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inawickedlittletown · 13 days

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I've Been Waiting for the Tides to Change (bucktommy one-shot)

Summary: It was itching at him, the pull that he felt towards Evan. He hadn’t been attracted to someone that quickly in a long while and the thing was that Tommy got it. He got how scary it was to come out and the bravery it took to not only admit that to yourself, but also to everyone else.

Or 7x05 from Tommy's perspective and what happens after the coffee date.

Words: 4,987

On Ao3

“How’d the date go?”

Tommy slowly put his sandwich down. He chewed on the food in his mouth, glad that it gave him time to think. Lucy dropped into the chair across from him, tearing the stem of a green apple off.

“It was good,” he said, took a sip of his water. “He’s a really interesting guy.”

Lucy smiled easily. “That’s great. Seeing him again?”

“Uh, maybe. I don’t know yet. Kinda up to him, I guess. How was your time off?”

She groaned, still playing with her apple instead of eating it. “I love my parents. Not so sure about my siblings. Either way, it always reminds me how happy I am living far away from all of them. I did hear I missed a visit from the 118.”

“I forgot you worked with them for a bit,” Tommy said.

Lucy grinned. “It was fun. They’re an interesting lot. Tight knit.”

“That they are,” Tommy said.

“I’m glad you were here to help them out,” Lucy said. “I get it, you know, I would have done it too. They’re family over there.”

She gave him a knowing look that spoke of how obvious the Chief had been about taking the credit for the whole thing. At least none of them had lost their jobs. Tommy hadn’t even given it a second thought after Chim called and then showed up five minutes later with Evan and Eddie.

“That they are,” Tommy said. He took another bite of his sandwich and wondered when he would hear from any of them again. When he would hear from Evan.

Tommy didn’t want to push. Evan was clearly still trying to figure things out and he didn’t think there was room for him in that, not when his very presence made Evan so nervous. Tommy hadn’t known for sure until Evan said it, that it was the first time he was on a date with a man — a “dude” as Evan put it. He’d suspected, but seeing him get so flustered and panicked had left Tommy with few options but to cut the date short.

He’d seen the disappointment written in Evan’s face and it had taken everything in Tommy to not offer up more than just the truth, that Evan wasn’t ready.

It was just that before Evan got in his head about it, things had been going really well.

They’d texted a little to make plans, deciding it was best to just meet up at the restaurant. Tommy had arrived a little earlier only to find Evan getting out of his uber. He’d smiled so wide when seeing Tommy, the dimple on his cheek coming through. He was so painfully gorgeous.

It hadn’t been hard to tell that Evan was a little nervous, but he was enthusiastic too. Their conversation came easy. Evan was interested in what Tommy had to say and he responded not only with questions and observations but linked it to his own train of thought. They laughed a lot, had comfortable silences that could be used for focusing on their food, and then went back to talking. All in all, it was one of the better dates that Tommy had been on. That is until Evan realized they were on a date.

Well, no, it wasn’t that he hadn’t known it was a date…as much as that he’d let himself be immersed in it. When that was suddenly broken by the arrival of the check, it had brought something else out in Evan. Nerves and worry and panic. His body had literally tensed up. Eddie appearing hadn’t helped at all, but Eddie was also as oblivious as they came. Tommy didn’t think that Eddie would have caught on even if he and Evan were holding hands across the table.

Tommy didn’t know the next move, not really. So, he decided it was better if he let Evan reach out first. It was his move. Tommy didn’t want to push and if Evan really was that bothered by the idea that he was more than just an ally, then it was for the better.

A few days later found him with Lucy headed out on a call. Med-evac.

“Hey, you didn’t say, your guy call yet?”

“He’s not out,” Tommy said because it was true and also because he didn’t want Lucy to press for details and figure out just who Tommy had gone on a date with.

“Oh,” Lucy said. “That a problem?”

Tommy didn’t answer for a moment. He focused on flying for a bit. “No,” he settled on. “It’s not a problem. It’s just muddled, I was his first date with a guy and he’s still figuring things out. I don’t want to add to everything he’s already trying to figure out.”

Lucy shot him a smile. “You’re a good one, Tommy.”

At one point in his life, Tommy hadn’t known that he would be able to talk about things like this so easily. He’d been so deep in denial, lying to himself and everyone else, and unaware that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. He liked to give himself some credit, but a lot of it also went to Hen. After she arrived at the 118, Tommy just couldn’t help but listen. Hen was loud and proud and more than anything an inspiration.

He didn’t fully embrace that part of himself until he left the 118, but he felt such a relief when he did, but also when the world didn’t fall apart. People were more accepting than anyone really realized.

When they got back to Harbor, Lucy helped him clean the chopper.

“I can tell you like him,” Lucy said. “You wouldn’t be waiting to see if he’ll reach out if you didn’t.”

“And why don’t we discuss your love life?” Tommy shot back.

“Maybe because mine isn’t as exciting right now and we’ve discussed it plenty. What happened on this date exactly?”

He eyed Lucy and then sighed. She wasn’t wrong. They did often spend a lot of time talking about her dates. At the moment she was single, but knowing Lucy it wouldn’t take long before someone caught her eye.

“Okay. So, date is going great. Good conversation. Good vibes. He’s smart. He’s funny. We’re clicking in so many ways and did I mention how adorable he is? Anyway, the whole time he’s a bit nervous, but it’s a first date that’s all normal. But I think it hit him that he was on a date with a guy and he got a little self-conscious and we’re kinda talking about it and I’m bringing up my own experiences when his best friend walks in.”

“Oh no,” Lucy said.

Tommy grimaced. “Yeah, and his friend spots us and immediately comes over with his date and his friend has no idea we’re on a date.”

“But your guy freaked out,” Lucy said.

“Yeah. Big time. Said some nonsense about us going to pick up girls, just…” he trailed off and hung his head a bit.

“Overcorrected,” Lucy filled in. “So what did you do?”

“Well, we left the restaurant and we were supposed to go to a movie, but I just couldn’t…I felt like I was pushing him into doing more than he’s ready for.”

“And you haven’t spoken to him since?”

He shook his head. “I thought about it. Checking in with him, but I don’t even know if he wants to hear from me and maybe it’s better if he takes some time to figure things out. I don’t know.”

Lucy turned to face him entirely. Her blond hair fluttered with the wind. “I get that, but if he’s as skittish as you’re saying then maybe he needs you to call first.”

It was itching at him, the pull that he felt towards Evan. He hadn’t been attracted to someone that quickly in a long while and the thing was that Tommy got it. He got how scary it was to come out and the bravery it took to not only admit that to yourself, but also to everyone else.

“I don’t know,” Tommy said.

“Hey, it’s all on you,” Lucy said.

He did think about it when he got home. Lucy did have a point that Evan might just need some prompting. Tommy did like him, he was interested in getting to know him and certainly interested in a lot more. He also had to look out for himself. As good as the date had gone, it was one date. He and Evan didn’t really know each other. A lot of what Tommy knew came from little tidbits from Eddie and Christopher. It wasn’t much to go on, and maybe it was better to end things before they went downhill.

Tommy resigned himself to not hearing from Evan. He would hear about him from Eddie, maybe even see him eventually and they might become friends or Evan might be more prepared.

So, when Evan called, Tommy almost stared at his phone too long and only just managed to pick up before the call went to voicemail.

“Evan?”

“Hi,” Evan said. He sounded breathy. “Hi, Tommy. I was…well, I was wondering if you would meet me for coffee.”

Evan sounded nervous, but also sure. He waited too long to answer, so Evan spoke again.

“If you want, I mean…I’ll understand if you don’t.”

“When?” Tommy asked.

“Is tomorrow good?” Evan sounded eager.

“Yeah, Evan. Tomorrow’s good.”

“Good. Good. Great. I’ll — I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Evan hung up and not a minute later Tommy got a text with a link to a cafe and a time. He sent back a thumbs up.

The next day, his nerves were mixed with anticipation. For a very short moment right before he arrived at the cafe, he wondered if it was a good idea. Then, he decided that of course it was. Even if all that came out of it was Evan wanting to be just friends, that was still worth seeing through.

Evan was already seated. He’d even bought Tommy coffee. He looked cute, all eager and determined. Nervous too. Tommy could see himself falling for him and that was dangerous.

The coffee tasted awful. It was coffee masked by milk and sugar. Tommy did for a moment wonder if this was Evan’s own coffee order and that was more than a little concerning.

“Seems there are a lot of things we don’t know about each other,” Evan said.

He was gorgeous, and while he was definitely right that they didn’t know each other at all, Tommy wanted to know him. He wanted to know everything about him.

“Practically everything,” Tommy said.

“Well I — I would like to change that,” Evan said and he looked right at Tommy. “First, I need to apologize for the way I behaved the other night.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he was quick to say because in Tommy’s eyes he didn’t.

“No, I — I do,” Evan said and he was so serious. Earnest.

“No,” Tommy repeated, shaking his head a little and hoping that Evan got where Tommy had been coming from. “I didn’t cut things short because you behaved badly. I did it because I didn’t want to pressure you.”

“Still the way I reacted was not my proudest moment.”

“Noted.”

“Uh, so you said before, um, that…that you don’t think I’m ready,” Evan said and the nervous energy was back.

Tommy braced himself because this was the moment when Evan made a decision. He would shut down anything romantic between them or he would ask Tommy to wait or he would—

“And the truth is I don’t know what I’m ready for, but I am ready for something and I think maybe that something could be with you.”

He couldn’t tell if Evan was saying it in some effort to convince Tommy or what, but the way he looked at him was so hopeful. There was confidence there too, like Evan was embracing that it was okay not to know and it was also okay to be honest and hopeful.

“You already know that I’m interested,” Tommy said.

He would take whatever pace Evan wanted to set…would do whatever Evan wanted. It was scary how invested he was in it already and this something that Evan wanted hadn’t even been defined.

Tommy didn’t expect for Evan to jump right in with, “Come with me to my sister’s wedding.”

He laughed in surprise. “What?”

Evan barreled on. “I want you to be my date at my sister’s wedding.”

Tommy didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know how he was supposed to handle that. It had been barely a week since they kissed and even less than that since their date where Evan had babbled on in a feeble attempt to cover up for something Eddie hadn’t even suspected. And now he wanted Tommy to be his date at his sister’s wedding.

“Evan,” he said and he meant it to come out incredulous.

“Come on,” Evan said. “I’m serious. Listen, you…you already know half the people there and…and she wants to meet you.”

He’d told her about him. Evan had told his sister about him and probably so much more. Come out to her, maybe. Discussed his feelings and his new found identity. Told her about Tommy which was…wow. This wasn’t at all what Tommy had expected. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that. Evan did nothing by halves.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?”

Evan was smiling. He wasn’t rushing into this without thinking, or at least he was doing an amazing job at faking that he hadn’t just asked Tommy on a whim.

“Yes, I’m sure. There’s going to be free food and I need someone to dance with.”

“Okay”

“Yeah?” Evan asked with just a tinge of surprise as if he had somehow still expected Tommy to put up a fight

“Yeah,” Tommy said.

“Okay, great,” Evan said and he was quite literally shinning.

Evan was amazing. His face was open and happy and when his hand came to rest atop Tommy’s, he felt himself go warm. Evan’s thumb was moving over his fingers and he placed his other hand over Evan’s, cradling it there and feeling such a deep connection with this gorgeous boy who was so brave and so wonderful and who didn’t seem to care one bit that they were in a very public place holding hands across a table.

“So,” Evan said, “and this is very important, how do you take your coffee?”

Tommy chuckled. “Medium roast black with cinnamon and two sugars.”

“Noted,” Evan said. He was still smiling.

“You told your sister about me.”

His cheeks flushed pink. In the light of day it was glorious.

“I didn’t mean to,” Evan admitted. “I started off by telling her that I’d lied to Eddie while I was on a date and then I slipped with the pronoun. Didn’t even catch it until she pointed it out. But it felt…it felt good once she knew. Maddie’s great, she’s going to love you.”

Tommy couldn’t quite believe how quickly Evan had gone from a nervous wreck, to talking to a family member about being into men.

Evan did frown a little, then. “I, uh, I also told Eddie.”

Maddie was one thing. Telling Eddie…that was — after the lengths that Evan had gone to throw Eddie off, Tommy almost hadn’t expected it. Of course, Eddie would be at the wedding…all of Evan’s firehouse and probably other family and Evan wanted him there at his side, he wanted to dance with him. He didn’t just want Tommy as a friend, he wanted him as his date and he didn’t care at all how loud it would be for anyone that didn’t already know.

“He was a little shocked, but it went alright,” Buck said. “He’s…he’s the one that told me I should call you.”

“I should thank him, then,” Tommy said.

Evan shrugged. “He might be a bit busy.”

“Right, his girlfriend was moving in.”

“And is now moving back out,” Evan said. “Are you…do you have anything going on today?”

Tommy shook his head. “Not until later. I’ve got an overnight shift. Why?”

“Well,” Evan said, “I’d really like to keep hanging out with you.”

“Alright,” Tommy said and couldn’t help but smile. “Do you have anything in mind?”

Evan tilted his head to the left. “I do, actually.”

Evan’s idea turned out to be the California Science Center. Tommy hadn’t expected it, but then it seemed like Evan was out to surprise him. Evan drove them and it gave Tommy time to admire him. He looked good behind the wheel of a car, especially when his hand was shifting gears and Tommy could trace his tendons with his eyes. He really was gorgeous.

Tommy noticed the signs for the Science Center as they approached it.

“Really?”

Buck’s cheeks pinked. “There’s a new exhibit,” he said.

Tommy had never been into museums or art shows or any of that stuff. The last time he’d probably stepped foot in one — other than a call back when he was with the 118 — was some field trip with school. He didn’t think he’d ever even been to the California Science Center.

“On what?” Tommy asked, curious.

“Da Vinci,” Evan said after they’d parked. When he turned to look at Tommy he looked a bit deflated, as if he could tell that Tommy wasn’t all that excited.

“I’m getting this all wrong again, aren’t I,” Evan said.

Tommy shook his head at once. “No. No, you’re not. Now come on, Da Vinci, you say, was he the one that cut off his ear?”

Evan laughed. “No, Tommy. As far as I know he had both his ears at death. That was Van Gogh. And hey, now I know one more thing about you.”

“What’s that?”

“Art isn’t your thing. It isn’t really mine either, to be clear.”

“If it isn’t your thing, then, why—” Tommy motioned towards the building they were walking towards.

Evan looked amused more than anything, his lips tilted up and his eyes squinting a little in the sun.

“I like science,” Evan said. There was wonder in his eyes that remained even when he stopped just outside the door of the building to turn to look directly at Tommy. “And when I saw this exhibit, it made me think of you.”

“Me?” He said, more than a little shocked.

Evan nodded. “Aviation,” he said. “Da Vinci’s flying machine. I think he called it an ornithopter.”

And that…that was incredibly sweet. He didn’t say it outloud, but it was possible that his face said it all considering how wide Evan smiled back at him.

“Come on,” Evan said and he grabbed Tommy’s hand, pulling him towards the door.

Tommy’s mind went blank. He felt the calluses on Evan’s fingers, knew his own hands held some too. Evan’s hands were solid, and his hold was gentle but sure. Tommy hadn’t held hands with too many people, not like this. He barely noticed getting inside or Evan leading him past the lobby and towards the Da Vinci exhibit.

“Here it is,” Evan said.

It was some kind of flying bicycle thing and it was sort of amazing. Not because it could have ever flown, but because Tommy could see that there had been a lot of thought and imagination put to the creation of it.

Tommy had never experienced a museum quite like his experience with Evan. None of it was boring. There was plenty to look at within the Da Vinci exhibit. After the ornithopter there was the aerial screw and Tommy knew machinery — he especially knew helicopters and he could tell readily enough where other inventors had taken these ideas and improved on them until they arrived at something that could actually fly.

Evan had facts to add to the information on the placards, he got animated as he explained something that was so random and yet connected to whatever display they were in front of that Tommy was sure more than one person had assumed he was some kind of guide. He was brilliant and amazing and Tommy never wanted to stop looking at him.

They didn’t hold hands the whole time, but they stood so close that their shoulders were always brushing. They were unmistakably together. Evan showed not one ounce of caring for who might notice, not even when some eyes stayed on them long enough to show some disdain.

When Evan wasn’t looking at a display or gushing facts out, his attention was on Tommy. They got to know each other and the more that he discovered about Evan, the more he liked him.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Evan asked when they were on their way out.

“I did.”

Evan ducked his head. “Good. Thought maybe you wouldn’t.”

“I think it’s all down to the company,” Tommy said. “This wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if I didn’t have you as my guide.”

He blushed so pretty. Tommy hoped that it would never stop happening.

“Good second date,” Evan said.

“I don’t believe it’s over yet,” Tommy said.

“No?” Evan asked, still smiling and still blushing.

“How about some lunch, Evan?”

When Tommy had agreed to coffee, he hadn’t known he’d be spending most of the day with Evan. It was a good thing he didn’t have any other plans, although come to think of it he would have probably canceled them.

“Sounds like a plan,” Evan said.

An hour later they were seated across from each other. Evan was telling him about all the time he’d spent driving around the country when he was younger and Tommy was enthralled.

“I was searching for somewhere to belong,” Evan said. “I never quite fit with my parents. Once Maddie was out of the house it got even harder and then she got me out…and I just kept moving until I stepped foot in the 118.”

Tommy nodded. It was funny, the timing of things. Tommy had left and Evan had taken his spot essentially. He didn’t know if Evan had put that together, not that it really mattered. Tommy had always aimed to get back in the air, he had no regrets about leaving or where it had led him. He did wonder about what he would have made of Evan if he had been there while he was rookie. It wouldn’t have been this, that’s for certain.

“It’s so different over there now,” Tommy said.

“It didn’t come easy,” Evan said. “I was such a dumb kid. Bobby fired me.”

Tommy laughed and he was reminded of Sal. “What did you do?”

Evan expressed himself with his whole body. He ducked his head and his hands were up as if ready to form the explanation.

“It — it doesn’t matter,” Evan said, his words coming out stuttered and quick and a blush rising on his cheeks. “Point is that we’ve come a long way.”

Tommy eyed him. Whatever it was, he was obviously not proud of it and Tommy wouldn’t press despite his curiosity. One day maybe Evan would tell him.

When they were done, they fought over the check.

“You paid last time,” Evan said.

“You paid at the exhibit,” Tommy said. They were each holding an end of the little black book. “And you got the coffee this morning.”

“You didn’t even drink it,” Evan said.

Tommy pulled the book towards him. Evan narrowed his eyes.

“If you let me pay this time, then you can take care of our next date,” Tommy said.

Evan’s cheeks went pink. His grip slacked. “Our next date?”

Tommy put the book on his lap. “I know you asked me to your sister’s wedding, but I’d like to see you before then, Evan.”

Evan nodded. Tommy slipped his credit card in the slot.

They had left his car back by the cafe, and Evan insisted on driving him back instead of letting him take an uber. When Tommy tried to make a point for how it wasn’t necessary, Evan just shook his head.

“I don’t want to end this yet,” Evan said.

Tommy found he agreed with him, but Tommy knew that the anticipation for the next time he saw Evan would hold him over. When Evan got out of the car before Tommy could after they parked, he didn’t expect to be walked to his truck.

“This day was amazing,” Evan said.

“It really was,” Tommy said.

Evan was smiling, eyes ducked down to the ground. When he looked up again, he seemed to have come to a conclusion. “Can I—”

“What?” Tommy asked.

Evan inhaled a breath. “I just…I’d like to kiss you again.”

Oh. Evan’s tongue dipped out from between his lips, and then it was gone again. He was red and his eyes were blown wide.

“Yes,” Tommy breathed. He shifted closer.

Evan’s hand was shaking when it touched his cheek, but Tommy leaned into it and Evan’s thumb moved over his skin, leaving a trail of fire. Their eyes were locked into each other and Tommy could get lost in that blue. He felt Evan’s breath on his skin and Tommy had to restrain himself from leaving in, letting Evan do it instead. It was chaste, similar to the first kiss and yet when their lips brushed together, it sparked something. He wanted to push closer, to lick into Evan’s mouth and taste him. Instead he settled for touching Evan’s chest. He could feel how wildly his heart was beating as his hand climbed up to Evan’s neck, touching the warm soft skin.

