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saiilorstars · 2 years

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Ch.26: The Pressure’s On

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Current Masterlist | Previous Story

Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

[If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!

When Barry was truly back in his own world, he told Belén everything that'd happened to him. He told her about the other world he'd accidentally gone to — National City, Supergirl...Anais. Even if he hadn't been a speedster, Barry would've still rambled at light speed trying to retell the entire story from the moment he stepped foot into Earth 38 and the moment he returned.

Luckily, Belén knew him. She didn't interrupt his story; she silently listened from beginning to end. She would just snuggle closer to him each time he shifted as he made wild gestures during his story telling. She waited until the end to start sharing her reactions. "So you and I are married in this Earth-38 world and...and we adopted an-an...alien child?" Her face was warm and red just at the thought of it. Of all the things her doppelganger could have done, she chose to do all that...

Barry's face was just as red as Belén's. He stared at the ceiling until it would come down a bit. "We adopted Anais when she was a child. She's our daughter - well, our doppelgangers' daughter."

"Well, she sounds amazing," Belén tilted her head up at him, smiling when he finally met her gaze. "And it's not just cos she's an alien. It seems like our doppelgangers raised her well, loved her right." She couldn't imagine ever doing something like that but then again she hadn't really imagined herself being a mother. Those thoughts were still pretty far away.

"I wish you could've seen her," Barry lamented the fact that would probably never happen. Anais was as cheery as her adoptive mother was, definitely a fast-paced rambler too. He was sure that she and Belén would've gotten along so well.

Belén wished the same thing but she wouldn't dwell on the fact it would never happen. There was no point. It was a nice world but it wasn't their world. They would one day, hopefully, have something similar but absolutely their own. "Well, I could do without seeing an older me," she admitted with a chuckle. "Seriously, I'm over 40? How terrible!"

Yet Barry smiled from ear to ear. "You were hot."

"You don't have to kiss up, you already live with me and you get to share my bed," she rolled her eyes and made to turn away from him but he locked an arm around her waist, keeping her right where she was.

"I mean it," he looked down at her. "I get the feeling that no matter what version of you I meet, I'll always love them."

"But no more than me, right?"

Barry brought his hand up to her soft hair and ran his fingers through it. "You're my Bells. That other Barry got to marry his Bells and grow older with her. I want that opportunity too." He could vividly remember the way his doppelganger looked at his wife, the gentle touches they shared, they way they acted with each other. He would love to reach where they were, albeit at their own pace.

"And they were happy?" Belén asked after spending a few minutes in calm silence. "You know, despite all the alien nonsense they obviously go through?"

"Yeah," Barry grinned within the second. "She makes the chocolate amaretti cookies you do and he loves them. Anais was upset because he almost ate the entire batch that her mother brought."

Belén felt a warm tingle just hearing the word 'mother', but she did laugh at the cookie part. "Really?"

"Yup, I think that every Barry Allen in the multiverse loves chocolate amaretti cookies baked by Belén Palayta."

"Hm, well I'm sorry my batches aren't quite there yet. I imagine my doppelganger makes them better?"

"Yours are just as good too, Bells, I promise," Barry kissed the top of her head. "In fact, I wouldn't be opposed if you decided to make another batch today."

Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you already live with me, you clearly get me in every other world...you don't have to keep kissing up."

Now it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes. He shifted on the bed to see her sarcastic face. "I do love you, Belén. You have no idea what it was like seeing that other world, another world where you and I are married."

There was a brief grim look on Belén's face when she thought of Earth 2. "Well, it didn't quite turn out to be all sunshine and rainbows with our Earth 2 doppelgangers."

"One Earth, one different version," Barry said as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "But even then, it's true that we'd meet in any and every world."

Belén could smile at that. "It does seem that way, huh?" Their theoretical question of whether they would meet each other in a different timeline turned out to be real. It brought a rush of new warmth to her body, a happy warmth that she relished in. No matter what world they were in, they really would meet each other and fall in love. She draped an arm over Barry's shoulder and pecked his lips. "I love you my singing scientist."

"My dancer in the air," Barry chuckled as he gave her another kiss. He'd taken to watching her during her aerial dancing practices lately and he honestly felt like he would never get over her talent. "My beautiful dancer in the air," he started peppering her face with kisses, making her laugh. He lowered his arms to her waist and pulled her body against his.

He felt like kissing her for a much longer time now.

~0~

'I am truly content with your decisions as of late, Belén," the Green's voice filled the air around Belén. She rolled her eyes when it continued to go on and on about her latest choices regarding botanical metas, knowing exactly where he was headed with one precise decision she made. "Belén, you and Datura are doppelgangers who should have been working together from the very start."

"Kinda hard to do when she's been trying to kill me this whole time!" Belén exclaimed in full-on irritation. She was getting real tired of the Green acting as if this wasn't a fact. "And let's just be clear that I'm helping her because of humanity reasons. I nor like her, nor tolerate her."

"You were always going to be one of my most prominent child," the Green said as if Belén hadn't said her last statement. "The truth is, you and Datura are my most prominent children." Belén scoffed but the Green went on. "Belén, you and Datura will be intertwined for a long time. She is your doppelganger and while her choices are questionable, she will ultimately make sacrifices even she never saw coming."

Once again, Belén scoffed. She folded her arms and glared at the wide open forest. "And what's that supposed to mean to me? Is that why I should forgive her for everything she's done so far?"

"No. It is only to remind you that despite the different worlds you both grew up in, the different versions of people you had around you, Datura will return to her fundamental core in the end. She is you, Belén, just as you are her."

Belén rolled her eyes. "You know Barry just got back from another world where I don't have botanical powers. She's a scientist, and she's living nice and happily with her husband and their adoptive daughter. Are you telling me that evil, murderous Datura is just like her? And that Earth 38 Belén is just like Datura?"

"Choosing to ignore my words is not wise. The truth is when Time calls, you and Datura will work together. It's an inevitable event and when the job is finished, you will look back on the days of the Azalea fighting Datura, thinking of how times have changed and how it changed both of you."

Belén snorted and laughed thoroughly. "Right. The day I work with Datura is the day pigs will fly. I am choosing to help her but I don't expect promising results. Now if you'll excuse me, I do have to go converse with other botanical metas looking to hide from the very meta you foolishly think might be redeemable."

She thought for a moment that the Green would prevent her from walking away but she was able to make it to the spot where more botanical metas were gathering. She smiled at the group who already spoke so easily to each other; they were comfortable with each other despite the short amount of time they'd met.

"Hey, they're pretty much ready," Black Orchid was amongst the group, waiting for the Azalea to make her appearance. Shivhan had taken her role serious in guiding the newer metas in the world and Belén honestly didn't know what she'd do without her. She herself didn't know the Green so well. They all had things to learn.

"Alright," Belén called for the group only once and had the entire place silent for her. That was still pretty weird but Shivhan said it was normal that they would listen to her without protest. "Today we're just going to keep doing what we've been doing. We'll keep practicing and training, getting to know each of our powers because the more you know it, the more control you have over it. I'm curious, and you don't really have to answer, but...has anyone experienced any...darker sides of your powers?" Belén's eyes scrutinized as many of the metas as she could to get an idea but in the end she had full-fledged answers.

"If you mean have we lost control then yeah," a younger female meta had raised her hand. She couldn't be older than sixteen, least that's what Shivhan had guessed the first time they met her. She was one of the metas who didn't have a suit but, like everyone in the group, her face was covered with a mask of vines. "I-I have like this...this other side of me that comes out without me wanting it. It's like...it's like it is in control of me. It's why I ran away from home. I was afraid that I'd hurt my family."

"I'm sorry you felt like you had to do that," Belén sympathetically looked at the girl. "The same thing happened to me, and I'm sure it's happened or is still happening to more of you. It's okay if you don't want to share but I would like to work with you, even if it's one-on-one. That other side of your powers you feel? It's not 'another side', it's part of your powers."

"But it feels wrong," the girl brought her arms over her chest and shuddered. "I'm supposed to be connected to nature but instead this side makes me a reckless, dangerous meta. Not to mention it's what can get me outed and make me an easier target for Datura. I don't want it."

"You saying that, is only gonna make it worse," Shivhan flatly said, making Belén roll her eyes. Their training styles differed even in their personalities. Shivhan wasn't the type of cover up the clear dangers of things while Belén preferred to ease the newer metas into the truth. "The Azalea went through the same thing, so why don't you be that first one-on-one?"

"I guess," the girl shrugged.

Belén offered the girl a warm smile as she motioned for the girl to follow. "C'mon."

Shivhan waited for the two to be gone enough to where they wouldn't hear, to where Belén wouldn't hear. "K, anyone else who has the same problem as that girl needs to meet with the Azalea at some point. You don't want to be outed because you couldn't control your powers."

"Easy for you to say," muttered a young man. "It'll take eons for us to learn how to control our powers."

"It doesn't have to," Shivhan rolled her eyes. "That's why the Azalea is doing this - that's why that reporter made the article."

"You mean the reporter who got fired over it?" went another man who appeared slightly older than the first. It was hard to tell when everyone was wearing their masks.

"Yeah," Shivhan crossed her arms, her tone taking on a tinge warning the others to watch their next words.

"I heard the same thing," a blonde woman said, shaking her head. "Is that really true? Did she get fired because she published the article for us?"

"She's not fired but...she could be," Shivhan looked from one meta to the next and was pleased to see that they had the decency to feel a little guilty. "But it doesn't have to end like that. Now the Azalea cannot get involved in what I'm thinking of because it's an established fact that she knows the reporter. It would look like she pulled some strings for the civilian."

"What do you mean?" the older man from before asked.

"This reporter has risked her life countless times to help the metahuman community and this last article she published is what brought all of you to this place. Without her and that article, you would all still be clueless about your origins."

"So what do you want us to do?" the blonde woman genuinely smiled, as did many of the others.

~ 0 ~

"So your powers are kind of interesting because you can willingly change anything into plant matter," Belén sounded just as awed as she truly was. It was the first time she met a botanical meta with that specific ability and the fact this girl, who was so young, already had a hold on those powers was amazing. But it also meant she was an easy target for Datura and since the girl held a special type of power that could, possibly, be linked to what Datura would need to survive, it was urgent for the girl to get a tighter grip on her powers.

"Sounds cool but it's not," the girl said with a flat tone. "I accidentally changed my cat into a frikin mess of vines. I didn't know what to do so I told my Mom that he ran away." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm a mess."

"No, you're not. You just need to train more," Belén said. "Now, first thing's first, what can I call you?"

"What, like...my meta name? Or my real name?"

"It's your choice."

"Kinsley. That's my real name. I don't...really have a meta name," Kinsley awkwardly shrugged her shoulders. "I...don't really have anything but my name actually."

"It's nice to meet you Kinsley," Belén offered the girl another kind smile.

"Believe me, it's really good to meet you," Kinsley's eyes slightly widened, making Belén chuckle. "I have read everything about you, I've watched you fight. You're good."

"If I am then it's because I've practiced and I've had some really good friends helping me. It's what I'd like to do for you and anyone else who wants it."

"Why? I mean, why bother teaching someone like me?" Kinsley gestured to herself. Her outfit was ruddy enough, showing signs that she truly had been on the run and no doubt on the streets for a while. "I'm no one important. So what if Datura finds me?"

For a moment, Belén wondered if that was how she sounded to her own friends when she made comments like that about herself. If it was, then she truly understood now how ridiculous it could sound. Sure, she didn't know Kinsley but she didn't have to in order to know that she had great power and was incredibly smart. Kinsley had been one of the first metas to get into the Green after the article was published.

"It matters because the world needs a Kinsley in it," Belén walked up to the girl and put her hands over her shoulders. "My Dad used to tell me the same thing when I put myself down and I didn't really believe him, but now I do. You don't know all that you might do for this world in the future, and you'll never know if you don't let yourself grow as a person and a meta."

"You sound like a mom," Kinsley playfully rolled her eyes and missed Belén's reddened blush on the parts of her exposed face. "Hey," Kinsley suddenly garnered a smirk, "Are you a Mom? Is the Azalea a Mom!?"

"God no!" Belén waved her off and walked a few steps away. "Let the record show that I am not a mother and that I'm just here to help you train. So—" she clapped her hands together, "—let's see what we're working with."

~ 0 ~

When Iris walked into the cortex, she was mighty surprised to find a gleeful Barry while Caitlin and Cisco looked ready to bury their heads in the piles of papers on the desk. "What is going on?"

Cisco didn't answer with words but instead with a groan. "Mr. Allen over here thinks we can crack the code to get back to Earth 2 today!"

"I did not say today!" Barry frowned at him. "I just said if we could work on it to get some progress—"

"Yeah, yeah," Cisco waved him off.

Iris' eyebrows raised but if she was being honest, and she would be, she had zero interest in continuing with that conversation. She turned to Caitlin instead to talk about why she came. "Caitlin, are you free tonight?"

"Uh, yeah..." Caitlin slowly nodded. "Why?"

"I'm trying to do this girls' night out to sort of help cheer up Belén. It's stupid but it's all I got at this point."

"Any word what the verdict is going to be?" Barry came up to the desk, forgetting all the work they had spread out around them.

Iris shook her head. "No." She felt terrible seeing his face drop, just like when Belén would 'casually' ask the same question. There truly was no obvious sign of what direction CC Pictures would take concerning Belén's job status. "How is she?"

Barry shrugged. "I mean...she's just being Bells. She's focusing entirely on the Green and the metas she's managed to meet through the article. She and Shivhan are in the greenroom right now."

"At least she managed to do what she wanted," Iris pointed out. Belén made it very clear that she was ecstatic to see the article working. "So girls' night...?" she turned a hopeful glance on Caitlin. "I'm trying to get Nina too and it should be no problem getting Shivhan."

"Why? You got booze?" Cisco asked with a smirk.

"Shut up," Iris waved him off.

"I'd love to, Iris," Caitlin smiled.

Iris beamed. "Great! You—" she pointed at Barry, "—are going to stay at my Dad's place because girls' night is going to be at Belén's."

Barry rolled his eyes but since it was for Belén's well-being, he wouldn't protest. "Fine."

"Eight p.m," Iris told Caitlin before taking off.

~ 0 ~

Belén returned from the Green to discover Iris' plans sent to her in a quick text, the same text that Shivhan had on her phone.

"Cool, booze," Shivhan punched the air with a fist. "I'm in!"

Belén sighed. She knew there was no talking Iris out of it. She appreciated the attempt of 'cheering her up' but she honestly didn't see the point of it. She wasn't sad. She wasn't upset. She stood by her choice whether or not the article did its thing...and it had.

"I say just have fun with it," Barry told her while they watched Caitlin draw blood from Belén's arm. "But, uh, not too much fun. Don't want you doing things you'll regret."

"Yeah, right," Belén rolled her eyes while Caitlin chuckled. She looked at the brunette just as the needle stopped poking her arm. "So, are we done with that?"

"Ow," Belén winced when Barry pulled the needle out from her forearm. She watched him carefully bring the new syringe with her blood to a table. "Is this really necessary to save her ass?"

"Yes. Your DNA is the basis for the cure so this is where we need to start," Caitlin carefully moved the syringe over to a table.

"Okay, but why do I have to do this twice?" Came Belén's grumbling question. Caitlin had first extracted a blood sample while Belén was in her "green state" and then proceeded to ask her to return to normal for a second withdrawal.

Barry patted Belén's hand, offering her a warm smile. "We need to focus on the differences between your two states and then compare them to Datura's."

"Wouldn't that mean you need some of her blood too?"

"Yeah, but...since we haven't seen her yet, we'll start with you."

"How romantic," Belén playfully rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she still couldn't get over the fact she was truly trying to help the evil doppelganger. "So, have you two thought about a way to get the breaches open again?"

"Well..." Caitlin turned around to fixate a sharp look on Barry. Yes, they had but it wasn't a very welcomed one.

"What I miss?" Belén blankly stared at the two until someone answered.

"I thought that maybe Cisco might be the key," Barry ultimately answered. Belén's eyes widened in shock. "I just thought that his doppelganger could do it-"

"Because he was evil, did we forget that?"

"But his powers are the same as Cisco's so that means that Cisco can do it!"

"So what did he say?" Belén asked even when she had a pretty good idea of how it all went down in her absence. Caitlin's face behind Barry confirmed it.

"He wasn't all that for it. And neither was Harry."

"Mm, shocker," Belén slid off the medbed. "So I guess I know what you'll be doing tonight: trying to convince Cisco to open a breach. Yeah, I'll definitely take Iris' girl night out plans."

"Yeah," Barry released a breath. That would take a lot of convincing but he just knew that Cisco could do it if he really tried.

Belén would let him figure that out all on his own. She had other issues to resolve herself and right now Caitlin was holding onto one of them. "So this cure, how is it going to work exactly? Will I have to give blood like some transfusion or something? Or like... swapping things in general?"

"We'll figure out how to pass it on when we actually have the cure," Caitlin smiled at her. "For now, we have to really study your DNA. Although, I may have a theory that could really help us."

"What is it?" Barry was quick to ask. Leave it to Caitlin to help solve their problems quickly.

"Well, like I said, it's just a theory right now but I was thinking about Belén's 'green side'. You had trouble controlling that part of your powers so maybe the way you got control over that side is what we might need to help Datura gain control of her powers."

"Is there like a specific gene for that, then?" Belén folded her arms over her chest. "Because it took a long time to get that under control and you're telling me this whole time I could've just let you switch it on?"

Caitlin shook her head with a light laugh slipping through. "Not exactly. It could've been biological for you but it was more of the mind mixing in with that. I suspect Datura's case is a lot more biological than the mindset. I'll have to really look into your blood before I keep making up more theories. The only other problem right now is that we don't have any blood from Datura."

