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peggyrose19 · 3 years

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Day 24: Secret Santa

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!! I can’t believe it’s here already, feels like it was March just yesterday. I am very excited for this. Because the prompt for today is Secret Santa, I thought what better time to post my SW Discord Secret Santa! It was written as a gift for the wonderful @im-oknutzy-trash. I had an amazing time writing this and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Prompt from @remus-john-lupin, characters and AU from the amazing @lumosinlove. This is the last advent fic I’ll be doing, and I’m so so grateful to all of you that have kept up with them all, it really means a lot. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, ily guys 😘

Logan had it all planned out.

The tree, the lights, the food.

The rings.

The only problem was actually executing his plan. And keeping it a secret until Christmas Eve.

He had been doing well for the first week or so. Of course, the rings hadn’t arrived yet, so maybe that was why. But once he had them, hidden away in his sock drawer in his bedroom, it all suddenly became urgent, a heavy presence he could feel hanging over him anytime he entered the apartment.

With each day, the urgency grew and grew. He could feel it every waking moment, and even when he was asleep, the pressure and nerves and need to keep it secret. The problem, of course, was that Logan was terrible at keeping secrets.

He knew Finn and Leo could feel him pulling away. He had hoped it wasn’t too obvious, but the looks on their faces when he forced a laugh or a smile, or cut off their kisses too soon, distancing himself as best he could. Because he knew that if he kissed them for too long, if he allowed himself to fall into that endless pit of love and desire, he would ask them right then and there, consequences be damned, and his planning would all go to waste.

So he stayed silent, stayed away as best he could, trying not to hurt them.

A week and a half before Christmas Leo and Finn confronted him.

“Logan, what’s going on?” Finn asked at dinner.

“Quoi?” Logan asked, looking up from his food.

“You’ve been acting weird for weeks,” Leo explained. “Is something going on, are you okay?”

“Oh! No, I’m fine.” His heart pounded, hoping they would believe him, mind going to the box in his dresser. He forced the image away.

But Finn pushed. “Is it us? Are we doing something wrong?”

“What? Nonono, you two are perfect. It’s not- I’m fine, I promise.”

“Logan, we know something’s wrong!” Finn exclaimed frustratedly. “I know you, I can tell when you’re not saying something.” Logan just sighed heavily. It wasn’t like he could tell them the truth. He hadn’t thought he would make it this far before blurting it out, honestly. But he had and now Finn was upset with him and Leo looked sad and uncertain and he wasn’t sure what to do now.

“I’m fine, okay?” he said, harsher than he meant, and Leo flinched back a bit. “Sorry,” he said immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. But truly, nothing is going on.”

“Lo-” Finn whispered and fell silent. Both of them were staring at him.

“Fuck,” Logan muttered, and got up from the table.

Leo and Finn watched him go, dumbfounded, unsure what to do now. But Logan was back a moment later, a small box clutched in his hand. He ran his free hand through his hair, sighing.

“I had a plan, to do this on Christmas Eve with the tree and lights and- whatever, there was a whole plan. But you two are too fucking smart I guess.” He smiled ruefully. “Finn, Leo, I love you both so so much. Like, more than anything. I don’t know what I would do without you. And....” he trailed off. Leo and Finn exchanged a confused glance. “Well, merde, here we go.”

In one smooth movement, he dropped to his knee, opening the box in his hands, two silver rings sitting on the velvet inside.

Leo’s hands went to his mouth, Finn reaching out blindly to grip his shoulder. Leo grabbed his hand. Both of them were staring at Logan.

“Mon amours, will you marry me?”

It was quiet for a long time, Finn and Leo left staring in complete amazement. This was not what they had expected when they started dinner.

“Lo,” Finn whispered, staring at him, tears shining in his eyes. “Holy shit. Holy shit.”

And then he rushed at Logan, collapsing into his arms and kissing him senseless, nearly knocking both of them over. In the next moment, Leo was there too, wrapping his arms around both of them, kissing any part of Logan he could reach, heart pounding wildly

“I love you I love you I love you,” Finn murmured over and over, words slurring together as he kissed Logan's cheeks and neck and lips, unable to get enough.

“So is that a yes?” Logan choked out and both boys paused.

“Of course it’s a yes, baby,” Leo sniffed, fighting back tears

“Yes yes, a thousand times yes,” Finn added and Logan could’ve cried with relief and joy, because the loves of his life just agreed to marry him and never in a million years had he ever imagined this happening. An overwhelming sense of love washed over him, and he was so fucking grateful that he had found them, that they found each other, and they can be together and happy and married.

Never in a million years had any of them imagined this would happen. But there they were, together, crying and laughing and kissing, Logan sliding rings on their fingers, falling tangled to the floor in a mess of frantic hands and wet kisses. Logan never wanted to move again.

Leo fought the urge to pace as he listened to the phone ringing. Logan and Finn were waiting for him in their bedroom, urging him to call before they went to bed. His heart was pounding. He wasn’t quite sure why. But he was excited and in love and possibly a little bit drunk. There was a click as the line connected.

“Mama?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice steady.

“Hey, baby!” her familiar voice chirped, and he relaxed marginally. “What’s goin’ on with you?”

“Um, well I have some news.”

“Oh! Well, the last time you had some ‘news’ it was to tell us about Finn and Leo.” Leo couldn’t fight a small laugh. He could sense his mom narrowing her eyes at that. “What kind of news do you have exactly?”

“The good kind,” he promised, unable to fight a smile.

“I’ll go get your father, shall I?”

“Yeah, yeah I think you should.” It was quiet for a few moments, before Leo heard his dad talking faintly, presumably asking who was on the phone.

“Okay, he’s here,” her voice came back louder.

“Hey bud,” Wyatt said, “What’s this news you have?”

“Um…” he trailed off, unsure how to say it. He scrubbed a hand over his face, unsure why he was so nervous all of a sudden. His parents had been nothing but supportive, so why was he freezing?

“Leo?”

“Sorry. Um… well, Logan, uh, he proposed tonight.”

The phone went dead silent for a long moment, and all Leo heard was the pounding of his heart. Then his mother shrieked and the dam broke.

“Oh my god, really? Baby, that’s amazing!”

“Did you say yes? I’m assuming you said yes, considering how happy you are.”

“Yeah Dad, I said yes,” Leo laughed, pressing a hand to his cheek. His face hurt from smiling. He wasn’t sure he was ever going to stop smiling. “Both of us did.”

“Aww my baby’s getting married!” his mom shrieked, and Leo could just imagine the elated look on both of their faces.

“Le, that’s so exciting!” his dad exclaimed. All Leo could do was laugh.

“Have you set a date yet?”

“No, Mom, he just asked a few hours ago,” he laughed, shaking his head. “You guys are the first ones I’ve told.”

“Oh, honey, that’s amazing.”

“Yeah. I’m really excited.”

“Oh, well we should let you get back to your boys, call us in the morning okay? I want to hear everything.”

“Okay, I will,” he promised.

“And honey, I am so proud of you. So proud.”

“Thanks, Mama. I love you, both of you.”

“We love you too, honey.”

After Leo hung up, setting his phone down on the coffee table, he sat for a moment, taking it all in. His parents knew, they were excited and happy. He never could have imagined this happening.

He sighed happily, pushing himself off the couch and heading for the bedroom. His boys were in bed, Logan lying on top of Finn with his face buried in the crook of his neck. But he looked up as Leo padded into the room, smiling sweetly up at him.

“Hey Peanut,” he sighed. “How’d it go?”

“They were really excited,” Leo said, grinning. He climbed onto the bed beside them, slotting himself against Finn’s side and running a soft hand through Logan’s hair, leaning into the both of them. “My mom wanted to know if we’d set a date yet.” Logan laughed at that, Finn smiling down at him.

“Nah, we got time.”

“So much time.”

Finn held up his hand, admiring the silver band sitting on his finger. “I can’t believe it’s really happening,” he sighed. Logan grasped his hand, fiddling with the ring.

“Me neither,” he admitted.

A thought occurred to Finn just then. “Lo, we both have rings, but did you get one for yourself?”

Logan could only laugh, shaking his head. “I knew you were gonna ask that,” he muttered. “Yes, Fish, I got myself a ring too. It’s in my bedroom. You’re so ridiculous.”

“Hey! Who are you calling ridiculous?”

“Both of you.” Leo grinned, leaning up to kiss the pout off Finn’s face, feeling Logan’s lips on his jaw as he did. “I love you both,” he murmured. “So fucking much.”

“We love you too, Nutter Butter.”

“I can’t believe we’re getting married.”

“I can’t believe you two ruined my proposal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fucking- I had a plan! It was all romantic and shit, and then you two ruined it by getting all concerned.”

“Well, what was your plan?”

Logan grumbled for a moment before reluctantly responding. “I was gonna ask on Christmas Eve, y’know, after we’d read The Night Before Christmas and were on the couch watching cheesy movies with the lights all off except the tree. There was gonna be cookies and hot chocolate and it was gonna be super romantic. I was gonna leave you both speechless for the rest of the night!” he finished, sweeping an arm out dramatically. “And then you went and got worried. I was doing so good too.” Finn could hear the pout in Logan’s voice.

“Aw, mon rouge,” Leo crooned, kissing his temple. “It’s okay. You can always do it again in a week.”

“Hmph.”

“Now come here so I can kiss you properly.” Logan rolled his eyes but pushed himself up, leaning over to Leo and kissing him sweetly, pushing him back against the bed.

“I love you,” Leo whispered. Finn smiled as he watched them, content to just look at them, feeling the weight of Logan still on top of him, the heat of Leo beside him. He looked at the ring on his finger, the matching one on Leo’s hand, imagining the one that would soon be on Logan’s finger too. It was more than he’d ever dreamed of, more than he’d ever thought he would have. And he knew without asking that his fiancés felt the same.

They were so incredibly lucky.

#o'knutzy #sweater weather #coast to coast #lumosinlove #proposal #christmas eve #fluff #love #so much love #they're so adorable i can't #im-oknutzy-trash #secret santa #remus john lupin #advent #december 24

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timmyteehill · 3 years

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Discord Thread || Bradley & Tee

Discord text thread featuring: Tee & @bradley-kingsboro

When: 9th February

Mentions: @booknerdaurora

Description: Bradley shows up at Tee’s place the day after the party and they talk. And possibly make things official.

Trigger Warnings: references to sex

Tee

Tee was glad that he kept the day after the party free from appointments which meant that he didn’t have to go in to his office. He wasn’t hungover but he didn’t really feel in the mood to help people get their lives figured out when his was such a mess right now. He was still disappointed about what he walked out on between Bradley and Aurora as well as the other man’s reaction to him which meant that he didn’t get much sleep once he got back home. Just as he was making himself a coffee, Tee heard a knock on the door and he opened it only to close it once he saw Bradley on the other side. “Go away”, he called out through the door.

Bradley

Something inside of Bradley was changing, whether he wanted it to or not. Alcohol had worn off and a hazy head made him feel even worse about the whole ordeal at the valentines event. Bradley had sex with Aurora, been caught by Tee, before making a stupid comment. Tee. The guy he liked. Bradley was finally starting to accept his feelings towards Tee, but he had probably messed it up already. Holding a bunch of roses and a bag of gifts, Bradley sighed as Tee shut the door again. “Tee... please, I just want to talk to you. You have every right to hate me but please let me talk.”

Tee

Tee didn’t hate Bradley. They were not dating and Bradley told him from the start that wasn’t what he wanted so it’s not like he was cheating on him. He was just disappointed. Disappointed in himself for letting it get to this point and for getting in way over his head. Tee didn’t feel like talking. He just wanted to ignore that Bradley was on the other side of the door and go about his day but he couldn’t really do that. So he opened the door again and tried to look as detached as possible. “What?”

Bradley

He’d opened the door. Okay, that was a start. Bradley had already gotten past the point he didn’t think he would, and now he just stood there with his mouth hanging open, frozen. After a moment of silence, the man looked away from Tee. “I’m an asshole. I know that,” he softly started, “I don’t like dating. I don’t like going steady. I love attention and sex and just... everything about it.” Before Tee could butt in, he started speaking again with a fragile voice. “But you make me want to change all of that.”

Tee

Tee wasn’t expecting to see Bradley holding flowers on the other side of the door but he ignored it. He wasn’t going to let him get his hopes up, not again. Having already made that mistake before when the other got him flowers and when he said just the right thing in his texts, Tee knew to take his words with a pinch of salt. “So I make you want to change all that? That’s nice. Did you come to this realisation before or after you fucked Aurora in the alleyway and then told me I should have joined in when I walked out on you?” He’s been here before and a few flattering words weren’t going to be enough this time.

Bradley

All he could do was sigh. Tee was right to be acting the way he was, but Bradley couldn’t let this go. “Let me prove it to you that I’m sorry?” he asked, taking a step back. “I like you, Tee. Really like you and I’ve been too much of a coward to realise that.”

Tee

“I’m not interested in sleeping with you right now”, he snapped, misunderstanding Bradley’s words. There was only so many times he could listen to how great sex was with him before he really believing that was all the other was interested in. “You know I was looking for you yesterday? Because I wanted to talk. I can’t believe I was that stupid.” To know that while he was thinking about him, Bradley was hooking up with Aurora and who knows who else made a bitter feeling run through his stomach.

Bradley

“What were you going to say?” he asked cautiously. Curiosity spiked as Tee explained that he was looking for him. Yet all Bradley seemed to do was want to sleep with Aurora at the time. His insides were twisted and torn at the whole situation. “You’re not stupid, Tee. You’re far from it,” he said, quieter.

Tee

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” His eagerness to talk to him vanished the second he saw what he walked out on. Tee had no intentions of telling him what was on his mind the night before after what he saw, not when it was clear they both wanted different things. “You should go, I have to get ready for work.” Bradley wouldn’t know that he didn’t have any sessions planned for today.

Bradley

“No!” he yelled, a little more forceful than intended. What was he going to say? How was he going to do this? It was Bradley. The man cared about nothing but his dick. “I want to date you, Tee,” he blurted out. “I want to date you and talk with you and hold your fucking hand.” Words like that never came from his mouth. Oddly, they felt normal. This is what he wanted and probably needed. “I’m not messing around anymore. You make me a better man.”

Tee

Tee was about to close his door once again but he jumped at the yell, not having expected it. He knew that he should probably close it anyways and forget anything that happened between him and Bradley, as well as anything that could have been. But he didn’t. Because the truth was that he wanted to listen to what he had to say, no matter how many times he tried to convince himself otherwise. Bradley’s words were what he wanted to hear but Tee was still hesitant. What if he was only saying that to get what he wanted? And yet...Tee had to trust that the man he’d gotten to know over the past few weeks was who Bradley really was. “Don’t just say that because you think it’s what I want.”

Bradley

“I’m not,” Bradley quickly responded. “I promise. I’m saying it because it’s what you need and what I need. It’s the truth.” It was the truth at that point in time. Whether it would stay the truth or not, he didn’t know. But it’s what he needed. “Please,” he quietly asked again, eyebrows raised into an almost puppy dog face expression. “Just give me one more chance.”

Tee

Tee was pretty sure he was going to end up regretting his decision. Dating someone who was proud of the fact that he didn’t date was probably a recipe for disaster. And yet he couldn’t send him away. Not when he was looking at him like that. He sighed and opened the door a little wider for him. “Come on, we don’t need my neighbours hearing everything.”

Bradley

The man let out a small breath he was holding in, still looking as if he was going to cry as he stepped inside. Holding up the bunch of roses and gift bag, his voice was quiet and reserved. Everything about him was small and he knew he had to hold back for a while. “For you. I didn’t know if you liked candles or chocolates... so I got both.”

Tee

“Valentine’s day isn’t for a couple more days you know”, he joked, a little hesitant since he wasn’t sure whether it was too soon. He didn’t want things between them to be so awkward, so unsure. Tee took the roses and gift bag from Bradley, holding the flowers up to his nose to smell them with his eyes closed. He couldn’t even remember the last time someone other than Bradley got him flowers. “Thank you...they’re gorgeous. I’m going to go put them in some water. Just...have a seat? If you want.”

Bradley

“I just wanted to show you I’m sorry,” he said quietly, nodding at Tee’s response. Slowly, not wanting to be too forward, Bradley took a seat on the edge of the couch. He’d never actually planned up to this point as he’d assumed Tee would have hated him, but he was grateful for the chance. Now he had to not fuck his last chance up.

Tee

Tee went to the kitchen and filled up a jar with water before putting the roses in it and taking it back to the living room. He laced the jug on the coffee table then sat down on the couch, keeping a bit of distance between him and Bradley. There was so much he wanted to say but no idea how to say it. It also felt like they were having some sort of business discussion and that’s the last thing he wanted. In the end, he decided to go for honesty. “I like you and I...I know you said you don’t date but I felt like things between us were more than just hooking up”, he shrugged. “We were getting to know each other. Then you said the thing about the sex and I was upset but when you got jealous over that guy I slept with...I thought you felt the same. So it hurt to see you with Aurora last night.”

Bradley

Listen. That’s what Bradley had to learn to do. Listen to those around him and actually use his brain. Tee saying how he felt was expected, and instead of defending himself, he actually felt bad about it. “I know. I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “It’s just... I felt that too. That we were more than hooking up. I just didn’t know how to deal with that.” Bradley was scared. That’s all it was. He’d never done this before, therefore he did what he knew. Being an asshole with no feelings was easy.

Tee

Hearing that he didn’t get things wrong and Bradley really did see it as more than booking up surprised him, although not in a bad way. Tee thought he would have to talk for a little longer for him to feel like he could open up about it. “And now? Do you know how to deal with it now?”

Bradley

Truthfully, no. But he knew how to not be an ass about it. Bradley shook his head gently, avoiding eye contact. “No, but I’m going to learn. Hopefully with you.” He couldn’t see himself in a relationship, but when he thought about his love life, all he saw was Tee right now. “If you want to, that is. I totally get it if you don’t want to.”

Tee

It wasn’t about not wanting to do this but more that he was scared. Tee didn’t want to get hurt and he was terrified that he was setting himself up for a lot of pain. He knew what he was going to say from the second Bradley walked in and sat down. “Fine, but we’re doing this together. I’m not some sort of...experiment, for you to learn all about dating until you get tired of it and move on. If that’s what you had in mind then you should go.”

Bradley

Nodding, Bradley understood. He never even though of it like that. Listening, though, helped him to see how this could be for Tee. “You’re not an experiment,” he repeated. “You’d be my... boyfriend.” The word felt foreign from his mouth but it left nothing but a smile. Boyfriend. Maybe Bradley could get used to being in a relationship.

Tee

If someone had told Tee a few weeks ago that he would be here, hearing Bradley say that he would be his boyfriend, he would have laughed in their faces. Back then Bradley was nothing to him other than someone who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut and sometimes made asshole comments. And now here he was, realising that he was so much more than that. “Your boyfriend?” he asked, testing out the word on his tongue. “I guess...I guess I’m your boyfriend then.”

Bradley

Boyfriend. Tee and Bradley... together. He could help but hide a smile as the words left Tee’s lips. “We’re going to do this?” he asked quietly. This was a huge step for Bradley. Whether they did this or not, just the fact that he accepted the possibility of the situation was massive. It may have not changed him for good like a flip of a switch overnight, but he was getting there. This was it.

Tee

“Yeah”, he said, not even bothering to hide his little grin at finally coming to an agreement. And what an agreement. Tee still couldn’t believe he had a boyfriend now. After how things ended with Kami, he never thought this would happen to him again. That he would ever feel comfortable enough with someone else to give it a try. “We’re going to do this.”

Bradley

“Okay, then,” he mumbled in agreement, smiling. “You’re my boyfriend. This is it.” Bradley felt warm inside and oddly excited over the matter. He already had ideas of how to get to know Tee even more and where they could go together. The lack of a social life probably didn’t help Bradley. All of the things he wanted to try and do was never done as he had no one to go with. Now, he had Tee. He just had to not scare him away. “Thank you for listening and giving me a chance.”

Tee

A part of Tee almost wanted to laugh over the fact that they almost confirmed it like they just did some sort of business deal together and not confirmed that they were boyfriends. It was still weird to think about, hardly able to believe that he had a boyfriend now. Him. “Thank you for coming.” Smooth, Tee. “I mean, for even bothering to come here and explain yourself.”

#discord #thread #c: bradley

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hollywooduniversityalumnus · 3 years

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6. with a little dignity

🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

“If you expect to ever have a career anything like mine . . . which, let’s be real, you shouldn’t . . . You’ll have to handle Hollywood’s high-pressure environment with the grace and aplomb of a seasoned veteran. You must be prepared for anything,” he’d warned them in class, less than twenty-four hours before he made a complete fool of himself in front of his students.

In all his years as a professor at Hollywood University, Thomas had never been successfully pranked on April Fools Day, and he fully intended to keep that record. His students weren’t known for their ingenuity, so the tactics they employed were often derivative and predictable, like the slimy paint bucket drop that his Thesis Lab students rigged above his office door every year like it was tradition. He took pride in seeing through every attempt, and in recent years made it a habit to try and thwart the plan while it was in action, by either getting someone else afflicted by the prank or halting it in its tracks.

(And, while he despised April Fools Day, the memory of tricking Hiromitsu into activating the “watercolour paint balloon bot” brought a smile to his face every time he thought of it.)