When Tommy stepped back, Evan almost seemed to chase him. Tommy chuckled between them and it took everything not to grasp Evan and kiss him again.

“I’ll see you soon, Evan.”

“Stay safe tonight,” Evan responded.

When he got to work some hours later, Tommy couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Lucy noticed it immediately and she cornered him.

“Spill,” she said.

“He called. We went for coffee this morning and spent the whole day together.”

She made a noise of excitement. “The whole day! That’s great.”

“It is. He’s amazing, Lucy. Evan is…he’s everything I’ve always dreamed of and never knew was out there.”

“Evan is it,” Lucy said, a glint in her eye. “Didn’t you say he wasn’t out?”

Tommy froze. “Uh, turns out his closet was badly constructed. He, uh, he asked me to a wedding.”

Lucy was staring at him, mouth agape. “Wait, wait, wait, back up, Kinard, you’ve hardly been on a second date and you’re already going to a wedding with him. Last time we spoke you thought he wasn’t even going to call and…wow, this is—”

“I know,” Tommy said.

Maybe he should have been more concerned about it, but Tommy found that he wasn’t. It was about him and Evan, and Evan was clearly comfortable with bringing him along as a date otherwise he wouldn’t have asked. And somehow, Tommy just knew that if things did somehow go wrong, that they would get through it.

“That’s a lot of pressure,” Lucy said. “Meeting the family and his friends, I’d assume.”

“It helps that I know a lot of his friends already,” Tommy said and it was exactly what Evan had said to him.

“Evan,” Lucy repeated and Tommy saw it the moment realization hit. “Not Evan Buckley? You’re…Tommy, tell me you’re not dating Buck.”

“I can’t. I am.”

The shock went right into laughter, loud and ridiculous laughter in a way that Lucy rarely ever laughed.

“Wow,” she said and she was still laughing. “I — wow…this makes so much sense.”

“What does?”

“All of it. Him. You. Your first date. The wedding.”

Tommy stared at her waiting for elaboration, but it seemed that she was still processing.

“What about it?” Tommy asked, when he couldn’t wait any longer.

“It’s just that I know you, and I know him, and I can see it. You two together, it could work if neither of you get in your own way. You care about him, and while I didn’t expect him to be into men, that makes sense too.”

Tommy couldn’t help his smile. Lucy’s however faded and she looked a little more serious.

“There’s something I should tell you,” she said.

“What is it?”

Lucy regarded him for a long moment. “I’m saying this for the sake of transparency. Buck and I kissed once.”

“Oh,” Tommy said.

She grimaced. “We were very drunk. This shouldn’t change anything for you two, this is about us. I didn’t want to keep that from you and I’m sure Buck will tell you, just like I’m telling you, it meant nothing and nothing ever happened after.”

Tommy had no right to judge. They hadn’t really talked past relationships, but he got the sense that Buck hadn’t had the best luck in that department. They were the same that way. Whatever had happened between him and Lucy was in the past.

“He’s a good kisser, isn’t he?” Tommy asked.

Lucy’s smile returned. She looked relieved. “From what I can remember, yes. I get it, Tommy, man’s hot.”

“Yes, he is.”

He was more than that too. So much more. Tommy already loved everything that he knew so far and that was just the surface.

“When are you seeing him again?” Lucy asked.

“Soon.”

“And you can’t wait, can you,” Lucy said.

His face probably said it all. A whole day he’d spent with Evan and he was ready to see him again already. It was going to be far too easy to fall for him, it was as scary as it was exciting and Tommy was ready for it.

#911 abc #911 fic #bucktommy #bucktommy fic #tommy kinard #evan buckley #one-shot #tevan #lucy donato

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toffeeanddragons · 3 months

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10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

Thank you so much @idle-brit for tagging me!This was lots of fun :) 💖

My tags: @delyth88, @elymusplant, @galaxythreads, @chemical-processes. No pressure to answer, of course :)

1. Loki (MCU)

As much as I love everyone on this list, there is absolutely no competition for number 1. Loki has been my favourite character of all time for nearly 6 years now (because clearly the best time to join someone's fandom is after they've just been murdered), and is showing absolutely no signs of being replaced anytime soon. I have a Loki blog, for god's sake. The brodinsons are my favourite relationship in any kind of media, ever. I love them so, so much. Loki's a million different things and feelings, all at the same time, all fighting with each other, which makes for a wonderfully complex and nuanced character. Also, he's hilarious. Look at that eye roll. This is a man who hates his life, which makes me feel better about mine. Thanks, Loki.

2. Klaus Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy)

As will become obvious throughout this list, I love me an emotionally traumatised crazy person. Klaus is that. One of the characters who makes me laugh the most, ever, show-stopping dress sense, and a bucketload of unresolved trauma which goes largely ignored by Klaus, the other characters and the narrative itself? It was love at first sight. Their banter with the other characters, especially Ghost Ben (rip) is one of my favourite aspects of the show. Here's to hoping that Klaus won't be getting the Allison treatment in season 4!

3. Pippa Fitz-Amobi (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder)

I binge-read the entire AGGTM series earlier this year, and instantly fell in love with it. Pip is one of my favourite protagonists ever. Impossibly clever, compassionate, obsessive, badass, and a teensy bit unhinged. What's not to love? I would die for her. I'd say that I'd kill for her, but I think she's got that covered. I think she's written in a very realistic way, firstly as a genius 17 year old girl who doesn't really know what she's getting into, and later as a haunted individual who wants to stop investigating but can't. The way she politely knocks on people's front doors to dig up their traumas, accuse them of murder and all-round ruin their lives is everything to me. She is my blorbo. I am so, so excited for the show to come out, and I'm sure that Emma Myers will do a wonderful job as Pip!

4. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

One of the best-written characters, in one of the best-written series ever. Reading from her perspective is such a delight- she's endlessly suspicious of everyone around her, constantly on survival mode, trusting very few people and relying on exactly no one (to begin with, at least). She's a random teenage girl, from the poorest district, and she wins the Hunger Games. She's so mentally unstable that she has to be sedated, and still she's made to be the face of a rebellion. She's rude, and kind of unlikeable. She adopts all the weakest tributes, at risk to herself, knowing that they won't win. She's doomed to fail by the narrative. She's the it girl of 2010s dystopian YA fiction. Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress, who does a beautiful job portraying the depth and conflict of Katniss in the films. The themes and social commentary of the Hunger Games is one of its (many) strong points, and I am so so glad that people are talking about it again, because it is my favourite book series out there.

5. Mitchell Pritchett (Modern Family)

I have no idea what to say about this man, I just love him. He just like me fr. What an icon. Impeccable music taste. I've started saying, "no my god" now, and nobody understands what I'm talking about. Even in a sitcom, my favourite is the one with issues that he refuses to talk about or fix. The episode where he's trying to hide that he dressed up as spiderman makes me cry-laugh. Claire's speech at his wedding makes me just cry. He's not a perfect man, but he's certainly better than everyone else.

6. Shin Tsukimi (Your Turn to Die)

My favourite cringefail loser! I said Katniss was doomed by the narrative in a metaphorical way. This idiot is actually doomed.

No but in all seriousness, I do really love him. Before the beginning of the game, he was just a relatively normal young man- but, when confronted with the inevitability of his own death, he made himself into a monster to survive. He has a violent vendetta against the local badass teenage girl, who is traumatised as hell already and does not need Shin chipping in as well, thank you very much. I love his relationship with Kanna, his biological sister; how he uses her, manipulates her, and still cares for her so much that he dies for her with a smile on his face in the Emotion route. Conversely, in the Logic route, his actions are a direct cause of her death, and I just love how much YTTD hates siblings. I hope that his past with Midori is explored more in either a mini-episode or the final part of the game, because I find it sooo interesting. I'm super excited to see whether he actually has no chance of survival, or whether he makes it out, against the odds, on one of the routes. He's a bit useless, so I won't get my hopes up.

7. Rue Bennett (Euphoria)

I think it goes without saying that Euphoria has its issues, lol. Sam Levinson is an idiot. While a lot of the show (especially season 2) feels shallow and like it doesn't care about its characters, Rue's storylines always have heart and depth and I am so invested in her arc. It's no wonder that Zendaya won 2 Emmys for this role, because her acting is phenomenal! Rue feels so real to me, in the way that she's trying so hard to stay sober but she falls down and relapses time and time again. Recovery isn't linear, but she's getting there, and I adore her with all my heart. Her relationships with Lexi, her mother, her sister, and her sponsor, Ali, are my favourites, and the healthiest for her, in my opinion. Her brief friendship/ romance with Jules may have kept her more solidly sober than anything else in the show, but Jules (understandably) cracks under the pressure of Rue's mental health, and can't be there for her. Rue needs to heal for herself, which she appears to be doing at the end of S2.

8. Max Mayfield (Stranger Things)

Duffer brothers, please just let her be happy.

Despite only being introduced in Season 2, Max has, in my opinion, had the best character development out of everyone on the show. Her growth from someone standoffish, rude, and uninterested in the group (maybe I'm being a bit harsh. She was, like, 12) to someone who is willing to risk her life to help her friends and Hawkins means so much to me. The scene in "Dear Billy" (S4, Ep4) where she escapes from Vecna remains my favourite in the whole show and will probably be burned into my brain forever. Her relationships with Lucas and El are very sweet, and some of my favourites in Stranger Things. Her final line in S4, after all her struggles over the season, being that she doesn't want to die literally breaks my heart. I hope she gets some degree of a happy ending in the final season. She was my first profile picture when I joined this hellsite, and I love her a lot.

9. Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

The shenanigans that this girl gets up to never fail to make me laugh. The bit where she accidentally dyes her hair green and then has to hack it all off makes me feel awful for her, but. it's hilarious. Sorry, Anne. Her friendship with Diana is so sweet but also so funny to me because they really are the most chaotic duo of the 1880s. The scene where Anne accidentally gives her alcohol instead of fruit juice is so mortifying but so, so funny. Amidst all of the insane situations that Anne gets into are a lot of really heartwarming moments and relationships. Matthew and Marilla adopting Anne, even though they wanted a boy, because she's so endearing and alone in the world is probably what made me who I am today. I still haven't gotten around to watching Anne with an E, but I've heard it's amazing. I look forward to watching it when I have the time :).

10. Daphne Blake (Scooby Doo)

My first ever favourite character! Another one who I don't have a tonne to say about. She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment. She has done nothing wrong, ever. She knows martial arts, so watch out.

Honourable mentions: Thor (MCU), Finnick Odair (The Hunger Games), Gretchen Weiners (Mean Girls), Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99), Maurice Moss (The IT Crowd), The Eleventh Doctor (Doctor Who), James (The End of the F***ing World), Ali Abdul (Squid Game).

If you read all of this then thanks, and have a great day!

#loki #klaus hargreeves #pippa fitz amobi #katniss everdeen #mitchell pritchett #shin tsukimi #tua #agggtm #the hunger games #modern family #yttd #i post for once #instead of just blabbering on in the tags #tag game #thanks again for the tag! :)

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archivalofsins · 4 months

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Let's talk about Mikoto's first two interrogation questions and why I'm super not interested or surprised by any of his answers. For the record so I don't have to go over all this again here is a post that links to a good chunk of what I've written discussing Mikoto already that I worked on with @apatchworkstar.

At least the big stuff. So, people can look back and see how my logic has developed over time when it comes to him specifically. Because I'm about to throw out some hard to swallow truths.

One being

Just because someone keeps claiming they were "Trying so hard." doesn't mean it's fucking true. Secondly, even if it is true that doesn't excuse or give them the right to murder anyone.

So, let's get libelous real quick and drag this drama kings name through the fucking mud.

Sorry, my liege you're getting a bit carried away~

Okay whoa, whoa- Wait, wait! I thought you liked Mikoto. Shouldn't you be happy people are taking his problems seriously and treating these issues with respect. I mean work abuse like any sort of abuse is bad.

Okay, point created to simply allow me to further elaborate on my own train of thought and where I'm at. Yes, I do care about and like Mikoto as a character. That does not mean I just accept when someone is feeding me bullshit.

Literally we've seen everyone else going to the places or doing the jobs that triggered the incident they were involved in. Mu has been at her school since Milgram started. Yuno has been shown working with her clients since Milgram started.

Kazui has been shown at the bar since Milgram started. Hell we've even seen Futa at his college.

Mikoto Kayano has not been shown at work or doing his job since Milgram started. There have only been allusions made to his work. The one image we have in Undercover isn't even confirmed to be his actual fucking office and could be a desk in his home that the chair in his mental space and home goes to. So, what evidence do we have that his job was difficult outside of texts he actively ignored that states he left without notice to go home and attempted to call him back in something he actively decided not to do or even respond to as is his right as a working adult?

We would actually have to make multiple assumptions in order to frame the instance we see there as abusive outside of damn that's an ungodly hour. Yet this man isn't fucking special some people work nights and he's stated he's meant to work nights since the beginning of fucking Milgram. That's a part of the company he decided he wanted to be in, chose to enter, and refused to leave.

Trial one written interrogation question six.

Q.06 What do you hate? Mikoto: working overnight / reptiles / violence

He's worked overnight enough to fucking know he hates it but-

Trial two written interrogation question two.

Q.02 Haven't you considered changing your job? Mikoto: No way; I went through a lot to get into such a big company. Even if it's draining, if I work hard my efforts will pay off.

Something he's had no issue stating from the beginning. From the start of Milgram Mikoto's concern has been I better not get fired because of you and if I do you better take responsibility for it. One of his voice lines from the beginning of this literally being-

Mikoto first voice drama 3:46

"I have my own life, you know? And I just got accepted into the company that I was aiming for… If I get fired, you’ll have to take responsibility for that."

From the beginning, through everything he's done and said Mikoto has shown where his priorities lie. It's not with getting home or seeing his family like the rest of the prisoners. No, his priority has always been getting the hell out of here and back to his job because his life plans have been derailed enough. Because his life wasn't meant to be this way and he has things he needs to do to get the life he believes he's entitled to.

Going to his job regardless of how draining or terrible it looks from an outsider's perspective is and always has been a part of and the biggest part of his life plan. He never trash talks his company for how it treats him despite bringing it up in both his written interrogations.

In fact, it's the exact opposite.

Written interrogation one question eight.

Q.08 What’s the most rewarding part of your current job? Mikoto: I mean, it’s the top advertising agency in the industry?Anyone would be proud to be a part of it. I put a lot of work in just to get here, too.

Even framing it like a question like are you stupid- Do you live under a fucking rock??? Is that it? it's the top advertising agency in the fucking industry.

Are you daft warden-

What's more important than the status and recognition one implicitly gets from being able to work in a company like that? If this place is in my work history and I manage to go freelance later on, in good standing with this company, do you know how liberating that would be. Do you know how quickly people would have faith in me to do what they were hiring me for with this place as a reference-

I mean.

Q.04 Are you picky when it comes to fashion? Mikoto: Of course I am. Nobody would want to ask for anything from an unfashionable designer, right?

I'm fucking tailor-made for business. I live breath and eat this shit because I fucking need to. Because it's a stepping stone for my dream. You wouldn't want to get in the way of that, right~ Oh, that's unlikable I don't fucking care if there's a corporate ladder I'm going to fucking climb it. Survival of the fittest and all that. Though it's improper to admit that as a working adult, you know? If you can't communicate properly that's bad for business.

You can't, for example, go around being angry all the time even if you want to. You've gotta be able to play ball and take a few punches to get anywhere in this world. How do you expect people to want to work with you otherwise?

20/06/15 Mikoto: Hey, it’s kinda a bother having you be so angry and tense all the time. You should stop trying get everyone to pay attention to you. You’re a uni student, right? You can’t act like that once you start working properly. Futa: Huh!? Shut up. Not like I care what you say. Even though we’re in this shitty situation, you’re just chatting away, it’s stupid. Aren’t you the one who’s acting out of place here? ……also the fact you give everyone nicknames is just gross. Mikoto: *sigh* It’s more stupid to be taking this all so seriously. I mean, it’s definitely just a reality TV program. There’s no way a real prison exists that’s this lax. Also, I don’t give nicknames to everyone. I don’t give them to young kids like Amane, or to the hard-to-approach types like Shidou-san. I mean, I’m not giving you one, right? Futa: ……oi, which group are you trying to say I am?

It doesn't matter if your kindness is genuine or not. As long as you're able to close that gap and make people like you then you can sell them anything. It'll pay off eventually you know. Though it's better to do anything you can to make that eventually sooner rather than later~

20/05/25 Mikoto: ……I’ve really got caught up in some trouble, huh. What even is this place? It’s probably a TV reality show or something. ……but to think someone in this day and age would try to do a project that could land them in so much trouble. Uh…… Mahiru: Ah…… I’m Shina Mahiru! You can just call me Mahiru. And you are……? Mikoto: Kayano Mikoto. I’m fine with just Mikoto too. Ahh, I’m glad there’s someone here who’s easy to talk to…… It’s nice to meet you, Mappy. Mahiru: ………… ……Mappy???

Mikoto trial one written interrogation question nine.

Q.09 Why do you give everyone nicknames? Mikoto: I guess it became a habit when I was at university. Having a nickname for someone that only you call them comes with a lot of advantages, do recommend.

As long as you can sell it with a smile they'll warm up eventually. Yet, being disliked by certain people can be social and career suicide you know~

20/07/08 Yuno: Hey, Mikoto-san. Don’t you get tired being so conscious of others all the time? I mean, you’re free to do what you want though. Mikoto: Eh…… Aha, what are you talking about? I’m not being conscious or anything. It’s normal to make sure to get along with everyone, right? I mean, when you put it like that, aren’t you the same, Yun-chan? You’re always smiling and getting on with everyone too. Yuno: I don’t smile unless I actually want to. But with you, when you’re talking with other people it’s more like you only smile deliberately. So I kept thinking, don’t your cheeks get tired? Ah, is this just what happens when you become a working adult? ……you see people like that sometimes. Mikoto: Haha, you don’t mince your words do you. …….that was never my intention, but now that you mention it, yeah, I guess I do. This might’ve been since I started my job too…… But like- If I was rude to everyone I met, all my efforts would come to nothing, right?

Yuno trial one voice drama 7:59

"Hm, what this? A lecture. Are you a believer in seishinron? I hate them more than anything else, you know?"

Basically, someone who believes that any problem can be worked through by just putting in a bit more effort.

"If I work hard my efforts will pay off."

Ha, ha- Not everyone has the privilege to smile whenever they feel like it. Some people's entire futures are riding on if the people around them decide to play nice or not and it all rides on them to play nice first- You know? Maybe that is what they call being a working adult. Maybe people like this just don't understand. Is it difficult to comprehend~ Huh, is this hard for you warden?

Well, you were given a pretty cushiony job out of the blue. It must be oddly comfortable for you. Judging others from your position and then sleeping for several months. They even provide you three meals a day while I can barely get a lunch break- Ah, jealous~

Guards, just-

"Come to know me as an honest man."

See me as someone hardworking and family oriented. See me as someone trying to show those he cares about that they can do these things too-

Q.01 Do you have a good relationship with your little sister? Mikoto: Absolutely. I want to show her how her big brother is working hard in the city.

See me as a man that believes in the myth of meritocracy. Someone who believes if they just work hard enough, if I push myself a little more regardless of how I'm treated it'll work out eventually. All of my efforts will be rewarded because they deserve to be. That's how these things should go. So, society should recognize and reward those who do good work consistently.

Not just people they find likable or easy to talk to. My work should be able to speak for itself. So, if I just keep working it'll all come together but I can't do that while being held here. How can I achieve my dreams if I can't even get to work huh? What happens if i get fired while here I have a life to you know-

I've been working so much- I had such a hard time. I've even played along with this silly joke- I've been such a good sport, right? Right? So- why tell me why can't you just be a good sport back? Aren't I entitled to a little bit of leniency? I'm a victim here too, ya know! So, why?

Tell me WHY-

It’s the same anywhere I go! It’s like what’s WRONG isn’t WRONG!/ "Why, why-"

"If only I were never born, if only..."/ "If I was gone, If I had just disappeared..."