"I know Cait," Barry sighed. This wasn't the first time the subject was brought up and he had nothing for her. It was why they really needed to open up the breaches.

"Great, so we really need the breaches to open up soon," Belén said. "But even then, where are we going to get a blood sample from Datura? Every time we see her she's trying to kill us. You'd think she'd be more grateful that we're trying to save her life." Oh. She's always busy trying to kill me. Belén smirked. "Oh, wait a second. It would just be hilarious if we got a blood sample from her without letting her know."

"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked with natural confusion.

"Let's say when we get the breaches open, Datura comes to fight me - which she really will - and I just happen to punch her little nose or something. I can get her blood.

"I don't like the idea of you fighting her to get blood off her," Barry shook his head but Belén grabbed onto his hand with a mischievous grin on her face.

"But this time I'll be one step ahead of her. I wouldn't be fighting her to win, I'd just be hitting her until I get blood. And I am very willing to keep hitting her until she bleeds."

"Bells..."

"Oh shut it, I am trying to save her life so the least she could do is let me punch her on the nose!"

~ 0 ~

After much insistence - and there really had been a lot of insistence - Cisco agreed to give the breach opening another go. He had tried it in the breach room of STAR Labs without success so of course Barry would come up with another alternative.

"You know, I can't think of a lot of guys who would prefer to go to an abandoned warehouse in search of a multidimensional portal instead of hanging out with his girlfriend," Cisco made sure to say loud and clear when Barry brought them inside a horrible, smelly warehouse.

Barry just rolled his eyes. "To be fair, Belén kicked me out. She's having a girl's night and I'm not allowed."

"Can I kick you out too?"

Barry sucked in a sharp breath and side-glanced his friend, none too pleased with his sarcasm. "Look, I know this is hard but we really need to find a way. And this-" he raised the handheld scanner he was holding onto, "-says that this area has the highest levels of residual trans-dimensional energy. We should be able to open the breach that used to be here." He walked into a long room, probably a room for dozens of people at one point, and came to a stop in the center when the scanner beeped again. "It's right here. This is it.

"For real? In this Patch Adams nightmare right here? Yeah. Love it," Cisco grumbled. It was a place of horror movies!

"All right. Look, dude, if this doesn't work, I'll stop asking you to do this, all right!"

Cisco would take that deal any day. "Fine," he exhaled deeply and struck a hand forwards, intending on letting out that power to open the breaches...but nothing happened. "What? Look, I can't do it!"

Barry frowned. There had to be something missing for this to keep failing!

And if he heard him, Harry strolled into the room. "That's right. You can't."

"What are you doing here?" Barry raised an eyebrow at him. "You said you weren't going to help!"

"I know what I said. But you're not gonna stop, are you?"

"No."

Harry inwardly groaned. Joe was right. Barry would keep doing stuff like this and get himself hurt or killed one day. He needed supervision, as did everyone else in the team. "Okay, Barry Allen, then I'm gonna do what I can to make sure you don't get killed." He came up to Cisco with a pair of black goggles for Cisco. "I recalibrated these to the electromagnetic frequency of this Earth. It should help you access enough of the trans-dimensional energy to manipulate it."

Cisco didn't look that impressed. Actually, he wasn't. "Just like Reverb," he muttered as hr took the goggles into his hands. "All I'm missing is the guyliner and the transformation's complete."

"Take 'em out for a spin!"

With a sigh, Cisco put the goggles on and tried again. He struck his fist forwards and this time, it was engulfed by a blue energy that sprouted into a breach. He had done it.

~0~

Zoom was in his lair, going crazy just waiting. He wasn't alone, though, for he still had his 'loyal' follower, although she was acting like her usual self.

A weary Datura leaned over a table. Her eyes struggled to stay open but she fought to keep them so. Across her was Zoom, perched at a chair waiting expectantly for her...and for something else. The two went hand in hand.

A small gasp slipped through Datura's lips. Her eyes flashed a menacing red and when she spoke, it was someone else's voice. "He's trying to open a breech."

Zoom stood up, pushed the chair out of his way, and stalked towards her. "Where?" he demanded to know.

There was a distant look on Datura's face as she focused on the spur of images in her head. The power was all too new for her and she was still struggling to keep it under control, but Zoom couldn't know. This one was actually taking a toll on her more than the others. She really shouldn't be on the hunt for new abilities. Poison Ivy would tell her that.

"O-over by the old hospital…" she said and Zoom wasted not a second in speeding to the location.

As soon as she was alone, Datura deeply gasped (and struggled too). The redness from her eyes faded and she slowly came back as herself. She rubbed her gloved hand across her face and hope to God the weakness plaguing her was not as noticeable as she felt. Once Zoom found out she was progressively becoming useless, he would not hesitate to kill her.

~ 0 ~

Cisco sucked in a sharp breath when he started to feel the true power of the breaches. He could feel it, creeping up from his fingertips, up his arms, to his head...to his mind. Suddenly, he ripped the goggles off him and the breach disappeared.

"No! What happened!?" Barry whirled around to Cisco. "You were doing it!"

But Cisco was dead scared of what he'd been doing. "No, no, no, no. I-I can't do this!"

"What-"

Cisco chucked the goggles back to Harry, shaking his head fervently. "Don't. Please, don't ask me to do this. Please!" He ran out of the room without looking back once.

~ 0 ~

"It's mine!" Shivhan exclaimed once she saw the bottle of wine Iris was bringing over to the living room.

"It's called 'sharing' Shivahn, geez," Iris cautiously set the bottle on the coffee table thinking that she might lose a hand if Shivhan decided to go for it.

"How did you work as a bartender?" Caitlin chuckled with amusement as Shivhan hurriedly poured herself a glass of wine.

"Flawlessly," the woman in question smirked as she saluted with her glass.

"I don't think I should be drinking," Belén apologized when Iris offered her a glass. "I'm undergoing certain medical tests..."

"What? Like pregnancy ones?" Shivhan carelessly asked but took great pleasure when Belén's face flushed red.

"I really hate you!"

Shivhan smirked. "It's just too easy sometimes," she told the others while Belén continued glaring daggers at her. "And plus, you did tell us about that weird adopted alien child you have in another world."

"Yeah, now I'm regretting that."

"It's so weird that you keep bumping into your doppelgangers," Nina remarked as she accepted her glass from Iris. "But then again, so completely you."

"Well this version sounded a lot nicer than Datura. Hell, if she was here, I'm sure she would've found the cure already and put the rest of us out of our misery," Belén grumbled. She eyed the remaining glass of wine on the table meant to be for her. It was a lot more tempting as she got to thinking about her problems. She shook her head. She couldn't get drunk and then let the Azalea have a hang over the next day.

"I think it would be completely weird to meet a doppelganger," Caitlin admitted especially since she knew that her doppelganger had existed on Earth 2, an evil doppelganger as well.

"I think it would be cool," Shivhan leaned back on the couch. "You know, if they weren't evil. Think of all the shit you could pull."

"Okay, maybe let's not talk about doppelgangers...?" Iris made a discreet nod towards Belén who was growing distant with thoughts. "Or anything meta related. This is meant, after all, to be just a fun and casual night. Belén, take a glass." She picked up the last wine glass from the table and held it out for the ombre-blonde. "I'm sure Dr. Snow wouldn't get mad over one glass." Caitlin playfully rolled her eyes. "C'mon!"

Belén took the glass and immediately drank from it. Shivhan laughed. "Oh shut up!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Thanks Iris, for setting this up," Belén looked at the woman in question. "Maybe I do need just a little bit of a distraction. But I'm sorry you had to give up a night for me when you could be going on another date with Scott."

"Oh, um...actually..." Iris made a face. She could've sworn she told Belén this but now that she was thinking about it, she had told Barry instead. "That's not really happening anymore."

"Why not?" Belén blinked. "It's not because of me is it?"

"No, no, of course not! I just..." Iris' shoulders shrugged purely because she couldn't put her thoughts into words at the moment.

"Did you guys break up?" Caitlin then asked just to see if she could help Iris find her words again.

Iris exhaled and shook her head. "No, well...can't really break up if we were never really together. Actually, I kind of did it when Barry showed me this video of Eddie wishing me a happy birthday. He said all these nice things about me…" Iris smiled to herself as she remembered the video. "And I thought it was time to move on but...I guess it's easier to say it than actually do it. Plus, I can't really see myself 'moving on' with a guy who can't really appreciate what metahumans do for us."

"Still, sorry," Belén said and offered her glass to clink with. "But I'm sure there's someone else out there."

"Well when you find one, let me know cos I want to find one too," Nina said suddenly, making the others laugh. "What? I'm past thirty. I need to find me a man."

"Me too," Shivhan said, then added, "Or a woman. I'm bisexual and I still can't find someone."

"Cisco said you had a girlfriend in college," Caitlin pointed. They were all now aware of Shivhan's backstory and her terrible time in her early metahuman days. "Have you ever thought about maybe calling her up now that you've gotten control over your powers?"

Shivhan shook her head. "Nah. What's the point? I almost hurt her. I don't think I could face her."

"Never say never," Belén smiled encouragingly at her. "Because hey, what if she's still waiting for you to call her?"

"Yeah, right," Shivhan rolled her eyes. "Someone just serve me more wine. I've got a lot more comments about that adoptive daughter Belén has!"

Belén's face fell flat but the blush creeping up her neck was all the motivation Shivhan needed to follow through.

~ 0 ~

"Soo...a little birdy told me you almost opened up a breech last night," Belén took the stool across from Cisco in his workshop. She smiled proudly, because it was a really big thing to be proud of, but Cisco didn't pay her attention.

"Almost," he stared hard at his goggles like the conversation was coming from it and not Belén.

"Barry thinks you're scared. Zoom has a way of getting into your head, but...I don't think that's the fear. Or at least that's not where the fear comes from."

Cisco briefly looked up to see Belén studying him intently. "It's not?" he asked.

"Cisco, I had a hard time getting my powers under control and to this day it still scares me that I could succumb to the dark side of them. It's a unique sort of fear, and... it's kind of like the one I'm seeing in your eyes right now."

"What do you mean?" Cisco tried playing dumb.

"You're scared of your powers, or at least something along those lines." Belén saw the shift Cisco gave in his spot. She stood up and walked up to him, placing a comforting on his arm. "What is it?"

Cisco sighed. He saw no point in hiding it anymore. "It's like... It's like right now I'm Anakin Skywalker. I got the midi-chlorians. I've got the goods. The force is strong with me. That is something I can feel. But if I start opening breaches into other worlds, doing all this other crazy stuff Reverb was doing, then... what if this is how I become Vader?"

"You're afraid of becoming like your doppelganger?" Belén would have laughed had it not been a serious matter. "Cisco, that could never happen. Literally."

"You don't know that. That is what happened to Reverb," Cisco said. "He learned how to use his abilities, and when he felt that, when he felt that power, he succumbed... to the dark side."

"I get that fear. Let's not forget my doppelganger still lives to create evil," Belén sighed. "And I was scared too, until Barry made me see something. Those doppelgangers of ours had no one. Those they had... wasn't the same relationship. Your doppelganger, as far as we know, had no Caitlin Snow, no Barry Allen, no STAR Labs team. My doppelganger had Barry but it wasn't the same relationship. She didn't have enough confidence in him to share with him what was going on. Let's not even get into what Earth's 2 Caitlin was missing. My point is, we-" Belén pointed between them, "-have the best family on this Earth. They are what keep us grounded. We are never going to turn into our doppelgangers. You are Vibe and you are a whole lot better than Reverb."

"You didn't even meet Reverb," Cisco remarked but Belén detected traces of his usual humor in his tone.

"Yeah but I didn't need to. I just know it."

Cisco chuckled. "Thanks, Bells."

"Well I figured since you've given me a thousand ways to get back on my feet, I owed you one," Belén secured him in a tight hug, refusing to let go until he promised to again with the breeches.

Once she was clear, she left the workshop to find Barry lingering just a tad too close to not be able to hear what she said. He was smiling strangely at her, making her laugh.

"What?"

"I forgot to pass on a message from your Earth 38 doppelganger."

"Oh? What was it?" Belén wondered if it was a tip for the future like, eat more of this and less of that. She could do with those cheat sheets.

"She said that you are the best version of all the Beléns in the multiverse," Barry came closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You're the bravest because you fight every day against metas, put your job at risk for people you don't know. You're the best."

Belén actually felt a few tears trying to come up in her eyes. "She really said that?"

"Mhm, she just missed one thing..."

"Like what?"

"That you are such a good friend."

Belén blushed under his intense gaze. "You think that's true?"

"I know it's true. I see it every day, I just saw it right now. You're the best, Bells." Barry lowered down to press a soft kiss over her lips. Belén wrapped her arms around his neck just to keep them close for a moment.

They still had plenty to do afterwards.

~0~

Harry had added onto Barry's suit's emblem proposed to help Barry stop Zoom. He placed the emblem back on the suit and turned the others in the cortex. "You're all set. He won't even know it's there."

"Cause whoever said aesthetics aren't important," Cisco meant as joke but Harry retorted with a sarcastic 'not me' and walked away from him.

Barry noticed how Caitlin was throwing uncomfortable looks all around the room. "Hey, Cait, I know how hard this is gonna be for you, but we have to stop him."

"I know, and I want to be supportive," Caitlin promised and scooted closer to Belén. "I just... I can't face Jay. Or whatever his real name is."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you remember when I was looking for his doppelganger, right?"

"Yeah. And you couldn't find him."

"Because there is no Jay Garrick on this Earth. His doppelganger's name is Hunter Zolomon."

From across the room, Harry stopped. "Hunter Zolomon? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?" Caitlin dreaded yet another lie of 'Jay' would come out.

Harry flipped the lid of his watch and started pulling up images. "Well, because on my Earth, Hunter Zolomon was a convicted serial killer."

Two conviction pictures of Jay - or Hunter Zolomon - faced the group. He had long, messy hair and an equally messy long beard.

"Is that really Jay?" Belén nearly had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing something else.

"No, that is Hunter," Harry pointed at the pictures. "Last public photo of Hunter Zolomon. Instantly recognizable. And people from my Earth... on my Earth, serial killers are an anomaly, so a lot of media attention to this. There was a podcast. When Hunter was 11, his father killed his mother right in front of him. Father sent to prison, Hunter grew up in the foster care system. Years later he was convicted on 23 counts of murder."

Cisco gawked at the number. "23? That's, like, some real Hannibal Lecter type level."

"Well, with that kind of background, there was always a potential risk for something like this to happen," Belén crossed her arms and received odd glances from her friends. "What? I took an elective Child Development course."

Harry continued with the story for them to know the ending. "After the trial, Hunter was sent to the Saint Perez Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane... given daily electroshock therapy. Cure him of his urges and then faded from view."

"Until the night your particle accelerator exploded," Belén realized.

"That's right. The dark matter crept into the mental asylum. I had thought... piping the explosion underground would limit exposure. I was wrong. All it did was create an unstoppable monster." Harry grumbling took the images down and closed the lid of his watch.

Barry had began to think of the new information and wondered if he could use it against Jay/Hunter. "He's not unstoppable. Jay doesn't know that we know who he really is. He thinks that his past is a secret."

"You've got your thinking face on," Belén noticed, her curiosity growing by the second. What had he thought of?

Barry smirked. "I think I have an idea of how we can stop him."

~ 0 ~

Harry and Cisco led Belén, Caitlin, Iris, Veronica and Joe into the safe room. Caitlin held onto a handheld tablet recording the future movements of Barry. They couldn't risk Jay getting to them as using them as bait. And since they would be inside, they made sure that Shivhan and Nina would be far away as well, just in case. 'Jay' was never close to either woman but it didn't mean they wanted to risk them, so Shivhan took Nina to the former's old neighborhood in the lower parts of the city for a while.

"Are you sure Jay can't get in here?" Iris looked around the safe room with some bad memories seeping through.

"Pretty sure, but just in case," Harry handed Joe a large gun-like weapon.

Joe secured the weapon in his arms. "How do you use this?"

"All right, so you aim it, and then you pull the trigger," Harry said, dead serious.

"Smart ass," Joe spat but Harry smiled nonetheless.

"Barry and Cisco are in position," Caitlin looked up from the tablet.

Belén made sure to be right next to Caitlin. Since she wasn't allowed to help, she would at least know what was going on at all times. "Let's hope this thing works."

~ 0 ~

"You ready, buddy?" Barry stopped in the middle of the abandoned hospital.

Cisco stood next to him, nervously putting on his goggles. "Yeah. You guys always believed in me. Thank you."

"You got this," Barry assured.

Cisco nodded and got ready to open the same breech.

~0~

Datura's eyes flashed red as a rush of images passed in her mind. Each one hurt more than the last. "He's going to open another one…" Zoom turned on her expecting much more than she was giving. She swallowed hard and focused more. "U-uh...the hospital, again. But…" her eyes drifted to the side, "... you're gonna need my help."

"I don't need anyone's help," Zoom towered over her.

"You will. They're going to pull something. Retribution. I'm good at that." Datura failed to look the speedster in the eyes. "Let me come...please…"

~0~

Cisco felt the familiar strain of opening the breech but this time he did not fall back. He was determined to help put an end to Zoom's reign of terror. This was his part and he would he damned if he let his friends down. The blue energy circled in the air until it formed a direct breech into the next world. Almost immediately Zoom jumped out but he was not alone.

Cisco let out a small noise at the sight of a maskless Datura behind Zoom. She was getting braver. "She's not supposed to come!"

Barry was stunned with her presence but he had to force himself not to pay her the attention that would inevitably hurt him.

"Well I have," Datura did her best so that her voice resembled nothing but strength. "And I'm ready to play...but you're the wrong players." Thick green vines entangled themselves around her body until she was no more. The vines made a beeline for the cracked window and disappeared.