But, of course, Miss Schuyler and some of her entourage (which included Bianca Stone for once, which admittedly surprised him) had to take a shot at the king. He honestly would’ve been disappointed if they hadn’t planned at least one go. They had been so transparent from the get-go; it was almost laughable.

But it wasn’t he who had the last laugh.

🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

He had confronted the pranksters by the now-shattered skylight on the quad, slow clapping their efforts and crowing about how he’d been steps ahead the whole time. He took pleasure in their dejection, even brandishing the silver key he’d stolen from Margot during his heroic lunge to save her from the toppling bookshelf. And then he declared the prank over, that “he has never successfully been pranked, nor would he ever be.”

Hopes dashed, Bianca Stone, Lisa Valentine, and Ethan Blake slowly maneuvered past the gaping hole edged by broken glass. He watched them scurry to his side, relishing their devastation.

And then Margot spoke.

“Oh, darn. We really didn’t expect our plan to fall through.”

Ethan, who had paused by Thomas’s side, cocked his head to the side.

On Thomas’s other side, Lisa’s eyes flitted to Margot’s for a moment before turning her attention to him, her blindingly glossy lips pulling into a pout.

“Yeah, Professor Hunt, you sure caught us in the act!” She faked a sniffle.

He rolled his eyes at Lisa’s theatrics. “Stop moping around and come along. You lost! Accept defeat with a little dignity.”

He began to turn, but Margot spoke once again.

“Sorry, Professor,” she said, as if she meant it. “We’re coming.”

And, so quickly that he had no time to comprehend it, Margot began to maneuver around the skylight towards him when she slipped and disappeared through it, vanishing into the smoke slowly billowing out from below. Her scream, so sharp and shrill, chilled his blood, and he couldn’t hold back his shout of anguish.

“Margot!”

She didn’t respond.

He rushed to the skylight and tried to squint through the smoke, but it was useless. The fog machine he’d installed to thwart their plan was a powerful one. Its haze obscured the screening room below, and as it leaked out to the quad, made it nearly impossible to see through the broken skylight for any signs of Margot.

His heart felt frozen in place.

“Margot!” he called again, unable to keep the desperation out of his voice. In that moment, surrounded by her shocked friends, staring into the abyss, he felt painfully helpless.

Ethan placed a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “Professor . . .” His mouth was turned downward, a deep frown that the typically professional agent never wore upon his face.

Thomas turned his head to look at the agent. “Quickly, Ethan, downstairs! We have to get-”

Ethan shook his head. “Professor. Listen. It’s too late.”

Lisa’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears. “There’s no way she could have survived that . . .”

Even Bianca, being Bianca, seemed downcast. “She’s gone.”

He stepped back from the skylight and threaded his fingers in his hair, disheveling the neatly combed and gelled locks he so carefully cultivated every day. His heart was now at a racehorse gallop beneath his suit. He felt as though the floor would meet his face shortly.

“I . . . I never told Margot . . .”

That he knew it was her at the charity masquerade.

That he was proud of her and her achievements in such a short time.

That he felt something too.

He raked his fingers over his face in frustration. He hadn’t felt such a mix of emotions in years. A conflicting cocktail brewed in his stomach, twisting it with anger and guilt. He didn’t know if he would cry or throw up. Didn’t know if-

“Tell me what, Professor?”

At the sound of her voice, he whipped around.

Just outside the library doors, Margot stood, hands on her hips, flanked by Spencer “Crash” Yamaguchi and his entourage. The smile on her face was smug in a way he didn’t like, but he was happy – though shell-shocked - to see her anyway.

“How?” he forced out weakly.

At his words – well, word – the three students by his side instantly burst into cheers, joined quickly by Spencer and his equally self-destructively daring crew.

Margot simply raised an eyebrow. “Did I just successfully prank the Thomas Hunt? Mr. ‘I-Will-Never-Be-Pranked-Successfully’ himself?”

“I believe you have,” Ethan snickered. “Is this the proudest moment of my life? Yeah. Yeah, it is.” He pulled out his cell phone and began furiously tapping away. “So many people owe me money now.”

Spencer and his friends whooped and descended onto the quad, doing quick jumps and flips over benches and potted plants. One ran onto the grassy knoll and began beating on his chest with his fists like an ape man, causing a small gathering of birds in the nearby tree to take flight.

Thomas clenched his jaw as Lisa and Bianca began circling him like dodos, chanting their victory cry inharmoniously. “We pranked Hunt! We pranked Hunt! We! Pranked! Hunt!”

In all the cacophony, he stared Margot down as if he’d never seen her before. She had managed to do what many failed at. As much as he wanted to contest their words, say that he never actually thought she was gone, he knew already it was futile. From the commotion her friends were stirring, and how fast some of them were typing on their phones, it would be common knowledge by his next class with them that he had been had. No point in trying to dispute it.

How had she done it? he wondered. Was Spencer and his friends waiting mere feet below the skylight, ready to catch her? Had they maneuvered a trampoline or curtain to break her fall?

At the latter thought, he scowled. They better not have torn down the projector screen.

Margot came closer.

“Miss Schuyler,” he said, moving to meet her in the middle, and thus breaking free from Lisa and Bianca’s strange dance. “I-”

“Accept defeat with a little dignity, Professor.”

🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

The Hollywood 101 class he taught the next day was almost intolerable.

Ethan and the other witnesses of the “prank to end all pranks” (as someone not-so-aptly put it) spread the news at an astonishing pace. They were all reaping the benefits of the successful trick, with Ethan collecting small wads of cash from students who had deeply believed that the attempt would fall apart like all the others, Bianca trying to claim the entire prank as her sole idea, and Lisa chanting that discordant cheer when Spencer and his crew regaled their side of the story.

All the while, Margot sat a little further away from the crowd, talking animatedly to Addison Sinclair with wild gesticulation that Thomas was unsure of how to go about interpreting. It didn’t seem like she was discussing the prank, though she was the main executor of the successful portion of it, and when he looked again, he was surprised to see Miss Sinclair close to tears.

Another roar of laughter came from the more crowded area in the lecture theatre, and Thomas shuffled a stack of papers rather aggressively against the angled wooden lectern. The loud laugher quickly sputtered into low giggles, then stopped once the students saw the icy expression on his face.

“Nothing on your desks except a pencil.” He picked up a stack of Scantron sheets and held them aloft, eliciting a groan from the crowd. “I hope you spent just as much time doing the required readings for this week as you did plotting juvenile – and unsuccessful – pranks.”

“Not all were unsuccessful,” a student stage-whispered, triggering another ripple of low laughter quickly squashed behind palms and sleeves. Lance Sergio tried to disguise his as a coughing fit, but, as he was a model major and not an acting major, failed miserably.

Thomas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Stepping out from behind the lectern, he divided the Scantrons into smaller stacks and handed them to the students in the front row.

“Take one, pass it back, you know the drill,” he said flatly. “You’ll have an hour, and not a second longer. You’re all free to leave-” me alone, he thought, “-once you have finished. Tests and Scantrons without names and student numbers will receive automatic zeroes.”

Then he retrieved the thicker stack of papers, the quiz booklets, and began handing them out at random. He recently made the decision to administer different versions of his exams with different questions and answer keys.

Although it generated a lot of extra work for him, it seemed to thwart attempts at his students cheating off one another, which ultimately reflected well on him and poorly on the students who hoped to coast through the class with minimal effort.

Once the tests had been distributed, he set a timer to be displayed on the projector screen and sat down at his desk to catch up on some grade recording.

The first chair screeched against the floor twenty minutes later. In that time, he had finished the files he needed to update and had begun drafting an email to the headhunter he had contacted a few weeks earlier. He’d also set up the two metal baskets in which they were to hand in their test papers.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a small hand tipped with light blue nail polish precariously drop the papers into the appropriate baskets.

Before the student had even stepped away from the desk, Thomas reached for the baskets and took the papers from it, glancing at the sheets to make sure they were completed.

The Scantron was neatly filled in appropriately. The booklet was similarly appropriately filled. But she’d also included in the quiz booklet . . .

“What is this, Miss Schuyler?” he asked lowly, trying his best not to alert the other students.

At his question, she froze in place. Though she immediately feigned a nonchalant expression, he instantly saw through it.

“What is what?” she whispered back.

He dropped the papers back into the baskets and leaned forward.

“My office. Noon.”

🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

He found her waiting in a stiff metal folding chair in the hallway, a whole ten minutes before she was due to meet him there. She followed him warily into his office and immediately sunk into the seat facing his desk, like a lamb to the slaughter. He took his sweet time adjusting the angled wooden doorstop to keep the office door cracked at fifty-five degrees, removing his suit jacket and hanging it on a foam hanger that hung by the hooks near the door, removing his cuff links and rolling up his sleeves, and logging into his office computer.

Once he was situated and had no more delays, he looked her straight in the eye and brandished her yet-to-be-marked test papers before them.

“What is this, Miss Schuyler?” he asked again.

She crossed her arms over her stomach, trying not to look at him.

“I asked you a question. Twice now. I do not like repeating myself.”

Biting her lip, she leaned forward and flipped the booklet open, turning to the blank lined pages and sifting through them until she came to a stop.

Not all the back pages were blank, and he saw it right away.

“Explain yourself.” He straightened up in his seat, quietly savouring the feeling of his luxurious, buttery leather office chair after having sat in the lecture theatre’s wooden monstrosity while waiting for the last few students to finish their tests. “What did you hope to accomplish with this?”

“Did you even read it?” Miss Schuyler’s voice was quiet, her demeanour the opposite of the smug, smirking young woman from the day before.

He frowned.

She turned the booklet around and slid it across the desk. He glanced down, then turned his gaze back to her.

“It’s an apology,” she said, to fill the air around them with something that wasn’t silent staring. “For yesterday.”

Silence.

He made no move to read it.

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Why . . . are you apologizing?”

Her face twisted in confusion. “I upset you. I – I broke your record. My friends have been running amok since it happened, telling people. I humiliated you.”

His shoulder rose and fell in one swift motion. “You did.”

“You’re not mad about it?” she asked incredulously.

He let out a short, sharp huff.

“I’m mad about it,” he said. “But I don’t understand why you’re apologizing.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I hate to admit it, but I have to; I did not see it coming.”

“It wasn’t planned,” she admitted, and leaned forward a little in her seat. “You seemed so sure that our prank was over, and Crash and his friends were already in the screening room looking for us. And you were just so – so smug, it was driving me mad! So, I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

And then her and Miss Valentine’s words echoed back to him.

“We really didn’t expect our plan to fall through.”

“You sure caught us in the act!”

In hindsight, God, it was so painfully obvious.

He squeezed his eyes shut and massaged his temples. “How did I not see that? Hear that?” he muttered to himself.

She smiled, a fraction of the mocking one he’d seen in the quad the day before. “Too busy gloating in your short-lived victory.”

“Right.” He nodded curtly. “Well done.”

She nodded towards her test booklet. “Is that all I’ve been called in here for?”

“No.”

He stood, then walked around his desk until he was by her left side. He looked down at her, studying the curious expression on her face, committing it to memory.

“I didn’t get a chance to say it before your friends went buck wild. But listen here. You may have won that day, Margot.” He leaned against the desk, appearing casual even with his deepening frown. “But mark my words . . . I always have the last word.”

🎬🎬🎬🎬🎬

Later, when Thomas had returned home and began his usual tedious task of marking up the tests for the day, he saved Margot’s for last. And, after he was armed with his third glass of vintage merlot, he flipped to the not-blank page at the end of the booklet.

Professor, Thomas, Professor, Professor Hunt,

I’m sorry for pranking you and making you worry about me yesterday. I know there were better ways to go about it. I hope the other students and faculty go easy on you about it; it really was a last-minute decision and could have very easily gone wrong, so I understand your concern and justified anger.

Honestly, it was nice to see that you were worried. Makes me feel seen. Matter. Like I could disappear, and someone will actually care enough to look for me.

Anyway.

Sorry.

x Margot

P.S. Sorry about the projection screen, too.

P.P.S. Sorry about the skylight, too.

P.P.P.S. If you were just faking being knocked out by the shelf, does that mean you felt me trying to slap you awake?

P.P.P.P.S. Sorry for slapping you.

#only fools fall for you #thomas hunt #thomas orson hunt #hollywood u #hollywood university #pixelberry #fanfiction

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aaronhart93 · 3 years

Text

ménage à trois || aaromtin

Discord thread featuring: Aaron & @quentindelancret & @romanbeckett

When: Jan 8th, 2020

Where: the grind

Mentions: -

Description: aaromtin becomes official

Trigger Warnings: -

Quentin.

Quentin was nervous to say the least. But he knew this conversation was one that all three of them needed to have. He had been so torn for the past week, just trying to think of any type of solution to ease his mind. But now everything was coming to a head. He asked Aaron and Roman both to meet him at the Grind, but he was sure as hell taking his sweet time on going in. He was just sitting in his Tesla outside of the shop smoking a cigarette and watching as both men walked in to the establishment. Honestly, he didn’t even know what he was going to say. All he knew was that he loved them both, and he really didn’t want to have to choose. He grabbed his new man purse that Aaron had bought for him in Cali, and he draped it over his shoulder. Getting out of his car and heading inside before watching the two men from a distant. Accidentally giving himself away after only a few minutes when he tried to duck out of the sight of Karen and knocked over a display of coffee cups.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Was Roman a little nervous about Quentin asking for this last minute meeting at the grind? Honestly, yeah. It seemed odd that he’d want to meet in such a public setting if he wanted to talk, but at the same time, he could just be paranoid. As much as Roman didn’t like to think of himself as a pessimist, sometimes he just really couldn’t help but be unsure of things. “What do you think this is about?” Ro looked over at Aaron while he nursed his black coffee, blowing on the steamy surface before taking a sip. His attention was pulled away from the smaller male immediately when he heard a crash in the distance, squinting when he realized it was Quentin knocking over their display of coffee cups. Fuck, he’d worked forever on those. But also, why the hell was he being so weird? “Q?” Ro raised a hand, as if he was unsure if the other male even saw them or not.

Aaron.

How was Aaron only just now finding out that him and Roman had the same coffee order? It was probably something that he should've asked the other man a long time ago considering Roman made his coffee for him nearly every morning. Aaron had already chugged half his coffee even though it was still steaming hot. Consider him a caffeine addict among other things. He was just so nervous he needed something else to do. His attention turned to Roman when he spoke to him. He had a pretty good idea of what Quentin was wanting to talk about but he was unsure as to why Q had picked such a public place to do so. Aaron scratched his head and before he could answer, he head something fall, followed by Roman calling out for the youngest of the three. He peered over his shoulder to see the musician surrounded by fallen coffee cups. He got up to start cleaning them up. "You okay?" He asked, as he bent down to start clearing everything up.

Quentin.

Quentin’s face absolutely couldn’t be any redder than it was right now. His hands frantically reaching for each cup as he tried to pick up the fallen display. “No, it’s okay. I got it” he said to Aaron. Not even making eye contact as he set the cups back up on their pedestal. “I’m good. Yeah, I’m great” he nodded with a nervous little chuckle. His eyes shifting over to Roman with a nervous smile before looking back at Aaron. “Hey do you guys wanna get out of here? I wanna take you guys somewhere” he said a bit shiftily. His fingers fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie as he started to walk backwards toward the exit. He wasn’t sure what he was even thinking right now. But seeing these two together was a tad overwhelming.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman felt a little guilty for the way Quentin was acting, though he wasn’t sure why. He just seemed so...off, and he couldn’t help but feel like maybe it was his fault? Still, he smirked and nodded when the other male suggested going somewhere else, and began gathering his things. “Taking us to a secondary location to kill us?” Roman decided to joke, because he was king of inappropriate comments, so why not? Once he had his coffee in one hand, he used his free hand to rub over Quentin’s back, trying to calm him down since he seemed so on edge. “Are you okay?” He asked, and then chanced a glance back at Aaron. God, he hoped all of this wasn’t about to blow up in their faces.

Aaron.

Aaron kind of lifted his head to watch Quentin place the rest of the cups on the display with a worried look on his face. Now he was starting to get a little nervous. Well, he'd been nervous for this...but now this was all seeing a little too real. Aaron grabbed his peacoat and suitcase, barely laughing at Roman's joke even though on a normal day he would have been on the floor laughing. Aaron gave Roman a look that said 'I have no idea but I'm worried about him' as he looked back at the businessman. He darted in front of them to open the door for the both of them. "Where are you taking us, Q?" He asked, trying to sound casual even though his heart was rapidly beating against his rib cage.

✰ 𝓠ᴜᴇɴᴛɪɴ ✰

It was definitely out of character for Quentin to be acting this way. The look on both Roman and Aaron’s faces making that even more evident with each interaction. “Ha, yeah. I’m totally gonna kill you” he grinned playfully at Roman. His head nodding in thanks to Aaron as he pushed the door open and he made his way outside. “I’m just taking you up there” he pointed toward the roof. “This way.. ya know. If this goes poorly, I can just jump” he mused. Obviously joking even though the joke was hella distasteful. He turned around just slightly to grab ahold of Roman’s hand and then led them both toward the back of the building. His other hand grabbing onto Aaron’s as they continued to walk clear past the building all together. “So, we should talk, yeah?” he asked. Swinging both their arms as he held onto their hands and walked randomly down the back alley way.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman gave Quentin a pointed look when he said he could just jump if this went poorly, and then turned to look at Aaron. Q was acting really strange, and he had absolutely no idea where he was doing with this. What could he have to say to them that might go poorly? Was he going to ask them to back off? Had everything gotten to be too much? Roman was always worrying over everything, expecting the worst, so when Quentin said the famous words of ‘we need to talk’ his heart dropped in his chest. “Quentin, what’s wrong?” He asked in counter to the other male’s suggestion, just wanting him to get out with it already.

Aaron.

Aaron faced twisted slightly at the off putting joke, mostly because he just didn't know how to react to something like that. And because things were so tense between the three already. He glanced at Roman for a brief moment, face twisting even more when he noticed how off put the actor was as well. Nonetheless, he squeezed onto Quentin's hand tightly and let him lead the pair up the fire escape and onto the roof. Aaron was not the same as Roman; he wanted to wait as long as possible for bad news. So he stalled. "So who brewed that coffee this morning? It was amazing." He said quietly, swallowing hard after he spoke. Maybe that wasn't the bed idea because clearly Roman wanted to get on with this.

Quentin.

once they were on the roof Quentin found a place where he could sit down. Letting go of both of their hands and just looking out over the city. “I don’t know, I wasn’t working” he replied a bit mindlessly. Clutching his man purse in his hands as he avoided eye contact at all cost. Of course if he looked at either of them for too long, his whole facade would probably break. “Soo.. you wanted to talk? The three of us. You should talk” he insisted.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman gave Aaron the side eye when he tried to curb the conversation to the coffee this morning, as if any of them cared about that right now. He hated playing this game, beating around the bush when they both knew he was impatient as fuck. “Quentin. Seriously?” He asked when the other male tried to turn it back on them, like he wasn’t the one who had mentioned wanting to talk. The taller male crossed his arms, and cocked a hip, looking way sassier than he probably even meant to. That was just the way he was. “Q, what’s up?”

Aaron

Aaron put a slight physical distance between himself and the other men, leaning against the high wall that was the only thing between him and death by falling however many stories down. Aaron looked down at his feet and shook his head. "No...Ro." He began, taking a deep breathe and deciding to man up. "He's right. I did suggest we all talk when..." He took another very long, deep breathe. "...when he suggested to me that all three of us...like...date - be in a relationship. I just wanted to wait until we were all back in the city so that we could all properly talk about it, and how we all felt about it. I think that's why Quentin's acting the way he is now." He said, taking control of the conversation like he would in any board room. Except...this wasn't a board room. The board room was a place in which he was comfortable. Where he thrived. This was completely new territory for him.

Quentin

Quentin’s eyes shifted between Roman and Aaron and then he looked back across the city for a moment. “No, stop. This is my doing. I can do this” he said. Standing up and walking over to the edge of the room beside the businessman. He had no clue what he was going to say. But he knew he loved them both, and if it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t be in this situation right now. “I...” he started before turning around to face them both again. “I love you both. I wanna be with you both. It’s like.. impossible for me to choose between you two. I can’t do it” he confessed. Everything was so perfect between him and Roman. Mind blowing even. While other things were just as intense and breathtaking with Aaron. There was no easy way out of his feelings for either of them. So it was time to see if they felt the same way. “So um...” he sort of mumbled as he unzipped his bag. “I want to cuff you both. I want you both to be my boyfriends... and the rest is up to you two.” He turned to face Aaron and snapped a handcuff around his wrist before walking over and doing the same to Roman. Taking a seat back in his initial spot and closing his eyes. His heart racing a mile a minute as he held his breath and waited to see if they would cuff him back.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman watched Quentin as he came out of his shell, and said what he wanted to say. The truth was that he had strong feelings for both men as well, and understood how Q felt. It didn’t feel right to have to choose, even if this was something unconventional. Not everyone was going to understand what they had here, which was kind of a little scary, but at the same time, he was too comfortable to care. As long as he had Quentin and Aaron, everything would be okay. Right? Ro was a little surprised when Q decided to use literal handcuffs, but he barely even hesitated before he stepped forward, and cuffed himself to the other male, standing over him with a small smirk as he waited for him to open his eyes, and for what Aaron would do.

