#i got proposed to then I went on a week-long trip then i got in a car accident so yeah

[windflight]

Frostpaw and Longtail designs based on their figurines

Separate under the cut

#warrior cats #warriors #wc #warrior cats design #longtail #frostpaw #my art #i haven't posted art in such a long time sorry about that #i just had the busiest last two weeks #i got proposed to then I went on a week-long trip then i got in a car accident so yeah

[sc0tters]

Lips Sealed - Jack Hughes

summary: when jack rights his wrongs it makes this years trip to the lake house unforgettable.

request: yes/no

warnings: sexual themes, p in v, thigh riding, swearing, fireworks, alcohol.

word count: 4.09k

authors note: firstly to those who read the sneak peeks thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me with this one! @babydollmarauders I hope what I’ve done to our idea has met your expectations. This is my first smut with a plot alongside it so let’s all play nice and act like it was well executed, okay?

The lake house had always been the best part of your summers.

For as long as you could remember the joyous memories belonged to that house. Being back with your friends and your brother after spending months meant that your mind was at peace “good morning to you too.” Jack smirked as he leaned against the wall of the kitchen.

It made you shriek as you jumped “Jack!” You groaned clutching your chest as you stood up straight. The boy laughed as he watched your Michigan maize baseball jersey fall to your sides as it covered your ass “sorry princess.” The hockey player smiled as he walked over to you “just came to see what the noise was in here.” He explained taking a berry from the bowl in your hands as the boy stared down at you.

Your cheeks turned red as the open jersey complimented the yellow bikini that you wore “just me.” Your voice was soft as you tucked your hair behind your ear watching him lean against the counter “feel like I haven’t seen you alone all week.” Jacks lips formed a frown as he held his arms out to hug you.

Ever since you were younger Jack always did have a soft spot for you “all you had to do was talk to me.” You pointed out as he had been catching up with Trevor as you did the same with Luke “wanna go for a ride then so we can do that?” Your chin rested against his chest as his offer lingered in your ears.

The boat was the true corner stone of the lake house, the boys got to use it as their moment to truly relax and be boys. You on the other hand lived for the laughter you got watching your best friend and your brother miserably fail at water skiing “I’ll even teach you to drive.” Jack proposed finally offering you the opportunity you couldn’t say no to.

Just as you had assumed the rest of the house was captured in a deep sleep probably brought on by their indefinite hangovers “let me help.” Jack placed his hat on your head as his hand went to help you onto the boat “really?” You weren’t complaining that Jacks locks were now free but you couldn’t help but send him a glare as the hat was too big for your head “Trevor would kill me if you came back burnt.” His words made you laugh as you threw your head back.

The idea of Jack having any kind of fear of your brother made your cheeks hurt as you tried to keep quiet going towards your normal seat on the boat “wow you’re really trying to get away from me that fast?” The hockey player teased making you stop in your tracks “meant it when I said I’d teach ya to drive.” His hand extended to yours.

You stared at the single seater that Jack sat on first “you know I don’t bite.” The hockey player joked as he helped you onto his lap making you straddle his leg as you faced the wheel “I’ll help you lead you.” Jack’s voice was soft as he let his chin rest on your shoulder.

Just as Jack had hoped it took you a few minutes to relax as you loosened up allowing the sounds of the water hitting the boat to scratch an itch you didn’t even know was in your brain. But with each hit the boat had on the water it made your legs tense around Jacks and with that your clit would hit different his thigh as your hips would readjust against him “oh.” Your lips fell open as it was now his turn to tense his leg beneath you.

Jack pressed his lips against your shoulder “you’ve gotta stop moving like that.” Jack warned as his cock throbbed at the against his swim shorts “like what?” You mumbled as you the the boat come to a stop.

It was a lightbulb moment that Jack had as he smirked “you never gotten off on someone’s thigh before?” He watched as you began following the movements that his hands had you doing “nope.” You moaned slapping your hand over your mouth as your eyes widened at the feeling.

Your legs shivered as the feelings went straight to your core and up your spine “you trust me?” Jack asked brushing his fingers over your cheek making you nod “use your words baby.” The hockey player cooed making your brain feel as though your were melting.

Your tongue ran over your lower lip “of course I do Jack.” You smiled as the boy grinned “need you to face the front then.” Jack sent a nod to the people in front of you both “if you really wanna be a good girl for me lose the panties.” His words made you moan as you nodded following his request as you crouched down to hook your fingers into your bikini bottoms pushing them to the floor before you got back to his leg.

Jack leaned his head against the headrest of the chair as he watched you straddle his thigh “just follow my hands.” The hockey player cooed pressing his fingers against your hips “Jack.” You moaned as your clit grazed against his skin.

Your soaked cunt spread its wetness over his thigh “fuck you’re doing such a good job.” The mirror of the boat became his best friend when he could take in how your face contorted when your clit hit his skin at a different way “please.” You begged wanting to move quicker now desperate to come.

Of course though you should have known it wouldn’t have been this easy “god you’re so needy already.” Jack laughed as he tried to adjust himself in an attempt to ease the pain his cock felt “keep soaking my thigh with your pretty little pussy.” The hockey player used his energy to lean forward to kiss your shoulder.

The jersey had fallen off of your arms as you kept your head upright “such a gorgeous girl aren’t you?” His teeth sunk into your skin causing a loud moan to fall from your lips “naughty girl, we gotta keep quiet.” Jack clicked his tongue making your face feel warm as it turned red.

But as your thighs clenched around his leg it made Jack laugh “but maybe you want to be caught?” Those words made you whine as you writhed against his leg “that’s it.” He smirked pressing a kiss on your earlobe.

In an attempt to tease you Jack began to bounce his leg making your breasts bounce “use my leg and I’ll make you feel so good when you come.” It made you cry as your legs began to shake “I’m gonna come.” You announced letting your head fall against his shoulder.

The nature of your words turned him animalistic as Jack sped up the movements of your hips “go make a mess on my thigh my pretty girl.” Jack kissed your jaw as you came “god!” The hockey player slapped his hand over your mouth muffling your moans as your legs squeezed his thigh.

As your chest heaved Jack laughed watching you come back to earth “wow.” You forced the word from your lips “I know.” He leaned down to grab your panties as his phone went off ruining this moment you both had.

Jack frowned as he saw it “we gotta get back before they notice.” The boy explained making you nod “just give me a sec okay?” You pleaded sliding your swim bottoms onto your legs.

The ride home was quiet as Jack focused on the path ahead of him leaving you alone now back on your own seat. Meaning that you spent your ride home drowning your brain in fears that caused you to feel sick as you docked “let’s maybe keep this quiet okay?” Jack wrapped his hand around your arm.

It made you want to throw up as you scoffed “like I’d go tell the boys what happened.” You grumbled pulling away from him.

It was a weird mix of embarrassment that mixed with disappointment as it became clear to you that Jack thought so lowly of you. To go from having him being your world as a kid as everyone but Jack could see the crush you had on him. To then becoming friends with him only to find yourself on the boat like this had your world shattering around you “god I need a drink.” You clicked your tongue as you helped yourself off of the boat not wanting to wait for him to do anymore to your ego especially not whilst your orgasm still had you feeling vulnerable.

Jack didn’t know why he said what he had done and as he watched you throw his cap on the ground during your walk back to the house it made him rub his hand over his face “y/n wait!” The hockey player pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as he got up and tried to make up ground in getting to you “bro you will not believe what I found!” Unaware of how you went straight for your bedroom when you got in Trevor wrapped his arm around Jack forcing the conversation he wanted to have to wait.

The next few days all ended in the same ways, you avoided Jack who didn’t allow himself to look like he cared as he prioritised worrying about what the boys might say. It wasn’t that Jack was ashamed or embarrassed, but instead it was the fact that he couldn’t get the moans that left your lips and the way your eyes screwed shut out of his mind. So in essence, letting the boys in on that secret would have had to mean that Jack was admitting it to himself that he actually did indeed like you.

But those thoughts weren’t the ones that went through your mind as you spent considerable amount of time trying to plan how you wanted to screw with Jack. You knew it was childish but Jacks attempt to silence you only served as a purpose for you to get back at him.

That was how you landed up in your red bikini and shirt you stole from Luke at the beginning of the trip “stop it!” You giggled splashing Cole with water from the cooler as he poked at the skin of your leg “what’s so funny?” Jack asked walking out to see the amused look on your face.

It frustrated Jack to watch you wrap your hand around Cole’s arm “just Cole being Cole.” You caught your lower lip between your teeth as the younger boys eyes trailed down your body “Z wanted to know if you would go with him to get fireworks.” Jack lied through his teeth as he smiled.

Trevor did most things with Cole meaning that it wasn’t unbelievable that your brother expected his friend to go along with him “I’ll see you in a bit.” Cole sighed squeezing your hand before he went to head back into the house.

Jack should have known it was too easy as the door slid shut “what are you playing at?” You asked crossing your arms as you sent the Hughes boy a scowl “what do you mean?” Jack shot back as he raised his eyebrows.

You couldn’t help it as you laughed “you dragged me to the store last week to get the damn fire-” what you didn’t expect was that you were silenced by Jacks hand as it went over your mouth for a second time, with this being so drastically different from the first.

He glared as you lay your tongue flat against his palm making sure to lick his skin “god!” Jack shrieked grumbling as he wiped his hand on the fabric of his shorts “okay I hid them is that what you wanted to hear?” The hockey player didn’t see the problem as it was the Fourth of July so that meant fireworks weren’t something you could have too much of.

Your eyes turned to sharp lines as you began to compose your thoughts into clear words “look I know you feel like we made a mistake.” You cut yourself off as you sucked at your teeth staring at the ground “but that’s in the past so can you just let me move on?” Your fingers raked through your hair as the frustration was evident on your face.

Seeing that you were feeling similar emotions to him it made Jack frown and stand in silence “that’s what I thought.” You clicked your tongue shaking your head as you walked to the door thinking that if you were quick enough maybe you could catch the boys “y/n please.” Jack begged placing his hand on your shoulder.

The look you sent him was one he truly never thought he’d get from you. Not only were you irritated but you were also disappointed, and it was disappointment only directed at him “we’ve only got a couple more days together so let’s play nice.” Your words were a clear contrast from your facial expressions as you glared at him “stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.” You added slipping through the gap in the door leaving the boy with a lot of things on his mind.

To be honest Jack didn’t like that offer, he hated that you wanted to keep him away. So the only thing Jack could think of was to do exactly what you didn’t want him to do, Quinn contemplated calling his brother your shadow as he stayed by your side for the rest of the afternoon and even as meat was on the grill cooking for dinner.

The glares you sent the middle brother didn’t go unnoticed until you both ended up fighting over the last beer in the cooler “let go Jack.” You warned gripping the neck of the bottle “why don’t you go get one from the kitchen?” Jack tugged it back staring down at you.

It was a stupid fight that had gone on for far too long as you both constantly pulled it back and forth“why don’t you!” As you gave it a final tug it sent you and the bottle backwards to the ground and as luck had it the cap of the beer all of a sudden shot off hitting you with the rest of the beer that was in the bottle “fuck!” You gasped feeling the cold sticky liquid soak your body.

The boys silently watched on as you got up shaking your head “nice talking to you dickhead.” The white fabric of your shirt stuck to your red bikini top making you cringe as Trevor’s reaction matched yours “you get your eyes off of my sister right now!” He warned making you look down at your top.

Jacks eyes had followed yours as his mouth watered “I’m gonna get changed.” You mumbled dropping the bottle to the ground as you walked to the porch “okay what the hell happened on that boat?” Luke sent his brother a glare as Jacks eyes only left you once you slid the door shut.

The middle Hughes boy sighed “stay out of it!” Jack groaned as he pushed past his brother “where are you going?” Cole complained seeing that another person had disappeared from the dinner table “to get that fucking beer!” Jack spat as he shook his head following hot on the trail you had.

Frustration coarsed through your veins as you peeled the shirt off of your chest “that little dick.” You grumbled grabbing the wash cloth from your bathroom as you heard the bedroom door open “I’m busy!” You complained setting the cloth door as you looked to the door.

Jack locked eyes with you riling you up all over again “go have that beer Jack.” You grumbled placing your hand on his chest as you tried to force him out of your room “god you are infuriating.” Jack mumbled as he was stronger than you only moving back to the point where his back hit the door.

You stared at his lips before yours moved back to his eyes “at least I’m not the one who acts fucking bip-” Jack cut you off as his hands cupped your cheeks before he kissed your lips.

This wasn’t like anything you had ever experienced as he pulled away for a second to scan your face for any protests that you could have made. But as they didn’t come Jack let his lips capture yours once more “Ja-” you moaned as the hockey player pressed his hands against your waist as he walked you both back to your bed.

As the back of your knees hit the mattress you both fell onto your bed “I hate you.” You grumbled as the boy hovered over you “shut up.” Jack rolled his eyes as he hooked his hands under your knees pushing you further up your bed.

His lips moved to your jaw as all of the anger he had built up about the situation fizzled away with each kiss as Jack let himself nip at your skin “fuck Jack please.” Your body felt on fire as his lips moved down to your collar bone “taste like a fucking delight.” Jacks voice sent shivers down your spine as he moved back to stare at your bikini that barely covered your perky nipples.

If the sound of music from downstairs wasn’t currently echoing through Jacks ears as you had left your window open he would have taken his time but before you could complain the triangles were pushed to the side as the boy lowered his head around one and used his fingers to tease the other. Your hand tugged at Jacks longish locks that you once thought you hated but now as you used it to help steady him as he swirled his tongue around your nipple you were in awe “fuck Jack.” You repeated those words a few more times when the boy realised how responsive your body was to his movements.

But as always the irritating deadline Jack found himself came to the forefront of his mind as he was reminded of the fact that he told the boys that he was only getting a beer “would wanna taste this cunt of yours but we don’t got time for that.” The desperation in his voice was brought on by his painfully throbbing cock that rubbed against his shorts “and besides it seems you’re already ready.” The boy smirked seeing the wet patch that had formed on your bottoms that were now on full display for him to see with you out of that shirt.

His hand cupped your cunt making your squirm “you know I could leave you in here with that.” You warned as you sat up “we both know you’ve been waiting for a proper orgasm for too long to do that.” It was irritating how right Jack was as he sat on your bed again lips mere millimetres away from yours “show me you can be the one to give it to me then.” Your challenge had Jack thinking that he had been dreaming all along and that couldn’t have been real.

Yet as you sat there with a smirk on your face ready for accept this as a win Jack had to be the one to stop you “take those off.” Jack got up as he undid the drawstring of his waistband only to look up and see that you hadn’t moved “take it off before I rip them off baby.” His tone was harsher finally making you comply with him.

The pile of clothing was quick to form as your eyes trailed down Jacks body desperately noting how each part of him looked “god you’re so fucking beautiful.” He gasped staring like you were the only girl on this planet “c’mere.” You mumbled opening your legs to allow Jack the space to slot himself into.

It didn’t take him long again to have his lips find yours but this time his free hand that wasn’t holding his weight was instead directing his cock over your clit “fuck.” You moaned allowing his tongue into your mouth as your head fell back “you’re so wet.” Jack let out a grunt as he tilted his head down to watch as your cunt swallowed his cock.

Your hand squeezed at his arm “jesus!” You even felt your toes tingle as he bottomed you out with such ease “just you and me in here pretty girl.” Jack jokingly corrected you as he began to move his hips back and forth denying you of the opportunity to snap back at his lousy joke.

Jack felt your body relax as you adjusted to his size “please Jack.” You begged bringing your knees up on either side to make his angle more enjoyable for you “like this pussy was made for me.” Jack felt himself feel every part of your cunt “gonna make sure that I fuck it good.” His words ended with another kiss on your lips as it quickly turned into Jacks drug that was like his oxygen.

Lust clouded your mind as you attempted to drive your hips against his “look at you trying to get yourself off on my cock.” The click of his tongue was playful as your cunt clenched at his words “what would Z say about his little sister being this desperate.” The squelching noise that came after his thrusts made you moan as tears formed in your eyes feeling his full length inside of your aching core.

You struggled to come up with the words “h-he can’t.” You stammered as a sparkle danced over his eyes “then you gotta keep quiet princess.” Jack brushed his finger over your lips as you nodded. He watched your eyes begin to flutter just like they had done so on the boat “you close?” His head dropped to your shoulder where the hockey player began scattering innocent kisses on your skin.

The needy moan that left your lips made him smirk “feel so full.” You huffed as Jack slid his hand between your bodies “you feel me baby?” He pressed against your lower stomach causing the feeling of his thrusts to intensify “that’s what I want you to remember the next time a guy tried to fuck you.” Jacks words were only met with a whine that grew louder as he let his fingers hit your clit.

You chewed at the inside of your cheek “this pussy is yours Jack.” You shook your head at his words unintentionally making him smirk “you wanted to let me ruin you for all other guys then?” His breath fanned the shell of your ear as Jack used everything in his power to make his thrusts quicker.

A cry hit your walls as you pushed your head into the pillow “be a good girl and milk my cock when you come okay?” Your throat went dry as you nodded “I’m gonna-” your legs began to shake as your body looked like it was going to give out from under Jack.

He was right behind you as the pressure he had on your clit increased “let it all go my pretty girl.” You didn’t need to hear anymore as your eyes screwed shut and your hips continued to writhe against his thrusts “fuck!” Jack kissed your lips as your cunt clenched around his cock causing his orgasm to him as he attempted to fuck you through yours.

The two of you lay there for a few seconds until his thrust’s completely slowed and his cock slid out of your soaked cunt “you hear that?” You asked as you heard fireworks from outside as you looked to see that it was dark outside now.

It made Jack smile as he nodded “get dressed and then we can go see the end of it.” The center offered making you smile as he helped you out of your bed “you okay?” He added pressing a kiss against your lips as you nodded.

As you were both totally unaware from down below you sat the boys as they watched the fireworks with their meals on plates on their laps “how much do you want to bet they finally slept together?” Alex’s words made Trevor choke on his food “please y/n has way better taste than that!”

#Jack Hughes imagines #jack hughes x y/n #hockey smut #nhl smut #hockey imagines #nhl imagines #imagines #oneshots #amber writes fics

[roosterforme]

How Do You Feel About the Parking Lot? (Rooster x Reader)

Part of The What If Collection of blurbs for Roo and Baby Girl. My masterlist. Banner by @mak-32

Warnings: language, drinking, angst, fluff

You were excited at first. Very excited. You showed off your ring to everyone and gushed over the fact that you were engaged. And while you were still wearing his mom's engagement ring, it was becoming obvious to Bradley that things were not quite as they should be.

"Hey," he said softly as he walked into the kitchen. It was exactly nine weeks ago that he'd proposed in the dining room and you'd happily accepted that ring that glittered on your finger right now. But tonight you just mumbled something at him without looking up from your computer where you sat at the island. It was nearly midnight on Friday, and he would have given anything for you to start planning this wedding with him. "Are you coming to bed soon? I thought we could talk about potential wedding dates."

"Oh," you replied without looking up at him. "I'm still putting this presentation together."

Bradley sighed. "Baby Girl, you've been working nonstop for weeks. I just want... a little bit of your time." He wanted a lot of things, actually. Like a long snuggle on the couch while you and he watched a movie, or a soak in the tub together. He'd love a blowjob or pinning your hands above your head while he slammed you into the bed. But mostly he'd love to plan his wedding to you, because more than anything, he wanted to get married this year. And it was already late September. 

You glanced up at him and adjusted your glasses. "How about tomorrow? I really need to get this done before my work trip."

"Sure," he whispered before pecking you on the cheek and heading off to climb into bed alone. 

But it only got worse from there. You worked all weekend. On Monday, you didn't come home until seven o'clock. Tuesday was eight o'clock. By Wednesday, he wasn't sure if you were even eating or sleeping any longer. And worse yet, you were leaving for Annapolis in a few days. Bradley wouldn't even see you for a week. Not that he really saw you now, he supposed. 

He ate a bowl of cereal for dinner before sinking down onto the couch with Tramp and a bottle of scotch. He turned on Real Housewives, but he wasn't really watching it. He took a sip, and it burned. But the next one didn't. And neither did the one after that. He started to feel better. But he'd stop when you got home. 

Another episode started, but it still wasn't holding his attention the way you would have, and that's when he realized it was once again seven o'clock, and you still weren't home. When his phone rang, he sloshed some of the alcohol onto his tee shirt reaching for it, and he was praying it was you calling to tell him you were on your way home. 

He pressed his lips together and then took a deep breath before he answered. "Hi, mom."

"Bradley! I haven't heard from the two of you in days! How's your lovely fiancée? And Tramp?"

The dog must have heard her voice through the phone, because he perked right up. But Bradley couldn't answer with anything other than a raspy, "Fine." 

The line went silent. "Are you sick? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, mom," he lied. "How are you? How's dad?"

"Well, I went to lunch with Brenda, and I got the scoop on all of her kids. And your dad needs hearing aids, but he keeps arguing with me about it. Maybe you can talk some sense into him, if he can even hear you."

"Okay," he replied, realizing the room had started spinning when he leaned back against the couch.

"Bradley, are you drunk?"

How could she possibly tell? His own wife-to-be couldn't seem to see what was going on, but Carole could tell by his voice from almost three thousand miles away. "I'm... fine, mom. I need to take Tramp for a walk. I love you and dad. Bye."

Then he ended the call, because he could feel tears in his eyes. And when you got home at nine, he was already asleep. 

-------------------------

You needed to go to happy hour with your boss and coworkers on Friday, but you really didn't want to. You'd been pulling twelve hour days, and you were so exhausted, you just wanted to climb into bed with Bradley and sleep until you left for Maryland on a Saturday night red eye flight. You also really needed to tell him that he had to lay off the wedding planning until you finished this work project. It was just a few months of all these extra hours, and you desperately wanted to be promoted. 

Your plan was to stop home quickly and change out of your uniform before heading back out with everyone to celebrate that fact that you were going to present your research at the Naval Academy. When you pulled into the driveway in your shitty, little red car, the Bronco was already there. But when you looked around the house for Bradley, you didn't immediately see him. But then you heard his voice through the open sliding glass door. He was sitting on the back patio in just his gym shorts with his back to the door and a half empty bottle of scotch set on his knee. 

His voice sounded miserable as he said, "I tried, mom. She just... doesn't seem to want to. I don't know what I did wrong." 

You froze in place. He had to be talking about you. Embarrassment and sadness filled you as you listened to what he said next. 

"I really wanted to get married this year."

You ran down the hallway to the bedroom as you fought off your tears. You had to get changed and go right now while you still could. In another week, you'd have a little more time to talk to him about the fact that you couldn't plan a wedding and get married in the next three months with your current schedule. 

You left the house again without talking to him, but he was still sitting on the patio on the phone. And when he dropped you off at the airport the following evening, he didn't seem to want to let you go as he whispered, "I love you, Sweetheart," and ran his thumb along your ring. 

"I love you too, Roo. I'll be home in a week, and then we can talk about maybe planning a wedding for next year?"

He swallowed hard and nodded. "If that's what you want."

---------------------------

When you landed in Maryland on Sunday morning, you were still exhausted and looking forward to crashing until your presentation on Monday. But Carole called you when you were at the baggage claim, and you knew you had to answer. A guilty feeling was about to eat you alive as you put on a bubbly voice and said, "Hi!"

"Have you arrived in Annapolis?" she asked straightaway, and you sighed because at least she didn't sound angry with you. 

"I did," you told her softly. "Still at the airport."

"Perfect," she replied. "I'll leave now, and I'll be there in less than fours hours, and we can go get lunch."

You were so stunned, you watched your bag go past without realizing you needed to pick it up. "You're going to drive up from Virginia?" you asked her slowly.

"Yes. I'm grabbing my keys right now. Bye, Goose! I'll be back later!" You listened to her call out to her husband, and then a few seconds later, you heard a door close and a car start. She was actually going to drive up here.

"Oh, okay," you muttered, pressing your lips together, embarrassed about where you'd left things with her son. "I'll... see you in a few hours."

You managed to take a short, restless nap while you waited for Carole to arrive. You changed into a simple dress and put on some makeup, but you didn't really feel any better until you met her at a restaurant in the city. She rushed down the sidewalk toward you with a bright smile on her face. "My sweet girl!" she called out, wrapping you up in a hug next to a few tables full of people enjoying their lunch outside. "It's been too long." She kissed your cheek and started to lead you inside. 

"Thanks for driving all the way up here," you told her, not bothering to fight the smile tugging your lips. She was absolute sunshine, and it was pointless to try to resist it. "You didn't have to do this."

"Nonsense," she said as the two of you made your way to a booth. "I wanted to see my future daughter-in-law."

You nodded and enjoyed some pleasant conversation. She told you all about Goose's appointment with an audiologist and about Brenda's kids. And after you finished your avocado toast and bowl of soup, she said, "Now, I think we should talk about what's really important."

Her voice wasn't unkind, and she was still smiling softly, but you knew what was coming as you whispered, "Okay."

Carole reached across the table and took your hand gently in hers. "I know you're smart and independent. And I also know that's part of why Bradley loves you so much. You don't need him. He's not offering you anything you can't get on your own or with someone else. You chose him, because you want him." Tears started to fill your eyes, and you had to swallow against the lump in your throat. "And he just wants you to be happy, so he would never tell you to your face that you're hurting him."

You tried to speak, but you just made a pathetic sound and started to sob. "I don't want to hurt him."

"I know you don't," she replied softly, squeezing your hand. "I know you're not trying to. But I think you need to tell him once and for all that you don't want to get married this year so he can finally get used to the idea of waiting a bit."

You buried your face in your free hand. Why were you trying to push it off anyway? It's not like you really cared where you got married or what the two of you were wearing. Planning some sort of huge celebration was not something you wanted to spend your time doing. You wanted to be with Bradley exactly as you were right now, just with two more rings and a certificate involved. 

When you looked up at Carole, you whispered, "I don't really think I actually want to wait. And I don't want you to hate me either."

"No," she gasped, standing and coming to sit next to your on your side of the booth. She kissed your tear streaked cheek and whispered, "I could never, my sweet darling girl. I think you just need to talk to Bradley, okay? Can you promise me you'll give him a few hours of your full attention? And maybe let him know how much he still means to you?"

"Yes," you croaked, and you let her hold you as you cried.

---------------------------

The week without you was kind of miserable. Bradley managed to dump the rest of the bottle of scotch at Carole's urging over the phone. And he did notice that she and Goose started calling with a bit more frequency which he didn't really mind. But the best part was that fact that you called him every night before you went to bed. 

Every time he answered your calls, his heart thundered in his chest. And as soon as he called you Sweetheart, he could practically hear you smiling through the phone. "I can't wait to pick you up on Friday," he said over and over. If he just felt like he mattered to you again, then he could wait until next year to get married. That was no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

But when he met you in baggage claim at San Diego International late on Friday night, he was so surprised, he could barely speak. You ran for him with a garment bag in your arms, but you let it fall to the floor when you reached him. "Roo," you moaned as soon as you were in his grasp. "I missed you so much." You kissed him deeply. "I just got off the phone with your mom again. And I didn't tell you before, but I went to see my friend Caleb a few days ago," you said as you smirked.

"The tattoo artist?" he asked as he kissed your cheek fifteen times. When you nodded he asked, "What's in the garment bag?"

