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acciofanfics · 7 months

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An Arrangement - Regulus Black (Part One)

Pairing: Regulus Black x Reader

Warnings: Arranged marriage.

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: So, this is a rewrite of a series that was started on this blog a little while ago. I’ve fallen down a Regulus Black rabbit hole so expect plenty of more content about him 😆

The Black Manor’s sitting room was colder than she’d imagined it to be. Only a few feet from her, the fireplace crackled, illuminating the small and otherwise mostly dark space. The curtains were drawn, as were most of the others in the area, keeping away any prying eyes. The rise of the Dark Lord had brought suspicion to many of the older, more renowned pure-blood families.

Despite the fire, she shivered, and tried to steady her breathing. She tried to focus on the hideous floral couch she was currently sitting on, surely picked out by the matriarch of the Black clan, but her eyes wandered to Regulus, who occupied the space next to her. His presence did little to ease the wave of pure dread threatening to overtake her at any moment, as it was a reminder of why she was there in the first place.

Walburga, as well as her own mother had gone to a more private area to discuss the business aspect of their arrangement, leaving her and Regulus alone. She couldn’t say that she fully understood the logic. She and Regulus were old enough to commit to an unbreakable vow, but apparently too young to be included in the conversation regarding such.

An old wooden piano played itself in the corner, surely enchanted in order to keep them from listening in on what their mothers were saying. It worked, for the most part, but every once in a while, she could hear a laugh escape from either Walburga or her mother. Strange… she didn’t know they were capable of such a thing.

“You look quite thrilled.” Regulus’ hushed voice cut through the nearly deafening quietness between the two of them. The statement, she assumed, was meant to be a harmless attempt at conversation, but she couldn’t help but find it to be tone-deaf given the circumstances. How could she be? She hadn’t even been asked if she was content with essentially signing the rest of her life over to the Black family. In fact, any protest she made was met with a dismissive wave of the hand. After all, she should be grateful.it was every young witch’s dream to marry a wealthy (her mother was sure to emphasize that part) pure-blood wizard after finishing school; especially given the uncertain, trying times that they were living in. She’d just made it easier for her, given her supposed apathy towards developing her love life.

“And I suppose you are?” She raised an eyebrow. Her tone had come off a bit harsher than she’d intended, but she felt as though at least a little slack was deserved on her part.

“Sure.” He offered a charming smile, making her guilt towards the previous interaction swell. “I mean, why wouldn’t I be? I’ll get to be married to a woman that looks like you with little to no effort. Not to mention, there’s the added bonus that our children will be gorgeous.” She cringed at the mention of children, though she supposed that would be expected of her. She couldn’t decide whether she found his nonchalance to be infuriating or flattering in a way. At least she could take solace in that he didn’t find the idea of marrying her to be repulsive, though she couldn’t say the same for herself. It wasn’t anything against Regulus. She found him to be quite handsome, actually. She probably would’ve fawned over the idea of being so close to him if it had been under different circumstances, but that didn’t mean that she loved him. The issue came up with the fact that she didn’t know him. Their parents had been close, but that dynamic didn’t extend to their children. She wasn’t even sure if she’d had a full conversation with him until now.

“I suppose in a way, it would be easier.” She let out a soft, unconvincing chuckle. Whether he meant the words of flattery or not, she would never know, but it did help to lighten the mood just a little bit.

“Exactly. There shouldn’t be any in-law strife to worry about,” Regulus added.

“Definitely not. They know each other better than we do,” (Y/N) let out a scoff laced with annoyance.

“Well, I suppose we’ll have plenty of time to remedy that after today.”

“Yeah, our whole lives.” She averted her eyes from the boy.

“Oh, come on. I can’t be that bad, can I?” Regulus feigned offense, though when she glanced back over to him, she couldn’t help but notice a glint in his green eyes that suggested that perhaps he did feel somewhat slighted by the remark.

“No, not at all. You seem perfectly pleasant, actually. It’s just when I envisioned getting married, I just imagined it would be to someone I’d chosen for myself.” The elaboration seemed to momentarily appease the boy, though it wasn’t long before he spoke again.

“I always imagined that this was how I’d meet my future wife.” He shrugged, reclining back onto the sofa. “I suppose that’s why I never spent a lot of time dwelling on courting anyone. Although, I can say that I’m happy that it’s to you and not to some of the others that Mother suggested.” He shuddered.

“Well, I appreciate that, I think.” She furrowed her brow, trying to decipher whether it was meant to be a compliment. Regulus let out a soft laugh at her response, running his hand through the mess of black curls on his head.

“You’re quite cute when you’re confused, you know.” She pouted at the remark.

“You’d find me adorable in potions class, then.”

“Regulus, darling, bring (Y/N) into the dining room, we’re ready for the two of you.” Walburga’s voice turned her blood to ice. She’d almost been distracted from the reason that she was here in the first place, though she wasn’t sure how.

Regulus stood and her soon-to-be husband extended his hand to escort her. “Ready?” He seemed perfectly content with what was happening, she didn’t understand it. Even if he had envisioned this would be how his wedding day would go, wasn’t he the least bit worried? An unbreakable vow was a serious commitment; it was–well–unbreakable.

“As I’ll ever be, I suppose,” she murmured, accepting his hand. He guided her to the dining room and she couldn’t help but notice that his hands were softer than she’d imagined, and that she didn’t not enjoy the feeling of her hand in his. Even so, she wasn’t sure that they were at the point that marriage should be a consideration, but if it had to be anyone, she was more at ease with it being him.

As soon as they entered the room, it felt as though all of the air had been turned to molasses, determined to suffocate her. It was difficult to even draw a breath without it feeling as though her heart would explode from the pressure.

Their house elf, Kreacher, was in the corner, scrubbing the floor, though she was sure that he was focused more on the events about to unfold.

“Poor girl looks terrified.” Mrs. Black smiled, though the sentiment was laced with a twinge of annoyance, she noticed.

(Y/N) spoke quickly, to avoid any offense being taken by the older woman. “I’m sorry, I was just wondering if it hurt, that’s all.”

Walburga’s demeanor changed almost instantaneously. A relieved chuckle escaped from both her and her mother. As long as her lack of enthusiasm had nothing to do with Regulus, they weren’t concerned. She wasn’t surprised. Her own feelings hadn’t been a question throughout the whole ordeal, why would they be now?

She wished that she weren’t such a good daughter. Otherwise, she would’ve run away half an hour ago when they’d left her and Regulus. It meant a lot to her parents, though, and despite the fact that they didn’t care what she felt, she did care about their thoughts and feelings.

“No more than a sting,” Walburga explained, a grin on her face. She couldn’t tell if it was comforting or unsettling. The Blacks had a way of charming those around them, making it hard to determine whether their words were sincere.

Her eyes flitted to Regulus who wore the same unbothered expression that he’d had all morning. She laced her fingers with his once more and tried to ease the pounding of her heart. Every fiber of her being wanted to bolt, but she remained frozen in place as Walburga readied her wand, focusing on their intertwined hands.

“Okay, Regulus. Just like I told you, okay?”

“(Y/N), do you vow to become my wife after completing our studies, with the intention of starting a family and to love no other.” Regulus spoke confidently, as though it had been rehearsed, though she supposed it probably had. As he’d said earlier, this was always how he’d expected meeting his wife.

He shot her a small, rather sweet smile. His eyes never left hers as she spoke her own words of commitment. “Yes, provided you do the same.” The words felt like poison as they exited her lips. Regulus didn’t seem to notice her apprehension, or maybe he just didn’t care. That seemed to be a common occurrence lately.

“Of course.”

Walburga mumbled the spell under her breath and three streams of light emerged from the tip of her wand and wrapped around their conjoined hands. Walburga had been telling the truth, there was only a slight sting, no worse than the feeling of one of your limbs waking up after being asleep for a period. The sting didn’t linger for too long, but the nagging feeling of dread still hadn’t gone away.

That was it. There was no lasting indication of their now permanent bond, but she wasn’t sure if she would ever feel at ease again. She felt tears prick at her eyes, but she did her best to will them away. She couldn’t cry now. It was already done. The only thing crying would accomplish was further annoying Walburga and her mother.

“Perfect!” Walburga cheered, enveloping both her and Regulus into a hug. “Now, we must celebrate!”

She didn’t feel like celebrating. In fact, she didn’t feel much of anything. Her mother patted her shoulder and placed a kiss on her temple. “I’m so proud of you.”

She couldn’t figure out why that was. She hadn’t done or contributed anything to the pairing. It was all her mother and Walburga’s doing. Perhaps, Regulus was involved somehow as well, but he hadn’t given any indication that he had any more knowledge than she did.

“Kreacher, prepare the table and fetch the men,” Walburga ordered. The house elf obliged, placing the utensils and dishes at each seat before heading off to find Orion and her father. Why they hadn’t been present for the actual ceremony, she didn’t know. They were probably discussing matters of higher importance regarding the current political climate.

It didn’t matter to her either way. It was uncomfortable enough with those who were present, she didn’t mind not having extra eyes watching her being shackled to the Black clan.

Kreacher was back within moments, the two men in tow.

“So it’s done then?” Orion’s voice boomed, though there was no interest in the statement. This was clearly a match set up by their mothers because as it seemed, there was little to no concern from their fathers.

“Yes, it’s done.” Walburga said cheerily as they all took their seats.

“Wonderful,” her father clapped his hands. “Isn’t this exciting?” He looked to her. She nodded with a fake smile, though he didn’t notice.

“Are you alright?” Regulus’ breath was hot against her ear. She hadn’t even noticed that he was sitting next to her.

“Yeah, fine.” She didn’t mean to be blunt, but her brain couldn’t come up with anything more. “Just a bit overwhelmed is all.”

“My mother does tend to have that effect on most people.” Walburga was too busy chatting with her parents over the food that she didn’t notice Regulus’ remark. (Y/N) tried to hide the smile forming, but it was quite difficult given that she’d been thinking the same thing.

She was quiet for the rest of the dinner, merely pushing the food around her plate so as not to offend the chef (whoever that may be) by thinking that she hadn’t eaten anything. Regulus was far more outgoing, chatting with her parents about whatever topic they had landed on. She thought that they might like him more than her honestly.

She couldn’t say that she felt better about the situation once the dinner was finally over. In fact, she possibly felt worse. She had nothing against the Blacks, or Regulus, but she felt trapped. Every move she made henceforth would not only be monitored by her own parents, but by her in-laws and fiancee as well. The only part that made her feel slightly better was that she wouldn’t have to face Regulus again until they were at Hogwarts, so she had a couple of weeks to try and come to terms with her new life.

#harry potter imagine #fanfics #fanfiction #harry potter #harry potter marauders #regulus x reader #regulus black x y/n #regulus black imagine #regulus black x reader #regulus black

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ts1m1kas · 6 months

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Original Ask: pedri anon here!! if you could, maybe a fic where pedri thinks that the reader likes gavi, so he becomes jealous and all his friends tease him abt it, but in reality the reader likes pedri instead and confesses? idk if I worded it well but I hope it makes sense lmao (anonymous)

Word Count: 571 words

(author's note: my first time writing about pedri !! i hope i did you request justic my love 🥹)

Y/N had always admired Pedri. She was in awe of his drive and determination, and his good looks were a bonus. Her admiration eventually turned into a crush, and before she knew it, she was swept head over heels for the Spanish midfielder.

Being an intern at FC Barcelona was an interesting job. She had developed many friendships and was a valued member of the workforce.

Grabbing her clipboard, Y/N headed out to the training ground to spectate the team. She opened the door and walked over to the chairs that were set out. As she made herself comfortable, Gavi spotted she had emerged from the building and wandered over to speak to her.

Y/N and Pablo had become quite close during her time at Barcelona and their friendship had flourished. Pablo knew of Pedri’s crush on the girl but was under strict instructions not to reveal it to her.

“Good morning,” Gavi said, “How are you today?”

“I’m good thank you Pablo, I’m spectating your training today so you better be working hard!” she laughed.

“I will be now you’re watching”, he laughed, forcing a wink. Y/N snorted with laughter, gently pushing him by the shoulder.

The pair were too engrossed with their joking that they didn’t see Pedri come onto the field. He saw they way the pair were interacting and his heart clenched with jealousy.

“Careful Pedri, your’re turning green with envy”, Fermín laughed, coming up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Pedri just glared at him and jogged over to where the rest of the team stood.

Gavi noticed the team gathering a said his goodbyes to Y/N. He ran over and stood next to Pedri.

“Nice of you to join us. Have you finished having your fun with Y/N?” Pedri remarked, turning his head to look at his friend.

“I hope you aren’t implying what I think you’re implying amigo”, Pablo responded.

Laughing, Fermín joined in, “He basically had steam coming out of his ears a couple minutes ago Pablo.”

Pedri rolled his eyes at the pair and turned to listen to their coach. Training began, but the teasing didn’t stop.

After the training session, Y/N had handed her notes in and then turned her attention to Pedri. She jogged over to where he was tidying the training equipment away and tapped him softly on the shoulder.

“Pedri, can I talk to you?"

“Sure, what’s the matter Y/N”, he responded harshly.

His tone threw Y/N off. She took a deep breath and continued on, “You seemed upset earlier when talking to Pablo. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Yes I’m fine. I would like to ask you something though.”

“What is it, is everything okay?”

“Do you like Pablo?” Y/N began to laugh. Pedri was taken aback. “I don’t understand what’s funny?”

“Pedri”, Y/N began, “I like you, I’ve liked you since I started my internship here.”

“Thank goodness for that”, Pedri breathed a sigh of relief. “Because I feel exactly the same way about you.”

Y/N stepped forward, leaned up and kissed him. Pedri wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. The pair broke apart and Y/N looked at Pedri with a smile on her face.

“Hopefully you’ll stop pouting when I’m around the rest of the team now that you know it’s you I want.”

#pedri gonzalez x you #pedri gonzalez x reader #pedri gonzalez #fanfiction #football #fanfic #hot footballers #request #fc barcelona #by ts1m1kas

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randomshyperson · 1 year

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Spring Break - Cheerleader!Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Every year during Spring Break, you travel to a camp filled with outdoor competitions. It comes with a bonus of facing your rival from back when the whole thing started, and there's nothing more attractive than Wanda Maximoff kicking your ass in every game. Some might say you let her win just to see her smile, but maybe that's loser talk.

Warnings: (+18), enemies to lovers, so much teasing and bickering, a lot of making out and kissing, bottom!Cheerleader Wanda being a tease, soft first-time smut, semi-public, gays who can't keep their hands off each other, fluff, mild angst when they’re being stubborn, friends being done, high school but summer camp vibes, happy ending i promise. Words: 11.176k

A/N-> I’m back with enemies to lovers (and some smut finally). This fic is quite old, but it was abandoned; after seeing Wednesday and Bianca dueling I regained inspiration for what I was doing in the 5k that was already done. You can thank Netflix for this one. I wasn't sure whether to split it into two parts or not, but I think I have longer fics than this one so I decided to post them all together. If you notice there's a pause, because I wrote it as two different parts, you didn't.

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad

--//--

There was something about pissing you off that made Wanda twitch.

It started so long ago, when you first bumped into each other at Avengers Camp three years ago, and Wanda had the best and most stressful Spring Break since high school began; all because you were there and she was winning.

Now, senior year had arrived, and the annual tradition of joining the spring games for an entire week in the middle of nature at one of the most renowned vacation camps in the United States was going to happen again.

Wanda likes to believe that she was not expecting this. It would actually be absurd to admit that she waited, every year, for the familiar image of your old Danvers cap and your bored expression leaving the bus that brought your schoolmates, but if Wanda would be honest, now sitting in the driveway waiting for their driver to finish unloading the car while she lets her gaze run across the entrance courtyard of the Camp, pretending not to look for someone and yet feeling her whole body warm-up when she recognizes the female figure in the crowd of students from the rival school, Wanda has to admit a few things. First, you grew annoyingly attractive every year. The second, she couldn't wait to beat your ass at every game.

"Man, I can't believe we're competing with the Skrulls again, it's the third year in a row." Her twin's complaint made Wanda blink away, her face half-reddened with fear that she had been caught staring. But Pietro seemed busy enough with his own complaints.

"Well, at least we're winning." Wanda retorted making him laugh.

"Fair point." He said and looked at her. "Speaking of which, do you know what games you'll be competing in this year yet?"

"Um, I think I'll check with the girls first. I don't want to end up alone in swimming like last year." Wanda mutters and Pietro nods in understanding.

Soon the monitors are addressing those who have already arrived, and Wanda loses sight of you - not that she was looking - and busies herself with going to the cabin that would be hers for the next week.

You, on the other hand, lose your bag in a pile.

"God, why does this always happen." You grumble in irritation as you manage to see the handle of your blue suitcase, below a few hundred others.

"Every year, Y/N. And I keep saying, carry your bag on your lap, and you keep ignoring me." Your sister, Carol, comments beside you, throwing an arm around your shoulders. You roll your eyes, gently pushing her away. Carol is happy, with her dark, safe suitcase under her arm.

"Stop bugging me and help me." You grumble and she laughs before trying to find a better position for you two to pull your bag together.

With a little effort, you manage to pull your backpack out, and you stumble backward with a grunt - bumping into someone who keeps you from falling to the ground - as Carol pulls your bag out of the pile.

"Yay, teamwork!" She celebrates on the other side, but you are busy turning to thank her who held you up, only to face your best friend with a small smile.

"Bucky!" you greet him excitedly, turning your body to hug him tightly by the neck, and laughing when he spins you in the air.

You met Bucky at camp, and despite going to a rival school, you had enough things in common for the friendship to grow strong even though he was studying and living almost on the other side of the country. Fortunately, Skype and Whatsapp existed, and even as spring ended, you were still friends.

"Hello, my favorite Danvers. " He greets like that only to annoy your sister behind you, who rolls her eyes and chuckles, moving closer to hug him as well as soon as you let go. "How was your trip, girls?"

"Y/N slept the whole way." Carol replies.

"And Carol ate the whole way." You accuse taking your bag from her hand and ignoring the grimace to add, "Oh, no, wait, I made a mistake. She was actually daydreaming about Natasha Romanoff."

"Shut up!" Carol grunted quickly, trying to hit you, a soft pink appearing on her cheeks. You fled from her hands, laughing and running toward the check-in booth where the monitors were calling out names, and Bucky shook his head for interaction watching your sister run after you.

Avengers Camp was huge, and besides the cabins divided up among all the students who stayed there during the vacation seasons, there was a lake, volleyball and tennis courts, an auditorium, and even an arcade.

You were lucky to end up in a cabin with your sister and the other girls in your class - the brilliant Gwen Stacy and Darcy Lewis - who didn't seem too interested in the sports competitions but would surely win any of the scientific tests.

After packing up, all the campers were called to the main cabin, where there were tables scattered throughout the area, where the teenagers were seated ready to enjoy the delicious lunch and listen to the welcome speech.

Nick Fury was the Camp Director and no one could ever tell the real story behind his eye patch, each year new campers came up with new legends that made you laugh - like the story that an alien cat had been responsible for cutting the limb off.

"[...] It gives me great pleasure to welcome the honorary Skrulls from California!" Announced Fury and all the students of your school made a chorus of claps and shouts of celebration, banging on their desks. Fury laughed from his seat in the center of the room, waiting for the commotion to pass before announcing the other school. "And equally welcome, the so-far undefeated champions of the Spring Competitions, the Avengers!"

The rival school made an even better commotion, almost starting a food war. But you were having fun, even though your school had never beaten the Avengers in their home, it was to be expected that they would want to keep their camp as an undefeated venue. Even though last winter during the interclass event, the soccer team lost badly to another school. There was a taunt among the students that if the Avengers played away from home, they would lose. But you and the rest of your school were more interested in proving that you could beat them anywhere, and this was your last chance to be part of it.

As Fury continued with the general announcements - about the rules, and the competitions, concepts that were already very familiar to you after three years - you felt Bucky pull your cap off your head, muttering something about manners that made you laugh.

You were adjusting the tousled strands of hair when Carol gave you a gentle nudge.

"Your majesty will speak now." She sneers and you aren't even confused, knowing full well what this is about before you even raise your eyes to the center of the room again, and feel your stomach do a full turn at seeing Wanda Maximoff step up to the podium with the confidence and posture worthy of a queen.

You met Wanda in first grade, and from the first conflicting interactions, you have an obligation to call her a princess. Because the perfect little girl's posture is too annoying for you not to do so. This, and the fact that her father is a famous politician, and the family is deep in the money, kind of lives up to the nickname. Also, it gives you real amusement to see the pink in her cheeks when you call her that.