Aaron

Aaron shut up quickly when Quentin told him he would take over. Honestly he was kind of proud of the younger man for doing so. He knew this was w coming but like Roman, Aaron was surprised that Quentin was using actual handcuffs to ask them out. Kinky. The businessman quickly got his head out of the gutter and took a deep breath in. He watching and Roman didn’t hesitate to walk over to Quentin and cuff him immediately. Aaron had thought a lot about this and had even asked a couple of friends for advice. His only real hesitation was what Alison would think, whom he hadn’t bothered to tell that his love life was heading in this direction. He was certainly about how he felt about Roman and Quentin. And he was certain that something would be missing in all of their lives if they had to choose. He looked down at the handcuff that was dangling from his wrist then he looked back up at Quentin and Roman. “Okay.” He said to himself before he walked up to the two men and literally cuffed them.

Quentin.

There was a million and one reasons why this was never gonna work, but Q had given up. He couldn’t fight against it anymore, and hell, if everything ended up crashing down. At least he would have the satisfaction of bringing Aaron and Roman together. He wanted them both to be happy more than anything in the world. Of course he had his insecurities about all of those, but his heart nearly stopped when he felt Roman cuff him back. The hesitation from Aaron definitely not going unnoticed, but when he finally joined, Q opened his eyes. He had this battle inside his head for a week or two now and it was all finally coming to a head. They were going to be together, all of them. Which meant Q had to take the biggest step of all now. He put his trust issues aside and he grabbed both his boyfriends free hands and linked them together. “Okay, someone else take over now” he chuckled. His fingers on their cuffed hands now lacing together as his cheeks shaded pink.

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman squeezed both Quentin’s, and Aaron’s hands when all of them were joined together, and then moved over to lean his forehead against Q’s. He knew this had been a big step for him, and honestly, it was a huge step for all of them. Roman and Aaron both had insecurities as well, reasons why they would be scared of a relationship, but the feelings they shared for each other was too much to ignore. Roman was in love with both of these men, and vice versa, so why should they try and push that aside for the satisfaction of others? “As much as I’d love to continue with the handcuffs, I’m starving. Why don’t we have Aaron take us out to celebrate? I wanna get drunk.” Ro giggled, and pulled back to look back and forth between the other two males. “Also...why has no one kissed me yet???”

Aaron.

Aaron watched as Q joined his and Roman's hands together, then is blue eyes gazed up at the tallest of the three. He glanced back at Quentin, who looked much more relaxed than he was earlier. Aaron was happy. Like actually really happy with these arrangement. There was no competition, no choices that need to be made... Aaron got Roman and Quentin which was exactly what he'd wanted. At Roman's request, he leaned over to place a loving kiss on Roman's lips...sinking into him for the a brief moment before turning to Quentin and doing the same thing, his hand still laced with Roman's. "Yeah, let me take my men out for a celebratory dinner. We can do dinner and get blasted anywhere you guys want." These two men were about to get everything and anything they wanted anyway.

Quentin.

Hearing Roman ask for a kiss literally made his heart drop. His eyes immediately shooting over to the taller as he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. He was scared of this, and when he saw Aaron move in his head instinctively turned away. Okay, breathe Quentin he said to himself before forcing his head to turn back. His lips crashing straight into Aaron’s when he did. “Uhh...” he chuckled for a moment when Aaron pulled away feeling hella giddy all of a sudden. That was no even half as bad as he thought it was going to be. “Yes food... and drinks” he nodded. His smile stretching across his face as he looked over to Roman. “Just one issue here” he smirked. “Think you can guess what it is?”

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

It didn’t go unnoticed that Quentin looked away when Aaron kissed him, and now he couldn’t help but feel guilty. Was this not okay? He tried to push down the feeling though when Q’s mood them seemed to flip, asking him what he thought the issue here was. “Well first, I still need a kiss from you.” He held up a finger, and then grabbed the other male by the collar to pull him in for his own heated kiss. “Also, we may need to take these cuffs off...” he looked down at their hands, and then let out the dumbest sounding chuckle. “I mean, unless you wanna walk around like this all night.” He lifted up the wrist connected with Quentin’s.

Aaron.

It was going to take a minute to get used to this polygamy thing. It was certainly something Aaron wasn’t used to and he knew the other two men weren’t used to it either. Now he could spoiled not one but two people? Come home to two people. Complain to two people when he needed to. He was never going to be alone now. He smiled slightly when the other men kissed because those were his men. YEAH. “Yeah Q, please tell me you brought the keys.” He chuckled. “Although we should definitely keep these for like...later.” He alluded with a playful smirk.

Quentin.

This all was gonna take a bit of getting used to. But Quentin honestly never felt so loved, and not only from one man, but two. His hand immediately going to grip the back of Roman’s head as he kissed him. Bringing the businessman’s hand right along with it. Another soft chuckle falling from his lips when he pulled away because... oops. “Yeah, about that” he internally cringed. “I think I left the keys in my car.” Of course he wouldn’t think this all the way through, but he was the baby after all. “Think we can get back down the fire escape like this?” His eyes scanned their wrists, which luckily Aaron and Roman both still had a free hand. But he was distracted from any escape tactic when Aaron mentioned keeping the cuffs for later. “Oh..” he grinned looking back up at the businessman before standing up. “You wanna get kinky, baby?” he asked. Leaning in closer to Aaron and wrapping his arms around his neck. This time bringing Roman’s arm with him as he crashed his lips back into Aaron’s.January 9, 2021

♛ 𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 ♛

Roman let himself be dragged over to Aaron, forcing a spot in this makeout session somewhat awkwardly, though roman really just ended up staring. It made him feel a little dirty, but hey, these were his men. He could stare if he wanted to, right? “Alright, guess we’re staying cuffed until we get down to the car.” Roman point out the obvious, and tugged on the connected cuff with Q in order to coax him to follow back down the stairs. “I hope you have these damn keys.” Roman teased on their way down.

Aaron.

Of course he'd left the keys in the fucking car. He maybe thought that Q did that on purpose just to kind of mess with them. But whatever. it'd be one of their first adventures together and honestly Aaron couldn't be bothered in the slightest. The businessman barely had to time to speak before Quentin was kissing him again. He clutched onto Roman while they kissed, then moved to lead his men down the fire escape. "We should get wine...No! We should get tequila drunk during dinner." He suggested. Aaron just wanted to celebrate...he was happy with this. With them. he quickly found Q's car and turned to him. "Alright, get us out but we're definitely keeping these for a later date." He chuckled.

✰ 𝓠ᴜᴇɴᴛɪɴ ✰

You know, this was definitely something Quentin would have done on purpose just for shits and giggles. But, sadly that wasn’t the case. He was just so damn nervous he didn’t think to even grab the key. It was okay though. They could stay cuffed together forever for all he cared. Just having their arms locked together like this gave him such a sense of relief. He finally had them both and there was no more pressure to choose. He was happy. So happy in fact, he must have been floating on cloud nine. Because before he knew it, they were standing outside his locked Tesla. “Uhm... I think my car keys are in there too” he cringed. “Please don’t kill me” he laughed.

#discord #quentin #roman #aaromtin

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a-bnha-shoutorealm · 3 years

Text

Sometimes the right place finds you

Summary : You had an horrible day, then run into toxic players while trying to give your mind a break by playing games. You expect to spend the night alone with your thoughts again, but things are different now. *University AU Pairing : None Genre : Hurt/Comfort? I think? Length : 0.8k

You played terribly during that round. And the one after that. And the following one, until you pretty much threw the match point and people didn't even bother making passive-agressive comments in the chat anymore, straight up flaming you directly through the voice chat instead.

You hated the tears that rolled down your face as you played, screen blurry in a way that had made your aim even worse earlier. Crying was admitting that they got to you. As if knowing that they were partially right - you did make all sorts of stupid decision throughout the game - was not enough.

Breathing slowly, trying to regain some sort of composure, you closed the current browser window and got up. It was probably best to close your computer for the day if didn't want to end up losing yourself in vaguely helpful comfort videos that would only end up reminding you how boring your life was in comparison.

You mouse hovered over the power options when the notification sound popped out. You glanced at the message curiously and tensed.

Midoriya : Hi Y/N :) Want to play a game with us?

You winced and typed your answer so fast you hit send before fully processing your answer.

Not tonight, I would probably hold you back.

Ok, your mind was in a really bad spot. You did want to play. You genuinely enjoyed the game and the sound effects were addictive. You mostly weren't up for the toxicity again.

Midoriya : Full in-house! We're just playing for fun between us. Uraraka-san said she wanted to try a knife round.

You bit your lower lip. Midoriya mentionning Ochako probably meant that they had a full team already. Knowing him, he probably happened to see how badly you lost in your last game and just wanted to cheer you up. You didn't want anyone to have to step down for you and pass up a chance to have fun playing with a full team. Time for games and good timing with friends was rare during the semester.

I don't want to intrude, but it sounds really fun! Maybe next time if you have space.

Midoriya : We haven't started yet and we're still inviting! If you change your mind, Jirou-san started a cupcake bet! Take care :)

Now he was starting to act strange. Midoriya was a wonderful friend who always did his best for others, but he was never pushy. Something was up.

What's going on? Is there something special happening tonight?

Midoriya : Nothing, really! Sorry about that... can I call you?

Hold on, I closed Discord for the day. Let me get back on.

There.

- Incoming call -

"Hi Y/N!"

"Hey Midoriya! What's going on?"

"Sorry about that... um... Uraraka sort of... heard how your game went. You're using different headphones, right?"

Oh gosh. You did borrow one of your cousin's headphone since yours had some issue with sounds coming from the left side. You hadn't use them a lot, and mostly while your roommates were studying at the library, so maybe it had louder outside audio emission than yours. And your teammates had been particularly loud.

"Oh."

Was the only answer you could mutter. So she had heard you get flamed. Hard. And probably heard a couple of things you did wrong too. Midoriya quickly continued, not wanting to let you go down such an unhealthy thread of thoughts.

"They had no right to talk to you like that. Mistakes happen to anyone, at any rank, and it doesn't mean you're a bad player. We all make mistakes."

You nodded in silence, unsure of how to anwer. You knew he was right, but all you wanted was to forget today had ever happened in the first place.

"And um- you've been so excited all week for today. You kept sending gameplay clips and memes in the group chat. I didn't want you to end your first game night like this. No one did. So we figured we would gather a group for a few custom games, this way we can all play together and we're all safe from players like this for a few hours. What do you say?"

"You what-"

You stared at your screen in disbelief, a very unfamiliar warmth gently spreading through your soul. Your heart clenched with gratitude and you found yourself speechless for a while.

It usually took you a lot to cry, but today had been exhausting and you were prone to it. These tears were different though. They filled your senses with a sense of belonging, whispered to your heart that you had found your place.

“I- You’re right, I was really looking forward to- yeah. Yeah, I’ll join. Thank you... thank you so much.”

Your voice was but a whisper at the end, tender and full of softness. You could hear the warmth in Midoriya’s smile as his voice echoed in your headphones again.

“See you soon.”

#BNHA #BNHA University AU #friendship #Friendship series #Midoriya Izuku #Uraraka Ochako #I'm sorry about that ending

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wordtotherose · 5 years

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Hi, If you take requests, could you write a fic where Crowley doesn't like sex. His experiences in hell ruined any way it could be pleasurable for him. But he does like physical contact, like hugs and cuddles. He doesn't have many people he's close enough to cuddle with, so he sleeps with a teddy bear. Of course he keeps it secret. Demons would torture him if they found out. And Aziraphale, well, he doesn't know what he'd do. Only Aziraphale finds out. And he doesn't laugh or think it's strange.

Thank you for the request! I hope you enjoy. Warnings beforehand though: Very minor references implying non-con trauma. Nothing in detail or explicitly stated but I always want to make sure y’all know what you’re about to read. It’s all below the cut-off that I’m putting in too. If there’s anything I haven’t used as a tag that you want me to add on here, shoot me an ask or message for it. Thanks! Will be up on AO3 at some point soon.

On the night of the not-apocalypse Crowley made sure to be the first into his apartment. Cleaned up every secret he wished to hide. He could do little about the holy water puddle and the mess there within. Aziraphale, upon seeing it and easily putting two and two together, pushed Crowley far away from the doorway in question. The angel cleaned it up with a miracle and then with mundane means to make sure, still wary about letting Crowley cross the threshold even after. In fact, Crowley distinctly remembers Aziraphale walking him to bed. They’d curled up under the covers together, legs entangled, holding each other tight. Tears were quietly shed. Confessions made. Crowley had not missed his secret that night as he had an angel in his arms and that was more than a satisfiable replacement.

But they don’t spend every night together after it all happens. They spend nearly all day every day together but Crowley always makes an excuse when conversation trails into companionable silence to leave. To return home and curl up around the soft bear with it’s lavender-filled torso, perfect for easing him into sleep on the rougher nights. He has nightmares. Memories. A refreshed torture of his time in Hell mixed with the soul-tearing terror of the loss he went through in the burning bookshop. The agony of when Satan himself rose through the tarmac. More he doesn’t recall in the mornings.

The only time he sleeps well is when he naps for no longer than an hour on Aziraphale’s couch. The angel always wakes him when he starts to thrash or whimper in his sleep. But not all nightmares are restricted to the unconscious. To the realms of sleep.

They’re on Aziraphale’s couch.

Shirts undone. Hair tousled. Aziraphale lying down, thumb stroking Crowley’s cheek as they kiss over and over and over. And over again. Crowley hovering above him, one hand in the angel’s hair, the other just...touching. Feeling. Soft music pours from the angel’s record somewhere nearby. Background noise. Aziraphale’s touch, his wandering fingers do so with more purpose than Crowley’s own. Teasing up and down Crowley’s spine under his shirt. Pulling Crowley in closer, deeper with fingers in the shorter hairs at the nape of his neck. Drifting much further south when Crowley diverts his affection to Aziraphale’s neck just to hear that pleased trill from deep in the angel’s soul.

Then Aziraphale shifts and is biting a mark onto Crowley’s shoulder. And Crowley is pulling away, trying to scramble backwards. Aziraphale lets go like he’s been burned, sitting up and watching Crowley collect his limbs back in to perch nervously on the arm of the sofa. He wraps his arms around his pulled up legs, expression one of fearful misery. Aziraphale is panicking, unsure what he’s done wrong but knowing that one false step right now will break this irreparably. Too much pressure on one cracked vein and it all collapses.

So neither speaks.

When minutes have passed in tense stillness, the music discordant on their ears, Aziraphale miracles Crowley’s sunglasses into his hands. He crosses his legs and leans forward, sunglasses proffered up to the demon who will not make eye contact and so clearly needs to regain control over something. Crowley takes them. But he does not put them on. Aziraphale watches as the demon fiddles with them, running his fingers over the rims of the lenses, the arms being folded out and in again over and over.

“I would give you…,” Crowley says at last, quiet but sure, “anything, angel. Anything in my power. I would do what I could, everything I could, to give you what was not within my power too.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you, my dear.”

“But you want it.”

Aziraphale frowns. “Want what?”

Crowley’s snark is cruel to an outsider. Insecure to his closest friend. “You know blessed well what.”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t. But I’m sure, whatever it is, I can live without it,” Aziraphale regrets his own bit of snark as Crowley shakes his head.

“Sex. Aziraphale. Sex. I- You want that don’t you? Another earthly sensation to indulge in whenever you want.”

“That’s what this is about?” Aziraphale asks, his voice ticking up in pitch. “Crowley, my dear boy, no. I’m not at all interested in making The Effort.”

Crowley’s scowl doesn’t alleviate, instead it grows deeper as he glares into Aziraphale’s eyes to determine the truth. “Your actions say differently, angel.”

“How do you mean?”

Crowley waves an arm around, gesturing at something or other. “You’re always touching! And- and- undressing me!”

Aziraphale feels like he’s been doused in ice water. He carefully leans back as far as he can whilst seeming casual against the arm rest. “I only touch because I- I like to. Not for anything more. And I thought, oh I’m so sorry, I thought you liked being touched. I didn’t realise- Heaven’s above I’m glad you’ve told me though! To think you--”

“Stop it,” Crowley snaps, hissing a little at the start before regaining a bit more composure. “I like touching. And all that. Sleeping next to you. All that sappy,” this he spits out as if it’s done him harm to admit it, “stuff. I want that. I just don’t...I can’t go past that.”

He narrows his eyes at the demon, tilting his head to the side a little. “Don’t want to or can’t?”

“Both. Alright? Both. For fuck’s sake, what does it matter?”

“Can’t suggests you’ve been hurt. I know what Hell is like, Crowley, I went there. I saw what they do to each other and I know you had to have spent time there before Earth. Which means if--”

“I’m not going to talk to you about it. I’m not- no. It’s bad enough I have the- this in my head. You’re not having it.”

Aziraphale nods in agreement. “Okay. That’s fine. But we are going to talk about boundaries and draw some lines.”

Crowley deflates a little at this but stays on his perch. “But I’m not gonna make the Effort and if you aren’t either, why are we--”

Aziraphale sighs goodnaturedly, holding a hand out that Crowley inspects for a second before taking it. “No sex. I know. But boundaries aren’t limited to sex, my dear. So we’re going to have some. Okay? And we can edit them whenever.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

***

Naps on the sofa become Crowley’s favourite past time very quickly. Just, curling up with his head resting on Aziraphale’s lap whilst the angel reads. Both snuggled together because Aziraphale has started to concede that Crowley has been right all along and sleeping is rather nice. They’ve spent a few nights sleeping over. Well. Crowley has slept over at Aziraphale’s. Twice in the last week. It’s just so nice. The nightmares aren’t as difficult to handle with him around. Likewise, the nights are warmer.

But he’s asleep in his own bed, wrapped around the grey-furred bear he’s kept for just under a century. He’d gotten it not long after they’d been invented, in fact. Still. He’s out for the count when his bedroom door is thrown open, sharp light stinging his eyes and startling him even more than the sounds of someone breaking in. It’s only the fact that his body is very heavily piled under with sleep still that he doesn’t fling himself backwards off his bed to hide. As it is, he cracks open one bleary eye and tugs the duvet up a bit.

“Crowley!”

“Angel?” His voice is raspy, harsh on his own ears. He scowls further, the brief flash of adrenaline that had started to make itself known fading away quickly. Just Aziraphale.

Aziraphale climbs onto the bed, pretty elegantly for him, and sits on his knees looking down at Crowley. Crowley closes his eye again.

“You missed breakfast, dear.”

“I don’t eat breakfast.”

“No, but when one has plans it’s conventional to stick to them,” Aziraphale says, uppity but not scornful.

Crowley opens his eyes again. “Breakfast. Shit. Sorry. You’re here now though.”

Aziraphale rolls his eyes. Crowley can’t help but grin as Aziraphale miracles himself into some pyjamas. Despite the sunlight still streaming through the doorway. Despite their missed breakfast plans. Despite any other plans they have for the day. Aziraphale is still happy to just be with Crowley. And that is more than enough for Crowley.

He lifts up the corner of the duvet without thinking, to let Aziraphale slide under. Except as he does so, the bear is on full display. Sitting there with its miraculously still soft and clean fur and its slightly fraying threads, its sewed back on ear. And he expects Aziraphale to laugh. To look at him like he’s a weirdo. To voice any number of the thoughts swirling round his head.

Aziraphale does no such thing.

He smiles at the bear, runs his fingers over the fur of its stomach as he settles under the covers and kisses Crowley on the nose.

“Didn’t realise you’d kept him,” Aziraphale says softly, wrapping his arms around Crowley’s chest with the bear in between them.

Crowley makes a vague noise that could really have meant anything.

“You’ve kept him in remarkably good shape, my dear. Colour me impressed.”

“You’re not- huh?”

Aziraphale frowns a little, running his thumb over the bears arm. “Not what?”

“Angel. You just- I sleep with a child’s toy, how are you not laughing? If it were you I would be laughing!”

“Oh but you wouldn’t mean it in a horrible way, would you? And it just sort of makes sense. It’s hardly escaped my notice that you’re a tactile person, Crowley.”

Crowley processes this rather slowly, the sleepy mist rolling back in over the hills. He nods eventually. “I’d be a bloody laughing stock if anyone else found out.”

“Good job they won’t then.”

He doesn’t need the bear like he does when Aziraphale isn’t in bed too. But sometimes it’s nice to have both.

#tw: noncon #implied noncon #it's very minor but i'll be dead before I don't tag this sorta stuff #my writing #good omens #ineffable husbands #fanfic #good omens fic #ficlet #writing #prompted fic #anon ask #anon prompt #angst #happy ending #crowley x aziraphale

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shipmistress9 · 5 years

Text

FTLOAP - 42: What If We Rewrite The Stars?

Fandom: HTTYD

Theme: Hiccstrid - Medieval-style AU - Romance - Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Reduced to little more than a stable boy, Hiccup, despite his noble birth, has few prospects for more in life. But when he meets a girl who came to look at the horses, being a stable boy might not be enough anymore. Together, they have tough choices to make and great risks to navigate if they want to survive and be together.