"My wedding dress."

"Holy shit." He scooped it up off the floor and held it tight. "You bought a dress?" he asked, trying to hold you and the garment bag both to his chest at the same time.

"Yes," you told him matter-of-factly as you tugged him toward the exit while you kissed his lips. "How do you feel about getting married in the parking lot in two months?"

------------------------

#if you ask emily #is it working for you? #roosterforme #b&bg #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw imagine #rooster imagine #bradley bradshaw x you #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #rooster x you

[xarlenewithanx]

Consummation of the Marriage

Husband Gojo Satoru x F! reader

Summary: it has only been a few months since you got married to Satoru Gojo, and the family elders are already getting impatient since you’re not pregnant yet

Content: arranged marriage, use of pet names, reader has fem! anatomy, smut, fluff at the end, mentions of pregnancy, breeding,  

a/n: ‘yes self, prioritize writing this instead of studying for your seven quizzes tomorrow.’ I was listening to Agora Hills by Doja Cat while writing this. also thanks to @disillusionistt for the prompt that turned into a long story. hope you like it!!! (cuz I don't)

wc: 1.7k

This was the first time since your wedding that you would be alone with Gojo Satoru. No servants, no maids, just purely you and him.

This wouldn’t have happened if the elders from both sides of your family were a little more patient.

     “Did you consummate your marriage yet?” “Do you feel nauseous?” “How many weeks is it?” They bombarded you both with questions; he just stared at you as if it was your responsibility as his wife to answer them.

     “My lord, my lady, we haven’t done our duties yet… Please give us more time,”

The elders scoffed in irritation as they explained how Gojo was made just the night after his parents’ wedding and complained about your incompetence.

     “Think about the bloodline dear! it is your duty!” They warned you like he was going to die tomorrow.

     “How about we stay on one of our estates for a week? Just me and my wife? Would that suffice?” Gojo proposed.

The elders looked at each other as they weighed the pros and cons of his suggestion.

     “Very well. If it takes that long for her to carry your child, then we shall wait patiently for that to happen,” they finally agreed.

And that’s how you got yourself into this situation. You and him, in an estate where the servants’ quarters are quite far from the main house.

You were quiet the whole trip there. Since the wedding, he has never been staying beside you for long hours.

His phone rang in the middle of the ride, to which he answered it.

     “Hello? Suguru? Could you substitute me for teaching the first years? Those walking skeletons kept bugging me with their demands again,”

You chuckled at the word ‘walking skeletons’, which he noticed, he turned to you and you looked at him, the awkward silence filled the car until Suguru broke it through the phone.

     “Ya still there Satoru?” Suguru asked from the other line.

     “Yeah, I was distracted; so, about the substitution, ya’ up for it?”

     “Sure! How hard is it to teach a few kids?”

     “Okay then! I leave it up to you now, bye!”

Throughout the whole conversation, you were looking out the window, looking at the beautiful view of the mountains and rivers.

     “Pretty isn’t it?” He asked.

     “Yes, it does.” You respond.

You see a mansion in the distance. You looked into it in awe as the entire view was mesmerizing.

     “See that over there?” he pointed at the mansion. “That’s where we’ll be staying, the servant’s quarters are quite far, so be sure you’re settled once nighttime sets, it’s a hassle going back and forth just to call them.

You felt his breath just behind your ear. Turning to him, he was so close to you. You flinched as this was the first time he was ever so close to you.

     “You look like you just saw a ghost,” He laughed, “How cute,”

     “You have white hair!” you shout, “anyone would mistake you for a ghost!”

     He placed his hand on his heart and acted as if he had a heart attack.

     “Ouch! Baby that hurts!” he proclaimed.

You had forgotten about his dramatic behavior since graduation. It is at this moment that you are reminded that he has never changed.

     “We’re here!!!” He yelled in excitement.

     He got out of the car and went to your door to open it. He reached out his hand to you.

     “Well? Aren’t you gonna get out?” He teased.

You snapped back. “Yeah, sorry,” you took his hand and got out of the car.

You look at the mansion and behold its beauty, then turn your head to see the servants’ quarters from the distance.

     “Why are the quarters far away from the main house?” You question.

     “This house was used as a honeymoon getaway for newly married couples,” He turned to you and lowered his head just beside your ear. “Don’t wanna traumatize them with noises, do we?” He chuckled.

You breathed deeply as you tried to comprehend the uses of this house.

     “My ancestors, my grandparents, my parents, they did it here, and now, it’s our turn! Isn’t this exciting?” He teased.

     “To you…” You replied.

After you both spent your time exploring parts of the house and enjoying the view from the balconies, it was nearing sunset, and there were only very few servants left since the others walked to their quarters.

By the time the servants had all left, it was just you and him. When you settled in your shared bedroom, he was in the bathroom probably cleaning himself after the exhausting trip. When you try to take off your clothes, you realize there is a zipper at the back.

Well shit…

When he got out of the bathroom, only clothed in a towel on his lower body, he noticed you weren’t in your bathrobe yet.

     “Well? Aren’t you gonna take a bath?” he says.

     “Help… Me…” you plead.

     “What’s it about this time?”

     “Unzip my dress, please”

Gojo went behind you to unzip your dress. He was caught off guard when he saw your bare skin. He felt like a Victorian man seeing a woman’s ankles for the first time during that moment.

His fingers lightly traced your skin before he lowered his head to kiss your shoulders.

You gasp at the feeling of his lips on your skin, tracing down to your arms as he showered you with kisses while his arms wrapped around you. He turned you around as he continued kissing your collarbone- even sucking it- until it left hickeys.

     “Gojo I-“

     “Satoru… Call me Satoru,”

     “Satoru,” you moan.

He finally finished unzipping the dress and it fell to the ground, your naked body, with only your panties on, was left for him to see.

You looked down in embarrassment, but he lifted your chin up to look at him, his blue eyes seemed to have a soft glow in the dark room.

His lips crashed into yours, kissing you aggressively. You fell into the bed but he was still kissing you, one hand gripping your arm as the other fondled your breast.

His kisses went down to your nape, you gasped as this new sensation of pure bliss overwhelmed you.

“Fuck baby… didn’t know this side of ya’”

He was sucking on your nipple as his hand drew circles at the other. You pushed his head deeper into your chest as the feeling was so good.

He traced his hand down to your clothed cunt. He pressed your pussy and felt the soaking wet texture.

You moaned loudly as the feeling of his warm hands pressed your clit.

“All I did was kiss and touch you, and you’re already this wet?” He chuckled. “How adorable,”

He pulled your panties down and he spread your legs apart. His fingers lightly drew circles on your clit, making you moan.

He pushed his finger deep inside your tight entrance, looking for your G-spot. You screamed when his finger touched a part inside you that felt sensitive.

“Found it,”

He inserted two fingers this time, stretching your hole as he curled his fingers on your G-spot, earning him loud moans and whimpers from you.

“’toru!!!”

You tried closing your legs but he just spread you open even wider as he continued playing with your pussy.

You tightly gripped the sheets as he continued fingering you.

You feel your orgasm coming as he doesn’t seem to slow down any further.

“Satoru I’m so close!!!”

“Fuuuuck… you take my fingers so well,” he cooed.

He moved his fingers inside you even faster, your moans got louder and louder until you screamed as you reached your limit.

Your juices were leaking all over the bed, and he was happy to lick your pussy clean.

You clench your thighs around his head as he ate you out like a starved man. He let out a groan as he continued lapping your cunt and gripping your thighs, you not being able to stay still made him go faster.

“Satoru! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

He spat on your clit and licked it clean. You were probably overstimulated at this point.

He gave you orgasm after orgasm after orgasm, and he did it using only his tongue and fingers.

He lifted his head and kissed you, making you taste your own juices.

     “You taste so good love,” he cooed.

You didn’t have the strength to even reply to him. Your throat was sore from all the loud moans and screams you let out.

He untucked his towel, his exposed cock leaking pre-cum. He laid his dick flat on your stomach for you to see how deep he can reach you, almost reaching your navel.

He rubbed his tip on your clit as it leaked pre-cum on your pussy before slowly inserting it into your entrance. You whined as his dick almost reached your cervix.

“Satoru…”

“Shhh… I’ll go slow… I promise,”

He slowly thrusts inside you, letting you get used to his size. His dick alone already made you so full.

He placed his body on top of you as you dug your nails onto his back.

He started increasing his speed as you got used to his size.

Your moans, along with his have been the only noise heard in the room.

“Shit princess… This pussy’s so tight like it was made f’ me,”

He kissed you as he rammed his dick inside you for quite a while without even taking a break.

You slowly feel his rhythm going unstable.

He’s almost there.

After one last rough thrust, he released his seed inside you- even spilling out of you, to which he gladly shoved it back inside.

“Can’t miss a single drop,”

He grabbed a wet towel to wipe your body before he carried you to the bathroom to give you a warm bath before cuddling him to bed.

     The next morning, you were awoken by the smell of fresh flowers and pancakes. You woke up to find him preparing your breakfast in bed.

“Mornin’! Slept well?” he asks.

“Mhmm!”

“Well, I made you breakfast! Hope you like it!” he exclaimed.

He fed you a spoonful of the pancake before he wiped your mouth, handing you some milk after that.

#jjk #jjk smut #gojo smut #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsukaisen #gojo satoru #megumi fushiguro #toji fushiguro #geto suguru #jujutsu kaisen smut #gojo x reader smut #gojo x you #gojo x you smut #jujutsu kaisen satoru #smut fanfiction #xarlenie writes #smut

[fvllingflower]

Je t'aime

pairing: idol!joshua afab!reader

genre: romance, smut

warning: petnames, proposal, kissing (a lot), nipple play, oral(f!receiving), hickeys, unprotected sex (stay safe), aftercare

song recommendation: valentine by måneskin

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

"Love?" Joshua sits next to you on the couch.

"Mhm?" You look up at him with a smile.

"I have a surprise for you" He smiled.

"I'll need you to pack your suitcase, it'll need to last a week" Your eyes widened.

"Baby are you taking me on a trip?" You asked.

"I am but I'm not telling you where just yet" He kisses your cheek.

"Now go pack" You got up from the couch and walked into the bedroom and started packing. He came into the bedroom and started packing as well.

"The flight is at 8pm, okay?" He smiled.

"Okay..." You nodded excitedly.

It was now 7:15 and you two left for the airport. You two walked to your gate number and sat down and waited.

"So when will you tell me where we are going?" You smiled at Joshua.

"Mhm I don't know yet" He held your hand and smiled.

"But you do look really cute right now" You smiled at his compliment.

"I love you" You whispered to him.

"I love you more" He whispered back.

You two got on the plane and had seats right next to each other. You liked the idea of being next to him the entire flight. He let you rest your head on his shoulder and let you fall asleep all while holding your hand. You woke up some hours later.

"Can I know where we are flying to?" You whispered.

"Promise not to freak out" He smiled.

"I promise"

"We're going to Paris" He watched your eyes get wider and watched you smiled.

"Are you serious?" You asked, holding both his hands. He nodded his head.

"I love you so much" You kissed his lips passionately. He smiled into the kiss.

"I love you so much more, my love" He hugged you.

You two got to the hotel and were both exhausted from a long flight. You two laid on the bed and you scooted close to Joshua. He pulled you over to him and cuddled you. You buried your sleepy face into his chest and slowly fell asleep.

You woke up the next morning to Joshua crawling out of bed. You kept your eyes closed letting him think you're still asleep. He left the room and when he came back he kissed you all over your face to wake you up.

"Mmm Shua" You groaned.

"Let's go get breakfast, love" He whispered.

"Let me rest a little longer" You rolled over away from him.

"Love~" He spoke in a sing-song type tone.

"Let's enjoy a French breakfast" You finally woke up completely. You rolled back over and looked at him. You both smiled at each other.

"I forgot we're in France" You mumbled.

"How are you this cute in the morning?" He kissed your lips softly.

You got out of bed and got dressed for the day. You two left the hotel for an adventure. You were holding hands as you both walked to a breakfast restaurant. After breakfast Joshua suggested you two went shopping. You guys went to visit shops and you came across a dress you really love, it was a lacy, and raspberry pink color, and when you tried it on, it fit you perfectly. Joshua stared at you in the dress, as you two were in the dressing room.

"You look so..." It was like he was captivated.

"So gorgeous." He kept looking you up and down.

"Makes me want to kisses you" He stood up and kissed you softly. He wrapped his arms around your waist.

"I think you should get this dress love" He looked at the dress again.

"You like it?" You smiled at his cuteness.

"I love it but not much as I love you" He smiled.

You two got out of the dressing room and you had the dress on the hanger and held on to it. You left the store and Joshua bought you the dress. After shopping you two went back to the hotel.

The next came and it's Valentines day. You were getting ready to go out for dinner. You were changing into the dress you bought yesterday. You did you hair and put on some heels you bought as well. You walked to Joshua and he smiled.

"My beautiful valentine" He smiled and held your hands.

"My sweet valentine" You smiled back.

"Are you ready to go out?" He asked.

"Yeah" You kissed him softly.

You two left the hotel and went to a nice restaurant. The entire night, Joshua kept flirting with you, making you blush. After dinner, you two went on a walk, and you held hands the entire time. Where you both were standing, the eiffel tower was in front of you both. Joshua let go of your hand, making you confused. He got on one knee and pulled out a ring box.

"Joshua" You smiled softly.

"I have loved you for 6 years and I plan to love you for many more years. You are the light to my dark days. You are so beautiful, intelligent, and funny. I'm so lucky to call you mine and I want to call you mine for forever. Will you marry me?" You were trying hold back your tears.

"Yes, yes, yes" You let him put the beautiful diamond ring on your ring finger. He stood up and kissed you softly.

"I love you so much" You whispered against his lips.

"I love you so much more" He hugged your body.

You two went back to the hotel and took your shoes off. Joshua grabbed you by the chin and kissed you passionately. You could feel the hunger in his kiss. He picked you up and laid you on the bed and hovered above you. He started kissing down your neck, then down your cleavage. He took the dress off of you, leaving you in your bra and underwear. He started sucking on your collarbone.

"Mm Shua" You moaned quietly.

"So gorgeous" He mumbled against your neck before kissing it again. He took your bra and panties off, leaving you completely naked. He started kissing your chest like crazy.

"I'm gonna love this beautiful body until I die" He whispers.

He starts kissing down your chest to your stomach and to your thighs. He stops for a minute and takes he button up off and throws it on the floor. He starts kissing and nipping at your inner thighs, enjoying the little whimpers he receives from you. He had one hand holding your thighs open and the other one cupping your boob. You feel his hot breath on your vagina. You then felt his wet muscle against your folds. He started licking and sucking on your clit and folds. It felt like he was making out with your bottom lips. He seems to be an expert on how to make you feel extra good. Your hand went into his hair and pulled tightly. His hand on your boob started playing with your nipple, pitching it and rubbing it, all making you a moaning mess. Before you knew it you couldn't control yourself and he was licking up your orgasm. He looked up at you and smiled at your fucked up state. He gets eye level with you and kisses you passionately.

"So gorgeous and all mine" He whispers against your lips. He gets up to take his pants and underwear off. You were both naked now. He gets eye level with you again.

"You want more?" He asks softly.

"Please" You groaned. You spread your legs open for him, your thighs pressed to your sides. He smirked and lined himself up and sank into your hole. He slowly started thrusting. He held onto your thighs as he thrusted.

"Mm- faster" You moaned. He picked up the pace. Fucking you fast and rough. He was going balls deep inside you, making sure to feel all the walls around him. Your boobs were bouncing as he fucked you in a fast pace.

"Joshua!" You moaned loudly. That made him go even faster. To him, you were some kind of ecstasy that he couldn't get enough of. He enjoyed hearing your moans for him and only him. He felt honored to be the one to make you feel so good, making orgasm, making you moan every time. He loved you so fucking much, he can't get enough of you nor your body. You two orgasmed together, mixing your white release together. He slowly pulled out and laid next to you. You both tried catching your breaths.

Time passed and you two were finally calmed down. Joshua got up and helped clean you up. He handed you a shirt of his amd underwear to change into and he put some underwear on and sweats. He helped you take your makeup off and he couldn't help but smile when he saw your natural beauty. You two cuddled up and kept looking at your ring.

"I can't believe you're now my fiancé" You smiled.

"Me neither... you're soon officially gonna be mine" He smiled and kissed your cheek.

"And you'll be officially mine" You kissed his lips. You were slowly falling asleep.

"You know this was hard because I don't like keeping secrets from you..." He waited for reply but got nothing.

"Love?" He looked down and saw you asleep, face pressed against his bare chest.

"Mm sleep well, my sleeping beauty. I love you" He whispered and kissed your temple.

#seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #seventeen fanfic #svt smut #seventeen smut #seventeen scenarios #joshua hong smut #joshua scenarios #joshua smut #joshua x reader

[unreliablesnake]

Dress-up game (Vincent de Gramont x reader)

Summary: Vincent comes home sooner from a business trip, and immediately wants to see you in one of his three-piece suits.

Note: It's the same reader that was in “Proposal.” / If you want to know when I post new stuff, follow @unreliablesnakefics and hit the get notifications button. I don't have a taglist.

Warnings: Mentions of sex. Minors DNI, I guess.

Sometimes when you missed Vincent, you raided his walk-in closet to pick something to wear. He had some casual clothes, although he rarely wore them, so you freely chose a plain green shirt, a white full-zip hoodie, and a pair of boxer briefs that you had never seen on him. He was abroad for work, but he was supposed to be back by tomorrow night.

One more night until you could finally kiss him again. Until you could wrap your arms around his body and feel the warmth radiating from his skin. Until you can tell him how much you love him face to face. Until his hands roam your body like that was the first time he laid his fingers on you.

These last nights alone were always the hardest. The mansion wasn't entirely empty, the staff was there, but it still felt like there was no one around. As long as his side of the bed was empty, you were hopelessly lonely. Sometimes you thought you were in too deep, that this relationship was taking away your independence, but you always convinced yourself that it was worth it.

“You should wear my clothes more often,” you suddenly heard Vincent whisper into your ear as he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind. “I would kill to see you in one of my three-piece suits. Don’t you want to play dress-up?”

With a bright smile on your face, you turned your head just enough to see his face. He got back sooner than expected, and the thought made your heart beat so fast that you expected it to jump out of your ribcage. “Now?”

“Why not?” he asked as he placed a soft kiss on your earlobe, his hand slowly moving past the hem of the boxers you wore.

You let out a sigh as you leaned back against him, your mind already somewhere else from the sensation of him touching you again. Two weeks was a long time, you were utterly touch-starved by now, and even the smallest and most innocent of touches could light your body on fire.

All of a sudden he moved his hands to your hips and turned you around with one confident move. “Come on, just one suit,” he told you quietly. “I want to see you in the one with the red jacket.”

There was something truly mind-blowing about the way he could play your body like a violin, fully aware of how one flick of his wrist can change everything in an instant. Your mouth fell open, chest heaving at a rapid pace while you tried to figure out what to say.

You didn't really feel like changing your clothes, but his green eyes were boring into yours as if he was silently trying to convince you to do it. And damn, he was good at this game. It was impossible to say no to him, so you just nodded and waited for him to tell you what to do.

But instead of ordering you around, he just took a step back and slowly undressed you, a playful smile creeping on his lips as he watched your naked body. He ran a finger down your chest, then went to the walk-in closet to get what he wanted you to wear.

“It will look stupid on me, you know,” you told him when he returned and put the clothes on the bed. He gave you a questioning look while helping you into a dress shirt. “You’re much taller than me,” you said, watching him button up the piece of clothing.

“You couldn’t look stupid even if you wore a clown outfit,” he assured you before kissing the tip of your nose.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” you told him with a short laugh.

Vincent shook his head, but decided to remain silent. Instead he picked up the pants and signaled you to raise a leg. You did as you were told with your eyes fixed on him, wondering why he was so keen to see you dressed like that. He did or said weird things every now and then, but this was new.

“I'm just sure you would look lovely. I might even get one tailored for you,” he said as if he could read your mind. His fingers brushed against your skin as he tucked in the shirt, and he seemed to enjoy the way your breath caught in your throat as a result. “Are my hands cold? Or do you want me to touch you that much?”

Instead of answering, you waited for him to offer the vest, and while you put your arms through its holes to put it on, your eyes were fixed on the hardwood floor. Yes, you were desperate. You were dying to be touched by him, to be fucked by him, but it appeared that he enjoyed this game way too much.

While he did the buttons of the vest, he leaned down to give you a kiss; a sweet, slow kiss that savored this moment of unusual intimacy between the two of you. You couldn’t deny that there was something good about this game, specifically the way he gently dressed you up like a doll. He only ended the kiss when he reached down for the red jacket, flashing a predatory smile at you as he offered it to you.

Letting out a sigh, you put it on and gave him a questioning look. “What do you think?”

“You look absolutely stunning, sweetheart,” he said as he took your hand and twirled you around. “I’m sure I’ll get you one of these,” he whispered before kissing you again. “Now let's get you out of it.”

#vincent de gramont x reader #marquis vincent de gramont x reader #vincent de gramont #marquis vincent de gramont #marquis de gramont x reader #marquis de gramont #john wick 4 #john wick #john wick chapter 4

[hey-august]

Ok ok another request for your 250 prompts...

#1 Touch with #3 "It's nice." and #10 "I'm full of surprises." With the chubby DadBod Buggy you wrote about that is just absolutely wonderful... 👀 Could be spicy or not but I revisited that earlier and just hnnngh chubby DadBod Buggyyyy 🧡 Thank you!

-rorywritesjunk

Yusssssss dadbody Buggy back again!!!!! Thank you for this, @rorywritesjunk!! 🩷 I definitely meant to sprinkle more spice in here, but got caught up in the fluff and incorporating some one bed trope vibes. This did give me a great idea for a separate but related spicy story though 👀

Prompts: Touch, "It's nice." "I’m full of surprises." Teaser: "Buggy chuckled as he settled down, fighting his insecurities with self-deprecation." Warnings: SFW. Not an established relationship. Sorta one bed trope - is it one bed trope if it's partially by choice? Word count: ~1.8k

Check out my 250 Follower Prompt Event and see fulfilled prompts here.

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ✩ ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Time moved at a pace only it understood. Days flew by while weeks dragged. Moments were drawn out with each new experience you had on the pirate ship until a month passed. It took you nearly four days to develop sea legs, eight days to be assigned a room of your own, and two weeks for you to stop getting lost on the ship. But you felt at home from the first step onboard. For the first time in your life, you were comfortable and felt like you belonged.

Lost in your own thoughts, pieces of your captain’s explanation of your afternoon duties slipped away before you could retain them. You gave an apologetic smile when he caught on. Buggy had been gripping his left forearm to half-heartedly massage the muscles while he spoke. Even as he flexed his hand, the tenderness carried through and showed on his face.

“Sorry, I was distracted. You should do it here, like this,” you said while grabbing the pirate’s gloved hand and flipping it so the palm side was up. 

Hooking his thumb and pinky between both of your pinky fingers, you carefully flexed his hand open and pressed into the taut muscles with your thumbs. His gloves made it difficult to drag the pressure along his palm, so you settled for digging into the meat and rubbing small circles.

You didn’t realize how overly familiar the gesture was until the silence became overbearing. The chatty clown had fallen quiet from shock and relief.

“Oh, sorry. That was too much,” you choked out, dropping his hand in mortification “Sometimes I’d get cramps from how much I wrote and I know how frustrating that can feel…” The explanation came out in an explosive babble.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Buggy rushed to stop your monologue, feeling second-hand embarrassment. At least, that’s what he assumed the heat in his body was from. “It’s no big deal…it actually felt good. Now if you know how to deal with tight shoulders, let me know,” he chuckled.

You nodded, afraid to open your mouth again. For the rest of Buggy’s repeat rundown, you stayed quiet and paid attention to each directive. As the captain turned to leave, the words you were struggling to swallow burst out.

“I can help with your shoulders. L-later, if you want…” You watched his back as he nodded, blue hair swinging from his hat, and left you to drown in your awkward proposal.

Curiosity followed Buggy through the rest of the day. Tugging on his attention, tripping his feet, and stealing thoughts out of his mind. As much as he tried to ignore the presence, it wouldn’t leave. He felt it in the hand you touched.

The pirate liked having you on the ship. He could see the changes you went through as you became accustomed to life with the crew. You became brighter and smiled more. Buggy often heard others talk about how helpful you are, that you often volunteer when someone needs help and you give encouragement while they practice skits and skills. It shouldn’t be a surprise that you were offering to help the captain, as well.

He nearly waited too long before knocking on your door. A part of him hoped that hours of overthinking would take away the opportunity to make a decision, but his feet brought him to your quarters before that could happen. The door quickly swung open, revealing your small but cozy room. You welcomed Buggy inside as he chittered about his sore muscles, hoping he could distract you from the blush that was certainly peeking through his face paint. Although he removed his captain’s coat and hat at the end of the day, he kept on the clown make-up.

You placed a pillow on the floor next to the bed and gestured for Buggy to sit down. He tilted his head and made a face before tossing the pillow back onto the bed and plopping to the ground, his back towards the bed.

“It’s just a floor, it’s not that bad,” he mumbled as you sat behind him and nestled your legs on either side of his torso.

“I just wanted you to be comfortable.” You spoke slowly, keeping each word even, unlike the beating in your chest. This was much different than grabbing the pirate’s hand earlier. He was in your room and between your legs. As fast as the thought popped up, you buried it in a dark corner in your mind.

You started by rubbing the base of Buggy’s head, digging your thumbs into the muscles beneath his skull and easing his tension and nerves. His head tilted forwards with a loud sigh and you moved the attention down his neck, following the curves of his body.

“...s’nice…yursonice…” He said something that sounded like words, but you couldn’t hear clearly. Pinching down a muscle that traveled from his neck to his shoulder, you asked what he said. 

Buggy took a deep sigh before replying. “I said ‘yo- it’s nice.’ This is nice.” Words that fit in his mouth a moment ago didn’t feel correct now. Whatever you heard seemed to be satisfying enough since you didn’t respond and you continued tending to his aches.

Although his body rocked gently with each squeeze of pressure, the knots littering his body held fast. The thick fabric of his top prevented you from pulling along his muscles and the woven material didn’t have enough give for you to slip your hands underneath. You massaged as long as you could before you could feel your fingers objecting to the rough fabric.

“Captain…” Your soft voice eased him out of the trance and he hummed in response. “I can’t get to some of the tight areas. If you want- if you’d be more comfortable, you could take off your shirt and lay down.” Your hands kept moving to keep the awkwardness from settling into place.

Buggy stayed silent. His comfort would be debatable if he took off any more clothing. The relaxation you worked into him only extended so far and other areas needed the same attention, but he was afraid of your attention being drawn somewhere else. Besides his nose, there are other parts of his body the pirate didn’t love - one of which was his soft stomach. So many pirates - and pirate captains - parade around in open shirts or entirely shirtless, showing off muscles bestowed by a life at sea. A physique the clown captain didn’t share.

As he worked through the thoughts, Buggy asked a question to fill the silence. “How do you know how to do this?”

“I’m full of-”

“-full of surprises. Fuck off,” Buggy cut you off, laughing that he walked right into that response. It had been repeated often enough that it should be an expectation in any conversation you two have.