And Wanda, of course, is the representative speaker at the games. So every year until she graduates, she announces the competitions and collects the names, as well as basically running the whole thing with the other monitors. It's like Queen Bee and her subjects, and neither you nor any of your friends stop making fun of it.

"I didn't think the Maximoffs were going to come this year." Bucky comments low beside you, as Wanda announces that year's games. And you frown in confusion.

"What, but Wanda has basically been representing this competition forever." You reason, but Bucky shrugs his shoulders.

"I know, but I heard they were going back to their country for college." Bucky retorts. "And you have to admit, while Avengers Camp is fun, it's not worth much here for us to get admission points."

Carol murmurs in agreement. "Man, now I'm pissed they didn’t leave. Imagine a year without having to put up with Little Miss Perfect, a stolen dream." She mocks and you force a laugh, a strange feeling in your stomach. You should be happy at the possibility of not having to put up with Wanda. But it occurs to you that the games wouldn't be as much fun without her.

Clearing your throat, you poke at your food with your fork.

"I think I'll sign up just for racing this year." Bucky comments beside you. "We have Football season, and I don't want to end up accidentally hurting myself before the games."

"But you love wrestling." You say but he shrugs his shoulders, offering you a small smile.

It occurs to you as the announcements end, and students have to move to leave their names for the competitions, that the seniors are not very excited. Probably the stress of college admissions, you can relate to that yourself, still, it's a little sad to see how little participation from classmates your age.

"Danvers sisters, good to have you back for another year." Fury greets you excitedly as soon as you and Carol approach the registration stand - where there is a small crowd of students trying to choose which games they will compete in, and put their names on the prepared murals.

"Hey, Nick!" Carol greets back, doing a handshake that she never taught you with the principal. You merely offer him a smile. "How's the family?"

You took the attention away from your sister as you approached the mural that read Wildness Competitions, adjusting your cap slightly as you did so. There were many options for activities at Avengers Camp, and you usually chose mostly the ones that the public school wouldn't give you access to for the rest of the school year, like Hispism or Fencing, the latter being a secret talent.

"Well, if it isn't the Skrulls’ Golden Armor Knight." A female voice mocked behind you, and you were smiling before you even turned around.

"Maximoff, it's always a displeasure." You retorted sarcastically, your hands in your pockets. Wanda doesn't flinch at your rudeness, tossing her hair to the side as she approaches with some buttons which she as a representative, needs to put on the murals to signal about the teams.

"Having trouble picking your sport this year, Danvers? A suggestion, try to remember that you are going to lose no matter what."

"Really? 'Cause as far as I remember, that shiny trophy up there has my name on it." You retort nodding to where the fencing awards are set in the corner of the main hall. Wanda rolls her eyes. "But don't worry, princess, I'll go easy on you this year."

Wanda lets out a wry laugh, her eyes glittering in defiance.

"I guess it's more the other way around, huh?" She retorts. "Or in case you've forgotten, the highest number of wins is still mine."

Wanda had a point. You could win at Fencing all you wanted - and get the ridiculous nickname of Skrulls’ Golden Armor Knight from the girl just to annoy you - but Wanda still won everything. From archery to fighting to spelling. Never in a million years would you admit that maybe you were losing because you were busier trying not to be distracted by her annoyingly pretty face.

"Let's see how this year turns out." You tell her with clear defiance in your voice, and Wanda smiles, moving closer, and you swallow dryly, your body tensing up. But she is just reaching for something behind you - a jar with other buttons - and offers you an innocent smile.

"Game on, Danvers." She says, grabbing one of the items and placing it in your hands before turning around, hips swaying more than necessary as if she knew exactly where you were going to look, and you choke softly, your face heating up before you shake your head and focus on the badge in your hands. The symbol of your school pinned on it.

–//–

The first day of competitions was a complete success for the Avengers, which means it was complete hell for you.

Unlike basically all the rest of your colleagues who were taking it easy, you almost destroyed a snack machine that refused to deliver your energy drink after you finished in second place for the fourth consecutive activity. If anyone asked, you were annoyed because of the little victorious smile Wanda had on her face all morning, but no one asked, because Carol had to drag you away from the brunette to avoid you jumping on her neck and pulling that little smile off yourself.

"It's so strange to see you like this." Your sister comments as soon as you guys are so back at the cabin, and you flopped down on the bed, grunting irritably against the pillow.

Gwen - who participated in the short race and was still wearing the same uniform as you - handed Carol the small bottle of energy drink that the machine released after you and Wanda got into a heated argument.

"Like what?" you asked confused with your voice muffled by the pillowcase. Your sister laughed.

"So angry." She clarified by sitting down in one of the armchairs to take off her shoes. "I'm the hothead Danvers, you know? You're like, so good vibes all the time."

"I agree, and I don't even hang out with you guys that much." Gwen remarks before moving to grab her shower stuff. You prop yourself up on the bed with a chair.

"What are you trying to tell me?" You ask your sister, and she gives a short chuckle, shrugging.

"Nothing, I just think it's weird." She mumbles. "You're so calm usually, but just walk into the same room as Wanda and you turn into a ticking time bomb. It feels like she has some sort of switch, or as that other saying goes, of the matchstick and the spark-"

"This conversation doesn't make any sense." You interrupt by frowning and standing up. "I am as I have always been, and it's not my fault if Wanda is the most annoying creature on the planet who keeps wanting to beat me at everything. I'll be taking a shower before you come up with any other weird sayings."

The locker room was a complete mess, but at least you were distracted by Gwen's comments about the competition and about the Avengers planning a sleepover to care about.

Since the next competitions were not until the afternoon, you finished your shower and decided to put on a comfortable sweater to spend the next few hours with Bucky at the lake, and were just finishing putting on your socks when giggles attracted your attention.

Well, you recognized the sound, and you had a hundred insults ready to use, but when you turned your face and had the image of Wanda in a towel, they all disappeared with any other coherent thought.

She was laughing at some comment her colleague made, but when her gaze met with yours, her smile faltered.

"Hey, Danvers, nice running today." She complimented, the sentence loaded with sarcasm.

"Yeah, Y/N, congratulations on the silver medal." Wanda's friend, you think her name is Monica, said and unlike the brunette, she seemed completely sincere.

You didn't respond with more than a hum of understanding, suddenly hyperaware that Wanda was without clothes just a few feet away from you. Turning your attention back to your socks, you cleared your throat softly, trying to keep your gaze in front of you.

Wanda took up a locker three feet away from yours. You could see her figure out of the corner of your eye. Long legs exposed and-"

You cleared your throat again, shaking your head quietly.

"Are you going to watch the boys' race, Y/N?" It was Monica who asked - from the locker behind yours - and you frowned slightly.

"Hmm, I'm not sure." You muttered, feeling your face heat up when you saw Wanda take her underwear out of the cabinet. " I don't really have anyone to watch there."

"Really? But I thought you and that long-haired cutie were going out." Monica comments excitedly, and you turn your head to her with confusion. "What's his name again? Ben?"

"Bucky." You correct and don't notice the way Wanda is glancing at you out of the corner of her eye, pretending to be busy with her own clothes. "And we're not dating, he's just my friend. Besides, he decided not to run."

Monica makes a noise of agreement, and you look away because she is suddenly changing and you don't want to be disrespectful.

"We'll watch Pietro race, but I'd honestly rather hang out at the arcade." Monica continues. "We can play something after the race, can you call your sister to join us?"

"Sure, Monica." You mutter finishing your shoes. You stand, and turn around, ready to say goodbye, but you face Wanda without a towel and simply freeze.

She, despite the soft pink appearing on her cheeks, holds your gaze, a small smile threatening to leave her lips as she works to put on her bra. You let your gaze lower, your heart racing in your ears as the image of full breasts and down to her belly and-"

"O-kay, I'll see you later." You gasp with a very hot face, stumbling off the bench and running so fast from the locker room that you leave Monica with a confused expression.

"What was that?" She asks, and Gwen, who you didn't even remember to say goodbye to, shrugs her shoulders.

"I think she may be trying to avoid arguments." She suggests, and the comment makes Wanda sigh softly as she finishes dressing. "Speaking of which, Maximoff, any chance you'll go easy on Y/N? She gets stressed when she loses to you."

Wanda chuckles. " Not a chance."

–//–

One of the afternoon competitions, besides the boys' race, was archery. Which meant watching Kate Bishop, a girl from the year before yours, destroy all the older students. Her coach, Clint Barton, kept smiling proudly with each completed trial, and you overheard some students from the Avengers saying how he was sure to write a letter of recommendation there when the time came for Kate to enter the university.

However, this year you were distracted. Bucky and Carol were sitting next to you, clapping and whistling for Kate along with her friends - Yelena Belova, who was coincidentally the sister of your sister's long-time crush, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, the latter two being on the soccer team with Bucky.

While everyone was impressed by the long-range targets, you were trying to keep the image of Wanda out of your head. The problem was that ever since you saw her without a towel in the locker room, the curve of her waist, and of her breasts seemed to have stuck.

"Are you okay?" Bucky's voice snapped you out of your fantasy. "Your face is red."

"I'm fine." You mumble grudgingly, stretching out your legs and letting your cap cover your eyes. "I'm just resting my eyes."

"Kate just hit a target in the sky." He comments. " It was pretty incredible."

"I bet it was." You merely reply, the image of something far more interesting in your head. Bucky makes a confused face but doesn't insist.

When the next contestant was announced, you grunted softly and started to get up, muttering that you were feeling queasy and were going to get some air. The ironic comment about you being outside already made by Carol was ignored.

You ended up in the back of one of the huts, and as you leaned your back against the wood, you took a deep breath.

Stop thinking about her. Stop thinking-

"Victory is already ours but you didn't have to skip the game." The teasing made you flinch. On any other day, before what happened in the locker room at least, any comment from Wanda would have been rebutted with an equally sarcastic one. But the image of her naked torso was still fresh in your mind, insistent, and you just wanted to be left alone.

"Fuck off, Maximoff." Aggressiveness failed in your tone, as your voice faltered hoarsely over your thoughts. You didn't have time to fix your mistake - Wanda was already mockingly chuckling, slow steps toward you.

"You know, I've been practically fencing back home. I even have a private tutor now." She informs you, to which you just roll your eyes without patience, trying to look at everything but the girl in front of you. "Maybe it's time for that trophy to stamp another name."

You chuckled dryly, stealing a glance at her. "In your dreams."

"No, I'll just kick your ass in reality." She assures you finally close enough. "It'll be too easy, you're all distracted this year..."

Your breath hitched in your throat as Wanda simply began to move closer, eyes intense and provocative as her tone of voice. You stared at her in shock at the magnetic tension between you, wondering if she would have the courage to break the distance as you wished to do. Wait, since when did you-

"Maximoff, Danvers." The voice of one of the monitors broke the momentum completely and made you both jump in fright, away from each other as if you had been burned. "The game is still going on. What are you two doing alone here? I hope it's not another fight-"

"No, sir-"

"Go mind your own business, Logan." You cut off the apologies of the good girl next to you, practically pushing her out of your way as you moved away from the cabin wall. The monitor grimaced at the hostility, but you knew him long enough to know you wouldn't have a problem. Logan was like an older sibling, and you didn't need another in this position. "We were just talking, or rather, Maximoff was bugging me, as usual."

Wanda snorted angrily, but Logan rolled his eyes impatiently at the whole thing. "Back to the game, girls." He ordered, ignoring your grumbling that you were already walking anyway and waiting for Wanda to do the same.

She followed you back to the bow field - Surprisingly quiet. You were too busy trying not to think about her to notice, and at some point, you both took completely opposite directions, drifting apart in the crowd of students.

Carol, however, noticed you coming, and as soon as you were seated again, she looked at you with a frown.

"What were you and Wanda doing?"

The question startled you as if your sister had been able to read your last thoughts. You grimaced immediately, knowing that your face was blushing.

"What? Nothing." You assured quickly, irritation in your voice. "We just bumped into each other in the entryway."

Carol didn't buy the lie judging by the look on her face, but she didn't have time to question - Kate won the event undefeated, and a crowd of clapping and celebrations erupted in the open field.

With the last match of the day, and having won the vast majority of the challenges, the Avengers were happy enough for a Victory party - Which was nonetheless a direct tease to the Skrulls, who by some miraculous luck, if manage to win all the next day's matches, could win the tournament. In this way, the crowd took the celebration back to the camp's main campfire, where the staff arranged dining tables and benches for the first outdoor meal of the holidays.

Alcohol was obviously not allowed, and that never stopped campers from smuggling it between disguised water bottles.

As one of the athletes for tomorrow's competitions, you decided to stay away from alcohol - quite unlike your sister, who took advantage of vodka shots to build up the courage to talk to Natasha Romanoff.

You were watching her awkward attempts from a safe distance with Bucky beside you, laughing softly when the boy announced that he was also going to try his luck with the one he liked tonight.

The thing was, Bucky didn't like anyone - As far as you knew. So the information caught you by surprise.

"Wait. What?"

But he chuckled, waving to a front with his glass, and you frowned trying to find the person. It took you a moment to realize that it was Sam Wilson, Co-Captain of the American Football Team. Avenger.

"Wow, he's..."

"An avenger, I know."

You chuckle, hiding your smile as you look down at your soda glass. "I was going to say handsome."

Bucky was blushing. You gave him the privacy to keep your gaze on Sam, knowing it would get worse if you stared at your friend.

"Fuck, yeah, I know." He gasped softly making you laugh.

"When did this happen?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, back at school?" He starts half uncertain. "We played together and he started to follow me on Instagram. One day, just playing conversation and even insults until it turned into a habit..." He jokes with a short laugh. "We came back here and it made sense. You know?"

You giggle at your friend's nervousness and clumsiness, finding the whole thing kind of adorable. "Yeah, I guess so." You say. "Go ahead, talk to him."

He sighs, deciding to turn his glass all at once before waving at you and heading off to talk to Sam Wilson.

Alone, you think about joining some colleagues closer to the fire, but nearby laughter catches your attention.

There is something about Wanda Maximoff's beauty that takes your breath away. And it's not fair that it seems to grow in the dim light of the moon and the stars. And Wanda, surrounded by her friends, laughing at something she has been told, with soft dimples in her cheeks, it is even more unfair the way the image makes your stomach turn nervously.

Has she always been beautiful like this, since her first win, and you were too busy with the game to notice? Or somehow, the school has changed you enough in the last year to notice that although Wanda was the most insufferable person you knew, she needs to be recognized as the most beautiful girl you have ever seen.

And then, if you think about it as you notice her not minding having her moment with her friends interrupted to help a freshman camper who seems lost as to where their cabin is, you'll realize that Wanda, when she's not competing with you and testing all your buttons, is not so insufferable. You will notice that she has always been kind and thoughtful and that people don't make her the leader of everything because she is rich or beautiful, but because she is the best at organizing games, and guiding people. And if you think about it, you will recognize that Wanda is just as tired as you are at the races, sweaty and breathless, and just as bright and hard-working at everything.

You suddenly think that Wanda deserved to win for the first time, as you have never acknowledged before. She must really be much brighter than you, because she surely wouldn't have taken all this time to realize what she was feeling.

Did it occur to you, so many years after you first laid eyes on her, that now you were really seeing her. There, near the campfire, accepting some more soda, so, so gorgeous.

'Fuck." You gasped in realization under your breath into the night, feeling something burn behind your eyes.

Wanda, as if she could guess, even sense the moment you pined for her attention, looked away for her friends until she met your gaze. She hesitated before assuming the same expression as always - Ready to torment you - but this time, you looked on the verge of tears when you stared back.

The second she noticed, she frowned in concern, all the masked arrogance falling from her face. But you didn't give her any time to react, you left your glass on the first table you could find and practically ran away from there. From her.

And of course, Wanda would be stubborn and insistent enough to follow you. Not daring to call your name on the way as if she guessed that you were going to run until you disappeared, or worse, turn to her and tell her to mind her own business.

When you walked inside the fencing hall, empty of course, she let her head work without thinking straight about what she was accusing you of.

You barely reached the sword cabinet when she walked in through the ajar door.

"I should have known you would try to cheat." She sneered convinced that she had caught you in the act. You froze, not for the reasons she imagines, your hands still on the closet lock. "That's sad, even for you, Danvers."

"Shut up."

She chuckled wickedly, crossing her arms as she stopped a little behind you. "Come on, if you admit it, I might consider not reporting you to the juries."

It was your turn to chuckle - Unlike her, almost tearfully. Wanda hesitated, confused, even more so when you turned to her, and your face had tears dried on the way there on your cheeks.

"Get out of here before I do something stupid."

But Wanda uncrossed her arms, concern on her face. "I've never seen you cry before."

"Wanda, I swear to god-"

"Not even when you broke your arm back in the first year." She recalls as she takes a step forward, and another, raising one of her hands toward your face slowly. You know you should move away, push her before she could realize how much you were trembling, how hot your skin was, but you couldn't move a muscle it. Wanda touched your cheek and you gasped, unable to keep your eyes open. "Sweetheart, what happened?"

It was so tender, so loving that your heart jumped in your chest. You almost sobbed, but instead, your emotions mixed and you raised your hand to her wrist, gripping hard but not pushing away, your angry eyes hiding insecurity that Wanda could only see because she knew you well enough, perhaps better than anyone else, even if neither of you had ever admitted this.

"Why do you care?" That's what you retorted, and it took her by surprise because Wanda didn't expect to have to answer that question. Not to her father, when she insisted that she was going back to Camp this year and he demanded a reason, nor to Pietro who questioned her why she still kept the brooch with the Danvers name on it that you lost to her in a card game in sophomore year. And even less to you, with tears in your eyes inside the hall of the only game she could never win. Her hesitation made you let go of her wrist, a tired sigh leaving your lips. "You don't. I...please, Wanda, just leave me alone."

You scared her. You looked so small, so insecure and uncertain, vulnerable. You? Never in a million years had you allowed Wanda to see you like this. She didn't know how to cope with it.

Your footsteps moved away, and by your breath, you were crying. She came closer but lost the courage to break your privacy. Her mind filled with anxiety - It didn't matter how long you had known each other. You were rivals, nothing more than that. Wanda had no right to invade your space.

"Go away." You insisted seriously with a voice hoarse with emotion and Wanda shuddered. It was different from the anger of losing - It was almost as if she had stabbed you in the back. Or had hurt you.

She swallowed dryly, and before you could repeat the order, she spoke:

"If I win tomorrow, you will tell me what happened."

The deal hangs in the air for a few moments, carrying the tension between the two of you. Wanda almost decides to leave without an answer when you sigh.

"What if I win?"

She smiles even though you can't see it. "You can pick your prize." She says and doesn't wait for you to think about it, clearing her throat before murmuring goodnight and leaving the hall.

You walk away to the trophy cabinet again and stare at one of the photographs of last year's Fencing team. You and Wanda are in it, in opposite positions. And for the first time in three years, you wish she were standing right next to you.

–//–

Sleep puts some sense into your head.

You were practically mortified with shame after thinking about the whole interaction with Wanda the night before, imagining that it now gave her enough power to somehow humiliate you and then hating that you thought that way of Wanda, who despite the rivalries, didn't seem the sort of person who would use a moment like that to mock you in the least.

So you had a foolproof plan the next morning: You would win fencing, and ask Wanda to stay away from you for the rest of the summer as your prize, succinctly hiding any unwanted feelings until it was time to leave Camp so that you would never have to see Wanda Maximoff again.

You think you were lucky this whole thing was happening in the last year.

The next day of competitions seemed to have been more aggressive than the previous one. To your complete happiness, the Avengers were irresponsible enough about the previous day's party to get careless.

The Skrull won the day's activities - Tight, you have to admit - but still champions. It wasn't all of them, unfortunately, but it would put both teams through to the final day of matches the next afternoon.

Fencing was one of the last competitions.

You managed to avoid Wanda and her worried glances all morning, and consequently, your friends and sister, who noticed the lack of fighting between you.

The fencing hall was considerably full when you arrived. Although most people didn't share much interest in the sport, everyone enjoyed watching you and Wanda compete.

She was already in uniform when you arrived, and you ignored with a tightness in your chest her attempt to search in your face for any discomfort from the previous night.

"You're late, Danvers." Professor Jacques Duquesne warned, also in uniform and with a sword at his waist. You sighed wearily, taking off your jacket to put on your uniform.