Rating: Explicit

FF-net - AO3 -

Discord-server for discussions and questions

Part 1: Prologue; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11;

Part 2: Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Interlude 1; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24; Chapter 25; Chapter 26; Interlude 2; Chapter 27: Chapter 28 ; Chapter 29 ; Chapter 30; Chapter 31; Chapter 32; Interlude 3; Bonus 1; Chapter 33

Part 3: Chapter 34; Chapter 35; Chapter 36; Interlude 4; Chapter 37; Chapter 38; Chapter 39; Chapter 40; Interlude 5; Chapter 41

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

. – * – _ . o O o . _ – * – .

AN: Urgh... I don't know what to think of this chapter. I really wrote a lot in these past two weeks, but barely anything for this story. In times, the words simply flowed down into the document - but only when I wrote something else. On this story, I was entirely blocked. According to my plan, there'd been supposed to be at least twice as much plot in this chapter, maybe even more. Ah, well, but it looks like there might be a few shorter chapters to come instead. *sigh*

Anyway, thanks to the changed content of this chapter, I also had to change the title, since the one I had planned in for such a long time only fits the next part. Thankfully, someone recommended 'Rewrite The Stars' by Zac Efron and Zendaya from the movie Greatest Showman to me a while ago. That song fits these last few chapters perfectly, and I think this quote fits this chapter quite well, too.

. o O o .

Hiccup hoped with all his heart that he wasn’t dreaming again. Her lips were moving with his, he could taste her on his tongue, and he could clearly feel her soft and warm body safely encased in his arms – but it still felt too good to be true.

He’d been so sure that Astrid’s choice at the ball would seal their fate. Markor’s death had confirmed that he’d really seen a vision and had talked to a Goddess instead of only having made it all up. But to be certain that She had meant more than just holding Astrid during the ride back, Hiccup had thought that Astrid would have to ask him for her dance instead of Eret. Otherwise, the social pressure on her to stick to her choice and not switch to an impecunious squire would have been too great – or so he’d told himself. And for those few moments, when she’d slowly walked through the ballroom with her eyes fixed on his and their bond thrumming like a thousand drums, he’d believed she actually would choose him. For that handful of breaths, all the pain and longing and desperation of the previous weeks had vanished at the prospect of their dream coming true, of them dancing together in front of everyone, not caring what anyone else might think. For that short time, he’d hoped!

But then she’d turned toward Eret after all, away from him, and everything around Hiccup had fallen apart. She’d made her choice and it wasn’t him. He barely remembered how he’d made it out of the ballroom and into the dark night. Everything had hurt – be it brushing against another guest, his stumbling steps over uneven ground, or even the air itself. It had all hurt like a million shards of glass cutting into his mind, his flesh, his soul.

At that moment, dying hadn’t felt like such a bad option.

But then she’d suddenly been there. He’d felt her approach, and the sight of her, her closeness, her voice, and her words and promises had been like sweet honey on his hurting soul, and now, everything was perfect again. She was in his arms, and her hand on his skin and her lips against his were all the reassurance he needed. Hot tears of pure relief ran down his cheeks; he hadn’t thought to ever kiss her again, much less hold her with the assurance that nothing could come between them again. He wanted this moment to never end...

Of course, it felt like a dream. But it was one he intended to hold on to with everything he had. Whatever happened, he wouldn’t let go of her again.

“Well, fuck me slowly with Heimdall's mighty horn!” came like a thunderbolt, for all that it was hissed through clenched teeth.

The words cut into their blissful bubble like a knife. Hiccup was reluctant to separate from Astrid and he sensed that she felt the same, but the magic of the moment was gone. She whimpered as he drew back, quietly, barely more than a vibration rippling through her, and buried her face against his chest, unwilling to face their intruders. Despite their silent agreement to not hide but to fight this time, she was still afraid – and Hiccup couldn’t even blame her. All those months of secrecy and hiding had left their mark, and it wouldn’t go away in the blink of an eye. A spark of that fear rose inside him, too, but he forced himself to ignore it as he looked up, stern determination in his eyes as he faced the newcomers. He was ready to fight for her, ready to do whatever it would take. Nobody would be able to separate them again, not after what they’ve been through. If the last two weeks had taught him one thing, then it was that a life without her wasn’t worth it.

When he looked up, his eyes directly landed on Eret, who was at the front of the small group at the edge of the small clearing. For once, though, Hiccup couldn’t pay him the respect he deserved as his knight. This was not about who was the knight and who was the squire. This was about something so much more important, and Hiccup didn’t budge or cower, didn’t avert his eyes and bowed but instead met his cousin’s gaze straight on. However, the expression on Eret’s face didn’t tell him anything. He was calm as he took in what he saw, the woman who’d been meant to become his wife in the arms of his squire, his cousin, his friend. Hiccup had expected – no, feared there would be disappointment, hurt, and anger. But if Eret felt any of that, then he didn’t show it.

Briefly, Hiccup’s eyes flickered to those standing behind Eret – Dagur, whose disbelieving curse had interrupted them and who now stared at them with his mouth open and his eyes wide, and both of Astrid’s servants – but they didn’t really matter. Right now, everything depended on how Eret would react. Deep inside, Hiccup hoped that what he’d believed before Astrid’s birthday was still true; that Eret wouldn’t mind, would maybe even support them in some way. But since then, many things had changed, especially Eret’s relationship to his little sister, and he had every right to be furious, to demand their separation. Hiccup and Astrid might be ready to stand up for their feelings for each other… but that didn’t change that things would become very difficult if a ducal heir would be their opponent.

For some endless seconds, their gazes were locked. Hiccup’s arms around Astrid trembled and he swallowed as one scenario after the other flickered through his mind; everything from having to fight his cousin right here and now to getting thrown into the royal dungeon for his boldness within a matter of minutes.

But then, Eret closed his eyes and, letting out a deep sigh, slowly shook his head. “You two,” he snorted into the silence that encircled them all, “are unbelievable, do you know that?”

At first, his words made no sense to Hiccup, and it took for Eret’s face to twitch into something of a soft grimace before their meaning sank in.

And even then, Dagur was the first to react. “You knew?!” he sputtered, his head whipping from Hiccup and Astrid to Eret and back again at an almost comical speed. “Bu-but I thought he… he said… in that tavern! And... all this time, you–”

“Oh, be quiet!” Astrid’s warder, Tuff, hissed as he threw up his arms in exasperation. “Or do you want to draw even more attention? It’s bad enough already as it is...”

“And you knew too?” Dagur went on, though in a quieter hissing voice now as he turned to look at the twins in disbelieve. They both gave identical shrugs and nods, and Dagur groaned. “Great! So I was the only stupid one around here?”

“Isn’t that how it always is?” Tuff threw back, a mischievous grin on his face.

But their bantering got lost in the background as Ruff pushed past them. Her eyes were firmly locked onto Astrid’s back who still wouldn’t look at anyone. Hiccup wished he could shield her from all that seemed to trouble her, but he knew that, right now, he was powerless. All these people knew each other since childhood, with only him being the odd one out. Whatever happened now, he could only watch, could only try to support Astrid in case it came to some form of fight between her and those she considered her closest friends. All he could do was keep his arms tight around Astrid’s trembling shoulders, assuring her that he was here with her.

“I’m sorry, milady,” Ruff sighed. “We couldn’t keep them out any longer. And the doors to the garden stood still open, so…” she trailed off, shrugging.

Finally, Astrid stirred. She stayed as close to Hiccup as she could, but still turned her head until she could look at the others. “It’s all right, Ruff. I don’t blame you,” she whispered in a brittle voice.

Then her head turned a little more. It was clear that she was looking at Eret now, and Hiccup followed her eyes, still unsure of what to expect from his cousin. Was he angry? Disappointed? Hiccup wouldn’t even blame him… Up until about an hour ago, there had been no doubt as to who the Princess would choose as her husband, after all…

"Did you really know?" Astrid asked in a small voice, and Hiccup could feel how much she trembled. She'd been close to blacking out earlier, and all this had to be tough on her. Almost without thinking about it, his hands shifted, less holding her tight but more supporting her weight in case she needed it. His gaze stayed on Eret though, anxiously waiting for his reaction.

However, Eret's expression was unreadable as his eyes roamed from one to the other. It probably only took him a few seconds before he replied, but those seemed to stretch out forever. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. "No, I didn't know," he emphasised in a quiet voice. "I didn't want to. If I'd known about the looks you shared whenever you thought nobody was looking or how you’d make out whenever you got the chance, then I'd have been forced to lie to my best friend and future king whenever I looked him in the eye." He sighed again and shook his head. "But seriously, if it was your intention to keep what’s between you a secret, then you did a horrible job!"

In Hiccup’s arms, Astrid was trembling even harder. Hiccup felt the same, little shockwaves running through his body as the meaning of what Eret just said sank in. They’d thought they’d been so careful…

“And-and you never said anything?”

Eret’s expression turned sad. “And end up being torn between my loyalty toward you, my best friend and little sister, or Daniel, also my friend and future liege?” He shook his head, even as his lips twitched into something of a smile. “I’d thought about it,” he eventually added in a low voice. “And I tried… You know… Ever since the… the incident with Harold, I had my suspicions. And even though I didn’t want to know the truth, I was still searching for some form of… of confirmation, I guess. But every time I tried to probe for a reaction, carefully, either of you warded off my approach with some excuse or other. I have to grant you that, every time I thought to be sure, you managed to throw me off just enough so that I had doubts again. Every now and then, I also thought about simply confronting you directly, to stop all the hiding. But you apparently wanted to keep this secret, and I… well, after you’ve kept our secret for over two years now, I thought it was only fair to respect your secret as well.”

Astrid’s head dropped, though whether it was some kind of nod or simply in defeat, Hiccup couldn’t tell. A moment later, she looked up again though, and her hands on his chest tightened into fists, clinging to his tunic. “And what about these last two weeks?” she asked, her voice close to breaking.

Hiccup still felt unable to contribute anything to the conversation, but he had to admit that this was a valid question. If Eret had, well, not known but highly suspected there was more between him and Astrid… why hadn’t he said something then? Why had he let her favour him?

Eret’s expression turned pained. “After your birthday…” he whispered, “it was just the same. I saw that something was wrong with you, and understandably so. But I couldn’t be sure, didn’t know what was up, whether you had a fight or whether it was something else… Again, I tried to get a reaction, just anything that would help me understand. But you wouldn’t talk to me, just warded off my questions all over again. And when I tried to get some reaction from Hiccup, he even encouraged me to…” He shook his head. “I wanted to help you, but I just didn’t know how to do that, what exactly had happened between you two, whether you’d even want me to know, and...” He paused and threw his hands up in a helpless gesture, the pain on his face getting even more intense before he added, “I’m sorry!”

Hiccup listened to his cousin’s words with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was still anxious and overwhelmed by the fact that so many people now seemed to know about them – and apparently had for quite a while. But on the other hand, he also felt a weird mix of relief and anger. Relief that they didn’t need to hide that desperately any more... but also the anger about how much pain both him and Astrid could have been spared if only Eret had said something!

However, it only took one look into Astrid’s eyes as she turned to him again for this anger to evaporate. In a way, they both had needed this pain to understand, to see clearly that living apart wasn’t an option, no matter the circumstances. And in the end, it was Eret who’d lost… Hiccup could see it in the reassurance that sparkled in Astrid’s eyes, felt it in how her hand pressed harder against his chest for a moment before she wriggled out of his embrace to make a step toward her brother. She’d made her choice and that meant that she would have to hurt Eret.

“I’m sorry, too,” she said in a weak voice. “But… but I can’t become your wife. A part of me wants to. I want to help you out of this awful situation you’re in. I want to help you both at once. But this, I can’t do.” She paused, taking a deep breath, then gasped, “I love him!”

Hiccup’s heart swelled at her words. She’d said it before already, to him, but this was different. This was what he’d dreamed of ever since he’d discovered that she was the Princess. It was openly declaring their feelings for each other, in front of witnesses and without holding back. And I love her too, more than anything, more than my own life, he added mentally, but didn’t dare to interrupt them.

When he looked up at Eret again, the sadness from before was almost entirely gone though. Instead, he smiled, his eyes warm as he held his arms open, inviting her into a hug.

“I know,” he murmured, barely audible, after his arms had closed around her. “And Swanja... I’m not mad. Do you remember the day we talked? Down at the lake? I meant every word I said, that day and on every other day. I’d be happy and proud to call you my wife and I do believe that a life on our stud farm would suit you. But I also want you to be happy. I told you that, if you have someone you want to choose for yourself, then do so. And…” he trailed off, shared a quick glance with Dagur, and then added, “And there’s something else I also meant when I said it. If you have a problem, you only need to say it, and we'll help you, whatever it is.”

Eret’s words had touched Hiccup, had made him feel stupid and grateful at the same time. Of course, her brothers valued Astrid’s happiness, he shouldn’t have doubted them. It took a few heartbeats before the last words fully sank in though, and when they did, they left him stunned. It was one thing to accept her choice and, hopefully, to not out them publicly. Eloping, their last resort if they wouldn’t be able to find another way, would become impossible if everyone knew about them. But Eret – and Dagur, if Hiccup had interpreted that look correctly – appeared to be willing to do so much more, to even help and support them in finding a solution. Maybe – just maybe! – they actually had a chance…

In Eret’s arms, Astrid began to cry, quietly and with tremors shaking her body, but for once, Hiccup didn’t feel the urge to go and comfort her himself. He’d thought that seeing them like this again would hurt as it had before, but it didn’t. Not with the reassurance of the past half hour. It was only Eret comforting his adopted sister – and if he was honest with himself then it had never been anything else anyway. A soft smile tugged at Hiccup’s lips as he watched them now, and he couldn’t help the warmth spreading through him at the sight in front of him. Eret cooed and murmured into her hair and rubbed her arms and back until she calmed down again. A faint memory rose to Hiccup’s mind, about how she’d once told him how she had nobody she could fully trust, how she was alone when it came to her innermost problems, and how liberating it was for her to have found him. But she’d been wrong. She’d never been alone, had always been protected and cared for.

For a minute or three, they were all silent save for Astrid’s servants murmuring in the background. Dagur had stepped closer, but, to Hiccup’s surprise, he hadn’t said anything yet. However, his hand on Astrid’s shoulder offering comfort and support said enough. Everything Eret had said was true for him, too, apparently. And when Eret eventually lifted his head to look at Hiccup standing a few steps away, he understood that this support wasn’t just aimed at their sister. Eret’s eyes were soft, his smile warm and true as he nodded at him, including him as well.

It didn’t need any other form of communication then, Hiccup stepping closer just as Eret loosened and dropped his arms. Astrid threw one last grateful smile up at Eret before she returned to Hiccup. To never leave him again.

Hiccup couldn’t really help himself then; holding her close and feeling her hand directly land over his heart again felt good, but it wasn’t enough. His hands curled around her face, her neck, and he pulled her into a kiss instead. When she was surprised, she caught herself before he noticed, melting into him, humming and smiling against his lips. It wasn’t the most passionate kiss they’d ever shared, just soft lips sliding and tugging at each other. But that didn’t demean the sense of liberty that overcame Hiccup. As simple and easy and playful as this kiss was, it still held so much more meaning, and it was overwhelming. Because they didn’t need to hide anymore, at least not from everyone. Among this group of friends, they could stop pretending, stop lying.

“Okay, but what are we supposed to do now?”

At Tuff’s sudden question, Hiccup and Astrid parted, ruefully, and everybody turned to questioningly look at the lanky man. His eyes wandered from one to the other, before he shrugged. “What?” he asked, defensively. “We can’t stay out here forever. Sooner or later someone will notice Astrid isn’t resting in that room anymore. So what’s supposed to happen now? Are you just going to go back and announce that you changed your mind?”

“Duh, of course not!” Ruff exclaimed and even swatted the back of her brother's head with her hand. “If that was possible, all this drama wouldn’t have been necessary. He’s not eligible, and you know that perfectly well.”

“Well, yes, I do,” Tuff grumbled and rubbed his head. “And you know I wasn’t serious. But my question still stands. What do we do now?”

The short exchange pulled Hiccup out of his emotional high and back into reality. Sure, it was good to know that they weren’t alone, that they had support, but what was that worth? Not even Eret and Dagur were able to elevate him to a rank that made openly courting Astrid possible. Their situation was just as hopeless as it had been before. Nothing had changed...

After a short pause, Eret sighed. “I’d say that, for now, we should continue as planned, at least act as if nothing had changed.” He raised a hand to ward off any protest before it could come up. “I’m not suggesting to go through with the betrothal and the wedding in case we can’t find a solution. Honestly, I… I know you two well enough to have an idea of what you’re planning. But maybe we can find another solution, something that won’t leave a mess in its wake. As for now though, just consider one thing: men have already been maimed and died in this competition. My rank keeps me safe from open assassination attempts, but if anyone, and you all know who I mean, even so much as suspects Astrid might prefer a certain squire, then I’m not sure we’d be able to keep Hiccup safe.”

Hiccup’s heart sank at those blunt words, and he could feel how a shudder ran through Astrid’s body. From the corner of his eye, he saw how she paled, her hand clenching in his tunic again. As much as they might prefer it otherwise, Eret was right; keeping up at least the appearance of her going to marry Eret would be the wisest thing to do for now. So Hiccup nodded when Eret’s eyes met his, agreeing if reluctantly.

“And you know I hate to admit this,” came Dagur’s voice, drawing everyone’s attention. “But I think Timothy was right.” They all looked at him. “Time’s a wasting. Get back inside posthaste or try explaining that,” he motioned with his chin towards Hiccup and Astrid holding each other, “to a patrolling guardsman. Or worse.”

Astrid’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded. “Yes, we should go back,” she whispered, hesitantly. “But… but can we meet again soon? To talk, to find a solution? Please?” Her hand in his tunic tightened even further, and Hiccup raised his hand to place it over hers, to rub her arm until she relaxed again. The look in her eyes as she gazed up at him told him enough about how she felt; anxious and unwilling to let go of him so soon. He couldn’t even blame her, but the others were right. Staying here wouldn’t get them anywhere.

“Maybe…during the hunt in a couple of days?” he suggested. “I don’t think we’ll get the chance to talk unobserved during the tournament tomorrow and the day after. But during the hunt, we can sneak away and meet somewhere else; the stables, for example, o-or somewhere else,” he added hastily when something like a small whimper escaped Astrid. He wanted to kick himself; of course, mentioning the stables wasn’t a good idea, not after what had happened this morning. But he couldn’t take his words back anymore and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t come up with something–

“Tonight,” Eret threw in, distracting Hiccup from his thoughts. “After the ball has ended. It will be late and everybody will be too tired to care much. Rachel, do you think you can smuggle her over into my rooms without anybody noticing? There, we could talk freely.”

Hiccup’s heart began to race and he could tell that Astrid faired little better. This was better than everything he could have hoped for. Maybe, they would already find a solution tonight.

Ruff snorted and rolled her eyes. “Given that she managed to sneak out of the castle and to the stables all on her own and pretty much every night without anyone noticing… Yeah, I’d say that won’t be a problem,” she said sarcastically.

Apparently, this was news to Eret as well – the looks on his and Dagur’s faces were priceless.

. o O o .

As they approached the castle again, Astrid was reminded of the fact that she would have to let go of Hiccup’s hand eventually. She didn’t want to, wanted to stay close to him for the rest of her life, wanted to never be separated from him again.

But, of course, that wasn’t possible. Eret was right after all; it was bad enough that she’d put a target on his back by choosing him over her other suitors. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if Hiccup got the same attention now.

No, all she could do as they were back in the room she’d been resting in earlier was squeeze his hand and throw him one last smile before letting go and winding her arm through Eret’s instead. He must have felt her discomfort though, because as they walked back to the busy ballroom, Hiccup, Dagur, and the others a few steps behind them, he leaned toward her and whispered, “Don’t worry, Swanja. I promise we’ll find a way out of this.“

Astrid had no idea how he wanted to pull that off, but she believed him at least so far that he would do his best to help. Maybe he’d even cover for them in case of their last resort. And even though they still had no solution, she felt lighter now. So much had changed over this past hour. She was sure of Hiccup’s and her own feelings again, was sure of their future. And the fact that she didn’t need to hide anything from Eret anymore, that he knew and was even willing to support them, to play his part to keep her soulmate safe... She would never be able to express just how relieved and how grateful she was to him. Lying to him over all this time felt so trite and stupid now, and she just hoped that there would be a way to somehow make it up to him one day.

The rest of the ball passed surprisingly fast and ended with Astrid in a much better mood than she’d ever thought she’d be. Repeating her official dance with Eret was light and fun, just like dancing with him used to be before all this madness had started. They were back to being best friends, close as siblings, and she hadn’t known how much she’d missed this easiness until she rediscovered it now.

She found herself beaming up at him as they whirled through the room, laughing and enjoying herself. Every now and then, her eyes flickered to where Hiccup stood, and the spark in his eyes told her all she needed to know. Earlier, he’d said that watching her with Eret had pained him, but it was clear that that wasn’t the case anymore. Everything was different now. Better.

“That’s it, the Swanja I want to see. I missed her,” Eret whispered once the music died down, and he leaned in to place a soft kiss on her forehead that made her giggle.

A sigh went through the watching crowd at the tender gesture even though they thoroughly drew the wrong assumptions from it. But Astrid happily let them believe what they wanted to believe. It didn’t matter as long as everyone who did matter knew the truth. She smiled up at him again, trying to express all her gratitude and love for her friend, before they parted and the ball continued as it had before.