“I’ll actually tell you, if you get comfortable.” You offered to trade your vulnerability for his.

Buggy held onto the fact that you never mentioned his nose like a lifeline and jumped in. Standing up, he kept his back facing you. He undid the wide band of belts around his waist, wincing as his stomach relaxed in the open space, and pulled off his shirt. Meanwhile, you straightened up the blankets on your bed and fluffed up the pillow.

You turned around to a half-dressed pirate standing in your room. Nerves and unease was creeping back into his body, just as they filled yours, so you rushed to have him lay face down.

“Hah, don’t want to look at this sorry sight anymore?” Buggy chuckled as he settled down, fighting his insecurities with self-deprecation.

“No, I think you look really good,” you blurted out. Hands flew to cover your mouth far too late to stop the confession. 

Buggy looked at you with astonishment, unsure if you were fucking with him. Your wide eyes and red ears were another betraying confession.

“Thanks,” he muttered bashfully before turning away. The bed smelt like you. The pillow he had pressed against his chest smelt like you. He couldn’t relax, especially when the bed tilted as you kneeled next to him. But when your warm hands began running along his muscles, he melted into everything that was you.

“I learned how to do this because of drawing. I wanted to draw people, so I started by studying anatomy. Trapezius…” You applied pressure starting at his neck and dragged it down. 

“...scapula…” The movement followed the curve of his shoulder blade, finding bundles of tension along the way. A stifled groan escaped as you worked on the knots, breaking them apart and soothing the surrounding sinew. 

“E…spine something,” you questioned while your fingers danced on either side of his spine. “It was a while ago and didn’t help with my drawings, but I guess it was good for something.”

Buggy could hardly acknowledge what you were saying. It felt like his entire being was being handled, pinched, and rolled in a blissful way. He was no longer thinking about how uneasy he felt being partially undressed in front of you. The anxiety was soothed away as he loosened up. His head was full of your smell, his body covered in how you feel, and your voice was lulling him further and further away.

A few quiet minutes passed before a small sound broke your concentration. A sleepy snore. You froze, your hold pausing on his hips while massaging his lower back. A louder snort came out and you bit your lip to suppress a laugh. 

Laying an open hand on the middle of the captain’s back, you gently rocked his body. No response. You called his name. Nothing. You poked him. Still nothing. Grabbing Buggy’s shoulder, you shook a little harder. This time, you did get a response. 

“Not yet, still tired,” grumbled the pirate before rolling on his side. He was still facing away from you and clinging to your pillow.

You tried a few more times to wake Buggy up, explaining that it’s probably time for bed. He should go back to his room. It’s late. Why is he such a heavy sleeper? How can he sleep when you’re shaking him this hard? Seriously, he needs to wake up. None of it worked. You even tried to pull your pillow away, but he only hugged it tighter. There was no way you’d be able to get the blanket from under him either, so any chance of sleeping on the floor was impossible.

Between Buggy’s own exhaustion and the late hour, sleep began to wrap its warmth around you. Reluctant to find another reasonably comfortable place to rest for the night that didn’t involve waking someone else up and explaining why the captain was sleeping in your bed, you resigned yourself to making the best out of this situation. 

At least Buggy was no longer laying in the middle of your small bed. You curled up behind him and pressed your back against his. Your tiredness wavered at the touch, hesitant to fully descend when your heart was beating so fast. Listening to his deep breaths, you began to match your breathing and let sleep carry you away. There would be time in the morning to explain what happened. For now, you wanted to enjoy the moment.

#buggy x reader #buggy the clown x reader #buggy the clown #buggy x you #x reader #buggy op #opla buggy #one piece buggy #buggy x gender neutral reader #gender neutral reader #hey-august 250 follower event

[seonghwaddict]

EYES DON'T LIE — ii. room 323.

synopsis. you've always resented jeong yunho, and you were positive that the end of high school would've marked the end of your rivalry and hatred. yet now you find yourself in the same crappy hotel as him. assigned to be right next to each other much like the good old times. pairing. jeong yunho x fem! reader. genre. mini-series, fluff, slice of life, mature, academic rivals to lovers, non-idol au. chapter warnings. mentions of infidelity, heartbreak, angst, swearing. word count. 1k

chapter i. chapter ii. chapter iii.

after high school, you never once thought about yunho.

that was a lie.

you did for the first few weeks into college but soon enough, you outgrew the childish tendencies and pettiness of teenagers and focused on your own life. you went to a top college and graduated at the top of your year you didn’t have to share the number one spot this time. somewhere in the four years of college, you met min daehyun.

on the surface he seemed like a very average person. but as you got to know him and learned about the inner workings of his personality, you found yourself getting more and more interested in him. and it seemed that he felt the same way because only a few months after you had met, he asked you out.

after graduating, the two of you stuck together and even moved into an apartment together in busan. and then, when both of you found good, stable jobs, he popped the question. he proposed to you under the starry night as the two of you lounged on a picnic blanket on the sandy beach of busan. and you said yes.

because you love him.

you love loved him.

loved.

weeks ago, your fiancé left for a three-week-long business trip in seoul. he’d been working awfully hard for the past months and neither of you had much time to yourself. so you took the opportunity to surprise him.

in the final week that he’d be gone, you booked two tickets to fly to jeju island from seoul, a weekend-long romantic getaway. just the two of you. once the tickets were booked, you packed your stuff and hopped on the next train, excited as you imagined the surprise on his face when you sauntered into his hotel room with your surprise.

and surprised he was.

so much so that his dick immediately slipped out of the woman he had in his bed. of course, as any fiancé does when caught red handed in the act of cheating, he rushed over to you, pulling on his clothes and spewing excuses faster than he could shatter your heart.

“it’s not what it looks like, i swear!” he cried as if you hadn’t just seen him balls deep in a random woman—who was currently glaring at him, though much less intently as you. once your mind caught up to what was happening and processed the utter betrayal, you slapped him across the face and stormed out, riding the painfully slow elevator back down. when you saw the woman in the lobby later, she made sure to apologise profusely and swore on her mother’s life that he said he was single.

you stayed just long enough to assure her that you didn’t blame her at all you weren’t sure if she could understand you through your sobbing and promptly left the hotel. unsure of where to go, unfamiliar with the big city. without many options, you stayed at the nearest hotel you set your eyes on. completely unaware of what you’d find.

it wasn’t anything fancy. quite the opposite, really. the paint on the walls looked like it was chipping off, and the floor creaked with every step you took to get to the front desk. the place smelled odd, though you couldn’t quite name the scent. looking around, you spot some worn down couches next to the elevator on the left, you supposed they were for guests who had to wait for a long time to get to check in or out, and a bar a little ways to the right. it didn’t seem occupied at all, the only people in sight being the bartender and two older men conversing over drinks by the window.

the man at the front desk was nice enough. he asked about the basics—how long were you staying (undecided), how many people (t- one), cash or card (card), become a member to get bar discounts (no, thank- actually, y-yeah, yes please). he made quick work of typing you into the system and arranging a room for you, handing you your room key as his furrowed eyes looked you over. you thanked him quietly and made your way to the elevator.

it took a couple minutes for the elevator to arrive, but you didn’t expect quick service in a place like this. after hitting the button to the third floor a dozen times and standing in silence for another couple minutes, the metal doors finally slid open to the floor you were meant to stay on.

slowly you passed by the doors, rubbing your eyes and squinting when your vision wouldn’t focus through the tears. 318, 319, 320, 321 and then finally your room, 322. it was the second to last door at the very end of the long and narrow hallway, beyond the next room was a window that led to the fire escape, cracked up just a bit to provide ventilation.

it took you several tries to get the key into the key hole, a fact that had you so frustrated you nearly gave up and threw the key out the window, but you succeeded eventually. as you pushed your door open, the door of the neighbouring room opened and your temporary neighbour stepped out.

after a second of consideration, you decided it would only be polite to greet the person, especially since you were standing right next to each other anyway. so you looked up, planning to bid him a good night before disappearing into your room. but as you opened your mouth to speak and he looked up, your breath caught in your throat as you and the stranger the man stared at each other.

because it was none other than jeong fucking yunho standing right outside room 323.

[ lilo's notes . . . ] oh me oh my!! who would've thought they'd end up in the same hotel, right next to each other?! *gasp* this is what i meant with i'm sorry for what i was about to do to yn </3

[ networks . . . ] @cromernet @blankjournal [ taglist . . . ] @diorwoo @yuyusuyu @loveyluv7 @ad0rechuu @h-nji @nakiiko @lelaleleb @moon-gyus @baribaaari [ permanent taglist . . . ] @ad0rechuu @sankatchu @mlink64 @yeosangsbb if your username is written in bold, that means there is some sort of setting that doesn't allow me to tag you!!

#★ — › EYES DON'T LIE ! #cromernet #bjnet #yunho x reader #yunho imagines #yunho scenarios #yunho headcanons #yunho reactions #sunho fluff #yunho angst #ateez x reader #ateez angst #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez reactions #ateez headcanons #yandere ateez #ateez fluff #ateez soft hours #ateez soft thoughts #ateez soft asks #ateez smau #ateez #ateez smut #yunho smut

[ebongawk]

pls show us how eddie would ask chrissy to marry him ❤️❤️❤️

The ring was burning a hole in his pocket.

The ring had, in fact, been burning a hole in his pocket for, like three goddamn months now. Because he'd been kinda-sorta-basically flying by the seat of his pants this entire relationship, up to and including his potential proposal, and three years of accidentally tripping and stumbling into all of the right messes with Chrissy made him think he could just buy the goddamn thing and wait for the most opportune moment.

The ring itself was an unanticipated surprise. Eddie had been shopping for a new-to-him amp, and buying those off the belt was a mistake he'd never make again. Rewiring older models with newer technology was basically Henderson's forte, though, so every time he and Chrissy popped back into Hawkins to visit Wayne during their long stints on the road, Eddie had a couple projects that Dustin's eager little mitts made grabby hands at.

(If Eddie found another tech kid on the road, he was pretty sure Dustin would spit and hiss and claw the newbie's eyes out so he would never be able to touch Eddie's projects again. He fucking loved that little shit. Had no clue what he was gonna do when the kid went off to MIT in a few months.)

So, yeah. While Eddie had walked into that pawn shop with a singlemindedness, he'd still perused the aisles like a perfectly respectable patron.

And the ring had been right there. Grinning up at him from the display case a winking in the overhead lights when it caught his eye.

Chrissy was literally right up the street, struggling over which books she wanted to trade in at the used bookshop so she could read some new material. That was the worst part about being on the road – they never got to keep anything. Like, sure, yeah, they had some shit stored at Wayne's, but they couldn't pop into Indiana whenever Chrissy needed to drop off her books so they could fit new shit in the van.

If they could, Chrissy would have a veritable library by now. He'd told himself a year ago that, as soon as they hit a label, Corroded Coffin's first purchase would be Chrissy Cunningham's dream house so she could have shelves of books. The guys were all in begrudging agreement.

"Hey, uh," he'd said, grabbing the attention of the shopkeeper and pointing at the ring. "What's that?"

About six months ago, he and Chrissy had been walking a mall in search of a birthday present for Wayne when a jewelry store grabbed her attention. Eddie had kinda expected her to beeline for the engagement rings – and maybe that was his own underlying fantasy, honestly – but she hadn't. She'd gravitated toward birthstones, pointing out his and hers and Jeff's and Gareth's and Grant's and Wayne's, gushing about which looked best together in her opinion.

"That's a, uh, ring," the cashier said, looking down at the thing. "With, y'know, stones and shit."

"Very fuckin' descriptive, man, thanks," Eddie responded. "How much?"

"For you, kid? Twenty bucks."

"I'll give you fifteen for it and thirty for the amp."

"Deal."

He didn't even get a box. The guy had been 'fresh out', allegedly, so he'd given Eddie a little drawstring bag for it.

Which was fine. Easier to hide. He just had to remember to transfer it around his three pairs of jeans while they were doing laundry.

"Look, that's your birthstone," Chrissy had said that day at the mall. "A garnet. And mine's right there! Aquamarine!" She'd sighed. "If I had been born a day earlier, I would have been an amethyst. But our stones look pretty together, don't they?"

They did, in his humble opinion. And wouldn't you fucking know it, Eddie had found a garnet ring inlaid with two aquamarines on either side at a thrift store in fucking Norton, Kansas when they'd stopped at a motel for a couple days to rest before a show in Kansas City. He'd even had it assessed at a jeweler in Saint Paul a week later just to be sure.

The thing was legit. The jeweler had polished it and everything. From there, it was just actually proposing.

But, as the weeks wore on, Eddie had to wonder if his decision to wait for the right moment might've been a fucking mistake. What was the perfect moment? What if it'd already come and gone and he didn't even know it? What if it never happened and Chrissy got upset and left him before he had a chance? Did she even want to get married? They were still young, and, outside of her shitty high school relationship (that predated her amazing high school relationship with him, thanks so much), Chrissy had never really dated around. What if he popped the question and she laughed in his face?

(She wouldn't. He knew she wouldn't. But, shit, what if, y'know?)

So, yeah. That fucking ring had been sitting in his pocket for, like, ninety-seven days, whispering platitudes and anxieties in equal measure. Building him up and tearing him down at every opportunity, like it found joy in watching him rise higher and fall farther.

Or maybe that was his own stupid brain.

They'd been booked on a mini-tour to open for another band that was just a few steps beyond Corroded Coffin. The money was kinda shit, but last night, at their show in Reno, a few people had been wearing the merch they'd sold weeks prior at a show in Vegas, and that had made Eddie feel like a goddamn superstar. He'd played his fucking heart out, and Chrissy said they sold out at the merch booth before the headliner even took the stage.

He'd even been asked for autographs. What the fuck?

Afterward, he and Chrissy were squeezed together into their motel room's bathtub. It was entirely too small for the both of them, but Chrissy sat between his bent knees, letting the hot water and scented bubbles relax them after what felt like a ridiculously long night. As though he could ever really relax with Chrissy's naked body all wet and pressed against his.

Her head was on his chest, listening to the slow thudding of his heart as the radio played almost imperceptibly in the background. Chrissy had gone so far as to light a few candles, and on the floor next to them was an open bottle of wine they were taking turns sipping.

It had to be somewhere around two in the morning, and Chrissy was probably exhausted. But she knew Eddie was always off-the-walls after a show, so corralling him into a shared bath was to help him wind down.

"You did amazing tonight," she said, her fingertips tapping against his shin where her hand rested. "All of you guys, but you especially. You were electric up there."

"Did you even look at the other guys?"

"Of course! It's hard not to, but I always look at you the most. Promise."

"Pretty sure you're legally required to say that, as I'm the one who makes you co––"

"Eddie."

Laughing, Eddie pressed his lips to her crown. "Thank you, sweetness."

"I'm serious. Like, I think that was the show, you know?"

He knew what she meant. Their discovery show. The one where some talent scout was hiding out in the crowd because he'd heard Corroded Coffin's name making the rounds. The one where they'd be getting a phone call first thing in the morning asking to meet at an agency.

Their we finally fucking made it show.

"Unlikely," Eddie said, wet fingers brushing a few strands of loose hair back over her ear. "But I appreciate the vote of confidence."

Chrissy said nothing for a moment. Then, using some expert maneuvers won over years in dance and cheer, she pivoted, working her lithe little body until she was comfortably situated in his lap. Eddie's arms automatically wrapped around her, sinking lower into the water so she didn't go sliding off his slickened skin and into the faucet.

"You guys are amazing," she said without a hint of irony coloring her tone. Wet hands cupping his jaw, she nudged her nose against his. "You have a contagious stage presence and you play incredibly. There's no way you aren't going to make it. Got it?"

"Yeah?" Eddie asked, eyes on her lips. "You gonna be my little cheerleader the whole way?"

"I've been with you this far, haven't I?" she shot back, wearing that gorgeous grin he loved so much. "I'm not going anywhere, Eddie. You're stuck with me."

"Hey," Eddie said, affronted. "That's my line. Who's stuck with who?"

Wiggling her hips in his lap (which was... yeah, doing things), Chrissy smiled. "I think you're the one who's literally stuck here, love."

Tucking his thumb against her chin, Eddie just chuckled, drawing her in for a kiss that tasted of promise. Of this future she was certain would come to fruition, where they stood hand-in-hand as recognition fell upon the band. Because Chrissy had sacrificed so much for him, for all of them, and Eddie would be damned if he didn't have opportunity to return the favor.

Oh shit, he realized as she chased his lips for another kiss. This is it. This is the fucking moment.

And his pants are on the other side of the goddamn room.

Shit. Shit. Okay. He could make this work.

"Hey, uh." He smiled when she kissed him again, the wet skin of her squirming in his lap again as she made a little huff of disapproval. "Wait, wait, sweetness, hang on."

Chrissy blinked at him. One hundred percent caught off guard because Eddie had never turned down her advances before. (How could he? He had an actual goddess sitting naked in his lap. Who was he to tell her no when she wanted to, y'know, get closer?)

"Did I, um. Did I overstep?"

"No, fuck no, just, uh––" Grabbing Chrissy's long-handled loofa off the tub rim, Eddie set a firm hand on Chrissy's thigh, anchoring both of them as he leaned as far out of the tub as he could to drag his jeans toward them. Sloshing water out of the side and making Chrissy yelp his name as she grabbed his shoulders to hang on.

The handle slipped from his grasp, clattering to the floor with one pant leg right there. Eddie leaned further out, stretching his fingertips as Chrissy squealed. He heard the water splashing, but that just seemed a small price to pay.

Whooping in excitement, he managed to get a small piece of denim between his middle and ring fingers, yanking the jeans across the floor and digging around in the pockets for that fucking bag.

"Eddie! They're gonna get all wet!"

"They'll dry," he responded, finally finding the stupid ring bag in his back pocket. He dropped the jeans uncaringly into the puddle he'd created, resettling Chrissy against him and tangling his hands in her hair as he kissed her question of what he was doing off her lips.

"You know I love you, right?" he asked, a little breathless from the combination of half-crawling out of the tub and the spark from their kiss. Chrissy, wide-eyed and confused, giggled a little when she nodded. "Like, more than anything?"

"Yes, Eddie, I know."

"And I wanna spend, y'know, the rest of my goddamn life with you. You know that, too?"

Chrissy blinked, her smile fading with parted lips as realization seemed to dawn new horizons across her face.

"I-I mean, yeah," she said after he waited a second for her answer. "Eddie, what––"

"I, uh, picked this up a while ago," he admitted, brandishing the tiny bag. "Been waiting for, like, the perfect moment, I guess. But, I dunno. Kinda realized that, maybe all our moments are perfect, y'know?"

He opened the bag, tilting it so the ring fell into his opposite palm. Her eyes widened, jaw falling slack as she gasped.

"I just want to make more moments with you, Chrissy," Eddie said earnestly. "Before and after a quick trip to the altar, I mean."

"Oh, my God," she breathed, trembling fingertip reaching out and gently stroking the gold band. "Are you–– Are you serious?"

"You are the one thing in my life I am one-hundred-percent serious about, sweetness," Eddie replied, softly brushing a thumb against her cheek. She glanced at him, so briefly he almost missed it, but she couldn't take her eyes off the ring. "Marry me?"

"Okay," she said, voice still breathless. Blinking, she shook her head as though she were falling out of a trance, her eyes instantly filling with tears that spilled over her cheeks, mixing with the water of their bath. "I mean, yes, yes, of course, Eddie, oh, my God!"

Throwing her arms around him, Eddie heard more water as it splashed over the side of the tub. It made him laugh, burying his face in her hair and holding her close as she cried into his neck.

"I love you," she sobbed, pulling back and letting him open his fist so she could take the ring. "Oh, my God, and it's our birthstones!" The realization made her cry harder, and Eddie had to help her get the ring on her finger. "You remembered!"

"Of course I did," he chuckled, his own eyes wet with the amount of love he felt for this girl. "I remember everything you say to me."

"We both know that's not true."

"Okay, well, I make an effort, at least!"

She laughed through her sobs, pulling him in and kissing him soundly. Crying, laughing harder, then crying some more between desperately locked lips. Completely soaking his jeans next to the tub, but Eddie couldn't care less.

He had his fiancée in his lap.

"I love you," she gasped between kisses. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Love you, too, little wife," Eddie grinned. "So much."

Yeah. Perfect fucking moment.

#hellcheer #eddissy #eddie x chrissy #eddie munson #stranger things #chrissy x eddie #ask meme #hellcheer drabble #lil marriage proposal #anon ask #ebongawk ask #sorry this took 84 years anon

[watchmegetobsessed]

THE FEELING IS MUTUAL

A/N: get ready for some extreme fluff, there's italy!harry and a proposal and everything sweet and lovey dovey! it was also inspired by the scene in the dwd trailer you see in the gif!

WORD COUNT: 1.6k

SUMMARY: Your little Italian getaway with Harry is something you'll probably remember forever, since it's where Harry has decided to get on one knee.

MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!

You haven’t felt this relaxed in what feels like forever. It’s been way too long since you and Harry had a getaway, a real one where it’s truly just the two of you. No friends, no bandmates, no family, just you and him, hidden away from the rest of the world.

It’s nice to share memories with your loved ones, some of the best trips you’ve had were ones you went on with your friends, but sometimes you just need the alone time, the escape from the busy everydays.

Harry surprised you with a little Italian getaway out of the blue just a week before the initial date of the vacation. By that point he had arranged everything, even got your boss to give you the week off, so you only had to worry about packing your suitcase. 

Now it’s been three days since you left your usual, hectic life behind and you’ve been enjoying every second spent in literal paradise with Harry. The best part of the vacation is that you’re in such a tiny, hidden village, that the people living here couldn’t care less about who Harry is, fame doesn’t seem to exist here. Only maybe for that friendly goat that wanders around the streets every morning and everyone seems to greet it as if they knew it personally. 

As you sit on the terrace of the only restaurant, owned by the loveliest elderly couple, you listen to the music played by the guitarist who also works as a baker. The setting Sun is painting the skies a wonderful mixture of red, orange and blue and you listen to the chatter of the people around you, not understanding a word since they talk in Italian, but you just love the sound of the language so much. 

You’re sharing a tiny table with Harry, sitting next to each other, he has an arm draped over the back of your chair, his fingers gently dancing around in circles over your shoulder, upper arm or side, always touching you in some kind of way. Even though you’re not married, this little getaway has made you feel like you’re on your honeymoon. Sleeping in late, cuddling in the morning that usually turns into some slow, lazy sex, then you visit the market, walking around hand in hand, picking out the fresh ingredients for the meals you plan to make. You have breakfast that almost turns into lunch, then usually lounge around while it’s too hot outside, reading a book while Harry is scribbling into his notebook, filling it with new lyrics ideas. You go to the beach nearby, sunbathe and swim around like little kids, splashing each other until Harry catches you and throws himself into the water with you in his arms, kissing the salty water off your lips. 

The evenings are for cooking or coming down to the restaurant when you’re not in the mood to stand by the stove, you fill your stomach and take a walk once the Sun has settled and the temperature has dropped a bit. Arriving back home you usually end up making love, on the couch, in the shower, in bed, it doesn’t matter, you both are craving to be as close to each other as possible before ending the day, wrapped up in each other’s arms, drifting off to sleep only to wake up to another perfect day.

You’ve never felt more full of love, so contented and satisfied and you wish you could stay like this for the rest of your life. 

Harry leans closer and plants a kiss to your temple, you smile at him, placing a hand to his thigh that’s partially on display thanks to his shorts, but it gives you more access to him which you definitely love. 

“Enjoying your vacation?” he hums as you lay your head to his shoulder and bask in the peace of the moment.

“I love it here. Can we move here?” His shoulder shakes from his laughter before pressing a long kiss to your forehead. 

“We could open a café, or something. Become part of the village.” 

“That would be amazing,” you sigh dreamily. “It could be a café and a bookshop. I bet everyone would love the place.”

“Mmm,” he hums in agreement. 

You love Harry and everything that comes with him. You know that his life as a celebrity is part of him, so you accept it fully. However, sometimes you can’t help but imagine a life where you both are just normal people, blending into the crowd, living a simple life. This could be a version of that simple life, opening a café, working in your own business, maybe starting a family… It will always remain just a fantasy, but it’s nice to picture it.

The guitarist starts a new song and even sings along with it, the Sun has fully dipped underneath the horizon so they have turned on the lights that vine above the backyard, shining like tiny stars over your head. Harry unhooks his arm from around your shoulders and you’re just about to complain when he stands up and holds out a hand for you, hinting that he wants to dance with you. Smiling, you take his hand and the two of you move a bit away from the table, Harry curls one arm around your waist, pulling you against his chest as his other hand holds yours, swaying gently to the music. 

He presses his face close to yours, noses brushing together and his lips are touching yours, but he is not kissing you, only keeping them on yours, a small smile tugging at them as he watches you from under his curly lashes. You melt against him completely, your chest swelling from love and happiness as you slip your free hand to the base of his neck. 

“You’re everything I ever wished for,” he murmurs softly, pecking your lips shortly. “I never thought I would find a person I could love this much.”

“The feeling is mutual,” you smile at him and now it’s your turn to steal a kiss. 

“So you’re saying you love me?” he asks teasingly, his grin stretching wider and wider with each second.

“I do. I love you,” you giggle, moving your arms to curl around his neck while his hands hold your waist.

“You’re madly in love with me?”

“I am,” you nod.

“Good,” he hums with a pleased smile. “Because the feeling is mutual.”

You keep swaying to the music as the song flows into another one, the warm evening breeze carrying that salty scent that will always remind you of the time spent here once you leave. 

“Remember when we first met?” he asks, breaking the silence.

“Of course. You spilled beer on me and offered to change shirts so I didn’t have to wear the damp shirt,” you recall the memory with a laugh. Harry just grins nodding.

“I thought: Wow, I think I’m gonna marry this woman. And that thought scared me for a moment,” he confesses. “Because who thinks about marriage the first time they meet someone?” he chuckles, shaking his head. “But I still think the same thing.”

“That you’re gonna marry me?” you ask, your heart thumping wildly in your chest.

“Yeah.”

“And does it scare you still?”

“No. I actually can’t wait to call you my wife,” he tells you.

You were so lost in the moment with Harry, that you haven’t realized the people around you are now watching you with sparklers in their hands. You only notice it when Harry pulls away and reaches into his pocket as he slowly gets down on one knee. He ditched the usual velvety jewelry box, it’s just the massive diamond ring he kept in his pocket, you would have spotted the box right away for sure. A round of gasps and whispers wash over the little terrace, every guest and villager watching the scene holding their breath as Harry looks up at you with the ring between his fingers.

“Would you do me a favor and marry me, so I can finally call you my wife? I want to spend the rest of my life with you, it could be here, it could be in the biggest city in the world, it doesn’t matter as long as I get to be with you. So… Y/N, will you marry me?”

Tears are flowing down your cheeks and you’re afraid your chest might just simply explode from all the feelings. You can barely choke out your answer as you take his face in your hands.

“Yes! Yes!” you nod and practically throw yourself into his arms, everyone around you cheering and shouting in Italian as you kiss him with all the love you have for him. 