20/05/31 Mu: Hey, Mikoto-kun, aren’t you scared of this place……? You can’t think of any reason you ended up here, right……? Mikoto: Ahh, yeah. Of course, it’s not like I’m not scared at all. But just between you and me…… I still haven’t dropped the thought that this could all just be a TV show. I mean, I really haven’t ever murdered anyone. ……and if that is the case, we’re definitely being monitored. For like a prank setup or something. Wouldn’t it be super uncool and embarrassing to get angry or lash and have it shown on prime time? Mu: Is that what you think……? A prank, huh…… I hope that’s all it is…… Mikoto: Ah! If that is the case, then you’ll probably be super popular since you’re so cute, Mucchan! There’s a lot of girls out there who make their big break coming off reality shows like that!

Mikoto trial one written interrogation question 3.

Q.03 Have you ever had a romantic partner? Mikoto: Of course I have. Do I really look like I’d be that unpopular?

"Hey now, I saved you, right? So why in the hell are you crying?"/ "Why won’t you stop hurting me? My heart is all dried up. My sorry spells must be wearing off."

"I can't take it anymore..."/ "Why?"

"Why, why, I’m so sorry."/ " “I’m sorry” won’t reach anyone."

Just-

"If I am a bad girl don’t hate me."/"Come to know me as an honest man, eat your words, gulp them down."

It must be a tad embarrassing to fall for the same trick twice in the same series.

Hold on. It’s not my fault- You knew it, right?

Guards, you must be working really hard. It's difficult to figure out under so much pressure with so little time. I mean you only had all of trial one and the three months after Double.

"Hurting it, holding it down, it doesn’t change anything, does it- Ahhh!"

"I was miserable, someone please help me."/ "I was having such a hard time."

"I want to feel “alive”, is it ok if I breathe?"/ "All I did was dream, and that’s what you found GUILTY?"

“I” will save “me”.

It's no one fault really~

So, why don't we just all get along for now? Like working adults. No one has to judge anyone here. Let's all just get along!

Mikoto first voice drama 3:10

Milgram tells me that you killed someone. That's enough for me. "Why are you just blindly believing that? There's no getting through to you...!"

Muu's second voice drama 14:56

"Anyway… I think you would do good to forgive me. Then Haruka-kun will be safe too. Ah, actually, couldn’t you just forgive everyone? Then Kotoko-san won’t run amok, and you won’t have to think about all the difficult stuff."

But I guess some of it is my fault. Maybe it’s ok as it is./I'm probably not to blame. It's probably nothing. I'm probably just having a bad dream, I need to wake up soon.

The interesting thing about both Mikoto and Es' behavior is that they both blindly believe in systems that leave them very little to no protection or are actively exploiting them. They both believe their jobs to be their salvation. That if they just keep working it'll all turn out right.

That if they just do their jobs without question everything will work itself out. That the only way out is through. Es all of trial two has rationalized the results of trial one by saying they were just doing their job. Following what they were told. How is that any different from Mikoto. How is that any different from Amane?

Everyone needs something to believe in from day to day. Something that allows them to feel secure in their own position and feel as if they have some control over their lives even if in reality they have very little.

People need beliefs to tell them how to function in systems. Yet those beliefs can end up protecting systems from deserved scrutiny. In a way making people complacent in them or leading to them perpetuating these systems without question. Because when people are trying to keep themselves from going under they don't have time to question the powers that put them in the position to go under to beging with.

When you're drowning everything looks like a lifepreserver even the things that will make a person sink faster. People use the beliefs that they cultivate over the course of their lives to rationalize if the treatment they're receiving is correct or not-

It must be a mistake right?

To tell them if their own response to something was justified or not.

"Eat this! Don’t act like you have no idea! We won’t forgive you! You’re the crazy one! Ban-Ba-Bang!"/"If you’re going to break your vow- Here and now, it’s my turn to tear you apart. So there is no second time, I’ll give back the judgment that you gave to me."

Something that makes them feel like their decisions were the right ones,

"What am I supposed to do now? If you won’t tell me, I can’t be me."/ "Maybe, perhaps... or... could it come true... like- It’s for the sake of true love, who wouldn’t lie for that?"

Something that tells them-

It's not my fault.

#milgram #mikoto kayano

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harrysmmm · 10 months

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧

Fanfiction: The Relics of Hogwarts (CLICK THE LINK BEFORE READING THIS)

Draco malfoy x Y/N Riddle (f!reader)

A/N: First chapter of the fanfic! It took me a whole week to write this, and a whole week to create the plot of the story. This chapter sets the tone for what is to come - more draco and the reader's interactions will happen in the following chapters. I am beyond excited to be posting this, I hope you guys enjoy it - I really had the best time writing it (it helps me deal with reality which I very much thank). Also, two things before you go and read it: one, my mother tongue is not English, once again, so forgive me for any mistake or wrong word that I might've used; two, every paragraph or conversation that is written in italic is a flashback (I think it was clear but just to be hella clear). That's everything for me to say... also you don't know the amount of research I've had to do in order to be precise on every description, family line, Hogwarts system... it's crazy the number of tabs I've opened during the creation of all of it. Last thing, I have never done this before but if you'd like to be on the taglist for each time I post a new chapter, put it in the comments or write me an inbox and I'll gladly do it! I'm going to try to do my best and post a chapter every week - two would be ideal. I tend to write pretty long chapters so it takes me a lot of time to finish them. I'm going to stop writing, this is becoming addictive. Love you, this fic is for all of you out there.

W/C: 4.3K

masterlist here

Summer was about to come to an end. It was pouring rain in the Scottish mountain range; a wild, twisted, ravaging storm that left a lifeless valley at its steps. Someone was rushing through the vast hallways, crackling footsteps as he was approaching the stone gargoyle. He whispered in a low, hoarse voice: “Cockroach clusters”. A stoned spiraled staircase revealed itself behind the statue, he marched them upstairs.

At the top, a wooden door was slightly opened revealing at its gap a dim light and an overwhelming heat. Under this particular weather, there was a need of a fireplace.

The professor stepped in the headmaster’s office.

“Severus,” Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the Wizarding School, Hogwarts, greeted the man, “what can I do for you in this, rather hectic evening?”

“I –” he stopped, having been interrupted by a loud thunder, “have some news from You Know Who.”

Dumbledore froze for a moment. “Ah!” he uttered, heading towards his centered desk, and sitting down. “Tell me what you know.”

“You Know Who’s daughter is supposedly coming to Hogwarts this year.”

“How is that possible?” Dumbledore seemed confused.

“He has gotten back in contact with her, after seventeen years,” Snape said in a monotone voice of his range. “I have been told to keep an eye on her.”

The storm was heavily attacking the gleaming windows.

“This is no coincidence - I suppose you know that, Severus.”

“I… assumed.”

“Voldemort has something in mind – something that involves the school – or Potter.”

“The child has always been in his sight, why would it be that now he is looking to get to him by sending his abandoned daughter off to school while she has a cursed bloodline herself, it seems a little…odd… from my perspective, Professor.”

“You’re right, Severus - but we need to be en garde.” Dumbledore was looking all around his desk seeming to try to dismantle this new information. “Does the girl know why she’s coming?”

“It seems like she does.”

“U-huh,” he replied. “Well, the link between Draco’s commended mission to kill me and the arrival of Voldemort’s daughter is evident; he’s trying to gain some presence within the school.”

“And,” he continued, “the girl and Draco have known each other merely from birth, they’ve grown up together as siblings, haven’t they, Severus?”

“I wouldn’t use the word siblings, Professor – as far as I know, they roughly consider each other cousins.”

“Right, right, cousins…”

“Professor,” uttered Snape.

“Huh?”

“What should I do?”

“Well,” Dumbledore got up and walked towards the animal that was gripping a stand cage. It was an elegant phoenix; he had crimson feathers covering his entire body and a long golden tail resembling that of a peacock. His name was Fawkes. Dumbledore caressed the animal as he continued, “you have no choice – she will have to attend this year at Hogwarts. In fact, she will directly be put into Slytherin, that way your task will be eased.”

“If I may, I don’t think she would’ve been sorted into any other house, giving her lineage, Professor.”

“Right, descendant of Salazar Slytherin, right…” Dumbledore didn’t seem to be there, his thoughts spiraling up, trying to find the connecting factor.

“I see you… pensive” said Snape in return.

Dumbledore moved from the bird to the East of the room and stood next to the recollection of memories bottled up in glass jars.

“We both know, Severus, that Voldemort doesn’t hold any sort of affection towards his daughter; he’s incapable of it.” He frenetically moved to the West of the room. “That girl has been raised by Druella Black, mother of the living Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. The girl has never had any contact with her father, nor her mother for that matter.”

“If I may ask… what happened to the mother?”

“Well, no one knows what happened to her; no one even knows who she is. Voldemort hasn’t had any known-of partner in his life.”

“Right,” replied Snape. “Although the girl has, so it seems, a tight relation with the Diggory family.”

“The Diggorys… Cedric Diggory? The boy that Voldemort killed during the Triwizard Tournament?” inquired Dumbledore.

“Indeed. She’s presumably close to his father, Amos Diggory, who works in the Ministry of Magic.” completed Snape.

“How?”

“I don’t know, but she will come to the school as his niece, omitting her last name Riddle.”

“A façade.” Dumbledore had a lost look.

“Yes.”

“There’s a lot of things that we can’t grasp, Severus. You will keep an eye on her, I will deal with the rest.”

“As you wish.”

Snape turned around, swinging his cape as he moved to the door.

“Severus,” Dumbledore called him, before he could walk away, “Hogwarts is, once again, being threatened. This time, it might be the last time”. He looked at his hand, a black dark magic had scattered through most of it.

Snape understood his words but didn’t reply.

A black figure made his way down the enchanted staircase.

ྀ࿔

The hallways were full of students. Bustling chatter about summertime and vacations was spreading around the walls of the entrance hall. First years were arriving in canoes through the Great Lake that surrounded Hogwarts while upper years were progressively making an entrance, after getting off the Hogwarts Express.

She noticed the attunes of most students. Black robes seemed to be the official uniform, with varying colors on the hood, sleeves and the edge of the front depending on the student who was wearing it. At the front of it, there was a patch in accordance with the colors of the robe – she assumed it was the house patch of the student. She particularly laid her eyes on the green one, the one who seemed to have a snake in the middle. She knew that Father had attended the school – and even if she was mostly ignorant about the school system and supposed houses, she knew her father had been a green-robed student.

Snape started to climb up the Grand Stairs, she followed him. Various students and professors were hectically going up and down the stairs, making her have to pay attention to not brush shoulders with any of them. Snape was not looking back at her, swinging from side to side as if he knew seconds ahead who was going to go up or down.

Her mind wondered back to the reason why she was there; to the mission Father had commended her to do. She had heard about Wizarding Schools, Hogwarts in particular, since nearly her birth. However, Druella never wanted her to get mingled with academic wizards and witches, fearing for her life as a Riddle. That last name did not follow any welcoming reception in the Wizarding World. But after Father’s come back, things have changed all around.

She couldn’t help but travel back to the moment it all started.

“F-father?” she called him, pitch black consuming the entire room of the Malfoy Manor.

She could hear him moving. Hollow wooden floorboards slowly crackling at his steps. She could also hear his snake hissing - that’s how she knew he was standing in front of her.

“Child,” he finally said with a whispery, throaty voice, “I missed you.”

She felt two arms making their way to her ribs while slowly tangling behind her on what seemed to be a hug. She didn’t move, shivering of horror.

“My daughter.” She felt the air of his voice in her ear, making her swift breathing be noticed.

She understood that he knew she was afraid.

His arms were no longer wrapping her, and she felt how he was circling her by the crackling wood yet again.

“How have the Blacks been treating you?”

She gasped.

“Fair enough…Father.”

He seemed to have moved to the other side of the room.

“And the Malfoys? The young boy, Draco, is he nice to you?”

She tried to relax her breathing.

“He is - they all have always treated me as one of their own.”

“But you’re not one of them, are you?”. He moved closer to her again, as she felt his snake sliding next to her foot.

“I-I guess I’m not.” She could’ve sworn she saw a monster in front of her. She closed her eyes tightly.

“Your stay with them might’ve been enjoyable, but I’m afraid you must leave.”

Something in her stopped when she heard those words.

“Where?” she inquired.

“To the Diggorys.”

“I don’t know who they are.”

He was standing in front of her. She could sense it.

“They are nice people that will take you under their roof – now, I need you to befriend them, become one of them. You will need to take on their last name.”

She didn’t say a word and let him continue.

“I need some things that lay within the walls of Hogwarts; some things that someone wants to steal.”

“Harry Potter,” she whispered, not being able to contain herself.

“Do not mention his name!” he raised his voice, and she could feel his face almost touching hers.

She nearly started sobbing.

“You don’t get to say his name in front of me, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He leaned back some inches from her. “Some objects that are in the castle belong to me. I hid them so they would be safe - but it has come to my attention that they might be in danger.”

She kept listening.

“When the time comes, I will need you to go to Hogwarts as a Diggory and bring those objects back to me. You will be fully awarded for the act,” he paused, “and gain your place by my side.”

She heavily breathed when she heard that. After all those years, her father was offering her a chance to make him proud, to honor her last name, to have a family.

“What are these objects?”

“You’ll must bring me the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, the locket of Salazar Slytherin and the sword of Godric Gryffindor. All of them make the Relics of Hogwarts.”

“Now,” he continued, “you will leave to the Diggorys tomorrow morning. I will be back to tell you when you will attend Hogwarts.” He paused. “I’m afraid I must leave you now, dear girl.”

“Father?” She needed to ask.

“Yes?”

“Who is my mother?” she asked away. She figured that now that he needed her, he couldn’t hurt her for asking.

The seconds that lasted the silence lingered in her like a death sentence.

“Your mother ran away as she had the chance. I would be tarnishing your name by speaking of her.”

She knew that wasn’t the truth; she sensed it in his voice.

“Did you love her?”

He breathed heavily; he was getting tired of this conversation. He swiftly approached her once again.

“Love does not exist. Don’t let them bewitch your mind.”

And just like that, he vanished through dark smoke.

ྀ࿔

“Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school,” Draco snapped. “I’d pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower if I had to continue for another two years.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pansy Parkinson, close friend of Draco, replied.

“Let’s just say, I don’t think you’ll see me wasting my time in Charms class next year.”

Draco, Pansy and Blaise were sitting down in a wagon of the Hogwarts Express. Draco knew it was his last time returning to Hogwarts. He also knew his biggest stress this year was not going to be about returning good grades home or beating Potter in the Quidditch finals. The Dark Lord had commended him a very important mission, and now that his father was facing sentence in Azkaban, he had to bear with the responsibility of the family’s loyalty towards the Dark plan.

Blaise blurted out a small chuckle to Draco’s words.

“Amused, Blaise?” the blonde boy replied. “We’ll see just who’s laughing in the end.”

Draco heard a noise coming from the rack above their seats and saw his bag having slightly been moved. Someone was eavesdropping on the conversation through an invisibility spell, and he bet on bloody Potter. He didn’t talk much after knowing the conversation was not confidential. In what twisted pathetic adventure was Potter trying to be the hero on this time? His blood was boiling by just having to pretend not knowing he was there. That tosser that everyone always praised – he wouldn’t last two days in his position. After all, life was not about heroic acts, corny speeches, and lucky fate – some people had been given a family name to respect, an expectation to be met. He thought, once again, about the mission that had been commended to him by the Dark Lord; how his wand would have to end the life of the greatest wizard alive; how he would go onto History as the man who assassinated Albus Dumbledore. He realized his hands were sweaty and his heartbeat higher than normal. He tried to keep his composure in front of everyone in the wagon and fixed his gaze on the rich green Scottish fields – clouds welcoming him to a thunderstorm.

ྀ࿔

“Ah! Y/N Diggory! Come in, come in…” Dumbledore greeted the girl in his office.

“Thank you,” she replied, following Snape. She didn’t take too much time to have a look at the curious, but glamorous place.

“Do you fancy my office? I must admit I am really fond of collecting peculiar objects,” he approached a table where all sorts of outlandish things were scattered. She noticed the blackness of his hand when he grabbed one of the objects, “I don’t always know what they do but I find them really unique as room decoration, don’t you think?”

“I’m sure being the headmaster has its advantages when it comes to decorating.”

“Oh, being the headmaster has plenty of advantages, Miss. Diggory,” he replied in a whispery tone.

“Now, you, as a new Hogwarts student, have also a lot of advantages;” he continued, “First of all, you are skipping from year one to year six, so you won’t have to bear first years’ Potions on how to make a cure for boils or first year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts on how to cast an Expelliermus.”

You simply nodded.

“Then, Professor Snape has told me that you’ve already passed through the Sorting Hat and you have been assigned to Slytherin, is that correct, Severus?”

“It is.”

It was not correct. She hadn’t gone through any house assignation, but she understood that Dumbledore didn’t know about it, and that Snape had probably settled her in Slytherin for a reason – therefore, she didn’t question it.

“Wonderful. An ambitious, clever girl, I see”.

She smirked at him. She bet he was not by any means a Slytherin himself.

“Lastly, I assume you have all this year’s textbooks, ingredients, plants, constellation maps, perhaps? Oh! I assume you have a pet by now! And a wand…”

She looked at Snape, knowing that she hadn’t bought any of those things herself. Except for the wand that she got at Ollivanders when she was eleven, after Druella had told her she would get a private tutor to teach her magic.

“She has,” Snape simply replied, without giving her any look back.

“Then everything seems to be settled. How are you feeling, Miss. Diggory?” Dumbledore deeply stared at her. This time, she felt like he really wanted to know the answer.

“Really honored to join the school, Sir.”

“My door is always open for any visits. Never underestimate the magic of being listened, Miss. Diggory.”

She nodded and followed Snape downstairs, thinking she was probably never going to step into that office again.

Snape and Y/N arrived at the dungeons of the school, where the Slytherin dormitories could be found. Snape turned around to talk to Y/N.

“All of your things are in your dorm, number 3, all the schedule and times are also in your dorm, the password to the common room is pure-blood… don’t want you sneaking after ten p.m. or you could get… into trouble.” His intimidating black eyes were on hers. He turned around with a swing of his cape.

“Oh,” He turned towards her again, “supper starts at six.”

She was alone in the castle for the first time. She uttered the password on a low voice and a bare stretch of stone wall opened, leading her to a corridor. Once she walked through it, only lightened by torches hang up on the stone walls, she arrived at the common room. It was a high ceiling, ample room; dark green shades flickering from the multiple windows. Low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas were placed all around the room; skulls on top of tables; and dark wood cupboards. Tapestries of numerous medieval figures decorated the walls. Y/N noticed the highlighted portrait of an old man that she recognized to be Salazar Slytherin, founder of the Slytherin house and one of the four founders of Hogwarts. She knew this because she was a distant relative of his, through her father of course. She noticed she was alone and headed directly to her dorm.

Her dorm was a five-bed room with one bathroom. She recognized her bag next to one of the beds. On the side table, she found a pile of textbooks; she started leafing through some of the books: Advanced Potion-Making, A Guide To Advanced Transfiguration, Flesh-Eating Trees Of The World… Her eyes wondered to the parchment at the right where her schedule and attending courses were shown. She started to read through the different school norms and times when she felt something brushing her leg. She startled at the contact when she saw a small black kitten going under her bed. She kneeled and grabbed it, putting it on the bed. The kitten had big emerald eyes that were looking into hers, as if it had some sort of human spirit inside.

“You must be my pet, huh?” She grabbed it again and looked to confirm the sex. “A Miss… Should give you a name, shouldn’t I?” She laid down on her bed caressing the kitten on her chest, thinking of a name for her. She realized that it was the first time she let herself sink down and relax since her arrival. A lot of thoughts were constantly crossing her mind telling her to focus on everything, to plan everything, to think about everything – it was exhausting. Exhausting… she came up with something.

“Your name is Exhonia. What do you think?” she asked the kitten as if she was going to reply. The kitten was scratching her jumper.

“Okay Exhonia, don’t get too ahead on yourself.” She grabbed the rather turbulent cat and placed it next to her on the bed.

The only time she had ever dealt with a cat was a the Diggory’s house, near Ottery St Catchpole. Cedric’s pet had been a brown and white cat, a rather upset one she might add, especially when Cedric was not around anymore. She had gone to the Diggory’s a month after the boy’s death when Father had asked her to.