"She's heading to STAR Labs…" Cisco didn't need any clue to figure that out. Barry gave him a nod to get going. Cisco ran out of the building and intended on breaching as fast as possible to STAR Labs.

"Reverb's doppelganger has increased his powers," Zoom took notice.

Barry directed his fiercest glare at him. "Hatred is a strong motivator."

"You were unwise to reopen the breach."

"I'm not gonna let you terrorize another world anymore."

"Without your speed, you won't be able to stop me."

Barry almost laughed. " Let's see," he began the game and sped out.

Zoom followed after him.

~0~

Caitlin didn't mind the fact Belén was gripping onto her arm to the point blood circulation was close to shutting down, it was justifiable. Caitlin held the tablet in her hands and was following every movement of Barry's, which now showed the speedster running downtown.

"Zoom's gaining on Barry," she informed the rest.

"He can't catch him!" Belén exclaimed. "Oh my God, what if he does? What if—"

"He won't," Iris put a hand on her arm, reassuring her with a small smile.

Cisco walked into the safe room with an urgent look on his face. "She's coming!" Everyone else gave him confused stares. "Your—" Cisco threw a finger at Belén who merely blinked, "—doppelganger. She's here — I mean, she's coming! Now!"

"What? What for?" Iris made a face.

"We have her cure and her redhead friend locked up in the same building…" Belén said slowly, exchanging a knowing look with Caitlin. "Looks like we're doing this right now."

"Doing what?" Harry narrowed his eyes on her, pretty sure where this was about to go. "You are not leaving this safe room!"

"She is coming!" Belén snapped, already backing away. "And do you really think she'll just come in and take Poison Ivy and just leave? No. Not in a million years! She's not leaving until she finds me so I might as well just go out!"

"Belén, she's a killer!" Veronica was terrified of the idea of her daughter fighting that doppelganger.

"Yeah, I know, which is why I have to go and stop her! I just said that!"

"I hate to agree but she is Datura so she can access the pipeline system and any of our other security systems," Cisco scrunched his face when everyone's gazes turned to him. "In retrospect, I should probably try to find a way around that already."

Veronica wished he would shut the hell up already.

"Zoom's almost got Barry!" Caitlin suddenly shouted, too startled to have kept it down. Everyone crowded around her to see how the speedsters were doing outside.

"He's getting away again," Iris relaxed when she saw Barry's track-dot getting farther and farther from Zoom's.

"They're almost to the building," Caitlin told the others.

"Guys…" Cisco's voice drew their gazes from Caitlin's tablet. He made a motion for them to notice that Belén was already gone.

"Belén!" Veronica shouted incredulously.

"Dammit," Harry gritted his teeth. "She's just as crazy as Allen!"

"What do we do now!?" Iris frantically waited for someone to say something.

"We can't do anything…" Caitlin said, looking up from her tablet. "This thing just detected a visitor and it's not a speedster."

"Great," Harry muttered.

~ 0 ~

The pipeline room was dead empty and far too easy to get into. Datura hummed as she made her way up to the access controls. She was about to pull off her black glove when a vine grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

"You didn't actually think you were just going to waltz in and get what you want, did you?" Belén swallowed hard now that she was face to face with her doppelganger. It was so weird seeing her own face, herself, standing across her.

Datura got over her initial agitation and smiled, amused with Belén's reaction. Fire erupted over her arm, burning away the vine on her wrist. She refit her glove over her hand, her brown curls bouncing with the movement. As soon as she did, Belén froze in her spot. Her eyes were wide but her fists were balled for a fight.

"What's the matter?" Datura's voice was mocking. "Take your breath away?"

It was hard for Belén to see her face on someone else, and much more on a person who looked ready to inflict pain on anyone. There was no getting used to that.

"When did he get the courage to tell you? Did you cry? I bet you cried," Datura slipped a smirk between her words. "Are you as much of a crier as I once was?"

Belén's jaw tightened. Datura lived to make her life miserable whether it was with violence or the old fashion word jabs. She couldn't keep falling for it and give Datura what she wanted. She raised a threatening hand towards Datura. "Zoom and Barry are downstairs and when Barry catches Zoom, you and him are going to go in the pipeline."

Datura raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" she laughed. "It's funny you think that's going to work. Now please, go back into hiding or something and let me get my friend, alright? You're actually second on my list tonight."

Belén almost laughed when she was waved off. Belén thrust forwards a vine that knocked Datura to the side. "You are not getting anyone!" she stalked towards her doppelganger.

Datura peeled herself off the wall and glowered at her. Eyes flashed blue and a familiar voice rang through her mouth. "You're an idiot if you think you could ever win against me!" Her hands billowed with icy smoke.

"Caitlin?" Belén's eyes widened. She would recognize that voice anywhere, even if it was on someone else. Datura pulled her hands back and shot icicles forwards. Belén had to throw herself on the ground to avoid being hit. "How are you Caitlin!?" she asked after being able to raise her head off the ground.

Datura was smirking with eyes still flashing blue. "I'm Killer Frost," she said in the icy meta's voice. She threw more icicles at Belén who rolled to the side just in time.

Belén picked herself up and blew her strongest breath outwards, poisoning the air in the room. She didn't expect to make a strong blow since poison was probably nothing against Datura - just like she was - so she was mighty surprised to see Datura wobbling on her feet for a second. The blue in her eyes faded rapidly and, if Belén had to describe it, the woman looked far too pale to be "normal".

But then Datura pulled herself together and a yellow hue swirled in her eyes. Electricity crackled around her hands and she didn't waste a second shooting at Belén again. "Run, birdy!" Datura's voice was overlapping with a male's voice.

Belén dismantled into vines and disappeared from Datura's sight. Her figure formed behind Datura and easily kicked her on the back. Datura rolled on the ground and Belén jumped at chance to keep her down. She wrestled with Datura to keep her on the ground and was subjected to various power changes from the siphoner. There was frost, electricity, energy beams, light and more but Belén wouldn't give up. She delivered two punches across Datura's face - a very satisfying moment - and got blood on her hands.

Datura's head lulled to the side but she was not unconscious. There was a visible weakness in her face that Belén took into consideration. This didn't exactly look like the killer siphoner she'd been fighting this year. Granted, she was vicious in a fight but there was an unaccounted new weakness lacing her movements. Her overall strength seemed to falter after one blow.

Redness passed through Datura's eyes as she gasped. New images were delivered to her mind, ones that delivered several painful jabs to her head. "Your plan... it's going to fail. The shackle… it's going to break" Belén was taken aback from the certainty in the woman's face. Datura smiled through her weakness. "And Barry's going to give it up."

Belén's eyebrows knitted together with further confusion. "Take what back?"

Datura merely chuckled. She latched a hand onto Belén's arm and quickly said, "Tell Ivy I'm coming back for her soon." The electricity passed onto Belén in aggressive shocks, making her scream until she fell to the side and lost consciousness.

~0~

The next time Belén was awake and looking at things, she was in a side room of the cortex with Caitlin acting as her overprotective nurse. Her mother was on the other side of the bed. It took a couple of minutes for Belén's ears to start working again but she could pretty much make out the scold her mother was giving her.

"...it was unnecessary! She could've killed you! What were you thinking!?"

Belén lazily blinked at her mother. "Please, my head doesn't already hurt. Caitlin, tell me you got the blood?"

Caitlin came over with a sigh. "Yes, but your mother's right. You shouldn't have gone off like that without backup."

"Bells, you're awake," Barry came right in. He was back in his regular clothes but Belén couldn't dismiss the pure disappointment in his face. "Cait, is she going to be okay?"

"Well, never mind the fact she received a massive surge of electric shocks-" Caitlin began in her reprimanding tone.

"Caitlin," Belén warned her to simply stop.

The brunette sighed as began again. "Yes, she'll be fine."

"That doesn't mean you can just keep doing that!" Veronica huffed as she got up from her seat. "Can you please tell her that?" she asked Barry on her way out.

"Hey, guess what?" Belén smiled at Barry despite her mother's scold, eager to tell him what she'd gotten for the cure. "I punched my doppelganger enough to get blood for your samples. Tell me I did good."

Even though the night hadn't turned out like he wanted, Barry smiled back at her. He'd been extra scared after learning what she'd done while he dealt with Zoom and seeing her frazzled body in the pipeline hadn't been any better. He leaned closer to her and grabbed her hand. "You shouldn't have faced her like that. Who knows what she could've done."

"She can't kill me yet," Belén said matter-of-factly. "And with how she looks now, I doubt she'd ever be able to."

At that comment, Barry straightened in his chair. "What do you mean?"

Belén pushed herself to sit upright. "She looks...sick. Like, pale face and weak. She's supposed to be this big, bad siphoner but I nearly took her down with minimal poison from my system."

"It is possible that her illness is advancing and affecting her stamina," Caitlin offered as a reason. "It's natural."

"Which means if we want to cure her, we have to work fast," Barry nodded. "But with Zoom still out there I don't see how that's supposed to happen."

"Zoom is still out there?" Belén blinked. She hadn't yet been informed on how the original plan had gone.

Barry sighed and looked down, almost ashamed to see her in the eyes. "I let him get away. I had him - I was so close - and he...just got away."

Belén gripped his hand already around hers. "It's not your fault."

"I lost again and now he's out here again," Barry couldn't stop feeling guilty.

His words, however, made her think of Datura. She was just about to speak of that when Cisco came running in to tell them Iris had called with devastating news. Despite Caitlin's caution to stay in bed, Belén followed them to the cortex to where Cisco and Harry were. They had pulled up the image of a text Iris had sent them.

'Your speed for Wally's life.'

"He took Wally," Caitlin covered her mouth in horror.

"Iris said the whole house is thrashed," Cisco filled them in. "Wally's nowhere to be seen."

"Speed…give it up…" Belén mumbled, her mind replaying what Datura had said. "That bitch warned me."

"What?" Barry looked at her oddly, for a second thinking Caitlin had missed a possible concussion.

Belén faced her friends with a frustration she had for herself. "When I was fighting Datura, she said something like this," she motioned to the phrase on the screen. "She said Barry would have to give something up and I-I didn't make much of it but... I'm so sorry," she said with devastation. Her eyes met with Barry's and he could see they were filling fast with guilt. "If I had paid more attention I could have seen it coming and I-I…" Barry took her into a hug, his face expressing deep confusion much like the rest in the room.

"No, sorry," Cisco laughed sourly as he grew more and more outraged, "Are you implying that psycho siphoner can now see the future?" All Belén could do was shrug unsurely. "No! She can't have all these powers! That's just not fair!"

"Calm down," Harry ordered him. "Datura must have just known the plan Zoom had."

"She knew you were going to use the shackle to keep Zoom put," Belén told Barry. "She laughed at it. She knew our plan. Not even Zoom knew it right?"

Barry thought back to his fight with Zoom. The way he had reacted when he saw the cutouts of his parents was far too raw to be fake. He couldn't have known. "So she siphoned psychic abilities recently…"

"She's crazy," Belén declared. "You know she said she was Killer Frost at one point during our fight? She even sounded like Caitlin…" she threw her friend in question a look.

"Me?" Caitlin didn't even want to think of her dead doppelganger.

"She talked like she was actually Killer Frost and...and these other people," Belén crinkled her nose. "She's really is sick."

"She's deranged and she needs to be locked up," Harry put it into simple terms. "No cures, no anything but right now, we need to focus on getting Wally back. Come back to your psychiatric profile later."

He parted with those words that did ring truth for the moment.

~0~

As Wally began to wake up, his ears picked up a slur of an argument from a distance. It took him only a minute to realize he'd been put in a worn out cell somewhere far and dirty. He picked himself up and the first thing he saw was a second prisoner hidden behind a thick, metal head mask.

"You lied to me and that is lethal to your condition," Wally then heard from the side. He turned to find the black-masked figure who had taken him in the first place. He was arguing with a smaller, female figure.

"I had to get Ivy! I need her!" The voice sounded familiar albeit with traces of a...cold? Who knew.

Zoom snatched her by the neck and pulled her towards him. "You begged me to take you with me and this is how you repay me?"

"I-I can't...siphon...without her!" Datura struggled to say it one go with the lack of oxygen she was getting.

"You're going to siphon the speed force out of Flash and if you don't I'll kill you on the spot," Zoom unceremoniously let Datura fall on the ground.

The woman coughed violently the moment her lungs could extract air from outside. It was then that Zoom noticed the newest prisoner had awoken and was watching them.

Wally stepped back when Zoom started coming towards his cell. "Scared?" Zoom taunted him.

"Someone's gonna get me out," Wally said with some level of determination. Someone would have to notice he was kidnapped right?

"There's only one person who can help you now," Zoom neared the bars of the cell. "The Flash."

Wally blinked. "The Flash? Why would he help me? He doesn't even know who I am."

"Someone he cares about... cares about you."

~ 0 ~

Everyone had re-gathered in the cortex with the intention of getting word to Zoom he had a deal. It only took one vibe of Cisco to get Zoom ready.

"Barry, are you sure?" the speedster kept hearing over and over in the meanwhile they waited for Zoom to show up.

And over and over, Barry kept tell them that he was. He wasn't happy about handing over his speed to a monster but it meant saving Wally's life. He was definitely sure about that. He was also sure this wasn't over. It was a bump in the road, admittedly a big bump, but they would cross it and come back with something big.

Eventually, Zoom arrived to the cortex with Wally in hand. His other hand was latched onto Datura's covered arm. As soon as Wally saw his family he tried going to them.

"Let him go," Barry ordered him.

"We had a deal," Zoom reminded just in case they tried anything with him. Both Veronica and Joe were aiming at him with guns and who knew what else they had hidden around.

"My speed for Wally's life. Hand him over, and it's yours."

Zoom let Wally go with no questions. Wally rushed to hug Iris and was promptly rushed away with car keys in her hand. They were not taking a second chance.

"Let's get this over with," Barry had nothing left to say.

Zoom tore his mask off and smirked. "Indeed." He pushed Datura forwards, the woman threw him a hidden glare but dared not to actually back. "Siphon him," he gave the order.

"I can't," she said quietly, surprising the others.

Zoom looked nowhere surprised like them. He expected it, and he didn't care. "I said siphon him."

Datura pursed her lips and looked down. "I told you I can't!"

"And I said do it!"

Datura lost her patience and whirled around. "You had me siphoning left to right just to find a metahuman with similar abilities to Reverb and I told you it would weaken me! I siphon one more person and I might not make it. You are not gonna do me like you did with Killer Frost — I know what I can do with her powers!"

There was a tension-filled silence in the room and no one knowing what would happen next.

"She doesn't...she doesn't have to do anything," Barry was the one to speak up and was grateful to have Jay's attention.

Datura, on the other hand, shot him a glare. "Contrary to your usual routines at home, I—" she gestured to herself, "—don't need your help."

"Shut up if you want to live," Belén said through gritted teeth. This only infuriated the doppelganger even more.

"We've got the way to get the speedforce out of my system," Barry went on, acting as if Datura had never spoken in the first place. "And no foul play. Harry?"

Begrudgingly, Harry stepped forwards a familiar device in hand. "This thing is how I stole The Flash's speed the first time. Now all he needs to do is run, and his Speed Force will transfer into this vial. but only as long as I calibrate it. "

"Get to work," Jay gestured for them to get to work then. He didn't care how he got the speed he just wanted it and he was gonna get it.

Harry despised the man already but with the smug face of Jay, he nearly lost it. "One day... I'm gonna knock that smug expression clean off your face."

Jay smirked as Harry was forced to go get things ready.

"So this was your plan all along, huh?" Barry couldn't take his glare off Jay for anything.

Jay, on the other hand, was gleeful as ever. "Ever since the skies parted and showed me another world... with another speedster. Once I saw you, I came here, figured out what I had to do."

"How the hell are you still alive?" Belén had to get the answer for that mystery everyone was still questioning about. "We literally saw you kill yourself."

"Yeah, you did," Jay said, quite proud of his action.

"So what was that? A speed mirage?" Cisco wondered.

"Speed mirage?" Jay laughed as he leaned back on the desk. "Uh, no. Even I'm not that fast. I knew that I couldn't be on two Earths at the same time, so I went back in time and, uh, met another version of myself."

"Your time remnant," Caitlin blinked. "Like the Reverse-Flash."

"I also knew that the only way to make Barry become faster was if you all witnessed your old pal Jay die."

"When did you decide to do that?" inquired Iris, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Oh, once you closed all the breaches, went to Earth-2. Believe me, getting my time remnant to agree to me murdering him took a bit of convincing. But once he saw the... well, the genius in my plan, he was all for it."

"Who's the man in the iron mask?" Barry recalled the prison who he still had a promise to keep.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jay answered, giving the face that was all they were going to get over that.

"But why the charade?" Joe asked. "Running around dressed like The Flash?"

"To give people hope, Detective."

"Hope?

"So I could rip it away from them. It's so fun pretending to be a hero."

The last statement frustrated Caitlin to no point's end. She worked with actual heroes and Jay was certainly the opposite of that. "You are no hero. You're nothing but a monster!"

At the same time, Harry returned and was angry to say everything was ready. Jay was the first one to go for the training room.

Belén nudged Cisco and motioned him with her head to look at Datura. The woman was standing sideways, her face distant yet calculating. Belén recognized the flicker of red in her doppelganger's eyes.

"Quite the new power you got there," Cisco spoke up. Datura slowly looked at them, however there was no describable emotion on her just yet. "Shame you can't use it all, though," Cisco smirked. "There's no way you can master that ability in the condition you're in."

"We can help you…" Belén had to force herself to say it with a straight face. She glanced at the training room where she could see Harry explaining to both Barry and Jay something.

