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chloelucia13 · 3 years

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Chapter 16: The Sauna Test

Pairing: Jonathan Byers x Henderson!reader

Prompt: You always thought Hawkins was the most boring town of all, stuck in a vacuum void of excitement and entertainment. Well, it seems that way until the world decided to flip upside down, literally.

Chapter summary: Eleven, Max, Nancy, and Jonathan had all grown more suspicious of you and Billy after what El and Max had seen, but when everyone gets separated, the monster decides to rear its ugly head in more ways than one.

Word Count: 3352

Warnings: some angst, some fluff, some action finally (in more ways than one!!), a lil bit of cheating, language, pretty normal stuff

A/N: And we're finally getting somewhere with the Jonathan and reader plot line!!! I hope you all enjoy the chapter, and as always, my ask box and requests and tag lists are open babies! Love ya!

Tags: @just-my-fandom @nightbu-g

El couldn't let go of what she'd seen.

You being with Billy was weird enough and its strangeness had already burrowed under her skin, making her squirm. But the way you were acting, what she had seen that night when she was messing around, it wasn't right.

But what she had seen of Heather had made her downright disturbed. Sure, Billy was an asshole and she knew not to be around him, but he wasn't a murderer... right?

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" Max told her, noticing the way that El had gotten lost in her worried thoughts.

El gave her a doubtful look and let out a huff. "It doesn't make sense," she grumbled.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Heather. The blood. The ice... Y/N."

"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now. And Y/N is probably trying to make Billy a better person or something. That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but... we saw her. We saw them both. They're totally fine."

El stared at the wall, her brows furrowed. "What about Billy?"

"What about him?"

"He seemed wrong."

Max chuckled. "Wrong is kind of like his default. But it's nice to know he's not a murderer, because that totally would've sucked. Hell, maybe he seemed different because Y/N's making him better."

The two girls chuckled, and the conversation fell silent.

***

As soon as panicked panting sounded in the next room, Heather rose to her feet and walked over to the two people you held captive. Heather's parents.

You and Billy watched from afar as she spoke to her father, neglecting his pleas before stepping away and allowing you and Billy to replace her spot. Billy knelt in front of Janet as you knelt in front of Tom, both of you instructing them to stay still.

Simultaneously, you both rose to your feet and the three of you walked up the metal stairs. As you ascended the stairs, you could hear their pleas become drowned out by the guttural growls and snarls.

***

The next morning, you had awoke with a heavy pit in your stomach.

The image of Heather's overtaking was still etched behind your eyelids, and though you hadn't witnessed the other overtakings, you imagined that they occurred very similarly.

But the screams. You could never ignore the screams.

Silently, you slipped out of your bed and walked into the kitchen, pulling the freezer open and staring blankly.

The pint of strawberry ice cream from Scoops still sat there, perfectly untouched.

God, you wanted to sob. You wanted to scream. You wanted to go back to when your life was normal- well, more normal than this. Than being fucking possessed by this strange creature who was dragging you through hell.

You wanted to see your brother and his friends again. You wanted to see your friends again. Steve and Robin and Nancy and Jonathan.

Jonathan.

You were mentally kicking yourself, realizing that you spent the past six months avoiding him and now you don't know if you'll ever see him again.

You closed the freezer and scrubbed at your face, only to realize that tears had soaked your cheeks. Quickly, you swiped away the tears and rushed back to your room, not wanting to risk getting caught by your mother and having that creature take over once more.

After locking the door behind you, you curled up on your bed and pulled the blankets over your body. Maybe if you slept, you wouldn't have to deal with all this pain and guilt.

Just as you were drifting off, the doorbell rang. Immediately, your anxiety shot through the roof, and you contemplated not answering the door, but then the doorbell rang once more. You took deep breaths and slowly creeped out of bed, unlocking your door and leaving your room before stepping up to the front door.

Peering through the peephole, your heart sunk to your feet when you saw who was outside. Jonathan stood there awkwardly, his head bowed and his hands in his pockets.

You began to slowly walk away from the door when Jonathan began to speak, his voice traveling into the house. "Y/N?" he called out. "Are you home? I drove by the pool and you weren't there. I just... I was wondering if we could talk?" He sounded stressed, maybe even upset.

Your emotions took over, and against your better judgement, you pulled the door open. You watched as his eyebrows rose in surprise at the fact that you actually opened the door. "What's wrong?" you hummed. "I thought you had work today."

He chuckled, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's uh... That's part of the issue," he coughed out. "Can I come in?"

You nodded, stepping to the side and allowing him to come inside before you shut the door behind him. Afterwards, you stepped next to him and the two of sat down on the couch. "So, what's going on?"

"I got fired. Well, Nancy and I got fired."

Your brows knitted together in confusion. "Fired? How? I thought you were doing amazing at the post!" You tucked your legs under yourself and turned to face him directly.

"I was, and I really liked it there! But..." He let out a sigh. "Nancy had answered a call a few days ago from this old woman, saying that all of her fertilizer was going missing."

Sounds like a newsworthy story," you teased.

"Hey, it's serious!"

You held up your hands in surrender, but a giggle slipped past your lips. "Sorry, sorry. Continue."

He let out a playful huff, a smile cracking at the corners of his mouth. "Anyway, she realized that the fertilizer was going missing because there were rats in her basement that were eating it and the rats... They were getting sick, or something." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Nancy and I went to investigate, and we didn't ask any of the higher ups because we knew that they would tell us that it was stupid. We went, and we realized that she was telling the truth. The rats had eaten whole bags of fertilizer."

"Okay, hold on, you said the rats were different? In what way?"

He shrugged, shaking his head. "I have no idea. It was like they were feral, diseased." He let out a sigh before continuing. "We went back to work the next day and Nancy told everyone about what we saw. Like we expected, everyone just thought we were being stupid. That she was some paranoid and lonely old woman who sucked us into one of her many conspiracy theories so she could spend time with somebody."

Jonathan paused, lost in thought with a deep line set between his brows. Silently, you reached forward and smoothed the line with your thumb, brushing some hair away from his face at the same time. "So you got fired because you followed a potential story?"

He shook his head. "We went back last night, and we found her in her basement. She had eaten the fertilizer, along with a whole bunch of chemicals that we found around the house. She was screaming about how she had to go back." He stared silently at the carpet. "Luckily, the ambulance was able to stabilize her and she's safe at the hospital."

You could tell how much guilt he was harboring, how heavy everything weighed on his shoulders. You rested your hand on his shoulder and squeezed, earning a small smile from him. "You saved her, Johnny. I don't think there's anything you should feel bad about."

A sigh left his lips. "Tom thinks that we abused his trust, and we fed into her delusions. So he fired us."

The mention of Tom gave you flashbacks to last night, but you quickly smothered them and instead gave Jonathan a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"I drove Nancy home, and we... we got into a huge fight about everything that happened. About how I needed that job and she didn't, and she fucked it up for both of us. I-I said some things I didn't mean, but..." He returned his gaze to you finally. "I'm just hurt and guilty and confused about how I feel at the same time."

"Well," you sighed, letting your hand drop from his shoulder to his hand, linking your fingers with his. "I know that you both did what you think was right, and I know that you both were so concerned about this because you've seen things that make you worry that it could be something... Out of the ordinary." You scooted a bit closer, looking him in the eye. "But I also know that maybe you let Nancy drag you into this big mess, and you blame her for everything that happened. But Nancy has been going through her own problems, and maybe she felt that she needed to prove herself and her judgement was clouded by that."

He was silent for a moment, letting his eyes search yours as he looked for the words to say. "I should call her. Apologize to her."

You sighed. "Maybe. Or maybe you should let it sit for a bit, make sure you have all of your emotions lined up, because I know you both get a bit hot-headed when you're defending your actions."

He chuckled at that, his eyes dropping to your linked hands and gliding his thumb along your knuckles. "Y'know, Max and El came up to me yesterday, and they said they were looking for you. That they were worried about you."

You resisted the urge to stiffen, instead taking a deep breath and trying to stay calm. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah, they said that you were being really weird. That you were even hanging out with Billy. It even freaked me out a little bit. I... I guess that was part of the reason I came here, to talk to you. I wanted to make sure you were okay, and now I feel stupid for even worrying."

Please don't feel stupid. Listen to that gut instinct. Please.

"I mean, it definitely is a little stupid," you teased, nudging his shoulder. "I think those girls just have a bit of an overactive imagination. I'm just fine. Just normal old me."

"Thank god for that," he added, a full smile finally spreading across his face.

You returned his smile before rising off the couch. "Do you want something to drink or eat?"

He shook his head, also pushing himself to his feet. "No, I should probably get going. Thank you, though."

You nodded, walking him to the door and opening it for him. "Of course. Thanks for checking up on me, Jonathan, even if I didn't need it."

He stepped out the door and stood on the porch for a moment, eyes flitting over your face. "I missed you, Y/N."

A small sigh left your lips. "I missed you too. So much. Stay in touch, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay. Bye, Y/N."

"Bye, Johnny." With one final wave, you closed the front door.

***

After seeing Jonathan that morning, you had felt a sort of urge to see him again, a magnetic pull towards that boy who broke your heart.

You knew it was dangerous to see him, not only because he was now in a committed relationship with your friend (though after what he told you had happened between them, you wondered if that label would last), but also due to the fact that you had no idea when this creature controlling you would make you snap and do god-knows-what.

So you locked yourself in your room once more, staring at the ceiling as you laid on the floor and attempted to will this horrible longing feeling away.

To no one's surprise, it didn't work.

Your next idea was to go spend time with Steve, hoping that maybe he would talk some sense into you. You threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater and drove to the mall in the sweltering heat, not wanting to risk letting your skin bubble and sizzle under the sun like BIlly's had.

But of course, neither Steve nor Robin were working, and no one had heard from them.

Under normal circumstances, you would be worried about their wellbeing, but you frankly had too much on your mind concerning your own wellbeing that you didn't fret about it. Instead, you ordered a pint of strawberry and a pint of mint chip from the boy at the counter and hurried out of the mall.

Before you could even stop yourself, you had pulled up (in the

car you had finally gotten fixed) onto the rocky front yard of the Byers' house.

With a few mumbled profanities towards your impulsiveness, you grabbed both pints of ice cream and stepped up the front porch steps that creaked under your feet. You knocked at the front door and shifted awkwardly, turning slightly to glance at the setting sun.

"Y/N?"

You turned around to face Jonathan who stood at the door, now dressed in an olive green tee shirt and a pair of jeans. "Hi!" you hummed, smiling brightly.

"Hi," he chuckled, mirroring your smile. "What are you doing here?"

You shrugged, brushing past him and walking into the house. "I thought you might still be feeling down about today, so I wanted to bring you some ice cream. You still like mint chip, right?"

His eyes followed your figure as you walked into the kitchen and grabbed two spoons for the both of you. "Uh, yeah. Thanks...?"

You finally stopped moving for a moment to take in his confused state. With a sigh, you sat down on the couch, placing the ice cream and spoons down on the coffee table. "And after seeing you today, I realized how much I missed spending time with you. I guess... I guess I just wanted to see you again and catch up."

His look of confusion slowly melted into one of comfort and slight melancholy. "I missed you too. I'm glad you came over." We walked over and sat on the couch, his leg bumping into yours. "And I'm glad that you brought me ice cream."

You nudged his shoulder with yours, giving him a beaming smile. "You're lucky I remembered your favorite. I was just about to get some only for me."

He shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I don't mind sharing."

"I do!"

He laughed, resting his head on your shoulder as his shoulders shook with giggles. You laughed with him, but you were acutely aware of how close he was to you.

As your laughs died down, the two of you opened your individual pints of ice cream and began to dig in. "Have you talked to Nancy yet?" you asked before shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into your mouth.

He shook his head, letting out a sigh. "Not yet. I'm taking your advice and letting everything settle for a bit," he replied, leaning back on the couch. "I just... our argument made me realize a lot."

"Like what?" you mirrored his position, leaning back on the arm of the couch.

"I mean, I knew that we both came from different backgrounds and we would never agree on some things, but..." He poked his ice cream with his spoon. "I guess I never realized that though we've spent so much time together, she still has this idea that everyone has it as good as she does. That people can just throw away something that doesn't fit them perfectly because they have the money to do so." He lifted his eyes from his ice cream and up to you. "And maybe I'm narrow-minded too, spending time with other people who knew what it was like living without a lot of money."

You frowned as he spoke, slowly leaning forward to set your ice cream and spoon down on the coffee table. "Do you think that it could... hurt you guys in the long run? Knowing what she sees about the whole situation?"

He set his ice cream down as well, pulling his feet up onto the couch and crossing his legs. "I-I don't know."

Silently, the two of you searched each other's eyes with baited breath, a million thoughts racing through your head.

It was at that moment that your judgement took a back seat, and you felt that inky fog lurking in your mind.

You leaned forward and pressed your lips to his. He let out a hum of surprise, but he made no move to pull away from you. Slowly, you moved your hands to the back of his neck and scooted closer to him so you didn't have to crane your neck. You huffed out a sigh of relief as his hands finally rested on your cheeks, his shoulders beginning to lose their tension as he finally relaxed into the kiss.

Just as you were about to deepen the kiss, you felt the familiar surge of black course through your veins, your skin beginning to burn as black veins snaked up your arms and neck.

As the pull towards the creature grew stronger, your lips fell from Jonathan's and you fought the creature for control.

Jonathan gave you a confused look when you pulled away, but he quickly pushed himself away from you when he noticed the inky veins that adorned your skin. "Y/N," he gasped, his eyes wide with panic and fear. You immediately pushed yourself off the couch and rushed towards the door, only for Jonathan to lurch forward and grab your wrist. "Y/N, what the fuck is going on!"

You snapped your gaze to him, feeling that fog slowly take over your mind as you fought to stay awake. "Let me go," you begged. "Please, I don't want to hurt you."

"What?"

"Let me go, Jonathan!"

Your tone startled him, loosening his grip on your wrist just enough for you to slip away from him and out the door before the creature took control.

***

Jonathan began to pace back and forth a few minutes after... Whatever had just happened.

He knew those veins, those pitch black veins that flooded your skin. He saw them when he had to exorcise his own brother, and now another person he cared for so dearly was overtaken by that same creature.

When Will was fighting was controlled by that same creature, though, he didn't seem so... normal. Was it evolving? Learning?

That then made him question if it was even really you. Maybe it had learned your mannerisms, took advantage of the thoughts it had access to.

What if you didn't even want to kiss him, but that thing made you?

He shook the thought from his head. He knew you loved him, that you wanted to be with him. But he also knew that you wouldn't overstep since him and Nancy were still together, even though they had gotten in a fight.

But God, he'd kiss you again in an instant if given the chance.

With a huff, he sat back down on the couch and stared at the two half-eaten pints of ice cream, guilt and worry gnawing at his insides.

He needed to tell Nancy about what happened to you. Just not now.

***

You sat at the landing of the metal warehouse stairs, silently watching Heather patch up Billy's bloodied body as you thought back on what happened just minutes ago.

"The girl, was it her?" Heather asked, gently dabbing a damp cloth over Billy's shoulder.

"Yeah," Billy responded gruffly, his jaw set tight. "It was her. She knows now. She knows about me."

"Jonathan knows too," you voiced silently. "He saw."

He gripped onto Heather's wrist, stopping her actions. "She could've killed me," Billy continued, ignoring your statement.

"Yes. But not us," heather whispered. Silently, she turned to look over the rows of individuals you've sacrificed, people overtaken by the monster.

"Not us," you repeated.

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claybefree · 3 years

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Seeing as it's the twentieth anniversary, I guess I should post this again

September Third, Two Thousand and Nine

For years whenever anyone asked me when my son Henry was born I’d start to say September instead of August 25, 2001. Sunday he had his eighth birthday party at his mother’s house, and I stayed here. Most of his mother’s friends don’t care for me much. The feeling is mutual. Tonight coming home from work I started stitching what I’m about to write together in my mind and suddenly got very afraid. I thought for a moment that I was about to go get drunk, which might very likely be death for somebody like me. I was sure I was going to change direction of the truck, that I’d drive the same route I always did back then, that I would stand by the register and stare at the bottle in my hand without really knowing I where I was. I think it has to do with the weather finally changing and perhaps that Henry’s mom and I are no longer together. I sat on the porch of my little house and called a friend and told him all this. He listened and after a while I felt better, which is exactly how these things should go. When we decided we were done he told me I should go in and write all this down.

I worked on through that whole day. Most everybody else on the job had stopped and listened to each of the radios on the different floors or cried. The asshole Turks I was framing a bathroom for wouldn’t let me quit. They had tile to run. I found it made me feel better to keep going anyway. The laborers cussed me when I asked them to move so that I could use the table saw, a natural gathering spot on any job. They seemed to think I was calloused or hard-hearted and it was because I was from Tennessee. It just now occurred to me that maybe they were right.

That afternoon, when it was determined safe to walk across the bridges, most of the job, the other carpenters and trades-people, wandered home to Brooklyn or Queens. Me and the two left to close everything up had it different as we lived in Jersey. Anthony, the boss, was big and red-haired, red faced and lived in Hoboken. Duane was in charge of demolition and waste, was a little shorter and darker, and lived in Secaucus or maybe somewhere west of that I think. They squared off on each other frequently. It always reminded me of two walruses going at it on a beach.

Whenever we went out to the bar afterwards Anthony would have a Bud tall boy in each hand at all times, the waitress would come up with four for him whenever we sat down. On the job we liked to yell at each other, I once told him I was doing him a favor by giving him such an easy target, and he never missed an occasion to oblige me. Duane was a single dad, dark haired with deep sunken yet kind eyes that always seemed to have bags under them. One of the black laborers told him once he was the most Uncle Fester looking motherfucker he had ever seen. I tended to agree.

We locked the job up at four I think, humped it across the park through the smoke to the A-train. There was smoke forming a mist around the trees of central park that day. There were no flower children loitering at Yoko’s “Imagine” monument to barge through. Our thinking was to get downtown to the Path train. We had no idea that two of the stations had been destroyed. It didn’t matter, we were underground fifteen minutes before Anthony vetoed the idea. People were running wild through the stations, on the trains, everything was panic and Oh Fuck and Anthony had no intention of being underground. He had a funny look on his face that I couldn’t figure out. It wouldn't occur to me until later that the big man was very afraid.

In the years since I have always wondered why people have reacted so strongly from that day. Later we would go to war because of a something that happened one day in New York City and this has always seemed really strange to me. I guess what I mean is that I was there and never wanted to kill anybody because of it. Most of the time I just thought it was very strange and sad and mostly just very interesting. I only remember ever crying about it twice. The first time was a few months afterward, I had quit Anthony to stay home with Henry. Part of our routine was to watch Sesame Street. One day in the winter there was a skit where Elmo got very scared because of some smoke and noise that was never identified. I suppose in this case it was a nameless fear. A New York City fireman came on screen and hugged him, told him it was okay to be scared, Elmo, and that everything would be alright. I remember little red furry Elmo hugged the fireman tight. I held Henry in my lap and cried into his fine blonde hair.

It was the fireman that did it. I still get upset when I think about the firemen. I have had a lot of trouble with cops in different times in my life, but I never had a problem with any fireman I ever encountered, drunk or otherwise. They seem to me to be a different animal entirely.

Anthony, Duane and me ran into two firemen on the deck of the cruise boat that carried us across to Weehawken. They came in and collapsed on the painted metal floor, shedding boots and letting their helmets roll away. Some people applauded weakly, others asked questions, they just stared at us and said nothing. It didn’t occur to me until much later they were probably the only ones from their station who lived. Other men that for years they worked with, ate and fought with, got drunk with were dead. There was a bar I frequented in Jersey City a few blocks from our house where a couple of weeks later I saw three firemen in dress uniforms. One was between his partner on a stool and the third who was older and may have been a captain. The captain was clearly upset, swaggering and poking the other two in the chest. Everybody else was trying hard not to pay attention to what seemed about to develop into a fight. I think later I saw the old man leaning against the bar and weeping openly, he must have been sixty at least.

I got drunk in this bar Sept. 10th while my wife and kid slept back home. She’d start nursing and pass out with him and I’d head out to roam. The thing I liked about this place was the Sinatra on the jukebox, so that night I loaded it up and sat at the bar listening. I think it was the first time I’d ever heard “Summer Wind.” The tattooed brunette tending bar must have thought it was cute because she serenaded me, singing along with a couple of the songs. There was another man with a mustache further down the line who was putting the blast on her and didn’t seem to like me much so I got the fuck out early. By “early” I mean I didn’t close the place.

I won’t tell you what we saw on the boat ride across the Hudson, you’ve seen it already. We unloaded at Weehawken and everyone, thousands of high end refugees really, started walking south towards Hoboken where we had been told there were buses waiting to take us home. I noticed that even wearing boots, the three of us walked faster than the others. We were construction workers living and working around Manhattan and we were very good at walking. I remember being comforted by walking with them. Hundreds of buses lined the streets of Hoboken and the three of us walked the length of that town. Anthony broke off about halfway to head home. A couple of weeks later I showed up having laid out drunk for two days and told him I had come for my tools. He looked at me and didn’t say a word. He mailed me my check. I haven’t seen the man since.

Duane and me trudged the rest of Hoboken together. I heard that not soon after I left he was let go to cut costs and that not long after that he got into a bad time with a prostitute on rt. 1 & 9. The smoke in Hoboken was thicker than in the city and the fumes from streets filled with idling buses finally got my hangover to officially kick in. I told Duane about how I’d had “Summer Wind” playing as background music in my head all day. He laughed and began singing the song, each line perfectly. We got through the crowd easily, after hours of walking together we had finally hit a stride together. We were marching, really. There was the giant blue sky of the day broken intermittently by smoke and there was the roar of diesel noise and Hoboken and Duane singing Summer Wind to me; some punk kid from Tennessee who had no business being there.

The only other incident I remember having to cry because of some assholes who decided to fly planes into tall buildings was coming across the Manhattan bridge one night after carrying my sister-in-law home to Park Slope. She would come over most nights to hang out with the baby, and around eleven or so and in various states of sobriety I’d be asked to drive her back home. I never hated the terrorists for invoking a War of Terror, I hated them for causing enough terror that it fucked the roads up. Shit got closed for what seemed no fucking reason whatsoever. One day coming back from the pediatrician’s office, Henry got stuck howling in his car seat for four hours because the Holland Tunnel was handling too much traffic and we were too afraid to take him out of it because of the cops everywhere. My sister-in-law and I spent a lot of time in the Saturn together on the nights I drove her home. I can’t remember what we talked about, probably everything. I haven't spoken to my sister-in-law since I moved out last summer.

This particular night the Brooklyn Bridge was only operating east-bound into Brooklyn so after I dropped her off I was diverted back across the Manhattan Bridge in order to get back into the city and eventually home. The Manhattan Bridge back then was still under renovation and I guess has always been the ugly, cross-eyed cousin of the Brooklyn Bridge. I got stuck on it, moving slower than shit, and staring at trash and old faded plywood encasing the little bit of wrought iron and Neo-Classical elements that were left up by the arch. Off to the left t seemed as though the entirety of Downtown was illuminated from the work lights that were set up down by Ground Zero. Downtown glowed with lights that were set up to look for people that weren’t there anymore. The DJ on WFMU that night was playing a super slowed down cover of the B-52’s Song for a Future Generation. If you’ve heard it, you’ve probably laughed, it’s a ridiculously chirpy pop song. I’ve always loved it. The lyrics go a little like this:

Wanna be the ruler of the galaxy

Wanna be the king of the universe

Let`s meet and have a baby now

In between each stanza, the different members give spoken-word tidbits of information about themselves. For example Ricky, the original guitarist, was a Pisces and “loved computers and hot tamales.“ Ricky also died from AIDS back in 1985 when people still had no idea what the disease was.

The version I heard that night had slowed the tempo to that of a blues song. The dip-shit ironic hipster that sang it reflected this. Stuck on the bridge it felt as though I was listening to a lament. What reduced me to tears, smoking Winstons in my little Saturn station wagon, was the feeling that whatever was left of innocence had recently been or was about to be brutally murdered by pig-face, ignorant men. Wanna be the first lady of infinity. Wanna be the nicest guy on earth. Let's meet and have a baby now.

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lyssismagical · 4 years

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hello! do you take prompts? i really wanna read something where peter is quarantined with the starks and one day he’s on an online class and all of a sudden tony interrupts him with something and his classmates on the sceen are like :o

Oops sorry this took so long to write but here we are :)

(TW Covid Mentions)

(Also @justme--emily wrote one with a similar prompt so go read that one too)

Peter drops his bag on the front porch, crossing his arms over his chest as he steps across the threshold into the cabin. This is the first time in the past year and a half that he’s been visiting the cabin that he hasn’t wanted to be here.

Happy hovers behind him, frown plastered on his face as he meets Tony’s worried gaze.

“You okay, kiddo?” Tony asks. He reaches out like he’s about to comfort his kid, but he stops short. “You should probably- Uh, wash off before I…”

Peter nods, offering a forced smile, not bothering to answer the question. He ducks down the hall towards his bedroom, once a guest bedroom but now adorned with Star Wars posters and littered in his things. It’s his in a way that he never thought would be allowed before the Snap when he used to pack all of his things up when he left the tower after ‘Training Weekends’ or ‘Internship Retreats.’

