old woke up and Luke was ready to feed him, he sat in the rocking chair with the baby to his chest, once Julian was done with the bottle, he burped him and sat a little bit more with him, he loved those moments were he could hold his son and sing the lullabies his mom and grandma used to sing to him when he was a kid.
He was loving being a dad and co-parenting with Penelope, he practically lived there, he would leave only at night but even then, he’d come back and sometimes would end up crashing at the couch waking up at Penelope’s. Luke placed Julian on his crib and left the room, as he walked out of the room he saw a photo of the three of them in the hallway and smiled, everything felt right.
Luke hurried through the stairs, he was coming home from work and Penelope was calling him nonstop to get home, he didn’t wait for the elevator and took the stairs, once he opened the door, he was met by a crying Julian and a crying Penelope.
“I’ve done everything and he won’t stop crying, he hates me, Luke” She said through her sobs.
Luke felt bad for Penelope, she was more sensitive than usual, the hormones were to blame, he went to them and took Julian in his arms.
“I’m his mom and he already hates me” She cleaned her tears off her face.
Luke started to sway him from side to side “He can’t hate you now, wait until he’s sixteen”
“LUKE!” Soon Julian stopped crying in Luke’s arms “How the fuck did you do that?” She asked in surprise.
“Oh, I don’t know I guess he loves me but he hates you” He saw the tears on her eyes “I’m kidding, I’m kidding”
Penelope sighed and sat on the couch “I’m returning to work soon and we don’t have a nanny yet”
“I know, I asked around some of my coworkers and they recommended me some agency” She smiled.
“That’s great, but we need to be clear on something” He looked at her with a frown “You can’t fuck the nanny”
“Penelope! I wasn’t planning on doing that”
“Ok, just saying, newbie”
By the end of the week they had hired Max to be Julian’s nanny, Penelope was faced with another challenge, learning how to manage going to work and being a mom, soon she discovered it was hard but she could handle it, she missed going to work, seeing her co-workers and having an excuse to actually put on some decent clothes and makeup.
 Matt, Kristy, JJ, Emily and their six children were visiting Luke, Penelope and Julian, they hadn’t seen them since the hospital, they were curious to see how ‘the experiment’ as Emily called it was going.
“I’m not gonna lie, I think the reason they didn’t invite us over sooner it’s because they’re having a hard time adjusting” Emily spoke up.
“You think? I don’t know” Matt replied.
“I mean it wouldn’t be a surprise, becoming a parent it’s not easy” Kristy added to Emily’s comment.
“We’re about to see” JJ said as they all stepped out of the elevator, it took five seconds for Penelope and Luke receive them, he had Julian on a baby carrier close to his chest.
“Hello!” They said in unison, after a round of hugs and greetings, they went to the living room.
“Please, get yourselves some drinks, I made some tapas, I’ll go get them” Penelope announced and JJ joined her in the kitchen.
“Hey, everything looks great” She meant it.
“Thanks, we manage to keep everything in place but Jules is about to start crawling so next time you won’t find a tidy place” Penelope laughed.
JJ frowned “Is Luke living here?” 
“No, well, kind of, he spends a lot of time with Jules” She shrugged it off, it wasn’t a big deal for them.
“Penelope…” JJ sighed “What’s this that you have going on?” Penelope rolled her eyes at her words, it wasn’t the first time she questioned it and certainly wouldn’t be the last.
“We’re raising a baby, he stays over, sue me” JJ’s eyes widened “No, he stays over but nothing happens, I’m not attracted to him and he’s not attracted to me, it’s all fine” 
“Ok, then it’s time for you to get yourself out there again”
“Actually I’ve been thinking about it”
“Say no more” Her friend winked at her and Penelope just went long with it, JJ said about a co-worker of hers that sounded dreamy. Once they returned with some appetizers, everyone was settled, Luke had taken the older kids to the other room where they put on a movie for them and gave them some sandwiches and toys so they could be entertained.
“It looks like you’re doing amazing, man” Matt said as he placed Rose on the ground, she was eager to follow Emerson,
“Yeah, it is, Pen and I are convinced we got very lucky with Julian, he’s great”
“Wait until he starts walking” Emily commented while she watched Emerson closely, she was walking around the adults, observing what she could grab, unfortunately for her, the apartment was childproof so there was nothing she could really play with other than Julian’s toys and her own.
“I know I told Luke that by then I’m sure I’ll have to give up my high heels” Penelope said while sitting down next to him and absentmindedly resting her hand in Luke’s thigh “Can you imagine me running around a kid in five inch heels?” They all laughed and Luke placed an arm around her, everyone could see the look on his face as Penelope continued talking, Matt and Kristy shared a knowing look and JJ was just starting to think Penelope was lying about “nothing going on”.