Datura laughed shortly. "How romantic. A twisted, romantic story but an interesting one nonetheless. I know what I need to survive and I'm looking right at her."

"You can't take her anywhere," Cisco stepped forwards. "You won't."

"We'll see," Datura briefly gave her doppelganger a lookover before her eyes laid on Barry. "His neck is going to hurt." She walked towards the training room with a devious smirk on her face.

"Watch her," Belén mumbled to Cisco as the two followed her.

~ 0 ~

The group was forced to watch Barry glumly get on his special treadmill. Jay was closely standing next to Harry over the controls. Barry began to run in his normal, speedy manner but as the seconds ticked by it progressively became slower.

"He's slowing down…" Belén said quietly. On the computer, she could see the speed force filling the syringe Harry had plugged in.

"The Speed Force is leaving his body," Harry registered.

"He's becoming human again," Cisco mumbled. He noticed Datura silently stepping back. She was planning something alright.

Eventually, Barry's speed vanished and he toppled over the treadmill and fell on the ground. The others bolted into the training room to help him up.

"Barry, are you okay!?" Belén helped him sit upright on the ground.

"I'm okay. I'm okay," Barry tried to say amongst the commotion.

Jay was intently watching Harry put together the syringe and snatched it out of his hands the moment it was ready. He didn't hesitate to plunge it into himself. Blue and yellow smoke hissed out from the action. His eyes darkened in blue for a second until everything vanished. He then sped into the room and snatched Barry by the neck off the ground.

Datura smirked and ran out the other direction. Cisco tried stopping her by grabbing her by the arm. "You're not going anywhere!"

Datura raised an eyebrow. When her smirk widened, Cisco knew he was about to get it. She pulled the same trick of electricity that shocked him to the ground.

"Cisco!" Belén didn't know in what direction to go to. Datura had ran out to no doubt get Poison Ivy, and this time she would succeed. On one side, Belén had Cisco on the ground, probably unconscious, and on the other side was Zoom threatening to choke the life out of Barry.

"Jay, stop! Please!" Caitlin ran up to the two speedsters. She was in tears but determined to save her friend. "If anything you ever said to me was true, or anything we ever shared was real, then please just let him go. Please!" Zoom did not move and Barry grew paler and paler from the lack of oxygen. "I know some piece of you did care for me, so if you have any humanity left, then please, let him go!"

Zoom dropped Barry to the ground and zipped out of the room...with Caitlin.

#ocfairygodmother #arrowverseocs #fd: the flash #the flash #barry allen #the flash fics #the flash imagines #barry allen fics #barry allen imagines #arrowverse ocs #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: rise up

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mango-riot · 2 years

Text

Okay I literally have to talk about my Security Breach oc or I'm going to explode-

(Long read under the cut jsyk!)

OKAY SO, HI HELLO IT'S THE BECCA BREAKDOWN HOUR.

Name: Becca

What I have accumulated so far about her is the basics:

Age: mid 20s (26 or so)

Sexuality: bisexual

Gender: female (pronouns are she/her)

Appearance: burgundy/reddish wavy hair, dark eyes and a mess of freckles on her face and body.

She's roughly 5'8 and two more inches or so with her boots she wears to work, she has her ears pierced that almost always house a set of hoop earrings (mostly for work but it's become a small habit for her off the clock).

She wears golden-rimmed glasses (sometimes an old pair if she can't find those) and is near-sighted without them.

She wears necklaces and rings as her statement pieces of choice alongside her earrings (the rings are mostly bands and often times her necklaces are the chewlery kind)

Personality: Overall apathetic from the few years of working at the Pizzaplex with a secret sweet side when it comes to kids.

She's the mom friend in her group of co-workers (human and animatronic alike) and sends basic messages of "hey don't forget to drink something other than Fizzy Faz today maybe?" to her human counterparts. If any altercations happen within the Pizzaplex, she makes sure the animatronic in question is okay first.

Likes: quiet evenings, books, time alone, her cat Momo, EDM chill music, c o f f e e (yes she's a hypocrite), shiny things.

Dislikes: disruptions, rude customers, rainy days, being behind schedule, sticky substances.

Small bio/background: Becca was raised as an only child with a plethora of cousins, she was like an elder sister to all of them so she never felt lonely.

Her mother and father are (happily) divorced, with her father soon coming out as gay afterwards.

She went to college for a degree in engineering but flunked out the last semester before she was set to graduate and went on a job hunt for the summer, landing in the Pizzaplex at the age of 23.

Extra: she's on the spectrum and doesn't shy away from letting others know about it, especially when it comes down to defending someone who may be getting disrespected for their autism.

Affiliations: She doesn't have many friends outside of the pizzaplex, she counts Freddy as her friend (even if he claims to be everyone's) and has a security guard friend named James.

She's self-appointed herself as Roxy's bff as a joke when the latter feels indifferent to her.

She gets along best with Moondrop considering they're both rational thinkers, she has an on and off again friendship with Monty.

Enemies: gum and spilled soda on floors.

Location: When she first started out at the Pizzaplex, she was bounced around from location to location, finally settling at the prize counter at the Faz-cade.

Eventually she was moved up to manager (her boss said "manager" and she thought that meant for the arcade...when in actuality they meant manager that helps everyone, so she manages disputes around the Pizzaplex and if she needs to call security or not. She's essentially crowd/damage control before the big guns need to step in.)

She still partially works at the prize counter and only stays at the Pizzaplex late on Fridays and Saturdays due to the influx of customers on those days.

Considering she was the longest human employee to not quit within a handful of months (or days), her boss trusted her with the position.

(Both photos below are from a Picrew and are not mine, credit goes to the artist marked in each)

This is her "yup, I literally just watched a mega-ton animatronic gator bodyslam a security guard into next week" face, back when she first started in the arcade location.

This ironically is her employee I.D. photo once she got promoted to manager, say cheese Becca!

(Sidenote: I honestly want to roleplay with her as a trial to really flesh her out as a character and get a feel for interactions and the like, so I'm open to OC x CC and OC x OC! Keeping it 18+ as a default because I'm an adult and want to find other adult FNAF rpers! Feel free to DM me if interested!)

#fnaf:sb #fnaf oc #fnaf roleplay #fnaf sb roleplay #long post #snagged the template from a server im in so i just copy pasted what i had wrote down onto here

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crazybigredlove · 2 years

Text

15th August 2013

Dear Pete,

Trained with Dylan before work this morning. Not sure if I've mentioned him before other than as my training buddy. We've been training for a few weeks now and he's helping to keep me on track. He's more of a heavy weights guy than CrossFit but sometimes I like that. Even though Jimmy made me sign that thing at the start saying that I would commit to three CrossFit sessions a week, he doesn't seem to mind if I do something with Dylan instead. It can get a little too much being in a big group some days. Anyway, Dylan messaged me late last night to check if I was keen and after I was done explaining to him that I am never keen to do anything, we set a time.

It was dark and wet as I walked the few blocks over. The world was eerily quiet and it was no challenge to start creating morbid scenarios in my head about all the different ways psychopaths or supernatural creatures would probably kill me during my ten- minute walk.

"Haven't seen you this early in a while? How're you handling it?" That friendly smile was on his face as we approached the doorway at the same time. Looking strangely alert for such an early hour, his smile was as contagious as ever. There was no flirting or pretence, just him genuinely wanting to know how I'm doing and pleased to see me. It was nice. Through his winter layers hinted an athletic frame and as always the sight of muscles made me smile. What can I say? I have a type. There was a coffee in each of his hands; with a wink he offered me one. "Figured you might need one of these. So what's been happening?" Hesitating, it was hard not to be aware of how much information could easily flow forth when you have a mouth that spills secrets without pause. Accepting the coffee I stumbled trying to find words. Big Red, Christopher, the job... Too much was going on to put into words and it seemed doubtful our friendship had reached the 'spilling it all out at 5am' stage of friendship anyway.

"Oh you know me, boring as always. Not much changes in my world." "Sorry for the late message last night. I'd never messaged you before so wasn't sure if you were an early to bed kinda girl or not."

"It's okay. I survived. Mostly." "You sure? I didn't do any permanent damage?" Teasing me, but still not really flirting. "I mean, I can check my diary entry from last night, but I'm certain beyond reasonable doubt that I won't find that yesterday's starts with 'Dear Diary, crying myself to sleep because Dylan messaged me late at night'. Besides, even if I did, I have a really good therapist." There's that second of terror which freezes me to the spot when I remember that my sense of humour is a little intense for people who don't know me that well and can make people uncomfortable while they try to gauge what's real and what's humour. Laughing softly to himself he seemed unfazed. "I thought I had more game than that. Today I thought we might just do some technique work. I know I'm not exactly a coach but there's some drills Jimmy gave me that I wanted to work through and seeing as you're a total rookie I thought maybe you might want to do them too? Promise you're going to get a workout." Peeking out at me from behind long lashes he looked almost nervous. "Rookie? Hey I have big plans to be world champion within a few months. We'll see who's the rookie then." "Don't we all," he said, laughing as always. "Every person in that room thinks they're going to be too." His eyes linger on my face.

Is he flirting with me?

"Oh I can handle a little competition." "You're going to need to bring your A game." "Believe me. I always bring my A game."

Yup. We are definitely flirting now. Frick.

We went through the motions. Talking, laughing, training, and yet not really giving much away. Hanging out like two normal people who don't really know each other, but who share a common interest. Exactly how guys and girls who only recently met should hang out. Future suitors, take note.

That was my day mostly. Or at least that was the highlight. There is still no mention between Chris and I about what happened and with each hour that passes I do feel marginally better about it all in that I figure it's a thing of the past and we should probably just leave it there. Of course that may also be my fear of confrontation speaking...

He was waiting up for me tonight when I got home. I'd spent the evening at the Starbucks down the road (Free wifi + caffeine + open late = Happy Liv) actually working on my manuscript. Yes, you read that correctly. I was super productive. By that I mean that I updated my Twitter, my Tumblr, and my Facebook. Yep, with all that stuff out of the way I am now ready to begin looking at my manuscript. Tomorrow. I'm too tired now.

Also, why would your brother want my room? He's been dropping hints for weeks now.

Liv x

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souper-gay · 2 years

Text

Face Paint

Summary: Clint invites Natasha to join him and his family for a day at the local fair. Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x GN!Reader Warnings: Some cursing and fluff Word Count: ~5k A/N: This took me way too long to finish, oops. Hope you enjoy it!

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Your POV

Wiping the sweat from your brow, you kneel down to your backpack and zip it open to pull out the box of art supplies. You place it on the large foldable table and begin sorting out the face paints from your collection.

You have currently been working at the local fair during the summers for the past few years as a chill, relaxing job to subtly flex your art skills to loud, adorable, and easily impressed kids.

Never had you thought you’d be spending your time this way, but you actually enjoyed it seeing kids become ecstatic at the concept of their faces being painted to look like whatever they wanted.

You did everything from animals, superheroes, floral designs, patterns, wings, gills, anything a child could think of. All you would need is a reference photo or two and you’re good to go.

Your coworkers were entertaining, the gossip was always good to hear. Sometimes you’d hear about people doing unholy things behind a broken down ride and even some parents becoming irrate because of prices for things like tickets or greasy carnival foods.

There were also the occasional drunken brawls or arguments that security would have to deal with, you’d hear the best stories from those groups of coworkers since you made friends with some.

Other than listening to all the gossip, what you enjoyed doing most of all was people watching. You would indulge in this activity with James, your coworker that was supposed to be here- ah there he is.

You watch James speed walk over with two large pink lemonades that he must’ve gotten from the stand shaped like a giant-ass lemon.

“‘Sup, bitch.”

“James where the hell have you been?”

“Nothing inappropriate or illegal, so nothing good to tell.”

You roll your eyes, taking one of the drinks from his hand and thanking him. You take a quick sip from the straw and continue to unpack.

You had met James during your second year working at the fair and you were impressed by his skill with a brush and non-toxic paints. You’re pretty sure he just started college majoring in art so this was a passion for him like it was for you.

“Fuck it’s going to be hotter than Satan’s taint today,” you speak up hearing him unzip and pull out his supplies setting them on his side of the foldable table.

He snorts at your comment. “You’re taking your break first so you can get us refills.”

“Way ahead of you.”

“Oh, and the new girl is there today.”

Oh god. You wish James hadn’t caught you blatantly staring at the giant lemon last Friday. When he made the connection that you were in fact staring at the woman working within the fruit, he teased you relentlessly.

Since then, he has been trying to get you to gain some confidence and speak to her but you wouldn’t budge.

“Well,” you begin. “She does work here now.”

“Yup.”

…

“I can’t talk to her, James.”

He rolls his eyes at that, unfolding the chairs and placing them beside the workstation. “Why not, it’s not hard and hey, she even asked about you when I ordered our drinks.”

“If she talks to me then I’ll talk back, but I don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of a pretty woman. I was just gonna get refills and leave before I do something embarrassing.”

Plopping your ass into your chair sipping through the straw, you pull out your phone from your front pocket and check the time. Jesus, just barely on time again, the fair opens up at 10 a.m. and it's 9:45. Well, it gives the both of you enough time to paint something on your faces.

“Hey, we should paint our faces now.”

“Roger that, you first.”

With that, you sit in front of his chair and lean forward slightly pushing your hair out of your face. “Surprise me.”

“Alright then, you are losing your right to hate it then.”

You close your eyes ready for him to start. You feel his hand gently hold your chin as the bristles of the brush and the slight chill of paint drape your skin.

“Ya know,” His voice pulls your attention but you don’t open your eyes. "I am also very nice and considerate and a helluva wingman, I’d be disappointed that all of my energy was wasted if you don’t get her number by the end of the day.”

“You didn’t?”

“Go talk to her and find out.”

“James-”

“Let’s make a deal.” Okay, now that has your attention.

“Whoever manages to get a woman’s phone number by the end of the day, loser buys all-day tickets for the date.”

That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

“There finished,” He pulls his brush away from your face. “We got a deal?”

You smirk, opening your eyes and jutting out your hand for him to shake which he does. “Deal.”

He smirks back and reaches to grab the mirror from the table and hands it to you. As you take a look at yourself in the mirror, you are met with a bright red bandana, an eye patch painted over your left eye, a cartoonish scar over your cheekbone, and black stubble paired with a horribly thick curly mustache.

“A pirate, James? Seriously?”

Natasha’s POV

“We’re here, guys!” Clint shouts out to those sitting in the back of the mini-van.

The uproar of two excited screams fill my ears as Laura and Clint park and swing themselves out of the car. I unbuckle my seatbelt and slide out of the car so that the kids can climb out next. Once both Cooper and Lila get out, I shut the door behind me.

As everyone was occupied with something, Cooper tries to sneak away to the growing line pooling out from the front gate but Clint quickly scoops him up and plops him over his shoulder. “Ah hah! Can’t sneak past me! Nice try kiddo!”

Clint sets the giggling young boy down as Laura locks the car and shoves the keys into her small purse. “Let’s go get in line, everyone.”

“We are so happy that you are here, Nat.” Clint says putting his hand on my shoulder, a smile on his face. “The kids really do miss their Auntie Nat.”

“I’m glad I’m here too, it's been a long time since I’ve gone to a fair before.” My mind rolls to the memories of Yelena and me as kids and the 3 years of our adolescence spent in Ohio.

Thanks to the Red Room, we didn’t get to experience many things normal children did, and they didn’t have to experience the things we did.

I remember we’d have to beg for a bounce house for our birthdays, sleepovers with friends from school, going to the mall, and having things that we could actually keep for once. There was probably so much more that 11 and 7 year olds did that we didn’t get to experience.

Melina was much easier to convince than Alexei, so we took advantage of that. We were driving home from school one day, Yelena and I spotted a fairground so we told Melina that we wanted to go. She agreed and got Alexei to reluctantly say yes. So the four of us went that Saturday.

When our parents were distracted, I pulled Yelena into a photobooth so that we could take pictures. It didn’t take long for them to catch us, Melina not wanting us sneaking off like that so she took the photos reels.

I, however, secretly slipped one of the sets into my pocket and we went about our day. We went on so many rides and ate so much food, it is by far one of the best moments during that period of time in my life.

I didn’t realize the small smile on my face until a hand was placed on my shoulder, looking over I saw it to be Laura’s. “You okay, Nat?”

I nod quickly trying to shake the memory. “Yeah, yeah,” I sigh softly, giving the older woman my best smile. “Just lost in thought, sorry.”

The hand softly squeezes my shoulder and her smile sends me a wave of reassurance. “Hey, no need to apologize. C’mon, we are gonna get you to relax and have fun.”

Walking in, the images from my childhood flood through blanketing the long lines of food trucks, fair games, and rides in a warm feeling of nostalgia.

I take one inhale and my nose is invaded with the obnoxious waft of fair food, the smell strangely enticing yet alarming, tempting me to indulge or throw up as I can literally smell cholesterol and grease.

The five of us walk up to the nearby ticket stand and Clint pulls out his wallet. “Can we get five all-day tickets please?” He is handed the cards and distributes them to everyone. “Alrighty kiddos, what do we want to try to do first?”

“The Ferris wheel!”

“The big rollercoaster!”

“Oh oh, bumper cars!”

“Games, you guys can win us something!”

That last one actually makes me laugh a bit, “If you find something you’d like we can win it for you, but you two should try to win it for yourselves first.”

“Let's go then,” Lila rushes up to take hold of my hand dragging us to the entrance. “We don’t have all day!”

―

It was about 2 p.m. and the kids have been successful in convincing us to win them a few prizes. So far Lila has a large giraffe propped on her shoulders and Cooper has a red shark tucked under his arm.

The summer heat has finally gotten us to look around for refreshments as Cooper convinced Clint to win him a stuffed monkey by playing a dart-throwing game

“Clint, hon, we are going to get everyone lemonade,” Laura says, taking hold of Lila’s hand. “We’ll be at the giant lemon when you two are done.”