“What can I do for you, dear?” a middle-aged man, short and plump opened the door of the cottage.

“My name is Y/N, Sir – is this the Diggory’s house?”

“Yes, yes… what is it that you want?” he wouldn’t entirely open the front door, as if he didn’t trust the world outside.

“I came to talk to you. I was really close to Cedric.”

The man seemed to freeze.

“And I was hoping to come and meet you since you would’ve been my father-in-law”.

And that is how she managed to spend a year living under the roof of the Diggorys. Amos Diggory fully believed her when she told him the story of how she was supposed to marry Cedric once he would end the Triwizard Tournament; how they had wanted to wait until the end of it to tell his parents. She told him, through a little bit of sobbing, how her parents had dropped dead on a car accident, being herself a muggle-born, and that the only family she had left was the Diggorys – even if she had never met them before. Amos and his wife found in her a beam of light; the spirit of Cedric in a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl. They never questioned the story, nor her intentions and adopted her as a Diggory that had always belonged in the family. It was not until one year later that Y/N shared with them her dream of attending Hogwarts, as Father had contacted her back and told her it was time she fulfilled her mission. They accepted with little objection, happy that they could spoil a girl as they once did to Cedric. Y/N, as a sign of gratitude, asked them if she could inherit their last name, to which they happily agreed. She became Y/N Diggory, niece of Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, as she told them it would be more appropriate taking into consideration that no one knew about her planned marriage with Cedric. Even if Y/N didn’t really want to get mingled in the Diggorys life, she knew they were living in delusion, desperately looking to fill the void of their son’s death – which Y/N, in a way, managed to do. They were in need of a miracle, she offered them the fairiest of fairy tales… who cared if it was all a script of lies at the end of the day?

Her thoughts came back to the present moment when she heard a bell chiming the hour. Six, so she counted. She decided to go down for supper, still curious that no students had yet come to the common room.

She walked up the stairs and dived through the hallways, meeting no one on the way. When she started to hear some familiar voice she recognized as to Dumbledore’s, she followed it, understanding she was somehow late to some sort of first day speech. But in the middle of her wanderings, an old-wrinkled man with a cat yelled at her.

“And what do you think you’re doing lurking in the hallways?” He firmly grabbed her by the arm.

“I was looking for the Great H- let go of me!” she replied, trying to get rid of his grip.

“The headmaster will hear about your wanderings, young lady!” He dragged her towards the doors of the Great Hall. Both doors slammed open when he pushed them with his bare hand. Dumbledore’s speech was immediately interrupted. Hundreds of eyes turned towards the old man’ and Y/N’s direction.

“Headmaster, sorry to provoke such an entrance but I found this girl wandering around the castle, missing the opening ceremony” he gave her away to everyone in the room. He pushed her forward so everyone could see who he was screaming about.

She stood at the beginning of the corridor between the students’ tables. She looked ahead, Dumbledore standing up in a podium, several professors sitting down behind him and, of course, a few inches away from her, long tables filled with students of different ages, different houses, staring at her like she was the most bizarre specimen. She decided to say something.

“Sir, I-“

“There’s no need, Miss. Diggory,” after her last name had been dropped, all students started to look at each other, mumbles starting to form, “you can join your table with the other Slytherin students.”

She didn’t reply, hearing how the room had become a cloud of voices at this point.

“Thank you Argus for the help. But, Miss. Diggory was just lost, being this her first day at Hogwarts.” The voices intensified. “Now, while it is always very joyful to welcome new students, I must ask you to stop the chatter.” Students seemed to listen to him, and seconds later there was little to no sound.

Y/N sat down on the first free seat at the Slytherin table, still feeling like half of the students’ gazes were settled on her. Once Dumbledore had proceeded with his speech, she discretely took a look on the people that surrounded her. Four large tables divided the Great Hall, one for each house. Her gaze wondered through the Gryffindor table, looking for a certain scared-boy. She of course knew about the prophecy, as well as she knew the history between him and her father. She had thought about eventually meeting Harry Potter but never really figured how she would react to his presence. Should she hate him, pity him, fear him? The boy was her age – which didn’t leave a lot of room for fear. But she was still curious to see how they would react to one another, even if the boy was unaware of who her father was, as well as everyone. She guessed she would eventually meet the chosen one during class.

Her eyes turned back to Dumbledore, who was finishing talking, when someone pulled their arm towards her.

“They are calling you from there,” a dark-haired boy told her, while pointing to the other side of the long table.

She switched her focus to look for the person who was calling her. A blonde boy tilted his head down to meet her gaze. He playfully tilted his eyebrows while a smirk made its way to his face. She smiled at him while slowly shaking her head. It was no other than the heir of the Malfoys himself. He stared deep into her eyes a little longer, then shifted his gaze back to some Professor that had started talking. She looked at him a little longer, letting herself feel for no more than five seconds the accelerated heartbeat that she was still unfamiliar with. She eventually switched her gaze back to the Professor too. The Slytherin heir was back at Hogwarts, and this time, she had the Prince of Slytherin by her side.

part two

#draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x y/n riddle #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco malfoy smut #draco malfoy fluff #harry potter imagine #harry potter fanfiction #hogwarts imagine #hogwarts fanfiction #slytherin fanfiction #slytherin imagine

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lizard-queen-izzy · 3 months

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OK! WE'RE DOING THIS!

Everyone shut up and sit down. I'm talking about TMA. I am listening through for the first time, I'm through S1 and halfway through S2, and I already have many Thoughts. Today, we will be focusing on my evil ship thoughts, because I missed my chance when this was coming out so now I will subject you all.

I know Jon and Martin get together at some point, and yknow, that's all fine and good.

BUT I WANNA TALK ABOUT JON AND TIM, OK?

There is so much potential for something there, and they would be so incredibly messy after the S1 finale.

[I've lightly scrolled through the jontim tag, and I truly don't think there's enough of you talking about how tragic they are. Platonic or romantic, they're so so sad.]

They both worked in the research department before Jon was made Head Archivist, and even though they definitely weren't close, they were definitely friendly. My Firm Belief is that Jon was the only one who took Tim seriously despite his more lax attitude, he saw his strong work ethic and his dedication and treated him accordingly. And Tim was the only one who listened to Jon, the only one who thought he had anything to add and took his suggestions.

I believe they were hired around the same time, and once they met there was a silent understanding that they were there for eachother. It was nice to just have someone in their corner in this new environment.

When Jon got promoted to Head Archivist, he was adamant about Tim being on his team, because he knew Tim would help get the results needed. [I have a whole, how everyone got assigned to the team timeline thought out but that's not why we're here]

Tim is the only member of his team who Jon doesn't think would have written Antonio Blake's statement as a joke to scare him. Which means he trusts him the most out of all of them. Which wouldn't be as important if he showed distaste for them equally, but he regards both Tim and Sasha highly, and only really seems to have an issue with Martin at this point. So why would he trust Tim to not have written it but not Sasha? Unless he's known him the longest and has reason to put that faith in him.

AND THEIR CONVERSATION AT THE BEGINNING OF MAG 33?? You're gonna listen to that, the first time we as the audience meet Tim, and tell me you don't hear how much these two care for eachother? Even when Jon starts getting upset/loud, he calms quickly for Tim, and doesn't let himself fully yell at him. He also leaves it up to Tim to fix the mistakes, an example of him trusting Tim's judgement and work. And Tim is so calm with him! The man keeps getting worked up and starting to get loud, but Tim stays calm and let's him self correct and say what he needs to before proceeding himself. He knows Jon is stressed and has a lot on his plate. He knows these mistakes needed to be discussed with him and corrected somehow, but he's still not going to force Jon to re-record the statements if he really doesn't want to, he's willing to find another solution. And then he leaves to go work on it so Jon can get back to recording the statement.

And Tim telling Jon he doesn't understand the filing system and Jon explaining it calmly to him, admitting he doesn't really get it either but that's how it is.

You also have to see my vision for how the S1 finale effects them. A traumatic experience where they were both scarred mentally and physically in the same ways. Something that should have brought them even closer, maybe finally made them feel comfortable being proper friends outside of work. But they both react to it SO differently. And that is the beginning of their downfall. That is the beginning of the end.

Because Jon spirals. He stops trusting everyone. He pushes them all away and starts crossing boundaries. HE SPIES ON TIMS HOUSE. And he can't even calm down long enough to see why this bothers his coworkers. Why this hurts Tim.

The beginning of S2 from Tim's perspective is awful. Your first friend in this workplace is overworking himself, throwing himself back into work the second he's cleared physically well enough to go back. But he clearly hasn't moved past it, and you can't blame him for that. Everyone copes differently, but then he turns on you. He stops trusting you, starts pushing you away, starts spying on you. Can you imagine how much that hurts? To have the first person in this terrifying new job who ever put their trust in you, who ever believed in you, to turn on you just when you need them the most.

THEY ARE SO FUCKING MESSY. GOD.

Anyway. I very well may be back with more JonTim thoughts as I continue to listen. But this is what I have for you today.

#tma #tma spoilers #tma season one #tma season 2 #jonathan sims #jon sims #tim stoker #timothy stoker #the magnus archives #archives gang #character thoughts #jontim #jonsims/timstoker #ramblings #Thoughts

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tbyfandoms · 1 year

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Against All Odds | Jake Pearson x Reader

Pairing: jake pearson x f!reader

Word Count: 14.6k

Summary: while on vacation with her best friends’ family, y/n gets a lot more than she bargained for when she encounters both love and…aliens!? (requested)

Warnings: descriptions of violence

Masterlist/Request Form | Ask/Tell/Request

A/N: dude someone tell me why this fic is SO LONG??? I knew it would be a little lengthy since I basically copied and then rewrote the whole aliens in the attic movie but ohmygod lmao?! anyways, even though this is apparently my longest fic to date, it was also one of the most fun ones I've written! although cheesy and mildly unrealistic, I love this movie so much and appreciate getting a request for austin's character, jake. I hope you all (especially the person who requested this) enjoy! as always lmk what you think! :)

The sunlight shines brightly on your face as you step out of the car. Your hand goes up instinctively to shield your eyes, and with what little shade it provides for you you’re able to take in the house before you.

It’s gorgeous to say the least. The Pearsons’ rented holiday house is unlike anything you’ve seen before, especially in person. There seems to be about a million different rooms from what you can tell, and if the house looks this good on the outside, you can’t wait to see what it’s like inside.

Bethany told you what the house would be like, but actually seeing it for yourself totally puts it into perspective. The lake looks like it’s sparkling and all you can see for miles is green trees upon green trees. The air smells crisp, fresh. This place is everything and more that you could want for a week long getaway.

Wow.

“Quite the place, huh?” Tom steps besides you and mirrors you in looking up at the house. “Too bad it’s in the middle of nowhere.”

You can see the agitation taking over the brunette’s face. It’s no secret he’d rather be anywhere else but here. Things have been tense with Tom and his parents lately, what with everything going on at school. It hurts you to see him like this, but you also wish he would just let loose and stop being so lost in his head for once.

“C’mon, Tommy, it’s not that bad. There are worse places you could be than at a beautiful lake house with your family and best friend.” You grin at him and feel a tiny sense of relief when you see his own smile start to crack through his facade.

The boy rolls his eyes before shaking his head and adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder. “Sure, whatever you say. Let’s go inside so I can pick the best room before my cousins get here.”

Laughing, you nod before going to get your own bags from the car. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson smile warmly at you as they hand you your stuff. They’ve always been the sweetest to you and you’re so grateful to them for letting you come on their little family vacation. The Pearsons are like your second family and you wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“Bethany, are you coming with me to go pick out our room?” You turn around to try and locate your best friend, and when you do it seems she’s already set her mind on heading straight to the pool.

“You go on ahead, I’ll be up in a bit! Just wanna get started on my…summer tan.” She winks at you before hurrying off towards the pool. You wish she was actually that excited about kickstarting her sun bath, but in reality she just wants to be out here when her new boyfriend, Ricky, shows up.

Bethany told you all about her plan to essentially sneak Ricky in on the family vacation. The guy gives you the total creeps and he isn’t worth half the trouble he and Bethany get up to, but if he makes your best friend happy then so be it.

You thought about telling Tom what Bethany was up to, but you figured it wasn’t worth the trouble. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson love Ricky and clearly can’t see how much of a tool he really is, so they wouldn’t believe anything Tom would say anyways. And besides, you don’t feel like it’s your place to convince them otherwise even if you are like family to them.

Whatever’s gonna happen will happen, and you just hope it won’t cause too much drama. You’re all here to relax, have fun, eat some good food, and make lifelong memories—so that’s all you plan on doing. Hopefully.

Catching up with Tom, you both make your way inside and take in the expansive foyer. The place is definitely dated and fitting for a house in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan, but it’s still nice nonetheless.

“Ugh, so lame,” Tom winces from beside you, and you turn to see him pointing at one (of countless) fish hung up on the wall. It’s huge and definitely does not do anything to tie the room together, but what else could you expect from a place like this?

Laughing, you steer your brunette companion towards the staircase. “Forget the fish, let’s go find our rooms!”

“Alright, alright! Y’know I don’t know why you’re so excited about this. All we get to do out here is go fishing or bake ourselves outside by the pool.”

“I don’t know why you’re not so excited about this. I know things have been tense with your parents lately, but maybe this vacation can be a good thing! Maybe you and your parents will find some common ground?”

Tom glances at you briefly out of the corners of his eyes as you make your way up the stairs, trying to decide if you’re being serious. You of all people know there’s a minuscule chance of that happening. He grumbles out, “Not likely.”

Not wanting to press him any further, you let it go. For now. Leaving Tom at the top of the stairs, you go off to find a good room for you and Bethany to share. You know she isn’t picky and most likely won’t even be sleeping there if her plan with Ricky works out. The thought makes you shudder so you pick a random room, throw your bags down, and quickly find Tom before your brain can make up any more assumptions.

Once you do find him, you can tell just by the look on his face that him being able to pick his room first didn’t help much. You’re not sure how Mr. and Mrs. Pearson found this place, but it’s extremely obvious it’s supposed to be for families with younger kids, much younger.

There are toys and little sports knickknacks all around the room, perfect for a boy, but definitely not one Tom’s age or even Tom in general. You fight your smile as he turns to you and groans weakly.

The pity party doesn’t last long though as suddenly loud music can be heard along with tires screeching. You and Tom make your way to the window to see who’s acting as if the roundabout driveway is a racetrack. Tom already knows, but you’re completely clueless. Even though you’ve been Tom and Bethany’s best friend for as long as you can remember, you’ve somehow never met any of their extended family. The only time Bethany and Tom ever really see them is during family vacations, and so since you’ve never tagged along before this will be your first encounter with them.

“Who is that?” You question as you watch a guy around Mr. Pearson’s age hop out of the front seat. There’s someone else that was in the passenger seat, but he moves too quickly to the trunk so you can’t make him out.

“That would be my Uncle Nate,” he says and then continues when an older woman gets out of the back seat. “And my Nana. The twins are probably still in the car glued to their Nintendos and my cousin Jake, well, he’s right there.”

You tear your eyes away from Nana as you watch her give Hannah some sort of candy. The sight makes you smile. Moving towards Tom more you notice instantly who he’s talking about. Jake, as Tom said, is tall and from what you can tell, decently tan. His hair looks like a mop of honey sand (if that’s even a thing) and the energy he gives off is palpable.

Something inside of you pulls towards him, interests you. But before Tom can catch on you pull away from the window, making yourself busy with helping him unpack.

The distraction only works for so long before suddenly you hear multiple sets of footsteps coming up the stairs. Your eyes jolt to the door and are instantly met with the blonde boy you were staring at just a few moments ago.

He’s saying something to the twins but instantly stops in his tracks as he takes in your presence. The way his blue, incredibly blue, eyes quickly trail up and down your body leave your cheeks feeling warm.

“Hi, I’m Jake,” he says, flashing you a smile as he rocks back and forth on his heels, hands nestled deep in his shorts pockets.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m one of Tom and Bethany’s best friends. It’s nice to meet you!” You give a little wave and then instantly curse yourself for doing so. What was that Tom said earlier? So lame.

“You as well,” Jake says as his eyes flick from you to Tom and then back again. He can’t wrap his mind around how his cousins have kept you from him all this time. He’d definitely need to get more intel once you left.

“Don’t be modest, Y/N. You’re our only best friend,” Tom teases as he wraps an arm around your shoulder. You roll your eyes and nudge him lightly in the side with your elbow.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket, a message from Bethany popping up on the screen asking you to meet her by the pool. Thank God for that girl, even without knowing it she has impeccable timing. Now you don’t have to worry about being any more awkward around Jake. You’re sure there will be other opportunities later, but for now you have an out.

“Speaking of, Bethany’s waiting for me by the pool. I’ll catch up with you in a bit,” you say to Tom before walking towards and around his cousins. You smile at the twins and glance at Jake before quickly saying, “See you guys later.”

Once you’re out of earshot, Jake jumps into action, picking up right where he left off when he came in and more importantly getting information on you.

“Twins, get these out of here,” he says as he points towards Tom’s luggage.

“Woah woah woah, wait a minute. Why do you get the best room? I was here first!” Tom protests.

“Never mind that!” Jake urges, waving his hand as if Tom getting kicked out is nothing. “Dude, why have I never met Y/N before, and why have you never thought to tell me about her?!” The blonde races to the window, trying to get a glimpse of you as you walk out the front door.

Tom rears his head back in confusion, not understanding his cousin’s sudden interest in his best friend. The two of you spoke for a minute, not even. It’s not exactly a match made in heaven.

Meeting up with Jake by the window, Tom decides to answer his burning questions anyways. “Well, she’s never come with us on family vacation before. Every time we invited her she had other commitments or didn’t want to overstep. My mom and dad finally convinced her to come this year since she’s practically family, so here she is.” Tom spots you as you walk over to Bethany by the pool. Just from the looks of it his sister is losing her mind over something. He’s had a feeling she’s been planning some scheme but Tom still can’t figure out what it is. He shakes it off and continues. “And besides, why would I tell you about her? It’s not like you go to school with us or anything.”

“Unfortunately,” Jake mumbles as he locks his eyes on you. Tom looks from his cousin to you and catches on to what he’s so intent on watching. You’re pulling your shirt off to soak up the sun with Bethany by the pool, and the way Jake is ogling you is definitely something he didn’t need to witness. “Hey is she single by chance?”

“Ok first of all, ew, and second of all, never gonna happen! Nice try, though.”

“Oh, c’mon, Tom! What’s the big deal! She’s insanely gorgeous and she’s got this cute awkward thing about her,” Jake grins, peeling his eyes away from the window to give his cousin his full attention.

“The big deal is she’s my and Bethany’s best friend! She’s not some random girl you can just try to get with. Sorry, Jake, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Before the blonde gets a chance to reply, Tom’s dad calls from the foyer for him to come down and help unload. Tom shoots Jake a knowing look before heading out of the room.

“We’ll see about that,” Jake whispers to himself, intent on at least getting to know you better.

*****

To say you’re less than thrilled when Ricky pulls up in the driveway would be an understatement. What makes it even worse is the way Bethany quite literally throws herself at him. When Ricky tells her to “give papa some sugar” that’s what really throws you over the edge. You’re glad Tom says something before you ultimately had to.

Why, oh why couldn’t she have just gone out with the nice guy from calculus class you recommended!?

Witnessing his interaction between Bethany and Tom’s parents was unnerving and when Ricky brought up having car trouble, you knew it was all just part of the plan. You caught Tom’s eye for a second and the look he had on his face just further confirmed it. You knew immediately he’d caught on to what Bethany’s been up to.

When Mr. Pearson leads you all outside so he can try and fix Ricky’s car, your heart swells at his kindness even though you know the man has no clue what he’s doing, but on the other hand your brain starts sounding off alarms that make you wanna shake your best friends’ father until he snaps out of his usual parent obliviousness.

The only good thing that comes out of standing outside by Ricky’s precious car is that you’ve somehow ended up next to Jake. The close proximity of the blonde and you sends goosebumps shooting up your arm. It’s like tiny zaps of electricity are bouncing between the minimal space between your arms and for some reason you’d do anything to know what it’d feel like to actually be touching him.