The rest of their visit went by quite quickly, all of them enjoying their time together, at some point, Penelope realizes it’s their first time her and Luke can relate to the parenting experiences and struggles, even though Derek, Savannah and Hank couldn’t make it, her heart fills with joys as she sees most of her found family together.
“You’re almost there, buddy” Luke was sitting on the floor, multitasking, he folded laundry and watched Julian as he tried to stand using Luke’s arm as support.
“Breakfast is ready for my favorite guys” Penelope announced carrying two plates “Here, put these on the coffee table, I’ll go get Jules’ plate” She leaned down to carry him “Come on little guy, let’s get those hands clean”
While Luke and Penelope both sat on the floor, Julian used the coffee table for support and finally managed to stand up and grab some of his breakfast, he was a good eater, they stared at him, amazed by the little boy who owned their hearts.
“Can you believe he’s almost nine months? He’s getting so big” She sighed nostalgically.
“I know, I feel like in no time he’ll be going to preschool” Luke added as he took a bite of his own breakfast.
“Don’t even start” Jules looked up to his mom “Yeah, baby, what if we slow down a little with this whole growing up so fast? Can you do that for mommy?” Luke was also looking at Penelope, he was thinking about how wonderful the last year and a half of his life had been, since finding out about the pregnancy to that very moment, he felt extremely content to have Julian and Penelope in his life.
���Ma!” He exclaimed and went back to grab a fistful of scrambled eggs.
Luke smiled at his son then he turned to Penelope “You know? I don’t think it’s been that hard, all of this”
“Right?” She took a sip of juice “I feel the same, we make a good team, newbie”  Just as Luke was about to say something else, Penelope’s phone dinged, she quickly took it and smiled at the screen, he remained silent and took Julian and sat him between his legs and put his plate in front of him so he could continue eating his breakfast.
“You’re done, Julian” He said to his son as the baby looked up to him with wide eyes “Yeah, it’s gone, it’s all in your tummy now, come on, let’s get you changed”
“Oh, I can change him, don’t worry” Penelope took her eyes off her phone.
“Alright, I’ll go wash these” He said as he took the dishes into the kitchen, trying to think who was Penelope texting.
A very happy Penelope entered the kitchen carrying a very happy Julian, they went to stand beside Luke as he finished drying the plates.
“You’re in a good mood” Luke stated trying to seem nonchalant.
Penelope couldn’t hold back the smirk “I am, I need to tell you something” She sat Julian in the kitchen counter “I’m going out with someone tonight”
Luke wasn’t sure why he felt a stinging sensation in his heart “Oh” He couldn’t think of something else to say.
Her smile soon changed into a frown “Is that ok? I thought this was my free night, but if you’ve got plans I can- “ Luke interrupted her.
“No, no, no, no plans at all” He tried his best to fake smile “It’s great, I’m happy for you, who’s the lucky guy?”
“His name is Sam, JJ set us up, we’ve been texting these past couple weeks and we decided to go out today”
“Great” Luke said without looking at her nor sounding very cheerful but Penelope failed to notice that.
Later that evening Penelope was a nervous wreck, she had facetimed JJ and Emily to voice her concerns about going on a date, she felt like she didn’t even remembered how to go on a first date, she remained sat on her bed, with her robe on, looking at the outfit her friends had helped her choosing, she thought about calling Derek, he was great at helping her when she wasn’t feeling her best self, as Luke passed her bedroom after putting Julian to bed, he stopped and saw that she didn’t have the happy look she had that morning.
He opened the door a little bit more and peeked at her “Hey, how is getting ready going? Everything good? Did he cancel?”
Penelope quickly looked up “No, it’s just that I’m nervous” As soon as she said she felt a little embarrassed “That’s stupid, isn’t it? Oh God” Luke entered and sat beside her and took her hand.
“Not at all, it’s normal to be nervous before going on a first date, but I’m sure you’ll be fine, from what I gathered he’s a great guy”
Her eyebrows raised “Did you eavesdropped my conversation with the girls?”
“Pen, you were literally sitting across Julian and I”
“Oh, that’s true, sorry, I was a little distracted then” She confessed running her hands through her hair.
“Should I prepare some tea for you and your nerves?” He suggested, not liking to see her stressed and thinking she shouldn’t be worrying, it was impossible she wouldn’t blow the guy’s mind, she was a catch.
Penelope placed one hand on the side of his face “Luke, that would be wonderful, you are a gift” 
“Alright, you continue getting ready and I’ll bring your tea in a moment” Just as he was about to leave, Penelope called him “Yeah?”
“Nevermind” She sighed and stood up to start doing her hair.
“Penelope? Come on, you can tell me anything” He leaned in the door frame, waiting for her to say something, instead she turned around and opened her robe, she was in her underwear.
“Do you think my body is ready to, you know, get out there?” Luke ignored the sensations the image in front of him caused to his body and walked to her, putting his hands on either side of her face.