"Sorry, I... I didn't want to come." You muttered quietly, and the man frowned in confusion.

"What was that?" he asked without having heard, but you forced a smile.

"Nothing. Shall we get started?"

The spectators arranged themselves around you just as the teams were getting into position to compete. As Captains, you and Wanda were the last.

Your team won most of the duels, which on any other occasion would have cheered you up infinitely. But not today, because you spent most of the competition stealing glances at Wanda, who did the same, unsure of whether or not to approach you.

You had to face the champions of her team, as did Wanda with yours, and so when you finally went to face each other, you shared the slightly breathless but undefeated posture.

Wanda removed her protective helmet to drink water, and her slightly ruffled hair and rosy cheeks made your heart soar.

Somehow, you decided that teasing her was a better idea than complimenting her on how pretty she looked.

"Hey Maximoff, did Daddy pay for private lessons for the rest of your team as well?"

Your team laughed at the joke, but Wanda finished a long sip of the water leisurely, staring at you long enough to make you feel completely clumsy.

As soon as she returned the bottle to the table, she stared at you again.

"Are you really going to pretend nothing happened yesterday, Danvers?"

Everyone who was paying attention to the conversation whispered in curiosity, and your body froze. Wanda didn't seem to mind the audience one bit, but you huffed impatiently when Carol asked what she was talking about.

Without answering either of them, you turned your back and walked to the mat, waiting for the competition to begin.

As it turns out, teasing and ignoring Wanda seemed to have infuriated her. The hall filled with tension once the last duel began, and you, and all your confidence as an undefeated champion faltered when Wanda became a beast in the sport overnight.

She scored two points in a row, moving so quickly and masterfully that if you didn't have a reputation to uphold you would have congratulated her.

"It looks like we're going to have a new champion this year." Mr.Duquesne commented proudly and teasingly, receiving a chorus of soft celebration from the Avengers present.

You've had enough.

She tried hard to maintain a defensive position, but you scored within seconds of the announcement that the round had begun.

With the tip of the sword still on her chest, you teased:

"I guess we can't buy talent after all."

Wanda grunted angrily, without waiting for the next round to be announced, spun the sword striking yours, and resumed the duel. You fought back every blow with the mastery of a champion, but Wanda didn't back down once.

"What's the matter, Maximoff, can't get me?" You sneered between one defense and another, irritating her even more. When it looked like she was going to hit you, you spun your body around and hit her in the arm.

The audience, completely tense, split between boos and cheers of celebration. The teacher laughed impressed.

"It's a draw." He said. "Girls, get back to-"

But Wanda attacked you - For a microsecond, you managed to react in time and prevent her from scoring.

She seemed a lot angrier all of a sudden, and you kept up the defense, waiting for a gap that apparently she wasn't going to provide.

Long steps backward to avoid the sword in your direction, in an albeit hurried, fully coordinated dance, Wanda managed to take the fight to the outside.

The crowd got excited and drowned out Mr.Duquesne's protests about rules, the whole group following you and Wanda outside. Any campers who had previously been uninterested in watching the match took an immediate interest in the fight taking place, and it wasn't long before there was a large number of people in an open circle around the huts, trying to watch.

In one of the deflections, you had to do a somersault between two haystacks to dodge a blow that was impossible to block, stealing certain victory from the girl behind you, who grunted in annoyance.

In the motion, you knocked the helmet off your head.

"Going to play dirty then, Maximoff? Fine." You gasped equally affected at the girl who had paused her attacks. "It's our last year, let's make it count."

Wanda removed her helmet as well, her sword still raised for any attempted attacks. "I'm listening, Danvers." She returns between teeth, and you have to smile.

"I invoke a military challenge." You announce then, surprising her for only half a second. "No masks, no tips." You continue, the audience getting excited. "First one to draw blood wins. I might give you a nice scar to remind you who defeated you."

Some Skrulls laugh, but Wanda is not intimidated. She throws her helmet away and raises her chin in your direction.

"What about our deal?"

You swallow dryly, but try to disguise it. "Still standing."

A glimmer of a smile forms on Wanda's lips, and she has the nobility to wait for you to nod before attacking next time.

It's suddenly much harder to fight Wanda. You blame these stupid feelings on your chest because once you realize that if you hit her, you're going to hurt her, you just can't do it.

Wanda doesn't seem to have much of a problem with that, because she attacks you with fervor. You think you might lose, because of the way she starts cornering you, and no chance for you to do another flip, so you despair. If you lose, you'll have to confess why you were crying, and that's unacceptable.

She throws a low, clean hit, but you jump. Before Wanda can get ready for the next one, you grab her waist and pull her to you.

The protest about the rules is muffled in your ears as your lips crash against hers. Wanda gasps, closing her eyes and dropping her sword to the ground at the same second the entire audience goes completely silent, shocked.

It's good, no, it's incredible. As breathtakingly overwhelming as you imagined kissing Wanda Maximoff would feel. She gasps against your lips, pressing back, and your chest screams.

The audience vibrates and you wake up, realizing what you had just done.

You let go of Wanda with a long step away from her, who opens her eyes at the same moment, her breathing now affected for a completely different reason. She looks at you dumbfounded.

"W-what are you-" She tries as she steps forward, her hand raised towards your wrist, but you flinch. You raise your sword, and with one clean strike, hit her palm.

The cut is small, but it makes her grunt in pain and surprise. You feel like you might start crying again, but you declare in a hoarse voice:

"I won."

Wanda's eyes fill with tears, but you assume they are tears of rage by the way she begins to shout angrily in the teacher's direction, saying that you had cheated while trying to be heard as the audience begins to shout your name and spread out in celebration.

Duquesne is equally in shock and mutters that technically there isn't a rule about kissing your opponent.

They lift you into the air, with the trophy, but when you capture Wanda's head-down posture and the completely hurt look she gives you before turning away, you don't feel like you've won anything.

–//–

With an injury, Wanda was out of all the upcoming competitions, which were sure to count in the Skrulls' favor.

Your school couldn't be happier, and you couldn't be more miserable.

Wanda was walking around the camp with her hand bandaged and you just wanted to get away from the people who kept congratulating you on the duel.

There was also the matter of the angry stares from the other Avengers, especially your opponent's twin, which only made you feel like the worst person in the world.

When night came, and a few groups decided to set up card tables from poker to blackjack, you slipped outside to breathe properly.

The universe was surely testing you when you met Wanda across the door, and to add to your misfortune, she wasn't alone.

Some stupid guy was cornering her against the wall of one of the booths - clearly flirting by whispering things in her ear that made her giggle shyly.

With your jaw locked, you approached them in hard steps.

"Hey, Maximoff, I want to talk to you." You announced impatiently, feeling your chest burn with the scene in front of you.

She flinched at your sudden arrival, but the boy let out a short laugh.

"We're already in a conversation, cheater." He sneered, his hand on the wall coming down to Wanda's shoulders. "Why don't you go back to your cabin?"

"Listen here asshole-"

But Wanda sighed impatiently, pulling the boy's arm off her with a shove. "Fuck off you two, my day was bad enough to deal with this now."

She stormed off annoyed without caring, and you huffed impatiently. When the boy made mention of following her, you stepped in front of him, receiving a wry laugh.

"Back off, Danvers." He warned. "You may be a girl, but if you piss me off I'll break your face."

The kick to the ball made him bend his knees, grunting in pain. You didn't let him fall, holding him by the shoulders to mock against his ear:

"It's more the other way, don't you think?" He couldn't answer, still shaking from the blow. You pushed him away, and he fell to the ground, holding his front. "Stay away from her, she's mine."

Despite the pain, he gasped in confusion, "I thought you two hated each other, you maniac!"

Without bothering to respond, you headed off in the direction the girl had left.

Wanda was clearly not in the mood for conversation, but you had to chuckle as you realized where she was going - or practically running at hard paces.

The fencing hall was empty of course. Even the Professor had joined the rest of the staff for the day's celebrations, and so you followed Wanda without any concern.

"I don't want to talk to you, Danvers." She warned between teeth still on her back, hearing your breaths panting from the rush of having to catch up with her. You chuckle humourlessly, closing the door behind you.

"But you got time for some idiot to flirt with you?" your retort came out so bitter - so jealous - that Wanda turned her face to you with a frown in complete confusion.

"How is that your problem?" She demanded but you shrugged relaxedly. The lack of an answer only irritated her more. "I've had enough of you for today don't you think? Leave me alone."

You snickered taking a step forward that made her lock her jaw.

"Come on, what's this?" You teased. "One defeat and you get tired of all? Don't you even want to try a rematch?"

It was Wanda's turn to chuckle, the tension growing between the two of you with every second.

"So you can cheat again? Hard pass."

You smiled, raising your hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

"I don't need to cheat, Maximoff." You retorted. "Everyone, including you and I, knows I'm the best." You declare receiving a snort and a roll of the eyes. But you continue to smile, not losing your confidence. "In fact, I bet I can beat you even without a sword."

Wanda shook her head. "You know what, Danvers? You must have had a few beers, huh?" She deduced, motioning to the sword cabinet and continuing to speak without giving you a chance to deny it. "Any other day, I'd tell you to fuck off and leave me alone. But you were a brat today, that whole scene and whatever manipulation you were trying to pull off with the crying and then the kissing..."

You hesitate, losing your posture completely. "Wanda, I wasn't-"

But she chuckles, interrupting you. "Whatever it is, let's put an end to it." She says seriously, arming herself with one of the swords. "You got what you wanted. Me, out of all competitions because of this stupid injury and your team winning tomorrow. Yep, I admit it. Everyone knows you guys are going to win baseball, it's your school's specialty, and there's no reason to deny it. But let's be honest about today: you cheated. And I want you to acknowledge that I would have won."

You sigh, deciding to put an end to those games with each other, as Wanda wanted. But not in the way she expects.

Shrugging, you gesture with open arms. "I'm really sorry, Wanda." You say in a false tone of regret. "I'm sorry you're such a bad loser."

Wanda grunted in irritation, and in the blink of an eye, spun the sword around - Hitting your open hand and mirroring your bruises. You gasped in pain, taking a step backward.

"What the hell-"

But your shock was short-lived, Wanda moved and you reacted. Without a sword, your only option was to dodge and that was the hardest task.

"Just admit it, Danvers!" Wanda demanded between one blow and another, growing breathless as the movements went on. "I am. Better.Than. You." Each word was punctuated with an attempt to hit you - Not really to hurt but to lean in and mark.

She finally hit you for the second time when she trapped you between one cupboard and another. You protested in irritation at the gentle burning on your thigh.

"You little shit." You cursed low as you dodged her last. Wanda smiled in satisfaction.

Somehow, you managed to get around her after a miscalculated blow that pinned her sword to a cushion. Wanda got busy trying to pull the item out and gave you enough time to jump on her.

Her healthy hand tried to pull the sword out to hit you but you kicked the handle, and the item flew to the ground. Wanda protested breathlessly, trying to struggle away, but you pressed her against the wall of the room by the waist.

Faces flushed from the exertion and proximity, she looked at you with a fury in her eyes that didn't just look like anger.

"Fuck off, Danvers, let me go!" She demanded clearly affected, her fists closed against your shoulders. You weren't thinking straight - Since when did Wanda look so beautiful when she was pissed off? - She tried to throw punches but you grabbed her fists, holding them tightly against you. "You just can't help it, can you? You know you can't beat me and you just keep cheating!"

"Yeah, I can't help it." You pant, letting your gaze fall to her mouth. Her breathing hitches and when you start to lean in, Wanda gasps, stopping struggling.

"Don't." She asks in a whisper, and you stop leaning in the same instant, worried eyes scanning her face. Wanda's fill with tears. "I can't take it... if it's just a game... if you don't mean it."

Your heart races in your chest, threads of hope burning outwards.

You stare into her eyes, trying to read everything she hasn't explained. "You... You want me to mean it?"

Wanda sighs incredulously, tired.

"I've been waiting for you to notice me for three years, Danvers."

"W-what?"

Wanda looks away, despite her rosy cheeks like your own, she looks sad.

"I'm just tired of all this cat and mouse between us." She continues. "Trying to capture your attention for the few days we have together each year. You've never seen me that way, and I just don't have it in me to keep trying to get you to notice me." She declares with a sigh. "Let me go, okay? It's our last year, you'll never see me again after this spring, it doesn't have to be weird on our last days. We can do a truce, and be mature about-"

Instead of letting her finish her completely meaningless monologue for feelings that Wanda has no idea are much reciprocated, you just kiss her. Though abrupt, your lips are soft on hers. She shudders, first surprised and then affected, ready to reciprocate when you loosen her.

"I notice you, Wanda." You confess in a husky voice and short breath. "Every damn day of this camp, from the first moment I saw you. I noticed you, and I liked you. So much, it infuriated me. All I could think about was you and your face and your jokes and every little smile of victory. I never hated you, Wanda, I just hated how much I cared about you."

She gasps softly, trying to believe the confessions. "B-but you never said anything..."

"Neither did you." You retort with a small smile. "We just competed. Yelling at each other, trying to... just put it out, never saying the right words. Well, I'll do the honors, I guess. Wanda, I like you. I'm in love with you. The whole puppy love, to the moon and back, lovey-dovey, carry a torch for-"

Wanda interrupts your sweet teasing with a soft, emotional giggle. "Shut up, you idiot." She says, pulling you by the collar of the blouse to kiss you again. Slower than the other time, bringing delicious shivers to your entire body. She breaks away only to say she feels the same way.

Then you just kiss her again, just to make sure. It's easy to get addicted to the feeling of her lips on yours until her tongue slides over and starts to get too hot all around. The sound of lips slapping together mingles with affected gasps until the pace picks up and all the accumulated lust from so long of rivalry burns between you.

Wanda grows impatient - Her mouth firmly pressed to yours distracts you from where her hands are moving. You grunt affected as she scratches under your shirt, your back, and your torso, trying to pull you over her.

You press your hips together to keep her against the wall pulling out an affected whimper that makes you shiver - But surrendered to the urge, you forget about recent events and press your open palm to the wall for support. The pain is immediate and makes you break the kiss with a yelp.

Wanda opens her eyes worriedly, trying to push all the arousal away. "What's wrong?" She asks, but you're already bringing your bruised hand to chest height.

"I forgot about it." You mumble, trying to squeeze your hand to make the pain go away. Wanda bites back a smile.

"Karma's a bitch, huh?" she teases, getting a short laugh out of you. Your instinct is to kiss her again at the same intensity as before, but Wanda doesn't let you, breaking the session the next moment. "Easy tiger."

A little breathless and definitely missing kissing her, you ask, "Don't you want it anymore?"

She licks her lips, looking away to try and gain some rationality again. "I don't think you'll be able to do much with a bruised hand, huh?" It's clearly a joke, but you're too turned on to catch it.

"Well, I have another one, and my mouth..." Wanda stares at you in stunned shock, her face burning and her eyes darkening a little. You grunt in shame, hiding your face in her collarbone. "Shit, you didn't mean it."

She giggles awkwardly, wrapping her arms around your waist. "You need a bandage, baby. We'll have time for this later."

You raise your gaze to her again, and Wanda stares at you doubtfully from your expression. "I like it when you call me that."

She smiles, teasing and loving at the same time. "Better than shithead, I suppose."

"They both have their charm, I guess." You joke back managing to make her laugh before stealing a few more kisses.

All the way to the infirmary, all you can think about is how happy you are - And how your friends are going to adjust to the new dynamic.

–//–

Falling into a routine with Wanda was as easy as falling for her.

The familiar teasing didn't end - In a way, it got infinitely better, because, after each little bickering, you and Wanda made up with lots of kisses.

The most absurd thing was your sister's reaction. No surprise at all.

"I mean, everyone saw you two kissing." She retorted unimpressed, continuing to eat her breakfast as if you hadn't spent the previous day preparing the best way to tell. You huffed indignantly, but Wanda sighed, giving you a pat on the back before going to sit down. The same reaction for your friends, who seemed even somewhat reassured that now they wouldn't have to endure the arguing.

As for the rest of the people, well, everyone else had their own lives to take care of to give a damn about what Wanda and you have been up to.

With the baseball game approaching and the end of Spring Break, there was an understanding between you and Wanda that your time together was coming to an end. You didn't want to talk about it - to avoid creating impossible expectations if you considered the distance between California and New York and the hurt of an inevitable goodbye.

For now, you and Wanda were enjoying as much time together as possible, and that included escaping the game to make out before and between breaks.

Wanda giggled affectedly at the tickling your fingers did next to her hips, an attempt to make her relax to what was about to happen between you since the first kisses began. The question hung in the air and the way your breaths were uncompressed and your clothes crumpled.

"They'll start looking for us at some point..." Wanda recalled, the noise of the game resuming in the background, muffled by the closed doors of the empty locker room where you two were hiding. Despite the warning, her hands were entwined behind your neck, and her legs tight around your waist. The cheer skirt pulled up by your hands on her thighs.

You hum in understanding, distracted by the soft skin of her collarbone. You traced a path down to the valley of her covered breasts and Wanda shuddered, moaning in anticipation.

But as soon as your hands reached under her skirt, fingers playing with the fabric of her panties, Wanda tensed anxiously, biting her lips as she sought your gaze.

"Is everything okay?" You asked immediately, stopping your movements and staring back at her. "Do you want me to continue...?"

Wanda let out a broken breath, the look full of anxiety made you frown. You were ready to assure her it was okay if she refused when she replied:

"I want to but... I've never done it before." She confesses in a small whisper, and your heart skips a beat. "And also, I had to talk to my friends about this, and they told me it would be special because we like each other but I just kept thinking that it's going to happen and it will be amazing and when you leave, I'll never be able to do it again without remembering you and I'll be missing you back home..."

"Hey, breathe." You interrupted her anxious babbling with a small chuckle, moving your hands to her face, and squeezing her cheeks for a moment. "God, you're so beautiful." You murmured staring at her adoringly. Wanda blushed, looking away, "Hey, look at me, sweetheart. You want to talk about leaving?"

She swallowed dryly, nodding. "I'm sorry." She mumbles immediately. "I know we kind of agreed not to talk about it, but... fuck, I really like you. If I, you know... have sex with you, I'm just sure I'll fall harder. And I don't know if I want to go through the pain of losing you in a few days."

You swallowed dryly, caressing her cheeks as you absorbed her words. Wanda was even more nervous at your silence.

"Say something, please."

You smiled, staring at her. "I'm sorry, I just... I really am in love with you, Wanda." You confessed tenderly, making her blush. "Sex or no sex, I really am. And saying goodbye to you will hurt."

Wanda nods sadly before hugging you. "Yeah, I know." When she sniffles softly, you kiss her neck to calm her, until her breathing stabilizes again and Wanda releases you to kiss you gently, once and twice, until it starts to get hot again and she sighs against your lips, her trembling fingers groping your body unhurriedly as if she wants to memorize.

"Baby..." She called softly against your lips, her hands moving up into your blouse and making you shudder. "I want to make love to you." She whispered taking all the air out of your lungs. "Give me something to remember you by."

Despite the nervousness and excitement, you managed to tease as your hands retraced their way under her skirt. "What, the matching scars aren't enough for you, darling?"

Wanda lets out an affected giggle at the proximity to your joke about the healed bruises on your hands, but the sound turns to a deep sigh when her panties slip down her legs. You maintain eye contact with her, pulling the item down until you take it off by her ankles. Wanda bites her lip hard as she sees you on your knees, moving up your way again with kisses on her legs.

Her muscles quiver as you kiss the inside of her thighs, and Wanda inhales a shaky breath, her hands gripping the table she's sitting on tightly.

"Be gentle." She asks as she feels the kisses coming closer to where she is burning. You let out a soft laugh, rising again to kiss her on the mouth. Wanda has no time to be eager for the delay of her relief, because you grab her waist and pull her closer, the friction between your hips making her whimper.

Your tongue slides over hers hungrily, kissing her until she's dizzy with arousal, and instinctively starts forcing her hips against yours - The uncovered intimacy smearing the wetness on the fabric of your leg and making you moan against her.

One of your hands spreads her legs open by her thigh, fingers coming up fast to tease her entrance and make Wanda break the kiss with an affected whimper.

"Y-yes, baby, please, no more teasing." Wanda moans, throwing her hips against your hand. "I'm ready."

You grunt softly, tentatively cupping the folds between your fingers, spreading the wetness over the entire length. "Hmm, I can feel that." You teased softly, pulling your hand away to get a taste. Wanda choked, blushing heavily as she watched you suck your fingers one by one, rolling her eyes in pleasure as you tasted her. The next second, you moved your hand back between her legs, staring her in the eye before sliding a finger inside. She moaned at the intrusion, and you let her get used to it, encouraging her with your free hand on her back, relaxing her with a gentle massage.