You can feel Jake sneaking little glances at you while everyone else watches Mr. Pearson fiddle with things under the car hood. In a moment of boldness, you meet his eyes and smile at the redness that blooms on the apples of his cheeks.

Time goes too fast because in a flash Mr. Pearson is done being dumbfounded by the car and you’re being whisked away with Bethany and her boyfriend while Jake trails after Tom back into the house. You both look back at precisely the same time to spot each other and the moment leaves you feeling giddy all the way back to the pool.

While Bethany and Ricky settle into two of the lounge chairs, you decide instantly to move yours over as far as possible while still being by the pool. When Bethany questions it you assure her it’s just to give the two of them space so they can connect and she calls you sweet for it. In reality you don’t want to be anywhere near that infuriating man and would rather not have to listen in on their inevitable cutesy talk. Gag.

After a while you begin to contemplate just going back inside to meet up with Tom or maybe play a game with Hannah, but out of nowhere you catch movement in the grass not far off to the side of you.

You sit up and squint to get a better look, and when you finally realize what and who it is, you’re too late to do any questioning. Pops start to go off and you do your best to try and figure out what’s being shot, but you don’t have to wonder long because Bethany and Ricky both begin screaming. When you spot the orange splatters covering the both of them, the dots begin to connect themselves.

Bethany gets up and you don’t even think about interfering with her. When she’s pissed, she’s pissed. You watch as she goes over and rips the paintball gun out of Tom’s grasp and rips him a new one. Wincing at the sight of it all, you grab your stuff as well as Bethany’s and follow her and Ricky inside where you’re sure a spectacle is about to occur.

*****

To say Tom’s dad is livid would be selling it short. The lecture started practically as soon as he and Jake walked through the front door. You had to restrain yourself from laughing as you took in the sight of Jake. He looked like a literal shrub! Tom’s dad gave them both a few minutes to clean up before forcing them to sit at the dining room table. He played it off as giving them time to think about what they did before being reprimanded, but you know it’s because he wouldn’t be able to be in full lecture mode with Jake looking like that. You know you wouldn’t either.

As you stand off to the side, not wanting to insert yourself too much, you watch as Mr. Pearson goes in on them. He has some points, but if he knew what Ricky’s really like, he probably wouldn’t be as upset. It takes all you’ve got to not point out the fact Ricky is mocking him behind his back. Once again, that guy is such a tool.

All of a sudden, Nana is banging her cane against the TV and complaining about it being broken. She’s the sweetest but obviously you don’t mess with her and her TV.

Of course Ricky’s the first to jump in and offer to help which leads to Tom being hassled into joining him on the roof. It doesn’t seem like a good combination, especially after everything that just happened, but off he goes. As he passes you, you reach out and squeeze his arm lightly, whispering a “good luck”. He smiles at you halfheartedly, clearly already feeling defeated and it hasn’t even been a full day. It’s not long before Jake rushes after him (but not before catching your eye and nearly running into you as he passes, which leaves you feeling lightheaded in the best way possible). Hopefully with the both of them Ricky won’t be too much of a problem.

With nothing else to do while Bethany complains to her dad about Tom, you wander over to where Tom and Bethany’s younger cousins and sister are. The twins, Art and Lee, are playing some sort of video game that seems cool so you watch them play for a bit while also keeping an eye on Hannah. She’s playing with her toys and it astounds you how immersed she can become in her own little world. Oh how you wish you could go back to that time.

The twins’ game starts getting intense and you find yourself locked in on their skills. You know being addicted to video games isn’t the best for them in the grand scheme of things, but at least it looks cool.

When you turn towards Hannah you’re startled to see she’s disappeared. She was right there just a second ago, but now she’s gone. Her toys being the only things left behind.

Loud banging starts to come from upstairs and you watch as even the twins seem interested as to what’s going on up there. They pause their game and look at you before it’s all silently agreed upon that the three of you should check it out.

By the time you get up to the attic you can hear screaming and even more banging around. You’re the last to reach the top, and you become confused as you notice Hannah seems frozen in place by the window and that Art and Lee are looking at each other as if they’re bickering about something.

You rush over to them and your heart rate picks up rapidly as you notice Jake banging on the window, begging for someone to open it. Reaching out, you unclasp the lock and step back as both Jake and Tom stumble inside.

You’re completely lost on what’s going on, confused as to why Tom is yelling at everyone to get downstairs when suddenly something is crashing its way through the window, shattered glass flying everywhere.

The room is dead silent as four small things stand before you all. The air seems to completely leave your lungs as you gasp at the sight. What are those things?

“Creepy crawlies,” Hannah squeaks out, obviously terrified over these newfound intruders. You reach for her, guiding her back towards you and away from whatever those creatures are. One of them starts to mimic Hannah and once they begin to advance, you all fly down the attic steps.

You get the twins and Hannah out first, you following closely behind. Tom and Jake are right behind you and as you go to help the twins bring up the ladder to try and stop the invaders from following you, you’re eyes go wide as you watch both the brunette and the blonde tumble down the steps, the two of them falling flat on their faces.

“Are you guys ok?” You rush out as you go to kneel by them, wanting to make sure they didn’t get knocked out. They turn around and seem okay but for some reason Jake grasps Tom by his collar and pins him down, demanding him to prove he’s not a zombie, whatever that means.

“You wet the bed until you were ten! A zombie wouldn’t know that!” Jake goes rigid and looks sheepishly at you before turning back towards Tom.

“Thanks a lot, man.” You giggle before your head snaps back towards the entrance to the attic, the door flying open again as the little gremlins try to make their way out.

Instantly, you, Tom, and Jake are up on your feet doing all you can to stop them from coming down. The twins and Hannah are freaking out and you feel bad for Art as he screams that he's been scratched.

With Jake’s help you’re able to slam the door shut, chopping off the nails of one of the martians in the process. Tom latches the rope tightly and for now it works, but something tells you it won’t last long.

Your best friend yells out that you all have to call the police and that’s exactly what you have in mind as you go racing to the boys’ shared room.

As soon as you get there you’re all checking your phones, but none of them work. The signal’s dead and the thought of not being able to call for help makes your heart sink.

You look to Tom in hopes he has something in mind, but the uncertainty doesn’t last long thankfully as Hannah finds a phone on the desk and says it’s working. Art hurries over to it but complains there’s no buttons.

“That’s a rotary phone, there are no buttons, you have to spin it,” you explain as you go over there to dial it for him. The phone begins to ring and you hand it over to Tom so he can explain exactly what’s going on to the police.

The call seems to be going okay from what you can tell, but then Tom starts saying “Hello?” over and over again into the phone and with that you know the line’s gone dead.

“We have to tell our parents,” he says as he hangs up the now useless phone. Everybody nods and heads towards the door when out of nowhere there’s banging on one of the windows.

Slowly, everyone advances towards the window. You watch as Jake reaches out and snatches open the curtain. You all jump back as Ricky’s face appears. He’s upside down and swinging side to side. As Jake opens the window and pokes him with one of Hannah’s toys, Ricky begins saying something, but it becomes clear he’s not talking to you guys. It’s the aliens and they’re arguing with each other and it’s all being relayed to you through him. Weird.

Tom explains to everyone that what’s happening with Ricky is like a bluetooth device. The guy’s a human speaker at this point. The aliens go on and on until Ricky’s body becomes too heavy for the rope he’s attached to to hold him up anymore. He goes flying down the side of the house and it does not sound pretty when he hits the ground.

Per usual Tom starts piecing things together. You’ve always loved how his brain could work like that, God knows it always helped you, him, and Bethany when you needed a good plan to get out of trouble. It seems he hasn’t lost his touch unlike how he’s been pretending he has.

Good news is apparently the mind control device the aliens are using won’t work on any of you since you’re all still considered kids. Bad news is, Tom’s parents, his uncle, and Nana are all at risk of being controlled. Also apparently Ricky’s a senior in college which is why the chip worked on him. Wonderful.

The twins want to go tell the adults what’s going on, and part of you agrees but also realizes it won’t help the situation at all. If anything it’ll make it worse because as soon as those aliens lock eyes on them, they’re done for.

Jake starts going on about practically bringing in the national guard which blows your mind on how someone can come up with an even worse plan. Imagine having armed alien zombies. At least he’s pretty, you think.

Tom takes command and starts telling everyone that you can’t tell any adults about what’s going on. It’s up to you guys to fix this and send these aliens back to where they came from. Everyone seems to understand but when you all look towards Hannah to make sure she’s got it, she’s gone.

Crap.

*****

After finding Hannah and narrowly convincing Mr. and Mrs. Pearson, as well as Nate, that everything was okay, you all regrouped and started to brainstorm. Jake took charge and essentially turned on his commander mode which was a little funny but also pretty impressive.

You’ll definitely decide on which one it is after you see the outcome of this plan he’s enacted. Jake’s brought you all outside to the side of the house and it’s apparent that he plans on climbing the vines and seeing what’s going on with the aliens in the attic.

You’re honestly just hoping he makes it there and back in one piece at this point.

Once Jake starts climbing, Tom decides he’s going up there with him. It’s hard watching Jake climb up there, but now watching the both of them? You squeak out to Hannah to tell you when it’s over, and she nods while calling after Tom to be careful.

They seem to be doing alright. The rickety wooden structure they’re clinging to is making you nervous but it should be fine, right?

Wrong, Jake loses his balance and both boys come plummeting to the ground. You swear you can hear a bone snap as they hit the grass. The three younger kids “ooo” and “ahh” over the harsh landing, while you fly over to them to make sure they’re alive.

“I knew this was a bad idea! Are you guys okay!?” You once again find yourself kneeling beside both boys. Tom shoots up from the ground but Jake seems to be taking his time so you lean into him, placing your hand lightly on his shoulder. “Jake, are you hurt?”

He looks up at you with clear blue eyes and a smile on his face that lets you know him being hurt is definitely not the reason he’s still laying on the ground. “I’m fine now that you’re here.”

You find yourself at a loss for words as a smile breaks out on your face. He’s so cheesy but man is it endearing. Tom scoffs from the side of you and you look up at him timidly.

“I’m fine, Y/N, thanks for asking!” He huffs while brushing off bits of leaves from his shirt.

“Hey I asked if you were alright! You shot up so fast I figured you must be happy and healthy considering you had all that speed! Besides, Jake was still laying on the ground, there could’ve been something wrong with him.”

Tom chuckles and nods his head. “Oh there’s something wrong with him alright!” Jake glares at him and you can tell there’s something between them you don’t know about, but before you can question it and before Jake can retaliate Tom is ushering everyone to get a move on. “We’ve got to get to the basement!”

Before any more bickering can ensue, you’re all rushing back to the house but get stopped short as Bethany rounds the corner asking if you’ve seen Ricky.

Your eyes dart quickly to his body that’s still laying on the side of the house from when he fell earlier, and you rack your brain trying to come up with a good excuse.

“I think he said he was gonna go sit by the lake to work on his tan!” You rush out as Bethany starts to turn towards Ricky’s body. “He told us he wanted you to meet him there so I’d definitely head on over, it looked like he wanted to talk!”

Bethany looks at everyone skeptically, finding it odd you’ve seemed to create this group when she never would’ve guessed for all her siblings and cousins to find common ground, especially with her best friend. But she appears to accept it as she shrugs and thanks you before marching off towards the lake. You all let out a collective breath before dashing into the house and heading down to the basement.

*****

Looking through all of these random items in the basement has you feeling a little squeamish. You swear some of the laundry that’s in these baskets has been down here for half a decade.

Moving a few tarnished boxes aside, you jump a little when you feel someone come up next to you. You turn and realize it’s just Jake and let out a small laugh, trying to settle your nerves.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, smiling sheepishly. You shake your head to let him know it’s ok and you watch as he starts to mindlessly look through boxes around you. “So, how long have you known Tom and Bethany?”

“Oh practically my whole life! I met Tom in Kindergarten and I met Bethany after he invited me over to hang out.” You smile as you think back on the memory. “I’ve been inseparable from them ever since.”

“That’s really nice, they seem to care a lot about you,” Jake replies. The blonde seems to lose his usual cocky attitude for a moment as he continues, “I’m glad you came along with them.”

Your eyes meet and even in the shadowy darkness of the basement, you can still see all the sea blue hues his contain. “Me too,” you whisper.

Jake moves one of his hands at the same time you do to search through more of the boxes and it causes them to collide. Somehow neither of you jump back from the contact, instead you bask in it. Jake practically has his pinky wrapped around yours, warmth traveling every which way in your guys’ hands.

The feeling is incredibly comforting. You don’t know what it is that draws you to Jake, or why you feel it in the first place, you just know it feels good, right.

For a minute you feel like you could stay like this forever, but then Tom’s voice rings out through the basement.

“I’m telling you, their map led down here.”

You and Jake break apart, he grins at you before turning towards his cousin. “You sure about that?”

“Ssh,” Hannah says. “You hear that? Rice Krispies.”

Everyone moves towards the center of the basement and is dead quiet. You strain your ears to try and see what Hannah’s talking about and after a second you can hear it. Some sort of static.

Art pulls out his Nintendo DS and hands it to Tom. You peak over his shoulder and notice the screen is completely messed up. It’s like some other-worldly message has taken over both screens. Tom immediately confirms it’s the aliens.

The group disperses and you start to search again with Tom as Jake hurries towards a bucket of gardening tools. “Well whatever it is, we can’t let them get to it! Everyone, gear up. We move on my command.”

You and Tom exchange a glance before moving back towards Jake. Tom starts to talk about needing a plan, that just going after them with random junk will do nothing good. You hate to say it considering your feelings for Jake, but you agree with him. It’s too dangerous to go up there with nothing but a whim.

Jake argues with the brunette, set on heading straight for the aliens with what they’ve got. He motions for the twins and you notice they’re immediately on board with their brother.

“Y/N, are you coming?” Jake looks to you in solidarity, but you unfortunately can’t give it to him.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I’m with Tom on this one.” The look that flashes in the boy’s eyes, disappointment, makes you frown. But you won’t change your mind, having a plan is the best option in this case. Jake nods at you before racing up the stairs with the twins, leaving you with Tom and Hannah.

“Guess it’s up to us, guys,” you say, grinning softly at Hannah and Tom. Your best friend smirks at the two of you, a plan no doubt already forming.

“Hannah,” Tom says. “Hand me that tape.”

*****

It’s impressive how quickly Tom was able to come up with a…weapon? You wouldn’t necessarily call it a weapon considering what it is, but at least it’s something and you’re sure it’ll help in some capacity.

As you rush up the stairs to get to the attic, you already begin to hear yelling coming from the other boys. Tom looks at you and Hannah before suggesting you stay behind him.

Tom goes to open the door and as soon as he does the yelling intensifies. You can’t make out what the others are saying but the moment you step foot in the room, you get the idea.

Immediately you’re lifted off the floor, a weightless feeling settling over your body. In an instant you find yourself practically attached to the ceiling along with everyone else. You’ve never felt anything like this before and under any other circumstances you’d think it was cool.

Looking towards the attic you notice two of the aliens hop down easily to the floor. One of the twins yells out something about anti-gravity boots and in this moment you wish with everything you’ve got that you had a pair of those boots right about now.

Jake calls for Tom to use his weapon but before he even sets it off you know it’ll be useless in this situation. As soon as Tom pushes the trigger, the potato slowly flies through the air like everything else in the room and does nothing to stop the aliens. Yikes.

“Hurry, Tommy!” Hannah yells and you look around the room to find anything that might help.

You find your answer right next to your best friend. “Tom! Use the fire extinguisher, it’s right there!”

The brunette looks to his side and finds exactly what he needs. As quick as he can he unlatches it and sets it off, sending him flying across the room. Tom reaches the door, closes and locks it, before spraying the aliens with what’s left in the container. You cheer at the small victory.

“Jake, get the grenade!” Tom calls out and in no time his cousin is doing exactly that. In an impressive set of moves Jake is able to use the lack of gravity to his advantage and dive to the floor to get the device causing everyone to float. He throws it towards Tom and as if it was a baseball bat Tom uses the extinguisher to smash the anti-gravity device to pieces.

Immediately you find yourself falling to the ground, meeting a not so soft landing. You groan and turn to the side, finding Jake lying next to you. He sits up quickly and reaches his hand out towards you. Graciously accepting it he pulls you up and you stumble into him, finding yourself mere inches from his face.

“Thanks for the help,” you let out airily, suddenly finding it hard to breathe as you look in his eyes and feel his cool breath on your lips.

“Anytime.”

Hearing a commotion by the door, you notice Tom has started using the fire extinguisher for something else, this time to beat the aliens back. In no time they come to realize there’s no where else for them to go so they’re scurrying back into the attic. Before the attic door closes something falls from one of the aliens’ grip and clatters to the floor. You help Jake secure the door before going to investigate whatever it is.

The twins have a hold of it and are going back and forth on who gets to see it first. Something tells you that their tug of war with the device is doing more harm than good, but who knows?

Jake marches over and halts their bickering instantly, warning them it’s not a toy and that what’s happening is very much real. You look over and see Tom’s discovered something outside the window, so you walk over to see what’s caught his attention.

“Ricky?” You question, taking in the fact that controller must but what they were using to control him earlier. Tom smirks and nods his head. “Well this should be fun.”

“Get him before somebody finds him. I’ll stand on alien watch,” Jake says before handing the controller back to his brothers.

Tom and the twins make their way out the door, but you stay behind with Jake and Hannah. “Need a helping hand?”

Jake looks at you and smiles, lightly shrugging one of his shoulders before saying, “From you? Always.”

You try to hide the way he so easily makes you smile by busying yourself. “Let’s move this couch over, we can use it as cover incase the aliens try anything.”

The blonde moves to help you push the couch and as you set it into place he says, “I like the way you think.”

Softly biting the inside of your cheek, you look away so you don’t melt right here on the floor. When you turn, you’re met with Hannah’s mischievous grin. She holds her sock monkey close and gives you a look that lets you know she’s so onto you and her cousin.

The little girl doesn’t even have to say anything because she knows, as do you, that you’re falling for a certain lanky blonde and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

*****

As you stand guard with Hannah and Jake, you take in the fact it’s been really quiet for a while. You guess it’s better than the aliens actively trying to attack, but it’s definitely suspicious.

You and Jake haven’t spoken since you moved the couch, wanting to be on high alert, but even without talking he’s still distracting you. There have been countless moments since the three of you took cover behind the couch where Jake would accidentally bump into you or brush his shoulder against yours. Each time it sent a strike of electricity through you, and each time he wouldn’t make a move to scoot over. Neither would you.

It’s like a game of cat and mouse and even though there are clearly bigger things to deal with and stay focused on, it excites you and makes you feel giddy. Although the circumstances are less than ideal, you’re so happy to be sharing this time with Jake. He’s chaotic and a little unhinged at times, but you can tell he’s a softie underneath it all and is just trying to look after his family.

Turning to look at the boy on your mind, he feels your stare and moves to make contact, but before he gets the chance Tom and the twins are making their way up the stairs and into the room with you guys. You move over some and instantly feel the lack of Jake’s presence.

The blonde starts filling in his cousin and brothers and gets info on Ricky when all of a sudden you hear movement in the vents. Jake questions it and Tom rushes out that the aliens are using their map to try and get to the basement. All they need is the vents and they’ll end up right where they want to be. Oh God.

*****

“So you’re sure this is gonna work?” You question as Tom turns up the heat on the thermostat. It seems like a solid plan, but from what you’ve seen so far these aliens can handle pretty much anything.

“Let’s find out shall we?”

Hustling back up the stairs the twins inform you all that the aliens seem pretty mad. As you head back into the room with the attic door you can hear the intruders rushing back to where they were hiding out. It worked!

Everyone celebrates the victory but it doesn’t last long as Mr. Pearson calls for everyone to go downstairs.

He questions why the heat is on and you all try to convince him it’s freezing in the house but he doesn’t seem to believe it. Tom fights him on it and tries to come up with more excuses, but you can tell things are starting to get escalated.

Mr. Pearson starts bringing up Tom’s misbehaviors that have happened since you all arrived, but what really snaps the chord is when he brings up Tom’s failing grades. What Tom says next shocks you.