The word pandemic still rings in his head. A scary thing to be experiencing, even if he knows he’ll be perfectly safe living in the cabin, virtually in the middle of nowhere. Especially with Pepper, who’s a perfectionist and a clean person, paired with Tony’s concerning health detriments.

But May’s out there in Queens, alone, working as a nurse, and Peter’s upset. He doesn’t want her to be alone, he doesn’t want her to be in danger, he doesn’t want her to be put in the line of fire. But he knows this is what he does to her every day when he goes out as Spider-Man, throwing himself into dangerous situations and leaving her by herself to fret.

It’s fair, he knows that, and she’s the true hero, but he still hates that she’s out there by herself.

He stands in the shower for longer than he needs to, long since finished his washing to make sure he’s clean, even though he hasn’t seen anybody since the announcement of the pandemic, other than Happy. He wasn’t even allowed to hug May goodbye.

Eventually, though, he’s not allowed to continue his sulking, so he heads downstairs for lunch, even if he wants to hide away in his bed for the next few months.

“Peter!” Morgan shouts, racing up to him and throwing her arms around his hips. She’s grinning up at him, showing off one of her missing front teeth. “We missed you so, so, so, so much.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Peter says, half-heartedly, scooping her up into his arms and kissing the top of her head. He knows he’s not acting like himself, he sees it in the crease of Tony’s forehead and the pout that adorns Morgan’s face, but he’s tired and he doesn’t feel like putting in the effort of pretending.

It’s been a little while since schools were closed, so Peter already has plenty of homework stacked on his shoulders, along with MJ’s Academic Decathlon meets she insists still need to happen twice a week.

He tries not to let that show in his face when he offers a tired smile at Tony who leans forward to press a kiss to the kid’s forehead.

“I know this all sucks, and I know you’re worried about May, but it’s her turn to be the Parker Hero, alright? She’s going to be okay.”

“And if she’s not?” Peter asks because he knows he’s had to. It’s a painful reflection of the amount of loss he’s faced. “What then?”

“We’ll figure it out if it comes to it,” Pepper says. She, like everybody, looks tired and worry pinches her features.

Peter nods like this is all perfectly fine. Like he’s okay with sitting in the cabin day-in and day-out while May works tirelessly in the city.

“Think of it this way, by staying home and not Spider-Manning and following the rules like the rest of civilization, your aunt will have less people in the hospital with her and less chances of catching anything. Does that?”

Peter shrugs, slipping down into one of the kitchen chairs. “Sure… I’m fine. I’m just tired. I wanna sleep for a thousand years.”

“May sent me a general idea of what your schedule was looking like, and as much as I condone healthy sleeping schedules, you have a Decathlon meeting in a few hours.” Pepper casts a glance at the obvious circles under Peter’s eyes. “But after that, you can sleep through the rest of the day. You deserve it.”

Tony serves up some breakfast for them. Blueberry pancakes after Morgan had demanded a special breakfast for Peter’s arrival.

And it makes Peter feel a lot better already.

Tony makes stupid dad jokes that make Morgan crack up in hysterical giggles, especially when Peter rolls his eyes overdramatically as they get worse and worse. And Pepper playfully scolds them for making a mess with the syrup which makes Peter ‘accidentally’ pour too much syrup on his plate which makes Morgan almost fall out of her chair she laughs so hard.

And Morgan’s laughter is infectious. Peter finds himself laughing along, tired smile slowly becoming his regular grin.

After breakfast, Peter calls May and talks to her on the phone about how work’s going and about the Stark Family. He promises to call her every day around the same time to check in, and she promises to pick up as often as she can.

And then he makes sure Pepper knows he’ll be attending his Academic Decathlon call in his bedroom, so if she could keep Morgan busy, that’d be for the best. There’s something quietly alight in her smile when he says his bedroom.

It’s nice to see his friends again, even through the screen.

Ned, MJ, Betty, Cindy, Abe, Zach, Flash, and Brad are all there on the screen, grinning back at them like they’re just as excited to see all the little pixelated faces.

It’s so different to see everybody in their pajamas, or at least sweatpants and old hoodies, hair messily uncared for. Even Flash’s hair is sticking up in a bedhead way and he’s obviously sitting in his bed, not even bothering to drag himself to a desk for the call.

“You know it’s eleven, right?” Ned whined. “I was planning on sleeping in until at least two. How do you look put together, Peter? That’s literally so unfair.”

“I haven’t slept yet,” Peter admits, laughing a little too carefree. “Oops?”

MJ rolls her eyes, something Peter didn’t realize how much he’d been looking forward to seeing, and she quickly pulls the meeting back on track, pulling out her hefty stack of cue cards to quiz them.

Eventually, an hour or two later, there’s a knock on Peter’s door and Tony pokes his head in.

“Sorry to interrupt, kiddo,” he says, a warm smile on his face. He holds out a Hello Kitty mug. “I made you some coffee. May said you’ve finally caved and joined the coffee-drinkers.”

Peter grins, gratefully accepting the warm mug and holding it to his chest. “Thanks, Tony.”

“Holy shit,” Flash says.

“Mister Stark!” Ned waves exaggeratedly.

Tony smiles, waving back at the screen. He looks like a real dad standing in Peter’s doorway in his sweatpants and an old, fraying MIT sweatshirt, hair messy and smiling proudly.

Peter winces, though, hoping this isn’t about to wildly throw his life off course.

“You actually knew Tony freaking Stark,” Flash says, eyes wide in the screen. He shoves a hand through his hair in a poor attempt to flatten it.

“I told you I did. Not my fault you didn’t believe me,” Peter says, shrugging. He turns back to Tony. “Thanks for the coffee. I should be done in a bit.”

“Have fun, kiddo. I’ll have lunch ready for you when you’re done.” He pulls the door shut behind him as he leaves.

Everyone on the screen has matching expressions of dropped jaws and wide eyes, other than Ned who’s grinning mischievously and MJ who just looks bored.

“I can’t believe you were telling the truth this whole time,” Cindy says, followed by Betty’s, “I mostly believed you because I saw you with the new Starkphone, but you’re actually living with Iron Man.”

“Oh my god,” Flash says.

Peter shrugs. “Yeah. He’s nice and all, but he spent nearly an hour telling the worst dad jokes I’ve ever heard, so don’t let him fool you with the whole cool-guy persona he puts on for the public.”

Nothing’s really right in the world, but Peter’s always been the kind of person to find the good pieces of the bad. He’s got the Starks to keep him company and to help him out with everything, Tony’s a pretty good cook, Morgan’s the greatest little sister the world could ask for, and he’s got his friends, just a phone call away to make his anxieties fade even just a little.

Taglist: @littlemissagrafina @spideygirl2003 @romeoandjulietyouwish @c-artara @shadedrose01 @likeaphoenix13 @tonystarkweneedyou {Let me know if you want to be added or removed}

#lyss writes #lyss answers #tw covid mention #tw covid 19 #irondad #peter parker #tony stark #morgan stark #may parker is a hero that's all #Irondad and Spiderson #irondad fic

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generallybarzy · 4 years

Text

smile like sunshine iv

Tuesday: ~ 7.9k I’M SO SORRY

previous chapters: i // ii // iii

an: I HAD WRITERS BLOCK BUT THEN IT ALL HIT ME AT ONCE. I thought it was gonna be a short filler chapter but.... 7.9k words later here we are... I realized that I probably should’ve given mc a real name and stuff because it’s so specific about certain details, but it’s too late to change that, so we’ll all have to deal with it unfortunately. Also, from here on out there is a warning for nsfw thoughts! Anyway, enjoy! @thirteenisles!!

summary: Much, much different from yesterday, today is the yearly fishing trip, so you and Mat are- unfortunately- apart for a good part of the day. Mat and your father come to a silent agreement and you look for a distraction in an old flame to keep you from falling more in love with your friend. Mat doesn’t like sharing this place in your mind with anyone else...

It’s the summer of ‘19, eleven years after you first met Mat, and things are bound to be a little different this time around.

You woke up the next day with a smile on your face, giddy and excited before you even opened your eyes. You had fallen asleep happy and tired and full of warmth the night before, cuddled up against Mat’s side as he drove back to the beach house. He only woke you with soft whispers when it was time to undress for bed; you woke up in his arms realizing he had carried you all the way from the car to your room. So, your mind raced with images of Mat- his smile, his laughter, his eyes, his body- it was all overwhelming enough to stir up passionate dreams about him. Dreams about his skin against yours, weightless in the water, his big hands on you, his body hovering over top of yours, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he moved on top of you...

Rolling over in bed and trying to control yourself, you opened your phone and went into your gallery, into the folder of all your pictures of Mat from yesterday that you would continue to fill throughout the week.

And though you’d only been apart from him for the eight hours of sleep, you needed to see him in person.

Mat was in the room across the hall, drifting in and out of sleep with a smile on his face as he thought back to yesterday. He reached over to the bedside table so he could scroll through his own phone. You had asked him yesterday to take a picture of you for your Instagram, posing for him and smiling with the ocean in the background, and he couldn’t look away from them. You looked so good yesterday in that little bikini, all spread out on the paddleboard and soaking up the sunlight, and, as much as he wanted to keep his head out of the gutters around you, there was just something about you. If only you knew the effect you had on him.

“Kids, get up! We’ve got a lot planned for today!”

He jumped, hearing your mother’s voice in the hall outside your rooms, and sat up a little bit more in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had to admit, this trip would be a little bit more fun if your family wasn’t here as well; if every day could be like yesterday. But hoping to be alone with you for every second of the day was a fantasy, and he knew it. He was still technically intruding on your family vacation.

There was a knock at his door, and for a horrible moment, he thought it was one of your parents before your voice sounded from the other side. “Mat? It’s me.”

“Yeah, come in.” If only he was ready for what he was about to see. Yeah, he saw you in a bikini yesterday, but this was just as good… You walked into his room in a little tank top and booty shorts, what you had slept in, your messy hair thrown up in a bun. He didn’t want to stare too much, but were you braless? Yeah, you definitely were. He shuffled around under the sheets, making sure you wouldn’t be able to see what you were doing to him. He was lucky you knocked first, or who knows what he could’ve been doing?

Seeing Mat lying in bed was… a sight. His dark hair was haloing around his head on the pillow, he was tangled in the white sheets, and half of his upper chest and arms were exposed and already looking beautifully tanned. “You’ll never guess what today is.”

Mat ran a hand through his hair and let out a puff of air. “Your birthday’s tomorrow, so I have no idea.”

“It’s the family fishing trip! Remember that?”

Oh, he remembers it. He remembers going out onto the water in a rented boat with his dad and yours, watching in amazement at the huge fish they caught in the ocean. He remembers playing with you on the little dock, daring you to jump from it and into the ocean. Of course, your parents always stopped you from doing that. “No way, you still do that?”

“Yup, it’s tradition.”

“The same place every year?”

“Same place.”

“Maybe this year you won’t be too afraid to jump off the dock.” He smirked, and it was a sight that flooded heat all the way through your body.

“Shut up, Mat! I wasn’t afraid to, my parents just never let me!” He laughed at that, sitting up and letting the sheets fall off his bare chest. “And you know that, too! You just love to get on my nerves.” Oh, that was only one of many things he’d love to do to you.

“Maybe. But you brought me on this trip anyway.”

“Don’t make me regret that, Maty.” You swatted his bare leg away from you as he stretched out in bed, and he couldn’t help but smile at the touch. “Get up, we gotta get ready for today. I’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be pretty fun.” And when you turned and left, Mat had to bite his lip to hold back any reaction to the way your legs looked in those shorts. He tossed his head back to his pillow and stared up at the ceiling.

Yeah, today was gonna be fun.

Back when you and Mat first met, your parents and his immediately got along. He had begged and begged his parents to talk to yours and let him go along on the family fishing trip, mostly because you had cried to him and told him you didn’t want to be alone. Of course, they had to go meet your parents first and come along, but when they finally agreed that Mat could come along, you were over the moon.

Since you reconnected almost a year ago, Mat had told his parents about you. He called them the day after you approached him in the bar, when he went out to lunch with you to talk, the moment he knew he was going to try and befriend you again. He was excited when he called them, asking in a frenzy if they still remembered that girl he hung out with the summer of 2008. Of course, they remembered her, they had told him, she was the first crush he ever had. "Oh, your first girlfriend!" his mom had exclaimed. "Mom!" Flustered, Mat shook off those words. No, you were nothing more than friends.

That’s what he had thought, anyway, up until a few months ago.

Now, after being alone with you yesterday, he knew: this was much more than friendship.

The place your dad went to go fishing every year was a cute empty spot of beach, with deep water and a small dock where you and your siblings and friends always used to play. Where you used to play with Mat, that summer, when he dared you to jump in but you were too scared. Where you continued to come back to years after until Mat was just a fading memory and your parents urged you to meet new friends. And where, years later, you had your first kiss, with some random boy you met three days before and who you thought was cute.

“This is where it all began.” You spread your arms wide in a flourish, presenting the dock to Mat when you arrived. He glanced around- yes, this was where it all began.

“It definitely looks a lot smaller than when we were kids.”

“Yeah, probably because we grew up.”

“Aww, if we grew up does that mean I can’t push you in anymore?”

“Don’t even think about it, Barzal.” Before Mat had the chance to even try to push you in, you were cut off by the sound of an approaching boat out on the water. “Bet, Mat. Wanna push me into the water in front of my dad? I dare you.” He smiled and held up his hands in surrender. Usually, your dad took your brother along with him, but this year it seemed he had other plans.

“You like to fish, Mathew?”

“Uh,” he glanced at you for help, obviously not yet sure how to talk to your dad.

“Yeah, he’s pretty good at fishing.”

“Great! Hop on. We’ll have some one-on-one time.”

“Okay, cool.” The moment he turned away, Mat whispered to you: “He’s going to throw me off the boat.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Mat. He doesn’t hate you. You’ll probably just talk about fish or sports.”

“But don’t you want me here with you?”

“I’ll be fine alone for a bit.”

Mat couldn’t lie- he wasn’t the happiest at how this day was gonna pan out. He wanted one-on-one time with you, not your dad. They had already had that talk at the motel when he ever so kindly told him not to make a move on his daughter, so he wasn’t sure what else could happen. But if this is what he had to go through to get on your dad’s good side, he was gonna try his hardest. So here he sat, kinda awkwardly, next to him, a fishing rod in his hands.

“So, Mathew, You were gone with (Y/N) yesterday...”

“Uhh, yeah.”

“What’d the two of you do?”

He was at a loss for words. What could he say? “Oh, just uhh, took a drive down to another beach, had lunch.”

“Hmm. But you didn’t try anything?”

“No, no nothing!”

“I hope not. Otherwise, we’d really have a problem.” Mat couldn’t find a way to respond to that. As much as he wanted to make a move, he knew here wasn’t the ideal place to do it. No, he’d wait until he wasn’t sharing a roof with your father. “Mathew, I still remember what you said at the motel.” Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Of course, he did. “But you understand where I’m coming from, don’t you?”

“I- I‘m not sure.”

“You seem like an… okay, guy. A good friend to her. But I’ve seen plenty of guys who seemed okay and ended up breaking her heart. I won’t let that happen again.” Mat wanted to tell him that it wasn’t up to him to decide who his daughter could date, but he knew that that might be the dumbest possible thing to say, so he held his tongue. “I know what young, professional athletes are like. While I respect the sport, you’re not the type of guy I want my daughter with.” He didn’t like the idea that you’d had your heart broken before. He never wanted to do that to you, and your father just had a way of making him doubt himself.

“I understand.” Mat’s eyes drifted to where you stood down on the sand, barely able to make out your form from this distance, as he wondered what you were doing.

You were collecting shells, walking side by side with your sister, and catching up with a little bit of girl talk.

“Sooo, this Mat guy?”

“Yeah?” You couldn’t help the smile that was pulling onto your face at just the sound of his name. “What about him?”

“Well, he’s an NHL player, first of all.”

“He’s a lot more than that.” And he was. It may sound strange to others, but he meant everything to you. Ever since that summer where he had been your refuge, he’d been the one you thought about to calm down. He’d been your happy memory. He’d been the dream you could only hope you never forgot. And he became so much more in the past few months. It was a little weird at first when your roommate teased you about your “summer romance” with this boy you didn’t even know, but suddenly you didn’t want to deny it. Maybe this time around, you would come back with an even better story than before.

“Yeah. He’s also pretty hot.”

“Trust me, I know.” You weren’t shallow, but yeah, the cherry on top was how attractive he just happened to be.

“What are you two? Friends? Maybe moooore?”

“No, no, no, just friends.” Your answer was quick- almost too quick- as if you were trying to cover something up. A silence fell between you and you realized just how in denial you sounded. “But he just means a lot to me, ya know? You heard the story about how we met, right? Mom’s obsessed with telling it.”

“Yeah, of course. If you ask me, kinda sounds like looooove.”

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, if this were a movie, I’d watch the shit out of it. Imagine the ratings a plot like that would get! It’s like a teen summer romance but... wholesome and cute! I’m sure everyone has a childhood friend they became separated from. Imagine reading this summary: A boy and girl meet and become best friends only to be separated after one summer of romance-”

“Ew, don’t say romance! We were like, ten.”

“-After a summer of almost-romance where they were obviously in love even if their little brains couldn’t comprehend it. They reconnect years later, only to realize what they felt all those years ago was much more than friendship.”

You laughed, but couldn’t help imagining how that story would end. What was your sister, a psychic? “Okay, that’s not quite how it goes, but can we just… stop talking about him? It’s weird.” For the last few months, there had been a weird feeling in your chest whenever you discussed your relationship with Mat. Okay, maybe- just maybe- you had a little crush. A tiny crush. Nothing that meant anything, nothing that wouldn’t be easy to get over. It sucked to have a crush on one of your best friends, to have a crush on the boy you brought along on this trip to use as a distraction from everything else.

You glanced out to where you could barely see Mat’s figure on the boat with your father. His features were indistinguishable, but you could see the outline of his body and the dark swoop of hair on his head standing out against the blue sky. It wasn’t like Mat was interested in you at all, he was an NHL player, a star at that. He probably had countless girl’s numbers lined up in his contacts that he could date at any given moment, there’s no way he’d settle for a childhood friend he’d only known for a year. Just because he came on this trip with you and promised to be your distraction, didn’t mean he liked you like that. No, if anything, he was here for nostalgia- for looking back on that summer when you were carefree children- not because he had any type of romantic feelings for you. Not because he loved you. Yet, despite this, you couldn’t seem to control yourself around him.

You desperately needed a distraction from Mat, or else you’d end up doing something you couldn’t come back from.

You dropped your gaze to the sand to look for any pretty, unbroken shells hiding among the piles beneath your feet. The tide had come in high earlier this morning, leaving behind a mess of little shards of broken shells and rocks. Maybe, if you were lucky, you’d find one that was whole.

“Ooh, look at this one!” Your sister held up a pretty shell, still in one piece, colored all the shades of a sunset.

“Oh, man that’s pretty! I wish I could’ve found one that nice.”

“Don’t look too hard. It was right in front of you the whole time.”

You walked silently, pondering over her words, and searching for something better when a third voice spoke up from a little distance in front of you.

“No way, (Y/N)?”

It was a voice you’d never thought you’d hear again, but when you looked up towards it, you realized this trip might just get a lot more interesting. Your sister nudged you and made her exit, knowing exactly who this was and wanting to give you alone time with him.

Maybe this was exactly what you needed to take your mind off of Mat.

Back in 2008, when you were only ten years old, you thought the world of Mat. You thought he was the coolest person you knew, at the beach or at home. He was your closest friend, but for some reason, neither of your young brains realized that you should get each other’s parent’s phone numbers or addresses so you could keep in touch. You left the beach that year with nothing on your mind but Mat, and your parent’s loved to tease you to this day that he was the only person you talked about for months. When next summer rolled around, you were pouty and angry that he was nowhere to be found. And that continued for years to come.

Slowly, over the years you went on family vacations in that same house, you began, with your parent’s urging, to try and push your memories of Mat to the back of your mind and make new friends with the local kids your age. And slowly, you began to forget about Mat. Or, that’s how you thought it would happen. Sure, there were times you went without thinking of him for a while, but something would always end up reminding you of him. But you pushed it aside. He’s long gone, you’d told yourself, no point in dwelling on the past. None of your new friends could compare to the fun Mat had been, but they were great friends, and now you were young teenagers having fun, getting into trouble together, and experiencing all your firsts together.

This guy- Kyle- was one of those firsts.

The summer you turned seventeen, there was a new guy among your beachy friend-group. He was your age, and he could already drive, and that made his curly, blonde, surfer boy look even more attractive to all the girls who knew him. As much as you hated to admit today, you weren’t an exception. Yeah, you thought he was cute. No, there wasn’t much about him beyond that, as shallow as it was, but at least he had seemed to care about you that night when he walked you away from the other teens, partying and drinking and walked you out to the dock and kissed you under the stars. He had said all the right things that night, and a few nights later, and later, and later.

You went that whole summer thinking that the two of you were together, but apparently, you’d missed the memo that he was seeing other girls, too. He’d promised he didn’t mean to hurt you but learning that it wasn’t the two of you, learning that he was with other girls too and the whole summer had been a lie made your self-esteem plummet. It hurt like hell, being your first heartbreak, and it was the worst possible way to end a beach trip tradition.

But he wasn’t a bad guy, not really. He was a young, stupid, teenage boy, right? And he said he didn’t mean to hurt you. No reason to hate him.

Now, almost exactly four years since you met him, he walked next to you down the beach as you combed for shells, a quietness settling over you. It wasn't a comfortable silence like with Mat, but something uneasy, something tense and awkward. Why was he here? Was it appropriate to just… walk up to your ex and start chatting like old friends? Maybe he was just trying to be civil, courteous- if that’s what this was, you… hesitantly respected that. It probably took as much courage as when you approached Mat for the first time- both times. But, if he was looking for something more…

“So, you been dating at all?”

“Sure I have. I mean, it’s been...almost four years?” Truthfully, you’ve barely been dating. Nothing serious, at least. But you knew it would sound so sad if he was the last “serious” relationship you had.

“You disappeared after what happened between us. For four years. I thought maybe you couldn’t face me afterward or something.”

“No.” You bit your tongue, not really wanting to bring up old bad blood or reopen old scars. “Life just got in the way. After that year I had a job, then I was moving out, going to college. Just didn’t have time to come down anymore.”

“That sucks. We’ve all really missed you down here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He smiled, dropping an arm around your shoulder. You knew he didn’t mean it in a romantic way, it was such a thing he would do, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. “We’re actually having a party on Friday. Think you can make it?” Could you make it? It was going to be the night before you had to leave, your last night on the beach, and as much as you wanted to do something alone with Mat, you knew it was inappropriate to cling on him as if he was something more than a friend. As if he was yours. But you needed to take a step back before you did something you couldn’t take back.

Maybe this was the perfect distraction from Mat.

“I’ll be there.”

After their first discussion, Mat had fallen in and out of uncomfortable small talk with your father for what felt like hours. And now, as they got ready to head back to shore for a quick lunch, he could confirm that he was one hundred percent still not on his good side. It seemed like no matter what he tried, your father didn’t want anything to do with him. Maybe it was best this way, indifference is better than hate, isn’t it?

“Shit...”

“Huh?” Mat looked up when your father swore next to him. He was glaring up the shoreline as they approached the dock, out to where you were. And then he noticed, with a jolt to his heart, that you weren’t alone out there. Standing next to you in the sand was a generic-looking douchebag surfer dude. He was standing way, way too close to you for his comfort, with an arm thrown over your shoulders like you were old buddies. “Who’s that?”

“It’s not really any of your business, is it?” He glanced over and, for a moment, Mat regretted asking anything, not wanting to stir up any drama. “But... seeing as you’re here as her friend, maybe you can talk some sense into her.”

“About what?”

“It’s not my place to tell you about her private stuff but… that boy. Trouble.” He shook his head, preparing to dock the boat. “Mathew, I don’t dislike you. You mean a lot to (Y/N) as a friend, and I don’t want you to ruin that. If things didn’t work out between you two, she would be devastated. I’ve seen her heartbroken, but if it was because of you, it’d be so much worse. She could barely function without you after that summer, so if things ended completely between you two...”

Mat couldn’t help but smile when your father said he didn’t dislike him. That was a start, at least. But the thought of you having your heart broken was something he didn’t want to think about. The thought you being heartbroken because of him was something he didn’t want to think about. “I know.” And he did. He understood because he would feel the same way. If things went awkward and sour between the two of you, he would hate himself. He would be lost. Reconnecting after ten years and then losing you all together would hurt even more than if he’d never found you- if you were still only a fond memory he thought back to. If he lost you, he wouldn’t even know what to do. He needed you.

“But, that being said, you’re better than any other guy she’s cared about. Especially that boy. I respect that.” He stepped onto the dock and cast one look back at him. “Look out for her this week. As a friend.”

“I will.”

“Starting now.” He motioned down the beach where you stood with the boy, his arm around you, pulling you much too close to his body.