"There you go... all the way in." You narrated softly, having to maintain all mental control not to fuck her roughly, feeling your body vibrate with the sensation of Wanda's soft wet walls on your fingerprints. She pulsed against you, her hands gripping your blouse tightly as the repetitive motion made her legs twitch. "God, you're so tight." You grunted, hiding your face in her collarbone and angling your palm to press against her clit as well. Wanda let out a loud yelp, wrapping one of her legs around your waist and increasing your reach.

"M-more, please-I just need-" She tried to formulate, starting to follow your movements with her hips. You shushed her against her neck, kissing your way to her ear.

"Relax, I'll give you what you need, baby." Was your only warning before removing yourself from her, only to sink two fingers inside next time. Wanda gasped at the intrusion, but you swallowed her moan with your own mouth, not moving inside her until she was ready.

Soon, your movements had resumed, and with your mouth glued to hers, you swallowed each breathless moan as Wanda began to tremble in your fingers, squeezing as her orgasm built.

Just as she was panting and restless, the locker room door opened. She raised desperate eyes to you, but you covered her mouth with your free hand and sped up your movements.

Your skin muffled her whimpers, and you bit your lips at the sinful image in front of you.

"Danvers? Maximoff? Are you guys here? The coach is looking for two." it was some of the monitors, probably checking the camp behind whoever was running away from the game. You reached a deep sweet spot inside Wanda and she threw her head back.

The monitor grumbled in frustration and the door closed again - You barely noticed, bringing the girl beneath you to her climax. Wanda spread herself in your hand, her body spasming against you and a long muffled moan against your hand.

Her pupils were so dark they nearly hold any green.

"Fucking gorgeous." You praised as you removed your hand to kiss her, and Wanda corresponded with difficulty, smiling breathlessly as she tried to recover from the intensity of her first orgasm.

As soon as she could properly match it, Wanda dominated the kiss - One hand moving up to the back of your neck, to tug at your hair as she bit your bottom lip, drawing a soft moan from you.

"Please, can we go back to the cabin?" It sounded like a request but felt like an order by the way Wanda dug her nails into your waist. A warning. "I want you to be comfortable when you go down on me."

"God, Wanda, you're such a tease." You grumbled in a mixture of arousal and embarrassment, moving like an obedient puppy as she stood up on shaky legs and guided you by the hand back to the cabins.

Her panties are tucked tightly in your pocket.

–//–

Disgustingly adorable, is how your friends would describe the last few days in the company of you and Wanda, who have apparently unlearned how to function away from each other.

Especially the last day - Without any concern for the rest of the world while in an intense make-out session against the bus that was supposed to take you and Carol back to California.

"Jesus, I'm going to have nightmares." Your sister complained with a grimace to her now official girlfriend - Natasha Romanoff - who was putting away the last bag in the family car that was going to take her home. The redhead laughed, looking at where Carol was staring and knowing she was referring to your hand firmly squeezing Wanda's ass as she giggled between the kisses you two shared.

"Why are they behaving like they're never going to see each other again? It's traumatizing." It wasn't Nat, but Bucky who spoke as he arrived with Sam beside him, who laughed in agreement. Carol made a mischievous face.

"Well, maybe that's my fault? I may have forgotten to mention to my lovely sister that Nat told me that Wanda was going to the same college as her next year."

"Pretty mean, Danvers." Nat commented with a certain pride in her voice. Carol laughed.

"When you share a room with a couple in love, you'll understand." She retorted. The group continued to watch you and Wanda, until you kissed deeply in farewell until she let you on the bus. Carol sighed. "Maybe if she starts whining on the way, I'll consider saying that she and Wanda chose the same college without even knowing it."

The group chuckled, saying goodbye one last time.

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #elizabeth olsen x reader #marvel imagines

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winxrus · 1 year

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I was rewatching how to train your dragon and I found myself getting extremely emotional again over the romantic flight scene, but this time only purely because of Astrid.

Here are some facial expressions of our viqueen in the film's first half.

Astrid is an ambitious and determined young girl. She carries this weight on her shoulders that is becoming a warrior and protecting her village.

"Our parents ‘war is about to become ours (...)"

Throughout the movie, she´s just so focused and hardworking. She has her mind set on accepting the responsibility that is to fight. She´s a perfectionist. She´s hard on herself, (sometimes making her feel frustrated) and on her performance. She’s practising continuously with her axe as if it was a vital part of her. I have wondered whether she thought she would live a short life considering their circumstances and the price of going into battle.

Her face is always wearing a frown. Her posture is stiff.

The first time we see Astrid smile is during romantic flight.

It´s like as soon as she took flight, opened her eyes and let herself emerge into the splendor of her surroundings, she let go of that pressure. Seeing her admiring the colors, the clouds, savoring the wind on her cheeks… GAH I just started to bawl my eyes out. You could see the weight being lifted off her shoulders. She became lighter, like the air around them. The way she was just touching the sky, spreading her arms and leaning back, feeling FREE!

Up here there is no war. Up here she can be who she wants to be. She was just smiling and feeling happy, seizing the moment and acting her age. AHHH ;-;

Look at all these beautiful facial expressions on the second half of the film I...

I just really love Astrid's development. She was the prime example of your ideal viking and she was the first to believe in Hiccup, to believe in change and she gained so much from that mutual trust that these teens developed. Sure, they achieved peace, but Astrid built such a beautiful and strong connection with Stormfly, she engages in her friendships, she makes jokes, she's more affectionate (at least with dragons and the love of her life), she laughs more, she's more expressive, she's just lighter...Like she's finally found that joie de vivre, which is also cleverly translated through her character design (hair, clothes...). Some people say she looks more feminine and thus less a baddie but I still see my warrior queen who's just happy with where she in life.

Seeing her throughout the franchise blossoming into the incredible powerful woman she is just makes my heart grow three sizes.

Bonus: RTTE Astrid <3 Bless her loud laughter in the series

#httyd #astrid hofferson #Wife #I'm just hella protective of baby Astrid even though she doesn't need anyone to protect her #Also I miss httyd like crazy #My posts #Httyd analysis

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reidslovely · 8 months

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I wanna know how does frat!Peter comfort bashful when she's feeling insecure like when girls are all over him (pretty sure boys are all over her too but they don't wanna test Peter) what would Peter do in that situation?

i think this changes a lot throughout their relationship and how it progresses.

at first when they're not super exclusive (what peter referred to as their feeling each other out phase) she pretends not to care but Peter has like a fucking radar that goes off. like she has no claims over him, and he has none over her so why should she care that there is a very gorgeous, tall, platinum blonde women throwing herself at peter?? but she does. god does she care. so peter keeps his distance but does participate in the fun flirting, because he'd expect bashful to do the same. but he doesn't stay long at all. he's coming back two drinks in hand, arm wrapping around her pulling her close hand petting her hair down. quick with the praise.

"you're so pretty bashful. have ii told ya that since you got here? mhmm."

"shut up." she mumbles, muffling herself with her drink.

"oh no, no no. don't go shy on me, pretty girl."

the quick jab to his side shuts him up, but he smirks knowing he's built her back up a little bit.

however when it comes to them being more official around their sophomore year, bashful doesn't get as jealous but it does definitely make her insecure. obviously this is before the pregnancy. but no matter how quick peter is to shut it down, bashful does still have this eating feeling that maybe there's something better out there for him. peter is again quick to the praise, but he has show off rights now that come with the girlfriend-boyfriend title. so not only is he quick to call her beautiful, or smart. he's also at the jump to talk about how proud he is of her and how happy he is to be her boyfriend.

"can't believe you picked to be with me bashful. i'm really, really, flattered. think about how fuckin' lucky i got to be with you. it's crazy."

"you're drunk pete.." she laughs trying to shrug him off his bear hug as they walk to join harry outside on the back patio.

"'m not...here smell." he laughed craning his head forward breathing in her face. no alcohol on his breath. "minty fresh."

"you're fucking gross." bashful laughed moving her head away.

he doesn't like to outright call her out when feeling she's feeling insecure because he knows how hard that can be. peter himself does get super insecure when boys approach her so he does what he can to assure. he'll even tell the girls approaching him about her. just to let them know right up that he's a taken man and not interested.

bonus:

when bashful gets approached at the start of the relationship pete is quick on his feet, again, dude has a radar. he's by her side as fast as possible, arm around her smiling at the guy. but that's just because he's more outward in his approach than she is.

"been looking for ya bashful, whose your friend?"

the guy looks from her to pete, before he's backing away. peter has a reputation in the frat, he's not the fighter that's totally nate, but peter is intimidating alone with a look. he's only been in one fight since joining the frat, and it hasn't been lived down since. now you put hitting on his girlfriend into that mix??

"yeah no thanks.. this has been fun though." the guy laughs walking away.

'you're such a jealous ass.." bashful laughs shaking her head, looking up at him smiling.

"mhm.."

peter shrugged pressing his lips to her head.

frat Peter gif for the submission

#bambi talks #tasm peter parker x reader #tasm peter parker #tasm peter x reader #tasm!peter imagine #frat!peter #tasm andrew garfield

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mimiatmidnight · 11 months

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Hey! How are you? Would like to say that I LOVE your blog, and I was wondering if you would like to update your top 5 H&M moments, maybe add another 5??

Folks, if you've ever wondered what is the oldest message sitting in my inbox, it's this one. (Well, I'm pretty sure there are a couple others that are a touch older but every time I try to scroll back that far, my inbox just glitches. There are . . . a lot of messages sitting in there. Sorry about that 😬). So I just want to say thank you to this anon and everyone else who has sent me tens of messages over the years asking for this updated post (unless the messages were all from the same one person all this time, in which case, my god I'd feel even GUILTIER).

It's been two years since the original, but an even wilder FIVE years since Harry and Meghan wed in one of the most consequential events in modern cultural history. What a wonderful, special day to look back on their relationship, with even more of my favorite moments between these two unlikely lovers. While writing this post, I laughed, I swooned, I cried. And I, uh, REALLY went off the rails at the end. Content warning for just the sickest, sappiest philosophizing you've ever seen. I'd apologize, but I just can't help it. Harry and Meg just have that effect on me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, with one more thank you to everyone who has been so patient and kind and loving to me these past few years, let's get into it! Five(-ish, lol) more of my favorite Harry and Meghan moments:

5. WE will not look a mess

I'd be remiss not to start this list of my personal favorite H&M moments with what is, judging by the numbers, arguably the entire WORLD'S favorite H&M moment. This iconic video by twitter user @/ddarveyy is perhaps the Sussex Squad's most viral fan tweet of all time? And if qualitative evidence is more convincing to you than quantitative, this video has been blessed with the mark of being liked by none other than Madame Rhianna herself. That's certified social media Diamond. The tweet also spawned some great jokes, ranging from Virgo Harry always making sure to keep his wife looking on point, to some people speculating about certain other, ah, intimate contexts where H might have developed this habit of putting his hands in her hair.

Ahem, either way, I've always seen this touching practice of his as being in the same vein of all those times he watches out for her footing on stairs or treacherous terrain. He's always on standby, always keeping an eye on her, never 100% focused on something else when she's near. You know, just in case she needs help. Or (more likely) just in case he has an excuse to fuss over her 😏 And you know what? Harry strikes me as the kind of man who has waited a long time to have someone to fuss over, someone to worry about and take care of outside of himself. And now that he has that someone . . . well, Captain Wales reporting for motherfucking duty 🫡

BONUS MAINTENANCE FASCINATION:

Yes we're doing bonus content again -- I did say "five(-ish)" moments! The "ish" was forewarned!!!

Anyways, while we're on the topic of sentimentally rhapsodizing about Harry keeping an eye on Meg and her hair, I want to sneak in a reboot of a discussion I had with an anon a few months ago after the Netflix documentary came out. These quiet, behind-the-scenes moments where Meg is getting her dress fitted or painting her nails, and there is Harry happily watching from behind. It's a small thing, I know, but it speaks volumes to me. The intimacy that comes with watching your partner prepare herself to face the world, the peaceful trust and unspoken support. And if you think THAT is me reading too much into it, scroll back to that original discussion and watch me make myself cry over picturing Harry as a kid watching his mom go through her similar glam routine. Y'all don't even KNOW the kinds of crazy parasocial assumptions I can lose my mind over!!!!!

And while we're here barely on topic talking about the intimacy of behind-the-scenes, let's move now from the "before" preparation, to the "after" unwinding (and undressing??). One of the most bittersweet moments from the doc for me was this picture, taken after one of Harry and Meg's final royal duty events. Away from the cameras, and the press, and the people, alone in their kitchen at last. I can think of no better representation of "Leaving the world behind."

4. Meghan "My Husband" Markle

There has been much discussion over Harry being the ultimate "wife guy," and deservedly so. If I tried to put in this post every moment the man has practically glowed with the pleasure of saying "my WIFE," I'm afraid this website would crash from server overload. But a less-discussed, yet equally sweet through line is Meghan being the ultimate "husband girl." And I think no single moment is a better demonstration of this phenomenon than her opening speech last year at Invictus 2022.

Introducing her husband to the crowd of his Invictus family, Meghan said, "I could not love and respect him more, and I know that all of you feel the same. He is your fellow veteran, he's the founder of the Invictus Games, and the father to our two little ones, Archie and Lili. Please welcome my incredible husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex." And then the crowd roared, and Harry and Meghan kissed, and we got all these ooey-gooey heart eyes.

And then as Harry took the stage, overwhelmed by the love of his wife and his community, he choked up.

"Thank you my love."

And I was never the same :')

BONUS "HUSBAND GIRL" SIMPING:

At the 2021 Salute to Freedom Gala, a reporter asking, "Meghan are you proud of your husband?" And Meghan bashfully turning back to answer, "I'm always proud of him." 🫠

And one even blushier, from the African tour documentary. Somebody come pick our girl up off the FLOOR!!!!

3. BAY. BEES.

Ok so I am REALLY gonna have to restrain myself for this section, cause if I put every single heart-bursting baby moment (especially after the FEAST we were delivered through the Netflix doc), I would never be able to finish this post. So I'm just gonna highlight a select few and keep my baby fever in check (and then mayhaps rewatch the entire documentary tonight lol whoops).

Our first real baby moment ever was Harry being so delirious with joy and nerves and just like, raw energy, after the birth of his first child (and then turning around after the big birthday media announcement to thank the horses in the stable behind him 😅).

A few days later, there was a particularly famous photo of Baby King Archie meeting some regal relatives or whatever, but in THIS photo, the two irrelevant old geezers are instead replaced by the new little prince's noble steeds, Guy and Pula. An iconic family photo. Outsold the original, if you ask me 😌

The news of their pregnancy with Lili was world-stopping for many reasons, but most famously it held a powerfully touching connection with the past. Apparently accidentally, Harry and Meghan announced they were expecting their second child exactly 37 years to the day after his mother, Diana, announced she was expecting him. Two extra-special Valentine's Days to remember.

And once again, as I said at the time, I am NOT someone who is particularly occupied with imagining the spirits of the departed watching over us, nor am I crazy about inserting the memory of Diana into discussions in which she has no agency. HOWEVER . . . who could stop the wave of emotions looking at this moment, as the grandbaby she never got to meet reaches out to her photo, through glass and time, trying to hold her hand. Bruv . . . 🥲 Even a motherfucking atheist can occasionally feel God in this Chili's tonight.

I don't even have anything to say about these next two, except to wonder with awe at the universal panacea that is baby snuggles. My absolute favorites:

And lastly, to wrap up this unbearably melty baby section, I have a moment that isn't really about the babies at all. In this video you can watch here, Easter 2021, we have Mama Doria, Meg (bursting at the seams with soon-to-be Lili), the little king himself, Sir Archie, his ever-loyal canine companions, and Harry -- who stands there, on the other side of surviving so, so much, and says almost under his breath, "Come on, family, let's go." And . . . yeah. That pretty much says it all 🥹

2. My Sussex Squad Origin Story

I'm going to keep this one short, cause I know what #1 is about to be and it's a doozy. But I wanted to briefly mention a moment in Harry and Meghan lore that will forever be the most special to me, because it is the one that sucked me into this here community I still haunt to this day.

October 2018. I have just recently managed to recover my old Tumblr password and logged into this site for the first time since middle school. I am scrolling the trending pages and see "Meghan Markle" listed among the top current tags. It says she's recently announced her first pregnancy. "Huh," I think. "I kinda remember hearing she got married." I've never willingly read or watched a single solitary piece of information about the royal family ever in my life. I don't even really know who's who, outside of the members immediately surrounding Diana. But I scroll through the Meghan tag, and I see she and her new prince are on tour. I see a photo. I read the headline attached.

Is that an actual tear spilling out from the corner of my eye? I stare at the tag for a few minutes more. What is wrong with me? Maybe I'll check this page again tomorrow, just to see what else they get up to on this tour. Couldn't hurt to learn a little bit more about this couple that literally stopped me in my tracks. I wipe the back of my hand across my burning eyes. "Well," I think as I try to bring myself back to what I was doing before. "That was weird."

Ha. Little did I freaking know :')

1. A Modern Fairy Tale

And now, to end this long-winded (and -awaited, sorry again >_<) journey, if you will allow me to get a little unbearably sappy.

When I set out to write this Part 2 post in 2023, I was doubtful. Could I even muster up that same enthusiasm, that same untrampled hope with which I beamed when I wrote the original? Harry, Meghan, the world, and I have all lived a thousand lives in these brief five years. There has been so, so, so much unspeakable pain. More than anyone has a right to suffer in a lifetime, let alone half a decade. "And for what?" I've sometimes asked myself. "What is the point in trying to love when there's all this pain that follows?"

This June, we will be coming up on the 10 year anniversary of my absolute favorite Internet meme of all time: Tim Kreider's legendary New York Times Op-Ed "I Know What You Think Of Me," which gifted human history with his startlingly sincere declaration, "If we want the rewards of being loved, we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known."

Well, there is perhaps no one on the planet who has submitted herself to a more painful ordeal of being known than Meghan. She has bared to the world her vulnerabilities, her quirks, her flaws, her losses, her pains. To think of the life she has lived thus far, and the life that she walked away from to be here . . . I can't pretend that I've always been certain of the righteousness of her choice. But as I was working through writing this post, I reached a point in my research where I landed back on the speech Meghan delivered on the night of her wedding, shared in their Netflix documentary. And she told, as she called it, "a modern fairy tale."

“Once upon a time, there was a girl from LA (some people called her an actress) and there was a guy from London (some people called him a prince). All those people didn’t fully get it. Because this is a love story of a boy and a girl who were meant to be together.

“Amidst whatever momentary worries that creep in, they look at each other and think, ‘Whatever world, we’re in.’

“They would love, and garden, and travel, and laugh, and rack up more air miles than any couple could have.

“And when the tides were rough, they squeezed each other tighter. ‘Nothing can break us,’ they’d say, ‘For this love, she was a fighter.’

“I appreciate, respect, and honor you, my treasure, for the family we will create . . .

“ . . . And our love story that will last forever.

“So I ask you to raise a glass to the astounding assurance that now life begins, and the everlasting knowing that, above all, love wins.”

And so, here I am once again, with real actual tears streaming down my face, listening to a woman who has crossed so many oceans and lost so much of herself to get to where she's sitting today, and yet still, STILL, speaks with the same determination and conviction in love that she had all the way back at the beginning. They have taken so much from that woman, but they have not taken this. And so if Meghan, of all people, can still believe that love is worth it all . . . well, then, how could I possibly disagree?

Happy 5th anniversary to the lovebirds, and my heartfelt wish to you all that you may find victory in joy, love, and peace, just like them.

L'chaim 🥂

#meghan markle #prince harry #harry and meghan #anniversaries #see you all again for year 10?#and to many many more 💞

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llamagirl28 · 1 year

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I got to say I never laugh out loud as I did when I finally got to meet Galahad again with his dragon. I know my fierce dragon was angry and mad at how he treated my Mordred (ps: my Mordred is a sweet bean with an Goliath angry protective dad lizard) but I never knew how ready to get into fisticuffs with Gally hahah

Like it's lucky Gally doesn't know dragon tongue because I'm sure my Mordred dragon is giving his best swears in his native language lol 😂 but I'm also sure even if he knew I don't think he would care 💅

Haha it's still funny that most of my Mordred family think being friends with (she has a crush on him but keeping that to herself) is a bad idea. I think that is the only time both her dragon and mother agreed on something.