“I failed them on purpose! Yeah I tanked my grades, okay? I’m tired of getting picked on because I’m a brainiac!” The comment makes your heart ache. You knew Tom had been struggling lately, you saw what went on at school but never knew he would resort to this. Everyone around you is silent, their own thoughts on this confession coursing through their heads.

Tom’s dad speaks up first. “I was a brainiac. It worked for me.”

“I don’t wanna be like you. I wanna be cool!” If you thought the room was quiet before, it’s nothing compared to now. Even Mr. Pearson’s gone silent and you can see the hurt on his face clear as day.

“Don’t touch the thermostat,” he says before turning to walk away. The younger kids start to go back upstairs and you, Jake, and Tom go to do the same.

“Is that true?” Jake asks. “You really fail on purpose?”

“Nobody likes a mathlete,” Tom sighs, and before he can get any farther up the stairs you stop him in his tracks, wrapping your arms around his neck and holding him close to you.

“Your intelligence is one of the most special and unique parts of you. Never let anyone make you feel less just because they don’t understand that, okay?” You say into his ear, and the way he squeezes you in return lets you know he appreciates the sentiment. Letting go of him you continue up the stairs and say, “Now, what do we do? We can’t fight these things with your guys’ parents around.”

“We can’t just make them leave,” Jake replies, a stumped look on his face. This whole situation is hard to deal with and with only you guys to figure out a plan, it makes it even more challenging.

“Maybe we can,” Tom says looking between the both of you. “Here’s what I want you to do.”

*****

It blows your mind, even to this day, how Tom’s able to come up with the craziest and yet most genius plans. He takes Art to go track down Ricky because he’s going to somehow use him to get all the parents to leave the house. Meanwhile you, Jake, Hannah, and Lee create a type of spy camera out of some old Barbie toys. You connect everything and are able to see exactly what the car sees on a laptop, it’s perfect.

As you watch the screen, so far there’s nothing around. There’s a small part of you that hopes the aliens retreated and are giving up but there’s another part of you that knows there’s a slim chance of that happening.

Your thoughts are further confirmed as the camera gets flipped over and a squashed looking face pops up on the screen. Before you know it the lavender Barbie car is flying out of the open vent and smashing into pieces on the floor. Well, so much for that.

“C’mon, I have an idea,” Jake says as he rushes out of the room. You look at Hannah and Lee and you all shrug your shoulders before heading after the blonde. You and Hannah go straight for her cousin while Lee goes off to continue his part of the plan.

When you get to the hallway, you find Jake kneeling in front of the vent on the stairs, he has it open and appears to be throwing something inside of it. You get closer and realize he has some firecrackers. Must be more reinforcements he brought with him on vacation. You know, to go along with the paintball gun.

“Hey, not to question your plan or anything, but you’re not gonna set the house on fire, right?” You’re mostly joking…mostly. You kneel next to him and he laughs before throwing in another.

“Of course not! I just wanna wish those little space maggots a happy Fourth of July!” Jake smirks before taking out another firecracker from his pocket, this one looking a bit bigger than the last.

You just sit and hope Mr. and Mrs. Pearson have insurance…

Next thing you know Tom comes up the stairs with the twins and lets everyone know the coast is clear, the parents are gone. Jake revels in this and tosses in the larger firecracker he took out. The sound is loud and from the screams and fast footsteps you hear in the vents, you can tell it works to draw away the aliens.

Tom urges you and Hannah to go hide and although you can handle yourself, you agree to go along with the girl so she won’t be alone. Who knows what else these invaders have up their sleeves.

As soon as you and Hannah reach the room she’s staying in, you usher her under the bed, you sliding in after her. It’s not the best hiding spot but at least it’s something.

You can hear the aliens running through the vents and more firecrackers going off. It goes quiet for a second but then you hear some sort of clatter and feel something drop on the bed above you.

Both you and Hannah slowly slide out from under the bed a bit to try and see what it is. You’re met with a green face popping up from the top of the bed and it leads you and Hannah to start screaming. What’s weird though is that the alien starts screaming back!

He falls off the bed and lands right in a slinky that’s laying on the ground, he gets wrapped up in it and if you’re being honest the way he struggles with it and is mumbling to himself is kind of adorable.

The two of you feel bad for the little guy so you and Hannah each take an end of the slinky and begin to untangle him. The way he cowers and whispers that he comes in peace lets you know he’s completely harmless. As you remove the last ring of slinky, Hannah notices he has a cut and bandages him up.

It’s adorable in a crazy, weird type of way. So be it, though!

Once he’s all fixed up, the alien takes in his surroundings. He notices the toy instruments scattered on the floor and begins to play around with them a bit. Before you know it he’s a complete one man band and has a whole show going! It amazes you and Hannah and ends up with the two of you laughing and dancing around.

After he’s done Hannah begins to show him a bunch of her toys and even tells him about her bubble gun that’s been broken for a while. What stumped Hannah’s dad on what to fix is no problem for the alien and he has it fixed in practically seconds. It’s incredible.

While Hannah and the alien begin to talk about it, you see the boys rush into the room, immediately going into attack mode.

“Enemy armed! Enemy armed!” Jake starts to yell as he looks around for something to defend himself with.

“Hannah! Y/N! Step away from the alien!” Tom approaches the two of you while Jake grabs a bat, and Hannah instantly goes into defense mode at the sight of it.

“No! Leave him alone! He’s our friend!” She demands as she holds her arms out, doing what she can to stop the guys from advancing.

“He was just holding a ray gun to your head!” Art calls out and to prove him wrong Hannah picks up her bubble blower.

“It’s my bubble blower. He fixed it for me.” She holds up the gun for them to see and continues. “He’s not like the others.”

The four boys look to you for confirmation and you nod your head. “She’s telling the truth. He’s harmless and actually pretty sweet. Look!”

You motion for everyone to look under the bed where the little guy has retreated in fear. The moment you all lay on the ground, you can tell he’s unsure what to do. The alien cowers back towards the wall and looks more stressed than you during exams and that’s saying something.

“First sign of aggression I’m taking him out. With extreme prejudice,” Jake says, holding the bat he picked up close to him.

“Jake! I’m telling you, it’s fine, he’s fine! He’s not gonna hurt us. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.” The boy looks at you and it’s obvious he trusts what you’re saying. He gives you a tightlipped smile and a nod but you can tell he’s still on guard. That’s fair, at least he’s backed off a little.

“It’s okay, Mr. Snuggle Lump,” Hannah coos from beside you. The name isn’t the best and you advised her not to name him considering he is an alien and definitely not a pet, but she insisted.

The boys question the name and Tom reiterates the fact she shouldn’t name him. The alien introduces himself amidst all his anxiety (his name is Sparks) and Hannah waves at him. Sparks returns her wave but immediately pulls his hand back, still unsure of his safety.

“Awh,” Jake smiles and you nudge him in a “See?” manner. He blushes and nudges you back, trying to recover by saying “I mean, ugh!” You just roll your eyes in response, smirking.

Tom asses Sparks’ tools and demeanor and suggests that you guys are right. He definitely doesn’t seem or appear like the others. He and Hannah coerce him out from under the bed and Sparks humors everyone by using some sort of static device to make Hannah’s hair stand up. It sends you all into a laughing fit.

Before long Tom and Jake want to jump into interrogation mode. They pull up a chair and a bright light and shine it on Sparks as if they’re in an episode of Law & Order. It’s a bit much but considering you’re all trying to save the world, you let it slide.

Tom and Jake shoot a million different questions at Sparks and he gets a little overwhelmed, but after a while he figures out the best way to explain it to everyone is by showing it. Tom gives him some paper and crayons and in no time Sparks has drawn a full diagram of the house and the objective they’re looking for.

What they’re after isn’t in the basement, it’s under it!

As Sparks continues to build diagrams out of Legos of what they’re after, Jake continues with quips about him. He goes on about how they can’t trust him and that Sparks is a freak. Hannah’s getting pretty upset about it all and honestly so are you.

Tom tries to convince Jake that Sparks is different from the others, but he’s still not having any of it. Tired of the back and forth, you pull Jake aside while Sparks continues to talk to everyone else.

“Look, blondie, you’re cute when you’re sarcastic but the straight up mean jabs towards Sparks is getting to be a little much! Hannah’s clearly upset about it and even though I know it’s insane to think we should trust this alien, I’m telling you we should! I mean even Tom, the brains, thinks we can trust him so I’m gonna need you to as well at least just a little bit!”

Jake peers down at you and that smirk you saw earlier returns to his pretty pink lips. “So you think I’m cute?”

You scoff as heat rises to your cheeks, the confidence you had a few seconds ago faltering a little as you look into the boy’s sparkling eyes. “That’s seriously all you got out of that?!”

The blonde shrugs and leans in a little closer to you. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Taking a daring step closer to Jake, you place your pointer finger on his chest, poking at it to annunciate your words. “All I’m saying is, if you’re not gonna trust Sparks at least trust me and your cousins. And stop throwing out insults to the alien! You’re hurting Hannah’s feelings.”

“Alright, I will.” Jake’s comedic tone disappears, a look of genuine understanding and trust passing through his eyes. The next second he’s back to his usual self. “You know, it’s kinda cute when you’re snappy.”

Humming, you tilt you head up towards the boy, finding yourself closer to him than you’ve ever been before. “You’re something else, Jake Pearson, you know that?”

“I get that a lot,” he cheekily replies. You roll your eyes and laugh before pushing him away from you lightly and walking back towards the rest of the group.

*****

“Woah!” You awe at Sparks’ work as Tom holds up his new and improved potato gun. You don’t know how he did it, the little guy works so fast, but he took something so simple and turned it into something amazing! You’d definitely want him as your electronic repairman—er, repairalien?

Everyone’s heads shoot up as beeping can be heard from outside. You and Jake hurry to the window and the first thing you see is a brown squad car. Great.

“It’s the po-po, be cool,” Jake urges and you stifle your laugh at his weird sayings. As if it couldn’t get any worse, though, someone starts banging on the bedroom door.

You listen in and realize it’s their grandma. You guess they weren’t able to get rid of everyone.

“Crap! We forgot about Nana!” Jake moves away from the window and goes to stand by Tom. From the look on your best friend’s face, you can tell he’s not convinced it’s his beloved grandmother. From the way she’s talking, you aren’t either.

“I may not know her extremely well, but I’d bet money that isn’t your Nana,” you say, jumping back a little when she knocks particularly loudly.

“Are you sure?” Jake questions. Not a second later and the door is flying forward, completely off it’s hinges. Nana growls at you all and if you weren’t one hundred percent sure before, you are now!

“Yeah, I’m sure!” You cry out. All of you start to take several steps back as Nana makes her way forward. She heads straight for Hannah and Sparks, so you, Tom, and Jake do all you can to prevent her from reaching them.

Nana throws Tom off to the side and then once she gets to Jake she’s sinking her teeth into his arm, leaving her dentures hanging on his arm as she pulls away. Gross! The horrified look on Jake’s face says it all.

Before Nana can reach Hannah, you plant yourself in front of her, doing your best to try and guide her away without hurting her, but it’s no use as she easily tosses you aside just like with Tom. You land on the floor with a thud.

“Do something, Tom!” Jake calls out as he tries to recover from the Nana-sized bite on his arm.

Thinking fast, Tom pushes a skateboard out in front of Nana and it sends her flying back. One of the aliens pops out from under her and lands on her chest. It’s doesn’t take him long to recover though and in a second he’s got Nana back up on her feet.

You try to think of something to stop him, but you don’t even need to as Hannah’s way ahead of you. She blasts the alien with her bubble gun and it sends him in a frenzy. Art gets ahold of Nana’s controller and in the chaos Tom’s able to trap the little thing in a fishing net.

Jumping to open a chest near the bed, you urge Tom to put him in there. You leave Jake to lock it and head over towards Hannah and her suitcase where she’s hidden Sparks. It’s obvious the aliens know he’s in there, so you have to do something to throw them off.

You help Hannah unzip the pink suitcase quickly, and lead Sparks to a mountain of pillows on the bed where he blends in perfectly. You do it not a moment too soon because when you turn around, the other aliens are running into the room looking to retrieve Sparks.

One of them gets their hands on Jake’s paintball gun and suddenly you’re all being shot at. You hit the deck along with everyone else and just like you thought they would, the aliens get away with the suitcase.

Tom turns towards you and Hannah, feeling disappointed in the loss of Sparks. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry they got him.”

You and Hannah glance at each other, smiling, before you step forward and take the top pillows off the mountain you hid Sparks under. The two of you high five in excitement at outsmarting the aliens.

Per usual, every victory is met with a new challenge. The “po-po” as Jake likes to call them, starts speaking into his megaphone demanding for someone to open the door. It’s pretty doomed from what you can tell but you’re sure Tom will come up with something.

“You guys get rid of the cop. I’m going after the aliens,” Jake says as he starts to back out of the room. Immediately you’re not having any of it. No way he’s going alone.

“Wait!” You call after Jake and he stops in the doorway. You turn towards Tom before following the blonde. “You got this? He shouldn’t go alone.”

He nods his head. In the back of his mind he takes in the worried look on your face, the obvious signs his best friend is starting to care for his rambunctious cousin. He doesn’t fully love it, more-so because of Jake and his antics, but he accepts it. “Yeah, you go, I’ll handle it, don’t worry.” With that, you trail after Jake, stepping out into the hallway with him.

“Did you really think I was just gonna let you go after them on your own?” You look up at the boy and tilt you head, giving him a look of coy disbelief.

“I should’ve known better. My apologies,” he grins.

“I’ll accept it just this once. As long as you know we’re in this together. It’s you and me.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Surprising you, Jake intertwines one of his hands with yours, a flurry of butterflies erupting in your stomach instantly. “Let’s do this.”

And with that, the two of you race up the stairs, heading straight into whatever comes next.

*****

“Jake! He’s over there! He’s about to shoot someone!” Carefully stepping higher on the roof, you point off to the right, showing Jake exactly where the alien is.

“Not on my watch!” In a flash Jake throws a rake he found up on the roof. It successfully knocks the alien on his side, making him miss his shot.

The martian’s back on his feet in no time and you and Jake rush after him. He begins to repeat everything the boy says and it irritates the crap out of you. You really need to get these things out of here, now!

Leading you both back to the window to get inside, Jake’s the first to reach it and as he leans in, his body is instantly thrown back.

“Jake!” You race towards him and take in the paint splatters all over his face and chest. He’s almost completely knocked out. The boy reaches a hand out and tries to hold on to you, but it’s too late. As you turn back towards the window, you’re met with the male and female aliens, who strike you with the paintball gun, knocking you out cold.

*****

When you come to you almost get knocked out yet again. For some reason your head keeps getting thumped against something over and over and it feels as if you’re heading down a hill.

Opening your eyes fully and trying to get your bearings you realize you’re being dragged down the stairs. Each time you get pulled forward your head flies back onto the steps, causing an unbearable ache to start to bloom there.

You go to open your mouth to say something, but panic fills you as you realize you can’t. Your mouth has been stuffed with cloth and taped over, and the panic only intensifies when you go to move your arms and legs and note you can’t move them either. It’s as if your whole body has been bound together, leaving you no room to try and escape.

Heartbeat pounding in your ears, you find yourself unable to concentrate on anything, feeling as if you’re underwater and everything is being drowned out.

Your head lolls to the side and in doing so you come face to face with Jake’s head. You take in the fact he looks like he’s trying to say something to you, but you can’t make out any of it as he’s in the same situation you’re in. Tears fill your eyes as the feeling of being trapped sinks in. The ropes around your body start to rub as you become more awake and the feeling makes you feel like you’re on fire.

For such small aliens it takes them practically no time to drag you and Jake down to the basement. The trip down there is no easier than the one down the main stairs and you’re sure you’ll have splinters all over if and when you get out of here.

The thought of maybe not even surviving this whole thing only heightens your current emotions. Your breath becomes more ragged and you find it hard to even keep your eyes open as the aliens begin to dig in the ground and throw dirt towards you and Jake.

Noticing your obvious stress and wanting to do anything he can to try and help, Jake inches himself closer to you. He takes in your tear stained cheeks and rapid rise and fall of your chest as he turns his body and immediately feels an ache in his chest at the sight of it. He’s terrified, but the fact you have to go through this too makes it even worse. Part of him wishes he would’ve urged you to stay with the others so you wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Hey, Y/N, look at me!” Jake tries to grab your attention, but his voice comes out muffled due to the tape and cloth. The boy tries again, doing his best to try and talk to you.

Amidst your racing heartbeat and choke-backed sobs, you notice the movement beside you and can hear Jake’s muffled voice. You tilt your head and are met with his dirt-caked face. Even with all the mud, paint, and dim lighting coming from the alien’s tools, his eyes shine bright. The familiarity of them soothes you a bit but not enough as more dirt gets thrown your way and the aliens’ delighted voices reach your ears. It’s clear they’re getting closer to what they’re looking for.

You drop your head back to the ground, feeling defeated and so tired. The ache at the back of your head is starting to dull but it’s still throbbing, making you miserable and feeling like you can’t concentrate on Jake.

“No, c’mon, Y/N, keep your head up! Look at me, it’s okay!” Jake wishes with everything he’s got that he could somehow rip off the tape and cloth wrapped around his mouth. He’d give anything to just be able to talk to you clearly and try to ground you during this crazy experience.

Moving your head up and struggling to get closer to Jake, you do your best to try and stay focused on him. You can see the desperation on his face, his concern and empathy. It makes your heart swell that he cares so much about you and your well being when he’s going through the same exact thing.

The blonde tilts his head down and leans his forehead gently against yours. The warmth and light pressure of it allows you to focus on him and him alone. “It’s okay, I’m right here. I’m right here.” Jake’s muffled encouragement is hard to understand, but the intention is clear. You push back softly against his forehead, doing what you can to let him know that he’s helping you more than he could ever realize, that you’re here for him just as much as he’s here for you.

A bright light begins shinning from the ground and excited cheers follow. The aliens found what they were looking for. It’s actually happening, more aliens are going to invade planet earth.

As the aliens start grabbing what they need, it becomes clear they have no use for you and Jake. Before they leave to begin their invasion, they shove the two of you into the hole they created in the ground and that’s the last thing you see before everything goes dark.

*****

When you wake up it’s to the feeling of a decent sized weight being dropped on you. Dirt and rubble fly everywhere and you push yourself backwards, wanting to distance yourself from whatever it is.

A light flashes across your face and you’re sure it’s the aliens before suddenly everything comes into focus and your met with your best friends, Hannah, and the twins. Relief floods your body and you nearly burst into happy tears at the sight.

The group lifts you and Jake out of the rubble and you’ve never felt more grateful than you do in this moment, especially once Bethany and Hannah get the tape and ropes off of you. As soon as you’re able to move freely, you wrap your arms around them both, holding them close and thanking all your stars that you made it out of that situation alive. There’s still much to do, but in this moment you’re safe.

After getting intel from Jake, Tom comes over and hugs you as well, telling you he’s glad you’re okay. Once letting go of him, it’s no brainer that you lunge towards Jake, wrapping your arms around him and holding him as close as possible, taking in his warmth and tight grasp.

The blonde nuzzles his face into your neck, trying to get his brain to understand you’re both safe, you both made it, that it’s okay now. He rubs his hands up and down your back soothingly, almost using it as a technique to convince himself you’re here and in his arms.

“Thank you,” you whisper into the side of his head. Those two words holding a meaning so much more than anyone could ever understand.

“-your stupid brother and your dumb little cousins!” The snarky tone and comment has you shocked and causes you to turn out of Jake’s arms. It’s no question who the voice belongs to and when you see it’s being directed at your best friend, anger bubbles under the surface of your skin.

“Don’t talk about my family like that,” Bethany retorts

“Well you don’t have to worry about it anymore cause we’re done. I knew I should’ve stayed home and hooked up with Annie Filkins, she’s smokin’ hot and she doesn’t like talking about feelings all the time! I’m going straight to Annie’s.” Ricky starts to retreat back upstairs but you’re done with his crap. No one gets to talk to one of your best friends like that and get away with it. Especially not after the day you’re having.

“Hey, dirt bag!” You call out, stopping Ricky in his tracks. He turns towards you, a bored look on his face, and it takes everything in you not to smack it right off of him. Walking over to him you continue, “I don’t know what your problems is—actually I can think of about a million, but no one treats my best friend and her family like that and gets to walk away!”