You need a couple of minutes before you stop sobbing and he can finally put the ring on your finger before kissing it. You can’t stop hugging and kissing him, but he feels the same way, he just wants to be close to you, holding you in his arms tight, remembering this moment forever.

“Let’s go home, hm? We could use some privacy,” he smirks, kissing you passionately.

“Good idea, fiancé,” you grin at him, and he hisses at the last word, a lustful glimmer sparkling in his eyes as he looks down at you. 

“And what will I be when we get married?” he coos, clearly getting riled up just from the titles you’re calling him.

“My wonderful, handsome husband.”

“That’s right,” he growls, kissing you hard. “Now let’s get you home so I can fuck you while you only wear that new ring of yours,” he says lowly, leaving a stack of money on the table that most likely could cover everyone’s dinner for tonight before he pulls you out of the place and the two of you head home in a rush to spend your first night together as an engaged couple. 

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!

#harry #styles #harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles oneshot #harry styles one shot #harry styles fluff #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #harry styles blurb

[dameronology]

love in an elevator (natasha romanoff)

summary: nothing will make you confront your ex like being trapped in a lift with her

warnings: language

eugh two natasha fics in a night?? no regrets. i love my wife. enjoy.

jazz xx

The key to a break up, you had come to learn, was distance.

Distance and space and time apart and whatever other bullshit it was that Vogue recommended every week. Maybe a glass of wine or two here and there, and a night out with your closest friends. You'd cycled through that process ten times over but getting distance from Natasha Romanoff felt near enough fucking impossible when she was quite literally everywhere. At work, in the office, at the Avengers HQ, in the streets. New York had become a thousand times smaller after your break-up.

Seeing her at work was unavoidable. After all, that was how you'd met. Natasha was easy enough to get on with back then; she was blunt and straight to the point but it was clear she cared deeply about the people she loved. You never imagined being one of them yourself, but when she'd asked you out after a few weeks of casual flirting and longing glances, it was hard to remember a time when you weren't. And not only were you somebody she loved, you were the person she loved most. The person she wanted to come home to everyday; the one she laid herself bare too and would have stopped at nothing to make you happy.

It had been a good year and a half. All smiles and a few rocky days here and there, but you never wanted to leave Natasha's side. She'd never pictured buying herself a ring for anyone, or even considering the idea of marriage, but the day she proposed had been the best of your life. Multiple promises had been made that day. I'll love you forever and I'm never taking this ring off.

Promises, as it was, were made to be broken.

Work got hard for both of you. Missions and long trips apart and your relationship basically becoming long distance. Each factor a tiny nail in your coffin but Natasha Romanoff would have been lying if she said she wasn't the one building said coffin and holding the fucking hammer. Because for every day she spent away from you was a day that she took a step back to her old ways. She became a closed off woman all over again, shutting you out and refusing to talk.

You'd have been a fool to let her treat you that way. Leaving was hard but like hell were you going to let her drag you down with her. She'd lost herself and now she'd lost you too.

Your break-up had been a wake up call. She'd gotten better - gone to therapy, started talking to people again, come back into herself. At that point she could have begged you to take her back, but what use was it? There was no promise that she wouldn't do the same again. The risk of hurting you was too high.

So, Natasha kept her distance and so did you - where you could, at least. Getting into an elevator with her wasn't ideal but you were running late for your meeting and hell, you couldn't wait any longer. That had been your main worry right then -standing next to your ex, wondering if you'd make it in on time- but as soon as the elevator shuddered to a halt and the lights went out, those worries seemed like a fucking vacation.

"Are you kidding me?" you huffed. "Tony Stark spends millions on this building but he cheaps out on the elevators?"

"Hey, it's fine," Natasha said - stoic as ever, but just as jittery as you. Not so much at the situation - it was hard to be worried about being stuck in a lift when you'd fought aliens - but rather at who she was with. "You just gotta press the emergency button-"

She stopped, watching as you began to punch the bright red button multiple times.

"Only once, though," Nat continued. "You don't want to break it."

"Jeez thanks, Natasha," you muttered. "Wisdomful, as always."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Well, you're not!" you snapped. "I'm running late for a meeting and I do not need this right now."

"This being stuck in a lift or this being stuck in a lift with me?"

You huffed. "Does it matter? I don't have time for this."

"We're literally stuck in an elevator," she shot back. "I'd argue you have all the time in the world."

"Fine," you muttered. "I don't like being stuck in elevators at the best of times but being stuck in one with my ex-girlfriend -my ex-fiance, even - is a little less desirable."

She gave you a smile. "There we go."

Natasha gracefully placed her bag down and took a seat on the floor of the elevator. She pulled a book out the front pocket and began to read, clearly not phased by the situation. You let out another loud sigh and threw your own briefcase to the ground, clumsily taking a seat beside her. Her green eyes flickered up from the pages, giving you another smile. This was so you. Making a scene, being over-dramatic at the slightest inconvenience. She'd been the reasonable one in your relationship.

Pulling out your phone, you began to violently type something.

"Who are you messaging?" she asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're about to crack your phone screen with how hard you're typing."

You rolled your eyes. "I'm messaging Tony to let him know what a dickhead he is."

"I don't think Tony's to blame-"

"- look, Natasha. My morning is ruined and I'm going to get so much shit from Fury for missing this meeting that I need to let it out, okay?" you cut her off. "Sometimes, it's just easier to have someone to blame."

"Do you blame me for our break-up?"

Your brows shot up, eyes widening. Okay, you hadn't expected that question. There hadn't been much conversation about your break-up. You'd just told Nat you were leaving and she hadn't argued. Even when you wanted her to - even when you were ready to beg and implore and beseech for her to want you to stay - you'd stayed quiet.

"W-what?" you stuttered. "No, of course not."

"Are you sure?"

"There are a lot of things in that situation that I'm not sure of but that isn't one of them," you insisted. "I don't blame you or me or anyone. I mean...yeah, you coulda tried harder but - why are we even talking about this?"

Natasha shrugged. "Like I said, we're stuck in a lift. Seems like a sign from the universe to ask this stuff."

"Right," you replied. "No, I don't blame you and no, I don't hate you and yes, I forgive you for anything you think I might be holding against you. Any more questions?"

"Do you miss me?" she quietly asked. "I miss you."

"All the time, Nat," you said. "Sorry I iced you out."

"You did what you had to," Natasha reasoned. "And quite honestly, I iced you out first, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did."

'I think...I think that losing you was the wake-up call I needed," she admitted. "For what it's worth, you're the reason I got better. The reason I am better."

You shrugged. "It's just what I do."

"Yeah, okay," Natasha laughed. "One more question -do you hate me for not calling you?"

"Yeah, a little," you said. "I guess some part of me always hoped that there was still a chance for us."

"Maybe there is."

You glanced over at her, eyebrows raised. "You think so?"

"I know so."

"Okay," you replied. "Dinner tomorrow night then?"

Natasha nodded, glancing back down at her book. "Yeah, sounds good."

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff imagines #natasha romanoff angst #natasha romanoff fluff #black widow x reader #black widow imagines #black widow fluff #black widow imagine #avengers imagine #marvel imagine #marvel imagines

[sc0tters]

Not Gone For Long | Quinn Hughes

summary: you broke up with Quinn two weeks ago, but what happens when you two run into each other at a bar?

request: yes/no

warnings: none.

word count: 1.63K

authors note: I have had this idea in my head for literal hours icl but since I came up with it I’ve been dying to get it written. This is also my first attempt at writing an imagine for an NHL player, so I hope you like it!

Never go to bed angry with each other.

That was the first rule that you and Quinn made when you got together and neither one ever believed that if it was broken it would soon bring the end of the relationship, but it did.

The two of you had spent two months fighting before you finally mustered up the courage to pull the plug on the relationship when he was on a two week road trip with the team.

And with that three years of a relationship were sent down the drain.

You never thought that leaving him would be easy. You knew that it would be tough on your heart as he was everywhere you looked, on billboards, the TVs at bars, even on the insides of your eyelids when you attempted to sleep.

Your best friends were your total support system during the last two months as they made sure that you never had more than a few seconds to think about the boy that you loved obviously not counting your time in your bedroom because that’s where he seemed to attack your mind.

The apartment you once dreamed of before Quinn was now the place you called home. It was a one bed place but it was all you needed as you settled back into the mundane life.

Unbeknownst to you Quinn had been a total wreck from the moment he walked back into the apartment to see it in a shell of its former self. If it wasn’t for his teammates he would have knocked on every door in Vancouver until he found you, but when the boys reminded him that you had left when he was gone for a reason it made him want to stay home instead.

Quinn wanted to be mad at you for leaving in the way that you did yet the only thing that replayed through his mind was how the last thing he said to you was “see you soon,” no kiss, not even a hug, he just walked out of the apartment. Leaving you by yourself for the next two weeks.

The moment Ellen learnt about the break up she went was on the next flight over on a mission to comfort her son. That night he cried so hard that his lungs ached and his throat burned.

It didn’t help that the Canucks had been through another subpar season, but his upset state wasn’t helping that as he hadn’t scored since you left. Sometimes he wondered if you still watched his games, each time that he’d skate onto the ice he’d search for your face in the crowd and each time he was left empty handed.

Somehow despite all this, your relationship didn’t actually end on bad terms, you two still loved each other and had truly learnt that absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

The fight that broke the camels back though now felt minuscule, if he didn’t want to come with you on your business trip to Paris you didn’t really care. You’d settle for those two weeks without him rather than the last two months, every day of the week.

Now it was present day and your friends managed to convince you to join them on a night out. It was going to be your first as a single woman. You had even managed to get a smile onto your face, not a fake forced smile but instead a real one.

Yet it felt like a balloon full of water burst above your head as you saw him.

Quinn had been dragged to the same bar by his teammates as they celebrated the fact that the season was over.

Your friend saw that you tensed up and as she followed your line of sight she was quick to apologise “we can go somewhere else if you would like?” She proposed not wanting you to have a bad night.

But as there were five of you in the group this was a moment you didn’t want to be selfish in “this bar is big enough for the two of us.” Your voice was soft as you shook your head not letting your eyes leave the boy as you stared more so in shock.

He looked like he had lost weight, hadn’t shaved so his facial hair was now growing out of control, the curls that you loved but he hated were now proudly sat on his head.

Quinn wished that he had seen his hairdresser though the second he saw you. He actually heard your best friends laugh first, it was funny how the sound irritated him.

When he thought he was dreaming or that his sleep deprived mind was playing tricks on him, he spun his head around locking eyes with you.

His cold beer glass masked the sweatiness of his hands as he chugged the last of the bland liquid before he got up “anyone else need a refill?” He watched as you walked off heading in the direction of the bar.

It was the perfect time to talk to you, yes he knew that it was selfish but part of him just hoped that you were as caught up by the breakup as he was.

So he made his way over to the bar, making sure to avoid the drunken men that walked into his path as he was desperate to never lose sight of your little green dress that he loved so much on you.

You thought he never noticed that when the told you he liked that dress on your first date you went out and bought it in seven other colours. But he did, Quinn noticed everything yet that original dress still remained his favourite.

The familiar sound of your acrylics tapping on the table sent shivers down his spine “hey,” his voice came out like a croak causing your eyes to go wide.

You stared at him through the corner of your eye knowing that if you faced him, it would have been over for you “hi.”

If you two hadn’t broken up his fingers would have been on your jaw forcing you to look at him “can you look at me?” He asked feeling the tears begin to well at his eyes “please?” The beg was enough to make your hearty break all over again.

You looked at him not caring that you makeup was now very much ruined as tears ran down your cheeks “I’m sorry,” you blurted out not knowing what else to say.

But it was also true, you did feel sorry about breaking up with him. You wished that you’d handled things better. Yes this was the best way to protect your heart but besides for that it was the worst possible option for every other thing.

Just like old times Quinn didn’t hesitate to comfort the girl as he wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug “I know,” he placed a kiss on your head ignoring how your tears were soaking his shirt.

The coldness of those tears hit him like a dose of reality, you left because the relationship had grown cold.

This was the first time he had hugged you since January, it was now April.

He never meant to stop putting in effort but one day it sort of started and he didn’t know how to stop it. And he was so stressed about hockey that he let the fights you two had fall into the back of his mind.

Whilst he had spent the last two months thinking you were the bad guy, he realised that it had been his fault all along.

That was almost the problem with the whole thing, you each blamed yourselves for putting the knife into the relationship.

Quinn swore that he had been doing it over time and you were just the one to give it the final push.

You finally got your breathing under control causing you to look up at him as your chin rested against the his chest “why are you here?” You asked not trying to be rude but you swore that if you were in his shoes even you wouldn’t want anything to do with yourself.

He let out a soft laugh as he dragged his thumb against your cheek “missed you,” he confessed as he watch the pad of his finger clean in the smudge of your mascara.

Hearing that he must have also had a rough time made you feel sick to your stomach “thought you would have hated me.” You mumbled still thinking that this was all a dream.

Quinn would have been lying if he said that your words didn’t break his heart “could never hate you.” He softly smiled trying to tell you that he meant every word.

As much as he enjoyed being with his friends he wanted to leave “come with me?” He asked holding his hand out for you to grab.

The way his hand interlocked with yours told you that this wasn’t a dream “we should talk somewhere a bit more private.” As much as you wanted to say that you could go back to his apartment and be fine, you knew that things needed to change.

And if they didn’t then you would be having to move on forever.

The stars shone down on Vancouver as you two snuck out of the bar, despite the fact that both friends groups watched the interaction neither decided to stop it.

Sitting in his car that parked at a lookout spot looking over the city as you two ate food from your favourite takeaway restaurant you learnt one thing:

You weren’t letting him go as easy as you did this time.

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #hockey imagine #oneshots #imagines #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes x y/n #hockey imagines #nhl oneshot #nhl imagine #amber writes fics

[httpknjoon]

toast and wedding plannings | ksj

plot | you have a busy schedule but you want to be jin's wife as soon as possible. so you two did the most logical thing to do.

word count | 3.2k

genres | fluff

pairing | actor!jin x famous!reader

note | of course, the a-listers would always be the one who will break me out my writer's block era.

main masterlist | the a-listers: confidential masterlist

“Okay, the premiere is on the fifth of December. But before that, you will be doing interviews, mostly online. A few are solo, but most of that stuff is with your castmates. By the way, Val from Indian Paintbrush sent an e-mail, specifically for you. She said…”

A blue bird landed on one of the branches of your red maple tree in your backyard. You watched as it stood there quietly, letting your assistant’s voice from your phone go into the background. The bird probably felt your eyes on him as it turned its small beak in your direction before flying away. Left with no more entertainment, you sighed before turning around. That’s when you see your fiance of almost three weeks placing a cup of coffee and a plate of toast on the patio table.

“Hailey. Schedule.” you mouthed at him while pointing to your phone that you were holding next to your ear.

He nods before signing and then mouthing a word, “Peanut butter?”

You looked at the food he prepared for you before soundlessly replying, “Banana, please.”

Jin smiled and gave you a double thumbs-up before walking back in to get your request. Your attention returns to the call you were in as you sat on your outdoor sofa.

“... and as you requested, I cleared out your schedule for your Seoul trip with Jin,” Hailey said with a proud tone. “Thank God, Fallon’s producers agreed to move your guesting next month. They said yes after I offered them exclusive photos from your trip, just like you said.”

“It’s like a consolation gift.” you chuckled.

Since you were already booked for the Tonight Show a month ago, you knew that it would be a headache for everyone involved when you asked for your guesting to be moved to January. Knowing how the industry works, even though you really hate sharing your personal agendas with everyone, you decided to offer some “exclusive” photos from your trip that Hollywood loves to the show’s producers.

“Anyway, thank you so much for everything, Hailey.”

“Yeah, no problem. Just enjoy your week. Next week will be crazy busy again.” she spoke.

“I know.” you sighed.  “You too! Enjoy your week there in Hawaii.”

Just as you hang up the call, Jin enters again with your bananas. You smiled as you noticed he sliced it already. He sat next to you and almost immediately, you rested on his shoulder, making him wrap his arms around you.

“Busy schedule?” he asked, sensing the exhaustion from you even though it was only eight in the morning.

You snuggled closer to his chest, “I just wish I had more time to plan the wedding.”

“Don’t worry, we still have a lot more time to do that. I can wait for you,” he whispered, kissing the top of your head.

Unlike you, Jin doesn’t have any work commitments left for this year. He already had plans of visiting his extended family back in South Korea for next month so he made sure to empty out his schedule. And since you just got engaged weeks ago, you joined in on his month-long trip, making some surprise changes to your agenda. 

You looked up, “But I can’t. I want to be your wife like right now.”

Jin just laughed at what he thought to be a joke from you. His attention went to the food, spreading peanut butter on your toast. You, on the other hand, scrunched your eyebrows as you watched him. Because you’re not kidding. You want to get married as soon as possible with him. It’s like a switch flipped in your brain ever since that morning after you said yes to his proposal. You are just so happy and excited to marry him. 

When Jin noticed you not laughing, his eyebrows raised, “What?”

“I want to marry you now, I’m not kidding,” you said like you were offended.

“I know. Me too, bub.” he grinned at your pouting lips. Putting down the bread, he held your hand and planted a kiss on it, “Trust me, if I can marry you today, I would.”

Your lips were forming into a smile when– An idea forms in his head.

“We can,” you mumbled, making Jin confusedly look at you. “I mean not today. But we can get married this week. I don’t have anything to do this week since I’m supposedly busy next week. Plus, I have this dress coming from Vivienne Westwood for the premiere. I could wear that.”

“Well, Donny just got ordained online…” Jin whispered.

You two quietly eyed each other, both knowing something was cooking in your heads.

“Okay, how about you try to make this character your own? I’ll give you five minutes to internalize again.”

Having the urge to roll his eyes, Donny turned his back to the so-called actor someone probably miscast for this series he has been directing. He can feel a headache forming from how plain and bad this young actor says his lines. He sat back on his chair, cooling down. As soon as he opened his phone, he noticed a series of messages sent by his best friend almost an hour ago.

From Jin

are u free this wednesday

From Jin

won’t take no for an answer

From Jin

go here before 6

From Jin

wear something nice

From Jin

yn and i will be hosting an engagement dinner :))

“Hi, this is Hailey. I am calling for the bouquet…”

Pressing a powder on your face, you watched Hailey from the background of your mirror walking back and forth while talking to someone on her phone. The tan lines on her shoulders are still visible since she only got back from her vacation less than twelve hours ago. She even wore the same beach dress she wore in Hawaii days ago as she went straight to your house after you informed her about your plans. 

“Do you even have anything? Flowers? Gown? Hair and make-up stuff? How about the venue? The guests?! All that thing!” she panicked through the call.

You pursed your lips, “It’s a very intimate, surprise wedding, Hailey. We just want to get married now and we prefer the smallest counts of guests possible. I’ll be wearing that Westwood dress–”

“Huh? It’s not coming until the day before the premiere night, YN.” she interrupted, sounding annoyed.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“That dress is coming from London and they said they’ll be sending it in December!” she almost screamed, confirming that she was, indeed, annoyed. 

Hailey, at this point, is your eldest sister. She manages everything in your life and always wants the best thing for you. She is more than your assistant and occasional stylist, she is family. So you don’t really mind if she openly lets you know when she gets annoyed about something you’ve done. There were even times you were more scared of her than she ever was to you.

You tried to think of something, “Oh… Okay. I still have that white dress we bought years ago when we–”

“No! No! You’re not going to wear that. I’m contacting someone from Versace. I’m sure we can get you something.”

‘Don’t—”

“Yes, I’m not telling them where you would use it. I’ll think of other reasons.”

“It says that they were supposed to arrive thirty minutes ago.”

She looks like she was so close to biting her nails as she talked to the flower shop staff, all while you do your make-up. Still, in your comfiest pink robe with your gown underneath, you gently swiped your favorite shade of lip stain on your lips. Then, your make-up is done! You didn’t really put much effort, only doing a natural look rather than your common red carpet look. Hailey helped you earlier with creating soft curls for your hair. 

And for your dress, you still ended up with a white one. Of course, Versace. Hours after Hailey contacted them for your “private dinner” event, they sent three options for you to choose from. You picked out the white, shimmery gown Amal Clooney wore one time. It is a bridal gown with spaghetti straps and a full, sweeping train. It is sparkly and perfect for the ambiance of your backyard, where you will be holding the wedding.

“No, I asked for–”

Hailey was cut off when someone knocked on your home office’s (made into a prep room for you) door. She was the one who opened the door as she was closer to the door.

“Oh, you arrived!” she said before you could see who she was talking to.

Then, a familiar man popped his head in. Your heart jumped, making you stand up even though you were careful with your gown. 

“Dad!”

“Oh my god. How are you feeling?”

Jin wanted to say he was cool. But with his sweaty palms and racing heart, he knew he was more than cool. Just a little nervous and a lot more excited. Just a month ago, he was learning to cook the Marry Me chicken recipe and now, you two will be tying the knot in less than an hour. He can feel butterflies in his stomach just by thinking what you would look like. He hasn’t seen you after breakfast today. Hailey and Donny insist that it’s a tradition, something for fun. You were laughing as your assistant pulled you away from him while you were still kissing him. Since you two were in the same house, you have been kept in your office for hours now.

“You don’t have to answer that. Your smile says everything.” Donny interrupted his thoughts. ‘Thank you for making me a big part of this, man. I really appreciate it.”

Instead of their usual cool guy handshake, Jin and his best man (and friend and wedding officiator) shared a tight hug. He can feel how happy Donny is for him just by the short hug.

‘Thank you for flying from SoCal for this dinner.” Jin laughed.

‘I was so confused why you wanted me to dress so nicely for dinner!” Donny explained, laughing too.

It was in the middle of their laughter when they heard the doorbell ring. Knowing it’s probably one of the very few guests you two invited, Jin opened the door. He was right.

“Oh, aren’t you a fine groom?” your dad opened his arms as soon as Jin saw him. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you so much, sir.”

“Ah, you can call me Dad.” he corrects him.

Jin smiled wider before hugging your stepmother too. Your father and Helen, his wife came from Iowa since that was where he retired years ago before reuniting with you. It is no secret to everyone who knows you that you had a distant relationship with your dad, especially after the whole emancipation thing. But he reached out to you around the same time you and Jin worked for Cornelia Street. Since then, you and your dad have been catching up from time to time. That’s why Jin flew to your dad’s farmhouse in Iowa months ago to let him know about his plans to propose to you.

“You know, I didn’t expect this wedding to happen this soon.”  Helen quipped as they entered. “Where’s the bride?”

“Oh, she’s in her office. I haven’t seen her since this morning,” he told them, almost sounding like a kid complaining.

“Stop whining. The wedding will start in like thirty minutes.” Donny said, making the older people laugh.

Then, they walked to the stairs up your office, leaving Jin and Donny alone again. The two decided to go to the backyard, where the fairy lights were lit up while there were white roses arranged in two lines on the sides of the small pathway for you later. The wooden chairs for the guests are the same chairs on the dining table inside the house but Hailey made sure to make it a little special with names, ribbons, and flowers on it. To ensure the privacy of your special day, you only have six guests in total: Hailey, Donny, your dad, Helen, Jin’s mom, stepdad, and dad. The latter three are still on their way. Considering his dad is in South Korea, Jin assured him that he understands if he cannot come with the sudden event. But his dad promised that he would come.

“Okay, just stand there.”

Minutes later, Hailey is instructing Jin where to stand. Donny is already next to him. Helen and Jin’s parents are already sitting in their seats. A good instrumental of love songs plays in the background with a Bluetooth speaker Hailey prepared. Jin cannot help but feel giddy. He knew you were already waiting for your best friend’s instructions to walk down this flowery aisle, along with your dad next to you.

“You look beautiful, honey.” your dad whispered next to you.”Exactly like your mother.”

That is the greatest compliment for you. Your mother was the most wonderful person in your head and to be compared to her always warms your heart. And to hear it from your father makes your lips quiver like a little kid.

You turned your head at him, smiling while feeling a burn of tears at the edge of your eyes, “Thank you, Dad.”

His lips were shaking like he was trying not to get too emotional. Instead, he offered you a smile and held your hand that was snaked on his arm.

“I’ll play the song and you will slowly walk out, okay? Just take your time.” Hailey comes in again.

You nodded, “Okay, ma’am.”

You see her shoulders tensing down as you say that. She chuckles.

“Now, can you just sit down? I want the world’s best assistant and my best friend to see me walking there,” you told her and her eyes instantly glistened.

“Okay.” she smiled after looking at you for a few more seconds. 

You wanted to hug her but you knew you two would just bawl out your eyes and ruin the whole thing if you did. So without saying any other words, Hailey heads out. A few seconds later, you hear a familiar melody. So This Is Love from Cinderella. You and your dad took it as a signal to take a few steps together until you reached the backyard.

And there, he sees you. Finally.

Everything felt calm as you walk down the aisle. Instead of beating faster, his heart slows down and all he can see is you. Your eyes were all watery before you could even reach the middle of the aisle, where your father would leave you so can have your own moment. He placed a kiss on your cheek before letting you go. You looked back at Jin and a single tear had already slipped down his cheek. You don’t know but you smiled and chuckled as you walked closer, crying happy tears yourself. He chuckled too.

You are an angel in his eyes. As you stepped closer to him, he remembered the first night he saw you. Smiling, handing him a TicTac and telling him a story. He just remembered losing himself in your voice and beauty. Butterflies were playing around his stomach just like now. He hoped that it would not be the last time he saw you.

The song’s volume in the background lowered down as you stood in front of Jin. Everyone who is witness to this wonderful night can feel the love and adoration you two hold for each other.

Donny began, “We gather here today to celebrate the love of two wonderful human beings, YN and Jin. You have come to this beautiful place to witness the formal commitment they will make for each other, allowing YN and Jin to begin this new chapter of their life together with the people they truly trust, and love the most. Welcome and thank you for your presence here tonight. And please, no taking pictures– except you, Hailey, of course.’

Everyone laughed at his joke. Hailey, being the best person, also has a camera with her to take candid snaps.

“Now, as we all know, YN and Jin are a little bit in a rush to get married so I’ll keep this short.” you and Jin laughed as Donny continued, “As a longtime spectator of their amazing love story, all I can say is they are truly meant for one another. They are a perfect pairing as they balance each other so well. They work together perfectly not just in their great movies, but also in their relationship. And I believe, their effort and patience to make this relationship work in the middle of their busy lives is what leads us to this moment.”

“I always felt lucky to be friends with both of you two, being able to witness your story like no one else does. No amount of articles or movie scenes can ever encapsulate the passion you two have for each other. The way you care and protect each other amidst crazy rumors and hard times is truly powerful. Jin, you are the only one who can make YN smile throughout an exhausting day. And YN, you are the only one who can laugh at my best friend’s corny dad jokes.” 

Jin glared at his best friend while everyone, including you, laughed. You broke his glare as you softly held his cheek to make him look back at you.

“With that, I wish for them to spend their lifetime as one. I wish for their marriage to be filled with moments of joy, contentment, and love. I hope that they continue to make each other laugh, smile, and believe in love as they make the whole world do.”

Jin squeezed your hand, making you smile even more.

“So, without further ado… YN, do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others, and holding only unto him forever?”

“I do,” you replied with no hesitation, looking deeply at your soon-to-be husband.