She danced with Dagur next, and he too reassured her that they would support her and how happy he was to see her smile again. He also managed to make her – and part of the watching crowd she guessed – laugh when he made a show of not letting go of her again. Gods, it was so liberating to fool around like this again, to have her brothers back and to have fun without caring what other people might think of them.

She danced with many other men as it was the custom, men whose names she barely remembered. But where on the days before she’d dreaded this idea, it now barely bothered her. Some of them were nervous and excited, some stiff in their attempt to make an impression on her. She wondered whether these men really still held some hope now, or whether it was their fathers pushing them. Either way, she felt pity for them where before she’d hated every single one of them. Most of these boys – because some of them were barely old enough to be called more than that – probably had gotten thrown into this just as unwillingly as she had and she made an attempt to turn their dances into something enjoyable. She was just too happy to let anyone else mope around.

Eventually, she danced with Snot, and while the thought had made her uncomfortable at first, she soon realised that there seemed to be no reason for that anymore.

“I congratulate you for the choice you made,” he murmured into her ear at a quieter part of the music. “I think it’s a good one, no matter how much my old man might object.”

His words surprised her, and she didn’t know what to reply except a simple “Thanks.” These past weeks of incessant flirting on his part had alienated him to her, and Astrid wasn’t ready to forgive and forget it yet. But even though she still felt tense in his arms, certainly not as comfortable as in Dagur’s or even with all those other strangers, she had to admit to herself that dancing with him now at least felt a little more like it used to.

At some point though, she even was made to dance with Thuggory, and no matter how good she felt, this did make her uncomfortable. She didn’t want his hands on her waist, didn’t want to be this close to him, ever. But she would endure it, there was no other way anyway. And there was even some fun in it for her too, if only in knowing that all his vague threats were in vain.

“You’re going to regret choosing that horse-crazy idiot,” he sneered, his breath on her skin making her shudder. “You’ll see.”

But Astrid wasn’t feeling like giving in or even just ignoring him today. “I doubt that,” she replied with a sweet smile. “On the contrary, I’m certain that the choice I made today was the best of my life.” He couldn’t know that she wasn’t talking about Eret but instead about going after Hiccup, but that only made her rejoice even more. Thuggory was nothing but a toothless dog, barking and annoying, but unable to actually do anything.

At her words, his eyes contracted into slits, his sneer turning even more menacing. “We’ll see, Princess. We’ll see.”

But not even that was enough to darken Astrid mood tonight.

. o O o .

So, that was that...

I can't say that I'm happy with how this chapter turned out. Not that I don't like this scene, but it feels incomplete without the one that's now going to come in the next chapter. Like, the rest of the ball had been meant to be a bridge between the two main scenes... Writer's block is so annoying!

Anyway, I hope some people are calmer and more relaxed now, nothing bad will happen right away. ;)

#FTLOAP #For The Love Of A Princess #Hiccstrid #Hiccup and Astrid #hiccstrid royal au #royalty au #Hiccstrid Medieval AU #medieval au #fanfiction #romance #hiccstrid fanfiction #httyd #httyd fanfiction

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ofriddler · 4 years

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Halloween Party|| Discord

Summary: Stephen and Edward reconcile at Oswald’s Halloween Party. Written With: @sorcercr Trigger Warnings: Abuse mention, death mention

Stephen: Stephen was a little shaken after what had happened these past few weeks, and felt like he needed to spend some time getting loose. So there he was, at Oswald's of all places, sipping on a Greyhound and listening to the frankly awful music that was playing. His soul ached for something of a smoother genre.

Edward: When Edward noticed Stephen standing there on the sidelines, he felt a shiver run up his spine. He wasn't sure what to say to him. He'd witnessed him putting the body in the trunk of his car and if not for their long, complicated history... maybe he would have turned him in. He picked out what he knew to be Stephen's favourite drink and poured him some. Making his way over to him from the side so he wouldn't see him and immediately leave. He stood beside him once he was there and quietly moved the cup his way. "I got you something." Was all he said.

Stephen: Startled by the other's presence, the sorcerer jumped at Ed's voice, looking at the glass in front of him. He looked back up at the man's face, unsure what to say. He hated the fact that he had to question, just for a moment, if this drink was poisoned-- but then he realized how ridiculous that sounded. He picked up the drink, clearing his throat. "Better than a gun to my face." he muttered, taking a long sip.

Edward: When Stephen took the drink from him, he tried to smile but there was tension between them. Ed nervously fidgeted with his black gloves and eyed the party. Trying not to look at Stephen. Better than a gun to my face. That hit him, hard. He knew he shouldn't have held a gun to him, with what they'd been through before. "I was never going to shoot you." He muttered, "You know I-" He glanced down, suddenly it seemed like a bad idea to remind him of his feelings. "I'm sorry. I was stressed. I thought you'd... over react."

Stephen: He listened to Ed's explaination, looking down at the liquid as he talked. "Yes. I wouldn't doubt you were stressed. I knew you weren't going to shoot me. If I thought that, I wouldn't have drank this." he murmured, taking another long sip. He wished he was more drunk for this. "I don't understand. I told you from now on I'd be honest with you. You held my lying over me. Yet you lied about being better. You told me you were better."

Edward: Edward frowned at the other's words. At least he was trusting enough to drink what he'd brought him, but the thought that it was tampered with shouldn't have even come to his mind. He shook his head. "It wasn't a lie. I was better. Before that man attacked me... then Oswald suggested- it doesn't matter." He said, suddenly wishing that he also grabbed a drink for himself.

Stephen: He looked at him suddenly, leaning back a bit. "Oswald." he nodded. "Of course." He shook his head, taking a drink. "He's influencing you, isn't he?" He should've known. He hated being there now. Stephen felt anger rise in his chest. "It's such bullshit. No matter how much you try to dig yourself out someone around you is dragging you back down into the hole."

Edward: Ed blinked at him in surprise. Sure it was Oswald's suggestion but he didn't have to go through with it. His friend would have done it all by himself, he knew that. He just felt so angry. So bitter that he'd been attacked. That he was brutalized in front of so many people, unable to do a thing about it. Well, I did something about it now. Didn't I. He thought to himself. If he just let Stephen believe it was Oswald's influence, it would be so much easier to get him to forgive him but he couldn't do that to Oswald. "It's not Oswald's fault. I was going to relapse eventually anyway. I always do. You should know that." He said quietly.

Stephen: "I don't believe that." He told him, turning to look at him. "A wise person, my mentor, once told me that I had the capacity for goodness. Which was a shock for me, considering I had been nothing but selfish and ignorant my entire life." he paused, "But she saw it in me, and now being her sucessor I can tell you how easy it is to see. I know you have the ability, Edward." he took in a breath. "You have it in you. I see it. I love that about you. Your passion." he turned back to his drink. "Do you remember that night? When I was shot?"

Edward: Ed glanced at Stephen, suddenly he was a lot more passionate. As if something he'd said really struck a chord with him. He was speaking about how he was selfless and Ed frowned, he couldn't imagine his ex as anything but selfless and giving. "My passion." He repeated gently. "Passion isn't solely a good trait." He said with a sigh. Then Stephen reminded him of that horrible night he was shot and he placed a hand on Stephen's shoulder. "That was my fault." He reminded him, "He was after me because of some horrible thing I must have done. Just because I love you, doesn't mean I'm not bad."

Stephen: He looked Ed over, shaking his head. "That's not what I meant." He turned fully towards him. "You cried for me. For my life. You begged for it. Because you love me." he paused, hoping he would understand. "It hurt you. The thought of me leaving this earth; of leaving you behind." He placed his hand on Ed's that was resting on his shoulder. "That is how I would feel if I lost you. And you have done bad things. Awful things. Worse than some of the people you've killed had done. So you can't tell me that you don't understand what pain you're inflicting on multiple people when you take someone's life. You've experienced it."

Edward: He frowned, staring into Stephen's eyes. Listening to him as he spoke. The man was going on about how he cried for him. How he begged for his life. He tried not to think too much about it. It was a horrible night. The thought of losing Stephen alone had been overwhelming for him. He swallowed, realizing they both had said it in a present tense. Despite everything. "Of course if hurt me." He said quietly. Then Stephen kept going ad Ed crossed his arms over his red lab coat. "But... Stephen he-" He stammered. "He deserved it. What he got."

Stephen: He looked at Ed, "Maybe he did. But did his possible spouse deserve it? His children maybe? His mother? Do they deserve to feel that same pain you had felt?" he licked at his lips, "I know you know...You have to feel remorse. Would you really wish that heartache on others?"

Edward: Stephen was complicating it. Bringing up the families. He shook his head, trying not to feel any remorse. If he felt that, didn't that take away the gratification that came with killing the man who hurt him. Tom Dougherty probably had a family, but that didn't stop him from hurting Kristen or from attacking him. He glanced out into the crowd of people and his heart nearly stopped at the sight of a green form. Question Marks riddled the man's coat. He thought it was himself until he noticed blonde hair. It's a costume. Ed thought, I'm not seeing things. He glanced over at his ex boyfriend. "Maybe it's better that I did it. For them in the long run. He had a kid. He was violent..." He told him. "Maybe I did them a favour. Can't we just- stop talking about it. It's not like I can take it back. It's been done... Stephen."

Stephen: He listened to Ed's reasonings, that were flawed of course, and wanted to continue the conversation...but he could see the look in his eyes. His uncertainty. The last thing he wanted to do was push him into a worse mental state. "Alright." he spoke, his voice a bit softer this time. "It is a party after all. We're supposed to be having fun." he flagged down the bartender, ordering a Grasshopper and a Greyhound double. "So. Who are you supposed to be?"

Edward: He let out a sigh of relief when he finally decided to drop it. "Thank you." He muttered quietly. When he was with Oswald then, it felt good to let out all that pent up anger. To feel like he was in control, but the way Stephen spoke with him. The way he looked at him... it just made him feel bad. Like a child who had misbehaved getting a lecture from his mother. Not that his mother actually talked to him all that much. He let Stephen order him something and considered asking him to come upstairs with him once they had their drinks. He would have preferred being alone with him. "Oh- I'm dressed as Doctor Horrible from Doctor Horrible's sing-along blog." He felt nerdy just saying that out loud. "It's about a villain who's under appreciated. The whole movie he's trying to get respect from a large group of other villains. He gets it at the end... for a horrible cost."

Stephen: He looked him over. "Sing-a-long. Villains. Definitely sounds up your alley." he chuckled, turning a bit. He started to feel a tiny bit of normal. "I'll let you guess who I am." he gestured to his costume, leaning back against the bar. "Though the answer is obvious."

Edward: He smiled, remembering a time when he used to sing quietly to Stephen when he thought he was asleep. He probably heard him. He came to the conclusion. "I'd be excited at the prospect of a riddle but it's laid out for me." He said, gesturing to the name tag. He took a moment to glance over Stephen. "Dr. Sexy. Really sounds like it's up your alley." He replied with a smile. Noticing the drinks Stephen ordered arriving. They'd been quick, but they also knew Ed. This was Oswald's place after all.

Stephen: He smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Watch out what you say, Grasshopper." He took a sip of his drink. "Might think you're flirting with me." he purred a bit. "So what do you wanna do? I'm open for anything."

Edward: Ed took his drink and thanked the bar tender with a smile, now in a bit of a better mood then when they first spoke. "Can we have that too when we're done here?" He asked, pointing towards a bottle of wine and the bartender nodded. Ed smiled and then turned and focused on Stephen. Taking a drink before speaking. "Would you be upset with me if I was? I just missed you, Stephen. I don't get to see you much. I wanted to take the opportunity." He smiled, almost mischievously when Stephen asked what he wanted to do. "What lives in winter, dies in summer, and grows with its roots upward?" With the word 'upward', he gestured his head towards the staircase.

Stephen: He looked at Ed, licking at his lips. "I've missed you too. You have no idea." He listened to the riddle, thinking for just a moment, following his eyes upstairs. "Iceberg. But I think the point is you want to go upstairs." he murmured, grabbing the wine bottle. "So tempting."

Edward: It's icicle. Ed thought but it was close enough, he didn't need to correct him right now. "Yeah, I was hoping we'd go upstairs... I'd get you ice-olated." He joked, taking a longer sip of his drink. Trying to finish it quicker so he wouldn't have to carry it with him. Besides, that pun deserved a moment of silence. He felt it was clever. "Only tempting?" He asked, "Well... what do I have to do to get you to agree?"

Stephen: He hummed, giving a soft chuckle at the joke. Stephen reached up wtih a shaky hand, running his thumb over Ed's bottom lip. "I think perhaps a please would just about do it." he smirked. He took another sip of his drink, waiting for Ed's reply.

Edward: His heart pounded in his chest at the feeling of Stephen touching his lip. Feeling a bit weak and a bit flustered at the idea of a kiss from him. Sure, it wasn't anything new, but he remembered how much he used to cherish every kiss from Stephen. Feeling truly loved every time they shared a silly little kiss. One small intimate moment. It had been months since he felt loved like that. His chest ached and he took another sip of his drink, just to he could break eye contact from Stephen and get him to stop touching him as well. He felt so stupidly flustered.

He finished his drink and set it down, before finally looking at him again. "Please."

Stephen: He could feel the want to be near Ed again, and it was so intense. He all the sudden was so happy to be alone with him. He smiled, looking into his eyes before taking his hand, leading him through the crowd and up the stairs. He wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but the sorcerer definitely had an idea or two in his mind.

Edward: Stephen took him through the crowds and up the stairs and Ed glanced around the very few private booths, deciding to choose the farthest one down. Where Oswald normally held Rogue get togethers. He walked with Stephen to it and undid the curtains so that they could close and give them a little more privacy. Smiling to him, still feeling a tad flustered and awkward before disappearing into the booth and taking a seat. Waiting for Stephen to sit down with him in the comfortable booth. "So um..." He said, unsure of what to say. Feeling far too awkward. "This is much nicer then the bar... I think."

Stephen: As they headed to a more private setting, Stephen watched Ed. He followed him into the booth, sitting close to the other. "Much nicer." he agreed, placing his hand over Ed's as he sat the wine down with the other. "I'm glad you suggested it. You always have the best ideas." he squeezed his hand then.

Edward: Stephen held his hand and he beamed. He was swept away in the moment. Lost to a time months ago when the two of them were still together. Before everything got bad. He pressed himself against Stephen and sighed. Hearing him say he had the best ideas. He wanted to agree with him, but guilt caught in his throat. Remembering how off-putted Stephen was by the whole body situation. He didn't really deserve to be all that happy right now. He reached for the bottle of wine and opened it up for the two of them. "I really did miss you." He said to him. "I was... wondering if we can so something like this again sometime? Like, maybe go out for dinner?"

Stephen: He hummed as he heard the wine open, trying to stay calm...But being so close to Ed was something he had missed so much. "You want to go out for dinner?" he couldn't help the spark of hope that ignited deep in his chest. "I'd love that. Would it be like a..." he tried to finish what he was going to say, but found that he couldn't.

Edward: Ed poured them both glasses of the wine they brought up with whatever had been set up at the table. They weren't actually wine glasses but they would do. Stephen didn't finish his sentence so Ed dared to utter the word instead. "Date?" Would it be stupid to date your ex again. Especially since he broke up with him to begin with. "Would you... want it to be?" He asked cautiously, unsure if he was walking into a trap.

Stephen: He looked at Ed's face when he questioned him, and he tried not to seem so desperate. More than anything. I missed you so much. I missed touching you. So he took a breath, keeping it simple. "Of course." he murmured, his heart hammering in his chest.

Edward: "Of course?" He repeated quietly, looking at him with wide, dark eyes. As though he was giving him a moment to change his mind, to add a 'not' at the end of it. He wasn't exactly the most stable person ever. Stephen knew this. He knew what it was like to be with him. How bad it was when he slipped. He drew a shaky breath and blinked. "I think a date with you would be nice." He said it quietly, heat now trapped in his cheeks. It felt odd that he might go back to dating someone he'd already dated before. The question what if I hurt you? whirled around in his mind and he tried to relax about it. He was just feeling nervous. He placed his head on Stephen's shoulder and leaned against him.

Stephen: The sorcerer let out a breath when he felt Ed's head on his shoulder. He knew this wouldn't be easy, and that it could very well be a stupid decision. Ed always had the chance of being hurt, but he was only a man. His heart wanted this, and denying himself love was a fruitless task. He pressed a soft kiss to Ed's head, "I love you. Never stopped."

Edward: His heart nearly skipped a beat at Stephen's words. I love you. Never stopped. Feeling the soft kiss to his head, Ed pulled back a bit. Staring at Stephen, a small smile on his lips. "You mean it?" He whispered to him. Moving his hand to cup Stephen's cheek. Gently rubbing his thumb against his skin before leaning in and giving him a soft peck on the lips. Slow and cautious. Like he was trying it out.

#discord #c: stephen

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isitgintimeyet · 5 years

Text

The Ties That Bind

Thank you so much for reading this. I do appreciate it so much. I am enjoying writing it so I’m glad people are enjoying reading it. Thanks to @mo-nighean-rouge for the beta.

This is a shorter chapter but necessary one. I will hopefully aim to post twice a week.

Warning: there is some swearing in this chapter.

AO3

Chapter 3 : A Difficult Conversation

If you marry the wrong person for the wrong reasons, then no matter how hard you work, it's never going to work, because then you have to completely change yourself, completely change them, completely - by that time, you're both dead. Anne Bancroft

Jamie was not a coward, but as he rang the doorbell of the Geneva’s smart townhouse, he could feel his palms sweating. He wiped them on his jeans and pressed the doorbell again. The decision had been made last night, while in the pub. He could have told her then but he needed time to plan what he would say. Every time he thought about it though, he felt more and more like a bastard. He didn’t want Geneva to think that he’d used her for sex. In fact last night, when she had invited him back to her house again, he’d politely refused, pleading the onset of a sudden migraine. Not too far from the truth, he told himself.

Jamie heard Geneva’s footsteps coming to the door. As the door swung open, he wiped his palms again. Band-aid approach needed, he told himself - quick, clean, and less painful in the long run.

Geneva held her face up for a kiss as he stepped inside. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and bent down to take his shoes off before she had to remind him (again). She grabbed his belt buckle and pulled him into her immaculate living room. Stopping suddenly, she swivelled to face him, placing her hands on his chest, working her fingers between the buttons of his shirt.

“Seeing as how you had that migraine last night,” she breathed against his neck. “We’re going to have to make up for it tonight. I hope you’re up for it.” Her hand slid down his body and cupped his groin. “Oh dear, looks like I’m going to have to work even harder…”

Before she had chance to fumble for his zip, Jamie pulled her hand away. He sat on the grey tweed sofa and gestured for her to sit. Instinctively he quickly scanned around, checking there was nothing hard within easy reach for Geneva. Just the mustard accented throw pillows… not too bad.

Jamie cleared his throat. “Geneva, can we talk?”

“About us?”

Jamie saw the excitement flare in her eyes. He realised she had expectations to rekindle their relationship, become boyfriend and girlfriend once more.

“Aye. When I saw ye at Rupert’s wedding, I didna plan tae get wi’ ye. But I did wonder if mebbe I’d been a wee bit hasty last September. I thought we should see. But, I ken now, it’s no’ right, this. And we should stop afore anyone gets hurt.”

Geneva stared at him in disbelief, her hands curled tightly round one of the pillows. So tightly, her knuckles showed white against the light tan of her skin.

“Anyone gets hurt... anyone gets hurt? You fucked me, remember, two nights ago? You fucked me and now you come here ready to give me the ‘it’s-not-you-it’s-me’ speech.”

“I’m no’ proud of my behaviour. I am sorry, I shouldna have slept wi’ ye. But I ken this is no’ right between us. I would only make ye miserable...”

“Here it comes. It’s not you it’s me.” She sneered.

“Aye, you’re right it is me. But it’s ye as well, it’s us. There is no us. I think ye ken it too”

Geneva stood up and walked towards the large picture window. She stood there silently for a moment - her face a calm mask. Her voice started low and controlled.

“You know, when I saw you again at the wedding and we were talking I thought, perhaps he’s changed, perhaps he knows what he wants now… maybe he’s not holding out for some perfect woman.”

She turned to face him, her cheeks reddened with anger. Her fists were clenched tightly as though ready to deliver a knockout blow.

“You know, your fucking ideal woman is a fucking dream.” Her voice grew louder and became harsh, discordant. “Leave me then. I hope you and your fantasy are happy together. But let me tell you now, you’ll come crawling back here, when you realise what you’re holding out for doesn’t exist and all your friends are in their nice little couples’ world and all you’ve got is your right hand for company. Just fuck off.” She screamed the last words. “Fuck you.”

“Truly I am sorry, I dinna ken what else tae say. I hope in time ye can see this is fer the best. I dinna mean for it tae turn out like this. Geneva, I really wish ye well. I do. I want ye tae be happy.”

Jamie got to his feet and stood still, unsure of what his next move should be. Tentatively, he took a step towards Geneva as if to give her some comfort. She deliberately turned her back to him and rested against the marble mantelpiece.

Through the mirror above the fireplace, Jamie could see the reflection of Geneva’s face, eyes closed, lips locked in an angry grimace. Knowing there was nothing more he could do or say to alleviate the situation, he headed out of the room.