“You are beautiful, Penelope, don’t ever think you’re not, you could’ve gone out on a date the next month after having Julian for all I know” She blushed and looked down “I mean it, you are the whole package, you’re smart, kind, witty, and sexy as hell so stop doubting yourself and if for some reason this guy doesn’t seem to be into you, then we’ll tell JJ, her friend is out of his mind” He kissed her hair.
“You really have a way with words, Alvez” She managed to look up and smiled “We need to find you someone as well” He pressed his lips together and that’s when he knew he didn’t want someone else, he wanted Penelope.
As he prepared her tea, he sat on a stool and tried to think when his feelings for her had changed, he was sure he didn’t feel that way before, or maybe he was but didn’t realize? He was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t listen the kettle whistling, he rushed to it so it wouldn’t wake Julian up but he was late, he went to get him and later appeared in Penelope’s room with Jules attached to his hip and nuzzled in his neck in one arm and a mug in the other.
“Here you go” He said placing it on her vanity. 
“Oh thanks” She glanced at him through the mirror “And thanks for getting him, I can’t exactly stand up fast and move freely with these attached to my boobs” She laughed.
“It’s ok”
“Isn’t this sexy?” She joked “Hair curlers on my head, makeup half done and pumping breast milk” Penelope laughed, she felt much more relaxed after Luke’s words.
He managed to smirk, it was an amusing image but in that moment it was also a beautiful one to him, even though in some part of his heart he felt it was wrong seeing her getting ready to go out with someone else.
“Your mom doesn’t believe what I tell her, Jules, please don’t be like her when you grow up” Penelope swatted his stomach.
“Hey! Don’t put my baby against me” She reached to Julian and Luke got him closer to Pen “Go to sleep, my sweet boy, I love you” The sleepy baby barely registered his mom kissing his forehead.
Luke put Julian to sleep and half an hour later saw Penelope walk out the door, he tried to watch TV but got distracted every few minutes by his thoughts who were set on Penelope and how her date was going, he glanced at the clock every frequently and even at the door, hoping to see her come in and say she wasn’t going out anymore because she had realized it was him she wanted to be with.
He leaned back on the couch “Stop, Alvez” He said to himself, he thought about calling Matt but it was kinda late, so he decided against it, after what it seemed like an eternity, Penelope walked through the door, she quickly took off her shoes and coat, she didn’t see Luke until he spoke.
“Hey, how was it?” He said rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to wake you”
 “It’s ok, I wasn’t sleeping well anyway, so did you have a good time?” Penelope smiled widely and nodded.
“JJ was right, he’s amazing, I-I think he could be the one, and I know it sounds precipitated to say that but...” Luke felt his heart break and couldn’t even focus on what she was saying, he felt his world starting to crumble down “Luke? Are you hearing what I’m saying?”
He snapped out of it “Yeah, yeah, I’m glad, Pen, uhm I guess we won’t have to complain to JJ about it” He rubbed his palms against his jeans and got up “I’m gonna call it a night, I’m gonna go up, ok? I’ll see you guys tomorrow”
“Ok, have a good night” She replied with the smile that had never left her lips since her date started, she really felt a connection with Sam.
A few weeks passed by and Luke called Matt to ask him if he wanted to go shoot some hoops with him, Matt found the urgency in his voice odd and was sure it was a bad sign, he agreed and met him at the basketball courts they frequented. As they started, Luke tried to tell him how he had felt ever since Penelope had started seeing Sam, he was going around about other things without saying what he actually meant.
At one moment when Luke tried to take the ball from Matt, he abruptly stopped and went to the bench signaling Luke to go with him.
“So you have feelings for Penelope” It was a statement not a question.
“That’s not what I-” Matt rolled his eyes.
“Cut the bullshit, Luke, I wasn’t asking, I know for a fact you do, it was bound to happen and that time we all went to your house, you looked at her the way I look at Kristy, the way Derek looks at Savannah”
“You should’ve told me then, maybe then she wouldn’t have gone out with mr. Wonderful”
“Hey, it wasn’t up to me to get your stubborn ass to come to terms with your feelings, it was something you had to figure out on your own, unfortunately you did until you saw her with someone else” He drank water as Luke sat beside him running his hands through his hair.
“Should I talk to Derek? Ask him some advice?” Matt snapped his head at him.
“About what? Winning her over? I hate to say this but if she’s happy with this Sam guy, you shouldn’t interfere” Luke looked at him feeling almost betrayed “Dude, I know she’s feeling very happy, she’s talked to Kristy and she seems hopeful to see where it leads”
Luke sat with his head in his hands, not liking what he was hearing but knowing Matt was right, Luke himself had witnessed Penelope’s new happiness and excitement over the relationship “Why do I have to be so fucking stupid? Imagine if I had known before, maybe it would’ve been us in a relationship” Matt patted his shoulder.