“Jin, do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others, and holding only unto her forever?”

His lips quirked, “I do.”

Donny smiled widely, “Now, please bring out the rings.”

Jin followed since he was the one who kept the rings you picked days ago, in which Donny picked up at the store on his way here.

“Please place the ring on each other’s left hand and repeat after me:” Donny said. “I, YN/JIN, take you above all else, to be my wife/husband, forevermore.”

You and Jin repeated everything not removing your gaze on one another. You felt the gold ring slip in one of your fingers after that. You have never felt joy pumps in your system.

“And now by the power vested in me by the internet, it is my honor and delight to declare you married. Go forth and live each day to the fullest. You may seal this declaration with a kiss.” 

Donny and the guests clapped while standing up. Jin gently held both of your cheeks while he leaned closer to you. You closed your eyes as you felt his soft lips on yours. Fireworks set off inside you. You kissed him, feeling the soft skin of his cheeks on your fingertips, inhaling his calming scent. He kissed you back, running his hand back to your waist, squeezing it for a short second before pulling away. You two opened your eyes. You were the first one to speak,

“I’m so lucky to have you. I love you.”

He kissed you once again, “I love you too."

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[wardenparker]

Down the Rabbit Hole - ch 12

Jack ‘Whiskey’ Daniels x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst​

When Jack accidentally shoots a civilian on a mission he takes on not only the guilt of the man’s death, but inherits his soulmate as well. To you, it’s a dream job with more perks than you can imagine - but for Jack it’s a nightmarish complication. Even more so when he starts to develop feelings.    

Rating: Mature! 18+   Word Count: 17.1k   Warnings: *Blanket warnings - mentions of deceased spouse, a lot of food and alcohol consumption, family recipes, age gap, cursing.* Anxiety, accidental hurt, panic attack (symptoms based on my own personal experiences), intrusive/racing thoughts, physical symptoms of anxiety, hurt/comfort. *Author chooses not to disclose all warnings so as not to spoil a plot point! It has been spoiled in the tags if you would rather know ahead of time!* Summary: An impromptu trip with the girls leads to a lightbulb moment that you wish had never come.  Notes: And you guys thought everything was smooth sailing after the proposal? Oh no...we can’t have that...

Ch 1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3 ~ Ch 4 ~ Ch 5 ~ Ch 6 ~ Ch 7 ~ Ch 8 ~ Ch 9 ~ Ch 10 ~ Ch 11 ~ Ch 12 ~ Ch 13 ~ Ch 14 ~ Ch 15 ~ Epilogue

It was something of a joke the first time it got brought up. One night long after dinner service was over when you and Jack had Sophia and Tex over for drinks. You had sat out on the back porch refilling your glasses and chatting about weddings when Tex randomly asked a question.

“Ain’t there a tv show for that? For buyin’ wedding dresses?”

“You mean Say Yes to the Dress?” You had asked, laughing and leaning into Jack’s side. It had been almost the only thing you watched with your sister for months when she was engaged. “Yeah. Why, do you want to watch it?”

“Naw.” He has shaken his head pensively. “Y’all should be on it.” You had laughed. All four of you. Delighted by the silly idea of you and Sophia being on TV together. It had seemed like an idea that came and went like summer breeze. Two whole weeks ago and while you’d fantasized a little, you hadn’t brought it up again. It hasn’t been brought up at all before today.

******

When Sophia blows into a building, people know it. Her tendency to throw the doors open and yell seemingly fits right in with the Statesman group far better than she ever had with Kingsman. So when she bursts through the double door leading to your kitchen, no one on your staff even bats an eye. “Pack your bags, we are getting on the plane!” She squeals, nearly giddy with excitement.

The sound of banging doors hasn't bothered you in your entire life, considering you grew up with noisy siblings, so you are perfectly leaned over a soufflé plate to put the finishing touches on its presentation when Sophia appears in a tornado of activity. "Oh yeah?" You ask, raising an eyebrow that is meant for her but very carefully placing a quenelle of homemade ice cream on the plate to hand off to one of your waitstaff. "Where exactly are we going in the middle of my dinner service?"

“Kleinfield.” She’s smug as she smirks at you and reaches out to pluck a shaving of chocolate off the line to pop into her mouth. “They have a cancelation two days from now and you and I are taking it!”

The spoon you had in your hand promptly clatters to the counter as you stare at her, jaw nearly unhinging from your face in shock. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Would I joke about that?” She gives you a horrified look. “I have Tex’s credit card and need to burn a hole in it!”

“But he—I thought—it was just a joke?” A passing comment from your friend while drinking under the stars. Nothing more. But the look on her face is fully aghast and you shut your mouth for long enough to realize that she’s talking about your day off. “Two days?” You ask, knowing that no, she would never joke about this. As boisterous and excitable and unconventional as Sophia is, she would probably be perfect for Kleinfeld.

“You don’t want to do it?” She asks, knowing that some people talk about doing things and never get the nerve when presented with the opportunity. “It’s okay if you don’t.”

"No, I just...I'm honestly shocked they had an appointment available." The disappointment in Sophia's face is obvious, and you grab a dish towel to wipe your hands on before throwing your arms around her. "Maybe we'll get to be in a background shot of an episode if we linger by a camera long enough."

“Either way, we are going to drink champagne and try on wedding dresses!” The hug rejuvenates her and she’s immediately crushing you in a return embrace. “I want an emerald green Zuhair Murad. Unless I find something I love more.”

"Oh god, you even know what designer you want." If Sophia has faults, preparedness is not one of them. She's always fully informed and ready to go at a moment's notice. "I suppose I should actually look at some designs before we go, shouldn't I?"

“No.” Sophia decides, grinning at you. “Choose whatever dress speaks to you.” She holds up a credit card, sleek and shiny. “I’ve got Whiskey’s card and there’s not a limit.”

"You already went and got his card?" That has you doubled over laughing, so taken aback by her approach and yet you have no idea why. This is who Sophia is. And it's why you love her. The woman is unapologetic about her enthusiasm. "You know I have to work tomorrow, right? And the appointment isn't for two days." Regardless though, it earns her another hug. It might be good to go back to New York for a happy reason...try to form new memories there that have nothing to do with what happened last time...

She pouts at you, clearly wanting to go to New York with her friend now. “Fine but we are spending the entire next three days.” She warns you with a pointed finger. “I need to see the sights.”

"I have a restaurant to run, you know." You just shake your head at her with both hands on her shoulders, barely smothering another laugh and sighing happily. "I'll make it work. Pick out the places you want to see the most and I'll see if my brother is going to be around or if we can crash an event at his art gallery. How does that sound?"

“Perfect! Oh! I asked Diana about coming but she’s insisting she will stay behind and make sure that the restaurant runs smoothly while you are gone.”

"You thought of everything, didn't you?" She always does. It's not as if it's a surprise. "Alright." One more hug and you pull back, shooting her a knowing grin. "Are you staying for supper or should I pack up a to-go order for you to take home to your man?"

“Ohhhhhh dinner.” She moans. “Not having the hour long ‘what do you want for dinner?’ conversation.” She laughs. “Please. Whatever you want to pack up, I’ll buy.”

"The chicken pot pie soup is even better today than usual." And it's one that they haven't tried yet, so you immediately go to pour two to-go containers. "And the biscuits are fresh." You add two of the apple hand pies and a small container of whiskey caramel for good measure, wanting to make sure that they're well fed tonight. "I'll put it on Tex's tab."

“That sounds amazing.” She groans, rolling her eyes. “But everything you make is amazing. I’m just never cooking again.”

"Glad to be of service." The compliment is like a giant fuzzy blanket you can wrap yourself up in, and you hand her the full bag of food with your restaurant's logo on the side. "Now go home and make a list of everything you want to see while we're in New York."

“Don’t tell me that.” Sophia grins and leans in to steal another hug. “Or I’ll plan it like a mission.”

"I can think of worse things." Throwing her a grin, you shoo her toward the door with a laugh. "I'm gonna come by your office before my shift tomorrow and I want to hear at least three ideas, otherwise I'm dragging you to every museum I can possibly think of. Deal?"

“Deal.” Sophia turns back towards you with a grin. “This is going to be great. We are going to have so much fun and the added bonus is that we will drive the boys crazy wondering what we are getting into together.”

"You're the only person in the world who can give Tex a run for his money in the troublemaker department." With one last squeezing hug, you really do have to get back to work. "Go on, Soph. I'll see you tomorrow."

“Bye!” She shouts as she blows out of the restaurant just as eagerly as she came in. You’ve given her more food she hasn’t tried and she’ll be damned if she’s going to let it get cold.

******

Going home to Jack that night is basically falling into a lump on the couch beside him as soon as you walk in the door, but at least you're the happy kind of exhausted. "Good day at work?" You ask, sighing a little as you tuck into his side and steal a sip from his glass on the coffee table.

Jack rolls his eyes slightly. “Alright, but Champ has decided that I need to be tested, make sure I’m up for going back to the field after months away.”

"What kind of test?" It's a fair thing for his boss to insist on, but you can hear the annoyance in Jack's voice.

“Every-damn-thing.” Jack grunts, shaking his head. “Man seems to think I’m getting old. Got me trainin’ with the recruits.”

“I’m sorry I kept you out so long.” You know it’s at least partially because of the trouble you had with each other in the beginning, and you turn your chin to look up at him on the couch. “He’s just doing his job, baby. A boss had to be a boss, even to his best friend.”

“It’s just aggravating.” Jack admits. “The younger group doesn’t mind. But they are in awe.”

“Bask in their admiration then, my love.” That makes you grin, knowing that Jack loves to show off when the opportunity arises. “Have someone other than your fiancée coo over how impressive you are.”

He grumbles under his breath, but it seems to do the trick. Tomorrow’s training not seeming quite so bleak as it has been looking. “Sophia find you?”

“She came by during dinner service.” He seems mollified, and you pick up his hand to kiss his palm before grinning guiltily. “I thought we might talk a little about wedding stuff before she and I leave tomorrow night?”

“What do you want to talk about, sugar?” He had gladly handed over his card to Sophia and told her to make sure you bought whatever you wanted.

"Well...we haven't really planned anything yet." Other than convincing your mother that no, you really can't fit into her wedding dress without major alterations and knowing that he had mentioned a family veil in a conversation ages ago, you've just been too busy with the restaurant to bask in the glow of being engaged. "We haven't even talked about where to have it yet."

“Honestly?” Jack chuckles. “I had anticipated you wantin’ to have the wedding here.”

"Here as in the house, or here as in the Statesman campus?" Either one is fine with you, but you want Jack to be excited for the wedding, too. Just because this will be his second doesn't mean it should be less meaningful.

“I meant here at Statesman.” He corrects. “Or up with your family.” He offers. “It doesn’t matter to me, if I’m honest. As long as you are there and we are happy.” He winks and leans in to press his lips to yours.

"Here at Statesman, then." It's come to mean a hell of a lot to you as a place to live and work anyway, there's no reason not to celebrate it. And your lips twist into a grin that you can't deny at the thought of having the wedding back in New Hampshire. "We threw my sister's wedding at my parents' house. It was so much fucking work, I think they'd be glad to just show up to this one instead of throwing the whole thing."

Jack nods in agreement. “That’ll be a good thing. The whole crew will want to be there.” He warns you with a grin. “It’ll be a big party.”

"A big party, huh? Sounds like fun." It's just teasing, you know it will be. Everyone at Statesman loves Jack, and your extended family will make plenty of fuss. "Do you..." You bite your lip and sit up to actually look him in the eye. "Do you want to do it before or after we go to Montana? I don't mind either way, but I know it's going to be an emotional trip and I don't want you to feel awkward about anything."

“Sugar…” Jack reaches for your hand and he picks it up to kiss the back of it. “I want you to plan this wedding for whenever you want. If we were to do it my way, it would be at the courthouse next week.”

"I mean...we could do that, but you're the one who's gonna tell Sophia that the trip to Kleinfeld is off." You have to bite your lip again, but this time it's to keep from bursting out laughing at the stricken look of worry on his face. Jack clearly does not want to be the one to deliver that news. "I don't mind how long we're engaged, love. I just want us to both be happy. So...since you're being so terribly practical...how about I talk to Diana about what would be the best time once I find my dream dress and find out how long it will take to get? Since I hear those things can take ages to come in."

“That will work for me.” Jack murmurs indulgently. “So you’re plannin’ the weddin’ and I’m plannin’ the honeymoon?” He asks with a teasing grin. He knows you will want his input and he won’t be the type of man to let you take on everything yourself.

“If that’s what you want.” Leaning in to kiss him has you grinning. “I imagine you’ll be choosing someplace where I wear as little as possible?”

“It’s like you know me.” Jack jokes, actually thinking about making one of your dream trips possible on your honeymoon. While time in bed is a must, he also knows you want to see the world.

“I’m happy as long as you’re there.” You promise him. “Just let me know when you pick so I can pack accordingly.”

“Would you prefer Paris or Thailand?” He asks with a smirk. “Was thinking we could do a week in Bangkok and then set ourselves up on an island resort. Or we could do the classics.”

Eyeing him like you think he might be teasing you, you decide to just roll with it and see what he says. "Depends on when the wedding is. If it's winter? Thailand, no contest. But summer? That's Paris."

“Then I guess we better figure out if you want a winter or summer weddin’ then, don’t we?” He chuckles. “Somethin’ to be said for both times of year here.”

"Guess I better talk to Diana, then. And figure out a dress." Leaning in, you steal a small kiss and relax against him again. "You...you had mentioned a veil...a while ago. And I wondered if it might be something that I could...take to New York with me? Or at least see it beforehand? I would hate to pick out a dress that it doesn't look good with when you said it was important to you."

Jack squeezes your hand and gets up with a grunt. “Come on, sugar. The veil is in the safe. Let’s see how it looks on you.”

You set the security system and Jack shuts off the lights on your way upstairs, ready to settle in for the night. The safe is in your bedroom anyway, so there won't be any reason to go back downstairs. "I assume you'd prefer I pick something white?" There's teasing on the tip of your tongue as you climb the stairs together. "I mean...who knows what I could find while Sophia is looking for her green dress."

“Sugar, I want you to pick out whatever catches your eye and makes you feel like a Princess.” He murmurs as he leads you towards the bedroom. “As long as you don’t mind there being a cowboy hat on me and all my groomsmen, we’re good.” He teases.

"I'd be disappointed if you went without." The feeling of his large hand around yours is soothing and grounding so you turn down the hall at the top of the stairs. It's automatic now, having slept in that bed with him so many times even before you were officially moved in. "Have you decided who you're going to ask?"

“Tex is gonna be my best man– if you’re good with it.” He turns and watches you carefully, wanting to make sure that you don’t hide your feelings towards it. “I was kind of hopin’ you might consider Champ officiating?”

"What if we did...couples? Kind of?" The thought is worth chewing over, and you sit down on the bed while he opens the safe. "Champ to officiate and I'll ask Diana to be our planner? Tex and Sophia as best man and maid of honor. Astrid and my brother for your other groomsmen and Gabi and my sister for my other bridesmaids?" It's like a perfect split of your friends, and you had always said that you wanted your siblings to be in your wedding party if you ever found your soulmate. After all – you were in theirs. "Does that sound okay?"

“Anyone else you want to invite?” He asks, punching in the code for the safe and swings it open. He knows exactly where the veil is, packed away in a box for protection and safekeeping. He pulls it out and turns back around to face you. “Friends from before?”

"Maybe a few. But I brought a couple of them in for the restaurant, to be honest. My best friend from culinary school is my front-of-house manager, and my closest friend from the pastry circuit back home is my pastry sous. So...aside from my extended family, most people really are already here." It's something that actually makes you more comfortable than you had realized, and bringing in your friends to help you run your dream restaurant only made it all the better.

Jack nods. “Whoever you want. We can make sure that everyone comes, even if we have to set up huge reception tents outside.”

"Is that it?" The box in his hands is cradled with care, and you know it can't be anything else. There isn't much in the safe besides weaponry and a few valuables, and that box is the only thing you haven't seen yet.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to wear it.” Jack offers before he hands you the box. Despite what he had said about this being a family tradition, he wasn’t going to insist on it if you hated it.

"Unless it's a literal tablecloth, I can't imagine disliking it." And even if it were, you would still wear it if it was important to him. He looks nervous as you lift the lid, but the second you reveal the lace to the light you gasp in awe. It's simple and stunning - classic in the way the scalloped lace at the edges is full of beautifully woven flowers that ease into the body of the veil to give way to simplicity. When you lift it out you can see that it has an attached clip, encrusted with beautiful, crystal-clear rhinestones. "Jack..." You look up at him on the verge of another gasp. "It's gorgeous."

“You like it?” He asks, shuffling slightly and wondering if you are just saying that. He had family pictures going back generations with this veil and if you decided you didn’t want it, he would be disappointed but understand.

"I love it." You're practically in tears over it, and immediately stand up from the bed to go in front of the mirror and get an idea of what it would look like in your hair. The gold and rhinestone clip and floral lace are giving you ideas that you never would have imagined for yourself. "I'm going to pick something simple for a dress." Whether you're telling yourself or him is up for debate. "So this can be the center piece." Without having any family at all to invite, it's the perfect way to still have them with him at the wedding.

“It looks gorgeous on you, sugar.” Jack swallows, not wanting to compare you to his late wife, but you both look like angels wearing the family veil. It’s been a long time since he’s even looked at it. “Probably needs to be cleaned. But I’ve kept it as safe as I could.”

"I'll ask Diana. Something tells me that she will know a place that can handle something this delicate." It's silly, but you really don't want to take it off so quickly. But he's right, it's an heirloom and an antique, and should be handled with care. "I'm honoured that you want me to wear it, honey. It's beautiful, and a beautiful memory to have."

“I will admit.” He reaches out and touches the lace. “I was hopin’ you’d want to wear it.”

"I absolutely do." Leaning over a little, you leave a kiss brushed on his cheek and rub his arm gently. "I'm going to take some pictures of it, if that's okay with you? I don't want to risk something happening to it on the trip. It's more delicate that I had imagined."

“No, you take it with you.” Jack insists. “It’s a lot tougher than it appears. It’s been through more than most family heirlooms.”

“I’ll pack it up in something safe and padded,” you promise, already trying to think of your laptop case will fit the bill. Either way, you carefully take the clip out of your hair and wrap your arms around him as soon as the veil is back in its box. “I’m glad we have something of your family’s for the wedding.” You wish you could do more than that - find some way to have them there - but some things are beyond even your determined reach.

“She woulda liked you.” Jack admits in a quiet voice. “Woulda boxed my damn ears for how I treated you, but if there was some way for you two to be in the same time, she woulda joked about the two of you runnin’ me ragged.”

"If there was some way for us to be in the same time, I know she and I would have been friends." Though you don't really know how you know it, all of the things you've ever learned about Abigail Daniels all add up to the kind of person you would have loved to be friends with. "She'd give me shit about the whole thing with Tex, and she'd love Sophia to death just like I do. And..." You sit down on the bed with him again and pick Jack's hand up in both of yours. "And I hope that sometimes I remind you of her. Even a little bit. And that sometimes you're just like that cook from Boston."

“That might be what scared me the fucking most.” Jack whispers quietly. “You do remind me of her. That same spirit. Caring nature.” He lifts your joined hands and puts your arms around his shoulders. “But I love you. For you.”

"I love you, too, Jack Daniels." It always makes you smile, the way the sentence rolls off your tongue so naturally and makes him blush, pushing that lone dimple up into the meat of his cheek. "But I hope you know that giving Sophia your credit card means she is gonna make sure I come home with the most expensive wedding dress New York City has to offer."

“It’s why I gave it to her.” He pouts at you playfully. “You either wouldn’t have accepted it or resolved to spend as little as possible on it.” He grumbles, unsure of why you disbelieve the fact that he can afford to spoil you. “She’s under orders to have them remove the price tags from the gowns before you try them on.”

"Tex is convinced they're going to put us on camera." Later in the night he had texted you to thank you for dinner and excitedly gushed about how he was dead certain that if two ravishing ladies such as yourself walked up into that salon with fancy fiancés and unlimited budgets, they would be fools not to put you on the show. "I don't think it works like that, but I didn't want to dash his dreams."

“Hardheaded fool.” Jack shakes his head and sighs. “Sophia can’t be on the show.” He explains softly. “At least not featured. She’s an active agent.”

"She's the most special thing to him in the world and he likes to dream about it. It's sweet." His exasperation is endearing - brotherly, really - and you grin. "He's sappy and in looooove."

“Yeah. He is a sap.” Never one to turn down a chance to insult Tex good-naturedly, he chuckles. “He’s gonna cry when he gets the bill for her dress.”

"She's going to look spectacular." You know that without hesitation. Even if she weren't a statuesque beauty to begin with, her assuredness and vivacity would make her a knock-out no matter what. "It'll be the most unconventional wedding dress you've ever seen."

“The boy said she was wantin’ a green weddin’ dress.” He hums, looking at you curiously. “Are you thinkin’ something along the same lines or traditional?”

"I think the wildest I'll get is a flower pattern or something in the fabric. No colors or anything over the top for me." Somehow you have a feeling that Jack wouldn't say a word if you wanted to be untraditional, but he's hoping for white in his heart. And honestly? You never imagined anything but white on your own anyway. Maybe ivory - but that is hardly a stretch of the imagination. "My mom and my sister had these very elaborate dresses with lace and rhinestones and bows and stuff and I just...I don't know. I think I want to do something simple. And definitely something white."

“Simple is good.” Jack slides his hands around your waist and pulls you closer. “Simple lets the gorgeous bride shine. Instead of just looking at the dress, they will be lookin’ at you, sugar. Envious and wonderin’ how the fuck I got so lucky.”

Your immediate impulse is to protest that you’re the lucky one in this situation, but you know you’ll just end up going back and forth flattering each other. “We’re both lucky,” you insist, leaning forward to press your lips to his.

He can concede that, smirking slightly against your lips. Tilting his head and sliding his tongue into your mouth to deepen the kiss and groans when you immediately respond. The way Jack kisses you will never cease to thrill you. Reverent and wanting but always playful. It makes you smile into the kiss and ring your arms around his neck to pull him in closer. “I’m gonna miss you while I'm in the city.”

He frowns slightly and pulls you closer. “I’m going to miss you too, sugar.” He admits. He’s worried. Worried that you might not react to being in the city where you were tortured, but he’s not going to bring it up. If you aren’t thinking about it, he doesn’t want to put it in your mind. “But you will have a lot of fun with Sophia. You two are gettin’ along good.”

“She’s great.” You tilt your chin back to kiss the tip of his nose and smile, trying to wipe the frown off of his face. “And I know I’ll be safe with her.” It’s not as if you hadn’t thought about where you’re going. But you can’t exactly shun the city where your own brother lives for the rest of your life.

“You will be.” Jack looks down into your eyes seriously. “Please wear the bracelet and your earrings?” He begs softly.

“Cross my heart.” You nod earnestly, pressing another kiss to his lips. “And if I never go to Brooklyn again it’ll be too soon.”

He hums, tightening his grip on you slightly. “I would offer to come but I think there’s some rule about seeing the dress.”

"There's a very big rule about it, and I want you to be surprised." Although you can't deny that you always feel safer with him around, you know that Sophia will be able to take care of anything that comes up. If anything does at all, which it shouldn't now that Jack had taken care of the Rollins boys. "Unless...maybe Astrid could come with us? If she wanted to, and Gabi was okay with it? Then I'd have two of the baddest ass women I know looking out for me and you might feel a little calmer?"

“You take whoever you need to, sugar.” It’s sweet that you want to calm him down but he will always feel a little anxious when you aren’t in his sight. He’s already come to terms with that fact.

"It'll all be fine." You assure him, solidly reminding yourself of it as well. "We'll both be a little unsettled but I'll be fine with Sophia. And I'll wear my bracelet and my earrings so you can watch my little tracker dot circle around the dress shop a bunch of times and grin about it."

“I think you’ll find your dress in under an hour.” Jack predicts.

"You want to be more specific?" The idea of a little bet is intriguing to you and you pull apart from him to start undressing for bed. "Make a wager, maybe?"

“You know what you like and what you don’t.” Jack explains. “Even if you don’t have any particular style in mind before you go in, I wager an extra week on our honeymoon that you find your dress within an hour.”

"So if you're right, we add an extra week to the honeymoon." Tossing your socks in the laundry basket, the t-shirt you were wearing joins it next. "If it takes longer than that, which I think it will because I have no clue what I'm looking for other than 'not what my mother or sister wore', then..." You think through it, trying to think if there's anything you've wanted that he has ever said no to. Which of course, there isn't, so you go for something silly instead. "Then you and I are going to take an extremely silly engagement trip somewhere. Disney levels of silly."

Jack chuckles, knowing that it would seem extremely silly, but it would be worth it. “You’re on, sugar.” He hums happily, watching as you strip down and he starts to unbuckle his belt. “It’ll be great having you on the honeymoon for an extra week, but—” He points at you playfully and wags his finger. “You can only call to check in on your restaurant once a day.”

"Twice." You immediately pop up, turning to throw him a pout in protest. After all, pouting topless has never steered you wrong before - even if you're a little too anxious tonight to be thinking about sex. For the last several days, actually. "Once at the beginning of business and once toward the end of the night."

“One call, one text.” Jack haggles with you, smirking slightly although his eyes are squarely centering on your tits at the moment. Not sure if he’s smirking at the conversation or at the sight of your beautiful breasts.

"One call and one text. I can deal with that." You'll conspire with your sous chef later to communicate far more than that, but that's for later. "See something you like, cowboy?" It does make you smile, even though you're currently digging into the dresser to pull out an oversized t-shirt to sleep in.

“You can’t expect to pull out your tits and not have me stare at them.” He huffs dramatically, although he’s noting that you are already putting clothes back on, the universal signal for ‘not tonight’. To be fair, there has been a lot of sex and he doesn’t care if you want to have a rest. Instead of stripping down completely, he leaves his boxers on as he pulls back the covers.

"You're always allowed to stare at them, babe. Just like I'm always allowed to stare at your ass." Grateful that he doesn't seem to be fiercely ready for sex tonight, you crawl into bed beside him and snuggle up tight.

Curling his arms around you and pulling you into his chest, Jack presses his lips to your forehead. You seem perfectly content to let tonight be a snuggly affair and he’s perfectly okay when that, sighing softly at your warmth against his chest. The beating of your heart that he can just barely hear. “It’s a good thing you like it, cause it’s barely there. Better narrow your eyes to see it.”

“I’m gonna have to get a very powerful glasses prescription from Astrid,” you joke, giggling when you look up at him in bed and he frowns dramatically in response.

Jack reaches between you and pinches your nipple. “Brat.”

“Ow.” You’re laughing until you’re not, confused as to why the normally playful gesture hurts tonight. Jack must have accidentally pinched harder than usual. “Now I’m a pouty brat.”

“Shit, sugar.” He goes to rub your breasts to apologize but you twist away. Instead he strokes your back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He promises, feeling guilty for being too rough. He must have pinched harder than normal.

“S’ok.” You shrug, but also shrug out of his touch, slipping down beside him with a soft smile. “Kisses make things better, ya know.”

“I’ll give you as many kisses as you want.” He keeps his hands away from your chest, settling them on your sides as you lean in so he can kiss you.