But at least we still got Accolon and Gareth who tries to be somewhat accommodating to her want to be friends with equivalent to icicle (ps: recommended a song called 'Lemon Boy' by Cavetown because one Gally is very bitter but think it fits for Mordred and Gally friendship and how everyone is very confused on why they are together when make sense not to be. A cute secret wholesome friendship, by day rivals by night cute wholesome relaxing tsundere friends)

EXTRA/ Bonus:

My Mordred's dragon (name: Leviathan) reaction to finally meeting Gally and Gally have no idea how to properly keep his words to himself

Haha glad you liked the scene! 💕

Oh, but Galahad does know the dragon tongue! All human knights are required to learn, just as dragons knights are required to learn the human's language. So perhaps he's not fluent yet, but he can understand and understood Mordred's dragon.

#the bastard of camelot #Galahad

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gemini-sensei · 1 year

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moon x reader smut hcs?

Moon x Reader NSFW Headcanons

Fem!Reader ○ Some chubby!reader but doesn't have to be chubby!reader

Moon loves lingerie and will buy matching sets for her and her gf. She loves pieces that are fun and sexy, so colorful and comfortable go a long way with her. She likes sheer material and just about any style. If she can fall asleep in it, that's a bonus.

For her gf, she'll buy whatever style she likes, but loves seeing her wear baby dolls and teddies because they show off her curves. She can literally lay in bed, both of them dressed in pretty lingerie, and make out for hours with a little groping and massaging in between.

Crotchless panties are high up on her list and she will buy them for her gf. Something about knowing her gf's pussy is that much more easy to access turns her on and will finger her gf when she's wearing them. Low-key loves taking pictures of her gf wearing them after she's made her orgasm and ruin them.

She's very open about sex and talking about it. She doesn't want to push boundaries and will instead sit down with her gf and talk about any limits she might have. It's all about comfort and pleasure with her. She believes sex should be fun, so she wants to make sure that's possible.

That being said, sex with Moon can be goofy. She's giggly and smiley most of the time, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's also room for hiccups and little moments to laugh at.

Open communication is key. She will always ask about kinks and whether her gf would like to try something new. She'll ask if she'd like to try out new toys or positions. If the answer is no, she understands and doesn't ask again. She'd also like for her partner to come to her and make suggestions if there's anything she'd like to try.

A big no for her is causing pain to her gf. She simply won't do it. The mere idea makes her uncomfortable and queasy.

She has a whole collection of toys. Dildos of different sizes and textures; vibrators with varying levels and modes; massagers and lickers for the clit. All in different colors and themes. She loves using toys on herself and on her gf. There's so much potential and they're so much fun.

Her favorite toy is a double sided dildo for them to use together. Holding her gf's hands as their bouncing on this dildo? Heaven for her. It's absolute magic to her and makes her come so fast.

High sex. She gets so horny when she's blazed and made sure her gf knew this beforehand; it was more like a quick throwaway warning before they got high though. "Oh, by the way. I might get a little turned on after this," she said as she lit the joint.

She's definitely a giver more often than a receiver. Giving her partner pleasure during sex gets her off, she just loves seeing them pleased. However, mutual pleasure is great for her too; she has a thing for mutual masturbation.

She's high-key obsessed with her gf's clit. Loves to play with it when they're getting down and dirty, whether that be with her tongue, her finger or a toy. Flicks it, rubs it, sucks it- she loves sucking on it like its a piece of candy and making her gf moan so loud.

She loves rubbing their pussies together and making them sticky messes. She likes to be on top and throw her gf's leg over her should so she can slowly rub their clips together and grind down on that pussy. Her fingers dig into her gf's thigh while she's at it, especially when she's concentrated and she loves it.

Cuddles after sex is a big must. She's the big spoon. She loves holding her gf after being intimate with her and running her hand along her body. May or may not hold a tit as she falls asleep. She'll definitely be a little cheeky from time to time and use the cuddling as a means of squeezing that ass.

#moon x reader #cobra kai moon #moon cobra kai #cobra kai #moon cobra kai headcanons #cobra kai headcanons #cobra kai x reader #cobra kai x chubby reader #cobra kai x plus size reader #moon x chubby reader #chubby reader #plus size reader #smut headcanons #wlw headcanons #dating headcanons #i love moon

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tomesandrosebud · 11 months

Text

CHAPTER 6: DANCES WITH WOLVES! My Babysitter’s A Vampire! Fanfic!

Grandma Weir at first wasn’t so sure what to think of it when the idea of Courtney attending school came up in conversation. She was a little worried of the possible consequences but when they discussed it at dinner that Saturday night, Benny stood up for her cause, promising that he’d keep an eye on her. That this could be really good for her, and it’d be better than her being left at home by herself everyday for hours on end. Grandma didn’t necessarily love the idea but she had to admit that she was very proud of her grandson for stepping up and it seemed he was beginning to understand the responsibilities. So she did end up deciding to pick up the phone and make a phone call to the school that next Monday morning.

The only thing that really sucked was that since they couldn’t get any previous records for Courtney’s schooling, she didn’t have any, they had to lie and say how she’d been homeschooled up until this point but the records burnt down in a house fire. So she ended up getting enrolled at a Freshman level, and even with that there was a lot they’d have to work on if they’d want her to be even able to get away with attending the school at all…

So whenever there wasn’t some freak mission the group was going on slaying whatever supernatural monster, most of his free time Benny would come home and help teach Courtney how to read and write, some basic math knowledge, and then just as a bonus so she could survive in the house alone, taught her about how to prepare her own food like he’d promise.

And Courtney was so appreciative for it and excited, she could not wait until she was good enough to tell Benny how she’d read the entire “Space Werewolf” comic he’d given her by herself. Would definitely take her some time and hard work but she was determined to get there just as a way to thank him.

But also speaking of promises; Benny finally took her to the mall and she could get some clothes. Neither of them really understood style, but when Benny saw the men’s graphic tee section and how much of their stuff had werewolves on it like it was merch, he’d picked one up to show her, at first she’d laughed but then she actually wanted to try it on. Which Benny shooed her away from because that was probably kind of a weird and bad idea, if anyone somehow got any suspicions having it plastered on her clothes probably wouldn’t help, and wouldn’t look too good either. Benny knew that much, that was the section he knew Ethan and Rory to shop in and they were trying for her to actually resemble a teenage girl.

So he led her there. Honestly neither of them really had an idea of what to even grab, they kind of just looked at what options for colors would look good with her hair, and while not innocent in any shape or form, Benny did just kind of see stuff that he knew other girls to wear at school and recognized some of the type silhouettes and how they looked on the girls bodies and how he’d found them attractive, so when all else failed he’d grab something like that.

And then it just kind of turned into one of those cheesy movie scenes of the guy waiting on the girl he likes, as she went to the try-on rooms at the couple of stores they visited. Sitting on the little plush couches and maybe a couple times trying to not entirely creepily but just glance and see if he could get a peak of her while she tried the stuff on, and then almost a montage of her coming out and her asking if she looked okay in the various items, which he always would say yes to as she to him always did. More than just okay….

And he’d always have to snap himself out of it in between outfits and yelling at himself in his head. It wasn’t like this was a date...was it?

No...right?

Later in the night Grandma reminded Courtney that she hadn’t forgotten about that potion she was making for her, trying to get her memories back. But honestly at this point, she wouldn’t say it but she kinda just hoped that it’d never get completed because she didn’t really want them back, not entirely. Yes, she wanted to know about her family and see them again and try to explain to them the situation and why she couldn’t go back entirely, but she didn’t want to know the events that transpired to bring her here in the first place, so it’s safe to say that she was conflicted.

But Grandma did admit to struggling with it a little bit so with that she smiled, giving Courtney more time…

Besides, she wasn’t ready to tell Benny yet about what she’d seen.

Yeah she had to admit things were going pretty well now. It's been a few weeks and they’d definitely gotten to bond and get closer, with him helping her with her learning and everything. But yet again, it’d been going on a few weeks now, at this point and neither did either of them bring up that moment between them from her first couple days, or did another come up between them when they’d gotten that close again for another to possibly.

It seemed to Courtney that Benny was purposely trying to keep a little bit of distance between them at all times and it made her wonder if she’d gone too far before. Anytime that she had to scooch her chair in, he’d back his away from her. Anytime she threatened to close the space between them when standing at their lockers, or at home, even with his friends, it was like he’d cringed away from her if she even threatened to take a single step closer. Rubbing at the back of his neck and looking at her awkwardly. Or maybe the floorboards could really be that interesting?

And thus got her started back on picking at the skin underneath her nails, a bad habit from whenever she’d be nervous, or itching at her skin like she’d gotten a rash.

Speaking of being nervous; Courtney hadn’t been able to make herself transform since that night either. Seems it must’ve just been that she was able to figure it out in the heat of the moment with her emotions being so strong, but whenever she’d try to just do it casually at home, try to channel the power and become the wolf again, she’d always fail. The most that she’s been able to manage was once when she got as far as to make a few patches of hair start prickling up onto her arms, so she knew she had to be heading in the right direction, but just nothing was ever enough yet to push it all the way. And she just hated this feeling, like everything was making her insecure lately.

It seemed the only constant positive she had now was Rory always being around. He could be annoying sure; but he was the only one that straight up accepted her out of the get go. Maybe his intentions weren’t the best, but he didn’t judge her right away for what she was even though being a vampire, he was one of the ones with the most reason too. He could treat her how Erica still does. Alongside showering Benny’s grandma constantly kept stock of that potion to help keep Courtney’s canine scent under control, but even still Erica still made comments about her stench. She never would react not wanting to cause a fight but it did still hurt her feelings especially being that the only ones that seem to want to combat Erica for the nasty things she says and does; are again Sarah and Rory. Courtney understands that Ethan may still not be in love with having her around, but again in these moments Benny wouldn’t exactly speak up for her, but again just choosing to simply ignore it and stare at the floor in the awkwardness of the moment.

But Rory didn’t do that, whenever something mean was sad about her while Rory was around; he’d come to her defense. He always made really cheesy jokes or told stupid stories that always seemed to get Courtney blushing and laughing. He was becoming her best friend and she was so very thankful for him too. So much so that the rest of the group kinda always wondered if there was actually something more between them behind the scenes. But on Courtney’s end there really wasn’t. There couldn’t be thanks to her imprinting.

He was just always around to talk to and be kind in her moments of need, he’d always pretend to be this chivalrous knight, while she was this high princess or queen that he needed to cater to her every whim. Or it was just as simple as whenever her and Benny seemed to be going through a bit of a rougher patch and she’d be worried about not being enough for her grades, Rory would always want to jump in to try and help her study because he could see how important it was for her to do well, and he also didn’t want her to get thrown out of White Chapel either so, he did what he was able. Or she would also lose her spot on the football team..

***

Remember that story that Rory was trying to tell Benny and Ethan?

It was during that first day’s gym class, Rory had encouraged Courtney to want to play with them, although she was definitely nervous. But she did go to play and for a little while it was just some mind numbing fun, the girls kinda just found it stupid and couldn’t care less about “waste of time” but Rory and her were smiling so wide they were having a blast.

To Rory it felt like the first time he’d had someone in his life who just seemed so genuinely so happy to be around him and having fun. He loved the guys and their friendship meant so much to him but he did quite often feel like he was being left out or abandoned, that they possibly didn’t like him as much as any of them did each other and so he was often left disappointed. But with Courtney he just felt this positive energy that radiated off her and her genuine smile as they had fun together. So much so that at one point of the game they decided to break their group in half and do it like teams, Eric and Sarah against her and Rory.

The girls obviously not really trying since they didn’t care, but the 2 of them didn’t care if they weren’t really in it, they enjoyed it anyways, but there was just this point when Rory threw the ball to her for “run past and make a touchdown”

Courtney threw the ball down with so much joy as she ran back and just tackled Rory. Almost knocking him down in a hug, she was surprisingly heavier than she looked, Then lifting him up above herself while screaming in glee. She was also surprisingly so much stronger as well.

“HEY! YOU NERDS!” But their celebration was cut short by some pretty meathead type jocks. A group of 3 giant guys came running up wearing their jerseys and were all suited up with their shoulder pads, helmets, and mouth guards on. The one guy spitting his out to come yell at them.

“WHICH 1 OF YOU THREW THIS?” The nameless jerk screamed loudly, held up their football, it was definitely a dinky, little kids, type football compared to their actual ball, but they must’ve accidentally somehow interrupted their teams practice. Rory, trying to be cool, just took the credit for the mistake and was actually trying to be nice to them and apologize but they just laughed at him and were being so snarky and rude.

“WELL YOU NEED TO WATCH WHERE YOU’RE THROWING NERD! YOU INTERCEPTED MY PASS!” And the guy took off his helmet just long enough to spit on the ground right in front of where Rory stood and throw the football back at him really hard, being a vampire it didn’t hurt him like it would’ve if he wasn’t and he did catch it but that was enough to charge Courtney up just a little bit and her eyes started glowing, but not sparkles, more like a blue flame and she snarled her teeth a little at them to which they just laughed.

“OH LOOK AT HER! THINKS SHE’S A DOG! WHAT YOU GONNA DO PRINCESS?!” The large jock continued to spit.

This just made the fire starting in her eyes all the more and her snarl really starting to come out with her canines showing through the grit of her teeth.

The boys started trying to walk away but she was just getting so annoyed and frustrated as they kept laughing at her. Thus causing her to completely lose her patience and as Rory was useless to stop her…

Courtney ran up to and did a perfect tackle on the quarterback of the football team, but with no protective measures and no injuries, of course to herself but luckily nothing more than back pain for him as well. This definitely caused Mr. G. to come by and notice what had happened...Courtney thought about how she was going to be in real trouble and maybe now she’d never get into the school, or at least she’d already ruined a potentially good student teacher relationship that she’d accidentally even started really building...

But thanks to some lucky main character syndrome, that isn’t what had happened at all..

Mr. G. loved her energy, strength, initiative. Overall he was obsessed with her drive as a student so far and he asked Courtney if she wanted to try playing with the team, she did have to be shown how to play with Mr. G. Being extra nice to her and Courtney getting a complete crash course from the team, but once she got it, turned out at least when it comes to athletics, Courtney was a real natural.

Mr. G. Thought it had all gone over so well that day actually; that he even told Courtney that as long as she could actually get enrolled in the school that he would love for her to be on the team and maybe be the new Quarterback with some practice….yeah Mr. Meathead didn’t like that one bit!

***

Since that incident and talking to Benny about it, he promised her he wouldn’t tell Grandma about her being on the sports team as it was pretty possible that if she knew she would want to shut that down and possibly take Courtney out of school altogether being that the idea was too dangerous. Too much of a risk to threaten for something bad to happen with her powers if her anger were to become too strong. But that was the reason that she absolutely loved the sport. The more she played, yes she did still have to try to keep herself in check, and Benny watched over her about it sometimes, but they both knew she had no intention of hurting anyone. Not even really hurting that jock from before aside from a tackle, so they shouldn’t have to really worry. But football was the one thing that she had where what was different about her for once was her strong suit and not what made her any worse or set her apart. Or if it did was always in a good way. And she was even starting to make a new friend in one of the guys from before named David, he’d even gone as far as to drop his jerkwad friends, preferring Courtney’s positive attitude and her aura. Although there was another reason that she just hadn’t known yet..

So that finally leads us back to now when Courtney has just gotten out of football practice, heading to her locker, still in her pants and her elbow and knee pads. On the way to grab her things and then get in the showers. Courtney’s face and outfit, aside from a black tank top that she wore underneath her jersey, are covered in dirt as she walks along the hallway, carrying the top half of her uniform, lifting off her helmet, taking out the mouthguard, and revealing her hair tied up in a ponytail underneath. She wasn't the Quarterback yet but with hope she was well on her way, but that meant that “Mr. Meathead” was still in charge for the time being and so he was sure to be extra hard on her after the previous events, so she was definitely getting exhausted and needing to take some migraine pills after this. Yawning, she turns the corner when her new best friend sees and catches up with her, throwing his arm around her shoulders, oblivious now to her new state, grass stains and smelling of sweat (it not being werewolf related this time).

“Where’d you get the popsicle?” Courtney sleepily askes Rory who in his other hand is holding and then sucking on a bomb-pop. “Wait, I thought Vampires don’t need to eat?” She asks genuinely curious after looking to make sure no one else is in close enough proximity to hear her.

“Well, technically we don’t have to eat.” Rory starts to go on a rambly tangent, to which Courtney is a little extra giggly and groggy as she tries to keep paying attention as they walk together. “But I really liked the flavors of these before and I’m really bored, and they can be a really good distraction from when we’re really craving some bl-”

Courtney starts leading Rory to where they need to turn the corner of the hall to cross to the other side to get to her locker, when they come across the other two guys of their friend group and Rory gets cut off mid-sentence by Ethan and Benny going on and on how they cried to each other, pretty much in nerd speak about their failed meeting with the yearbook committee.

“ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS!”

The intercom was going off about how tomorrow would be “Picture Day” at White Chapel.

Getting to and opening up her locker she pulls out her backpack that holds her school supplies for the day, shower essentials, and a change of clothing. Throwing it over her one shoulder and tossing in her football equipment and then reaching down to take off the pads on both her elbows and knees, throwing them in as well. Waving goodbye to all the guys until lunch, Courtney slams shut her locker and turns her head towards striding over to the showers.

“I am not even going to ask…”

#mbav #my babysitter's a vampire #my babysitters a vampire #sarah mbav #erica mbav #benny mbav #mbav stuff #mbav rory #benny weir #sarah fox #ethan morgan x reader

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kianaflame23 · 1 year

Text

Final Fantasy XVI Clive Rosfield x OC plus Aquafina, Jill, and Torgal (friend's OC by @tea-r-re-z ) | N@FW ISH

Tagging: @theempressofdarkmagic @aria-lesage @virtuousluna

Let me know if you want to be tagged here! ^ v ^

☆ Kiana being silly again part 3 or 4?? ☆

The group and Kiana were fighting those creatures, trying to make a plan to kill them. Jill getting ready as she pulled out her lance, next to Aquafina as she places her fingers on her chin. Thinking of a plan to survive and killing those creatures quickly. Torgal is definitely ready to kill them as he growled at the inhuman creatures. Kiana is next to Clive as he pulled out his sword. Her mind went blank until Kiana thought of a solution. Well... we know how this will end....

Jill: What do we do?!

Clive: The usual.

Aqua: Let's try to make a plan fir---

Kiana: I KNOW! I'LL SOLVE THIS PROBLEM WITH MY FOUR HYPER INTELLIGENT BRAINCELLS!

Kiana uses her powers to clone herself. Everyone looked at her, worried of what she is going to do... Four clones of Kiana appeared in front of them, grinning to themselves as they start to talk

Kiana clone 1: I'm hungry!!

Kiana clone 2: I'm cold....

Kiana clone 3: I'm itchy!

Kiana clone 4: P@SSY!!

Clive: ....

Jill: .....

Aqua: ......

Torgal: ....

Kiana: .....

Aqua: Kiana... *she smiled menacingly as she turned slowly to original Kiana, Kiana already panicking as she saw her mentor with her eerily smile towards her. Knowing that she messed up and didn't want to upset her even more...*

Kiana: I'M SORRY MISS AQUA!! I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WILL SAY IT!! I AM BEING SERIOUS HERE!!

Kiana clone 4: D@CK! C@CK! *screaming so loud as they want everyone to hear their words*

Kiana: STOOOP! THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO JOKE AROUND HERE!!

Kiana's red face appears as she tries to stop them. Sprinting towards Kiana clone 4 as she used her legs to drop kicked them to their face, making them disappear as they fall down to the ground. Clive and the group watched in silence as they saw Kiana beating up her clones. Kiana yelling in embarrassment and stopping herself as her clones are no longer there...

Kiana: I-I'm sorry.... I'll just stop talking and let you guys kill those creatures.... I don't want to humiliate myself even more....

Kiana decided to fall down to the floor, covering her blushing face as bend her legs to cover herself as well. Not wanting to talk to anyone...

Clive: Kiana! Please stand up! I can't protect you if you're down there!

Aqua: You're going to get hurt, dear!

Kiana still ignoring them as she starts to feel sad and tries to not cry. After it felt like hours of killing the creatures, Kiana refuses to get up as Clive comfort her, telling her that it was okay and she doesn't need to feel bad of herself. Clive caressing her short brown hair as he continues to talk to her.