A crystal tea light holder hurtled past his ear, narrowly missing him, before ricocheting off the door frame and smashing to pieces on the reclaimed oak floor. It was closely followed by a white orchid and pot which sailed over his left shoulder, depositing a shower of soil in its wake. Jamie quickly picked up his shoes by the front door, rushed out of the house and down the path. Once he judged he was no longer within accurate throwing distance, he stopped to put on his shoes.

Jamie reached his car and sat in the driving seat for several minutes. Breathing deeply, he felt the sweat trickle cold down his back. Am I really such a bastard?

He hadn’t meant for it to happen like this, he had really thought it was worth trying. But sleeping with her had been a mistake, he should have resisted her advances. It was not about another woman… not about that woman he had glimpsed twice now. Even if he never found out who she was (and his stomach turned over at that possibility) he knew he was never meant to be with Geneva.

He switched on the engine, pushed the controls to retract the roof on the silver BMW and set off for home, hoping that the rush of fresh air might clear his head and blow away his lingering feelings of shame.

#outlander fan fiction #outlander fanfic #the ties that bind #chapter 3 #Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #modern AU

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ariadnelives · 5 years

Text

Chapter 7 -- The Nightmare

[Missed earlier chapters? Go catch up here! Otherwise, welcome back! Oh, and make sure to join our discord server! Chapter can also be found @ ao3]

“I hate this lady so much,” Pilar practically snarled as she adjusted the ship's course. “Was she ever young, do you think?”

“Nah,” Ariadne said from the passenger seat, trying in vain to get a spoon to stick to her nose, “I feel like she's probably been an unpleasant old crone forever.”

“She was probably already on Calisto when they got there and they just built the bio-dome around her stupid rocking chair.”

The Jovian moon Calisto was now within visual range, and the rest of the viewport was filled with yellow and orange swirls. No matter how many operations they ran through the colonial moons, they never quite got used to the scale of a gas giant. Jupiter and Saturn took their breath away every time they looked at them. Something primal and hard-coded into their DNA told them that this was not something they were meant to see, and yet, here they were, a stone's throw from Jupiter.

The ship pulled closer to Calisto and Ariadne abandoned her spoon effort to pull out fake IDs to get into the bio-dome.

They got into the dome without incident, found a small garage to park in, and gave an almost comically large tip to the downtrodden-looking lot attendant.

La Pesadilla's high-rise apartment was at the top of a building whose elevator was constantly broken. While a woman of her means would be able to have it fixed, she liked that it was broken because it meant anyone who wanted to visit her would have to take the stairs.

Ariadne quickly repaired the electromagnets, actually making the elevator much faster than it was before it had broken, and wrote “HA” on the “Out of Order” sign. They were at her door in seconds.

La Pesadilla answered and, like Jupiter, her appearance never ceased to shock Ariadne and Pilar. At a glance, one might guess she was 90 years old. Her skin was eerily reminiscent to a well-worn catcher's mitt both in texture and coloration. Her expression was about as friendly as a large-mouth grouper, and under her tattered bathrobe was an inexplicable t-shirt depicting what appeared to be a zebra wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar. Whether she wore pants under the bathrobe was up for speculation.

She walked with a cane, even though she did not need one, simply because she liked to jab it at people when speaking.

“You didn't fix my elevator, did you?” she more snarled than said.

“Nope,” Ariadne lied.

“Good, I like it broken,” La Pesadilla grumbled, “makes it harder for people to drop by and ask me favors.”

There was a moment of silence in the hall as Pilar and Ariadne struggled to find the words to respond to this statement.

“Well, come in if you're coming in,” she said, gesturing into the apartment with her cane, “I pay to air condition the inside of the apartment, not the hallway. Every second this door is open is a waste of my money.”

Ariadne and Spacebreather, still at a loss for response, stepped into La Pesadilla's apartment.

The place was decorated like a family-style restaurant, which is to say, the walls were covered with hundreds of curios, oddities, and other units of nonsense which begged the question, “what exactly is the difference between vintage collectibles and old garbage?”

Two other women sat on an overstuffed couch in the corner, their focus divided between small information terminals affixed to the armrests and a holographic table at the center of the room playing an old rerun of Val Deimos, P.I. at an almost obscenely loud volume.

“Balotelli's cheating on his wife again,” said the one on the left, a relaxed-looking black woman of approximately 70 with wraparound sunglasses (worn indoors for reasons that were known only to her) and a blue-and-purple sweater knitted to look like a particularly starry galaxy that Ariadne thought might be subtly swirling and twinkling. “How much do you think he'll pay us to keep it under wraps this time?”

“No dice,” replied the one on the right, a strong-jawed white woman of perhaps 65, wearing a tank top, cargo pants, and combat boots with an iron-gray buzz cut. With one hand, she rapidly tapped on her terminal. With the other, she repeatedly lifted a rather heavy hand weight. She did not seem to break eye contact at any point with the flickering rerun streaming on the surface of the coffee table. “His wife knows. Hired a private dick to tail them last week. Tried to have 'em whacked but lost her nerve at the last second.”

“Do we have the records?” Galaxy-sweater asked.

“I have the contract here,” Tank-top replied.

“We double down. He's up for reelection in May, and I'm sure neither of them wants the scandal breaking in April. Probably pay a pretty penny to keep it under wraps.”

“Sex, betrayal, and intrigue?” Tank-top asked. “This sounds like a pretty valuable story. It'd be a shame if some reporter outbid them for it.”

“Oh my god,” Ariadne cut in, “do you always talk in clichéd banter or is this for our benefit?”

Tank-top stopped her arm curls for half a second and then continued. Galaxy-sweater raised an eyebrow at her.

“Who's this lunchbox?” Galaxy-sweater asked in a derisive way that seemed to be second nature to mean old ladies and made even the most baffling of insults seem to make sense.

“This is that brat I was telling you about,” La Pesadilla growled.

Tank-top did not look away from her television program. “The one who always fixes the elevator?”

“I think so,” La Pesadilla grumbled. She wandered into the kitchen but continued speaking, incrementally increasing the volume of her voice so she could still be heard. “Her name starts with an A, and her wife here is named after … I don't know, some kind of rice dish.”

Pilar pondered this for a moment and resolved to ask Cookie about it later on.

“Shoot, hope that elevator is fixed.” Galaxy-sweater smiled, “I got bad knees and shit to do.”

La Pesadilla returned with two brightly colored plastic cups, filled with a cloudy yellow substance. She practically shoved these into the hands of her guests with a grunt.

“What do… what is…” Ariadne was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. She was barely reaching adulthood herself and she still had very little experience in the department of respecting her elders. She suspected that perhaps sixty percent of the people in the room were not acting as they should, but she was unsure of where she fell in that ratio.

“It's lemonade.” La Pesadilla removed a smallish disc-shaped tin from her bathrobe pocket, pulled out a handful of leaves, jammed them into her cheek, and began chewing them. “You're kids, you drink lemonade. You're in my house, I offer you a drink. The elevator's out of order, you take the fucking stairs instead of trying to fix it. There's rules to this sort of thing.”

“I said I didn't fix your elevator,” Ariadne stammered.

“You always say that.” La Pesadilla rolled her eyes. “What do you want? You're talking through our program.” She gestured at the hologram. The show was popular enough that Pilar had seen this particular episode several times with her parents, and since she had not had parents in approximately a decade, it was a safe bet it was not their first viewing.

“You could always pause it while we conduct our business,” Pilar offered in a tone she hoped would come across as helpful. She took a polite sip of her lemonade, which had no ice and seemed to be little more than powdered mix stirred into room-temperature tap water.

“You could've shown up on the hour, like a normal person, so you don't interrupt the last five minutes of my show.” La Pesadilla slumped into an old, heavily-patched recliner, searched for a small metal jar, and spat the leaves out into it. “So, spit it out.”

Galaxy-sweater let out a small “heh” at her phrasing.

“Why do you come here and bother me again?”

Ariadne finally seemed to find her voice. “We're looking for information.”

“Well, you've come to the right place,” Tank-top grunted, somehow still lifting her weight, “we've got all of it.”

“The Red God cult that's formed on Mars in the last year or so. We need to know everything we can about them.”

“What do we get?” La Pesadilla asked. “I mean, you're asking me to do the opposite of my job here. People pay me to keep their secrets. If I tell you about these guys, I ain't got no leverage on 'em, can't charge 'em for my services, feel? If I'm gonna spill the beans, I gotta know it's worth more than keeping my mouth shut.”

“Cut the crap,” Pilar said simply, “money is no object to us, and I think you'll be pleased with the amount we've deposited in your account as an act of good faith.”

La Pesadilla tapped at her display and raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Well, I'll be damned.”

“You'll get the other half when we have our information,” Pilar said.

La Pesadilla looked at Galaxy-sweater and nodded.

“Think we got something on them.” Galaxy-sweater said, tapping away on her own display. “Yeah, their leader's this fancy scientist turned whacked-out bible nut, calls himself the Zealot.”

“Real original nickname,” Tank-top added.

“Got into some real shady shit.” Galaxy-sweater furrowed her brow at the display. “We got our hands on a few black market ledgers about 20 years back, and the shit he was buying? Banned on just about every rock in the system.”

“Why would someone selling illegal goods on the black market keep a ledger of their customers?” Ariadne wondered out loud. Galaxy-sweater looked at her flatly and gestured vaguely at the blackmail operation they were currently sitting in the middle of. Ariadne took a sip of her lemonade. “I see.”

“You said 20 years ago?” Pilar looked confused. “These guys have only been operating for the past year, year and a half.”

“Nah,” La Pesadilla grunted, “they been around longer'n you kids have been alive. The Red God stuff is new. They used to walk around the moons, door to door, saying that the Earth was a New Sodom that was to be destroyed due to its sin and heresy and that the only way to be sure Jesus would spare the rest of the system was to join their church.”

“Or make a donation,” Tank-top said.

“Course, the day they predicted came and went.” Galaxy-sweater chuckled. “The Earth was still there. Then that happened, oh, five or six more times before everyone stopped giving them the time of day.”

“Buncha idjits,” La Pesadilla mumbled, “Jesus don't need our money, and he's got a whole universe to run. He doesn't go around blowing up planets because some people didn't pray right. All he cares about is if you're a good person. He don't even care if you believe in him if you ask me, just live your life best you can and he won't bother you.”

“Like bees?” Galaxy-sweater asked, smirking.

“Exactly, like bees. You don't bother him, he don't bother you.”

Ariadne thought this moralizing was rich coming from a professional blackmailer, and she couldn't help but think she'd been given the same advice about what to do when you encounter a swarm of bees, but she bit her tongue to avoid starting another tangent.

La Pesadilla took a sip from a nearby mug that seemed to be full of red wine. “Anyway, nobody bought his end-is-nigh crock and, last I heard, he was a pretty sick fucker. He bought a bunch of illegal shit and went underground. Nobody heard from them for a while, and they came back with a new god and a shiny new preacher. Little white girl, 'bout your age.”

Ariadne scowled. “Not even close.”

La Pesadilla matched her scowl. “Kid, if we're talking years, I'm easily five of you. You both got all your original teeth? You're the same age, far as I'm concerned.”

“What exactly did he buy?” Pilar attempted to break the tension. She, at times, was confused by Ariadne's talent for locking horns with grumpy older women, but suspected this was a deeper issue than they had time to unpack at the moment.

Galaxy-sweater looked at her screen. “We got three Cortex brand neural implants. Those things were all the rage back in the 90s, companies used to get them for all the employees so memos would go right to their brain.”

Tank-top laughed slightly. “Yeah, but they got banned pretty quick.”

La Pesadilla took another sip of mug-wine. “Security risk… a lot of bosses got caught snooping in their employee's thoughts. There was one big scandal where a manager tried to increase productivity by planting thoughts in his employees heads while they slept. An entire office working 16-hour shifts and sleeping at their desks because their brain was telling them 'if I stop working I'll die, if I ask for overtime I'll die, if I make a mistake I'll die.'”

“Yikes,” Ariadne concluded. “Go on, what else?”

“Blueprints for immersion pod,” Galaxy-sweater explained, “That's a VR capsule that uses the brain's visualization center as a processor to create realistic simulations of pre-programmed scenarios. Originally designed for video gaming, scrapped because every focus tester who attempted to play a children's shoot-em-up game had to be treated for very real PTSD, and made illegal after the prototypes were found being used as training simulators for a radical Earth-based supremacist paramilitary corps.”

“I'm sensing a theme here,” Pilar chimed in.

“Here's where it gets really interesting,” Galaxy-sweater said, pointing at the screen, “he bought up a bunch of medical equipment. Machines for growing and implanting new organs.”

“Shouldn't need that,” Tank-top piped up, still watching her show but seeming to slow down on the weights. “I know he was sick, but if he needed a transplant he could get one at any hospital and be home for supper.”

“Could've been for implanting the Cortex device,” Ariadne suggested.

“Could be,” La Pesadilla said. “We ain't here to speculate, we just give you the information.”

“Aaaaand,” Galaxy-sweater reached the end of her list, “one Quantum Shift Generator. Weird little devices, designed for the Shop-n-Go corporation. They had this idea for expanding to the colonial moons that they could just build a single store interior which all of their storefronts would lead into, that way they could have a dozen stores in a bio-dome but only pay one set of overworked employees.”

“Wonder why that got banned.” Ariadne smirked.

“If you're thinkin' it's some worker's rights whatever, you're wrong,” La Pesadilla grumbled, pouring herself another mug of wine from a bottle that had been conveniently located next to the mug on the table. “It's because all the exterior doors led to the same interior, but they ain't give you the same courtesy on the way out.”

“What she's trying to say,” Tank-top said, placing her weight on the ground and reaching for a nearby bottle of water, “is that people would attempt to leave the store only to find themselves coming out of the wrong one. You could end up 15 miles across town in the 40 seconds it took you to buy an iced tea and a candy bar.”

“Would've made a great public transit system if there was some way to predict which storefront you'd come out of,” Galaxy-sweater offered.

“That's all we've got,” La Pesadilla said. “Where's the rest of my money?”

“Now, hang on,” Galaxy-sweater said, easing herself off the couch, “these girls paid good money and we have got one more thing. Been meaning to get rid of it anyway.”

She ambled over to a bookshelf, grabbed a small, shabby-looking paperback, ripped the back cover clean off, and handed it to Ariadne. “They dropped this in our mailslot back when they were still pretending to be Christian. Got a picture of the Zealot on the back. Might help.”

La Pesadilla jabbed her cane towards the closed door. “Now, get out of my house and put that money in my account.”

Ariadne and Pilar put down their half-finished lemonades, more than glad to not have to finish drinking them, and walked towards the door. As they exited, they heard La Pesadilla mumble, “and so help me if that elevator is working.” The door closed behind them and they immediately heard it lock.

In the elevator ride down to the first floor, Ariadne looked at the laminated cover she'd been handed. The photograph was of a white man, perhaps in his 40s, with squinting, intense eyes, a full but neatly trimmed gray beard, a straight, pointed nose, and a wide-brimmed black hat.

She felt uneasy and turned the book over. Something about him, something she couldn't quite place but knew very few others would see, hit upsettingly close to home. She didn't look at it again for the rest of the trip back.

#core story

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elliearchive · 5 years

Text

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY ➝ REGLEN.

TAGGING ➝ Valencia Cortez, Regan St. James.

LOCATION ➝ Grant’s house, Super Bowl party.

TIME FRAME ➝ 2/3, afternoon.

WARNINGS ➝ None, but it was done on discord so it’s long.

NOTES ➝ Len and Regan discuss Len and Grant’s situation at his Super Bowl party.

VALENCIA

Len stood in the kitchen of Grant’s house, finishing the last sips of her beer so she could grab a fresh one. Truthfully, she had no interest in football whatsoever but Grant and Addie both seemed to be enjoying themselves and she was certainly enjoying spending time with him and Addie and getting to know Regan. She was making up a small plate of food to snack on before heading back into the living room when she decided instead to prop herself up on the counter and just take a break. It wasn’t as if she understood the game, so taking a small breather seemed like a way to make the end of the game come a bit sooner. She looked up as Regan entered the kitchen and grinned at her, “Are you tired of hearing about first downs and incompleted passes, too?”

REGAN

Football — sports in general, in fact — was not Regan’s thing. It was bad enough that her best friend played baseball, and that she had to feign interest in that for his sake, but now she had to sit through football, too? No one had forced her here, though, and although she wasn’t a fan of the game, she liked getting to hang out with Addie and her friends, and she could cope with the jersey she was currently sporting. It was pretty comfortable, as far as tasteless outfits went. With Addie and Grant talking about the game, Regan excused herself to go grab another beer from the kitchen, almost surprised to find Len in there. “If I knew what any of those things were, I’d be tired of them. I’ve been zoned out for the last.. however long it’s been,” she admitted with a short laugh, reaching into the cooler to grab a bottle. “Are you hiding out in here or something?”

VALENCIA

Len laughed at her comment, nodding. "I only know them from hearing them so many times. I have no idea what any of it means." She took a small bite of one of her snacks and then looked up at Regan's second question. "Not really hiding out, just avoiding game talk, and having to watch full grown men tackle each other constantly over a ball. I guess that kind of is hiding out." She laughed, and shrugged a shoulder. "I didn't know you were dating Addie. I mean, Carter mentioned that she had a girlfriend, but well, I guess I didn't know you, so that was kind of a silly statement, wasn't it?" She asked, laughing again. "You two seem really happy, though."

REGAN

That made two of them, and Regan nodded her head in agreement. “Kind of. I don’t understand the appeal of men tackling one another, though. And I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m a lesbian,” she half joked, though she really didn’t understand it. “I was never a fan of football in high school. I would go to the games, but I never really knew what was going on.” She shrugged, popping the cap off of her bottle. She paused by the cooler. “Do you want one?” Although she’d heard the names thrown around thanks to Addie and other mutual friends, she didn’t really know all of the people in her girlfriend’s life. She’d known Grant as the father of Jessica’s baby, but she didn’t know him, just like she knew Carter was someone Addie worked with, and that Valencia worked for her sister. “You know both Grant and Carter? I have to say, I feel a little out of the loop,” she laughed a little, taking a sip from her drink. The smile that eased onto her lips was natural. “Thank you. I know I’m very happy. How about you and Grant, how long have you two been together?”

VALENCIA

She laughed in response, "Well, I'm into guys, girls and everyone in between, and I just never got the appeal either, so I'm not really sure what the big deal is." Len nodded as Regan continued, "The whole thing is really weird. I'd much rather watch someone doing gymnastics or something, that takes real skill." She laughed again, and then nodded when Regan asked if she wanted a beer, taking one gratefully. Len was caught off guard when Regan asked that she knew both Grant and Carter, and then realized that of course Regan wouldn't know she knew Carter. "Don't feel too bad about it." She grinned, popping the top off of her beer bottle. "Carter is my big brother, so he only associates with me because he has to." She laughed, though her face beamed with pride, the way it always did when she got to talk about being related to Carter, who was, quite possibly, her favorite person in the world. "I wouldn't really say we're together." She said, again, taken back by the question. "Um, but we've known each other for a few weeks." She added, and then shrugged, not sure of what else there was to really say about the situation.

REGAN

“Gymnastics,” Regan nodded, smile easing onto her lips, “I can get behind gymnastics. That’s about the only event I pay attention to when it comes to the Olympics. I suppose I’m really just not much of a sports girl.” She’d had a lot on her mind lately, and as much as she’d wanted to focus on the football and let that occupy her thoughts for a little bit, she just wasn’t into it, not like Addie was. In a selfish sense, it was a good thing Len was here, it meant Regan actually had someone she could relate to. She was finding it easy to talk to her already. “Ohh…” She nodded her head slowly, “Got it. I don’t know him, I just know that he works with Addie. And you work with Robin, right?” Regan took a sip from her beer, wanting to mask the possibility of her lip twitching or something at the mention of her sister. She listened as Len explained her situation with Grant. Up until now, she was just kind of assuming Len was here as his date. “Right. He’s friends with your brother?” She questioned, now suddenly curious as to how Carter would feel about the situation. Regan knew that if Jesse was hooking up with one of her friends, she might feel some type of way, but she was trying not to judge. Not until she had the full picture, anyway.

VALENCIA

"I like basketball, too." She added, shrugging a shoulder, though it had nothing to do with Grant, and everything do to with her father, but that wasn't really information that Regan needed. "But gymnastcis is bad ass. Other than that I'm out as far as sports go." She laughed, and then nodded at her next question. "I do, yeah. It's a small world, I suppose, isn't it?" She commented, and then bit her lip. "She's a pretty cool boss." She added, not able to read Regan's face when Robin came up, and unsure of what else there was to say. "Uh. I don't know, honestly. I had never met Grant until a few weeks ago, and we didn't meet through him, but the fact that they're both close with Addie makes me think they probably know each other. Which is kind of awkward." She added, "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here, though." She laughed again, though it was more awkward this time. "Carter is pretty protective, so him hearing that I'm doing...whatever Grant and I are doing, he's probably going to get weird about it. But it's not like Grant and I are dating, so I don't know what I'm supposed to tell Carter." She added, more so thinking out loud, not really realizing that she probably shouldn't be saying all this to Regan, as it wasn't her problem. "Sorry, beer makes me a talker."