“Sounds perfect to me.” Determined not to let your nerves about going to New York seep in, you just hope you get a good night’s sleep tonight. You’ve been restless lately – who knows why.

“Let’s get some sleep, sugar.” Jack suggests, unwinding one arm from around you so he can turn off the light. “You’ve got some big weddin’ decisions to be makin’.”

******

When you actually depart for New York it's early in the morning two days later, and you and Sophia have Gabi along with you for the trip. The idea of inviting Astrid was well-meaning for Jack's comfort, but since both of you had actually planned on asking Gabi to be your bridesmaid individually you had decided to make this trip a sort of event. The three of you sit over breakfast on the Statesman jet, talking over what Sophia wants to see and all the little things that you think you might look for in a dress or for your weddings. It's a calm flight, all things considered, but you still find yourself picking at your breakfast and wishing your upset stomach would subside.

“Are you good?” Gabi reaches out and touches your elbow. “I know the food isn’t as good as yours, but it’s not worth shredding the bagel.” She teases with a grin.

"I felt kind of off yesterday, too." You admit, looking between your friends with a sheepish expression. "I think I'm nervous."

“It’s okay to be nervous.” She promises. “I kept choking on my own spit the day Astrid and I got married. Broke out in hives.”

"Oh god..." As comforting as it is to know that even the happiest couples you know had plenty of wedding nerves, that just makes you groan in the moment. "Don't tell me that. Tell me everything's going to work out and the stuff that goes wrong will be little and unimportant and we'll laugh about it later."

“Everything turned out amazing.” She assures you with a smile that can only be from a person still completely besotted with their soulmate. “One of the best days of my life. And it will be yours as well.”

"Gabi's official role as bridesmaid for both of us is to be the calm one." Sophia jokes, sitting back at the table in the belly of the jet with her hands wrapped around her iced coffee. "Which reminds me," she grins, eyes flashing mischief at you before focusing on Gabi. "Hen parties. What did you and Ginger do?"

Gabi snorts and shakes her head. “Uhhhh….” Her grin is devilish and she shrugs. “We went to a male strip club.” She admits with a cackle.

"Seriously?" You almost do a spit take of your herbal tea, which would not help your stomach in the least.

“What?” She gives a shrug of her shoulders as if it was nothing surprising. “Just because we are desperately in love doesn’t mean we don’t like to look at dick.” She huffs playfully, dropping her voice on ‘dick’.

"So you like to look but don't want to touch men?" Human sexuality is such a fucking spectrum that you typically don't ask questions, but now you're curious. Plus, it's probably the first time you've ever seen Gabi blush. Ever.

“Ummm….” She shrugs again and gestures uselessly with her hands. “All of our kids were, uh, conceived naturally. So sometimes we do like to touch.”

"So..." This is breakthrough information that has you sitting up in your chair, practically giggling in delight. "Jack just...assumed you're a lesbian and no one ever corrected him? Because he definitely thinks you're a lesbian."

“To be fair, we are in a committed relationship and don’t really talk about anybody before finding each other.” Gabi defends lightly. “And we were very discreet with the fathers of our kids.” She giggles. “Plus, if Jack knew, he might have volunteered to get one of us pregnant and while I would have gone for it….Astrid would have worried it would affect their work relationship.”

"He absolutely would have volunteered." And rather than making you feel awkward in any way, you can absolutely laugh about it. "Well it seems I learned something about my friends today!”

Gabi shrugs and smirks. “So don’t feel bad about wanting a male dancer for my sake!” She jokes. “I’ll be upfront since it’s been a while.”

“Oh!” Shrinking back in your seat a little, you shake your head and laugh nervously. “I wasn’t planning on having a bachelorette party. No dancers or strippers or whatever for me.”

“What?” Gabi immediately shakes her head. “You are having a bachelorette party. Even if it’s just a spa thing with the girls.”

“No one’s saying we’re dragging you to Vegas for a Magic Mike show and endless rounds of cocktails by the pool.” Sophia waggles her eyebrows. “Although that does sound grand.”

“That’s what we’ll do for you, then.” That kind of party is much more styled to Sophia’s outgoing personality, and you’re definitely more up to planning something like that than being the focus of it. “Mine will be the low key version of things.”

Gabi nods. “Noted. Sophia wants naked men, you want pedicures.” She teases. “But you will stuff some dollar bills in a g-string if given the opportunity?”

“I promise to stuff at least two bills into two separate g-strings.” You snort, shaking your head at the very silly bargain.

“At least.” Gabi agrees with a grin. “Who knows, maybe Astrid and I will have the motivation to start looking for another donor for baby number three.”

“Your third baby donor and my brother’s second husband,” you half-joke, knowing full well it’s only half. If your brother knew you were going to a strip club he’d be there in a heartbeat. Sophia cackles at that, gleefully enjoying the image it brings to mind, and you snort a laugh that brings the whole table into a fit of giggles.

“So.” Gabi leans in and grins. “A little birdy told me that you and Jack have a little wager.” She hums. “I am to act as timekeeper.”

“Oh god.” Despite your embarrassed laughter, you do sit up and reach for your tea. “If I find a dress in under an hour, he’s adding an extra week to our honeymoon. If it takes over an hour, I get to be treated to a silly little engagement trip. He’s convinced I’m going to find one in no time.”

“So you win either way.” Sophia looks impressed, sore that she hadn’t come up with something like that with Tex. “Bravo.”

You shrug, knowing the compromise is really just a win for both of you, and it’s really just about when to have an extra week of vacation. “I know it’s going to take me forever, so you two will have to help me come up with someplace extraordinarily silly for him to take me.”

“Knotts Berry Farm.” Sophia immediately pipes up. “Or Disney World. And make him wear the ears!”

“If I bring that man to Disney World, I’m dressing him up like Woody and absolutely no one can stop me.” It would certainly qualify as silly, and your beloved cowboy soulmate would undoubtedly have you dressed up in something equally silly the next day as revenge. “And I would take so many videos.”

“You would have to!” Gabi laughs at the mental image and shakes her head. “There’s a snake in my boot!” Sophia cries out in an exaggerated imitation of Jack’s voice.

“Excuse me, ladies.” The flight attendant that welcomed you all on board and set out your breakfast comes over with a smile, having clearly recognized the impression Sophia was doing. “We’ll be landing shortly. If you wouldn’t mind buckling in, I’ll just clear this away. You’ll be on the ground in twenty minutes or less.”

Sophia looks giddy as the plane starts to descend, looking out the windows although the clouds still cover up the view. “Thank you for coming.” She says suddenly. “I am excited for this.”

“You made this happen.” Reaching over to hold her hand tightly, the way she grips yours back eagerly is full of excitement and anticipation. “We’re glad to be here for the ride. And I am also very excited about this appointment.”

“I am just here for the free champagne.” Gabi teases, honored that both women would include her in such a big event. Even better, she gets a mini vacation that is sure to rejuvenate her.

******

The ride from the airport to Kleinfeld is animated, with all three of you mashed into the backseat of the Statesman SUV that came to pick you up at the private airstrip. Apparently, having three agency soulmates fly into the city for a few days landed you some privileges, especially since Sophia is an active agent - and the best perk might actually be having a driver at your disposal.

“So Sophia already has an idea of what she wants. What are you thinking?” Gabi asks. “I know you have Jack’s family’s veil with you.”

“Yes, I do. And it’s non negotiable. If the dress doesn’t compliment the veil, it’s not the one.” The tote bag you’re carrying today holds any number of things, but your laptop case containing that veil is the most precious by far. “I just want something simple. As vague as that is.”

“Simple can always be wonderful.” The only married woman in the group insists. “Especially when on such a gorgeous woman.”

“Flatterer.” A sly grin in Gabi’s direction makes both of you laugh, and you reach for the front door of the bridal salon with a sharp intake of nervous breath. “Okay, ladies. Here we go!”

“Reservation is under my name.” Sophia turns towards you two before a woman in a tailored pantsuit walks up to the group. “Hello.” She watches as the woman seems surprised by the accent and smiles. “We have a reservation. Andrews.”

"Of course. Welcome!" The perfectly coiffed platinum blonde smiles broadly and waves you all over to the desk. "My name is Ellie, and I'm actually your consultant today so this was perfect timing to run into each other." She laughs, but instead of being put-on or polite, she sounds genuinely amused as she glances down at the computer behind the counter and back up again. "Now this is a double appointment, right? You, Sophia...and...?"

"And me." You put out your hand out to her and find yourself smiling in mirror to the woman – Ellie is one of the consultants frequently featured on the show but you would be hard pressed to actually say anything. She probably gets enough of that every single day from other brides.

“I already know what I am looking for.” Sophia announces, motioning towards you. “She is the one who isn’t quite sure what she is looking for. Although she has brought a family heirloom veil from the groom’s family that she wants to use.”

"Oh wow." Ellie looks suitably impressed and waves the three of you toward the belly of the salon. "Well let's go and get you ladies set up, and we can talk a little about what we're looking for and what our budgets look like." She moves through the space with ease and the three of you follow easily until you're shown to a soft, blue loveseat in one corner of the salon. "Since we have two brides trying things on I have a seat here for our third friend, and two pedestals for trying things on. But for now," she grins and pulls up an extra chair. "Let's have a little chat. Fiancés, weddings, budgets, all that good stuff."

“Budget is no concern.” Sophia hoots, pulling out Jack’s card. “Her fiancé is the CEO of Statesman distillery.”

"And hers," you side eye Sophia with nothing but love. "Is Head of Security." Tequila's return Stateside and good work at Kingsman had come with a step up in his civilian job title, much to his delight. It corresponded directly with his accolades as a senior agent. "They're best friends, and close with our friend Gabi's wife. Who is also a department head at Statesman. We're a big work family. But, um...yeah. Our fiancés are footing the bill, and they said no budget."

"My goodness." It's pretty clear Ellie wants to swear but she's too professional and she nods along with what you're saying. "So let's talk weddings, then? And fiancés? Sophia, you said you already know what you're looking for so why don't you tell me a little about everything?"

“I am not traditional.” She flashes a sardonic smile. “Trying to throw off my Britishness.” She jokes, you and Gabi laughing. “My fiancé is a huge cowboy and his engagement ring for me is a good indicator of our whimsy. I have decided I would like an emerald green wedding dress and my bridesmaids will wear white tea length gowns. Emerald green accents.”

"Okay!" Ellie nods, obviously a little thrown off by that idea but ultimately undeterred. "We don't have a lot in the salon in green, but what I can do is pull dresses that I know the designers are willing to do in colours and show you a fabric sample of what that colour would look like. How does that sound to you?" If it isn't satisfying to this bride Ellie will have to pull out her Hail Mary very early in this appointment.

“I was hoping for a Zuhair Murad gown?” Sophia suggests. “If that’s possible?”

"It's definitely possible." The excitable blonde nods her head and looks around the group of the three of you conspiratorially. "He's actually here today. We have a trunk show of his gowns going on this week and he's in store to meet with brides and consult on some things. I definitely think it would be worth bringing him into this appointment so that you can get that emerald color you want. His coloured gowns are stunning."

“Are you serious?” Sophia looks positively star struck and she can’t nod quick enough. For her, the designer is the entire reason she had wanted to come here.

"In that case." Ellie's eyes flash and she turns to you with a grin. "Let's talk about you, my dear. What are you looking for? What kind of wedding are we thinking of having?"

"Our situations are very similar in most ways, but in some ways we're the total opposite of each other." You explain, laughing a little when Sophia shrugs unapologetically. "We're both marrying Statesman execs, both having our wedding on the Statesman campus. I think we're both going for a sort of elegant Southern vibe. But where Soph is vibrant and extroverted and more of a party girl, I'm definitely looking for something simple and classic. My worry, though, is that everything simple is going to end up being a little boring."

“Your friend said the veil was going to be a part of your look. May I see it?” She asks, eager to see what kind of style the veil is designed in.

"The veil is an heirloom." Carefully digging into your tote, you unzip the case you have it in and lift out the antique lace to show the consultant. "This is the only thing that is non-negotiable. I could walk out of here with the most expensive and elaborate dress you sell even though I came in wanting simple and chic, but it has to work with this veil. Every bride in my soulmate's family for the last hundred and twelve years has worn it."

“It’s beautiful.” Ellie’s eyes widen and she reaches out to examine the lace. “This is hand sewn.” It is much better quality than most veils brought in that were from the 70s or 80s and the bride's mother wanted them to wear. This piece is timeless. “Simple, you say? This would look magnificent against a satin bridal gown.”

“I’m open to trying anything.” It would be silly to point out that you’re not used to wearing gowns so anything she suggests to try would be new for you. You can’t imagine most women wear an excess of gowns in their lifetime. Some, of course. But not most.

"Do you have any preference for cut?" She asks, eyeing your figure. "I have a selection of gowns that would be gorgeously simple and not clash with the veil but rather work with it to give you a wonderful bridal look."

“I just want to be able to dance,” you tell her with a grin. “He’s an amazing dancer.”

Nodding, she gently lets go of the veil and smiles at the three of you. "I will get you set up with some champagne and then start pulling dresses for you to see." She promises as she stands up. "I feel like you both will find exactly what you want."

It's a few minutes before your consultant returns with a tray of drinks and shows you that your dressing rooms are the ones right beside where you're sitting. She disappears again with an excited grin, headed into the belly of the salon to the stockroom to pull some dresses. It seems like the three of you have barely had a few sips, though, when a tall man with dark features and an easy smile sidles up to your area. "Miss Andrews?" He asks in a thick Middle-Eastern accent, looking to see which one of you answers. "Ellie told me you were interested in one of my colored gowns for your wedding dress."

Sophia’s eyes widen and she is immediately standing, rushing to shake the hand of one of her favorite designers. “Yes.” She gushes happily. “I am in love with your designs.”

“The very highest compliment I could ever receive.” Murad smiles warmly and shakes Sophia’s hand with both of his. “There are a few gowns here that could be dyed. I will help Ellie pull those for you and we will see what you think of them. But,” he flashes her a grin. “If we do not turn up anything here, then we will come up with a design all your own, together.”

“The only thing that I care about is that the dress matches the color of my ring.” Sophia can’t help but grin back at the handsome man.

"A beautiful piece," he praises, letting the emerald catch the light and dance. "Your fiancé has excellent taste."

"Thank you." Sophia beams and twists the ring on her hand. "We were joking that I should have a dress to match and I absolutely fell in love with the idea."

"It is not a joke, it is genius." The designer flashes a grin at Sophia and then at you and Gabi on the plush little loveseat. "Let me see what is here that can be dyed, and I will come back with Ellie to see what you think."

Sophia giggles nervously and nods, turning back towards you and Gabi when he walks away. "Oh my fucking god! I cannot believe I just met him!!!!" She squeals, nearly apoplectic with glee.

"I think that was more than a meet, honey," you wrap a giddy Sophia up in a hug and let her giggle fit ride itself out naturally. "He just offered to custom design your wedding dress if you don't like anything on site."

"Oh god, he did, didn't he?" She's completely awestruck and nearly spills her champagne as she plops down on the cushioned chaise lounger. "I missed that. I just– oh my god, do you think he would find it strange if I invited him to the wedding?"

"I don't know if he would be able to come, but I think it would be a very nice gesture." She's completely overcome with the encounter and you can't help but laugh softly. "How about if I meet my dress's designer too, we'll both invite them. And then we can be weird together?" It's such a silly suggestion, but kind of a sweet one. Like a big thank you for a day that is already so wonderful.

"Maybe he can design something simple for you." She bites her lip and looks around in complete starstruck awe. "I cannot believe I am here. We are here. We are going to be getting married!"

“She’s gonna take off to outer space.” Gabi laughs, carefully extracting Sophia’s glass from her hand while you hug her.

“Can’t say I blame her.” There’s activity all around you, consultants toting dresses and other brides giddily browsing the pieces hanging in the sales floor, and you look around with a sigh. “It’s like bridal Disneyland.”

Gabi snorts and can't deny that. "It is bridal Disney, isn't it?" She hums, amused by the idea. "We need to see about adding a bridal boutique to the Statesman label." She chuckles. "Have it be an all in one wedding venue."

“If we had a bridal label we’d be unstoppable.” The very idea of it makes you grin, as if you don’t have enough on your plate already with the restaurant just opening and the event planning taking off at the same time. “Champ would either throw resources at us or realize he’s created a monster.”

"You don't think that man is aware that he has created a monster?" Gabi asks you, raising a brow even as she grins at you. "He's fully aware."

“Jack’s the one who keeps encouraging me to dream,” you shrug like it means nothing, but it’s honestly one of the more sincere and romantic things he could possibly do. “Champ’s just the facilitator.”

"Maybe one day." Gabi offers, leaning over to tap her glass to yours. "Lord knows our Statesman family is going to be growing."

“Still thinking about baby number three?” She had seemed to glow with the idea after joking about it on the plane, and you could definitely see Gabi and Astrid deciding to give Ricky and Carmen a little brother or sister.

“I kind of am.” She admits with a dreamy smile. “I know Astrid would let me carry the next one, so I just– I want to talk to her about it and see what she thinks.”

"You guys are the cutest parents. I'm sure she'd be excited for it." Aside from your sister and brother-in-law, Gabi and Astrid are the parents of young children that you've spent the most time around and that both makes you ache and anxious all at once. It would be wonderful to have kids, but you have no idea how you would be as a mother or how Jack would respond to the idea of being a father again.

“Are you okay?” Gabi’s soft smile turns concerned as she scooches closer to you. “You suddenly look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

It hit you like a ton of bricks - the horror tinging your realization with fear. When was your last period? "I'm okay." Unfortunately it's a flat out lie, but you just smile and set your champagne glass back on the tray when Ellie reappears with her hands full of gowns. Gabi doesn't need to know. No one needs to know. No one needs to know that you can't remember the date of your period. Getting an IUD had never made them stop completely, only made them dramatically lighter. But it's...it's been months. Shit.

She doesn’t question you any more, but she side eyes you. Wondering if you are feeling nervous about the dress or if it’s something to do with children. “You know, I think Jack will be a wonderful father.” She murmurs reassuringly right as Ellie starts to talk.

"I have a few of our simpler gowns here in a variety of silhouettes so that you can get a better feeling for what style you might like, and we can go from there," she tells you with a happy smile before looking to Sophia. "And you, my lucky friend, Zuhair just pulled a few things from the stockroom. He's right behind me."

She is practically bouncing in her seat, excited, although she turns towards you expectantly. “Are you ready to find your dream dress and have an extra week of honeymoon?” She teases, having fully sided with Jack.

"We'll see." Forcing yourself to paint on a smile, you push out of your seat and follow Ellie into the small dressing room. Everything on the hangers is delicate and focuses on your body instead of obscuring details, and now all you can think of is how you might be pregnant and trying to do the goddamn math on your cycle.

"Do you have one you want to start with?" The bubbly consultant asks, but the best you can do is chew your lip in concern. "How about something classic?" She suggests when you look more worried than excited. "A simple satin ballgown for that princess feeling?"

"Sure." You nod, reminding yourself how, and start to slip out of your jacket. Focus. You need to focus.

Whisking you off towards the changing area, Ellie starts listing off the attributes of the gown in question, making up for your decided lack of questions. Something has changed but it’s not her place to ask.

The first dress you come out in is...large. It's a poofy princess dress if ever there was one, and with the terror that you're now feeling your mind has wandered to thinking about what any of these gowns would look like on a pregnant woman. "Let's see what they think," you suggest, instead of admitting that you don't like it very much. It's too big and you know that a baby bump would only make it worse.

The moment you step outside the little changing area, both women can tell you don’t like it. They each shake their heads. “It’s too…poofy.” Gabi offers politely and Sophia snorts. “You look like a cream puff.”

“Thanks, guys.” The way you roll your eyes at both of them is a half-assed attempt at humor, and you shake your head. “So ballgown is out? No Princess Sugar?” Humor is good, you tell yourself weakly. Humor will help.

“I think something sleek, more fitted, Princess Peach.” Sophia smirks at you with a wink.

“Now, I know who Princess Peach is,” Ellie laughs, helping you down from the pedestal in the gown that has been dubbed too much “But who is Princess Sugar?”

“Sugar is the nickname that Jack – her fiancé – coined for her.” Gabi explains, throwing you a smirk. “Very southern.”

“I own a restaurant.” Is the explanation you give, stumbling over your words like a nervous weirdo. “I was a pastry chef when we met…I make cakes…it’s a whole thing.”

“It’s sappy and adorable.” Sophia flutters her eyelashes dramatically as you disappear, but jumps off the couch immediately a second later as Murad reappears with three enormous dresses for her to try.

“Here are the ones that I think will be best, if you don’t like them, I can sketch a design.” He offers.

Sophia is giddy as she lets herself be swept into the second dressing room while you go to change into your second dress. Gabi can hear her cooing with glee behind the thin wall, but she didn’t miss the way you hadn’t had any light in your eyes at all when you came out in your first dress. Something happened, she just doesn’t know what or how.

“The dress can be dyed if it is not quite what you are imagining and I have taken the liberty of pulling all emerald green fabrics I have.” Murad calls through the curtain as Ellie helps Sophia into the first dress.

“Sounds like you’re in heaven over there,” you call out through the wall between dressing rooms, enjoying the gleeful sound of Sophia’s giggling next door. The second dress that has been pulled for you is a trumpet gown that you would probably have loved if you weren’t feeling a roiling stomach and the weight of the world on your shoulders. Sophia emerges from the dressing room with a strapless gown with all the most beautiful embellishments and a sweetheart neckline to die for, looking like an angel come down to earth. You remind yourself to smile again, not wanting to spoil your friend’s unbridled excitement.

“What do we think?” Sophia asks, biting her lip as she looks in the mirror at her reflection and dying a little inside as she sees herself.

“You look like a dream, honey!” Gabi squeals, sitting up on the sofa with her glass clutched in both hands. “Tex would lose his mind to see you in that dress.”

“Okay, so I love this, but….” She tilts her head and glances at Murad in the mirror. “There was one that was off the shoulder sleeves, right?”

"Are you thinking of the sleeves from that gown on this one?" He tilts his head at her like an artist considering their muse and grins mischievously. "Let me..." The thought trails off as he ducks out of sight, going to grab a veil from the nearest display and manipulating the long length of fabric in his hands. Each end is somehow magically transformed into a small, loose sleeve that hangs off her shoulder like an elegantly fallen strap. It falls just around the middle of her arm and makes the whole thing look positively refined. "Like this, you mean?"

"Yes." She nods, biting her lip as she stares at herself in the mirror. "That is what I am looking for. The way that it sits has always seemed so refined and luxurious to me."

You stand and watch, taking in the way Sophia’s face lights up and tears well up behind her eyes as she talks with the designer and customizes her gown. He shows her the shades of green he could dye the fabric and they coo over the design together, and you really feel like you might be sick as the room spins around you in anxiety instead of happiness. There have been times you’ve been sick lately - days you haven’t eaten because you’ve been sick to your stomach, extra headaches, back aches, cramping. There was the incident two nights ago with your breasts being overly sensitive… How long has it been? Two months? Three?

Gabi just happens to glance over at you to see the absolutely crushed look on your face. Setting her champagne glass down, she quickly stands and crosses the floor to where you are seemingly doing an astrophysics problem in your head and touches your arm lightly. "Honey, what is wrong? What happened?"

“Nothing.” The answer comes far too quickly and far too sharply, and even Ellie looks concerned on your other side, but you can’t just — oh god, you were drinking…you’ve been drinking alcohol this whole time…and so much caffeine… “I’m not feeling great,” you murmur finally, knowing that it’s half-assed but not daring to spoil Sophia’s moment.

"I have some Tylenol in my purse." Gabi offers helpfully. "Do you have a headache?"

“It’s — m-more of a stomach ache.” It’s an aching feeling everywhere of complete dread and fear, but you make yourself smile for Gabi as though it can be brushed off. “It’s okay. I think I’ll just…lay off the liquor until it subsides.” Or for the next six or seven months…

Highly skeptical, Gabi discreetly glances around the boutique to make sure that you haven't seen someone who has spooked you. You look scared, not like you have a stomachache. "Alright, but if you need me to call Astrid, I can. She can run a diagnostic of you in the Statesman truck."

“If it keeps up.” You nod like you would ever agree to that, even though the idea of being hooked up to anything medical on a Statesman vehicle makes your skin crawl with memories from a month ago. And that’s when it hits you - like a freight train coming right at a cartoon character. If something has gone wrong and you are pregnant? It can’t be Jack’s…

"Oooookay." Gabi grabs you as your knees threaten to buckle and she waves Sophia off. "Let's get you out of this dress and into the bathroom, okay?" Astrid has been concerned that memories from a month ago would resurface and cause issues and from the way you look like you are going to puke, that has to be it. "Okay, come on sweetheart. We can manage everything." She promises. "I have a Valium in my purse just in case something like this happened."

“Is that safe?” You ask in earnest, letting Gabi bring you back into the dressing room like you’re on the end of a set of leading strings.

"It's fine." She assures you quietly. "Astrid gave it to me just in case you had problems."

“I’m okay.” Getting out of the confining dress and back into your own clothes will help, so you don’t hesitate when Gabi shuts the door behind you. Your head is spinning too much which makes the room turn on its axis and the feeling of panic in your chest is making everything more urgent and terrifying.

Maybe that Valium isn’t such a bad idea after all — Astrid sent it because you were attacked here, why did you think this would be a good idea? Everything inside and around you is moving so fast that you don’t even realize you’ve dropped to your knees. Quick, sharp breaths are going to have you hyperventilating in no time but you can’t stop them, and the way your skin is crawling makes you want to scratch your skin clean off. You drag your fingernails up your forearms with purpose, and if you didn’t have short nails from decades of culinary work you might actually succeed in tearing yourself apart.

“Let me–” as a mother, Gabi always carries a bottle of water or a juice box in her purse. Grabbing the oversized bag had been a stroke of luck as she starts to rifle through it until she comes up with a small bottle of water. “Here, drink this.” She kneels down beside you and twists the plastic cap off to hold it up to your lips. “It’s okay.”

It’s a small mercy but still a notable one, mostly because you have to stop scratching yourself to hold the bottle. Gabi gently takes your other hand in both of hers, holding onto it to keep you from spiraling even harder as the tears start to fall and you swear you’re going to choke on the water you just swallowed.

“Come on. It’ll be okay. I promise. No one is going to hurt you.” She murmurs softly. “Our driver is an agent. Sophia is here. Say the word and we’ll have Jack here.”

"No!" The panic that you feel has nothing to do with what happened a month ago and everything to do with the position you would be putting Jack in if what you fear is true. "No–no, I mean...that's not necessary. I'm just..." You feel like an absolute nutcase, but you don't know how to tell her that without sounding silly. "I'm just not feeling well."

“Okay.” The best thing she can do for you is to calm you down. Agreeing with you makes you relax so she doesn’t hit the button in her bracelet yet. “Okay, we’ll just take a few deep breaths, sound good?”

"I'm sorry," you curl in on yourself, not having made it out of the sample wedding dress before the panic started, and wish you could make yourself disappear so you wouldn't feel so damn embarrassed.

“Nothing to be sorry for.” Gabi tells you firmly, cupping your face in her hands. “Nothing at all. Do you understand?”