“Hey, their relationship is fairly new, no one knows, maybe they’ll be done in a few months and you’ll have your chance, don’t lose all hope but don’t interfere”
He sit up “I guess you’re right”
“You should try and find someone as well, give it a try and see where it goes”
“Yeah, maybe I will, I don’t know” Matt got up.
“Alright, let’s resume the game ‘cause I’m beating your ass, Alvez” Luke rolled his eyes and followed his friend.
A few days later, after getting some groceries Luke had encountered with Lisa, the woman he was on a date with the day Penelope had gone into labor, he remembered how nice she was and they agreed on meeting again sometime, soon after that they were dating and although he knew he still had feelings for Penelope, she was very happy with Sam, he had met him and he hated the fact that there wasn’t much to dislike about him. He was amazing to Penelope and Julian, he was attentive, very respectful, kind, and the list went on, Luke was starting to come to terms that maybe Penelope and Sam were going to become permanent at some point and it did hurt him to think about it, but then he remembered he had Lisa, who was also an incredible person that was very understanding of his co-parenting situation.
It was almost New Year’s and the entire gang were going to a cabin to spend it together, it was the first trip since Julian was born and Penelope and Luke brought significant others, everyone was excited to spend the holiday together.
Penelope was packing her suitcase for the trip, Luke had packed Julian’s the day before so she only had to worry about her stuff, she remembered Luke had her skis and went up to ask him if he could take them in his car. As the door opened she was met with a smiling Lisa, the one year old in Penelope’s arms squealed happily.
“Isa!” He extended his arms to her and Lisa looked at Penelope to which the blonde nodded and allowed Julian to go with her before asking to be down.
“Pen! You’re here, are you ready?” Luke greeted her.
Penelope swallowed unable to get her eyes off Lisa who was helping Julian to walk “Uhm yeah, almost ready, I was wondering if you could take my skis?”
“Sure thing, I already loaded them in the car”
“Alright, we’ll get going” Penelope announced wanting to have his son back in her arms.
“Hey, if you want we can take Jules” Luke suggested and before Penelope could say anything Lisa spoke.
“Oh, absolutely, we could do that” Penelope gave them a tight lipped smile and clasped her hands together.
“Alright if you want to, it’s alright, I mean, if you’re sure”
“Of course, he’s the sweetest boy, aren’t you Jules?” Julian hugged Lisa’s leg and Penelope felt something she didn’t know how to label.
“Ok then, I’ll see you guys later”
“Wait Pen, I’ll go down with you to get Jules’ stuff” Luke walked with her to the elevator and for the first time in years, there was an awkward silence, at least that’s how it felt to Penelope whereas to Luke was just a normal silence.
“Is it okay that Julian goes with us, right?” He turned to her.
“Oh, yeah, totally” She mirrored his actions.
“I’m really looking forward to this trip, it’s the first time JJ, Em, Derek and Savannah are gonna meet Lisa” Penelope shot him her best forced smile and nodded.
Luke was in fact, telling the truth, his relationship was in a good place, he felt hopeful about a future with Lisa, she was very clear by telling him that she was looking for something serious and it came as a surprise to him when he found himself telling Lisa, he was also expecting to be with someone for the long run and that they should work towards a relationship of that kind, he was finally moving on from Penelope.
Or so he thought.
The cabin they rented was beautiful, it was big but cozy at the same time, everyone, adults and kids, were excited to be spending the next few days there, getting to know Sam and Lisa a little bit more since everything indicated they could eventually be more present in their lives. Matt and Kristy entered carrying, what it seemed like twenty bags, followed by their five kids, David holding little Rose’s hand who was excited to be walking in the house.
“The Simmonses have arrived” Derek yelled as he walked over to them to help with their stuff.
“We have and we are ready for the kids to be with their uncles and aunts while mom and dad rest” Kristy joked placing the bags on the floor.
“You definitely deserve some relax time, you guys are saints” JJ said hugging the kids.
“Where are the others?” Mat asked.
“We’re here!” Penelope announced appearing from the kitchen walking hand in hand with Sam “I’d like you to meet Sam”
“Oh we’ve heard great things about you, it’s great to finally meet you, I’m Matt, this is Kristy, and these are Jake, David, Lily, Chloe and Rose” Sam shook hands with the married couple and high fived the kids.
“Nice to meet you all, I was looking forward to finally see you, I have two boys myself that are actually your age I think” He said to Jake and David “So if you want to play something maybe I can join you” Both kids eagerly nodded.
The next couple days, almost everyone seemed to be having a great time, except for Emily and JJ, they seemed a little bit off but no one dared to ask why, it was only at moments they would be quiet than usual and seemed to be a little bit out of it, they tried to put pieces together but no one seemed to have a clear idea of what was going on, they didn’t look distanced from each other nor from Emerson, so they tried to not interfere.