REGAN

“Do you? That’s lucky. My best friend plays baseball, and I don’t know the first thing about it. I go to his games, but I always make him get me a VIP box,” Regan winked, “If I’m watching a live sport, I’m doing it in style.” She paused, glancing down at the oversized jersey she was wearing. She had a feeling Addie had picked this size out for her specially, since it’d be the only thing she’d be wearing later. “Well, I use the word style loosely.” Sipping slowly on her beer made it easier for her to not react to the topic of her sister, it just felt weird to not bring her up when Regan knew Len worked for her. Rather than respond, she just nodded — that was that over and done with, at least. Listening as Len explained the web of how everybody did and didn’t know each other, Regan tried to put herself in Carter’s shoes. Which was easy to do, considering her little brother was about Valencia’s age. She was pretty protective of him, though not to the point of craziness. She was sure older brothers were more protective of their little sisters. “No,” she shook her head, “Don’t apologize. Between you and me, I’d rather be talking in here than pretending to watch the game in there. Maybe it’d be a good idea to mention something to him, though? Just to save any messiness later. I don’t know how things are with you and your brother, but I think I’d want to know if my little brother was.. doing whatever this is with one of my friends.”

VALENCIA

She was interested to hear that Regan knew someone who played baseball. “Well, I guess those are the perks with putting up with watching them play, right?” She asked. Len looked down at her own Jersey when Regan did and laughed at her joke, “It could be worse, we could have those weird foam finger things.” Len laughed again, shaking her head. She wasn’t generally like getting advice from anyone, in fact, she had always really hated it. As a kid she had needed to learn to be independent and once she was adopted, she was hellbent on not letting that go, so even now it was hard for her to accept advice. That added with the fact that she was pretty young, she always felt that it was condescending especially considering the things she’d already lived through, she hated being treated like someone else knew better, but since she had brought it up to Regan in the first place, she knew the other girl was just answering the question that she’d put forth herself, so it wasn’t as if she could be mad about it. Even if it wasn’t really what she wanted to hear, being a private person she didn’t like sharing personal information even with her family. But she also knew Regan was right. “I know. It’s just that I know how he’ll probably react, and I’d rather stay in the happy bubble of no one knowing.” She grinned and then shrugged “I guess it was going to come out at some point though.”

REGAN

“Oh yeah. And now I get to drag Addie along with me and make out with her in a VIP booth. It’s all very official,” Regan smirked, her expression twisting to that of disgust at the idea of foam fingers. “God, don’t bring that up around them,” she motioned toward the living room, “I feel like they’ll have us actually get them next time.” It may have only been a short amount of time since she and Addie had been back together, but Regan knew already she was in this for the long haul, she had absolutely no doubts that they’d repeat this whole thing next Super Bowl. Advice, at least outside of advising people what they did and didn’t need to search for in a new home, was not Regan’s forte, but Len kind of seemed to need it, so she didn’t particularly mind offering what she could. She nodded her head along with the younger girl’s response, offering her a somewhat sympathetic smile. “I get it. I have a protective brother, too. I’m sure just like my brother with me, though, your brother just wants what’s best for you. At the end of the day, as long as you’re safe and you’re happy, I’m sure that’s all he’ll really care about.”

VALENCIA

“Sounds pretty hot,” Len smirked, hoisting herself up on the counter now, deciding that she’d rather sit if this wasn’t going to be a short char in passing. Len liked the idea of there being a next time, even if it was just her getting ahead of herself, but she decided not to say anything. “Oh no, I know he does.” She said and then cleared her throat, she wasn’t generally open, but for some reason she felt like it was okay to divulge extra information to Regan while sitting in Grant’s kitchen. Maybe it was just an excuse to miss more of the game. “I’ve made some really shitty decisions, and he’s had to get me out of a lot of shitty situations, and I get that there’s an age difference with Grant, but honestly I’ve grown a lot from the person I was that made those horrible choices. I get that I’m young and he’s supposed to look out for me, but I’m just afraid that he’s going to assume that this is another one of those bad choices, and like I’m a child that can’t tell the difference and that just isn’t the case. I like spending time with Grant and honestly I think he’s good for me, and yeah, this is just casual but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good person to have in my life or isn’t a positive influence. I think emotionally I’m pretty mature for my age because of the stuff I’ve been through and because of the mistakes I’ve made. I don’t want him to think I’m the same person, I don’t want to disappoint him, and I don’t want to be made to feel like I’m just a dumb kid, which is how I always feel when I feel like he’s disappointed. It’s not his fault, but it just sucks. And I just want to enjoy this.”

REGAN

“Have you seen my girlfriend? Of course it’s hot,” her smirk returned briefly, brows raising suggestively. Addie made straight-laced Regan all kinds of goofy, that was just how it was. Truth be told, she didn’t consider herself the most easy to talk to person, and she’d forgive people for agreeing, because Regan really could be kind of a hard ass at times, she knew that. Evidently, Len either hadn’t gotten that vibe from her, or she just really needed to talk, and Regan was happy to listen. It beat pretending to be interested in the game anyway, and honestly, this felt much more productive. Leaning back against the counter, she mulled over Len’s words for a moment. “Maybe if you do tell your brother, those are all things you should include. You obviously have very strong feelings about this. Do you think he’d ruin it for you? Like you wouldn’t enjoy it anymore if he reacted negatively?”

VALENCIA

“I have, and I’ve seen you, too. If you’re ever looking for a threesome feel free to save my number.” Len grinned, clearly joking though she hoped Regan knew it was genuine and not her trying to make a joke about their relationship. Len sighed, leaning her head back for a few seconds as she thought about it. “Yeah, probably. It’s not easy for me to talk to him, though. Not like he doesn’t listen, it’s just that I get emotional when it comes to him, nothing really comes out right. But when I was 11 and I was adopted he was my person. He was the first person I really connected to since my parents passed away. This is probably way too much information but, you know, the beer. But anyways, disappointing him is like as bad as disappointing my dead dad, it fucking sucks and so I can never talk to him like this. But yeah, I feel like if he reacted negatively that it might affect this. It’s not like I need his approval, but I’m happy right now and him being unhappy with me will make me unhappy, which will probably affect this .”

REGAN

“Noted,” Regan laughed, “I don’t think I’d do very well with sharing her. But still, noted.” Had anyone else made that comment, she might not have reacted very well, but she was pretty sure Len was joking. Besides, the four people currently in this house were very attractive, she couldn’t really blame her. Given the joking around, it was kind of surprising that Len was suddenly spilling such personal things to her, but Regan kept a neutral expression as she listened, sipping quietly on her drink and just letting the other girl get everything out there. “Wow. Okay, I guess it’s all a little deeper than just a protective big brother situation,” she acknowledged, nodding her head. “I’d say then don’t tell him, at least not yet. But it sounds like his opinion really does matter to you, and I feel like it might be worse if it comes from somebody else, you know? It’s not like I would tell him, but if I didn’t know all of this, and I actually knew your brother, it might’ve come up in casual conversation or something and I wouldn’t have realized I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

VALENCIA

“Yeah, I think that’s the problem when you have the real feelings for someone, I guess some people can do it but I don’t think I’d be able to handle watching someone else touching my boyfriend or girlfriend.” Len nodded as Regan spoke. The idea of not telling her brother was tempting but the idea of someone else telling him was a lot worse. “Him and Addie are really close,” She sighed, taking another sip of beer, “I can’t really ask her to lie for me, or to not tell him, that wouldn’t be fair. And I don’t want it to seem like I’m ashamed because I’m not.” She groaned, not wanting to think about Carter anymore, she just wanted to enjoy the night. She didn’t even know if Grant wanted this thing with them out in the open, and the whole thing was making her head spin. “I’m starting to remember why I stopped dating for the last two years.”

REGAN

All Regan did was nod in response, because the idea of someone else’s hands on her girlfriend was enough to make her feel super uneasy. She hated the idea that there’d been other people throughout the last eight years, despite the fact that she’d had her fair share herself. It wasn’t a thought she wanted to focus on. “That’s what I thought. It might put her in an uncomfortable position with him. Plus, she’s close with Grant, I feel like she’s very much in the middle in that sense.” It was typical of Regan to put Addie first, but hopefully it wasn’t coming across as her not caring about Len’s feelings, that wasn’t the case at all, even if she didn’t really know her. She offered the younger girl a smile, shaking her head. “I don’t think it has anything to do with shame. You just don’t want to upset anybody, I can understand that.” Regan shrugged, taking another sip of her drink. “Dating is complicated, I wouldn’t give up on it completely, though.”

VALENCIA

Len nodded, because Regan’s words were exactly what she was thinking. “Yeah, she is. I’m pretty sure if Grant knew that Carter was my brother he probably wouldn’t have invited me tonight.” She said honestly, knowing Grant liked his privacy. Though, if he knew she was Carter’s sister this whole thing may not have started in the first place. “Anyways,” she shrugged, “Not solving any problems tonight, Am I?” She asked, sliding off the counter, “should we suffer through the rest of the game?”

REGAN

“Oh, so Grant doesn’t know that either,” Regan nodded her head, understanding a little bit. “Got it.” Truthfully, she had wondered why Grant was okay with doing whatever this was with Carter’s sister if they were friends like Len had earlier implied. Regan never really cared too deeply about other people’s problems, unless she was close with them or they were related to her, of course. But she couldn’t help but feel bad for Len and her predicament. She flashed her another weak smile, shaking her head. “No, I guess not. I don’t know that the game will help to solve them either, but those two are probably going to come looking for us soon, then we’ll be the girls who made them miss a touchdown or whatever.” She joked, pushing up from the counter.

#regan st. james.#regan x valencia.#reglen x one.#andiesmu

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prisoner619b · 7 years

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Love Bite

So after seeing @eyugho ‘s comic I just needed to write this. It took me longer than I intended due to work and midday naps but I finished it! Hopefully there aren’t too many typos in it I wanted to get it out before going to bed today.

Word count: 4648

fic under the cut

or on [ao3]

Planet Oulike was, to say the least, adorable. Lance was certain that there couldn’t be a more adorable race in the entire universe. The Ouliken were kind of sheep-like, and their wooly coats were braided and woven into intricate designs. Lance was fairly certain that the colors were artificial, dyes added in the braiding process to enhance the designs. Their Queen’s coat was an intricate masterpiece that was reminiscent of a Persian rug. Some of the wool was sheared off in the process of making their clothes, but part of it was carefully spun while still attached to create the base of the weave. They showed the Paladins the process since they were all pretty curious about how their clothes seemed to be attached to their bodies.

Even the insects on the planet were absolutely adorable. Lance held his hand out for a pink heart-shaped moth-like bug to land on.

“I see one of our Hubun has found you!” The queen said happily. “They are a delightful creature, native to our planet.” She told them. “You may want to be careful, however. Their bite – ”

Lance didn’t even wait for her to finish talking. As much as he might enjoy a cute little bug, like moths or grasshoppers or cicadas he hated anything that might bite him. He shook his hand furiously and the moth went sailing into Keith’s face.

The Queen chuckled. “Now now, you don’t have to be afraid of the Hubun,”

Keith suddenly yelped and smacked the bug off his face. It flew away into the distance, no longer interested in any of the paladins.

“Lance! What the hell?” Keith whipped his head around to glare at Lance. “Why’d you have to throw it at me?”

“I didn’t mean to throw it at you, I didn’t want to get bitten!”

“Yeah and now I’m the one who got bitten!”

“I didn’t realize there was so much discord between your paladins.” The Queen said, though she didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by this. If anything, she seemed amused. “Perhaps the Hunbun chose them for a reason.”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Allura asked.

“The bite of a Hubun causes uninhibited infatuation with the first person the bitten person sees, only for a few days. In this case it seems your red paladin has fallen for your blue paladin.”

Keith blinked a few times, then stared at Lance, his glare softening. “Wow, Lance I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

“Oh no.” Lance’s face paled.

“Oh yes.” Pidge slapped her hands together.

“Shiro!” Lance yelled across the crowd to where Hunk was getting his hair braided and Shiro was being covered in woven wreathes with all the colors of Voltron.

Shiro looked up immediately at the tone of his voice and quickly pushed through the crowd to make his way over to the rest of his team, followed shortly by Hunk who was very unhappy that the Ouliken didn’t get to finish doing his hair.

“What happened? Is something wrong?” Shiro looked around quickly, looking for whatever could have caused Lance’s obvious distress.

“Please help me.”

In the short time it took for Shiro and Hunk to rejoin the rest of the group, Keith had made his way over to Lance and was now standing behind him with his arms wrapped loosely around his waist and his pressed against his neck.

“I. Um.” Shiro stammered, unsure of the sight before him.

“Get this.” Pidge said happily. “Keith got bitten by some alien love bug and now he’s even gayer than usual and completely into Lance.”

“Help. Please.” Lance said again and Keith’s hands started to roam.

“Are you uh, are you doing okay there Lance?” Hunk asked.

“Do I look like I’m doing okay?” Lance practically shouted.

“Calm down, Lance.” Keith said softly into his hear, eliciting a shiver from the other boy.

“Okay, Keith, please let go of Lance. You’re clearly making him very uncomfortable.” Shiro ordered after processing what exactly was going on.

“In our culture,” The Queen cut in, “We typically reciprocate the Hubun’s effects by having the other party become bitten as well. We believe strongly in the free exchange of love. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find another Hubun for your blue paladin here. The experience will bring them closer than ever.”

“I like that idea.” Keith pressed a kiss against Lance’s shoulder. He then said, quietly so only Lance could hear him, “I know you don’t like bug bites, but how about a love bite from me?”

Lance figured out how to get his legs working again after hearing that and immediately pushed himself out of Keith’s arms and stumbled forward. Shiro got between the two boys before Keith could reattach himself to Lance and held him back.

“I think the best course of action would be to get everyone back to the castle.” Shiro said.

“We thank you for your hospitality, truly.” Allura bowed to their queen. “If I may, could we take a specimen back to our labs? We want to be able to do some tests to see if the bite will have any unexpected symptoms on our paladin due to his different biology. Any information you have on the Hubuns will be greatly appreciated.”

“Of course dear! Come this way.” She ushered Allura back towards the village center. “Thank you and continue to spread the love.” The Queen said with a wave to the rest of team Voltron.

Once they were back at the castle they had time to try and figure out what exactly could be done about Keith’s situation. Figuring things out, unfortunately, meant that Coran was needed for his knowledge on alien biology, Hunk and Pidge were needed for their combined extensive knowledge on pretty much everything else, and Shiro was needed for leadership. Actually, Lance was pretty sure that Shiro wasn’t needed all that much and really wished that Shiro would come help keep Keith off of him. They could have at least made Keith a part of the think tank trying to find a way to end the love infection sooner instead of just taking a blood sample and leaving it at that. Lance resorted to locking himself in his room. Keith tried a few times to convince him to open the door but he refused and Keith eventually went away.

Lance buried his face in his pillow and sighed.

“Why did this have to happen?” He moaned. Of course his crush would get space roofied into falling for him, the universe was just out to get him like that. He couldn’t handle it. Keith’s hands on his body made his skin feel like it was catching on fire even through the paladin armor. The memory of it burned in his mind and felt like that fire of emotion had left scorch marks on him and he could feel himself blushing. Lance wanted nothing more than anything to fully give in to Keith’s insane infatuation with him, but he wasn’t that kind of guy. “Obviously Keith would never like me without some stupid alien bug bite,” he told himself.

“Lance? Buddy?” Hunk’s voice called through his door.

“I’m not here.” Lance answered.

“I fixed up some dinner if you’re hungry. I made some of your favorites!”

Lance crawled out of bed and opened the door. “Fine. I’ll come out for food.”

“Oh and also we have some new information about the Hubun love bite.” Hunk said very quickly, grabbing Lance by the arm and tugging him away from his door before he had a chance to retreat back inside to safety.

“You lured me out with food just to tell me bad news? Hunk, you’re demoted. The mice are now my best friends.” Lance huffed.

“It’s not that bad! It’s not like, best case scenario news but it’s better than we thought.” Hunk admitted. “From what Allura gathered about the Hubun it only lasts a few days, but that’s on Ouliken. On Keith, it might be a bit less. We think a larger body is going to work through the toxin faster, but we’re not entirely sure. The only thing we’re really sure about is that there’s no way to lessen the effects artificially, so we can only hope it wears off in a day or two instead of taking even longer. The Queen said it can sometimes last up to a week with Ouliken.”

“Hunk!” Lance cried. “I’m gonna die. This is it. I’m going to die of being too bi to function. I bequeath to you all my hair supplies. But Pidge gets my face masks. If I’m dead she can’t get mad at me for thinking that she needs them.”

“It’s not that bad.” Hunk said. “I thought you said you got over your crush on Keith anyways.”

“I might have underestimated the size of that crush and the whole ‘getting over it’ was a bit of wistful thinking and storytelling.”

“Oh, Lance.” His friend sighed. “It’ll be okay. Shiro can help keep Keith away from you if he goes too far. And I’m pretty sure dying of a crush isn’t an actual thing.”

“Yes it is!” Lance insisted. “I’ll have a heart attack! All my blood is gonna rush to my face and then my head is going to explode. It’s going to be super gross and I can’t do this!”

“You don’t really have a choice, man.” Hunk said awkwardly. “Like I said, there’s not really anything we can do but wait this out.”

Hunk continued to lead Lance to the dining hall. Lance could feel his heart pounding in his chest, still stuck on the thought of Keith’s hands on his hips. Luckily, Keith was missing from the dinner table when he and Hunk arrived. Allura and Shiro were chatting and Pidge was fiddling with her phone while Coran set the table with the amazing food that Hunk had made for them. At least Hunk was a good friend who knew just the right foods to make for Lance when he was on the verge of panicking.

They all sat down to eat. Shiro was looking at the door, clearly concerned. They all chatted like nothing was wrong but even then, the nagging feeling remained. It wasn’t just Lance who was trying to stay calm. Hunk didn’t say it, but Lance knew he was worried about Voltron. They couldn’t form Voltron if Keith was completely out of it like this. Allura and Shiro were likely worried about the same thing, and Shiro was worried about Keith’s well-being on top of that. Pidge actually didn’t seem all that stressed out. She was more amused than anything else by the whole situation.

“Honestly this whole thing is great.” Pidge said, grinning. “Not only can I make fun of Lance for being so scared of a cute little pink heart-shaped moth – ”

“I wasn’t scared! I just didn’t want to get bitten by some alien bugs right on my face!” Lance exclaimed. “Look at this face! Bug bites are a bit fat no no with the amount of time I spend looking this good.”

“You do look really good.”

“Oh quiznack.” Lance said.

Keith had strutted into the room, Lance’s green jacket hanging off his thin frame. He took a seat next to Lance and grinned at him.

“How did you get my jacket?” Lance asked him.

“You left your door open. I was looking for you, and you weren’t there.” He was pouting and oh no, Lance could not handle that.

“Keith.” Shiro chastised. “You really should give Lance his jacket back.” It was like he was talking to a child, but Keith wasn’t having it.

“No way. It smells like him.”

Lance moved his seat a bit away from Keith, or tried to at least. Keith hooked his ankle around the leg of the chair and pulled him back even closer than before.

“Keith.” Lance whined. “Just let me eat in peace, please.”

Keith didn’t respond. He took the fork out of Lance’s hand and finished the bite Lance had been about to eat. He withdrew the fork slowly from between his lips, never breaking eye contact with Lance before handing it back.

“Well thanks for dinner Hunk I’m just gonna grab some of this and head back to my room.” Lance said very quickly, his voice cracking as he did. He went to grab a few bread rolls but Keith got to them before him. Keith took a bite of the one he was holding before handing it over to Lance.

“I um,” Lance’s eyes darted between the roll and Keith’s lips. He grabbed the offered roll and darted off before anything else embarrassing could happen.

Lance needed a break. His heart was pounding in his chest, and not from running back to his room. He needed a shower. A very long, very cold shower, followed by about ten hours of sleep to hopefully clear his head.

It worked, a little bit. When Lance woke up he felt a lot better. Nobody was waiting for him outside his door as he left to get breakfast. Keith usually got up early to train, though Lance had no idea if he was still doing that in his current state. Everyone was already at the table when he got there. There was a spread of leftovers and food goo for them all to enjoy. Keith smiled as soon as Lance entered the room. He thought for a moment, contemplating his choices in his mind. If he didn’t sit next to Keith, Keith would probably end up moving next to him, right? So maybe it would be for the best to sit next to him from the start.

“Lance, sit here.” Keith waved him over.

“Yeah, fine.” Lance grumbled. Keith was giving him puppy dog eyes but that definitely wasn’t the reason why he was going to sit with him. Nope. Definitely not.

“I got you a plate.” Keith pushed a plate filled with first picks of Hunk’s leftovers. It was a nice gesture, and Lance was very hungry after ditching halfway through dinner the night before.

“Are you feeling alright?” Keith asked him, leaning in close. “You left in a hurry last night.”

‘Deep breaths’ he told himself. “I’m fine.”

“I’ll say.” Keith grinned.

Pidge groaned and dropped her fork. “I can’t believe Keith is worse than Lance!”

“Hey! You’re the one who was enjoying this yesterday!” Lance shot back at her.