It felt good to know that at least your father didn’t hate him. He respected him, even. It felt good to know that both men had the same ideas when it came to your safety and were able to come to a silent agreement. And if all they could bond over was their need to protect you, he could take that. Because you were all that mattered to him.

He all but jogged down the beach to you, his heart throbbing at the sight of you smiling and laughing with someone other than him. His blood boiled. He hated that you were so familiar and comfortable with this guy, but he took comfort in the fact that your dad felt the same way, that at least they were on the same page about that. What could he be saying that was making you this happy? Who could he be who was stealing your attention away from him? That should be him, with his arm around you, making your eyes sparkle in laughter. What was this tightening feeling in his chest?

Why was Mat so jealous of him?

“Who’s this?”

You looked up from where you were practically hanging on the blonde boy’s arm and met eyes with Mat. Your Mat, your best friend. The man you were trying to forget about. And you had forgotten about him for a few minutes, falling back into the memory of your summer romance at seventeen instead of thinking of Mat, with his pretty dark swoops of hair and high cheekbones, those shimmering hazel eyes and that dazzling smile… and the fact that he was shirtless and shining all pretty and golden in the sunlight. The way he made you laugh until there were tears in your eyes and your sides ached, the way he made your heart pound erratically when he hugged you and when he threw his arm over your shoulders.

And suddenly you realized your ex couldn’t compare to Mat at all, no matter how much you needed a distraction.

“Mat, this is Kyle. Kyle, this is my friend, Mat.”

“Hey.” The other guy spoke up, and somehow, he sounded exactly like Mat expected him to sound. Like a fucking douchebag.

“Hey.” Mat couldn’t hide how unenthusiastic he was when he greeted the man, and you noticed. It was awkward, you were sandwiched between two shirtless men, one your ex- who you were trying to use as a distraction- and one your best friend- who you were hopelessly crushing on and needed a distraction from- and all three of you waited and waited until Mat finally spoke up. “So, how do you know each other?”

“We, uhh, we dated when we were younger.”

“Oh?” Mat wasn’t a fan of the way his heart ached when those words left your lips. Of course, you had other boyfriends, you were stunning, borderline perfect. Everyone must want you. You’re not mine, you’re not mine, I know. “You did?”

“Yeah, actually…” Kyle tossed his curly hair out of his face and had Mat rolling his eyes. “We met down here a few years ago. And that dock over there?” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the dock, pulling you against him. “First kiss.” Mat’s muscles tensed, his jaw went tight and his fists closed- he hated the idea that this dock was anyone else’s special place with you. Okay, maybe it was a bit selfish, but he thought this was just a little secret between the two of you, and then this guy had to show up and ruin it? “Best first kiss a girl could get, huh?” He looked at you with a cheeky, smirk...

...But it wasn’t as cute as Mat’s.

“Yeah, it was good.”

Mat knew it was stupid and unrealistic of him to think he’d always had you all to himself. You’d only known each other for that one summer, and had been separated for ten years, so of course, you eventually found someone other than him. But he couldn’t deny how much it pained his heart to know that somebody else had been closer to you than he had. To know that someone else had taken his place. To know that you weren’t even his to begin with. This guy had held you, kissed you, taken Mat off of your mind, and Mat hated how it felt to know that. “Cool, cool. Well, I think it’s time to head back for lunch, (y/n).”

“Ah, shit, really?” he pulled you tight against him in a quick side hug and kissed the top of your head. Part of you wished, for a moment, that he was Mat instead. “See ya. Remember, Friday!”

“Yep, Friday!”

Mat couldn’t help but roll his eyes again, watching him leave. He came on this trip with you and you were ditching him for your ex? Shit, it was so tough being just your friend. “What’s Friday?” His voice came out more strained and forced than he wanted it to.

“A party with my old friends.”

“You’re going?”

“Yeah, they’re my friends, so why not?” Mat couldn’t help but feel a little bit betrayed, but he knew this was your vacation, and you were kind enough to invite him along, so he couldn’t tell you what you could and couldn’t do. Just friends, just friends, just friends, he told himself.

“Well, I still get you to myself tomorrow, right? For your birthday?”

“Of course you do. Why, are you planning something?”

“Duh, what else is a best friend for?” He pulled you against him to walk down the beach and you smiled at the familiar scent of him, the familiar warmth of his body. Being in his arms was so much better than being in Kyle’s arms. He shrugged, sucking up his pride to tease you about your ex-boyfriend. “Sooo... you and surfer dude, huh? Didn’t know you were into that type.” He laughed again, nudging you with his elbow and smirking.

His smirk was a lot cuter than your ex’s.

“Shut up!” You laughed at the teasing lilt in his voice. There was your Mat, happy and smiling. His heart lit up again. Yeah, he could make you laugh so much better than anyone else could. He would always take pride in that. “I know, I know, it’s embarrassing, but listen! We were only seventeen, he could drive already…”

“Ooh, sexy.”

“Mat!”

“I’m serious, the ability to drive is pretty hot, right?”

You laughed, “Mat! I get it, I get it, it was a dumb summer fling, okay? There actually isn’t much more to him personality-wise. He’s not better than you.”

“Of course he’s not.” As cocky as Mat played it off, he was really thankful. Thankful you still preferred him over your ex-boyfriend. Thankful he still held a special place in your head, in your heart, even, that no one else ever would. “I mean, have you seen me?”

“I have.” Your eyes skimmed the length of his body. You’d seen him, alright. “You wanna hit the waves before lunch?” You traced your fingers down his arm and grabbed his big hand in yours.

“How could I say no?”

So, with his hand in yours, you ran to the water, shedding the sheer cover-up you’d been wearing over your swimsuit and shrieking when the waves splashed up against you. As usual, Mat dared you to follow him out further than you would’ve like to have gone. The gleam in his eyes was something you weren’t unfamiliar with, the same gleam he got when he was beating you at a game or when you dared him to do something. He wasn’t one to back down until he won, and that was rubbing off on you. His confidence was rubbing off on you. Something about him made you feel so brave.

“I’m guessing you’re not gonna tell me what we’re doing tomorrow?

“Of course not. It’s a surprise. What type of friend would I be if I gave away the surprise?” He dodged the water you splashed towards him and half hopped, half swam backward in the water. You had wadded out to an area that was deep enough for neither of you to be able to stand very well, and as much as you hated being out here, you felt safe as long as Mat was next to you. He splashed you back in retaliation only to be immediately hit from behind by a wave, laughing the whole time he went down at the shriek you let out when he got your hair wet.

You laughed as he went under. “That’s what you get, Barzal!” After a few seconds without seeing him resurface, you started to worry, your breath caught in your throat. Should he have been up by now? Did he get the breath knocked out of him and couldn’t come up? Did he get pulled out further? “Mat? Mat, hey, where’d you go, buddy?” Your breath was shallow, your mind fuzzy, and your heartbeat quickened as you took a few strides forward, turning and glancing over the rippling surface of the water, trying to find any sign of him, any movement, any trace of his dark hair, but there was nothing.

Not until a pair of arms underwater grabbed your waist from behind and lifted you.

“Gotcha.”

He was still laughing, still teasing you, thinking he had just played a funny trick on you and you hadn’t been in the middle of freaking out and panicking that your best friend had probably drowned.

“Shit, Mat. Oh my god.” You turned in his arms and pulled yourself against him, cheeks warming up at the feeling of his wet, bare skin against yours, his muscles taut, and his skin slick beneath your fingertips. He’s okay, he’s safe, he’s alive. You brought your hands up around his shoulders, pushing black strands of wet hair out of his eyes as he continued to laugh. You smacked his shoulder, suddenly angry that he would even joke about drowning. You couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. “You’re a dick! That wasn’t funny!”

Mat must have noticed the way your nails were digging into the flesh of his biceps, holding him for dear life with an urgent look in your eyes because he stopped laughing almost immediately when he noticed your concern. “Hey, hey.” His voice dropped to the gentle, reassuring tone that always made you emotional. The voice he broke out when you got hurt and he was there as a friend to pick up the pieces. The same voice he’d used all those years ago when you started crying over a crab he had thrown at you. “Look, I’m fine.”

“But I didn’t know that two seconds ago!”

“I’m sorry. I was just messing around. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know. I’m just glad you’re alive.” You took deep breaths, your head dropping to rest on his wet shoulder, your face pressed against the crook of his neck. It took you a few moments to understand how intimate this was: you were wrapped up together under the water, still in his arms with your feet listed off the sandy floor, pressed chest to chest with your arms wrapped over his shoulders. What you had intended to be a friendly hug became so much more when you were wet and weightless and almost bare, pressed against each other. You sighed and pulled back from him, dropping down to your feet but keeping your hands on his shoulders so stay still. He was your anchor out here. “You know, you don’t have to go pretending to drown just because you’re jealous of my ex and want my attention back.”

“What?” he scoffed, trying to play it off cool. Okay, maybe it was true that he was looking for a little bit of your attention, but he’d never admit that. Friends don’t get jealous of their friend’s ex-boyfriends. “I’m not jealous.”

“Really? You didn’t seem like your friendly self when you were talking to him. And your eyes look pretty green right now, so I’d say that’s probably because of the green monster.” You teased, poking at his face.

“He’s your ex, do you want me to treat him like a friend?”

“Well, he was also my friend, so you don’t need to be so hostile towards him. But I get it. It’s okay to be jealous. I get jealous of your friends, sometimes.”

“You do? Why?”

“They’ve gotten to spend more time with you than I did. They probably mean a lot more. You have friends you’ve known for years, and I’m not one of them. We only knew each other that summer and then this past year. I wish we would’ve been friends longer.”

“You don’t have to be jealous of them, though. I actually feel like we’ve known each other since then. I thought back to you a lot, wondering what you were up to...”

“Probably thinking of you.” You smiled, your heart swelling at the thought that between growing up and getting into the NHL, Mat still thought of you every now and then. “I feel so lucky to have found you” You closed your mouth, letting your words settle in the air between the two of you. “You don’t have to be jealous either. Kyle wasn’t that great. Not cooler than our time together.”

“No?” He added a chuckle to try and lighten the mood. “I thought he was the cool kid who could drive?”

“No.” You dropped your gaze to the ocean, turning away from Mat. “We may have had a little… romance thing, but he cheated on me.” Mat’s eyes went soft, his eyebrows furrowing up at the idea of you having your heart broken like that. He knew much too well what it felt like to be lied to and cheated on, so to imagine you suffering through that without him there to help pick up the pieces for you was too much. “Well, no,” You shook your head. “I guess he didn’t really cheat. Only kinda. It was just a summer fling to him, but I thought it was something more. I was just dumb and naive I guess.”

“Hey,” His hands lifted to your shoulders momentarily, turning you to look up at him. “That’s really shitty anyway. He hurt you.”

“Yeah. He did. And you'd never hurt me.” Your fingers, much without your permission, glided down the lengths of his wet arms to cover his hands with yours. “See? You don’t need to be jealous. You’re so much cooler. You mean more to me than he ever did. Nothing- no one- can ever top that summer. No one can ever top how much you mean to me. You're my friend.”

You both sat in uncomfortable silence, mutually hating that sentence. There was no way you were just friends. This wasn’t platonic at all. Friends didn’t cuddle each other in motel rooms; friends didn’t hold each other underwater; friends didn’t daydream about making out with each other; friends didn’t get jealous of their friend’s exes; friends didn’t have hot, wet dreams about each other almost every night; friends didn’t nearly kiss every single day. So were you really just friends?

"Yeah." As much as Mat hated being "the friend", he was going to try his hardest to live up to that if that's what you wanted from him. And even if that’s all he’d ever be, he would learn to accept it. It was better than not having you at all. "I might even be your best friend ever, right?"

"We'll see about that. You've got a lot of competition." He laughed with you. Oh, if only you know how much he didn't want to be your friend. If only he knew how much you wanted him to kiss you.

“Well, was that enough serious talk for today?”

“Yeah,” You huffed a sigh, brushing off the thoughts in your head. “I think it was.”

Your gaze dropped from those pretty hazel eyes, shimmering golden and green in the sunlight, across the immaculate structure of his cheekbones and jaw, right to his pretty pink lips. If only you could know what it felt like to have them against yours- would they be soft or rough?- to have his hot tongue in your mouth, his hands grabbing your waist, touching you all over, pulling you onto his lap. What you wouldn’t give to feel his mouth making it’s way down your body, leaving wet kisses and sucking on tender skin, leaving marks on your throat, your hips, the insides of your thighs. To feel his nose rub against you as his tongue dipped, lapped, caressed…

Mat watched you, the look in your eyes, all the walls about your past broken down, and at that very moment, he knew something. He would be your friend as long as you needed, he would be there for you to pick up the pieces and listen to your problems, he’d keep you safe, he’d do what a best friend should do. But, fuck. Fuck, he loved you. He loved you, he loved you, he loved you, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep it to himself. This was so bad.

He broke apart from you, removing his hands from where they’d been resting on your shoulders under your own soft hands, taking a few strides back in the water, and trying to regain some platonic boundaries between the two of you. That was all you were, right? Friends.

“Woah, where are you running off too, Mat?” Your laugh rang in his ear, pretty and perfect, and you.

“I-” He gestured back to the shore. “I think lunch is ready onshore. I’m kinda hungry.”

“Alright.” You pressed your hand into his and his heart leaped at the simple affection. It’s not like you hadn’t held hands before, but this time it felt… different. “Let’s head back then, Maty.”

Damn it, you have me wrapped around your finger, babe.

The day passed much too quickly for either of your taste and before you knew it the sun was dipping low in the sky, signaling the end of your long day. You wanted to spend the rest of time here in the sun, your feet digging into the sandy bottom of the ocean with the waves splashing around you; you wanted to spend the rest of time wrapped up in each other’s arms, caught up in each other’s eyes, frozen in time as you held on for dear life in your own little bubble separate from the rest of the world; daydreaming about kissing and fingers running through each other’s hair. You wanted to spend the rest of time dreaming of holding each other without worrying that the other didn’t feel the same.

But it wasn’t quite over yet.

You were sitting alone on the dock, working away at braiding the bracelet you were finishing up for Mat when you heard footsteps behind you and looked up to find him, his hair sun-dried and fluffy in the breeze and a fresh drink in his hand. “Wow, that’s really coming along, huh?” His voice was a blanket of familiarity washing over you. You would never get tired of hearing it.

“Yeah, it is.” You smiled up at him. “When you want something hard enough, you really gotta work for it.” You reached up to grab his empty hand, wrapping the bracelet around his wrist to see how much more you had to get done. Your fingers lingered on his skin for a few moments longer than they should have, and you both noticed the delicate change in atmosphere before you pulled away completely.

“You mind if I join you here?”

“Anytime, Mat.”

So he sat down next to you, watching the colors fade from the sky and dipping his toes in the water with you and closing his eyes in pure bliss. You were both warm and smelled of saltwater and sunscreen, your breath tasting of the lemonade you had had after dinner, and whatever alcoholic drink Mat was currently sipping on; your cheeks and nose were still slightly rosy from the sun, faces hurting from smiling and laughing too much with him. If this wasn’t the perfect recreation of your first family trip with him all those years ago, you weren’t sure what was.

Everything was soft and quiet until Mat spoke up from next to you. “You know, sunsets on the east coast aren’t that cool.”

“Ouch!” You mocked offense, bringing a hand to your heart. ”Wow, I invite you on this vacation with me and all you can do is insult it? I’ll rethink ever bringing you back.” He threw his head back in a cackle- the one you loved so much.

“No, I just mean… it’s cooler seeing the sunset over the ocean, don’t you think?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know, don’t really wanna inflate your ego any more.”

He chuckled a bit more, always a welcomed sound in your ears. “Guess I gotta take you out west then, try to convince you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. I’ll take you to Vancouver with me when I go home. We can head to the beach from there. My mom would love to meet you.”

“You told your parents about me?”

“Of course. I told them all about you after we caught up. They remember you, they even still have pictures of us somewhere. They’d love you.”

There was something about that moment... He was shirtless, the sun was going down behind him and casting a pretty halo around his head, his eyes held yours intensely, with unanswered questions. You tried to ignore the way his skin glistened in the light, the way his thick thighs were spreading out deliciously as he sat, the way you were sitting so close to him that the outside of your bare thigh was touching his, the way you were leaning back on your hands with your pinky loosely tangled with his. There was something about that moment, talking about his family and how much they’d love to meet you, how there are still pictures floating around of you and Mat as children, of the one summer that changed everything for you. There was something about that moment that almost had you leaning in.

“Kids, we’re heading home!”

You turned away from him quickly, scooting your leg away and pulling your hand from his. Maybe hearing your mother’s voice was what pulled you back into reality. You couldn’t kiss him. Not now.

“Yeah, yeah!!” You pulled yourself up off the dock, extending a hand to help Mat up, and smiling when his big palm touched yours, warm and soft. “We’re coming!”

This wasn’t how you wanted the day to end, but maybe it was for the best.

You could break the boundaries of friendship, push the limits to your relationship with Mat, stick your toe in and test the waters, but was it worth it? Maybe you should just try to avoid your feelings for him. Maybe it would be best to suffer in silence for the rest of your life. Shove those feelings down inside of you and swallow your words only to spend your nights dreaming of how it would feel to sleep next to him, to roll over into his arms. Maybe it was best to love him from afar. Rather that than ruin what was an amazing friendship.

Right?

#smile like sunshine #mat barzal #op #fic #mathew barzal #imagine #mat barzal imagine #fanfiction #nhl fanfiction #nhl fic #nhl writing #I'M VERY PROUD OF THIS!!!!#LIKE SO PROUD #ITS THE LONGEST THING IVE WRITTEN TO DATE #the entire fic is up to 29k i think #its 2am now bedtime

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older-brother-kit · 4 years

Text

The Sibling Matchmakers Club

Welcome everyone to my new TSC fic, and multichapter one this time! A huge thank you to all of you who supported me, I really love you guys <3

Here’s the link on AO3 :)

James, Lucie, and Mina meet at a summer camp and discover they're siblings. They each live in a different place with a different parent, but they don't want to stay separated any longer and become determined to get their parents back together. Soon enough Kit, Mina's adopted brother, gets in on it, but there's a major complication: Zara Dearborn with an engagement ring. A Parent Trap AU for Herongraystairs!

Chapter 1: What Could Happen?

“Mom, do I really have to go?” James asked, fiddling with his short sleeves. His backpack was big for an eleven year old, but James was too stubborn to bring a suitcase after insisting he could fit everything into one bag.

His mother gave him a look. “James,” she scolded gently, “We’re already at the airport.”

James Gray really did not want to go to summer camp. His mom thought that it would be good for him, but to him it was pointless. A summer camp was a place for outdoor activities and meeting new people, while James would much rather curl up with a book than be forced to do “bonding games” with a bunch of strangers.

James sighed and turned the corner as they continued to walk to his gate. “I still don’t know why you signed me up for this. Don’t you want me to be home for the summer?”

He saw his gate and was about to elbow his mom and point to it, but she stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him. “Jamie,” Tessa Gray said, her hand soft on his shoulder. She was looking him in the eyes, and James was surprised to see the concern in them. She was the only one that he ever allowed to call him Jamie. “Of course I’d love to spend all summer with you.” She paused, as if trying to find the right words. “But I’m worried about you. There’s Cordelia of course, but aside from her you don’t have many friends. I know summer camps can be good for that, and when I looked into Camp Clover a lot of people said it was perfect for meeting new people and finding new interests. Can’t you try it out, just this once?”

James could never say no to his mom. “Okay,” he mumbled, because he still didn’t want to go but he’d tolerate it just for her. “I’ll try to have fun.”

Tessa beamed, and she ruffled his hair before grabbing his hand and leading him to the seats at his exit gate. “Good, I’m glad.”

James was going to be flying independently for the first time in his life, and he was secretly feeling a little anxious about it. His mom had made sure everything was taken care of for his flight to Kansas and that the flight attendants would look out for him, but it was still nerve-wracking.

He and his mom sat down next to each other, and he leaned his head on her shoulder. “I bet nothing exciting will happen,” he mumbled into the fabric of her shirt, and she laughed.

Maybe camp wouldn’t be too bad.

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“Where are my sandals?!”

“By the door!”

“No they’re not, I checked three times-- and now I can’t find my hairbrush!”

Lucie Herondale had never been great at managing her time. There had been many instances of her planning to write for an hour, only to stop and discover it had been three instead. She also tended to wake up late for school, though her papa usually got her to school before she could be counted as late.

Not that her papa was good at managing his time either.

“Lucie, do you have my keys?” Will Herondale yelled from across their apartment, but Lucie was too busy looking through her closet to answer.

“Yes!” she whispered to herself as she spotted her favorite pair of sandals, and she quickly put them on. She was looking for her hairbrush when she heard Will call her again.

“Lucie, we’re going to be late!”

Yeah, obviously. They had talked for a week about how they couldn’t be late to the airport, but then Will slept through his alarm and Lucie forgot to turn hers on. Lucie was going to be flying by herself, but her papa had assured her that everything would go smoothly.

Will tended to be a little over-protective sometimes, and Lucie knew that it was a miracle her papa had finally agreed to send her to summer camp. She’d been begging for the past couple years to go to one after watching a movie about it, but he had been against the idea of spending a month without his daughter. Lucie knew he would miss her, and she would miss him of course, but she was excited for Camp Clover. She’d wanted something exciting and filled with adventure recently, and she couldn’t wait for all the new people she’d meet and all the new activities she’d get to do. Plus, she’d probably come up with a lot of good material for a story about kids at a summer camp.

“I found your hairbrush,” Will said loudly, and Lucie turned around to find him standing there holding up her hairbrush proudly. He had the hairbrush in one hand, and his keys in the other.

“Thank you Papa,” Lucie said, and pulled him down so that she could kiss his cheek. “Can we leave now?”

Will’s eyes widened. “Right,” he said hastily, then started speed-walking to the door. Lucie shoved her hairbrush into her suitcase before doing the same. “Come on, we have to hurry to the airport.”

They both jogged to the car, and Lucie put her suitcase in the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat and putting her seatbelt on. Will was already in, and he started the car the second she buckled up.

“You think we’ll make it?” Lucie asked.

Her papa smiled as he slammed on the gas. “Oh, we’ll make it alright. We always do.”

He wasn’t wrong. Although the two of them tended to get ready last minute, they were rarely ever late to things.

“Are you excited for camp?” Will teased. Lucie had been talking about how much she was looking forward to Camp Clover for weeks, ever since her papa agreed to sign her up for it this summer.

Lucie laughed. “You already know I am.”

Will rested a hand on hers and shot her a quick glance. “I’ll miss you,” he declared, and Lucie felt a pang shoot through her heart.

“I’ll miss you too,” Lucie told him, and she meant it.

She really loved her papa, but she had to go to camp. She told anybody who asked that she wanted the adventure and new experiences, which was true, but there was another reason why Lucie wanted to go to camp that she hadn’t mentioned to anyone.

Lucie didn’t really have any friends. She had a lot of people that she was friendly with, but no one that seemed to consider her an actual friend. It could get lonely, being at school and knowing that none of the people she was talking to would hang out with her if she wasn’t their classmate. Lucie had never told Will about this and didn’t plan to, but she longed to make friends at Camp Clover. Just one friend, she thought. I hope I can at least make one good friend.

As she held her papa’s hand, she daydreamed about the kinds of people she would meet at camp. Who knew, maybe she’d make two good friends.

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Kit sighed for the third time in a row. “I can’t believe the flight was delayed,” he said, and her dad shot Kit an amused look.

Mina Carstairs had arrived with her family at the airport an hour early, only for her flight to Kansas to be delayed by an hour.

Her dad always liked to be early for things, and he had woken her and Kit up early in the morning. While Mina was fine with waking up before 10 am, Kit was definitely not a morning person. Her brother had complained, but he had also insisted on going with them to the airport to see Mina off.

Kit wasn’t related to Mina by blood, but he was her brother in every sense of the word. Jem Carstairs had adopted Kit when the boy was ten, and Mina had been four at the time. She could barely remember life without him. Her dad had said that they’d loved each other instantly, and Mina supposed that was true. Kit could be annoying sometimes, but he was the best big brother in the universe.

“It’s not that bad,” Mina said quietly, smiling at her family.

She had been nervous about flying on her own, but Kit had experience in flying alone from when he was younger and had told her what the process would be like. Jem also let her know he would make sure it went well, and that nothing bad would happen.

Mina knew that she was going to miss them, but she also didn’t regret deciding to go to camp. She didn’t feel particularly strong about going to Camp Clover, but she knew that if she didn’t try out a summer camp at least once then she’d regret it. Her good friend Tavvy had gone to one once, and told her all about it. Mina was a very curious person, and her dad had always encouraged her to try new things. Mina’s passion was the violin, but it wouldn’t hurt to try some outdoor activities for a while.

Kit shivered, and Jem gave him another look. “I told you to bring a jacket,” he said, and Mina was glad that she at least listened and brought one. The airport had the air conditioning on full blast, and the place was chilly despite the scorching hot weather outside.

“I forgot how cold airports were,” Kit replied, pouting slightly. “You didn’t happen to bring an extra jacket did you?”

Her dad shook his head as he grabbed at the bag he’d brought with him, but he was clearly smiling. “I had a feeling,” he said, tugging out a bright yellow sweater with the words Prince Charming written on it in hot pink cursive lettering.