“Oh, I’m happy to see you’re feeling better, babe, are you joining us for breakfast?” Penelope said to Savannah who had missed previous breakfasts.
“Yes, I’ll be down in a minute” She replied while tapping Julian’s nose.
Penelope went down and found Sam helping the kids with their breakfasts, it was a funny and sweet sight, Jake, David, Chloe, Lily and Hank gathered around him as he placed pancakes on all of their plates.
“Look at you JJ, you finally got it right with Sam” Kristy teased her, JJ had the worst record setting up Penelope and it was a never ending joke between the group of friends.
The blonde woman rolled her eyes and smirked “If you ever decide to have a kid, Pen, I must be the godmother” She half joked.
“I don’t know, maybe eventually” Both Kristy and JJ snapped their heads at her “What? I think this is going somewhere, he has two kids, I have one but I don’t know”
“I can’t believe there’s something you don’t know, Pen” Luke’s voice made them turn around to see him walking from the hallway, having listened only the last part of what Penelope was saying “Good morning ladies, I made some coffee if you want”
“Thanks Luke, where’s Lisa?” Kristy questioned.
“Oh, she’s getting ready for the day, she’ll be out in a few”
Once they were all sitting in the large dining table, Derek called their attention, both him and Savannah had big smiles on their faces.
“We would like to tell you that next year we’ll need a bigger cabin” Savannah taking her husband’s hand.
Derek continued “There’s going to be not one, but two new Morgans causing trouble” The entire group erupted in cheers and congratulations, JJ’s eyes went immediately to her wife, she knew her and knew that it took everything in Emily to smile, they were going through some stuff.
Part of the group had decided to go skiing while the others preferred to stay at the cabin and drink some hot chocolate, Matt, Derek and Luke walked a few feet behind Sam, Lisa and JJ.
“So Morgan’s party of five? How are you holding up?” Matt asked Derek, he remembered the surprise, nervousness and excitement that came when receiving the news he was going to have twins.
“Oh man, I can’t believe it, I still am processing all of it, Hank’s four so I’m not even sure I remember exactly how life with a newborn is, let alone two” All along Luke and Matt noticed how his features softened.
“I bet you and Savannah will get the hang of it” Luke assured him.
“You know we got you guys, so anything we can help with, I’m sure there’s some stuff we have that we don’t use anymore but it’s in great shape that you could use” Matt added and Derek felt thankful for them, all of them.
“Now that I have a son maybe you’ll finally trust me to babysit” 
“I’m not sure, we’ll see, we’ll see” Derek teased him and Luke scoffed.
“I vouch for him, Derek, I’m actually sort of proud of you, dude” Matt turned to Luke “It’s really warming to see you with Julian”
“I gotta agree with that, I was just messing with you Luke, what Matt is saying it’s true, I’ve loved to witness both you and baby girl, as parents to Jules”
“Thanks guys, it means a lot to have your support and to have you as a part of Julian’s life” Luke spoke from his heart but he also needed to point something out “Not to end the soft moment here, but did you see Sam’s face the other night when you called Penelope ‘baby girl’?”
“Oh I did, it took everything in me not to burst into laughter, Kristy actually kicked me in the shin beneath the table” Luke laughed.
“Honestly I’m so used to it that I didn’t notice but Savannah did and she told me to do something about it but Penelope assured me that she had explained everything to him and that he seemed fine with it, but I’ve toned it down a lot, I don’t know, I think this could be it for Penelope you know?” Luke swallowed, he had thought about it but wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Matt spoke up “They seem to be very serious, I like him”
“I guess I do too?” Derek shrugged, his mind remembering how just a few months ago he was convinced Luke was the one for Penelope, Luke and Matt eyed him curiously and that made him rephrase his words “I-I do like him, it’s just I’m super protective of her but he makes her happy so yeah” Luke refrained from offering his thoughts on Penelope’s relationship, he wasn’t sure what he made of it, how he felt, just then Lisa called out for him and he remembered he had an amazing woman in his life.
It was finally New Year’s Eve, the kids were all asleep and the adults were planning on enjoying dinner and drinks together, they were halfway through their dinner when Sam brought up an interesting subject.
“I have to say, I’ve been curious how did you come up with the idea of having a child together? Whose idea was it?” He wondered genuinely interested in listening the story.
“I… Don’t remember” Penelope tried to shrug it off, not wanting to discuss that in front of everyone.
“It was me actually, I had the idea, she had talked to me about wanting to be a mom and I wanted to be a dad and next thing we know we had Jules” Luke replied nonchalantly.
“The truth is he wanted this genepool for his kid, I mean, can you blame him?” Penelope joked while signaling herself.
“And have you thought what exactly are you gonna tell him when he’s older? About his parents being with other people” Lisa inquiried, her tone wasn’t rude at all.