Although Clint’s attention was focused on the balloon he needed to pop, he still gave us a response letting us know he heard his wife. The three of us make our way to the lemon, standing at the back of the line that extends a few yards from the stand.

Taking this opportunity to people watch, I catch a couple walking and sharing a large mountain of curly fries with a colorful drink in hand. Young adults holding cups of liquor; luckily they weren’t drunk, just happily sipping enjoying the day. And a group of teenage girls taking photos in front of a ring toss stand, all posing as someone takes multiple pictures for them.

I then notice two people beside the giant lemon. The woman looked to be wearing a bright yellow apron, a yellow baseball cap, and some jeans while the other person wore a beige apron and white t-shirt, however they looked to be covered in an array of different colored paints and marks.

I can’t see the painter’s face but I can tell they are nervous: fidgeting with their hands, rubbing the back of their neck, and even bouncing almost unnoticeably on the balls of their feet.

But they are interested in the conversation or rather, the person. Head tilted, standing less than 5 feet away, and maybe making direct eye contact since I don’t see their head moving much.

As we make our way closer, I can hear bits and pieces of conversation. Wait no I shouldn’t be eavesdropping-

I feel the hem of my shirt being tugged and I look down to see Lila, “Auntie Nat, look at their face.”

Lila seemed to have said that a little too loud as the paint-covered worker turned, hearing the voice. As they turned I caught sight of the detailed pirate design on their face. I turn away to shush Lila, “Lila, you shouldn’t be saying things like that. It might make them uncomfortable.”

“Oh no no, it’s alright I knew it was a compliment.” The voice makes me look up at the worker who sends me a warm smile. Our eyes connect for probably a bit too long, I wouldn’t be able to tell.

Sadly, the painted stranger turns back to the woman who wiped their face of the shitty glare that they were sending me. I'm too distracted to notice Laura kneeling down in front of her child. “Lila sweetheart, go apologize alright?”

Lila nods and walks up to the two, patiently waiting for some sort of pause in the conversation. Laura walks up to the lemon and begins to order our drinks as I lean against the fruit keeping an eye on Lila.

The painted worker waves goodbye to the lemon worker, turning around and almost running into the small child. “Hey, there little one.”

“Hi, uh- sorry for making you comfortable.”

They kneel down in front of Lila with a bright smile on their face. “You didn't, it's alright. My name is Y/N.”

“Hi Y/N, your face looks so cool, did you do that?”

“Do what? I am a pirate, this is what I normally look like.” At that, they close their eye to blend in with the painted eyepatch and use one finger to resemble a hooked hand. However, they accidentally closed the wrong eye making the illusion falter but the little girl erupts in laughter at how goofy they look.

“No you’re not silly,” Lila giggles. “That’s face paint!”

“Ah, it was worth a shot.” Y/N laughs along letting their poor pirate facade fade.

“Did you do that?” Lila asks again

“No my friend did, I painted him to look like a pirate as well but mine looks way better.”

“Woah you can paint?”

They nod confidently. “Yes I can, I work here.”

“That’s so cool! I want to get my face painted.”

“You should ask your mom then.”

Laura walks up with a full drink carrier and the fifth in her hand. “Ask me what sweetheart?”

“Mom, I want to get my face painted, can I?” The little girl asks in the sweetest voice.

“Of course,” Laura hands her daughter her child sized souvenir cup. “We should wait for your dad and your brother so we can get all of our faces painted.”

“Perfect, well my booth is just around that corner,” They smile at me. “I’ll be there.” Our eyes connect once more for a quick moment before I break it taking one of the adult sized drinks from Laura.

Your POV

You walk up to your booth, doing your best to contain your excitement at what just happened. You see James waving goodbye to a child with a vibrant orange tiger painted on their face, the corners of their smile reaching their eyes. He immediately notices you walk back to the booth, seeing the smile on your face that you failed to catch yourself.

“Well, did you talk to her?” James asks as he is cleaning his pigmented brushes.

You hand him his pink lemonade. “I did.”

“And?”

“Didn’t get her number,” You take a sip of your drink that was already half empty. “I don’t know, I don't think she was really that into me.”

His brows knit together in confusion. “Even you don’t sound too convinced with what you’re saying, what happened?”

You can’t get those green eyes out of your head and you’re pretty sure that you don’t want to, easily the prettiest eyes you have ever seen in your life. You wished you had noticed her sooner but it wasn’t up until you heard the little girl talk about your face paint that you had noticed the red-headed beauty.

“I don’t really know, James, I guess something just happened.”

A certain redhead happened, something about her was alluring to you. Was it because everything about her seemed scarily perfect? No not scary, more like ethereal.

“Well, the bet is still on.”

“And have you been successful?”

“Nope struck out during my break.”

“Then I might just beat you.”

Might. Maybe. Possibly. Thinking back on it, you noticed that you two would keep eye contact for longer than normal but that might’ve been because of the pirate face paint.

Or maybe the paint had gotten in your hair and she just couldn’t keep her eyes off of it. Or maybe it smudged or you got a random bit of paint somewhere on your face. Maybe your hair looked weird.

Or, maybe, she was actually looking at you.

Thing is, you knew that Jessica, the new girl, was interested; she would laugh at your cheesy pirate jokes and wanted you to paint her face later when she was finished with her shift in an hour. Hell, she even asked when you were done and you didn’t even answer, distracted hearing the child’s compliment even through the dense crowd of people.

When you and the green eye beauty locked eyes, you felt a completely different sensation than what Jessica gave you. It was a strange pull, almost as if something had wrapped around you and pulled you toward the redhead.

Now you sat there hoping that they would stop by the booth just so you can feel that tug once more and figure out what it meant. And if you were lucky, you could see if she felt it too.

Natasha’s POV

With our refreshing drinks in hand and a new stuffed animal added to the ranks, we follow a very excited Lila to where Y/N said their booth is located. I caught sight of another pirate-painted employee laughing at something as they gently painted on a child's face. I then saw Y/N talking to a couple and their child as the family finishes paying.

“What do you think I should get, Auntie Nat?” Lila asks, tugging yet again on my shirt as she sips lemonade from her cup.

“What about pretty flowers? Maybe even little bugs crawling up your face.” I laugh and mimic the feeling of tiny legs crawling on her face with the tips of my fingers. The boisterous laugh emanating from Lila was enough to make me laugh harder, watching her face contort to the tickling sensation.

“Maybe you should get one too, Nat,” Clint walks up to the two of us, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “I think you should get a spider.”

I roll my eyes and pinch his side, causing him to yelp out at the sting. “Hah hah, very funny Barton.”

“Hey, it was a good idea. Gotta go along with the theme right?”

“I want to get a shark!” Cooper shouts out, just as excited as his sister.

“Babe, we should do a couple-themed one,” Laura smiles, taking her husband's hand, pecking him on the cheek. “Maybe you have one half and I have the other?”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea, hun.”

Once we make it to the booth, we see that both chairs are unoccupied and that Y/N and their coworker are at the ready.

“Great, the whole family is here,” Y/N cheers. “This here is my coworker James, he’s the one who painted my face so he’s an expert like I am.”

James waves to us with one hand before resuming cleaning and prepping his brushes. “Hi there, the kids can just sit down and we will get started.”

Cooper immediately sits in the chair beside James whereas Lila sits beside Y/N, both kids vibrating with unhinged excitement.

“What would you two like?” James asks, setting up his selection of paints and brushes, quickly changing out the cup of water.

“I want a shark!”

Lila takes a second to think, audibly humming in thought before speaking, “Could you surprise me?”

“Do you have a favorite color?” Y/N patiently asks.

“Yellow.”

“Perfect. Let’s get started,” Y/N turns to the three of us. “This shouldn’t take us more than 10 minutes.”

―

“And Auntie Nat got me this giraffe. She’s really good.” Lila states proudly with a freshly painted black swirl with bright yellow flowers of every variety spread across her face.

It’s apparent that Lila really likes talking to Y/N and they seem to be handling the beaming child with ease, even going so far as to pull up another chair so that Lila can sit as they worked on Laura while James worked on Clint.

“She must be, those are hard games. I really love the big green octopus that you can win at the ring toss.”

Right now, Cooper and I watch as Clint and Laura get cute cartoon fishes painted on their faces. It’s actually really clever because when put together, it looks like the fish are kissing.

“Auntie Nat, have you thought about what you wanted?” Cooper asks, his face covered in half light grey and white to resemble a great white shark, a large wide grin full of sharp teeth stretched across his mouth.

“I might just go easy and get a spider.”

“Good timing then,” Y/N nods to Laura pulling away and dipping their brush into their water cup. “I am finished.”

“Thank you, Y/N.” Laura smiles and stands up letting me take her spot.

As I sit down, I realize how close we are. Our knees almost touching as they readjusted themselves to get comfier in the plastic foldout chair. They quickly clean their brushes and change the water cup once again before scooting their chair closer, effectively slotting our legs together.

“Sorry, am I too close?”

“No no, it’s fine,” I swallow, my eyes searching theirs to see if they are feeling any discomfort, but I find none.

“So you said you wanted a spider right? Any specific one, maybe a black widow?”

Our eyes fully connect. I smile.

“That would be perfect.”

They smile back.

“Lean forward for me please and close your eyes.”

I do so, sucking in a large breath as I feel their fingers hold my chin and jaw. I can feel the somewhat smooth surface of the dried pigments glossing over the ridges of soft skin. Their hold on my face is delicate, almost non-existent as if they were afraid of gripping on too tight.

It’s easy to get lost in the overload of senses as I keep my eyes closed. I can feel the gentle drag of the brush and the cool paint gliding across my skin. I can smell the faint scent of the paint and their shampoo. I can hear their shaky breath and their soft humming of whatever song is playing through the fair’s speakers.

It took me a second to realize that my heart is now pounding. The close proximity elevating what was supposed to be an innocent face painting experience, to now a fated and intimate encounter.

Your POV

Wow. Being able to see such raw beauty up close is something that you can confidently say you have done now. With those deep green magnetic eyes covered, you have the chance to take in what is being presented to you.

Everything was hitting you hard and you were surprised that you have been able to keep up with Lila’s flying questions and stories. Everything had blurred into a faint background noise; you couldn't even hear your own responses to whatever was thrown your way.

You were entranced, you probably never took your eyes off of her. Nat. Nat. Natalie? Natalia? Natasha? Whatever her name was, you wanted to find out and you wanted to know what kind of things those green eyes have seen, what kind of life those eyes have witnessed.

“Y/N.” The voice was James.

You hum in response.

“I’m going on break.”

You nod, even though you shouldn’t have. He has already taken his break yet the objection never crossed your mind. You don’t stop him as you hear his footsteps fade into the background of chatter and music. You should actually talk to her rather than just stare right?

“How long have you been painting?”

I take a shallow breath as I drag my brush near her eye, being extra careful readjusting my grip and leaning closer.

“Ever since my childhood, my parents hated that I would always paint on the walls, so they gave me a notebook. Think they said I filled it up in less than a month, they found out when I started drawing on the walls again.”

That earns a small smirk from Nat, “So they support you?”

“They do, took them a while to get them around to that though. That’s how it normally works.”

“Why’s that?”

You dip your brush into the cup of deep black water and wipe it clean with your rag. “Well, most people don’t see art as profitable because they think anyone can do it. Ironically enough, it’s the same people that don’t want to pay a few hundred dollars for a painting an artist worked 15 to 20 hours on but will pay thousands or millions for a piece made by someone well known.”

“Are you going to charge me that much for this?” She teases.

You’re brush strokes are delicate, calculated, worried about somehow possibly ruining her porcelain skin with your shaky hands.

“I might. Although I think I’m ruining what was already a masterpiece.”

She opens her eyes to stare right at you, a small smile just barely breaking through.

Your breath hitches at the sight of her green eyes being revealed to you all of a sudden. “I- s-sorry”

She laughs softly, not wanting you to mess up as you continue painting her skin with a bright red once she closes her eyes again. “Never said you should be.”

You are relieved that her eyes were closed, you were sure that your face turned a hot cherry red as the blush crept across your face and neck. You let the peaceful silence guide you, focusing on filling in the red hourglass on the back of the spider you had painted on her cheek.

“You’re really good with Lila and Cooper.”

“So are you.”

“You haven’t seen me do much. You on the other hand have kept up with all the questions and stories all the while painting on a child who is probably on a sugar rush.”

“You say that as if it isn’t my job.”

“Not even James is that good. Give yourself some credit.”

Two compliments in a matter of minutes from the redhead. She might actually like you.

“Finished.” You hesitantly drop your hand from her face, dip your brush into your cup, and lean back a little to examine your work. “You look great.”

Nat opens her eyes and the two of you make eye contact. “Are you talking about the face paint?” Damn this woman is quick.

“What if I’m talking about both?” Where in the hell did all of this confidence come from?

“I think you’re actually referring to one.“

You smile as the eye contact lingers for a few seconds. You scanned her features once more, still in awe at the natural beauty in front of you. After spending an hour with Natasha, you’re sure you have found your muse.

The familiar tug that you felt earlier yet couldn’t describe has now become tighter, subconsciously pulling the two of you closer. You feel it in your stomach, but it doesn’t suffocate you. It doesn't stop the air from reaching or releasing from your lungs. Instead, it warms you yet covers your skin with goosebumps due to her proximity. You cannot pinpoint why though.

It could be the natural red locks that seem to catch ablaze in the summer sun. It could be coming from her red lips that make you bite your own when you dare glance down at them. It might be something that lies behind her magnetic green eyes; they seem to have some sort of magic to them, one look and you cannot break away.

Your thoughts are interrupted, eye contact broken when Natasha stands up and walks away suddenly. You turn in your chair to watch her walking up to hug Lila, who now has a yellow dragon, and Cooper, hearing them compliment her face paint.

“Woah Auntie Nat, that looks so cool!”

You smile and begin to clean up your brushes and reorganize your paints for whoever comes next.

“Here ya go, kid,” Clint smiles at you, walking up and setting two $20 bills in front of you on top of the costs for everyone. “Thank you and tell James the same when he gets back, yeah?”

“Oh wow, I should be saying thank you. I appreciate your generosity; your kids are both amazing.”

The older man chuckles, nodding, “I know. Count to make sure I gave you the right amount?”

You nod and pick up the cash. As you count you notice a small white slip of paper with a few numbers and a ‘Natasha’ written underneath. You finish counting and look up at Clint with a confused look.

“She’s pretty amazing as well.” And with that, he leaves with his family. His kids waving goodbye as you and Natasha lock eyes once more prompting you to send her one last smile before they round the corner.

You stare at the slip of white paper for a few minutes before shoving it into your pocket, not able to hide the dopey smile on your face. James returns a few minutes after.

“Guess what loser, I got someone’s number,” He tosses the napkin onto the table for you to examine and check its authenticity. “I win.”

“So did I.” You set your piece of paper on the table as well.

“Wait with the redhead?”

“Her name is Natasha. And yes, her.”

“Are you gonna text her?”

“I think so, should I do it now?” The mere thought of texting her makes you dizzy causing you to question whether it would be too soon. Does she even know that Clint gave you her number?

“I say why not,” he sits down next to you after putting his trophy in his pocket. “She seemed hella interested. Just go for it.”

You shrug and pick it up to dial her number into your phone. You take a few minutes to compile a text before hitting send, letting your adrenaline fuel your confidence rather than your fear of rejection.

You wait a few minutes before feeling a vibrate in your pocket. Pulling out your phone you see her response to your text.

―

A/N: Check out the Masterlist for this series!

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#natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #black widow #black widow x reader #black widow x you #natasha x you #natasha x reader #natasha x y/n

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aristrocrat · 2 years

Text

Chapter 2

S2 Episode Two

SUMMARY: With the discovery of a new werewolf on the day of a full moon, the pack plans on saving Isaac from himself, the hunters, and the cops. Y/N asks Stiles about her fake-date plan.

WORD COUNT:

TW: talking about sex, suggestive language

“So Scott and I were talking and thought of a plan,” You smiled as you unwrapped the towel in your hair and entered Stiles’ room wearing his clothes. His jaw dropped slightly at the sight of you. There were a few of his shirts he never wore because of the simple that they were too baggy on him. On you though, they seemed to fall off of your body in the perfect way. Today you opted for an old graphic t-shirt with a pair of your shorts. This was indeed a sight he could get used to. “And you’re zoned out. Earth to Stiles!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear a word you said,” He replied, looking you up and down. “Damn, you look so good when you wear my shirt. What were you saying? A plan?”

“Yeah,” You giggled as you grabbed a brush from your bag and running it through your damp locks. “So you know how he’s got Argent on his ass and he can’t hang out with Allison? And my mom basically is banning me from seeing you. What if Scott and I pretended to be a couple so that we could all spend more time with our significant others? I told him I’d run it past you before we agreed to anything.”

“I.. Y/N, I don’t know,” He sighed. “I don’t really feel comfortable with that.”

“Okay, no biggie,” You smiled sweetly before kissing his cheek. He grinned at your easy-going personality, silently thanking you for not asking any more questions as he climbed into his bed. The last thing he wanted to do was act like a jealous douche bag. “Just thought I’d ask.”

“Scott really surprises me with his stupid plans sometimes,” Stiles chuckled, making you pause. “… That was his plan, right?”

“Yeah! Yup, you know Scott with his.. dumb plans,” You muttered, making Stiles laugh while mentally cursing yourself for lying.

“So dumb! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love the guy but damn it’s like sometimes he forgets that we’re people with feelings or something. Anyways are you ready for bed?” He grinned, scooting over to his side of the bed and holding the blanket open for you.