“It’s funny watching you be in pain.” She said.

“Come on guys, let’s just eat our food and then we can get some training in.” Shiro ordered. “And Keith, please try to behave yourself.”

“No promises.”

Lance elected to ignore Keith’s flirtations as he ate his food. It was hard though, and it wasn’t even just the flirting that was killing him. The soft looks and the quiet sighs from Keith as he stared at Lance like he was the most beautiful thing in the world made his head spin, but he had to get ahold of himself. If Keith couldn’t control himself, Lance had to at least be able to control himself. It wasn’t helping that Keith was still wearing his jacket.

At least today Keith wasn’t taking any food from Lance. Lance wasn’t really sure if he’d be able to handle that display a second time. Maybe he saw how uncomfortable Lance was yesterday and decided to stop? Lance had no idea what was going through the guy’s mind. Across the table Shiro was shooting Keith stern looks. Brotherly fear must trump alien bug bites, Lance figured. Keith was inching very close to Lance, however. He got close enough that their arms brushed together every so often and Lance could feel the blush creeping back onto his cheeks. Pidge had her phone out and was not so subtly taking pictures of the two of them.

Training came next.

Lance immediately made a beeline for Hunk for his sparring partner. He actually did think for a second he’d be able to train in peace, but he should have known better.

“Lance.” Keith grabbed his arm and tugged him backwards. “You’re with me today.”

“I always train with you! I want to train with someone else today.” Lance said, trying to get out of it.

“We train together because we’re the closest in fighting level.” Keith replied, still pulling Lance over to their area of the training room. “Plus I’d really like a chance to get my hands on you.” He winked at him.

“Shiro!” Lance called for their leader.

Shiro was, however, completely distracted by Allura. ‘The heteros have failed me again.’ Lance thought bitterly. The two were sparring and Lance was pretty sure they managed to make it more romantic than even Keith could manage in his current state. It’s not like Lance could really blame Shiro though. Being pinned by Allura was a fantasy anyone with eyes had.

“I’ll taze him if he gets weird!” Pidge yelled across the room. Keith stuck his tongue out at here and yeah, okay, that was really cute. Lance wasn’t going to make it through today alive.

“You always end up with your ass on the ground, let’s see if you can hold me down for once.” Keith said.

Lance did his best to push the double meaning out of Keith’s taunt so he could focus on sparring. He hoped that Keith had his mind on sparring as well, but given how easy it was to get under him to flip him over and pin him to the ground, his mind was anywhere but fighting.

“I knew you had it in you.” Keith grinned. Lance sat up quickly and backed away from the boy laying underneath him. “Aw, come on. I know you’re shy, but you’re so cute you can’t expect me not to want this.”

“But you don’t want this!” Lance hissed. “God, you’re so smart Keith, how has this thing infected you so completely that you can’t even realize that these feelings you’re having never existed before yesterday?” Keith looked like he was about to say something but Lance didn’t give him the chance. He stood up and stormed out of the training room, calling out over his shoulder to Shiro that he needed a break.

Footsteps sounded in the hall behind him as he made his way back to his room. Keith. It had to be Keith.

Lance turned a corner, then another, heading away from the rooms and hoping that Keith wouldn’t know where he went. He pressed his back against the wall to make himself fit in a small crevice there and held his breath as he heard Keith’s steps stop in the hallway, then return and grow louder.

“Lance? Where did you go?”

Lance struggled to make himself as small as possible inside his hiding spot but he knew that if Keith got close it wasn’t going to matter.

“There you are!” Keith said happily when he caught sight of Lance hiding. “What are you doing there?”

Lance’s first thought was to move – get away from the wall and run to his room before Keith did something Lance wouldn’t be able to resist. He couldn’t. Keith was in his space immediately and pressed himself up against Lance’s chest. His face was as red as Lance knew his own must be, and his eyes were dilated past what would be normal for this light.

“I know you don’t think what I’m feeling is genuine.” Keith said softly, his breath warm and intoxicating against Lance’s face. “But I feel it, Lance. You’re all I can think about.” He wasn’t even looking Lance in the eyes, he was staring down and to the side. “If what I’m feeling isn’t real then why does it hurt so much to be apart from you?”

Lance could feel his breath catch his throat. He wanted more than anything to lean forward and kiss Keith. He wanted to let Keith kiss him, have him in any way that he could imagine but he couldn’t.

Keith raised his gaze to look Lance in the eyes. “Please Lance.” He breathed. “Let me kiss you.”

He wasn’t thinking, he couldn’t think. Lance nodded before he could stop himself and suddenly Keith’s lips were on his. This had to stop, Lance knew that. He tried to push Keith away but Keith just took his wrists and pinned them back against the wall so he keep kissing the object of his infatuation.

“Keith stop – ” Lance tried to say against his lips. That was a mistake, Keith took his chance to push his tongue between Lance’s lips and deepen their kiss. Lance could feel his face burning. ‘This must be what dying feels like,’ he thought. He had to be dying. His brain was on fire and he couldn’t think about anything except the electricity shooting through his veins as Keith continued to kiss him and press up against his body.

Finally, Keith pulled back. He licked his lips and smiled softly at Lance. “Lance, I,”

Lance didn’t wait for him to finish. It was becoming habit to run away from these situations with Keith at this point. There wasn’t much else he could do. He shoved Keith. Hard. Keith stumbled backwards and tripped, falling hard on the ground. Lance didn’t care. He had to get away. He just ruined everything real he could have ever had with Keith and he had to get away. So he ran.

Once he was back in his room where Keith couldn’t flirt with him and make him feel weird all over, he tried to force himself to relax. He pulled out a box of sewing supplies he’d found in his closet as well as some old clothes he was using for scrap fabric and began to stitch pieces together. Since he’d gotten into space he’d tried to make souvenirs for his family for when he one day got to see them again. Now he was sewing a small Queen Luxia for his niece. She loved mermaids even more than he did. His hands were shaking and he could barely see straight as he looked at the fabric swatches in his lap.

There was a knock at the door and Lance dropped the needle he was holding.

“Go away Keith! I’m not opening the door until you’re better.” He yelled.

“It’s Shiro.”

“My bad. Go away Shiro. I’m not opening the door until Keith is better.”

“I actually ran into Keith in the hallway.” Shiro said. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry Lance, I should have followed you sooner after you left. But if it makes you feel any better, I may have accidentally locked Keith’s door from the outside. He can’t get out until I let him.”

Lance got up and opened the door. “You seriously gave him a time out?”

Shiro chuckled. “Yes. He needed it. Can I come in?”

Lance hesitated for a moment before stepping to the side to let Shiro come in. He sat down on Lance’s bed and motioned for Lance to join him.

“We need to talk about what’s been happening with Keith.” He said. “I should have been monitoring the situation more closely, and I’m really sorry you’ve been put through all this, Lance. I hope you’ll be able to forgive Keith for his behavior once this is all over and out of his system.”

“That’s not the problem.” Lance mumbled.

“What?”

“I said. That’s not the problem.” Lance repeated a bit louder.

“What are you talking about?”

“I kissed him!” Lance hid his face in his hands. “I’m a bad person, Shiro! God I liked him so much and I knew it was wrong but I let him kiss me! What kind of person does that? He’s been infected by some sort of space love potion and I was enjoying it! He kissed me and he never would have done that if he had been in his right mind, and I know that and I still let it happen!”

“I heard he kissed you, I had no idea,”

“No idea how awful I am, I know, right?” Tears were burning behind Lance’s eyes as he spoke. “He’s going to hate me. I’d hate me. Hell, I already do hate me. You probably hate me now, too. I took advantage of your baby bro because I’m selfish and weak and – ”

“Hold on Lance, you need to calm down.” Shiro put his arm around Lance’s shoulder and tried to hold him steady as his body began to shake. Tears started to drip down his cheek but at least Shiro couldn’t see that with his face buried in his hands.

“Lance, listen to me. You’re not a bad person.” He paused. “You have a crush on Keith?”

Lance nodded.

“You’re right when you say it’s wrong to take advantage of someone who can’t think straight, but nobody can expect you to be perfect when someone you like is acting like that towards you. It’s the Hubun’s fault, okay Lance?”

Lance took a shuttered breath and uncovered his face. Shiro wiped a tear away with his thumb and smiled at him.

“Have you heard of the bro code, Lance?”

Lance snorted. “Yes dude, of course I have.”

“Well, there’s a funny thing about it. It only really applies to friends. For example, I’m not going to turn around and tell Keith that you have a crush on him when he gets better because we’re friends. Keith on the other hand, isn’t a friend. He’s a brother.” He was grinning mischievously and Lance wasn’t sure he trusted it. “Which is why it’s my duty to tell his secrets if they’re embarrassing or if I think it’ll make things better. So Lance, I have no obligation at all to hide the fact that Keith actually does have a crush on you, and has for a while now.”

“You’re lying.” Lance said almost instantly.

“Scouts honor.” Shiro held up three fingers in a scout salute. “When he gets better, you two should have a talk.”

-oOo-

Best case scenario seemed to be the one that happened. Lance woke up the next morning to find his jacket folded up neatly by his door, which Lance took as meaning that Keith was back to normal. He knocked on his door and while there was no answer, he could hear shuffling coming from inside.

“Keith?” He called out. After there was no response, he tried again. “Keith, buddy. We need to talk.”

A couple of ticks passed, then a few more, a dozen more; Lance was about ready to leave when the door finally slid open.

“Lance I’m so sorry I can’t believe how I was acting oh quiznak you must have me I’d hate me and I – ”

Lance decided that after all the hell Keith had been putting him through he deserved the opportunity to deal back exactly what had been done to him. So he stepped into Keith’s room and silenced him by grabbing his face and kissing him.

Keith stepped back, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “You just – but – Lance after what I did – ”

“I really, really like you Keith.” Lance said. “I have for a while and that’s why I was freaking out with how you were acting. I thought you couldn’t possibly like me without that stupid bite but Shiro said – ”

“Shiro is a traitor!” Keith was blushing furiously.

“Oh come on, you can’t be that mad.” Lance laughed. “Do you want to try to kiss me without being all love potioned and overly aggressive about it?”

“Yes. Hell yes.” Keith grabbed the front of Lance’s shirt and pulled him back for a passionate kiss.

If they ever went back to Oulike, Lance might have to thank them for this.

#cara writes #klance #voltron

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riverstonesims · 7 years

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House of Pancakes - Writing Prompt #4

Hello, it’s me writing again. I’m just really enjoying the prompts okay.

Instead of Iris, here we have Giu and Elise, aged 20. I’m so sorry in advance.

@bobshouseofpancakes Prompt: The rain poured down on their backs like bricks breaking from their mortar.

It had been a stormy few days in Twinbrook, the rain a constant friend to the people living in the town, dark clouds above, lightning and thunder letting their presence be known. Many of the elders in the town were predicting that the storm was on the same track as the last big one in ’55 when the bayou had flooded the lower part of the town, now a swampy mess and caused the down to disintegrate until life flowed back into it at the turn of the century.

Giu was half blinded as he cycled through the main part of town, half expecting a car to come careening into him. He wiped the water from his eyes to no avail and return to gripping the handle bars tightly. A crack of lightning made him wince - he’d never been a fan of lightning and thunder even as a kid - but he kept going, willing himself to do so to see his best friend. Well, he hoped they were still best friends. They’d fought in the past but this time… no, he wasn’t going to think about it. It was all going to be fine.

The rain fell harder as he pedalled, the wind picking up and the temperature dropping even more. He wondered now why he hadn’t thought to put on a raincoat but in his panic and hurry he’d forgotten. He braced himself as he came up the hill to the two story house that Elise lived in, the lights on and her parents’ car parked outside. He leant his bike against the side of the house and jogged towards the door, up the stairs and into the cover of the porch.

He knocked heavily on the door, wrapping his arms around him and stamping his feet as he tried to keep warm. The sound of the door opening made him turn away from watching the pouring rain and into the face of his best friend.

“Uh, hey El,” he said as he shivered. He smiled at her, a little uncertainly, unsure whether he was all that… welcome.

“What.” Her usual musical voice was harsh and discordant as the thunder rolled overhead, ominous. Her eyebrows were knitted tightly together, her mouth a straight line, eyes narrowed, arms crossed.

“Elise, don’t be like that, please,” Giuseppe told her as he stepped closer, but she stepped back.

“How could you?”

“I-I-” but she cut in.

“No, don’t make excuses. How long has this been going on for?”

He sighed and looked down at the ground. “Since… since our last year at high school.”

“Giu! The fuck?!” Elise threw her hands up in the air and quickly shut the front door. “The fuck are you playing at? You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”

The silence gave away everything and he winced as she raised her voice. “She’s vile, Giu, absolutely vile! She’s bullied you for years. You can’t just get with your abuser! Are you on drugs? What are you playing at, you nitwit?! Please, Giu, please say it isn’t so.” Her hand landed on his arm and squeezed it. “You’re a bit late to the April Fool’s Party y’know since it’s now August but-”

He breathed in and out, feeling shaky and not at all himself; perhaps he hadn’t really been himself for the last three years. The thought of that combined with the thought of their friendship crumbling before his eyes made his head spin and he stepped back several paces. He felt sick.

“She’s vile, how could-what drove you to-?” Elise shook her head, her eyes beginning to look a little misty. “How could you keep this from me? I’m your best friend.”

“I didn’t know what to say,” he mumbled. He hadn’t meant for it to go on for so long. He’d tried to avoid Iris after that night in her kitchen, had stayed home pretending he was sick for three days before his mother Cadenza had pulled him out of bed and put him on the bus. He’d been a confused and nervous wreck and though Elise had tried to get out what had happened, he’d refused to tell her.

Two weeks later Iris managed to finally corner him behind the town library where they’d shared another, uh, moment and from then on in he’d been hooked. He’d been ashamed of himself yet he’d kept going back for more. He hadn’t known whether it was because Iris was his first kiss or the mystique of her dark features or the way she made everything she’d done in the past seem like no big deal, but he’d continued the hookups. She was still the mean bully at school but outside of it they’d met up secretly, whether at the park after hours, at hers, at the amphitheatre or took a drive in his car out of town to the next one over. How they’d kept it up, he didn’t know. Even his parents had noticed his good mood but hadn’t questioned it, assuming that he’d tell them when he was ready.

And then he’d gone to university. Though being in the same dorm and flat as El, Iris had still visited, on weekends having flown in from Bridgeport where she was now working for her family’s law firm. He’d ignored the niggling feeling in his chest as he’d lied to his best friend but the sensation of being with Iris drove him on. His writing was even influenced as he’d typed up assignments for his creative writing class, a manic fervour taking him over at times; a writer by day, in the sheets with Iris at night.

“I have no words. I don’t really feel like talking to you right now.”

“Elise, please.” His voice broke a little, the pain evident on his face. “I didn’t mean for it to go on for so long.”

“But you didn’t stop. You’re just… you’re just as bad as her then. After all I’ve done for you over the years; stood up to her, pranked her, supported you, been literally by your side… it was all for nought, huh?”

“El, I-” but she’d turned away from him, head bent and shoulders shaking. When there was no response from her, he gave up as he felt his spirit fade. This was it. This was the end. A seventeen year friendship over because he’d hadn’t been able to keep it in his pants. His chest felt like breaking and before he could give away a sob, he fled quickly down the stairs, water trickling into his sneakers as he trudged to his bike.

“Giu.” He stopped and looked around as Elise ran towards him and stopped. Their eyes met as the rain poured down on their backs like bricks breaking from their mortar. She reached around him with her arms and gave him a hug, her head below his chin before standing on her tip toes to place a lingering kiss on his left cheek. She stepped back and turned slowly away from him, enough for him to see her tears mingling with the rain.

This was goodbye. This really was goodbye for them.

Giu didn’t know how he was going to manage to get home, let alone live.

#writing prompt #giuseppe di forza #elise anderson #house of pancakes

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kyusako · 5 years

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Relationship Worries

Well surprise, surprise. Let's be honest here: I'm lost in life as usual. Then again, isn't any other 21 year old as well?

Okay, so much has happened since I last wrote. I broke up with my ex 'Senpai' in March. To be honest, I didn't like how he had changed his attitude towards me.

He had been super irritable, constantly picking fights and arguments out of nowhere and I was crying every day, both from my own erratic hormones and from my fear of him.

As much as I tried not to admit it, he treated me as though I was in the military. I mean, I know I couldn't blame him for being in it, but there's something wrong if you're talking to your girlfriend the way your sergeant or whoever talks to you.

It took me different people warning me that it wasn't healthy in order to snap me out of my denial of his behavior and insistence that everything was my fault.

Since then, I had been meeting new people through a dating app. It seems desperate and pathetic to some, but I did it mainly because my best friend suggested that it would make me feel better as I could go on there and reject people until I see cat or dog pictures.

Her logic: rejecting others = fun + goodbye heartbreak.

So I went on a quest to find myself some new gaming friends.

And I did meet many people. In fact, many even became my good friends. Some of them, I have deemed to be my brotherly figures. My 'oniichans' as I call them. It's nice, and they're there for me whenever I need them, without expecting much in return. I also had two crushes which stayed crushes. Nothing official.

Then I even had an actual relationship. Unfortunately, this was short lived, the shortest I've ever had. It lasted from May to June. Just a month. Wow.

I thought that he was perfect: cool, cute, the type of guy I had always wanted since I was a little girl. But as I mentioned, it was a failed relationship. And it's the first one that wasn't ended by me.

Note that I did not do anything bad in this one, okay? It's just... I guess he decided that he didn't want to be in a relationship, despite how great I seemed that he thought we could have had a future together. And it seems that there's no chance for us to stay. I mean, I had doubts that it would really work out anyway, since he was constantly not wanting to talk to me and then being all apologetic for not talking to me. I'm like, why not just talk to me then? Dammit!

So then... Well... Fast forward, not soon after I broke up with him, I decided to look for another guy. I mean, why mope around all the time? So I went to the app where I found him and looked at more profiles to make more friends, I guess.

And then I found him.

He's different from all the others. He's nice... Genuinely nice. So much so that it makes me uneasy. I guess I'm used to guys being... Difficult in some ways... That to meet someone without any obvious issues just makes me... I don't know... unsettled?

I met him last month, my first message sent on the 6th of July. Though I think I may have typed it on the 5th. But the app counts it from when the message is received, okay?

I think I was randomly swiping around (and I usually ignore most people), when I saw him. He seemed like an average person. Normal picture (though pretty cute), nothing too much more than what all the other guys usually write. But then again, now that I think about it, he did write much more than the usual guys, which is something I like.

More importantly, I did like what he wrote. The type of person he seemed to be grabbed my attention. A guy who isn't distant, seems to have things in common with me (including being a PC gamer—very important), seems to be open to a long distance relationship (I know, I'm guilty for the third time now). So I wrote the first message, asking about the games he played, nothing different from all my conversation starters with other people.

But I don't know what it is about him. It was easy talking to him. Maybe it's his shyness that gives him a bit of a charm in the way he talked to me. Maybe it's also the fact that he was willing to play games with me and hang out with me.

So then, we've been talking for about a month now. And somewhere in between, I confessed that I really like him. He replied that he liked me too. We both did it shyly and awkwardly. I mean, I was the one who brought it up out of nowhere. And somehow were both unsure if the other meant as a friend or more. I clarified with him at a later date, and it turns out, yeah. We both meant it as more than 'just friends'.

And as it also turns out (because I asked), he doesn't mind having me as his girlfriend!

Note: this was just a casual talk. It's not official yet!

I should be happy, but... Well I mean, I am, but... I just worry... In addition to my failed relationship, I confessed to two other guys (not at the same time, mind you!) that I had a crush on them. They liked me back too, but were not looking for a committed relationship. So that's three guys in a row that are like that to me. Gee... Thanks...

I believe he's different though. At least, from what I read from stalking his profile *ahem*. It seems he does want his relationships to be long term and serious(?). But... I don't know. I just can't help but think of all the other guys whom I thought wanted to commit but didn't.

What if he changes his mind about me? What if he's not all that I thought he was?

I want to try and see how things go but I'm scared to proceed. I mean...

What if he learns about my past and doesn't believe that I like him for him?

He's been super considerate to me so far. He keeps me company every day. We play games together. He listens to me when I talk and when I'm in a bad mood, he worries about me and asks if there's anything he can do to make me feel better. When I'm crying and rambling to him, he listened and checked on how I was feeling.

The thing is, that's how the other guys were. Somewhat. And that didn't turn out great. So... I worry. I know I shouldn't judge and think he's like all the others, but I don't know. And that makes me uneasy.

I guess I should take things slow. For real this time. Let us get used to each other more. Let us slowly build things up till the time is right. I mean, it'd be easier if he initiates it, but I don't know. I'm just gonna see how things go. I mean, we are good friends and hang out pretty much every day, whether it's through our Discord calls or messages.

Side note: he does greet me every day the moment he wakes up, which is already a step up from some people *ahem ahem*.

Also I asked him when it was that he even started liking me. He said he couldn't remember exactly when, but he liked me shortly after we met. Not sure if he meant that as on the day itself or like a week from that, but ahhhh!!! It just warms my heart!

To top it all off, I introduced him to my friends to play Dead By Daylight and my best friend agreed that he's really nice and she doesn't get any bad vibes from him so far, so yay!

#relationships

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