Kiana:....

Clive: Alright, I'll carry you if you don't want to say anything to me. No complaints, Kiana.

Clive starts to pick Kiana up bridal style, holding her gently as Clive and the group walked away from the place. Kiana slowly starts to sleep as her brown eyes closed, snoring softly as she feels comfortable with Clive's muscular arms holding her safely. At least Kiana will be getting her sleep right?

Bonus ☆

Kiana snoring too loud as her mouth is wide opened, drools coming down from her lips. Meaning that she is sleeping well. The group tried their best to not laugh as they continued hearing Kiana's loud snores.

Aqua: Ah, I see that her snoring hasn't changed at all *she smiles as she giggled to herself*

Jill: Hey, Clive. Do you even get sleep when she's with you each nights?

Clive: I don't..... I have to be the first one to sleep. Last time, I made a huge mistake for letting her sleep first.....

Jill and Aqua: Ah.....

Torgal barks happily as he walked next to Clive, making sure Clive and Kiana are safe. It's a good thing they aren't judging Kiana's chaotic personality and her horniness.

The end ☆

#WELL THIS WAS FUN!!#HOPE EVERYONE LIKES THIS!!#TIME TO GO BACK WRITING CLIVE X F!READER FANFIC >:3 #final fantasy #final fantasy 16 #ff16 #ffxvi #final fantasy xvi #ff #clive rosfield #clive rosfield x me #clive rosfield x oc #ffxvi oc #ff16 oc #friend's oc #jill warrick #torgal #clive x oc #clive rosfield x my oc

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with-love-from-hell · 1 year

Text

5 Sides of Human

{Part Twenty}

Genre: Mixed

WC: ~5.6k

CW: Slight Asmo angst, allusion to past trauma, Barbatos is angy and sus, anxiety, Storm has a stutter but I am not depicting it with written word consistently, prolly lots of typos lol, spoilers for season 1&2, I'm skipping over/changing some things I didn't like in the main story so it will be a bit different from canon!

Series Masterlist

©️ artwork commissioned by @vivi8bit ©️

“And the winner of this year’s Bloody Moon competition is...” Diavolo paused, lips stretching into a large, enthusiastic smile causing the crowed to murmur in excitement. They had been sure the winner of the most appealing person in Devildom this year would again be Lucifer, as he had won the title every century since arriving in the Devildom, but with Asmodeus literally running a whole campaign team along side him, the results seemed like they would end up being very close. Diavolo received the slip announcing the winner from the envelope, giving a boisterous laugh. “Asmodeus!”

Lucifer and Diavolo clapped, offering their congratulations as Asmo screeched at the top of his lungs, snatching up Sarah, Heart, and Storm in a tight group hug that winded all of them. Storm winced, trying to cover her ears from the loud screaming directly in her face and the celebratory poppers everyone was firing off around them. He bum-rushed the stage, snatching the microphone from Diavolo and giving a tearful speech of how grateful he was to finally be recognized, specifically shouting out his close human friends as a source of support. As Asmo finished his speech, the crowd erupted into applause.

“Congrats Asmo! We love youu!” Sarah screamed toward the stage, pressing her fingers into a heart.

Heart clapped giddily at her side, yelling “Yas queen”

Storm clapped quietly smiling to herself about the results, though feeling exhausted from all of the work she put in to helping him win, despite the fact that she didn’t really care about the competition at all- especially finding out Lucifer didn’t care either, and only happened to win by chance during every competition. She stood on her tip toes, trying to find where he went from the side of the stage; only seeing a door close to the RAD gardens from beyond the ballroom. She decided to follow, snaking her way through the crowd in the auditorium. She needed a respite from the loud environment around her that was producing a headache, and maybe would spend a brief moment alone with him as a bonus.

Asmo jumped off the stage as the party music started, rushing over again to where Heart and Sarah stood, still clapping and cheering. Asmo captured them both in a hug once more, feeling warm at first with the affection the two were providing. He glanced around, Seeing most of his brothers completely disinterested in what was happening, and noted the disinterest of Vivi and Fern throughout the ceremony. But now, even Storm had gone missing. His wide smile then turned into a frown, his shoulders slumping a bit.

“What’s wrong, Asmo?” Heart felt his body droop as they exited the hug, and was worried about the sudden change in demeanor.

Asmo gave Heart a sad smile. “I’m fine. I was just hoping everyone would be as excited for me as you two are...but it seems like no one really cares.”

Heart felt their heart shatter at the sadness in Asmo’s demeanor, clutching his hand and pulling him into another hug. “I’m sorry you don’t feel supported by them, but us- we’re glad you won. We want nothing more than to see you succeed!”

“Mmhm.” Asmo sighed sadly, lost in his thoughts about his worth to his brothers and the other humans. Heart gave Sarah a worried look, and she shrugged in response.

“Asmo...” Heart paused, feeling their shirt become wet with what they assumed were Asmodeus’ tears. They rubbed his back reassuringly. “Lets take a walk.”

Asmo reluctantly agreed, though dragged slowly behind Heart as they guided him through the crowd, who all kept trying to stop him and get pictures or ask him to dance. He managed to bypass them with promises of a photoshoot later, and breathed a sigh of relief when the cool night air swept his hair up in a breeze. Heart slowly walked hand-in-hand with Asmo along the path, seeing Storm chatting with Simeon to the west near the gazebo. He quickly bypassed them without acknowledging their presence, taking Asmo further to the small pond in the center of the garden.

He sat cross-legged near the edge, patting the soft grass next to him for Asmo to sit. He obliged, snuggling up against Heart’s shoulder. He began to sob, crying into Heart for support as he expelled the hurt of feeling rejected from everyone else. Heart held him, hushing him softly and reminding him that they were here.

“Just because they don’t pay any mind to the competition doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.” Heart murmured, combing their fingers through Asmo’s soft hair. “Beauty competitions just arent everyone’s thing.”

“I know...I know...” Asmo sighs. “I guess just with all the energy I put into it, it really seems like half of them really only cared about Lucifer losing. I thought that winning this would make them realize that I’m worth something beyond being beautiful...but I guess I kind of went overboard with how obsessive I got about winning...”

Asmo.” Heart sighed. “You are worth something beyond your beauty. Thats not all of who you are. I wish you would come out from behind that shield sometimes like you do with me and Solomon- I think the others would appreciate seeing the real you too.”

“W-what do you m-mean?” Asmo stammered, confused as to what Heart was talking about.

“You’re more than beauty. You’re super bubbly and outgoing, fun to be around, you’re a legit genius when it comes to cosmetics and makeup, and you’re the most emotionally available out of all of your brothers, but that’s not it. You are genuinely caring, filled with as much love for your family as you have for yourself, you are passionate, give the best compliments because you read others very well, and you have a good intuition for when people are feeling down. Just because your brothers only see you as a vain and selfish person who only cares about their appearance, doesn’t mean that is you.”

Asmo was quiet for a moment, mulling over their words. Heart adjusted themselves so that they could look into Asmo’s eyes, smushing his cheeks in the process.

“You could be the ugliest being in the entire 3 worlds, and I would still love you. And your brothers do too- this is just how brothers are, as shitty as that sounds. Just look at the arguments you and Mammon get into- I’m sure you regret saying some things to him sometimes- but that’s another thing I love about you. You’ve got quite the sharp tongue.” Heart let out a laugh. “There’s so many things to love, It’s hard to list them all.”

Asmo glanced down bashfully, his cheeks still smushed in Heart’s hands. If they weren’t, Heart would have seen the glorious blush that exploded around his whole face. He had no idea that someone could make him feel so special.

“You’re beautiful because you’re you Asmo.” Heart whispered, planting a delicate kiss on his puffed lips. After parting, he released Asmo’s face, pleased to see the wide smile that was worn plainly on his lips. Asmo paused, staring into the water for a moment.

“No one has ever told me these things in earnest before.” He muttered, his smile growing wider. “I’m probably the luckiest being in all the three worlds to have someone like you, Heart.”

Heart felt their chest feel full at Asmo’s praise, and the thrum of their heart nearly doubled in speed as Asmo turned back to them with shimmering eyes, capturing them in a deeper kiss.

“Heart...” Asmo murmured, mere centimeters away from their lips. “I...I want a pact with you.”

Heart’s eyes widened. “Huh? Really?”

Asmo keened, inching his body closer to him. “I want to feel as closer to you. And this was how I got to feel closer to Storm and Solomon. Would you mind? Please?”

Heart thought over the offer for a moment, and seeing the pleading look behind Asmo’s eyes made it hard to refuse. “Of course.”

Asmo smiled widely, capturing heart in a hug. Like Lucifer did to Storm, he traced the outline of his sigil with his nail above Heart’s own heart, wanting this pact to be more special than any he had with another human. He kissed the spot tenderly, the pink glow fading into a scar shortly after his lips left the skin. He smiled, proud to have been able to connect so well with the purple-haired human.

“I think I’m ready to go back to the party now.” Asmo beamed, happy with the development of their relationship. “I’m feeling better.”

“Good.” Heart stood, helping Asmo to his feet. “Lets get on to celebrating your well-deserved win.”

“Will I get an even more special private celebration with you later?” Asmo smirked, tracing the wrinkles on Heart’s sleeve as if to tease them.

Heart blushed deeply, the pact mark on their chest beginning to glow. “Maybe...heh...I guess we’ll just have to see.”

Asmo giggled, taking notice of the mark’s subtle glow. He noticed it in Storm too, whenever she would feel or indulge in one of the brother’s sins. He squeezed Heart’s arm tightly. “Oooh, you can’t tease me like that, Heart!”

Lucifer dropped into his seat in the dark council chambers, immediately pressing his head in his hands to try to ease the throbbing pain behind his eyes. He groaned, trying to figure out what in the hell was causing such intense migraines to occur so frequently. He was no stranger to headaches, often coming on in response to stress caused by his brothers, but this felt...different. He attempted to use the remedies suggested to him by Storm- peppermint oil, menthol, herbal tea, cold towels over his eyes, reducing light exposure, drinking more water, getting more sleep, taking more breaks from his work...but all seemed to only temporary release from the ache that seemed to be like the weight of an anchor in his head. It had become a daily occurrence, sometimes happening multiple times per day, and would last hours. He gently rubbed his eyes, almost finding himself wanting to cry at the pain.

Perhaps he should text Storm to accompany him home and-

“Lucifer, I didn’t expect you to have left such a jovial celebration so early.”

Diavolo’s voice from behind him caused him to jump slightly, and he cursed himself for being so much more on edge given his current state. He tried to press down the discomfort and address his superior adequately. “My apologies, my lord. I needed to take a moment away.”

“Is something troubling you?” Diavolo eased into the chair next to him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

Your damn right something’s troubling me, he wanted to say. Not only were the migraines a problem, but Diavolo still was keeping his distance from him, and not telling him of the things that seemed to be continuously pulling him away, producing extra work for Lucifer to do in his absence. He took a deep breath, trying to channel the advice of Storm throughout the past couple weeks. “Actually, my lord, there is. I have been patient with this, but I would like to know what’s been going on with you and Solomon. I am fearful that there is something you’re keeping from me on purpose.”

Diavolo paused, squeezing Lucifer’s shoulder and then giving a weak chuckle. “There really is no use trying to hide anything from you, is there?”

Lucifer looked to him, his eyes narrow. “What is going on, Diavolo?”

“Please understand, Lucifer...” Diavolo sighed. “I know that you are concerned, but there are still pieces of a puzzle I am trying to put together. I’m afraid I don’t have a direct answer to that question yet. If I did, don’t think for a minute that you wouldn’t be one of the first to know.”

Lucifer’s nose twitched in frustration. “Why is that I can’t know now?”

“Things are uncertain, and I’d rather give you a direct answer than-”

“Why don’t you trust me with your uncertainty?” Lucifer muttered sadly, trying to ignore the increased throbbing in his head. “Why is it that that sham of a sorcerer is at your side over one of your most trusted advisors?”

“I hardly think you have room to speak, Lucifer.” Barbatos’ voice jerked both of their attention to the dark corner of the room. Lucifer squinted, seeing the glint of almost reptilian teal eyes shine in the moonlight, staring angrily at him. Lucifer was taken aback, having no idea what it is that he had done.

“Barbatos, I thought that I requested you to wait in the hall.” Diavolo straightened his posture. “I wanted to speak with Lucifer alone.”

“Anything that you can say to him you should be fine to say in front of me, my lord.” Barbatos shifted his eyes toward Lucifer, narrowing them into a glare. “Besides, you are needed elsewhere at the moment, and it’s urgent.”

“So be it.” Diavolo subtly rolled his eyes, turning back toward Lucifer. “Lucifer, I do trust you, but there are things happening that I want the cause to be sure of before I speak it into existence. Your focus should be on the wellbeing of the exchange students and your brothers.” Diavolo chuckled, but was met with an icy silence from Lucifer. “You do have your hands quite full with them right now, I can see it in everything about you.”

He straightened his back suddenly. “What do you mean by that?”

Diavolo shook his head with a sigh. “Lucifer, you are clearly running yourself into the ground, you’re more ornery than usual, and you have begun to procrastinate on some of your paperwork recently, which frankly I am glad to see. I am unsure how you kept up on it so diligently before this point, but still it is unlike you. I don’t want to add more worry to your plate.”

“Diavolo, please.” Lucifer nearly begged, trying to keep the nausea that had begun to develop from the pain at bay. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Diavolo sighed. “I will in time. Please, just don’t trouble yourself with it anymore.”

Lucifer frowned as Diavolo rose from his chair and made his way back toward the entrance to the council chambers. He paused for a moment at the door, turning back to face him with a smile on his face.

“Oh, and by the way- I saw your report on Storm’s grades. She’s doing rather well, wouldn’t you say? Perhaps we should put her abilities to more of a strict test.”

Lucifer raised a brow at him. “What do you mean?”

Diavolo chuckled. “Lets go talk to her, I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know she’s doing so well. It’s a good reflection on your guidance, after all.” Diavolo pushed his way through the doors, immediately bombarded with reporters asking for his thoughts on the results of the Bloody Moon competition. He began to boast on his pride in Asmo winning, only to have the door close and shut his boisterous voice away from the chambers. Lucifer sighed, moving to stand when something smooth wrapped around his wrist and yanked him back down to his seat. He whipped his attention around, only to be met with the face of a very angry Barbatos.

“You have some nerve questioning the young master’s decisions in such a way, Lucifer.”

“Do I not have a right to know what problems are going on if I am working along side him?” Lucifer growled, and attempted to free his wrist from Barbatos’ tail, struggling with how tightly wound it was around it. He was unsure why Barbatos was in his demon form, and found himself fearful of what had occurred to make him so angry.

“Maybe so, but the young master has a reason for why he is choosing to keep this from you, and I suggest you respect that given the circumstances.” Barbatos eye twitched, tightening his grip on Lucifer’s wrist.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucifer narrowed his eyes as Barbatos leaned down over him.

“What I mean is that I believe you should re-evaluate where your loyalties lie in your service to the throne, Lucifer.” Barbatos hissed quietly. “You serve Lord Diavolo, as you promised all those years ago. Yet, you seem to have grown quite fond of allying yourself with those who are threats to his position.”

Lucifer titled his head in confusion. “I do not ally myself with Diavolo’s enemies.”

“Do you need a reminder to what had occurred last spring with Belphegor? And perhaps your budding relationship with Miss Storm has just been a figment of my imagination.”

Lucifer swallowed nervously. “Belphegor has realigned thanks to the help of Storm...and there is no relationship between us.”

Barbatos scoffed, finally releasing Lucifer’s wrist. a red mark was left from where circulation began to be cut off. He leaned closer to his face, his hands wound tightly into a fist as his tail flicked in agitation behind him. “I wonder, Lucifer. If it came down to it, who’s side would you chose? I thought I knew the answer and that your allegiance to the young master was unwavering, but now I’m not so sure of where your loyalties lie.”

Lucifer and Barbatos’ heads whipped towards the sudden opening of the council doors. Diavolo stood with a worried expression painted on his face, gesturing for them to follow. “Come on, you two. I have found Storm in the Garden. We shouldn’t keep the good news of her performance at RAD all to ourselves!”

Barbatos’ tail flicked a few more times before straightening and eventually dissipating as his demon form fizzled away. He quickly fell in line at Diavolo’s side, offering a final sentiment as Lucifer made his way toward them as well. He leaned over to Lucifer as they followed Diavolo through the crowd. “I suggest you give what is to become of your relationship with that human some thought before provide an answer to my question.”

Lucifer swallowed, only offering a nod in response. His eyes immediately fell to her as they exited the auditorium, and jealousy immediately spiked in seeing her so intimately close to Simeon. His eye twitched and he directed his sight downward, trying to qualm the anxiety building in his chest at what Barbatos had said about his loyalties.

Perhaps he did need to reconsider how intense his feelings were becoming for the small redhead.

Sarah sighed as Asmo and Heart disappeared through the crowd. She was left alone amongst a see of partying demons, which usually wouldn’t be so bad, but she felt sorry for Asmo’s sadness at Storm and his brothers seeming bailing on him. Levi had begged to stay home, so she didn’t even have him as a distraction from the awkwardness she felt inside. She pushed her way to the outer layer of demons, seeing if she could find Fern or Mammon to occupy her thoughts with more pleasant ones. She glanced around, seeing the top of Fern’s green hair in the distance near the snack table. She smirked, walking toward the sound of their annoyed voice.

“I BET I CAN!” Fern yelled poking Belphie hard in the chest. He had a teasing smirk on his face.

“I’d put my money on Fern. Ain’t nobody who cooks worse than Solomon.” Mammon shuddered, stealing a glance at the untouched cupcakes next to them that looked food poisoning on a tray.

“I dunno, remember the one time Fern was on dinner duty and Lucifer had to take them off the schedule because they nearly burned the house down?” Belphie gave a half shrug. “Besides, it’s not like your taste in food is very refined, You make instant Ramen almost every time for dinner.”

“Oh and yours is?” Fern narrowed their eyes. “You always make easy stuff too.”

“Oh really? You tried making a cup of instant Brimstone Macaroni in the microwave and burned it, so how easy is it really in comparison Fern?”

“Whatcha guys talkin’ about?” Sarah strolled over, acting overly innocent with her hands clasped in front of her.

Belphie tilted his head toward the cupcakes. “We saw these were made by Solomon and started talking about how someday he’s going to kill us all with his cooking.”

"And then Belphie said Fern couldn’t make a better meal than Solomon.” Mammon added.

“And I say I can!” Fern glared at Belphie, who shook his head in response.

Sarah nodded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “I see...Well, how about we put it to a test.”

“A test?” Mammon gestured for her to continue explaining. “Whatcha mean?”

Sarah smiled evilly. “Hehe...I mean, lets make it a competition.”

Mammon smirked. “Ohh I see.”

Sarah pointed to Fern. “What do you want it you win?”

“Huh? Oh...Uh...” Fern thought for a moment, caught of guard by the question. The others waited with bated breath, until a mischievous smile curled onto their lips. “I want a freshly plucked feather from Lucifer’s wings. As a trophy. And I want Belphie to do it.”

“What?!” Belphie shook his head. “No way! You’re crazy.”

“What’sa matter, cowboy?” Fern teased. “You seemed so confident a few minutes ago!”

Belphie scowled. “Fine! Deal. But If I win, and Solomon is a better cook than you, you have to...” Belphie paused, trying to think of what it is that he wanted.

“They have to go on a date with Lucifer.” Sarah giggled, seeing the horror manifest on Fern’s face.

“Um, excuse me!?” Fern screeched, wildly shaking their head. “I don’t fucking think so!”

Belphie snorted. “Yeah, I mean I don’t think we’d ever convince Lucifer of that. He likes Storm too much and I think Fern is his least favorite of the humans.”

Sarah smiled. “Don’t worry, I can figure that part out. The punishment for losing has to be fitting for each of you, don’t you think?”

They both groaned, glancing back to each other with a brief flash of uncertainty on their features, but it quickly shifted back to one of competitiveness. They shook hands, staring each other down. “Deal.”

Sarah smiled, the evilness behind her expression only growing. “Great, then I’ll find Solomon and tell him to cook something for me. How about we do something like...A shepherds pie?”

“What the hell is even that?” Fern looked confused, only to make Sarah’s eyes flash with mischief.

“Oh, this is gonna be good.”