“Yeah,” You smiled as the guilt began settling in your stomach from your dishonesty. You thought about telling him as you turned off the lights and again when crawled in with him, but by the time you worked enough courage, he changed the conversation completely. You both talked about nothing and everything for an hour in each other’s arms. What harm could come from a small white lie anyways?

“Your shampoo is literally the best thing I’ve ever smelled in my life,” He breathed into your fragrant hair, making you laugh. “Seriously! It’s heavenly.”

“I actually feel the same about yours.”

“You picked mine out.”

“Yeah, hence why it smells so good,” You shrugged, making him chuckle. You readjusted next to him, facing him as you spoke. “I really like your cologne too. Before we were dating, I remember-”

“Come back,” He pouted, holding his arms open.

“I’m comfier over here!” You argued with a smile.

“Okay and?” He furrowed his brows and waved his arms around as if to tell you to come back anyway. “Come on! I can’t fall asleep when you’re not on my chest!”

“I have a solution. Face the wall,” You began, making him scoff.

“Okay, rude!” He shouted before turning around with sass. You giggled before scooting up behind him and wrapping your arm around him. “I’m not going to be able to sleep like this.”

“Let’s just try it!” You rolled your eyes. “I like hugging you.”

“You can hug me from my chest,” He yawned. And within a couple of minutes, he fell asleep. It was the first time he’d ever fallen asleep before you, making you smile. Not going to be able to sleep your ass.

You snuggled into his back, kissing the back of his neck and breathing in his scent. The sound of his breathing soothed you like the crashing waves on a beach. You loved hearing his sleepy groans and mumbles as he slept, though it was rare for you to be awake to experience it.

“Goodnight. I love you,” You whispered, not expecting an answer.

“Mm love you too,” He grumbled in his sleep, putting his arm around the one you wrapped around him. You smiled; even in his sleep, he was the sweetest boyfriend you could ask for.

———

“Alright, show’s over, assholes,” You called as you walked up to Lydia and Allison who stood frozen under the crowd’s gaze. Everyone stared at Lydia in silence, judging her for the naked hiatus she took in the woods. Suddenly, their eyes all shifted to you, making you roll yours. “Go!”

And just like that, everyone scattered, looking back as they walked away. You smiled and looked back at Lydia.

“I was gone for a few days and now you’re the queen bee, huh?” She teased.

“Oh, hell no. Just keeping your seat warm on the throne is all,” You smiled, making her laugh. “Now, let’s get to class, yeah?”

“And to think, you were this shy, insecure little thing when I found you! I think my job is done. You can dress, walk the walk and now you can talk the talk! I’m so proud of myself!” She grinned before walking away, leaving you and Allison standing at the doorway.

“Gee, thanks, Y/N,” You muttered, making Allison laugh. “You’re such a good friend. Thank you for shooing everyone away!”

“Oh, please,” Allison laughed, wrapping her arm around you. “You didn’t actually expect a thank you from her, did you? She’s back and as cool as ever again.”

“Yay us,” You grumbled, making her throw her head back in laughter as you walked towards your lockers. “So, how are you? I feel like it’s been forever since we talked.”

“Things are really good actually,” She blushed. You furrowed your brows and smiled. “Like so good.”

“NO WAY!” You squealed. “NO FUCKING WAY!”

“Shh!!” She giggled, pulling you aside at your locker. “Yes way! Scott and I finally.. you know..”

“You fucked!” You grinned. “Finally!”

“What do you mean finally?” She tilted her head.

“Scott was so mad at me for basically sharing all of my firsts on the same day as him. First kiss, first I love you- you name it. We basically had the exact same milestones as you guys. He made us swear to wait until he lost his so we could lose ours,” You admitted.

“That’s ridiculous!” Allison laughed. “Technically, we did it after midnight so you could lose yours tonight as a fuck you. Figuratively and literally.”

“I’m actually a little nervous,” You admitted as you messed with the lock on your locker and opened it. You continued to speak as you took things out of your bag and organized them neatly in your shelves. “What’s it like? Does it hurt? Is it awkward?”

“A little bit at first. You have to make sure to like... warm up, if you get what I mean. It’s not bad though. It’s actually a lot of fun,” She bit on her pointer finger, remembering the events from the previous night. “And it’s not awkward. It was really sweet actually. Are you having second thoughts or something?”

“No! God, no. He’s great! It’s just.. losing your virginity seems like such a big deal. I’m just excited to get the first time over with,” You grumbled.

“Don’t think like that! It’s really not that big of a deal at all. It’s just a label. But make sure to savor it and be safe. It’ll definitely be something you’ll remember for the rest of your life so might as well make it sweet,” She smiled, hugging you from behind. “Just don’t tell Lydia about it.”

“Oh, that’s a given,” You said before the two of you erupted into giggles and walked to class.

———

“He’s playing goalie? But he hates goalie,” Allison furrowed her brows. You looked up from your book to see him jogging towards the goal. “What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know actually,” You responded, looking over at Stiles. His features were decorated in concern, eyes locked on his best friend. You placed a bookmark in the novel you were reading and put it in your bag before leaning against Allison. “Something’s wrong. Look at Stiles.”

“He always looks like that.”

“Okay, well he’s shifting his weight and playing with his hands. That’s a dead giveaway that- what the fuck?!” You gasped as Scott ran from the goal and tackled the first guy in line. “Did he just sniff him?”

“Yeah, it looks like it,” She leaned forward in concern. “Scott, what are you doing?..”

Scott looked up from the field before running back to his position. The two of you watched as he proceeded to repeat his actions with everyone in line until Jackson walked off, making you narrow your eyes in suspense. You recognized the next player as Isaac Lahey. He and Scott took off running and tried to tackle one another, resulting in them falling to the ground. Isaac landed on all fours and looked up at Scott, reminding you of how Scott practiced and played when he first turned.

“Oh my god,” You whispered. “Al, I think-”

“The cops are here,” Allison interrupted, pointing to your left. You looked over and, sure enough, a group of policemen walked over to Isaac, taking him away. The lacrosse team watched as they walked him off.

“Watch my stuff?” You looked over at Allison, earning a nod before you walked down the bleachers and made your way to the boys. “What the hell is going on?”

“I saw his eyes glow,” Scott leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone. “I thought I sensed another werewolf in the locker room earlier so Stiles asked Coach if I could play goalie.”

“That explains the tackling,” You mumbled sarcastically.

“His father’s dead. They think he was murdered.”

“Are they saying he’s a suspect?” Stiles asked.

“I’m not sure. Why?” Scott responded as you all looked over again.

“Because they can lock him in a holding cell for 24 hours,” Stiles responded.

“Like overnight?”

“During the full moon,” You breathed.

“How good are those things at holding people?”

“People? Good,” Stiles looked over at Scott. “Werewolves? Probably not that good.”

“Stiles, remember when I said I don’t have the urge to maim and kill?”

“Yeah?”

“He does.”

“Alright, ass wipes. Enough staring! Back to practice!”

———

The three of you sat in Mr. Harris’ class and spoke more about the previous events, trying to figure out if the Sheriff’s Department could hold Lahey or not.

“I don’t think they can do that. Well, not unless they have solid evidence,” You responded to Scott.

“Or a witness,” Stiles’ eyes widened. “Wait.. Danny. Where’s Jackson?”

“Principal’s office. Talking to your dad,” The dark-haired boy responded.

“What? Why?!”

“Maybe because he lives across the street from Isaac?”

“A witness,” Stiles looked back at you. “We’ve got to get to the principal’s office.”

“One step ahead of you,” You said, crumbling up a piece of paper and launching it at Mr. Harris’ head, causing the class to erupt in laughter.

“Who in the hell did that?” He growled, turning around. The three of you pointed at one another, earning a spot in the principal’s lineup. You all walked to his office and took a seat, looking in as Scott listened to the conversation. The sheriff walked out of the office and looked over at the three of you. Stiles quickly pulled up a magazine to his face in an effort to hide.

“Hi, Scott. Hey, Y/N,” He greeted his son’s friends before shooting his son a look of annoyance. You both waved as he walked away.

“Nice playoff,” You deadpanned, taking the magazine out of Stiles’ hands.

“Hey, give that back! I was actually reading about the Mets-”

“You three. Come on in,” A voice said from beside you. You all looked over to see Gerard standing before you.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” He read off of a file. “Beacon Hill’s smartest student. Very involved in the community; honor society, student council, writer’s club, and you still find time to volunteer. I see you’ve been lacking a bit. You haven’t logged many hours in a few weeks.”

“My parents divorced and I had to pick up shifts at the clinic,” You explained, not straying too far from the truth.

“That’s a shame. Sorry to hear about that,” He said unsympathetically. “Scott McCall. Academically not the most accomplished, but I see you have become quite the star athlete. Mr. Stilinski. Oh, perfect grades but little to no extracurriculars. Maybe you should try lacrosse.”

“Oh, actually I’m already-”

“Hold on. McCall,” Gerard held up a finger. “You’re the Scott that was dating my granddaughter.”

“We were dating but not anymore. Not dating. We broke up. I’m actually in a new relationship,” He said, taking your hand. You and Stiles looked over in annoyance at your stumbling mess of a friend. “With Y/N. We’re dating now.”

“We are?” You asked, getting a look from Scott. “I didn’t know we’re official. Uh, yeah, yeah.. We’re dating now.”

“Childhood friends. It was bound to happen,” Scott shrugged. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

It took everything inside of you not to gag at the way he called you babe without any sort of irony. You swallowed and nodded.

Stiles scoffed before you kicked his ankle. “Sorry. I’m still bitter about that. I liked her too.”

The new principal chuckled before looking back at Scott.

“Well, that’s too bad. You seem like a pretty nice kid to me,” Gerard smiled before looking away. You yanked your hand from Scott’s and shot him a look. “Now listen guys- Yes, I am the principal but I really don’t want you to think of me as the enemy.”

“Is that so?” Stiles asked sarcastically, making you let out a breathy chuckle.

“However, this being my first day, I do need to support my teachers. So unfortunately someone is going to have to take the fall and stay behind for detention.”

You looked over and Scott and realized he was looking past you. You looked to your right in time to catch Stiles’ gaze. He looked around at all of you before his jaw dropped.

“I threw the-” You began.

“No, I got it!” He flailed his arms. “I’ll go..”

——

“Stiles!” Scott called after his best friend who marched away. “Dude, I’m sorry! I freaked out! Y/N brought up the idea and Allison gave the okay so I assumed-”

“But I didn’t!” He stopped, turning back to Scott. “She asked me and I told her I wasn’t comfortable with it! Of course you assumed. You always do!”

“Stiles, I’m sorry-”

“You always are, dude! You never ask for permission. You always beg for forgiveness! I’m so tired of you just jumping into your own plan- … Wait, Y/N came up with the idea?”

Your eyes widened as he looked over at you.

“Did I say Y/N? No, it was my idea. That was all on me-”

“NO, Scott, it's okay. Yeah, I did,” You confirmed, looking at your boyfriend. His face dropped, no longer showing an ounce of anger. He was hurt. “I just.. figured it’d be a good way around my mom’s strict rules so I could spend more time with you. But then you turned it down so I didn’t talk about it again.”

“Why would you-.. You told me it was Scott’s- You know what? Never mind,” He scoffed and walked off.

“Sti!” You began to walk after him before Scott held his arm out, preventing you from chasing after him. “What are you doing? I need to go after him.”

“He needs to cool down,” He shook his head. “Or else he’ll say something he doesn’t mean. Just give it an hour, okay? The conversation will still be there.”

“You’re right,” You hesitated. “God, it feels awful to hurt his feelings.”

“Tell me about it,” Scott sighed, looking over his shoulder to see Stiles walk around a corner. “Come on. Let’s go get some lunch, yeah?”

———

“Hey, you want me to wait on you, or should I catch another ride?” You asked as Stiles closed his locker after school.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be. It’d probably be best if you got another right,” He sighed. He wasn't trying to hurt you. He genuinely didn't know how long detention would run. Not to mention, his feelings were still hurt. His stomach dropped at the sight of you. Though it was a small lie, he couldn't help but fear the possibility of his best friend developing feelings for the girl he loved wholeheartedly while in this fake relationship. After all, it hadn't even been a full year since Scott got over his little crush. What if it came back?

“Stiles, can we just talk about this? I’m so s-”

“I have to get to detention, Y/N,” He shook his head before walking off. He was never one to be vulnerable, let alone when he was hurt. You thought you'd seen him open up more towards you but seeing him dismiss you made you think your relationship just took a step back.

You sighed. You weren’t expecting this reaction. He was genuinely hurt, and you could understand why; you lied. You’d be offended too considering a lot of your relationship was built on always telling the truth. It made you nervous, the impact of a small lie.

You’d recently learned more about the Delvoux family and kept it hidden from everyone, including Stiles. The powers developed in certain generations of the family. Those with magical abilities were often cursed; many of them went crazy. Of those, almost every single one either committed suicide or a heinous crime. Magic was a hard thing to control, and it often was the one doing the controlling. The stronger the witch and the more magic she used, the higher the risk was.

You didn’t say anything because the chances of having any sort of magical abilities were slim. It wasn’t until you started feeling tingling in your fingers and predicting events that it hit you; you had the ability. You thought you had it under control, but the magic kept finding you. Predictions came naturally. Not only that, but your intelligence was another form of magic in and of itself. Perfect grades regardless of the lack of studying, being able to understand even the hardest of topics, figuring out perfect plans for the pack to use during trying times; it was all your bloodline’s gift. Truth be told, you had no idea how long you’d been using magic to ace exams and focus on your studies.

“Hey,” Allison spoke, bringing you out of your deep thoughts. “I heard about Stiles. Are you okay?”

“Scott told you?” You sighed, adjusting your backpack.

“Yeah. I almost didn’t believe it until I saw him walk past me a minute ago,” She nodded. “How are you holding up?”

“Oh, I’m fantastic,” You smiled sarcastically, making her laugh.

“Wanna come over? We can get our minds off of our relationships and just watch a movie or something,” She offered. You hesitated before realizing that was actually exactly what you wanted to do and nodded. “Alright. Let’s go! I’ll let you pick the movie.”

You walked out to her car and made a quick stop by the video store, opting for the movie Inception. You also dropped by the store and picked out a few snacks for the movie, laughing and joking the whole time. She really had a way of cheering you up in your worst times.

After returning home, you greeted her parents. You knew they were skeptical of you, being Scott’s friend and all, but they smiled and treated you with nothing but kindness. You sat down at the dinner table after your movie and made them all laugh with your goofy stories and sweet disposition.

“Let’s go to my room and study!” Allison giggled, pulling you away from her mother and running up towards the stairs. She almost ran into a man dressed as a cop, apologizing as she moved aside. You caught glimpse of a small wooden container with a wolfsbane flower engraved on the top and froze. She gave you a look of concern before being summoned into her father’s office. “Go ahead. I’ll be right up to tell you everything.”

“Okay,” You nodded, jogging up to her room. It was only a few minutes before she opened her door with urgency and made her way to you.

“We need to do something about Isaac. Like right now. They were asking me all these questions about Lydia and how she was bitten by Peter, and then they sent this guy out-”

“I saw that! I’m assuming they’re sending him to Isaac?” You sighed. “He was carrying a box with wolfsbane in it. I could tell from the top because it was carved on top.”

“Wolfsbane?”

“Yeah, it’s toxic to the werewolves. I think they’re gonna-”

You stopped at the sound of your phone going off. You looked up at Allison before grabbing and answering it.

“Hello?” You hesitated.

“Hey, sorry. Harris literally just let me out of detention. Literally. He had my phone the whole fucking time!” Stiles’ voice echoed into your ear, making you frown. You could tell by his tone that he was still angry.

“It’s cool. Look, we have a bigger problem on our hands. I’m with Allison and her dad just sent a guy dressed as a sheriff’s deputy to the station for Isaac,” You explained. “He was carrying a box of wolfsbane with him.”

“Oh my god. They’re gonna kill him,” Stiles said. “Okay, okay, what’s the plan?”

“Um..” You trailed off.

“You don’t have a plan?!”

“Do you?” You rebutted. “I just found out about this literally five seconds ago!”

“Okay, uh, you and Allison follow that guy to the station. Slow him down, alright? I’ll meet you there,” Stiles scrambled for the words as he conceived the plan on the spot. “See, now that wasn’t too hard was it?”

You rolled your eyes. “I’ll see you soon. Bye ... Allison, let’s get in your car. I’ll explain everything on the way.”

You both ran downstairs and hopped in her car before speeding off. You quickly filled her in on the plan and within a few minutes, you had the man on the ground screaming with an arrow in his leg.

“Nice!” You whispered, making her smile. “If things don’t work out with Scott, just know I’m next in line.”

“Noted,” She chuckled. “I’ll keep the spot reserved for you.”

You laughed as you both ran away to get some distance. Once you felt safe, you picked up your phone and dialed your boyfriend.

“Hey, did you slow him down?” Stiles answered.

“You could say that,” You let out a breathy chuckle as you looked at Allison.

“Alright, well, uh, I’m headed to the station right now.”

“Where’s Scott?” Allison chimed in, leaning against your head to hear the conversation.

“Isaac’s.”

“Does he have a plan?” She followed up.

“Yeah, but not a very good one. And unfortunately, we don’t really have time to come up with anything better,” Stiles huffed.

“I have to go find him,” Allison said.

“Oh, that’s not a very good idea either,” Your eyes widened.

“No! That’s a really stupid idea actually!” Stiles cried. “Stay at the station. It’s safer there. He should be going all out werewolf right about now.”

“Let’s split up,” Allison brushed off. “You stay here. I’m only a phone call away and Stiles is on the way.”