The rest listened and focused on their plates, that was until a tipsy Emily decided to jump in the conversation.
“Oh, I want to listen to this, I bet they didn’t think about it”
“Well we might have talked about it once or twice but didn’t came up with a plan exactly” Penelope replied nervously, thinking it wasn’t any of their business, except Luke and hers.
“I’m sure you’ll do great, at least you were always aware that you were going to have the conversation, I never believed I had to until I got divorced” Sam interjected, regretting bringing up the subject.
“No, but that actually makes more sense to me, I mean why you decide that you’ll bring a child into a world with someone you don’t love” The alcohol started to make Emily talk way more than she intended to
JJ tried to stop her, she took her hand “Babe, stop” Emily shook her hand and ignored her suggestion.
“You were in love with your wife I assume, I understand shit happens, people get divorced all the time and have to talk about this with their kids but doing it deliberately? I can’t fucking understand it”
Luke cleared his throat “Em, with all due respect, that’s how you think but-” Emily cut him off.
“No, not only me, everyone on this table believed you were crazy for doing this” She slurred “We all thought having a kid with someone you don’t love wasn’t the brightest idea”
Penelope who had remained silent, couldn’t hold it anymore and started to speak “Ok Emily but how are you so sure we don’t love each other? I’ve known Luke for more than half of my life, he’s one of my closest friends” She took a deep breath trying not to raise her voice and continued “He has been there through the good and the bad more than any of you have, sure it’s because we’ve been practically neighbors for years but that doesn’t make it less valid, I know pretty much anything there is to know about him and I love him for who he is, I know why when we first met him he was kind of a loner, I know he’s not a great cook but he does a mean lasagna, I know he’s loyal and honest and has one of the kindest hearts ever, we have the same values, we have the same sense of humor, I know his position on just about everything and I wholeheartedly agree with him, what better man could I have possibly chose to be the father of my son? Huh? So please refrain from giving your opinion on something that’s not your business at all, Em” Luke seemed to be at loss of words, many different emotions were going through his heart, for a second he forgot why was Penelope telling all of this, because of Emily, and everyone else seemed to fade into the background, he wasn’t moving on with his life, he was deeply in love with Penelope Garcia.
“Well-” Penelope cut Savannah off
“And I know, I just know that no matter what happens in a year or two or ten, we’ll be fine, because we love each other” She finished feeling how her pulse had quickened.
Emily snorted “Alright if you say so, but let me tell you something, you seem fine now but life gets complicated, friends” She addressed the entire gang “You don’t know it yet but it does” She rushed to their bedroom and JJ goes after her not before muttering apologies to Penelope, Luke and the rest of their friends, everyone is uncomfortable and confused by Emily’s outburst.
Penelope is excited to see everyone and celebrate Luke’s birthday together, she’s rushes out of the cab to the restaurant, only to find Luke in the waiting area of the restaurant.
“Hi, happy birthday” Luke hugged her “Where’s everybody? I thought I was going to be the last one here?” She breathed out.
“Oh, it’s just us tonight” Penelope frowned but didn’t say a thing “Julian seemed really happy to be with his grandma” Luke tried to change the subject so she wouldn’t question him. 
“Aw, he does love her, how’s your mom?” He took the chair out for her and then proceeded to take his sit.
“She’s doing alright, she asked me to say hi to you” He passed the message, knowing his mom wouldn’t forgive him if he forgot to do so.
“I should go and visit Elena one of these days, talking to her always lifts my spirits”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
“Yeah, I’m sure she’d be thrilled to see you, she loves you, Pen” He leaned against the table and took her hand in his.
“She’s the sweetest, really” She adjusted her glasses and opened the menu “And where’s Lisa?” 
“No Lisa tonight, she’s on duty” He lied, rubbing his beard. 
Penelope pouted “Oh, I’m sorry, Luke” When he saw her sympathetic look he decided to cut the act.
“Don’t be, because it’s actually not true” Her face filled with confusion.
“Oh no, what happened?”
“Nothing, everything was great, she’s great” Luke looked down and felt it coming.
“Then what’s wrong?” Penelope asked with a furrowed eyebrows.
“Nothing’s wrong, I’m sure my mom would’ve loved her but…” He looked in her eyes and once again grabbed her hand “All I do when I’m with her is think about you and only you” Penelope mouth fell open, she felt the air removed from her lungs “I didn’t want her here tonight nor anyone really, I broke things off with her, I wanted my family with me and I realized you are my family” His voice broke “You and Julian are everything I need to get through life” The moment Penelope realized there were tears on his eyes, her own vision became blurry, she moved her chair to be next to him and leaned her head in his shoulder. 