“Oh, Simeon.” Storm paused, not realizing it was in fact Simeon she had followed out the door instead of Lucifer. “I didn’t realize it was you who was out here.”

“Aww, were you expecting Lucifer?” Simeon smirked teasingly, giving a slight laugh when Storm’s cheeks turned bright red. “I’m only teasing. Come here, Storm. I’ve actually been meaning to get a moment alone with you.”

She gave a weak smile back and approached to where Simeon sat on the bench, watching some birds flock around the Gazebo, where plenty of seed had been left out for them to munch on.

“It feels like I haven’t gotten to properly spend time with you at all since you’ve returned.” He mused, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. “Even in your visit to the celestial realm, Luke provided a significant distraction. Besides that though, your mind seemed to be elsewhere throughout the trip.”

Storm nodded, giving a light chuckle. “Well...you know how Luke is. When he gets excited about something it’s hard to get him to calm down. But, I agree. I’ve missed spending time with you.”

Simeon felt his heart grow full at the statement. “That makes me happy. How are you getting along here this time around?”

“It’s going good...I think.” She laughed. “It kind of sucks that Malice is too anxious around Demons still to come to RAD with me, but he seems to be warming up to everyone in the HOL. Especially Beel, weirdly enough.”

“Malice...what an interesting name for a dog.” Simeon gave an amused laugh. “How does one end up with that sort of name?”

“Well, apparently as a puppy he was a nightmare.” Storm laughed fondly. “I didn’t own him until after he was trained for me, but the stories I heard...It seemed he liked to cause problems on purpose.”

“Hmm...That sounds like a familiar set of demons who I’m sure you’re acquainted with...” Simeon replied sarcastically, causing Storm to laugh. “It’s amazing how that personality seems to be drawn to you. Fern and you are getting along quite well, yes?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of fun having a roommate.” Storm smiled. “But I’d say I have been getting along well with the other humans here too- even Vivi.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Storm smiled fondly.

Simeon nodded, smiling warmly. “Well, isn’t that just like you, though? You seem to just naturally bring out the best in those around you.”

Storm blushed. “I dunno. This is the first time I’ve really had this good of a connection with other humans before.”

“Perhaps the others are the problem?” Simeon raised an eyebrow at her.

“Maybe...” Storm looked down, clearing her throat and deciding to change the subject. “So, how have you been?”

“Well...” Simeon tapped his chin, giving a slight giggle after a moment of thought. “Solomon keeps offering to cook for us, so we have to keep getting creative in ways to turn him down.”

Storm chuckled. “Has anyone tried to tell him that he shouldn’t be within 5 feet of a stove at any time?”

Simeon laughed. “We try to drop hints, I suppose. Though apparently he’s tried to have Barbatos teach him to cook. From what I hear, those lessons don’t go so well.”

Storm and Simeon shared a laugh for a moment, which faded into a comfortable silence. She relished in being able to spend time like this with him again. The two had become quite close during the first exchange program, though it seemed like something always interrupted their opportunities to be alone together. Simeon, though, was the only one Storm felt comfortable enough to confide in with her problems with Lucifer at the beginning of the first exchange program, and he consistently offered good insight into Lucifer’s mannerisms and advice on how to deal with his previous defensiveness over his family. Simeon was shocked when Lucifer began to accept her as one of his own siblings though, not expecting his advice for how to coexist with him to manifest into such a close and loving relationship.

As they quietly watched the birds fight over a larger seed, Storm’s mind began to wander to the disastrous rehearsals during the play, and what had seemed to be a complete personality change in the usually sweet angel.

“Can I ask you something?” Storm anxiously stole a glance toward him, watching Simeon’s smile fade into a concerned frown.

“What is it?”

“What was up with you during the play? You kind of got...like...mean?” She bit her lip after the words came out, feeling nervous as to how Simeon would respond.

“Oh...” He glanced to the ground, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “I guess I didn’t realize that, but looking back...I suppose I was a little harsh.”

“Yeah, and I just...” She breathed, trying to manifest the image of Mammon in her head from the night of the ball. His words rang through her head, giving her the confidence to tell Simeon how she felt.

“I wan’t ya to value yourself as much as I do. Ya shouldn’t accept anyone talkin’ to ya in the way that I did.”

“You just...what?” Simeon had turned completely to her, his own nervousness bubbling up in how long she was hesitating to say something. He knew she had a hard time telling people when she was hurt, and if he had indeed hurt her, he wanted to know so he could make amends. Simeon couldn’t stand the idea of Storm being mad at him. She was his friend, and a close one at that. She had given him a lot of solid advice on Luke and his interactions with the brothers, and his fondness for her kind and gentle nature only grew over time. He even found himself feeling a slight twinge of jealousy at how inseparable she seemed to be from the brothers- not only because he secretly wanted her time to himself, but also because he wanted to be as close to them as she was.

Storm breathed deeply again. “I just didn’t like the way you pulled me- er, us- around and your yelling kind of...” She trailed off, losing her confidence after looking at the surprised face. She dropped her glance just as Heart and Asmo briskly walked out the doors of RAD, toward the opposite end of the garden.

“Oh...” He murmured, sliding his hand closer to her. She had told him about how terrified she was at the sound of raised voices as a result of her trauma, and he felt terrible for having triggered some of those awful memories. “I’m so sorry. I guess when it comes to my writing, I get a little carried away in wanting a perfect execution, but I didn’t realize it got so bad that I hurt you.”

Storm smiled weakly, feeling guilty for making Simeon feel bad. Her thoughts began racing, accusing her of stirring the pot and minimizing the hurt she actually felt. “I mean, it’s water under the bridge now, y’know? I just...I wanted to make sure you knew and that I was feeling better about it now...You don’t have to feel bad or-”

Simeon laughed, shaking his head. “Storm, it’s okay. I’m glad you told me. I’ll offer an apology to everyone, but I want to ask what I can do to make things better between us?”

“Oh, no no...You don’t have to do anything...” Storm picked at the skin of her arm, the guilt building further at Simeon requesting to do something to make up for things that she had now convinced herself weren’t really that big of a deal.

“But I want to.” Simeon smiled, now reaching his hand out to her knee gently.

There was silence for a moment as Storm tried to figure out the least burdensome way she could fix this situation. She sighed, about to speak when the doors to the Auditorium burst open, walking through it a very amused Diavolo, who b-lined directly toward her. a few moments later, coming out of the building, looking very annoyed, was Barbatos, with Lucifer in tow behind him with a somber expression on his face.

“Storm! Just the person I wanted to see!” Diavolo’s voice boomed through the garden. She flinched slightly as he approached, placing a hand on her shoulder roughly. “I wanted to say how proud I am of the marks you’ve gotten so far, and on top of all of this extra work load and coming in mid-way through the quarter! You truly are amazing!”

Storm blinked at him, somewhat confused. She had good marks, but they weren’t any higher than usual, from what she could gather. She glanced to Lucifer, who refused to meet her gaze. Diavolo squeezed her shoulder a little too tight, getting her to wince and return her focus to him.

“It appears as though you are receiving such high grades, that after talking it over with Lucifer, we think you should be held to a higher standard!”

Storm’s face went pale and she gulped nervously. “W-what?”

“Well, all the exchange students here get a little cushion for their grades because of all of their other responsibilities, so that they will never actually fail any class here unless they do nothing at all! Even after removing this grade cushion to examine your results, we have discovered that you are still in the top 5 percent in the entire school. How amazing is that?!” Diavolo smiled widely, displaying his pride in her accomplishment.

“Wow, Storm that’s amazing!” Simeon added excitedly as Storm blushed deeply, not used to such excessive praise.

“However, there is one more thing we are interested in examining. On quarterly exams, you only receive about half of the test questions that your other classmates receive. So we thought of removing this buffer after providing you with the standard exams, just to see if you still hold up against the other demons here!” Diavolo’s smile dropped slightly after seeing her anxiety begin to rise. “Not to worry, this will not go on your permanent record. And I am having Lucifer see to it that Satan aids you in studying if you need it. Exams are next week, so study hard!”

With that, Diavolo said made and excuse for something urgent needing his attention, and went on his way. Storm sighed, nervously carding a hand through her hair. Simeon tried to provide reassurance, but her thoughts of potential failure consumed her to the point where her mind seemed to drift somewhere else, and everything around her seemed to fade into the background.

Lucifer watched Storm’s reactions, but couldn’t find the words to provide reassurance. He merely was able to rub her back softly as Simeon spoke to her. He glanced up just as Diavolo had exited the garden, seeing Barbatos staring back at him with a stern look on his face. Lucifer swallowed nervously, dropping his eyes avoiding his judging glare.

Barbatos shook his head in displeasure, now making his own way out of the garden to follow the future king.

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middleearthpixie · 2 years

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Playing With Fire ~ Chapter Twenty

Dunraven Pub - Modern AU

A/N: A bonus chapter today because when I was revising Chapter Nineteen, I realized it was a monster of a chapter and so broke it into two. Enjoy!

Summary: Thorin Durin likes his life just the way it is—his pub is successful, he’s happily playing the field when it comes to women. He wouldn’t change a damn thing about it. At least, not until he meets Leda Andrews, who stops to help him when his car dies on the side of the road.

Leda is new in town, and late for a job interview when she stops to help a guy with his broken down old car. The last thing she expected was for him to be the same guy who owns the pub where she’s applied to be a bartender, never mind to be one of the hottest men she’s ever seen.

Sparks fly, and while Leda’s got a few ground rules that Thorin is more than willing to abide by, neither one of them expected their fling to turn into anything more serious, or that they would be faced with a situation neither one is prepared for. So, what happens when a no-strings-attached affair teeters on becoming the real thing…

Summary: Leda finally meets Thorin’s family, and it doesn’t quite go as well as either she or Thorin hoped it would…

Pairings: Pairing: Modern!Thorin x OC Female

Characters:Thorin, Leda, Frerin, Toni, Moira, Holly (Moira’s friend) Dís, Kíli, and Fíli

Warnings: Angst lite

Rating: T

Word Count: 3,045

Tag List: @tschrist1 @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @ocfairygodmother @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knitastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @ggfamert @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell

If you’d like to be added (or removed) to the tag list, please just let me know!

Previous chapters can be found here.

When she opened her eyes, Leda was alone in the queen-sized bed. The windows were cracked to let in a hint of frosty air, which made snuggling under the covers even cozier. Sunlight poured in through the panes in the French doors leading to the balcony, and she had no desire to move.

Besides, her stomach bubbled liked mad and she felt better if she lay perfectly still.

Perfectly…

… still—

“Oh, God!” She lurched from the bed, and made it to the bathroom just in time as her entire body revolted. For the next ten minutes, she did nothing but heave and sweat, until she was positive she’d been turned inside out and twisted into knots like a wrung-out towel. Her stomach still jumped. It kinked. It clenched. But thankfully, she wasn’t sick again. She sank back against the cool tile and pressed her cheek against it. She’d bought that What to Expect book and although she’d read up on morning sickness, she’d so hoped she’d be one of those lucky women who didn’t suffer from it, despite what Mary told her.

It was not meant to be.

Finally, when she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be sick any more, she dragged herself up to brush her teeth, then went back to crawl into bed once more. She didn’t want to move, but really had no choice. She was meeting Thorin’s family, which probably didn’t help her angry gut at all.

“I meant what I said last night. I’m not looking to meet your mom or dad or your brother or sister or their families. You’re not meeting mine.”

And yet, that’s exactly what she was doing in less than three hours. It was his nephew Fili’s twenty-first birthday and she had no idea what she’d been thinking when she agreed to go with him. Meeting his family. Almost entirely moved in with him. All that was left was marriage and death.

She scowled as her stomach lurched. Okay, maybe that was a bit much, but still… six months ago, she would have laughed in the face of anyone who suggested she’d find herself in this very situation. Besides, it was probably just nerves all around. She hadn’t expected so much change in so short a time span.

Her stomach calmed enough where she could move, so she rose and padded back into the bathroom to get the shower started. As she waited for the water to warm up, she dug out the scales, pulled her clothes off, took a deep breath, and stepped onto it.

“What the fuck?” She glared at the readout. “Six pounds more? It was just four the other day. Where the fuck did these last two come from?”

She didn't know why she was surprised. This was the week she accepted that she couldn’t fasten her jeans anymore unless she used a rubber band. Only ten weeks in and she threw in the towel, began wearing leggings instead of Levi’s to work, all the while wondering if anyone noticed. She hoped not. They already busted her balls over dating Thorin, what would they do when they found out she was having a baby with him?

“Don’t think about that.” The shower hooks rattled as she moved the curtain to step into the warm spray. Hot water washed over her, washed away the last of her nausea as she lifted her face to it.

The curtain rattled again and she smiled as Thorin angled his big body in behind her. He slid his arms about her waist. “I thought I heard you moving around. How’re you feeling?”

“You’re safe. I’ve already barfed and brushed my teeth.”

“You’re almost there, mesmel.”He gently squeezed her, then splayed his hands along her lower belly. She peered at him over one shoulder. Water already beaded across his shoulders, the steam made his wavy hair curl even more. He looked almost good enough eat. Damn hormones. All she wanted to do was fuck him. Not make love, like they suggested in movies, but fuck him like she’d done the night with the scarves. She wanted to throw him down on the nearest flat surface and ride his cock until they both screamed from the pleasure. And while she didn’t think he’d mind it, the fact that she might also throw up from the motion remained a very real fear and that he would definitely mind.

“Can you feel anything?” She covered his hands with hers. “Because I feel huge. That lying scale said I’ve put on two more pounds.”

“It’s your mind playing tricks on you, love. And maybe I should hide the scale for the next six months,” he said, his fingertips brushing from hip to hip. Then, his smile widened and his hand went flat against her. “But… there is a small bump, amrâlimê.”

“What?”

He turned her toward him and then crouched so he was eye level with her stomach. “You’re starting to show already.” A hint of wonder crept into his voice, one that made her heart actually skip a beat.

“What? But… the book said most women don’t show this soon, that first babies take forever to pop.”

“You’re one of the lucky ones, mesmel.”

As he spoke, he looked up and the wonder she’d heard in his voice was matched by the same in those steel blue eyes eyes and it snatched the breath from her lungs and made her eyes sting. Stupid, fucking hormones!

“One of the lucky ones?” She curved her hand against his cheek, his beard softer from the water, but still on the scratchy side. “I don’t know I’d go that far."

“Yeah, one of the lucky ones. I think it’s beautiful.” With that, he brushed his lips over her lower stomach, then straightened up to loom over her.

She looked down at her slightly rounded stomach. It was never perfectly flat, but now it definitely seemed rounder than usual. “I feel like an elephant.”

His arms tightened about her. “Well, you don’t look like one. You’re the same sexy biker chick you were when we met.”

She gazed up at him. Water droplets clung like silver beads to the dark hair across his chest. “I know I sound like a whiny little needy bitch, but really?”

The skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Really.” His hands slid down over her ass, cupping her cheeks to pull her closer. “I’d do you.”

“Funny.”

He winked, then bent to kiss her. It started out innocent enough, but not five minutes later, he lifted and lowered her easily as he thrust into her. And when he came, he took her with him, growling, “Leda…” as he did so.

She trembled in his arms, her head spinning. “Damn…”

“That’s right.” His laugh came soft against her ear as he set her down and reached for her shampoo. He lathered her hair, saying, “Tilt,” so he could rinse it and as warm, sudsy water sluiced along her ears, she thought she could be quite happy right there, just like that, forever.

An hour later, they were pulling up in front of a dark gray Colonial in a tree-lined cul-de-sac. Thorin explained they’d be celebrating at his brother Frerin’s house, since Dís and her sons shared a townhouse that was short on both space and parking. As she stared over at the gray house with the dark red shutters and dark red flowerpots on either side of the wide front porch, Leda swallowed hard as her stomach swiftly knotted once more. Although part of her did want to meet his family, the other part of her urged her to run like hell in the opposite direction and never look back.

Still, there she was, slipping her hand into Thorin’s, letting him steer her up the flagstone walk to the dark red front door, smiling as a tall woman with beautiful auburn hair said, “Oh, my God… do my eyes deceive me? Did you bring a girl, Thorin?”

“Funny.” Thorin tugged open the storm door with his free hand. As the woman stepped aside, he gave a gentle tug on Leda’s hand to urge her into the house as well. “Toni, this is Leda Andrews. Leda, my sister-in-law, Toni. Don’t let her give you the third degree.”

Leda smiled as Toni’s hazel eyes slid in her direction. They were friendly and warm, as was her voice when she said, “It’s very nice to meet you, Leda. That’s such a pretty name.”

“Thanks. My dad was a history nerd who convinced my mother to name me that. He told me it was the name of a Spartan queen, the mother of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. I think he had high hopes for me.”

Toni laughed as the door banged shut and she closed the inside one as well. “He put a lot of thought into it, as it’s very unusual.”

“Tell me about it. I could never find anything with my name on it when I was a kid.” She looked up at Thorin, who winked and she added, “Thorin’s talked about you and your family so much, I feel as if I already know you.”

“Well, the opposite is true for me. Here, let me take your coats,” Toni said, gesturing toward the sunken living room. “He’s been amazingly tightlipped about you. Come on in, and make yourself comfortable. What can I get you to drink?”

Leda shrugged out of her coat, which Thorin took, handing both his and hers to his sister-in-law. “Just water is fine, thank you.”

“Thorin?”

He offered up a long look. “Seriously?”

“Right.” Toni winked at him as she stowed their coats in front closet. “Show her it’s okay to sit, Thorin. I’ll go get your brother. Last I checked, he was playing chess with Flynn.”

With that, she disappeared into the kitchen, while Leda followed Thorin into the family room. “You haven’t even mentioned me?”

“I haven’t really had a chance to. I haven’t talked to Frer in a while because we both run like maniacs.” Thorin gestured to the dark brown velour sofa. “And I haven’t said anything about the baby, either.”

She settled into the comfortable cushions with a sigh. “It’s probably just as well. That will lead to a million and one other questions.”

“Exactly. And I don’t mind putting them off for a little while longer.”

“You and me, both.”

“Thorin?” A tall man who looked like a slightly thinner, slightly shorter version of Thorin, only with much shorter hair, strolled into the family room. He held out a hand. “Oh, you must be Leda. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. I’m his brother, Frerin.”

A face to the name? She shot a look at Thorin, whose eyes were almost perfectly round as he stared at his brother and gave a subtle shake of his head.

How did Frerin know her name, if Thorin hadn’t mentioned her to him?

A sour taste rose in her mouth. This was the brother who was a doctor. Had Thorin mentioned anything to him at all about her being pregnant? He just said he hadn’t mentioned the baby to anyone in his family.

Her stomach clenched but thankfully, she remained outwardly calm as she stood to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Frerin. Like I said to your wife, Thorin’s told me so much about you, I feel like I already know you.”

Two girls came into the room. One had to be Thorin’s niece—she had the same dark hair and piercing blue eyes as both Thorin and his brother did. The other one was taller, with honey brown hair and she did a literal double-take when she saw Thorin.

“Hey, Dad, can I go to the mall with Holly?” She looked over at them. “Hi, Uncle Thor.”

“Not now, Moira,” Frerin said. “Everyone else will be here soon.”

Moira rolled those pale blue eyes. “When isn’t everyone here?”

“You could try being polite, you know.” Frerin reminded her in a low voice. “Leda, I’d like to apologize for my daughter. Moira, this is Leda. She’s a friend of Uncle Thor’s.”

Although she still looked pouty, she nodded. “Hi, Leda.” She gestured to her friend. “This is Holly. Holly, this is Uncle Thor’s—ah—friend, Leda.”

While Holly greeted everyone, Moira stared balefully at her father. “So, I can’t go?”

“No, you can’t, but Holly is welcome to join us for dinner.”

Moira turned to Holly. “Want to stay?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“Okay. Come on.”

Moira turned back toward the staircase and as they left the room, Leda grinned as Holly muttered, “Damn, Moira, I forgot how fucking hot your uncle is.”

“Holly!”

“Well, he is. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Shut up.”

Thorin chuckled as Frerin mumbled, “Son of a bitch,” under his breath.

“Don’t worry about it.” Thorin draped his arm about her shoulders. “They’re fourteen. They think every guy over the age of eighteen is hot.”

“I’ll remind you of that when you’ve got kids of your own. And besides, you’re way over the age of eighteen. You and I are old guys compared to them.”