“Allison!” Stiles shouted. “Al, listen to me! You’re safer as a group! Stay with-”

“She’s gone,” You sighed. “Fuck! What am I supposed to do here? What’s Scott’s plan?”

“This wasn’t a part of it,” Stiles squeaked. “I’m picking up Derek right now, okay? Hide. I’ll be right there. And Y/N!”

“What?”

“Just.. be careful, alright? I’m still pissed but I really don’t know what I would do without you so just stay safe,” He lowered his tone.

“You too,” You smiled softly. “Take a breath. We got this, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks. I love you, bye!”

You sat in an alleyway and watched as people entered and exited the sheriff's station. You kept your eyes peeled for anyone with a limp. Time seemed to fly by now that you finally heard him say he loved you. Ever since your lab earlier, you felt anxiety swell in the pit of your stomach that begged to know just how badly you screwed up. His tone cleared it all up; this was simply argument. Nothing catastrophic.

Just as your mind began to wander back to the thoughts and secrets of your bloodline, you saw a familiar baby blue Jeep pull up. You smiled and jogged up to it before tapping on the passenger’s window.

“Would you please tell this person of interest that going in there as a distraction isn’t the best idea?” Stiles flailed his arms.

“I’m an innocent person of interest!”

“You?!” Stiles laughed. “Yeah, right!”

“Going back to your question, it depends on the distraction,” You shrugged. “If you flirt, you’re golden. It’s the new deputy and she drops everything at the opportunity to get her dick wet.”

“She has a dick?” Derek raised his brows

“I don’t know! It’s just an expression,” You chuckled.

“You’re only saying that because you hate her,” Stiles deadpanned. “She doesn’t drop everything for male validation. She just happened to have flirted with me in front of Y/N.”

“No. I might not like her but I’m just saying the truth,” You argued.

“Oh, so now she’s capable of telling the truth!” He gasped.

“Stiles, refer to me in the third person again and I will do this by myself,” You huffed.

You opened Derek’s door and motioned him to walk in front of you before following close behind. You and Stiles waited for him to capture her full attention before sneaking in behind them. Stiles led the way to his father’s office, typing in the code to a small safe. When he opened it, there was nothing in there.

“Oh, no..” He mumbled, making you peak over his shoulder before you looked at one another and took off running. You looked through the hallways and whipped a quick right to run into a cop. “Oh, uh, just looking for..”

You both looked down at the man’s leg to see it was impaled with an arrow. “Oh shit..”

He held out a gun and pushed the two of you in front of him, herding you to the holding cells. You saw Stiles trip beside you and took the opportunity to yank the fire alarm. The man’s eyes lit up with anger before shoving you with force into the room. You stumbled and fell backward into the open cell.

“That’s not good,” You muttered, pausing to look around for the feral werewolf that loomed in the room. As soon as you caught a glimpse of him in the corner, he launched his body into that of the faux cop. He stumbled back before trying to fight back. His hand was quickly caught and bent to an ungodly angle. You took the opportunity to run towards your boyfriend, checking him for any scrapes before looking back once again.

“Are you okay?” He asked, holding your face in his hands. You nodded before seeing a figure appear at the doorway.

Derek entered the room and stomped on the vile of wolfsbane before calmly looking up at Isaac. Your eyes widened in fear when his eyes shifted to your boyfriend; the intention of maiming in killing was certainly clear now.

In the midst of the chaos, you lowered your jaw and felt yourself give him a deadly look. Isaac approached with a similar look until he caught your gaze. He froze, making the men in the room look towards you as well.

“Back. Off,” You ordered with an authoritative voice. Isaac simply stared at you, the look of horror slowly arising. “GET THE FUCK BACK!”

He stumbled back with utter terror, falling back into the wall behind him and curling into a ball. You heard his whimpers and breathed out a sigh of relief before looking back at Stiles. His lips parted in amazement.

“How did you do that?” He breathed.

“Peter was right,” Derek spoke up in disbelief. “You’re a Delvoux.”

He quickly gathered his beta before fleeing the scene, leaving you and Stiles in the room alone with the unconscious man on the opposite of the room. Stiles got up and offered you a hand.

“So what else are you hiding from me?” He furrowed his brows. “You gonna cast a spell of forgiveness next?”

“Wha- I didn’t even know I could do that!” You argued, making him scoff.

“I don’t even know what to believe anymore,” He grumbled, letting go of your hand.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Stilinski?!” You shouted. “This is the thanks I get for saving your life? Yes, I lied. And I’m so sorry. Truly. You have to know how guilty I’ve felt about hiding this from you. But you don’t get a free pass into every bit of information about my life just because your my boyfriend!”

“Jesus Christ, Y/N. I never asked that from you! All I ask is for the truth. If you’re not ready to talk about something, then fucking tell me that! I won’t push you to talk about anything but I feel like a boyfriend should know when his girlfriend is going through something. I’m fed up with your secrecy!” He shouted. “You had no right to tell me your little dating plan was Scott’s idea!”

“You’re right, Stiles. That one is completely on me, okay? And I won’t ever do that again. I’m sorry I hurt you,” You lowered your tone, but anger dripped from your following words. “But this whole Delvoux thing?! I’m hiding most of it to protect you because I would assume you wouldn’t want to know that it’s a fucking curse!”

“A curse?” He blinked. “What do you mean by that?”

You stayed silent and looked away.

“Look, I get that you don’t wanna talk about it but don’t hold back on my account. I can handle the-”

“Stiles?” You heard a voice from the doorway, making your boyfriend look towards his father. You sighed, holding back tears from the argument. “Y/N, wait in the lobby. Stiles, come with me.”

You nodded and walked past the group of deputies, towards the lobby. You could hear the inaudible shouting from his office and closed your eyes, wishing this would all just stop. You wanted nothing more than to curl up into your pillow and cry away the hopeless feeling that sank into the pit of your stomach. You placed your head on your hands to hide the tears that refused to stay in your eyes, not knowing how much time passed before you felt a familiar presence in front of you.

“Hey,” Stiles spoke softly. You remained in your position, not wanting to show your tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes. “Can we talk in the Jeep?”

You sighed and nodded before grabbing your backpack and standing up, not daring to look at his sympathetic gaze. You walked out in front of him, seeing his hand move past you to open the door. He repeated the usual act when you got to his Jeep. You hopped in and wiped your cheeks as he jogged over.

“I’m sorry,” You began. “I’m sorry for not telling the truth and for hurting you. It was never my intention. You didn’t deserve that, Sti. I’m so sorry.”

“I know,” He nodded. “I’m sorry for acting so childish. I don’t think I would’ve been so mad had Scott not said you were his earlier. I was acting out of jealousy and you didn’t deserve that either. It’s okay that you hid some stuff from me and that you lied. I get it. And you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Just know I’m here for you if you want to.”

“I feel like I’ve been on the verge of a mental breakdown from not telling you everything. I think you should know,” You sighed, swallowing the knot in your throat. You proceeded to tell him everything; the magic, the way you mindlessly used it for your intelligence, the effect it might have on you and it being the reason you’ve been so hesitant about looking into it.. You didn’t want to accidentally use more magic. He listened intently while rubbing his hand on your thigh.

“We’ll find a way,” He reassured. “We always do.”

“I don’t know, Stiles,” Your voice finally broke. “I don’t think we will this time. I’m so scared.”

“Hey, come here,” He whispered, pulling you into his embrace. “I will find a way around this if it’s the last thing I do, okay? You’re going to be okay. You have my word. And I’ll stick it through with you no matter what.”

He held you tightly as you sobbed quietly into his shoulder, rubbing your back for the few minutes you allowed yourself to cry it all out. Once your breathing finally regulated, you leaned back again.

“I don’t know how I would do this without you. I love you so much,” You laughed, wiping the final tears from your face using the sleeve of your shirt. “It actually hurts sometimes.”

“God, I feel that in my soul,” He chuckled, reaching over to wipe your cheek with his thumb. “Love sucks. No one ever tells you how bad you feel when you hurt the person you love. Or how your chest literally feels like it’s going to explode when they fall asleep on it.”

“It sucks so bad,” You giggled, making him smile. “I don’t even wanna imagine what heartbreak is like.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on ever feeling it with you,” He admitted. “I refuse. You’re just stuck with me I guess.”

“I’m okay with that,” You looked into his eyes. “I’m still sorry.”

“It’s okay! It’s okay! All is forgiven,” He laughed. “Just please don’t cry again because holy shit I feel like I just got punched in the gut.”

“Okay, I promise I won’t cry again,” You smiled. He returned the facial expression, looking at you with utter admiration. “So you were jealous, huh?”

“Oh my god. So fucking jealous!” He said, making you laugh again. “Like I was fully prepared to just like punch him and surround myself in mountain ash.”

“If it makes you feel better, there’s nothing to be jealous about,” You put your hand on the side of his neck.

“Oh?” He raised his brows. “Why’s that?”

“Because I am so, completely, and utterly yours. I don’t think anyone could compare to you. You’re like the best boyfriend ever. I mean, you’re hot, nice, smart, and hot and funny and caring, oh and did I mention hot?!” You grinned as he threw his head back in laughter before scrunching your nose. “Also, Scott?! EW! Bleh! Hell no! I really do see him like a brother so that’s just fucking gross!”

“Thank God,” He leaned back and sighed in relief. You took his hand in yours and took in his features, still not quite believing he was yours. “I love you.”

“I love you more, dumbass,” You smiled, squeezing his hand. “Hey, my mom’s working the late shift. You mind if I stay the night?”

“I was just about to ask you actually,” He chuckled. “Yes, please stay the night!”

“Okay, I’ll definitely make it all up to you tonight,” You said, a little more seductive than you anticipated. His eyes widened in response. “Let’s go.”

“H-hold up,” He stuttered. “Wait, wait, wait. What? Tonight?!”

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to. We just got into an argument so I totally understand if don’t want to-” You blushed.

“NO! I mean, uh,” He squeaked before clearing his throat and speaking in a deeper tone. “No, I definitely want to. But didn’t we promise Scott not to until he..?”

“He did it last night,” You smiled. “So?”

He looked at you with wide eyes and lips parted before clumsily fumbling to start the car and speeding off. You laughed at his urgency and the grin that painted his features. “This is gonna be awesome.”

EPISODE THREE ->

————

As always, please let me know what you think of this! I love love love to hear from you guys :) Plz like and/or reblog, it really helps me out! Comment or DM if you’d like to be added to the tag list! Thanks for reading!

Before, I continue with my regularly formatted, goofy A/N, I want to talk about something first. The War in Ukraine..

My heart goes out to Ukraine and those oppressed under the Russian regime. My soul feels heavy knowing about the horrors going on in their country. Innocent people and children are dying because of a mentally unstable facist’s pride. I stand with Ukraine and their heroic fight for democracy. I have never felt such pride as I do seeing these people fight for their freedom and livelihoods. They are truly the definition of heroes. If you want to donate, please visit this website. It will provide you with multiple organizations and charities that you can donate to.

Now back to your regularly scheduled, dumb ass A/N. I’ve had written for a couple of weeks now.

A/N: Sorry y’all. You know me, I’m a SLUT for some angst. Can’t have a relationship without an argument from time to time. I just have a feeling Stiles is like super petty as a way to hide his vulnerable side before he comes to his senses and apologizes. I promise he’ll get better at handling his emotions, he’s just ✨traumatized✨. I feel like he needs Y/N’s divine feminine energy to really get in touch with that side of himself. Anyways, I’m ranting now. SERIOUSLY HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE WITH THE SERIES RN OMG.

@okay-j-hannah @mitchloveswriting @itscheybaby @cevans-winchester @moon-child @rrrogertaylor @janalustare @loveangelic69 @angelxfics @blueberry-birdie @kaii-ya @rebelbagel @fandoms-fandoms-everywhere99 @ifilwtmfc @dianewowslt @aloha-lush @crockercorpbakers @taysirene @take-me-to-ny @captainfrisbee @darkenwolfie @stilesbxtch @youaintabadbitchyoujustabitch @raynelbabe @michellebarista @chervbs @lovingchildperson

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koishua · 2 years

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. 🖇️ ─── 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸 . 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗻

who knew that you'd meet the love of the rest of your life in a library?

flipping through the old sheets of the aged book in your hands, your thoughts wander around, trying to come up with some means to entertain yourself while the clock ticks forward. your shift should end in an hour or two, which isn't that much of a wait, but today is a different day— one that has you feeling anxious and impatient, as though you're going to be seeing something important soon.

the library is quite small compared to the one in the next city over, but it's modest collection of books have a charm unlike any other. the comfortable seats and the cozy atmosphere has led to the place claiming more than a few regular visitors.

you hear a chime from the front of the library and a pair of rushed footsteps frantically darting from one side of the space to the other and you wonder if you should go help the newcomer, though that thought is instantly diminished when you remember that your coworker, who had already been by the entrance, would offer him assistance.

you eye the title of the novel in your hands, brushing a thumb over the small patch of glitter on the cover. your sight drifts onto the sticker-like illustration, wondering why they weren't regular stickers instead where people could peel them off as necessary with distate. you place it back to its rightful shelf and continue pushing the trolley down the towering bookshelves.

slowly, the stack of books diminish from in front of you and youpick up the last book, small and thin— it was a collection of poems. it seems roughened up around the edges and it had definitely seen better days. it was well loved, given by the worn down spine.

after safely sliding it back into its place, you dust your hand out of habit, rolling the trolley back to its place in the corner of the floor. out of the corner of your eye, you see a figure approaching you.

"excuse me, do you know where i can find this book?" a boy around your age fishes out his phone from his pocket, showing you a familiar cover. a lightbulb goes off above your head— it was in that pile you'd just put back in place.

"it's right here, actually!" you make a gesture for him to follow you around the sleek wooden shelf, coming to a stop right before a small section of the classics. you pull it gently out, showing it to him, "i believe this is the one, right?"

"yeah," he nods gratefully, stretching out a hand to take it from your grip. just as he is about to thank you, the book of poems drops to the floor, something about the way the tip of your fingers had brushed against his own sending a jolt in his spine.

feeling a heat rise from your neck, you chuckle nervously "oh, may bad." quickly, you lean down to pick the booklet from the carpeted floor that dull out most of the sound that come with tapping feet on hardwood. at the same time, the boy in front of you crouches down and reaches for it, the crown of your heads bumping into each other with an audible thump.

"ow," you groan at the throb right above your forehead, rubbing smooth circles on the spot while standing back up. "you have a solid skull, has anyone told you that?" you mutter underneath your breath as the boy blows out a huff, clearly in pain as well.

"says you." his words fly right back to you. "i think it's gonna bruise."

you release an unexpected snort, leaning against the heavy wooden surface, "that makes the two of us then."

stalking over towards the desk at the front to scan the code on the back of the book, you slide it over the counter with caution. "make sure to bring it back within six weeks."

"yup," he slides it in his backpack with a small, grateful smile, releasing a sigh of relief at having gotten the required book just before the library would close for the day before resting an elbow on the counter, "do you recon i could take you out on a date afterwards?"

"i'm sorry?" your brows furrow in confusion. did you just hear it correctly? "a date? when i don't even know your name?"

"oh," he blinks sheepishly, an abashed expression crossing his face, "i'm park sunghoon. a freshman at the uni close by."

"well, park sunghoon, the freshman at the uni nearby, tell me why i have never seen you around then?" you quiz the man in front of you. sunghoon sighs, "i just transferred in the beginning of the semester, actually. i moved back here just a while ago."

you nod your head, making a small show out of contemplating over your thoughts. "okay, i'll take you up on that offer, sunghoon." you rummage through a drawer for a pen and an unused paper bookmark, scribbling a few digits on it.

"if you ever share this with someone else, then we'll have some problems." you make a light-hearted i am watching you motion, dangling the bookmark in front of him, to which he claims with a relaxed smirk. "no worries there."

there, your heart beats in a speed it had never done before, that's the one.

literally wrote this in like one burst of energy and idek if it makes sense or flows nicely but yeah here ya go y'all </3

taglist one. @shekllls @eternallyhyucks @yjwfav @beyondthesheets @speckled-sunshine @luvningkai @youreverydayzebra @ilandsghost @jensrose @yongmins @nikis-mum @w3bqrl @candysofthours @moontines @rielleluvs @heefused @squiishymeow @just-uaau @catecita @namjoo-jay @shrutiajit @baekhyunstruly @changmin-wrlds @changminurheart @chewychubchuu @taegicarus @marknaeroni @enhacolor @heelariously @chaebb @nshitae @clarakyunisageek @i-m4rk @tarosaurus @aeonghaseyo @hotgirlsunoo @misah0e @ily-cuz-i @jungwoniics @enha-hwajinna @todorokiskitten @notcamila

#enhypen fluff #enhypen imagines #sunghoon imagines #sunghoon scenarios #enhypen x reader #enhypen x female reader #enhypen scenarios #enhypen sunghoon x reader #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen reactions

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queen-haq · 3 years

Text

Fic: A Woman Scorned - Part 13

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

Rating: R for language and smut.

Words: ~3000 words.

Summary: You’ve been sleeping with Billy Russo for a few months now. Knowing his aversion to emotional commitments, you’re satisfied with your clandestine arrangement until you catch him having dinner with Dinah Madani one night. Then it finally dawns on you. It’s not that he doesn’t want to commit, he just doesn’t want to commit to *you*.

Billy may think he knows you, but he has no idea what he’s just lost...

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

gif credit: @bilyrusso

Part 13

It was 8 in the evening and you were still in the office. You hadn’t accomplished much work today, your mind mostly focused on Billy. You were surprised by how quickly he’d been able to make the funeral arrangements for his mother. Yesterday you had driven over to the nursing home and by the time you reached there, Carla Russo’s body had already been picked up. You’d signed a few papers for Billy and picked up the remainder of Carla’s things before you returned home. Everything of hers was packed into a small suitcase and sitting in your living room. You wanted to call him, ask him how he was and offer your support, but he seemed determined to do everything on his own when you’d talked to him last and you didn’t want to intrude.