Ricky scoffs at you and rolls his eyes, clearly not caring for anything you have to say. This only makes you more defensive of your friends. “Bethany is the greatest girl you ever had and ever will have! There’s absolutely no one out there who will ever put up with you the way she has, and I know for a fact she deserves a thousand times better than a guy like you! You’ve got some nerve acting all high and mighty when you’re nothing but a selfish jerk that likes to pick up girls half a decade younger than him. And honestly, Ricky, that’s all you ever will be.”

Ricky’s face heats up at this, not feeling as cocky as he was a second ago. “You know what? I don’t have to take this from you! I’m out of here!”

The guy turns around, starting to head back upstairs, but not before you can get one final jab in. “Have a nice trip!” Leaning forward, you kick your foot against the old wooden steps, causing Ricky to trip over his own feet. Unfortunately it doesn’t trip him up too bad, but the stumble you get out of him is enough to satisfy you for now.

When you turn away from the stairs, you’re met with Bethany’s tear-rimmed eyes and bright smile. Before you can even get a word out she has you wrapped in her arms. “You’re my best friend in the whole world, you know that?”

“Forever and always,” you say as you squeeze her in return. “I’m sorry things turned out like this between you.”

“I’m also really sorry,” Tom says as he comes up to the both of you.

“Don’t be, you guys were right all along,” Bethany says, a defeated tone evident in her voice. The sound breaks your heart.

“If it’s any consolation,” Tom says pulling something out of his pocket. “He’s not going straight to Annie’s or anywhere for a while.”

Looking closer at what the brunette has in his hand, you smirk as you realize what it is. A piece from Ricky’s car. It won’t start without it. Good job, Tom!

“Wow!” Bethany exclaims, clearly impressed with her brothers skills, for once.

“Guys, enough with the bonding, we’re at DEFCON one here!” Jake says as he comes over and ushers you all towards the back window.

Once you get a look outside, you know things are only going to get harder from here. The aliens have their whole set up going and you can tell it’s only a matter of time before their whole fleet of other aliens arrive.

“This is so bad,” you mutter, backing up from the window along with everyone else.

Bethany starts questioning things and Tom seems at a loss for answers, as are the rest of you. The boy urges everyone that you all have to stop them before it gets any worse and Hannah demands that Snuggle Lump (Sparks) be rescued. You honestly can’t blame the girl, from what you could see from the window, Sparks is getting treated even worse after his “alliance” with the humans. You worry about what they might do to him.

Lee helps Bethany understand what in the world a Snuggle Lump is and how he’s actually a good guy and once that’s settled, Tom insists everyone gets outside. Before anyone can get far, Jake’s calling out for you all to wait.

“Not so fast, I have a plan.” The look everyone gives him makes it obvious they’re already not so sure about this, Jake picks up on it immediately. “Work with me here! Did Nana give anyone mentos?”

Confused glances travel around the group and you catch Jake’s eye for a second, raising an eyebrow, before Tom asks, “Why?”

“Hand ‘em over!” The blonde rushes out, holding open his hands for everyone to drop their mints into. Without questioning it you all begin to empty your pockets, having enough pieces each to last all week. Nana sure does love to give out her mentos.

“What? We’re gonna throw candy at them?” Bethany questions, not understanding what kind of plan her cousin could possibly have in mind.

“No,” Jake says before looking over at you and from the look on his face you can tell he’s got something good up his sleeve. “My own little science project.”

The blonde moves fast, getting all of his supplies and setting them up in record time. At first you don’t understand what he’s up to, but once you get a good look at everything he’s grabbed, you get the idea, and you’d be lying if you were to say it isn’t incredible.

“Mentos bombs,” you whisper beside him, excitement starting to course through your veins over how this plan might actually work. “You’re a genius!”

It’s like an instinct the way you so easily jump into Jake’s arms. He spins you around, feeling his own sense of pride over his work, and when he puts you down you don’t miss the suspicious glance from Bethany. It completely slipped your mind the fact she essentially missed the whole day with you guys, having been totally oblivious to what was going on until just a little bit ago. She has no clue as to how quickly you and Jake have become close, but from the teasing smirk on her face you can tell she’s more amused than angry. She’d definitely be asking you details later. A part of you can’t wait until then.

Grabbing all of the bombs and any items you can use as weapons, the eight of you take your places. If this works you might only have a small window to do what you need before the soda bombs fizzle out but hopefully it’ll be enough. It has to be.

Before anyone even has a chance to second guess the plan, the bombs are being thrown. Soda goes everywhere and from what you can tell, they’re working!

The aliens get disorientated and before they can regroup you and everyone else rush out into the backyard, the boys going one way and you, Hannah, and Bethany going another. You and Bethany cut off the female alien as Hannah meets up with Sparks. Bethany latches the bin you used to catch the alien and when she’s done you head over to Hannah and her alien companion, wanting to make sure they’re both okay.

An enormous flash of light surrounds the yard and you turn around to see one of the aliens being zapped by their own machine. Everyone starts cheering as he gets flung into the air, but from the look on Sparks’ face you can tell this isn’t anything good.

He tries to get the attention of the others but they’re so wrapped up in their presumed victory that they don’t hear him. You and Hannah rush over, trying to get them to listen to Sparks’ anxious ramblings, but it’s only when the giant alien smashes his way through the trees do they understand.

Oh my God.

The alien starts talking to everyone, clearly convinced he’s won. You find yourself clinging to Jake’s side in fear and you don’t miss the fact he holds his arm out in front of you, acting as some sort of shield. The action makes your heart soar, even under the circumstances.

As the enlarged alien starts to walk away, everyone begins to freak out. Hannah starts questioning Bethany about what’s gonna happen to their parents, the twins look towards their big brother for answers, and Tom stalks forward towards the machinery, no doubt trying to think of something to do.

“Everyone, listen! We don’t have much time,” Tom says as he rejoins the group. “Sparks, can anything go on that machine?”

“Theoretically,” Sparks replies, and the satisfied look on Tom’s face tells you all you need to know. He has a plan and knowing him it’s a good one.

“Art, Lee, I’m gonna need a controller, Bethany and Y/N, I need you to keep the other aliens on lockdown.” You and Bethany look at each other, nodding, ready to take on anything together.

“Okay,” you both tell Tom and after that he’s moving to grab something from the grass.

“Jake, c’mon, this battle’s not over yet!” You’re not sure what Tom’s plan is, but you know it’s definitely not gonna be anything easy, or safe for that matter. As Jake starts to follow Tom towards the machine, you lightly grab onto his wrist, pulling him back.

He turns and looks at you a little confused, but you waste no time in letting him know why you stopped him. Reaching up, you quickly kiss Jake on the cheek, reveling in the warmth you feel there as your lips make contact. “Be safe out there,” you say, taking in his bright smile before rushing off back to Bethany, ready to take on some aliens.

*****

It’s no small feat taking down aliens, even if in fact they are…small.

You and Bethany tussle hard with the female alien and successfully knock her out after she escapes from the bin you trapped her in earlier. Of course there are a few words exchanged and some nails broken, but you and Bethany come out practically unscathed and feel pretty awesome in doing so.

The feeling is fleeting though as you realize the other male alien has become bigger as well. You hurry over to Hannah and Sparks, wanting to do what you can to make sure they’re protected. They seem fearful but thankfully it appears that Tom and Jake have successfully enacted their plan and have gained control of the alien in charge!

The two aliens battle it out, the twins controlling the commander. They seem to be doing a pretty good job, but it’s unclear how long they’ll be able to hold the other one back, especially at his size.

“Sparks!” Tom cries out while running towards you guys. “Reverse the machine!”

In a flash you, Sparks, and Hannah race over to the glowing otherworldly device. Sparks immediately gets to work on reversing the effects of the machine and his hands move so fast you can’t even keep track of what it is he’s doing exactly to complete it. You just sit with Hannah and hope for the best.

In no time Sparks finishes what he’s doing and gives you and Hannah the thumbs up. “Reversed!” Yes!

“Tom! He’s done!” You call out towards your best friend, and with a nod of understanding he uses the controller to push both of the aliens into the improved machine.

Taking several steps back with Hannah and Sparks, the three of you take cover as you watch the aliens’ machine collapse. The female alien narrowly saves her partner but leaves the commander behind. In a flash the whole thing explodes and it’s almost as if it was never there.

Feeling a rush of relief, the three of you get up off the grass and hurry over to the others. You reconnect with Bethany first and then meet up with the boys. You all breathe out words of praise and sighs of relief at seeing everyone’s okay and that the plan worked.

You go to move towards Jake, but Bethany’s worried voice cuts through, causing you to turn around.

“Tom? What about the others? There’s so many.” Looking up at the sky you feel your heart sink at the sight. Dozens of spaceships take up the night sky, no doubt hundreds of aliens aboard them and ready to invade. You’re too late, they’re already here.

“Retreat! Retreat! The machine is destroyed! We have been outsmarted by the hu-mans! The invasion has failed! Retreat to Zirkon right away! Retreat! Retreat!” Sparks’ voice rings out across the backyard and just as soon as they appeared, the spaceships are gone.

“It’s gone. It’s over, it’s all over. We won!” Tom says as he takes it all in. You all move forward, meeting up with Sparks. The smoke is still clearing but the evident relief and happiness on not only your guys’ faces but Sparks’ as well is refreshing. “Thanks, Snuggs, for everything.”

“You’re alright for a space maggot.” Jake tells Sparks and you nudge him softly in his side for it, rolling your eyes at him teasingly as he smiles down at you. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“Miss him? He’s staying here, with us!” Hannah exclaims as she goes to crouch down in front of her newfound friend. “Please don’t go, you can be part of our family.”

The sight warms you heart and you find it cute how Hannah’s taken such a liking to him. Honestly who wouldn’t? Sure he’s an alien, but he’s so kind and he protected people of another species he hardly even knew. You have a feeling there aren’t many other aliens who would do the same.

Sparks pulls something out of one of his pockets, and when he hands it to Hannah you can see exactly what it is. It’s a photo of Sparks and three other aliens, a female and a little boy and girl. It’s his family! Sparks is a father!

“Han,” you say lightly, kneeling down next to the younger girl. “I think he’s already got a family.”

*****

It’s a sad sight, all of you saying goodbye to Sparks on the roof. You nearly lose it as Hannah hands him her sock monkey and the two of them hug.

After a final goodbye, Sparks is off, back to his home planet. The air is still and the only thing you can hear are the crickets and cicadas in the trees surrounding you. Another moment passes before you all look at each other, grins breaking out on your faces leading everyone to erupt into cheers.

The twins are high-fiving each other, Bethany and Tom are hugging Hannah, and you turn towards Jake. When you do, you’re taken by surprise as he rushes towards you, nearly knocking you off your feet as he connects his lips to yours.

The action is sudden and slightly startles you as you weren’t expecting it. Feeling your stiffness and apparent shock, Jake breaks apart from you and takes several steps back.

“I-I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that! I just got excited I wasn’t-!” Cutting him off you take back the distance he made between you, grab onto his shirt, and pull him down towards you, connecting your lips once more.

This time he’s shocked, but Jake quickly recovers and takes your face between his hands, moving his lips perfectly in sync with yours. Even after being piled on with dirt and grime, somehow his pink lips are still soft to the touch and you don’t ever want to know what it’s like to not be able to kiss them.

Needing a second to catch your breath, you reluctantly break apart from the blonde, giggling as he quickly sneaks another peck in. You look up into his blue orbs and smile as you say, “It’s you and me, remember?”

“Ugh, get a room!” Looking over Jake’s shoulder you laugh as you see the “disgusted” look on Tom’s face. He smirks at the both of you before saying, “I should’ve known Jake wouldn’t give up on you.”

Looking over his shoulder, Jake laughs and retorts, “That’s on you, cuz! There was no way I was giving up that easily on this girl. Not even with your threatening best friend warning.”

“Tom!” You cry out, mock disbelief spreading across your face over this revelation. Of course he’d try and block his cousin from getting to you, he’s so protective.

“I think it’s cute!” Bethany coos and you smile at her in return.

“Yeah well just make sure you don’t continue to make out in front of everyone for the rest of the trip. I for one would like to get through the week without throwing up. Plus, there’s children present.” Tom glances towards Hannah and you laugh at her obvious look of irritation, clearly feeling insulted.

“Hey!” Hannah interjects, crossing her arms. The little girl starts to go in on her older brother over the clear level of maturity she has and the sight makes you smile. You’d never get tired of the Pearson family.

Chuckling and shaking his head, Jake turns his attention back to you. He leaves one hand cupping your face as the other grabs onto your waist, gently bringing you in closer to him.

“Anyways, you and me, huh?” He questions, referring back to your comment. He uses one hand to point up at the sky, referencing the aliens, and then points back at his difficult cousin. With a smile on his face he asks, “Against all odds?”

“Against all odds.”

#jake pearson x reader #austin butler x reader #jake pearson #austin butler #austin butler fanfic #austin butler imagine #austin butler x y/n #austin butler x you #aliens in the attic #requested

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tetsunabouquet · 10 months

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Ruby Gillman and what its reception showcases what's wrong with children's media today

Here is the link to the specific reblog that contains both a production fantheory about Chelsea and my initial review for anyone interested in that: https://www.tumblr.com/tetsunabouquet/722833498719879168/alright-considering-the-massive-heat-of-the-past?source=share Alright, as an aspiring children's author and as someone studying writing classes with children's literature as the particular focus, I have made a couple of posts about my issues with children's media already, or rather, the problems with the people making and critqueing it. Ruby Gillman's reception, like the reviews from critics and people who dislike the movie alike, actually showcases multiple examples of what makes so many movies/shows aimed at children or the family, poor nowadays: Ruby has been critiqued for being 'too cute', and that they should just 'embrace the monster'. Only this doesn't work when young children are also part of the target demographic. There's a reason to why bad guys are written to be ugly, and why good guys are written to be good looking: It's that the brain of the average child isn't developped enough to understand nuance. The younger the child, the more you have to REMOVE nuance. That's also why, when Queen Nerissa/Chelsea becomes all-powerful, she becomes ugly. It's because she's the bad guy in that moment. It's why she lacks a sympathetic backstory, as we see with a lot of villains nowadays. It's because, again, the more nuance there is to the character, the less a child will actually understand the character. It's why the Gillmans claim they're from Canada: because I've seen enough of American media to know Canadians are practically treated like another species. To a child, this explanation would actually somewhat work, especially to a 6 year old or younger The adults screaming about that and how anyone can see Ruby isn't human are thinking too much like adults. They don't try to see it from a child's perspective, and that's the main core to all the problems behind children's media nowadays: They don't 'dumb' themselves down enough to the perspective of a young child. When watching the movie, I definitely felt like the Gillman family was also close to its ideal target demographic: families with daughters ranged between 10-13 and younger siblings of about 5+ years old. And it did well for a movie aimed at such a group. It lacked enough nuance for young kids to understand, and the theme of womanhood would speak to pre-adolescent girls. Also, the way the media keeps comparing this to Turning Red because they were both magical metaphors for womanhood and female puberty and speaks of the generations of womanhood is annoying. Are you telling me that with the shitload of movies that America produce per year alone, they never produced 2 animated movies dealing with coming of age and manhood in the span of 16 months? This speaks once again, of how men have difficulty relating to female struggles and will hate on a movie centering girls growing up, opposed to how women have little to no difficulty symphatizing and relating to movies of boys growing up. Boys only want male protagonists, whilst we women can care less. The moment we get even more then one animated movie dealing with the idea of female puberty in the span of two years, the press immediately descends to pit one movie against another. Oh my god, imagine being that pathetic. That wouldn't be me.

#ruby gilman #ruby gillman teenage kraken #ruby gillman #children's media #children's brain #what's wrong with children's media #child's perspective #this movie was well written for its intended audience #these movies weren't made with adult brains in mind #allow children to have their thing #allow girls to have their coming of age movies

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nolita-fairytale · 24 days

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so my darling | sydney adamu x the restaurateur (unnamed male oc) | oneshot

summary: sydney falls in love with a restauranteur (one played by pedro pascal). song title inspired by so my darling by rachel chinouriri.

warnings: swearing, unnamed ocs, talking about sex, use of she/her pronouns, no use of y/n, two original characters (the restaurateur & the pastry chef), the pastry chef is the mc from make my heart surrender, wong kar-wai films, ambiguous ending

wc: 4.8k

a/n: ok, so i'm not entirely back, but this photo of pedro pascal and ayo edebiri at the sag awards quite literally haunted me and made me write something about it. also i've really missed all of you. and i've missed these characters. and i miss this world. this oneshot feels really different to me than a lot of the things i've written for the bear and there isn't much inclusion of the other characters because i really, really wanted to write from sydney's perspective. it's limited storytelling in the way that it's mostly her experience of being charmed by the restaurateur but i had a lot of fun with this and i hope you enjoy. fic inspired by the pic below:

nolita fairytale's masterlist

Sydney doesn’t expect to win, yet her name is called out anyway, followed by the phrases: “James Beard Rising Star Award” and “the winner is.”

Most of the night is a blur. Somewhere between winning the biggest award of her career to accepting congratulations from the best chefs in the world, Sydney’s still trying to gather her bearings. It’s not until Carmy’s girlfriend, the woman who picked up her life and moved to Chicago to be with her exec chef, tugs at her arm.

Sydney doesn’t mean to completely reduce the woman to just Carmy’s girlfriend.

She’s also become many other things: the head pastry chef at The Bear, a colleague, and most importantly, a best friend.

“Hey, Syd! Carm wants to introduce you to someone,” she says, before giving Sydney a chance to politely excuse herself from the previous conversation she’d found herself in.

As The Pastry Chef leads her away from her present company, Sydney follows with a soft smile, half expecting it to be yet another celebrity chef—someone in Carmy’s network that reminds her why she began working at the Bear when The Bear was The Beef.

What she doesn’t expect is to meet him, her breath hitching in her throat as she and her best friend who’s dragged her over here, find themselves standing across from Carmy and an unfamiliar man.

“I see a congratulations is in order,” the man greets her, tipping his half-empty glass of champagne in her direction with a smile so charming she has to do a double take.

“To this year’s newest Rising Star chef.”

He’s handsome, sure—but that’s not what catches her eye.

The first thing Sydney notices about the man is his soft, dark curls—much cleaner than the unruly ones that belong to her head chef. He wears thick-rimmed rectangular glasses and has a perfectly groomed mustache that surprisingly works for him. It’s not usually her kind of thing, is all. In a white button down, perfectly tucked into his pristine black trousers, it's somehow still black tie with a touch of rebelliousness for forgoing a tie and a proper suit jacket.

He can’t be much older than Richie, she thinks to herself. What? Ten… maybe fifteen years older than herself?

Reality comes back to her, as she realizes that she hasn’t said a word, wondering just how long she’s spent caught up in her own head over the handsome stranger.

“Oh uh, yeah. Thanks,” Sydney replies with a smile and a nod, snapping back to her senses.

“Syd, this is… probably one of the few mentors I’ve had in my career. Well, him and Terry, ‘course,” Carmy begins to introduce, shyly. He’s not used to the one doing the introductions. “From Malibu.”

“Fairest Creatures,” the man clarifies with a hearty chuckle, citing the name of the restaurant they worked at together. “Way, waaaaaaay back in the day.”

Right.

The restaurant that put Carmy on the map, winning himself the same award that year that Sydney’s won tonight.

That’s when it clicks for her.

An old mentor of Carmy’s.

Not Terry.

And no, not that one—not the asshole from New York—to put it nicely.

The Restaurateur from California.

“No, I-. Yeah! I’m a big fan of your work, yeah,” Sydney scrambles to say, a glimmer of recognition in her eyes as she reaches out to shake his hand.

“Carmy was one of my early boys—look at him now. The student has far surpassed the teacher,” the chef adds, implying he’s mentored plenty of then-up-and-coming chefs back in the day.

“Oh thanks, but uh. Nah, I don’t know about that,” Carmy mutters, quick to brush off the older chef’s compliment.

Sydney can feel The Pastry Chef nudge her playfully, letting out a chuckle in response. The two exchange glances as Sydney follows her gaze from Carmy to his mentor.