"I don't want to ruin this for Soph." Or ruin life for Sophia. For your friend. The last time you had your period was the week before your cousin's wedding...Isn't there some kind of old wives' tale about being extra fertile after your period? Or is that before? Shit shit shit.

“You won’t, she wants to be here for you too. She and Tex are so happy for you and Jack.” She insists.

"I'm okay," you insist again, despite it obviously being not true. The best you can do right now is force yourself to refocus. Force yourself to function. Pray that Sophia is so wrapped up in picking out her wedding dress that she never notices that anything was wrong with you in the first place.

“Here.” The small pill is offered to you. “Take this. It will help you relax. Short term.”

"I–um– thanks." Still a little shaky, you manage to take the offered medicine and have another sip of water without too much fuss, and breathe deeply as you stare at your knees. Could it be real? Are you really...pregnant?

It’s long minutes before you start to calm down. Your breathing returns to normal and Gabi takes the now empty water bottle and shoves it back into her purse. “You need another drink? I have a juice box.”

"Would you..." You turn to look at Gabi for the first time since this whole thing started, seeing the concern drawn on her face and the determination that you recognize from seeing her take care of her kids. "Would you just tell Sophia I'm okay if she asks? If she didn't notice then I don't want to worry her."

“I– you don’t think Sophia noticed?” She asks, shocked you would think that.

"Why?" It makes your head spin again in a way that jolts your stomach. "How long have we been in here?"

“Not long, but she’s an agent.” She reminds you gently. “And your mood went from happy to nearly frantic in an instant.”

"All the more reason to let her know that I'm okay, then." It's a miracle that you can think straight, if you're honest, but at least your skin has stopped crawling and you didn't do anything to damage the sample dress still clinging to your body. "I'm sure she has her dress sorted out by now. I'll just..." You blow out a breath that you hope sounds encouraging instead of wavering with fresh tears, which is how you feel. "Change out of this one and try the next. Since this one now has...questionable memories."

"It's not your style anyway." Gabi jokes, sending you a small smile as she stands and holds her hands out to you to help you to stand. After you get back to the hotel tonight, she will discreetly call Astrid and let her know that another therapy session would be good for you.

"Thanks, Gabi." You squeeze her hands before letting them go and refocusing yourself on the dresses that are hanging from the bar on the other side of the small dressing room. Thank god you elected not to wear make up today, or you'd probably look like a raccoon right now.

"This one seems more your style." Gabi offers, although you could never tell when the dress is on the hanger. "Do you want me to help you into it?" She asks quietly, willing to step out if you want.

"If I haven't frightened off our consultant, I'm sure she can help." It's less scary to have to face a near stranger with what's going on in your mind. Ellie doesn't know anything about what's happening in your life. She can't read you like a book the way your friends can. And she'll more than likely buy the story that you just aren't feeling well without pressing for more details.

"Okay." Gabi frowns but she is moving toward the door. "I will send her in."

Sophia is sitting on the loveseat in her regular clothes when Gabi comes back out, fidgeting with her sleeves and frowning heavily. "Is she okay?" She asks quietly once their consultant has gone back into the changing room. "She had an episode, didn't she?"

"Yeah." Gabi knew that Sophia would have noticed you. But she's happy that the other agent didn't push her way into the dressing room knowing it would have embarrassed you even more. "I gave her a Valium. Maybe we need to make it an early day?" She suggests softly. "Or maybe she'll be better once she's let the medicine kick in."

“She wants to keep going?” Sophia can’t tell if she’s surprised or not, knowing you to be both stubborn and usually fairly in tune with yourself. “No crazy partying tonight. Maybe a room service and a movie? And a museum tomorrow. She loves museums.” The laundry list of things she wanted to see can wait. Her best friend’s well being is far more important than anything else.

"That sounds like the perfect, low key evening that we need." She nods and bites her lip. "What about you, hun?" She reaches out and touches Sophia's arm. "Did you find something that you like or are you needing to have something designed?"

“We made a few tweaks, but the first dress was nearly perfect.” She keeps her voice respectfully low, but clasps Gabi’s hands eagerly. “It’s going to be beautiful, and one of a kind. I just hope our girl in there isn’t so overwhelmed that she doesn’t get to enjoy this appointment. Or this trip.”

"She's a trooper." Gabi smiles, excited for Sophia. "I know she will find the perfect dress." She prays that whatever is going on with you doesn't spoil the experience for you.

A few minutes later you emerge again with red eyes looking tired but forcing yourself to smile - knowing that today is about more than you. You’re just going to have to make sure you read the return and cancellation policy on this dress very carefully in case the worst happens.

"Oh." The dress is stunningly simple and yet it is completely breathtaking. The way it drapes over your form brings the soft folds of the dress and shimmering of the satin. "It's perfect."

“Yeah?” If you’re honest, you barely noticed anything about the dress you put on. It’s comfortable, sure, and simple. But past that? You couldn’t tell what the silhouette was or anything about the details if you tried. Still, you like that they like it. “Gabi picked it.”

"Yeah, love." Sophia stands and walks over towards you with a soft smile and reaches for the package with Jack's family veil in it. "Let's see if it's as perfect with this as I imagine it will be."

It’s nerve racking to see the veil come out now. You’re scared and trying not to show it, like in the back of your mind you know something is wrong and that it might affect Sophia’s relationship as much as your own. Who the fuck knows what will happen if you turn out to be pregnant with Tex’s baby. It will turn your whole world upside down. And hers. And Jack’s. And Tex’s.

Sophia freezes, trying not to immediately demand to know what is wrong. She knows you will deny anything is wrong. Instead, she moves slowly as she takes the veil out and drapes it over your head.

It is beautiful. You can’t deny that even if you have trouble looking yourself in the eye in the mirror. The low cowl neck of the dress makes room for a necklace and the even lower back keeps the focus on the veil, and on any other day you would be gasping right along with Gabi and tearing up for a good reason instead of a stressful one. “It’s…” your hand drifts to the edges of the veil and you try to banish the question mark of what this dress would look like on a pregnant woman. “It’s beautiful.”

Sophia knows that something is wrong. She can tell, but she's cheerful, trying to be your support. "It is beautiful. I know, I know that you shouldn't be pressured and it's all about what you want, but this is the one." She gushes, fluttering the veil around you. "Jack will lose his mind when he sees you in this dress."

“It’s exactly what I said I wanted.” You won’t deny that, even if you’re barely looking at your reflection. Your eyes just keep going back to your engagement rings over and over again. Thinking of Jack and hoping that you haven’t completely ruined your lives with recklessness.

"Do you– do you not like it?" Sophia asks softly. "Because if you don't, Ellie can pull more dresses. We will find something that you love."

“No, I do.” Thinking as quickly on your feet as you can, you force a smile and touch the edges of the veil again. If this is the only time you’re going to get to wear it, you want to at least appreciate its beauty again. “It will need a good necklace. And you two have to tell me if the back is too low.”

Turning you around, Sophia whistles. "That is a sexy back, love. No, you should show it off and this is the perfect dress to do so." She hums and Gabi jumps up to chime in. "Oh it's just lovely. Perfect. What do you think?" She asks you seriously.

“I think it’s right.” If you were thinking with a clear head right now, you would be in happy tears. It really is exactly what you said you wanted in a dress and you do look great in it, but your mind is just too cloudy at the moment to recognize that. “And I think even Louisville is too cold for this dress to be at a winter wedding.”

"Spring or summer?" Gabi asks, not willing to mention that she has clocked you choosing the dress at fifty-two minutes, thirty-five seconds.

“Spring, I guess.” When you finally look up to find your friends smiling at you, you try not to pull in on yourself self-consciously. “Soph and Tex already called dibs on this summer.”

"A spring wedding." Gabi grins conspiratorially. "That will make Jack happy as a pig in sunshine."

“Engaged for a whole year?” Sophia grins, suspicious but trying to cheer you up from whatever is bothering you. Because you are bothered. “You’ll have plenty of time to plan and dream, mate.”

“I think so.” When you nod it’s slow, but definite. “I think this is it.” They like it. Right now that’s the best thing you have to base a decision on, because there’s no way in hell that you can be objective or make the choice with a clear head.

“Great!” Both women cheer, trying to interject as much enthusiasm into the event as possible. They don’t want Ellie to think anything strange, although Sophia knows she has seen plenty of drama.

"Did we remember to keep the time?" You have no intention of letting Jack know what kind of chaos happened here this morning. None whatsoever. So you turn your mind to things that seem normal. Like the bet.

“Under an hour.” Gabi admits with a shrug. “Although if you have your heart set on that engagement trip…” She breaks off teasingly. “I can be bought for the price of a Manhattan in Manhattan.”

"No...he won, fair and square." It would have taken even less time if you hadn't freaked out, and you're not about to lie to him about things that don't matter. There are too many things that do matter at stake.

“I bet if you give him that Soul Snatcher Three Thousand when you get back and ask him for the engagement trip, the man will dance towards Disney wearing the ears.” Sophia waggles her brows suggestively and barks out a laugh a second later.

“We’re going to Montana in fall,” you tell them both quietly and reach to take the veil out of your hair. You’re going to hang on to every bit of normalcy and every promise as hard as you can right now. “That’s sort of going to be the trip, I think. Though…it won’t be silly. It’ll be good for him.”

“Oh….” Sophia had been told the story, the real story in its entirety and she knows that it will be emotional for both of you. “If you need to talk to someone, I’m here for you.”

“It will be good.” Maybe if you tell yourself that enough times, it will be true. You can hope, at least. “His hometown does a big Labour Day festival every year, so we’re going to go for that.”

“That will be fun.” Gabi smiles. “Something fun to look forward to.”

“I’m going to get out of this so I can buy it,” you announce, hoping you sound excited. “Then we can go celebrate?”

“That sounds good.” Ellie ushers you towards the changing room and Sophia turns towards Gabi. “What are you thinking?”

“She won’t look us in the eyes,” Gabi murmurs sadly. “If I wasn’t convinced that that is the most perfect dress for her, I’d be insisting she wait to buy and we all go do something to distract ourselves.”

“She didn’t get a text, no one called.” Sophia looks around the room of mostly women and frowns. “Do you think something reminded her of the kidnapping?”

“I don’t know what else it would be.” Gabi admits with a sigh. “I gave her the Valium, and I’m going to let Astrid know what happened. But other than that? I’m not sure what to do.”

“All we can do is support her.” Sophia frowns, making a note to text Jack if you still are off kilter by dinner time.

“We’ll get her through it.” It’s as much of a promise to Sophia as it is to you without you even being there.

“Yes we will. And if we need to head back tonight, I will have the plane ready.” Sophia won’t put your mental health at risk. She won’t.

******

Your dress purchased and arrangements made for you to be contacted when it comes in so you can be fitted, Sophia and Murad exchange information to work on her custom made dress, then the three of you pile out onto New York’s streets. “Where to now?” Gabi asks, looping her arm through yours. “Anywhere you want to go.” She tells you.

"Sophia made a list." It's less deflecting than it is just angling to not have to think about much of anything - and that includes decision making. But Sophia isn't having it, and she shakes her head as the three of you pile into the waiting Statesman car. "Anywhere you want to go," she insists, keeping hold of your hand in the backseat. They're a stubborn pair when they agree on something, and you look between them with a sigh. "We could go to a museum?" It's your go to. Museums and food tourism. And right now you can't stomach the idea of food.

“Why don’t we do one of the smaller museums?” Sophia offers. “Near the hotel in case we want to go back and rest?” The unspoken part of it suggests that you might want to go back, to not participate and it gives you an out if you need it.

"I know you guys don't want to be dragged around the Frick Collection or some other intense little art museum." It's sweet that they're trying to be kind after what happened in the dress shop, but you really don't want this trip to be about you and you know at least half of Sophia's list. "Why don't we do Madame Toussad's? Selfies with wax people sounds like a silly as hell way to spend the afternoon."

“Yes!” It sounds like just the type of activity to get you out of your head so both women nod eagerly. “Let’s do that and we can decide what to eat afterwards.” Sophia decides.

“Times Square has tons of places. It will be great.” Gabi agrees, wanting things to go smoothly from here on out.

Each woman flanks you, wanting you to feel protected and surrounded by someone familiar. Each one believing that you are reliving the trauma of the last month. “Maybe we will find some inspiration for your menu.��� Sophia encourages.

“We should take Soph someplace absurd and touristy. Super American.” You suggest, sitting back between both women as the car makes its way around Central Park. “Like Red Lobster or Margaritaville levels of absurd.” Silly will help, you decide, sitting on your hands so that they don’t move self consciously to your unchanged stomach. Silly is good.

“Ohhhhh we can get wasted in Margaritaville, right?” She grins. “Like that song?”

You’ll definitely be laying off the booze for the rest of the trip for necessary reasons, but you swallow it and add a smile as you nod. “Absolutely, Soph.”

“Great!” There’s practically nothing a little booze and girl time can’t fix, so she is immediately leaning forward to lower the glass to tell the driver to take you all to the Wax Museum.

******

Madame Toussad’s Wax Museum is plenty busy, full of families and groups of friends out for the same silly distraction that the three of you are. The staged dummies and their scenery providing just enough distraction to have you breathing normally and even laughing a little with your friends.

“This place is wonderful.” Sophia gushes. “Creepy, but wonderful.” She looks around at all the wax figurines. “We should do waxes of the agents.” She laughs.

“Tex would hide his all around the house to scare you.” Gabi snorts, thinking of how much fun the agent has been known to have, acting like an oversized child in some of his time off.

“God he would.” Sophia laughs, shaking her head. “Until I decapitated it and then he would pout.”

“You can’t cut off that beautiful face.” Gabi laughs, posing next to the model of actor Channing Tatum just like he’s Tex. They’re about the same size, so it works. “He’d be such a sad boy.”

“Tex’s ears are a little bigger but I swear they are brothers.” She huffs, stepping closer to examine the figurine of the man who looks just like her fiancé. “All that ridin’ I’ve been doing. Gotta hold onto somethin’.” She drawls, imitating a southern accent.

“Save a horse, ride a cowboy,” Gabi giggles, swinging her hips in an impromptu dance move that makes all three of you laugh. It is, after all, the unofficial Statesman motto.

“Speaking of…” Sophia smirks. “There’s been a lack of complaints around your house early in the mornings the last few days. Have you just decided to wear Jack out at night or did you turn the safe room into your sex room?” She waggles her brows outrageously.

“The restaurant starting up has changed our schedule a little.” You excuse, suddenly hyper focused on a speck of dirt on your hand. “And I’ve been a lot more tired.”

“I’m sure you are.” Sophia nods, reaching out and patting your hand. “Let me know if there’s something I can do. I did work my grandpa’s pub back across the pond.”

“Thanks.” Everyone here knows you’ll never ask. Not only do you have a great staff but you’re stubborn as hell. Still, it’s nice that she offered. “I just want everything to be perfect.”

“Everything is perfect. Have you not read the reviews?” Countless food critics for the area have already been out to try the newest addition to Statesman and each one of them have come away giving rave reviews.

“Then being tired is worth it.” You decide, flashing them both that smile that feels a little more authentic with that encouragement.

“Ohhhh look! There’s Nic Cage!” Gabi squeals, darting over to the next display. “This is– is it a wax figure or does he come and pose everyday?” She giggles, poking the figure’s waxy face.

“It’s his Dorian Gray statue instead of a portrait,” Sophia laughs, dragging you with her to the next display. “If you move the clothes you’d see horrible disfiguration.”

You jump from exhibit to exhibit, Gabi and Sophia making sure that there isn’t a lull in the conversation or jokes being tossed out. Wanting to make sure you don’t have time to think about being upset. By the time you’re through the Creepy But Fun (as you all agreed upon) museum full of uncanny wax people, you’ve calmed down a little. But only in so much as the panic has turned into a slowly simmering dread in your belly.

“Where to now?” Sophia asks, grinning at your obviously more cheered spirits and links her arm with yours. “I’m famished.”

"Do you still want to go to Margaritaville for dinner?" The thought of alcohol makes you queasy but you can just have a virgin one and soldier on. The point is for Sophia to have fun.

“Unless you have some little hidden gem that we have to try?” Sophia asks with a grin. “Have you been holding out on us?”

"There's always..." You bite your lip and shrug a little, deciding that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a little fun. There's been a plan slowly forming in the back of your head all afternoon and it will take care of everything. Or at least...it's the best idea you have for not ruining the lives of everyone you love. "There's two places. In Chelsea...both are great but one of them is inside the theater for this crazy play, so you kind of have to do both to get the whole experience."

“Tell me more.” Sophia cocks her head curiously, intrigued by the sound of it.

“The play has a restaurant and a bar in it and instead of sitting down to watch you get up and run around and follow the actors everywhere. And the audience all wears masks, and you can’t talk, and then after you find your friends in the bar and talk about what you saw.” It’s something you’ve done with your siblings a few times and always loved it. No two experiences are ever the same, but it’s exhausting. “If you want a quieter night, we can go to the Argentinian restaurant across the street. The wine list is killer and if we name drop my brother they might make us something special.”

“The play thing sounds fun.” Sophia admits with a grin. “It’s not something I have done before. How about you?” She turns to ask Gabi.

"I don't think I've been to a play outside of Louisville since Astrid was stationed here." It had been very early in her time with Statesman, but back then they had loved to go to Broadway. "I'm in for a weird play where you run around."

“Then it’s decided.” Sophia would sing karaoke in a shoebox if it meant you would be happy, so the smile on your face as you agree means the world to her.

"Let's see if we can actually get three tickets." You pull out your phone as you walk through Times Square between them, headed to your hotel just a block away. "We can have the driver take us, which is a miracle because walking there sucks." The times you had gone with your siblings, you had done the combination of subway travel and walking which was less than fun. Sophia has one arm through yours to make sure you stay on the sidewalk while your face is in your phone and you make a small noise of surprise when there are actually tickets available for tonight. "Looks like we're doing it. I recommend lightweight clothes and your comfiest shoes. We're going to be running all night."

“We have time to go back to the hotel?” Sophia asks. “Or are we running into Target and buying what we need?”

“We have plenty of time.” The hotel is just around the corner and the three of you pop straight into the elevator easily. “It’s not really traditional, but it is based in Shakespeare. But it’s dancing. A lot of dancing.”

“I always like dancing.” Sophia’s eyes widen suddenly. “Ooooooh!” She squeals, “can we go to the Coyote Ugly bar?”

“Tomorrow night,” you promise, laughing when she looks as excited about that as she did about shopping for her wedding dress.

“Always wanted to go there since seeing that movie.” She confesses with a grin.

“We can make that happen.” Gabi chuckles on your other side. She opens the door to your suite with her key and ushers you all inside. “But if you get up and start dancing on the furniture, I’m taking video.”

“Oh absolutely.” She had already anticipated that. “And send it to Tex, hm? Make him regret telling me that I wouldn’t have fun.”

“That boy honestly thought there was any kind of scenario you wouldn’t make fun?” The dismissive sound Gabi makes as she digs into her suitcase for suitable clothing for the night is accompanied by a sigh. “He really is a clown.”

“A rodeo clown.” Sophia had giggled over the few photos Tex had shown her. It had been something fun to tease him about when he was wearing dapper suits that he didn’t find comfortable at all.

"From rodeo clown to super spy." You shake your head as you dig through your suitcase for comfortable clothes to wear tonight. Everything that you had packed was reasonably stylish, but at least you had thought to tuck your good sneakers in the bottom of your case so that you could keep up with all the adventuring Sophia wanted to do.

“So I’m going to wear leggings and a cute t-shirt.” Sophia offers, tossing out her clothes haphazardly. “That sound okay?”

"That works. I've got a pair of jeans and..." The shirt in your hand when you lift it out of your suitcase makes you swallow back an emotional reaction. "Jack packed me his Creedence Clearwater Revival t-shirt..." It's such a small gesture but it has you breathing shakily as you inhale the scent of his cologne from the stretched and worn cotton. "I–I'm going to sleep in that, I think," you murmur almost to yourself, replacing it in the suitcase and pulling out the Louisville Slugger t-shirt that you had bought at the factory tour. If Sophia noticed the expression of almost heartbreak, she doesn’t mention it. Wondering if you are just in your feelings because of where you and Jack were when you were last in New York.

“I’ll call the restaurant to see if they have a reservation left. If not, we’ll go to the place across the street.” You can’t possibly excuse yourself fast enough, heading into the suite’s bedroom to change clothes quickly and make the call. There’s someone else that you definitely need to talk to - but that will be face-to-face.

“She seems better.” Gabi immediately moves towards Sophia and frowns at the closed door. “Don’t you think?”

“Looked like she saw a ghost when she found Jack’s shirt, though. Didn’t she?” Sophia chews on her lower lip. “Hopefully this play thing will take her mind off whatever it is that’s got her so fuckin’ upset.” She wishes you would just talk to them, but there are glimpses of you feeling better that have her hopeful.

“That Southern accent is coming along nicely.” Gabi teases playfully. Sophia had said she was going to work on making her English accent less noticeable much to Tex’s disappointment.

“I put in for a transfer,” she admits with a sly grin. “Champ just has to have the board sign off on it.”

“Really!” Gabi squeals happily, knowing that Tex will be happy about that. “Becoming a certified Statesman agent?”

“I don’t want to take the chance that they’ll transfer me after we’re married.” She reasons, knowing that anything is possible when their jobs and lives can be so unpredictable. “At the end of the day, I always want to be able to come home to him.”

“I can understand that.” Gabi offers quietly. “Your jobs are very unpredictable. You spend time where you can.”

“I don’t want to miss anything.” It’s less of a concern for you and Gabi because of your lifestyles, but for Sophia and Tex? It’s a very real concern.

“You won’t.” Gabi reaches for a quick hug. “Champ is very good about balancing work and home. He won’t let you two stay apart for long, even on a mission.”

"We have Diana to thank for that." If not for his soulmate and his son, Champ would be just as much of a workaholic as most American men of his age. Thankfully, having loved ones to come home to had softened his opinion of home life completely and Diana had taught him balance.

“I just hope that we are all happy as larks.” Sophia hums, the soft smile on her face reserved for when she is thinking about her fiancé.

"We will be." Gabi has made sure she is, and she knows that Sophia and Tex already are. It seems though, unfortunately, that there are still bumps in your road. If not with Jack, then just personal ones.

"Dinner reservations are in thirty-five minutes," you announce when you come out of the bathroom in your casual clothes to dig out your sneakers. "I pulled up the menu on my phone so we can look at it in the car."

“If you enjoy it; we know we are going to eat well.” Sophia shrugs off the idea of looking at the menu. Your tastes are exquisite and you wouldn’t bring them somewhere you didn’t enjoy.

"And drink well." The sneakers you packed are favourites, lovingly broken in and tatty with affection, but strong enough to stand their ground against a few days running around the city. You pull them on and stick a double knot in the laces for good measure. "Everything at this place is good, but the cocktails are on a whole other level."

“Ohhh then we are having some drinks!” Sophia declares, although she won’t drink too much. Maybe one or two cocktails. She wants to be mostly sober in case you have another issue. She doesn’t want you to feel like you have to deal with it alone.

"Everybody finished getting changed so we can get across the city!" Gabi urges, moving around the room with purpose now that she sees you starting to perk up again and Sophia getting excited.

"I'll be ready to go in a second," you promise, moving your essentials from the large purse you had been carrying today to the zipped pockets of your worn jeans. No purse at this place is better - and in no time the three of you are back on the elevator, headed down to the street to have the driver take you to the theatre house.

Your stomach is still in knots as the driver brings you through the crowded streets of the city, and you look out the window while Sophia and Gabi gush about something that you weren't paying attention to in the first place. The idea that you could be pregnant has consumed you almost entirely since it entered your mind this morning and while it's eating at you, at least you have a plan now. One that you can't say you're particularly proud of - but you would rather bare a private shame than destroy the lives of the people you've come to love so much.

Back in Kentucky, Jack frowns at his phone. Since going into the consultation, it’s been nothing but radio silence. He knows you are safe, he can clearly see the ping of your location along with Gabi’s, Sophia’s, and the driver’s. It was a friend of Rye’s that owed him a favor. He sighs softly, wishing you had at least teased him with how much he was going to love your dress, but he’s more worried. You’ve been….off. And you being in New York has him on edge. Shaking off his regrets, he opens your messages and types out one to you: Hey sugar, I know you and the girls are partying it up, but I wanted to check in with you. I hope you are having fun. The restaurant is in good hands but this house surely is a lot more lonely without you curled up with me on the couch. I love you.

The vibration of your phone is unexpected, stirring you out of your thoughts and pulling your lips into a conflicted half-frown when you see Jack's name pop up on your screen. Being afraid of hurting him had made you entirely shut down from even texting him. Hell, if it had occurred to you at home in Louisville, you probably would have shut off from your friends instead. But they're here with you in the car and Jack is at home, so he had gotten the blunt end of your fear instead. You swallow a sigh as you open the text, nearly in tears as you read it through twice before replying: We're taking lots of pictures, so I can show you some when we get home. We're heading to the theater so my phone will be off for a few hours. I love you.

Love.

You love that man more than anything in the world. And that's why you're heading straight to see Astrid in her lab the second you're back on Statesman ground.

______ Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri @adancedivasmom @madiebear @tanzthompson @emilianamason @bigsdinger @xocalliexo @pedr0swh0r3 @avaleineandafryingpan @charlyrmv @avidreader73 @iceclaw101 @loveslide​ @elegantduckturtle  ​

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My Masterlist!

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal character fanfic #Pedro Pascal fanfiction #Jack Daniels #Jack Whiskey Daniels #Jack Daniels x reader #Jack Daniels x you #Jack Daniels x female reader #Agent Whiskey #Kingsman Golden Circle #soulmate au #Agent Tequila #Agent Tequila x OC #Agent Tequila x female OC #fear of pregnancy #missed period

[look-at-the-soul]

The Photoshoot-Part 49

Cillian Murphy series 2014, 2015

Thank you, Flor @justrainandcoffee for making this moodboard!My heart just can’t take how beautiful it is!

Cillian is away, busy with Peaky Blinders matters.

Word count: 3,204

“So Cillian's flight is tomorrow right?” Isla asked her daughter as they reached the steps of her house.

“Yeah, we can drive him in the morning and then go and have brunch.” Yael proposed.

“I’d love to!” As they stopped so Scout could smell a bush, Isla noticed something else. “What’s the matter?”

Yael took a deep breath as she started to play with the leash in her hand.

“It’s everything with the adoption process, there are days where I try to be strong and positive and days where I don’t think I can’t do this.”

Isla wrapped her arms around her daughter instinctively, trying to comfort her.

“Baby, hang in there, don’t loose hope. I’m sure you’ll get good news soon.”

As they started moving, Yael looked up, trying to find some answers. “I swear I don’t want to sound like pessimist, but what if we don’t? What if this never moves forward?”

“Have you talked to Cillian about this?”

But her daughter shook her head.

“My sweet girl, I know this is hard… but I also know you’re the strongest woman I know. When you were a little girl you went through every surgery, every physical therapy you took and you were so brave.”

Tears blurred Yael’s eyes as she felt her mum’s hands caressed her arms. Back then you were my rock, you showed me I could be strong just like you. Now, Cillian is your rock, don’t leave him out.”