Kit’s disgusted look said it all. “Why did you bring that sweater? I thought I threw that away!”

The sweater had been a gag gift from Kit’s best friends Livvy and Ty, and Livvy had laughed until she could barely breathe when Kit first laid his eyes upon it and looked back at them with horrified eyes. Kit told everyone at the birthday party that he was going to donate it the very next day, but he never did. He usually kept it deep in a drawer or his closet, though Mina had the tendency to snoop around and find it. Personally, she thought it was cute, and liked to wear it sometimes when she was lounging around the house. It fit more like a dress on her, considering her ten year old body was much smaller than Kit’s sixteen year old one, but it was soft and came with fond memories.

“You say that every time you see it,” Mina chimed in. “Even though you always keep it in your room.”

Kit narrowed his eyes at her. “Shhh,” he stage-whispered, bringing up a hand to shield his face from Jem. “That’s supposed to be a secret.”

Mina giggled, and Kit looked satisfied before catching sight of the sweater again and cringing.

“I made sure to bring an extra one, just for you,” Jem said, his eyes sparkling. Not many people saw this mischievous side of her dad, but it was one of Mina’s favorite things about him. Kit shivered again, and Jem held the sweater up higher with a teasing smile.

“Fine,” Kit sighed, accepting his fate and taking the sweater from Jem with only his thumb and index finger. He carefully put it on, then pulled at the bright yellow sleeves. “This clashes with my hair,” Kit said, and Mina had to agree. His curly blond hair and the sweater’s blinding shade of yellow did not go well together.

The three of them settled in and relaxed for a bit, Kit scrolling on his phone while Mina and Jem played a few games of tic-tac-toe on a notebook Mina had brought.

“Are you looking forward to camp?” her dad asked after a while, and Mina shrugged.

“I guess so,” she answered, looking down at her legs kicking back and forth. “I wanted to try it out, just once.”

“I’m sure you’ll have fun,” Jem said, his voice encouraging. When Mina turned to look at him, he smiled and gently laid a hand on top of her head. “And make many new friends, because they’d all be crazy not to love you.”

Mina blushed and looked to her hands. “Yeah, yeah.” she mumbled. “I know, I’ll be the coolest ten year old there.”

Her dad laughed, the sound surprisingly loud. “Now you sound like Kit,” he explained. His face was bright, and Mina thought of how much she would miss him when she went to camp.

Kit’s head perked up. “What about me?”

“Nothing at all,” Jem said, shaking his head with a smile. Kit looked suspiciously at him.

“We were talking about your sweater,” Mina interjected. “And how we should take a picture to show Ty and Livvy later.”

Kit’s eyes widened. “You better not. I swear if you took a picture-” Kit frantically started to take the sweater off, and Jem jumped forward in his seat to reassure Kit that they hadn’t done anything and he should keep the sweater on before he got cold again.

Mina would miss her family, but she was curious about having a summer camp experience. We’ll see, she thought, before joining her dad in convincing her brother to keep his sweater on. Maybe something really interesting will happen.

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Thank you for reading, please reblog and let me know what you thought!

Tag list: @idontgetit-whydoihavetosaymyname @zafirafox4636 @lily-chen-deserves-better @girlwhohatesstuff @ineedadrinkorsleep @ghostjessesgirl @lucieblckthorn @anxiousbookenthusiast @themostawesomehuman @hands-dripping-ink @panicatwallmaria @cordeliacarstairs1903 @banesbitch

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shinsorokiri · 4 years

Text

UA Idol | Chapter Nine

Hitoshi Shinsou x Reader

Word Count: 1,532

Warnings: Language

A/N: This is just kind of a filler chapter, I promise that the next chapter is the beginning of ~Hell Week~ and I am having a blast writing it. I’m gonna have to use so many descriptor words, I have so many ideas for how all these performances look and II just need to write them DOWN. I hope you enjoy this chapter!! And thank you for the support to everyone who keeps reading it, you mean the world to me 🥺(Also out of curiosity should I draw Mina and Denki like I imagine them in this AU too?? Would that be a thing anyone is interested in??? Let me know!!)

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Shinsou felt someone shake his shoulder, making his eyes shoot open. He’d fallen asleep, apparently. “I’m so sorry sir, but we’re going to be landing soon, and you and your girlfriend don’t have your seatbelts on…” she explains, and he raises his eyebrow. Girlfriend? He doesn’t have a… oh my GOD your head is on his shoulder and you’re sleeping on him. And his head is on top of yours. “Uh… sorry,” he mumbles, his face turning a bright red. “It’s alright, sir, just buckle up, okay?” He nods, gently shaking you awake, but you mumble something about 5 more minutes, shifting and burying your face deeper in his neck. He feels the blush on his face flood throughout his body, and his heart speeds up.

He did NOT want to move you. He wanted to let you cuddle him and let him hold you forever, but unfortunately the plane was going to land and as much as he wanted to stay close to you, he also didn’t want you to fly out of your seat and hit your head and die. “Come on, kitten, you need to put your seatbelt on,” he says, gently shaking you again. You shake your head, a small yawn leaving your mouth until you realize just who exactly you were laying on. This causes your spine to go rigid and you sit straight up, trying to hide the ever-present embarrassment showing on your face. “Seatbelt, (Y/n/n),” Shinsou says, buckling his and pretending like he, too, wasn’t the shade of a literal tomato. You nod, quickly buckling up and looking over at him. “So, um… we slept for a long time,” you say, and he nods. “Yep. Yeah, we did. Best sleep I’ve gotten in a while,” he answers, clearing his throat and looking around at everyone else on the plane. “Me too, me too,” you respond, looking out of the plane window. That’s when the pilot comes over the loudspeaker, telling the passengers that the plane was about to land. And that’s when Shinsou gets even more anxious than he already was. That’s also when you remember what he said about plane crashes. ‘Take offs and landings are the scariest parts because that’s when things go wrong and crashes happen most often.’

Without even giving it a second thought, you reach out to hold his hand again. You give it a reassuring squeeze, and you see like maybe .5% of his anxiety go away, but hey at least it was some of it. “We’re gonna be okay, Shinsou. Don’t even worry about it, if anything happens I won’t let you get hurt,” you reassure him, and he glances at you before nodding. Of course, that’s right when the plane starts to actually descend, and you swear you can feel Shinsou’s soul leave his body and you aren’t even a part of his soul or body. Luckily, though, you land perfectly. Nothing bad happens, and you see the relief flood through him. His hand was still in yours, though. Looks like he got a little comfortable with that part, and didn’t even try to take it away until everyone began to unload. Before you could grab your bags from the overhead, he did the job for you, handing you your bag with a small smirk. “I have a five dollar fee for manual labor,” he says, and you roll your eyes. You both begin to walk off the plane, and you noticed all his anxiety seemed to have gone away now that you were back on land. And of course that meant his sarcastic ass was back. “And I have three cents to my name.”

“Looks like you’ll have to pay me back some other way.”

“And what is this other way you are mentioning?” He opens his mouth, about to say something, when suddenly a flash of blonde and pink interrupts your little moment. Just like always. “I hope you both slept well,” Denki winks, resulting in him getting a punch to the arm from Shinsou. “Ow, man, what the hell?”

“I must have slept better than I thought, that was harder than I anticipated.”

“Yeah you slept well because of your little cuddle buddy over here.” Denki gets punched again. “I cannot believe you guys slept on each other, (Y/n). It was so cute I took like eleven pictures and I bet that’s why he slept so well,” Mina whisper squeals to you, and you roll your eyes. “Mina, we slept well because we’re both genuinely exhausted from our energetic best friends who even after an eight hour flight still seem to be bouncing off the walls and causing us pain,” you respond and she laughs. “Hey you’re not the only ones who took a fat nap. Of course, I didn’t cuddle with the love of my life that I’m pretending isn’t the love of my life, but hey it was still nice.” You shoot her a small glare to which she responds to you with a wink. You sigh, glancing over at Shinsou. He was still being badgered by Denki, and he looked very unamused, but you can’t deny how attractive he looked. You were definitely developing a bit of a crush on him, not that you’d ever admit it out loud. The way you two can talk for hours and never get bored as well as… well everything else about him really is just so appealing to you. Not to mention the strange connection you feel toward him. He’s like your favorite song that you listen to every day but never seem to get tired of.

“Hellooooooo? Earth to (Y/n),” Mina starts frantically waving her hand in front of your face, pulling you out of your thoughts completely. “You okay there?” she asks, and you nod. “Yeah, I was just thinking about some song lyrics, don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I hope those song lyrics have something to do with that sign over there that says Hollywood and literally proves that we are, in fact, in Los Angeles about to start Hell Week. This is all becoming so real now,” she starts to ramble on excitedly about how y’all were really genuinely truly there in Los Angeles, about to perform in front of world famous artists all over again, and hopefully make it through to live shows where you would then go on a world tour for many months until the winner was finally revealed. You take a deep breath because quite honestly, all of this was very stressful, and as excited as you were, you were also scared. If you would happen to get through to the live shows, that means that you would probably have to drop out of the university in Tokyo that you worked ridiculously hard to be able to attend. But on the other hand, you’d finally be doing what you’ve always wanted to do.

As much as you loved going to school, actually being able to perform your songs in front of people is what you’ve always wanted to do. You just put it on the back burner because living in a society where getting a degree means getting a good job resulting in earning more money means your dreams need to wait. But there’s also that nagging fear of what if you don’t even get through? Or even worse, what if you don’t and Mina does, or if you do and Mina doesn’t. You two have been attached at the hip ever since the beginning of university, so being here with her albeit great, was also scary. And what if you both did make it. What would happen to Nyx? Could you bring her with you? And even then, would you have to quit your job? What if you made it to live shows but eventually the world decided you weren’t what they wanted, do you just go back to living a normal life like nothing ever happened? And what if-

“(Y/n)? Are you okay?” you hear Shinsou’s voice and feel a large hand grasp onto yours. You hadn’t even realized you’d zoned out, but Shinsou did. And he could tell your little zone out episode wasn’t necessarily a good one. He starts rubbing your hand with his thumb to try and help you out, calm you down a bit, and it does work. You nod your head, giving his hand a light squeeze. “I’m okay. Just thinking,” you assure him and he raises an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I promise.”

“If you need to talk about anything uh… I’m here for you, you know that right?” he says, low enough that Mina and Denki can’t hear him. You give him a small smile. “I know. And I’m here for you if you need anything too… so.”

“Can you two stop flirting? We need to get to the hotel and get ready for the hardest week of our lives!” Mina shrieks, and you both let go of each other’s hands. For now, you do your best at pushing all the fears your brain is conjuring up inside you to the very back of your mind. Who knows. Maybe this week will change your life.

#shinsou x reader #hitoshi shinsou x reader #shinso x reader #hitoshi shinso x reader #my hero academia x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #boku no hero x reader #shinsou #hitoshi shinsou #shinso #hitoshi shinso #my hero academia #mha #bnha #bnha shinsou #boku no hero academia #anime #ua idol

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96harmony96 · 3 years

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Chapter 18

Monday mornings could be awesome, when they began with Lauren Jauregui. We rode to work with my back propped against her side and her arm slung over my shoulder so that her fingers could link with mine.

As she toyed with the ring she’d given me, I kicked out my legs and eyed the classic nude heels she’d bought me along with some outfits to wear on the occasions I slept over. To start out the new week, I’d decided on a black pinstriped sheath dress with a thin Emerald green belt that reminded me of her eyes. she had excellent taste; I had to give her that.

Unless she was sending one of her brunette “acquaintances” out on buying sprees…?

I pushed the unpleasant thought aside.

When I’d checked out the drawers she had set aside for me in her bathroom, I found all of my usual cosmetics and toiletries in all my usual shades. I didn’t bother to ask how she knew, which might’ve led to me freaking out. Instead, I chose to look at it as more proof of her attentiveness. she thought of everything.

The highlight of my morning had been helping Lauren dress in one of her seriously sexy pant suits. I’d buttoned her shirt; she’d tucked it into her pants. I’d fastened her fly; she had knotted her tie. she’d shrugged into her vest; I’d smoothed the finely tailored material over her equally fine shirt, amazed to find that it could be just as sexy putting clothes on her as it was to take them off. It was like wrapping my own gift.

The world would see the beauty of the packaging, but only I knew the woman inside it and how precious she was. Her intimate smiles and her deep husky laugh, the gentleness of her touch and the ferocity of her passion were all reserved for me.

The Bentley bounced lightly over a pothole in the road and Lauren tightened her hold. “What’s the plan after work?”

“I get to start my Krav Maga classes today.” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

“Ah, that’s right.” Her lips brushed over my temple. “You know I’m going to have to watch you go through drills. Just thinking about it makes me hard.”

“Didn’t we already establish that everything makes you hard?” I teased, nudging her with my elbow.

“Everything about you. Which is lucky for us, since you’re insatiable. Text me when you’re done and I’ll meet you at your place.”

Digging in my purse, I pulled out my smartphone to see if it still had a charge and saw a message from Cary. I opened it and found a video plus a text; Does X know his bro is a douche? Stay away from CV, baby girl *smooches*

I started the playback but it took me a minute to figure out what I was seeing. When comprehension set in, I froze.

“What is it?” Lauren asked with her lips in my hair. Then she stiffened behind me, which told me she was looking over my shoulder.

Cary had filmed the video at the Vidal’s garden party. From the eight-foot-high hedges in the background, he was in the maze, and from the leaves framing the screen, he was in hiding. The star of the show was a couple locked in a passionate embrace. The woman was beautifully teary, while the man kissed over her frantic words and soothed her with gentle strokes of his hands.

They were talking about me and Lauren , talking about how I was using my body to get my hands on her millions.

“Don’t worry,” Christopher crooned to a distraught Magdalene. “You know Lauren gets bored fast.”

“she’s different with her. I—I think she loves her.”

He kissed her forehead. “She’s not her type.”

The fingers I had linked with Lauren’s tightened.

As we watched, Magdalene’s demeanor slowly changed. She began to nuzzle into Christopher’s touch, her voice softening, her mouth seeking. To an observer, it was clear he knew her body well—where to pet and where to rub. When she responded to his skilled seduction, he lifted her dress and fucked her. That he was taking advantage of her was obvious. It was there in the contemptuously triumphant look on his face as he screwed her until she was limp.

I didn’t recognize the Christopher on the screen. His face, his posture, his voice…it was like he was a different man.

I was grateful when my smartphone battery died and the screen abruptly winked off. Lauren wrapped her arms around me.

“Yuck,” I whispered, snuggling carefully into her so I didn’t get makeup on her lapel. “Majorly creepy. I feel bad for her.”

she exhaled harshly. “That’s Christopher.”

“Asshole. That smug look on his face—Ugh.” I shuddered.

Pressing her lips to my hair, she murmured, “I thought Maggie would be safe from him. Our mothers have known each other for years. I forget how much he hates me.”

“Why?”

I wondered briefly if the nightmares Lauren had were related to Christopher, then I put the thought aside. No way. Lauren was older by several years and tougher all the way around. she’d kick Christopher’s ass.

“He thinks I got all the attention when we were younger,” Lauren said wearily, “because everyone was worried about how I was handling my father’s suicide. So he wants what’s mine. Everything he can get his hands on.”

I turned into her, pushing my arms underneath her jacket to get closer. There was something in her voice that made me hurt for her. Her family home was a place she said haunted her nightmares and she was terribly distant from her family.

she’d never been loved. It was as simple—and as complicated—as that.

“Lauren ?”

“Hmm?”

I pulled back to look at her. Reaching up, I traced the bold arch of her brow. “I love you.”

A violent shudder moved through her, one hard enough to shake me, too.

“I don’t mean to freak you out,” I reassured her quickly, averting my face to give her some privacy. “You don’t have to do anything about it. I just didn’t want another minute to go by without you knowing how I feel. You can tuck it away now.”

One of her hands gripped my nape, the other dug almost painfully into my waist. Lauren held me there, immobile, locked against her as if I might blow away. Her breathing was ragged, her heartbeat pounding. she didn’t say another word the rest of the ride to work, but she didn’t let me go either.

I planned on telling her again one day in the future, but as far as first times went, I thought we’d both done okay.

At ten o’clock sharp, I had two dozen long-stemmed red roses delivered to lauren’s office with the note: In celebration of red dresses and limo rides.

Ten minutes later, I received an interoffice envelope with a note card that read:

Let’s do that again. Soon.

At eleven o’clock, I had a black-and-white calla lily arrangement delivered to her office with the note: In honor of black & white garden party dresses and being dragged into libraries…

Ten minutes later, I received his reply:

I’ll be dragging you to the floor in a minute…

At noon, I went shopping. Ring shopping. I hit six different shops before I found a piece that struck me as being absolutely perfect. Made of platinum engraved and studded with black diamonds, it was an industrial-looking ring that made me think of power and bondage. It was a dominant ring, very bold and masculine. I had to open a new charge account with the store to cover the hefty cost, but I considered the months of payments ahead of me worth it.

I called lauren’s office and talked with Scott, who helped me arrange a fifteen-minute window in Lauren’s packed day for me to stop by.

“Thank you so much for your help, Scott.”

“You’re very welcome. I’ve enjoyed watching her receive your flowers today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile like that.”

A warm rush of love flowed through me. I wanted to make Lauren happy. As she’d said, I lived for it.

I went back to work with a smile of my own. At two o’clock, I had a tiger lily arrangement delivered to Lauren’s office followed by a private note sent via interoffice envelope:

In gratitude for all the jungle sex.

Her reply:

Skip the Krav Maga. I’ll give you a workout.

When three forty rolled around—five minutes before my appointment with Lauren—I got nervous. I stood up from my chair on shaky legs and paced in the elevator on the way up to her floor. Now that the time had come to give her my gift, I worried that maybe she didn’t like rings…after all, she didn’t wear any.

Was it too presumptuous and possessive of me to want her to wear one just because I did?

The redheaded receptionist didn’t give me any trouble getting in and when Scott spotted me emerging from the hallway, he stood from his desk and greeted me with a wide grin. When I stepped into lauren’s office, Scott closed the door behind me.

I was immediately struck by the lovely fragrance of the flowers and the way they warmed the starkly modern office.

Lauren looked up from her monitor, her brows lifting when she saw me. she pushed fluidly to her feet. “Camila. Is something wrong?”

I watched her shift gears from professional to personal, her gaze softening as she looked at me.

“No. It’s just…” I took a deep breath and went to her. “I have something for you.”

“More? Did I forget a special occasion?”

I set the ring box down in the center of her desk. Then I turned away, feeling queasy. I seriously doubted the wisdom of my impetuous gift. It seemed like a stupid idea now.

What could I say to absolve her of guilt for not wanting it? As if it wasn’t bad enough I’d dropped the “L” bomb on her today; then I had to follow it up with a damned ring. she was probably feeling the ball and chain already, dragging after her as she ran. And the noose tightening—

I heard the ring box snap open and Lauren’s sharply drawn breath. “Camila.”

Her voice was dark and dangerous. I turned carefully, wincing at the austerity of her features and the starkness of her gaze. Her hands were white-knuckled on the box.

“Too much?” I asked hoarsely.

“Yes.” she set the box down and rounded the desk. “Too damn much. I can’t sit still, I can’t concentrate. I can’t get you out of my head. I’m fucking restless, and I never am when I’m at work. I’m too busy. But you have me under siege.”

I knew damn well how demanding her work had to be, yet I hadn’t taken that into consideration when the mood to surprise her—again and again—hit me. “I’m sorry,Lauren. I wasn’t thinking.”

she approached with the sexy stride that hinted at how great she was in the sack. “Don’t be sorry. Today has been the best day of my life.”

“Really?” I watched her slide the ring onto her right ring finger. “I wanted to please you. Does it fit? I had to guess…”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Lauren caught up my hands and kissed my ring; then watched as I repeated the gesture with her. “What you make me feel, Camila…it hurts.”

My pulse leaped. “Is that bad?”

“It’s wonderful.” she cupped my face, her ring cool against my cheek. she kissed me passionately, her lips demanding against mine, her tongue thrusting with wicked skill into my mouth.

I wanted more, but restrained myself, thinking that I’d already gone overboard enough for one day. Plus, she’d been too distracted by my unexpected appearance to frost the glass wall to give us privacy.

“Tell me again what you said in the car,” she whispered.

“Hmm…I don’t know.” I brushed my free hand over her vest. I was afraid to tell her again that I loved her. she’d taken it hard the first time, and I wasn’t sure she’d fully taken in what it meant for us. For her. “You’re ridiculously handsome, you know. It’s a sucker punch every time I see you. Anyway…I don’t want to risk scaring you away.”

Leaning toward me, she touched hervforehead to mine. “You regret what you said, don’t you? All the flowers, the ring—”

“Do you really like it?” I asked anxiously, pulling back to study her face and see if she was hedging on the truth. “I don’t want you to wear it for me if you hate it.”

Her fingers traced the shell of my ear. “It’s perfect. It’s how you see me. I’m proud to wear it.”

I loved that she got it. Of course, that’s because she got me.

“If you’re trying to soften the blow of taking back what you said—” she began, his gaze betraying a surprising anxiety.

I couldn’t resist the soft plea in her eyes. “I meant every word, Lauren.”

“I’ll make you say it again,” she threatened in a seductive purr. “You’ll scream it by the time I’m done with you.”

I grinned and backed away. “Get back to work, fiend.”

“I’ll give you a lift home at five.” she watched me move to the door. “I want your cunt naked and wet when you come down to the car. If you touch yourself to get there, don’t make yourself come or there will be consequences.”

Consequences. A little shiver moved through me, but it carried a level of fear I could deal with. I trusted Lauren to know just how far to push me. “Will you be hard and ready?”

A wry smile twisted her lips. “When am I not, with you? Thank you for today, Camila. Every minute of it.”

I blew her a kiss and watched her eyes darken. The look on her face stayed with me the rest of the day.

It was six o’clock before I made it back to my apartment in a state of well-fucked dishevelment. I’d known what I was in for when I found lauren’s limousine at the curb after work instead of the Bentley. she’d damn near tackled me as I climbed into the back; then proceeded to demonstrate her phenomenal oral skills before nailing me into the seat with vigorous enthusiasm.

I was grateful that I kept in shape. Otherwise, Lauren’s insatiable sexual appetite combined with her seemingly endless stamina might’ve exhausted me by now. Not that I was complaining. Just an observation.

Clancy was already waiting for me in the lobby of my apartment building when I came rushing in. If he noted my hideously wrinkled dress, flushed cheeks, and messy hair, he didn’t point it out. I changed swiftly upstairs and we took off for Parker’s studio. I hoped the orientation would start out easy because my legs were still a bit jellied from two toe-curling orgasms.

By the time we arrived at the converted warehouse in Brooklyn, I was excited and ready to learn. About a dozen students were engaged in various exercises with Parker overseeing and offering encouragement from the edge of the mats. When he saw me, he came over and directed me to a far corner of the sparring area where we could work one-on-one.

“So…how’s it going?” I asked, to break my own tension.

He smiled, showing off a very interesting and arresting face. “Nervous?”

“A little.”

“We’re going to work on your physical strength and stamina, as well as your awareness. I’m also going to start training you not to freeze or hesitate in unexpected confrontations.”

Before we began, I thought I had pretty good physical strength and stamina, but I learned both could be better. We started out with a brief introduction to the equipment and layout of the space, and then moved on to an explanation of both fighting and neutral/passive stances. We warmed up with basic bodyweight calisthenics; then progressed to “tagging,” where we tried to tag each other’s shoulders and knees while standing face-to-face and blocking countermoves.

Parker was amazing at tagging, of course, but I started to get the hang of it. The majority of the time, however, was spent covering groundwork and I really sunk my teeth into that. I knew very well what it was like to be down and at a disadvantage.

If Parker noted my underlying vehemence, he didn’t comment on it.

When Lauren showed up at my apartment later that evening, she found me soaking my aching body in my bathtub. Although I could tell she was fresh from a shower after her own workout with her personal trainer, she stripped and slid into the bath behind me, cradling me with her arms and legs. I whimpered as she rocked me.

“That good, huh?” She teased, catching my earlobe in her teeth.

“Who knew rolling around for an hour with a hot guy could be so exhausting?” Cary had been right about Krav Maga causing bruises; I could see a few shadows blooming beneath my skin already and we hadn’t even gotten to the hard stuff yet.

“I might be jealous,” Lauren murmured, squeezing my breasts, “if I didn’t know Smith was married with children.”

I snorted at yet another tidbit of knowledge she shouldn’t know. “Do you also know his shoe and hat sizes?”

“Not yet.” she laughed at my exasperated growl and I couldn’t hold back a smile at hearing the rare sound.

One day soon we were going to have to talk about her obsession with information gathering, but today wasn’t the day to get into it. We’d been at odds too much lately and Cary’s warning about making sure we had as much fun as not was ever-present in my mind.

Playing with the ring on lauren’s finger, I told her about the conversation I’d had with my dad on Saturday and how his fellow cops had been ribbing him over the gossip about me dating the Lauren jauregui.

she sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Turning, I faced her. “It’s not your fault you’re news. You can’t help being insanely attractive.”

“One of these days,” she said dryly, “I’ll figure out whether my face is a curse or not.”