“Oh they’re just being modest. Don’t think I’ve ever met two humbler chefs than these two,” the pastry chef adds with a playful eye roll, shooting her lover a look that doesn’t go unnoticed. “Which… if you ask me, is practically unheard of in this industry so… I consider us lucky, Syd.”

Sydney lets out a small, nervous laugh in agreement, before raising her own champagne glass to her lips as she finds herself, suddenly, parched.

She sees him again, weeks later, when the pomp and circumstance of winning a James Beard award has almost died down. She’d been quick to assume that, like many other chefs that weekend, he’d only been in town for the award ceremony, but as Sydney listens to the man tell Carmy that he’s moved to Chicago for “the foreseeable future,” she wonders why she never asked in the first place.

The Restaurateur had come in to say hello, for a meal, and Carmy had quickly declared that it would be on the house—eager to feed the best mentor he ever had in his California fine dining days.

“Yeah, I’ll be steppin’ in for Cuadros… when he goes on paternity leave… and we’re talking about expanding—what that could look like. Well, you know how it goes, Carm. Right now I’m just hangin’ out, helping out where I can between the two restaurants he’s got now,” he explains to Carmy with a nonchalance, as if he’s not a restaurateur whose reputation precedes himself.

“Ah, man. That’s cool. Well, you let us know if you need anything. I’ll give you mine and uh… Syd, you cool if I give him your number too?” Carmy asks, catching Sydney off guard.

“What do you-, I mean-?” Sydney begins to ask, unable to hide her surprise.

“Since he’s new to the restaurant scene here in Chicago. Can help each other out, you know?” Carmy returns, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess I-. Sure,” Sydney nods, forcing a small smile in an attempt to shake the ‘deer-in-headlights’ look she’s sure her face has involuntarily contorted itself into.

She watches her head chef carefully, as Carmy continues to interact with the restaurateur in a way that she’s never seen before. She’s never seen him this eager to try to impress someone—hell, sometimes she wonders if Carmen thrives on pretending like he doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks—so it’s sends her head spinning as she tries to reckon with this newly-revealed side of her business partner.

“That means a lot. Thank you–the both of you,” The Restaurateur replies, genuinely, bringing her back into the conversation.

“Sure,” Sydney manages to get out, still caught up in her head—exploring this new side of Carmy she has yet to see. “Anything for a friend of Carmy’s.”

“I’m at Amaru most of the time these days,” the restaurateur continues, his eyes shifting from Carmy then back to Sydney as he adds one last thing.

“You should stop by sometime.”

They exchange a few texts here and there, but it’s all business.

Who’s your preferred vendor for kitchen towels?

You guys see success with extended weekend hours?

Thoughts on being open on Monday?

“He likes you,” The Pastry Chef insists one day, in between lunch and dinner service. Sydney quickly shoves her phone back into her apron pocket, as if she’s a kid again—one who’s gotten caught texting in class.

“What? He does not! I-. This is-, it’s not-, we are two professionals… talking shop,” Sydney dismisses, because it’s easier to push those thoughts aside than to entertain them.

“Syd. He could be texting Carm but he’s texting you,” the her friend continues, completely and utterly unconvinced. Sydney finds herself on the receiving end that says, ‘cut the bullshit’ as The Pastry Chef continues.

“Even if it is… just about work, I think it says something that he’s texting you, Syd. I mean, do you know how long it took me and Carmy to-.”

“Okay, but not all of us are you and Carmy!” Sydney interjects, letting out an uncomfortable laugh as a means to break the tension.

Off her look, her friend just chuckles with a shake of her head, reminded of a time that she too could live this far in denial.

“If you say so,” The Pastry Chef resigns herself, accepting that she won’t make much progress on this one today.

She waits a beat, focused on cleaning up her station as Syd unconsciously checks her phone to see if there’s a notification from a certain someone yet.

“When are we going? To his restaurant, I mean,” The Pastry Chef speaks up again with a quirked eyebrow.

Could she really have noticed that? Syd wonders.

This time, Sydney only groans in response with a mumbled, “Fuck off. I am sick of you,” earning a bigger laugh this time from her pastry chef friend.

But the conversation seems to be the push she needs. It only takes a week or so longer for their days off to align, and Sydney’s the one bringing up the idea: that they should do a happy hour at Amaru to “show support” (and nothing else — really, no ulterior motives at all).

The Pastry Chef is more than enthusiastic about the idea, easily suggesting that they make it a girls’ night.

Which is how Sydney finds herself here, seated between her two biggest cheerleaders, Sugar one side of her, and her pastry-chef-colleague-turned best friend, at the bar of the Pan-Latin American neighborhood spot. She’s sure that Sugar was recruited for said girls’ night, in an attempt to get a second opinion on whether the handsome, older restaurateur is or is not in fact, into her.

She doesn’t hate the idea of it, for the record, but she wonders if they’re reading this all wrong—hesitant to get her hopes up.

But after the first plate—a gift from the kitchen—and the aperitif sent their way, both on the house, Sydney can only assume that The Restaurateur has something to do with it.

Of course, it’s easy to chalk it up to good hospitality. After all, hadn’t they done the same when he visited The Bear, a few things on the house Carmy insisted they send out? Isn’t it customary?

Sydney thinks back to how easily Carmy had given her number to the older chef, eager to extend as much support as possible to his previous mentor as he transitioned into the Chicago market.

But he wasn’t texting Carmy all that much. Just her.

She tries not to brush off yet another excuse: because she’s the CDC, not Carmy; because maybe he thinks Carmy, as the exec chef, doesn’t have the time when she does. Syd thinks she could go on and on like this, and instead, for a split second, she allows herself to think that maybe, just maybe, it’s because her friends aren’t all that wrong about this.

“You’ll have to forgive me. I wanted to come say hello earlier, but. Well, you know how it goes,” The Restaurateur says, earning the attention of all three women. While he acknowledges both of her friends warmly, he makes sure to he’s look at Sydney as he concludes with:

“I’m glad you came.”

“Oh, yeah. Thank you for everything. Seriously. Everything’s been amazing,” Sydney answers, wondering why it suddenly feels five degrees warmer inside of the restaurant.

Sugar snickers and the knowing look shared between her and The Pastry Chef doesn’t go unnoticed.

She just might have to kill her best friends later for this.

The Restaurateur smiles, and with a polite nod of his head, mutters a ‘thank you’ before her friends chime in with compliments, kudos, and their own respective ‘thank yous’ for the superb hospitality. Syd listens as he picks The Pastry Chef’s brain on their newest dessert addition, while Sugar enjoys what feels like a well-deserved second margarita. As The Restaurateur explains the most recent dishes he’s added to the menu since taking over as CDC, she notices that somehow, his focus and attention always seem to return to her.

He can’t visit for long, The Restaurateur apologizes—it is a busy night of service—and before she knows it, he bids his goodbyes before disappearing to the back of the house for the rest of the evening.

“Well he definitely likes you,” The Pastry Chef declares, as soon as he’s out of earshot.

“Oh. So obvious,” Sugar adds with a knowing smirk as the two exchange the exact same glance from earlier

“I’m gonna kill you guys,” Sydney mutters, her head hanging low as she feels a heat rush to her cheeks. She can’t make eye contact with either of them—not right now—or she might just burst into flames.

“Well, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you! That’s for sure,” Sugar clarifies, earning a nod of agreement from The Pastry Chef.

“See! This is what I’ve been telling her since… shit, since he came to The Bear a few weeks ago!” the pastry chef exclaims, sharing another looking with Sugar. “I think he likes you and I think you like him.”

Sydney opens her mouth to say something, but instead, just lets out an exasperated sigh, earning another round of giggles and exclamations of ‘I knew it!’ from her best friends.

They don’t stay for much longer, knowing they’re all due back at the restaurant in the morning. The three women say their goodbyes before parting ways, and as Sydney sits on the train, on the way home with her phone on do not disturb, she notices a few notifications waiting to be read.

A text from Carmy about the prep list.

The pics from tonight waiting for her to open in the group message labeled: Girlies.

And then, from the Restaurateur…

Thanks for bringing friends! It was great to see you.

There’s a familiar heat that warms her cheeks as her fingers race to reply:

Thank you for everything. The meal was incredible.

She waits before adding:

I’m glad we stopped by.

And almost instantly, there’s a reply:

Come back any time. :) With or without friends.

Come back any time. With or without friends.

The words linger in her head over the next few days. She lets them settle in, tossing them back and forth in her mind, while holding what feels like a fragile kind of excitement in her hands that’s somehow seemed to have buried itself deep inside of her.

So he is flirting with you, she thinks to herself, coming to the conclusion that her friends were perhaps right about The Restaurateur.

She doesn’t want to completely misread the situation, but she’s not sure how else she should interpret it either.

It takes Sydney two more weeks to work up the courage to go back to Amaru on her day off that week. Part of her wonders whether it’s been too long—if she’s missed her chance—and part of her knows that in the business they’re in, the days blur together, and two days become two weeks, become two months, and that he probably hasn’t even noticed that’s been that long. Her and The Restaurateur are both on Kitchen Standard Time, right? She’s not sure what takes over her, but she’s somehow mustered up the cajones (she can practically hear Tina’s voice in her head as she hypes herself up) to show up, this time, without friends.

Her risk does not go unrewarded, when he comes out to say hello. This time, he’s not alone, introducing her to his soon-to-be-business partner, Chef Cuadros, the owner of Amaru and his other venture, Bloom. They exchange pleasantries and congratulations (you know, over the huge fucking deal of an award she’s just recently won) before he pats The Restaurteur on the back, excusing himself back to the kitchen.

The Restaurateur chuckles, noting how much he’s looking forward to joining Cuadros’ restaurant group.

“Rodolfo’s a great guy,” The Restaurateur sighs, contently.

“Yeah, he seems great,” Sydney agrees, almost just to be polite.

“Yeah. Really leads by example. Rare to find that in this industry,” he chuckles, before changing the subject.

“Speaking of. Cuadros is closing up tonight which means I’m off, starting now.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You wanna get a drink?”

She doesn’t even have to think about it.

“Yeah. I uh-, I’m in.”

“It’s devastating!” The Restaurateur declares, the passion evident as the words escape his lips.

“I mean, the transitions are a little choppy. And even they can’t take away the fact that: It. Absolutely. Without a doubt. 100% ruined my life,” Sydney wholeheartedly agrees, completely captivated this conversation—one that she finds incredibly sexy.

“I cry. Every single time,” the man that sits across from her says, a dopey smile plastered to his face and a heat to his cheeks from the second whiskey on the rocks he’s nursing.

“Every single time!” Sydney emphasizes, just to drive the point home.

“Because, well-, I mean, they just can’t catch a break! Always just a moment too late. It’s like… well, it’s like they’re never supposed to end up together in the first place,” The Restaurateur clarifies, in reference to what about the film is so goddamn devastating.

Syd nods with a sigh, examining the idea in her head cautiously, knowing that he’s right—even if she doesn’t want him to be.

A beat.

She leans in, the corners of her lips beginning to turn up into a smile.

“Have you seen Chungking Express?” she asks, because she’s ready to start this whole thing over again.

“Have I seen-? Are you-, of course I’ve seen Chungking Express,” the Restaurateur answers, building on their shared excitement about finding common ground outside of the kitchen. “I love Wong Kar-Wai so much I even put myself through My Blueberry Nights.”

“Okay, chill. It’s not a competition,” Sydney jokes, earning a full bellied laugh from The Restaurateur.

“You’re funny,” he states, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiles back at her.

Her heart skips a beat, her breath caught in her throat.

The way he says it is genuine. It’s real. It feels… more earnest—more intimate than what should exist between two colleagues.

Then again, she didn’t exactly say ‘yes’ to drinks thinking it was just as colleagues.

“I-,” Sydney hesitates, scrambling to find the right words when it feels like so many of them could burst out of her at any minute.

Instead she settles on, “Thanks,” feeling more like Carmy than she’s ever felt in her life.

There it is again—that flutter in her belly.

This man is most definitely flirting with her, a thought that only mildly causes her to panic.

The moment feels almost too tender for either of them. Sydney shifts nervously in her seat while The Restaurateur takes another sip of his whiskey, before clearing his throat.

“I uh. I should probably get going. It’s uh… yeah. It’s getting late,” Sydney says, finding the words to excuse herself.

She’s not sure what she wants out of this—it’s maybe why she takes the out in the first place, thinking it may be best to end the evening here. Tonight was… more than she expected it to be, and she’s torn between wanting to stay and wanting to flee the great state of Illinois.

Better pause while we’re ahead, Sydney thinks.

“Yeah, no, of course,” The Restaurateur agrees, easily, before insisting that he pick up the tab.

“No, I-, I couldn’t let you-,” Sydney begins to argue.

“Please,” he insists, his tone once again rendering her once again at a loss for words. “You’ve been more than helpful to us over at Amaru since the minute I got here. This is on me.”

Syd spends the next few days going back and forth over whether or not it—whatever the hell the other night was—would be a good idea. She eventually concludes that she can’t stay away—from the high, from the way he made her feel when he insisted on paying the bill (a moment she’s replayed in her head over and over again), from him. She doesn’t tell anyone: not Nat, not The Pastry Chef, and certainly, not Carmy.

She sends the text before she can chicken out one Saturday night, as she finishes closing up.

Heading to Green Door Tavern for a night cap.

He puts her out of her misery, quick to respond as always, almost as if he was expecting her to (or waiting for her to, which, she decides is a little too much of wishful thinking).

I was just thinking about you! Just rewatched 2046 the other night. Want some company?

Yeah.

Let me close up. I’ll let you know when I’m on the way :)

The smiley face.

The fucking smiley face.

She discovers that the same dopey smile finds its way across his lips as soon as he enters the bar. The two of them quickly find themselves in yet another deep conversation about foreign films over, for him, a whiskey on the rocks, and for her, a tequila soda. There’s that same buzzing in the air between the two of them—chemistry, one might call it—as they move from Wong Kar-Wait to Jean-Pierre Jeunet with an ease that feels good to her.

Really good, actually.

So good that as soon as Sydney realizes it’s getting late, she doesn’t run in the other direction. She’s not sure what she’s expecting, but she thinks this time, she could stay. This time, she could talk to him till the sun came up, allowing herself to get lost in his soft brown eyes she finds more comforting than she should. It’s not till he brings it up that she notices again that:

“It’s getting late.”

“Oh shit. Yeah,” Sydney agrees, reluctantly, because she doesn’t want this night to end. Before she can say anything else, her body moves to get up, just half an hour away from last call.

The Restaurateur stops her, reaching out a hand that feels warm against hers as she pauses, her eyes locked with his.

“I hope it’s not uh, well, I hope it’s not inappropriate of me,” he begins, clearing his throat as he pauses.

“No, I-, I don’t want the night to-, you know… I lost track of time too and I-,” she stammers through, unsure of what she wants to say.

He smiles warmly, his hand moving to grab hers, as if, in spite of the fact that she can barely get the words out, he understands exactly what she’s trying to say.

“You can say ‘no,’” he prefaces with, a sure nod as his gaze returns to hers.

“Can I take you home?”

And the only response that makes sense to her is the biggest, most enthusiastic:

“Yes.”

Maybe it’s just a one time thing.

Okay, a three-time thing, considering it happened that night, then two more times after the sun came up.

But to Sydney’s surprise (and delight) he texts her later that day, and the one (three) time thing becomes a one to three times a week kind of thing (schedules permitting, of course).

They fall into a rhythm—and she likes this rhythm—they cook, work at their separate restaurants, and then she lets him fuck her into his mattress like they didn’t just work their own respective twelve-hours shifts.

The Pastry Chef lets out a laugh, noticing that it’s the third day in a row that Syd’s come in having ‘not gotten enough sleep’ yet still glowing.

“How’s the sex?” she smirks, shooting Sydney a look.

In return, Syd rolls her eyes, like she isn’t getting laid on the regular, her best friend waiting patiently for a proper answer.

She checks over both shoulders to ensure no one else is listening before lowering her voice.

“It’s the best sex of my life.”

She finally moves into her own apartment a month later.

Of course, it’s a decision she’s made on her own volition and has nothing to do with the hot Restaurateur who seems like he might have some kind of staying power—the same one that’s giving her the big bang of orgasms, but that’s besides the point.

No, it most certainly has nothing to do with that.

With Chef Cuadros officially out on paternity leave, The Restaurateur somehow still manages to find the time to help her move in between running two restaurants while developing the concept for a third.

It’s the first night he spends the night and they sleep—just sleep—since she started seeing him, though they christen the place in the morning.

“We’ve been talking about a full nixtamalization program. For the new spot,” The Restaurateur explains over breakfast tacos one morning—ones he made for her in her new apartment because, of course, they had to christen the place in more ways than one.

“Shit. That’d be dope,” Sydney replies, as they continue to bounce ideas back and forth. “Do you think you could pull it off in that small of a space?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” The Restaurateur grins, before going into a near-monologue about the handful of creative solutions he’s come up with, eager to soundboard a few ideas off of her.

But Sydney finds herself a little distracted.

It’s not that she’s not listening… but she’s got something else on the tip of her tongue that she’s been holding back. The Restaurateur is in the middle of breaking down the logistics, contemplating whether or not they could pull off what he’s labeled, Idea B, when Sydney finally musters up the courage to blurt out:

“I want to cook something for you. Like not in a restaurant, or anything. I mean. Here. I want to cook something for you here.”

“Yeah?”

A beat.

“Yeah, I mean. It doesn’t have to be like-, I don’t know, this big thing or anything. But. You’re always cooking for me,” she explains, unsure of why she feels so nervous as she continues. “I kinda want to return the favor.”

He only smiles.

“Then it’s a date.”

It started as the best sex of her life, but it’s as if he’s carved out a place in her life without her noticing, seamlessly woven himself into her life, and she, his, in a way that she can’t imagine what it was like before.

It simultaneously excites her and makes her feel uneasy.

Fuck.

She doesn’t really even know what she should call ‘it’ anyway.

They haven’t really talked about it—haven’t given it a label—but with shifts at The Bear for her, running two restaurants for him, and fleeting nights spent at each others’ places before it was time to do it all over again, it’s not like they’ve had the time.

She finds herself in late Fall, almost Winter, all dressed with a newly-done silk press at yet another James Beard fundraiser. Her coat was checked in long ago as she bares her shoulders in the near-off the shoulder, gingham-printed dress, with The Restaurateur by her side. He wears thick-framed glasses, his white-collared shirt unbuttoned low enough that she’s more than ready to head back to her place to undo the rest.

It practically gives her deja vu—the two finding themselves in an all-too-familiar place—as they stand across from Carmy and The Pastry Chef, sipping on their fancy champagne and making small talk to the best of anyone’s ability.

“Hope you guys don’t mind. Can we get a few pictures?” the event photographer asks as he approaches, noting that a picture of this year’s Rising Star award recipient is a must on his shot list.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Sydney replies, a kindness in her voice even through her discomfort.

It’s not lost on her that Carmy’s more than relieved that he doesn’t have to be in the spotlight anymore, eager to step out of the way.

She poses for a few photos solo before both Carmy and The Pastry Chef are encouraged to join in, taking a few more shots with her.

“And then can we get one of the two of you?” the photographer asks, this time gesturing towards The Restaurateur.

Sydney opens her mouth to protest, to let him off the hook, because what would that mean? Before she can say anything, The Restaurateur has happily agreed, wrapping an arm around her, his hand on the small of her back.

She exchanges a look with him, something that says, ‘are you sure?’

He only nods in response, a supportive smile and a softness in his eyes that puts her at ease as if to say, ‘of course.’

Instinctively, she reaches for him, his right hand landing softly against his midsection. She feels the warmth of his palm as his hand slides up, landing somewhere above her wrist, making another point of contact. Well, now they certainly look like a couple.

“Great! That’s great, you two,” the photographer grins after taking a few more shots, his eyes fixed to the screen on his DSLR as he plays back the last few photos. “Thanks so much.”

What could this mean?

What could this be?

She doesn’t have all the answers.

Not yet, at least.

But she’ll take a wild guess—one that fills her with a certainty that she can feel in her bones.

Because tonight, he stood proudly by her side—his hands all over her as if she were his, in a photo she’s sure will make it out of Adobe Photoshop—meaning maybe, just maybe, The Restaurateur could be here to stay.

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