Next thing she knew Luke was lifting her chin and searching for her lips, she pulled away even before their lips touched “Luke, I’m with Sam”
“Oh, yeah, sorry I should allow you to talk to him before-” Penelope closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“We’re moving in together” Luke forgot how to breathe for a moment “I met his kids a few months ago and we’ve been talking about taking the next step ever since and we found a great place, I’m sorry, Luke”
He looked confused “But what about all you said that time Emily questioned us?”
Penelope look dumbfounded “I-I, it wasn’t a lie, I meant everything that I said, I love you but I-I’m not-” She took the hair out of her face “I love you so much as a friend, I thought we were on the same page, I don’t know what-” Luke let her go and got up, he needed to get out of there “Luke, wait” Before Penelope could walk to him, he was gone, and she was left there not knowing what to do of his confession.
The truth was her and Sam were in a great place, they were looking forward to start a life together, they had even discussed marriage, Julian loved him, she loved Taylor and Benji, Sam’s kids, everything seemed to fall into place with him.
The next months after that, Luke and Penelope barely spoke unless it was regarding Julian, the times where they would just spend weekends together with their son were long gone, Julian still spent a lot of time with his parents just separately, Penelope was starting to pack their stuff, she felt terrible and she wanted Luke to lash out at her, to tell her off, yell at her for taking Julian to another house, instead all Luke ever did was remain distant, she couldn’t blame him but she missed her best friend.
Penelope sighed “What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” Derek said, he had offered to help her packing the last stuff before she was out of the apartment.
“Do you think I’m making a mistake by moving in with Sam?” He frowned, not knowing exactly where that was coming from, she had seemed when she told him and Savannah the news.
“I think you should do what makes you happy, if-” Penelope didn’t let him finish his sentence.
“Do you think I should’ve given Luke and I a chance?” Derek’s eyebrows raised, he was surprised at her question.
“Why are you asking this?” Penelope bit her lip and then sat down on the floor, since there was no couch or chairs left, and proceeded to tell him what had happened a few months ago, as Derek listened he didn’t have it in him to be surprised by Luke’s feelings nor Penelope’s second guessing her decision.
“Look, baby girl” He started as he cleaned the tears falling on her cheeks “I still think you should do what makes you happy, and follow your heart, you shouldn’t do something because you feel obligated to, you know? Moving in with Sam because you already leased the house or give Luke a chance because he’s the father of your son” Derek wrapped an arm around her “There’s nothing more I want than to see you happy, whether is with Sam, Luke, only you and Jules, look, even if you wanna go back to what’s-his-name let’s go live in a farm guy?” She laughed through the tears “I want you to be happy and I’ll be there for you, ok?”
“Ok” She managed to say “Kevin, he was the one that wanted me us to go and live in a farm”
“Alright, well if you wanna go live in a farm I’m sure Julian will love all the free space to run around” They laughed and Derek kissed her forehead, hoping she’d follow his advice and go with whatever made her truly happy.
Penelope was meeting Emily for drinks, she entered the bar to see Emily already sitting there, she greeted her and they started to catch up, it had been a really long time since they last saw each other, once again, life making it complicated to hang out more often.
“So” Emily started “I don’t think I ever actually apologized about that one time” She felt embarrassed reminiscing her behaviour during that New Year’s.
“Come on, Em” Penelope waved her off “It’s ok, you don’t have to say anything”
“No, but I do, I was- we were going through a difficult time, JJ and I were going through the adoption process for Nick and we weren’t getting matched and there were a lot of setbacks, that’s why we didn’t tell any of you at the time but it was difficult for us and of course, JJ was way better than at handling everything and I just let out my frustration that time when it wasn’t my place to say anything, I was an asshole to you” Penelope placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t say that, Emily, we all snap sometimes, I’m sorry you were going through that but now you have Nick and he’s a great kid” Penelope smiled remembering the curly boy.
“I didn’t mean anything that I said, I mean, we did have our doubts but you proved it was possible to do what you did”
“Oh no, I actually think you were right, it’s a bit of a mess right now” Penelope looked away.
“I... Know, and even though the situation is not great right now, I’m sure you’ll get through it” Emily gave her a sympathetic smile and Penelope nodded “I gotta say one more thing though, I’ll never understand why you guys didn’t even try”
The blonde woman just shrugged, at that point neither did she “It’s just, we’ve been friends for half of our lives, it would’ve been, I don’t know, weird? We’ve seen each other at our worse and our best, he’s like always been there” As much as Penelope tried to convince herself it wouldn’t have worked out, she never actually did it.
“Babe, I don’t see how that’s bad” Emily commented taking a sip of her drink, her words echoed in Penelope’s head.
Luke opened the door and Julian immediately launched himself at him.
“Daddy!” He clung onto Luke’s neck while Penelope awkwardly stood there.
“Sorry I couldn’t pick him up tonight” Luke said, looking at Julian instead of her, he was still hurt but really trying to move on this time.