“Well, if my opinion counts for anything, I’m rather fond of it.”

Lauren’s lips twitched and she touched my cheek. “Your opinion is the only one that means anything. And your dad’s. I want him to like me,Camila , not think I’m exposing his daughter to invasions of her privacy.”

“You’ll win him over. He just wants me to be safe and happy.”

she visibly relaxed and pulled me closer. “Do I make you happy?”

“Yes.” I rested my cheek over her heart. “I love being with you. When we’re not together, I wish we were.”

“You said you didn’t want to fight anymore,” she murmured in my hair. “It’s been bugging me. Are you getting tired of me fucking up all the time?”

“You do not fuck up all the time. And I’ve screwed up, too. Relationships are hard, Lauren. Most of them don’t have kick-ass sex like we do. I put us in the lucky column.”

she cupped water in her hand and poured in down my back, over and over, soothing me with its sinuous warmth. “I don’t really remember my dad.”

“Oh?” I tried to not tense up and reveal my surprise. Or my agitated excitement and desperate hunger to learn more about her. she’d never talked about her family before. It killed me not to prod with questions, but I didn’t want to push if she wasn’t ready….

Her chest lifted and fell on a deep exhale. There was something in the sound of her sigh that brought my head up and ruined my intention to be cautious.

I ran my hand over her hard pectorals. “Want to talk about what you do remember?”

“Just…impressions. He wasn’t around much. He worked a lot. I guess I get my drive from him.”

“Maybe workaholism—is that a word?—is something you have in common, but that’s it.”

“How would you know?” She shot back, defiant.

Reaching up, I brushed the hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, Lauren, but your father was a fraud who took the easy, selfish way out. You don’t have it in you to be that way.”

“Not that way, no.” she paused. “But I don’t think he ever learned how to connect to people, how to care about anything but his own immediate needs.”

I studied her. “Do you think that describes you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered quietly.

“Well, I know, and it doesn’t.” I pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “You’re a keeper.”

“I better be.” Her arms tightened around me. “I can’t think about you with someone else,Camila. Just the idea of another man seeing you the way I do, seeing you like this…putting his hands on you…It takes me to a dark place.”

“It’s not going to happen, Lauren.” I knew how she felt. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if she was intimate with another woman.

“You’ve changed everything for me. I couldn’t stand losing you.”

I hugged her. “The feeling’s mutual.”

Tilting my head back, Lauren took my mouth in a fierce kiss.

In moments it became clear we were soon going to be sloshing water all over the floor. I pulled away. “I need to eat if you want to go at it again, fiend.”

“Says the girlfriend rubbing her wet naked body all over me.” she sat back with a sinful smile.

“Let’s order cheap Chinese and eat it out of the box with chopsticks.”

“Let’s order good Chinese and do that.”

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queerlilacroses · 4 years

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Nothing to fear but fear itself (TW Blood, Murder, Biphobia)

Richie had always been afraid of werewolves, ever since he was a little kid the thought of them sent shivers up his spine. He didn’t know if it was the sharp claws, the big teeth or the fact it could be anyone, watching waiting to turn him into his worst fear. �� It has also been theorised that werewolves are a metaphor for a specific sexuality, bisexuality, not many people believe that bisexuals exist, at least that’s what Richie hears when he attempts to come out.

“There’s no such thing dear, I mean you can be gay or straight I don’t mind I know you’ve always been an odd child but there’s no such thing as both”. He had lamented over that loss for a while, honestly he know lots of people wouldn’t understand but his own mother! That was his biggest disappointment.

So he ran out on her, hiding in the Clubhouse™ that his good friend Ben had built, waiting hours until his best friends Bill, and Bev came frantic down falling down the hole of the clubhouse, “why didn’t they use the stairs”, he wondered aloud forgetting that he had disappeared without letting anyone know and it had been all day since he had ran out on his mother.

“WHY DIDN’T I… I was looking for you you’ve been missing for 6 hours you dummy”

“I’ve been wounded Bev darling, I…wait SIX HOURS”

“Yea is s-something wrong”

Whilst his friends had accepted him all those years ago Richie was still paranoid about his bisexuality despite knowing he wasn’t gay or straight there was a nagging doubt in the back of his mind watching, waiting to creep up on hm like a horror movie jump scare that made him spill popcorn all over the floor like an idiot.

The problem with horror movies is they are real; Vampires, Zombies, Witches and of course Werewolves which are the worst of them all. The first time Richie had seen a werewolf had been in a stupid movie , a teen movie, “supposedly a romance” Bev had mentioned nonchalantly as they walked past it at the Aladdin and well it was, for the first 20 minutes or so then it turned out the lead had a secret…the movie plagued him for months after that day after day, night after night all he could see was the male lead chasing him waiting to turn him into a werewolf. He never knew what to do or where to go Richie was traumatized.

Eddie, had been a new confusing figure in his life, they had met at gig which Eddie had helped organized and hit it off but there was something about him Richie wasn’t so sure of. Was it the smell of wet dog despite Eddie claiming to be allergic? Was it the fact that he refused to wear the silver chain that Richie got him as a present? Was it his oddly hairy body? Or was it the fact that anytime a full moon was around no matter what Eddie would make and excuse and disappear so nobody would see him for days. It confused and scared the hell outta him so he had to confront his ‘boyfriend’ he isn’t sure honestly they haven’t labelled what they are yet and Richie’s kinda nervous that’s because Eddie doesn’t wanna be with a bi man and whilst all these thoughts are in his head he’s overthinking again and he needs to talk to Eddie.

“Eds,” “Urgh what?” “Are we like?” “Like what Richie use your words” “Are we boyfriends?” “no we’re Italian farmers who love growing tomatoes of course we’re boyfriends” “Geez okay I’m just making sure”

“Especially cause you’ve been acting so weird, I mean I hardly see you, anytime you stay it’s daytime and the two occasions that we’ve stayed together you’re like a magician here one minute and then disappeared the next like some cruel trick it’s not fair Ed’s, I wanted to move forward with this relationship but it’s so hard when I can’t, don’t, know? Do you understand what I mean?

“Uh no? Why would that ever make sense babe” sighed Eddie although he understood Richie well and knew him inside and out he didn’t understand how his brain worked? His ADHD flickering from thing to thing topic to topic and although Eddie could sometimes be known to ramble he couldn’t keep up.

“Well I mean with you? Why are you avoiding me at night? What’s the big secret?” Richie teased.

“I’m a werewolf”

“WHAT”

“I’m one of those creatures you know the ones that come out on the full moon I turn into a wolf howl at the moon y’know all those stereotypes”

“WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT! YOU KNOW ABOUT MY FEAR OF WEREWOLVES”

“I’M SORRY BUT YOU ASKED. THIS IS WHY I’VE BEEN AVOIDING YOU! I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO BE SCARED OF ME YOU ASSHOLE”

“I…what”

“Yea I remembered you saying that you were terrified of werewolves since you were 12 so I’ve been trying to avoid transforming and all the side effects around it whilst I’m around you so I guess that seems like I need to avoid you and I mean there’s the murder”

“MURDER”

“Well I mean it’s not exactly murder more people get in the way of me as a 7 foot tall wolf and unfortunately I think my instincts kick in? Although it could be deer, but there’s been bodies found and I…”

“BODIES!!?! BODIES AS IN PLURAL !!?!”

“Richie can you stop yelling, it’s been a long night I’m tired and sore, honestly I just want to rest…”

“WAIT WHAT, YOU WERE OUT LAST NIGHT? Like it was a full moon ? I’m sorry I have to go call Bev or something, I-I can’t.

“WHERE ARE YOU- it’s your never mind” Eddie sighed as his voiced tailed off his head in his hands. This hadn’t been the way he wanted Richie to find out, honestly they’ve only been together for a few weeks and as soon as they talked he found out about his fear of werewolves and was horrified, he knew it might potentially be a dealbreaker and although he didn’t want to lose Richie. He had known that at one point that he’d have to sit down and tell him the story of the doctor, decided that his mother, who was a maniac bringing him to the hospital every time he even touched the ground too hard convinced he’d broken or dislocated his ankle needed something to worry about properly and turned him into a werewolf whilst he was at one of his many stays when he was eleven. His mother had been far more protective when she had found out, it was as if she had been normal beforehand, complete and utter curfew (“back straight after school Eddie-bear don’t talk to anybody, you don’t want them to find out!”), bars on the windows and even restraints at night as she was too paranoid, which wasn’t fun, especially as every night he just kept breaking out of them which in turn scared his mother more and more.

Shakily Richie reached into his pocket for his phone that he’d grabbed in his haste to leave the apartment building, as it rang the word murder went in his stomach over and over again. “Hello?” Oh good she answered he wouldn’t have known what to do with himself otherwise I mean…. “Helloooo??” Oh right yeah she’s still on this phone.

“I-I Eddie, and…”

“What’s wrong with Eddie, depth breaths calm down and try to try me what happened.

“He.. he.. he’s a monster, a werewolf a murderer I don’t know if I can do this” sobbing he knelt on the pavement holding the phone thinking about how he didn’t want to lose Eddie, the problem was that he loved the shorter man despite them only dating a couple of weeks and he knew about the dangers of dating a monster.

They had learned about it in school which only fuelled Richie’s fear further the teachers explaining about scientific experiments gone wrong and turning ordinary people into creatures that could climb into his slightly opened window in the dead of night and maim them or if they were dating whilst in transformations they would completely forget their partner, ending up harming them. Listening to this had made him scared to moved his bed and slept under his window to make sure nothing got in, freaking out anytime a bug crawled on him.

“A werewolf? Yea probably. A murderer? Probably not and an I mean a monster definitely not. Don’t you love him? Don’t you want the chance for him to prove you wrong, honestly you’ve been scared for far too long. All this time people have been putting ideas into your head about ‘this that and the next thing to do with monsters and no offence Richie but I’m sick of hearing about it, time to march back to your apartment and make your own decisions about Eddie.

“Yea, yea I guess you’re right, I should maybe go back? I.. okay Bev darling I’ll speak to you later”.

Sitting up he decided that it was time to get back, not realising it was getting darker and darker as a full moon approached.

Waiting for Richie made him terrified he was transforming in an hour and he had no idea what would happen. Would they break up?? If they did it would be so much worse, the adrenaline in this body taking over, making him more angry and upset and he knew his wolf side would harm anything that got in his way, which could include his caring but stupid and scared boyfriend. Hearing the door creak open his head perked up realising that Richie hadn’t let for that long and that probably meant bad news, knots grew in his stomach as he waited in anticipation for Richie to say something, anything whilst looking at the clock ticking on closer and closer to his time of transformation.

“I’m home babey! I wanna talk to you, my love” he said in a singsong voice. This wasn’t good, he honestly knew Richie’s speech patterns very well and he almost never called him babey unless there was a big problem or something was wrong.

“Yea I’m in here what’s happening”

“I just wanted to say, I talked to Bev and she put things into perspective, I think I love you and I shouldn’t judge you based on what happened when you were younger and I should try to get over it, I wanna keep dating you so I think it’s a good idea to see you at least once.

“Wait wait you want to stay with me? HOLD UP YOU THINK YOU LOVE ME”

“Well yea, I guess? I know we’ve only been dating for a few weeks and technically I only found out a few days ago but I have really strong feelings for you and I think I love you”.

“ I … okay… really don’t know what to say I love yo…” but before Eddie could finish off his sentence something happened, it was supposed to be a strange scary thing but Richie didn’t feel scared all he felt was concerned H could see the pain manifesting on Eddie’s face as he twisted and turned and hair grew from his body turning him taller, more muscular and then into a wolf.

Werewolves, although potentially not less dangerous were smaller than the stories, and Eddie didn’t seem to want to attack him honestly? Richie was very confused and conflicted between everything he had ever heard and feared vs the man who was his boyfriend who had just turned into what looked like a slightly taller dog still vigilant just sitting there. Well until it started talking, but you never hear about things like that when people are attempting to scare you.

“Well aren’t you going to say something? You’ve been looking at me in a daze for the last five minutes like I get the idea of you being scared like yea but can you please snap out of your like -why are you- dude why are you laughing?” Forgetting he was a wolf he attempted to walk over to Richie and ended up falling over four paws”.

Doubled over in laughter Richie realising his boyfriend was an idiot as a wolf decided that there something they needed to talk about “Eddieeeeeee we need to talk soooo I also have a secret”.

“Okay, and it is?

“I’m boisexual, well actually I’m bisexual but we both know I couldn’t come out without a pun”

“And an awful one at that I mean, what does that even mean rich? But honestly I know you told me about the time you dated Bev before she started dating Ben so I just assumed, why is that like a problem?”

“Oh…I- forgot about I just -I assumed like most gay guys you wouldn’t be down to date a bisexual guy I mean most of my life I’ve been told I don’t exist and-“

“Wait who told you this, how many people told you this? You know they’re wrong right I mean you’re bisexual”,

“thanks I means it was mainly my mum and a couple of ex-boyfriends, some teachers and stuff you know”

“Do you want to get your own back?”.

Richie looked at the small wolf in surprise thinking about how he could play pranks and stuff or what they could do in order to get his own back but Eddie had something else in mind.

“Do you want to come with me to kill them”

Maggie Tozier, was baking in the kitchen humming a light tune whilst taking a pie out of the oven, she hadn’t spoken to her son since he turned sixteen and came out as bisexual for the third time to her disbelief that it wasn’t a phase and after she decided not to accept him they both just stopped talking to each other and then a year later he up and left.

As Richie made his way to his childhood home with his boyfriend in tow he looked at his mom and realised there was no turning back, it was now or never, he could talk to his mom get clarification? If it all went wrong Eddie would be there to make sure he’s okay. Walking in announced he saw he face drop and her mouth open, unfortunately it didn’t seem to be in a nice way. “What are you doing here” her voice laced with disappointment at seeing her thirty-odd year old son standing in front her for the first time in years waiting for her approval or acceptance at last, but that would never come. “Do you still think you can live in cloud cuckoo land and date both boys and girls, I hate to tell you baby but people are going to take advantage of you, I don’t see a ring if you’d just stop all this nonsense I could-“

Before anyone knew what was happening Eddie had lunged at Maggie and grabbed at her arm to bite her, Richie frozen in shock and horror couldn’t do anything except gape at the site as he could see she was losing more and more blood out of her arm, thinking realising he didn’t have many options his adrenaline kicked in, he pondered back to all the times he’d been told he was invisible, bisexuality didn’t exist or he was a monster for trying to invade both communities and he snapped. Grabbing a butcher’s knife from the kitchen he could see his mother attempting to back away muffled screaming, and stabbed her stomach, hearing the organs squishing made his feel better so he did it again and again until he was cover in a pool of blood, surrounded by his mother whilst he was sobbing, Eddie in a corner waiting on him.

“I just murdered my mother”

“Well yea, I just thought you’d hurt her a little honestly but that was a full on murder, but I think she had it coming? Do you want to get cleaned up?”

“Mhmm, that’d be nice, but the problem is I liked it, I enjoyed stabbing her, is that weird?

“Weeelll that depends on who you ask, me, I’m fine with it I mean I enjoy maiming people as a wolf but to normal person I guess?? Hey do you wanna murder people when I’m in my wolf form”.

“You mean people who deserve it right? Not just random people on the street because I don’t know if I enjoy it that much”.

“Yep yea sure of course I won’t pressure you it’s only been your first murder after all”.

That next night was the final full moon for the month and Richie was trying to think who he would want to murder next, one of his teachers who made him terrified of werewolves, one of the executives who said he’d never get a job in comedy (look at him now!) or one of his biphobic ex-boyfriends who made him feel so disgusting and pathetic that he decided not to date for six years and when he at last did date ‘forgot’ to disclose his sexuality every date he went on.

Tracing down his ex-boyfriend wasn’t as difficult as it seemed just follow the scent of disappointment and go to the nearest seedy gay bar. Julian, who was happily walking towards his car according to the police report, was ribbed in the heart with a duller kitchen knife as if to mimic a broken heart. One arm was ripped off and had teeth marks in it as if it was created by both man and dog.

Waking up next to Eddie, was one of the nice things about existing having had one of the weirdest dreams of his life, although as the blood dripped from the mattress that he couldn’t see he did know one thing though.

He wasn’t frightened of werewolves anymore.

#reddie #reddie au #fanfic #writing #it chapter 2 #hallowren's spooktacular it project #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #beverly marsh #tw murder #tw blood #tw biphobia #tw gore #ask me if there's anything you want me to tag #this is my first lil writing project #werewolves #some of my formatting is awful but i copy pasted from word and i I don't care I'm just proud to have finished!

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hh-rose · 3 years

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James Potter and the Retelling of the True Story Chapter Three: The Rise of Wolfstar

ao3

masterpost

Before you ask, yes I was proud of the name of this chapter. Now, very technically, the summer before fifth year was not the true rise of Wolfstar, but it was when they started to realize it. I however started to realize it when we were freaking eleven.

We were all immediately close obviously, but Remus and Sirius were always different. I picked up on it fairly quickly (that blush on the very first trip to Hogwarts). There were so many other things. Sirius would defend Remus to anyone who even dared to look at him wrong. Remus would curse Sirius's mother every time she was brought up in conversation. Sure, these were things that friends would do, but there was something else there.

When Remus told us that he was a werewolf, Sirius told me and Peter that if we ever told anyone or said something mean about it, he would shove our wands so far up our asses they would puncture our lungs. Needless to say, we never did anything (not that we needed to be threatened).

They would always sleep in each other's beds. Ever since first year. They didn't think I knew, but I did. Poor Peter didn't. They both had bad nightmares and sleeping in the same bed was the only thing that ever helped for some reason (they were in love, duh).

They would hold hands too. Only when they needed comfort, but that was still often enough. They would call each other pet names (Sirius called everyone pet names publicly, but Remus would call Sirius, and Sirius only, pet names when he thought nobody was listening, but I was always listening).

After every full moon, Sirius was always the first one to the infirmary. He was always so worried the whole night. We would all worry about Remus, but Sirius was the worst. He never slept, and sometimes (especially in the beginning) he would throw up. But, he would run down to the infirmary the morning after. As soon as he saw Remus was okay, he would get the biggest smile on his face. He would go full mom-mode and take care of Remus who was always annoyed but grateful. It was the cutest and most domestic thing on the planet.

Speaking of full moons, they were very different after the prank. It was summer break, and Remus was at home, but Sirius, who was living with me, and I would floo to his house the next day to make sure he was alright. I saw how much it tore Sirius apart. After the prank, Sirius wanted to do absolutely everything in his power to stop it. I wanted to tell him that that wasn't possible, but he didn't really want to talk about it. Until, one day, he did.

"I have a plan," Sirius said one day while we were playing flying in the backyard.

"For what exactly?" I asked, tossing the quaffle to him.

"On how to make the moons better," he replied, tossing the quaffle back. I missed it, and we both watched it fall to the ground. "Really? You've been on the quidditch team since second year."

"What are you on about? I didn't know we were supposed to be coming up with a plan to fix the moons."

"Not fix them. We could never fully fix them, but we can help," Sirius explained. "I came up with a plan for Remus to stop hurting himself. He told me once that he only hurts himself because he's alone and locked in there. He wouldn't hurt himself if he had other people around."

"He's not going to let us go in there. Are you mad?" I asked, giving up on the conversation and going to get the quaffle.

"No, he wouldn't let us in there, but he would let animals in. Werewolves, they don't hurt other animals," Sirius explained, and I stopped flying down and turned around to face him. He had this huge smirk. "We're going to become animagi."

...

A few hours later, after Sirius had explained the entire plan to me, we were in our room surrounded by books about all sorts of animagi related things. The plan did make a lot of sense. The magic was advanced, but it was nothing we couldn't do. It was a genius plan, and I was kind of pissed off that I didn't think of it. Then again, I didn't have the motivation because I wasn't in love with Remus. I watched Sirius study a book intently, and I smirked at him.

"What are you looking at, you wanker?" he asked when he noticed me staring. I looked back down at my book, shaking my head fondly.

"Oh, nothing," I said, grinning.

"What?" he laughed. I looked up at him again.

"You're really in love with him, aren't you?" I asked, causing him to look at me with the widest eyes I had ever seen.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, only slightly angry. Looking back at it, I know that he was more embarrassed than angry.

"Oh, come off it. I've known the whole time. You've been head over arse for him since first year," I stated, causing him to blush.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he muttered, staring at his book. I stared at him and then threw a pencil at his book. He looked at me, and I could tell that he was nervous.

"I love you no matter what. You know that, right?" I said sincerely. He smiled slightly.

"Course, mate. Right back at you," he echoed with a grin.

"You're still not going to admit that I'm right about Remus are you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," he replied, popping the p.

...

I'm not going to bore you with the details of us trying to figure out how to become animagi for almost a year, or Sirius and Remus still being too dumb to realize they were in love. I will also not tell you about how we figured out our animals and didn't quite understand what they said about our character until a few years later. I will however tell you that we finally mastered the art of becoming animals a week before Remus's birthday.

How we told Remus was not my plan. In fact, I thought that it was a very dumb idea, but Sirius was dead set on it, and there wasn't any use arguing with him when it came to anything, especially when it was stuff about Remus. So, I, along with Peter, did as I was told and walked to the shrieking shack under the invisibility cloak with Peter and Sirius. Remus obviously wasn't oblivious and knew we were there immediately.

"Are we trying to kill Severous again? Somebody should have warned me," Remus said sarcastically once we all got into the shack. Sirius ripped off the cloak and looked at Remus like he burned him. "Oh, would you calm down? I'm over it. Just tell me what's going on before I accidentally kill all of you."

"James, Pete, why don't you go ahead and change. I think that I should explain Remus's birthday present to him alone," Sirius said, and once again, we did as we were told.

"Change? What the bloody hell do you mean 'change'?" Remus asked. Then, he just stared at us in complete shock as we both turned into animals. "What the actual fuck?"

"Surprise! We're animagi!" Sirius exclaimed. I might have been in deer form at that point but I could tell that Remus was not as pleased as Sirius was expecting.

"Again, Black? Seriously? You want to put me in this position again? I'm going to change soon. I don't have the time for this," Remus spat.

"Rem, no. We did the research. Werewolves won't hurt animals unless provoked, and we're not going to provoke you," Sirius explained. "I just thought that maybe you wouldn't hurt yourself if you had some other creatures to be around."

"Are you sure you did enough research on this? Because I'm going to change in like a minute, and I really don't want to hurt one of you," Remus said desperately. I saw Sirius squeeze his hand.

"I promise that everything is going to be just fine," he stated. "You're not going to hurt anyone."

"I always am," Sirius said with a wink. "You can thank me after, babe."

With that, Remus rolled his eyes and watched Sirius turn himself into a dog. I also got to watch something. I watched as Remus looked so, so, so lovingly at Sirius. Needless to say, it was the best full moon in years.

After Remus turned back and right before Pomphrey came to get him, we all turned back. Peter and I exchanged grins, and Sirius rushed over to Remus's side. They tried their best to whisper, but I still heard them.

"Are you okay, love?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded gripping Sirius's arm for support. "I've never seen you this soon after a moon. Is this good or bad?"

"Good. So good," Remus croaked, looking Sirius in the eyes. I really didn't want to interrupt, but I had to.

"Sirius, we need to go soon," I said. He tore his eyes away from Remus for a second to look at me. He nodded.

"I will be in the infirmary as soon as you get there. I promise," he said sincerely. He kissed Remus's forehead, and I couldn't tell if it was the first time he did that, but I could tell that Remus appreciated it.

"Hey," Remus said, grabbing Sirius's hand and stopping him from walking away. "Thank you."

...

The next two moons were the last moons of the school year, and they were the best moons Remus had ever had. He just seemed so happy in general, and it was making everyone else happy. Also, he and Sirius were spending more time than ever together. I had never seen either of them as happy as they were in those two months. Actually, I figured that they had hooked up, and that's why they were so happy, but that wasn't the case at all.

With all this happiness and relaxation without any fights, we had more time to work on our creation: The Marauders' Map. It was pretty close to finished at that point, but there were still a few things that needed to be cleaned up. By the end of the year, it was done, save the final touch.

"We have to sign it," Sirius said, as we were looking it over for its final inspection.

"We can probably get in a lot of trouble if we put our names on that thing," Peter replied. He was never really a fan of the map, but he helped out the most he could.

"Oi, Pettigrew, shut it," Sirius stated, glaring at him, and that definitely caused Peter to stop talking. I shot a stern look at Sirius, but he just shrugged.

"We should use nicknames," Remus suggested. "Like code names or something."

"Like 'Loony Lupin'?" Sirius asked, a smirk on his face. Remus glared at him, but the smirk stayed there. "No, Moony. That's what we should call you. Because the moon, duh."

"Duh," Remus responded. Then, he smiled. "James can be Prongs because of the antlers."

"Oh, awesome," I said, excited about this new plan. "And Peter can be wormail."

"Hey, what about me?" Sirius asked. We all thought about it for a minute.

"Padfoot," Peter suggested. Sirius smiled.

"Brilliant, Pete, my boy. Sorry about yelling before," Sirius said, giving a blushing Peter a side hug. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Bloody perfect."

...