“Yeah, but I don’t look it,” Thorin replied without missing a beat. “Now, you, on the other hand…”

Leda bit back a smile. If she didn’t know Thorin was the oldest of the three of them, she wouldn’t have guessed it on her own. True, there were those silver streaks in his dark hair, but Frerin had them as well, and from the looks of it, a lot more of them. Either way, Thorin did not look to be nearly forty on his worst day.

With a low sigh, Frerin moved to sink onto the arm of the sofa. “She’s growing up too fast. Has a boyfriend now and Toni found condoms in her sock drawer when she was putting away laundry last week. Fourteen years old, man.”

Leda shrugged, her hand resting on Thorin’s thigh. “Maybe they handed them out in school. I think they do that now during health class.”

“That’s what she said, but I don’t know… you see her friend… girls didn’t look like that that when I was fourteen.”

“You shouldn’t be looking at her at all, freak.” Thorin brought his left foot up to rest on his right knee. “I’m surprised Toni hasn’t kicked your ass.”

“Funny,” Frerin replied drolly, his expression grim as he went on, “They’re here all the time, man. Last summer, I had a dozen of them hanging out by the pool and Toni would lose her mind if Moira wore what those girls were wearing. Or not wearing… Flynn almost drove the tractor into the big oak near the woods because he wasn’t paying a damn bit of attention to where he was going.”

Leda sighed. “Boys stare no matter what.”

“Yeah, but still…”

Toni came into the room carrying a pint glass of dark stout and a glass of ice water. “Is Holly staying?”

“Yeah. Moira wanted to go to the mall, but I told her no.” Frerin took the beer from her to pass to Thorin. “It was my way of compromising.”

“I don’t like that girl.” Toni handed the water to Leda and sank into the matching armchair on the far side of the glass coffee table. “Since she met her, Moira only cares about two things: boys and makeup. And did he tell you what I found in her drawer?”

“Did you ask her where they came from?” Thorin brought the glass to his lips for a long drink.

“She said Health class, but she’s got a boyfriend now and I… I just don’t know what to think about it.” Toni tucked a lock of dark red hair behind her ear. “Do me a favor and don’t say anything to your sister. I don’t want her lecturing Moira in front of everyone, and we all know she’ll do just that.”

Thorin nodded. “My lips are sealed. Besides, once she sees Leda here, I’m pretty sure I’ll be her favorite target once more.”

Leda sipped her water as the conversation turned to Dís and her two boys, who were doing their best to follow in Thorin’s footsteps, apparently and their mother was at her wits’ end with the way they ran about and with the girls running with them. Leda had yet to meet either of Thorin’s nephews, as they only worked on their breaks from school, but if they were even a fraction as attractive and charming as the older generation of Durins, any girl in their sights was doomed.

Her gut twisted when she heard a car pull into the driveway and a moment later, a small, dark-haired woman, and two men, both about the same height, one blond, one dark, came into the living room.

“It’s about time,” Frerin said, pushing up from the sofa arm. “I thought you got lost.”

“I had to stay and talk to one of my professors,” the blond said, glancing over at them. “Uncle Thorin? Who’s this?”

Leda swallowed hard, willing her stomach to remain somewhat calm as Thorin stood and walked over to his nephews and clasped the blond’s hand. “Fíli, Happy Birthday. How does it feel to be legal?”

“Like I’m going to have to work more now that break is just about here. But,” Fíli smiled, “At least I can have a shot or two after work with you guys.”

“Only if you let your brother drive,” the small woman told him.

“After one shot, ‘amad? How much of a lightweight do you take me for?”

“It’s not worth the risk.”

Kíli chuckled. “Nice. You’ll be at my mercy for a change.” He glanced over at Leda. “Who’s this?”

Thorin smiled. “That is Leda. Leda, my sister, Dís, and her sons, Fíli,” he gestured to the blond, and then the brunet, “and his brother Kíli.”

Leda smiled, swallowing hard at the brackish taste flooding her mouth as Dís sharp eyes moved slowly over her. Somehow, she had the feeling Thorin’s sister could see right through her, and could actually see the baby.

But then Dís smiled. “So you’re Leda. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She crossed over to clasp Leda’s hand with both of hers. “Thorin’s told me about you.”

This was news. Leda looked over at him. “You have?”

“Well, yeah. I might have mentioned you once or twice.”

She smiled. “But not to Frerin?”

“I talk to him maybe once a month, but Dís calls me an average of five times a day. You were bound to come up.”

“I do no such thing.” Dís shook her head and turned back to Leda. “Ignore him. My brothers are asses. Both of them.”

“Me?” Frerin pressed a hand to his chest. “What did I do?”

“I’m sure there is something I’ll find out about.”

Thorin slid his arm about Leda’s waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Dís forgets she's not our mother from time to time.”

Kíli snorted. “I wish she’d forget she’s mine sometimes.”

“Kíli!” Dís reached up and smacked him in the back of the head. “Mind yourself.”

“See?” Kíli scowled as he rubbed where his mother had hit him. “She’s mean.”

“Mean. Me?” Dís shook her head. “Just you wait. Someday, you’ll have sons of your own and I hope they are just like you.”

Fíli chuckled. “An empty threat, ‘amad.”

“You say so now,” she replied, shaking her head, “which will make my I told you so even sweeter when it comes.”

Toni came into the room then. “Ah, I thought I heard the three of you arguing. What is it this time?”

“My sons, as usual.” Dís said this with a smile, turning to Leda as she added, “They live to make me crazy.”

“And we’re very good at it,” Kíli added, a devilish glint in his dark eyes. “You’re the newest bartender at the Dunraven, aren’t you? I remember Dwalin mentioning a new girl with pink hair.”

Dís looked up at Thorin. “An employee, Thorin?”

Leda’s gut twisted sharply and the nausea returned, only held at bay by Thorin’s growled, “Not the time or the place, Dís, and definitely none of your business.”

Dís looked from him to Leda and sighed softly. “No. I don’t suppose it is. And either way, I am happy to meet you.”

Leda breathed a soft sigh of relief as Frerin’s sons came into the room and the younger one challenged his cousins to a game of pingpong in the basement. She leaned against Thorin when they returned to their seats on the sofa, and the conversation turned away from her and the Dunraven to other, slightly more boring topics.

It was an interesting evening as everyone else chatted almost nonstop, at times almost shouting over one another. They were a loud, boisterous clan who and they all seemed to genuinely like one another, which was odd to her, considering her family gave dysfunctional a whole new meaning.

After dinner, they did cake for Fíli and gifts and then Dís sighed as both of her sons excused themselves, citing papers each was writing that were due before midnight to their respective professors.

“So, tell me,” Dís’ hand came down onto Leda’s wrist, “how long have you and Thorin been seeing each other?”

“Since September, more or less,” she answered, glancing over at Thorin, who’d gone into the family room with Frerin. Toni was in the kitchen and Moira and Holly had retreated back to Moira’s room, leaving just Leda and Dís in the dining room.

“September! So, why didn’t he bring you to Moira’s birthday dinner?”

Because we were just fuck buddies then. She certainly couldn’t say that, so instead, she shrugged. “It wasn’t serious then. We’d just started—ah—seeing each other and everything.”

“You have no idea how much of a surprise this is. My brother doesn’t ever bring a date to family gatherings and I’ve always wished he would, so this is wonderful. I do hope he brings you around again. One of our cousins’ wives is due in mid-February, so we’ll be having a shower for her. I’ll make sure Toni sends you an invitation.”

A baby shower? She didn’t want to be caught dead at something like that, but she certainly couldn’t say that. All she could do was smile. “That sounds great. Thorin has my address.”

Dís’ smile widened. “Wonderful! I look so forward to seeing you there. It’s been forever since he’s had a girlfriend and the last one was just awful… Oh, I won’t go into details, but she really wasn’t good for him. But I don’t get that feeling about you. In fact, I’d go out on a limb and suggest he actually seems happy— much happier than I’ve seen him in a long time.”

“I hope so.” Leda fought the urge to fidget under Dís’ piercing blue eyed gaze, because she again had that feeling Thorin’s sister could see right through her—right through her, through her clothes, could see the baby itself—and she held her breath waiting for her to say something about it.

But if she was going to say anything, Dís had no chance, as Thorin strolled into the dining room. “You aren’t giving Leda a hard time, are you, Dís?”

Dís sat back in her chair. “Not at all. I was just telling her I’ll make sure Toni sends her an invitation to Corrine’s shower next month. You should settle down with her.I like her, Thorin. It’s nice to see you with someone who doesn’t take their clothes off for a living.”

“Dís, that was ages ago. Get over it.”

“She was a whore.” Dís’ voice was flat and hard. “Plain and simple.”

“Enough. Not the time or the place.” Thorin’s hand came to rest on Leda’s shoulder. “You ready to hit the road, mesmel?”

She nodded. “I think so. I have to be at work for noon.”

Thorin winked. “I know the owner. I think he’ll be okay if you came in a little later.”

Dís chuckled. “You never learn, do you? What happened with the other bartender? And the waitress before that? You’re going to run out of employees, if you aren’t careful.”

Leda’s gut kinked sharply, a sour taste rising into her mouth. As soon as the words left her mouth, Dís’ expression grew pained. “Oh, damn it all, I’m sorry, Leda. I didn't mean that quite the way it came out and it sounded a lot better in my head.”

“And that’s really where it should’ve stayed.” Thorin narrowed his eyes at her. “Regardless, it’s more than enough, Dís. If you really want to make this your business, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

With that, he leaned over and in a low voice, growled, “I asked her to live with me. So, I think this is a little more serious than my flings with a bartender and waitress.”

A scarlet flush swept up into Dís’ cheeks, all the way to her hairline, and when she looked over at Leda, it was with a look of utter remorse. “I am so sorry, Leda. I’m such a jackass at times who needs to think before I speak.”

Leda really didn't know how to respond. Her instinct was to agree with Dís, but seeing as how they just met and she had the feeling there’d be many more gatherings like this one in the coming days, she decided to take the high road. Besides, she actually did like Dís and it was hard to fault her for being so maternal with Thorin. There were times when it seemed he needed someone to keep him in line, and somehow, she thought that role often fell to his sister.

Either way, it wasn’t worth getting angry over, so she shook her head. “It’s okay. I may have said the same thing to him once or twice myself.”

Dís smiled, clearly relieved. “Is he for real, though? Did he really ask you to move in with him?”

“He did and I said I would.”

“So,” Dís turned her smile to Thorin, “does this mean we might be hearing wedding bells in the future? You don’t even like having women at your house for an afternoon, never mind living with you.”

Thorin rolled his eyes. “Leda is the exception to the rule and I like having her there. And as for wedding bells? Don’t you worry about it, little sister, because that’s really none of your business.”

Leda bit the inside of her cheek to keep quiet, to keep herself from telling Dís to mind her own fucking business. But, to her credit, Dís looked chagrined once more. “You’re right. It isn’t and I’m sorry. I’ll keep my nose where it belongs.”

“Good. Besides, you just got finished saying how you like Leda, so let it go.” He gently squeezed Leda’s shoulder. “So, we’re going to go before this gets out of hand.”

“It was nice meeting you, Dís.”

“Likewise, Leda. I’ll remind Toni.”

Leda nodded and let Thorin steer her back to the family room, where she said her goodbyes to everyone else, and when they were tucked back into his Mustang, she sighed. “Your family really is nice. A little overbearing, maybe, but still nice.”

“They’ll make you crazy in no time flat.” He slid the key into the ignition and kicked over the engine.

“Ah, it wasn’t so bad. You all seem to like each other and that’s a good thing. We don’t all have families like that.” She shifted to glance at him. “What did you tell Frerin about me?”

“What?” He depressed the clutch, shifted into first, and eased away from the curb.

“He knew my name, Thorin. He knew my name and I saw how you looked at him when he used it. So, what did you tell him?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“He knew my name, that’s why. And I hadn’t been introduced to him and his wife said you hadn’t mentioned anything about me. So, how did he know?”

He looked over at her. “I asked him about the morning after pill.”

Her gut kinked. “You did what?”

“He’s a doctor, Leda. I wanted to know how effective the morning after pill was.” He shifted into second. “For all the good it did. You still ended up pregnant, so, I should’ve saved myself the lecture from him.”

She could only stare at him. “So he knows I’m pregnant?”

“No. He knows it was possible that you were. But, since I haven’t said anything else to him, he probably figures it worked.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you ask someone else something so personal? And it wasn’t even about you.”

“Because he’s a damn doctor, Leda. An OB/GYN, that’s why. He’d know.” He shifted into third. “And what the fuck do you mean, it wasn’t about me? I’m the baby's father, remember? It’s almost as much about me as it is about you.”

“It’s—Christ, Thorin, this is no one else’s business and now…” She rubbed her eyes with one hand. “And what happens when I have the baby? Will your sister refer to me as a whore as well?”

At the intersection of Grove and Main, he slowed for the light. Lightly drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the Creedence song on the radio, he said, “Maybe we should get married, then. Save ourselves the drama and the hassle.”

Forget twisting into knots. The pit of her stomach fell clean away. “What?”

“It’d be a lot easier for everyone. Baby’s not out of wedlock. My sister won’t have a stroke. My brother won’t care that we were fuck buddies once upon a time. No one will ever question it.”

An icy chill sank into her. “Wait… he knows about our agreement?”

She watched as a dull flush rose along Thorin’s cheekbones. He didn't say anything at first, but just looked ahead, waiting for the light to change.

“Thorin? Did you tell him?”

He flinched. “I—I might have.”

“You might have? You might have told your brother that you and I were nothing more than fuck buddies until you got me fucking pregnant? Are you fucking kidding me? Why? Why on earth would you do something like that? What were you thinking, Thorin?”

“At the time, we weren’t going to be anything more and who knows how long it would’ve lasted.” Now he looked over at her. “At the time, I didn’t think you’d ever meet them because you were pretty damn clear about not wanting anything to do with them. Remember? I’m not meeting your family. You aren’t meeting mine.”

“Oh, Christ… Thorin…” She sank against the seat, a hand clapped to her forehead. “I can’t believe you told your brother about that…”

“He doesn’t care, except maybe he was a little envious at the time.”

“A little—Thorin!”

He winced. “I know. I’m sorry… but I think he was.”

“I cannot believe you would do such a thing… it was no one else’s business.”

“Trust me, if I’d thought we were going to end up here, I never would’ve said anything to him. But I didn't know.” He reached over and let his hand come to rest atop hers. “So, why don’t we just get married?”

“And make it easier on everyone, right? That’s why you want to this now?”

“Well, yeah… it would, so… yeah.” He nodded.

“Easier for everyone. That’s your reason.” Her mouth went dry and that sick feeling returned. He didn’t want to marry her because he loved her. Because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

He wanted to make it easier on everyone. Bullshit. He wanted to make it easier on himself.

“Yeah,” he went on, without looking at her, “easier. I mean, they’ll know you were pregnant at the time because you’re due in six months and we’d only be married that long, but as long as it’s before the kid arrives, no one will care.”

“That’s, like, the shittiest reason ever to get married,” she told him flatly, turning back to stare out the window at the storefronts. “So your sister doesn’t get upset. So your brother doesn’t—I don’t even know what… Fuck me, are you serious? You don’t want your sister mad at you. You don’t want anyone in your family to know you’re going to have an illegitimate kid?”

“Why’re you getting angry? I thought this would make it easier on you as well.”

Her stomach curdled, the nausea returning, swift and sour and she swallowed hard against it. “You don’t give a damn about that. All you care about is making it easier for you. Just admit it.”

“No, I care about making it easier for both of us.”

“And that’s why you suddenly want to marry me.”

“What’s wrong with wanting to make things easier?”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Thorin.” Fury bubbled up, thick and hot. “You don’t want to marry me because you want to be with me. Because you love me. It’s because you’re afraid someone will be, what? Upset with you for having sex outside of marriage and be faced with the proof that you did? When did it become anyone else’s fucking business, is what I want to know?”

The light turned green and he gunned it. “I didn’t say that, though,” he growled, his voice low and gravelly. “And of course I love you. I’ve said it, haven’t I? More than once, no less.”

“You might as well have and so what? You didn’t say that’s why you want to marry me, though. Your reason is because you’ll avoid any drama that way. What a shitty reason to give when you suggest getting married.”

“Why are you getting so upset? It will make things easier. Mahal, I can’t wait for your hormones to level off.” He angled the car into his driveway. “Do you have any idea what it’s like dealing with you when you’re this moody?”

“Yeah, well do you have any idea what it’s like dealing with you when you're acting like a total asshole sometimes?” To her horror, tears pricked her eyes. “And you know what? I don’t want to get married just to make your life easier. This whole thing is one big fucking mistake! I don’t want to go to another family dinner, where your sister thinks she’s being magnanimous because she likes me simply because your last girlfriend was a fucking stripper—and I don’t want to know anything about her, either. And it’s really none of her fucking business whether or not we have any plans to get married, and I also don’t want to sit at some stupid baby shower! And I don’t want to marry a man whose only reason for asking me to marry him is because he’s terrified of what his sister thinks about him having a sex life! Because seriously, that’s fucked up.”

At the garage, he killed the engine and she shoved open her door. Her bike was in the garage, so she popped the handle and slid the carriage door open. Without turning off the headlights, Thorin jumped out. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going home. I just don't really want to be around you right now.” She wheeled her Harley out, balancing it between her legs as she tugged the helmet on. “Do you know how it feels, to know you’re with me because you’re afraid of what people will think otherwise? Because I’ll tell you, it feels lousy. Absolutely awful."

“Is that what you think? That's the only reason I’m—Leda, this is nuts. Hold on. Just—hold on…” He straddled the front tire, holding onto handlebars. “You’re upset. I’m upset, let’s just go inside and go to bed. We can talk about it in the morning, when we’ve both cooled down.”

“Cooled down? Do you think that’s going to change what you said to me? Or how hearing it made me feel?”

“What I said—? What the fuck did I say that upset you so much?”

She held his stare easily even as those fucking tears blurred her vision. “It’d be a lot easier for everyone. Baby’s not out of wedlock. My sister won’t have a stroke. My brother won’t care that we were fuck buddies once upon a time.”

He winced. “Leda, you know what I meant.”

“No. I know what you want me to think you meant. But, the truth is you don’t want to marry me for any of the right reasons, which means you don’t want to marry me at all. Because if you did, you would have said it was because you loved me, because you wanted to be with me, because you couldn’t see yourself with anyone else. Christ, if I wasn’t pregnant, we’d still just be fucking in your office or my apartment, wouldn’t we? There would be no dates. There would be no bringing me to birthday dinners. There’d be no living together.”

“So, if that’s true,” he countered, his voice sharp, “why did I ask you to live with me, huh? If I just wanted to make it easier for me, why did I ask you that?”

“Because I’m fucking pregnant! Otherwise, no one at the Dunraven would ever know about us. Your family wouldn’t know I even existed. It would be you bending me over the arm of the sofa in your office and hoping like hell no one walked in on us. It would be you leaving my apartment in the dead of night, after getting what you wanted. It would be me walking in to find you fucking someone else on your desk and all you’d do is ask me to close the goddamn door on my way out. The only reason you gave me that crap about not wanting to be with anyone else is because of this baby and that’s no reason to stay together. It’s actually a really shitty reason.”

“Me fucking someone—god damn it, Lacey told you about that, didn’t she?”

“Does it fucking matter?” Her throat squeezed tight and to her irritation, her eyes began stinging. This was not how tonight was supposed to end. “And I noticed you didn't say it wouldn’t happen again, did you?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Not if it’s a fucking lie, I don’t!” She kicked over the bike’s engine. “Look, the fact is, you don’t really want to marry me, at least not for the right reasons. So, why are we even doing this?”

He released the handlebars and stepped back. “I don’t know, Leda, why are we? You’re going to believe what you want to believe and I’m too tired to keep fucking arguing about it.”

“Fine. At least now you’re finally being honest with me.”

She regretted her words the second they leapt from her tongue, holding back a wince when Thorin’s face went blank. He stepped away from her bike, folding his arms over his chest and just offered up a frigid glare. “I’ve been nothing but honest with you, Leda. Since the beginning. But, you want to believe the worst about me, go ahead. I’m obviously not going to change your mind.”

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other then.” With that, she nudged the throttle and lifted her feet, leaving behind a swirling dust cloud in her wake as she rode down the driveway and out to Route Seven.

#Richard Armitage #The Hobbit #Thorin Oakenshield #Hobbit Fic #Hobbit Fanfic #Fan fiction #The Hobbit fan fiction #Thorin x OC #AU #Thorin Fic #Is it hot in here?#Romance #Modern AU #Pub AU

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