“You’ve been my rock too, I love you.” Yael expressed full of gratitude, wrapping her arms around her mother. “I’ll talk to him, or trust the process more likely.” She chuckled nervously.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to finish the process, it’s just a matter of time.”

“That’s the scariest part actually, but I know you’re right.”

Yael tried to leave her worries in each one of the steps of her home. Trying to focus on the blessings she already had.

Scout practically threw himself once he spotted Cillian, over excited to see him again.

“How was your walk?” He walked forwards to greet his wife with a quick peck on the lips.

“Great! We had a gorgeous sunset and Scout got to chase the birds.” Isla explained her son in law.

Cillian turned to look at his wife, to confirm his mother in law’s statement.

“It was breathtaking, take a look.” Yael supported her Mum’s words by showing her husband the pictures she took.

“Wowzers.” It looked like the scene belonged to a painting. “I was talking to my brother and was thinking of doing some improvised dinner? What do you think? Shall we go somewhere or…”

Yael took a long swing of water, but with her free hand, she made a sign that was okay with his plan.

“I think it’d be better if we make something and have dinner here, you need to get up early for your flight.”

“Yeah? Grand!”

“Why don’t you call Orla? Perhaps she’s free as well.” Yael proposed, loving the excitement in his eyes.

“Well and what are we having for dinner?” Isla asked, ready to help.

“We ate hamburgers this week.” Yael bit her lip.

Then, she saw the look in her husband’s eyes.

“What are you thinking of?” She wriggled her eyebrows at him, waiting for an answer.

“Mexican. I really want tacos.”

Just the mere thought had the three of them drooling.

Yael took her purse and walked off into her husbands arms. “We’ll go quickly to the store to get everything.”

“Don’t forget the chips for the guacamole.” Cillian made sure Isla was out of sight to pat playfully his wife’s bum.

“We’ll be right back. If you need anything else call me.”

Whislt a short trip to the grocery store to get everything for dinner, Yael made sure to add a couple of protein bars for Cillian and several snacks to have at home for her and her Mother.

As they were strolling the hallways of the store to go to the checkout, Yael stopped on her tracks when she noticed an elderly woman trying to reach an item on one of the top shelves, before she could react, a young boy approached and with all the familiarity of the world, encouraged her to step back, a tender smile on his face.

The cashier smiled at Yael and her mother as they were ready to the check out.

“That’s her grandson.” The cashier explained, as if she could read their minds. “She lost her husband a couple of months ago and they used to come together every week to get their groceries. Now her grandson moved in with her and they get just as what’s on the list that the grandpa wrote down.”

Yael gave her Mum a long look. She felt her heart swelling.

“That’s adorable.” Isla agreed touched by the boy’s gesture.

“I know right? Good people still exist.” The cashier added finishing with their items.

“I think it speaks volumes about him, huh?” Yael threw the pair another look as the grandma and grandson walked past them.

“He’s so young and yet he made the choice to go back in town to take care of her.”

Swiping her credit card to pay, Yael thought of her own grandmother and all the moments they shared together at the cottage in the Lake District. “Bless him. Thank you.”

“Have a nice day.” Added Isla taking some of the bags.

“I obviously don’t know that boy’s parent but you’ve t agree with me, this isn’t only because of him, I think he probably saw that kind of selflessness in his parents.”

“Yes and no.” Isla differed, catching Yael’s attention. “Sometimes unfortunately the example is so wrong that you’ve no other option but do the completely opposite. Sometimes people show you just what you don’t want to be.”

Just like her own father, Yael thought.

On their way back, they talked about not knowing what that woman might been through, but either way it was admirable. A few blocks away from her house, Yael got a phone call and asked her Mum to put her phone on speaker.

“Yael Lieberman?” The voice called. She went by Murphy now, but some people still called her that.

“How can I help you?”

“Vogue UK, I’m Naomi Wilson PR.” Yael’s heart started beating faster. “We’d like to know if you could take the photos for the December cover.”

“Yes, of course.”

She was informed they weren’t allowed to reveal the name of the celebrity yet, but they’d arrange all the expenses on her behalf for the travel.

“Honey congratulations!”

Cillian and Scout joined them in the garage as they were hugging. “Why are we so happy?” He immediately thought they got news from the adoption process.

And Yael shared the details of the last call she got from the magazine.

About an hour later, Pad arrived with his wife Elise, and their son, Connor.

“You’re with the beard again?” Cillian teased his brother.

“Lost a bet, that’s why.” His brother replied. “Ugh diaper.”

Elise waved at them and went into another room to change it, but first she let them know Pad was a disaster with the nappy and she preferred to do it her way.

“You brought the avocados right?” Cillian asked his brother in a low voice, Yael was very specific about that ingredient.

“I hope four is enough.”

“The more avocado, the better!” Yael shouted from the pantry, joining them a moment later with a couple of colorful bowls. “That smells nice.”

Cillian took over with the beef once more, while Isla got the sodas from the refrigerator. “Look at you! Stop growing.” She got a cooing sound from Pad’s son.

“He’s heavier now, wants to climb everywhere.”

“And eat everything.” Then looking at Scout he warned; “watch out buddy, he’s gonna grab your tail and bite it like there’s no tomorrow.”

Luckily, Scout stormed off the kitchen when he heard the doorbell.

“Oh you’re glowing!” Yael greeted Orla with a hug. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” She blushed giving her sister in law another hug.

Then Yael turned to to her niece. “I got some chips for you, they’re in the pantry.”

“Thanks auntie!”

As the Murphy siblings gathered around the kitchen, Cillian rushed to their reading room to take a phone call, there had been an issue with his check-in so he’d have to stop by the counter earlier.

“It’s good to see you Isla.” Orla chatted. “Hey, maybe we can call Mum and go for lunch one of these days.”

“That’d be nice.” Yael agreed taking a bite of the beef, she chopped peppers and onion in case anyone wanted to add to their tacos.

“There’s a new place downtown and it’s ugh amazing.” Elise joined the conversation.

Yael looked at Paiddy’s wife, surprisingly they moved in sync. As the girls shared more details for their plans, Cillian’s brother shared a few comments with him about something related to dinner.

“Sienna why don’t you give your aunt the present you got for her?” Orla encouraged her daughter.

The child’s face lit up and she rushed to retrieve her mother’s purse.

“We went shopping the other day, and as I was looking for a decorative bowl, Sienna found something.” She explained with a wink.

As Paidy’s son tried to reach the food in the bowl, Yael grabbed him playfully, spinning him around but being extra careful to not make a blunt movement.

“What are you trying to get? Hmm? You want tacos too?” Yael changed the child to her opposite hip and started playing with Connor and Sienna. “Okay little Miss, what did you get for me?”

Wrapped in a paper bag, she offered it to her and the kid smiled proudly as she waited excitedly for her aunt to see. Yael played along, making big gestures of surprise and suspense.

Both of them giggling happily as their aunt held out a jumbo mug with the word auntie written al around in capital letters, and it was enough to melt Yael’s heart. “Oh Sienna! This is so sweet… I love you, you know that right?”

Leaving the mug carefully on the counter, Yael wrapped her free arm around her niece just as Cillian was coming back from his call. Finding Yael holding Connor and giving Sienna instructions to help with the tacos. And the scene was enough to ignite something within his heart, something bigger than he had ever experienced.

For an instant, he couldn’t help but think how wonderful his wife would be as a Mum, and he wished from the deepest part of his heart that they would be able to finish the adoption process.

****

Cillian took his wallet and phone from the table, he had been for hours at the wardrobe fitting. Endless shirts, ties, handcuffs, peak caps and suits, all made for him with the best fabric around, the quality of not only the materials, but each piece as well was beyond this world.

“Can I help you with anything else?” Someone offered.

He politely declined the offer, feeling his shoulders tense, hands inside the pockets of his jeans. Staring back at himself in the mirror, he released the tension of his jaw and relaxed his posture automatically after noticing he had been standing as Tommy Shelby.

“Cillian.” Steven’s voice caught his attention. “Are you done here?”

“Yeah.” Cillian nodded, not being able to avoid one more look at his reflection. There was no coming back now, the transformation was taking place on the outside with the wardrobe and now the haircut -not so bold this time at least-, but it was happening on the inside as well.

The thoughts, the looks, the posture. Tommy Shelby was taking over little by little, word by word from the script that he couldn’t help it but take a step back to allow this enigmatic character re-emerge.

“You’re so quiet. Everything alright?” Steven asked as they took the elevator towards the production offices.

“Yeah, just… thinking.” He trialed off.

It was as if he was hosting a battle between who he really was and Thomas Shelby. It might sound crazy, but that’s the way he felt.

“So I got to write around the ideas you gave me, I actually love it… would you like to add anything else?”

“No, just the Institution part we talked about.” Cillian explained. “I don’t know how further you wanna go with that, I just want to ask you to involve this part of the charity…” he made a pause and looked towards the window. “There’s a side of Tommy that he genuinely cares you know? Despite the heartbreak, the pain. It’s right there deep inside.”

Steven nodded profusely. Catching what Cillian meant and he already had intertwined a couple of ideas based on that.

“To me your point of view is needed because of this exactly.” Steve pointed at him from the other side of the desk. “You know Tommy better than anyone else.”

“Better than you even?” Cillian cocked an eyebrow.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Steven praised, he was not surprised at all by the quick change between Cillian and Tommy, he knew what he was doing. “What do you think about the intimate scenes?”

“We’ll you can’t have this type of man without sex, right?” Cillian toyed with a string on his jeans.

He wanted to run his hand through his hair but it was gone now. “Do what you’ve to do.” They e already discussed how openly some of them would be.

“You got serious with the training this season.”

Cillian laughed awkwardly. He was used to his wife’s teasing him for getting beefy for the role but someone else noticing it and pointing it out made him want to hide somewhere.

“Do you realize you’re pushing not only Tommy but me to the limit with all of this?”

Tommy would go through an intense internal turmoil after some events. And the whole bunch would put him under such pressure that he was afraid to explode any minute. The character itself was a challenge, a completely different mindset, the total opposite of how he’d react.

Steven leaned back on his chair and with a smile of satisfaction he replied; “yes, but you can do that and even more.”

And now it was time for Cillian to chuckle.

But deep down, he felt genuinely proud to know Steve trusted him so openly.

“I got a couple of books about the Russians, it’s interesting how no one suspected a thing back then.” He wanted to be well documented about the facts that happened in real life. To him a script was much more than just lines to memorize, he needed to feel a conection, understand the characters motives. And getting around to understand the reason why it was part of the series, could help him to bring more realism into his character.

And now it would be slightly different as a producer of the series. He had a major power decision, he’d have a more active role in making choices.

“I’ve a couple of songs I’d like you to hear.” Cillian stated and Steven knew that this meeting would be longer than he expected.

*

“Hey babe, sorry I didn’t hear my phone.” Cillian apologized as his wife answered.

“It’s fine, I thought you were busy.” Even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she was smiling. “How did it go?”

“Grand, grand,” he tried to move a few steps away from the noise on the street. “Tomorrow I’m going to check a few locations with Steve.”

“Oh that’s nice, send me photos if you can.”

“Will do. I called you this morning.”

“I slept in, we did actually.” Yael chuckled. “Scout and I cuddled because you weren’t around to wake us up.”

“Ah, now I won’t let you sleep.”

Yael laughed. “No, I mean you start the shower and then downstairs to make breakfast, well you know.”

“I get it, I’ll tiptoe next time.” Cillian offered. “To let the princess sleep.”

Enjoying the teasing, Yael thanked him for being so thoughtful.

“Ya, how’s everything over there?” He shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“I took Mum to an exhibition downtown and it was incredible, spent most of the day window shopping and now I’m organizing some photos to deliver them tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to see that fan of yours, right?” He teased. Started calling the weirdo her fan.

“Goodness no, I delivered those via mailing.” She chuckled and the sound of her laugh made his body tingle. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” He laughed and smiled like a silly young boy in love. “Miss you bossing around.”

“I’m not bossy.” Yael defended.

“Before I left the hotel this morning, I kept thinking phone, wallet, key.” He mimicked her voice. He tried in an lousy attempt to remind himself of what she’d say before he walked out the room.

“But that’s not being bossy, you sometimes forget something.”

“Of course you’re not, I’m only messing.”

“I really want to see you already, the house is not the same without you… last night I slept with my Mum in the guest bedroom and Scout joined us.”

“Soon babe, I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll cook you a huge steak.”

“Oof that sounds tempting.” Cillian eyed Steven from the corner of his eye. “I gotta go, I’m having dinner with Steven and then he’ll drive me to the hotel.”

“Say hello from me, love you!” Yael requested before he replied he loved her back and hang up.

Patting his shoulder, Steven asked; “How’s the Mrs?”

“Good, her Mum is visiting so she’s busy.”

“Happy to hear that, she’s lovely.”

With a nod, Cillian followed him inside the restaurant, pulling his beanie a little to cover his head fully.

“Never been here before.”

Steven stood up to greet someone while Cillian looked at the menu.

“The owner it’s a friend of mine since high school.” The producer explained.

“Woah that’s a long road, but it’s nice you stayed in touch.”

“He’s a good pal, had a tough road but he always kept a good spirit.”

After ordering for their meals, Cillian exchanged a bit of information of his screen off time with Steven, they talked about timeframe but were careful to not talk about very specific parts of the upcoming season in case anyone could listen.

“May I ask how’s the adoption process going?”

With a sigh, Cillian leaned back. “Slow but it keeps moving, my mother in law has an interview tomorrow and my parents already did theirs.”

“Are they taking the news well?” He questioned.

“Better than I expected, you know there’s still this stigma around adoption,” Cillian shook his head, “I firmly believe these kids deserve a loving and safe environment. The struggle it’s been hard because there’s all this burocratice around that makes people feel disappointed.”

Steven shared his own point of view about it, not so different of his own thoughts.

“If I can do anything to help, don’t hesitate.”

“Thanks man, I appreciate the offer. We just have to wait and hope for the best.”

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this series, remember your comments it’s what keeps this alive!

And I’m working on the Tommy Shelby playlist of all the songs that’s been mentioned in the story 🥰✨

Tag list: @lyarr24 @garrison-girl-08 @lespendy @onlydeadcells @fastfan @winchestergirl22 @stevie75 @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @esposadomd @strayrockette @forbidden-forest-witch @elenavampire21 @forgottenpeakywriter @blondie-22 @thenattitude @moral-terpitude @babaohhhriley @queenshelby @ange-thoughts @shaddixlife @sloanexx @cilliansangel (cant tag) @rangerelik @already-broken144 @alessioayla @paprikabadger @dolllol2405 @conversationpits @itsilvermorny @lafell @imichelle-l-rigby @yrli8 @cutecurly-hair @cillspropertea @hyperfixationsonshuffle @sydneyyyya (can’t tag) @abbymcguire @shelundeadxxxx @elk96 @pono-pura-vida @lovemissyhoneybee @slimeantha (can’t tag) @kmc1989 @ironpen

#That’s what Cill said #cillian murphy oc #cillian murphy x fem reader #Cillian Murphy x OC #cillian murphy fan fiction #cillian murphy characters #cillian murphy fiction #Cillian Murphy x Tommy Shelby

[rory-butnot-gilmore]

Little Moments in Time

You and Sarah make dinner for Joel and Tommy before you leave for a business trip. The world then falls apart, and you find yourself separated from your family. 20 years later, a weird twist of events leads you back to the man you loved.

Pairing: joel x fem!reader

themes/warning: oh yeah, there is angst this time, death and violence, pain and sadness, with a little bit of fluff if you squint <3 also, there are some parts that i tried really hard to do extra research on so it wasn't like completely off trail from the canon storyline, but I couldn't find much.

part one

september 24th, 2003

You and Sarah both danced around the kitchen, while you made barbecue chicken and rice. It was supposed to be spaghetti night, but after your recent trip to the doctors and finding out you had celiac disease, gluten free options started to be incorporated. Joel and Sarah definitely didn't mind though, because both of them thought the things you cooked instead were great. Joel didn't even notice some of the differences in the things you made sometimes.

"So, what is it you're doing again? On your trip?" Sarah asked as she grabbed down a can of corn from the cabinet. You looked at it and made a mental note to make sure Joel went shopping for groceries.

"So now that I am an actual nurse, I am going to Chicago to help out with some younger college students somethings I know about nursing," You explained to Sarah, who smiled and nodded. She loved your job, and was always so curious about the things with it. Joel teased that Sarah would follow in your footsteps.

"When you get back, we are going shopping for my maid of honor dress right?" Sarah poured the corn into a small pot.

"Yes we are, are you excited?" You nudged her with your elbow, and she giggled before nodding.

Things had been official between both you and Joel since the week after your second date. You went everywhere with him and Sarah by then, all of her soccer games, every school recital, and every moment. By the fourth year of dating, you gave up the apartment life and moved in with them. Then last year, Joel finally proposed after dragging his feet for so long. You didn't mind the delay though, because life for the two of you already seemed so perfect.

"Oh damn it smells great in here!" Tommy exclaimed as he came through the door, he grinned at the two of you when he came into the kitchen.

"Hey, how was work?" You turned off the stove, and grabbed the plates that Sarah had already gotten down. Joel came in behind Tommy, and gave Sarah a quick kiss on the head. He wrapped his arms around your waist from behind, as you made Sarah a plate.

“It was shit, don’t let Tommy tell you any different, the bastard didn’t tell me how anyone the guys we have to work with are this time,” Joel laughed, “The plans are coming along though, and we should be able to start on it within the next day or two,”

“Well hopefully your string of good luck continues babe,” You kissed his cheek, and handed him Sarah’s plate, “Tommy you can come make a plate,”

“Thanks Y/n, you know I still don’t understand why Joel got to end up with you?” Tommy made his eight year old joke. Joel flipped him off and made his plate and made a plate for you.

“Hm, I mean if I remember correctly, you were too busy making out with one of my best friends?” Sarah laughed, covering her mouth to stop the water she had just drank from spraying out. She started coughing a little, but she was still laughing at your comeback.

“How is my dear old friend doing?” Tommy came behind Joel and grabbed his plate to start making it. You grabbed three beers out of the refrigerator for the Miller brothers, and yourself. Everyone sat down at the table together, and started talking about your days. Sarah talked about a test she passed. Tommy told an embarrassing story about Joel from the day. Joel squeezed your hand while you talked about your flight leaving in the morning. Tommy headed out a little bit after you cleaned up from dinner. You helped Sarah get her curls into a style that would help keep them from getting ruined during the night. Once she was all set, you and Joel started your night time routine.

Once you thought Joel was done with the shower, you climbed in. You sighed happily as the water rinsed over your skin. Before your hair was even completely wet, Joel climbed back into the shower. You rolled your eyes but turned to look at him. Joel was unapologetically looking you up and down, and pulled you against him.

“I figured I could rinse the grime off of me before I ambushed you,” Joel shrugged, and explained his reasoning for not just suggesting a shower together in the first place.

“Joel Miller, are you trying to seduce me before marriage?” You teased, and he shook his head.

“Mm, no, no I don’t think I would ever do such a thing?” Joel started to kiss your jaw and neck, his hands resting on your lower back, fingers just barely tracing the top of the curve of your ass.

“Sarah isn’t asleep yet, so this is holding off for right now,” You played with the hair at the nape of his neck, not really wanting the touches to stop. Joel groaned but still pulled back, smoothing your now wet hair down and out of your face.

“I don’t know how her or I are going to do without you for a whole five days?” Joel whispered, and kissed your forehead, “Sar’s cooking lessons better have been paying off, if she’s going to be cooking for me on my birthday,”

“She will do phenomenal, she wants to make you pancakes, I know you’re super stressed with work, but I left you a grocery list so you can make sure you make her dreams come true,”

“Isn’t it supposed to be my dreams coming true? It’s my birthday?” You glared at him, and started washing your hair. Joel swatted your hands away and helped you scrub the shampoo into your scalp.

“I’ll get the pancake mix, we will call you while eating our pancakes, you can sing me happy birthday while I do,” Joel teased, and helped get your hair rinsed out. You leaned your head back and he kissed your neck gently.

“Then when I get home, her and I go to pick out her dress, pick up my dress, and then we will be two weeks out from me marrying you, old man,” You wrapped your arms around him, and pecked his lips, “Cold feet?”

“I’m about to be thirty-six years old, and I’m marrying the most beautiful, smart, and loving woman I have ever met,” Joel’s voice was softer now, “The same woman who loves that awesome daughter of mine, plus she’s a bit younger than me so that totally boosts my ego,”

You raised an eyebrow and he laughed a little.

“My feet are as hot as they could be Y/n.”

september 25th, 2003

Joel drove you and Sarah to the airport in your car. Sarah teared up more the closer you got to the security. You were quick to pull her into a tight hug.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, it’s only five days and I will be home,” You whispered, trying your hardest to fight back your own tears, “You can call me each day too, I won’t mind, I have my cell,”

“I love you mom.” Sarah blurted it out so fast, that both you and Joel were taken aback by it. You didn’t hesitate for too long though before you were holding her even tighter. Joel pulled both of you into a group hug, and everyone said their I love you’s. No one said goodbye, just reminders that you would be home soon. That this was only a temporary thing.

You didn’t let yourself fully cry until you were on the plane, and you cried until you landed. Sarah called you mom, for the first time in eight years, she called you mom. It made your heart swell ten times the size it already was. Sarah held such a special place in your heart, that was never a doubt. There was a certain kind of satisfaction knowing that you held the same spot in hers.

You got off the plane and took the cab to the hotel, that was where you first met the next person who would change the course of your life for the next twenty-years. She was twenty-four years old, and with her best friend. The two of them were laughing in the lobby of the hotel, but hers was the loudest. She was going to be your mentee during the trip, but in the end she was so much more.

“Oh!” She finally saw your name tag, and waved you down, “You’re Y/n! I’m Anna, I guess you’re in charge of me for this whole thing huh?”

“Anna, it’s great to meet you,” You shook her hand and then her friend’s.

“I’m Marlene, not here for the nursing stuff, just this annoying person right here.” Marlene nudged Anna, who had no problem nudging back.

Marlene went on her own adventure, while you and Anna went to the first activity. It was in the local hospital, and the senior nurses explained how the next five days would be. Anna was a jokester, and you knew that she was going to cause a bit of trouble. Still though, she was fun to be around. The first day went by really quick just with her jokes alone.

That night after a bar outing with Marlene, you and Anna were in your hotel room together. She was sitting in the chair that was to your desk, with her feet propped up on the bed you were sitting on. The two of you were talking about anything and everything. Just bonding over whatever you could find.

“Okay, so you’re only thirty, you’re about to be married and a step-mom?” Anna laughed, and you nodded with a grin on your face.

“You know, I don’t like the step part of it, but I do like the sound of mom,” You smiled, thinking about Sarah, “Joel, my fiancé, does nothing but tell me about how I saved them, but in reality they saved me more than they know,”

“I can’t even imagine where I will be in six years, at thirty, but it definitely doesn’t feel like I would be a mother.”

september 26th, 2003

You, Anna, and Marlene were all in your hotel room. The emergency broadcast was going off, and you were all watching everything unfold. When your cellphone started to ring, you answered it before the second ring went off. It was Sarah, and she was asking if you knew what was happening.

“I woke up and Dad isn’t here, and-” Sarah screamed a little, and the line went dead. Your entire body started to shake.

“Sarah?! Sarah, baby! Sarah!” You were yelling into the phone, hoping that her voice would come through the dial tone. You never got to hear her voice again though.

The next three days, were more torture than you could even imagine. The three of you were all escorted out of the hotel by military eventually, and made your way to a safe zone. It didn’t feel safe though, none of it did. You put Sarah, Joel, and Tommy on a name list. So that it could be broadcasted soon enough. Eventually you were all within a QZ. You waited everyday for any sign of the Millers, hoping they would eventually show up. It didn’t take long before you all started to catch onto the bullshit that was FEDRA, and that was when the Fireflies became a part of your life.

2009

You found the safe house, Marlene should have been there already. Then you heard the screams, and you ran around to the backside of the house. You went through the back door, and busted into a bedroom. Anna was on the floor, a baby with an umbilical cord still attached laying in front of her, and an infected dead off to the side. Anna was breathing heavy, and the baby was crying.

“You k-know how I said I couldn’t see my self being a mother at thirty?” Anna was breathing heavily as you rushed closer, she cut the umbilical cord with her own knife and started to tie it off, “Looks like I was wrong, but also right,”

She bent her leg out, and you saw the bite on her inner thigh. Your entire heart stopped and you dropped down to your knees. Anna was shaking a bit, but she picked up her baby anyways. The tiny infant calmed down looking at her mother.

“Anna, what are we going to do? I mean Marlene should be here soon, but was the baby? I mean?” You were stumbling over all your words. The girl who had become your family was dying, and there was nothing you could do.

“You are going to take Ellie, wait for Marlene downstairs, and I am going to ask you one last favor Y/n,” Anna whispered, “Make sure she’s loved, make sure she’s safe, and please kill me before I hurt you,”

“No, no, I’ll take her soon, I’ll go downstairs, but I can’t.. Marlene will be here soon, she needs to get to say goodbye Anna, and you h-have a little time, spend these last minutes with your daughter,” You sat against the wall next to Anna, watching her with the baby. She glared at you for a moment, before giving up and looking at Ellie.

“She’s so damn beautiful Y/n, and I will.. I will never get to see what she becomes,” Anna whispered, “If anyone asks, y-you know I cut the umbilical cord before I was bit? They would never let her live other wise,”

“If they ask, I was here the entire time.” You whispered, and laid your head on her shoulder.

2023

Every part of you wanted to kill Marlene, for dragging you back to Boston. After you knew Ellie was safe, you decided to set out and try and find whatever you could about the Millers. Any kind of sign of what happened to them. Now, fourteen years later you were back at your original QZ. After they ran their tests, and you lied and explained you were coming from the fallen QZ in Chicago, they let you inside. You showed up at the building Marlene had explained to you over the radio, and made your way inside. You quietly snuck your way in, your gun ready to shoot at any sign of trouble.

You slowly went up the stairs, and then heard a loud thud. When you made it to the top, you saw Marlene holding her side, with another woman standing next to her. There was a man and a woman with their backs turned to you, and a younger girl on the floor.. A girl who looked almost identical to her mother.

“Get your gun out of her face.” You snapped, and the man turned around. Then your entire heart fell down into your stomach even more than it was seeing Ellie.

He was standing there, and he was alive. Marlene was watching the both of you, waiting for the blow up. His eyes though, they stayed on you, and then trailed to the chain around your neck. Hanging off of it was a simple diamond ring, that he remembered clear as day picking out with his daughter. He looked older, seemed different, but yet you felt like home was standing only a few feet in front of you. You lowered your gun and glanced at Ellie, who was staring at you like she knew exactly who you were. In reality, she might have, she did have a picture of you that you slipped in with her stuff when you left her at the military school. It was your picture name tag from the convention you met her mom at.

“Y/n?” Ellie and Joel said your name at the same exact time, and for a moment it sounded like the world stood still.

next part

#joel and sarah #the last of us #joel miller #reader insert #prompts #pedro pascal #oneshots #joel miller x reader #joel x y/n #the last of us actually wants to kill me #the last of us hbo #ellie williams