You gave yourself a mental shake, reminding yourself to concentrate. This workday had been a wash. When you weren’t distracted by thoughts of Billy, you were putting out fires in your team. At least the personnel conflicts have been temporarily resolved, but now you needed to work on a slide deck that you’d been tasked with presenting to the executive leadership committee later in the week.

An hour later you were halfway done with your presentation when your phone rang. You glanced down at your screen to find Billy’s name on the screen. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He sounded exhausted. “You still at work?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

There was a pause. “You give off the workaholic vibe.”

You smiled to yourself; at least he was okay enough to crack jokes. “How are you?”

“You mean am I grieving over a goddamn dead woman who preferred meth to her own fucking son?” He sighed. “No big loss. I’m fine.”

Anger and hurt saturated his voice despite his attempts to sound unaffected. Your heart hurt for him, you wished there was something you could do. “Do you need anything?”

“The funeral service is tomorrow.” A beat of silence followed. “Do you want to come?”

“Sure. What time?”

“2pm.”

“I’ll take the day off. Do you need my help with anything? Maybe I can call some of her friends?”

“When I found her she was living on the streets, barely alive but still hooked on meth. I doubt she’s got any friends.”

“What about the people in the nursing home? Maybe they want to come?”

“No, I don’t want anyone else there. Just you.”

Not liking the warmth that spread through you upon hearing his words, you reminded yourself he was probably feeling unusually vulnerable. This wasn’t typical of him.

“Do you want to come over?” he asked.

You exhaled a heavy sigh. “I would but I have so much work to do. I’ll be here for another hour at least.”

“Come over after you’re done.”

“It’ll be really late.”

“That’s fine. I can wait.”

“I can stop by my place to pick up your mom’s-.”

“No, it’s okay.”

You realized he wasn’t quite ready to go through Carla’s belongings yet.

“Bring your stuff with you.”

“Stuff?”

“Overnight bag, clothes for tomorrow, whatever.”

“Oh. You want me to stay over?”

“Yeah, might as well. We can drive over together for the service tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Despite the conversation coming to a natural end, he wasn’t hanging up. It seemed as if he was reluctant to be alone, probably because that meant dealing with the complicated emotions for his mother. You knew exactly how that felt. “If you want, I can leave now. I can work from your apartment instead of the office.”

“You’re not worried I’ll be tempted to spy on Valiant stuff?” he teased.

You smiled. “As if I’d let you see what I’m working on.”

“Guess no corporate espionage for me tonight.”

“Still going to keep you away from my laptop.”

He chuckled. “Just get here. I promise not to bug you while you work.”

“Okay. I’m leaving now.”

“See you soon.”

After you hung up, you started gathering your things together.

***

An hour later, you were at his place. When he opened the door, you immediately grew concerned at how tired he looked. Traveling back and forth from Vegas plus dealing with the news about Carla’s death within the last few hours meant he was absolutely exhausted.

“Hey,” he greeted you, smiling as he took the overnight bag from your hands.

You removed your heels while he took your bag inside his room and then made your way to his living room. While his penthouse suite was much bigger than yours, you actually didn’t like it very much. Despite the high-end finishes and the beautiful interiors - Billy had obviously hired a designer to make the place look good - it always felt very cool and inhospitable to you. It was too perfect and you always felt out of place inside the suite.

“You hungry?” he asked, coming up behind you. “I ordered dinner for you.” Arms encircling your waist, he dropped a kiss on the back of your head as he maneuvered you to the kitchen. He’d laid out the food for you on the dining table, and from the take-out containers you knew it was from one of your favourite Indian restaurants. The thoughtful gesture surprised you, you weren’t used to that from him. Noting that he’d only set the table for one, you turned around to look at him. “You’re not going to eat with me?”

“I ate already. I was starving. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” You cradled his face with one hand, your eyes roving over his beautiful face as he placed a kiss on the fleshy part of your palm. “You look exhausted. Did you even sleep?”

“No” He leaned back against the kitchen counter, weary. For a moment he closed his eyes, simply holding still, and you found yourself wrapping your arms around him in a hug. You didn’t understand why you’d even initiated the embrace – hugs were never your thing – but seeing him so beaten-down you were desperate to comfort him. He leaned into you, his body flushed against yours, and you held him tight. Stroking the nape of his neck, you placed a soft kiss on the center of his forehead. “Why don’t you take a nap while I work?”

“You don’t mind?”

You smiled up at him, running your fingers through his hair. “At least I don’t have to worry about you stealing my company secrets while you sleep.”

He smirked. “You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“Yup. Probably still working away.”

Billy grazed your temple softly before dropping a tender kiss on the tip of your nose. “Okay, but eat first.”

You nodded your head, watching after him as he sauntered out of the kitchen and disappeared down the hallway.

Sighing, you went to the sink to wash your hands before eating.

***

It was after midnight and you were still working on your slide deck when you heard Billy puttering around in the bathroom. Soon he slowly made his way towards you, dressed in a t-shirt and black boxers, his hair all messy. He yawned lazily, falling onto the other end of the couch.

“I thought you’d sleep through the night,” you remarked.

“Are you still working?” he asked.

“Almost done.” You saved the file and shut off the laptop before slipping it back inside your bag.

Suddenly he pulled you closer and you found yourself tucked underneath him on the couch as he glanced down at you from above. “You work too hard.”

You smiled up at him. “They don’t pay me the big bucks to sit there and look pretty.”

A slow, incandescent smile curved his lips. “I would. If I ran Valiant, you’d be my personal stress relief. You’d be in my office the entire time and do nothing but look pretty and service me.”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

Billy shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever. I’d make it worth your while.”

You laughed, angling up to kiss him. “Your breath is all minty fresh.”

“I brushed my teeth for you.”

“Wow. Be still my heart.”

A warm grin covered his face as he shifted down your body to nuzzle your neck. His weight was heavy as he rested atop you, but you liked the solid feel of him on you, the way you felt all safe and warm. You stroked his hair while he drew lazy circles on your chest, the silence between you two comforting.

“No one knows about her. Not Frank, not Curtis, no one.”

Those names were familiar to you because Billy had mentioned them in passing a few times. Of course he’d never shared any other info, but you being you, you’d dug around and found out more about them. You knew they’d served with Billy and he considered them his closest friends.

“When I found her three years ago, I put her in that home and forgot all about her.”

“You visited her every week,” you reminded him.

“Because I wanted her to regret abandoning me. I wanted her to see how far I’d come, I wanted to throw her mistakes in her face. But I don’t think she regretted safe-havening me, not even a bit.”

The bitter pain in his voice made your heart hurt for him.

“Maybe I should be happy she’s finally dead, or maybe I’m supposed to be sad or something.”

“How do you actually feel?”

“Nothing. I feel nothing.”

“Billy, I think that’s normal. There’s no right or wrong in this. All of your feelings are valid.”

“Even if her dying made me absolutely ecstatic? You wouldn’t think I was a fucking psychopath?”

“You are a psychopath but not because you have conflicting emotions about your terrible mother dying. You have the right to feel how you feel about her, whatever that might be.”

Eyes blazing with emotion, he hovered about you to meet your gaze. “Then what makes me a psychopath?”

You quirked your eyebrow. “The fact you want to torture my dates.”

“Not just torture, I want to kill them.” Eyes darkened, voice velvety-smooth, he covered your mouth with his and ravaged you with a kiss that left you thrumming and breathless.

“Only you’re allowed to touch me?” you asked through labored breaths.

“Yes.” His voice was a lustful rasp, his mouth leaving a heated trail as he sucked on the oh-so-sensitive corner of where your neck and shoulder intersected. Sparks of electricity ran down your spine. “Only me.”

You took his hand and guided it down your body, parting your thighs for him.

Like always, you were soon completely lost in the erotic pleasure of his mouth on you. Your legs hooked over his shoulders, your hands grabbed the back of the couch for support as he fucked you with his hands and mouth, sucking you, licking you, his tongue flicking over your clit until you were keening under him. Body arching off the couch, you moaned his name louder and louder until he drove you completely over the edge.

Then you felt a light slap on your cunt which immediately brought you back to reality. Opening your eyes, you found Billy perched between your legs, gracing you with the most wicked smile. “That’s one.” He slapped your pussy again, this time his long, lean fingers ever so slightly grazing your clit and your hips bucked, wanting more. “As promised.” His eyebrow quirked up. “Punishment.”

“Not fair,” you protested. “I’ll date who I want.”

He slapped you again, a little harder this time, but then he leaned down to place comforting kisses on the very spots he assaulted and you moaned with pleasure.

“All of you.” His tongue lapped over your clit, eyes locked with yours. “Belongs to me. I own you.”

“You don’t!” You squealed when he flipped you over unexpectedly, grabbing you by the hips so your ass was lifted of the couch. And then he squeezed your butt cheeks, biting them lightly before he started rimming you.

***

After sharing a shower the two of you were laying in his bed, your back pressed against his chest as you both stared up at the ceiling. His one hand was intertwined with yours, the other arm circled around your hips. The two of you didn’t have sex but you didn’t mind. You were both fatigued.

“I smell like you now,” you murmured, realizing the soap in his shower had left its scent on you.

“I know. I like it.” He squeezed your fingers. “I have a present for you.”

“I hope it’s not earrings again.”

He chuckled. “No, not earrings.”

“What is it then?”

“Jewelry.”

You turned back to look at him. “What? Like a necklace?”

“Something like that. Except I’m the only one who’ll see you wearing it.”

“Ah. And where is this gift?”

He kissed the top of your head. “Not here yet.”

You smiled to yourself. “People usually wait until they have the gift in hand before telling others about it.”

“I couldn’t wait. I’m excited to see you wear it.”

He stroked your hair, and your eyes grew heavy. Soon you started falling into deep slumber, feeling calm, comforted by Billy’s arms around you.

“What happened with your family?”

Your eyes flew open. Like always, any mention of your family unfurled anxiety within you. You didn’t like thinking about them letting alone discussing them. “They passed away.”

“They’re dead?”

“Yes.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes.”

He pulled you up so you were facing him now, his intoxicating gaze completely focused on you. “That day when I asked you about the pictures, you said you weren’t close to your family.”

“I meant my extended family. I don’t keep in touch with them,” you replied smoothly.

“What were your parents like?”

Irritation surged through you at his obtrusive questions but you had to remind yourself he just lost his mother. He was feeling out-of-sorts, working through his grief – even if he didn’t think so – and he was reaching out to the only person in his life that knew about his mother. “Normal.”

He simply stared at you for a long time, studying you, saying nothing. “Normal,” he repeated, finally breaking the strained silence.

You shrugged your shoulders, dropping your gaze to the base of his throat so you didn’t have to hold his piercing stare. “Yup.”

“How did they die?”

“Car accident.”

“You miss them?”

“Of course,” you lied.

He reached out to cup your face, his thumb stroking your cheek. “So you grew up with great parents, white picket fence and all that bullshit? Sounds like you had a fairytale childhood.”

“Can we talk about this tomorrow? I’m really tired.”

“Sure. I’ll add this to the list of all the other shit we’ll talk about someday.”

He sounded almost angry with you and you weren’t sure why. Before you could question him, however, he pulled you close so you were snuggled against his chest and the warmth of his body was enough to silence your brain and lull you to sleep.

***

It was a cold, crisp autumn day in New York. The outdoor service, attended by only you and Billy, was short and quick. Throughout it, he’d gripped your hand even though he’d been outwardly calm and collected. Even now as he stood a few feet away from you, impeccably dressed in a black suit, his dark eyes hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses as he stared out at the pond, you sensed he was a complete mess inside. You didn’t know what to say to him so you simply sat on the bench, both of you in an isolated corner of the garden. Eventually he came to sit beside you, taking your hand in his.

“I’d have given her the whole world.” His voice was filled with pain and longing as he removed his sunglasses and tucked them in the upper pocket of his suit. “I would have given her anything she ever wanted.” Billy’s eyes met yours. “If she’d just wanted me.”

You scooted closer to wrap your arms around him, breathing him in as he sunk into you. His hands caressed your back, his grip on you so tight you almost couldn’t breathe. After a while he rested his forehead against yours, his eyes holding you prisoner in front of him.

“Swear to me you’ll never leave.”

“Billy-”

“Promise me!”

“I can’t.”

“It wasn’t a fucking request, Y/N.”

You tried to pull away from him but he fisted the back of your hair, holding you in place.

The raw urgency in his voice played havoc with your emotions. If you closed your eyes, just for a moment, you could shut out all the doubts in your head and simply believe him - but you could only live the fantasy for a short moment before reality forced its way back in. “You don’t mean those words, Billy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you don’t feel that strongly about me.”

His eyes narrowed, glaring at you with hostility. “You’re gonna tell me how I feel?”

“I’m not what you want.”

“And what do you think I want?”

You gave him a sad smile. “The best of everything. Best car, best clothes, the most beautiful women in your arms. You want all that because you need others to want what you have.”

“Is that so wrong?”

You shook your head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with that – except I don’t fit into any of those categories. You want a woman like Dinah Madani. I’m not her. So eventually this thing between us will end.”

His jaw was set in a grim line, eyes burning bright with rage. “So you have me all figured out, huh?”

“Don’t get mad. You know it’s the truth.”

He yanked you closer, crushing you against him. “It’s been me against the world for as long as I can remember. But when I look at you.” His eyes softened, mouth parting as his dark gaze roamed over your face. “I don’t feel alone anymore.”

Your heart melted. The tenuous handle you had on your self-control disintegrated completely. You closed your mouth over his, kissing him frantically as he picked you up and straddled you across his lap.

He pulled back to look at you. “You’re my home. You’re all I need.”

Part 14

A/N - As always, all of your feedback, comments, asks, likes and reblogs are deeply appreciated. They truly inspire me to keep writing, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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#billy russo x reader #billy russo #ben barnes #the punisher #billy russo imagine

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typical-simplelove · 3 years

Text

On Your Right (M. Tkachuk)

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

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

Word Count: 21.4k

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matthew Tkachuk broke your heart at the age of ten.

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You're serious?"

"Very."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You don't have a boyfriend?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Home?"

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why are you helping her, then?"

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

Matthew: You’ll love him.

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Okay?”

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

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

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

“Matthew, I don’t know.”

“Yn, come on. What’s stopping you?”

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, okay. We can fake date.”

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fine, whatever. Agree to disagree?”

“Sure, sure, even though I’m right.”

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you want me to say?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I do know you.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matthew nods. “Only in public.”

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

“Matthew —” you begin.

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

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

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

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

“Mmm,” he replies looking up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That we do,” you reply softly.

“I didn’t hurt you, right?”

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

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

“Mmhm?”

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

“Matthew!”

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

“How does it just slip out?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Doesn’t matter.”

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

You nodded, “Yeah, that would be me.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Do you want me to kiss you?”

“Would it be awkward if we didn’t?”

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

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

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

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

“We can go to your place, then.”

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

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

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

“Yeah, it was like ten minutes.”

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

“I walk to work, Matthew.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

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

“Oh, no, I’m okay.”

“Promise?” Matthew asks.

“Promise,” you reply with a smile.

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, I know, but —”

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

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

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

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

“Why?” Matthew furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“I just, I don’t know.”

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

“Whatever,” Matthew rolls his eyes.

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

“Oh.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thanks, Matthew.”

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

“Yes?” you turn to him.

“Your hair looks really pretty.”

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Can I stay the night?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

“You flatter me, Matthew.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I show zero mercy.”

. . .

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

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

You nod. “Just scary sometimes.”

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

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

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

. . .

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

“Yeah,” you yawn.

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

“Oh, we landed?”

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

“Matthew —”

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

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

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

“Oh,” you mumble. “Only one bed.”

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

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

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

“What’s the verdict?” Matthew asks.

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

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

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

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

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

It would be a restful night, right?

. . .

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

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

“How were your preparations?” he asks.

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

Matthew nods.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Night, Yn.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“About half an hour?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

“So, you and Yn, huh?” Brady smirks.

“Don’t start, please,” Matthew warns.

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

“Can we not?” Matthew asks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And that explains his treatment of me?”

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

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

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

“The other questions are still valid, though.”

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

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

You shrug.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Are you happy?” she asks.

You nod. “Yeah, I’m happy.”

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

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

. . .

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

“So, you and Yn?” Chantal begins.

“Mom,” Matthew groans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why don’t you just tell her?”

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

“But you love her.”

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

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

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

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

“I’ll ask Yn,” Matthew answers.

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

. . .

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

If only it were real.

. . .

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Are you sitting with us?” Brady asks.

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

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

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

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

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

“You okay?” you ask.

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

“Why?” you ask nervously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Just hanging around. Nothing much.”

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

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

. . .

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

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

“How so?” you ask.

“He’s nice,” Taryn says blatantly.

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

“I’m not wrong,” she defends.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Brady, move,” Matthew growls again.

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

“No, I want Brady to move.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Brady,” Keith warns.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

“Yeah, but —”

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

“Mmm?” he asks.

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

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

“Yeah, but you did hate me.”

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

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

“That didn’t mean I hated you, Yn.”

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Matthew,” you begin again.

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

“I’m counting on it.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thank you. Too bad you guys lost.”

“Seriously?” Matthew’s mouth’s agape.

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, yeah, just tell me!”

“Hi.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

“Because,” you hesitate.

“Because, why?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nothing,” you lie.

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

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

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I don’t want to fake date you.”

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

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

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

“Oh, right,” you giggle at yourself.

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

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

“Great, our first kiss ends like that.”

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

“Still,” he pouts.

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

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

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

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