“Don’t worry, it’s ok” Luke expected to see her turn around and go back to her place but she remained there “I found this at my place, it’s your birthday present from last year, you never actually got it so I thought I should bring it” He saw the bag in her hands and it just reminded him of the day he had gotten his heart broken.
“Oh, Penelope, I appreciate it but I’m fine, I don’t need anything”
“Please, I insist” She offered it to him and Julian was fast take it.
“Open it, daddy!” He started to kick his legs so Luke would put him down.
“I’ll open it tomorrow, bud, it’s time for bed now” He could see Julian was not happy about it. 
“NO!” Julian dropped to the floor “Open it! Open it!” The terrible twos were not a joke, he started to throw kicks and Luke kneeled to his level.
“Jules, it’s time to go to bed, come on” He grabbed him in his arms.
“Open the pwesent” Luke sighed.
“I’ll make you a deal, we open it and then you go to bed” Julian seemed to calm.
“I’m gonna get going now, good night Jules, have sweet dreams, my love” She took a step to them and leaned to kiss Julian’s head, when she was about to step away she grabbed her sweater.
“Stay!” Penelope softly took his little hand and let herself free from his grasp.
“I can’t, I gotta go, baby” Julian started to cry.
“Maybe you can stay and help us with bedtime” Luke suggested, Penelope silently agreed.
They walked towards Julian’s bedroom and Penelope felt like an outsider, it had been a long time since she had walked inside Luke’s home, once they got there, she helped Julian to put on his PJ’s while Luke watched them and untuck his bed covers. 
“Pwesent!” Julian said once he was underneath his blankets, each of his parents sat on either side of the bed next to him.
Luke opened the bag and put out something that look like a binder? Photo album? ‘Luke + Jules + Pen’ was engraved on the cover, when he opened it, he saw it was a scrapbook, it had photos of him and Penelope when they first met back in college, ticket stubs of that time when Penelope was in different plays, from when all of the gang had gone to see the Yankees, Luke’s favorite baseball team, photos of them with their friends and then it was Julian’s first sonogram, photos of Penelope pregnant, photos of their baby shower, their first picture the three of them that Savannah had taken at the hospital, all of it was filled with memories.
Luke closed it abruptly, it was all too much for him “Alright, bud, it’s time for you to sleep, we’re picking up Roxy from the shelter tomorrow, remember?” A sleepy boy nodded and just when Penelope and Luke thought they had won, Julian spoke again.
“Mommy, stay!” Penelope tried her best to smile.
“I have to go to your other home, remember?” Luke noticed how Penelope’s voice faltered and decided to back her up.
“Julian, remember what I told you about your two houses? That only the most special little boys get two, so Mommy needs to go and take care of your other house”
“I want Mommy to stay!” He demanded, starting to cry again.
It took everything in Penelope not to tell him that he wanted to stay as well so she just held him and sang the lullaby Luke used to sing to him when he was a baby, it didn’t take long until he fell asleep, Penelope kissed his forehead and silently left the room with Luke behind her.
Before she could speak Luke beat her to it “Drive safe, I’ll take him to you on Sunday” He said and Penelope could only nod as she walked out of the door an to her car.
She sat there for a few minutes, not realizing tears were rolling down her cheeks, when she calmed down she started to drive home, it took her ten minutes to decide she was not going home, she made an u-turn to go back to Luke’s place.
She knocked, unsure what she was going to say but trusting it would be the right thing.
“Penelope? Did you forget something?” Luke asked, confused as to why she was back.
She walked right past him into his apartment “Remember when I asked you if you had met your person?” She said with tears in her eyes.
“Yes” He breathed out.
“We both said no” Penelope stated “Can you ask me if I’ve met my person, please?” Luke felt some sort of anger form in his chest.
“Why? So you can tell me it’s perfect Sam? I don’t under-”
“Please” She interrupted him “Please ask me”
“Have you met your person?”
“Yeah, I have, for a long time now, but I was an idiot and I didn’t realize it until just recently” She said through her sobs, Luke forgot how to breathe, playing her words over and over again “When I found your present and looked through it I realized it’s you, it has been you all along, Luke, you’re my person”
Luke didn’t waste no time and kissed her, feeling his heart being mend with every second that passed, when they pulled away, he asked “What about Sam?”
“He’s been out of the picture for months” She admitted and Luke resumed their kiss only to pull apart immediately.
“You’re my person, Penelope, always have, always will” He choked out.
“I love you, Luke” She caressed his face in her hands.
Luke closed her eyes, her words giving him a joy he didn’t knew existed “I love you too, Penelope” 
“So… Can I stay?” She chuckled through her tears.
“Only if you stay forever” Luke answered and took her in his arms, planning to make up for all the lost time where he wasn’t able to show her how much he loved her.
“Home, let me come home, home is wherever I’m with you” 
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
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