It became glaringly aware to us that that happiness was going to end soon. We were about to leave Remus for three months (three moons). He was going to have to go back to tearing himself apart in his parents' basement. I could tell that it was tearing Sirius apart. I however did not know that he had snuck into Remus's bed to talk to him about it the night before we left for summer holiday.

"Moony," he said, climbing into Remus's bed, which was not at all an unusual thing for the two of them. "We need to talk about this summer."

"What about it?" Remus asked sleepily. He wrapped an arm around Sirius who snuggled into his chest.

"I can't let you have three moons alone. Not after the last few months," Sirius explained. Remus sighed.

"I can't go to James's house. I told you. My parents don't want to subject the Potters to that," Remus explained, but Sirius already knew all that even if he highly disagreed with it.

"No, I have another plan."

"Alright, let's hear it then," Remus said, a sleepy smile taking over his face.

"I'm going to take the night bus to your house before the moons. I'll bring James's invisibility cloak, and then you'll sneak me into the house, and I'll sneak back out in the morning," Sirius stated, nervous for rejection.

"Take the cloak? James wouldn't come?" Remus asked. At least, he was thinking about including me, Merlin. Sirius was only using me for my family heirlooms.

"No," Sirius replied. "I figured that you would be hesitant to agree to this, so I figured if it involved as few people as possible, it would be easier. He can come if you want, or it can just be him and not me."

"No, no, I want it to be you," Remus said quickly, causing both boys to blush. "What are you going to tell the Potters?"

"Well, I'll be leaving pretty late at night and arriving before I would normally wake up, so they wouldn't even notice really," Sirius explained. Obviously, I would cover for him if anything came up.

"You've really thought this out, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah, I was worried about you being alone," Sirius stated. He looked into Remus's eyes through the dark. "So, what do you say?"

"I think it's a smashing plan, you loon," Remus said, quickly kissing Sirius's forehead. "Thank you."

"Well, of course."

...

In the future, there would be countless moons where it was just Remus and Sirius. First, there were some at Hogwarts when they wanted to be alone, and Peter and I wanted to not have to watch them have sexual escapades. Then, once we all graduated and moved away from each other, moons with all four of us became scarcer and scarcer. But, the summer before sixth year was the first time that there was ever a moon with just the two of them, and I was nervous for several reasons.

I wasn't scared that Remus would hurt Sirius. I was nervous that we would all get caught, and it would ruin everything. If we were caught, sure we would get in trouble, but they would also make us stop, and then Remus would be right back where he was. Needless to say, my worried mom mode was in full gear.

Obviously, I wasn't at Remus's house for the moons, but I heard about them. Well, I didn't hear everything I'm sure, but I did hear a lot about them. I particularly heard a lot about the August moon, the last moon before school started up again.

Sirius took the night bus like usual and arrived right before the transformation. Remus snuck him down to the basement, cast a muffalto on the room, and locked them both down there for the night. I was told that it was a pretty tame transformation. Remus had only gotten slightly hurt, and he turned back earlier than he usually did. Sirius sat Remus down on the bed and quickly started tending to the few wounds that Remus had acquired.

"Gonna miss you tending to me hand and foot when we go back," Remus murmured. Sirius stopped what he was going and looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you saying that I don't take care of you at school?" Sirius asked. Remus smirked.

"Not like this," he stated, rubbing Sirius's thigh and causing him to squirm. "You take care of me just fine at school. I'm just going to miss it being just us."

"I'm sure we can get James and Pete to stay in if we wanted," Sirius said, moving back to clean the cut on Remus's face. He was right. They easily could have, especially when Sirius threatened us like the mad man he was.

"Oh would you shut it," Remus joked. "I'm saying that I'm going to miss all this. I'm going to miss my world being just you."

"Well, my world is always just you," Sirius flirted. Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm not kidding, Moons."

"I know you're not, love," Remus replied. "Are you almost done? I want to get a cuddle in before you have to go."

"Yeah, I'm all finished here," Sirius stated. Remus smiled and pulled them both down onto the bed.

"Pads," Remus whispered, sobering quickly. "I, uh, thank you for everything. Seriously. Wait, not don't make a joke."

"I wasn't going to. I know that you're trying to be sincere, which rarely ever happens, and I don't want to ruin it," Sirius said, looking into Remus's eyes. "But, you don't need to thank me. I meant what I said before. You're everything to me, and all I want is for you to be safe and happy."

"I want that for you too, obviously," Remus whispered.

"Obviously," Sirius whispered back. He smirked at Remus. "You know you could always thank me with a kiss."

"Oh, can I?" Remus asked mischievously. "You might need to do all the heavy lifting though as I have a shit ton of broken bones."

"Is it...this is something that you want, right?" Sirius asked, and Remus chuckled.

"Do you really need to ask me that?" he asked. Sirius shook his head lightly. "Go ahead then, pads. This may be your only opportunity to be on top."

"Oi, shut it, or I'm not gonna kiss you," Sirius stated. Remus grinned.

"We both know that isn't true, love," Remus replied. "Now, I've been waiting a long time for this. Can you get this show on the--"

Remus was cut off by Sirius kissing him. From what I've heard it was all fireworks and butterflies and all the great things kisses are. I am the biggest Wolfstar shipper in the universe, but I really didn't need to be there for that. I love them together, and I didn't mind seeing them snog whilst on Earth, and Merlin knows that I see enough of it now, but I didn't really need to be there for that one. That whole thing sounded way too sappy for even me. Anyway, I was told that the first kiss didn't last all that long. Eventually, Sirius pulled back with an evil smirk on his face.

"Wait, exactly how long have you been waiting?" Sirius asked. Remus rolled his eyes, but then he blushed. Sirius could tell that he wasn't going to reply. "Because I've been waiting since the moment I saw you on the train."

"Me too," Remus whispered. Sirius smiled. And, um, yeah, that's how Wolfstar became Wolfstar.

...

It wasn't meant to be a secret really. They just hadn't told me and Peter. Well, I guess they were having their fun sneaking around, but they weren't keeping it from us because they thought we were bigots or some shit. Regardless of all of that, I could tell that there was something up from the second they got on the train. I didn't say anything because I wanted them to be able to tell me when they wanted to. I had known since we were eleven, so it wasn't like I was in any rush to be told about it.

Obviously, Remus and Sirius were never hard to read, but when they got on the train they were just being plain disgusting. Sirius kept smiling and blushing at Remus, and Remus kept making very, very conspicuous attempts to touch Sirius in any way possible. I swear to Merlin I even saw Remus mouth "later, babe," to Sirius after I said fuck you to him. It was fucking gross, but I was also very happy for them.

After almost six years, I wasn't the only one who noticed that something was going on. Peter was quick to see something, and so was Lily. None of us said anything to the new couple, but that didn't stop us from saying things to each other.

"So, are they finally together now?" Lily asked one day while we were all in the common room. Sirius made some excuse about needing to go to bed early, and Remus said that he wanted to study in the dorm where it was quieter. It was clearly obvious that that was not what was actually happening.

"My guess is yes," I stated. Peter's eyes went wide. "Oi, Pete, don't even think about saying something homophobic."

"I wasn't going to," Peter said sheepishly. He shot him a small smile.

"I know, wanker," I replied. "Anyway, Lils, yes, I think that they're finally together."

Oh, I guess I should give some updates on Lily now that I'm talking about her. Remus told her about his furry little problem sometime during fifth year, and we told Lily about the Animagi after our second moon together when she got all worried about where I was. I know it's adorable.

Speaking of, she was being super nice to me at that point. The truth is, she started to like me back during fifth year, but I obviously did not know that. Anyway, we were both prefects together, and we were spending a whole lot of time together, especially now that Remus and Sirius were always hanging out together. Nothing had happened quite yet, but just wait we'll get there.

"So when do you think they're going to tell us?" Peter asked. I shrugged.

"I bet they won't tell us. They'll just wait until we say something," Lily answered, and I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Is that a serious bet? Are you willing to put money on it?" I asked. She gave me a stern look.

"Yes, actually," she replied, and I almost choked on the air I breathed in. That caused Lily to giggle, which I loved the sound of.

"Alright, well I'm going to put 20 galleons on the fact that they'll accidentally let it slip," I said. "Pete."

"Um, I bet they'll tell us after we graduate," Peter said, which was a horrible bet, but I let it slide. I knew that I was right.

"Alright, lads, 20 galleons. Let's shake on it."

...

Months had passed, and it was Sirius's seventeenth birthday. He was the first of us to come of age, and he could not stop gloating about it. They still hadn't told us about their budding romance, but it became all the more obvious when Remus came up with an elaborate plan for Sirius's birthday. Sirius always made a huge deal of Remus's birthday, and after Remus's last present (us becoming animagi), he knew he had to pull out all the stops.

"You want to what?" I asked when Remus snuck us out of the dorm and into the common room at the crack of dawn on Sirius's birthday.

"I want us to wake Sirius up by singing Dancing Queen by Abba," Remus stated simply. Peter and I just stared at him.

"I don't know the words," Peter admitted. Remus glared at him.

"Come on, Sirius always does the nicest things for our birthdays, and you only turn seventeen once," Remus said. Peter and I shared a look. "Abba is his favorite band, and you know how much he loves this song. He's going to love it even more now that he's actually seventeen."

"Alright, we'll do it," I said, trying not to give away that I knew how in love Remus was. "Give us like an hour I can teach Peter the words, and maybe I can convince some other people to do it with us. You go upstairs and bring him down when he wakes up. Then the show can begin."

"Thank you, Prongs," Remus said, looking me in my eyes and giving me a knowing look. He knew full well that I knew. I nodded at him with a small smile. It wasn't until a few months later that I found out what happened when Remus went upstairs.

He quietly crawled back into bed with Sirius who was still very much asleep. Sirius cuddled into Remus's chest. Remus smiled, and they both slept for about an hour until Sirius woke up with a sleepy sigh.

"Well, good morning, my love," Remus whispered.

"Where are Prongs and Wormy?" Sirius asked sleepily.

"They're getting your birthday surprise ready, of course," Remus supplied. Sirius smiled at him. "I'm sorry, but I didn't get you the gift of permanently transfiguring my DNA to be half animal."

"You're already half animal," Sirius said. Remus glared at him. "I knew what you meant though."

"Really though, it's not as big as your present for me was, and I'm sorry," Remus whispered. Sirius smiled at him before kissing him.

"If my only present was that kiss, then I would be happy," Sirius said, sitting up and pulling Remus with him. "Now, I think that we should get ready and go downstairs for whatever other surprise you have for me."

A few minutes later, Remus led Sirius down the stairs holding his hand. He squeezed it and dropped it right before they were seen by anyone. Sirius saw the entire Gryffindor house standing in the common room, and his eyes went wide. Remus nodded to be and I turned the record player on.

"Oh!" Remus explained once the music started. "You can dance, you can jive."

"Having the time of your life," the rest of us sang.

"Merlin's bloody balls," Sirius said, smiling and putting his hand over his mouth.

The entire room was screaming the lyrics and taking turns dancing with Sirius, but the only person he was looking at was Remus. Remus looked just as happy as Sirius did. Near the end of the song, I spun Sirius into Remus's arms because I figured that if I danced with Sirius nobody would care if Remus did. Remus caught him, spun him around a few times, held him to his chest, dipped him, and then hugged him.

"Thank you," Sirius whispered into Remus's ear as the rest of the room began singing happy birthday to him. Remus let go of the hug with a smile. It was Sirius's best birthday ever.

It wasn't over quite yet though. There were several hijinks and shenanigans. It was a day full of fun. Sirius was extremely happy, and so was Remus. So was I honestly. It was awesome to see them both so happy.

"Well, goodnight, lads. Thank you for everything," Sirius said as we all settled into our beds that night.

"That's what friends are for, Pads," Remus said, shooting him a wink that Peter and I both saw, but I don't think that Remus cared all that much. We all went to bed, but I heard Remus sneak into Sirius's bed a few minutes later. In fact, they actually forgot to cast a muffliato, so I heard everything, but Peter was completely passed out.

"You were taking the piss this morning. That was the best present I've ever received," Sirius whispered. I heard them both kiss, and I smiled to myself.

"Really?" Remus asked. I take it Sirius nodded.

"Why don't you sing more often? You have the most beautiful voice," Sirius cooed. I'm willing to bet Remus rolled his eyes.

"Only special occasions, my love," Remus said.

"Well, look at the time. It's still my birthday," Sirius said, and I could hear his smirk.

"Fine, just this once," Remus said. Now, obviously, I didn't see it, but I imagined Sirius laying his head on Remus's chest, and Remus playing with his hair as he sang in a whisper, "Anybody could be that guy. The night is young and the music's high."

...

There were no real updates on the Wolfstar front for a while. That was probably because I took it upon myself to stay at Hogwarts with them for Christmas that year. They obviously couldn't get much dirty business in while I was around 24/7, which I thought was hilarious.

After everyone came back from break, we started a new lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts: patronuses. I was obviously a very gifted young wizard, and I very quickly got my patronus down. I knew very well what my animal would be; we all did.

In late January, we had to show our corporal patronuses to the professor. Remus went first, and we all hoped beyond hope that nobody would think anything of his wolf. Then Sirius went and cast his dog and let out a quiet growl in Remus's ear who then pushed him off with a chuckle. Peter cast his rat, and everyone laughed (who's laughing now?). Then, it was Lily's turn.

I always loved watching her cast spells. She got this adorable look on her face when she concentrated. Sometimes she even went as far as to stick her tongue out a little. This was one of those occurrences. I was so focused on her cute little face that I didn't even notice her patronus until Sirius nudged me. I looked and saw a beautiful silver doe. My heart almost stopped. It seemed like Lily's did too. She had this horrified look on her face.

"Mr. Potter, it's your turn," the professor said. I didn't know what to do.

"I haven't quite gotten it down yet," I lied. The professor didn't believe me. "Can I do it in your office hours later? I'll take half marks."

"Sure, Mr. Potter," the professor answered hesitantly. Lily shot me a look. Once class was over, I grabbed my books and tried to get away from there as fast as possible. Clearly, Lily wasn't okay with whatever her patronus meant, and I figured she wouldn't want to be near me. I also didn't really want to be near her if she was just going to reject me again. However, my attempts to get away were stopped when I felt a hand pull me into an empty classroom.

"Oi, what the hell?" I asked, turning around to see who it was. There she was, flushed Lily Evans standing right in front of me. "Lils, look, I--"

"No, let me talk," she said. Then she hit me with a book.

"Merlin," I said, rubbing my arm where she hit me. "What was that for?"

"Half marks? Really?" she asked.

"I did it for you. You could've said thank you instead of assaulting me," I explained. She raised her book again. I took it from her. "Can you not, please? Look, I know that it's never going to happen. I get it, okay? But, we both know what my patronus is. I didn't want to embarrass you yet again. I also didn't really feel like getting rejected yet again."

"You've matured so much," she whispered. I looked at her quizzically. "A few years ago, you would've jumped at the chance to prove once and for all that I have feelings for you."

"Wait--"

"I'm not really sure where you got the 'never going to happen' thing from," she said, with a little smirk.

"It might've been all the times that you said those exact words to me," I retorted. Luckily, she didn't have a book to hit me with. Then, it hit me. "Lily."

"This is a lot more embarrassing than it should be," she said softly. "I mean, it's not like you don't feel the same way."

"Mmm," I hummed, backing her towards the teacher's desk. "And how exactly do I feel."

"Well, I, um, I," Lily stuttered, shifting her glance from my eyes to my lips. I smiled at her.

"I'll tell you," I said, kissing her cheek. "I'm bloody in love with you."

"Romantic," she whispered, but she was smiling. "I'm in love with you too."

"Woah," I breathed. She laughed. I picked her up and sat her on the desk. "Can I kiss you?"

"Of course, you can, you wanker," she said. I laughed at her. She carefully took my glasses off, and I kissed her.

About an hour later, it was time for dinner in the Great Hall. Lily and I walked in holding hands. I saw Sirius's eyes go wide and then he hit Remus to make him look up from the book he was reading.

"No fucking way," Remus said when we both sat down at the table.

"Did you give Lily an early birthday present?" Sirius asked, waggling his eyebrows. "It's the polite thing for a boyfriend to do."

"That's right. It's your birthday tomorrow," I said, kissing Lily on the cheek. "Do you want me to wake you up by singing an Abba song?"

"No, that's alright," Lily said with a chuckle. Remus kicked me under the table. I shot him a grin. We were all happy, and we would be for years.

...

It was March now, and Remus made us all promise not to get him anything for his birthday because the year before we essentially gave him our lives. We all tried to protest, but he got to Sirius, and there was no way that we were going to argue with Sirius. Also, it was right in between two huge exams, and we were all too busy studying anyway.

The night before Remus's birthday, Sirius snuck into his bed. He kissed Remus's cheek and snuggled into his chest.

"Happy almost birthday, moons," Sirius whispered. Remus hummed. "Are you sure that you don't want any presents?"

"Actually, I do want something," Remus whispered back.

"Anything."

"I want to tell them."

"Oh."

"James already knows. I know that he does. You know that he does," Remus stated. "I just want to be able to touch you when we're with our friends. It was fun to be a secret at first, but now I'm just tired."

"Hey, I meant it when I said anything," Sirius assured him. "I want to tell them too, and we will. If that's what you want, then we'll do it."

"Only if it's what you want too," Remus said. Sirius smiled.

"I want the entire world to know how in love with you I am," Sirius whispered. Remus's breath hitched.

"Oh, Sirius, I want the world to know I'm in love with you too."

...

As promised, Remus had a very quiet birthday. We sang happy birthday over breakfast, and that was pretty much it. The kid knew how loved he was. Don't feel bad for him. Anyway, we were all up studying far later than we should have been. Lily and I were sitting on the couch and quizzing each other. Peter was sitting in a chair grumbling about something he didn't understand. Remus and Sirius were sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table, both looking over their notes.

"Are you fucking serious?" I asked after I got yet another question wrong.

"Yes, daily," Remus said, not looking up from his notes. Everyone, including Sirius, stopped what they were doing and stared at him. "What?"

"You told them," Sirius said, looking at him with wide eyes. Remus's eyes mirrored his boyfriend's.

"Did I say that out loud?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Oh, well, we were meant to tell them, so now was as good a time as any."

"So would you say that that accidentally slipped out?" I asked, a smirk forming.

"Well, yes, there were a lot more eloquent ways I could have told you," Remus replied.

"I'll say," Sirius chuckled, but he had nothing but love in his eyes. Then he looked over at Peter and Lily handing James money. "Did you lot bet on us being together?"

"No, of course, not," Lily assured him. I smirked.

"We knew you were together. That would be a stupid bet," Peter explained. "We bet on how you would tell us."

"Ridiculous," Remus said, going back to his work.

"No, what's ridiculous is that Prongs won. I don't want him benefiting from this," Sirius said. I stuck my tongue out at him. Sirius smiled fondly at Remus. "Hey, moons. I love you."

"I love you too, baby," Remus said, not looking up from his notes at first. Then, he realized that they just said I love you in front of us, and he grinned at him.

"We're gonna have to deal with that all the time now," Peter said.

"It's cute," Lily said.

"It's Wolfstar," I said.

"It's what?"

#James Potter #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #Lily Evans #Harry Potter #peter pettigrew #Marauders #wolfstar #jily

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writersrealmbts · 4 years

Text

A Little Quirky: Forever Kisses

Description: It’s been a few months, and the two of you still haven’t rescheduled the wedding, when Jimin comes up with a plan. And maybe having your wedding the day before Easter is a little bit quirky, but when have the two of you ever been normal?

Warnings: N/A.

Posted: 04/17/2020

Tags: Jimin, Hybrid!Jimin

Fluff: 1,721 words

A/N: Seriously, guys, you have no idea how long it took me to make the timeline for this series because I keep jumping around in that timeline. I’m hoping to keep things more streamlined from here on out, at least until I can finish all of their stories. Right now this is the last part I’ve got planned for these two!

Previous Part.

“What if we got married next weekend?”

You paused at Jimin’s question, watching his tail sway back and forth nervously. After having to cancel the wedding the previous fall due to the damage from the storm and having to hide in the Sanctuary for safety, the two of you had been going back and forth about what to do for the wedding.

“I mean, all of my family will be around, so then we would just need to bring your family around as well. Micheal has this really pretty barn on his property that I bet could be cleaned up in time, and Hobi and Ren have tons of indoor plants that we could probably use, since flowers are probably pretty hard to get. I know it wouldn’t be what we had originally planned, but we could still have something…nice.”

You slowly placed more books on the bookshelves as you thought about it. “You…you know it’s Easter next weekend, right?”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why it might be hard to get flowers and why my family will all be around. I know it’s unorthodox, but…” He sighed and turned to face you. “I want to marry you. I know I haven’t been helping try to reschedule our wedding, I mean, everything has come up since then. You had your clinicals, I had to graduate, and then we both started our jobs, and now moving in here…this is the last weekend that should be stressful, and I just…I….”

You studied his slumped shoulders, the way his tail curled around him, and quickly went over to him, wrapping your arms around him. “Jiminie.”

He leaned into you. “I just want to be happy. We’ve been so stressed and I just…I want something to celebrate.”

“I’ll see if my parents are free,” You whispered. “But we’re going to need all the help we can get to make this happen in twelve days.”

He nodded, relaxing. “I know who to call.”

“Then I’ll call my parents first,” You said, kissing his forehead.

Rain started pelting the windows, and you winced. Because just a moment later, the thunder shook the apartment.

Jimin shrunk. “Um.”

“Go crawl into bed and pick out a movie. I’ll bring the tea in after I’m done talking to my parents,” You said, pushing both of you up. You’d honestly seen today coming, Jimin had been so stressed the past month and you were surprised he hadn’t broken sooner. Storms were actually some of the best ways for the two of you to work through stressful things.

He nodded and started hurrying toward the bedroom, breaking into a run with a flash of lightning.

Your poor kitty.

You started on the catnip tea while you called your parents, getting a green light from them for a wedding next weekend and instructions from your mom to use her as much as possible. She also said too plan it for Saturday, like the smart mom she was.

Which meant only eleven days, and you two would definitely want to have brunch with the families the next day, but that was all pretty agreeable to you.

Jimin agreed when you joined him in the bedroom, and sent a text. “I know this is going to be stressful, but I also think it’ll be worth it.”

You kissed him. “I’m marrying you, of course it’ll be worth it.”

———

You looked around the barn. “It’s great.”

“Yeah, thankfully we’ve moved all of Emma’s stuff into a storage unit, and it wasn’t damaged during the storms so we were throwing potlucks in here for our workers, a couple birthday parties, and I think we had one wedding here.” Micheal rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around. “But we got it cleaned up in the past two days so that you guys could see if you wanted it.”

“It’s great. Thank you so much,” You said, smiling as you looked around. “It’ll be perfect.”

“Good, I’m glad it’ll work. Gotta say, you guys didn’t give yourselves much time.”

“We didn’t, but…it’ll be fine. We still had a bunch of stuff from before, and my dress. We just needed our families to make the day perfect.”

Jimin hummed happily, arms around your waist. “Exactly.”

“And flowers, you need flowers. Because otherwise we’ve ordered all of those flowers in vain,” Your mom said.

“Of course, mom. Flowers are important too,” You purred.

Your father chuckled. “Your family knows how to do things quickly, don’t they, Jimin?”

Jimin nodded, grinning. “We planned my Eomma’s and Appa’s wedding in a series of weekends and set it all up in two hours the day of.”

“Oh God, I cried so much,” Micheal muttered, rubbing the back of his neck again, looking like he wanted to cry again. “It was a terrible idea for me to officiate.”

“You were the only one who would,” Jin said calmly, joining the group. “Will a hodge-podge of chairs be okay?”

You nodded. “We’re not going for anything too fancy.” Not this time. Before it was going to be elegant and whimsical because hot-damn Jimin looked good in those sorts of settings, but right now…all of this seemed way better.

“We’ll set them up in a purposeful way, and that’ll make it look more purposeful and whimsical. Sort of a rustic-whimsy?” Emma looked to you for confirmation.

You nodded, smiling.

“I’ve got Taehyung and Yoongi bringing flowers with them as well, since we didn’t think we had enough between our towns together, that should help fill things out,” Emma said to your mom. “I thought we could use the white Christmas lights on the rafters to create a nice ambiance?”

“Oh, I was going to ask whether we should maybe have the wedding outside by that fountain and the reception in here?” Your mom said, looking between you and Emma.

You considered it for a moment, then looked at Jimin.

He shrugged ever so slightly, signaling that it was up to you.

You nodded. “If the weather permits, sure. That sounds like a great idea.”

Emma nodded. “Well, it’s supposed to be sunny and seventy, so….hit or miss on that.”

You grinned, laughing. “Very optimistic, thanks.”

She nodded. “Glad to be of service. This is what happens when all of my children don’t sleep in a week.”

“Oh, sleepless nights,” Your mom said sympathetically.

“And days, the triplets have gone off naps. Thankfully the twins are still too tiny to not nap.”

Jin sighed. “Can we blame Hoseok? Let’s blame Hoseok.”

She snorted and hit his arm. “He’s the only reason we’ve had any sleep, hon. Don’t blame the angel.”

Jimin laughed. “I’ll help him and Jungkookie run them out after this.”

“I’m sure your children are adorable when they’ve slept,” Your mom said.

“Even the adopted ones,” Emma agreed, walking off with your mom and showing her pictures of the pups.

The other dispersed, leaving you and Jimin.

“So…we’re just going to let them set things up?”

“Looks like it. I trust them. I’ve got the most important thing,” Jimin answered, squeezing your waist. “In a week, we’ll be married.”

“We will,” You whispered back, smiling happily and relaxing into his arms as he pressed kisses to your neck and cheek.

———

Jimin took your hands, smiling so softly as he gazed at you. “I promise to work alongside you, to support you in all you endeavor, just as you support me. I promise to care for you as though you were me, as though we are one. To walk beside you during the good times, and shelter you during the bad. To make a home for us, just as you are the home for my heart. I want to go through life with you by my side, no matter what our situation in life may be. To laugh with you, and cry with you, and whatever may come, to work through everything together. Even though we may argue, I promise to always return to your side and work through whatever it is. I want to love you, and be loved by you all the days of my life. You crashed into my life, and haunted my dreams, and I want you to always haunt my dreams because I will never grow tired of seeing your beautiful face. We’re a little quirky, but there’s nothing we can’t do together.”

You just grinned back at him, completely choked up and trying not to cry. How were you supposed to follow that?

He laughed softly, wiping some of the escaped tears from your face. “And I’ll always wipe your tears, if you’ll agree to wipe mine.”

You just laughed and tucked yourself into his shoulder. “I love you.”

He chuckled and pet your hair. “It’s your turn, y/n.”

You pulled away and tried to pull yourself together. “Silly kitten.”

Soft laughter came from your families.

“Neither of us have had easy lives, but I promise to weather every storm with you. I promise to attempt to be patient during trials, and understanding during arguments. To be the high of your days, and to keep you company during your lows.” You looked to the sky since you were still on the verge of crying. “I want you to be my first and last love, I want to live a full life with you, and grow old with you. Every kiss has been sweeter than the one before. We’ve shared the sweetest of moments together, and made it through some times of uncertainty side-by-side. I love you so much, and I know I’m not always easy to love but you’ve never faltered. You’re my soulmate, and you’ve always encouraged me when I was nervous or uncertain. You’re my best friend.”

He purred, but it sounded choked.

“Rings?” Micheal asked.

The two of you exchanged rings.

“You may now kiss your bride.”

Jimin grinned and pulled you in, kissing you both gently and passionately before pulling away. “Stuck with me forever.”

“Stick with me forever,” You corrected, then kissed him again.

He laughed, and held you close to him, ignoring your families. “We’re married now.”

You just laughed a little and pushed him so that he would walk you back down the isle. “Yes, we are.”

----

Previous Part. Next?

Masterlist. Series Masterpost.

#jimin #park jimin #jimin x reader #hybrid!au #bts #bts fic #bts jimin #cat hybrid!jimin #bts x reader #hybrid!jimin #hybrid!bts #wedding #sanctuary series #the sanctuary series hybrid au #the sanctuary series #alittlequirky fic #hybrid!reader #kim seokjin

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lwjstiletto · 4 years

Text

wangxian au where lwj is a popular hand model and wwx is an independent jewellery maker [Part 3]

[Part 1] [Part 2]

wwx shuts himself in his workshop for a month straight, with lwj being his only visitor. everything he makes looks beautiful on lwj but it’s somehow not enough, not quite /deserving/ of lwj yet.

when he tells lwj this, he only gets a slight downturn of his lips in return.

“you have fine craftsmanship.” lwj says, turning his hand so that the lights bounce off the crystal encrusted hand chain. “i have never seen anything like it before.”

wwx watches him in stunned silence. lwj tends to drop these really sincere, heartfelt compliments that both embarass him and motivate him to show lwj he can do even better. another reason for his stunned silence is how ethereal lwj looks in jewellery

wwx wants to cover him in it. a nice jade pendant that hangs just above his bellybutton; a hairpiece that weaves flowers between the silky black strands of his hair; a thick banded crystal choker that sits around his throat just so; an anklet with teardrop pearls perhaps

but for now, he has to work up to making the hand jewellery suitable. the rest can wait

—•—

the next time lwj visits, he looks like he’s one blink away from sleeping where he stands.

“lan zhan,” wwx says, because they have somehow progressed to calling each other by their infromal names, “are you okay?”

“mn.” lwj says, then almost collapses mid-blink. in true rom-com fashion, wwx catches him with one hand around his waist and the other on his arm. he would tease lwj about it but this isn’t the time.

“i’m sorry.” lwj tries to straighten up.

“come on, you need to sleep.” wwx says, using his hold on lwj’s waist to guide him towards his bedroom.

“no sleep.” lwj says, planting his feet into the ground much like jin ling does when he wants to be stubborn.

“lan zhan,” wwx cajoles with his practiced baby voice, “come on. you’re tired. just nap for one hour.”

lwj glares at him, “sleep later, work now.”

wwx bends down and puts a hand under lwj’s knees, scooping him up before he can react.

lwj’s sleepy eyes widen, “wei ying!”

“if you’re gonna act like a child,” wwx says walking towards the bedroom, “then expect me to treat you like one.”

internally, wwx is panicking. he is definitely crossing some boundaries here. however, wwx considers lwj a friend and his friend looks like he hasn’t slept for a week. sometimes extreme measures are necessary, jc has taught him that.

lwj twitches in his arms when he reaches his bedroom door.

“you can put me down now.” he says, his voice weak.

wwx ignores him and kicks his door open, gently placing lwj on the bed once he reaches it.

“go to sleep.” he says, pulling the duvet over him, “if you dare come out before the hour is up, i can and will carry you back.”

lwj looks like he wants to protest but he seems to lose the fight with exhaustion and drifts off the sleep before wwx’s eyes. wwx quickly exits the bedroom and closes the door behind himself. lwj. is. in. his. bed. sleeping... he’s sleeping. because he’s tired. and wwx’s friend.

“jiang cheng, lan zhan is in my bed.” he says into his phone once he has shut himself in his workshop.

“xichen’s brother? why? did you kidnap him? tell me you didn’t wei wuxian. xichen will kill you.” jc says.

“ok first of all, he’s here for work.” wwx realises that between working and sleeping he has forgotten to inform anyone about this. “and he was tired. he looked so sleepy and cute, what could i do?”

“you... was he at least... coherent? it was consensual right?” jc asks

“what?!” wwx screeches, standing up in indignation. “jiang cheng oh my god. we- he’s TAKING A NAP!”

“oh thank god.” jc sighs, “wait how do you know lan wangji?”

“ah,” wwx scratches his nose, “long story short, remember that pretty guy from uni? yeah lan zhan and him, same guy.”

“you-“ jc sighs deeply, “i’ve been hearing you wax poetic about lan wangji’s hands?! how will i ever look xichen in the eyes after knowing that you probably- eugh i hate you.”

“ok first of all, it’s not a fetish-“

jc hangs up on him.

this leaves wwx with too much free time to think and that’s never a good thing. so he starts looking around for something to do. this is how his eyes fall on lwj’s gloves lying on the table beside the door. lwj has developed a habit of discarding them as soon as he comes in

and like a magnet, wwx feels drawn to them. it must be annoying for lwj to wear them all the time, but he never complains. wwx, however, has no such qualms and detests them with vigor

today, it’s the white leather gloves. wwx picks one up and examines it. it’s soft to the touch, worn out to smoothness. an idea strikes him and he tosses the glove back as he reaches for his sketchbook. he thinks he has finally got it.

—•—

when lwj wakes, there is light coming through the curtains. he doesn’t remember the last time he had such a comfortable, dreamless sleep. an unfamiliar but pleasant scent surrounds him, safe, warm.

lwj bolts up in bed, remembering exactly where he is. he looks at his phone. it’s six, ok that’s fine. wait... 6AM. lwj throws the covers off and looks around, then back at his phone as if that’s going to change something.

he spent the night at wwx’s place. speaking of, where did wwx sleep then? he ventures outside and sees nobody in the living area. sure enough, wwx is passed out in his workshop, cheek flat on his workbench.

lwj sighs.

“wei ying.” he prods his shoulder gently, “wake up.”

wwx groans and shakes him off, “go away.”

after a few more pokes lwj rules it a lost cause and decides to make tea for himself and coffee for wwx. thankfully, he doesn’t have work until 3pm so he has plenty of time to waste puttering around wwx’s sparce kitchen.

after finding only hot sauce in the top cupboards (one labelled ‘burning hot’ with flames on the cover which makes him cringe away) he finally finds coffee. no tea. it’ll have to do, he thinks.

the smell of coffee near his nose does a better job at waking wwx up. he reaches blindly for the cup before he even blinks his eyes open. ridiculous.

lwj, in the most dignified way possible, sits on the purple beanbag and waits as wwx’s brain reboots with every sip of coffee.

“lan zhan?” wwx asks.

“i have the same question.” lwj says, “why am i still here?”

“too philosophical for this early in the morning. what time even is it?” wwx looks at the wall clock and groans, “why are you awake?”

lwj gives him a blank look, “i was promised a nap.”

“yeah, yeah.” wwx brushes him off, “i’m happy you slept well, you look much better than before.”

lwj feels his ears burn and his heart rate quicken.

wwx has an ease to his words and actions that makes lwj agreeable to existing in his space without wanting to revert back to professionalism. he fears that one day he’ll become so comfortable that he wouldn’t want to leave

“come here.” wwx beacons.

once lwj is bent over his shoulder, he shows him the rough sketches he has been working on all night apparently.

“are those..”

“inspired by the bane of my existence, none other than your gloves!” wwx says proudly.

“why do you hate the gloves?” lwj asks, curious.

wwx gives him a complicated look, “because they’re fabric. how old and boring. wouldn’t you rather be tangled in crystal chains that you can’t wear or remove without help?”

lwj lets him dodge the question, then gives the designs a closer look. “they’re very interesting.”

“it’s just a rough sketch.” wwx refuses to look at him, “i’ll refine the details and start working on it by tomorrow.”

“mn.” lwj says.

—•—

“da-ge tried to beat up su she again.” nhs informs him when he gets to his office a few hours later.

“again?” lwj asks.

“he bumped into him at the lobby. again.” nhs sighs.

“i will speak to him.” lwj says.

“what? no these stalkers just get worse-“

“i meant nie mingjue.” lwj clarifies.

“it should be fine. i’ve banned him from office premises now and i’m working on filing a restraining order against him.” nhs says, “i tried to explain this to da-ge but you know his temper. actually maybe you should talk to him. he might listen to you.”

lwj nods, “i will call him after my shoot.”

—•—

nhs must have mentioned it to nmj because he’s there to pick lwj up after his shoot. it’s late, almost past eleven, and the parking lot is half empty.

lwj gets a text from wwx just before he gets in the car.

wei ying: garnet or emerald?

lwj replies: i’m no expert at this

wei ying: lan zhannnn humour me

lwj: ruby

wei ying: i will fossilise you in one. lan zhannnn be serious

“you look much more at ease.” nmj comments.

lwj realises that he is.

“you don’t need to bother with su she anymore. huaisang has it under control.” lwj says.

nmj gives him a skeptical look.

“i trust him.” lwj emphasises.

“i was told you had previous acquaintance with that man.” nmj says.

lwj sighs, “he was in my cello class.”

“you play the cello?” nmj asks.

“not anymore.” lwj answers.

nmj doesn’t ask further.

they sit in uncomfortable silence until nmj asks where he should drop lwj off. what comes out of his mouth are the directions to wwx’s place. his excuse: he needs to know what a garnet gem is before making a decision.

“i will trust you and huaisang to handle this.” nmj says when they come to a stop, “be well.”

lwj nods, then opens the car door.

“wangji.” nmj’s hand grabs his elbow gently.

lwj turns to him.

“i’d like for us to be friends.” nmj says. it sounds stilted, amended.

lwj frowns, “i already consider you one.”

nmj nods and lets go of his hand. with the hint of a smile he says, “goodnight wangji.”

lwj looks at nmj drive away then turns to face wwx’s apartment building. now that he’s here, his excuse sounds feeble. he takes a deep breath, he’s already here. might as well.

wwx opens his apartment door and stares at lwj like he has seen a ghost. “lan zhan?”

“i don’t know what garnet looks like.” lwj says.

wwx grins at him, then grabs his forearm, dragging him into his workshop. there, on a mannequin hand, is the half finished skeleton of what looks like wwx’s design coming to life. he holds up a red and a green stone. he points to the red one, “this is a garnet.”

“it looks like a ruby.” lwj says

wwx looks like he goes through the seven stages of grief before he says, in a strangled voice, “how could you? you’re– you’re messing with me again, aren’t you?”

lwj gives him an innocent look. he can feel the tension in his shoulders bleed out.

“it’s coming together.” wwx says when he notices lwj looking at his unfinished project. “come here, let me see if you can have mobility with it on.”

lwj removes his gloves and stretches his hand towards wwx. wwx gently manoeuvring delicate silver chains around his hand isn’t something new, but it feels different in the middle of the night. more intimate. lwj discards that word with a flick of his hair

it’s not usual for him to leave it unpinned, but he has spent the day lying on a carpet with his hands stretched upwards, balancing a small perfume bottle between his fingers. coming out of it with a few strands out of place is a minor inconvenience.

“tada!” wwx says, drawing lwj’s attention to his right hand which is now tangled in a complicated-looking array of chains from the tips of his fingers down to his wrist. it’s stunning even in its incomplete form.

“it’s beautiful.” lwj says, low as the silent night.

“it’s barely anything right now!” wwx protests but his cheeks are red, “come on, try to move your fingers.”

lwj does, slowly as to not break the delicate structure in case it does lack mobility. it moves with him, like still water disturbed, pressing coldness onto his skin when he closes his fist.

there is no bite, in fact it barely feels any different from wearing light cotton gloves. he thinks he understands wwx’s vision better now. he opens his fist again, one finger at a time, watching how the chains loosen and hang lower on his wrist.

he’s so fascinated by it that he’s surprised to see wwx standing in front of him when he looks up. his eyes are fixed on lwj, unwavering and shameless in their focus, dark with what lwj would presume was desire if he didn’t know better.

“ah it doesn’t need adjustments for now then!” wwx says, snapping out of it. “it looks great on you! i’m sure your girlfriend will like it when it’s finished too!”

“i’m gay.” lwj deadpans.

“oh.” wwx says, choked. “your... boyfriend then?”

“wei ying i...” think of you as a safe haven in my hectic life? find your rambling amusing? think you’re extremely talented and deserve success? have a teeny tiny crush on you? what is lwj supposed to say? each of those sound worse than the one before

at the end he decides to settle for the worst possible answer, “i don’t have time for a boyfriend.”

he does! well, not really. but he would make time if it was wwx... or something! sometimes lwj wants to punch a wall, break a finger, quit his job as a consequence and live in a secluded mountain in the east for the rest of his days. this is one of those moments.

wwx nods in understanding. lwj would prefer if he /didn’t/ understand and demanded to be lwj’s boyfriend to prove him wrong. ‘i’ll make you have time for a boyfriend’ is what lwj imagines him saying.

instead wwx offers him tea.

“it’s too late for coffee.” he shrugs when lwj mumbles a surprised ‘tea?’

before lwj can ask why he suddenly has tea in his house when he didn’t just yesterday, wwx is already gone.

they sit around wwx’s small breakfast table. as they sip their tea- high quality tea nonetheless- wwx begins to talk.

“this project is going more smoothly than i expected. i already have a couple designs in my mind. i’d say it’d take maybe a month or so if i substitue my sleep enough with coffee.” wwx says.

“do not strain yourself.” lwj replies.

“rich coming from you.” wwx’s lip quirks, “you passed out on me yesterday. oh what could have caused that? i don’t think it was sleep deprivation and overworking because you’d never do that.”

it feels like lwj is being scolded.

“wei ying-“

“lan zhan, are you alright?” wwx asks sincerely, “i know you said that you weren’t hurt back then when i saw your bruises, but we weren’t friends back then. you were in pain when i met you at wen ning’s parlour. -

- wen qing was oddly iffy about telling jiang cheng about you even though she knows that he’s friends with your brother. you looked so afraid when you thought i was stalking you, which, technically my fault but still. i’m sorry for bringing this up but i’m worried about you. i want to help you, with whatever it is.”

lwj sits in silence for a few moments, flabbergasted. it seems like this is genuinely bothering wwx, and maybe it has for a while now.

“wei ying.” lwj starts, trying to mentally arrange it all in chronological order. “i think there has been a slight misunderstanding. i did not persue conventional modelling because i did not want to be in the public eye.

however, my identity was exposed about a month ago. it made me unnecessarily paranoid which is why wen qing was careful about my information, and i was in turn careful about my surroundings.”

“who the hell-“

“it does not matter now.” lwj says calmingly. he doesn’t need another person trying to beat su she up.

wwx fumes silently as lwj continues.

“at wen ning’s parlour i was actually in quite a bit of pain.” lwj says. wwx opens his mouth but lwj cuts him off. “yes, it was due to overwork, and yesterday can be attributed to the same cause. but it does not happen as often as you’re thinking, i promise.”

wwx mulls this over. “ok fine. don’t think i didn’t notice you skipped over the bruises though. they can’t be from overwork so either someone did that to you or-“

“it is..” lwj says, forcing the words out, “as you thought that day.”

he wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but he doesn’t want wwx to have any misconceptions. and well, if he sacrifices his own peace of mind for wwx, it is most likely worth it in the end.

“you mean...” wwx swallows, “you–“

seeing him struggle so much with the words makes it easier for lwj to blurt them out somehow.

“i like restraints, yes.”

this does not bring an end to the conversation, instead making wwx stutter through even worse versions of it.

“you like– to be tied up– oh my god.” he says, “you- that’s what you meant right? handcuffs, ropes all that- like bdsm? is that what–“

“wei ying. please.” lwj says.

“oh of course. here.” wwx grabs both his wrists with one hand.

lwj stares at him. wwx stares back. what the hell.

...

“oh,” wwx draws back like has been burned, “oh my god i don’t know why i did that. i’m so sorry!”

“wei ying it’s okay.” lwj tries but wwx has now put his face in his hands and does not seem to hear him above his mumbling variations of ‘oh my god’ and ‘i’m so sorry’.

lwj lets him go on for a while before he can’t take it anymore. he puts a gentle hand on wwx’s shoulder. this seems to have the desired effect, both shutting wwx up and making him look up at lwj.

“wei ying, it’s okay.” he repeats.

“no it’s not! what was i even thinking? it’s not okay for me to do that! out of nowhere! god, i must have made you so uncomfortable–“

“i don’t mind.” lwj says.

“how can you not? you should fire me!”

“you are my employer.”

“that’s even worse!”

lwj sighs. wwx seems to be transforming into a puddle of shame right before him. he has to put an end to this or wwx will overthink himself into an early grave. no amount of consoling seems to work though. lwj sighs, it is time for drastic measures.

“i lied.” lwj says. he quickly continues before wwx can officially begin his pity party, “i do have time for a boyfriend.”

“what.” wwx says, drawn out of his stupor with the sudden shift in topic.

“i have time... if it’s you.” lwj says and then immediately wants to adapt wwx’s head in hands coping mechanism. “now we are even.”

wwx seems to be dissecting his sentence to make sense of it. “oh. OH.”

“i should go home.” lwj rises from his chair. just as he is turning away, wwx grabs his wrist and pulls him so he’s face-to-face with him.

“lan zhan,�� wwx says, his eyes fond, “you’re so.. ugh!”

lwj frowns. ugh. he’s ugh.

“lan zhan!” wwx takes lwj’s face between his palms and grins at him, “do you know i’ve been crushing on you since that day at the university?”

“you have?” lwj asks.

“you really didn’t know?” wwx asks, “lan zhan, lan zhan, do you think a professional jeweller needs weekly fitting appointments?”

“you don’t?” lwj feels just a little stupid.

“not really? i could have made adjustments after i finished everything.”

“you like me?” lwj asks. for some reason it hadn’t occurred to him that his crush could be reciprocated.

“yes!” wwx shifts from one foot to another eagerly, “can i hug you now?”

lwj nods and is drawn into wwx’s arms. wwx presses his nose into the space between lwj’s neck and shoulder. lwj holds his shoulders, glad that he can hide his red face in wwx’s hoodie

wwx sighs, his breath tickles on lwj’s skin.

“will you stay with me tonight?” and when lwj is silent for two seconds,

“not like that! it’s innocent! like a sleepover! i won’t tie you up i promise– lan zhan please shut me up i beg you–“

lwj draws back, simply places a gentle kiss on wwx’s lips and says, “don’t ever shut up.”

The End!

as for any loose ends:

- lwj manages to gain his anonymity back

- su she manages not to get beaten up by wwx or nmj but does get a restraining order

- wwx completes his collection and it’s a success! the best part is that he is holding the hand that started it all!

This fic has a nsfw one-shot on ao3 if any of you want to read it :)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/25827673

#wangxian fic #wangxian #lwj x wwx #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan zhan #wei ying #the untamed #cql #mdzs #my fics #hand model au #long fic

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ohblackdiamond · 4 years

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little t&a (gene/paul, nc-17) (part 26 of 29)

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7 part 8 part 9 part 10 part 11 part 12 part 13 part 14 part 15 part 16 part 17 part 18 part 19 part 20 part 21 part 22 part 23 part 24 part 25 part 26 part 27 part 28 part 29

Four weeks before KISS gets back on tour, Gene discovers that Paul’s been cursed by a groupie. For the sake of KISS’ finances, Paul’s comfort levels, and Gene’s libido, this crisis must be resolved. Sexswap fic. In this chapter: Gene confronts Carol and Paul makes his decision.

“What do you want?”

Carol’s eyes were big and scared. Not defiant at all. Her back was up against the jars of peanut butter on the grocery shelf. Gene looked at her, that pockmarked, freckled face, and tried to decide what Paul had seen there, those times they’d slept together. Then he realized, dumbly, that Paul hadn’t even really remembered. Carol had only become important when she’d hurt him.

“I think you’re pretty well aware.”

“I don’t want to talk to—”

“You’re going to talk to me.” At the edge of his vision, he caught a glimpse of a mother pushing a cart, taking her little girl by the hand and tugging her away. She probably thought they were about to cause a scene. He swallowed, stepping forward and grasping Carol’s shoulder, abandoning the cart entirely. She didn’t struggle or argue, only put down her shopping basket. “Come on, we won’t do it here.”

He thought, briefly, about taking her to his car to discuss it, just for privacy. He realized after a moment that would probably only terrify her further, so he settled for heading to an empty bench in front of the store. She sat down beside him on the bench, but her eyes kept darting towards the parking lot as if she were about to bolt.

“Do you do this a lot?”

That was the first thing she’d said in awhile. The snippy bitterness, the way it barely masked her fear, was strangely reminiscent. Of who, he wasn’t quite sure.

“Pick girls up in grocery stores? No. Usually they just follow me wherever I go. It’s a little like the Pied Piper.”

She stiffened, hands clasped in her lap, but didn’t respond.

“I’m not going to hurt you. But you need to take that curse off him.” He shifted, digging in the pocket of his borrowed sweatpants as he spoke, pulling out his wallet, and then digging further, for his checkbook. “I’ll… listen, I’ll…”

He trailed. He hadn’t thought this through nearly as well as he’d hoped. The plan, as much as there’d been a plan, had been to try and get an address off of the roommates, and go from there. He hadn’t anticipated being confronted with her so quickly. The money issue—that was another thing. Spending on Paul directly hadn’t been something that he’d minded a bit, for all the notations in his checkbook and all the credit card charges over the past several days. But on this girl, on Carol, he wasn’t sure what amount to offer. Too little and she’d laugh in his face. Too much and—but Paul was worth it. If he could just guarantee that she wouldn’t take the money and run—

Carol flinched. Her teeth sunk into her lip, and she shook her head.

“I don’t want it.”

“That’s bullshit. You got thrown out of your old place. And if this is where you buy groceries, wherever you’re living now isn’t any better.”

“How did you—”

“I talked to your old roommate.” Something occurred to him suddenly. “She said you were expecting money when they kicked you out, too. Enough to pay the rent for three months. Where did you think that much money was coming from? Your mom? Or Paul?”

Her breath hitched sharply. Her face had gone from ashen to waxy, the freckles standing out far too sharply against her skin.

“No! I didn’t think it would work! I told him that!” He hadn’t moved towards her at all, but she was scooting up to the very edge of the bench. “I don’t want your money. I already told him how to get rid of it! He doesn’t need to be siccing you on me!”

“You really think Paul’s got me on retainer? Oh, come on.”

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Carol’s mouth twitched like she was about to laugh, the rest of her expression still as scared as ever. “H-he didn’t like what I told him. So he had you come and bother me instead. Right?”

“Paul doesn’t have me do anything. I came on my own.”

“He’s no good. He’s using you.” She unclasped her hands, one hand gripping the armrest instead. “Can’t you understand that?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He’s just had you handle everything for him. You think I couldn’t see that?” A sharp inhale. “He used you to get to me all the way around.”

It was bait he wouldn’t even dignify with a response. He’d taken care of Paul. Of course he had. Longer than the past few days, if Paul’s claims were to be believed. But Gene hadn’t been used by him. Not ever.

“Are you really ruining a man’s life just because he only wanted to fuck you twice?”

Carol flinched.

“I summoned Marbas, he’s the one who…” she started to trail, cutting herself off abruptly. “L-look, I told Paul what to do already. He has to sleep with somebody. Didn’t it work? Or did Marbas try and—”

“He hasn’t done it.”

“Why not?”

“Because he doesn’t want to,” Gene snapped. Carol gave him a look that seemed like a cross between bewildered and disgusted.

“Why should he care?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do know. He said you had a tour coming up. So why would he hold off?” She snorted. “What stopped him?”

“That’s not rel—”

“What’s he afraid of?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying.” Carol seemed coiled up, like she was trying to make herself even smaller than she was, all crammed against the edge of the bench and the armrest. Like she could only manage to say anything at all if she was prepared to flee. “He’s scared of getting fucked.”

“That’s not—”

“What are you defending him for?”

“Paul’s my friend.”

“He’s not. H-he’d step on anybody to get his way.”

“Why, because you feel like he stepped on you?”

Carol stiffened, shaking her head.

“I saw the way he was with you at 54. I bet he’s been making out with you this whole time, just so you’d do what he wanted.”

“Is that how you think it is?”

“Do you think if you do everything right, he’ll change his mind and let you?”

Maybe some part of him had thought that once. The idea of getting in Paul’s pants had been there almost from the start. Something to do. Something to fantasize about and then maybe fall into while trying to get the curse broken. Something that maybe wouldn’t have meant too much. He hadn’t been completely selfless. But now—now, it wasn’t like that. Paul wasn’t just another girl he hadn’t fucked yet, he was—

He was—

Carol stared at him with something almost like pity.

“He’ll give it up eventually. He won’t stay like this forever.”

“I know.”

“What are you going to do after that?”

“We’ll get back on the road.” He shifted slightly, hand finding his own knee. “We start the new tour in July.”

“No. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

She was silent for a long time.

“I thought I was only gonna hurt him with this,” she said. “Teach him a lesson.”

“Carol, he’s learned his lesson. He was talking about you yesterday.”

“What?”

“Yeah. He said he used to think all the girls knew what was going on, until he met you. He said he… he said we had some responsibility, for them thinking they had a real chance.”

“Y-you’re just trying to make me feel like he’s really changed—”

“No, I’m not. I swear, he said that. He said he didn’t mean to hurt them, but he did. I don’t know if that’s worth anything to you at all. But it should be.”

She shook her head, but her expression didn’t match the movement. Her eyes were a little glassy, lips twitching. The hand that had been gripping the armrest drifted to her thigh, rubbing nervously up and down her jeans.

“What else did he say?”

“He… said if he didn’t want to be treated like something to collect, then maybe the girls didn’t, either.”

“He said that?”

“Yeah. He said that.”

“He really…” she trailed, voice throaty. She shook her head again and stood up from the bench. She was too close to crying for him to want to reach out and grab her at first. Something about her seemed so fragile, so desperate. After all she’d done, despite all she’d done, a little acknowledgement and she was almost in tears. “Maybe I didn’t do so bad. I-I’ve got to go.”

“Carol, don’t go. Come on—come on, we’ll talk about this some more—”

“Paul’ll take care of it. I know he will. I’m sorry, Gene.”

“Sorry?”

“Because you love him, too.”

Eleven-thirty.

Paul peeled off his underwear, kicking it to the floor. He lay down on his stomach on Gene’s side of the bed, bunching up his dress until the hem was above his hips before slipping his hand between his thighs.

Slow strokes. As a guy, he’d been able to get off without a fantasy in mind, if he was relaxed enough. Masturbation had a sort of mechanical aspect to it. Now, it just—it felt more difficult, whether it was or not. The pleasure wasn’t as immediate or obvious. He shut his eyes, nose pressed hard against the pillow, finding the traces of Gene’s scent there without meaning to.

C’mon. C’mon. His fingers rubbed against his folds, not wet yet, but at least warm. His imagination had always been so lousy, so literal. Getting with Gene had been so far outside the realm of possibility that he’d never jacked off over him before. Summoning his image up now was almost intimidating, close as it was, for all it added a rhythm to his strokes. Picturing Gene’s hand there instead, Gene’s body against his, warm and heavy, enveloping him. Paul turned his head just to get a little more air. His thighs tensed, unconsciously clamping around his hand.

After a few minutes, only managing to get a little slick, he stopped rubbing his hand against his pussy and just cupped it instead, shoving his hips against the edge of his hand. It felt better, but it also felt more feminine, which was something he hadn’t given a fuck about when he’d gotten off on Gene’s leg, but it bothered him a bit while going at it alone. He’d get brief spikes of pleasure, but nothing sustained, and nothing like before. He was barely even panting.

He opened his eyes after awhile, catching a glimpse at the clock again. Eleven fifty. Twenty minutes of getting warm and getting wet without managing an orgasm.

Paul wasn’t exactly trying to get off, anyway, but it was a bonus that didn’t seem to be in sight. Slowly, warily, he slid a finger across his slit. No tenderness to speak of, though, granted, he didn’t so much as ghost his fingertip over his clit. Then a bit deeper, pushing his index finger inside himself, just barely to the first knuckle. No pain this time, just an uncomfortable feeling. He pushed further, crooking his finger, trying not to tense up, trying to explore. Unconsciously, his hips wriggled, that uncomfortable feeling just getting worse the deeper he tried to get, body just tightening up hard around his finger, until he finally had to stop.

He couldn’t do it. Fuck, he still couldn’t do it.

Paul kept on trying for another ten minutes, honestly past when he started to get sore. He contemplated using lube on himself in order to keep up the effort a bit longer, deciding against it. Maybe he was stupid to keep on like that, as if a finger was really comparable to a dick, but he didn’t know what else to do. How else to try and gear himself up. He didn’t want to go into this only to have to back out because it hurt too much. Then there was the even more dire possibility that Gene might not even manage to penetrate him properly in the first place if he were too tensed up—well, it seemed unlikely, nothing like that had ever happened with a chick he’d slept with before, but… but he really didn’t know.

Maybe he wasn’t going to know until it happened. Maybe he was wasting his time.

He got up from the bed, tugging his underwear back on and washing his hands. He redid his nail polish, and spent awhile fretting in front of the mirror, even though he knew, or figured, that Gene wasn’t half so particular about how he looked right now. He combed and attempted to tease his sleep-matted hair, washed his face, considered makeup. His stomach was starting to growl, but he ignored it. Gene would be back soon. Paul would be ready for him when he came. He could guarantee himself that much. No more delays. Ace’s advice spun in his head over and over. He was following it. He wasn’t basing this off anyone but himself. He’d do what he needed to do.

Funny how he wasn’t as afraid anymore, despite how unsuccessful his masturbation attempts were. Making the decision was its own relief, regardless of how everything turned out with him and Gene afterwards. If Gene got over Paul once he was back to normal, he’d… he’d manage all right. He would. The main thing worrying him right now was Gene still not being back from his myriad trips.

Twelve-thirty. He flipped on the T.V., keeping the volume low enough that he could still hear the phone, in case Gene called him up. Just the act sent a stab of nostalgia through his guts. He used to do that in high school, come home and immediately turn the T.V. on as a cover, when what he was really waiting on was Gene’s phone call. It didn’t always come. Gene had an actual social life and actual friends and even a slightly revolving door of girlfriends. But he’d wait anyway, and maybe twice a week, the phone would ring—“hey, Stan, I got the new Zeppelin album” or “Stan, I heard one of the frats on campus is having a party tonight—free food if you want it, just don’t get wasted.” And Paul would go out and meet him, or Gene would come over, and there for awhile, a void would be filled.

Twelve-fifty-five. He got up from the couch before the program was even over, pulling the saltines and peanut butter from the pantry, eating his way through about a third of one plastic sleeve of saltines. He despised his own paranoia, trying to remind himself that he hadn’t even been awake until noon yesterday, remind himself that he didn’t even know what time Gene had left, either.

Gene had to be back soon. Just had to be.

Gene didn’t even bother going back into the store to get the groceries, even though his driver offered, and even though Carol hadn’t gone back in herself. He’d watched her tiny figure shuffle down past the parking lot to the sidewalk and disappear, her last words to him ringing like a dull, brassy bell in his head.

Once she was out of sight, he had his driver head to the nearest Jewish deli, ordering a couple bucks’ worth of sandwiches, not even vying for a sample of the matzo ball soup before ordering it. He stood in the deli, his driver at his side as the guy behind the counter prepared the sandwiches, and tried to remember what else he needed to do.

“What time is it?”

“One,” the driver said.

“That late?”

“Do you want me to take you back to Paul’s?”

Gene hesitated.

“I was going to pick up some more clothes from home first.”

“Is Paul even at home?”

“He’s been there the entire time.”

“I’ve only seen that chickie.” His driver shook his head. “I didn’t think Paul was that generous with his pad. You bringing him back the food, too?”

“I was planning on it.”

“Those sandwiches are gonna get soggy if we have to stop by your place first.”

“I think you’re just trying to get out of driving.” One o’clock. Paul was probably up by now. Part of Gene wanted to keep delaying coming back, but he relented. “All right, Paul’s is fine. I’ll pick up my stuff later.”

There might not even be need for a later. Carol had been wrong about Paul in a lot of ways, but not when it came to the curse. He wasn’t going to let himself live this way forever. He had to value himself enough for that.

Gene just—he’d wanted to fix things for him. To make things right. Really right, without any expectations in return. Without any hand of his own in breaking the curse, Paul wouldn’t have had to suffer anymore. He’d be free.

The drive back to Paul’s was a little hectic, the lunch traffic in full swing. The filthy streets and buildings he’d had the luxury of avoiding over the last few years had been staring him right in the face since Paul had gotten cursed. It made him feel a little sick. Sick for being able to ignore it, and sick for half-forgetting he’d come up from no better than Carol’s lousy apartment. Even if Carol herself might’ve come from wealthier stock, at some point, she was in the gutter now. Stuck shopping at some rundown grocery store during the day while trying to grab onto some coattails at 54 every night. It was shitty, whether she’d caused her own problems or not.

The traffic didn’t give Gene enough time to really iron his thoughts out. Before he knew it, he was at Paul’s front porch again, with just a single bag of deli food in tow. Paul answered the front door almost immediately. He had his hair fluffed up and teased again, and he was barefoot, wearing the sundress he’d bought a few days ago.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Paul flashed a wan smile. “Did something happen?”

“I left late, ran into a bunch of traffic. I got your soup and sandwiches.” Gene raised the bag. “I wasn’t sure what kind you liked the best, so I bought a couple—”

Paul eyed Gene from head to toe, surveying the flower-print and sweatpants combination with an almost disturbed look, nose wrinkling.

“You look like crap.”

“Well, I didn’t want to get recognized.”

“You said you were gonna bring back some clothes.” Paul didn’t say it irritably, but there was a slight, nervous edge to the words that bothered Gene all the same. “I mean, if you dig my wardrobe, you dig my wardrobe, but you’ve gotta add a little taste—”

“I’ll just get a box of clothes sent over again. We can go get the groceries later. I didn’t really know what to buy, anyway.”

“Gene, you really don’t have to.”

“I will.”

“No, I meant—”

“I’m starving, aren’t you? Let’s eat.”

Paul didn’t look particularly convinced, but he headed to the kitchen with Gene. He’d already set the table. He’d even added bowls for the soup.

“Tab or water?”

“Water.”

Paul poured him a glass and got a can of Tab for himself. He reheated the soup in his microwave oven, split it between the bowls, and unwrapped one of the pastrami sandwiches Gene had brought, setting it on his own plate. Mechanically, Gene got a sandwich out of the bag for himself, not even checking the type before unwrapping it and putting it in his mouth. The tenseness seemed to make the air thick. Heavy. Paul cleared his throat.

“I used to work in a deli.”

“I remember.”

“Deli in the mornings, cabbie in the afternoons and evenings, band practice late at night.” Paul shifted in his seat. “Ace drove cabs, too, and Pete—”

“Pete drummed for that restaurant.”

“Yeah. And you taught school. You were the only one working full-time.”

“Hey, you’re kind of young to be getting nostalgic over that, don’t you think?” Gene tried to joke, eating another bite of his sandwich. The bread seemed to stick somewhere at the back of his throat, flavorless and chalky. “It wasn’t so long ago.”

“I know, I was just thinking.” Paul took a swallow of his drink. “You always had a back-up plan. Nobody else did.”

Oh. Gene chewed quickly, barely remembering to wipe his mouth, shaking his head. Maybe he was reading too far into the comment. But he doubted it.

“Paul, I’m not thinking up a back-up plan right now. That’s not why I was gone.”

“You’re not gonna ne—”

“I went looking for Carol this morning.”

Paul looked startled. He set down his spoon.

“Why?”

“So she’d take the curse off of you.” The words were slow and measured. He was having a hard time looking at Paul directly, but he made himself do it. He owed Paul that much. “I thought I could convince her for you. But she wouldn’t do it. I’m sorry.”

“Gene, you didn’t have to do that for me.”

“I didn’t want you doing something you didn’t want to.”

“But—”

“We’ll call up Ace again. And Suzie. We’ll get this reversed without—”

He stopped when he felt Paul’s hand curve around his. Long, warm fingers tapping against his wrist in a silent request. One he recognized well enough to lift his hand and catch those fingers in his, twining them together. Gene’s mouth twisted, another apology all but dangling from his lips, but Paul spoke instead.

“Gene, I want to do it.”

Gene stared at him, disbelieving. Paul was looking him right in the eye. Really unusual for him. His face wasn’t flushed, mouth wasn’t set in that tight line. Nothing desperate or fearful. His expression was open, brown eyes soft and almost gentle.

Gene had no idea what had changed. But Paul looked more at peace, and prettier, than he’d ever seen him.

“You want to do it?”

“Yeah. I want to do it. I’m ready. I’m really ready now, I promise.” Paul’s gaze dropped down, seemingly abashed, after a moment, and he picked his spoon back up with his free hand.

“It’s not because I was late, right? You don’t feel—coerced or—”

“Coerced? God, Gene, you…” Paul shook his head. He was smiling. Gene’s heart felt like it was pumping far too hard for his level of exertion, but he couldn’t seem to calm it. “I thought I was the one taking my time. Are you getting cold feet over here?”

“No! I wanna make sure there’s nothing—”

“I’ve just got one condition.”

“Sure. Go ahead.” Gene said it without any consideration at all. His emotions were a bizarre swirl, Paul’s hand somehow the only steadying thing. Conditions. Paul might want oral again to start things off, or maybe he’d want to be on top, to get a little more control. That’d be fine. That’d all be fine. If Paul went really esoteric with it, or gave him credit for flexibility he just didn’t have, there might be an issue, but…

Whatever Paul’s request, he was still smiling, and squeezing Gene’s hand.

“Let me finish lunch first.”

Gene was so relieved he started to laugh.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“And if you’re not gonna eat your half of the soup—”

“That’s non-negotiable,” Gene said, and batted Paul’s incoming spoon away.

#kiss the band #kiss fanfiction #paul stanley #gene simmons #gene simmons x paul stanley

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

Text

Catch Me if You Can (Sriracha, Part 5.)

Description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could keep you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Mark Summers, Jim Hopper, and Steve Harrington are the three men you have on your mind constantly during the summer of '83 - not knowing if it's a bad thing or a good one.

A/N: We are starting to break the ice with my ol’ pal Jim here!

Word count: 2.3 K

Tagging: @nemodoren @missdictatorme @creedslove

Master list: H E R E

Mark Summers. Mark Summers. That was the name that was popping on your mind two days in a row - you stood in front of your window, watching your lawn being sprayed with the water sprayer and you were thinking about the mysterious, suntanned man who just moved into the city - the one who wasn't supposed to know anyone and who accidentally found a ring. Sometimes you were slightly pissed at Hopper during those past days, but it was nothing that would erase the name off. When you came back home, when you watched Cheers or Magnum P.I. or some movie with your parents, the name always popped in your name again.

It was bugging you off so much, that on Friday morning, you just straight up went to Hopper's little dungeon which you haven't visited in days. Of course, you must've waited until quarter to ten before that man actually showed up and another half an hour before he settled down and was ready to do some actual work. He was just doing some paperwork, that was the first time you've seen him actually working before he looked at you after you coughed a bit.

"How can I help you, Millie?" - He asked and leaned his back into the chair, taking a sip of his coffee. He couldn't be bothered more at that same exact minute, but you seemed to be thinking about something and if it was serious, Hopper should hear what was it.

"I just... I have a feeling and I would like to talk to you about it. Would you mind? It will be only a minute, I swear." - You pointed at the big, plushy chair, holding a yellow fold in your palm. Hopper nodded, furrowing at the paperwork in front of him, closing the fold up. You opened up the fold with your thoughts written down on a piece of paper. - "There was some marriage fraud reported in Indianapolis, just a month ago."

Hopper hummed and noded so you knew that you can continue with telling him what's going on. You actually made some research on that topic, but there really weren't many sources that you could read through.

"Do you think it could be possible that the fraudster is in Hawkins?" - You asked Hopper. You were serious, but Hopper was clearly fighting to keep his face straight from that point on. - "What lead you to this conclusion? Just curious, kiddo."

"Well... The new guy came on Monday with the golden ring. Mark Summers. He's new, he's supposed to be a total stranger in here, isn't he?" - You asked Hopper and with a slight smirk, he nodded, lighting up a cigarette. - "He was on a dinner in the pancake bistro near Maple street a few days ago. With a tanned lady. It was some wild tan. Californian, Floridian, perhaps. He's supposed to be living all alone in Mr. Black's apartment near the furniture store in the downtown."

At that moment, Hopper finally grunted and let go of his serious persona. He whispered a quiet Jesus before giving you a look. - "Do you even know how dating works? Do you have at least any idea about that?"

"Do I look like I'm five, Sir?" - You stood up, closing up the fold again, pressing it closer to your chest. - "Let me look into it. I'll send a telegram to Indianapolis for closer information on the suspect, I'll just give it a try." - You begged Hopper with a serious face. - "You told me that you're pissed about me not telling you about what I'm doing. Now I'm asking for a helping hand." - You said seriously. Hopper puffed out some smoke, closing his eyes and exhaling slowly.

"If it doesn't work, you owe me a bottle of booze, kiddo." - Hopper told you, picking up the phone, dialing a number from the list he had on his desk. Was he really dialing the Indianapolis police department? Did he trust you with your suspicion? Or was it so he could make fun of you later? Without thinking too much about the consequences, it was pretty good to know that Hopper was willing to put his trust into you. Or at least a bit of it.

"And if it works, you owe me a bottle of Sriracha sauce and quesadillas." - You answered with a small smile, Hopper waving you off when the phone connected. You couldn't see that, but it made him grin at your back. Witty and always ready to play, that was what you were like. A good irony sparring partner when Hopper was in a mood to do so.

The Indianapolis police sent you the file right away - it was delivered just hours after you called them in an express mail, so Hopper must've been really persuasive. And there was everything they had in the crime shows you always watched. The sketch of how the suspect should look like, what he was wearing, the backstory he had, his previous names, there was even a slight description of his car and the old car plate. A lot of things were already lining up. That face was oddly familiar to you already.

You gave yourself a weekend to think about all of that. Was Summers really that dumb to show at the office literally the first day? Or was he smart enough to laugh directly to your face? Was it even him?

In the evening, you decided that you needed to take a fucking break. You needed to go on a walk, so you decided to take some takeaway food and then go to the movies. Just to relax for a minute.

Who would've thought that it actually helps you? But indeed, it did. You were just standing in the queue to pick a hotdog when you saw them. The lady who lost the ring. And who was that with her? Your little bird, Mr. Summers. You screwed the hotdog and followed them when they walked out of the cinema. You kept the right distance to not being noticed, following them through the city for a while.

They were chatting, laughing, walking with their fingers entwined. Chief's voice was still asking you if you know something about the whole dating thing, but you just let your instincts lead you forward. And then it struck you - the exact same type of car described in the police file. The same color, same distributor... Everything was checking. Only the car plate was different, but that was understandable. He wasn't that dumb.

The mysterious woman, fake name, the face in the file... It was lining up. Hopper had trusted you with this one and you succeeded. When you were sure that they won't see you, you ran to the nearest telephone booth. You found Hopper's telephone number on the list, immediately dialing it. You were nervously tapping your foot to the ground, praying Hopper for picking up. When you heard I'm probably doing something incredible right now for the tenth time, you told yourself that you have to do something different. You called Mr. Black.

"Hello, it's Kent Black on the phone, what do you need?" - The old man's voice could be heard through the phone in the next minute. You breathed in a bit too fast with excitement before you continued.

"Hey, Mr. Black. Mrs. Y/L/N from the Hawkins PD is calling, may I speak to Mr. Summers? Is he there?" - You asked innocently, as calmly as you could. You needed to keep reminding yourself of what your goal was. You couldn't say Mr. Black that he has a suspect in his small apartment, you needed to play it really clever. Of course, that motherfucker wasn't there and you knew, but you needed to progress with small steps at a time.

"No, sweetheart, he's not. Do you want me to tell him something when he comes back?" - Mr. Black asked you in a really pleasant tone.

"Oh, actually yes. It's about that ring he found? We forgot to ask him to sign up a document for us and Chief Hopper is very persistent about having his bureaucracy done right, so, could he come to the station tomorrow around eleven o'clock?" - You asked sweetly and put another quarter to the machine so Mr. Black wouldn't hear that you're actually calling him from the telephone booth. When you were done with that call, you tried to dial Hopper again... And again... And again.

You didn't know what he's doing, if he's drunk and drugged or if he's beating up someone again, but you told yourself that Hopper should go screw himself after the fifteenth fucking call.

You got the guy. You really got the guy. The excitement was so huge that you barely slept and went to the office almost half an hour earlier just to have everything done by the time Hopper shows up. The other day, you ran after Hopper as soon as he entered the building at 10:05, following him around for a while before he sat to his chair.

"What has gotten into you today, kiddo? Jesus." - Hopper huffed out angrily before he sat down to the table, eating the cake you've baked. He was looking like a fucking piece of shit - your suspicion was right. He was drinking his fucking ass off again.

"Chief, you should think about where to buy Sriracha, because I got the guy." - You put the papers on his desk with a bang, looking him in the eyes. - "The sketch, car, his described behavior... It all checks out. I'm sure of that."

"And where do you have him, then?" - Hopper asked coldly, leaning his back to the chair. He wasn't even in the mood to think about another female name starting with M that morning. He knew very well what was your name, he was just lazy to call you with it. He also found pretty damn funny to make you pissed. - "Doesn't seem like you have the suspect to me, kiddo."

"He'll come around eleven o'clock. You'll need to interrogate him, but I swear to you, it's the guy." - You stood up to leave the office before he could say anything more. And when you didn't see it, Hopper actually nodded and smiled - you were pretty damn clever. Way more intelligent than he originally thought.

And he needed to say that indeed, your suspicion was damn right. After the guy came, he locked him in his office and after just half an hour of playing the really bad cop, no matter how illegal it might seem to be, Mr. Summers, now actually Mr. Lockwood, confessed. He was really easy to break, he didn't even think that you could know who he is or that you would connect two dots. He was clever, yes, he was also a snake, but he wasn't brave at all. He was shaking like a little bitch by the time he was leaving Hopper’s office.

Hopper told your parents really soon and your mother started to cry immediately. She was really proud of you - her baby girl helped with solving a crime. She made you your favorite dish that night, making you spill out everything. When you came to the office on Wednesday, Hopper was already there and he came to your desk as soon as you sat down.

First, he told you that the man was actually traveling around for some time - he already stole money from six old ladies. He was actually for a longer time Hawkins, choosing his prey before he broke into her house to steal the ring. The poor woman was a widow who was living alone, so it was actually pretty easy to win her affection. The woman who was on the dinner with him was Jasmine, his long-time partner, and his partner in crime. No matter how dumb it sounded in the start, you were actually right and he needed to say that. And also, he had a promise to keep. The guy was already taken to Massachusetts, where he was originally from, and they promised you to hold him jailed for a long, long time after the trial.

"You have time later by any chance?" - He asked with a completely uninterested face. It was hard to actually say if Hopper could feel any emotion at that moment, but he seemed to be extremely apathetic. The thing you didn't know that its almost another year since Sara has died and he was out of Tuinal again - and he couldn't send you there, because Mrs. Sinclair wouldn't give you any other package for Hopper.

"Today?" - You asked with confusion. The coffee was already brewed and the donuts were already bought, which was a thing you didn't know Hopper took care of instead of you. The food was there every morning precisely at the same time every day, which was actually pointing out to how much you were trying your best to do the job well. Now, it was your damn time to take a moment to relax. Hopper took care of almost most of the things earlier that morning. Slowly, he nodded, still staring off to the distance. - "Yeah. What do you need, Sir?"

"I have a surprise for you. Just wait for me here until I come back in the evenin', alrite?" - Hopper put his significant hat off before he turned around and left to the office. And you wanted to pat your shoulder because he hadn't called you by a made-up name ever since.

#jim hopper #jim hopper x reader #jim hopper imagine #hawkins police chief #chief jim hopper #stranger things #stranger things Netflix #sriracha

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